"lay a large wool-sack, covered with green, for my lord steward, the earl of Arundel. Beneath it lay two other sacks for the lord keeper and the judges, with the rest of the Chancery, all in their red robes. Beneath this, a little table for four or five clerks of the Parliament, in their black gowns. Round about these some forms covered with green frieze, whereupon the earls and lords did sit in their red robes of the same fashion, lined with the same white ermine skin, as ye see the robes of our lords when they ride to Parliament. Behind the forms, where the lords sit, there is a bar covered with green. At the one end stands the committee of eight or ten gentlemen appointed by the House of Commons to pursue. At the midst there is a little desk, where the prisoner stands or sits as he pleases, together with his keeper, Sir William Balfour, the lieutenant of the Tower. This is the order of the House below on the floor; the same that is used daily in the higher House. Upon the two sides of the House, east and west, there arose a stage of eleven ranks of forms, the highest almost touching the roof; every one of these forms went from the one end of the room to the other, and contained about forty men; the two highest were divided from the rest by a rail, and a rail at every end cut off some seats. The gentlemen of the Lower House sat within the rails, others without. All the doors were kept very straitly with guards. We always behoved to be there a little after five in the morning. Lord Willoughby, earl of Lindsey, lord-chamberlain of England (Pembroke is chamberlain of the court) ordered the House with great difficulty. James Maxwell, black rod, was great usher; a number of other servants, gentlemen, and knights, assisted. The House was full daily before seven; the lords, in their robes, were set about eight. The king was usually half an hour before them. He came not into his throne, for that would have marred the action; for it is the order of England, when the king appears, he speaks what he will, but no other speaks in his presence. At the back of the throne were two rooms

on the two sides. In the one duke de Vanden, duke de Valler, and other French nobles, sat; in the other, the king, queen, princess Mary, the prince elector, and other court ladies. The tirlies, that made them to be secret, the king brake down with his own hands, so that they sat in the eyes of all; but little more regarded than if they had been absent, for the lords sat all covered. Those of the Lower House, and all others, except the French noblemen, sat discovered when the lords came, not else. A number of ladies were in boxes above the rails, for which they paid much money." Private persons of place and distinction were admitted to place among the Commons; one of whom was Baillie, principal of the University of Glasgow, and one of the commissioners from Scotland, from whose letters we borrow this description. By the force of a clear, strong mind, the intellectual Scotchman proceeds, in spite of himself, to describe, in Strafford, a fallen greatness, before which the noisy bustling scene sank into vulgarity; and, while his hatred of the champion of Church and king is as intense as ever, his intellect bows to the nobleness and grandeur of the man.

At eight o'clock the lieutenant and a guard brought up Strafford in a barge from the Tower; the lord-chamberlain and black rod met him at the door of the court. On his entrance he made a low courtesy, when he had proceeded a little way a second, and, on coming to his place, a third; he then kneeled, with his forehead upon his desk, rose quickly, saluted both sides of the court, and sat down; some few of the lords lifted their hats to him. Every day he was attired in the same deep suit of black. Four secretaries sat at a desk just behind him, whom he kept busily employed reading and writing, arranging and handing him his papers; and behind them his counsel, five or six able lawyers, who were not permitted to argue upon matters of fact, but only on points of law.

A day or two were occupied in preambles and general

statements, and a declamatory speech from Pym gave a sketch of all the charges against Strafford, and endeavored to destroy all the merit of those parts of his administration which the accused could appeal to. The regular business of the court followed; twenty-eight charges of treason and maladministration were formally preferred against Strafford; every high proceeding and act of power, every harshness, and every case of grievance of the subject, noble and aristocratical, that they thought could tell upon the court; all the knots and rough spots and corners that an administration of unparalleled activity had, in the full swing and impetus of its course, contracted, were brought up, singly and isolatedly enlarged upon, and exhibited in the very worst color. Strafford was asserted to have done every thing with a view to the most selfish ends, to establish his own tyranny, oppression, and extortion; and the very idea of a respectable intention in what he did, of any view to public good, mistaken, irregular, as they might think it, but still real, was not alluded to.

