IO8 HISTORY OF HARTING. 



owed this position to his kinsman, the Jesuit Father, 

 Edward Petre, who had been received into the Cabinet 

 of James II., and bore the greatest part, it has been 

 said, in the ruin of the house of Stuart. Having, 

 however, once obtained the post, Caryll remained on 

 the closest terms of intimacy with James and his 

 Queen to the end of their lives. It was about this 

 time that the building of Lady Holt was projected, 

 though, in the event, certainly completed, at least, 

 by the succeeding John Caryll. Hayly* says, that 

 James the Second had planned for himself a residence 

 on the South Downs, though the situation is unknown. 

 It is not at all impossible, when we consider the warm 

 affection that existed between James II. and his Queen 

 and their friend the Secretary, abundantly proved by 

 many royal letters now in the British Museum, that at 

 one time there might have been a thought of making 

 Lady Holt a royal seat. To these letters I shall refer, 

 quoting extracts, a little further on. 



1688, 9th Dec., Mary Beatrice of Modena quitted 

 Whitehall for ever, taking her little son with her ; 

 and, leaning on Lauzun's arm, started for Gravesend, 

 whence they crossed to Calais. A fortnight afterwards 

 James II. made his second attempt to reach France 

 from Rochester, and landed at Ambleteuse on Christ- 

 mas Day. Secretary John Caryll accompanied the 

 King and Queen in their exile.f By special request of 

 the exiled monarch, J the West Harting estates were 

 exempted by William from confiscation. As a further 



c Hayly and Burrell MSS., 5706, p. 767." King James II. 

 marked out a seat on the Downs of Sussex. Query where. T.H." 

 f "James II.," by Col. Townshend Wilson. 



J Burrell, 5689, p. 191. " Lord Caryll had, by his adherence 

 to King James, forfeited this estate (West Harting), which was 

 granted by William to Lord Cutts ; but, at the particular request 

 of King James, it was restored to the Caryll family on the pay- 

 ment of ,1,000 (should be .6,000) to Lord Cutts. This anecdote 

 Mr. Caryll told my uncle, Sir Merrick Burrell, from whom I 

 heard it. W.B." 



