the suburbs were then burned, and next morning a
bombardment began, red-hot balls and heavy stones being plentifully
thrown into the place, knocking the houses into sad havoc, but in no
wise damping the sturdy courage of the defenders. They replied bravely
with their cannon and made repeated sorties, which inflicted serious
damage upon the besiegers. After over three weeks of this sport, the
Royalists shot an arrow into the town, September 3, with a message in
these words: "These are to let you understand your god Waller hath
forsaken you and hath retired himself to the Tower of London; Essex is
beaten like a dog: yield to the king's mercy in time; otherwise, if we
enter perforce, no quarter for such obstinate traitorly rogues.--From a
Well-wisher." This conciliatory message was defiantly answered in a
prompt reply signed "Nicholas Cudgelyouwell;" and two days later, Prince
Rupert having suffered a defeat elsewhere, the Cavaliers abandoned the
siege. Charles II., upon his restoration, took care to have himself
proclaimed with great pomp at Gloucester, and also took the precaution
to destroy its fortifications. The castle, which had stood since the
days of the Norman Conquest, then disappeared. The west gate, the last
remains of the walls, was removed, with the old bridge across the
Severn, in 1809, to make room for a fine new bridge. This structure is
chiefly known through a humorous connection that Thackeray has given it
with King George III. That monarch made a royal visit to Gloucester, and
in his lectures on the "Four Georges" Thackeray says: "One morning,
before anybody else was up, the king walked about Gloucester town,
pushed over Molly the housemaid with her pail, who was scrubbing the
doorsteps, ran up stairs and woke all the equerries in their bedrooms,
and then trotted down to the bridge, where by this time a dozen of louts
were assembled. 'What! is this Gloucester new bridge?' asked our
gracious monarch; and the people answered him, 'Yes, Your
Majesty.'--'Why, then, my boys, let's have a hurray!' After giving them
which intellectual gratification he went home to breakfast."

The town is quaint and picturesque, but the buildings generally are
modern, most of them dating from the days of good Queen Anne, but they
exhibit great variety in design. The most noted of the older Gloucester
houses is the "New Inn," on Northgate Street. After the murder of Edward
II. at Berkeley Castle, not far from Gloucester, where