



Produced by readbueno, Graeme Mackreth and the Online
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IN TAUNTON TOWN.




HISTORICAL TALES

BY

E. Everett-Green.

_In handsome crown 8vo volumes, cloth extra, gilt tops. Price 5s. each._


  IN TAUNTON TOWN. A Story of the Days of the Rebellion of James, Duke of
  Monmouth, in 1685.

  SHUT IN. A Tale of the Wonderful Siege of Antwerp in the Year 1585.

  THE LOST TREASURE OF TREVLYN. A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot.

  IN THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY. A Tale of the Times of the Black Prince.

  LOYAL HEARTS AND TRUE. A Story of the Days of Queen Elizabeth.

  The Church and the King. A Tale of England in the Days of Henry VIII.


_In post 8vo volumes, cloth extra. Price 2s. 6d. each._

  EVIL MAY-DAY. A Story of 1517.

  IN THE WARS OF THE ROSES.

  THE LORD OF DYNEVOR. A Tale of the Times of Edward the First.

  THE SECRET CHAMBER AT CHAD.

_Published by_

T. NELSON AND SONS, London, Edinburgh, and New York




  IN TAUNTON
  TOWN

[Illustration: _JAMES, DUKE OF MONMOUTH._]

  T. NELSON & SONS

  _LONDON, EDINBURGH & NEW YORK_




  _In Taunton Town_

  _A Story of the
  Rebellion of James Duke of Monmouth
  in 1685_

  _By_

  _E. EVERETT-GREEN_

  _Author of_ "_In the Days of Chivalry_," "_The Church and the King_,"
  "_The Lord of Dynevor_," "_Shut In_"
  _&c. &c._

  [Illustration]

  _T. NELSON AND SONS_

  _London, Edinburgh, and New York_

  _1896_




CONTENTS.


  I. THE SNOWE FAMILY,                                9

  II. MY CAREER IS SETTLED,                          25

  III. MY NEW HOME,                                  42

  IV. MY NEW LIFE,                                   59

  V. I GET AMONGST FINE FOLK,                        79

  VI. VISCOUNT VERE,                                 95

  VII. A WINTER OF PLOTS,                           112

  VIII. "LE ROI EST MORT,"                          129

  IX. THE MUTTERING OF THE STORM,                   146

  X. MY RIDE TO LYME,                               163

  XI. OUR DELIVERER,                                180

  XII. BACK TO TAUNTON,                             197

  XIII. THE REVOLT OF TAUNTON,                      214

  XIV. A GLORIOUS DAY,                              230

  XV. THE MAIDS OF TAUNTON,                         250

  XVI. "THE TAUNTON KING,"                          264

  XVII. ON THE WAR-PATH,                            281

  XVIII. IN PERIL IN A STRANGE CITY,                297

  XIX. A BAPTISM OF BLOOD,                          314

  XX. IN SUSPENSE,                                  331

  XXI. BACK AT BRIDGEWATER,                         348

  XXII. FATAL SEDGEMOOR,                            364

  XXIII. TERRIBLE DAYS,                             381

  XXIV. THE PRISONER OF THE CASTLE,                 398

  XXV. JUST IN TIME,                                413

  XXVI. THE TERRIBLE JUDGE,                         430

  XXVII. THE JUDGE'S SENTENCES,                     447

  XXVIII. PEACE AFTER STORM,                        463

  XXIX. MY LORD AND MY LADY,                        478

  XXX. A CHRISTMAS SCENE,                           490

  EPILOGUE,                                         497




IN TAUNTON TOWN.




CHAPTER I.

_THE SNOWE FAMILY._


I certainly never thought when I was young that I should live to write
a book! Scarce do I know how it betides that I have the courage to
make so bold, now that I am well stricken in years, and that my hair
has grown grey. To be sure (if I may say so without laying myself open
to the charge of boasting, a thing abhorrent to me), I have always
been reckoned something of a scholar, notwithstanding that I was
born a farmer's son, and that my father would have been proud could
he but have set his name on paper, as men of his station begin to do
now-a-days, and think little of it. But times have changed since I
was a boy--perhaps for the better