Sir Richard Crane attended the Earl, laden with twenty-two trophies taken by her kinsman Prince Rupert at Bolton and Liverpool, to present in homage to his “fair relative and companion in arms.” These banners, after floating proudly in the breeze on the towers of Lathom, Lady Derby hung in the chapel in reverent “gratitude to the God in whom she had put her trust, and in memory of the deliverance which He had sent to her.”[[18]]
[18]. De Witt.
Captain Roshern and Captain Chisenhall were raised by Prince Rupert, at Lady Derby’s request, to the rank of colonel. The first was made governor of Lathom House, the other followed the Prince’s fortunes.
The occasion ended, Charlotte de la Trémoille was now once more but a gracious gentlewoman, a loving wife and mother. No word in her correspondence makes the slightest allusion to her brave actions and heroic endurance. Home and her children once more engrossed her thoughts.
“Take good care of them,” said Prince Rupert, ere he bid his hostess farewell; “the children of such a father and such a mother will one day do their King such service as their parents have done theirs.” And indeed “Faithful unto death” would have been the only motto for that seventh Earl of Derby and his wife, Charlotte de la Trémoille, had they ever needed to replace the one graved on their unsullied shield of “Sans changer.”
CHAPTER XIII
AT CASTLE RUSHEN. AN HONOURABLE SURRENDER. THE MAUDLIN WELL. CORRESPONDENCE RECOMMENCES. DISAPPEARANCE OF LORD STRANGE. A PRICE ON LORD DERBY’S HEAD. HOLMBY HOUSE. MISS ORPE AGAIN. A LAWSUIT. DIVISIONS AMONG THE PARLIAMENTARIANS. A LULL IN THE STORM. A NOBLE AUTHOR. AT KNOWSLEY. THE SUBSTANCE AND THE SHADOW. THE SECTARIES. “A GOOD EXCHANGE”
On the conclusion of the siege of Lathom House, the Countess of Derby went with her children to the Isle of Man. This appears to have been done by the advice of Prince Rupert, who well knew, not only the animosity of the Parliamentarians against the Earl, and therefore against his family, but also the jealousy entertained against him by the King’s party.
In the old castles of Rushen and of Peel, Lady Derby spent the ensuing years of King Charles Ist’s stormy reign, for the most part in peace, compared with the turmoil and anxiety of the previous months.