outward of her body, being a most pious virtuous person, of great
integrity and discerning judgment in most things.'

Her husband speaks of her 'sweet good-nature,' and of how she was always
ready to be touched with other people's wants before her own. That such
nobleness of character should shine out brilliantly during the siege was
inevitable, and Sir Hugh tells us that, though she was of a timorous
nature, she bore herself during great danger with 'a courage above her
sex.' On one occasion Sir John Meldrum, the Parliamentary commander,
sent proposals to Sir Hugh Cholmley, which he accompanied with savage
threats, that if his terms were not immediately accepted he would make a
general assault on the castle that night, and in the event of one drop
of his men's blood being shed he would give orders for a general
massacre of the garrison, sparing neither man nor woman.

To a man whose devotion to his beautiful wife was so great, a threat of
this nature must have been a severe shock to his determination to hold
out. But from his own writings we are able to picture for ourselves Sir
Hugh's anxious and troubled face lighting up on the approach of the
cause of his chief concern. Lady Cholmley, without any sign of the
inward misgivings or dejection which, with her gentle and shrinking
nature, must have been a great struggle, came to her husband, and
implored him to on no account let her peril influence his decision to
the detriment of his own honour or the King's affairs.

Sir John Meldrum's proposals having been rejected, the garrison prepared
itself for the furious attack commenced on May 11.

The assault was well planned, for while the Governor's attention was
turned towards the gateway leading to the castle entrance, another
attack was made at the southern end of the wall towards the sea, where
until the year 1730 Charles's Tower stood. The bloodshed at this point
was greater than at the gateway. At the head of a chosen division of
troops, Sir John Meldrum climbed the almost precipitous ascent with
wonderful courage, only to meet with such spirited resistance on the
part of the besieged that, when the attack was abandoned, it was
discovered that Meldrum had received a dangerous wound penetrating to
his thigh, and that several of his officers and men had been killed.
Meanwhile, at the gateway, the first success of the assailants had been
checked at the foot of the Grand Tower or Keep, for at that point the
rush of drab-