his pen by building, by zealous practice, on the foundation that we have assisted him to lay, by means of the copy slips and the instructions that have been brought under his notice in the present series of lessons. In some future Lessons in Writing we will give specimens of the various styles of writing which are required for commercial purposes and for candidates for the Civil Service Examinations, etc.

HISTORIC SKETCHES.-XIII. CHARLES I WHEN THE COMMONS CRIED "PRIVILEGE." THE 4th of January, 1641-2, was one of the most momentous days for England that ever dawned. Westminster Hall, which had been the scene of so many an important national drama, and which was yet to be the scene of many more, was the place in which the events that made this day momentous were enacted. The coronation and the fall of kings, the trial and condemnation of great subjects, the meeting of the first Parliament, the concession of great national boons, those walls had witnessed. The occasion about to be mentioned was, if inferior to these in point of pomp and circumstance, second to none of them in importance. The 4th of January, 1641, was the day on which the great question was practically tried, whether the King of England should or should not rule without the aid of his Parliament. In various forms, more or less outrageous, the question had been submitted before. Henry VIII. tried it, and so, with less pertinacity, did Elizabeth, and the Parliament had withstood them. It was hardly likely that the designs which the men of 1530 and the men of 1601 had resisted, though supported by the influence and power of the great Tudors, their descendants would accept in 1641 from the hands of Charles Stuart.

During the reign of James I.-1603 to 1625-the House of Commons had successfully striven to curb the royal power. Popular rights which had long lain dormant, and were likely to rust for want of use, had been revived, not without opposition. James I., the "British Solomon," or, as he was called by a wise man of his own day, "the wisest fool in Christendom," clung with the tenacity of a leech to those attributes of royalty which a small-hearted man would most value, and which were not the less annoying because they were so petty. Not all petty, though; some of the claims which the Commons disallowed were important enough. They re-established on the firmest possible basis the principle that the king has no right to levy, under any pretence whatever, a tax upon his subjects, without the consent of Parliament; they procured the abolition of an enormous abuse of the power to grant monopolies or patents; they asserted, in the most solemn manner, the inviolability of the persons of members of Parliament, unless in cases of felony; and they revived the power which, Hallam says, "had lain like a sword in the scabbard," unused since the reign of Henry VI., a period of 175 years, to impeach the king's ministers for bad conduct. They had impeached Lord Bacon and Lord Middlesex for their misdemeanours in office, and these noblemen, as in all cases where the House of Commons is the accuser, were tried by the House of Lords. They were heavily punished; but the effect of their punishment was salutary beyond the cases immediately concerned. Ministers feared the new edge of the old weapon of the Commons, and were cautious beyond what they had been; and so the arm of the king was paralysed down quite half its length. Some ministers there were in the next reign, that of Charles I., who neglected the warning, or thought themselves able to despise it, and thus fell the Earl of Strafford and afterwards Archbishop Laud, and their fall brought the king's head also to the block.

Having done so much, the Parliament-many of the leading spirits in James's Parliaments sat in the Parliaments of Charles I. -was not disposed, certainly, to recede. On the contrary, it was bent on yet further restraining the royal power, by putting checks on the Court of Star Chamber (an irregular tribunal, acting above and without the law of the land, and of late years much abused) and High Commission (an equally irregular and illegal tribunal for ecclesiastical causes), by all the constitutional means in their power. Unfortunately, the king was as much resolved to win conquests for the royal prerogative as the

Commons were to win them from it. Without the ability, without the brutality of Henry VIII., before which many obstacles went down, Charles I. had all that monarch's greed of power, and even more exalted notions of the nature of the royal dignity. He rested his claims on the so-called "right divine of kings," to govern rightly or wrongly, according to their conscience, which had to give account to the King of kings, but under no circumstances to the people committed to its care. He lacked the ferocity which was half the battle to "bluff King Hal," and, linked with a certain amount of cruelty which he had in common with him, wore a timidity and indecision which were fatal to success in his career as a tyrant. There were also stronger men opposed to him than resisted Henry VIII. The luckless king had come in evil times for him; but the people of England reaped the benefit of his misfortunes, and won many a fair privilege, which they left "as a rich legacy unto their issue."

Before Charles had been three years upon the throne, the Commons, who had during that time suffered very greatly in several particulars, presented for his signature the Petition of Right, a statute which was not intended to declare, as it did not declare, any new privilege, but merely set forth-for the purpose of having them confirmed-some rights which had been invaded, but of which the origin was as old as Magna Charta. The petition contained but four demands, which the king was required to grant, viz. :

1. That no money should be levied in future, under any pretence whatever, by virtue of the king's prerogative. 2. That the committal to prison of Mr. Hampden and four others, for refusing to pay an unlawful impost, should be recognised as illegal.

