e foreign friends which the great lady
possessed in the republic of Holland, where the Prince of Orange was
then the chief magistrate; but of this I had no certain assurance.
For some days no preparations were made at the noble mansion for so
momentous a journey; but at length there were great signs of something
being in prospect. First of all, the Viscount Lessingholm rode up from
Yorkshire, whither he had been gone three weeks, attended by near a
score of fine dressed serving-men, and took up his abode at Mallerden
Court; then came sundry others of the great lady's kinsfolk, attended
also by their servants in stately liveries; and we did expect that the
proud imperial-minded lady was to go up with such great escort as
should impress the king with a just estimate of her power and dignity.
With this expectation we kept ourselves ready to see the noble
procession when it should start on its way; but far other things were
in store for me, and an instrument called a pea-spitter, wherewith
Charles had provided himself for the purpose of saluting various of
the serving-men as they passed, was rendered useless. It was on the
first day of November that the Lord Viscount Lessingholm (who had
conveyed the young maidens, _videlicet_ Alice Snowton and my Waller,
to the Court on the previous day) did ride post haste up to my door,
making his large grey horse jump over the gate at the end of the walk,
as if he had been Perseus flying on his winged steed to the rescue of
Andromede (as the same is so elegantly described in the ancient poet),
and did summon me to go that moment to the noble mansion on matter of
the highest import. Much marvelling, and greatly out of breath, I
followed the noble gentleman's motions as rapidly as was beseeming one
in my responsible situation, in regard to the spiritual ministrations
in the parish, while in sight of any of my flock; for nothing detracts
more from the dignity of the apostolical character than rapid
motions--such as running, or jumping, or an unordered style of
apparel, without hatband or cassock. When out of the village street, I
put (as the vulgar phrase expresses it) my best foot foremost, and
enacted the part of a running serving-man in the track of my noble
conductor; and finally I arrived, in such state as may be conceived,
at the entrance-hall of the noble mansion. In the courtyard were
numerous serving-men mounted in silent gravity, and ranged around the
wall. Each man was wrapped up