The Marquis was probably for four or five years a refugee in France, intimately associated with the exiled Court; “Paris and indeed all France (says Evelyn[37]), being full of loyal fugitives,” in 1650. Many vague surmises have originated with different writers to account for the manner in which he passed his time abroad, all alike fallacious, being inconsistent with facts. It is certain that his finances were equally straitened with those, not only of the nobility around him, but likewise of the King himself. He could have had but few, if any, opportunities for leisurely engaging in his usual studies, much less for any practical pursuits in experimental natural philosophy. That he was not wholly idle, however, we may well conceive; yet it is more consistent to suppose that it was a period in his life which he would most likely employ to investigate the works of those writers whose labours he most affected, rather than engage himself in productions which might only add to the danger as well as the difficulties of his uncertain journeyings, surrounded as the Court was with political spies. During the Marquis’s absence on the continent, we proceed to trace the progress of events at home. Footnotes [24] Carte, vol. 2. p. 16. [A] He had liberty by his articles to stay twelve months in England--but the Parliament was jealous of his doing them a disservice. [B] See Nuncio’s Memoirs, fol. 1818. Ireland, iii. 100. [C] See her Marriage in 1639, page 30. [37] Evelyn. The Editor of the Diary erroneously indexes the Marquis as--“Henry Somerset, &c.,” instead of “Edward Somerset, &c.” [D] From MSS. Badminton. [37] Evelyn. CHAPTER XII. AFFAIRS AFFECTING THE MARQUIS OF WORCESTER’s FAMILY, IN RESPECT OF WORCESTER HOUSE AND OTHER PROPERTY IN AND NEAR LONDON. Worcester House, in the Strand, was of course early in possession of the Parliament, who used it for the state paper and other public offices. The mansion had gardens to the water-side.[A] In the reign of Henry VIII. it had belonged to the see of Carlisle; it was afterwards inhabited by the Earls of Bedford, being then known as Bedford and Russell House, from whom it came to the Earls of Worcester, when it assumed their name. It also figured as the temporary residence of the great Earl of Clarendon,[37] who is represented to have paid for it a rental of £500[2] per annum, probably taking it furnished.