3. That soldiers should not be billeted on private persons. 4. That no man should henceforth be tried by martial law. The petition was presented in 1628. Charles tried every expedient, every shift and turn, in the hope of avoiding the necessity of complying with it. When at length compelled to give some answer, he gave a most unusual and evasive one, which clearly showed his intention to ride rough-shod over the Act at the first opportunity. It was only on the peremptory refusal of the Commons to accept his qualified assent, and after much pressure had been brought to bear, that he agreed to give the royal assent in the usual way: "Soit droit faist comme est désiré" (Let right be done as prayed).

Scarcely was the ink of his signature dry ere the king set about to evade the petition. He levied fresh taxes under new names; he imprisoned six members of Parliament for their conduct in the House; with the help of the Earl of Strafford, he attempted to govern the kingdom without a Parliament, and with the help of Archbishop Laud, to govern the Church despotically. Sentences the most severe and cruel were procured in the Star Chamber against those who resisted the Government, and in the High Commission Court against those who offended in matters ecclesiastical. So great was the oppression, both in Church and State, that many, unable any longer to endure it, sailed across the Atlantic, to seek in the New World a home and a soil in which freedom might flourish. Then came honourless wars, undertaken against the wish, and in favour of the enemies, of the nation; then came the troubles in Scotland, which quickly threw off the yoke Charles tried to lay upon it; there were the intrigues of the queen, Henrietta Maria; there were the trials and executions of Strafford and Archishop Laud; the Irish rebellion; the angry reception of the Grand Remonstrance; and finally, there was the attempt to arrest the five members of the House of Commons.

This last was the drop that filled the bucket, and made it overflow. Charles, indignant at the speech and behaviour of Lord Kimbolton (son of the Earl of Manchester), and five members of the Lower House (Sir Arthur Hazelrig, Messrs. Hollis, Hampden, Pym, and Strode), during the recent differences between the king and the Parliament, in an evil hour listened to the advice of Henrietta, his queen, and to the advice of Lord Digby and the courtiers. They urged him to show himself a king, advised him that no private gentleman would suffer himself to be addressed as he had been by the accused, and recommended the arrest of the members on a charge of high treason.

Orders were accordingly given, on the 3rd of January, 1641, for the arrest of the persons named. Their houses were occupied,

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their studies sealed up, and their papers seized. A pursuivant went down to the House of Commons and, in the king's name, demanded the surrender of the accused. He was, however, sent back without any definite answer; the House voted that what had been done by the royal officers was a breach of the privilege of Parliament; and the king, angry at the non-compliance with his demand, resolved to go next day in person to the House, and himself arrest the accused men.

Mr. Isaac D'Israeli says, "When Charles went down to the

already left Whitehall, at the head of 200 armed men, and was coming in the direction of the House. There was no time for further talk. Action must be taken forthwith. A motion was hurriedly passed, giving leave to the five members to absent themselves, and they quitted the House a few seconds only before the king entered it.

Up Westminster Hall-the place which was in a few years to witness his trial and condemnation-King Charles walked, followed by his ordinary retinue, and a force of soldiers variously

House to seize on the five leading members of the Opposition, the queen could not restrain her lively temper, and impatiently babbled the plot, so that one of the ladies in attendance dispatched a hasty note to the parties, who, as the king entered the House, had just time to leave it." The lady in question was the Countess of Carlisle, who was on intimate terms with several of the accused. On receipt of her note, which was communicated to the House, a brief but excited debate took place. Some were for directing the accused to absent themselves, hoping thereby to avoid an unseemly quarrel, others were inclined to have them remain, and to make common cause with them in case of any violence being offered. While the debate was yet going on, the gentlemen most concerned being themselves undecided as to the best course to adopt, a friend of Mr. Fiennes, a member, came hurriedly, and told him that the king had

estimated at two, three, and even five hundred men. "It struck such a fear and terrour into all those that kept shops in the said Hall, or near the gate thereof, as they instantly shut up their shops, looking for nothing but bloodshed and desolation -so wrote an eye-witness of the affair. Arrived in the Hall, the armed men formed a lane, stretching down the whole length of it; the king passed along, and going up the staircase ont of the Hall went into the Commons' House, " where never king was (as they say) but once King Henry the Eighth."

Attended only by his nephew Rupert, the son of the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, the king entered the House, the door of which, however, was kept open; and through the open door were to be seen officers and soldiers armed with swords and pistols, while the Earl of Roxborough and a Captain Hide stood within the door, and leaned against it.

