through the pusillanimity, the inconstancy, or the inability, of Sir John Hotham, or perhaps from the union of these, the whole project proved abortive. Upon his Majesty's retreat to York, he left a body of troops at Beverley, to secure that town to his interest; but even this party a few days after was beaten from thence by a strong detachment, sent from the garrison at Hull, commanded by Colonel Boynton, nephew to Sir John Hotham.

The fruitless attempt of the King to recover Hull, proved an incredible damage to the inhabitants of the adjacent country, by the loss they sustained by the inundation of their land; and though both Houses of Parliament declared that the occupiers of those lands should have ample satisfaction for the loss they had sustained; yet, as such persons as were suspected of being favourable to the royal cause then, or formerly, had been exempted, few of the sufferers received any recompense at all; since the fact was, that most of the people of the neighbourhood, with the other inhabitants of Holderness, were well known to be attached to the King's service, and had recently concurred in a petition to his Majesty, complaining of this as well as of various other illegal actions of which Sir John Hotham had been guilty. In the town too the King had numerous adherents, notwithstanding the fact that many of them were imprisoned, and their property confiscated. Messrs. Watkinson, Dobson, and Parkins, Aldermen; and Messrs. Cartwright, Brown, Thornton, and Wilkinson, with many others, openly espoused the royal cause, and leaving their families, repaired to the King's standard and fought under his banner. Another strong reinforcement was sent to the garrison at Hull, with orders from the Parliament to Sir John Hotham, to make frequent sallies out of the town, with a view to ravage the country, and distress the Royalists as much as possible.

As has been shown at page 237 of vol. i. of this history, the Queen arrived from Holland at Bridlington Quay, in the beginning of the year 1643, and during her stay at the latter place, amongst those who waited upon her Majesty to congratulate her on her safe arrival, was Captain Hotham, son of the Governor of Hull, who was sent by his father privately to treat with her respecting terms, should he think of entering into his Majesty's views.t Hotham was introduced into the Queen's presence, he kissed her hand, and afterwards had an interview with the Lord General, the Earl of Newcastle, on the subject of surrendering Hull to whom she should appoint. Sir John Hotham's resentment against the Parliament was caused by the appointment

* Rapin says that it was impossible for the Governor to fulfil his engagements. + Town's Records.

of Lord Fairfax to the post of General of all their forces in the north, an honour which, after the eminent services he had rendered them in maintaining Hull, even at the risk of exposing himself to the King's utmost displeasure, he thought he was entitled to. The haughty and imperious Hotham* disdained to receive orders or to submit to Lord Fairfax, and the Parliament resolved to displace him, and appoint a more tractable Governor for Hull. Sir John having discovered their determination, by some intercepted letters, took deadly umbrage at it, and quickly resolved to be revenged on his masters, by delivering up Hull to the King. His son, too, very readily entered into the conspiracy, and adopted all his father's sentiments of resentment against the Parliament. A correspondence was now carried on between the Hothams and the Earl of Newcastle, and it was agreed to deliver up Hull to the Queen, while she was on her march with her troops to the King. In the meantime the Parliament having received from their emissaries some information respecting the intentions of the Governor and his son, employed a clergyman named Saltmarsh, a person whom they could confide in, and a near relative of the Governor, to discover if possible the truth of the matter. By pretending an extraordinary zeal for the church and King, this tool of the Parliament gained the confidence of Sir John, who, notwithstanding his great circumspection, fell into the snare laid for him by his insidious kinsman. Believing that a man of such seeming sanctity and so near a relative would not betray him, the Governor at length discovered to him the whole plot, which the treacherous Saltmarsh communicated to Captain Moyer, who commanded the Hercules ship of war, lying in the Humber. His next care was to transmit the intelligence to Parliament, who voted him a reward of £2,000. for this meritorious piece of service; and at the same time sent orders to Captain Moyer and Sir Matthew Boynton to keep a watchful eye on the Hothams.

The Governor, ignorant of the treachery of his kinsman, sent his son a few days after, by the command of the Parliament, at the head of his troops, to Nottingham, to join Colonel Cromwell and Lord Gray, with the forces under their command; but no sooner had he arrived at Nottingham than he was arrested by Cromwell, upon a charge of intending to deliver up Hull to the King. Captain Hotham, however, eluding the vigilance of his keepers, escaped to Lincoln, and from thence proceeded to Hull. The Mayor of Hull, Mr. Thomas Raikes (who for his adherence to the Parliament, was, contrary to the charter, continued in office two years), having learnt from

Captain Moyer, that the plot for delivering up the town, if not prevented, would shortly be put into execution, held a consultation with the chiefs of the Parliamentarian party, and it was resolved to defeat the project by seizing the Governor and his son. Accordingly on the next day, the 29th of June (1643), Captain Moyer lauded 100 men from his ship, and seized the Castle and Blockhouses almost without resistance, and 1,500 of the soldiers and inhabitants of the town who were in readiness, at the word of command from the Mayor seized the main guard near the magazine, took possession of the artillery on the walls, and placed a guard at the Governor's house, all of which was done in about the space of an hour, and without shedding any blood. By these measures Captain Hotham was secured, but Sir John by some means effected his escape from the house,* and meeting a man who was riding into the town, he ordered him to alight, and mounting his horse, he passed through the guard at Beverley-gate, which had not yet received orders to stop him.

