him. They answered no, but that they could
depend upon him as a man of honor. The king was alarmed. "Then you
have betrayed me," said he, "and I am his prisoner." The messengers
were then, in their turn, alarmed at having thus disappointed and
displeased the king, and they offered to kill Hammond on the spot, and
to provide some other means of securing the king's safety. The king,
however, would not sanction any such proceeding, but put himself under
Hammond's charge, and was conveyed to Carisbrooke Castle. He was
received with every mark of respect, but was very carefully guarded.
It was about the middle of November that these events took place.

Hammond notified the Parliament that King Charles was in his hands,
and sent for directions from them as to what he should do. Parliament
required that he should be carefully guarded, and they appropriated
L5000 for the expenses of his support. The king remained in this
confinement more than a year, while the Parliament and the army were
struggling for the possession of the kingdom.

He spent his time, during this long period in various pursuits
calculated to beguile the weary days, and he sometimes planned schemes
for escape. There were also a great many fruitless negotiations
attempted between the king and the Parliament, which resulted in
nothing but to make the breach between them wider and wider. Sometimes
the king was silent and depressed. At other times he seemed in his
usual spirits. He read serious books a great deal, and wrote. There is
a famous book, which was found in manuscript after his death among his
papers, in his handwriting, which it is supposed he wrote at this
time. He was allowed to take walks upon the castle wall, which was
very extensive, and he had some other amusements which served to
occupy his leisure time. He found his confinement, however, in spite
of all these mitigations, wearisome and hard to bear.

There were some schemes attempted to enable him to regain his liberty.
There was one very desperate attempt. It seems that Hammond,
suspecting that the king was plotting an escape, dismissed the king's
own servants and put others in their places--persons in whom he
supposed he could more implicitly rely. One of these men, whose name
was Burley, was exasperated at being thus dismissed. He went through
the town of Carisbrooke, beating a drum, and calling upon the people
to rise and rescue their sovereign from his captivity. The governor of
the cast