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obedience to the King and the lord high Treasurer. I felt in hopes the
object of their search (namely, the young maiden his daughter, for it
was bruited they rummaged to find her out in all directions) was safe
with some foreign friends which the great lady possessed in the republic
of Holland, where the Prince of Orange was then the chief magistrate;
but of this I had no certain assurance. For some days no preparations
were made at the noble mansion for so momentous a journey; but at length
there were great signs of something being in prospect. First of all, the
Viscount Lessingholm rode up from Yorkshire, whither he had been gone
three weeks, attended by near a score of fine dressed serving-men, and
took up his abode at Mallerden Court; then came sundry others of the
great lady's kinsfolk, attended also by their servants in stately
liveries; and we did expect that the proud imperial-minded lady was to
go up with such great escort as should impress the king with a just
estimate of her power and dignity. With this expectation we kept to
ourselves ready to see the noble procession when it should start on its
way; but far other things were in store for me, and an instrument called
a pea-spitter, wherewith Charles had provided himself for the purpose
of saluting various of the serving-men as they passed, was rendered
useless. It was on the first day of November that the Lord Viscount
Lessingholm, (who had conveyed the young maidens, _videlicet_ Alice
Snowton and my Waller, to the Court on the previous day,) did ride post
haste up to my door, making his large grey horse jump over the gate at
the end of the walk, as if he had been Perseus flying on his winged
steed to the rescue of Andromede, (as the same is so elegantly described
in the ancient poet,) and did summon me to go that moment to the noble
mansion on matter of the highest import. Much marvelling, and greatly
out of breath, I followed the noble gentleman's motions as rapidly as
was beseeming one of my responsible situation, in regard to the
spiritual ministrations in the parish, while in sight of any of my
flock; for nothing detracts more from the dignity of the apostolical
character than rapid motions--such as running, or jumping, or an
unordered style of apparel, without hatband or cassock. When out of the
village street, I put (as the vulgar phrase expresses it) my best foot
foremost, and enacted the part of a running serving-man in the track of
my noble conduc