Woodstock; or, the Cavalier Read online

  A SHORT SURVEY OF WOODSTOCK, NOT TAKEN BY ANY OF THE BEFORE-MENTIONEDCOMMISSIONERS.

  (This Survey of Woodstock is appended to the preceding pamphlet)

  The noble seat, called Woodstock, is one of the ancient honoursbelonging to the crown. Severall mannors owe suite and service to theplace; but the custom of the countrey giving it but the title of amannor, we shall erre with them to be the better understood.

  The mannor-house hath been a large fabrick, and accounted amongst hismajestie's standing houses, because there was alwaies kept a standingfurniture. This great house was built by King Henry the First, butampleyfied with the gate-house and outsides of the outer-court, by KingHenry the Seventh, the stables by King James.

  About a bow-shot from the gate south-west, remain foundation signs ofthat structure, erected by King Henry the Second, for the security ofLady Rosamond, daughter of Walter Lord Clifford, which some poets havecompared to the Dedalian labyrinth, but the form and circuit both of theplace and ruins show it to have been a house and of one pile, perhaps ofstrength, according to the fashion of those times, and probably wasfitted with secret places of recess, and avenues to hide or convey awaysuch persons as were not willing to be found if narrowly sought after.About the midst of the place ariseth a spring, called at presentRosamond's Well; it is but shallow, and shows to have been paved andwalled about, likely contrived for the use of them within the house,when it should be of danger to go out.

  A quarter of a mile distant from the King's house, is seated Woodstooktown, new and old. This new Woodstock did arise by some buildings whichHenry the Second gave leave to be erected, (as received by tradition,)at the suite of the Lady Rosamond, for the use of out-servants upon thewastes of the manner of Bladon, where is the mother church; this is ahamlet belonging to it, though encreased to a market town by theadvantage of the Court residing sometime near, which of late years theyhave been sensible of the want of; this town was made a corporation inthe 11th year of Henry the Sixth, by charter, with power to send twoburgesses to parliament or not, as they will themselves.

  Old Woodstock is seated on the west side of the brook, named Glyme,which also runneth through the park; the town consists not of above fouror five houses, but it is to be conceived that it hath been much larger,(but very anciently so,) for in some old law historians there is mentionof the assize at Woodstock, for a law made in a Micelgemote (the name ofParliaments before the coming of the Norman) in the days of KingEthelred.

  And in like manner, that thereabout was a king's house, if not in thesame place where Henry the First built the late standing pile beforehis; for in such days those great councils were commonly held in theKing's palaces. Some of those lands have belonged to the orders of theKnights Templers, there being records which call them, _Terras quas Rexexcambiavit cum Templariis_.

  But now this late large mannor-house is in a manner almost turned intoheaps of rubbish; some seven or eight rooms left for the accommodationof a tenant that should rent the King's medows, (of those who had nopower to let them,) with several high uncovered walls standing, theprodigious spectacles of malice unto monarchy, which ruines still bearsemblance of their state, and yet aspire in spight of envy, or ofweather, to show, What kings do build, subjects may sometimes shake, bututterly can never overthrow.

  That part of the park called the High-park, hath been lately subdividedby Sir Arthur Haselrig, to make pastures for his breed of colts, andother parts plowed up. Of the whole saith Roffus Warwicensis, in MS.Hen. I. p. 122. _Fecit iste Rex Parcum de Woodstock, cum Palatio, infrapraedictum Parcum, qui Parcus erat primus Parcus Angliae, et continetin circuitu septem Miliaria; constructus erat. Anno 14 hujus Regis, autparum post_. Without the Park the King's demesne woods were, it cannotwell be said now are, the timber being all sold off, and underwoods socropt and spoiled by that beast the Lord Munson, and other greedycattle, that they are hardly recoverable. Beyond which lieth Stonefield,and other mannors that hold of Woodstock, with other woods, that havebeen aliened by former kings, but with reservation of liberty for hismajestie's deer, and other beasts of forrest, to harbour in at pleasure,as in due place is to be shewed.

  * * * * *

  PREFACE.

