of it; and to make his men more circumspect and eager in the
siege thereof, hee is certainly assured that the King is there,
and with him the two German Princes Rupert and Maurice: the
London Brigade, under the Command of Colonel Man Waring is now
there with him, with whom are joyned the Horse and Foot of
Nottinghamshire under the Command of Colonell Thornehaugh. On
the South Side of the Towne Colonell Rossiter is quartered with
his owne Regiment; and he hath with him the Northampton Horse
under the Command of Colonell Lidcot, so that it is conceived,
it is altogether impossible for the king to escape through them
either by force or stealth, for hee hath not with him above
800 Horse, the Truth of which may easily be collected by the
strength which he brought with him into Newarke, which were at
the most not above 1800 horse, sixteen hundred whereof were so
sorely shaken at Sherbourne, that it is thought very few of
them returned to Newarke, to bring the sadde tydings of their
overthrow, so that he hath now but 200 remaining with him, which
being put to the troopes of the Garrison, which are but nine
troopes, and are 3 score in every troope doe make up just 800.”
But dissension was about to appear in the little garrison of Newark.
Prince Rupert had lost Bristol, and had, on this score, been abused.
Contrary to the King’s wishes, he came to Newark to explain his side
of the question. The position was further complicated by the King
choosing this time to supplant Sir Richard Willis in the governorship
of the town, and to put in his place Lord Belasyse. This, taken with
other private jealousies, brought matters to a climax. The Princes,
Rupert and Maurice, sided with Willis when at a feast given by Lord
Belasyse the quarrel became open. “Thereupon they all drew in the
King’s presence, and within an hour the Princes, Genl. Willis, and many
others cald to Horse, and went away that night on the South side of the
Town (to Wiverton Hall). Colonell Rossiter lyeing on that side must
needs know of their action. Bellasis is made Governor of Newarke, the
onely creature of note with his Majesty.
“Newark is full of discontent, and most of the gentry wavering, desire
their liberty.”
The sequel of this quarrel was that the discontented Royalists applied
to Parliament for passes to leave the country, promising not to take
any further part in the war. Their request was granted, yet not
all seem to have taken advantage of it, for some at any rate were
reconciled to the King. Prince Rupert, however, passes altogether from
the local stage.
At the end of October, Poyntz undertook the suppression of the Royalist
garrisons at Shelford and Wiverton. Shelford, commanded by Lord
Stanhope, son of the Earl of Chesterfield, refused to surrender. A
bloody struggle was the result, and it was not until their general was
slain that the plucky defenders capitulated. Within a week Wiverton and
Welbeck, awed by the fate of Shelford, surrendered without waiting to
be stormed. Thus was Newark becoming gradually surrounded by hostile
garrisons, and now Belvoir Castle alone remained in Royalist hands.
The King realised that if he wished to escape before the net was drawn
quite tightly round Newark he must delay no longer, and on November
6, Colonel-General Poyntz had to report “that the King was come from
Newarke and gotten by him.”
Siege was laid to Belvoir Castle, its outworks were captured, and
its water-supply almost cut off, yet it appears to have held out for
two months, until December 30, when the Governor, Sir Gervase Lucas,
surrendered.
Meanwhile a formal siege had been laid to Newark, and the town was
all but surrounded; for now that the Earl of Montrose was defeated in
Scotland, and the Royalists in the west of England dispersed, all that
remained to be done was to capture the King and his towns of Oxford and
Newark.
Mr. Cornelius Brown, in his _History of Newark_, draws attention
to the fact that while the King was at Newark he was in communication
with the Scottish leaders--a fact to be noticed in view of the course
events afterwards took.
This last siege of Newark was a much more serious affair than either
of the others had been. A large army was collected for the purpose,
and an attempt was made to surround the town and establish a blockade,
with the object of preventing the introduction of provisions into
it. The arrangement of the besieging forces can be well seen from
the contemporary plan. Colonel Rossiter at Balderton, and General
Poyntz at Farndon, were watched by the Newarkers established in the
Queen’s Sconce, of which notable remains can still be seen. Colonel
Theo. Gray at Coddington, and Colonel Henry Gray at Winthorpe, were,
in their turn, watched by the garrison of the King’s Sconce, now
unfortunately destroyed. It had been arranged that the Scots, when they
arrived, should take up their position at Kelham, and by occupying
the island from Kelham to Muskham Bridge they would complete the ring
of besiegers. At the beginning of December the Scots arrived, and
immediately a council of war was held by the English and Scottish
generals. As a result Muskham Bridge was stormed and a sconce near it
captured. It is difficult to point to the exact place where the Scots
had their main camp, called Edinburgh. Undoubtedly it was a very large
enclosure, and one would expect it to have been defended by some
kind of earthworks; yet a careful search of this part of the island
has failed to reveal more than a few isolated banks and ditches,
insufficient to give us any idea of the shape or extent of this camp.
