Page images
PDF
EPUB

6

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

'hopes of dooing what I came there for & would take my hazard. And while I was thus fortifying my selfe against what might arive to mee, I heard a great noise ' of many as I thought comming up the stairs wch I expected to be soldiers to take mee, butt itt was a pleasing disappointment, for ye first that came in was 'the Duke, who with much joy I took in my armes & gave God thankes for his safe arrivall. His Highnese 'called "Quickely, quickely dress mee"; and putting of 'his cloaths I dresed him in the wemens habitt that was 'prepared, wch fitted his Highnese very well and was very pretty in itt. Affter hee had eaten something I 'made ready while I was idle lest his Highnese should 'bee hungry, and having sentt for a Woodstreet cake '(wch I knew hee loved) to take in the barge, with as 'much hast as could bee, his Highnese wentt crose the 'bridge to ye staires where the barge lay, C. B. leading ' him; & imediately the boatmen plied the oare so well 'that they were soon out of sight, having both wind and 'tide with ym. Butt I affterwards heard that the wind changed & was so contrary that C. B. told me he was 'terribly afraid they should have been blowne back ' againe. And the Duke, "Doe anything with me rather "" than let me goe back againe," which put C. B. to 'seeke helpe where itt was onely to be had, & affter hee 'had most fervently supplicated assistance from God, presently the wind blewe faire, & they came safely to 'their intended landing place. Butt I heard there was some defeculty before they gott to ye ship at Graves End, which had like to have discovered them, had not 'Collonell Washington's lady assisted them.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

'Affter the Duke's barge was out of sight of ye bridge 'I and Miriam went where I apointed ye coach to stay

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

for mee, and made drive as fast as ye coachman could to 'my brother's howse where I staid. I mett none in the way that gave mee any aprehension that the designe ' was discovered, nor was itt noised abroad till the next

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

day, for (as I related before) ye Duke having used to play att Hide & Seeke, and to conceal him selfe a long time, when they mist him att the same play, thought he 'would have discovered himselfe as formerly when they had given over seeking him. Butt a much longer time 'beinge past then usually was spentt in that divertissement, some began to aprehend that his Highnese was gone in earnest past their finding, wch made the Earle ' of Northumberland (to whose care hee was committed) 'affter strict search made in the howse of St. James & all 'thereabout to noe purpose, to send & acquaint the Speaker ' of the House of Commons that the Duke was gone, butt 'how or by what meanes hee knew nott, butt desired that 'there might bee orders sent to the Cinque Ports for 'stoping all ships going outt till the passengers were ' examined & search made in all suspected places where 'his Highnese might bee concealed.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

'Though this was gone aboutt with all the vigillancy immaginable, yett itt pleased God to disapointt them of 'there intention by so infatuating those severall persons 'who were imployed for writing orders that none of them were able to writt one right, butt ten or twelve of ym were cast by before one was according to their minde. 'This account I had from Mr. N., who was mace-bearer 'to the Speaker all that time & a witnese of itt. This 'disorder of the clarkes contributed much to the Duke's 'safety, for hee was att sea before any of the orders came 'to the ports, & so was free from what was disigned if they had taken his Highnese.

[ocr errors]

'Though severalls were suspected for being accesory 'to the escape, yett they could nott charge any with itt 'butt the person who wentt away, & hee being outt of 'there reach, they took noe notice as either to examine or ' imprison others.'

This narrative properly belongs to the pages of history; indeed, Anne Murray well deserves her little niche there for the hand she had in it; but her story is so full of

little womanish touches, with its naïve description of the mohair suit and the tailor's perplexity at the measurements, the Woodstreet cake, too, which her thoughtful kindness prepared to solace the boy on his hazardous journey, that it seems not out of place among the things which women did in their own feminine fashion. It is sad that poor Anne's own romance, thus strangely begun, should have ended so unhappily as has been related in the previous volume.

[graphic][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »