escape was now submitted to his approbation. The daughter of Colonel Lane,
of Bentley, had obtained from the governor of Stafford a pass to visit Mrs.

[Footnote 1: Mr. Whitgrave had served as lieutenant, Hudlestone as
gentleman volunteer in the armies of Charles I. The latter was of the
family at Hutton John, in Cumberland. Leaving the service, he took orders,
and was at this time a secular priest, living with Mr. Whitgrave. He
afterwards became a Benedictine monk, and was appointed one of the queen's
chaplains.]

Norton, a relation near Bristol. Charles consented to assume the character
of her servant, and Wilmot departed on the following night to make
arrangements for his reception. In the mean time, to guard against a
surprise, Hudlestone constantly attended the king; Whitgrave occasionally
left the house to observe what passed in the street; and Sir John Preston,
and two other boys, the pupils of Hudlestone, were stationed as sentinels
at the garret windows.[1] But the danger of discovery increased every hour.
The confession of a cornet, who had accompanied him, and was afterwards
made prisoner, divulged the fact that Charles had been left at Whiteladies;
and the hope of reward stimulated the parliamentary officers to new and
more active exertions. The house of Boscobel, on the day after the king's
departure,[a] was successively visited by two parties of the enemy; the
next morning a second and more rigorous search was made at Whiteladies; and
in the afternoon the arrival of a troop of horse alarmed the inhabitants of
Moseley. As Charles, Whitgrave, and Hudlestone were standing near a window,
they observed a neighbour run hastily into the house, and in an instant
heard the shout of "Soldiers, soldiers!" from the foot of the staircase.
The king was immediately shut up in the secret place; all the other doors
were thrown open; and Whitgrave descending, met the troopers in front of
his house. They seized him as a fugitive Cavalier from Worcester; but he