were only dispersed by a troop of horse. He died at Derby House, in great calmness of spirit, declaring that it was "an indifferent thing to him, whether he lived or died," and that, "if his life and death were put into a balance, he would not willingly cast in one drachm to turn the balance either way." With his last breath he prayed with energy for the king and the public weal, and having just recovered from a fainting fit, told his friends "he had looked death in the face, and knew, and therefore feared not, the worst it could do," and that "his heart was filled with more comfort and joy than he was able to utter." He died whilst a minister was offering prayer by his bedside. He was buried with great "pomp and circumstance" in Westminster Abbey, his body being borne to the grave by the ten principal gentlemen of the House of Commons, attended by both houses clad in mourning, by the assembly of divines just met, and by other gentlemen of rank. We have before us the sermon preached on this memorable occasion, by Mr. Marshall, from the text, "Woe is me, for the good man is perished out of the earth." The following is an extract from its close. Besides exhibiting a portrait of the man, may be regarded as an exemplification of the fearlessness with which the godly preachers of that day were accustomed to address even their most distinguished auditors : it "And certainly, if God sends us to the pismire, to consider her waies, and thereby to learne wisdome, it can be no disparagement to any of you to consider his worth, and thereby to grow better; I shall, therefore, make bold to propound him as Bishop Montacute did Master Perkins in his funerall sermon, to be the man that taught England to serve God, and ministers to preach Jesus Christ; so Master John Pym to be the man whose example may teach all our nobles and gentlemen to be good Christians, good patriots, good parliament men. You all knew him well, and knew— "That he was not a man, who when he was called to the publicke service of his countrey, lay here to satisfie his lusts, spending his time in riot and wantonnesse, in gaming, drinking, whoring, &c. Take heed none of you be such. “He was not a man who proved a traitour to God and his countrey, and the cause of religion, which he had solemnly protested to maintaine. Take heed none of you be such. "Hee was not a man who (though hee appeared often in the parliament house, yet) neither promoted good causes himselfe, nor willingly permitted others to do it. Take heed there be none such among you. "He was not a man who owned the good cause so long as it was like to thrive, and then tackt about when it seemed to decline; resolved to secure himselfe, whatever became of the publike. Beware none of you be such. 66 He was not a man who would feed himselfe, or feather his own nest, or provide for his family or friends out of the publike stocke, or treasure of the kingdome. Take heed none of you be such. 66 He was not a man who would favour the cause of his friend, or presse too heavily against his enemy; he was no respecter of persons in any cause or judgment. Take heed none of you doe so. "He was not a man who would consider how far any publike service would stand with his own private designes, and promote the one no further than the other could be driven on with it. Beware this be none of your condition. "He was not a man who for maintaining or propagating any private opinion, or way of his owne, would hazard the publique safety. Take heed none of you be such. "He was not a man who feared to promote the reformation of religion, lest himselfe should be brought under the yoke of it. Take heed that none of you doe so. "Not a man living (I believe) could justly taxe him for any of these; God grant none of you may be found guilty of any one of them in the day of your account. "But in stead of these things he was the holy man, the good man, adorned with that integrity, constancy, and un weariablenesse in doing good, which I before told you of. Goe, and doe likewise; get such an upright heart to God; lay out yourselves wholly in the publike cause; put both your hands to this worke, and the smaller your number is, be the more diligent, and fall the closer to it; set selfe and selfe respects aside; drive no designes of your owne; count it reward enough, to spend and be spent in this cause; esteeme the worke more worth than all your lives; imitate him in these things; so might you make him, as another Sampson, more advantageous to the cause of God in his death, than ever he was in his whole life." Baxter, in the earlier editions of the "Saint's Rest," is well known to have inserted a passage, which, in the copies published after the restoration, was unhappily and disgracefully expunged to please Dr. Jane, and to obtain a licence for his book:-"I think, Christian, this will be a more honourable assembly than you ever here beheld; and a more happy society than you were ever of before. Surely Brook and Pim, and Hamden, and White, &c., are now members of a more knowing, unerring, well-ordered, right ayming, selfdenying, unanimous, honourable, triumphant senate, than this from whence they were taken is, or ever parliament will be. It is better be doorkeeper to that assembly, whither I wish we are translated, than to have continued here the moderator of this. That is the true Parliamentum Beatum, the blessed parliament, and that is the only church that cannot erre." The testimony of these famous divines puts utterly to flight the vile and mad rumours which the royalists malignantly raised against the moral reputations of Hampden and Pym, especially the latter. It is incredible that men * " OPHNNAIA. The Church's Lamentation for the Good Man his Losse, delivered in a Sermon to the Right Honourable the two Houses of Parliament, and the Reverend Assembly of Divines, &c., by Stephen Marshall, B.D. 1644." The Sermon is prefixed by "a Portrait of John Pym, Esq., late Burges for Tavistocke." like Baxter and Marshall would have so written or so spoken, had not such reports been empty as the wind. The accusation, commonly believed among the royalists, that Pym died of a loathsome disease, is a calumny which only party malice could have invented, and was disproved by postmortem dissection. Before we leave Hampden Manor, we may recall the fact, that it was the place of Baxter's residence during the period of the great plague of London. He was then visiting his beloved friend, Mr. Richard Hampden, "the true heir of his famous father's sincerity, piety, and devotedness to God." From this place he returned to Acton, in March, 1666, to find "the church-yard like a ploughed field with graves, and many of his neighbours dead." CHAPTER V. AIMINGS AT THE IMPOSSIBLE. "With many a weary step, and many a groan, Thunders impetuous down, and foams along the ground." POPE. THE old town of Kimbolton, in the county of Huntingdon, has not much to recommend it, except to an historical antiquary. Yet it is situated in the midst of agreeable and quietly-varied scenery, stands amidst rich slopes of arable land, and is in the immediate adjacency of a ducal residence with an extensive park. The town itself is small, and its situation shows that in former times it had nestled as closely as possible to the baronial castle which stood there, for protection. To many readers the name of Kimbolton will at once recall the remembrance of an important history and a despotic tyrant;-of a faithless husband, an injured wife, and of a course of ecclesiastical oppression which has, from that day to this, been the fruitful source of misconduct and disorder. Kimbolton was the residence, after her divorce, of Katharine of Arragon, the first, and not least injured, wife of Henry VIII. One of Shakspeare's best scenes points hither : "Griff. How does your grace? O Griffith, sick to death; |