Her ladyship replied that she would communicate with the earl, and if he
should then continue in the same opinion, she would willingly submit to
his commands; but until this, she would neither yield up the house nor
abate in her hostility, but would abide by the result. Immediately she
despatched to his lordship a messenger, conveying him from the house by
a well-executed sally. The attempt succeeded; but whether he was
suffered to reach his destination or not we have no means of
ascertaining. No answer was returned, though some days had elapsed,
during which the enemy made many fruitless attempts to batter the walls.
They had now mounted the whole of their artillery, including their great
mortar-piece, at that period looked upon as a most destructive engine,
casting stones thirteen inches in diameter and eighty pounds weight;
likewise grenadoes--hollow balls of iron, filled with powder, and
lighted by a fusee. These were dangerous intruders, calculated to
produce great alarm and annoyance, as we shall find in the sequel. The
mortar was planted only about half a musket-shot from the walls,
south-west, on a rising ground, from whence the engineer commanded a
view of the whole buildings.
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