ABout the 13 ^th of May last, the Committee at Leicester hear­ing that there was one Henry Purefoy at Belgrave, that had spoken some words, about a design upon the Town of Leicester, and that he was upon his journey to London, sent out a party of horse to fetch him in; and upon examination before the Committee, he confessed, that he had been a Lieutenant in the Kings Armie, and that he came from the Kings Quarters; The Intelli­gence which he gave us was, that being at Bristol, and coming early in the morning in to the Governour, the Lord Hawleys chamber, the chamber being matted, and the Governour himself in bed, and the curtains drawn, he heard the said Lord tell Oneale his bed-fellow, that he was upon a gal­lant design the last night for the taking of Leicester, which would be a bu­sinesse of very great consequence, and that the Gentry and Townsmen in­vited them thither, or words to that effect, which we marvelled at, the most of the Gentry being either gone to London, or in the Kings Gari­sons. The Committee examined him upon particulars, but he could not give any further information; yet upon this intelligence, the Committee desired the Major to call a Hall, which accordingly he did, and there ma­king known the information, every one of the Committee, did first take a voluntary and sacred Oath, to this effect, that they had not held any In­telligence with the Enemy, nor knew any that had, nor yet paid them a­ny contribution, nor assisted with horse, arms, or any ammunition, neither would they hold any correspondence with them, nor contribute any thing, nor conceal any that did: which course the Committee did propound (not as enabled to tender an oath in the case, but to let them know how need­full it was, to assure their faithfulnesse one to another in this time of com­mon danger, and clear themselves of that imputation laid upon them:) which Oath upon the Majors request (being conceived into writing) was then taken both by the 24. and 48. being the representative body of the Corporation voluntarily, not one either scrupling or refusing; we then al­so [Page 4]Writ up Letters to the Committee of both Kingdoms of the intelli­gence, wherein (amongst other requests made) one sure was, that we might have an Order to presse 1000 men. Another humble request was, to finish an association of divers Counties, which both the Committee of Nottingham had long sollicited by Captain White, and we by M ^r Stavely one of our Committee, and also for Cannon, which we obtained, but they came not before the Town was lost. We also directed letters to Lieute­nant Generall Cromwell of our intelligence and condition, who writ us word, that he was called off by Command from prosecuting the Kings Army, to Oxford, but had left a considerable body of horse, to wait upon the motions of the enemy, with whom he advised us, to hold good intel­ligence in any thing that might concern the publike: which accordingly we did, and writ to Colonell Vermuyden Commander of that party (the Kings Army then approaching) craving his assistance: we also writ to all the Committees round about us for aid, whom we never failed upon any call to contribute our assistance unto, (viz.) Northampton, Coventry, Nottingham, Derby, together with Colonell Rossiter, hoping amongst them to have procured 500 men at the least, and we engaged to pay them, but could not prevail for a man. We then also began to cut off some superflu­ous works at the horse-fair-leys and the Fryers, wherin we saved the guard of 150 men, and set on labourers to amend the other works, where they were any waies defective, causing the Townsmen to shut up their shops, and calling in the Countrey, so that by the continuall pains of the Towns­men, women and Country-men, they were very well made up in all pla­ces. We then debated the strength of the Town, and caused the Major to give us in a list of all that were able to bear arms, from the age of 16. to 60. whereof the List contained about 900 Townsmen, besides those that were listed under our own Captains. We also sent up our Commissary to bring down the Cannon, S ^r Arthur Hesilrig having sent us word, that three peeces were granted, and commanded him to buy us 200. new mus­kets, and S ^r Arthur Hesilrig sent us 70 Carbines. We then disperst our Magazeen into trusty and sure hands, in divers parts of the Town, where was about 100 barrels of powder at the least, and match proportiona­ble, both which we made our selves, besides that we furnished all our Garisons and divers Towns in the Country, to defend themselves, in their Churches. In the midst of these proceedings, intelligence comes unto us, that the Kings Army marched from Stone in Stafford shire to Ashby, upon Munday the 26 ^th of May, by which sudden comming of the King, we were prevented of the assistance of our Forces at Cole-Overton, which [Page 5]were about 350 Horse and Foot, they being not able to bring off their Cannon could not come to us the Garison standing within Cannon shot of Ashby-de-lazouch, for they had shot from Cole-overton into Ashby Town.

