56 The Neiv Forest : its History and its Scenery. 



On somewhat better authority,* it rests that the unhappy 

 Charles I., on the 13th of November, 1647, outwitted by his 

 enemies and deceived by his friends, entrusted himself, after his 

 flight from Hampton Court, to Colonel Hammond, and, embark- 

 ing here, returned by Hurst to atone for the past by his life. 



But of greater interest is the Roman Road which connected 

 Leap with Southampton and Winchester in one direction, and 

 Ringwood and the west in another. Its traces may be found 

 not only here but on the opposite side, where, still known by the 

 Norman name of Rue Street, it passes westward of Carisbrook to 

 the extreme south of the Island. f Its old appellation is pre- 

 served, too, on this side in the name of a farmhouse — King's 

 Rue, and Rue Copse, and Rue Common ; and it is well worthy 

 of notice that this word is even now sometimes used in the 

 Forest, as in Sussex, for a row or hedgerow. Previous to it, 

 however, there existed a British track, still clearly visible across 



caninn. Bouquet. Recneil des Historievs des Gaules et de In France, torn. 

 xviii. p. 113 C), nor the Chronicon Turnnensp (in the Veterum Scriptomm 

 Amphssima CoUectto of Martene and Durand, torn v. p 1059 B), nor 

 Rymer's Fcederu ("De salvo conductu Domini Ludovici," torn. i. p. 222), 

 say anything of the place of embarkation. 



* I believe on that of the Oglander MSS. in the possession of the Earl 

 of Yarborough, but which I have never seen. Keither the Iter Carolinum, 

 Herbert's Memoirs (London, 1572, p. 38), Hxmtington's account (same 

 volume, p. 160), Berkeley's Memoirf, (second edition, 1702, p. 65), The 

 Ashhurnham Narrative (London, 1830, vol. ii. p. 119), nor Whalley's letter 

 in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa (torn ii., lib. ix , pp 374, 375), nor Hammond's, 

 in RushAvorth's Collection (part iv., vol. ii., p. 874), mention the place, 

 though the latter would seem to indicate that the King sailed direct from 

 Tichfield to Cowes. Ashburnham and Berkeley had, we know from 

 Berkeley {Memoirs, same edition as before, p. 57) and Ludlow {Memoirs, 

 1771, p, 93), previously gone by Lymington to the Island. 



t The road is marked in the map which accompanies Dr. Guest's paper 

 on " The Belgic Ditches." The Archceological Journal, vol. viii. p. 143. 



