JAMES THE SECOND.

345

of Lambeth Church, and distracted by terror whenever the chap.ostler approached her with his lantern. Two of her women ■ 16S 3"attended her, one who gave suck to the Prince, and onewhose office was to rock his cradle; but they could be of littleuse to their mistress; for both were foreigners who couldhardly speak the English language, and who shuddered at therigour of the English climate. The only consolatory circum-stance was that the little boy was well, and uttered not a singlecry. At length the coach was ready. Saint Victor followedit on horseback. The fugitives reached Gravesend safely,and embarked in the yacht which waited for them. Theyfound there Lord Powis and his wife. Three Irish officerswere also on board. These men had been sent thither inorder that they might assist Lauzun in any desperate emer-gency; for it was thought not impossible that the captain ofthe ship might prove false; and it was fully determined that,on the first suspicion of treachery, he should be stabbed to theheart. There was, however, no necessity for violence. Theyacht proceeded down the river with a fair wind; and SaintVictor, having seen her under sail, spurred back with thegood news to Whitehall.*

On the morning of Monday the tenth of December, theKing learned that his wife and son had begun their voyagewith a fair prospect of reaching their destination. About thesame time a courier arrived at the palace with despatches fromIlungerford. Had James been a little more discerning, oralittle less obstinate, those despatches would have inducedhim to reconsider all his plans. The Commissioners wrotehopefully. The conditions proposed by the conqueror werestrangely liberal. The King himself could not refrain fromexclaiming that they were more favourable than he could haveexpected. He might indeed not unreasonably suspect thatthey had been framed with no friendly design: but this mat-tered nothing; for, whether they were offered in the hope

* Clarke’s Life of James, ii. 246.; P6re d’Orleans, Revolutionsd'Angleterre, xi.; Madame de Sdvignd, Dec. jj. 1688; Dangeau, JVle—moires, Dcc.il. As to Lauzun, see the Memoirs of Mademoiselle andof the Duke of St, Simon, and the Characters of Labrujere,