send his eyes abroad, to view the great alterations which a little time had made there; and when he rode near the place where the great fort had stood, he could not forbear putting his horse out of the way, and rode, with his mistress behind him, round about it. They came to Mr. Norton's house sooner than usual, and, though in the middle of October, they saw many people about a bowling green, that was before the door; and the first man the king saw, was a chaplain of his own, who was allied to the gentleman of the house, and was sitting upon the rails, to see how the bowlers played. William, by which name the king went, walked with his horse into the stable, till his mistress could provide for his retreat. Miss Lane was very welcome to her cousin, and was presently conducted to her chamber, where she had no sooner entered, than she lamented the condition of a good youth who came with her, and who was very sick, being newly recovered of an ague. A chamber was presently made ready, and a boy sent into the stable, to call William, who was very glad to retire from the company below. When it was supper time, there being broth brought to the table, Miss Lane filled a little dish, and desired the butler, who waited at table, to carry the dish to William. The butler carried the broth, and looking upon the young man narrowly, fell upon his knees. and with tears told him, he was glad to see his majesty. The king was infinitely surprized, yet recollected himself enough to laugh at the man, and to ask him what he meant? The man's name was John Pope; he had been falconer to Sir Thomas Jermyn, and made it appear that he knew well to whom he spoke; whereupon the king conjured him not to discover him, not even to his master; the man promised, and kept his word, and the king was better served during his abode there. Dr. Gorges, the king's chaplain, as has been said, supped with Mr. Norton that night, and being a man of cheerful conversation, asked Miss Lane many questions concerning William, to which she gave such an swers as occurred. The doctor, from the final prevalence of the parliament, hadlike many others declined his profession, and pretended to study physic; and as soon as supper was over, out of good nature, and without telling any body, he went to see William. The king saw him coming into the chamber, and withdrew to the inside of the bed, that he might be farthest from the candle; and the doctor came and sat down by him, felt his pulse, and asked him many questions, which he answered in as few words as possible, and expressing great inclination to go to bed, the doctor left him, and went to Miss Lane, and told her that he had been with William, and that he would do well; and advised her what she should do, if his ague returned. Next morning the doctor went away, so the king saw him no more; and lord Wilmot came to the house with his hawk to see Miss Lane, and so took an opportunity to speak with William, who was to consider what he was to do. They thought it necessary to rest some days, till they were informed what port lay most convenient for them, and what person lived nearest to it, upon whose fidelity they might rely; and the king gave directions to inquire after some persons and some other particulars, of which when he should be fully instructed, he should return again to him. In the mean time Wilmot lodged at a house not far from Mr. Norton's, to which he had been recommended. After some days stay there, the king came to know that colo.el Francis Windham lived within little more than a day's journey of the place where he was; of which he was very glad; for besides the inclination he had to his elder brother, whose wife had been his nurse, this gentlemau had behaved himself very well during the war, and had been governor of Dunster castle, where the king lodged when he was in the west. The king sent Wilmot to him, and a time and place being appointed to meet, the king took his leave of Miss Lane, who remained at her cousin's, and so departed, accompanied only by lord Wilmot. In their way way, they met Mr. Kirton, a servant of the king's, who well knew Wilmot, but tuok no notice of him, nor suspected the king to be in his company. At the place of meeting they rested only one night, and then the king went to the colonel's house, where he staid till the coJonel projected at what place he might embark, and how they might procure a vessel, which was no easy matter to do, there being so great a fear possessing even the well-affected, that nobody outward bound cared to take any passenger. There was a gentleman, one Mr. Ellison, who lived near Lyme in Dorsetshire, and was well known to colonel Windham, having been a captain in the king's army, and with him the colonel consulted how they might get a vessel ready to take in a couple of gentlemen, friends of his, who were in danger of being arrested, and to transport them to France. Though no man would ask who the persons were, yet it could not but be suspected, they were of the Worcester party. Lyme was generally as malicious and disaffected to the king's