holy writ that "to acquit the guilty was of equal abomination
as to condemn the innocent." The charge was again read, and was followed by
the judgment, "that the court, being satisfied in conscience that he, the
said Charles Stuart, was guilty of the crimes of which he had been accused,
did adjudge him as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the
good people of the nation, to be put to death by severing his head from
his body." The king heard it in silence, sometimes smiling with contempt,
sometimes raising his eyes to heaven, as if he appealed from the malice of
men to the justice of the Almighty. At the conclusion the commissioners
rose in a body to testify their assent, and Charles made a last and more
earnest effort to speak; but Bradshaw ordered him to be removed, and the
guards hurried him out of the hall.[1]

[Footnote 1: See the Trial of Charles Stuart, with additions by Nalson,
folio, London, 1735.]

During this trial a strong military force had been kept under arms to
suppress any demonstration of popular feeling in favour of the king. On
the first day, when the name of Fairfax, as one of the commissioners, was
called, a female voice cried from the gallery, "He has more wit than to be
here." On another occasion, when Bradshaw attributed the charge against the
king to the consentient voice of the people of England, the same female
voice exclaimed, "No, not one-tenth of the people." A faint murmur of
approbation followed, but was instantly suppressed by the military.
The speaker was recognised to be Lady Fairfax, the wife of the
commander-in-chief; and these affronts, probably on that account, were
suffered to pass unnoticed.[1]

When Coke, the solicitor-general, opened the pleadings, the king gently
tapped him on the shoulder with his cane, crying, "Hold, hold." At the same
moment the silver head of the cane fell off, and rolled on the floor.
It was an accident which might have happened at any time; but in this
superstitions age it could not fail to be taken for an omen. Both his
friends and enemies interpreted it as a presage of his approaching
decapitation.[2]

On one day, as the king entered the court, he heard behind him the cry of
"Justice, justice;" on another, as he passed between two lines of soldiers,
the word "execution" was repeatedly sounded in his ears. He bore these
affronts with patience, and on

[Footnote 1: Nalson's Trial. Clarendon, iii. 254. State Trials, 366, 367,
368, foli