Today is Oak Apple Day, and even now in some parts of England children will probably be sporting oak leaves in their buttonholes in commemoration of King Charles LI who escaped from Parliamentary troops searching for him after the battle of Worcester by hiding for a day in an oak tree at Boscobel. Charles, it will be remembered, had returned from exile to lead the Royalists in an attempt to restore the and on July 31, 1651, marched south from Scotland with an army of about 10,000 men. He was proclaimed king at Carlisle, was joined by the Earl of Derby in Lancashire, evaded the troops of Lambert and Harrison in Cheshire, marched through Shropshire to meet with a rebuff at Shrewsbury and entered Worcester with a small, tired, and dispirited force of only about 16,000 men on August 22. Here the decisive battle was fought on September 3 in which Charles distinguished himself with great personal courage, but after leading an unsuccessful cavalry charge against the Parlia-montanans, fled the field at about 6 p.m. making towards Kidderminster and eventually taking refuge at Whiteladies about 25 miles from Worcester, where he separated from his followers. It was three days later while the Parliamentary troops were searching for him that he hid in the famous oak tree. Afterwards he went to Mosely and Bentley Hall whence disguised as Miss Lane's attendant he subsequently fled to Abbots Leigh near Bristol to Trent in Somerset, and finally to the George Inn at Brighton. During the forty-one days of his itinerary he was recognized by no less than fifty persons, but such was their loyalty that though a reward of £1,000 was offered for his apprehension, and death threatened for any found aiding or concealing him, no one beprayed him. He set sail from Shoreham on October 15, and landed at Fécamp in Normandy the next day, and was not to return to England, until nine years later he arrived in London on his thirtieth birthday, May 29, hereafter known to the royalists as Oak Apple Day in memory of his fortunate escape.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.