t otherwise, even though he might in his wisdom have admitted the
Earl of Rochester and his associates into England, he certainly would
not have allowed them to remain here, apparently as long as they chose,
after their enterprise was over. That the Protector gave them this
freedom of action is made singularly clear by the Thurloe Papers': they
contain repeated indications of the 'whereabouts' of the Earl of
Rochester, the leader of the revolt. He and Major Armourer did not,
after the Marston Moor failure, fly to the coast, or seek separate
hiding-places. They journeyed together, with two servants, leisurely
through England towards London: and to guard his safety, Rochester would
not disturb his bedtime, or his dinner-hour. After the outbreak, people
were naturally anxious to pick up what they could, by arresting 'the
great ones.' Of these, Rochester was the greatest; and he and Armourer
were arrested at Aylesbury. The resident magistrate gave a warrant to
the constable, desiring him to keep safely the bodies of the Earl and
his three companions, 'in the name of my Lord Protector.' The warrant
was acted upon; the prisoners evidently were 'persons of great quality.'
Yet somehow, both magistrate and constable left the Earl and the Major
in charge of the innkeeper 'where they lay;' and naturally enough, 'when
the constable came in the morning, he found that the innkeeper had let
the two chiefs escape,' taking with them 'all their rich apparel.'[55]
Had this been merely a sample of Aylesbury carelessness, the incident
need not have been noticed. But the example of the magistrate and
constable was followed by Cromwell. Although the escape of Rochester and
Armourer was promptly known, and their course was closely tracked, and
though Cromwell was informed where they might be found, they 'wrote very
comfortably from London;' and they endeavoured 'to lay the foundation of
some new design.' And at last, as if he were an ordinary traveller,
sending his servants before him, Rochester left England for the
Continent, having been a resident here for about five months; and the
latter part of his stay in England was a season of extraordinary
severity against the Royalists. In like manner, every one of his
thirteen comrades returned 'weekly without difficulty' to their King's
presence, apparently at their pleasure; whilst Cromwell's continental
informers repeated their warnings that 'Day, the Clerk of the Passage,'
is 'a rogue,' and that i