We halted at Newark to assist the garrison, or give them time rather
to furnish themselves from the country with what they wanted, which
they were very diligent in doing; for in two days' time they filled
a large island which lies under the town, between the two branches of
the Trent, with sheep, oxen, cows, and horses, an incredible number;
and our affairs being now something desperate, we were not very
nice in our usage of the country, for really if it was not with a
resolution both to punish the enemy and enrich ourselves, no man can
give any rational account why this desperate journey was undertaken.
'Tis certain the Newarkers, in the respite they gained by our coming,
got above L50,000 from the country round them in corn, cattle, money,
and other plunder.
From hence we broke into Lincolnshire, and the king lay at Belvoir
Castle, and from Belvoir Castle to Stamford. The swiftness of our
march was a terrible surprise to the enemy; for our van being at a
village on the great road called Stilton, the country people fled
into the Isle of Ely, and every way, as if all was lost. Indeed our
dragoons treated the country very coarsely, and all our men in general
made themselves rich.
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