264 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
exceeded 7,000, and in all likelihood was nearer 6,000. For this 
opinion there are several reasons. There had been a plague in 
1625, the effects of which must have been still apparent. The 
registers of St. Andrew, then the only church in the town, show 
that the normal death-loss, excluding Stonehouse, which was 
considered part of the parish, did not exceed 200 yearly; which 
at a death-rate of 30 per thousand would give us rather under 
7,000. Moreover, there is extant an assessment to the poll-tax of 
Vintry Ward about this date, which included all the inhabitants 
above 16. These were about 1,000 in number, which would 
make the total population of the ward 2,000. There were then 
only four wards, and of these Vintry was the most populous and 
important (it is now the smallest). So we are again brought back 
to an estimated population of 6,000 or thereabouts.* We may thus 
form some idea of the strength of the garrison at this period. 
The trained band of the town, if it included all the males capable 
of bearing arms, would muster about 1,500; but we may take it, 
I suppose, at about half that number.t The soldiery could not 
have been very numerous, or the addition of 500 would not have 
been thought of much consequence. 
We fortunately possess a tolerably full record—the work of men 
who took part in the transactions they describe—of the progress 
of the Siege from the 15th of September, 1643, for nearly twelve 
months; and it is just this portion of the Siege with which the 
public are most familiar—the earliest of the Siege tracts, in which 
the narrative of Maurice’s first unsuccessful attempt is contained, 
having been more than once reprinted. 
Wardlaw soon undertook offensive operations. 150 of the new 
arrivals were turned into cavalry by the simple process of mounting 
them on horseback; and on the 8th of October 300 men crossed 
Cattewater under cover of the night, and at break of day surprised 
* The relative positions of the four wards in population and wealth is 
shown very clearly by the amounts levied in poor-rates. In the year 
previous to the commencement of the Siege (1642) the total poor-rate of the 
borough was £204 15s. Of this Vintry Ward alone contributed nearly half, 
£90 3s. ld.; Venour Ward, £37 15s. 2d.; Old Town Ward, £38 19s. 4d. ; 
and Looe Street Ward, £32 7s. dd. 
+ An order directed to the Mayor of Plymouth in October, 1617, orders 
that “persons of worth and quality be inrolled in the trayned bands.” If 
this rule was adhered to, the bands must have been more select than 
numerous. 
