im. The major, in his new
buff coat and fringed scarf of crimson silk, told the King "that he
needed not to entertain any such imagination or apprehension; that the
Parliament had too much honor and justice to cherish so foul an
intention; and assured him that whatever the Parliament resolved to do
would be very public, and in a way of justice to which the world should
be witness, and would never endure a thought of secret violence." This,
adds Clarendon, "his majesty could not persuade himself to believe; nor
did imagine that they durst ever produce him in the sight of the people,
under any form whatsoever of a public trial."

The next day the journey was pursued toward Windsor. The King urged his
desire to stop at Bagshot, and dine in the forest at the house of Lord
Newburgh. He had been apprised that his friend would have ready for him
a horse of extraordinary fleetness, with which he might make one more
effort to escape. The horse had been kicked by another horse the day
before and was useless. That last faint hope was gone. On the night of
December 23d the King slept, a prisoner surrounded with hostile guards,
in the noble castle which in the days of his youth had rung with
Jonson's lyrics and ribaldry; and the "Gipsy of the Masque" had
prophesied that his "name in peace or wars, nought should bound."

But even here he continued to cherish some of the delusions which he had
indulged in situations of far less danger. He was still surrounded with
something of regal pomp. He dined, as the ancient sovereigns had dined,
in public--as Elizabeth, and his father, and he himself had
dined--seated under a canopy, the cup presented to him on the knee, the
dishes solemnly tasted before he ate. These manifestations of respect he
held to be indicative of an altered feeling. But he also had an
undoubting confidence that he should be righted, by aid from Ireland,
from Denmark, from other kingdoms--"I have three more cards to play, the
worst of which will give me back everything." After three weeks of
comparative comfort, the etiquette observed toward him was laid aside;
and with a fearful sense of approaching calamity in the absence of
"respect and honor, according to the ancient practice," is there
anything more contemptible than a despised prince?

During the month in which Charles had remained at Windsor there had been
proceedings in Parliament of which he was imperfectly informed. On the
day he arrived there it was resolved