e security for their peaceable behaviour. These
proceedings seemed to justify Willis in representing the attempt as
hopeless; and, at his persuasion, "the Knot" by circular letters forbade
the rising, two days before the appointed time.[b] The royalists were thus
thrown into irremediable confusion. Many remained quiet at their homes;
many assembled in arms, and dispersed on account of the absence of their
associates; in some counties the leaders were intercepted in their way
to the place of rendezvous; in others as soon as they met, they were
surrounded or charged by a superior force. In Cheshire alone was the
royal standard successfully unfurled by Sir George Booth, a person of
considerable influence in the county, and a recent convert to the cause of
the Stuarts. In the letter which he circulated, he was careful to make
no mention of the king, but called on the people to defend their rights
against the tyranny of an insolent soldiery and a pretended parliament.[c]
"Let the nation freely choose its representatives, and those
representatives as freely sit without awe or force of soldiery." This was
all that he sought: in the determination of such an assembly, whatever that
determination might be, both he and

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1659. August 13.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1659. August 29.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1659. August 2.]

his friends would cheerfully acquiesce.[1] It was in effect a rising on
the Presbyterian interest; and the proceedings were in a great measure
controlled by a committee of minister, who scornfully rejected the aid of
the Catholics, and received with jealousy Sir Thomas Middleton, though a
known Presbyterian, because he openly avowed himself a royalist.

At Chester, the parliamentary garrison retired into the castle, and the
insurgents took possession of the city. Each day brought to them a new
accession of strength; and their apparent success taught them to augur
equally well of the expected attempts of their confederates throughout the
kingdom. But the unwelcome truth could not long be concealed; and when they
learned that they stood alone, that every other rising had been either
prevented or instantly suppressed, and that Lambert was hastening against
them with four regiments of cavalry and three of foot, their confidence
was exchanged for despair; every gentleman who had risked his life in the
attempt claimed a right to give his advice; and their counsels, from fear,
inexperience, and misinformation, bec