THE SIEGE OF PLYMOUTH. Qs 
The train-bands had done their duty well; and perhaps it is to 
this period of the Siege that we must refer a tradition preserved by 
Mr. John Fox in his MSS.,* the death, while defending Maudlyn 
Work, or in Maudlyn fields, of one Smith, a silversmith, an ancestor 
of the Collier family. A relative was going up to the work with 
his dinner, when he or she met his body bringing hack, headless, 
thrown across a horse like a sack. The idea of taking out dinner 
to the combatants may seem strange ; but we have a special record 
of “the great humanity of the good women of Plymouth, and 
their courage in bringing out strong waters and all sorts of pro- 
visions, in the midst of all our skirmishes and fights, for the 
refreshing of our soldiers, though many women were shot through 
the clothes.” The credit of the defence is not confined therefore 
to the sterner sex, and the pluck of the women must have helped 
to compensate for the deficient numbers of the men. 
The garrison were deficient of munitions as well as men; but 
they had one piece of good fortune. When they were most pressed 
for money, Sampson Hele, of Fardel, came informally, without drum 
or trumpet, with a summons of surrender; whereupon, by way of 
ransom, he was “ persuaded” to yield £2,000 for the payment and 
clothing of the soldiers. 
_ When Maurice left, the Siege was turned into a blockade under 
the charge of Digby. Mount Stamford was retained, but the head- 
quarters were at Plympton, whilst a strong force was quartered at 
Tavistock. Moreover, the Cavaliers of Devon and Cornwall entered 
into a solemn vow and protestation, to the utmost of their power 
to assist his Majesty’s armies in reducing Plymouth. 
The chief commanders of the attack during this period were— 
Prince Maurice, the Earls of Marlborough and Newport, Lord 
Mohun, Sir Thomas Hele, Sir Edmund Fortescue, Sir John Gren- 
ville, Sir Richard Caire, Sir James Cobourne, Sir John Digby, Sir 
Peter Courtney, Sir William Courtney, Lieut.-General Wagstaffe, 
Major-General Basset. The officers of the garrison—Colonels 
William Gould, Michael Serle; Lieut.-Colonel William Layther ; 
Nathaniel Willis, Sergeant-Major; Captains Samuel Bersch, Gabriel 
Bernes, Henry Potter, William Watton, Henry Plumley, William 
Hill, Thomas Hughes, Robert Northcote, Thomas King, George 
Hamilton, William Owen, Humphry Burton, Thomas Halsey ; 
* Preserved in the Cottonian Library. 
