ns of Lady
Purbeck; but it may be observed in relation to Laud's mention of her
having been found guilty of adultery by the Court, that, although she
might be guilty of that offence according to the civil law, she was
not guilty of it morally; because her so-called marriage was no
marriage at all, since she was forced into it against her will.

It cannot be a matter for surprise that Lady Purbeck "withdrew
herself" rather than do penance, barefooted, in a white sheet in a
fashionable church, and before a crowded congregation, for a crowd
there would certainly have been to enjoy the spectacle of the public
penance of a Viscountess. For some time her place of withdrawal or,
to speak plainly, her place of hiding, was undiscovered. As we have
seen, she was sentenced on the 19th of November. She was not arrested;
but she was commanded to "present herself" on a certain Sunday at the
Savoy chapel, to perform her public penance. As might have been
expected, she did not present herself, to the great disappointment of
a large congregation, and she thereby exposed herself to arrest. The
officials did not discover her place of retreat until about Christmas.
The following story of an incident that then happened in connection
with this matter is told by Sir John Finett.[80]

A serjeant-at-arms, accompanied by other officers of justice and their
men, proceeded to the house in which Lady Purbeck was concealed, and
at once guarded every door into the street; but admittance was
refused, and the Countess of Buckingham sent "a gentleman" to the
"Ambassador of Savoy," whose garden adjoined that of the house in
which Lady Purbeck was staying, to beg the Ambassador that he would
allow the officers to pass through his house and garden into the
garden of Lady Purbeck's house of refuge "for her more easy
apprehension and arrest that way."

The Ambassador refused, considering it an indignity to be asked to
allow men of such a type a free passage through his house, and feeling
horrified at the idea of lending assistance to "the surprise and
arrest of a fair lady, his neighbour." After many protests, however,
he consented to the entrance of one constable into his garden, and the
man was to avail himself of an opportunity which, said the Ambassador,
would occur at dinner-time, of passing into the garden of the next
house and arresting Lady Purbeck.

In the meantime the Ambassador called his page, "a handsome fair boy,"
and, with the help of his