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"not kill they let loofe to the world for the next "taker. In the parks they burn three tenements "and two lodges; they cut down all the trees "about the house and grounds. Oaks and elms, "fuch as but few places could boaft of the like," "whofe goodly bushy advanced Heads drew the "eyes of travellers on the plains to gaze on them; "these they fold for four-pence, fixpence, or "twelve-pence a-piece, that were worth three, "four, or five pounds a-piece. The fruit-trees "they pluck up by the roots, extending their "malice to commit fpoil on that which God, by a "special law, protected from deftruction even in "the land of his curfe, the land of Canaan; for fo "we read: When thou shalt befiege a city, "thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing "an ax against them, for thou mayeft eat of them, " and thou shalt not cut them down and employ "them in the fiege; only the trees which thou "knowest that they be not trees for meat thou shalt "deftroy. Deut. xx. 19, 20. Nay that which "efcaped deftruction in the Deluge cannot escape "the hands of thefe Children of the Apollyon the "Deftroyer. They dig up the heads of twelve "great ponds, fome of five or fix acres a-piece, and "deftroy all the fifh. They fell carps of two foot "long for two-pence and three-pence, a-piece: "they fent out the fish by cart-loads, fo that the

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"country could not spend them. Nay, as if the "present generation were too narrow an object for "their rage, they plunder pofterity, and destroy "the nurseries of the great ponds. They drive "away and fell their horfes, kine, and other cattle, "and having left nothing either in air or water, "they dig under the earth. The caftle was ferved. "with water brought two miles by a conduit of "lead; and, intending rather mifchief to the "King's friends than profit to themselves, they cut,

up the pipe and fold it (as thefe men's wives in

"North Wiltshire do bone-lace) at fix-pence a "yard; making that wafte for a poor inconfiderable "fum which two thousand pounds will not make

good. They that have the unhappy occafion to "fum up thefe loffes, value them at no lefs than 66 one hundred thousand pounds. And though "this lofs were very great, not to be paralleled by

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any except that of the Countefs of Rivers, yet. "there was fomething in these sufferings which did "aggravate them beyond all example of barbarity. "which unnatural war till now did produce, and. "that was Rachel's tears, lamentation and weep"ing and great mourning, a mother weeping for "her children, and would not be comforted, be"cause they were taken from her. For the rebels, "as you hear, having carried the two Ladies "prifoners to Shaftesbury, thinking them not fafe "enough,

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"enough, their intent is to remove them to Bath, "a place then much infected both with the plague "and the fmall-pox. The old Lady was fick under "a double confinement, that of the Rebels and her "own indifpofition. All were unwilling to be ex"pofed to the danger of the infection, especially "the young Lady, having three children with her; "they were too dear, too rich a treasure to be "fnatched away to fuch probable lofs without "reluctancy: therefore they refolve not to yield "themselves prifoners unlefs they will take the old

Lady out of her bed, and the reft by violence, "and fo carry them away. But the Rebels fearing "left fo great inhumanity might incenfe the people "against them, and render them odious to the "country, decline this; and, fince they dare not "carry all to Bath, they refolve to carry fome to "Dorchester, a place no lefs dangerous for the "infection of fchifm and rebellion than Bath for "the plague and the fmall-pox. To this purpose "they take the young Lady's two fons (the eldest "but nine, the younger but seven years of age), "and carried them captives to Dorchester.

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"In vain doth the mother with tears intreat "that thefe pretty pledges of her Lord's affections may not be fnatched from her. In vain do the children embrace and hang about the neck of their mother, and implore help from her, that "neither

neither knows how to keep them, nor yet how "to part with them: but the Rebels, having lost "all bowels of compaffion, remain inexorable. "The complaints of the mother, the pitiful cry of "the children, prevail not with them; like ravenous "wolves they feize on the prey, and though they "do not crop, yet they tranfplant thofe olive "branches that stood about their parents' table."

Lady Arundell is buried with her Lord, near the altar of the very elegant chapel at Wardour Castle, built by the prefent Lord Arundell. The infcription on their monument is as follows:

"To the Memory of the Right Honourable "Thomas Lord Arundell, fecond Baron of War"dour, and Count of the Sacred Roman Empire; "who died at Oxford, of the wounds he received 66 at the battle of Lanfdown, in the fervice of "King Charles the Firft, for whom he raised a "regiment of horse at his own expence at the "time of the Ufurpation.

“Obiit 19th Maii 1643. Etat. 59.

"And of the Right Honourable Blanch Lady "Arundell, his wife, daughter of Edward Somer

fet, Earl of Worcester, Lord-keeper of the "Privy-feal, Mafter of Horfe, and Knight of the most noble order of the Garter, ancestor to the Duke of Beaufort, lineally defcended from John

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"of Gaunt, Duke of Lancafter, fon of King "Edward the Third. This Lady, as diftinguished "for her courage as for the fplendor of her birth,

in the abfence of her husband bravely defended "the Caftle of Wardour, with a courage above

her fex, for nine days, with a few men, against "Sir Edward Hungerford and Edmund Ludlow and their army, and then delivered it up on "honourable terms. Obiit 28th Octobr. 1649. "Etat. 66.

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"Who shall find a valiant woman? The price of her is as things brought from afar off, and from the uttermoft coafts. The heart of her "bufband trufleth in her." Prov. xxxi.

"Our God was our refuge and frength; the Lord of Armies was with us, the God of Jacob 66 was our Protector." Pfalm xlvi.

By the kindnefs of the prefent Lord Arundell, thefe little Volumes are decorated with an ENGRAVING of this incomparable Woman, from the original Picture of her at Wardour Caftle, Wilts.

WILLIAMS,

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