_Unwisely guided_; 'Never would it have been wiser, in Rupert,' remarks Ranke, 'to avoid a decisive battle than at that moment. But he held that the king's letter not only empowered, but instructed him to fight.' _Red sea_; 'The slaughter was deadly, for Cromwell had forbidden quarter being given': (Ranke, ix: 3). THE FUGITIVE KING August 7: 1645 Cold blue cloud on the hill-tops, Cold buffets of hill-side rain:-- As a bird that they hunt on the mountains, The king, he turns from Rhos lane: A writing of doom on his forehead, His eyes wan-wistful and dim; For his comrades seeking a shelter: But earth has no shelter for him! Gray silvery gleam of armour, White ghost of a wandering king! No sound but the iron-shod footfall And the bridle-chains as they ring: Save where the tears of heaven, Shed thick o'er the loyal hills, Rush down in the hoarse-tongued torrent, A roar of approaching ills. But now with a sweeping curtain, In solid wall comes the rain, And the troop draw bridle and hide them In the bush by the stream-side plain. King Charles smiled sadly and gently; ''Tis the Beggar's Bush,' said he; 'For I of England am beggar'd, And her poorest may pity me.' --O safe in the fadeless fir-tree The squirrel may nestle and hide; And in God's own dwelling the sparrow Safe with her nestlings abide:-- But he goes homeless and friendless, And manlike abides his doom; For he knows a king has no refuge Betwixt the throne and the tomb. And the purple-robed braes of Alban, The glory of stream and of plain, The Holyrood halls of his birthright Charles ne'er will look on again:-- And the land he loved well, not wisely, Will almost grudge him a grave: Then weep, too late, in her folly, The dark Dictator's slave! This incident occurred during the attempt made by Charles, in the dark final days of his struggle, to march from South Wales with the hope of joining Montrose in Scotland. He appears to have halted for the night of Aug. 6, 1645, at Old Radnor and 'the name of _Rails Yat_, (Royal gate) still points out the spot where, on the following morning, he left the Rhos Lane for the road which brought him to shelter at Beggar's Bush': a name which is reported to be still preserved. THE CAPTIVE CHILD September 8: 1650 Child in girlhood's early grace, Pale white rose of royal race, Flower of France, and England's flower, What dost here at twilight hour Captive bird in castle-hold, Picture-fair and calm and cold, Cold and still as marble stone In gray Carisbrook alone? --Fold thy limbs and take thy rest, Nestling of the silent nest! Ah fair girl! So still and meek, One wan hand beneath her cheek, One on the holy texts that tell Of God's love ineffable;-- Last dear gift her father gave When, before to-morrow's grave, By no unmanly grief unmann'd, To his little orphan band In that stress of anguish sore He bade farewell evermore.