Sir John's design was to reach, if possible, his house at Scorborough (a village near Beverley), which he had taken care to fortify, and whither he had sent both men and ammunition; but fearing a pursuit, he quitted the Beverley road, and proceeded to Stoneferry (two miles from Hull), intending to have crossed the river into Holderness; and not meeting with a boat, and the river being too rapid to swim over, he proceeded to Wawn ferry (a few miles further), and there met with a similar disappointment. Expecting to fall into the hands of his pursuers, but hoping the news of his escape had not reached Beverley, he determined to proceed there, and rode into the town, placed himself at the head of seven or eight hundred men, who happened to be drawn up in arms in the Market-Place, and ordering them to follow him, they at first obeyed, but were met by Colonel Boynton (who had just received intimation of his flight from Hull), who saluted Sir John, saying, "you are my prisoner!" Sir John seeing an open lane before him, put spurs to his horse, and made off at full speed, but was brought to the ground by a blow from the butt of a soldier's musket, and secured. He was then conveyed under a strong guard to Hull, where he was put on board the Hercules, together with his son, Captain Hotham, and conveyed to London, where they arrived on the 15th of July, and were committed to the Tower.

After a long and strict confinement, Sir John Hotham was brought before a court-martial at the Guild-hall, in London, on the 30th of November, charged with "traitorously betraying the trust imposed upon him by Parlia

* Rushworth, vol. v., p. 276.

ment, and with perfidiously adhering to the enemy." On the 2nd of December he was brought up again before the court to make his defence; his allegations not proving satisfactory to the court, they, on the 7th of the same month, sentenced him to be beheaded on the 16th; but on his lady's petition for time to settle his estate, the execution was deferred a little longer. On the 9th of December, Captain Hotham came to his trial, and was condemned before the same court, upon a charge similar to that preferred against his father. On the 1st of January, 1645, Captain Hotham was executed on Tower Hill; and on the following day Sir John suffered decapitation upon the same scaffold, the victim of his own irresolution and inconstancy. Both father and son declared on the scaffold that they were innocent of the charges for which they were about to suffer.

The execution of Sir John Hotham and his son recalled to the minds of many the dreadful imprecations he had uttered upon the walls of Hull, when he denied the King admittance into the town-"That God would bring confusion on him and his, if he were not a loyal and faithful subject to his Majesty.

After the arrest of Sir John Hotham, the custody of Hull was intrusted to the care of a committee of eleven gentlemen, approved by the Parliament, and at the head of which was the Mayor. Soon after the battle of Atherton Moor, which was fought on the 30th of June (the day after the Hothams were arrested), and in which the Royalist army dispersed the forces of the Parliament, Lord Fairfax arrived in Hull, and on the 22nd of July was constituted the Governor of that place. On the 2nd of September, in the same year, the Earl, now the Marquis of Newcastle, having made himself master of Gainsborough and Lincoln, and driven Sir Thomas Fairfax out of Beverley with great slaughter, appeared before Hull, with an army of about 4,000 horse and 12,000 foot, and immediately began his operations against it, by cutting off its supplies of fresh water, and of provisions, as far as depended upon the surrounding country. The siege and defence were conducted with all the military skill of that age, and with all the determination of deeprooted hostility, which generally distinguishes intestine warfare. Notwithstanding the incessant fire from the walls, the besiegers erected several batteries, which immediately opened upon the town; but the cannon from the Blockhouses, and the forts on the banks of the river Hull, near the ruins of the Charter House, carried devastation and slaughter into the camps of the besiegers. On one of the batteries erected by the Royalists, about half a mile from the town, which was called the King's fort, were placed several pieces of heavy ordnance, besides two brass culverins, which shot balls of 36

!

Captain Moyer, that the plot for delivering up the town, if not prevented, would shortly be put into execution, held a consultation with the chiefs of the Parliamentarian party, and it was resolved to defeat the project by seizing the Governor and his son. Accordingly on the next day, the 29th of June (1643), Captain Moyer landed 100 men from his ship, and seized the Castle and Blockhouses almost without resistance, and 1,500 of the soldiers and inhabitants of the town who were in readiness, at the word of command from the Mayor seized the main guard near the magazine, took possession of the artillery on the walls, and placed a guard at the Governor's house, all of which was done in about the space of an hour, and without shedding any blood. By these measures Captain Hotham was secured, but Sir John by some means effected his escape from the house, and meeting a man who was riding into the town, he ordered him to alight, and mounting his horse, he passed through the guard at Beverley-gate, which had not yet received orders to stop him.

Sir John's design was to reach, if possible, his house at Scorborough (a village near Beverley), which he had taken care to fortify, and whither he had sent both men and ammunition; but fearing a pursuit, he quitted the Beverley road, and proceeded to Stoneferry (two miles from Hull), intending to have crossed the river into Holderness; and not meeting with a boat, and the river being too rapid to swim over, he proceeded to Wawn ferry (a few miles further), and there met with a similar disappointment. Expecting to fall into the hands of his pursuers, but hoping the news of his escape had not reached Beverley, he determined to proceed there, and rode into the town, placed himself at the head of seven or eight hundred men, who happened to be drawn up in arms in the Market-Place, and ordering them to follow him, they at first obeyed, but were met by Colonel Boynton (who had just received intimation of his flight from Hull), who saluted Sir John, saying, "you are my prisoner!" Sir John seeing an open lane before him, put spurs to his horse, and made off at full speed, but was brought to the ground by a blow from the butt of a soldier's musket, and secured. He was then conveyed under a strong guard to Hull, where he was put on board the Hercules, together with his son, Captain Hotham, and conveyed to London, where they arrived on the 15th of July, and were committed to the Tower.

After a long and strict confinement, Sir John Hotham was brought before a court-martial at the Guild-hall, in London, on the 30th of November, charged with "traitorously betraying the trust imposed upon him by Parlia

• Rushworth, vol. v., p. 276.