The enemy then summoned Cole-overton Garrison, and Generall Ha­stings received a peremptory deniall to his demand of it, and our Horse issuing out upon the reare of the Kings Army, took and slew 40 of their Horse; then we drew off 100 of our Horse from Kirby Garrison, and left (contrary to some of our votes) the remaining strength there, which were in number about 160 Foot and Horse; our forces in the Town were 240 Horse of our own, besides Officers, above 480 Foot, beside the Towns­men, which were about 900 in all, about 400 whereof were listed men, and we found not upon our entrance but about 400 Foot: We had also sent out our Warrants into the Countrey, to call them in, who came but slowly, being very malignant in most parts of it; many came, that meant not to fight there was not of them above 150 that were willing to take up armes. Sir Robert Pye then being upon his passage towards Collonel Vermuyden, was by the scattering parties of the Kings Army fore-laid, that he could not passe; We hearing of him, intreated his company, and he came unto us, and freely offered himself to do service, which the Committee took so well, that they sent him 20 Peeces; we also appointed that he should be an assistant to Colonell Grey, and Lieu. Col. Whitbroke, who was a valiant and well-experienced souldier, and worthily commended out of the Low countries by the Parliaments Agent M ^r Strickland to the Earl of Pem­brook; Major Enis also with 200 Horse quartering in the Countrey, we intreated into the Town, just upon the enemies approach, to many of whose men, we delivered Carbines and Muskets, they so desiring.

Upon Tuesday the enemy quartered about Loughborrow and all the Towns about it, we not yet knowing, whether they intended for Leicester or Newark, for those Towns where they quartered were just in the line of their march to either place: But upon Wednesday they put us out of all doubt, by surrounding us with their Horse, and firing three Wind-mills, and one Water-mill; Our Horse went out and skirmished with them, took divers prisoners and kild others; and our Cannon on all hands played roundly, wherever they could finde a mark within distance, & did good ex­ecution in our sight, & this continued till night, the night being very light, about 10 or 11 a clock, we easily discovered the enemies Foot to draw down, and to begin to plant a battery against the Newark wall; we play­ed upon them all night abundantly from our works with our Musketteers, and Cannon shot from the south Centry, in the morning care was taken [Page 6]for the disposing all our Horse and Foot; we divided the line into two parts, it being neere three miles about, and made by the Right Honourable the Lord Grey about two years past, one part whereof was committed to the care of Sir Robert Pye, which was the Newark on that side, and the other side, where S ^t Margarets Church stands and Belgrave gate, to Colo­nell Gray and Lieutenant Col. Whitbroke. We had also another old Soul­dier, that had been above 30 years in forrain service, who desired of us leave to go to London, about a week before we heard any thing of the Kings Army approaching, upon urgent occasions of his own, and was up­on his return down as far as Northampton, but could not come thorow.

On Thursday at noon a Summons was sent by Prince Rupert to the Souldiary, to the Townsmen and to the Countrymen, wherein Quarter was offered to the whole Town, and liberty to Major Enis to march away with his whole Treops; whereupon the Committee called together all the Commanders, and read the Summons unto them, and one of the Com­mittee spake these words: We are a part of those who have underta­ken the Parliaments Cause, a Cause so high (said he) as I desire to die in no other: And this was seconded by Capt. Hacker, Capt. Babington and the rest of the Officers; only Sir Robert Pye and Major Enis seem'd to question, whether our numbers were sufficient to make resistance to such an Army, but soon desisted. And in regard the Summons was directed to the Townsmen and others, we sent to the Major, who came, and the Letter was read to him; and he was desired to call a Hall, and went pre­sently about it; in the mean time it was resolved upon debate to take the next morning to give an answer, in case it could be obtained, and the reasons were; First, That all to whom the Summons was directed, might unanimously give their resolution, the better to unite and ingage them: Another reason, in regard that the Newarke was the place they purpos'd to enter at, and we had begun a substantiall brestwork within it, and it was in a good forwardnesse, but not finished; the women of the Town wrought at it, although the Cannon bullets and some splinters of stones fell amongst them and hurt some of them, yet to their exceeding commendation, they went on and made it up, to the enemies admiration. The next thing that fell into consideration was, to whom to write, whether to the King be­ing in the Summons intimated to be present, or to Prince Rupert: some were of opinion, that Prince Rupert being a forrainer that had done so much mischief, no notice should be taken of him, but the answer directed to the King himself: others seem'd to refute that, in regard the King had made him Generall, which opinion prevailed, and accordingly it was [Page 7]directed: Upon the Trumpeters arriving at the Kings Army, a Drum was presently dispatch'd to demand a resolution of the former Summons, which must be returned within a quarter of an hour; which hasty proceeding with us, was occasioned by some shortnesse in Stile or Title given to Prince Ru­pert, as was pretended; the stile to him was, Sir, and the Title, To the Commander in chief of his Majesties Army; But now the Major and Corporation comming, the Summons was again read in the audience of all, the Major referred himself to the major