I

dried, is of a beautiful dark brown colour. That of the beard was a redder brown. On the back of the head the hair was not more than an inch in length, and had been probably cut so short for the convenience of the executioner, or perhaps by the piety of friends, soon after death, in order to furnish memorials of the unhappy king. On holding up the head, to examine the place of separation from the body, the muscles of the neck had evidently retracted themselves considerably; and the fourth cervical vertebra was found to be cut through its substance transversely, leaving the surfaces of the divided portions perfectly smooth and even, an appearance which could have been produced only by a heavy blow, inflicted with a very sharp instrument, and which furnished the last proof wanting to identify King Charles the First."

By his queen, Henrietta Maria, the king had eight children. Besides those whose memoirs will be hereafter introduced, he had a son named Charles, his first-born, who survived the rite of baptism but a few hours. The infant was born at Greenwich, in 1628, its birth having been accelerated by a fright suffered by the queen. It is remarkable that the Roman Catholic priests of the queen's household were in anxious expectation of its birth, trusting, by an immediate and

'This is singular; it being an unquestionable fact that the king's hair was almost gray, long previous to his trial.

secret baptism, to smuggle it into their own church. Charles, however, was on the watch, and directed his chaplain, Doctor Webb, who was in attendance, to baptise it according to the forms of the Church of England. The infant was buried at Westminster. Another of the king's children was Catherine, his fourth daughter, whose career was equally brief. This child, as were most of the offspring of Charles, was born at Whitehall. It was the practice of Charles, whenever his queen gave birth to a child at Whitehall, to despatch one of the members of his household, with a sum of money, to St. Martin's Church, in order to ensure the birth being formally recorded in the parish books. The fact, however, has been pointed out as a curious one, that only in one instance can such royal entry be traced on the registers. The king, it is said, was deceived by those whom he employed, who preferred appropriating the money to their own advantage.

CHAPTER XVIII.

HENRIETTA MARIA.

Character of This Princess - Lord Kensington's Mission to Paris Henrietta's Prepossession in Favour of Charles - Pretensions of Count Soissons to the Hand of the Princess - He Is Challenged by the Earl of Holland - Description of Henrietta by That Nobleman - Splendid Marriage Ceremony of Henrietta and Charles (by Proxy)- Public Rejoicings at Paris Departure of Henrietta Her Arrival at Dover First Interview with Her Husband at Dover - The Royal Couple at Canterbury - Their Enthusiastic Reception in London - Feelings of the Puritans on the Birth of the Queen's First Child Reputed Loveliness of HenriettaAnecdote - Henrietta's Embarkation for Holland, and Exertions in Her Husband's Cause- Return to England-Her Dangerous Situation at Burlington - Her Courage - Imputations against Her Conjugal Fidelity - Her Union, after the Death of Charles, to Henry Jermyn - Her Extreme Distress in Paris Manner in Which She Received the News of Charles's Death - Her Return to England, and Residence in Somerset House - Her Death and Burial.

THE character of Henrietta Maria has seldom been a favourite one with our historians. Generally speaking, they describe her, and not without reason, as having been turbulent and insincere ; implacable in her resentments; rash in her resolves; precipitating her husband into the

most unjustifiable excesses, and entertaining the most dangerous notions respecting the royal prerogative. It was not probable, indeed, that she should have had many champions. To the Puritan party, her exalted station, and her undisguised devotion to the interests of the Church of Rome, naturally rendered her an object of suspicion and dislike; while the royalists, aware of the fatal influence which she exercised over the mind of her husband, attributed to her indifferent counsels whatever in their master's conduct they would otherwise have found difficult to excuse.

Moreover, the manners of the volatile Frenchwoman were but little adapted to the people among whom she came to reside. Her partiality for the manners and customs of her own country; her love of admiration; her fondness for music, dancing, and other venial amusements were converted, by the jaundiced eye of Puritanism, into the most heinous sins. Many, however, as were Henrietta's failings, — many as were the misfortunes which her religious bigotry and narrow-minded counsels entailed on the people of England as well as on her own family, it must nevertheless be admitted that she was not altogether deficient in private virtues, and certainly was not wanting in many agreeable qualities. Her disposition was generous when not provoked; her manners were playful and animated; she was fearless in danger; an affectionate mother, and an