Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe | Page 9

Lady Fanshawe and her husband proceeded to
Calais, it being necessary that she should go to England to procure
money for his journey, and in the mean time he intended to reside in
Holland; but circumstances caused him to be immediately sent into
Scotland, where he was received with marked kindness by the King and
by the York party, who gave him the custody of the Great Seal and
Privy Signet. No persuasions could induce him to take the Covenant;
but he performed the duties of his office with a zeal and temper which,
we are told, obtained for him the esteem of all parties.
Lady Fanshawe continued in London, in a state of great uneasiness
about Sir Richard, having two young children to maintain, with very
limited resources; and to add to her discomfort, she was again very near
her confinement. She observes, that she seldom went out of her
lodgings, and spent her time chiefly in prayer for the deliverance of the
King and her husband. A daughter, Elizabeth, was born on the 24th of
June, and on her recovery she went to her brother-in-law's, at Ware
Park, where the news reached her of the battle of Worcester, on the 3rd
of September; and after some days' suspense, she learned that Sir
Richard was taken prisoner.
She then hastened to town, intending to seek him wherever he might be;
but on her arrival she learned from him that he would shortly be
brought to London, and he appointed a place near Charing Cross where
she should meet him. Their interview lasted only a few hours; after
which he was conveyed to Whitehall, and was closely confined there
for ten weeks, expecting daily to be put to death. The manner in which
she went secretly to his prison at four o'clock every morning, and her
unwearied zeal to alleviate his sufferings, afford a beautiful example of
female devotion; and it was owing to her exertions alone that he was
ultimately released on bail.
Illness induced Sir Richard to go to Bath, in August 1652, the greater
part of the winter of which year they passed at Benford, in
Hertfordshire; but having occasion to wait on the Earl of Strafford, in
Yorkshire, his Lordship offered him a house in Tankersley Park, which
he accepted. His family removed thither in March 1652, and during his
residence there he amused himself in literary pursuits, and translated
Luis de Camoens. The death of their favourite daughter Anne, on the

23rd of July 1654, at the age of between nine and ten, made them quit
Tankersley, and they proceeded to Homerton, in Huntingdonshire, the
seat of Sir Richard Fanshawe's sister, Lady Bedell, where they resided
six months; when he being sent for to London, and forbidden to go
beyond five miles of it, his wife and children removed to the metropolis.
Excepting a visit to Frog Pool, in Kent, the residence of Sir Philip
Warwick, they remained in London until July 1656, during which time
Lady Fanshawe had two children, and her husband suffered severely
from illness.
Tired of living in town, Sir Richard obtained permission to go to Bengy,
in Hertfordshire, where he and his wife were attacked with an ague,
which confined her to her bed for many months, and did not finally
leave her for nearly two years, when a visit to Bath perfectly restored
them both. The news of Cromwell's death, in September 1658, which
reached them whilst in that city, caused them to go to London, with the
hope of Sir Richard's getting released from his bail; and under the
pretence of becoming tutor to the son of the Earl of Pembroke, whilst
on his travels, he was permitted to leave England. On his arrival at
Paris, he wrote to Lord Clarendon, acquainting him with his escape,
and desiring him to inform his Majesty of the circumstance. About
April 1659, his Lordship replied that the King was then going into
Spain, but that on his return, which would be in the beginning of the
winter, he should come to his Majesty, who in the meantime gave him
the situations of one of the Masters of Requests, and Latin Secretary.
Sir Richard Fanshawe then requested his wife to come to Paris with
part of his children, but her application for a passport was refused; and
she relates the ingenious manner in which she imposed upon the
Government, by obtaining a pass in the name of Anne Harrison; the
pretended wife of a young merchant, and altering the word to Fanshawe,
by which means she escaped to Calais, and joined her husband at Paris.
Charles the Second came to Combes, near Paris, on a visit to his
mother, in November 1659, where Sir Richard and Lady Fanshawe had
an interview with him,