16i7.] HUDSON ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED. 139 



Bodleian Library), he asks him to interest himself 

 for the recovery of the horse he rode when he was 

 arrested, and to endeavour, if possible, to compound 

 for it with the sergeant by whom it was seized. 

 Whether he succeeded in recovering the possession 

 of the horse has not transpired ; but he recovered 

 the possession of his liberty on the i8th of November, 

 by escaping from prison. He did not long enjoy his 

 freedom, as it was announced on the 22nd of December 

 that " Mr. Hudson, the King's Guide to the Scots, was 

 again taken by Major Poyntz, and his examination 

 sent up to the Parliament." During this brief interval, 

 Hudson, as ex-Scoutmaster General, resumed his 

 difficult task, and is said to have conveyed letters from 

 the King to Major-General Rowland Langhorn, in 

 Wales. Some of these letters appear to have been 

 intercepted by Major-General Skeppon, by whom they 

 were sent up to the Parliament on the nth of January, 

 1646-7, at which date Hudson Is officially recorded 

 as " being again apprehended ; " and the Governor of 

 Hull was ordered to send him up " in safe custody 

 by land to the Parliament ; " while the letters were 

 referred to a committee. On the 21st the officers 

 and troopers who conveyed our hero to London were 

 ordered ^60 for the good of their pains, when it was 

 also announced that " Dr. Hudson the King's Guide 

 was long examined in the House [of Commons] and 

 committed close prisoner to the Tower for treason," 

 and, according to another account, " with strict order 

 given, that none should speak to him, but In the 

 presence of his keeper." 



