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hint for such men to act upon; and petitions from all parts of the land poured in, from vast bodies of the people, declaring their intention to stand by the Parliament: from counties, cities, towns, parishes, trades; the porters petitioned; the watermen (waterrats, Charles called them) petitioned. And we may gather the state of domestic confusion from the fact that the women petitioned. The mind of the country was roused against the monarch. Meantime, the exiled members were brought back in triumph to the House, amidst the pealing of martial music, flags waving from the mast-heads of all the vessels on the river, the masts covered with shouting sailors, and the long procession of city barges-for at that day most great triumphal processions took place on the Thames; and while the five members stepped into the House, the House rising to receive them, Charles fled to Hampton Court, nor did he see his palace at Whitehall again until he beheld it as a prisoner, and stepped from its banqueting-house to a scaffold.

We have no idea, in these pages, of presenting to the reader a history of the times; but in this running stream of incident he will be able to gather the description of the platform preparing for the deeds of Cromwell. Of course the House was emboldened by its triumph. It no doubt judged that Charles, by his ignorance and his injudiciousness, had made himself unfit to guide the affairs of the nation, and the demands of the House were therefore now proportioned

to their triumphs. They demanded the keeping of the Tower and all the principal fortresses of the kingdom. They demanded the choosing and control of the militia, the army and navy then being so called. And upon the king's refusal, the House conferred upon themselves the powers they had desired. He issued a proclamation against them, which was in turn declared to be void in law. The king now left Hampton Court, proceeding towards York. He appeared before Hull, hoping by surprise to obtain possession of a large quantity of military stores deposited there. Thus the king begun the work of insurrection. The Parliament, in anticipation of the king's design, directed the several counties to array, train, and muster the people, as in cases of domestic insurrection. And the king retorted upon the Parliament by issuing a proclamation for suppressing the rebellion; and shortly after, coming to Nottingham, he there erected his standard, August 25th, 1642, in the midst of a loud storm, which, as none failed to notice, blew it down the same evening. Thus he began the Civil War. Cromwell, at this time, was

forty-three years of age.

It is not clear that even yet Charles suspected the dangers his rashness so persistently invoked. The reader has, perhaps, heard how, once upon a time, a London exquisite descended into a coal mine on a voyage of exploration and discovery; he saw everything-Davy lamps, blind horses, trucks of coal rolling along subterranean tramways. Seated on a cask

to rest himself, he proceeded to question the swarthy miner, who was his conductor, concerning many things, and especially about the operation of blasting. "And whereabouts, my man," condescendingly said he, "whereabouts do you keep your powder ?' 'Please, sir," replied the swart one, "you're a-sittin' on it!" Charles was in a world to him all dark and subterranean, and sitting on a powder-mine, of the existence of which he had no knowledge, although it was beneath his throne.

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EPISODE.

V.

CROMWELL'S CONTEMPORARIES:

JOHN PYM.

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