The Royal Oak, by Samuel Pepys

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OF which proposition of his I approving, we (that is to say, Careless and I) went, and carried up with us some victuals for the whole day — viz. bread, cheese, small beer, and nothing else, and got up into a great oak that had been lopt some three or four years before, and being grown out again, very bushy and thick, could not be seen through, and here we staid all the day.* I having, in the mean time, sent Penderell’s brother to Mr Pitchcroft’s, to know whether my Lord Wilmot was there or no, and had word brought me by him at night that my lord was there, that there was a very secure hiding hole in Mr Pitchcroft’s house, and that he desired me to come thither to him. Memorandum,* That while we were in this tree we see soldiers going up and down, in the thicket of the wood, searching for persons escaped, we seeing them now and then peeping out of the wood.*

by Samuel Pepys 1633-1703 and King Charles II 1630-1685

From ‘An Account of His Majesty’s Escape From Worcester: Dictated to Mr Pepys by the King Himself’, taken down in October 1680 by Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), and reprinted in ‘The Boscobel Tracts’ edited by John Hughes (1790-1857).

* Latin for ‘it ought to be remembered’.

* This was September 6th, 1651. On May 30th, 1660, the day after the King’s restoration, Parliament resolved “That the Lords be desired to join with this House, in beseeching the King’s Majesty, to appoint a Day to be set apart for publick Thanksgiving to God, throughout this Realm, for the great Blessing and Mercy God hath vouchsafed to the People of these Kingdoms, after their manifold and grievous Sufferings, in the happy Restoration of his Majesty to his People and Kingdoms.” May 29th was chosen, and quickly became known as Royal Oak Day or Oak Apple Day in commemoration of the stirring events at Boscobel House. It ceased to be an official Public Holiday in 1859.

* Even Charles Dickens, who did not like the Stuarts, admitted that Charles’s flight made a gripping tale. “The escape of Charles after this battle of Worcester did him good service long afterwards,” he told his children, “for it induced many of the generous English people to take a romantic interest in him, and to think much better of him than he ever deserved.” Dickens disapproved of his namesake’s autocratic policies (many a president of a ‘democratic republic’ has since been far worse) but he knew a good story when he heard it.

Précis

Careless supplied the King with bread, cheese and small beer, and the two men clambered up into the oak tree to wait there until nightfall. As it was not quite autumn, the oak was in full leaf, and screened them well; they however could see Cromwell’s men beating the neighbouring wood in the search for survivors of the battle.

Questions for Critics

1. What are the authors aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the authors communicate their ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What was the reply Charles received to the message his sent by one of the Penderel brothers?

Suggestion

That Wilmot was safe with Mr Whitgrave.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Charles and Careless hid in a tree. They spent all day there. They had enough food with them.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IConceal. IIHungry. IIITake.

Précis

Questions for Critics

Sevens

Jigsaws

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