Royal Visits. 97 



" Lassie tak the man ye loe 

 Whate'er ye're minnie say, 

 Though ye sud mak ye're bridal bed 

 Amang pea strae." 



So ta-ta all worldly considerations and family alli- 

 ances, and the rest of it, say the wild romps of the Gay 

 Charioteers. 



Several years after the death of Coke, Stoke Pogis 

 was for a short time the place of confinement of Charles 

 L, who could see from its windows the towers of Wind- 

 sor Castle, which he was never again to enter except as 

 a headless corpse. On the death of Viscount Purbeck, 

 who resided in the manor house after Coke's decease, 

 Stoke Pogis passed by purchase into the hands of the 

 Gayer family. When Charles II. came to his own again 

 the then possessor of the mansion was knighted, and 

 became so devoted in his affection for the Stuarts that 

 when in after time King William desired to visit Stoke 

 Pogis to see a place so rich in historical associations, the 

 old knight would not listen to it. In vain did his wife 

 intercede: he declared that the usurper should not cross 

 his threshold, and he kept his word. So it came to be 

 said that Stoke Pogis had sumptuously entertained one 

 sovereign, been the prison of another, and refused ad- 

 mission to a third. 



We were told that quite recently Queen Victoria 

 had visited it in person, with a view to its purchase for 

 her daughter, and while walking through its magnifi- 

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