CASTLE] THE KING'S LAST VISIT TO RAGLAN. 175 relief from the gloomy reflections by which his mind was oppressed after the total defeat at Naseby. At Raglan, however, says the historian, "the King, as on his former visit, passed days and weeks in sports and ceremonies, in hunting and audiencegiving;" for every effort was employed by those around him to obliterate all recollections of the past by promises and predictions of a brilliant future. When his Majesty re-entered the gates of Raglan-which was indeed a harbour of refuge in his distress-the loyal Marquess, kneeling down, kissed his Liege's hand; and then rising up saluted him with this compliment-“ Domine! non sum dignus." To which the King replied-" My Lord, I may very well answer you again: I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel. No man would trust me with so much money as you have done." To which the Marquess replied “I hope your Majesty will prove a defender of the Faith.” By this time Lord Herbert (Earl of Glamorgan) had sailed for Ireland to raise, if possible, new forces for the King's service, and the renewal of the war. Pleased with his zeal and loyalty, his Majesty had thus written to him from Hereford : "Glamorgan-I am glad to hear that you are gone to Irland, and asseure you that as myselfe is nowais disheartned by our late misfortune, so nether this country; for I could not have expected more from them then they have now freely undertaken, though I had come hither absolute victorious; which makes me hope well of the neighbouring sheers; so that, by the grace of God, I hope shortly to recover my late losse, with advantage, if such succours come to me from that Kingdome which I have reason to expect; but the circumstance of tyme is that of the greatest consequence, being that we now is cheefliest and earnestliest recomended to you by your most asseured, reall, constant frend, "Charles R."* Among the numerous and more humble examples of loyal affection, by which the fallen Monarch was soothed during his retirement in Raglan Castle, the following is well deserving of notice:-The reverend individual, whom his Sir Henry Ellis's Orig. Lett., vol. iii. p. 310. own act has immortalized, was Thomas Swift,* incumbent of the neighbouring parish of Goodrich. Fully aware of the King's pecuniary distress, he mortgaged his estate; and with the money thus raised he proceeded to Raglan Castle. The Governor, with whom he was personally acquainted, asked the object of his visit, and whether he could serve him; for he was equally esteemed as a zealous pastor, and a staunch royalist. "I am only come," said he, "to give his Majesty my coat;" and, in taking it off, the Marquess pleasantly observed: "Thy coat, I fear me, is of little worth." "Why then," said Swift, "take my waistcoat also." And here was the hidden treasure, for, on being ripped up, it was found to contain three hundred broad gold pieces. "And the King," says Lord Clarendon, "received no relief that was more seasonable and acceptable than this during the war." Mr. Swift's zeal and activity in the royal cause exposed him to much danger and many sufferings. "He was plundered," says Heath, "more than thirty times by the Parliament's army, and ejected from his church living. His estate was sequestered, and he himself thrown into prison." At Raglan the King "stayed until news came that Fairfax, after taking Leicester, had marched into the west, and defeated Goring's troops at Lamport; at the same time that the Scottish army, on its march, had taken a small garrison between Hereford and Worcester by storm, and put all within it to the sword;" while Prince Rupert sent for all those foot, which were levied towards a new army to supply the garrison. But the expectations, which had been industriously fostered in the King's mind of a more propitious fortune, became every day more faint. Of all the schemes that had been set afoot for retrieving his past errors, and regaining the hearts of his alienated subjects, not one was permitted to prosper. And as a fatal climax to his unhappy fortunes, "it was at Raglan Castle," says Lord Clarendon, "that the King received the terrible information of the surrender of Bristol (September 11, 1645), which he so little apprehended, that if the evidence thereof had not been unquestionable, it could not have been believed. With what indignation and dejection of mind the King received this advertisement, needs no other description and enlargement than the setting down in the very words of it the letter which the King writ thereupon to Prince Rupert; which, considering the unspeakable indulgence his Majesty had ever shewed towards that Prince, is sufficient evidence how highly he was incensed by that act, which yet he took some time sadly to think of and consider, before he would allow himself to abate so much of his natural candour towards him. As soon as he received that surprising intelligence, the King removed from Raglan Castle.” Grandfather of the famous Dean of St. Patrick's. |