[Illustration: SIEGE PLAN OF NEWARK.]
Notwithstanding the arrival of the Scots, the circuit would not seem
to have been complete, for the Newarkers still continued to carry
provisions into the town, and not infrequently they would sally forth
and fiercely attack one or other of the enemy. The following graphic
account from the _Cities Weekly Post_, January 6–13, 1646, must
serve to describe one of these frequent sallies:--
“Major Generall Poyntz continues his Quarters at Stoake; the
Nottingham forces did keep their Guards in the Church, where
unfortunately happened so great a fire, which took hold of the
straw, that they could not quench it until it had devoured
all that was combustible by the fire, and nothing on the
next morning but the walls remaining, a sad spectacle to the
beholders; whether this gave any encouragement to the Enemy in
Newarke we cannot tell; but not long afterwards, the Nottingham
forces being many of them gone to Nottingham upon some business
(as wee heare) of publicke concernment, the Enemy sallyed forth
from Newarke, being about 800 Horse and betwixt 200 or 300 Foot,
and were making up to Major Gen. Poyntz his quarters at Stoak,
which they did with so much fury and eager speed, that his Horse
Guard began to flye, and were in that disorder, that two Horses
fell down as they were passing through the turn Pike, by which
means the more neare approaches of the Enemy and the Allarum
they did give us could not so perfectly bee apprehended until
they had entered into our Quarters, and Major Gen. Poyntz his
own Chamber, which they made hast to plunder. In the meantime
Major Gen. Poyntz using all dilligence to re-colect his men, did
deport himselfe with so much resolution, that many of the Enemy
were killed, nine prisoners taken, and about fifty wounded. In
this service, it is said, we had not above three slaine, and
seven hurt. The Enemy retyred in disorder to Newark, and the
rather because they heard that Collonel Rossiter with a new body
of 1000 Horse and foot was cumming down from Claypoole towards
them, but perceiving that the Enemy had notice of their cumming,
and were got into Newark, he onely gave an alarum to their
Garrison, and returned safe to his own quarters.”
Even the turning of the river out of its course was not able to break
down the defences of the gallant town, and so matters went on, until in
May the end came suddenly and dramatically.
Negotiations between Charles and the Scotch Commissioners appear
to have been in progress for some time, the intermediary being
Montreuil, a Frenchman in the King’s confidence. There is a certain
amount of mystery attached to the whole affair, but at any rate
Charles thought that he could not do better for his cause than join
the Scotch army. How far the negotiations had gone, and how far the
Scotch generals were privy to these negotiations, is not clear, but
at any rate when the King suddenly appeared at Kelham on May 5, 1646,
General Leslie professed complete astonishment and embarrassment.
But it is instructive to inquire how Charles reached Kelham, for
considerable uncertainty exists as to the course he took after entering
Nottinghamshire at the south. We hear that the King reached Stamford
in disguise, accompanied by Dr. Hudson and John Ashburnham, on May 3,
and left again on the 4th, travelling all night. The only detail of
his journey to Southwell, where he arrived early on the 5th, that we
have been able to meet with, is that he crossed the Trent near Gotham.
This statement is confusing rather than otherwise, for the Trent does
not pass within two miles of this isolated village. The reason why it
was necessary to cross the river to the west of Nottingham would be
that the country between Nottingham and Newark was quite unsafe for
Royalists, while there was quite a possibility of a safe circuit round
Nottingham by the north, and so by forest roads to Southwell. But the
exact spot where the Trent was crossed still remains to seek. Arrived
at the King’s Arms (now the Saracen’s Head), Southwell, Montreuil’s
headquarters, Charles rested for a short time, and after dinner marched
on to Kelham. Though seemingly embarrassed by their royal prisoner, the
Scots had no intention of letting him escape. He was closely guarded
at Kelham Hall--so closely, indeed, that no one could correspond with
him. No sooner was he at Kelham than Charles set about to arrange for
the surrender of Newark. The Newarkers begged that they might hold
out as long as they could, but Charles insisted on their surrender,
and Belasyse had to make the best terms he could. The terms were
favourable, for the garrison marched out with all the honours of war.
The arrangements for the surrender of the town were made “neere Maj.
