In Taunton town : a story of the rebellion of James Duke of Monmouth in 1685

The narrator, an elderly member of a Somerset family, recalls growing up at Five Gable Farm and among kin who keep inns in nearby towns, describes his education, physical deformity, and the social ties that bring him into civic life. As unrest rises, local men rally behind a claimant against royal authority, producing marches, sieges and skirmishes that draw the narrator from village routines into military and legal upheaval. The narrative follows the community's brief triumphs and subsequent defeats, a violent pitched battle, imprisonment and trial, and the slow return to peace, closing with personal reckonings about loyalty, loss, and the costs borne by ordinary households during rebellion.