It was at a special council of the Holy States,[43] held at Manchester
on Saturday the 24th of February 1644, that, after many former debates
and consultations, the siege of Lathom was concluded upon. The
parliament troops under Colonel Ashton of Middleton, Colonel Moore of
Bank-Hall, and Colonel Rigby of Preston, on the same day began their
march, proceeding by way of Bolton, Wigan, and Standish, under a
pretence of going into Westmoreland, that the soldiers should not
presently know of their destination.
Lathom, for magnificence and hospitality, was held in high reputation,
assuming, in these respects, the attitude of a royal court in the
northern parts of the kingdom; and the family were regarded with such
veneration and esteem that the following harmless inversion was familiar
"as household words:"--"God save the Earl of Derby and the King;" the
general feeling and opinion thereby apparent being love to their lord
and loyalty to their prince.
On the 27th of February the enemy took up their quarters about a mile
distant from the house. The next day Captain Markland was the bearer of
a letter to her ladyship from Sir Thomas Fairfax, commander-in-chief of
the parliamentary forces, and likewise an ordinance of parliament: the
one requiring that she should surrender the house upon such honourable
terms as he might propose; and the other setting forth and commending
the great mercy they had manifested by thus offering to receive the Earl
of Derby if he would submit himself.
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