The Great Civil War of Charles I. and the Parliament (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1845 edition. Excerpt: ...that his fall was a judgment of heaven. He himself, indeed, while ostentatiously defying such superstitious conclusions, in reality gave countenance to them: for he had chosen the day on which he fell, for the assault, as being that of the saint to whom the Cathedral was dedicated, from contempt for his supposed tutelary power. The particulars which, at the time, lent currency to such an opinion, are thus quaintly brought together in a letter of the period, printed by Mr. Gresley; to whose arrangement of the incidents, in The Siege of Lichfield Close, we are indebted in this part of our narrative. "That enemy to our church," says the contemporary writer, "was slain in his quarrel against our church, by the God of our church, with a shot out of the Cathedral, by a bullet made of church lead, through the mouth which reviled our church" mouth for eye, a modest adjustment of facts to the theory): "and," continues he, "(if this be worth your reading), this cathedral being dedicated to an old holy Saxon man, called Ceadda (commonly Chad), the blow of death came from St. Chad's church upon St. Chad's day." Brief, however, was the respite to Lichfield. Sir John Gell had brought over from Derby, where he commanded for the parliament, to reinforce Lord Brooke, a party of his "good, stout, fighting men; but the most licentious, ungovernable wretches, that belonged to the parliament." The remainder of that day passed in sorrow and inaction. Before day-break, however, the next morning, the besiegers, enraged by the loss of their noble leader, assaulted the fortress on both sides at once; but were repulsed with great bravery; and in a sortie from the western gate many of them were slain or drowned in...