votes; one of the Committee moving them to stand to their own defence, two only of the Townsmen gave in their votes, and both for fighting it out; and before any other could expresse themselves, the Kings Cannon from the battry played, but strook no terrour into us; then all debates ceased, and all were comman­ded to repair to the works, which was done with much courage and reso­lution, the Committee disposing themselves to severall parts of the Town, to supply what was wanting in Ammunition or otherwise, distributing Money unto the souldiers that stood at the line, for their better incourage­ment; and some sate at the Town hall to attend what might be further said or done for the advance of the service, if any should make addresses to them; and now we plied each other both with Cannon and Musket shot, as fast as we could charge and discharge; our Cannoniers with one shot brake the Carriage of one of the battering Peeces, and slew the Can­nonier, and thus we continued all the day long, and all the night, at which time the enemy prepar'd to storme us at 6, or 7, places, and to that pur­pose had cut down many bushes and faggeted them, wherewith he meant to fill up our ditches: at the Newarke breach was the fiercest assault, the enemy there comming to push of Pike, four times they attempted, and were as often repulst, our men taking two of their Colors from them, and pluck'd many of their Pikes out of their hands, and Captain Hacker, and Cap. Babington with their horse, and the Cannon from a corner of the wall made a miserable slaughter of them: amongst the rest Colonell S ^t George, in a bravery, came up to out Cannon, and was by it shotter'd into small parcels, and with him many more, for after the manner of the Turks the horse forc'd on the foot to fight, they being beaten upon by our Mus­ketteers, great slaughter was made of them; on the other side of the town Colonell S ^r Henry Bard, at Belgrave gate, endeavouring to scale, was beaten down with the butt-end of a Musquet, the bruise whereof was seene by some of us, and his Major likewise stricken down by his side, sixteen of his men slain upon the place, and 60 more mortally wounded out of 250. as himself reported: but setting upon it again upon a second [Page 8]attempt with hand-granadoes thrown in amongst our men, entred within the works; Bard then brake down the draw-bridge, and made way for the horse to enter; so again at Galtry-gate the enemy threw in hand-granadoes abundantly, terribly burnt our men, seconding them with squadrons of Musquetteers, our men were killed and beaten off, and there they also entred, the horse being come in, they rid with a full carreer in a body of about 600 up the streets, clearing them, as they went, and so to the Newark, and coming upon the backs of our Forces there, they fighting gallantly and defending the breach, there was no way left but to submit upon quarter, which they did. About three of the clock upon Saturday morning was the town entred and taken, the enemy slew divers at their first entrance, and Colonell Gray was sore wounded, and led off the place: a full confutation of some slanders laid upon him, of whose valour we had former experience; they dealt also extreme cruelly with the Town, plun­dring all they had, and putting many to great ransoms, when they had ta­ken away all their monies & goods, and compelling many to march along with the, in case they were not able to give the their demand; insomuch that it is to be feared, unlesse some course can be taken for their reliefe, Leicester cannot provide victuall for themselves, much lesse to accommo­date a Garison, and divers in the Country are in the same estate, for some that we know of 40. 50. 80. and 100. l. a year revenue are turn'd into rags, plundered house and field, and almost all the well affected thrust out of the Town, whole families, wives and children, without any compassion. And now having declared the sad storie of the town, we desire to make some reticall of our former proceedings. In March we signed an Order under the hands of all the Committee, as well townsmen as others, for the forti­fying of the Newark, and began to fortifie it very strongly, and resolved to goe thorow with it with all speed: but Colonell Booth comming to Leicester about the 12. of April last, in his passage to Cheshire, writ a Letter to the Right Honourable the Lord Gray at London, most earnest­ly disswading the fortifying of that place: which Letter the Lord Gray carried to the Committee of both Kingdomes, a true copie whereof is hereunto annexed: whereupon the Committee of both Kingdomes writ a Letter to the Committee at Leicester, and a true copie of our an­swer to that Letter is also herew ^th printed, but now 'tis visible to all, that what we would have done, the enemy now doth, and S ^t Henry Bard told some of us, that he heard we began to fortifie the Newark, which if we had finished, the Kings Army would never have come to Leicester. Many aspersions are laid upon the Committee of Leicester, both by the [Page 9]Earle of Stamford at the House of Commons door and other places, and also by one Lilly in a printed book much to our disparagement; we desire that any one of them may be made good; Lilly chargeth us with taxing that County with more than it is worth, wherein this brief answer will clear the truth, our Ordinance grants power only for raising 600. l. a week, our warrants issued out but for 500. l. weekly, and of that one week with another, we beleeve there is not come in above 300. l. a week, one whole hundred of the county being almost totally cut off from us by the enemy. Another aspersion is, that we made our selves rich with the counties monies, but we had assigned the County to our Garisons, and all the six hundreds were thus disposed of, two to Cole-overton and Bagworth, two to the Garison at