Gen. Poyntz headquarters.” The _Perfect Occurrences of both Houses
of Parliament, Week ending May 8th_, gives the following list of
treators:--
“Treators for the Parliament are Col. Alex. Popham, Col. Fras.
Thornhaugh, Col. John Hutchinson, Col. Henry Gray, Col. Richard
Thornton, Maj. Phil. Twisleton, and Maj. John Archer--English;
Col. Walter Scott, Lieut.-Col. Gil. Carre, Maj. Archib.
Douglas--Scots.
“Sir Thos. Ingram, Sir Bry. Balmes, Sir. Ger. Nevile, Mr.
Robt. Sutton (not allowed to be a lord), Sir Simon Fanshaw,
Maj.-Gen. Eyre, Col. Gilsby, Col. Darcy, Col. Atkins, Alderman
Standish--for Newark.
“The clerks are Mr. Thos. Bristoe for us, and Mr. Coudy for
them.”
On May 8 the Governor of Newark marched out, and on the same day the
Scotch army and the King went northwards, spending the first night at
Markham. With the surrender of Newark an order came from Parliament for
the pulling down of all strong places in Nottinghamshire, including
Southwell Palace and the Minster. The Palace was already in a ruinous
condition, but Mr. Cludd managed to save the Minster, while Nottingham
Castle was spared till 1651, on account of its steady adhesion to
Parliament. But Newark Castle was “slighted,” and by the end of July
was such a ruin as we see to-day.
Little more remains to be said with regard to the struggle in Notts. In
July 1648 a rising of Notts and Lincolnshire Royalists was led by Sir
Gilbert Byron. A skirmish was fought near Willoughby on the Wolds, and
the Royalists were totally routed by Colonel Rossiter. Early in 1649
the King was brought to trial before a court of sixty-seven members.
Five names connected with our county are prominent: Whalley, Ireton,
Hutchinson, Millington, and Goffe; while to Colonel Francis Hacker was
given the task of seeing that the sentence was carried out.
With the death of the King it is fitting that this short sketch of
the Civil War should cease. It has not been possible to go into any
details, and in order to preserve the due proportion it has been
necessary to omit much that might have proved interesting. England
passed through a severe crisis in her history--a crisis which was
almost sure to occur at one time or another--and though its course
might have been less bloody had the ruler of England been a stronger
man, yet it doubtless served a good purpose in providing a wide outlet
for all the seething schisms engendered by Puritanism.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE POETS
BY JOHN RUSSELL, M.A.
The appreciation of poetry would appear to be as various and uncertain
as its definition. For while, on the one hand, the cynic, confusing
cause with effect, has defined it as a “disease of the intestines,”
on the other, a great critic, himself an excellent poet, has written:
“Poetry is nothing less than the most perfect speech of man, that in
which he comes nearest to being able to utter the truth. It is no small
thing, therefore, to succeed eminently in poetry”; and again, “The
noble and profound application of ideas to life is the most essential
part of poetic greatness”: so that when a poet has established his
claim to real glory, “that real glory is good and wholesome for mankind
at large, good and wholesome for the nation which produced the poet
crowned with it.”
The county of Nottingham cannot claim the credit of having produced
many such glorious poets. Only three of her poetic children stand out
very conspicuously--Byron, Kirke White, and Philip James Bailey. But
she can claim a fair number of minor poets, with whom this paper will
more especially deal. It might, indeed, have been expected that the
county and the county town would be prolific in poetic achievement.
For they have had a remarkable history and have been the scene of many
stirring incidents in the great drama of the nation’s life. Some,
indeed, may say that the inhabitants have been men of action rather
than of words.
As for the scenery of the county, though it may seem tame to the
dwellers in the Lake District or the Peak, or amid the combes and
moors of the south-west, yet Sherwood Forest, Clifton Grove, and
the long reaches of the Trent have a peculiar beauty of their own,
and the homely charm of fields and hedgerows appeals strongly to
Nottinghamshire men, so that amid grander scenes they can feel as
Ulysses of old felt:--
“Non dubia est Ithaci sapientia, sed tamen optat
Fumum de patriis posse videre focis.”
This pleasure in their home has found plentiful and apt expression in
the county poets. Kirke White sings:--
“In woods and glens I love to roam,
When the tired hedger hies him home;
Or by the woodland pool to rest,
When pale the star looks on its breast.”
