Note 17 — Chapter I · Preliminaries.—Petitions.—Seizure of Magazines.—The Array and the Militia.—First Skirmish at Manchester.

The chief authority for this skirmish is a tract called "The Beginning of Civil Warres in England, etc." ("C.W.T.," p. 24). It is a circumstantial account giving the times at which the battle began and ended and the number killed on both sides. But nevertheless it is almost certainly an entire fabrication. None of the main authorities mention it; and if any skirmish occurred at all on July 4 it would certainly have been mentioned in Lord Strange's impeachment. Cf. also "C.W.T.," pp. 27 and 331. The "Victoria County History of Lancashire," referring to this date, says: "Doubt has been cast on the truth of this report," but this statement is not strong enough (Vol. 2, p. 235).