THE MOST ROMANTIC EVENT IN ENGLISH HISTORY.* IT is a

somewhat remarkable thing that with the exception of the pamphleteers of the Restoration and half-a-dozen later writers, no one has attempted a detailed account of one of the most extraordinary romances of history. Mr. Fea is really the first to follow in Charles's footsteps and such an oppor- tunity as his does not come to many men. But why is this P Is it because the circumstances of the time were not such as to throw the King's flight, or any other adventure, into strong relief—for those were not humdrum days—or is it because our forefathers, as we do, always associated romance with the Stuarts?

The first of these reasons must account for some of the seeming indifference; the second for as much and a great deal more,—and the King never made much of the adventure him- self ; but a third reason—that the whole affair, which lasted six weeks, from "the crowning mercy" of Worcester to the embarkation at Shoreham, was one long dream and night- mare combined—seems to ns to account for the way in which it passed from men's minds. To Charles himself, perfect as was his temperament and nerve, it must have seemed an incredible nightmare ; and we can see the brothers Penderel staring at each other for days afterwards, and hear them asking each other if it were not a dream after alL Then, too, some years passed before the Restora- tion. Even at this distance of time it is almost impossible to separate the different incidents, and to attach to each its proper significance. And again, as we have hinted, the hair- breadth escapes that Charles had of being recognised, the frequent incident in the day's wanderings of riding through mounted bodies of men who were so absorbed in hunting for him that they never even noticed the handful of travel- stained wanderers, are related in the tracts in such an even, matter-of-fact tenour of style, that we ourselves are led to accept it all as a matter of course.

Mr. Fea recommends his readers to read the five tracts he has appended to the historical tour before following him in the track of the King. Though these tracts were more or less known, they were not included in Hughes's Boscobel Tracts, yet the first is the earliest printed and most circum- stantial account of the King's flight, and the last—Colonel Gonnter's narrative—is second to none in value, as indeed was the part that energetic Cavalier played at the end of the journey. The Penderels would naturally supply the facts, as far as they knew, for the first account, and Gonnter could be the only authority for the series of rides he made in search of a vessel, and in carrying the frequent reports he made to the fugitives. The King's account dictated to Pepys, while it cannot be so circumstantial as the others, is a remark- able effort of memory, and does credit to that Royal gift, and shows extraordinary observation. Its tenour is very charac- teristic of Charles. As it is derived from the hero and chief actor in the drama himself, and the only actor who under- went all the vicissitudes, and was present at every scene, it has a unique value.

The distinguishing feature of Mr. Fea's work, and by far the most interesting, is the charming series of sketches and

• The Eight of the King : being a .Full. True, and Particular Account of the Miraculous Escape of His Hest Sacred Mejsstu Charles 11. after the Hattie of Worcester. BT Allan Fea. With numerous Illustrations. London Jahn Lana.

photographs of the houses and inns at which the King is known to have stopped, or are connected with those who ventured life and fortune for " the King of Scotes," as the pur- suing soldiers invariably called Charles. A space of two hundred and fifty years has changed the exterior of houses that sheltered the Royal fugitive, much more than the interior. Boscobel and Moseley would be recognised, perhaps, by the Penderels and Whitgreaves of the seventeenth cen- tury, but once inside they would find themselves quite at home, and would be able to go to the " priest's hole " in either house. The sketches of these two hiding-places and the one at Trent help to remind us that every house of consequence in the West of England at that time had its "priest's hole." The traveller when he visits an old manor-house is fain to believe that his own modern mansion, though it be but half the size, has more room in it ; but if he had fled from Crom- well's " crowning mercy " at Worcester, he would have passed his own dwelling without drawing rein, knowing that it could not so much as hide his hat or his boots. The broad, substantial design of the old builder, the generous thickness of his walls, and his complete disregard of precise proportions and the utility of space, gave capital opportunities to men like Owen, who spent a lifetime in contriving hiding-places. A patient and painstaking application of the carpenter's rule, while it might suggest much, would confuse more, because it would reveal all kinds of insignificant inequalities. Just as in these days of painful precision, even in a house of the present decade, we should find the window differing by an inch or two from the centre of the wall. Charles does not seem to have used these "holes" unless the danger was urgent, and preferred breathing-room, with a very obvious risk of surprise, to stuffy dens ; his long rides in the open, and his athletic temperament and cool nerve, must have rendered them always unbearable and often unnecessary. He must have slept in the one at Boscobel indicated by Mr. Fea, and as a party searching for Whitgreave arrived at Moseley, the King had to be bundled into the "hole" at very short notice. The second tract in Mr. Fea's volume, " A Summary of Occurrences," is similar to the "Whitgreave Narrative "

in the Boscobel Tracts, but has additional details from Huddle- ston, and is the best written and the most striking—though it shows true literary restraint—of the five. Nothing could

be more pathetic than the passage which describes the King viewing from Whitgreave's study window over the porch the wretched figures limping along the road, some of them belong- ing to his own regiment, and many of whom begged at the door for relief for their wounds :—

" Some of these had in their hands pease in straw, gathered from the field sides as they came along ; others were eating cabbage stalks and leaves which were thrown out of gardens into the highways, not daring so much as to beg for food ; others, again, wounded and maimed, sought for relief at the door, whose sores Mrs. Whitgreave, with great tenderness and charity, dressed."

