[86] "A punctuall relation of the passages in Lancashire this weeke, etc." ("C.W.T.," p. 79). Lancashire's "Valley of Achor" ("C.W.T.," p. 127). "Discourse," p. 24. "Certaine Informations," No. 6, Feb. 20-27. The first and last of these accounts make allegations of treachery but not the other two; and the "Valley of Achor" would not have omitted the charge if it had not been quite baseless. The "Discourse" ascribes the disaster to "want of heedfulnesse," and the "Valley of Achor" is still more definite: "It dispossessed them by the help of Powder to which their disorders laid a Train fired by their neglected matches, or by that great Souldiers' Idoll, Tobacco." "O that this thundering alarm might ever sound in the eares of our Swearing, Cursing, Drunken, Tobacco-abusing Commanders and Souldiers unto unfaigned Repentance. For do they think that those upon whom the Tower fell and slew them, were sinners above the rest of the Army?" In his "Pilgrimages to Old Homes" (1906), p. 84, Mr. Fletcher Moss says that it was the gate house into the second court which was blown up; but it would rather seem to have been the Tower itself, which then crowned the building on its eastern side. [87] "Speciall Passages and Certain Informations from severall Places" ("C.W.T.," p. 77). "A punctuall relation, etc." ("C.W.T.," p. 79). The latter of these accounts is an extremely vivid narrative, and must have been communicated, if not written, by an eye-witness. The former tract gives the defenders' losses as five, the latter as eight or ten; and it is stated that 100 of the royalists were either killed or mortally wounded. These numbers must be received with considerable reservation. The "Discourse" states incorrectly that Alexander Rigby of Burgh was killed in this engagement. The "Valley of Achor" mentions a "new invented mischievous Instrument which received this description at Bolton: An head about a quarter of a yard long, a staffe of two yards long or more, put into that head, twelve iron pikes round about, and one in the end to stab with. This fierce weapon (to double their scorn) they called a Roundhead." The Editor of "C.W.T." (p. 129) states that the "Mercurius Civicus," June 2-16, 1643, gives a picture of one of these "Roundheads." [88] Apparently Sparrow crossed somewhere about the present Shard Bridge. Unless it happened to be high tide, however, there would be no need for a ferry. The River Wyre at this point is a broad expanse of water when the tide is full, but at low water it shrinks to a width of eight or ten yards, and can easily be forded for a long stretch. [89] Rossall Hall is now the headmaster's house at Rossall School. The Fleetwoods of Rossall were royalists, and the statement that Derby plundered the house for arms can only be correct on the assumption that the Parliamentarian party had previously taken possession of it.