Bradshaw, serjeant-at-law; the others, to the number of sixty-six, ranged
themselves on either side, on benches covered with scarlet; at the feet
of the president sat two clerks at a table on which lay the sword and the
mace; and directly opposite stood a chair intended for the king. After the
preliminary

[Footnote 1: Memoirs of Retz, i. 261.]

[Footnote 2: Journals, Jan. 6, 22, 23. Parl. Hist. iii. 1277. Burnett's Own
Times, i. 42.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. Jan 19]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1649. Jan 20]

formalities of reading the commission, and calling over the members,
Bradshaw ordered the prisoner to be introduced.[1]

Charles was received at the door by the serjeant-at-arms, and conducted by
him within the bar. His step was firm, his countenance erect and unmoved.
He did not uncover; but first seated himself, then rose, and surveyed the
court with an air of superiority, which abashed and irritated his enemies.
While the clerk read the charge, he appeared to listen with indifference;
but a smile of contempt was seen to quiver on his lips at the passage which
described him as a "tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public and implacable
enemy to the commonwealth of England." At the conclusion Bradshaw called on
him to answer; but he demanded by what lawful authority he had been brought
thither. He was king of England; he acknowledged no superior upon earth;
and the crown, which he had received from his ancestors, he would transmit
unimpaired by any act of his to his posterity. His case, moreover, was the
case of all the people of England; for if force without law could alter the