Chapter XIII: Appendix: D

A STORY OF CHARLES I.

Robert Thoroton, who published his “Nottinghamshire” in 1677, says that a Mr Savage told him the following story:--The time of this visit of the king was between Naseby and the subsequent residence at Oxford. The king, with a few faithful followers, took refuge at Southwell. “The day after his arrival he walked about the town not known, and entered the shop of a shoemaker, whose name was Lee, who was a fanatic of the day. His majesty, after some conversation with this man, bid him take measure for a pair of shoes. Lee, in taking the king’s foot in his hand and looking at him attentively, refused to proceed. The king, astonished at the man’s behaviour, desired him to do what he had requested; but the shoemaker actually refused, giving a reason that the king was the customer he had been warned against in a dream the night before, in which he [the customer] was doomed to destruction, and those who worked for him would never thrive. The forlorn monarch, whose misfortunes had opened his mind to the impressions of superstitions, uttered an ejaculation expressive of his resignation to the will of providence, and returned to the palace, which was the place of his abode.”

Thoroton says that Charles was many times at Southwell, and once with the queen.