Beschreibung:

Sheltering Charles II after the Battle of Worcester.- Ashburnham (John, courtier and politician, Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles II, 1602/3-71) Autograph Letter signed to "Deare Sonne" Sir Hugh Smith Barronett, Long Ashton, near Bristol, 1p. with conjugate blank and address panel, 8vo, n.p., 25th August 1663, on a Royal Progress of the West Country with Charles II, "I forgott to tell you in my last that the King resolves to goe (some one day) from the Bath to dine with Sir George Norton... thogh his Ma.ty partly said soe much to himselfe. You shall doe well to desire your Mother to send a Brace of Bucks to Bath for the Kings use; And I desire you would also kill a Brace in Walton Parke, and present them to the King from L: Poulet and my selfe", remains of black wax seal with good impression, small tear where opened, folds, browned. ⁂ Sir George Norton unknowingly sheltered Charles II after the Battle of Worcester. An interesting letter recording an aside by Charles II. A courtier must have mentioned to the king that his progress of the West Country would take him to a near vicinity of Sir George Norton, and the king, in Ashburnham's words said that he would like to dine with him "some one day" and "partly said soe much to himselfe". Sir George Norton (1622-68), of Abbot's Leigh, Somerset, unknowingly hosted Charles II, who arrived at the house pretending to be a servant of Jane Lane who was visiting Ellen Norton, on the evening of 12 September 1651. After the Restoration Charles II rewarded many of the people who had helped him escape and over the years reminisced about his escape. It would have been quite natural for the king to express a desire to revisit Sir George Norton and the scene of such a vivid part of his life.