assisted by the inhabitants, were determined the King's forces mould not
enter. Their little fire opened on the Prince: but bravery itself,
though possessed of an excellent spot of ground for defence, was obliged
to give way to numbers. The Prince quickly put them to silence; yet,
under the success of his own arms, he was not able to enter the town,
for the inhabitants had choaked up, with carriages, the deep and narrow
road, then between Deritend and Camp-hill, which obliged the Prince to
alter his route to the left, and proceed towards Long-bridge.

The spirit of resistance was not yet broken; they sustained a second
attack, but to no purpose, except that of laughter. A running fight
continued through the town; victory declared loudly for the Prince; the
retreat became general: part of the vanquished took the way to Oldbury.

William Fielding, Earl of Denbigh, a volunteer under the Prince, being
in close pursuit of an officer in the service of the parliament, and
both upon the full gallop, up Shirland-lane, in the manor of Smethwick,
the officer instantly turning, discharged a pistol at the Earl, and
mortally wounded him with a random shot.

The parliament troops were animated in the engagement by a clergyman,
who acted as governor, but being taken in the defeat, and refusing
quarter, was killed in the Red Lion-inn.

The Prince, provoked at the resistance, in revenge, set fire to the
town. His wrath is said to have kindled in Bull-street, and consumed
several houses near the spot, now No. 12.

He obliged the inhabitants to quench the flames with a heavy fine, to
prevent farther military execution. Part of the fine is said to have