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opposite a window of the banqueting-room at Whitehall, and the streets were crowded with people come to see him die. The bishop reminded him that he had but one more stage to pass, which, though painful and troublesome, would take him from earth to heaven. "I go," said the king, "from a corruptible crown to an incorruptible, where no disturbance can be." He declared himself innocent towards his people, though guilty in the sight of God; and acknowledged that he was justly punished for the unjust sentence he had permitted to be executed on Strafford. Just before laying his head on the block, he held up his hand to Juxon and said, "Remember!" His head was then struck off at a blow, and the executioner, holding it up by the hair, said, "This is the head of a traitor !" No sooner was this fearful deed accomplished than the minds of all the beholders seemed to undergo a sudden revulsion. They were as much shocked and surprised as if they had never expected it, and wondered how they could have permitted it to take place. Juxon was desired to explain what was meant by that last word, "Remember!" and replied, that it was to remind him of the king's earnest charge to the prince of Wales to forgive his father's murderers. Charles was beheaded on January 30, 1649,

in the forty-ninth year of his age and the twentyfifth of his reign. A service has since been instituted commemorative of the event, and "to implore the mercy of God, that neither the guilt of that sacred and innocent blood, nor those other sins by which God was provoked to deliver up both us and our king into the hands of cruel and unreasonable men, may at any time hereafter be visited upon us or our posterity." If we cannot commend him for his early measures, which were too often ill-judged and unjust, his sincere piety and his resolute defence of the Church of England from the violence of her foes, with the Christian meekness with which he endured adversity, must dispose us to reverence his name, and to acknowledge the justice of his title of "King Charles the Martyr."

He had several children, of whom Charles, the eldest, succeeded him. There is an interesting story told of one of his children, a little girl, who died at the age of four. She was very ill, and one of her attendants told her to pray. She answered that she could not say her long prayer, but would try to say her short one. Then, kneeling on her bed, she prayed, “Lighten my darkness, O Lord God, and let me not sleep the sleep of death." And then she laid her little head upon her

FAMILY OF CHARLES.

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pillow and died; the first to welcome to a happier world the soul of her murdered father. Of his other children, Henry and Elizabeth died young; Charles and James reigned in England; Mary married the prince of Orange; and Henrietta, the duke of Orleans, brother to Louis the fourteenth of France. The queen, Henrietta Maria, remained in France, supported by a small pension from Louis, until the accession of her son Charles, when she returned to England; but after living here five years, she once more took up her abode in France, and died there in 1699.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE COMMONWEALTH-FROM 1649 TO 1660.

66

As soon as the execution of king Charles had taken place, the House of Lords was abolished, as useless and dangerous," and all laws and public acts were ordered to be carried out in the names of the "keepers of the liberties of England." The Scots who, although they had opposed Charles, and taken up arms against him, had no idea of destroying the royal office, immediately acknowledged as their sovereign, Charles, the eldest son of the late king, and he was crowned at Scone.

In Ireland, the royalist cause was supported by the marquises of Ormond and Clanricarde.

Oliver Cromwell, whose great talent and energy raised him to be leader in all public measures, was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant, and soon succeeded in bringing that country to submission. He then proceeded to Scotland, leaving his son-in-law, general Ireton, to keep order in Ireland. Having defeated the royalist forces at Dunbar, the Scotch

BATTLE OF WORCESTER.

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were in general disposed to acknowledge his superiority. With such of the army as remained faithful to his cause, Charles then suddenly marched into England, hoping that he should be joined by numbers sufficient to make good his claim to the throne; but in this he was disappointed. On the 3rd of September, 1651, he was totally defeated by Cromwell at Worcester, and his brave little army destroyed, or taken prisoners. It is very sad to be compelled by truth to say that these prisoners were sent by Cromwell as slaves to the West Indies; a measure, so cruel and atrocious, that nothing could justify it.

After this defeat, Charles wandered about the country in disguise for six weeks; and although a high reward was offered for his apprehension, and his secret was known to more than forty persons, some of them very poor, not one was found base enough to betray him.

First he found shelter at Whiteladies, in Staffordshire, a house belonging to a family named Giffard ; and when this was no longer a safe retreat for him, he was placed under the care of an honest family named Penderell, tenants of Mr. Giffard. I dare say you have heard of the custom of wearing an oakapple in the hat on the 29th of May, and have won