Cha.y. 2. was proclaymed King of great Britan, France & Ireland at Worcester, 23 Aug. 1651.
BOSCOBEL:
OR, THE
HISTORY
OF
HIS SACRED MAJESTIES
MOST MIRACULOUS
PRESERVATION
After the Battle of Worcester, 3. Sept. 1651.
Joeli. 2.
Hear this ye Old Men, and give ear all ye Inhabitants of the Land: Has this been in your dayes, or in the dayes of your fathers?
LONDON:
Printed forHenry Seile, Stationer
to the Kings most excellent Majesty, 1660.
DONCASTER:
REPRINTED AND SOLD BY THOMAS AND HUNSLEY,
Sold also by Stoddart & Craggs, Hull;
Mozley, Gainsbro'; Slater, Bacon, & Co. Sheffield;
and may be had of all other
Booksellers.
1809.
TO
THOMAS PARK,
AND
SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES,
Esqrs.
WHOSE UNITED EFFORTS,
IN RESCUING FROM OBLIVION THE EARLY
PRODUCTIONS OF THIS COUNTRY,
WILL CAUSE THEM TO BE REVERED BY EVERY
BIBLIOGRAPHER,
THIS LITTLE WORK
IS PRESENTED AS A TESTIMONY OF THE
UNFEIGNED REGARD
THE EDITOR OF THESE SHEETS
BEARS TO THEIR
LABOURS.
ADVERTISEMENT
FROM
THE EDITOR.
The book which is here republished contains an account of the sufferings ofCharlesthe Second, after the battle of Worcester, until his escape to the continent;—written by a co-temporary, and dedicated to that monarch whose misfortunes he records; we may therefore naturally infer, that the book is a true relation of the same.[1]
As this work has become so scarce that a copy can with difficulty be procured, the editor thought he should do a service to the curious by having it reprintedverbatim[2]from the edition of 1660.
The subject of this tract is interesting: it teaches us the instability of human greatness. We are presented with a picture of the sufferings of one, by lineal descent born to be the governor of a kingdom, reduced to the alternative of either suffering on a scaffold, or quitting the kingdom in habits of disguise.
When princes forget their subjects, or they their king, then both lose their former allegiance and respect, they become mutual enemies, and their inveteracy does not diminish until one or both are on the precipice of destruction.
When Charles the First ascended the throne, his subjects were tenacious of that religious freedom which they had procured under the reign of a sovereign, whose name will ever be revered by innovators in theoretical principles of re