Stuart dynasty

BROKEN PURPOSES. 255
of history to record the timely efforts — unrequited —
of two comparatively humble individuals who con-
tributed towards the triumph of the royal cause.
One of these seems to have been a nephew of the
famous Fairfax, bearing the same surname. Mr.
Brian Fairfax, a Cambridge student, chanced to be
at Lord Fairfax's house in Yorkshire, Nun Appleton,
on December 20, 1659, when his uncle was desirous
of communicating with Monk at Coldstream on the
Tweed.
Lambert's army being encamped near Newcastle,
it was desired to combine, and place his forces
between two fires. This Mr. Fairfax effected, after,
as he phrased it, " saying his lesson " to the
general's chaplain, the Reverend Edward Bowles,
of whom hereafter. The messenger passed clean
through Lambert's army, and then was assaulted on
the highway by Anthony Elliot, a famous moss-
trooper, who infested the Border ; but gained Monk's
quarters in safety, delivering the letter which en-
couraged the general to commence his famous march
into England. General Monk promised Brian Fairfax
to watch Lambert as a cat watches a mouse.*
Nor is it possible to overlook the remarkable
services of the Reverend Edward Bowles, the able
coadjutor of Monk and Fairfax in bringing about
the Restoration, for there is no doubt that it was
greatly on his advice, and after long consideration
of the circumstances with him, that the final steps
* A full account of this mission will be found in the ' Fairfax Corre-
spondence,' edited by Eobert Bell, 1849, vol. ii. pp. 146-169.