"We miss Dr. Fuller sorely; my Mother for his words of ghostly cheer, and I for the just and generous things he dares to say of good men on the other side, and saith with a wit and point which leaves no opening for scornful jest to controvert. "If Dr. Fuller had been the vicar of Netherby, and if the Draytons had known him, maybe many things had gone otherwise. "Now, alack! there seems less hope of accommodation by this Christmas than I had felt sure of by the last. "The Parliament Commissioners were here through March, and have but now left. "Some Lords and some Commons. But nought could they accomplish. How, indeed, could aught be hoped from subjects who presume to treat with their liege lord as with a rival power? "My Lord Falkland (now the king's secretary) comes now and then to converse with my Mother. Those who knew him before this sad rebellion began, say he is sorely changed from what he was. Whereas his mind used to be as free and open to entertain all wise and pleasant thoughts of others, as his mansion at Great Tew, near this was free and open to entertain their persons, so that they called it 'a college of smaller volume in a purer air;' now, they say, he is often preoccupied, and when in private will sigh and moan 'Peace! peace!' and say he shall soon die of a broken heart, if this dire war be prolonged. This especially since the royal army was driven back from Brentford on its way to London. "But to us, who contrast him not with his former self, but with other men, he seems the gentlest and most affable of Cavaliers, ever ready to give ear and due weight to thought and wish of any, the least or the lowest. "We had not known him much of old, because he leant to the Puritan party (being a close friend of Mr. Hampden), and thought ill of Archbishop Laud, and spoke not too well of bishops or episcopacy. "But in this conflict I think the noblest on each side are those who are all but on the other; not, I mean, in affection--for lukewarmness is never a virtue--but in conviction and character. "The queen is amongst us again, as graceful and full of charms as ever. But some think the king were liker to follow moderate counsels without her. He holds her as ever in a perfect adoration, and it is not likely to conciliate him that Parliament have actually dared to 'impeach' her. Blasphemy almost, if it were not more like the folly of naughty children playing at being grandsires and grandames!