[153] "C.S.P.," 1644, p. 217.
[154] Vide p. 37. "Discourse," p. 52; "C.W.T.," p. 199; "Seacome," p. 95. Ramsay Muir, "History of Liverpool" (1907), chap. 9, p. 16. Legge to Trevor, June 13: "And now Liverpool is in our hands, I hope we shall have a freer intelligence from Ireland than before we had. I assure you that was the end we stopped ther for." In spite of this advantage, the siege of Liverpool was not worth while, and the royalists admit that the 100 barrels of powder which it cost, left Rupert but ill provided. ("Carte MSS.," Vol. II, fol. 184, 313.) "Seacome," p. 96, says that the siege lasted nearly a month, but this is evidently an error, for it cannot have begun before May 30.
[155] "Seacome," p. 97. "July 30, 1644: My wife landed in the Isle of Man." Derby's Diary, "Stanley Papers" (C.S. 70), ed. Raines, pt. 3, Vol. 3, p. 4.
[156] "Discourse," p. 52.
[157] "C.S.P.," 1644, pp. 231, 248, 272, 292.
[158] Trevor to Ormonde, Chester, June 26, 1644 ("Carte MSS.," Vol. 11, fol. 312, 313; "Discourse," p. 52.
[159] Baillie to Spong, June 9 ("Letters," Vol. 2, p. 193). Col. R. Byron to Ormonde, July 5 ("Carte MSS.," Vol. 11, fol. 495).
[160] "Discourse," pp. 57, 58; "C.W.T.," p. 204; "Denbigh MSS.," Vol. 1, p. 275. It seems evident that if Meldrum had been better informed of the fords across the Ribble below Preston, he might have caught the royalists a day before he did. In the Parliamentarian newspapers the number of prisoners taken was placed as high as 1,000 men. On July 15, Sir George Booth at Dunham was informed that Prince Rupert was still at Preston with 6,000 horse and some foot.