Narrative of the Concealment of Charles II. at Boscobel. 47

and belluga. The belluga is a large fish, about twelve or fifteen feet long, without scales, not unlike a sturgeon, but more luscious and large; his flesh is whiter than veal, and more delicious than marrow. Of these two fishes, they take great numbers, only for their roes' sake, which they salt and press, and put up into casks; some they send unpressed, and a little corned with salt, being accounted a great dainty. Caviare is of two sorts; the first made of the sturgeon's spawn; this is black, and small grained, somewhat waxy, like potargo, and is called eekra by the Russians: the Turks make this. The second sort is made of the belluga's row, in whose belly is found an hundred and fifty, and two hundred weight of spawn; it is a grain as large as a small pepper corn, of a darkish grey. The belluga lies in the bottom of the river, and swallows many large pebbles, of an incredible weight, to ballast himself against the stream of Volga, augmented by the snow's melting; when the waters are assuaged, he disgorges himself. His spawn is called arminska eckra, perhaps the Armenians were the first makers of caviare. This they cleanse from its strings, salt it, and lay it upon shelving boards to drain away the more oily part, and the more unctuous fatty substance; this being done, they put it into casks, and press it very hard, till it becomes indurate."

"Thus, reader," to use the language of the closing sentence of the book, "thou hast had a brief and pleasant narrative of Russia."

This little book is one of those which is seldom met with, but which is not highly prized by the bibliographer, because its merits have still preserved too many copies to entitle it to the character of 'very rare'. At present, it does not much matter how soon the moths and the worms precipitate into dust such exemplars as remain of the Present State of Russia for we believe that we have transferred to our pages all that is valuable of the labours of Dr. Collins.

ART. III.-1. The Whitgreaves Manuscript, (never before printed,) of the concealment of Charles II. at Moseley and Boscobel House, September, 1651.

2. Boscobel: or, The History of His Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the battle of Worcester, 3 Sept. 1651. London. Printed for Henry Seile, Stationer to the King's most excellent Majesty, 1660. 12mo. pp. 55.

3. Boscobel: or the compleat History of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the battle of Worcester, 3 Sept. 1651, introduced by an exact relation of that battle; and illus

trated with a map of the city. London. Printed for A. Seile, over against St. Dunstan's Church, in Fleet street, 1662. 12mo. pp. 71.

4. Boscobel: or the History of his Sacred Majesties most miraculous preservation after the battle of Worcester, 3 Sept. 1651. The second part. London. Printed for A. Seile, &c. 1662. 12mo. pp. 38.

5. Boscobel: or the compleat History, &c. The third edition with addition. London. Printed by M. Clark, and to be sold by H. Brome and C. Harper, at their shops in St. Pauls Church Yard and Fleet Street, 1680. 12mo. pp. 81.

6. Boscobel: &c. the second part. London. Printed by M. Clark, &c. 1681. 12mo. pp. 42.

7. Claustrum Regale Reseratum, or the King's Concealment at Trent. Published by A. W. In umbra alarum tuarum sperabo donec transeat iniquitas. London. Printed by M. Clark, for H. Brome in St. Pauls Churchyard, and C. Harper, in Fleet Street, 1681. 12mo. (from p. 45 above to p. 90.)

8. Boscobel; or the compleat History of the most miraculous preservation of King Charles II. after the Buttle of Worcester, September the 3d, 1651; to which is added, Claustrum Regale Reseratum; or the King's Concealment at Trent. Publish'd by Mrs. Anne Wyndham. The Fourth Edition, adorn'd with cuts. With a supplement to the whole. London. Printed for J. Wilford, at the Three Golden Flower-de-Luces, in Little Britain. M.DCC.XXV. 12mo. pp. 189.

9. An Account of the Preservation of King Charles II. after the Battle of Worcester, drawn up by himself. To which are added, his letters to several persons. Glasgow. Printed by Robert and Andrew Foulis, and sold by John Balfour, Bookseller, in Edinburgh. M.DCC.LXVI. Small octavo, pp. 190.

10. Same sheets with a new title. Imprint "Edinburgh; Printed for Archibald Constable, by J. Moir. Royal Bank Close, 1801." With plates of Charles II., Richard Pendrell, Boscobel House, Mrs. Jane Lane, and Lieftenant General Thomas Dalyell.

In the excellent and witty "Historical and Political Discourse of the Laws and Government of England, collected from the manuscript notes of John Selden, by Nathaniel Bacon of

Gray's Inn," a work zealously prosecuted and destroyed during the times of the Stuarts, it is written, "that amongst those people in Germany, that had kings, their kings had a defined power, and were not supra libertatem: nor was this a dead word, for the people had formerly a trick of deposing their kings, when they saw them peep above the ordinary reach; and this was an easy work for them to do, whenever neighbouring princes of their nation watched for the windfalls of crowns: this made the monarchical crown in this land (England,) to walk circuit into all parts of the country, to find heads fit to wear it.”

The remarkable events of the last half century have familiarised Europe with the adventures of fugitive monarchs: their sudden banishment from rebellious or conquered countries, and their equally sudden return to penitent subjects, has been contemplated with scarcely more attention than the migration and advent of birds of passage. No stories of fiction, in this "line of life," can equal the tales "founded on fact." The histories of the Cromwells, and the Bonapartes, present memorable examples of reverse of fortune and popular inconsistency. It is well said, in the "Merchant of Venice,"-" A substitute shines brightly as a king, until a king be by."-The restoration of deposed monarchs is a common occurrence: the elements of revolution once in agitation, no one can direct the whirlwind, or predict from what point of the compass the political storm will ultimately rage. However great the grievances which may have caused the suspension of the royal power, the great mass of the people have been hitherto so little enlightened, as to prevent anticipated benefits being realized. In civil contentions, all the existing relations of society are dislocated; commercial embarrassments invariably accompany change of government; a reaction of public opinion speedily takes place; apathy succeeds a state of high political and national excitement; the fallen party rally, and the banished sovereign returns in triumph to his welcoming subjects: promises are easily made, and past sufferings as readily forgotten.

