"
During the following days Crosby did not move abroad, did not leave the
grounds of the manor except to walk into the village and gather any news
he might. It was meagre enough, and was always to the effect that
Monmouth was hard pressed. It was sadly told, too, for in the village
the sympathy was with the Duke.
Doubtless through the length and breadth of the land there was sympathy,
but it had little power to help. It did not bring arms to the rebel
camp; it did not bring the men Monmouth had expected to fly to his
standard. He knew, no one better, that with such an army as he possessed
there could be no real success. His one hope was that, by holding out
and perchance by driving back the enemy in some skirmish which might get
magnified into an important engagement, the men he so longed for--the
great body of the Whigs--would be persuaded to flock to him. He did not
let go this hope even after Crosby's visit to Bridgwater. The one thing
he could not afford was to be inactive, so he marched to Glastonbury,
then to Wells, then to Shepton Mallet, harassed the whole way by a
handful of troops under Churchill, drenched by continuous and heavy
rain.
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