. Her father was
a staunch Huguenot, and a trusty follower of Henry IV. That she did not
sully the renown acquired by so illustrious a descent, the following
narrative will abundantly prove.

It was at a special council of the Holy States,[43] held at Manchester
on Saturday the 24th of February 1644, that, after many former debates
and consultations, the siege of Lathom was concluded upon. The
parliament troops under Colonel Ashton of Middleton, Colonel Moore of
Bank-Hall, and Colonel Rigby of Preston, on the same day began their
march, proceeding by way of Bolton, Wigan, and Standish, under a
pretence of going into Westmoreland, that the soldiers should not
presently know of their destination.

Lathom, for magnificence and hospitality, was held in high reputation,
assuming, in these respects, the attitude of a royal court in the
northern parts of the kingdom; and the family were regarded with such
veneration and esteem that the following harmless inversion was familiar
"as household words:"--"God save the Earl of Derby and the King;" the
general feeling and opinion thereby apparent being love to their lord
and loyalty to their prince.

On the 27th of February the enemy took up their quarters about a mile
distant from the house. The next day Captain Markland was the bearer of
a letter to her ladyship from Sir Thomas Fairfax, commander-in-chief of
the parliamentary forces, and likewise an ordinance of parliament: the
one requiring that she should surrender the house upon such honourable
terms as he might propose; and the other setting forth and commending
the great mercy they had manifested by thus offering to receive the Earl
of Derby if he would submit himself. But she indignantly refused to
surrender without the consent and commandment of her lord; and after
many interviews, to which she assented only to gain time, and to
complete the provisioning and fortifying of her little garrison, they
began to find her answers too full of policy and procrastination,
dangerous to the fidelity of their troops. In the end, seeing she was
only amusing them by vain pretences, they sent the following as their
final terms, by Colonel Morgan, commander of the engineers, who had been
appointed by Sir Thomas Fairfax to conduct the siege:--

1st. "That the Countess of Derby shall have the time she desires, and
then liberty to transport her arms and goods to the Isle of Man, except
the cannon, which shall continue there for the defence