  It is not my purpose to inform my readers how the manuscripts of thateminent antiquary, the Rev. J. A. ROCHECLIFFE, D.D., came into mypossession. There are many ways in which such things happen, and it isenough to say they were rescued from an unworthy fate, and that theywere honestly come by. As for the authenticity of the anecdotes which Ihave gleaned from the writings of this excellent person, and puttogether with my own unrivalled facility, the name of Doctor Rochecliffewill warrant accuracy, wherever that name happens to be known.

  With his history the reading part of the world are well acquainted; andwe might refer the tyro to honest Anthony a Wood, who looked up to himas one of the pillars of High Church, and bestows on him an exemplarycharacter in the _Athenae Oxonienses_, although the Doctor was educatedat Cambridge, England's other eye.

  It is well known that Doctor Rochecliffe early obtained preferment inthe Church, on account of the spirited share which he took in thecontroversy with the Puritans; and that his work, entitled _MalleusHaeresis_, was considered as a knock-down blow by all except those whoreceived it. It was that work which made him, at the early age ofthirty, Rector of Woodstock, and which afterwards secured him a place inthe Catalogue of the celebrated Century White;--and worse than beingshown up by that fanatic, among the catalogues of scandalous andmalignant priests admitted into benefices by the prelates, his opinionsoccasioned the loss of his living of Woodstock by the ascendency ofPresbytery. He was Chaplain, during most part of the Civil War, to SirHenry Lee's regiment, levied for the service of King Charles; and it wassaid he engaged more than once personally in the field. At least it iscertain that Doctor Rochecliffe was repeatedly in great danger, as willappear from more passages than one in the following history, whichspeaks of his own exploits, like Caesar, in the third person. I suspect,however, some Presbyterian commentator has been guilty of interpolatingtwo or three passages. The manuscript was long in possession of theEverards, a distinguished family of that persuasion. (It is hardlynecessary to say, unless to some readers of very literal capacity, thatDr. Rochecliffe and his manuscripts are alike apocryphal.)

  During the Usurpation, Doctor Rochecliffe was constantly engaged in oneor other of the premature attempts at a restoration of monarchy; and wasaccounted, for his audacity, presence of mind, and depth of judgment,one of the greatest undertakers for the King in that busy time; withthis trifling drawback, that the plots in which he busied himself werealmost constantly detected. Nay, it was suspected that Cromwell himselfsometimes contrived to suggest to him the intrigues in which he engaged,by which means the wily Protector made experiments on the fidelity ofdoubtful friends, and became well acquainted with the plots of declaredenemies, which he thought it more easy to disconcert and disappoint thanto punish severely.

  Upon the Restoration, Doctor Rochecliffe regained his living ofWoodstock, with other Church preferment, and gave up polemics andpolitical intrigues for philosophy. He was one of the constituentmembers of the Royal Society, and was the person through whom Charlesrequired of that learned body solution of their curious problem, "Why,if a vessel is filled brimful of water, and a large live fish plungedinto the water, nevertheless it shall not overflow the pitcher?" DoctorRochecliffe's exposition of this phenomenon was the most ingenious andinstructive of four that were given in; and it is certain the Doctormust have gained the honour of the day, but for the obstinacy of aplain, dull, country gentleman, who insisted that the experiment shouldbe, in the first place, publicly tried. When this was done, the eventshowed it would have been rather rash to have adopted the factsexclusively on the royal authority; as the fish, however curiouslyinserted into his native element, splashed the water over the hall, anddestroyed the credit of four ingenious essayists, besides a large Turkeycarpet.

  Doctor Rochecliffe, it would seem
, died about 1685, leaving many papersbehind him of various kinds, and, above all, many valuable anecdotes ofsecret history, from which the following Memoirs have been extracted, onwhich we intend to say only a few words by way of illustration.

  The existence of Rosamond's Labyrinth, mentioned in these pages, isattested by Drayton in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

  Rosamond's Labyrinth, whose ruins, together with her Well, being pavedwith square stones in the bottom, and also her Tower, from which theLabyrinth did run, are yet remaining, being vaults arched and walledwith stone and brick, almost inextricably wound within one another, bywhich, if at any time her lodging were laid about by the Queen, shemight easily avoid peril imminent, and, if need be, by secret issuestake the air abroad, many furlongs about Woodstock in Oxfordshire.[Drayton's England's Heroical Epistles, Note A, on the Epistle, Rosamondto King Henry.]

