Authorised by the doctrines of the age, by his consequent education, and by the natural gravity and elevation of his own mind to ascend the throne as the anointed of his Creator, it was the doom of Charles I. to witness the divine authority of his crown trampled upon, the might of his magnificent hierarchy overwhelmed, the civil institutions of his realm swept away, all that he deemed sacred profaned, all that he revered denied, all that he considered established subverted, and in their stead new doctrines and new practices introduced, much of which was monstrous, and all extraordinary. In this unparalleled state of affairs, instead of disappearing from the stage like an insignificant actor overwhelmed by the unexpected importance of his part, we find on the contrary the English monarch the most energetic and the most interesting personage during the long, the fearful, and the dubious struggle. When the struggle was over, the king came forward, and closed his career by a most miserable death--dying with the same decision with which he had lived; and while he was covered with execration and obloquy as the _tyrant_, by one party, who feared that if he were not a tyrant, they might perhaps be considered traitors, he was hailed by the greater portion of the nation with tears and prayers as the martyr. ❦ Notre mérite nous attire l’estime des honnêtes gens, et notre étoile celle du public. ❦ The late Lord Chancellor Erskine was at the commencement of his career in life in the army, and when a young Ensign was quartered at Minorca, under the command of General Johnston, whose wife, the Lady Cecilia, had a favourite monkey, which had so incurred her disgrace from its mischievous propensities, as to have been ordered to be sent out of the house. Mr. Erskine having learnt the sad fate which awaited the culprit monkey, and being invited to dine at the Government house, wrote the following lines, and placed them in Peter’s paw; they were thus offered to his mistress’s attention as the party passed on to the dining room, and obtained Peter’s pardon. ❦ _The Petition of a Monkey under Sentence of Exile._