He does but express in verse what any sensitive mind would feel in
walking, while the early autumn twilight is fading into dark, say along
the field path between Thoroton and Orston. The scope of this article
forbids any detailed account of the lives of the several writers and
their works, or lengthy criticism; it must be enough to relate a few
facts about each, mention their chief writings, and occasionally, where
it seems desirable, add a few lines of illustrative quotation.
HENRY CONSTABLE.--The first to claim our attention is Henry Constable
[1562–1613]. Anthony Wood says of him “that he was born (or at least
descended from a family of the name of Constable) in Yorkshire.” It
seems, however, to be accepted now that he was born at Newark, and
was the son of Sir Robert Constable, Lieutenant of the Ordnance to
Queen Elizabeth. He was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge, a
fact with which it is somewhat difficult to reconcile Wood’s statement
“that he spent some time among the Oxonian muses.” He became a Roman
Catholic at an early age, and his zeal for the cause of his religion
brought him many difficulties and made him an exile for many years of
his life. He died at Liège. His poetical ability was fully recognised
by his contemporaries. In a letter from abroad he is described as “One
Constable, a fine poetical wit, who resides in Paris”; and in the same
letter he is said “to have had in his head a plot to draw the Queen to
be a Catholic.” Wood eulogizes him as “a great master of the English
tongue,” and adds that “there was no gentleman of our nation had a
more pure, quick, and higher delivery of conceit than he.” Sonnets
of conceits, that is, quaint or humorous fancies elaborately wrought
out till they were exhausted of suggestion, were a favourite form of
composition at that time, and with Constable’s work may be compared
Drayton’s _Idea_, Daniel’s _Delia_, and other similar collections. In
1584 appeared _Diana, or the Excellent Conceitful Sonnets of H. C.
Augmented with divers quatorzains of honourable and learned personages.
Divided into VIII. Decades._ And in 1592 was issued a small quarto
volume entitled _Diana, the Praises of his Mistress in certain Sweete
Sonnets by H. C._ In illustration of his style may be quoted:--
“My Lady’s presence makes the roses red,
Because to see her lips they blush for shame.
The Lily’s leaves, for envy, pale became;
And her white hands in them this envy bred.
The Marigold the leaves abroad doth spread;
Because the sun’s and her power is the same.
The Violet of purple colour came,
Dyed in the blood she made my heart to shed.
In brief, All flowers from her their virtue take;
From her sweet breath, their sweet smells do proceed;
The living heat which her eyebeams doth make
Warmeth the ground, and quickeneth the seed.
The rain, wherewith she watereth the flowers,
Falls from mine eyes, which she dissolves in showers.”
Michael Drayton’s _Idea_ appears in 1619. Though he was a Warwickshire
man, he perhaps deserves a passing mention here because of his praises
of “the Crystal Trent, for fords and fish renowned,” and the “silver
Trent near to which Sirena dwelleth, she to whom Nature lent all that
excelleth.”
“Tagus and Pactolus
Are to thee debtor,
Not for their gold to us
Are they the better;
Hence forth of all the rest,
Be thou the river,
Which as the daintiest
Puts them down ever.
For as my precious one
O’er thee doth travel,
She to pearl paragon
Turneth thy gravel.”
GERVASE MARKHAM [1568–1637], a member of a very distinguished
Nottinghamshire family, was the son of Sir Robert Markham of Cotham.
After serving as a soldier in the Low Countries and with the Earl of
Essex in Ireland, he applied himself to writing, for which he was
well qualified, being a scholar and knowing four or five languages.
He had a practical knowledge of agriculture and horse-breeding, on
which subjects he wrote several treatises. In association with William
Sampson he published in 1622 a drama, _The True Tragedy of Herod and
Antipater_, and in 1633 he produced another, _The Dumbe Knight_. His
poem, _The Most Honourable Tragedie of Sir Richard Grenvile, Knight_,
should be noticed because it probably gave suggestions to Tennyson in
writing his ballad of _The Revenge_. In point of length there is a
considerable difference between these works of the two poets. Markham
also wrote some religious poems.
WILLIAM SAMPSON, about whom very little is known, was probably born
at South Leverton near Retford, at the end of the sixteenth century.
On the title page of the play which was written by him in conjunction
with Gervase Markham, he is described as a “Gentleman.” It is said that
he was a retainer in the family of Sir Henry Willoughby of Risley. In
support of this it may be mentioned that he dedicated one of his plays,
_The Vow Breaker, or the Faire Maide of Clifton_, to “The Worshipfull
and most vertuous Gentlewoman Mistress Anne Willoughby Daughter of the
Right Worshipfull and ever to be Honoured Henry Willoughby of Risley in
the County of Derby, Baronet.”
