lordships a great deal longer than I
should have done. Were it not for the interest of these pledges, which
a saint in heaven left me, I should be loath--" (Here he pointed to his
children, and his weeping stopped him.) "What I forfeit for myself,
it is nothing: but, I confess, that my indiscretion should forfeit
for them, it wounds me very deeply. You will be pleased to pardon my
infirmity: something I should have said; but I see I shall not be able,
and therefore I shall leave it.

"And now, my lords, I thank God, I have been by his blessing
sufficiently instructed in the extreme vanity of all temporary
enjoyments, compared to the importance of our eternal duration. And so,
my lords, even so, with all humility, and with all tranquillity of
mind, I submit, clearly and freely, to your judgments: and whether that
righteous doom shall be to life or death, I shall repose myself, full
of gratitude and confidence, in the arms of the great Author of my
existence."[*]

"Certainly," says Whitlocke,[**] with his usual candor, "never any man
acted such a part, on such a theatre, with more wisdom, constancy, and
eloquence, with greater reason, judgment, and temper, and with a better
grace in all his words and actions, than did this great and excellent
person; and he moved the hearts of all his auditors, some few excepted,
to remorse and pity." It is remarkable, that the historian who expresses
himself in these terms, was himself chairman of that committee which
conducted the impeachment against this unfortunate statesman. The
accusation and defence lasted eighteen days. The managers divided the
several articles among them, and attacked the prisoner with all the
weight of authority, with all the vehemence of rhetoric, with all
the accuracy of long preparation. Strafford was obliged to speak with
deference and reserve towards his most inveterate enemies, the commons,
the Scottish nation, and the Irish parliament. He took only a very
short time on each article to recollect himself: yet he alone, without
assistance, mixing modesty and humility with firmness and vigor,
made such a defence that the commons saw it impossible, by a legal
prosecution, ever to obtain a sentence against him.

* Rush. vol. iv. p *59, etc.

** Page 41.

But the death of Stafford was too important a stroke of party to be left
unattempted by any expedient, however extraordinary. Besides the great
genius and authority of that minister, he had thr