Strafford was fully equal to the emergency, and played off his host of papers with all the self-possession and dexterity. possible. No knowledge of what a thread his life hung by ever unsteadied for a moment his thorough coolness and presence of mind; no unfair play, time after time, throughout the trial, put him the least out of temper; he let nothing pass without a struggle, he fought for a point of law or court practice stoutly, determinately; when decided against him, the fine, well-tempered spirit was passive again, took, with a nil admirari, what it could not help, and worked upon the bad ground as if it were its own choice. A charge was made with every skillful exaggeration and embellishment; he simply asked time to get up his reply--it was refused; without “sign of repining "—it is the unconsciously beautiful expression of Baillie-he turned round and conferred with his counsel. For a few minutes a little nucleus of heads, amid the general turmoil, were seen in earnest consultation, eyes bent downward,

and hands shuffling and picking out papers: the defense arranged with that concentrated attention which shortness of time and necessity inspire, Strafford was ready again, and faced the court. Great was the contrast of the rest of the scene; these pauses were the immediate signal for a regular noise and hubbub, and it was with laughing, chattering, walking about, eating and drinking, close to him and echoed from all sides, that the tall, black figure of Strafford was seen, "serious with his secretaries," and life and death were at work in his small isolated knot. The general behavior in court throughout was gross and vulgar in the extreme, and scandalized Baillie. There was a continual noise, movement, and confusion of people leaving and returning, doors slamming, and enormous eating and drinking; bread and meat and confections were dispatched greedily; the bottle went round from mouth to mouth, and the assembled company manifested by the freest signs their enjoyment of the occasion.

XXXIX.

ATTEMPT TO ARREST THE FIVE MEMBERS.-GARDINER.

[Strafford was condemned and executed in May of 1641. In the summer of that year Charles visited his northern capital. His plan was to make peace with the Scots, which he did by yielding all the points in dispute, and then to turn upon and crush the English opposition. Returning to London toward the close of the year, he brought a charge of high treason against five of the leaders of the House of Commons. There were constitutional methods by which these men might have been arrested, and, if guilty, punished. But Charles disdained constitutional ways and chose to resort to force. He grossly violated the privileges of the Parliament by going to the House of Commons at the head of a body of armed men and attempting to arrest his enemies in their places in the House.]

If the blow had not already fallen, it was because Charles had been involved in his usual vacillation. According to a

not improbable account, he had that morning sought out the queen, and had given strong reasons against the execution of the plan. Henrietta Maria was in no mood to accept excuses. "Go, you coward!" she cried, "and pull these rogues out by the ears, or never see my face more." Charles bowed to fate and his high-spirited wife, and left her, resolved to hang back no longer. Again there was delay, perhaps on account of the adjournment at midday; and before Charles actually left Whitehall the queen had trusted the secret to her ill-chosen confidante, Lady Carlisle, and Lady Carlisle at once conveyed the news to Essex.

Before dinner was over the five accused members received a message from Essex, telling them that the king was coming in person to seize them, and recommending them to withdraw. They could not make up their minds as yet to fly. In truth, Charles was still hesitating, in his usual fashion, and it might be that he would never accomplish his design. When the House met again at one, satisfactory replies were received from the inns of court. The lawyers said that they had gone to Whitehall, because they were bound to defend the king's person, but that they were also ready to defend the Parliament. The Lords, too, had shown themselves resolute, and had agreed to join the Commons in styling the attorney-general's articles a scandalous paper.

It may be that the contemptuous term applied to the accusation which he had authorized had at last goaded Charles to action. Late-but, as she fondly hoped, not too latethe queen had her way. About three o'clock Charles, taking with him the elector palatine, hurried down stairs, calling out, "Let my faithful subjects and soldiers follow me." Throwing himself into a coach, which happened to be near the door, he drove off, followed by some three or four hundred armed men.

Such a number could not march at any great speed. A Frenchman, named Langres, who had probably been set to