Sir Giles snored comfortably on, and thus, without another word being exchanged, the Royalists arrived to pay their respects to their unhappy sovereign under the sheltering roof of Holmby House.

CHAPTER XXVII.

HOLMBY HOUSE.

On the fairest site perhaps in the whole fair county of Northampton stand to this day the outward walls, the lofty gates, and an inconsiderable remnant of what was once the goodly edifice of Holmby House. The slope of the ground which declines from it on all sides, offers a succession of the richest and most pastoral views which this rich and pastoral country can afford. Like the rolling prairie of the Far West, valley after valley of sunny meadows, dotted with oak and elm and other noble trees, undulates in ceaseless variety far as the eye can reach; but unlike the boundless prairie, deep dark copses and thick luxuriant hedgerows, bright and fragrant with wildflowers and astir with the glad song of birds, diversify the foreground and blend the distance into a mass of woodland beauty that gladdens alike the fastidious eye of the artist and the stolid gaze of the clown. In June it is a dream of Fairyland to wander along that crested eminence, and turn from the ruins of those tall old gateways cutting their segments of blue out of the deep summer sky, or from the flickering masses of still tender leaves upon the lofty oaks, yellowing in the floods of golden light that stream through the network of their tangled branches, every tree to the up-gazing eye a study of forest scenery in itself, and so to glance earthward at the fair expanse of homely beauty stretching away from one's very feet. Down in the nearest valley, massed like a solid square of Titan warriors, and scattered like advanced champions from the gigantic array profusely up the opposite slope, the huge old oaks of Althorpe quiver in the summer haze, backed by the thickly wooded hills that melt in softened outlines into the southern sky. The fresh light green

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of the distant larches blooming on far Harlestone Heath, is relieved by the dark belt of firs that draws a thin black line against the horizon. A light cloud of smoke floats above the spot where lies fair Northampton town, but the intervening trees and hedgerows are so clothed in foliage that scarce a building can be discerned, though the tall sharp spire of Kingsthorpe pierces upward into the sky. To the west, a confusion of wooded knolls and distant copses are bathed in the vapoury haze of the declining sun, and you rest your dazzled eyes, swimming with so much beauty, and stoop to gather the wildflower at your feet. Ah, 'tis a pleasant season, that same merry month of June! Then in December-who doth not know and appreciate the merits of December at such a spot as Holmby? Of all climates upon earth, it is well known that none can produce the equal of a soft mild English winter's day, and such a day at Holmby is worth living for through the gales of blus. tering October and the fogs of sad November, with its depressing atmosphere and continuous drizzle. Aye, these are rare pastures to breathe a goodly steed, and there are fences too hereabouts that will prove his courage and your own! But enough of this. Is not Northamptonshire the very homestead of horse and hound, and Pytchley but a synonym of Paradise for all who delight therein ?

Lord Chancellor Hatton-hewhose skilful performances in the dance so charmed our Royal Elizabeth, and whose shoestrings green,' 'whose bushy beard and satin doublet' Moved the stout heart of England's Queen,

Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it

seems to have been a nobleman of undoubted taste in architecture as well as a thorough master of the Terpsichorean art. At a sufficiently mature age he built the fair palace which was destined hereafter for the residence of a king, to be, as he coxcombically expressed it, the last and greatest monument of his youth. Its exterior was accordingly decorated with all the quaint ins and outs, mullioned windows, superfluity of chimneys, and ela