Kerby, and two to Leicester, and the monies were all re­ceived by Collectours and Treasurers appointed for every Garison, and not by any of the Committee. We have had four Garisons wherein we have quartered 420. horse, and above 600. foot, which were in constant pay, we bought all our armes, except those we found in the souldiers hands at our entrance, and all our ammunition also, and many horses: we have never been chargeable to the State for any thing, we have not had our power a twelve-moneth, we found the County infested with four Garisons, Ashby, Belvoir, Newark and Weverton: against Ashby we plan­ted a Garison within Cannon shot, and at all times beat the enemy into his works: we had above 100 prisoners of theirs when the Town was lost, and they not one of ours, but Captain Pratt; against Belvoir and the rest we planted another at Kerby, to preserve that side of the Country, and to recover the lost hundred; which lay towards Newarke, Belvoir, and Weverton; another at Bagworth to be a horse-quarter, and to scout abroad into the Countrey; we have served the Parliament in the Com­mittee from the first Ordinance, and we who were not officers never re­ceived a peny of money, nor a meals meat at the States charge, some of us however inconsiderable to others have contributed large summes up­on the Propositions, and have spent hundreds of pounds in the Parlia­ments service, our Estates are plundered, our persons imprisoned, and we rewarded with being called Rascals, Pedlers, base fellowes, at the door of the house of Commons, and by Master Lilly, betrayers of the town, and knaves in print, we know no reason: We appeale for justice, if traitours or knaves, we beg no favour; and if we are Rascals and base followes, we are unfit for the Parliaments service: it was the cause of God and the Kingdomes that made us undertake the work at the beginning, and when others of greater estates deserted it, some of us strongly impor­tuning [Page 10]some of the best of our county, who have expressed themselves for the Parliament, to assist and appeare at the very beginning, when the Gentry of the association were to meet at Owndell, and spake to some Par­liament men who were there met, to move the House to order those at London to come down and appeare in the Parliaments cause, and before our last Ordinance again with much importunity sollicited some of the most eminent in Town to goe down and sit at the Committee, which if they would doe, some of us would resigne up and desist, in re­gard we found a dislike in some against us, but could not prevail. And if Sir Edw. Hartopp Baronett, Sir Tho. Hartopp, Sir Roger Smith, John S ^t John, and Tho. Brudenell, Esquires, that have been in the first Ordinance and are in this, were but commanded down to sit as Committees, they would give more satisfaction to the Countrey, and do the Parliament better service then those that are of lesser estates and esteem can possibly do; the troubles we have found in managing the Parliaments Cause, and the abuses put upon us for being faithfull in the service, have made the burden insupportable,; all the Committee at one time (before we had the late Ordinance) went away one after another in displeasure, except one Gentleman and a Captain, whose imployment abroad upon parties put him off from that service, and the Major of the Town, being only for the Town, inforced to sit upon the Countries affairs, untill an Or­der was obtained to inable him to act for the Countrey as well as for the Town, which the Knights of the Shire speedily supplied by an Order for that purpose, otherwise the Garison had broken up, and the whole Country fallen under the power of the enemy; and this was continued for a quarter of a year. And whereas M ^r Lilly seems to charge schisine and faction up­on the Committee and Townsmen, there was no Town in England of that bignesse where there was lesse faction or division in matters of Rell­gion, nor the worship of God more duly and frequently enjoyed in the power of it, to the great comfort of many of Gods people both Ministers and others that fled in thither for refuge; and we are confident that the godly Ministers and people both in Town and Country, will give us a good report, and this is some support against all Lillyes slanders and other abuses; if we gain no other satisfaction; and some of us have found more comfort in our imprisonment under the hands of cruell enemies then in Westminster Hall, and at the Parliament door, being extremely disgraced for doing faithfull service to the Parliament. We know no fault in this Committee for losing Leicester, nothing omitted in our power to execute, we delivered it not upon base tearms, but fought it out, to the hazard of all [Page 11]our lives, and losse of our estates, we know no other reason, onely God pleased to humble us, Town and Countrey, that the whole Kingdome might be exalted, blessed for ever be his Name: But this advantage we have by it, that false-hearted men are now discovered. We conclude with this, we desire all or any of those that have given any evill reports of us, to prove but one particular, or in the mean time to be silent.

Col. Gray was by the L. Gray made Governor, but we never put the pow­er out of our own hands. There was buried in Leicester 709. as hath been collected by the burials there; besides those that died of hurts since: there was not 109 of ours slain. These were killed at their posts, Lieutenant Co­lonell Whitbrooke, Captain Farmer, a Low-country Souldier, Captain Hurst, all Captains of Foot, and Colonell Grey at his line mortally woun­ded in severall places and led off the place, besides many other Officers and souldiers; and one M ^r Browne an honest and painfull Minister slain, toge­ther with M ^r Palmer of the same profession, mortally wounded, if not slain, but few after their entrance.