Sir Ralph Clare, and a number of gentlemen, colonels, and inferior officers. There were also taken all their artillery and baggage, 158 colours, the king's standard, his coach and horses, and several other things of great value.

Charles, escaping through the gate of St Martin, sought safety by flight. For forty-one days he wandered in different disguises through various parts of the kingdom-he was discovered by several individuals, but the reward of £30,000. which was offered by the existing government for his apprehension, was not sufficient to tempt any of them to betray him-a few days after the battle, dressed like a sailor, he passed a whole day in a lofty thick oak, at Boscobel, in Staffordshire, and actually saw some of the persons who were engaged in pursuit of him, and heard them express their wishes that he might fall into their hands. At length his good destiny prevailed; he embarked in a vessel at Shoreham, in Sussex, and landed safely at Fescamp, in Normandy. The result of this escape you are well acquainted withon the 29th of May, 1660, which was his birthday, he was restored to the throne of this country, and made his triumphant entry into London. Upon this occasion every head was decorated with oaken leaves-and, to this day, some staunch loyalists continue, though under a very different dynasty of monarchs, to wear the same emblem at that season of the year. The country was in such a distracted state, that the restoration of Charles was

hailed with sincere joy by a vast majority of the nation. At this distance of time, however, we know how to estimate his character, and. may venture to pronounce him, whom the flatterers of the day called a "most religious prince," upon the whole, a worthless libertine.

It is well known to what lengths of absurdity the spite and bigotry of the enemies of Cromwell have frequently carried them. I recollect an anecdote in connexion with his victory at Worcester, in which a retort courteous was made to one of them, which completely silenced him.

Dr. Thomas Nettleton, of Halifax, in Yorkshire, being one 30th of January in company with several gentlemen, one of them was laying great stress on Archdeacon Eachard's nonsensical account of Cromwell's selling himself to the devil just before the battle of Worcester, and affirmed that poor Oliver was cheated in the business, for while he intended to bargain for 21 years of success, the devil, by transposing the figures, made it only 12. Now, doctor," says the narrator," what do you think could be the devil's motive for this?" The doctor's reply was cool and prompt, he was in a hurry for the RESTORATION,"

I suppose

With this anecdote I shall conclude my present letter.-Tewkesbury and Gloucester will furnish materials for one more before I give some account of Taunton.-Whatever I am doing, however, or wherever I am, I am invariably your's, &c.

YM

LETTER XV.

DEAR MADAM,

Taunton, Sept. 7, 1803.

My last letter you may recollect left us at Worcester-from thence we had a charming ride through Kempsey, Stoke, Ham, and Twining, to TEWKESBURY.

This place, like Worcester, is distinguished in the sanguinary records of ambition.

After the battle of Barnet, which was marked by the death of the Earl of Warwick, and a dreadful slaughter of the Lancastrians, the indefatigable Margaret determined to make one more effort for the recovery of the throne. Issuing with her young son Edward from a short retreat in the abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire, she joined the Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Devonshire, Sir John Fortescue, and others of her friends, and, with an army which was daily increased by new partizans, marched towards the borders of Wales, where the Earl of Pembroke had raised a considerable body of archers for her service.

On the 29th of April, 1471, she reached Tewkesbury, and on the 3d of May was surprised with the intelligence, that the activity of her antagonist Edward had brought him and his army within three miles of her camp. The junction with Pem

broke was now rendered impossible, and some works were hastily thrown up to impede the passage of the Yorkists to Tewkesbury, in the camp before which it was determined to wait their attack. The very next morning Edward drew up. his army in two lines, and assaulted the unfinished fortifications.

Edward's general and brother, the Duke of Gloucester, began the attack, but was so well received by Somerset, who guarded the front of the intrenchment, that his line was repulsed with considerable slaughter. A pretended flight of the Yorkists, however, drew the Lancastrians into the open field, and a contest ensued which continued for some hours without any perceptible advantage on either side. At length the brave but impetuous Somerset was driven back into the intrenchments, and most of his division cut to pieces -Gloucester and Edward pursued their advantage, and confusion pervaded every quarter of Margaret's camp-after a faint resistance, her whole army fled in every direction, and Edward gained a most complete victory,

The Earl of Devonshire, Lord Beaufort, Sir John Delves, and a number of other gentlemen, fell in the field-the Duke of Somerset, the Grand Prior of St. John, and above twenty gentlemen of rank and fortune, were dragged from the abbeychurch, where they had taken sanctuary, and instantly put to death. Margaret was taken in her chariot, almost dead with grief, and her son, who

had found an asylum in another religious structure, also fell into the hands of the conqueror, who sullied his victory by his brutality to the unfortunate youth. He was brought into the presence of Edward, who asked him, in an insulting manner, "How he dared to invade his dominions?" The noble youth, forgetting his situation, replied with an unseasonable display of spirit, "That he came to recover his father's crown, and to claim his just inheritance." The ungenerous victor instantly struck him in the face with his gauntlet, and this blow being looked upon as a signal for farther violence, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, and Lord Hastings, dragged him into the next apartment, and with their daggers put him to death.

Margaret was sent to the Tower, from whence, after a confinement of four years, she was released upon 50,000 crowns being paid for her ransom by the King of France-she retired to the Continent, and spent the rest of her days in obscurity.

Tewkesbury is now a large and populous town, almost surrounded by the waters of the Severn, the Avon, the Carron, and Swallyate. It has a bridge over three of these rivers. The church is a very fine structure, and one of the largest in England that is not a cathedral-it bears evident marks of its antiquity-its nicer ornamental parts are greatly dilapidated, but it has a stately tower, two turrets at the west end, and a communion