him, as well because of the birth of his wife, which is illustrious,
as because Downing had expressed some respect for him in a time when
that eminent person could not yet discover his intentions. He had
his letters when he arrived at midnight at the house of the Spanish
Embassador, as we have said. He presented them forthwith to the
King, who arose from table a while after, read the letters, receiv’d
the submissions of Downing, and granted him the pardon and grace
which he asked for him to whom he could deny nothing. Some daies
after the King knighted him, and would it should be believed, that
the strong aversions which this minister of the Protector had made
appear against him on all occasions, and with all sorts of persons
indifferently, even a few daies before the publick and general
declaration of all England, proceeded not from any evil intention,
but only from a deep dissimulation, wherewith he was constrained to
cover his true sentiments, for fear to prejudice the affairs of his
Majesty.”—Sir William Lowers Relation … of the Voiage and
Residence which … Charles the II. hath made in Holland,
Hague, 1660, folio, pp. 72–73.]
By the same token he called me to him when I was going to write the order, to tell me that I must write him Sir G. Downing. My Lord lay in the roundhouse to-night. This evening I was late writing a French letter myself by my Lord’s order to Monsieur Kragh, Embassador de Denmarke a la Haye, which my Lord signed in bed. After that I to bed, and the Doctor, and sleep well.
23rd. The Doctor and I waked very merry, only my eye was very red and ill in the morning from yesterday’s hurt. In the morning came infinity of people on board from the King to go along with him. My Lord, Mr. Crew, and others, go on shore to meet the King as he comes off from shore, where Sir R. Stayner bringing His Majesty into the boat, I hear that His Majesty did with a great deal of affection kiss my Lord upon his first meeting. The King, with the two Dukes and Queen of Bohemia, Princess Royal, and Prince of Orange, came on board, where I in their coming in kissed the King’s, Queen’s, and Princess’s hands, having done the other before. Infinite shooting off of the guns, and that in a disorder on purpose, which was better than if it had been otherwise. All day nothing but Lords and persons of honour on board, that we were exceeding full. Dined in a great deal of state, the Royall company by themselves in the coach, which was a blessed sight to see. I dined with Dr. Clerke, Dr. Quarterman, and Mr. Darcy in my cabin. This morning Mr. Lucy came on board, to whom and his company of the King’s Guard in another ship my Lord did give three dozen of bottles of wine. He made friends between Mr. Pierce and me. After dinner the King and Duke altered the name of some of the ships, viz. the Nazeby into Charles; the Richard, James; the Speakers Mary; the Dunbar (which was not in company with us), the Henry; Winsly, Happy Return; Wakefield, Richmond; Lambert; the Henrietta; Cheriton, the Speedwell; Bradford, the Success. That done, the Queen, Princess Royal, and Prince of Orange, took leave of the King, and the Duke of York went on board the London, and the Duke of Gloucester, the Swiftsure. Which done, we weighed anchor, and with a fresh gale and most happy weather we set sail for England. All the afternoon the King walked here and there, up and down (quite contrary to what I thought him to have been), very active and stirring. Upon the quarterdeck he fell into discourse of his escape from Worcester,
[For the King’s own account of his escape dictated to Pepys, see
“Boscobel” (Bohn’s “Standard Library”).]
where it made me ready to weep to hear the stories that he told of his difficulties that he had passed through, as his travelling four days and three nights on foot, every step up to his knees in dirt, with nothing but a green coat and a pair of country breeches on, and a pair of country shoes that made him so sore all over his feet, that he could scarce stir. Yet he was forced to run away from a miller and other company, that took them for rogues. His sitting at table at one place, where the master of the house, that had not seen him in eight years, did know him, but kept it private; when at the same table there was one that had been of his own regiment at Worcester, could not know him, but made him drink the King’s health, and said that the King was at least four fingers higher than he. At another place he was by some servants of the house made to drink, that they might know him not to be a Roundhead, which they swore he was. In another place at his inn, the master of the house,
[This was at Brighton. The inn was the “George,” and the innkeeper
was named Smith. Charles related this circumstance again to Pepys
in October, 1680. He then said, “And here also I ran into another
very great danger, as being confident I was known by the master of
the inn; for, as I was standing after supper by the fireside,
leaning my hand upon a chair, and all the rest of the company being
gone into another room, the master of the inn came in and fell a-
talking with me, and just as he was looking about, and saw there was
nobody in the room, he upon a sudden kissed my hand that was upon
the back of the chair, and said to me, ‘God bless you wheresoever
you go! I do not doubt before I die, but to be a lord, and my wife
a lady.’ So I laughed, and went away into the next room.”]
as the King was standing with his hands upon the back of a chair by the fire-side, kneeled down and kissed his hand, privately, saying, that he would not ask him who he was, but bid God bless him whither he was going. Then the difficulty of getting a boat to get into France, where he was fain to plot with the master thereof to keep his design from the four men and a boy (which was all his ship’s company), and so got to Fecamp in France.
[On Saturday, October 11th, 1651, Colonel Gunter made an agreement
at Chichester with Nicholas Tettersell, through Francis Mansell (a
French merchant), to have Tettersell’s vessel ready at an hour’s
warning. Charles II., in his narrative dictated to Pepys in 1680,
said, “We went to a place, four miles off Shoreham, called
Brighthelmstone, where we were to meet with the master of the ship,
as thinking it more convenient to meet there than just at Shoreham,
where the ship was. So when we came to the inn at Brighthelmstone
we met with one, the merchant Francis Mansell] who had hired the
vessel, in company with her master [Tettersell], the merchant only
knowing me, as having hired her only to carry over a person of
quality that was escaped from the battle of Worcester without naming
anybody.”
The boat was supposed to be bound for Poole, but Charles says in his
narrative: “As we were sailing the master came to me, and desired me
that I would persuade his men to use their best endeavours with him
to get him to set us on shore in France, the better to cover him
from any suspicion thereof, upon which I went to the men, which were
four and a boy.”
After the Restoration Mansell was granted a pension of £200 a year,
and Tettersell one of £100 a year. (See “Captain Nicholas
Tettersell and the Escape of Charles II.,” by F. E. Sawyer, F.S.A.,
“Sussex Archaeological Collections,” vol.