interest, as any town in England could be; yet there was in it the master of a bark, of whose honesty captain Ellison was very confident. This man was lately returned from France, and had unJaden his vessel, when Ellison asked him whether he would undertake to carry over a couple of gentlemen, and land them in France, if he might have 50£. for his trouble. The man said he might be suspected for going to sea again without being freighted, after he was so newly returned; yet he undertook it. Colonel Windham being advertised of this, came, together with lord Wilmot, to the captain's house, from whence they both rode to a house near Lyme, where the master of the bark met them; and it was there concluded, that on sucha night, when the tide served, the man should draw out his vessel from the pier, and being at sea, should come to such a point about a mile from the town, where his ship should remain upon the beach, when the water was gone, which would take her off again about break of day, when the tide served next morning. There was very near this point a small inn, kept by a man who was reputed honest, to which the cavaliers of the country often resorted; and the London post-road passed that way, so that it was seldom without company. Into that in the two gentlemen were to come, in the beginning of the night, that they might put themselves on board. All things being thus concerted, and good earnest given to the master, lord Wilmot and the colonel returned to the colonel's house, above a day's journey from the place, the captain undertaking every day to look that the master should proceed; and if any thing fell out contrary to expectation, to give the colonel notice at such a place, where they intended the king should be the day before he was to embark. The king being satisfied with these preparations, came at the time appointed to that house, where he was to hear how things went, and vas assured that the man had honestly put his provisions on board, and had his crew ready, which was but four men, and that, the vessel should be drawna out that night; so that it was fit the two persons should repair to the place appointed. The captain con ucted them within sight of it, and then went to his own house, not distant a mile from it: the colonel remaining still at the house where they had lodged the night before, till he might hear the news of their being embarked. They found many passengers in the inn, and so were to be contented with an ordinary chamber, which they did not intend long to skep in. But as soon as there appeared any light, Wilmot went out to discover the bark, of which there was no appearance. In a word, the sun rose, and nothing like the ship inview: they sent to the captain, who was as much amazed; and he sent to the town, and his servant could not find the master of the bark, which was still in the pier : they suspected the captain, and the captain suspected the master. However, it being now past ten o'clock, they concluded that it was not fit for them to stay longer there, and so they mounted their horses to return to the the house where they had left the colonel, who they knew resolved to stay there till he was assured they were gone. The truth of the disappointment was this; the man meant honestly, and nade all things ready for his departure; and the night he was to go out with his vessel, he had staid in his own house, and slept two or three hours, and the time of the tide being come, he took out of a cupboard some linen, and other things, which he used to carry with him to sea. His wife had observed that he had been for som: days fuller of thought than he used to be, and that he had been speaking with seamen who used to go with him, and that some of them had carried provisions on board; of which she had asked her husband the reason, who told her, he was promised freight speedily, and therefore he would make all things ready. She was sure there was yet no lading in the ship, and therefore, when she saw her husband take all those materials with him, which was a sure sign that he meant to go to sea, and it being late in the night, she shut the door, and swore he should not go out of his house. He told her he must go, and was engaged to go to sea that night, for which he should be well paid. His wife told him, she was sure he was doing something that would undo him, and she was resolved he should not go out of his house; and if he should persist in it she would tell the neighbours, and carry him before the mayor, to be examined, that the truth might be found out. The poor man, thus mastered by the passion and violence of his wife, was forced to yield to her, that there might be no further noise, and so went into his bed. And it was very happy that the king's jealousy hastened him from that inn. It was the solemn fast day, which was observed in those times, principally to inflame the people against the king and his party, and there was a chapel in that village, over against that inn, where a weaver, who had been a soldier, used to preach, and utter all the villany imaginable against the