Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/164

 Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire to transfer to King William that allegiance and affection to which James had forfeited all claims. He was the inseparable friend of the amiable Lord Russel, and offered to change clothes with him in prison, and thus contrive his escape; an attempt so desperate must have proved fatal to one, if not both these noble characters, and was therefore declined by Lord Russel. Such was his gallantry, and so warm his friendship, that when Koningsmark was acquitted on the charge of plotting the murder of Mr. Thynne, he challenged him to prove his innocence by single combat. Having been insulted by a Colonel Culpepper, he scrupled not to take him by the nose before the King, and remove him from the presence-chamber; for winch he was fined thirty thousand pounds, and committed to the King's-Bench prison, whence he effected his escape to his estate in Derbyshire, and employed himself in rebuilding his seat at Chats worth; patiently awaiting the overthrow of a system of Popery and tyranny, which was daily becoming more oppressive and intolerable. On the accession of William, the fine was voted excessive and exorbitant, and the imprisonment illegal: he was admitted of the privy council, appointed lord-steward of the houshold, and knight of the Garter, with other