to Whitehall, by a regiment of foot, besides his private guard of partisans; the bishop of London on the one hand, and colonel Tomlinson, who had the charge of him, on the other, hareheaded. The Guards marching a slow pace, the King bid them go faster, saying, That he now went before them to strive for an heavenly crown. Being come to the end of the Park, he went up the stairs leading to the LongGallery in Whitehall, where formerly he used to lodge, and there finding an unexpected delay, the scaffold being not ready, he past most of the time in prayer. About twelve o'clock, (his Majesty having eat a bit of bread, and drank a glass of claret), colonel Hacker, with other officers and soldiers, brought the King, with the Bishop, and colonel Tomlinson, through the Banquetting-house to the Scaffold. A strong guard of several Regiments of Horse and Foot were planted on all sides, which hindered the near approach of the people, and the King from being heard, and therefore he chiefly directed his Speech to the bishop and colonel Tomlinson, as follows:

no necessity of either: I hope they are free of this guilt; for I believe, that ill instruments between them and me have been the cause of all this bloodshed; so that as I find myself clear of this, I hope, and pray God that they may too: yet, for all this, God forbid I should be so ill a Christian, as not to say God's Judg ments are just upon me; Many times he doth pay justice by an unjust Sentence, that is ordinary. I will only say this, that an unjust Sentence that I suffered to take effect, is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me: So far I have said to shew you that I am

an innocent man.

Now, to shew you that I am a good Christian, I hope there is a good man' [pointing to bishop Juxon] that will bear me witness, that I have forgiven all the world, and even those in particular that have been the chief causes of my death; who they are, God knows; I do not desire to know: I pray 'God forgive them. But this is not all, my charity must go further; I wish that they may repent. For, indeed, they have com'mited a great sin in that particular. I pray, I shall be very little heard of any body else; God, with St. Stephen, that it be not laid to I shall therefore speak a word to you here: 'their Charge; nay, not only so, but that they Indeed, I could hold my peace very well, if I may take the right way to the peace of the I did not think that holding my peace would kingdom; for my charity commands me not 'make some men think that I did submit to only to forgive particular men, but to endeathe Guilt, as well as the punishment: but I 'vour, to the last gasp, the peace of the kingthink it is my duty to God and my country to 'dom. So, Sirs, I do wish, with all my soul 'clear myself, hoth as an honest man, a good (I hope there are some here that will carry it King, and a good Christian. I shall begin farther), and endeavour the Peace of the first with my Innocency; in troth, I think it 'kingdom. Now, Sirs, I must shew you both not very needful to insist long upon this; for 'how you are out of the way, and will put all the world knows that I did never begin a you in the way. First, you are out of the War with the two Houses of Parliament; and way; for certainly all the ways you ever 'I call God to witness, to whom I must shortly had yet, as I could find by any thing, is in the 'make an account, that I did never intend to way of Conquest; certainly this is an ill way; 'encroach upon their privileges; they began for Conquest, Sirs, in my opinion, is never ' upon me. It is the Militia they began upon; just, except there be a good and just cause, they confessed the Militia was mine, but they either for Matter of Wrong, or a just Title; 'thought fit to have it from me: and, to be and then if you go beyond the first quarrel, short, if any body will look to the Dates of that makes that unjust at the end that was Commissions, of their Commissions and mine, just at first; if there be only Matter of and likewise to the Declarations, he will see Conquest, then it is a great robbery, as a 'clearly that they began these Troubles, not I. 'pirate said to Alexander, that he was a great 'So that as for the Guilt of these enormous robber, he was but a petty robber. And so, 'crimes that are laid against me, I hope in 'Sirs, I think the way you are in is much out 'God that God will clear me of. I will not, Iof the way. Now, Sirs, to put you in the am in charity, and God forbid I should lay it upon the two Houses of Parliament; there is made upon the scaffold at Whitehall-Gate immediately before his execution, on Tuesday the 30th of Jan. 1649. With a Relation of the manner of his going to execution. Published by special Authority, 1649," (and which seems to have been written very soon after the event, for in the end of the pamphlet, it is said, “The King's body now lies in his lodging chamber in Whitehall,)" it is noticed, that “the King desired to have the use (for his reception, as it seems, at Whitehall, preparatory to his execution) of the cabinet and the little room next it, where there was a trap-door."

VOL. IV.

way, believe it, you shall never go right, nor God will never prosper you, until you give 'God his due, the King his due (that is, my successor), and the People their due: I am 'as much for them as any of you. You must give God his due, by regulating rightly his Church, according to the Scripture, which is now out of Order; to set you in a way parti'cularly now, I cannot; but only this, a na'tional Synod freely called, freely debated among themselves, must settle this when every opinion is freely heard. For the King' [Then turning to a gentlemen that touched the Ax, he said, Hurt not the Ax, that may 'hurt me.'-Indeed I will not -the Laws of the land will clearly instruct you for that;

therefore because it concerns my own particular, I shall only give you a touch of it. For the People, truly I desire their Liberty and 'Freedom as much as any body whatsoever; but I must tell you, that their Liberty and Freedo'n consist in having government, those laws by which their lives and their goods may be most their own. It is not their having a share in the goverment--that is nothing appertaining to them. A subject and a sovereign are olean different things; and therefore until you do that, I mean, that you put the People in that Liberty, as I say, certainly they will never enjoy themselves.

