Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/248

234 days. Henrietta took up her head-quarters at Boynton Hall, the seat of Sir William Strickland, a regular round-head, but where the ladies of the family entertained her courteously, and imprudently brought out in her honour all their old family plate. The queen's eye caught the sight instantly, and she said she must make a loan of it, for all means were necessary to raise funds for the war, the round-heads doing the same; but she pledged herself to see it returned or paid for if she lived, and till then left a fine portrait of herself, done at the court of Holland. The plate, of course, was never restored, but the painting became in course of time of equal value.

Prince Rupert. From an authentic Potrait

The queen's arrival created immense enthusiasm amongst the cavaliers. Her spirit, her manners, her condescension fascinated all who came near her. She was in every sense now a heroine, and the fact of the parliament having impeached her of high treason, and her head being forfeited if she fell into their hands, only raised her own resolution and the devotion of all around her. She was conducted to York by a guard of two thousand cavaliers, headed by the marquis of Montrose himself, and attended by six pieces of cannon, two mortars, and two hundred and fifty wagons of ammunition. The lord Fairfax, who was the only parliamentary general with any force in the north besides the governor of Hull, was gallant enough to offer to escort her himself with his round-heads; but she knew that she was outlawed, and declined the honour. She rode on horseback on the march, calling herself the "she-majesty-generalissima," ate her meals in the sight of the army, in the open air, and delighted the soldiers by talking familiarly to them. She moreover set at liberty a captain of one of Batten's ships which had attacked her, and said to be the very man who had pointed the cannon at