" From the remains of the correspondence
it appears that to the first communication Vane had replied in terms
which, though not altogether satisfactory, did not exclude the hope of his
compliance; and Charles wrote to him a second time,
[Footnote 1: These particulars appear in the correspondence in Clarendon
Papers, 221-226. Montreuil left Oxford on Friday; therefore on the 3rd.]
[Footnote 2: This gentleman might be Fairfax or Cromwell; but from a letter
of Baillie (ii. 199, App. 3), I should think that he was an "Independent
minister," probably Peters.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1646. April.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1646. April 18.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1646. April 20.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1646. March 2.]
repeating his offers, describing his distress, and stating that, unless he
received a favourable answer within four days, he must have recourse to
some other expedient.[1] The negotiation, however, continued for weeks; it
was even discovered by the opposite party, who considered it as an artful
scheme on the part of[a] the Independents to detain the king in Oxford,
till Fairfax and Cromwell should bring up the army from Cornwall; to amuse
the royal bird, till the fowlers had enclosed him in their toils.[2]
Oxford during the war had been rendered one of the strongest fortresses
in the kingdom.
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