THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW FOREST.

BY CAPT. MARRYAT, R.N.



1864.



CHAPTER I.


The circumstances which I am about to relate to my juvenile readers
took place in the year 1647. By referring to the history of England,
of that date, they will find that King Charles the First, against whom
the Commons of England had rebelled, after a civil war of nearly five
years, had been defeated, and was confined as a prisoner at Hampton
Court. The Cavaliers, or the party who fought for King Charles, had
all been dispersed and the Parliamentary army under the command of
Cromwell were beginning to control the Commons.

It was in the month of November in this year that King Charles,
accompanied by Sir John Berkely, Ashburnham, and Legg, made his escape
from Hampton Court, and rode as fast as the horses could carry them
toward that part of Hampshire which led to the New Forest. The king
expected that his friends had provided a vessel in which he might
escape to France, but in this he was disappointed. There was no vessel
ready, and after riding for some time along the shore, he resolved to
go to Titchfield, a seat belonging to the Earl of Southampton. After a