Note 134 — Chapter VIII · THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

In a tract dated July 5, 1642, entitled “The Beginning of the Civil Warres in England, or Terrible News from the North,” Lord Strange is reported to have approached Manchester with a considerable armed force on July 5, and drawing up at a little distance from the town, demanded that the inhabitants should deliver up their magazines. On their refusal to give them up, he marched against the town, outside of which he was met by “ten small companies set in a faire battalion,” and a skirmish took place, which lasted several hours, and resulted in the withdrawal of the Royalist forces with the loss of twenty–seven men. The tract then states “that this is the beginning of the Civill Warre, being the first stroke that hath been struck, and the first bullet that hath been shot.” There is much reason to doubt the correctness of this reported fight, as no mention of it is made by contemporary authorities.