ed
several letters to London concerning public affairs, and sent a last
pressing message to the head-quarters, recommending that the dispersed
forces should be concentrated. When his last public duties were
performed, he calmly prepared himself to die. He was attended by a
clergyman of the Church of England, with whom he had lived in habits
of intimacy, and by the chaplain of the Buckinghamshire Green-coats,
Dr. Spurton, whom Baxter describes as a famous and excellent divine.

"A short time before his death, the sacrament was administered to him.
He declared that, though he disliked the government of the Church of
England, he yet agreed with that Church as to all essential matters of
doctrine. His intellect remained unclouded. When all was nearly over,
he lay murmuring faint prayers for himself, and for the cause in which
he died. 'Lord Jesus,' he exclaimed, in the moment of the last agony,
'receive my soul--O Lord, save my country--O Lord, be merciful to--,'
In that broken ejaculation passed away his noble and fearless spirit.

"He was buried in the parish church of Hampden. His soldiers,
bareheaded with reversed arms, and muffled drums, and colours,
escorted his body to the grave, singing, as they marched, that
lofty and melancholy psalm, in which the fragility of human life is
contrasted with the immutability of Him, in whose sight a thousand
years are but as yesterday when it is passed, and as a watch in the
night.

"The news of Hampden's death produced as great a consternation in his
party, according to Clarendon, as if their whole army had been cut
off. The journals of the time amply prove that the Parliament and all
its friends were filled with grief and dismay. Lord Nugent has quoted
a remarkable passage from the next _Weekly Intelligencer_. 'The loss
of Colonel Hampden goeth near the heart of every man that loves the
good of his king and country, and makes some conceive little content
to be at the army now that he is gone. The memory of this deceased
colonel is such, that in no age to come but it will more and more be
had in honour and esteem;--a man so religious, and of that prudence,
judgment, temper, valour, and integrity, that he hath left few his
like behind him,'

"He had indeed left none his like behind him. There still remained,
indeed, in his party, many acute intellects, many eloquent tongues,
many brave and honest hearts. There still remained a rugged and
clownish soldier,--half-fanatic, half-bu