COINS STRUCK IN DORSET. 167 



the capitulation in June, 1644, the Royalists marched out about 

 400 strong, the officers with their swords and horses, the men 

 with sticks only. The Weymouth borough dccuments and 

 minute books (catalogued by Mr. Moule) are equally silent as 

 to the 'incidents of the siege, probably from motives of caution 

 in those troubled times ; but I may perhaps hazard a conjecture 

 that the unfortunate King's adherents in this district, like those 

 of Shrewsbury, Oxford, and other towns, handed in their silver 

 plate for manufacture into rudely-struck half-crowns. 



