tos 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



be recalled ; and accordingly his 

 highness sent his express commands 

 for my instant rcturne, which I re- 

 ceived upon Satterday, about ten of 

 the clock at night, the 22d, upon 

 which day Sir William AVallcr moved 

 towards Rosse, and wee were ad- 

 vertised as much ; and the same 

 evening my lord Herbert went from 

 Hereford, to Mr. Morc's house, 

 four miles from ihe (own, whither I 

 sent a letter directed unto him from 

 the prince, and the copy of his iiigh- 

 nesses letter to me. 



His lordship was thus informed of 

 and knew both these particulars ; 

 that is to say, his highness recalling 

 of me, and the enemies' march, but 

 would not be persuaded by any im- 

 portunity of mine, nor of some gen- 

 tiemea of the county, (Colonel 

 HerbcrtPrice, governor of Hereford, 

 and Sir Walter Pye) who rode pur- 

 poscly to him, to desire his stay in 

 those parts, but left them destitute 

 of any to command the forces, by 

 authority derived from him, seem- 

 ingly to require me (which he had 

 no power to do, especially being re- 

 called) to take that charge. I should 

 not thus insist upon this point, but 

 that I was hereby cast into a greate 

 straite : on the one side was his 

 highuess's command to rcturne ; on 

 the other side, upon Sir William 

 Waller's advancing, whom prince 

 Maurice was gent to pursue, were 

 those countries which the king had 

 sent the prince to protect, the forces 

 already raised, and those by the as- 

 sociation, (which took life from 

 Prince Maurice) (o be raised, ha- 

 zarded to the mercy of the enemy, 

 without having any one, with sha- 

 dow of authority, to take care of, or 

 command them ; for, as I said, I 

 had f»]}y completed etery part of 

 1 



my commission, and was posUiTely 

 and actually recalled. Yet, upon the 

 extraordinary importunity of my 

 lord Scudamore, sir William Croft, 

 sir Walter Pye, colonel Herbert 

 Price, and others, I chose to stay 

 there as an assistant, to contribute 

 the best of my service to the maine 

 cndc for which his highness was em- 

 ployed, not having as then the least 

 notice of his march towards Oxford ; 

 but before I engaged myself to stay, 

 I told them I saw in what confusion 

 their alfaires were, whilst noe war- 

 rants were observed by the people, 

 nor directions, nor adviee for the 

 welfare of the towne, any way yet 

 put into execution. But having 

 parsed my promise upon Sunday, 

 23d, about the same houre wlicn my 

 troops (the eighty horse and 100 

 dragoons before spoken of) were 

 in rcadincsse to march aw ay towards 

 prince Maurice, I gave them order 

 to stay, and instantly sent a post t© 

 inform his highness how things 

 stood in these parts, before sir Wii. 

 liam Waller might possess himselfe 

 of Hercforde by my remove ; and I 

 made elcdtion of this way, the ra- 

 ther in regard I observe that his 

 highnesses revocation of me was 

 accompanied with this opinion in 

 him, that my Lord Herbert would be 

 in those parts at and after my de- 

 parture, and that his lordship was in 

 soe good a condition, and conse- 

 quently those countries soe too by 

 him, that my longer stay there w ; 

 not needful. At the same time tha: 

 this letter was dispatched to prin \ 

 Maurice; another was sent to sir 

 William Russell, the governor of 

 W'orccster, to acquaint him with t!. 

 enemii's approach, and our condition, 

 wee being informed from all parts 

 that sir W^illiam Waller came with as 



ra'ich 



