The body lay at Whitehall, to be embalmed, till the 7th of February, when it was conveyed to Windsor, and laid in the vault of St. George's Chapel, near the coffins of Henry VIII. and Jane Seymour. The day was very snowy, and the coffin being deposited without any service, was left without any inscription except the words, "Carolus Rex, 1648," the letters of which were cut out of a band of lead by the gentlemen present, with their penknives, and the lead folded round the coffin. In this condition it was discovered in 1813, when George IV., attended by Sir Henry Halford, had it opened, and found proof that the head had been separated from the body. CHAPTER IV. THE COMMONWEALTH. Proclamation of the Prince of Wales Forbidden--Decline of the Peerage--_Ultimus Regum_--Establishment of a Republican Government--Abolition of the House of Lords and the Monarchy--Council of State--The Oath Difficulty--The Engagement--Religious Toleration--Trials of Royalists--Discontent among the People--The Levellers--Activity of John Lilburne--Quelling the Mutiny in Whalley's Regiment--Lockyer's Funeral--Arrest of Lilburne--Spread of the Disaffection to other Regiments--Suppression of the Insurrection--Cromwell appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland--Royalist Movement in Scotland--Charles's Son proclaimed King--The Scottish Deputation at the Hague--Charles's Court--Assassination of Dr. Dorislaus--Affairs in Ireland--Cromwell's Campaign--Defeat and Death of Montrose--Cromwell in Scotland--Battle of Dunbar--Movements of Charles--His March into England--Battle of Worcester--Charles Escapes to France--Vigorous Government--Foreign Difficulties--Navigation Act--War with Holland--Contest between Parliament and the Army--Expulsion of the Rump--The Little Parliament--Cromwell made Protector. The king being put to death, it was necessary that the Parliament should immediately determine what sort of government should succeed. Had they been disposed to continue the monarchy, and receive the eldest son of Charles, it was still necessary to take efficient means for obtaining from him, before admitting him to the throne, a recognition of all the rights for which they had striven with his father. The very day, therefore, of the king's execution, the House of Commons passed an Act, making it high treason for any one to proclaim the Prince of Wales, or any other person, king or chief magistrate of England or Ireland, without consent of Parliament; and copies of this were immediately despatched to all the sheriffs, to be proclaimed in the counties. That done, they proceeded gradually, but promptly, to develop and complete their design of adopting a Republican form of government.