romwell "the crowning mercy," still
lingers in many of the country villages through which the unfortunate
monarch passed. The king and a few faithful followers avoided the towns,
passed the ford of the Salwarp at Hemford Mill, and proceeded by Chester
Lane to Broadwaters and Kinfare Heath. Presently they reached Brewood
Forest, where there stood two old hunting-lodges, built by the Giffards
in troublous times as hiding-places for proscribed Papists. They were
called White Ladies and Boscobel, and were inhabited by staunch
Royalists named Penderel; so the king knew he would be safe there. He
was disguised as a forester with leathern jerkin and trunk hose, his
long hair cropped, and his hands blackened. All day he lay concealed in
a coppice, and in the evening, under the name of Will Jackson, he supped
with the Penderels, and then tried to cross the Severn, but all the
fords and bridges were guarded. The next day he and Colonel Carlos
remained concealed in a large oak near Boscobel, and the memory of Royal
Oak day is still preserved. He had other narrow escapes, and was saved
by Mistress Jane Lane, the beautiful daughter of Colonel Lane. A pass
had been obtained for her and her groom to go to Abbot's Leigh, near
Bristol. The plan was arranged that the king should act as groom; so
Charles mounted his horse, and Mistress Lane sat behind him on a
pillion, and together they rode through Warwickshire to Bristol. The
king was nearly captured at Long Marston, for some troopers of Cromwell
suspected the party, and came to examine the house where they rested.
The cook, however, set Charles to wind up the jack, and because he was
awkward struck him with the basting-ladle just as the soldiers entered
the kitchen. Their suspicions were thus removed; and in this old house
the remains of the jack are still preserved. The poor king was
disappointed of his ship; the skipper unfortunately told his wife that
he was going to take the king to France, and she was angry, and locked
him up in his room, so that he could not fulfil his engagement. At last
Lord Wilmot procured a ship for the fugitive king, who set sail joyfully
from Shoreham, near Brighton, and reached Paris in safety. There must
have been great excitement in the villages of England when the troopers
were scouring the country in all directions, and the unfortunate king
was known to be wandering about disguised as a servant.

If there are any hills or high ground in your neighbourho