In his volume of poems, many of which are of the nature of epitaphs
or elegies, he gives some anagrams. Making of these was “then the
fashionable amusement of the wittiest and most learned,” as Disraeli
says. From “William Cavendish,” Sampson makes “All my will is Heaven”;
from “John Curson” or “Cursone,” “So I ranne on,” and “Honour is sure,”
“Which Anagrammized thus, ’tis cleere and pure,
So hee ranne on. His honour now is sure.”
Among the subjects of his verse may be noted the Countess of Shrewsbury
(“Bess of Hardwick”), “ould Sir John Byron of Newstead Abbey,” Sir
George Perkins of Bunny, Henry Lord Stanhope, and “the right Honourable
Henry Peirpoint,” father of the first Earl of Kingston.
THOMAS SHIPMAN [1632–1680] was the eldest son of William Shipman of
Scarrington, by his second wife, Sara, daughter of Alderman Parker
of Nottingham. Thoroton speaks of him as “a good Poet, and one of
the Captains of the Trained Bands of this County.” His father was an
enthusiastic Royalist. In spite of this partisanship, Thomas succeeded
in “saving a small estate amid the calamities of the last rebellion,”
which indicates shrewdness and capacity in business. His wife, daughter
of John Trafford, brought him an estate at Bulcote. Their son William
was high sheriff of Notts in 1730. Among his literary associates were
Denham and Oldham.
He published a rhymed tragedy, _Henry the Third of France, stabbed by
a Fryer, with the Fall of Guise_, and a volume of Loyal Poems called
_Carolina_. He made grateful acknowledgments to his friend Abraham
Cowley, and was a poetical friend of the third Lord Byron.
An address to the reader by Thomas Flatman, in 1682, describes him
as “a man every way accomplished: To the advantages of his birth,
his education had added whatsoever was necessary to fit him for
conversation, and render him (as he was) desirable by the best wits of
the age.” Some of his writings were not free from the moral blemishes
which disfigure much of the writing of that period.
JOHN OLDHAM [1653–1683], though born in Gloucestershire, is often
numbered among Nottinghamshire writers because of his connexion with
the Earl of Kingston, who was his patron and gave him a home for a time
at Holme Pierrepoint.
In the church of that village there is a tablet to the poet’s memory.
That he was a man of distinction among his literary contemporaries
is clear from the fact that both Waller and Dryden paid tribute
to him at his death: and his work seems to have had considerable
influence upon Pope and other eighteenth-century poets. He is called
in the introduction to the _Ode on St. Cecilia’s Day_, “the late
ingenious Mr. John Oldham,” and in a Dictionary published in 1694
in London he is described as “The darling of the Muses, a pithy,
sententious, elegant, and smooth Writer.”
He wrote Satires and Pindaric Odes, and based his work largely on
imitation of such classical authors as Horace and Juvenal.
His appreciation of the schoolmaster’s calling was not very high--
“A Dancing-Master shall be better paid,
Though he instructs the Heels, and you the Head.”
Oldham’s works do not allow much satisfactory quotation; but these
lines may be given as a specimen of him:--
“’T has ever been the top of my Desires,
The utmost height of which my wish aspires,
That Heaven would bless me with a small estate,
Where I might find a close obscure retreat;
There, free from noise and all ambitious ends,
Enjoy a few choice books, and fewer friends;
Lord of myself, accountable to none,
But to my conscience and my God alone:
There live unthought of, and unheard of die,
And grudge mankind my very memory.
But since the blessing is, I find, too great
For me to wish for, or expect of Fate:
Yet maugre all the spite of destiny,
My thoughts and actions are, and shall be free.”
From the Pindaric Ode to the memory of Mr. Charles Morwent may be
cited:--
“Thy soul within such silent pomp did keep,
As if humanity were lulled asleep,
So gentle was thy pilgrimage beneath
Time’s unheard feet scarce make less noise,
Or the soft journey which a planet goes.
Life seemed all calm as its last breath;
A still tranquillity so husht thy breast,
As if some Halcyon were its guest,
And there had built her nest:
It hardly now enjoys a greater rest.”
The life of ROBERT DODSLEY [1703–1764], publisher and poet, has in it a
touch of romance in that, by ability, perseverance, and integrity, he
raised himself from the comparatively servile position of a footman to
be the friend and helper of many of the greatest men of his age, men
distinguished by high birth and position or by genius, or by all three
combined; and it will appear from what follows that he played no small
or insignificant part in the literary life of the eighteenth century.