BRIDPORT AND LYME REGIS MEETING. Ixiil. 



From thence Coaxden was reached, where the members were 

 hospitably received by Mr. and Mrs. Clarence and refreshed 

 with tea, which was most acceptable after the long drive. 



After tea Mr. JUSTICE CLARENCE addressed the meeting on 

 the lawn. 



It is to be regretted that, as Coaxden is not in Dorset and the 

 address mainly related to the history of the place, space cannot 

 be found for the whole of it, but it contained the following 

 valuable contribution towards the history of King Charles's 

 flight, which, bearing as it does on the subject of the day, 

 should not be passed over : 



CHARLES II. AND COAXDEN. 



" Now we pass to the myth there is no other word for it 

 which purports to tell of Charles II. having been hidden at 

 Coaxden in September, 1651, after the battle of Worcester, on 

 the occasion of his unsuccessful attempt to escape to France. 

 The myth does not make its appearance for a considerable time 

 after the event is said to have happened ; and, although this 

 story has been now in circulation for many years, there is really 

 nothing that can be ranked as evidence in support. When all is 

 examined it merely comes to this that in much later years two 

 silver cups are in the possession of descendants of the Cogan 

 family, which cups are said to have been given by Charles II. 

 after the Restoration to a Cogan lady, who in September, 1651, 

 had saved him from capture by allowing him to hide beneath the 

 hoops of her farthingale. 



I understand that the large farthingale had not come into 

 fashion in 1651 ; but, passing over that, there is no evidence in 

 support of the story. No mention occurs of the incident in the 

 earliest accounts we have of Charles's attempt to escape. The 

 account which the King subsequently dictated to Pepys makes 

 no mention of anything of the sort. It has indeed been sug- 

 gested that the King may, from motives of delicacy, have 

 refrained from relating the incident to Pepys, a view scarcely 



