"Being passed within the rails on Tower Hill, there were many loud exclamations of the people, crying out, "The Lord Jesus go with your dear soul," &c. One told him, that was the most glorious seat he ever sate on; he answered, "It is so indeed," and he rejoiced exceedingly.

، ، Being come to the scaffold, he cheerfully ascends, and being up, after the crowd on the scaffold was broken in two pieces, to make way for him, he showed himself to the people on the front of the scaffold, with that noble and Christian-like deportment, that he rather seemed a looker-on, than the person concerned in the execution. Insomuch that it was difficult to persuade many of the people that he was the prisoner. But when they knew that the gentleman in the black suit and cloak, with a scarlet silk waistcoat (the victorious color,) showing itself at the breast, was the prisoner, they admired that noble and great presence he appeared with. "How cheerful he is!" said some; "He doos not look like a dying man," said others; with many like speeches, as astonished with that strange appearance he shined forth in.

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Then, (silence being commanded by the sheriff,) lifting up his hands and eyes towards heaven, and then resting his hands upon the rails, and taking a very serious, composed, and majestic view of the great multitude about him, he spake as followeth.

"Gentlemen, fellow countrymen, and Christians,

،، When Mr. Sheriff came to me this morning, and told me he had received a command from the king, that I should say nothing reflecting upon his Majesty or the Government, I answered that I should confine and order my speech, as near as I could, so as to be least offensive, saving my faithfulness to the trust reposed in me, which I must ever discharge with a good conscience unto death; for I ever valued a man, according to his faithfulness to the trust reposed in him, even on his Majesty's behalf, in the late controversy. And if you dare trust my discretion, Mr. Sheriff, I shall do nothing but which becomes a good Christian and an Englishman; and so I hope I shall be civilly dealt with.

"When Mr. Sheriff's chaplain came to me last night about twelve of the clock, to bring me, as he called it, the fatal message of death, it pleased the Lord to bring that scripture to my mind, in the third of Zachary, to intimate to me, that he was now taking away my filthy garments, causing mine iniquities to pass from me, with intention to give me change of raiment, and that my mortal should put on immortality.

"I suppose you may wonder when I shall tell you, that I am not brought hither according to any known law of the land. It is true, I have been before a court of justice, (and am now going to appear before a greater tribunal, where I am to give an account of all my actions.) Under their sentence 1 stand here at this

time. When I was before them, I could not have the liberty and privilege of an Englishman, the grounds, reasons, and causes of the actings I was charged with, duly considered. I therefore desired the judges, that they would set their seals to my bill of exceptions. I pressed hard for it again and again, as the right of myself and every freeborn Englishman, by the law of the land; but was finally denied it.'

"At this point, Sir John Robinson, Lieutenant of the Tower, whose duty did not call him to the scaffold, and who attended the execution, undoubtedly for no other purpose than to prevent any dangerous impression being made by the prisoner, interrupted him, saying, in a most furious manner, which gave great dissatisfaction, even to the loyalists who were present, Sir, you must not go on thus, you must not rail at the judges; it is a lie, and I am here to testify that it is a lie."

"Sir Henry replied, "God will judge between you and me in this matter. I speak but matter of fact, and cannot you bear that? 'Tis evident the judges have refused to sign my bill of exceptions. "The trumpeters were then ordered to approach nearer to the prisoner and blow in his face to preven his being heard, at which Sir Henry lifting up his hand, and then laying it on his breast, said, "What mean you, gentlemen? Is this your usage of me? Did you use all the rest so? I had even done (as to that,) could you have been patient; but seeing you cannot hear it, shall only say this, that, whereas the judges have refused to seal that with their hands, that they have done, I am come to seal that, with my blood, that I have done."

"Sir Henry then proceeded briefly to relate the history of his life. After alluding to his birth and education, he referred, particularly, to his early youth, when "he was inclined to the vanities of this world," a course which was thought "the only means of accomplishing a gentleman." He then spoke of his conversion to a life of virtue and piety in the following beautiful and admirable manner.

"When my conscience was thus awakened, I found my former course to be disloyalty to God, profaneness, and a way of sin and death, which I did with tears and bitterness bewail, as I had cause to do. Since that foundation of repentance laid in me, through grace I have been kept steadfast, desiring to walk in all good conscience towards God, and towards men, according to the best light and understanding God gave me. For this, I was willing to turn my back upon my estate, expose myself to hazards in foreign parts; yea, nothing seemed difficult to me, so I might preserve faith and a good conscience, which I prefer before all things; and do earnestly persuade all people, rather to suffer the highest contradictions from men, than disobey God by con

tradicting the light of their own conscience. In this it is I stand with so much comfort and boldness before you all, this day, and upon this occasion; being assured that I shall at last sit down in glory with Christ, at his right hand.

"I stand here this day, to resign up my spirit into the hands of that God that gave it me. Death is but a little word, but 'tis a great work to die. It is to be but once done, and after this cometh the judgment, even the judgment of the great God, which it concerns us all to prepare for. And by this act, I do receive a discharge, once for all, out of prison, even the prison of the mortal body also, which to a true Christian is a burdensome weight.

"In all respects, wherein I have been concerned and engaged as to the public, my design hath been to accomplish good things for these nations.'

