ple for liberty, and the king for absolute dominion. All
which, however, happily tempered by the laws of that kingdom, have been
sometimes violated by each of the three parties, and have more than once
occasioned civil wars, the last whereof was happily put an end to by
this prince's grandfather, in a general composition;[82] and the
militia, then settled with common consent, hath been ever since kept in
the strictest duty.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VIII

THE KING AND QUEEN MAKE A PROGRESS[83] TO THE FRONTIERS. THE AUTHOR
ATTENDS THEM. THE MANNER IN WHICH HE LEAVES THE COUNTRY VERY
PARTICULARLY RELATED. HE RETURNS TO ENGLAND.

I had always a strong impulse that I should sometime recover my liberty,
though it was impossible to conjecture by what means, or to form any
project with the least hope of succeeding. The ship in which I sailed
was the first ever known to be driven within sight of the coast; and the
king had given strict orders, that if at any time another appeared, it
should be taken ashore, and with all its crew and passengers brought in
a tumbrel[84] to Lorbrulgrud. I was treated with much kindness: I was
the favorite of a great king and queen, and the delight of the whole
court; but it was upon such a footing as ill became the dignity of human
kind. I could never forget those domestic pledges I had left behind me.
I wanted to be among people with whom I could converse upon even terms,
and walk about the streets and fields, without being afraid of being
trod to death like a frog or a young puppy. But my deliverance came
sooner than I expected, and in a manner not very common: the whole story
and circumstances of which I shall faithfully relate.

[Illustration: "SHE HAD SOME FOREBODING." P. 94.]

I had now been two years in this country; and about the beginning of
the third, Glumdalclitch and I attended the king and queen in a progress
to the south coast of the kingdom. I was carried, as usual, in my
travelling-box, which, as I have already described, was a very
convenient closet of twelve feet wide. And I had ordered a hammock to be
fixed by silken ropes from the four corners at the top, to break the
jolts, when a servant carried me before him on horseback, as I sometimes
desired, and would often sleep in my hammock while we were upon the
road. On the roof of my closet, not directly over the middle of the
hammock, I ordered the joiner to cut out a hole of a foot square, to
give me