These words were followed by an almost general cry of God save the king. * * *

On the 27th at noon, after two hours conference in the painted chamber, the court opened, as usual, by calling a list of the names. At the name of Fairfax, a woman's voice from the bottom of the gallery was heard to exclaim: "He has too much sense to be here." After some moments' surprise and hesitation, the names were called over, and sixty-seven members were present. When the king entered the hall, there was a violent outcry: "Execution! justice! execution!" The soldiers became very insolent; some officers, in particular Axtell, commander of the guards, excited them to this uproar; and groups spread about through the hall, as busily seconded them. The people, struck with consternation, were silent. "Sir!" said the king, addressing Bradshaw before he sat down, "I demand to speak a word; I hope that I shall give you no cause to interrupt me."

Bradshaw. "You will be heard in your turn. Listen first to the court."

The King. "Sir, if you please, I wish to be heard. It is only a word. An immediate decision."

Bradshaw. "Sir, you shall be heard at the proper time:—first, you must listen to the court."

The King. "Sir, I desire,—what I have to say applies to what the court is, I believe, about to pronounce; and it is difficult, sir, to recall a precipitate verdict."

Bradshaw. "We shall hear you, sir, before judgment is pronounced. Until then you ought to abstain from speaking."

Upon this assurance the king became more calm; he sat down, and Bradshaw proceeded:

"Gentlemen—it is well known that the prisoner at your bar has now been many times brought before this court to reply to a charge of treason, and other high crimes, exhibited against him in the name of the English people"——

"Not half the people," exclaimed the same voice that had spoken on hearing the name of Fairfax, "where is the people?—where is its consent?—Oliver Cromwell is a traitor."

The whole assembly seemed electrified!—all eyes turned towards the gallery: "Down with the w——s," cried Axtell; "soldiers fire upon them!"—It was lady Fairfax. A general confusion now arose; the soldiers, though everywhere fierce and active, could with difficulty repress it. Order being at length a little restored, Bradshaw again insisted upon the king's obstinate refusal to reply to the charge; upon the notoriety of the crimes imputed to him, and declared that the court, though unanimous in its sentence, had nevertheless consented to hear the prisoner's defence, provided that he would cease to question its jurisdiction.

"I demand," said the king, "to be heard in the painted chamber, by both Lords and Commons, upon a proposition which concerns the peace of the kingdom and the liberty of my subjects much more nearly than my own preservation."

A violent tumult now spread throughout the court, and the whole assembly. Friends and enemies were all eager to divine for what purpose the king had demanded this conference with the two houses, and what it was his intention to propose to them.

Colonel Downs, a member of the court, expressed a wish that the king's proposition should be heard.

"Since one of the members desires it," said Bradshaw, gravely, "the court must retire;" and they immediately passed into a neighbouring hall. * * *

In about half an hour the court returned, and Bradshaw informed the king that his proposition was rejected.

Charles appeared to be subdued, and no longer insisted with any degree of vigour.

"If you have nothing to add," said Bradshaw, "the court will proceed to give sentence."

"I shall add nothing, sir," said the king; "and only request that what I have said may be recorded." Without replying to this, Bradshaw informed him that he was about to hear his sentence; but before he ordered it to be read, he addressed to the king a long discourse, as a solemn apology for the proceedings of parliament, enumerating all the evil deeds of the king, and imputing to him alone all the misfortunes of the civil war, since it was his tyranny that had made resistance as much a matter of duty as of necessity. The orator's language was harsh and bitter, but grave, pious, free from insult, and stamped with profound conviction, though with a slight mixture of vindictive feeling. The king heard him without offering any interruption, and with equal gravity. In proportion, however, as the discourse drew towards a close, he became visibly troubled; and as soon as Bradshaw was silent, he endeavoured to speak: Bradshaw prevented him, and commanded the clerk to read the sentence; this being done, he said, "This is the act, opinion, and unanimous judgment of the court," and the whole court rose up in token of assent: "Sir," said the king, abruptly, "will you hear one word?"

Bradshaw. "Sir, you cannot be heard after sentence has been passed."

The King. "No, sir!"

Bradshaw. "No, sir, with your permission, sir. Guards, remove the prisoner."

The King. "I can speak after sentence.—With your permission, sir, I have still a right to speak after sentence.—With your permission—Stay—The sentence, sir—I say, sir, that—I am not permitted to speak—think what justice others are to expect!"

At this moment he was surrounded by soldiers, and removed from the bar.

From the French of M. Guizot.

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THE SELECTOR;
AND
LITERARY NOTICES OF
NEW WORKS.

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GALLANTRY.

In Spain, after a lady had obliged her gallant by all possible civilities and compliance, to confirm her kindness she would show him her foot, and this they called the highest favour. The feet and legs of queens were so sacred, that it was a crime to think, or at any rate to speak of them. On the arrival of the Princess Maria Anna of Austria, the bride of Philip IV. in Spain, a quantity of the finest silk stockings were presented to her in a city where there were manufactories of that article. The major domo of the future queen threw back the stockings with indignation, exclaiming, "Know that the queens of Spain have no legs." When the young bride heard this, she began to weep bitterly, declaring she would return to Vienna, and that she would never have set foot in Spain had she known that her legs were to be cut off. This ridiculous etiquette was on one occasion carried still further; one day as the second consort of Charles II. was riding a very spirited horse, the animal reared on his hinder legs. At the moment when the horse seemed on the point of falling back with his fair rider, the queen slipped off on one side, and remained with one of her feet hanging in the stirrup. The unruly beast, irritated still more at the burden which fell on one side, kicked with the utmost violence in all directions. In the first moments of danger and alarm, no person durst venture to the assistance of the queen for this reason, that excepting the king and the chief of the menimos, or little pages, no person of the male sex was allowed to touch any part of the queens of Spain, and least of all their feet. As the danger of the queen augmented, two cavaliers ran to her relief. One of them seized the bridle of the horse, while the other drew the queen's foot from the stirrup, and in performing this service dislocated his thumb. As soon as they had saved her life they hastened away with all possible expedition, ordered their fleetest horses to be saddled, and were just preparing for their flight out of the kingdom, when a messenger came to inform them that at the queen's intercession, the king had pardoned the crime they had committed in touching her person.—Meiner's History of the Female Sex.

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ADVANTAGES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.

In the year 1825, Henry Drummond,