Charles wins back some of our sympathy and esteem by dying like a brave
man and a gentleman. He conducted himself with marvellous dignity and
self-possession throughout the trial, and at the end of seven days,
laid his head upon the block in front of his royal palace of Whitehall.

That small body of men, calling itself the "House of Commons," declared
England a "Commonwealth," which was to be governed without any King or
House of Lords. Cromwell was "Lord Protector of England, Scotland and
Ireland." He scorned to be called King, but no King was ever more
absolute in authority. It was a righteous tyranny, replacing a vicious
one.

There was no longer an eager hand dipping into the pockets of the
people, compelling the poor to share his scanty earnings with the King.
There was safety, and there was prosperity. But there was rage and
detestation, as Cromwell's soldiers with gibes and jeers, hewed and
hacked at venerable altars and pictures, and insulted the religious
sentiment of one-half the people. Empty niches, mutilated carvings, and
fragments of stained glass, from

"Windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light,"

show us to-day the track of those profane fanatics.

[Sidenote: Long Parliament Dispersed.]

When the remnant of the House of Commons calling itself a Parliament
was not alert enough in its obedience, Cromwell marched into the Hall