us in this tragedy; let us do it in a way of honour
and without personal animosities.'

Later, Colonel Seymour gave up the Governorship of Dartmouth, and was
succeeded by Sir Lewis Pollard.

Among the Seymour papers are some interesting notes, dated '1645, May
22,' relating to horses and arms raised in the Hundred of Stanborough.
'Mr Bampfield, parson, will bring a horse and arms to-morrow at
Berry.... John Key of Rattery affirms that he hath three horses in the
King's service; that he hath one mare only, which he proffers; his
estate not above 40 li. per annum, and hath no money. Dipford:--Mr
William Fowell, late of Dipford Downs, assessed a horse and arms
complete; his wife appears; says that Prince Maurice had one horse and
Captain Newton had another for a country horse very lately; all the
answer. Mr John Newton doth not appear. Buckfastleigh:--Mr Richard Cable
hath brought one gelding with all arms, only a carbine instead of
pistols, and no rider. Dortington:--Mr Champernowne brought a little
pretty fat old horse, but nothing else.'

In 1647 Colonel Seymour's lands and goods were sequestrated, and he
himself was kept either in prison or on parole all through Cromwell's
days. Letters and papers of this period shed a light on the difficulties
and hardships that in some cases befell the families of Cavaliers. Sir
Thomas Fairfax intervened on behalf of Mistress Seymour, who was then
at the estate of Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire, saying that he had
forbidden the soldiers to molest her in any way, and begging the
Committee for the County to insure that no civilian 'should prejudice
her in the enjoyment of her rights.' The lady had a humbler but very
earnest advocate, a servant of Sir Henry Ludlow's, who had been in
danger of being ruined 'had she not been means for my preservation.' She
had begged his liberty of Colonel Molesworth when the King's soldiers
were hunting for him, in order to exchange him for one of their side
taken prisoner, 'a blackamoor.' Mistress Seymour, too, gave this poor
man a good price for some wheat, 'which then none else would do, and had
she not bought it, it is very likely that it would have been taken away
by the soldiers, as the corn in the barn was.'

Mistress Seymour was evidently strong-minded as well as charitable, as
is shown in a letter written by her husband from the Marshalsea, at
Exeter,--an appeal to be given a hearing. He complains that being
'hurried away to prison and no