POLITICAL HISTORY 



before a small force under Sir Ralph Hopton and Colonel Digby.^ Sherborne 

 however, soon fell into the hands* of the Parliament; for Lord Hertford, 

 who feared Lord Brook. ^ was about to join Lord Bedford, and learning of the 

 capitulation of Portsmouth (7 September), which gave all the south into the 

 hands of the Parliament, abandoned the castle, and crossed from Minehead 

 into Wales. The castle was not slighted, owing to the spirited conduct 

 of Lady Digby, Bedford's sister, who swore to him that if he destroyed it 

 she would die with it.* 



All through that winter and spring (1642—3), when Hopton, from his 

 Cornish base, was gaining successes in Devon, Charles making headway 

 in the midlands, and the Parliament gradually garrisoning the towns of 

 Somerset, Dorset was still unattached to the national campaign. With 

 Stamford's defeat by Hopton in May at Stratton (co. Devon) Waller was 

 ordered to proceed against the Royalist army of the south-west. This he 

 attempted by way of Hereford. But as a counter move (19 May) Hert- 

 ford and Prince Maurice left Oxford for Salisbury to join hands with Hopton 

 in Devon. Early in June the two forces met at Chard. Waller was now 

 at Bath, and, after his defeat at Roundway Down, Bristol surrendered to the 

 victorious Royalist cavalry (26 July). This changed the fate of the Dorset 

 towns. Hitherto Dorchester, Lyme, Weymouth, Melcombe, and Poole 

 had been occupied by local Parliamentary troops, under Sir Walter Erie and 

 Sir Thomas Trenchard ; and Portland and Wareham " being now garrisoned 

 by the Parliament,* Corfe alone remained to the king. Two minor Parlia- 

 mentary successes in February were the defeat of Lord Inchiquin's Irish 

 regiment by the garrisons of Poole and Wareham,^ and the capture near 

 Dorchester of one of Rupert's convoys with ^^3,000 ' to be sent into his 

 own country.' * These had emboldened Erie and Trenchard to sit down 

 before Corfe, defended by Lady Bankes. In spite of the ingenious 'filling 

 their men with strong waters even to madnesse ' ' they failed to inspire in 

 them sufficient berserk courage to storm the castle. Erie (who had, on that 

 occasion, ' like Caesar been the only man that came sober to the assault, lest 

 he should be valiant against his will ') found the presence of Prince Maurice's 

 army in Blandford, in June, enough for his fears. He departed, leaving 

 Trenchard and Sydenham to continue the siege. The capitulation of Bristol, 

 however, meant the king's success in Dorset. Prince Maurice sent on Lord 

 Carnarvon to summon the Dorset towns ; Dorchester, Weymouth, and 

 Portland ^° surrendered at once, without a blow struck, Strode having told in 

 Dorchester horrid tales of the valour of the Royalist soldiers." Freedom from 

 plunder was one of the conditions of capitulation. But Maurice on his 

 arrival from Bristol with his foot and cannon, did not respect the agreement 

 entered into by Carnarvon. John White suffered severely by this cavalier 



' Vicars, Pari. Chron. 146-9. 



' It was not garrisoned by them till 20 April, 1643. Vicars, op. cit. ii, 302-4. 



' See Docquets of Letters Patent (Rec. Com.), 395. 



* Vicars, op. cit. 146-302. 



'Which had been fortified for the Parliament in March, 1 642, but had soon fallen into the king's 

 hands. Vicars, op. cit. 81, 82 ; Whitelocke, Memorials, 74. 



* Rushworth, Collections, iii (ii), 684. ' Whitelocke, op. cit. 79. 



' Vicars, op. cit. 3. ' Mercurius Rusticus, 20 July, 1643. 



'° 'A place not enough understood, but of wonderful importance.' Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, \\, 213. 



" Clarendon, op. cit. iv, 211-12 ; Tanner MSS. 62, fol. 218. Erie to Lenthall. 



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