292 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
matter of ordinary business. Parts of the wall were battered 
down, or a weak point in the outer line of defence would need 
palisading. The Committee sent their orders to their tradesmen, 
and these went and did the work—to all appearance, much in the 
same way as they would have followed out the ordinary details of 
their occupation—and came up for their pay with exemplary regu- 
larity. These old Puritan folk took a lesson from the builders of 
the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. ‘They which builded on 
the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every 
one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other 
hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword 
girded by his side, and so builded.” AIl this illustrates with 
singular force the matter-of-fact earnestness and straightforward 
simplicity of character which characterised these rugged Round- 
heads, and in the end won them a victory at first very doubtful. 
There was a very profitable business carried on in horse stealing. 
So far as I can make out, the chief supplies of horses for the 
garrison were obtained by levying requisitions on the besiegers. 
This was profitable, because the Committee regularly paid for all 
such captures. In April we find, “Item: P* Cornett Rolles for ye 
horses taken by him from ye enemye yesterday, four of which 
were lifted in Collo Sentaubyn’s troope for ye service, and ye other 
imployed for ye publique service in ye garrison, £4 10s.” Horse 
lifting flourished with the greatest vigour towards the end of the 
year, and the reward dropped from £1 to 10s. Land was rented of 
Ambrose Diggens at Cattedowne for keeping the troop horses by 
night.* 
To return to our narrative. When 1644 closed the besieged 
were in a much better position than when Charles made his un- 
successful assault. The interim had been well spent in strengthen- 
ing the defences, which Grenville, although he scoured the country 
and kept up an aggravating blockade, did little to prevent. It is 
evident, from the entries in the account-book, that the line of 
defence was considerably more extended than it had been twelve 
months before, though its general features remained the same. 
Half-moons had been added to the defences, at least of Gasking and 
of East Gates; the chain of earthworks and their communications 
strengthened, and the former palisaded ; and the detached redoubts 
* Vide Appendix for miscellaneous entries from the Siege Accounts, and 
lists of officers and traders. 
