and so were Sir Thomas Stanley and the Egertons in Lancashire. The Earl of Derby and his son, Lord Strange, embraced the side of royalty; and the first blood in this war was shed by Lord Strange endeavouring to secure Manchester, where he was repulsed and driven out. Great expectations were entertained by the Royalists of the assistance of the numerous Catholics in Lancashire and Cheshire, but they were either indifferent or overawed. In the west of England the king had a strong party. Charles, in his commission of array, had appointed the Marquis of Hertford Lieutenant-general of the West, including seven counties in Wales, and the second skirmish took place in Somersetshire, between him and the deputy-lieutenant of the county, where ten men were killed and many wounded. No exertions were spared by the Parliament at the same time to induce the king to come to an arrangement; but he showed that he was at heart totally unchanged, for he replied to their overtures by still insisting that the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members of the Commons should be given up to him, as well as Alderman Pennington, the Lord Mayor of London, and Captain Venn, commander of the train-bands. He demanded indictments of high treason against the Earls of Essex, Warwick, and Stamford, Sir John Hotham, Major-General Skippon, and all who had dared to put in force the ordinance of Parliament for the raising of the militia. Yet at the same time he was in secret negotiation with Hotham for the betrayal of Hull; and Hotham sullied that reputation for patriotic bravery which he had acquired by listening to him. He was, however, stoutly resisted by the inhabitants, the garrison, and his own son. The king then invested Hull, and intrigued with some traitors within to set fire to the town, so that he might assault it in the confusion. But the plot was discovered, and the incensed inhabitants made a sortie under Sir John Meldrum, and put the king's forces to a precipitate flight.