persuaded him to separate from the main body of fugitives, and to seek a temporary concealment in the hiding places of the Catholic priests, till some means could be devised for his escape to the continent.

Mr. Austin. This was the wisest plan they could have devised; for the Catholics were but too well accustomed to all the shifts and stratagems that persecution gives rise to, and it was principally owing to the exertions of some monks of the order of St. Bennet that Charles finally escaped; and this was one cause of the inclination he showed towards the Catholic religion, if indeed religion he could be said to have any, in his maturer years.

Mrs. Austin. I cannot help remarking, that that religion can be but unstable which is influenced by any favor received from man.

Gerald. The king's friends, in pursuance of this plan, brought him first to a place called White Ladies, from having been formerly a convent of Cistertian nuns, about twenty-six miles from Worcester, and close to Boscobel,the house of William Penderel, a royalist farmer, where the Earl of Derby had been concealed a short time before.

D

Lord Derby brought William Penderel into the inner parlour, where Charles was, and said, "This is the king-you must preserve him, as you did me."

Charles then blackened his hands and face with the soot of the chimney, took off his blue ribband, had his hair cut close, put on a coarse shirt, and Richard Penderel's green suit and leathern doublet, and hurried out of the house by the back door, there taking a sorrowful leave of two or three who were in the secret. It was well he made such haste, for he had not been gone half an hour, when the house was visited by a party of rebel troopers. William Penderel conducted him to the thickest part of a wood called Spring Coppice; Richard, Humphry, and George Penderel kept watch on the outskirts, and John, the fifth brother, went with Lord Wilmot, who had resolved to lurk about within a few miles of the king, till he could procure some means of his leaving the kingdom.

About sunrise on Thursday morning, Richard Penderel and the king reached the closest part of the wood; but the thickest tree in it afforded little shelter against the torrents of rain that fell. Richard went to the house of his sister, and

borrowed a blanket for the king to sit on, and desired her to bring some food as quickly as possible to the hungry and weary fugitive. She prepared a mess of milk, and brought it with some butter and eggs to the wood. Charles was startled at seeing her, but said in his own cheer

ful frank manner, "Good woman, can you be

faithful to a distressed cavalier ?" She answered, "Yes, sir; I will die rather than discover you."

On Thursday night, when it grew dark, Charles left the wood, with the intention of proceeding towards Wales, but before he set out on this perilous journey, he went into the house called Hobnal Grange, to visit Dame Penderel. Here he completed his disguise, was furnished with a woodman's bill, and took the name of Will Jones.

About two miles from Hobnal Grange stood Evelin Mill, where they met with an unpleasant alarm. The miller was a staunch royalist, and had a party of cavaliers concealed in his house: he was standing on the watch at the outside, when Richard unfortunately suffered a gate to clap; and when the loyal miller, in no friendly voice, called out "Who's there?" he thought he was in pursuit of them, and precipitately leaving the

road, led the king to a deep brook, which they · were obliged to wade through, nearly up to the middle; and the wetting of their garments added much to the discomfort of their march. The night was so dark, that the rustling of Richard's coarse clothes was the best guide through the brook and the thick woody paths they crossed.

Mr. Austin. The miller, I dare say, was just as much alarmed as they were. This mutual distrust was a part of the miseries of the times.

Gerald. In this uncomfortable plight they walked on, and reached Madely about midnight, within half a mile of which Charles had hoped to cross the Severn. Penderel took him to the house of a friend on whom he could depend. The family were all in bed, but when he told the daughter of the house that the king was with him, she willingly let them in, and gave them immediate refreshment. Mr. Wolf, the master of the house, told Charles it was not safe for him to remain in the village, and before daylight took him to a barn at a little distance. On inquiry, he found that all the bridges over the Severn were guarded, and the passage-boats secured, and he advised Charles to return to Boscobel until

some plan could be devised for his escape. Mrs.

Wolf, observing that the colour of the king's hands did not accord with the rest of his disguise, stained them with walnut-juice: he left the barn at night, and at three on Saturday morning again reached Boscobel. Penderel left Charles in the wood whilst he went to see who might be in the house. He there found Colonel Careless, one of

the royalist army, "who had seen the last man killed at Worcester," and he brought him to give his attendance to the king, whom they found sitting at the foot of a large tree. Charles went with them to the house, and ate heartily of bread and cheese, while Dame Penderel got ready a posset of thin milk and small beer; and she prepared the still greater comfort of warm water, to wash his swollen and lacerated feet. They gave him dry clothes and whole stockings, of which he was much in need, and as there were no shoes in the house that would fit him, the good dame dried his own with hot wood embers. Colonel Careless acted barber, and cut the king's hair quite close to the top of his head, but leaving it long at the ears, in the country fashion. They then returned to the wood, where William helped Careless and the king to mount into thickleafed oak, and throwing up a cushion for Charles