She afterwards proved to be a French hoy;
but Charles waited not to ascertain the fact; the boat was instantly
lowered, and the two adventurers were rowed safely into the harbour.[1]
The king's deliverance was a subject of joy to the nations of Europe, among
whom the horror excited by the death of the father had given popularity to
the exertions of the son. In his expedition into England they had followed
him with wishes for his success;
[Footnote 1: For the history of the king's escape, see Blount's Boscobel,
with Claustrum Regale reseratum; the Whitgrave manuscript, printed in
the Retrospective Review, xiv. 26. Father Hudleston's Relation; the True
Narrative and Relation in the Harleian Miscellany, iv. 441, an account of
his majesty's escape from Worcester, dictated to Mr. Pepys by the king
himself, and the narrative given by Bates in the second part of his
Elenchus. In addition to these, we have a narrative by Clarendon, who
professes to have derived his information from Charles and the other actors
in the transaction, and asserts that "it is exactly true; that there is
nothing in it, the verity whereof can justly be suspected" (Car. Hist. iii.
427, 428); yet, whoever will compare it with the other accounts will see
that much of great interest has been omitted, and much so disfigured as
to bear little resemblance to the truth.
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