his
"closet-companions" those native poets for which he was censured in
"evil times," and even by Milton!

In his imprisonment at Carisbrook Castle, the author of the "Eikon
Basilike" solaced his royal woes by composing a poem, entitled in the
very style of this memorable volume, "Majesty in Misery, or an
Imploration to the King of kings;" a _title_ probably not his own, but
like that volume, it contains stanzas fraught with the most tender and
solemn feeling; such a subject, in the hands of such an author, was sure
to produce poetry, although in the unpractised poet we may want the
versifier. A few stanzas will illustrate this conception of part of his
character:--

The fiercest furies that do daily tread
Upon my grief, my grey-discrowned head,
Are those that own my bounty for their bread.

With my own power my majesty they wound;
In the king's name, the king himself uncrowned;
So doth the dust destroy the diamond.

After a pathetic description of his queen "forced in pilgrimage to seek
a tomb," and "Great Britain's heir forced into France," where,

Poor child, he weeps out his inheritance!

Charles continues:

They promise to erect my royal stem;
To make me great, to advance my diadem;
If I will first fall down and worship them!

But for refusal they devour my thrones,
Distress my children, and destroy my bones;
I fear they'll force me to make bread of stones.

And implores, with a martyr's piety, the Saviour's forgiveness for those
who were more misled than criminal:

Such as thou know'st do not know what they do.[199]

As a poet and a painter, Charles is not popularly known; but this
article was due, to preserve the memory of the royal votary's ardour and
pure feelings for the love of the Fine Arts.[200]

SECRET HISTORY OF CHARLES THE FIRST, AND HIS QUEEN HENRIETTA.

The secret history of Charles the First, and his queen Henrietta of
France, opens a different scene from the one exhibited in the passionate
drama of our history.

The king is accused of the most spiritless uxoriousness; and the chaste
fondness of a husband is placed among his political errors. Even Hume
conceives that his queen "precipitated him into hasty and imprudent
counsels," and Bishop Kennet had alluded to "the influence of a stately
queen over an affectionate husband." The uxoriousness of Charles is
re-echoed by all the writers of a certain party. This is an od