r was quite safe,
and that, provided no artillery was brought to bear against them, that
they could hold out _till the time came_. What was the meaning of the
latter phraseology, I did not know; but considering it desirable at that
period to cut down certain trees on my recently purchased estate, I
proceeded with Thomas Hodge the carpenter, and various other artificers
of my parishioners, (all being friends and dependents of the great
lady,) and with saws and other instruments did level the whole row of
very large oaks and elm trees which bordered the only high-road from
Oxford; and, by some strange accident, all the trees did fall exactly
across the same, and made it utterly impossible to move thereupon with
cart or waggon; so that it was much to be suspected that the guns, which
we heard were ordered to come up from Wallingford, could by no means get
over the obstruction. It is also to be observed that Master George
Railsworth, the mason, who had contracted to repair the strong bridge
over our stream, did take this opportunity of taking down two of the
arches of the same, and could find no sufficient assistance to enable
him to restore them, which made the road impassable for horse or man. On
the following day, namely, the fifth day of November, we heard that all
the king's soldiers were suddenly ordered from all parts up to London,
and that the Marquis of Danfield had been left to his imprisonment in
Mallerden Court. Whereupon I bethought me it would be safe to venture up
once more, and bring my daughter Waller to the securer custody of my
excellent wife. Next morning, at early dawn, I accordingly did go up,
and was admitted, after a short parley, by the gate-keeper, which had a
helmet on his head and a sword in his hand. Speedily I was in the arms
of my daughter Waller, who looked as happy as if none of these scenes
had been transacted before her eyes; and moreover did refuse, in very
positive terms, to leave the Court till her dear friend Alice--I would
say the Lady Lucy--returned. I reasoned with her, and reprimanded her,
and showed her in what a fearful state of danger we all were, by reason
of the rebellion we had been guilty of against his majesty the king.
Whereupon the child did only laugh, and told me, "Here she would abide
until the time came." And with this enigmatical expression I was fain to
be content; for she would vouchsafe me no other. And, corroborative of
all which, she said, she relied on the assura