rles, from Cologne, where he had fixed his court, recommended caution;
that he conjured his adherents not to stake his and their hopes on
projects, by which, without being serviceable to him, they would compromise
their own safety. They despised his warnings; they accused him of indolence
and apathy; they formed associations, collected arms, and fixed the 14th of
February for simultaneous risings in most counties of England.[2] The day
was postponed to March 7; but Charles, at their request, proceeded in
disguise to Middleburgh in Zeeland, that he might be in readiness to cross
over to England; and Lord Wilmot, lately created earl of Rochester, with
Sir Joseph Wagstaff, arrived to take the command of the insurgents,

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, iii. passim. Whitelock, 608-620. Bates, 290, 291.]

[Footnote 2: Clarendon (Hist. iii. 552) is made to assign the 18th of April
for the day of rising; but all the documents, as well as his own narrative,
prove this to be an error.]

the first in the northern, the second in the western counties. It was the
intention of Wagstaff to surprise Winchester during the assizes; but the
unexpected arrival[a] of a troop of cavalry deterred him from the attempt.
He waited patiently till the judges proceeded to Salisbury; and, learning
that their guard had not accompanied them, entered that city with two
hundred men at five o'clock in the morning of Monday.[b] The main body with
their leader took possession of the market-place; while small detachments
brought away the horses from the several inns, liberated the prisoners in
the gaol, and surprised the sheriff and the two judges in their beds. At
first Wagstaff gave orders that these three should be immediately hanged;
for they were traitors acting under the authority of the usurper; then,
pretending to relent, he discharged the judges on their parole, but
detained the sheriff a prisoners because he had refused to proclaim Charles
Stuart. At two in the afternoon he left Salisbury, but not before he had
learned to doubt of the result. Scarcely a man had joined him of the crowd
of gentlemen and yeomen whom the assizes had collected in the town; and the
Hampshire royalists, about two hundred and fifty horse, had not arrived
according to their promise. From Salisbury the insurgents marched through
Dorsetshire into the county of Devon. Their hopes grew fainter every hour;
the further they proceeded, their number diminished; and, on the evening
of the thi