borate ornaments which distinguish the earlier and lesser monuments' of the agile Lord Keeper. A huge stone gateway, with the Hatton arms carved on a shield above their heads, admitted our coach and its occupants into a large court-yard, around two sides of which extended the state and reception-rooms of the palace. This court itself was now filled with officers of the King's household and other personal retainers of a peaceful character; there were even a few goodly beef-eaters, but no clash of swords nor waving of standards; none of the gallant troop of Life Guards that seemed so appropriate to the vicinity of a sovereign. Alas, how many of them were sleeping where they fell, a couple of leagues away yonder, where the flat skyline of Naseby-field bounds the horizon to the north. Not even a blast of trumpets or a roll of kettledrums aroused Sir Giles from his slumbers, and Grace was forced to wake him with a merry jest anent his drowsiness as they lumbered in beneath the archway, and sent their names on from one official to another, waiting patiently for their turn to alight, inasmuch as the forms and ceremonies of a court were the more scrupulously observed the more the fortunes of the monarch were on the wane, and an old family coach of another country grandee was immediately before them. The disembarkation of these honest courtiers was a matter of time and trouble. Loyalty and valour had deprived them of their coach-horses, six of which had failed to save one of the King's guns in the flight from Naseby, and four huge unwieldy animals from the plough had been substituted for the team of Flanders mares with their long plaited tails and their slow but showy action. One of these agricultural animals, a colt, who seemed to feel that neither by birth nor appearance was he entitled to the position he now occupied, could in no wise be induced to face the glories of the royal serving-men who crowded round the door of reception. In vain the coachman flogged, the grooms and running-footmen kicked and jerked at the bridle, the ladies inside screamed, and the Cavalier in charge of them swore a volley of the deepest

Royalist oaths, the colt was very refractory, and pending his reduction, Sir Giles had ample time to look around him at the walls he knew so well, and reflect how unaltered they were when everything else was so changed.

Many a cup had he emptied here with gentle King Jamie, who to his natural inefficiency and stupidity added the disgusting tendencies of a sot. Many a jest had he exchanged with Archie Armstrong, the King's fool-like others of his profession, not half such a fool as his master. Many a rousing night had he passed in yonder turret, where was the little round chamber termed the King's Closet, and many a fair morn had he ridden out through this very gateway to hunt the stag on the moorlands by Haddon, or the wild hills of Ashby, far away with hound and horn to Fawsley's sheltering coverts, or the deep woodland of distant Castle-Dykes. Aye, 'twas the very morrow of the day when Grace's mother had made him a certain confession and a certain promise, that he saw the finest run it was ever his lot to enjoy with an outlying deer that had escaped from this very park, and though he killed his best horse in the chase, it was the happiest day in his life. He looked at Gracey, and the old man's eyes filled with tears. Sir Giles was getting a good deal broke now, so his neighbours said.

The country grandees are disembarked at last. The succeeding coach lumbers heavily up to the palace-door, and as their names are passed from official to official, Sir Giles and his two ladies stand once more under the roof of their sovereign, who, despite all his reverses, still holds royal state and semblance in his own court. They like to think so and to deceive themselves and him, if only for an hour.

As far as actual luxury or pleasure was concerned, Charles's daily habits, wherever he was, partook of a sufficiently self-denying and ascetic character to make his enforced residence at Holmby no more secluded than had been his life in the full flush of his early prosperity at Whitehall. The King was always, even in his youthful days, of a remarkably studious turn of mind, regular in his

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habits, and punctilious of all such small observances on the part of his household as preserved that regularity in its most unbroken course. The hours of devotion, of study, of state, of exercise, and of eating, were strictly portioned out to the very minute, and this arrangement of his time enabled the monarch, even in the midst of his busiest and most pressing avocations, to devote his leisure to those classical studies of which he was so fond. From his warlike ancestors-who indeed had been used to keep their crown with the strong hand, and who, thanks to Armstrongs and Elliotts on the border, not to mention a refractory Douglas or two nearer home, never left off their mail and plate, or forgot to close steel gauntlet on ashen spear for many months together-he had inherited a certain muscular energy of body and vigour of constitution which he strove to retain by the regular observance of daily exercise.

It is well worth our observation,' says his faithful chronicler, worthy Sir Thomas Herbert, 'that in all the time of his Majesty's restraint and solitude he was never sick, nor took anything to prevent sickness, nor had need of a physician, which, under God, is attributed to his quiet disposition and unparalleled patience, to his exercise (when at home walking in the gallery and privy garden, and other recreations when abroad), to his abstemiousness at meat, eating but of few dishes, and, as he used to say, agreeable to his exercise, drinking but twice every dinner and supper, once of beer and once of wine and water mixed, only after fish a glass of French wine; the beverage he himself mixed at the cupboard, so he would have it. He very seldom ate and drank before dinner, nor between meals.'

Thus did the captive monarch keep himself, so to speak, in training, both of body and mind, for whatever exercises either of effort or endurance might be required of him; and thus perhaps rendered more tolerable that period of restraint and surveillance which is so calculated to enervate the physical as well as the intellectual powers, and to resist the effects of which requires perhaps a combination of nobler qualities than to conquer

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armies and subjugate empires with the strong hand.

