e to withstand any attack but that of famine."

A promise of secresy was exacted, when the wary chaplain pretended to
unfold her ladyship's plans. He said there was but little provision in
the place--that she was oppressed with the number of her soldiers--that
she would not be able to subsist more than fourteen days; and she hoped
to dare them to a sudden onset, not from her own confidence to give them
a repulse, but knowing that, should they continue the siege, she must
inevitably be forced to surrender.

The captain, after embracing his friend, and promising faithfully to
maintain the secret, revealed, as Rutter intended he should, the whole
of his confidential story to the enemy's council; who, giving credit to
the tale, laid aside, for the present, all thoughts of an attack, and
resolved to invest the place in a close and formal siege.

Fourteen days being expired, and they, supposing her provisions were
nigh spent, and the garrison reduced to the last extremity, sent another
and more peremptory summons. But during this time her soldiers were
training, the walls and fortifications were undergoing a thorough
repair, and the cannon properly served and mounted. The fortress, too,
was well stocked, and even abundantly stored with provisions, in spite
of their enemies, who kept a strict watch, but failed to detect the
source and manner of the supply. She was not without hope, too, of
relief from the king's troops, whom she daily expected to her
assistance.

The besiegers finding themselves deceived, their confidence abused, and
their schemes only serving to the advantage of the opposite party,
orders were given and preparations made for more offensive measures, by
drawing a line of circumvallation round the house.

The garrison consisted of 300 men, commanded by the Captains Henry Ogle,
Edward Chisnall, Edward Rawsthorne, William Farmer, Mullineux Ratcliffe,
and Richard Fox, assisted in their consultations by William Farrington
of Werden, Esq., who, for executing the commission of array, and
attending her ladyship in these troubles, had suffered the seizure of
all his personal estate and the sequestration of his lands.

There were 150 men each night upon the watch, with the exception of
sixteen select marksmen out of the whole, who all day kept the towers.

The besieger's army was between two and three thousand, divided into
tertias of seven or eight hundred men, who watched every third day and
night. They were co