with reports that the people there were becoming more and more
desirous of the restoration of the king to his rights. The great
majority were heartily sick of the rule of the preachers, with their
lengthy exhortations, their sad faces, and their abhorrence of amusement
of all kinds. There had been several popular tumults, in which the old
cry of "God save the king," had again been raised. The apprentices were
ready to join in any movement which might bring back the pleasant times
of old. Cavaliers now openly showed themselves in the streets, and
London was indeed ripe for an insurrection against the sovereignty which
the army had established over the nation. Had the king at this time
escaped from Hampton Court, and ridden into London at the head of only
twenty gentlemen, and issued a proclamation appealing to the loyalty of
the citizens, and promising faithfully to preserve the rights of the
people, and to govern constitutionally, he would have been received with
acclamation. The majority of Parliament would have declared for him,
England would have received the news with delight, and the army alone
would not have sufficed to turn the tide against him. Unhappily for
Charles, he had no more idea now than at the commencement of the war of
governing constitutionally, and instead thinking of trusting himself to
the loyalty and affection of his subjects, he was meditating an escape
to France. Harry received a letter from one of the king's most attached
adherents, who was in waiting upon him at Hampton, begging him to repair
there at once, as his majesty desired the aid of a few of those upon
whom he could best rely, for an enterprise which he was about to
undertake. Harry showed the letter to his father.

"You must do as you will, Harry," the colonel said. "For myself, I stick
to my determination to meddle no more in the broils of this kingdom.
Could I trust his Majesty, I would lay down my life for him willingly;
but I cannot trust him. All the misfortunes which have befallen him, all
the blood which has been poured out by loyal men in his cause, all the
advice which his best councilors have given him, have been thrown away
upon him. He is as lavish with his promises as ever, but all the time he
is intending to break them as soon as he gets ample chance. Were he
seated upon the throne again to-morrow, he would be as arbitrary as he
was upon the day he ascended it. I do not say that I would not far
rather see England under th