Produced by StevenGibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Cha.y. 2. was proclaymed King of great Britan, France & Ireland at Worcester, 23 Aug. 1651.] BOSCOBEL: OR, THE HISTORY OF _HIS SACRED MAJESTIES_ MOST MIRACULOUS PRESERVATION After the Battle of Worcester, 3. Sept. 1651. JOEL i. 2. _Hear this ye Old Men, and give ear all ye Inhabitants of the Land: Has this been in your dayes, or in the dayes of your fathers?_ LONDON: Printed for _Henry Seile_, Stationer to the Kings most excellent Majesty, 1660. DONCASTER: REPRINTED AND SOLD BY THOMAS AND HUNSLEY, Sold also by Stoddart & Craggs, Hull; Mozley, Gainsbro'; Slater, Bacon, & Co. Sheffield; and may be had of all other Booksellers. 1809. TO _THOMAS PARK_, AND _SAMUEL EGERTON BRYDGES_, _ESQRS._ WHOSE UNITED EFFORTS, IN RESCUING FROM OBLIVION THE EARLY PRODUCTIONS OF THIS COUNTRY, WILL CAUSE THEM TO BE REVERED BY EVERY BIBLIOGRAPHER, THIS LITTLE WORK IS PRESENTED AS A TESTIMONY OF THE UNFEIGNED REGARD _THE EDITOR OF THESE SHEETS_ BEARS TO THEIR LABOURS. ADVERTISEMENT FROM _THE EDITOR_. The book which is here republished contains an account of the sufferings of CHARLES the Second, after the battle of Worcester, until his escape to the continent;--written by a co-temporary, and dedicated to that monarch whose misfortunes he records; we may therefore naturally infer, that the book is a true relation of the same.[1] [1] This is not the only account that is published, for we find it related by Bates, in his Elenchues, and by the Earl of Clarendon, whose account he received from the king himself. As this work has become so scarce that a copy can with difficulty be procured, the editor thought he should do a service to the curious by having it reprinted _verbatim_[2] from the edition of 1660. [2] The original style, &c. being preserved, will account for the very erroneous _punctuation_, to which it was deemed necessary to adhere. The subject of this tract is interesting: it teaches us the instability of human greatness. We are presented with a picture of the sufferings of one, by lineal descent born to be the governor of a kingdom, reduced to the alternative of either suffering on a scaffold, or quitting the kingdom in habits of disguise. When princes forget their subjects, or they their king, then both lose their former allegiance and respect, they become mutual enemies, and their inveteracy does not diminish until one or both are on the precipice of destruction.