unjustly; and starting up, in the bitterness of feeling at the moment, he exclaimed, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in any son of man, for there is no help in them." But his calmness soon returned, and he was then able to make the necessary arrangement of his affairs with his usual composure.

On the appointed day, Strafford was led to execution. As he passed under the window of the room in which Laud was confined, he paused, and glanced upwards to take a last farewell of his old and beloved friend. The aged Archbishop came to the window, and with tears pronounced his blessing; then, quite overpowered with the effort, he fell back into the arms of his attendants. Strafford reached the scaffold, and there he spoke gently and calmly to those who stood by. After bidding farewell to his relatives and friends, he added,

"And now, I have nigh done. One stroke will make my wife a widow, my dear children fatherless, deprive my poor servants of an indulgent master, and separate me from my affectionate brother and all my friends! But let God be to you and them all in all." And then, having prepared himself for the block, he said, "I thank God, that I am no wise afraid of death, nor am daunted with any terrors; but do as cheerfully lay down my head at this time, as ever I did when going to repose."

He did so; one blow from the executioner followed, and all was over!

The next act of the Parliament was of a very different kind, the abolition of the court of Star Chamber which had committed so many cruelties; an act in which every friend of justice could not but rejoice. Charles then went to Scotland, to settle matters in that country, and to endeavour to conciliate the people, and bring them to better terms. But you will see, from what we have been saying, that the disputes between Charles and his Parliament and subjects were not likely to end very amicably. Indeed things were becoming worse and worse every day; and, at last, for it is not necessary for us to enter into the particulars of this part of the history, open hostilities broke out. A civil war commenced, headed, on one side, by Charles himself, and those who still supported him; and, on the other, by the Parliament, and by those who joined in the wish to resist kingly authority, and to establish what they considered liberty through the land.

This is a very sad page in our national an

nals; and one which we can never read without lamenting that violent feelings and evil passions should have so prevailed, even among many who, no doubt, wished and intended to do right. Both parties were guilty of grievous faults. Charles was wrong, as I said before,

first, for having introduced arbitrary measures, and asserted undue power and authority; and then, for leading his subjects to hope that he would govern better, and disappointing them again and again. All these faults were owing rather to his natural indecision of character, than to a fixed determination in him to act unjustly; but faults they were nevertheless. And then, those of the Parliament were to blame for the manner in which they contended for their rights; and for the harshness and violence of many of their proceedings; and, particularly, for at last casting aside, as they did, the respect due to the office of king, forgetting the commands which the religion they professed so strongly enforces,-" Honour the king;" "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God."

And yet we must not suppose, notwithstanding all these faults and errors in the characters of the two parties, that there were no great and good men to be found in them. There were many individuals, on both sides, whom we cannot but admire, though we may disapprove of some things that they did. We should remember, in reading this part of our history, that, at that period of violence and excitement, when there was so much temptation to allow feeling to get the better of judgment, it must

have been very difficult for even truly good men to act aright. We ought not to shut our eyes to the faults of others;-if we do, we lose one important benefit of history;-but we should always endeavour to view those faults with candour and kindness; not hastily condemning the people who committed them, but considering how they were circumstanced, and how likely we should have been to act wrongly, had we occupied their position.

It is not my intention to give you an account of the many battles and sieges which took place all over the country, during the time of these civil wars. Such a detail would, I think, be more tedious than interesting to you. But as you may wish to know the names of a few of those who acted a conspicuous part in the warfare of that unhappy period, I will say something about them here.

Charles had the assistance of the two princes Rupert and Maurice, the sons of the Elector Palatine, who, you may remember, had married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I. They were both very brave men. Then there was also, in the king's army, Sir Bevil Granville, a man much beloved in the country, who fell at the battle of Lansdown, near Bath.— Another distinguished person, on the same side, was Lord Falkland. He was a clever and accomplished man, and of a disposition so

gentle and amiable, as to be little fitted for the stormy days in which his lot was cast. When the disputes began between Charles and the Parliament, he quite lost his natural cheerfulness, and was frequently seen sitting absorbed in sad meditations, and mourning over the future prospects of his country and his king. Sometimes he would sigh heavily, and repeat the word, "Peace;" for the desire of peace, and the dread of war, were continually on his mind. But when the conflict actually began, he distinguished himself by his courage and bravery; and he used to remark to his friends, that it was necessary for him to be more active and enterprizing than other men, lest his well known love of peace should be construed into cowardice or fear. On the morning of the battle of Newbury, when he was preparing for the action, he said to those about him, "I am weary of the times, and foresee much misery to my country; but I believe that I shall be out of it ere night." His words proved too true. He was slain in that battle, to the great grief of all who knew and loved him.

Then on the side of the Parliament there were great men also. We must not forget Hampden, who had been a very active member of the House of Commons long before. He was one of those who at first opposed the illegal measures of the king, and he had suffered