Majesty," replies Blount, "has been correctly informed; I
admire my father's conduct." "What!" says James, "in opposing his king?"
Blount quickly answered, "A king, my liege, is the chief magistrate of
the Commonwealth, and is so hereditarily while he obeys the laws of
that Commonwealth, whose power he represents; but when he usurps the
direction of that power, he is king no longer, and such was the case
with your royal father." With a scowl of defiance on his face, King
James left the Freethinker, and sought more congenial company; and as
Anne Rogers told the story, each eye was dimmed with tears. The moon had
risen high in the heavens ere the mourners prepared to depart--the first
streaks of dawn broke through the Eastern sky, and revealed the grave
watered with tears, where the most chivalrous Freethinker of his age
reposed, in that sleep which knows of no awakening.

"A. C."

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (the son and heir of a wealthy English baronet, Sir
Timothy Shelley, of Castle Goring, in the county of Sussex) was born at
Field Place, near Horsham, in that county, on the 4th of August, 1792.
Ushered into the world in the midst of wealth and fashion, with all the
advantages of family distinction, the future of Shelley's life appeared
a bright one; but the sunshine of the morning only served to render
the darkness which came over his noontide more dark, and to make poor
Shelley still more susceptible of the hardships he had to encounter.
First educated at Eton, his spirit there manifested itself by an
unflinching opposition to the fagging system, and by revolt against the
severe discipline of the school; in his "Revolt of Islam" Shelley has
thus portrayed his feeling:--

"I do remember well the hour which burst
My spirit's sleep; a fresh May dawn it was
When I walked forth upon the glittering grass
And wept, I knew not why: until there rose
From the near school-room voices that, alas!
Were but one echo from a world of woes,
The harsh and grating strife of tyrants and of foes.

And then I clasped my hands and looked around,
And none was near to mock my streaming eyes,
Which poured their warm drops on the sunny ground;
So, without shame, I spake--' I will be wise,
And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies
Such power, for I grow weary to behold
The selfish, and the strong still tyrannize
Without reproach or chec