Brad. Ye shall have justice. My Lords Commissioners, whilst I stood pausing

How fitliest to disclose our mighty plea,
Dallying with phrase and form, yon eager cry
Shot like an arrow to the mark, laying bare
The very core of our intent. Sirs, we
Are met to render justice, met to judge
In such a cause as scarce the lucent sun,
That smiles upon us from his throne, hath seen
Since light was born. We sit to judge a king
Arraign'd by his own people; to make inquest
Into the innocent blood which hath been spilt
Like water; into crime and tyranny,
Treason and murder. Look that we be pure,
My brethren that we cast from out our hearts
All blinding passions: Fear, that blinks and

trembles

Of country innocence, the holy ties

Of nature breaking; making war accurst
As that Egyptian plague, the worst and last,
When the first-born were slain. I have no

There lives not one so blest in ignorance,
As not to know this treason: none so high
But the storm overtopp'd him; none so low
But the wind stoop'd to root him up. Call any-
The judge upon the bench-the halberdier
That guards the door.

Cook. Oliver Cromwell!
Crom. Ay!

Cook. No need to swear him: he hath ta'en already

The judge's oath.

Crom. The judge's oath, not this.

Omit no form of guardian law; remember
The life of man hangs on our lips.

King, Smooth traitor!

(CROMWELL is sworn)

Cook. Lieutenant-general Cromwell, wast thou present

In the great fight of Naseby?
Crom. Was I present!
Why, I think ye know that.
Cook. And didst thou see

The prisoner in the battle?

Crom. Many times.

He led his army-in a better cause,

I should have said right gallantly. I saw him
First in the onset, last in the retreat;
That justice let me pay the king.

Brad. Raised he

In the face of day and of the nation, that,
Nothing repenting, nothing derogating
From the king's high prerogative, as boldly
As freely I avow to you to all men!
I own you not as judges !-Ye have power,
As pirates or land-robbers o'er the wretch
Entrapp'd within their den; a power to mock
Your victim with a form of trial-to dress
Plain murder in a mask of law !-As judges
I know you not!

Brad. Enough, that you confess
The treason.

King. Stop! Sir, I appeal to them
Whence you derive your power.
Brad. The people? King,
Thou seest them here in us,

King. Oh that my voice

Could reach my loyal people! that the wind'
Could waft the echoes of this groined roof,
So that each corner of the land might hear
Their rightful monarch's cry! Then should ye

hear

The Commons to renew the treaty. Best
Confer with them.

Crom. (to Downes) Art mád ?
Downes. "Tis ye are mad

That urge, with a remorseless haste, this work
Of savage butchery onward. I was mad
That join'd you.

Crom. This is sudden.

Downes. He's our king.

Crom. Our king! Have we not faced him in the field

A hundred times? Our king! Downes, hath the Lord.

Forsaken thee? Why, I have seen thyself Hewing through mailed battalions, till thy sword

And thy good arm were dyed in gore, to reach
Yon man. Didst mean to save him? Listen, sir!
I am thy friend. 'Tis said-I lend no ear
To slanderers, but this tale was forced upon

me

'Tis said, that one, whose grave and honour'd

name

Sorts ill with midnight treachery, was seen Stealing from the Queen's lodging. I'm thy

friend,

Thy fast friend! We oft see in this bad world
The shadow envy crawling stealthily
Behind fair virtue. I hold all for false
Unless thou prove it true. I am thy friend!—
But if the sequestrators heard this tale-
Thou hast broad lands. (Aloud) Why do ye
pause?

Cook. My high

₹

And honouring task to plead at this great bar -
For lawful liberty, for suffering conscience,
For the great guardians of our rights, the Com-
mons,

Against the lawless fiend prerogative,
The persecuting church, the tyrant king,
Were needless now, and vain. The haughty
prisoner

Denies your jurisdiction. I call on you

Queen (from the gallery) Traitors, hold! Crom. (to Ireton) Heardst thou a scream? Ireton. 'Tis the malignant wife of Fairfax. Grom. No!

