forbade it by proclamation; an ill-advised step for him, as both these gentlemen afterwards became leaders in the rebellion against him.

Lord Strafford had been appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland, and by his vigorous administration had much improved and quieted that turbulent country. After reigning eleven years without a parliament, the king's necessities compelled him to call one. But from the first he saw such a determination to thwart and oppose him, that he dissolved it after a session of three weeks. He was, however, forced to summon another to help him with the Scottish war, which had broken out afresh and in November 1640, a parliament met, which has since been called the Long Parliament. The proceedings of this seditious assembly are far too important to be contained in this chapter. I will, therefore, finish it with an account of a few persons and events which may properly be introduced here.

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You will like to hear something of the queen of Bohemia, Charles's sister, on behalf of whose husband James the first had made war with Austria and Spain. Charles entered into a treaty of peace with both these countries, and the king of Bohemia afterwards

MEZZO-TINTO ENGRAVING INVENTED.

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lost all his dominions, and took refuge in Holland with his family.

Three of their sons came over to England; one of them took the popular side in politics; the other two, Maurice and Rupert, fought in the king's army. Prince Rupert was a commander, celebrated for his great courage; but too frequently lost by his imprudence what he had gained by his valour. He was the inventor of a kind of engraving, called mezzo-tinto. It is said that he was led to the discovery by observing the effect of some rust on the gun-barrel of one of his soldiers. Many of the most useful discoveries and inventions have been made by thus carefully observing the daily trifles which inattentive persons pass over without notice. It is well to cultivate a habit of observation and attention from childhood; since from this habit are derived many pleasures, and a fund of useful information which can never be attained by the practice of reading alone, without reflecting on what passes before our eyes. None of these sons of the queen of Bohemia had any children; but they had a sister named Sophia, who married the elector of Hanover, and became the mother of a son, who was afterwards our king George the first.

Charles the first had much taste for all the fine arts,

but especially for painting; and induced a foreign artist to come from Antwerp and settle in England, many of whose beautiful paintings still adorn the houses of our nobility, and the royal palaces. This was Vandyke, whose portraits are celebrated for their grace and exquisite finish. Aunt Anne has seen one of this artist's portraits of Charles the first, which represents him as a man of very beautiful and intelligent countenance, but with that expression of melancholy which he bore from his youth, seeming to foreshadow the sorrows which marked his life, and which was, doubtless, increased by the ordeal of violent opposition he had to undergo throughout his reign. The earliest museum was made in the time of Charles, by his gardener, John Tradescant; this collection of curiosities is still preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.

A dreadful massacre took place in Ireland in 1641. This was a plot formed by the Romish bishops and priests for clearing the island of every Protestant inhabitant, and seizing their estates; taking advantage of a time when the attention of the English government was occupied by the dissensions at home.

popish population rose in a mass

The

men, women, and

*Horne's "Lives of Eminent Christians."

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children raised their hands to execute the work of wanton destruction. Throughout the province of Ulster a general cry was heard ;-" Spare neither woman nor child; the English are meat for dogs; let not one drop of English blood be left within the country!" It is computed that 154,000 victims fell in this province of Ulster. One Protestant habitation alone, in the county of Cavan, remained untouched by fire or sword for several weeks. It was the abode of bishop Bedell, whose holy life, benevolence, and charity touched even the stern and cruel hearts of that infuriate people; and often did they declare that he should be the very last Englishman whom they should expel from their shores. At length he too was taken prisoner, but his persecutors promised to shew him mercy. And what do my dear children think they called mercy? Why, they imprisoned this venerable old man, in the depth of winter, in a ruin in Lochwater, a lake near Kilmore, and suffered him, his two sons, and a friend who was with them, to nail together a few boards to protect them from the weather, and here they detained him for nearly a month. Surely "the tender mercies of the wicked are very cruel." In this wretched place the bishop was kept from December 18, 1641, till January 7, 1642, when

he was released. But the hardships he had endured were greater than his infirm constitution, bending under the weight of years, could sustain, and he only survived his release one month, entering into the rest of his Lord in his seventy-third year.

Several discoveries and improvements were made in the unhappy reign of Charles the first. Barometers and thermometers were invented; sawing-mills were first built; and newspapers became general; the first that was ever published was in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to announce to the country the defeat of the Spanish Armada. They were then called newsletters, and were about the size of a sheet of letterpaper. The Bahama Isles were discovered in this reign, and coffee was first brought to England.

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