le, hearing of this, sent out a small body of men, arrested
Burley, and hanged and quartered him. The king was made a close
prisoner immediately after this attempt.

Notwithstanding this, another attempt was soon made by the king
himself, which came much nearer succeeding. There was a man by the
name of Osborne, whom Hammond employed as a personal attendant upon
the king. He was what was called gentleman usher. The king succeeded
in gaining this person's favor so much by his affability and his
general demeanor, that one day he put a little paper into one of the
king's gloves, which it was a part of his office to hold on certain
occasions, and on this paper he had written that he was at the king's
service. At first Charles was afraid that this offer was only a
treacherous one; but at length he confided in him. In the mean time,
there was a certain man by the name of Rolf in the garrison, who
conceived the design of enticing the king away from the castle on the
promise of promoting his escape, and then murdering him. Rolf thought
that this plan would please the Parliament, and that he himself, and
those who should aid him in the enterprise, would be rewarded. He
proposed this scheme to Osborne, and asked him to join in the
execution of it.

Osborne made the whole plan known to the king. The king, on
reflection, said to Osborne, "Very well; continue in communication
with Rolf, and help him mature his plan. Let him thus aid in getting
me out of the castle, and we will make such arrangements as to prevent
the assassination." Osborne did so. He also gained over some other
soldiers who were employed as sentinels near the place of escape.
Osborne and Rolf furnished the king with a saw and a file, by means of
which he sawed off some iron bars which guarded one of his windows.
They were then, on a certain night, to be ready with a few attendants
on the outside to receive the king as he descended, and convey him
away.

In the mean time, Rolf and Osborne had each obtained a number of
confederates, those of the former supposing that the plan was to
assassinate the king, while those of the latter understood that the
plan was to assist him in escaping from captivity. Certain expressions
which were dropped by one of this latter class alarmed Rolf, and led
him to suspect some treachery. He accordingly took the precaution to
provide a number of armed men, and to have them ready at the window,
so that he should be sure to be strong en