A greater far than she.

Queen. Hold, murderers!
Grom. (aloud) Lead

Yon railing woman from her seat. My lord,
Please you proceed.

Queen (rushing to the king.) Traitors, here is my seat !

I am the Queen. Here is my place, my state!
My lord and sovereign, here at thy feet
I claim it with a prouder, humbler heart,
A lowlier duty, and more loyal love,
Than when the false and glittering diadem
Encircled first my brows, a queenly bride.
Put me not from thee! scorn me not? I am
Thy wife

King. A true and faithful wife! yet leave

me,

Lest the strong armour of my soul, her patience, Be melted by thy tears. Oh, go, go, go! This is no place for thee.

Queen. Why, thou art here!

Who shall divide us?

Ireton. Force her from him, guards; Remove ber.

King. Tremble ye who come so near As but to touch her garments.

slaves!

Cowards!

Though the king's power be gone, yet the man's

strength

Remains unwither'd. She's my wife, my all. Grom. None thinks to harm the lady. Good my lord,

The hour wears fast with these slight toy's
Queen. I come

To aid you, not impede. If in this land
To wear the lineal crown, maintain the laws,
Uphold the insulted church, be crimes, then I
Am guilty, guiltier than your king. 'Twas I
That urged the war-ye knew he loved me-1
That prompted his bold counsels, edged and
whetted

His great resolves; spurr'd his high courage on
Against you, rebels! I that arm'd my knight
And sent him forth to battle. Mine the crime;
Be mine the punishment! Deliver him,
And lead me to the block. Pause ye? my

blood

Is royal too. Within my veins the rich Commingled stream of princely Medici And regal Bourbon flows: 'twill mount as

high;

'Twill stain your axe at red; 'twill feed as full Your hate of kings.

Grom. Madam, we wage no war On women.

Queen. I have warr'd on you-and nowTake heed how ye release me ! He is gentle, Patient, and kind; he can forgive. But I Shall roam a frantic widow through the world, Counting each day for lost that hath not gain'd An enemy to England,-a revenger Of this foul murder.

Har. Woman, peace! The sentence ! Queen. Your sentence, bloody Judges! As ye deal

With your anointed king, the red right arm Of Heaven shall avenge him: here on earth By clinging fear and black remorse, and death, Unnatural, ghastly death!-& then the fireThe eternal fire-where panting murderers gasp,

And cannot die !-that deepest hell which holds

The regicide.

Brad. Peace! I have overlong Forgotten my great office. Hence! or force Shall rid us of thy frenzy. Know'st thou not That curses light upon the curser's head, As surely as the cloud which the sun drains From the salt sea returns into the wave In stormy gusts or plashing showers?-Remove her.

Queen. Oh! mercy! mercy!—I'll not curse; I'll be

As gentle as a babe. Ye cannot doom him Whilst I stand by. Even the hard headsman veils

His victims eyes before he strikes, afeard
Lest his heart fail; and could ye, being men,
Not fiends, abide a wife's keen agony
Whilst I'll not leave thee, Charles! I'll
never leave thee!

King. This Is the love stronger than lifethe love

Of woman. Henrietta, listen! Loose
Thy arms from round my neck !-Here is no

And crafty soldier, one who in the field
Is brave as the roused lion, at the council
Watchful and gentle as the couchant pard-
The lovely, spotted pard-what time she
stoops

To spring upon her prey; one who puts on
To win each several soul his several sin:
A stern fanatic-a smooth hypocrite-
A fierce republican-a coarse buffoon-
Always a great, bad man-till he shall come
And climb the vacant throne, and fix him there,
A more than king. Cromwell, if such thou
knowest,

Tell him the rack would prove an easier couch
Than he shall find that throne: tell him the

crown

On a usurper's brow, will scorch and burn
As though the diamonded and ermined round
Were formed of glowing steel.

