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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
The document now first published contains an account of events in which the person therein described acted a more or less conspicuous part. The period it involves is comprised between the years 1642 and 1645; a time during which England became the scene of violent political and military agitation. In all cases of this nature, in which the talents and passions of men are exercised with unusual force, there will ever be some whose powers will raise them t o eminence. Colonel John Birch, in the sphere in which he moved, was among the remarkable personages of the time; by no means inferior to many whose names have been better known, though not more deserving of being recorded. He attained to considerable distinction in the field and in the senate, and after a long share of personal exertion and sufferings survived the troubles and dangers of a stormy and eventful struggle, and ended his days in retirement and peace.
page iv note a History of his Own Time, i. 546. A merchant who delivers his goods may be said to be a carrier. Birch had done so, and might thus have fastened the report upon him: he might have done nothing more. [The following passage, from Seyer's Memoirs of Bristol, ii. 351, illustrates this view of the subject. “Mr. Yeomans in all the contemporary writers is called a merchant, and the circumstance that masters of ships and sailors were found in his house on that unfortunate night confirms that he was so. Yet whereas an apprentice of his is mentioned, a youth of 15 or 16 years old, it is probable that he was also a tradesman, especially since at that time there were few tradesmen in Bristol of respectability who were not also engaged in commerce.”] Lord Macaulay, in quoting Burnet, does not seem to have been aware of the difference between a carter and a carrier. [Possibly he may have been misled by the fact that Colonel Birch's kinsman Thomas, who, holding the same rank in the service of the Parliament, was alike distinguished by successful and disgraced by inhuman actions, was called, even among his own party, the Earl of Derby's carter, from the circumstance that “his Lordship had trailed him under a hay-cart at Manchester.” (Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, 304.) This was probably the Col. Birch who is mentioned in the History of Whalley as having been imprisoned by the Parliament in 1645, notwithstanding his faithful services.]
page iv note a History of Leominster, by the Rev. G. F. Townsend, 109.
page iv note b Sept. 14, 1646. [This may perhaps require a slight modification. Further research has shown that Birch was succeeded by Humphreys in the command of the regiment, and that it never, after all, left the shores of England. Roe may, nevertheless, have obtained the command of some other body of troops; and from the internal evidence afforded by Birch's corrections it may be surmised that the two were separated after the completion of the memoir.]
page vii note a [To these must bo added the names of Major Peploe of Garnstone, the present proprietor of the MS.; R. W. Banks, Esq.; J. Stone, Esq.; A. C. Ranyard, Esq.; and the Revs. H. Hubbard, O. A. Hodgson, T. Woodhouse, H. W. Phillott, C. J. Robinson.]