But the Stuart, though in reality worsted, conquered, and in ward, was permitted to enjoy all the outward semblance of royalty; was served with all the strict observances and ceremonious_etiquette due to a sovereign. He had a household, too, and a Court, though neither were of his own choosing; and Court and household vied with each other in respectful deference to their charge. The Parliamentary Commission, stated, in the document which gave them their authority, to be his Majesty's loyal subjects, was composed, partially at least, of noblemen and gentlemen who were not personally obnoxious to their Sovereign, and who had for long supported him in his claims, till their better judgment convinced them those claims were unconstitutional and subversive of real liberty. The Earls of Pembroke, of Denbigh, and Lord Montague, were no violent Roundheads; whilst of the inferior members who represented the Lower House, MajorGeneral Browne was an especial favourite with the King; and Sir James Harrington came of a family on whose loyalty the slightest imputation had never hitherto been

cast.

It rested with the discretion of this Committee to nominate the principal officers of his Majesty's household; and the list of their selection, including as it does the name of Herbert, afterwards Sir Thomas, who filled the post of Groom of the Chambers to the King, and attended him, an attached and faithful servant to the last,

betrays at least a respect for Charles's prejudices, and a consideration for his comfort. Dr. Wilson was retained as the Royal physician; and the accustomed staff of cupbearers, carvers, cooks, and barbers, were continued in their offices, with the single proviso, that such alone should be dismissed as had borne arms against the Parliament. The duties of roasting, boiling, filling, serving, and shaving, being of no warlike tendency, it is not to be supposed that this exception would weed the household of more than a very few familiar faces; and

Charles found himself at Holmby surrounded by much the same number and class of domestics that would have been eating his Royal substance at Whitehall.

With a liberality that does credit to the rebellious Parliament, we find in their records a sumptuous provision for the maintenance of the King's table, and the payment of his attendance here. The roll of officials indispensable to a Court, comprises a variety of subordinates charitably presumed to be necessary to the daily wants of royalty; and the clerks of green cloth, clerks of the assignment, of the bakehouse, pantrie, cellar, butterie, spicerie, confectionary, chaundrie, ewrie, landrie, and kitchen,' must have had but little to do, and plenty of time to do it, in the rural retirement of this Northamptonshire residence. Cooks-head and subordinate-turn-brouches, porters and scowrers, with knaves of the boiling-house, larder, poultrie, scaulding-house, accaterie, pastrie, woodyard, and scullerie,' help to swell the hungry phalanx; nor must the 'gate-ward' be forgotten, and another functionary termed the harbinger,' who, like the odd man' of modern times in large establishments, was probably the deliverer of messages, and did more work than all the rest put together.

It is conceived that there be a number of the guard proposed to carry upp the King's meat,' quoth the record; and for this purpose was daily told off a goodly detachment, consisting of two yeomanushers, two yeoman-hangers, and twenty yeomen of the guard; when to this numerous force was added the swarm of pages of the bedchamber and back-stairs, gentlemen-ushers, gentlemen of the privychamber, cup-bearer, carver, server, and esquire of the body, grooms of the robes and privy-chamber, daily wayters, and quarter wayters, pages of the presence, and the removing wardrobe, grooms of the chamber, messengers of the chamber, phy. sician, apothecary, barber, chirurgeon, and laundresse,' the King's household in his captivity will, we submit, bear comparison with that of any of his Royal brethren in the full enjoyment of their power.

Thirty pounds sterling a day for his Majesty's diet of twenty-eight dishes,' was the very handsome allowance accorded by the Parliament; and the amount of expenses incurred by the Royal household at Holmby for the twenty days commencing on the 13th February, and ending on the 4th of March, reaches the large sum of £2990, between £50,000 and £60,000 a-year.

There being a deficiency, too, of plate for the Royal table, that article of festive state having been long ago converted into steel, horseflesh, gunpowder, and such munitions of war, it was suggested by the inventive genius of the Committee, that the communion-plate formerly set on the altar of his Majesty's chapel of Whitehall-consisting of 'one gilt shyppe, two gilt vases, two gilt euyres, a square bason and fountain, and a silver rod' should be melted down to make plate for the King's use at Holmby, there being none remaining in the jewel-office fit for service; and this somewhat startling, not to say sacrilegious, proposal, seems to have been entertained, and acted on accordingly.

