crimes, he betrayed it in order to
escape from his well merited punishment. [323]

Very different was the character of Richard Rumbold. He had held a
commission in Cromwell's own regiment, had guarded the scaffold before
the Banqueting House on the day of the great execution, had fought at
Dunbar and Worcester, and had always shown in the highest degree the
qualities which distinguished the invincible army in which he served,
courage of the truest temper, fiery enthusiasm, both political and
religious, and with that enthusiasm, all the power of selfgovernment
which is characteristic of men trained in well disciplined camps to
command and to obey. When the Republican troops were disbanded, Rumbold
became a maltster, and carried on his trade near Hoddesdon, in that
building from which the Rye House plot derives its name. It had been
suggested, though not absolutely determined, in the conferences of the
most violent and unscrupulous of the malecontents, that armed men should
be stationed in the Rye House to attack the Guards who were to escort
Charles and James from Newmarket to London. In these conferences Rumbold
had borne a part from which he would have shrunk with horror, if his
clear understanding had not been overclouded, and his manly heart
corrupted, by party spirit. [324]

A more important exile was Ford Grey, Lord Grey of Wark. He had been a
zealous Exclusionist, had concurred in the design of insurrection, and
had been committed to the Tower, but had succeeded in making his keepers
drunk, and in effecting his escape to the Continent. His parliamentary
abilities were great, and his manners pleasing: but his life had been
sullied by a great domestic crime. His wife was a daughter of the noble
house of Berkeley. Her sister, the Lady Henrietta Berkeley, was allowed
to associate and correspond with him as with a brother by blood. A
fatal attachment sprang up. The high spirit and strong passions of
Lady Henrietta broke through all restraints of virtue and decorum. A
scandalous elopement disclosed to the whole kingdom the shame of two
illustrious families. Grey and some of the agents who had served him
in his amour were brought to trial on a charge of conspiracy. A scene
unparalleled in our legal history was exhibited in the Court of King's
Bench. The seducer appeared with dauntless front, accompanied by his
paramour. Nor did the great Whig lords flinch from their friend's side
even in that extremity. Those whom he ha