resolved to hurl from the eminence which they professed to say he had
usurped. Not so with the three Wiltshire royalists; they also had received
the circular intimation from Cromwell, but they scorned to be worse than
their words, they took no notice of his proffered pardon, they each raised
a troop of horse as they had promised, and having armed and accoutred
their men by the time appointed, they marched into Salisbury, where
Cromwell's judges were then holding the assizes, and without any further
ceremony struck the first blow, by consigning the Lord Protector's judges
to prison, having liberated the prisoners they were about to try.

The next day they marched into Hampshire towards the appointed rendezvous,
as had been previously agreed upon; but when they arrived there, instead
of meeting, as they expected, any of their friends who were parties at the
stag hunt, they found Cromwell's army who had intimation of their
movements, already there in considerable force, ready to overwhelm them.
However, Cromwell, as usual, endeavoured to carry his point by policy; in
the first instance, rather than sacrifice any lives in such an unequal
conflict, he sent a flag of truce, and promised if they would lay down
their arms they should be pardoned, and all officers and men might return
to their homes without any molestation. A consultation and council of war
was held, when Grove, Hunt, and Penruddock came to a determination to die
sword in hand rather than trust to the clemency of him, whom they deemed
an usurper, and they returned an answer accordingly. In the meantime,
Oliver had sent some of his agents amongst the men, to whom they pointed
out the desperate situation in which their commanders had placed them, and
urged them at once to accept the offer of the Protector and return to
their homes; and when Grove, Hunt, and Penruddock ordered their men to
prepare for the attack, they one and all refused, and immediately lay down
their arms, upon which they were instantly surrounded, and made prisoners;
and instead of Cromwell keeping his word with these poor fellows, he