We have next:

"A list of their names that were aboard the 'Peter,' bound for Dublin and distressed by storms, and cast upon the coast of Lancashire, and [who] afterwards escaped to Skipton Castle."

(The name of the Prisoners taken at Lancaster, 1st April, 1645.)

The Earl of Glamorgan, the Lord Herbert.

The Lord John his brother.

Sir Brian, uncle of Sir Francis Edmonds.

Sir Charles Hayward, the Duke of Norfolk's grandchild.

Lieut. Vivian Mouelex, a man who was very decrepid.
Col. Cave, Col. Mitchell (Irish).

Mr. F. Flemmia, a Lancashire man.
Captain Mulbrian, Captain Bacon.

Mr. Peters, the Lord Peters' brother, Mr. Poynes.
Mr. Hutton, Col. Pristoe, Captain Butler.

"Some two or three more whose names are not known to any passenger, but they were men of ordinary quality.

"The Protestants that are now prisoners at Lancaster, and went of their own voluntary will, and not taken by force, and hired horses.

"Mr. Collham, Mr. Jones, James Hambleton, Jo. Bythell, Mr. Rob. Noterfield, his wife and children and three servants; not siding with the papists, Mr. Argent a gentleman, his daughter, and Boyes, and his maid; Mr. Barker, Mr. Floyde, a minister.

"Two of the Lord Herbert's men who were taken in their escape after their Lordship; two poor sailors.'

* From additional MSS. Brit. Museum, 11,338-3. "Letter Book of Sir W. Brereton, 1645." 3 vols. folio, Vol. 1, page 69.

Mr. Carte, in his Life of the Duke of Ormond,22 and Dr. Birch,19 following the same authority, assert that "The Earl of Glamorgan, having embarked on board a small vessel, was near being taken by a Parliament ship, which pursued him till he took refuge in a port of Cumberland." This, however, must refer to his second, and not to his first, attempt to set sail from Wales.

We can now understand the occasion of delay previously unaccounted for; thus, Dr. Birch, after informing us through Mr. Trevor's letter of the 9th of April, 1645,* that the Earl has actually "gone into Ireland," proceeds in the next page to quote a passage from Lord Digby's letter, dated Dublin, 8th of May, 1645:— "Though I have no full knowledge of what Lord Herbert was to bring with him; yet by his letter to me out of Wales, I guess his missing this place (Dublin) was a great misfortune to the King's service, even in relation to the credit I found the Irish were apt to give to his services and undertakings; and therefore if he be where he can get once more to the water's edge, and will venture over, I am very confident the little frigate I now send to stay the return of the bearer, will land him in some safe port of Ireland.”

In consequence of this arrangement he at length arrived at Dublin about the end of July or beginning of August,” 1645, being a space of about six months from the time of his leaving Oxford.

An incident with which the Earl of Glamorgan was connected occurred during his stay in Wales, affords an amusing episode illustrating the prevailing superstition of the age, against which his Lordship was by no

22 Carte.

19 Birch.

*Birch's Inquiry, p. 58.

means proof. Dr. Bayly states that: "The Earl, accompanied by officers, knights, and gentlemen of high rank, all of the red letter, as they were in their journey for Ireland, quartered in the town of Carnarvon, a sea-port in North Wales, where they were entertained with discourse at their table by some of the gentlemen of the country, who informed them of the fulfilling of an old Welsh prophecy, at that very time and place." The legend related to the building of nests in the crown on the head of King Edward I., over the gate of Carnarvon Castle, and was interpreted as significant of the times. "Dinner being ended, they all went to the castle gate." Thereon the Earl of Glamorgan "commanded the nest to be pulled down, which was done accordingly; and being thrown down, they found the materials of the nest to be such, as wherewith never any bird did build her nest, viz. with white thorn, which, for a memorandum or rarity, every one of them stuck a thorn in his hat-band, and wore it."

But we must now, however, revert to Raglan Castle, to keep in view what had been passing there in the interim.

7 Bayly, Ap. XIX.

CHAPTER VII.

RAGLAN CASTLE-ROYAL VISITS.

WHILE the Earl of Glamorgan was zealously prosecuting Charles the First's designs in Ireland, he had left his Countess under his father's protection at Raglan Castle. At the commencement of this period the noble Marquis would be in about the 63rd year of his age, rather feeble, and a martyr to gout, which his fondness for claret may have aggravated; a pleasant story being related by his chaplain, that on the physician recommending abstinence from his favourite beverage, he declared that he would rather incur the attacks of his old enemy than abandon his favourite claret."

Between the years 1640 and 1641 Raglan Castle had been strongly garrisoned, when much activity was evinced in providing and securing stores, arms, and the munitions of war. It must, therefore, have worn a very animated and impressive appearance, occupied as it was by hundreds of soldiers, with a large number of warhorses. The exercising of the troops would most likely take place daily in the extensive paved or pitched court, under full view of the drawing-room windows, a spacious upper apartment, ranging behind the hexagonal towers of the grand entrance, all of which remain to this day.

A contemporary writer93 states that in the hall win

dows of this princely castle might be seen the ancient arms:-Argent, a lion rampant, sable, within a garter. Thomas Lord Morley, died 1416; and an old carving on the outside walls, representing three lions rampant, impaling, a fess, in chief three martlets.

In the adjoining village of Raglan the old parish church of St. Cadocus had its large pedestal sun-dial perfect, its yew-tree flourishing, and its burial-ground hedged in with trees. Within the sacred edifice, the Worcester chapel possessed its funeral ornaments in varieties of fine marble, sculptured with artistic skill. Against the north wall was the statue of an armed knight, in parliamentary robes, decorated with the Garter, in memory of William Somerset, who died 21st of March, 1589, aged 61 years. Another fair monument consisted of two statues, male and female, under an arch between the chancel and this chapel; he in parliamentary robes, garter, badge, sans gloire, an earl's crown, and the privy-seal purse. Edward Somerset died 1627-8.93

Dr. Bayly, in his capacity of chaplain to the then Marquis of Worcester, appears to have resided in the Castle from 1643 to 1646. His collection of the Marquis's sayings and family anecdotes, under the title of "Apophthegms," includes some antecedent matters related on the authority of others. He expressly remarks:-"I have lived in Raglan Castle three years, and in all that time I never saw a man drunk, nor heard an oath amongst any of all his servants; neither did I ever see a better ordered family."

He describes from hearsay, in his usual gossiping strain, the ceremony of a mock wedding, which was conducted as a kind of masque at the Castle some

93 Symonds.