old order of government; and he was then in the chapel, preaching VOL. II. to his congregation, when the king went from thence, and telling the people that Charles Stuart was lurking somewhere in that county, and what they would merit from God Almighty if they could find him out. The passengers, who had lodged in the inn that night, had, as soon as they were up, sent for the smith to examine their horses shoes, it being a hard frost. The fellow when he had done what he was sent for, according to the custom of that people, examined the feet of the other two horses, to find more work; when he had observed them he told the landlord, that one of these horses had travelled far, and that he was sure his four shoes had been made in four several counties, which, whether his skill was able to discover or no, was very true. The smith going to the sermon, told his story to some of his neighbours, and so it came to the ears of the preacher, when his sermon was done. Immediately he sent for an officer, and searched the inn, and inquired for these horses, and being informed that they were gone, he caused horses to be sent to follow them, and to make inquiry after the two men who rode them, and positively declared that one of them was Charles Stuart. All this they learnt afterwards from captain Ellison. But to return: when they came again to the colonel, they presently concluded that they were to make no longer stay in those parts, nor any more to endeavour to find a ship upon that coast, and without any further delay, they rode back to the colonel's house, where they arrived in the night. Then they resolved to make their next attempt in Hampshire and Sussex, where colonel Windham had no interest. There was between that and Salisbury, a very honest gentleman, colonel Robert Philips, a younger brother of a very good family, whom the king was resolved to trust; and so sent lord Wilmot to a place from whence he might send to Mr. Philips, and when he had spoken with him, Mr. Philips should come to the king, and lord Wilmot was to stay in such a place as they two should agree. Mr. Philips accordingly came to the col.nel's house, 3 R which which he could do without suspicion, they being nearly allied. The ways were full of soldiers, which were now sent from the army to their quarters, and many regiments of horse and foot were assigned for the west, of which division Desborough was commander in chief. These marches were likely to last many days, and it was not thought advisable for the king to stay so long in that place: thereupon he had recourse to his old stratagem of taking a woman behind him; a kinswoman of colonel Windham, whom he carried in that manner to a place not far from Salisbury, to which colonel Philips conducted him. In this journey he passed through the middle of a regiment of horse, and presently after met Desborough walking down a hill, and three or four men with him, who had lodged in Salisbury the Henchman, he sent to the king to meet him at Stone-henge, whither the widow took care to direct him; and being there met, he attended him to the place, where colonel Philips received him. He, the next day, delivered him to lord Wilmot, who went with him to a house in Sussex, recommended by colonel Ganter, a gentleman of that county, who had served the king in the war, who met him there, and had provided a little bark at Brighthelmstone, where he went early on board, and arrived safely in Normandy, in November, in a small creek, from whence he got to Rouen, and thence to court. CHAP. XLVII. in some Men. LUCRETIUS boasts of his master Epicurus, "that when the minds of men were sunk under the burden of religion, it was he who first did dare to assert the freedom and liberty of mankind; and that so successfully, that religion began to be despised, and man was made equal to Heaven itself: but if we believe Cotta in Tully, he tells us, "that Epicurus was so far from finding his beloved ease and pleasure in his sentiments, that never was school-boy more afraid of a rod than he was of the thought of a God and death. Nec quenquam vidi (said be)qui magis ea timeret que timenda esse negaret; "No man more feared the things which he taught should be despised, than himself." For whatever there is in the air, there is certainly an elastical power in the conscience, that will bear itself up, notwithstanding all the weight that is laid upon it. Men may silence for a while the voice of their own conscience; but it will find a time to speak so loud, as to be heard in despite of its owner. night before; all that road being full of Of Conscience, the Force and Effects of i soldiers. The next day, upon the plain, Dr. Henchman, one of the prebendaries of Salisbury, met the king: lord Wilmot and Mr. Philips then leaving him to go to the sea-coast to find a vessel, the doctor conducted the king to Heale, a seat three miles from Salisbury belonging to sergeant Hyde, who was afterwards chief-justice of the king's bench, and then in the occupation of the widow of his elder brother; where coming late in the evening, he supped with