"Then, lifting up his eyes and spreading aloft his hands, he made this solemn declaration, 'I do here appeal to the God of heaven, and all this assembly, or any other persons, to show wherein I have defiled my hands with any man's blood or estate, or that I have sought myself in any public capacity or place I

have been in.'

"As might have been expected, and as the government had most seriously apprehended, a great impression had by this time. been made by the prisoner upon the vast multitude that surrounded him. The people remembered his career of inflexible virtue and patriotism. They had been roused to indignation by the treatment he had received at the hands of Cromwell, and of the restored monarch. His trial had revived the memory of his services and sufferings. The fame of his glorious defence had rung far and wide through the city and nation. The enthusiasm with which he had been welcomed by weeping and admiring thousands as he passed from prison to Tower Hill; the sight of that noble countenance; the serene, and calm, and almost divine composure of his deportment; his visible triumph over the fear of death and the malice of his enemies, all these influences, brought at once to bear upon their minds, and concentrated and heightened by the powers of an eloquence that was the wonder of his cotemporaries, had produced an effect, which, it was evident, could not, with safety to the government, be permitted to be wrought any higher.

"When Sir Henry, therefore, had commenced another sentence after the appeal quoted above, the trumpets were again sounded. The sheriff attempted to catch a paper from his hands. "Sir John Robinson, seeing some persons taking minutes of the speech, ordered their reports to be destroyed. Six note-books VOL. XLII. - NO. 90.

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were delivered up to the officers. In this scene of confusion, Sir Henry preserved his usual firmness, patience, and dignity of manner, merely remarking that it was hard he might not be suffered to speak; but,' said he, 'my usage from man is no harder than was my Lord and Master's; and all that will live his life, in these times, must expect hard dealing from the worldly spirit.' The trumpets were again blown, and Sir John Robinson, with two or three others, rushed upon the prisoner and endeavored to seize his papers. He, however, kept them off from his person, and after a while, tearing the papers himself, handed the remnants to one of his friends, from whom they were forcibly taken. The officers then attempted to thrust their hands into the prisoner's pockets, and a scene of disorder and brutal violence occurred upon the scaffold, which filled the multitude of all parties with horror and indignation. Such was the bearing of Sir Henry, however, that all were loud in the admiration of it; and in the midst of the tumult a zealous loyalist was heard to exclaim, in terms which to him were expressive of the highest possible commendation, 'He dies like a prince.'

"Finding that it was determined that he should not be heard, and unwilling to have the few moments of life broken in upon by such disagreeable incidents, he desisted from all further attempts to address the people, merely remarking, 'It is a bad cause, which cannot bear the words of a dying man."" pp. 357-366.

When order and silence had been restored, he commenced his more immediate preparation for death by offering a prayer of the most sublime elevation and truly evangelical spirit. This being finished, the great sacrifice was consummated.

"At the conclusion of the prayer, and when his garments had been adjusted to receive the stroke, he looked up, and said, 'I bless the Lord, who hath accounted me worthy to suffer for his name. Blessed be the Lord, that I have kept a conscience void of offence to this day. I bless the Lord, that I have not deserted the righteous cause, for which I suffer.'

"As he bowed his head to the block, he uttered these words, 'Father, glorify thy servant in the sight of man, that he may glorify thee in the discharge of his duty to thee and to his country.' In an instant, and at a single blow, the executioner discharged his office.

"Thus fell Sir Henry Vane. In his death the first age of English liberty reached its termination. It commenced, and it closed, in blood. Lord Strafford was the earliest victim of the incensed spirit of liberty as it entered upon the triumphant possession of the government; and Vane was the last great sacrifice offered

up to the vengeance of restored despotism. They perished on the same scaffold."

p. 370.

We must pass over the closing eloquent chapter of the work before us, and bring our remarks to a conclusion. Mr. Upham will receive the grateful acknowledgments of the friends of constitutional liberty for this Life of Vane. It is truly a fortunate incident, that his brief residence in this country should thus have given him a hold on the affections of the student of American history. It is doubtful whether his life could have been written, with equal enthusiasm and fondness, in England. His memory, it is true, has found eloquent vindicators there ; but a portion of their zeal is required to roll off from his name the load of a mighty prejudice. Nor is it possible that in any country but this, full justice can be done to the truth and depth of Vane's conceptions; ideas are yet deemed chimerical in in England, which may be found plainly indicated, often fully set forth, in the writings of Vane, and which have been reduced to settled practice in America. Thus, on the subject of constituting a government; he states that it should be done by a FULL CONVENTION of the People. The boldest radical reformer has not, that we know, comprehended the simplicity, the justice, the efficacy of this conception, in which the whole science of free constitutional government is wrapped up. With all that is boldly, rationally, and patriotically said, in England, of a government existing by and for the people, it has escaped us, if in either house of parliament, by reformer or agitator, radical or whig, a glimpse has yet been caught of the only way, in which a free government can possibly be constituted, with any pretence to a solid basis in the consent of the governed, to wit, the act of the people, in convention assembled; an idea which, if conceived in England, is kept out of sight, as another name for the wildest form of political chaos, an unsettling of all the elements of society; but which our experience has so often and so amply shown to be the great irenicon of agitated states. To this mode of forming a constitution Vane alludes in

terms.

His biography by Mr. Upham will make this extraordinary man better known. As there will be many readers, both in England and this country, who will wish to possess it in a separate form, we would suggest the expediency of a new edition, in which it should appear by itself. In that shape it will com