THE SIEGE OF PLYMOUTH. 287 
writers. According to Clarendon,* he was of “a sour and surly 
nature, a great opiniatre, and one who must be overcome before he 
would believe that he could be so ”—a very desirable quality in a 
man who had to occupy such a post in such a time. Lord Lans- 
downe also calls Robartes “a man of a sour and surly nature.” 
Grainger, in his “ Biographies,” says he had much learning, but - 
was pedantic; and some virtues, but soured and debased by a 
morose and splenetic temper. On the other hand, Josiah Ricraft, 
in his “Survey of England’s Champions and Truth’s Faithfull 
Patriots,” published in 1647, terms him “a most noble, religious, 
and pious lord, whose virtues spoke forth his praise, and whose 
valour renouned Plymouth and malignant Cornwall would acknow- 
ledge unto that day.” Ricraft adds that Robartes did good service 
at Newbury, and that he beat Grenville and his Cornish choughs 
from place to place. 
And now we come to the incident which set Grenville and 
Robartes in such deadly antagonism, that thereafter, while they 
commanded, no quarter was given. When the blockade was first 
left in Grenville’s charge, his chief endeavour was to stop the sup- 
plies, and a great many skirmishes necessarily resulted. Lord 

Lansdowne states that in some such skirmish, wherein prisoners 
were taken on both sides, a young gentleman about sixteen, a near 
kinsman to Grenville, and of his own name, fell into the hands of 
the garrison ; that Sir Richard wanted to ransom or exchange him, 
but that Robartes hung him at one of the town gates without 
other reply. Such is Lord Lansdowne’s explanation of the passage 
in Clarendon, that a message passed between Grenville and Robartes, 
which kindled such furious resentment between them that all who 
fell into their hands afterwards on both sides were put to death by 
the sword or, what was worse, by the halter. And if Lansdowne’s 
story were true, we need not wonder at what followed; the act 
would have been base and cruel, worthy of Grenville himself. 
But there is a very different version of the affair. Whitelock’s 
accountt is that young Grenville was a cousin of Sir Richard’s, 
and was persuaded into a plot to betray Plymouth to him, but 
discovered and executed. Rushworth adds { that this Grenville 
offered Col. Serle, then second in command, £3,000 to betray his 
trust, and was executed on the 24th September accordingly. And 
however we may lament the fate of this unfortunate young man, if 
* Vol. ii. 799. ¢ Page 101. ~ Page 713. 
