of age, to escape as early as he could to his sister, the Princess Mary, in Holland. On Elizabeth he urged submission to her brother, the Prince of Wales, after he himself should be dead, and obedience to her mother, except on matters of religious belief.

Just before the king's escape to Carisbrooke Castle, the royal children passed a night and day at Hampton Court with him; and Elizabeth's sleep at night was so broken, that the king begged the colonel to stop the heavy tramp of the guard in the long gallery. The colonel promised to do so, and even to remove them altogether, if Charles would engage not to escape.

The king refused, saying, 'Keep your guards ;' and shortly afterwards effected his escape to Carisbrooke.

Elizabeth's education was at this time carefully looked after under a clever governess. She displayed an early taste for study, and even learned books were dedicated to her, with praises of her taste for science and studies graver than most children of her age liked.

Perhaps the only real tranquil time they ever had

was at Penshurst, in Kent, where, after Charles's death, the Parliament sent them to the care of the kind Countess of Leicester, who was tender in her care of them, and in endeavouring to soothe Elizabeth's distress at the terrible death Charles had undergone.

In this good woman, the poor little royal lady found something akin to what it had never been her happiness to know-that blessing, a MOTHER; but ill-fate was overtaking the poor children, and Parliament ordered them to be simply called 'Bessy and Harry,' and destined them as apprentices to useful trades.

The eldest, James, Duke of York, had escaped and fled to France. Their attendants were all forbidden to speak to them in any way befitting their rank, and watched lest this rule was infringed.

The princess's health was thoroughly impaired by the grief her father's death had caused her.

Ever before her mind's eye, she saw his revered face and form mangled and torn by a deluded people, and heard sounding in her ears his last sad farewell to herself and little brother, when he conjured the little prince 'never to suffer himself to be

made king, to his elder brother's exclusion.' 'I will be torn in pieces first,' was the little prince's reply, though only nine years old.

No wonder from that moment Elizabeth's health visibly declined; and, added to the delicacy of her health, was the constant anxiety that she felt as to their future position.

The Parliament could not make up their minds; but were unanimous in refusing to allow her to leave England, and go to Holland.

Although, at Penshurst, they were treated only as children of private gentlemen, the Duke of Gloucester's title being taken from them, Lord and Lady Leicester, who had care of them there, were very kind to them. The Princess Elizabeth, therefore, heard with dismay that, on the 13th of August 1650, they were to be sent to the Isle of Wight, and to Carisbrooke Castle, a place associated in her mind with her father's gloomiest hours; but her dismal forebodings were all realized, although relief for her was coming in a shape that she, perhaps, thought not was so near.

The royal children's journey from Penshurst to Carisbrooke lasted a week, and they reached it on

the 16th of August 1650. A few days after her arrival, while playing at bowls with her brother, she caught a severe cold, which became a fever, and, says an old writer, 'After many rare ejaculatory expressions, abundantly demonstrating her unparalleled piety, to the eternal honour of her own memory,' she died quietly on the 8th of September 1650.

The story of this little hapless princess, dying of a broken heart for her father's death, is the very saddest I have ever had to tell you; and yet it ought to teach us, that even in trials great as hers were, hope can sustain us, if, like her, we rest on our Saviour.

When her ladies one morning drew back the curtains of her bed, believing that she slept, they found her fair young head thrown back on her pillow, and underneath it lay her little Bible, from which she had learnt to practise patience and endurance, such as, when she ceased to be a heroine on earth, we may venture to believe, made her one of God's angels in heaven, 'out of much tribulation.'

'A firm hope in heaven held up thy head,
And dying, kept thee still from being dead.'

CHAPTER VIII.

WARWICK CASTLE.

THE EARLS OF WARWICK.

M

Y last story, that of the gentle Princess Elizabeth, has been a sad one. Tonight I shall tell you about Warwick, one of the most striking castles still standing, a memorial of the days when it was necessary to use 'might, to defend right.'

I hope that, when you are older, you will read history for yourselves; and trust my 'fireside tales' may recur to your minds when you visit the old castles that have been taken for our subjects.

Built on a rock, at the south-east end of the town that bears the same name, Warwick Castle proudly towers above the river which winds along the meadows below its site.

You have all heard of the river Avon, as it has