Cowley's friendship with this family affected the course of his
life. He received many kindnesses from his friend's brother John
Hervey, including introduction to Henry Jermyn, one of the most
trusted friends of Queen Henrietta Maria, the friend who was created
by her wish Baron Jermyn of St. Edmondsbury, who was addressed by
Charles I. as "Harry," and was created by Charles II., in April,
1660, Earl of St. Albans. He was described in Queen Henrietta's
time by a political scandal-monger, as "something too ugly for a
lady's favourite, yet that is nothing to some." In 1643 Cowley was
driven from Cambridge, and went to St. John's College, Oxford. To
Oxford at the end of that year the king summoned a Parliament, which
met on the 22nd of January, 1644. This brought to Oxford many peers
and Royalists, who deserted the Parliament at Westminster for the
king's Parliament at Oxford. It continued to sit until the 16th of
April, by which time the king had found even his own Parliament to
be in many respects too independent. In 1644 the queen, about to
become a mother, withdrew to Exeter from Oxford, against which an
army was advancing; and the parting at Oxford proved to be the last
between her and her husband. A daughter was born at Exeter on the
16th of June. Within two weeks afterwards the advance of an army
towards Exeter caused the queen to rise from her bed in a dangerous
state of health, and, leaving her child in good keeping, escape to
Plymouth, where she reached Pendennis Castle on the 29th of June.
On the 2nd of July the king's forces were defeated at Marston Moor.
On the 14th of July the queen escaped from Falmouth to Brest. After
some rest at the baths of Bourbon, she went on to Paris, where she
was lodged in the Louvre, and well cared for. Jermyn was still her
treasurer, her minister, and the friend for whose counsel she cared
most.