thrown into prison by that very sovereign who but a short while since had
loaded him with titles and honours.
Various misrepresentations of the duke's conduct in Scotland had reached the king's ears. He was charged with unfaithfulness to the trust reposed in him ; of speaking disrespectfully of the king ; and of still entertaining views upon the Scottish crown. These accusations, absurd, incredible, and contradictory to facts as they were, had been so often repeated, and so urgently pressed on the unfortunate and distracted monarch, that they at length shook his faith in his early friend. Deserted, opposed, and harassed upon all hands, he was prepared to believe in any instance of treachery that might occur, and clinging to every hope, however slender, which presented itself, was too apt to imagine that the accusation of others was a proof of friendship to himself on the part of the accuser.
The king's altered opinion regarding him having reached the ears of the duke, he instantly hastened, accompanied by his brother, the earl of Lanark, who was also involved in the accusation, to Oxford, where his majesty then was. Conscious of his innocence, the duke, on his arrival, sought an audience of the king, that he might, at a personal interview, disabuse him of the unfavourable reports which he had heard regarding him. An order, however, had been left at the gates to stop him until the governor should have notice of his arrival. Through a mistake of the captain of the guard, the carriage which contained the duke was allowed to pass unchallenged, but was immediately followed with a command directly from the king himself, that the duke and his brother should confine themselves to their apartments. This intimation of the king's disposition towards him was soon followed by still more unequivocal indications. Next day a guard was placed on his lodgings, with orders that no one should speak with him but in presence of one of the secretaries ; and finally, notwithstanding all his protestations of innocence, and earnest requests to be confronted with his accusers, he was sent a prisoner, first to Exeter, and afterwards to Pendennis castle in Cornwall. His brother, who had also been ordered into confinement in Ludlow castle, contrived to make his escape before his removal, and returned to Scotland ; a circumstance which increased the severity with which the duke was treated. His servants were denied access to him, his money was taken from him; and he was refused the use of writing materials, unless to be employed in petitioning the king, a privilege which was still left to him, but which availed him little, as it did not procure him any indulgence in his confinement, or effect any change in the sentiments of the king regarding him. Whilst a prisoner in Pendennis castle, the duke's amiable and gentle manners so far Avon upon the- governor of that fortress, that he not only gave him more liberty than his instructions warranted, but offered to allow him to escape. With a magnanimity, however, but rarely to be met with, the duke refused to avail himself of a kindness which would involve his generous keeper in ruin. The intimacy between the governor and the duke reaching the ears of the court, the latter was instantly removed to the castle of St MichaePs Mount at Land's End, where he remained a close prisoner till the month of April, 1646, when he was released, after an unmerited confinement of eight and twenty montlis, on the surrender of the place to the parliamentary forces. Feeling now that disgust with the world, which the treatment he had met with was so well calculated to inspire, the duke resolved to retire from it for ever. From this resolution, however, his affection for the king, which, notwithstanding the hard usage he had received at his hands, remained as warm and sincere as ever, induced him once more to depart ; and when that unhappy monarch, driven from England, sought protection from the Scottish army at Newcastls, the duke of
