By W. W. Ravenhill, Esq. 41 
confidence of Charles, the other the “look-out man” for the Lord 
Protector—that the Risers in the West had not some svlid ground 
for believing that success would attend them. ‘Phe Protector’s 
-declaration,on the appointment of the Major-Generals, and the raising 
a force of militia throughout the country, which was published in the 
following October,! says they had engaged eight thousand men to rise 
in the west, and a like number in the north, and more in other districts ; 













their object being to divide the army, which was then quartered near 
London, and draw it off to distant parts of the country. This 
reads feasible enough. And though as to the particular action which 
they eventually took at Salisbury, and the time, it might have been 
better to have done otherwise, and wiser to have waited till the 
country at large was more prepared ; yet on the other hand, delay 
in such matters often brings ruin, and we may be sure that their 
proceedings were hastened by Wagstaff. 
Their blood was one of the indirect causes of the Restoration ; 
for the Rising brought out the Major-Generals, whose conduct 
certainly helped the fulfilment of that event. 
Penruddock and Grove and their fellows deserve the high honor 
_ which they have ever since received, of having suffered for doing, 
what they believed to be their duty. 
And the world went on its way, and Dorrington of Gray’s Inn, 
wrote to Joshua Williamson, of Queen’s College, Oxford, (Penrud- 
; - dock’s College), of music for the Act (June, 1655, Commemoration) 
ia and ladies to come up for it, and silk stockings and other kindred 
_ pleasantries. But we turn aside to look upon the graves of the 
“fallen ; and to think of the poor widows who struggled to support 
the children of those who had died for “a worthy fame.” 
“Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise 
(That last infirmity of noble mind,) 
To scorn delights, and live laborious days ; 
But the fair guerdon which we hope to find, 
And think to burst out into sudden blaze, 
_ Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears 
And slits the thin spun life—But not the praise. 
[Milton’s Lycidas.] 
__ 1 A copy of this, which was printed by His Highness’s printer, will be found 
in the Parliamentary History, vol. xx., p. 434. It is too lengthy to re-produce 
here. Thurloe’s notes (given above) no doubt formed the rough draft for it. 
VOL. XV.—NO. XLYIII, G 
Eg eee 
