matter were removed, the features of the face, as far as they could be
distinguished, bore a strong resemblance to the portraits of Charles I.
To complete the proof, the head was found to have been separated from the
trunk by some sharp instrument, which had cut through the fourth, vertebra
of the neck.--See "An Account of what appeared on opening the coffin of
King Charles I. by Sir Henry Halford, bart." 1813. It was observed at the
same time, that "the lead coffin of Henry VIII. had been beaten in about
the middle, and a considerable opening in that part exposed a mere skeleton
of the king." This may, perhaps, be accounted for from a passage in
Herbert, who tells us that while the workmen were employed about the
inscription, the chapel was cleared, but a soldier contrived to conceal
himself, descended into the vault, cut off some of the velvet pall, and
"wimbled a hole into the largest coffin." He was caught, and "a bone was
found about him, which, he said, he would haft a knife with."--Herbert 204.
See note (C).]


Such was the end of the unfortunate Charles Stuart; an awful lesson to
the possessors of royalty, to watch the growth of public opinion, and to
moderate their pretensions in conformity with the reasonable desires of
their subjects. Had he lived at a more early period, when the sense of
wrong was quickly subdued by the habit of submission, his reign would
probably have been marked with fewer violations of the national liberties.
It was resistance that made him a tyrant. The spirit of the people refused
to yield to the encroachments of authority; and one act of oppression
placed him under the necessity of committing another, till he had revived
and enforced all those odious prerogatives, which, though usually claimed,
were but sparingly exercised, by his predecessors. For some years his
efforts seemed successful; but the Scottish insurrection revealed the
delusion; he had parted with the real authority of a king, when he