The Van Buren press., 1874-01-20
MISCELLANY.
DUDLEY's ESCAPE.

"Well, Master Dudley, and what news
have you nowl How fares the cause OF
his Majesty the Kingi'
The speaker was Worcestershire
squire. The person whom he addressed
was man Of fine presence and military
bearing; Of good descent, yet with de
cidcd business turn, But his father had
been a nobeman and at the same time an
iron manufacturer. This son had left
Oxford at twenty to assume direction OF
his fathers forge and furnaces. In such
work he was deeply interested and active
ly engaged when the great civil war
broke out-the war between Charles l.
and the people OF England. Dudley had,
by reason ofbirth and education, ,espoused
the cause of the King, and had risen to-
the rank Of general Of artillery After
many successes by the Parliamentary
army lull had fallen, which was broken
in l64S by tumul;s and uprlsngs in Wales
The influences Of this commoton had
extended through all England, but the
vigorous measures Of Fairfax, the Par
iamentary commander, had compelled
the concentration of the insurgents at
Colchester, in Essex. Against them a
strenuous siego was being carried on by
Fairfax at the time our story opens
"lll enough, master Hodgson, was
Dud.ey's answer. sour friends are hard
bestead in Colchester, and the Roundhead
Cromwell is sitting down before Penn.
broke Yet both places make gallant re.
sistance, and the right cause may yet tri.
umph. "
"'Twere q good deed now to raise
troops here ia the west and strike blow
for King Charles while the crop ears are
busy otherwhere, "
Yea, neighbor; you have reason on
your side, and my blood ,inglcs to re-
cover for his Majesty something OF what
he has lost in these evil times. Beshrcw
me, but it shall be done. "
SO Dudley rode forth among his neigh
bors Harconrt he said to one who
had been major in the royal forces dur
ing the struggle that ended in l646 !;
a." Harcourt, shall we not make head once
more for our good lord and king? He
hath right to our swords and lives and
it is to our shame that We lie still when
our friends elsewhere are in peril for the
cause
with all my heart, Dudley" was the
answer. Yea, / will ride with you to
rouse the country side, and take the field
against the frantic rebels whose success
es have made them more insolent than
can bear.
They rode together, therefore, and
gathered about them many more gentle.
men and their adherents, until they could
number two hundred men
In the neighborhood of tho village of
Madeley, in Statrordshire, the place where
John Fletcher lived and wrote more than
Bello The rendezvous of Dudley and
his friends was appointed there for safe.
ty aud secrecy until such time as, being
drilled and organized, their forces might
be fit for some feasible enterprise.
But, IN the meantime, the adherents OF
the Parliament had not been idle, either
One bright morning company Of Pu'
rtans marched into the wood with the
firm purpose Of destroying the malig
nants," as they termed them In vain
Dudley and his fellow officers urged their
followers to the conflict. The desperate
intensity Of the Parliament men was not
to be withstood, and in comparatively a
few minutes they were wholly triumphant
Many Of the poor fellows who had mean,
to fight for the divine right Of kings lay
dead under the trees of Bosco Bello, and
Of those who remained alive nearly all
were taken prisoners. Among these were
all the officers and men Of mark, with
Dudley at their head.
$50. master Dudley" said the leader
of the successful party, "here is but I'M
i'll end Of your misplaced loyalty. a
man like you had better have feared God
and fought for the Parliament, than to be
misleading tenants and servants TO death,
for Il tyrant and traitor.
False traitor, thou, "cricd Dudley
"on thee and such as thou be the curse
of oil the blood split, and tho desola,ion
made in our fair country"
He would have gone on IN his passion
ate uttcrances, but tho Puritan command.
or cut him short
take master Dudley and his fellow
maigaants to Worcester, said he; " he
once fortified it against us; now that il
is in onr hands let him tost it's strength
as u prison
SO Dudley and Hsrcourt, with Major
Elliott and others, were taken away to
Worcester. which Dudley had indeed
strengthened and fortified for the King.
but which had since falleQ into the hands
of his enemies. The treatment of the
saptives was far from gentle, for those
were rough as well as earnest times.
When they reached the city they were
conducted to the prison like dangerous