  It is highly probable, that a singular piece of phantasmagoria, whichwas certainly played off upon the Commissioners of the Long Parliament,who were sent down to dispark and destroy Woodstock, after the death ofCharles I., was conducted by means of the secret passages and recessesin the ancient Labyrinth of Rosamond, round which successive Monarchshad erected a Hunting-seat or Lodge.

  There is a curious account of the disturbance given to those HonourableCommissioners, inserted by Doctor Plot, in his Natural History ofOxfordshire. But as I have not the book at hand, I can only allude tothe work of the celebrated Glanville upon Witches, who has extracted itas an highly accredited narrative of supernatural dealings. The beds ofthe Commissioners, and their servants, were hoisted up till they werealmost inverted, and then let down again so suddenly, as to menace themwith broken bones. Unusual and horrible noises disturbed thosesacrilegious intromitters with royal property. The devil, on oneoccasion, brought them a warming-pan; on another, pelted them withstones and horses' bones. Tubs of water were emptied on them in theirsleep; and so many other pranks of the same nature played at theirexpense, that they broke up housekeeping, and left their intendedspoliation only half completed. The good sense of Doctor Plot suspected,that these feats were wrought by conspiracy and confederation, whichGlanville of course endeavours to refute with all his might; for itcould scarce be expected, that he who believed in so convenient asolution as that of supernatural agency, would consent to relinquish theservice of a key, which will answer any lock, however intricate.

  Nevertheless, it was afterwards discovered, that Doctor Plot wasperfectly right; and that the only demon who wrought all these marvels,was a disguised royalist--a fellow called Trusty Joe, or some such name,formerly in the service of the Keeper of the Park, but who engaged inthat of the Commissioners, on purpose to subject them to hispersecution. I think I have seen some account of the real state of thetransaction, and of the machinery by which the wizard worked hiswonders; but whether in a book, or a pamphlet, I am uncertain. Iremember one passage particularly to this purpose. The Commissionershaving agreed to retain some articles out of the public account, inorder to be divided among themselves, had entered into an indenture forascertaining their share in the peculation, which they hid in a bow-potfor security. Now, when an assembly of divines, aided by the most strictreligious characters in the neighbourhood of Woodstock, were assembledto conjure down the supposed demon, Trusty Joe had contrived a firework,which he let off in the midst of the exorcism, and which destroyed thebow-pot; and, to the shame and confusion of the Commissioners, threwtheir secret indenture into the midst of the assembled ghost-seers, whobecame thus acquainted with their secret schemes of peculation.

  It is, however, to little purpose for me to strain my memory aboutancient and imperfect recollections concerning the particulars of thesefantastic disturbances at Woodstock, since Doctor Rochecliffe's papersgive such a much more accurate narrative than could be obtained from anyaccount in existence before their publication. Indeed, I might have gonemuch more fully into this part of my subject, for the materials areample;--but, to tell the reader a secret, some friendly critics were ofopinion they made the story hang on hand; and thus I was prevailed on tobe more concise on the subject than I might otherwise have been.

  The impatient reader, perhaps, is by this time accusing me of keepingthe sun from him with a candle. Were the sunshine as bright, however, asit is likely to prove; and the flambeau, or link, a dozen of times assmoky, my friend must remain in the inferior atmosphere a minute longer,while I disclaim the idea of poaching on another's manor. Hawks, we sayin Scotland, ought not to pick out hawks' eyes, or tire upon eachother's quarry; and therefore, if I had known that, in its date and itscharacters this tale was likely to interfere with that recentlypublished by a distinguished contemporary, I should unquestionably haveleft Doctor Rochecliffe's manuscript in peace for the present season.But before I was aware of this circumstance, this little book was halfthrough the press; and I had only the alternative of avoiding anyintentional imitation, by delaying a perusal of the contemporary work inquestion. Some accidental collision there must be, when works of asimilar character are finished on the same general system of historicalmanners, and the same historical personages are introduced. Of course,if such have occurred, I shall be probably the sufferer. But myintentions have been at least innocent, since I look on it as one of theadvantages attending the conclusion of WOODSTOCK, that the finishingof my own task will permit me to have the pleasure of readingBRAMBLETYE-HOUSE, from which I have hitherto conscientiously abstained.

  WOODSTOCK.