Beautiful, detailed steel engraving from the picture by Edward Matthew Ward.
Lady Alice Lisle was married to Sir John Lisle, who had been one of the judges at the trial of Charles I, and was subsequently a member of Cromwell's House of Lords. Lady Lisle seems to have leaned to Royalism, but with this attitude she combined a decided sympathy with religious dissent.
On 20 July 1685, a fortnight after the Battle of Sedgemoor, the old lady consented to shelter John Hickes, a well-known Nonconformist minister, at her residence. Hickes, who was a fugitive belonging to Monmouth's army, brought with him Richard Nelthorpe, also a partizan of Monmouth, and under sentence of outlawry. The two men passed the night at her residence (Moyles Court), and on the following morning were arrested, and their hostess, who had denied their presence in the house, was charged with harbouring traitors.
In this picture we see the venerable lady in the foreground, resting on her walking stick, and listening with serious, but not sorrowful countenance to the charge brought against her of concealing the rebels; before her kneels a handsome young girl, probably the widow's companion; she is deprecating the violence of the soldiers, whose faces are the warrant for any act of tyranny and brutality. In the background, to the right, a trooper threatens with instant death, if he resists, the lawyer Nelthorpe, who has just been dragged from his hiding place; and in the extreme background to the left, Hicks is being pinioned by another of James's soldiers.
Printed on heavyweight ivory/cream stock. Reverse side is blank.
Title (printed below image): Alice Lisle
Publication: The Art Journal
Publication Year: 1864
Publisher: London: Virtue & Co., Ltd.
Approximate Page Size (in inches): 12.75 x 9
Approximate Image Size (in inches): 9.25 x 7
Condition: Excellent.
Library blind stamp* in margin goes slightly into image area, but does not detract from the beauty of this print.
*blind stamp: A colorless impression that is embossed on paper.
