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you some account of a part I have heard and "feen in that notable process.

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"Weftminster-hall is a room as long as broad, "if not more, than the outer-house of the High "Church of Glasgow, fuppofing the pillars were " removed. In the midft of it was erected a stage, like that prepared for the Affembly of Glafgow, but much more large, taking up the "breadth of the whole house from wall to wall, "and of the length more than a third part. On "the north end was fet a throne for the King, " and a chair for the Prince. Before it lay a large woolfack, covered with green, for my "Lord Steward the Earl of Arundel. Beneath "it lay two facks for my Lord Keeper and the

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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 black

gowns. Round about these, fome forms co"vered with green frieze, whereupon the Earls " and Lords did fit, in their red robes, of the fame fashion, lined with the fame white ermine "fkins as ye fee the robes of our Lords when "they ride in Parliament; the Lords on their

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" right fleeves having two bars of white skins, "the Viscounts two and a half, the Earls three, "the Marquis of Winchester three and a half.

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"a late upstart, a creature of Queen Elizabeth.' «Hamilton goes here but among the Earls, and "that a late one. Dukes they have none in Par"liament; York, Richmond, and Buckingham, " are but boys; Lenox goes among the late Earls. "Behind the forms where the Lords fit, there is "a bar covered with green. At the one end " ftands the Committee of eight or ten Gentlemen appointed by the House of Commons to pursue. "At the midft there is a little desk, where the pri"foner, Strafford, ftands and fits as he pleases,

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together with his Keeper, Sir William Balfour, "the Lieutenant of the Tower. At the back of "this is a defk for Strafford's four Secreta "ries, who carried his papers, and assisted him in "writing and reading. At their fide is a void "for witnesses to ftand; and behind them a long "defk at the wall of the room for Strafford's Coun "fel at Law, fome five or fix able Lawyers, who "were not permitted to difpute in matters of fact, "but questions of right, if any fhould be inci"dent.

"This is the order of the Houfe Below on "the floor, the fame that is used daily in the "Higher Houfe. Upon the two fides of the

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House, eaft and weft, there arose a stage of "eleven ranks of forms, the highest almoft Every one of these forms

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touching the roof.

"went from one end of the room to the other,

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" and contained about forty men; the two high"eft were divided from the reft by a rail; and a "rail at every end cut off fome feats. The "Gentlemen of the Lower Houfe fat within the "rails, others without. All the doors were kept "very ftraitly with guards. We always behoved "to be there a little after five in the morning. "Lord Willoughby Earl of Lindsay, Lord "Chamberlain of England, (Pembroke is Cham

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berlain of the Court,) ordered the House with great difficulty; James Maxwell, Black Rod, " was Great Ufher; a number of other fervants, "Gentlemen and Knights, affifted; by favour

we got place within the rail among the Com"mons. The House was full daily before seven. "About eight the Earl of Strafford came in "his barge from the Tower, attended with the "Lieutenant and a guard of mufqueteers and

halberdeers. The Lords in their robes were "fet about eight. The King was ufually half " an hour before them. He came not into his "throne, for that would have marred the action;

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for it is the order of England, when the King "appears he speaks what he will, but no other speaks in his prefence. At the back of the " throne were two rooms on the two fides: in the "one, Duke de Vanden, Duke de Valler, and "other French Nobles fat; in the other, the King, Queen, Princefs Mary, the, Prince

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Elector, and fome Court Ladies. The tirlie "that made them to be fecret the King brake "down with his own hands, fo that they fat in "the eyes of all, but little more regarded than "if they had been abfent; for the Lords fat all "covered. Those of the Lower House, and all

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other, except the French Noblemen, fat dif"covered when the Lords came, not elfe. A "number of Ladies were in the boxes above "the rails, for which they paid much money. "It was daily the moft glorious Affembly the "Ifle could afford; yet the gravity not such as 'I

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expected; oft great clamour without about the "doors. In the interval, while Strafford was making ready for anfwers, the Lords got al

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ways to their feet, walked and chatted: the "Lower Housemen too loud chatting. After "ten, much public eating, not only of confections, " but of flesh and bread, bottles of beer and wine "going thick from mouth to mouth without cups, " and all this in the King's eye; yea, many but "turned their backs and let water go through the "forms they fat on. There was no outgoing to "return; and oft the fitting was till two, three, or "four o'clock at night.

TUESDAY THE THIRTEENTH.

"The feventeenth feffion.All being fet "as before, Strafford made a speech large two

"hours

"hours and a half, went through all the articles "but these three, which imported statute-treason, "the fifteenth, twenty-first, twenty-feventh, and

others which were alledged, as he fpake, for "conftructive and confequential treason. First, "the articles bearing his words, then these "which had his counfels and deeds. To all he "repeated not new, but the beft of his former "anfwers; and in the end, after fome lashness "and fagging, he made fuch a pathetic oration "for an half hour, as ever comedian did upon "a ftage. The matter and expreffion was ex

ceeding brave; doubtless if he had grace or "civil goodness, he is a most eloquent man. "The fpeech you have it here in print. One "paffage made it most spoken of; his breaking "off in weeping and filence when he spoke of "his first wife. Some took it for a true defect "in his memory; others, and for the most part, "for a notable part of his rhetoric; fome, that " true grief, and remorse at that remembrance,

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"had ftopt his mouth; for they say that his first lady, the Earl of Clare's fifter, being with

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child, and finding one of his whore's letters brought it to him, and chiding him therefore, "he ftruck her on the breaft, whereof fhortly the "died."

Principal Baillie's account of the apprehenfion of Lord Strafford is very curious:-" All things

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