Page:Works of Thomas Carlyle - Volume 06.djvu/256

222 ward to the Siege of Bristol, where Prince Rupert is doing all he can to entrench himself.

the Lord’s Day September 21, according to Order of Parliament, Lieutenant-General Cromwell’s Letter on the taking of Bristol was read in the several Congregations about London, and thanks returned to Almighty God for the admirable and wonderful reducing of that city. The Letter of the renowned Commander is well worth observation.’ For the Siege itself, and what preceded and followed it, see, besides this Letter, Rupert’s own account, and the ample details of Sprigge copied with abridgment by Rushworth: Sayer’s History of Bristol gives Plans, and all manner of local details, though in a rather vague way.

1em

Sir,—It has pleased the General to give me in charge to represent unto you a particular account of the taking of Bristol; the which I gladly undertake.

''After the finishing of that service at Sherborne, it was disputed at a council of war, Whether we should march into the West or to Bristol? Amongst other arguments, the leaving so considerable an enemy at our backs, to march into the heart of the Kingdom, the undoing of the country about Bristol, which was “already” exceedingly harassed by the Prince his being thereabouts but a fortnight; the correspondency he might hold in Wales; the possibility of uniting the Enemy’s forces''