270 THE BRIGHTON ROAD 



His altar-tomb stands without the southern doorway 

 of the church, and reads curiously to modern ears. 

 That not one of all the many who have had occasion 

 to print it has transcribed the quaintness of that 

 epitaph aright seems a strange thing, but so it is : 



P.M.S. 



Captain NICHOLAS TETTERSELL, through whose Prudence 

 ualour an Loyalty Charles the second King of England & after he 

 had escaped the sword of his merciless rebells and his fforses received 

 a fatall ouerthrowe at Worcester Sept"- 3d 1651, was ffaithfully 

 preserued & conueyed into ffrance. Departed this life the 26 tb day 

 of Iuly 1674. 



Within this monument doth lye, 



Approued Ffaith, hono>- and Loyalty. 



In this Cold Clay he hath now tane up his station, 



At once preserued ye Church, the Crowne and nation. 



When Charles ye Greate was nothing but a breath 



This ualiant soule stept betweene him & death. 



Usurpers threats nor tyrant rebells frowne 



Could not afrright his duty to the Crowne ; 



Which glorious act of his Church & state, 



Eight princes in one day did Gratulate 



Professing all to him in debt to bee 



As all the world are to his memory 



Since Earth Could not Reward his worth have give n , 



Hee now receiues it from the King of heauen. 



The escape of Charles the Second, after many 

 perilous adventures, belongs to the larger sphere of 

 English history. Driven, after the disastrous result 

 of Worcester Fight, to wander, a fugitive, through 

 the land, he sought the coast from the extreme west 

 of Dorsetshire, and only when he reached Sussex did 

 he find it possible to embark and sail across the Channel 

 to France. Hunted by relentless Roundheads, and 

 sheltered on his way only by a few faithful adherents, 

 who in their loyalty risked everything for him, he at 

 length, with his small party, reached the village of 

 Brighthelmstone and lodged at the inn then called 

 the " George." 



That evening, after much negotiation, Colonel 

 Gunter, the King's companion, arranged with Nicholas 

 Tettersell, master of a small trading craft, to convey 



