November 16th.—Beeston Castle, that had been besieged almost a year, was delivered up by the Captain Valet, the governor, to Sir William Brereton; there were in it 56 soldiers, who by agreement had liberty to depart with their arms, colours flying, and drums beating, with two cart loads of goods, and to be conveyed to Denbigh; but 20 of the soldiers laid down their arms, and craved liberty to go to their homes, which was granted. There was neither meat nor drink found in the castle, but only a piece of a turkey pie, and a live peacock and a peahen.
The heroic defence of the castle by the Royalist garrison, and their long endurance, even after their cause had become hopeless and all chance of succour had disappeared, presents a remarkable contrast to the meek surrender of Captain Steel and his three hundred Puritan soldiers to Sandford’s gallant little band of cavaliers. In the spring of the following year the old fortress, which had withstood the batterings of time and been so often exposed to the storms of war in the troubled reigns of the Plantagenets, but which had never yielded to assault, was dismantled, and since then it has gradually sunk into its present state of extreme but picturesque decay.
Since the days of the Stuarts little historical interest has attached to it. Its glories are of the past. Its palmy days are over—for it has outlived the needs that called it into being, and survives only to show us how men lived and acted in those stern times when they knew no other law than that which Wordsworth speaks of—
The old good rule, the simple plan,
That they should get who have the power,
And they should keep who can,
and when even power could only feel secure when defended by iron force. We love our country with love far brought from out the historic past—the past on which the present is securely built—and we cherish the relics of its ancient chivalry and romance, but the spirit of the age is opposed to the revivication of feudal customs and feudal prejudices. The time when it was only possible for men to hold their own by length and strength of arm has gone by never again to return.
