rain their
children and servants from endangering the peace of the people.

Courage and initiative were not limited to the women on one side of
the contest, as is well illustrated by the conduct of the Countess of
Derby, who, in 1643, made a remarkable defence of Latham House; the
countess was of French birth and had in her veins the indomitable
spirit of the Dutch, for she was a descendant of Count William
of Nassau. She was called upon either to yield up her home or to
subscribe to the propositions of Parliament, and, upon her refusal to
do either, was besieged in her castle and kept in confinement within
its walls, with no larger range of liberty than the castle yard. Her
estate was sequestered, and she was daily affronted with mocking and
contemptuous language. When she was requested by Sir Thomas Fairfax to
yield up the castle, she replied with quiet dignity that she wondered
how he could exact such a thing of her, when she had done nothing
in the way of offence to Parliament, and she requested that, as the
matter affected both her religion and her life, besides her loyalty to
her sovereign and to her lord, she might have a week's consideration
of the demand. She declined the proposition of Sir Thomas Fairfax
to meet him at a certain house a quarter of a mile distant from the
castle for purposes of conference, saying that it was more knightly
that he should wait upon her than she upon him. After further
parleyings failed of conclusion, she finally sent a message that
brought on a renewal of the siege. She said that she refused all the
propositions of the Parliamentarians, and was happy that they had
refused hers, and that she would hazard her life before again making
any overtures: "That though a woman and a stranger, divorced from
her friends and robbed of her estate, she was ready to receive their
utmost violence, trusting in God for deliverance and protection."

The siege dragged on wearily for six or seven weeks, at the end of
which time Sir Thomas Fairfax resigned his post to Colonel Rigby. The
castle forces amounted to three hundred soldiers, while the besieging
force numbered between two and three thousand men. In the contest five
hundred of these were killed, while the countess lost but six of her
soldiers, who were killed through their own negligence. The colonel
manufactured a number of grenadoes, and then sent an ultimatum to the
countess, who tore up the paper and returned answer by the messenger
to "