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Sirs, it was for this that now I am come here. If I would have given way to an Arbitrary Way, to have all Laws changed according to the power of the sword, I needed not to have come here; and therefore I tell you (and I pray God it be not laid to your charge), that I am the Martyr of the People, In troth, Sir, I shall not hold you much | longer: I will only say this to you, That I could have desired a little time longer, because I would have a little better digested this I have said, and therefore I hope you will excuse me; I have delivered my conscience, I pray God you take those conscs that are the best for the good of the kingdom and your own salvation.'

Bishop. Though your majesty's affect ons may be very well known as to Religion; yet it may be expected that you should say something thereof for the world's satisfaction.

lume says,

"It being remarked, that the King, the moment before he stretched out his neck to the Executioner, had said to Juson, with a very earnest accent, the single word Remember;' great mysteries were supposed to be concealed under that expression; and the generals vehemently insisted with the prelate, that he should inform them of the king' meaning. Juxon told them, that the king, having frequently charged him to inculcate on his son the forgiveness of his murderers, had taken this opportunity, in the last moment of his life, when his commands, he supposed, would be regarded as sacred and inviolable, to reiterate that desire; and that his mild spirit thus terminated its present course, by an act of benevolence towards his greatest enemies." But he does not cite any authority. In the "Regii sanguinis Clamor ad Column contra Parricidas Anglicanos;" of the younger Peter Du Moulin (a work not destitute of just thoughts or eloquent passages, though the Lati nity of it is not in all parts unexceptionable, and some of the sentiments are by no means over charitable,) is the following passage, ‘At

Kong. I thank you heartily, my Lord, for that I had almost forgotten it. In truth, Sias, my conscience in Religion, I think, is Very well known to all the world; and there-detrusus in carcerem episcopus Londinensis ⚫fore 1 declare before you all, that I die a Christian, according to the profession of the Church of England, as I found it left me by my father; and this honest man I think will • witness it.' Thea turning to the officers, he said, 'Sirs,juberet eam meminisse. Productus Episco'excuse me for this same: I have a good catis”, and I have a gracious God, I will say no 'more.'

Then to colonel Hacker, he said, 'Take care that they do not put me to pain: Aud Sir, this and it please you'

But a gentleman coming near the Ax, the King said, Take heed of the Ax, pray take heed of the Ax.'

Then speaking unto the Executioner, he said, I shall say but very short prayers, and when I thrust out my hands

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non simplici de causâ asservabatur. Auditus fuerat Rex in fatali pegmate Episcopo ingeminans, Memento, Memento. Exprimendum igitur erat à magno viro, quid id rei esset, quod tantâ cum curâ Rex, morti proximus,

pus coram Regis judicibus, jussusque non sine gravissimis ininis illud edere, diù conticuit ad'juratus tandem meram et totam veritatem eloqui, "Justerat ine," inquit, "Rex Domi nus meus ut si possem ad Principem filium et hæredem suum pervenire, hoc supremum mo rientis patris mandatum ad eum preferrem, ut Regno et Potestati suæ restitutus, vobis suæ necis authoribus ignosceret: Hoc vero me meminisse Rex iterum atque iterum jus set. O! Regem etiam interfectoribus suis venerandum! "O! pium Populi sui Paren

Then he called to the Bishop, for his night-tem! O! genuinem Christi Discipulum, qui cap, and having put it on, he said to the ExeGutioner, Does my hair trouble you?' who desired him to put it all under his cap, which the King did accordingly, by the help of the Executioner and the Bishop. Then turning to Dr. Juxon, he said, 'I have a good Cause, and a gracious God on my side.'

Bishop. There is but one stage more, this stage is turbulent and troublesome, it is a short one; but you may consider it will soon carry

ctiam post mortem pro inimicis suis depre'catur !"' Whether Hume believed this Anecdote to be genuine may possibly admit of doubt. He relates it indeed, as we have seen, upon an occasion on which it tends to raise the character of Charles the First: but in h's account of the treatment of the Regicides, where this anecdote might operate to the disadvantage of Charles the Second's character, not only he mentions it not, but he makes not the

saying, Remember. Then he put off his doublet, and being in bis waistcoat, he put on his cloke again; then looking upon the block, he said to the Executioner, You must set it 'fast.'

