THe cause of my writing to you is, that because the time is so troublesome, I will only certifie you what hath hap­pened here these 11. dayes last past. This day there was great preparation made for His Majesties welcome to Shrewsbury: the lodg­ings are all bespoke and taken up already: for here are now 4500. souldiers in and neer adjoyn­ing, where they are billeted. His Majesty stayed here but one night, but went towards Chester to a place called Whitchurch, and was welcomed by the Lord Chomley, Lord Rivers, and Sir Thomas Aston, and went towards Chester with 10. troups, for his guard, besides Sir Thomas Astons troupe, the Maior, Aldermen and Recorder received him very lovingly; but Sir Thomas Astons troup com­ing after His Majesty, met with a troupe of the Parliaments Forces, that was marching towards Shrewsbury, where there was a battell fought be­tween them, the manner whereof was as follow­eth. The Earl of Essex marching towards Shrews­bury with his Army by the side of a wood, and the brow of an hil, when he came at the bottome [Page 2]of the hill he saw a great army of men, coming against him, and the first they met was a Welch Commander, who cried aloud and said, Sir Tho­mas, here are the Parliaments Forces, therefore stand, stand, stand brave souldiers and be valiant. The Earl of Essex hearing this, went on most va­liantly, they being on the top of an hill, and had the advantage of us, so that we could not passe, whereupon the Earle made on towards them, but they resisted him and shot at him, and that with a great advantage, they being on the top, & we on the bottome of the hill, so we marched up towards them, shooting at them with great courage and valour, that we routed them from the top of the hill in a strange manner; for the Noble Earle first sent up 1400. horse, and they made such work, that Sir Thomas Aston was fain to flie with all his company, but they could not flie fast enough, by reason of a paire of gates at the bottome of the hill, so that they could not passe, except a few that fled through the wood with Sir Thomas Aston, who lost 75. men, and but 9. on our side, we tooke most of their horses and armes, yea Sir Thomas Astons horse that was left on the wood side, which we call by the name of great Aston, which goes along with us, and our Generall saith, it shalbe for the next man that he takes to ride on, the saddle on his back was al­most worn out: as we went towards Shrewsbu­ry we met 8. Regiments of horse and Foot under the command of divers Commissioners of Ar­ray, [Page 3]who fell upon us so fiercely, that at first we thought they would have got the better, but God prevented them: for they met at a heath where the battell begun, they having the wind of us, and the higher ground, yet we discharged so stoutly against them, that they could not keep their ground, but came in upon us, and we defen­ded our selves as well as we could, and drew out our swords, but they came so violently in, that we were one among another in such a confused manner as is hard to be reported. At last our trumpeter rid forth, and sounded his trumpet with a cheerfull and shrill wind, and we all re­paired to the trumpet, and there were scarce any but cried out, A parley, A parley; so at last not finding themselves able to resist us, yeelded to our demands and followed us. There were slain about 100. men on their side, and about 30. on ours; so that now we have 8. Regiments more to stand for us against the Cavaliers, so that we hope to settle the peace of the Kingdome; for we molest none but those who trouble and set upon us, for we want nothing, the countrey-peo­ple give us good victuals and beer for nothing. As we passed along, we came neer to the river Severne, where we saw 9. boats going towards Shrewsbury, so we rid toward them, as neer as we could, asking what they were laden with, they said, that they had most of the ammunition that came from the Papists in Ireland, and that they were going with all speed towards Shrewsbury [Page 4]with it, for they thought we had been Cavali­ers; so we desired to see what it was, and they ve­ry honestly came and brought it to Severn side, where we entred, and found 3. laden with pow­der, 2. with bullets, 1. with pikes, 2. with mus­kets, 1. with engines to shoot fire-balls, and we stopped them all from their journey, and landed them at a village within three miles of Shrews­bury, where we keep our randevouz, because the weather is wet, and the waters are up, so that we cannot march. The Earle of Essex hath not yet delivered his Petition to His Majesty, but hee hopes ere long to doe it, and now the King is gone from Chester towards Shrewsbury, where it is thought he intends to stay.

The 2. of this moneth we marched with our army to a place called Pomfret Castle, and when we came within a mile of it, we heard a Peece of Ordnance from the Castle that flew over our heads, being amazed at the report thereof, know­ing no cause thereof; whereupon our Captaine said he would go to it, but coming neere it, we found it strongly fortified, and the gates shut: whereupon our Captaine demanded the Castle, but they refused, and said, they could keepe the Castle as well as we, and except we would be gone, they would send us going, and that wee were unwise to come thither: whereupon our Captaine told them, that unlesse they would de­liver up the Castle upon faire demands, they would have it by force; but they derided his re­quest, [Page 5]bidding him do his worst; so we came and intrencht our selves against the Castle, shooting at it and assaying to scale the wals for the space of two houres, but all in vaine, wherefore being almost night we kept our selves in our trenches: betwixt one and two a clock at night a Post was sent from the castle, who was discovered by six of our men which pursued after him, took him, & brought him back, and one of our men spoke to the Captain, asking him what he would give him to obtain the Castle before the next day at noone, who answered, that he should have five Marks; whereupon he desired the Captain that he might have the Posts cloaths, and he would warrant him the castle, or lose his life: then the Captain desired the Post to shift his cloaths, and so he did, and this man put the cloaths on his back, getting upon the Posts horse with his horn by his side, rid towards the castle and blew his horn, they being all abed, onely the Porter sate up to wait the Posts coming, and being joyfull he was come so soone, rose from the fire to let him in: as soon as the Post was within the gate, hee strucke up the Porters heeles, saying, hold thy tongue if thou love thy life, the Porter for feare durst not speak a word; then he tooke the keys from him, and bid the Porter go and call in the souldiers which were without, which he did; so when the souldiers came, some of them kept the gates, and others went up into the castle, and the men that were within said, if they would [Page 6]be pleased to save their lives, they would serve them, which our Captain willingly accepted of, and told them, if that they would serve him, they should presently enter into pay, and those that would not, he desired to depart; so some entred into pay, and others went away unarmed. In the morning our Captaine asked them, who was their chiefe Commander, they said, Sir William Savill, who fled hither for shelter and refuge, but he was one that went away. So in the morning we began to search the Castle, where we found many places furnished for warre, with severall sorts of Ammunition: upon the wals we found 15. Peeces of Ordnance, 500. Pikes, 700. Mus­kets, 6. barrels of powder, and 600. head-peeces, as many Corslets, 550. Carbines, with a great yard full of bullets, pickaxes, wheele-barrowes, waggons, abundance of swords, and 4. quarters of wheat with other come, 3. powdering tubs full of beefe, 5. hogsheads of beer, 3. of wine, 1. of sack, with many other things of good worth, which are now in the hands of our noble Cap­tain, who hath left a garison of his souldiers to secure the Castle.