CHARLES II. IN DORSET. 21 



Pilsdon a long narrow copse of about ten or twelve acres in 

 extent called King's Moor (or More) Copse. It adjoins Laverstock 

 Farm, and lies on the road from Broadwindsor to Pilsdon. Tradi- 

 tion says that in this copse the King lay hid, from which circum- 

 stance it is said to have derived its name. It would not have 

 been the first time that Charles had taken to a wood in times of 

 danger, and the truth of this part of the tradition, at all events, 

 was always accepted as an undoubted fact by a late tenant of the 

 farm whom I well knew, and as such he received it. It is 

 somewhat of a curious coincidence that Ains worth, who in his 

 story of the course the King took after reaching Bridport, shows 

 a wide divergence from that generally accepted an intentional 

 divergence, perhaps, to show off his intimate knowledge of the 

 district states that on approaching Winterborne Abbas " the 

 Royal party descried their pursuers and hid themselves in a copse 

 till they passed." Perhaps he may have heard the tradition in 

 the same form that I did. As I have said before, the authorita- 

 tive accounts of the King's wanderings hardly support the 

 tradition that the King visited Pilsdon, for they show that on the 

 evening of the very day he left Broadwindsor, September 24th, he 

 reached Trent again, which would leave very little time for any 

 concealment at Pilsdon, when one considers the distance to be 

 traversed. The silence of the King himself on this subject when 

 dictating the account of his wanderings to Pepys, the absence of 

 any mention of the fact to be found in the circumstantial and 



charge of the Parliamentary troops in that district. A verbatim copy of 

 this order has, through the kindness of Rev. J. H. Ward, of Gussage St. 

 Michael, been placed in my hands. It runs as follows : 



Whitehall 



Council of State to Colonel Heane 

 July 28, 1651 



Being informed that there 



has been some design lately 



carried on in Lady Windham's 



House in Dorset against the peace 



And that some persons may 



be privately lodged there, who 



may jiistly be suspected 



of carrying on the said design 



We desire you to repair to 



the said House. 



