and was intersected by many deep
and wide trenches which, in that country, are called rhines. In the
midst of the moor rose, clustering round the towers of churches, a
few villages of which the names seem to indicate that they once were
surrounded by waves. In one of these villages, called Weston Zoyland,
the royal cavalry lay; and Feversham had fixed his headquarters there.
Many persons still living have seen the daughter of the servant girl who
waited on him that day at table; and a large dish of Persian ware, which
was set before him, is still carefully preserved in the neighbourhood.
It is to be observed that the population of Somersetshire does not, like
that of the manufacturing districts, consist of emigrants from distant
places. It is by no means unusual to find farmers who cultivate the same
land which their ancestors cultivated when the Plantagenets reigned in
England. The Somersetshire traditions are therefore, of no small value
to a historian. [405]

At a greater distance from Bridgewater lies the village of Middlezoy.
In that village and its neighbourhood, the Wiltshire militia were
quartered, under the command of Pembroke. On the open moor, not far from
Chedzoy, were encamped several battalions of regular infantry. Monmouth
looked gloomily on them. He could not but remember how, a few years
before, he had, at the head of a column composed of some of those very
men, driven before him in confusion the fierce enthusiasts who defended
Bothwell Bridge He could distinguish among the hostile ranks that
gallant band which was then called from the name of its Colonel,
Dumbarton's regiment, but which has long been known as the first of
the line, and which, in all the four quarters of the world, has nobly
supported its early reputation. "I know those men," said Monmouth; "they
will fight. If I had but them, all would go well." [406]

Yet the aspect of the enemy was not altogether discouraging. The three
divisions of the royal army lay far apart from one another. There was
all appearance of negligence and of relaxed discipline in all their
movements. It was reported that they were drinking themselves drunk with
the Zoyland cider. The incapacity of Feversham, who commanded in chief,
was notorious. Even at this momentous crisis he thought only of eating
and sleeping. Churchill was indeed a captain equal to tasks far more
arduous than that of scattering a crowd of ill armed and ill trained
peasants. But the genius, whic