CHATS WITH THE CHILDREN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 35

CHATS WITH THE CHILDREN.

Bt Patbb. A short time sinee — about three weeks ago — you read in the telegrams that heavy floods had done a great deal of damage at Taunton and other towns in Somerset. A great deal of ths land there is low-lying. There, too, Alfred the Great hid himself and eluded the pursuit of the Danes. Then, the country round was a vast marsh in which were scattered many islets cf shifting and treacherous soil, swarming with swine and deer. Now, however, it is pretty well all drained by large ditches! Now, I thought that my fourth, fifth, and sixth class readers would like to know a little more about Mcmmouth's Rebellion in the reign of James II than is given in Gardiner's History, and which occurred in this district, and will always be associated with Taunton, Bridgewater, and Sedgemoor. Do you notice how the names Sedgemoor and Bridgewater suggest water ? Where do we get sedges or rushes or rank grass but in marshy districts? The Duke of Monmouth, a man of handsome figure and appearance, said he had more right to the crown than James 11, and so raised a rebellion. He had gathered together an army of about 5000 raw, comparatively andisoiplined.and insufficiently armed peasants and sturdy miners, and these were pitted against the well-armed and disciplined troops of the King. The Royal troops were led by Earl Feversham, an incapable exquisite man of fashion, with John or Baron Churchill, afterwards the famous Duke of Marl* borough, as his second in command.- Feversham spent most of his time in dressing and improving his personal appearance, leaving the work to be done by his lieutenant. The Royal troops | were divided into three sections, apart from I each other, and freed from strict discipline, for they despised the badly armed, inexperienced | force opposed to them. Monmoubh, from his vantage point on Jbhe tower of a Bridgewater church, saw the scattered state of his opponents, and thought a midnight surprise would likely give him flthe battle. The sur» prise attack was made, but owing to the accidental discharge of a pistol belonging to one of his men, Churchill got the alarm, and before Monmouth's men could cross a ditch they had not known the position of, the Royal troops were upon them* and broad daylight saw Monmouth flying and his followers retreating in all directions. About 1000 were killed and 1500 taken prisoners. A reward £5000 was offered for Monmouth, and searchers swarmed in every direction.? He, disguised, had hoped to get away to the 'forest of Hampshire, and there get the protection of the deer stealers in the New Forest, but he was found a few daws after the battle in a hedge in a miserable condition, with a few peas in his pocket gathered in the rage of hunger, for he had had no proper meal since before the battle. He was taken to London, tried for treason, and executed. Many, however, believed that he had not been taken, but that a man having a strong resemblance to Monmouth had sacrified himself, and more than one imposter in after years got favours from the peasantry j by pretending ]to be the man whom they had fought for— one man gathering as much as £500. HIS EXECUTION must have been a horrible sight to witness. The executioner, Jack Ketch, after whom •all succeeding hangsman have been nicknamed, bungled his business. Before kneeling for the fatal stroke Monmouth gave him six guineas and said, " Do not hack me as you did my Lord Russel. My servant will give you more if you do your work well." " Monmouth's words must have unnerved him, for the first stroke only inflicted a slight wound,*nd the Duke, struggling, rose from the block and looked reproachfully at the headsman. Placing his head again in position stroke after stroke was given, and yet the body continued to move and the head remained unsevered. Ketch flung down the axe exclaiming"! cannot do it," but being told by the :

sheriff to take up the axe again, he did so, and, with two more blows life was extinguished. Even then a knife was needed to separate the head from the shoulders. Monmouth had spoken truly when, feeling the edge of the txe he had said that it was not sharp enough. The crowd was in such an ecstasy of rage that the executioner was in danger of being torn to pieces, and had to be guarded by soldiers. The rebellion, however, is not so much remembered by the battle that ended it, as by TEtB OBUBLTIES 07 ]?BVBB«HAlt, SIBSB, AKD

JUDGE JEFFBEI3, who tried those who had taken part in it. Feversham had not the name of being cruel, but immediately after the battle a score or more were quartered, and next day a long line of gallows was erected on the road side, and a captured rebel strung up on each. After bandbox Feversham came the brutal and inhuman monster Kirke, who had felt.it his duty as a Christian to fight against the infidel Moors in Tangiers— plunder, however, more than the cause of Christianity, being the oDJect of his fighting. The flag of his band bore the Christian emblem of the Paschal Lamb, but as the lamb, the symbol of innocence, was in this case the sign of murder and nameless am, his followers were bitterly and ironically called Kirke's Lambs.

These ferocious butchering wretches hanged and quartered and burned scores, many without the pretence of a trial, which in any case was a mockery. The inhuman monster who quartered the bodies was ankle deep in blood. One miserable fellow, a sympathiser with the rebels, got bis life spared by consenting to put the pieces of his late comrades' bodies in boiling pitch. He became known by the horrible nams of Tom Boilman, and the peasantry thought when he was killed by lightning that it was a judgment from God. Following the heartless and -pitiless Kirke came the brutal and blasphemous Judge Jeffreys. He had orders from his merciless master to show no mercy, and a fitter man could not have been got. As if to indicate his bloody work, he had his court hung in scarlet. It is of no use to further describe the cruelties of the time ; let it suffice to say that in a few weeks ! more than 500 were killed by these three in- j struments of the king's anger and revenge. Hundreds of course escaped, and hundreds j more were ransomed. In one case Jeffreys ! received £15,000, with which he bought an estate named by the people Aceldama, "the field of blood." About 000 were put in gangs and given or sold to friends at court, who cold them as slaves, Jeffreys \naking it a part of the agreement that they were to be sent to the > unhealthy and intensely hot West Indies, where ' they were to be kept in bondage at least 10 years. The Queen got one gang of 100, which, when sold, must have given her a profit of 1000 guineas, allowing for expenses in exporting | them and for deaths, for 20 out of every 100 died on the way out owing to insufficient light, air, and food. If any of you wish to read further particulars, get Macaulay's History, which gives an interesting but sometimes exaggerated account of the reign of James 11, with other reigns. Action of the Sea. Reading of the flood waters, and the damage done by water, made me think too of the tearing down, levelling, and filling-up action, of both fresh and salt water. As I have not much space left I shall briefly describe the action of the sea on the coast of England, leaving the work of fresh water for another time. Along the east coast especially great changes have been made. Find Dunwich — it is marked on the school maps. About 1000 years ago it was i a large city containing 12 churches, and was a mile and a -half inland. Since then the sea has swallowed up that mile and a-half, and most of the town into the bargain. Then look at Spurn Head at the mouth of the Humber. There, several villages have been swallowed tip in the past 500 years, and likely enough the whole of the head will go 'in time. The Goodwin Sands, again, is another instance of the changes made by the sea. In ! William the Conqueror's time it was dry land, ! forming part of the estate left by Earl Godwin, the father of Harold, who was defeated by ! William. Do you notice how Dnngeness on the I coast of Kent juts out? A current passes around the north of England and comes down the east coast; another current comes east along the south coast. These meet, and at Dungeness pile tip the sand nnd stones. In this way, the land is advancing about 20 feet every year, and a lighthouse that was formerly 100 feet out at low water is now high and dry. The west coast, I have read, is advancing and gradually reclaiming from the sea, as if to makeup for what the sea is taking from the east. We in Diinedin know of slight changes at the Ocean Beach and at the Heads, though not to any great extent. I dare say many of you know where either fresh or salt water has changed the appearance of the land.