were hung stout leathern straps, by which a person could let
himself down.

The internal arrangements at Plowden Hall, Shropshire, give one
a good idea of the feeling of insecurity that must have been
so prevalent in those "good old days." Running from the top of
the house there is in the thickness of the wall, a concealed
circular shoot about a couple of feet in diameter, through which
a person could lower himself, if necessary, to the ground floor
by the aid of a rope. Here also, beneath the floor-boards of a
cupboard in one of the bedrooms, is a concealed chamber with a
fixed shelf, presumably provided to act as a sort of table for
the unfortunate individual who was forced to occupy the narrow
limits of the room. Years before this hiding-place was opened
to the light of day (in the course of some alterations to the
house), its existence and actual position was well known; still,
strange to say, the way into it had never been discovered.




CHAPTER VII

KING-HUNTING: BOSCOBEL, MOSELEY, TRENT, AND HEALE

When the Civil War was raging, many a defeated cavalier owed
his preservation to the "priests' holes" and secret chambers
of the old Roman Catholic houses all over the country. Did not
Charles II. himself owe his life to the conveniences offered
at Boscobel, Moseley, Trent, and Heale? We have elsewhere[1]