Charles II's hiding in the Royal Oak of Boscobel has taken its place among those picturesque memorabilia—such as Alfred and the cakes, Canute and the waves, Bruce and the spider, Drake and his bowls, and Raleigh and his cloak—which have enlivened our history books both before and after 1066-and-all-that. And of all these episodes it is perhaps the story of the Royal Oak which rings the truest: two versions of it, England's Triumph by an anonymous author, and Thomas Blount's Boscobel, were both published in the year of the Restoration, 1660; and the chief actor himself was always ready to give his own account of the adventure, and on two occasions, on 3rd and 5th October 1680, entertained Samuel Pepys with it.