Reinforcements were immediately demanded from
the armies in Flanders and Ireland; directions were issued for a levy of
fourteen regiments of one thousand men each;[a] measures were taken for
calling out the militia; numerous arrests were made in the city and every
part of the country; and the known Cavaliers were compelled to leave the
metropolis, and to produce security for their peaceable behaviour. These
proceedings seemed to justify Willis in representing the attempt as
hopeless; and, at his persuasion, "the Knot" by circular letters forbade
the rising, two days before the appointed time.[b] The royalists were thus
thrown into irremediable confusion. Many remained quiet at their homes;
many assembled in arms, and dispersed on account of the absence of their
associates; in some counties the leaders were intercepted in their way
to the place of rendezvous; in others as soon as they met, they were
surrounded or charged by a superior force. In Cheshire alone was the
royal standard successfully unfurled by Sir George Booth, a person of
considerable influence in the county, and a recent convert to the cause of
the Stuarts. In the letter which he circulated, he was careful to make
no mention of the king, but called on the people to defend their rights
against the tyranny of an insolent soldiery and a pretended parliament.
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