THE SIEGE OF PLYMOUTH. 255 
where, notwithstanding he had in the interim received reinforce- 
ments, he was on the 7th of the month surprised by Ruthven, 
with four troops of horse and 100 dragoons, and routed. 
Probably it was this success that determined the Parliament to 
carry the war into the enemy’s country. The forces of Dorset 
and Somerset were ordered to join those of Devon, and march into 
Cornwall—one body under the command of Ruthven, the other 
under that of the Earl of Stamford, governor of Exeter, and 
general for the Parliament of the five Western Counties. Ruthven 
led the way. He tried to force the passage of the Tamar at 
Saltash, but was repulsed with loss. He then led his forces up 
the eastern bank, and crossed by a bridge—according to Clarendon 
—about six miles above. If the distance given be correct, the 
bridge must have been a temporary one, and its place somewhere 
near Pentillie. Other authorities name Tavistock New-bridge— 
?.¢. Gunnislake—as the spot where Ruthven entered the county, 
which is far more likely. And here Ruthven displayed that 
remarkable want of caution to which I have alluded. Instead of 
waiting for Stamford, he pushed on to Liskeard, and was utterly 
defeated on the 19th of January by Hopton at Braddock Down. 
With the remnant of his shattered army he fled to Saltash, where 
he hastily entrenched himself, and where, with the aid of a ship 
of 400 tons carrying sixteen guns, he hoped to make a stand. 
Hopton followed him up with vigour; and as a regiment which 
the Earl of Stamford had sent to Launceston fled to Plymouth, he 
was enabled to give his undivided attention to Saltash. The 
assault was made at four o’clock on the afternoon of Sunday the 
22nd of January. For three hours the storm continued; and at 
length in the dark the town was captured, Ruthven and his prin- 
cipal officers escaping by boat to Plymouth. The loss of the 
Parliamentary troops was very great: seven score prisoners to add 
to the 700 taken at Braddock, arms and stores for 4,000 men, and 
the ship, the master of which was accused of treason in that, 
though hired to ‘‘ batter’? Hopton, he did not do so. The Royalists 
claim that they only lost one man; but this we may take leave to 
doubt. 
Plymouth was now menaced for the second time, and far more 
seriously. Flushed with success, the whole of Hopton’s forces sat 
down before it. We learn their disposition from a letter of Sir 
Bevill Grenville to his wife, dated Plympton, February 20th, 
