their preservation was so much concerned. His Matie. promised noebody should know. I abided there keeping the horses in readiness in case anything unexpected had happened. At 8 o’clock I saw them on sayle, and it was the afternoon before they were out of sight. The wind (O Providence) held very good till the next morning, to ten of the clock brought them to a place of Normandie called Fackham, some three miles from Havre de Grace, 15 Oct. Wenseday. They were no sooner landed but the wind turned, and a violent storme did arise, in soe much that the boateman was forced to cut his cable, lost his anchor to save his boate, for which he required of me £8, and had it. The boate was back againe at Chichester, by Friday, to take his fraught. I was not gone out of the town of Brighthelmston twoe houres, but soldiers came thither to search for a tall man 6 foot and 4 inches high.” By the foregoing it will be seen that Charles never visited, much less slept at Ovingdean Grange, as has been stated by some historical writers, playwrights, and writers of romance. {130} The vessel in which Charles escaped, was the “Surprise,” the property of Captain Nicholas Tettersell, whose virtues are engraved upon his tomb in the Old Church-yard,—_vide_ Chapter XVI. The vessel was a brig which had been detained a few years previously, in the Downs, by a royal squadron, on her way from Newcastle, with a cargo of coals, but was released by a personal order of Charles, then Prince of Wales, whose features were consequently known to Tettersell, notwithstanding the king’s attempt to disguise himself. The brig at the time of the engagement with Tettersell, was half laden with coals, and the sailors were in a great measure disengaged from duty. In order, therefore, to collect them without exciting suspicion, he announced that she had broken from her moorings. By this means, having got his crew on board, he signified to them his engagement in a secret expedition, in which their service should not go unrewarded. Matters being thus prudently adjusted, Tettersell went ashore by himself, in order to get a bottle of spirits, and to inform his wife that he should be absent for a few days. Curiosity urging the good woman to dive into the mystery of so sudden and unreasonable a departure, he was at last constrained by her importunity to reveal to her the nature of the service he had undertaken; and she, with a fortitude and fidelity which reflect a lustre on her memory, earnestly exhorted him to an honourable performance of his engagement with the illustrious fugitive. It is recorded by Baker, in his Chronicles, that in the course of the day, as the king, who still retained his disguise, that of a Puritan, was sitting on the deck, one of the sailors stood close to windward of him smoking his pipe, and on being rebuked by the captain for making so free, retired, muttering, “truly a cat may look at a king,” but without being aware how personally apposite the adage was.