es of the Loyalist turned possibilities into certainties,
a general rising was expected, and it was confidently said had already
taken place. Rumours were circulated that in subduing Scotland Cromwell
had so weakened himself, that it was impossible for him to pursue the
King; and while the less criminal entertained hopes of being able to
make terms with their Sovereign, the immediate partizans of the Usurper
saw no safety, but in supporting the power of one who they knew must
(like themselves) be excepted out of every amnesty.

Among those whom guilt had made desperate, we must include Lord and Lady
Bellingham. We have seen that the former sacrificed his nephew to avoid
being accused as a secret favourer of the royal cause, a charge he knew
Cromwell had determined to urge against him, as a safe way of removing a
staunch republican, who would oppose the ultimate views of his now ripe
ambition. Eustace however drew the lot of death to no other purpose than
to increase the remorse which occasionally tortured the bosom of
Bellingham. A mutiny broke out the moment after the volley was fired,
that sent the brave cavaliers to join in the grave the royal martyr whom
they had served and deplored; for the rebel General, had awakened too
many suspicions, and had too much offended his soldiers by his
temporizing conduct, for this sacrifice to expiate his faults. It was
remarked, that he never dealt in invective against his opponents, from
whence it was inferred, that he wished to treat with them. He neglected
the praying agitators, and therefore they called him Agag, the
Amalekite, commanding the host of Israel. He abridged the liberty of the
soldiers, and of course straitened the arm of the Lord. He disapproved
of plunder and military contribution, consequently endeavoured to make
the presbyterians popular at the expence of the godly. At this time
these opponents hated each other still more than they did episcopacy;
and a presbyterian general, commanding an army who claimed unbounded
licence in judgment and conduct, must be condemned for a traitor by that
unerring rule, the voice of the majority. Lord Bellingham was therefore
arrested by the agitators, and sent prisoner to London at the instant
when Eustace fell.

Imprisonment and the scaffold were frequently in those times synonymous.
The fallen criminal saw his danger in its full horrors; and, while
maintaining an inordinate attachment to this world, he dreaded the
future conse