1641, 'he must bring very heated passions to the records of those times,
who does not perceive in the conduct of that body a series of glaring
violations, not only of positive and constitutional, but of those higher
principles which are paramount to all immediate policy': (_Const. Hist_.
ch. ix).

_The axe_; A clear and impartial sketch of Stafford's trial will be found
in Ranke (B. viii): who deals dispassionately and historically with an
event much obscured by declamation in popular narratives. Even in
Hallam's hand the balance seems here to waver a little.

_Heroes both_;--_Each his side_; See _Appendix_ B.



A CHURCHYARD IN OXFORDSHIRE


September: 1643

Sweet air and fresh; glades yet unsear'd by hand
Of Midas-finger'd Autumn, massy-green;
Bird-haunted nooks between,
Where feathery ferns, a fairy palmglove, stand,
An English-Eastern band:--
While e'en the stealthy squirrel o'er the grass
Beside me to the beech-clump dares to pass:--
In this still precinct of the happy dead,
The sanctuary of silence,--Blessed they!
I cried, who 'neath the gray