A Book About Bristol Author:John Taylor Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: his brother Maurice, and others, with an army of 10,000 horse and foot, having marched from Basingstoke, arrived oil Durdham Down. For some time there had been a... more » secret confederacy among the Royalists of Bristol, headed by Mr. Alderman Yeoman, of Wine Street, and George Boucher, a wealthy merchant of Christmas Street, to admit the king's troops to the city, and it was the maturity of this plot that occasioned Rupert's present appearance before the place. A correspondence with the Court, at Oxford, having been for some time carried on in relation to the conspiracy, the king had authorized Mr. Yeoman to raise forces and constitute commanders for the Royal service, and Boucher contrived an oath or protestation to be taken by each member of the association. " After communication of counsels," says Rushworth, " and many messages interchanged between Oxford and Bristol, it was resolved, ' That upon Monday, the 7th of March, in the night, Prince Rupert, with a strong party of the king's forces, should advance to Durdham Down (not a full mile from the city), and those within the city were to seize two of the forts, viz., Froom- gate and Newgate, and having secured the guards there, were to open the said gates and to let in Prince Rupert and his troops, who were to have notice given them to approach by the ringing of St. John's and St. Michael's bells; the confederates were to be distinguished by white tape in their hats, and the word to be Charles. According to which project, divers of them were met armed at Mr. Yeoman's house, and others at Mr. Boucher's, and waiting the appointed hour (which was three in the Morning) to fall upon their work. But that evening late, a little boy declared, that divers musquets were carried into Mr. Yeoman's house; whereupon a more diligent eye was kept ...« less