theatres were so generally deserted
that a new opera, written by Dryden, and set off by decorations of
unprecedented magnificence, was withdrawn, because the receipts would
not cover the expenses of the performance. [391] The magistrates and
clergy were everywhere active, the Dissenters were everywhere closely
observed. In Cheshire and Shropshire a fierce persecution raged; in
Northamptonshire arrests were numerous; and the gaol of Oxford was
crowded with prisoners. No Puritan divine, however moderate his
opinions, however guarded his conduct, could feel any confidence that he
should not be torn from his family and flung into a dungeon. [392]

Meanwhile Monmouth advanced from Bridgewater harassed through the whole
march by Churchill, who appears to have done all that, with a handful
of men, it was possible for a brave and skilful officer to effect. The
rebel army, much annoyed, both by the enemy and by a heavy fall of rain,
halted in the evening of the twenty-second of June at Glastonbury. The
houses of the little town did not afford shelter for so large a force.
Some of the troops were therefore quartered in the churches, and others
lighted their fires among the venerable ruins of the Abbey, once the
wealthiest religious house in our island. From Glastonbury the Duke
marched to Wells, and from Wells to Shepton Mallet. [393]

Hitherto he seems to have wandered from place to place with no other
object than that of collecting troops. It was now necessary for him to
form some plan of military operations. His first scheme was to seize
Bristol. Many of the chief inhabitants of that important place were
Whigs. One of the ramifications of the Whig plot had extended thither.
The garrison consisted only of the Gloucestershire trainbands. If
Beaufort and his rustic followers could be overpowered before the
regular troops arrived, the rebels would at once find themselves
possessed of ample pecuniary resources; the credit of Monmouth's
arms would be raised; and his friends throughout the kingdom would be
encouraged to declare themselves. Bristol had fortifications which, on
the north of the Avon towards Gloucestershire, were weak, but on
the south towards Somersetshire were much stronger. It was therefore
determined that the attack should be made on the Gloucestershire side.
But for this purpose it was necessary to take a circuitous route, and
to cross the Avon at Keynsham. The bridge at Keynsham had been partly
demolished by the