These and other incidents are absent or scarcely touched upon at all in the "Whitgreave Narrative," which, however, mentions the " priest-catcher," Southall, who came to Moseley with the object of capturing either Whitgreave or some Cavalier, or, as is hinted in one of the tracts, on the off-chance of finding the King. It is evident that the difference between the two—a very great one in point of style and expression—is due to Huddleston, though, of oonrse, a third person has written down the recollections of the two Catholics. That they were of the Roman faith enhanced their loyalty in public estimation, and, indeed, nothing could have exceeded their courteous respect, anxious loyalty, and tender care of the footsore fugitive.

The third tract, an extract from Dr. George Bates's Elenchus llirotuunt Nuperorunt in Anglia., we are told to com- pare with the King's narrative dictated to Pepys, both docu- ments having the King for their authority. But Charles naturally remembered more in 1662 than he would in 1680, so that the earlier reminiscences are the more circumstantial. The fourth tract, though interesting, as Mr. Fea remarks, is unreliable, as the author, Captain Alford, was abroad at the time. It makes very serious charges against Ellesdon, and

as Ellesdon's treaty for a sailing vessel fell through, his sincerity, it would seem, was doubted by Charles, owing probably to " false information (which sticks like daggers in the heart)," as Ellesdon poetically puts it. Colonel Wyndham, however, supported Ellesdon's petition. Ellesdon eventually received a pension, so that his conduct was cleared, and his version of the sailing-master's failure is the accepted one. Limbry declared that the negotiations fell through on account of Ellesdon's refusal to pay him an extra £5, whereas Ellesdon in his letter to Lord Clarendon says that Limbry's wife and two daughters, frightened at the risk he ran in helping Royalists out of the country, locked the man into his own house. Commendable common-sense this of Master Stephen Limbry's women-folk ; but we can quite understand the pride of the man repudiating the incident entirely. Nor must we ignore a very human motive, the intense chagrin of

the man on discovering that one of the Royalists he missed carrying was the King himself. Many a man has perjured himself for less than this.

We almost regret that Mr. Fea did not include Captain Ellesdon's MS. with the marginal notes, in this volume.

For the letter, as printed by Hughes from the Oxford Edition of the Clarendon Papers, is much altered, and without the marginal notes, which are moat amusing.

For instance, at Charmonth the blacksmith who shod Wilmot's horse pointed out to the ostler that the three re- maining shoes belonged to different counties round Worcester.

The ostler forthwith proceeded to parson Westley's house to acquaint him with these suspicious circumstances, but could not gain admittance, as Westley was engaged in family prayers. "He being," says Ellesdon, "att prayer NO his family in weh he continewed so long (for he had not the measure of premeditation) as the fellow went away without discovering what he came for, for which reason, I have been somwhat reconsiled to extempory prayers ever since." The King says the fellow hurried back to the inn lest he should lose the wails from the departing Cavaliers ! The man was wise to make sure of a little loose silver rather than speculate on a possible thousand pounds. But what a despicable piece of human nature. Westley, an ancestor, we regret to say, of the great Wesley, being too late to catch the prize, could only insult the hostess and vainly attempt to stir up the magistrate, who refused to believe the story (from innate loyalty, Ellesdon hints). Finally a Cromwellian Captain pursued the fugitives. As a matter of fact it was a very narrow escape, the soldiers only just missing the King, and we can sympathise with the writer's thankfulness. Colonel Gounter's narrative we have already referred to. He was luckier than Ellesdon, and after spending night and day in the saddle, he had the pleasare, as he waited on Shoreham beach with his horses in case of accident, of seeing the barque with its precious freight dis- appear on the horizon.

Portraits of many of the prominent Royalists of this romantic flight exist, and are reproduced in photogravure, form- ing a truly remarkable series. We have the Penderels, Whit- greave, Huddleston (a fine portrait), Colonel Lane, several of Jane Lane, Colonel Wyndham, Henchman, Mrs. Hyde, and Colonel Phelips. Colonel Gounter is unavoidably absent.

Charles, be it said, was uniformly grateful to all these. The Penderel descendants still receive the bounty. It would have

been better if Mr. Fea had incorporated many of the notes in the text; they are numerous enough to be a serious drag on the historical tour. Viewed as a whole, The Flight of the King is not only a careful piece of work but a most charming book. It has the distinction, moreover, of being the only serious attempt to illustrate a romantic and noble page in English history.