The Speaker of the House, Lenthal, had been instructed to sit still, with the mace before him; but when the king entered and the whole House rose and uncovered their heads, Lenthal also rose and stood in front of the chair. Charles removed his hat, and bowed to either side of the House as he came up. "Mr. Speaker, I must for a time make bold with your chair," he said, as he approached Lenthal, who made way for him, though the king did not sit down in the chair, but stood on the step of it.

A deep silence reigned in the House, till the king, who had been occupied in looking round for the five members, said, breaking in upon the silence, "Gentlemen, I am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you. Yesterday I sent a sergeant-atarms upon a very important occasion, to apprehend some that, by my command, were accused of high treason; whereunto I did expect obedience, and not a message. And I must declare unto you here, that albeit no king that ever was in England shall be more careful of your privileges, to maintain them to the uttermost of his power, than I shall be, yet you must know that in cases of treason no person hath a privilege. And therefore I am come to know if any of these persons that were accused are here." These were the words of an incautious man; one can see in them the inability of the Stuarts to read the signs of the times, and to know when to give way.

No one answered. Charles, after a pause, made a few more remarks, and then asked specifically for each of the accused. No one informing him, he turned to Speaker Lenthal, requiring to be told; but Lenthal, kneeling, humbly desired to be excused, saying: "I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here; and I humbly beg your Majesty's pardon that I cannot give any other answer than this to what your Majesty is pleased to demand of me."

Baffled by the silence, and by the extreme courtesy evinced by the attitude of the House, the king went on to make some further remarks, with difficulty concealing, in the midst of his excitement, the natural infirmity of his speech. Not seeing those for whom he sought, he said, "Well, since I see all my birds are flown, I do expect from you that you will send them unto me as soon as they return hither. I will trouble

you no more, but tell you I do expect, as soon as they come to the House, you will send them to me; otherwise, I must take my own course to find them."

With the same show of respect they had made him when he came in, the assembled members waited on him as he again

passed down their ranks. Bareheaded and in silence, they

allowed him to get as far as the door; but ere that had closed upon him low mutterings of anger were raised, and the cry of "Privilege! Privilege!" mingled ominously with the conversation in which the king told his friends in the Hall of the result of his errand. It became evident to the most casual observer that a great crisis was at hand.

The five members were not arrested, though the king spared no pains to take them. By all means in his power he tried to get hold of them-by warrants, by proclamations, by personal application. No one would betray them; and it having been resolved to restore them to their seats in the Commons' House, the king feared the temper of which this resolution was the sign, and within a week of his foolish visit to Westminster to arrest the members he was a fugitive from London, deeming himself not safe from the violence his actions had aroused. It was indeed time.

By his recent conduct, no more than consistent with his former conduct, he had thrown down a challenge to the nation. The House of Commons took it up. Mr. Forster well says: "It had become clear that the attempt upon the members could not be defeated, without a complete overthrow of the power of the king. He could not remain at Whitehall if they returned to Westminster. Charles raised the issue, the Commons accepted it, and so began our Great Civil War." That war was only brought to an end by the death of its instigator.

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I. Charles I. was the second son of James I., by his Queen, Anne of Denmark. He was the twenty-fifth sovereign of England

LESSONS IN GEOMETRY.-XIII.

IN the last lesson (page 383) was given the method of drawing a triangle equal in superficial area to any regular four-sided figures, such as a square, rectangle, or parallelogram; and, before entering on the geometry of the circle, it only remains to show the learner how he may draw a triangle equal in superficial area to any given irregular four-sided figure, whether it be a trapezium or trapezoid (Defs. 31, 32, page 53), or to any multilateral figure or polygon, whether regular or irregular; that is to say, having its sides and angles equal on the one hand, or having its sides and angles unequal on the other (Def. 33, page 53). It will be seen that either process is effected by the aid of the knowledge of certain geometrical facts in connection with the triangle which have been already explained.

PROBLEM XXXIII.-To draw a triangle that shall be equal in superficial area to any given irregular quadrilateral figure.

Let A B C D (Fig. 46) be the given irregular quadrilateral figure; it is required to draw a triangle equal to it in superficial area. Draw B D, oze of the diagonals of the irregular quadrilateral figure or trapezium A B C D, and produce the side C D, on which the figure stands, indefinitely towards E. Then through a draw A F parallel to the diagonal B D, and meeting c E in the point F. Join BF; the triangle B F C is equal to the trapezium A B C D. That this is true may be soon seen. After taking away the