Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/447

1549.] would be the utmost that an unfortified city could resist, and he waited to besiege it. The approaches were occupied—the pipes which carried water into the city were cut—cannon, small, probably, and ill-served, were fired incessantly upon the houses—the gates were undermined, and a continual correspondence was maintained between the rebels and the disaffected party among the citizens, which gained strength as the provisions began to run low. So daring and so violent became the Catholics at last, that they met in arms at the Guildhall to insist on a capitulation; 'Richard Tailor, a clothier, drew his bow and shot an arrow' at some reforming zealot; and they paraded the streets in procession crying out, 'Come out, you heretics; where be these twopenny bookmen; by God's wounds and blood, we will not be penned in to serve their turn; we will go out and have in our neighbours; they be honest and good men.' Nevertheless, the mayor persevered. A hundred of the principal householders agreed to stand by him to the last, and by skill and steadiness he kept the peace. The conduits were well supplied, and the summer was happily wet. A rate was levied for the support of the poor, which rose as prices rose; and so long as there was food within the walls, even the prisoners in the gaol received their fair share with the rest. Skirmishing parties occasionally swept in droves of cattle from the adjoining meadows by sudden sallies. As the rebels mined, the citizens countermined. Where the assailants were suspected to be at work, an adroit engineer detected their presence under-ground by the vibration