do their duty, and allowed Lady Bankes to smuggle in
sufficient provisions and ammunition to withstand a long siege.
Moreover, Lady Bankes despatched a messenger to Prince Maurice, asking
him to send a force to help her hold the castle against the enemy, and
in reply to her appeal Captain Lawrence and some eighty men arrived
upon the scene.

The Parliamentarians had now become aware of the fact that Lady Bankes
was taking steps to render the castle capable of withstanding a siege,
and they decided to occupy it at once.

On June 23, 1643, Sir Walter Earle arrived before the castle with a
force of about 600 men, and called upon Lady Bankes to surrender, which
she firmly but courteously declined to do. Her refusal greatly
incensed the besiegers, who thereupon took an oath that 'if they found
the defendants obstinate not to yield, they would maintain the siege to
victory, and then deny quarter unto all, killing without mercy men,
women and children.'

The Parliamentarians, possessing several pieces of ordnance, opened
fire on the castle from all quarters, but did comparatively little
damage, and their attempts to carry it by assault were equally
unsuccessful.

When some days had passed, and the attacking forces were no nearer
capturing the castle than when they first arrived, the Earl of Warwick
sent to their assistance 150 sailors, a large supply of ammunition and
numerous scaling-ladders. Possessing these ladders, the Roundheads
anticipated that the castle would soon be in their hands. They divided
their force into two parties, one assaulting the middle ward, which was
defended by Captain Lawrence, and the other, the upper ward, where Lady
Bankes, her daughters, women-servants and five soldiers were the sole
defenders.

As the Parliamentarians fixed their ladders against the castle wall
Lady Bankes and her brave assistants showered down upon them red-hot
stones and flaming wood. The soldiers too, delighted at the bravery of
the mistress of the castle, fought desperately, and not one of the
enemy succeeded in gaining entrance to the castle.

Sir Walter Earle, seeing that he could not carry the castle by assault,
withdrew with a loss of one hundred killed and wounded. He would in
all probability have made another attack, but during the evening the
news reached him that the king's forces were approaching, and overcome
by fear he ordered a retreat, leaving behind muskets, ammunition and
guns, all of which fell i