The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-02
- . .
HISTORICAL SCENES AND IN.
CIDENTS IN THE COTSWOLDS.
Highways and Byways in Oxford AMI
the COtswOlds.
by Herbert A. Evans,

Highways and Byways In Oxford AMI
the Cotswolds.
by Herbert A. Evans.
1t is only in the opening chapter
that the author of this charming book
gives much attention to Oxford; but
In his wanderings through the hill
country lying to the north and west
of the ancient city he comes repeat
eddy upon "reminiscences Of her schol-
ars. upon goodly estates owned by her
colleges, and on church livings in
their gift. Enough there is of Oxford,
therefore, to justify his title. Many
a reader needs to be reminded that
the town was one of considerable
political and strategic Importance
three centuries or more before the
university came upon the scene, and
that it once constituted great fort
ress. guarding with two others
(Windsor and Wallingford) the line
of the Thames above London. OF OK
ford Castle only the great square
tower remains-a tower built in 1911
and still showing in the center the
deep well-chamber which once held
the water supply of the garrison. 1t
was probably from this tower that the
Empress Maud, when beseiged by her
cousin Stephen, looked forth one win
ter day and noted the frozen streams
and the deep-piled snow. Escape she
must, for food was failing and the only
alternative was surrender. There was
no egress possible by way of the
bridge, guarded by Stephens men at
arms, but womanly wit and courage
suggested another method. In the
darkness and silence of night, with
only three attendants, clad from head
to foot, like herself. in white gar
ments, the intrepid Maud issued from
pOstern, or was let down from q win
dow, and, crossing the frozen branches
of the Thames on the ice, skirted
round the south of the town over the
snowclad fields, and made her way
safely Wallingford, a dozen miles
distant"
The first place to which, on leaving
Oxford, the author invites us in Wood
stock, which was for more than six
hundred years the residence of kings,
until Sarah, the imperious wife of
Marlborough, destroyed the last rem
nants of the palace which lay crumb-
ling in front of the ascending glories
of Blenheim. From Ethelred II to
Charles I the English monarchs had
loved this royal manor house. There
the Princess Elizabeth, shut away by
her sister Mary under suspicion of
knowing too much of WAITS rebel
lion, wrote on the window with a
diamond:
Much suspected of me
Nothing proved can be,
Quoth Elizabeth, Prisoner.
And hearing from the graden, on
one occasion, a certain milkmaid
singing pleasantlie," the royal girl be-
moaned herself that the milkmaid's
ease was better and life more merier
than was HRS in that state as she
was" Even sadder than hers was the
case of another captive of Woodstock,
the beautiful Rosamond, whom King
Henry SO dearly lived" Not even the
stone with its "Tumba Rosamundae"
set above her slender bones in their
bag of perfumed leather now survives
to speak of the tragic end of Queen
Eleanors victim. The venerable
church at Adderbury, not far from
Woodstock, recalls in a tablet erected
to the memory of one of it's wears, DR..
Oldys, piteous story of the Civil war.
AS a lOyalist he had become most OBJ
noxiOus to the Parliamentarians, and
was obliged to go into hiding. A
neighbor discovered that he was COM
ing secretly to visit his wife and
straigntway betrayed him. Pursued
by the soldiers he was obliged to pass
his own house, when his horse, moved
by the sense of routine characteristic
of his kind, refused to go forward The
poor vicar was shot dead by one of the
soldiers. An eighteenth century writer
quantity describes what followed:
Some of the parish have since af-
frmed that the person who had given
notice to the party of the doctors
journey, fell down dead upon that
very spot of ground where the doctor
fell when he was shot I have heard
that he scattered his money along the
highway and bythat artifice delayed
all of them but one, who thirsted
more for blood than plumber. And tits
said the villain had been supported
formerly by the doctors charity; and
that his very comrades adhered the
baseness of the action"
This region, indeed, is filled with
memorials of the Civil war, for here
CharlesI and his son struggled most
desperately to regain their kingdom.
There are countless stories connected
with its old manor houses. At Chas-
tleton there is Cavalier" room.
opening out of which is secret cham
Der. This, after the battle of Wor-
cester, saved the life of Arthur Jones.
the master of the manor. A fugitive
from the field, he had arrived late at
night after thirty miles of stiff cross
country work, and putting. his tired
horse into the stable he was admitted
to the house by his wife.
Scarcely had he had time to eat
and drink when the sound of horses
feet was heard approaching, and their
riders were soon clamoring at the
door for admittance. Arthur Jones
hurried to the secret chamber; while
Mrs. Jones went to the door, which a
voice outside commanded her to open
in the name of the parliament. There
was nothing for 1t but to do as she
was ordered, and a party of soldiers
thereupon entered the house and COM
PEELED her to conduct them over it;
they We're on the track, they said, of a
fugitive malignant-no less a person
as If afterward appeared they imagin-
ed, than the King himself When they
came to the Cavalier" room they
searched it thoroughly, but fortunately
did not find the secret door. Whether
their suspicious were aroused or
whether the room seemed to them the
most comfortable one in the house,
they signified to their hostess that
they intended to pass the night there,
Il o&ol l. Al