Series 2 > Origins of the 'Forty-five

WITH PRINCE CHARLES
169
promise of his particular patronage ; and not a little
proud I was of acquiring such a friend on my first joining
the Prince’s army, in which I had not before a single
acquaintance. After some questions, the Duke desired
me to get in readiness and to meet him on horse-back
at Garstang ; which in about two or three hours I accord¬
ingly did. The army being then in full march for Preston,
the Duke desired me to go with forty men round that
part of the country which I best knew ; which forty men
being accordingly put under my command, I went to
Eccleston and Singleton in the Fyld Country, where I
delivered some commissions, and caused the King to be
proclaimed, the bailiffs, constables and burgesses of the
place attending at the ceremony. I dispersed several of
the Prince’s Manifestoes ; and Exhortations were made,
in order to shew the people the misery and oppressions
of tyranny and usurpation, which like oxen yoked down
to the plough, they seem to labour under; and calling
upon them to rise up and, like lions to shake off the
infamous yoke which too long had galled the necks of
free-born Englishmen ;—to assert their liberties honour¬
ably both before God and Man, and to prove to the
world, that they remained true English hearts, equal to
their fore-fathers’, who once had given laws to foreign
States ;—to exert their liberties under a Prince, who was
come for their sakes, and for their sakes only, and with
their concurrence would make them most happy. But
alas ! notwithstanding all our proposals and exhortations,
few of them consented to join the Prince’s army. There¬
fore, having assembled those who did come in, orders
were given for them to give up all their arms ; which
being reluctantly complied with, search was made in
several houses, where we found a few ; and amongst the
rest we entered the house of an honest Quaker, whom
I had seen about ten days before at a Public-house, where
he accidentally came in whilst I was there, bringing with
him a gun and a pair of pistols, which he had bought.
Calling for his pot of ale, he began to harangue the host
and the others present, telling what an honest man the