On the defeat of the last Royalist army in Cornwall in February 1646
it was necessary to provide for the safety of Prince Charles, and
Clarendon, in these days Sir Edward Hyde, accompanied him when on the
night of March 2 he set sail for Scilly. They arrived in Scilly on
March 4, and there they remained till April 16, when the danger of
capture by the Parliamentary fleet compelled them to make good their
escape to Jersey. It is a remarkable testimony to the vigour of
Clarendon's mind that even in the midst of this crisis he should
have been able to begin his _History_. He began it in Scilly on March
18, 1646--the date is at the head of his manuscript; and once he
was settled in Jersey he immediately resumed it. But in writing his
_History_ he did not, in these days, think of himself only as an
historian. He was a trusted adviser of the defeated party, and he
planned his faithful narrative of what he knew so well not solely to
vindicate the character and conduct of the King, but also with the
immediate purpose of showing how the disasters had been brought out,
and, by implication, how further disaster might be avoided. The proof
of this is to be found not in the _History_ itself, where he seems
to have his eye only on 'posterity' and 'a better age', but in his
correspondence. In a letter written to Sir Edward Nicholas, the King's
secretary, on November 15, 1646, Clarendon spoke of his _History_ at
some length:

As soon as I found myself alone, I thought the best way to
provide myself for new business against the time I should be
called to it (for, Mr. Secretary, you and I must once again
to business) was to look over the faults of the old; and so
I resolved (which you know I threatned you with long ago) to
write the history of these evil times, and of this most lovely