Crom. Hath this dread wrath
Smitten thee with frenzy ?

King. Tell him, for thou know'st him, That Doubt and Discord, like fell harpies, wait Around the usurper's board. By night, by day, Beneath the palace roof-beneath that roof More fair, the summer sky-fear shall appal And danger threaten, and all natural loves Wither and die; till, on his dying bed, Old 'fore his time, the wretched traitor lies Heart-broken. Then, for well thou know'st him, Cromwell,

Bid him to think on me, and how I fell,

Hewn in my strength and prime, like a proud

oak,

The tallest of the forest, that but shivers

His glorious top, and dies. Oh! thou shalt

envy

In thy long agony my fall, that shakes
A kingdom, but not me.

Crom. He is possess'd !

My good Lord President the day wears onPossess'd of a fierce devil.

Brad. Lead him forth!

King. Lead on!-ye are warned. Lead to my prison, sirs! On to my prison !

Soldiers, &c. cry-" On to execution! justice and execution!"

Grom. Nay, my comrades, Vex not a sinner's parting hour. The wrath Of God is on him. [Exeunt.

(The Forget me Not, 1830.)

BRITISH SCHOOL OF PAINTING. (For the Olio.)

Of light no likeness is bequeath'd-no name;
Focus at once of all the rays of Fame!
The flash of wit-the bright intelligence-
The beam of song-the blaze of eloquence,
Set with their sun; but stili have left behind
The enduring produce of the immortal mind!
The glowing portraits, fresh from life, that
bring

Home to our hearts the truth from which they
spring;
These wond'rous beings of his fancy, wrought
To fulness by the fiat of his thought,
Here, in their first abode, you still may meet,
Bright with the hues of his Promethean heat;
A balo of the light of other days,
Which still the splendour of its orb betrays.

BYRON.

We now shall speak of Sir Joshua

Reynolds as a portrait painter, that school of the arts, by his worth and talents he so much adorned. It is a reasonable ground of national pride that this English artist can bear a comparison with the great painters of past times and foreign countries. We do not mean to say he was their equal, but he was no ordinary competitor; if not in the very highest class of merit, he was infinitely above mediocrity. He had grace, sweetness, delicacy, that Corregio or Parmegiano might have been proud to acknowledge; but he wanted what those great men possessed-imagination and dignity of thought. When he contented himself with transferring to his canvass the fascinations of female beauty, or artless grace of infancy, his pure taste not only saved him from faults, but enabled him to add, if possible, fresh charms to the best forms of nature; but when he attempted works of a higher character. which demanded an extensive reach of intellect, or great depth of feeling, he totally failed;-enough remains to place him decidedly at the head of the English school, and to establish for him an immortality of fame, as one of the most graceful and elegant portrayers of youth and beauty.

When first he appeared as a candidate for that patronage and distinction which had been so liberally bestowed upon Lely, Kneller, Hudson, and many others, as was naturally to be expected, he met with a violent opposition-he was considered as an interloper, a sort of revolutionary chief in the empire of the arts; as one, who wished to overthrow the established order of painting as it was then practised. His vivid and glowing colouring-the fruits of close observation and studystaggered his contemporaries. His noble and dignified attitudes, and vigorous outlines, were beyond the comprehension of these master manufacturers in portraits, whose stiff and mannered productions crowded every house that could boast of a picture he was denounced as an upstart, who had by chance hit off a passable painting. But soon he convinced them how mistaken and unjust was their opinion. He possessed a mine within, the riches of which were inexhaustible, to be destroyed only by death. Reynolds was not one of those ephemeral beings, who appear for a while, and then are gone and heard of no more-the common case with some whose heads are full with the praise of friends, and a slight knowledge of the art, a profession which ever they might have chosen; when if they had done wisely, and in solitude and unceasing study, kept for a while in the background, to increase, and from increasing,