[Footnote 1:  Claren.  Papers, ii, App. xl. xli.  Journ.  Nov. 5, 6.  Rush. vii. 849 857, 860, 863.  Whitelock, 274-277.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1647.  Nov. 6.]

receive him; the next day they withdrew their consent, and he fixed, as a last resource, on the Isle of Wight.  On November 10th his apprehensions were wound up to the highest pitch, by some additional and most alarming intelligence; the next evening[a] he was missing.  At supper-time Whalley entered his apartment, but, instead of the king, found on his table several written papers, of which one was an anonymous letter, warning him of danger to his person, and another, a message from himself to the two houses, promising, that though he had sought a more secure asylum, he should be always ready to come forth, “whenever he might be heard with honour, freedom, and safety."[1]

This unexpected escape drew from the parliament threats of vengeance against all persons who should presume to harbour the royal fugitive; but in the course of three days the intelligence arrived, that he was again a prisoner in the custody of Colonel Hammond, who had very recently been appointed governor of the Isle of Wight.  The king, accompanied by Legge, groom of the chamber, had on the evening of his departure descended the back stairs into the garden, and repaired to a spot where Berkeley and Ashburnham waited[b] his arrival.  The night was dark and stormy, which facilitated their escape; but, when they had crossed the river at Thames Ditton, they lost their way, and it was daybreak before they reached Sutton, where they mounted their horses.  The unfortunate

[Footnote 1:  See Ashburnham’s letter to the speaker on Nov. 26, p. 2; his memoir, 101-112; Berkeley, 373-375; Journals, ix. 520; Rush. vii. 871; Clarendon, iii. 77; Mem. of Hamiltons, 324; Whitelock, 278.  That a letter from Cromwell was received or read by the king, is certain (see Journals, x. 411; Berkeley, 377); that it was written for the purpose of inducing him to escape, and thus fall into the hands of the Levellers, is a gratuitous surmise of Cromwell’s enemies.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1647.  Nov. 11.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1647.  Nov. 12.]

monarch had still no fixed plan.  As they proceeded in a southerly direction, he consulted his companions; and after some debate resolved to seek a temporary asylum at Tichfield House, the residence of the countess of Southampton, whilst Ashburnham and Berkeley should cross over to the Isle of Wight, and sound the disposition of Hammond the governor, of whom little more was known than that he was nephew to one of the royal chaplains.  When Hammond first learned[a] the object of the messengers, he betrayed considerable alarm, under the impression that the king was actually on the island; but, having recovered his self-possession, he reminded them that he was but a servant bound to obey the orders of his employers, and refused to give any other pledge than that he would prove himself an honest man.  How they could satisfy themselves with this ambiguous promise, is a mystery which was never explained—­each subsequently shifting the blame to the other—­but they suffered him to accompany them to the king’s retreat, and even to take with him a brother officer, the captain of Cowes Castle.