, and by that firm friend,
first in a sepulchre, and then among the ruins that sheltered his
oppressed family. To justify his innocence, I commit my long
painfully-preserved life to your clemency. Condemn me for what I have
done for the King, to whom my heart is still faithful; bow my hoary
locks to the scaffold; cut off the useless trunk which now only serves
to bear the unblemished insignia of the true Earls of Bellingham. I
suffer worse than death by looking on the traitor you cherish in your
bosom. But before you condemn me, mark my words--Young De Vallance
lives--he is beyond your power; he is a firm royalist, and ready, like
myself, to die for his King. Hear me yet again. If you determine to
bring on your cause the odium of deeming an aged cripple dangerous, let
my execution be private; for no pomp of death can quail my courage. On
the scaffold I shall proclaim my attachment to the Sovereign, who
bestowed my birth-right on that viper--the betrayer of us both. But
spare Eusebius Beaumont, the minister of good to friend and foe. Keep
him alive to be your beadsman, till you cease to provoke heaven by
injustice and rebellion."

The cry of "Let us seek the Lord," was immediately vociferated by the
members of the mock tribunal. The President ordered Neville to be taken
into custody. "There needs no rush of marshals-men," said he, "to effect
your purpose; a child may guard me to my dungeon, and a twine confine me
in it. But since I have proved the innocence of Beaumont, give him the
liberty I willingly resign."

In these times of pretended freedom, a court of justice assembled to try
state-criminals was nothing better than a clumsy engine of destruction,
moved at the pleasure of the Protector. Condemnation and acquittal
depended not on the facts which were disclosed at the trial, but on the
pre-disposition of Cromwell, to whom (as was the usual interpretation of
the phrase of seeking the Lord) the President immediately reported the
appearance of Neville, his singular accusation of Lord Bellingham, his
assertion of the existence of young De Vallance, and also of his change
of principles. He suggested the impossibility of convicting Dr. Beaumont
of murder; and though his concealing a royalist was now proved, the age,
debility, and affinity of Neville, would make a strict execution of the
penal ordinances, cruelty instead of justice; and throw an odium on His
Highness's administration. Dr. Beaumont appeared to be an inoffe