ly armed men, entered Bridgewater. The
Duke met with a cordial reception from the Mayor and Corporation of that
town, who proclaimed him king at the High Cross. The army was encamped
on Castle Field, on the east side of the town, and the Duke himself took
up his lodgings in the castle close by. The Duke might have been
encouraged when he thought of the siege and gallant defence of
Bridgewater by the famous Blake, who was a native of the town. A
body-guard of forty young men, well mounted and armed, who paid their
own expenses, had been formed for the protection of Monmouth's person,
while the whole of his cavalry amounted to a thousand horse. His object
was now to push forward, and, if an opportunity offered, to capture
Bristol. He therefore made but a short stay at Bridgewater, and
proceeded on to Glastonbury, in the famous abbey of which a part of the
army took up their quarters, while others occupied the neighbouring
churches. His intention of taking Bristol was frustrated by the bridge
across the Avon being broken-down, and by the Earl of Feversham having
entered the city at the head of two hundred and fifty of the Horse
Guards, formidable antagonists for Monmouth's ill-disciplined cavalry to
encounter. During the march Monmouth's troops had been greatly harassed
by the cavalry under Lord Churchill, afterwards the famous Duke of
Marlborough. Monmouth knew that the inhabitants of Bristol were ready
to rise the moment he should commence to attack, but the Duke of
Beaufort, who commanded there, threatened to burn down the city at the
least sign of rebellion, and Monmouth was delayed by the destruction of
the bridge, while the king's forces were gathering round him in large
numbers. He was compelled to abandon his design and to countermarch to
Bridgewater. At Philip's Norton the advanced guard of the two armies
met and had a sharp action, that of the Royal army being led by the Duke
of Grafton, a half-brother of Monmouth. Grafton, leading on his men,
found himself in a deep lane with fences on both sides of him, from
which a galling fire of musketry was kept up, but he pushed on boldly
till he came to the entrance of Philip's Norton; there his way was
crossed by a barricade, from which a third fire met him full in front.
His men now lost heart, and made the best of their way out of the lane;
but before they got out of it more than a hundred of them had been
killed or wounded. Grafton now encountered a party o