Review of Waylen’s History of Marlborough. 123 
numbers in the militia then forming under the Earl of Pembroke 
in defence of the parliamentary cause, and in opposition to the 
commission of array of which among others the Marquis of Hert- 
ford and his brother, the Lord Seymour, were charged with the 
execution, Nor was it long before the town of Marlborough 
defended only by this hastily raised militia was exposed to actual 
assault from the royalist forces detached for the purpose from 
- Oxford, under Lord Digby, in November, 1642. The first attack 
seems to have been easily foiled. But in the beginning of the 
next month, a body of 6,000 infantry with several troops of horse, 
under Lords Grandison and Wentworth, in conjunction with Lord 
Digby, attaeked the town on several sides with great energy, and 
having forced its defenders under Sir Neville Poole to retreat for 
safety to the Lord Seymour’s house, and the Castle Mound, sacked, 
and, to a great extent, burnt and ruined the unfortunate town. A 
few days later succour arrived from Lord Essex, the Commander- 
in-Chief of the parliamentary forces, and the royalists retreated on 
Oxford ; but the mischief had been done, and it took some time for 
the unlucky inhabitants of Marlborough to recover their losses. 
Moreover, John Franklyn, the popular member, and some hundred 
of the inhabitants were taken prisoners, carried to Oxford, and 
confined there for a long period under circumstances of great hard- 
ship and cruelty. In the series of contests that subsequently took 
place between the royalist and parliamentarian forces, in the county 
of Wilts, and the adjoining counties of Berks, Oxford, and Hamp- 
shire, the town of Marlborough bore a prominent part, as lying on 
the great high road from London to the West of England. But 
we must refer to Mr. Waylen’s book for the interesting details of 
these events, especially recommending to our readers the amusing 
narrative of the gallant but somewhat marauding exploits of Major 
Dowett, commander of the Devizes troopers, who seems to have 
considered Marlborough a neyer failing subject for attack and 
depredation. In the end, however, the cause of the Parliament 
triumphing, Marlborough rose again from its ruins, and recovered 
a fair amount of prosperity. The Lord Seymour compounded with 
R 2 
