xtending from the main
land toward the Isle of Wight, opposite to the eastern end of it. This
point is very narrow, but is nearly two miles long. The castle was
built at the extremity. It consisted of one great round tower,
defended by walls and bastions. It stood lonely and desolate,
surrounded by the sea, except the long and narrow neck which connected
it with the distant shore. Of course, though comfortless and solitary,
it was a place of much greater security than Carisbrooke.

The circumstance of the king's removal to this new place of
confinement were as follows: In some of his many negotiations with the
Parliament while at Carisbrooke, he had bound himself, on certain
conditions, not to attempt to escape from that place. His friends,
however, when they heard that the army were coming again to take him
away, concluded that he ought to lose no time in making his escape out
of the country. They proposed the plan to the king. He made two
objections to it. He thought, in the first place, that the attempt
would be very likely to fail; and that, if it did fail, it would
exasperate his enemies, and make his confinement more rigorous, and
his probable danger more imminent than ever. He said that, in the
second place, he had promised the Parliament that he would not attempt
to escape, and that he could not break his word.

The three friends were silent when they heard the king speak these
words. After a pause, the leader of them, Colonel Cook, said, "Suppose
I were to tell your majesty that the army have a plan for seizing you
immediately, and that they will be upon you very soon unless you
escape. Suppose I tell you that we have made all the preparations
necessary--that we have horses all ready here, concealed in a
pent-house--that we have a vessel at the Cows[G] waiting for us--that
we are all prepared to attend you, and eager to engage in the
enterprise--the darkness of the night favoring our plan, and rendering
it almost certain of success. Now," added he, "these suppositions
express the real state of the case, and the only question is what your
majesty will resolve to do."

[Footnote G: There were two points or headlands, on opposite sides of
an inlet from the sea, on the northern side of the Isle of Wight,
which in ancient times received the name of _Cows_. They were called
the East Cow and the West Cow. The harbor between them formed a safe
and excellent harbor. The name is now spelled Cowes, and the port is,
at