some gentlemen, who accidentally were in the house, which could not be well avoided. But the next morning he went early from thence, as if he had continued his journey: and the widow being trusted with the knowledge of her guest, sent her servants out of the way; and at an hour appointed, received him again, and accommodated him in a little room, which had been made since the beginning of the troubles, for conceal ment. Here he was entertained, unknown to some gentlemen who lived in the house, and to others who daily resorted thither, for many days; the widow herself only attending him, and bringing him such letters as the doctor received from Wilmot and Philips. A vessel being at last provided on the coast of Sussex, and notice thereof sent to Dr. 1. There were two senators in great reputation at Rome, Symmachus, and Boethius who had married the daughter of the former. Theodoricus, king of the Goths, sent for them to him, then (8.) Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellions at at Ticinum, where he kept them long in prison, because they had opposed something which he was desirous should be decreed in the senate (possibly the allowance of churches to the Arians). Having thus deprived them of liberty, he exposed their goods to open sale, and at last caused them both to be slain. Not long after their death there was set before him on the table at supper the head of a great fish: there did he think he saw the head of Symmachus with a horrible yawning, and threatening him with flaming eyes. Immediately therefore he sore affrighted, and trembling, caused himself to be carried to his bed. Elpidius the physician was sent for, but could not help him; he told his friends about him of that terrible resemblance of Symmachus which he had seen; and deploring his wicked cruelty, he soon after gave up the ghost. was 2. A certain Jesuit in Lancashire, as he was walking by the way, lost his glove; and one who came after him finding it, followed him apace, with an intention to restore it; but he fearing the worst, and being pursued with a guilty conscience, ran away, and hastily feaping over a hedge, fell into a marlpit on the other side, in which he was drowned. 3. A. Pythagorean philosopher had bought a pair of shoes of a cobler; but having no money at present, desired him to stay for it till the morrow, and then he would return to pay him. He came with his money, according to agreement; and then heard that the cobler was newly dead: he therefore, without mention of the money, departed, with a secret joy for the unexpected gain he had made that day; but finding that his conscience would not suffer him to be quiet, he takes the money, goes to the cobler's shop, and casting in the money there; "Go thy ways," said he:" for though he is dead to all the world besides, yet he is alive to me." 4. Thomas Curson, armourer, dwelt without Bishopsgate, London: it happened that a stageplayer borrowed a rusty musket of him, that had long lan in his shop: now, though his part was comical, he therewith acted an unexpected tragedy, killing one of the standers-by, the gun casually going off on the stage, which he suspected not to be charged. This poor armourer was highly afflicted at this accident, though done against his will, and even without his knowlege, in his absence, by another person. Hereupon he resolved to give all his estate to pious uses. No sooner had he gotten a round sum, but presently he posted with it in his apron to the court of aldermen, and was in pain till, by their direction, he had settled it for the relief of the poor in his own and other parishes; and he disposed of some hundred pounds accordingly, as I was credibly informed by the then churchwardens of the said parish. 5. The wretched estate of king Richard the Third, after he had murdered his nephews, is thus described by sir Thomas More: "I have heard," saith he, "by credible reports of such as after this his abominable deed done, Ite were secret with his chamberers, that never had quiet in his mind, he never thought himself safe. When he went abroad, his eyes whirled about, his body was privily fenced, his hand ever on his dagger, his countenance and manner like one who was ever ready to strike he took no rest in the night, lay long waking and musing, sore wearied with care and watching, and rather slumbered than slept, troubled with fearful dreams: he sometimes started suddenly up, leaped out of his bed, and ran about the chamber: his restless heart was continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression and stormy remembrance of his horrid and abominable deeds." 6. Attalus king of Pergamus had slain his mother, and also Berenice his (1.) Wierus de Præstig. Deem. c. 15. p. 43. Lavat. de Spectr. pars 1. c. 3. p. 14. Cal. Rhol. Antiq. Lect. 1. 27. c. 22. Burton's Melanch. par. 3. § 4. p. 627. (2.) Clark's Mir. c. 29. p. 103. (3.) Seneca Erasm. Apophtheg. 1. 9. Felth. Resolv. cent. 1, c 25. p. 44. (4.) Full. Worth. p. London. (5.) Fitz. of Relig. and Policy, part 1. c. 31. p. 403. Stow's Annals, p. 460. 3 R2 223. wife: |