Lord Fairfax, though he had countenanced, if not approved, the trial
and deposition of the king, had resolutely held himself aloof from the
proceedings which, beginning on Saturday the 20th of January 1649,
terminated so dismally on Tuesday the 30th. The strange part played by
Lady Fairfax on the first day of the so-called trial (though it was no
greater a travesty of justice than many a real trial both before and
after) is one of the best-known stories in English history. There are
several versions of it. Having provided herself with a seat in a small
gallery in Westminster Hall, just above the heads of the judges, when
her husband's name was called out as one of the commissioners, the
intrepid lady (no Cavalier's dame, be it remembered, but a true blue
Presbyterian), a brave soldier's daughter, cried out, "Lord Fairfax is
not here; he will never sit among you. You do wrong to name him as a
sitting Commissioner." This is Rushworth's version, and he was present.
Clarendon, who was not present, being abroad at the time, reports the
words as, "He has more wit than to be here."

Later on in the day, when the President Bradshaw interrupted the king
and peremptorily bade him to answer the charges exhibited against him
"in the name of the Commons of England assembled, and of the people of
England," Lady Fairfax again rose to her feet and exclaimed, "It's a
lie! Not half the people. Where are they and their consents? Oliver
Cromwell is a traitor."

Lieutenant-Colonel Axtell, who during the trial was in command of a
regiment in Westminster and charged by his military superior, Lord
Fairfax himself, with the duty of maintaining order, hearing this
disturbance, went forward and told Lady Fairfax to hold her tongue,
sound advice which she appears to have taken. After the Restoration