There was at that time another Prelate who by his ability, devotion, and attainments, adorned the Irish bench. Bramhall, Bishop of Londonderry, fled to the Continent after the ruin of the Royal cause, and then having returned to Ireland, and undergone great dangers and difficulties, he fled again and had a narrow escape. "This escape of his is accounted very wonderful, for 'the little bark he was in was closely hunted by two of the Parliament frigates, many of which were on that coast; and when they were come so near that all hopes of being saved were taken away, ... on a sudden the wind slackened into a perfect calm, and, as it were, flew into the sails of the little vessel, and carried her away in view.'" "On his arrival in foreign parts, Providence supplied him with a considerable sum of money, of which he greatly stood in need; for having had seven hundred pounds long due to him, for salmon caught in the river Bann, and sent abroad, which debt he looked upon as lost, he was now so fortunate as to recover it; which proved a seasonable relief both to him and to many Royalists that partook of his generosity. During this second time of his being abroad, 'he had many disputes about religion with the learned of all nations, sometimes occasionally, and at other times by appointment and formal challenge;' and wrote several things in defence of the Church of England. He likewise purposed to draw a parallel between the liturgy of the Church of England and the public forms of the Protestant Churches; and 'for that end designed a journey into Spain;' 'but he met with an unexpected diversion in his first day's journey into that kingdom;' 'for he no sooner came into the house where he intended to refresh himself but he was known and called by his name by the hostess. And his lordship admiring at his being discovered, she soon revealed the secret, and shewed him his own picture, and assured him there were several of them upon the road; that, being known by them, he might be seized and carried to the Inquisition, and that her husband, among others, had power to that purpose, which he would certainly make use of if he found him. The Bishop saw evidently he was a condemned man, being already hanged _in effigie_, and therefore made use of the advertisement, and escaped out of the power of that Court.'"[325] As an example of the reverses suffered in those days, and to indicate the strange employments to which the highest dignitaries might have to betake themselves, it may be mentioned, that Bramhall acted as prize-master to Charles at the port of Flushing, where, in person, he sold captured freights, and had often to complain of the indignities to which he and his fellow Royalists were exposed. [Sidenote: _Bramhall._]