Monmouth then turned to Lieut. Bagster, and
familiarly striking him on the shoulder, said, "Brave young man, you
will join me!" But Bagster replied, "No, sir! I have sworn to be true to
the King, and no consideration shall move me from my fidelity." Monmouth
then knelt down on the beach and thanked God for having preserved the
friends of liberty and pure religion from the perils of the sea, and
implored the Divine blessing on what was to be done by land. He was
received with great rejoicings in Lyme, where there was a strong
Protestant element, and many joined his standard there, including Daniel
Defoe, the author of _Robinson Crusoe_, then only twenty-four years of
age. As the people generally had no grievance against James II,
Monmouth's rebellion failed from want of support, and although he raised
an army of 5,000 men by the time he reached Sedgmoor, in Somerset, he
was there defeated and taken prisoner by the King's army, and beheaded
in the same year. Defoe appears to have escaped capture, but twelve
local followers of Monmouth were hanged afterwards on the Cobb at Lyme
Regis. After Monmouth's execution a satirical ballad was printed and
hawked about the streets of London, entitled "The Little King of Lyme,"
one verse being:
Lyme, although a little place,
I think it wondrous pretty;
If 'tis my fate to wear a crown
I'll make of it a city.
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