Executioner. It is fast, sir.

when the blow was given, there was a dismal Universal Groan among the people; and as soon as the Execution was over, one troop of horse marched immediately from Charing-Cross to King-street, and another from King-street to Charing Cross, on purpose to disperse and scatter the people. The corpse was put into a coffin, and the Bishop and Mr. Herbert went with it to the Back-stairs to have it embalmed;

King. When I put out my hands this way,' (stretching them out) then'After that, having said two or three words to himself, as he stood with his hands and eyes lift up, imme-after embalming, his head was sewed on, and diately stooping down, be laid his neck upon the corpse was wrapt in lead, and the coflin cothe block. And then the Executioner again vered with a velvet pall, and then removed to putting his hair under his cap, the King think- St. James's. Mr. Herbert then made appliing he had been going to strike said, 'Stay for cation to such as were in power, that it might the sign.' be interred in Henry 7's chapel; but it was Executioner. Yes, I will, an't please your denied, for that his burying there would attract majesty. After a little pause, the King stretch-infinite numbers of all sorts thither; which, as ing forth his hands, the Executioner at one the times then were, was judged unsafe and inblow severed his head from his body, and held convenient. Mr. Herbert acquainting the Biit up and shewed it to the people, saying, Be-shop with this, they then resolved to bury the hold the head of a Traitort.' At the instant King's body in the royal chapel of St. George, within the Castle of Windsor, both in regard slightest allusion to it. In "King Charles his that his majesty was sovereign of the most noSpeech," &c. published 1649, it is said to be ble Order of the Garter, and that several kings then supposed that the word Remember,' re- had been there interred; namely, king Henry 6, ferred to the giving the King's George to his Edward 4, and Henry 8, upon which consideson. Rushworth's words are, "Then the King ration, the Committee of Parliament was adtook off his cloke and his George, giving his dressed to the second time, who, after some George to Dr. Juxon, saying, Remember,' (it deliberation, gave Orders, bearing date Feb. 6, is thought for the Prince)." Oldmixon, who 1619, authorizing Mr. Herbert and Mr. Anhowever cites no authority. says, (vol. 2, p. thony Mildmay to bury the King's body there. 369.) "The Council of State after the King Accordingly the corpse was carried thither was beheaded, was willing to know the meaning from St. James's, Feb. 7, in a hearse covered? of his last expression Remember,' and called with black velvet, drawn by six horses covered' Dr. Juxon before them to give an account of with black cloth, and attended by about a dozen it, who told them, "That the King immediately gentlemen*. before his coming out to the place of execution, had charged him to carry to the Prince his Martins, had a young woman come to hine to George, with these his two last commands, visit her dying father in a yard or lune in That he should forgive his murderers, and King's-street Westminster, and importuning that if ever he came to the crown, he should him much to go with her; she said her father so govern his subjects as not to force them lay under the horror of having cut off the upon extremities.""" Neither Clarendon nor King's head. When he came the person was Whitelocke attempt to explain the word Re-dead, and no Confession was left in writing, member.' It should be noticed, that by a Letter dated Nov. 29, 1648, king Charles, in strong though general expressions, exhorts his son (afterwards Charles the Second) to placability, and dissuades him from revenge. See the Works of King Charles the First, fol. p. 351. * Kennett says, "It must be dreadfully remembered, that the then cruel powers did suspect, that the king would not submit his head to the block; and therefore to bring him down by violence to it, they had prepared hooks and staples (made by a smith in Aldgate) to hawl him as a victim to the slaughter. But by the example of his Saviour, he resisted not, he disappointed their wit, and yielded to their malice." See too the Trial of Hulet, a. D. 1660, infra.

Kennett (Compl. Hist. 2d ed. vol. 3, p. 187, note a) says, "It was never yet proved or discovered, who was the bold Executioner of the King: that which most led to the knowledge of him, was a story I heard related by archbishop Tenison, who when vicar of St.

nor any other account to be got but that the person had been a sort of a butcher or cattle drover, at St. Ives in Huntingdonshire, was sent for up by Oliver Cromwell about the end of 1618, had ever since lived obscurely by a feigned name, and received a yearly pension, which died with him. The Archbishop sent me to enquire at the Griffin or Green Dragon Tavern in Fleet-street, about the said surviving daughter, but the people of the house being changed, I could learn nothing.” It has been said that col. Joyce was the King's Execu tioner. Whitelocke (Mem. 370) says, "Two men in disguises and vizors stood upon the scaffold for Executioners." See different relations concerning this matter in the Trials of Axtell, and Hacker, and Hulet, A. D. 1660, post, and some farther particulars in the Gentleman's Magazine for Nov. 1767 (vol. 37, p. 548, 549.) Jan. 1768 (vol. 38, p. 20.) and for 1784 (vol. 54, p. 409).

* Rushworth says, "His body was put in a coffin, covered with black velvet, and removed

The King's Statue was afterwards taken | year 1682, to curry favour with Charles 2, down from the Royal Exchange in London, when their Charter was threatened". where it was set up again by the city in the