roceedings of the High Court of Justice sitting in
Westminster Hall, on Saturday the 27th of January 1649.

O Yes made: Silence commanded; the court called; Serjeant
Bradshaw Lord President (in a scarlet robe), with sixty-eight
other members of the court.

As the King comes in, a Cry made in the Hall for Execution!
Justice! Execution![25]

KING--I shall desire a word to be heard a little, and I hope I
shall give no occasion of interruption.

LORD PRESIDENT--You may answer in your time, hear the Court
first.

KING--If it please you, Sir, I desire to be heard, and I shall
not give any occasion of interruption, and it is only in a word:
a sudden Judgment.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you shall be heard in due time, but you are
to hear the Court first.

KING--Sir, I desire--it will be in order to what I believe the
Court will say; and therefore, Sir, an hasty Judgment is not so
soon recalled.

LORD PRESIDENT--Sir, you shall be heard before the Judgment be
given, and in the mean time you may forbear.

KING--Well, Sir, shall I be heard before the Judgment be given?

LORD PRESIDENT--Gentlemen, it is well known to all, or most of
you here present, that the Prisoner at the Bar hath been several
times convened and brought before the Court to make answer to a
Charge of Treason, and other high Crimes exhibited against him
in the name of the people of England [Here a malignant lady
(Lady Fairfax) interrupted the Court, saying 'Not half the
People'; but she was soon silenced. See the Trial of Daniel
Axtell, Oct. 15, 1660]; to which Charge being required to answer
he hath been so far from obeying the commands of the Court by
submitting to their justice, as he began to take upon him to
offer reasoning and debate unto the Authority of the Court, and
of the highest court that constituted them to try and judge him:
but being over-ruled in that, and required to make his Answer,
he was still pleased to continue contumacious, and to refuse to
submit or answer. Hereupon the Court, that they may not be
wanting to themselves, to the trust reposed in them, nor that
any man's wilfulness prevent justice, they have thought fit to
take the matter into their consideration, they have considered
of the Charge, they have considered of the Contumacy, and of
that Confession, which in law