For the bodily wants of the Sovereign no demand seems to have been considered too exorbitant, but for his spiritual needs the Parliament would not hear of any but their own nominees, and instead of the Bishops of London, Salisbury, or Peterborough, or such other divines as his Majesty desired to consult, they substituted the bigoted Marshall and the enthusiastic Carroll to be the keepers of the King's conscience, and trustees for the welfare of his soul. Perhaps this arrangement was of all the most galling to Charles's feelings, and the most distasteful to the very strong tendency which he had always shown for casuistry and controversial religion. Though these chaplains preached alternately, in the chapel attached to the palace, every Sunday morning and afternoon to the Commissioners and the Royal household, the King, while he permitted such of his retinue to attend as were so disposed, preferred to perform his own devotions in private, rather than sanction with his presence the Presbyterian form

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of worship to which he was so opposed; and even at his meals the conscientious Monarch invariably said 'grace' himself rather than accept the services of either chaplain, both of whom were nevertheless always in close attendance upon his Majesty.

The King's daily life at Holmby seems to have been studious and regular to a degree. An early riser, he devoted the first hours of the morning to his religious exercises, praying with great fervour in his closet, and there studying and reading such works of controversial divinity as most delighted his somewhat narrow intellect and formal turn of mind. At the same hour every morning a poached egg was brought him, and a glass of fair water; after which, accompanied either by the Earl of Pembroke or General Browne, he took his regular exercise by walking to and fro for an allotted time, in fair weather, up and down the green terraces which lay smooth and level to the south of the palace, and in wet, through the long corridors and spacious chambers which adorned its eastern wing. At the expiration of the exact period, the King again retired to his own private apartments, where such public business as he still conceived himself empowered to undertake, the study of the classics, and the prosecution of a correspondence which indeed seldom reached its destination, occupied him till the hour of dinner, in those days punctually at noon. This meal, we need hardly say, was served with great state and ceremony. Ewer-bearers with napkin and golden bason, ushers with their white wands, preceded the entrance and presided over the conclusion of the banquet. No form was omitted which could enhance the stately nature of the ceremony; and the King dined on a raised dais six inches above the level floor of the dining-hall. After dinner a quarter of an hour exactly was devoted to conversation of a light and frivolous character, the only period in the day, be it observed, that such conversation was encouraged, or even tolerated, by the grave Charles; but anything approaching to levity, not to say

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indecency, was severely rebuked by that decorous Monarch, who could not endure that a high officer of his household should once boast in his presence of his proficiency in hard drinking, but inflicted on him a caustic and admonitory reprimand for his indiscretion. What a contrast to his successor!

A game at chess, played with the due attention and silence which befit that pastime, succeeded to this short space of relaxation; and we can imagine the reflections that must have obtruded themselves on the Monarch's mind when the ivory king was reduced to his last straits, cooped up to the three or four squares which formed his only battle-ground-his queen gone, his bishops, knights, and castles all in the hands of the adversary-now checking him at every turn, and the issue of the contest too painfully like that catastrophe in real life, which he must have seen advancing to meet him with giant strides.

At the conclusion of this suggestive pursuit, it was his Majesty's custom, when the weather permitted, to ride out on horseback, accompanied by one or more of the Commissioners, and attended by an armed escort, which might more properly be termed a guard. The King's rides usually took the direction of the Earl of Sunderland's house at Althorpe, or that of Lord Vaux at Boughton, at either of which places he could enjoy his favourite diversion of bowls;' for the green at Holmby, though level and spacious enough, did not run sufficiently true to please the critical eye and hand of so eminent a performer at this game as was Charles I.

The evening passed off in the like formal and somewhat tedious routine. An hour of meditation succeeded the ride, and supper was served with the same observances as the noonday meal. Grave discourse, turning chiefly upon the Latin classical authors, and studiously avoiding all allusion to those political topics which probably formed the staple of conversation in every other household in the kingdom, furbished up the schoolboy lore of the Commissioners, and gave the Royal pedant an opportunity of