Lives of the last four princesses of the royal house of Stuart

1647.] ESCAPE OF THE DUKE OF YOEK. 187
of Parliamentary vessels at the Nore, and landed his
perilous passenger, -with Colonel Bamfield, in Hol-
land the next day. There the young Prince obtained
masculine apparel, and was dearly welcomed by the Prin-
cess-royal, his sister, and her generous consort the Prince
of Orange, who had not seen him since_the day of their
espousals at Whitehall in 1641.
With what anxious hearts must his sister, the Princess
Elizabeth, and even little Gloucester, have awaited the
tidings of the young Duke's arrival at the friendly Court
of the Hague, which, of course, they were long in receiving.
The Earl of Northumberland, was much annoyed at the
escape of the Duke of York, of which the next day he
acquainted the Parliament. They, after a careful review
of the circumstances, acquitted the Earl of any portion of
blame, and allowed him to take the Princess Elizabeth
and the little Gloucester, to Sion House, and to take
great care to prevent their escape. All the attendants
of the Princess and her young brother, were dismissed,
and strangers placed in their service by the ^Earl of Nor-
thumberland, to the great grief of Elizabeth. She and
her brother were removed from St. James's palace, to Sion
House, and ordered by the Parliament to be kept in strict
restraint.*
Sion House, that beautiful mansion on the banks of the
Thames, replete with so many historical circumstances and
fine paintings, and among such lovely scenery, would have
been no unpleasant abiding place, but for the painful
anxieties that weighed on the heart of the sad daughter of
King Charles, and her longing desire to rest her aching
head on the bosom of her mother, that mother whom she
was to see no more on earth.
* Clarendon. Bush worth. 'Journals of the House of Lords 'and
* Journals of the House of Commons.'