ng and judging of
Charles Stuart, king of England, January 29th, 1648:

"Whereas Charles Stuart, king of England, has been convicted,
attainted, and condemned of high treason, and sentence was
pronounced against him by this court, to be put to death by the
severance of his head from his body, of which sentence execution
yet remaineth to be done; these are, therefore, now to will and
require you to see the said sentence executed in the open street
before Whitehall, upon the morrow, being the thirtieth day of
this instant month of January, between the hours of ten in the
morning and five in the afternoon of the said day, with full
effect; and for so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant."

Fifty-nine of the judges signed this warrant, and then it was sent to
the persons appointed to carry the sentence into execution.

That night the king slept pretty well for about four hours, though
during the evening before he could hear in his apartment the noise of
the workmen building the platform, or scaffold as it was commonly
called, on which the execution was to take place. He awoke, however,
long before day. He called to an attendant who lay by his bedside,
and requested him to get up. "I will rise myself," said he, "for I
have a great work to do to-day." He then requested that they would
furnish him with the best dress, and an extra supply of under
clothing, because it was a cold morning. He particularly wished to be
well guarded from the cold, lest it should cause him to shiver, and
they would suppose that he was trembling from fear.

"I have no fear," said he. "Death is not terrible to me. I bless God
that I am prepared."

The king had made arrangements for divine service in his room early in
the morning, to be conducted by the Bishop of London. The bishop came
in at the time appointed, and read the prayers. He also read, in the
course of the service, the twenty-ninth chapter of Matthew, which
narrates the closing scenes of our Saviour's life. This was, in fact,
the regular lesson for the day, according to the Episcopal ritual,
which assigns certain portions of Scripture to every day of the year.
The king supposed that the bishop had purposely selected this passage,
and he thanked him for it, as he said it seemed to him very
appropriate to the occasion. "May it please your majesty," said the
bishop, "it is the proper lesson for the day." The king was much
affe