{"product_id":"2940013475489","title":"THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW FOREST","description":"CHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe circumstances which I am about to relate to my juvenile readers\u003cbr\u003etook place in the year 1647. By referring to the history of England,\u003cbr\u003eof that date, they will find that King Charles the First, against whom\u003cbr\u003ethe Commons of England had rebelled, after a civil war of nearly five\u003cbr\u003eyears, had been defeated, and was confined as a prisoner at Hampton\u003cbr\u003eCourt. The Cavaliers, or the party who fought for King Charles, had\u003cbr\u003eall been dispersed and the Parliamentary army under the command of\u003cbr\u003eCromwell were beginning to control the Commons.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was in the month of November in this year that King Charles,\u003cbr\u003eaccompanied by Sir John Berkely, Ashburnham, and Legg, made his escape\u003cbr\u003efrom Hampton Court, and rode as fast as the horses could carry them\u003cbr\u003etoward that part of Hampshire which led to the New Forest. The king\u003cbr\u003eexpected that his friends had provided a vessel in which he might\u003cbr\u003eescape to France, but in this he was disappointed. There was no vessel\u003cbr\u003eready, and after riding for some time along the shore, he resolved to\u003cbr\u003ego to Titchfield, a seat belonging to the Earl of Southampton. After a\u003cbr\u003elong consultation with those who attended him, he yielded to their\u003cbr\u003eadvice, which was, to trust to Colonel Hammond, who was governor of\u003cbr\u003ethe Isle of Wight for the Parliament, but who was supposed to be\u003cbr\u003efriendly to the king. Whatever might be the feelings of commiseration\u003cbr\u003eof Colonel Hammond toward a king so unfortunately situated, he was\u003cbr\u003efirm in his duties toward his employers, and the consequence was that\u003cbr\u003eKing Charles found himself again a prisoner in Carisbrook Castle.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut we must now leave the king and retrace history to the commencement\u003cbr\u003eof the civil war. A short distance from the town of Lymington, which\u003cbr\u003eis not far from Titchfield, where the king took shelter, but on the\u003cbr\u003eother side of Southampton Water, and south of the New Forest, to which\u003cbr\u003eit adjoins, was a property called Arnwood, which belonged to a\u003cbr\u003eCavalier of the name of Beverley. It was at that time a property of\u003cbr\u003econsiderable value, being very extensive, and the park ornamented with\u003cbr\u003evaluable timber; for it abutted on the New Forest, and might have been\u003cbr\u003esupposed to have been a continuation of it. This Colonel Beverley, as\u003cbr\u003ewe must call him, for he rose to that rank in the king's army, was a\u003cbr\u003evalued friend and companion of Prince Rupert, and commanded several\u003cbr\u003etroops of cavalry. He was ever at his side in the brilliant charges\u003cbr\u003emade by this gallant prince, and at last fell in his arms at the\u003cbr\u003ebattle of Naseby. Colonel Beverley had married into the family of the\u003cbr\u003eVilliers, and the issue of his marriage was two sons and two\u003cbr\u003edaughters; but his zeal and sense of duty had induced him, at the\u003cbr\u003ecommencement of the war, to leave his wife and family at Arnwood, and\u003cbr\u003ehe was fated never to meet them again. The news of his death had such\u003cbr\u003ean effect upon Mrs. Beverley, already worn with anxiety on her\u003cbr\u003ehusband's account, that a few months afterward she followed him to an\u003cbr\u003eearly tomb, leaving the four children under the charge of an elderly\u003cbr\u003erelative, till such time as the family of the Villiers could protect\u003cbr\u003ethem; but, as will appear by our history, this was not at that period\u003cbr\u003epossible. The life of a king and many other lives were in jeopardy,\u003cbr\u003eand the orphans remained at Arnwood, still under the care of their\u003cbr\u003eelderly relation, at the time that our history commences.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47082913005808,"sku":"2940013475489","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013475489_p0.jpg?v=1763581896","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013475489","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}