The adventures and history of a royal exile are always singularly interesting and romantic. The sudden and trying reverse of fortune; the fortitude in adversity; the loyal devotion and generosity of Cavalier adherents; the whirlwind of revolution; the return of the deposed monarch, and his final restoration to "the throne of his ancestors;" constitute the rich materials of the historical novel writer: "revolution lowering does become the opposite of itself."

The most remarkable of European royal migrations and adventures are those of the Stuarts, particularly to English readers; and among the interesting circumstances of the Com

VOL. XIV. PART I.

monwealth times, the wanderings and hair-breadth escapes of Prince Charles, afterwards Charles II., are perhaps the most remarkable; and of these, none more so than his contest with Cromwell at the battle of Worcester, September the third, 1651, and his subsequent escape from the centre of a hostile country. On the captivity and execution of his unfortunate father, the prince retired to Paris to his mother. He was afterwards proclaimed king by the Scots, ever the most constant Jacobites; and, removing to Holland, treated with the Scotch commissioners at Breda. His subsequent journey to Scotland, the declaration he was there forced to publish, and his signature of the twelve articles of repentance, are well known, and warranted in our popular histories. After his coronation at Scone, he was uncourteously reproved by a committee of presbyterian ministers for his gallantries, and would fain have escaped from his new but perilous honours. Charles was far from being deficient in tact, for, finding the Scottish army and country divided by their fanatic clergy into two frantic parties, under the Christian names of the Protesters and Resolutioners; and calculating, also, on the hatred of the English to the subservient parliaments of the military and Cromwell; he influenced the Scottish generals to the bold and politic measure of a sudden advance into the heart of England. We must not always judge of human actions by their conclusions. Under the existing state of parties, and the discontented and disappointed spirit of the people, this Napoleon movement might reasonably have been expected to terminate in the reverse of its unfortunate and fatal issue. Charles would have had a better chance of success, had he planted the royal standard in the Northern counties, accompanied at first by his English partisans alone :-the inroad was too Scottish for the national antipathy.

On the 5th of August, 1651, in passing the borders, Charles issued a proclamation of pardon and oblivion to such as would immediately return to their allegiance,-excepting only Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, Cook, and those directly concerned in the imputed murder of his father. He sent a copy of this declaration, with a "gracious letter," to Thomas Andrews, then lord mayor of London, and to the corporation, which the parliament ordered to be publicly burnt at the old Exchange, and "Charles Stuart," and his abettors, to be there declared traitors and rebels.

With only a slight opposition at Warrington, in Lancashire, and after a rapid but tedious march, the prince, with his army, possessed himself of the city of Worcester, on the 22nd of August.

Lord Derby, to whose case the royalist interests had been

committed in the Northern counties, having been defeated by Lilburn, made his way, with a small number of men, towards Worcester. Mr. Snead, a Shropshire country gentleman, secreted the earl at Boscobel House, an obscure habitation between Tong Castle and Brewood, in Shropshire, but adjoining the county of Stafford. William Penderel, the tenant, a humble Catholic farmer, with his wife and housekeeper, concealed his lordship from Friday, August the 29th, till the following Sunday, when he was safely conducted to Charles, at Wor

cester.

The celebrity of this rustic and secluded tenement has made the etymology of its name an object of curiosity. Mr. Giffard, who first built the house, having invited a large party of friends to the house-warming, requested that they would give the mansion a name, when Sir Basil Brook, from the circumstance of its situation in the midst of woods, not inaptly christened it Boscobel, from the Italian Bosco-bello, signifying fair

wood.

On Saturday, the 23rd of August, the day after Charles's arrival in Worcester, he was proclaimed king; the mayor of the city, with the sheriff, assisting in the ceremony. On the same day, he published the following manifesto or declaration:

"Charles, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the faith, &c. To all whom it may concern, greeting. We desire not the effusion of blood, we covet not the spoil or forfeiture of our people, our declaration at our entry into this kingdom, the quiet behaviour and abstinence of our army throughout this long march, and our own general pardon declared to all the inhabitants of this city, without taking advantage of the opposition here made us, by a force of the enemy over-mastering them, until we chased them away, have sufficiently certified both; what we seek is, only that the laws of England (which secure the right both of king and subject) may henceforth recover their due power and force, and all past bitterness of these unnatural wars be buried and forgotten. As a means whereunto, we have by our warrants of the date hereof, and do hereby summon, upon their allegiance, all the nobility, gentry, and others, of what degree and condition soever, of our county of Worcester, from sixteen to sixty, to appear in their persons, and with any horses, arms, and ammunition, they have or can procure, at Pitchcroft, near the city, on Tuesday next, being the 26th of this instant month, where ourself will be present that day (and also the next, in case those of the further parts of the county should not be able to come up sooner,) to dispose of such of them as we shall think fit, for our service in the war, in defence of this city and county, and to add unto our marching army, and to apply others, therein versed, to matters of civil advice and government. Upon which appearance we shall immediately declare to all present, and conforming themselves to our royal