POLITICAL HISTORY 



not to waste further money on fortifying such a weak position. There was 

 however, no lack of valour in the inhabitants, and particularly in the 

 women. ^ The two Sydenhams were Dives's protagonists in these skir- 

 mishes : and after the governor of Poole (Major Sydenham) had defeated a 

 troop of the queen's regiment' near Blandford ' Sir Lewis Dives dislodged 

 the victors from Blandford, but returning with his own men to Dor- 

 chester, was set upon at night by the rest of the Poole garrison, and ' charged 

 through and through.' * 



All this winter there was talk of a Royalist ' Associated Counties,' to 

 consist of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, which should balance 

 the Parliamentary eastern association. Prince Maurice and Lord Hopton 

 had for months been endeavouring to mature the scheme." But the diffi- 

 culties in the way were too great to allow of its being carried out. The 

 hilly character of the districts chosen, and their deep inlets of the sea * 

 hindered alike easy communication and the growth of a common principle 

 and sentiments. The two more eastern counties were not sufficiently stable 

 in their attachment to the royal cause to make up for the presence of Parlia- 

 mentary garrisons at Plymouth, Taunton, and Lyme. Yet Charles, reduced 

 to catch at straws, sent down the Prince of Wales to hold court at Bristol 

 in March.^ 



During the winter Goring* had been carrying on minor operations 

 based upon Devon and Dorset, and culminating in the siege of Taunton. 

 Waller was ordered to relieve the town (6 November, 1644) and Major- 

 General Holborne had orders to push through Dorset towards it. In 

 this relief column Cooper was in command of the Dorset contingent, 

 which consisted of men drawn from the garrisons of Weymouth, Wareham, 

 and Poole.' 



News reached Westminster on 1 2 February, that a force under Dives and 

 Sir Walter Hastings, governor of Portland, had seized one of the Weymouth 

 forts,^" and on 9 February had taken the town itself." The rebels entrenched 

 themselves across the river in Melcombe. Goring then came up with 3,000 

 horse and 1,500 foot and artillery, and took over the command. Despite the 

 strategic disadvantage of their position, the mere handful of men whom he, 

 with characteristic insolence and carelessness, had neglected to crush, pro- 

 ceeded from Melcombe to retake the town of Weymouth, and force him 

 back on Dorchester (25 February) with heavy loss.^'' On the receipt of the 

 original ill news from Weymouth, Waller had been ordered to its relief ;^' 

 but owing to the mutiny of his cavalry at Leatherhead he was unable to go 

 further. A few days later, however. Parliamentary, and indeed national, 

 feeling was far more deeply stirred by the revelation of Glamorgan's schemes, 

 and on the 27th it was decided to send Cromwell himself into the west. 

 Pending the organization of the New Model, which could not be put into 



' Rushworth, Coll. iii (ii), 685. Whitelocke, op. cit. 91. Vicars, iii, 286 ; Merc. Chicus, Ix, 579-80. 

 ' See Gardiner, op. cit. i, 326. ^ Vicars, op. cit. i, 44 ; Whitelocke, op. cit. 103. 



• Perfect Diumall, No. 71. ' Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644, p. 49 ; Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, ix, 6, 7. 



' See Gardiner, Hist. Gt. Civil War, i, 71. ' Clarendon, Hist, of the Rebellion, ix, 6, 7. 



' Sent down into the west, Aug. 1 644, vide supra. ' Shaftesbury Papers (P.R.O.), ii, 46. 



" Commons Joum. iv, 46 ; The True Informer, E. 269, zi. " Warburton, Prince Rupert, iii, 58. 



" Clarendon, op. cit. ix, 7-9 ; Whitelocke, op. cit. 130 ; W. M. Harvey, Hist, of the Hundred of Vf'ilky, 

 91-94 ; Vicars, Burning Bush, 118. 



" Cal. S.P. Dom. 1644-5, PP- 306-7. 



157 



