44 THOMAS KEN AND IZAAK WALTON 



was demanded for the King's favourite of the 

 hour. 



" Not for his Kingdom ! " was Ken's reply. " A 

 woman of ill repute ought not to be endured in the 

 house of a clergyman, and especially the King's 

 Chaplain." 



The result was, Nell Gwynne was lodged in 

 a small room attached to the Deanery, by the 

 sanction of the more complacent Dean, and there 

 she lodged while the King was at the Deanery. 



Another version of the story is that 



"The celebrated lady having taken posses- 

 sion in the King's name of the bachelor 

 prebendary's ecclesiastical residence, refused, 

 except m et armis, to move. Possession had 

 been taken in the absence of the owner, who 

 on his return, finding the unexpected guest deaf 

 to entreaty, was obliged to order a part of the 

 roof to be taken off ! when the lady, thus 

 forcibly dislodged, scudded to the Deanery to 

 make her report to the King." 



In 1683 Ken seems to have joined, as chaplain 

 to the High Admiral, Lord Dartmouth, an ex- 

 peditionary force of twenty ships sent out to 



