The funeral of the Earl of Essex, the Parliamentary General, who died in 1646, was made the occasion of a great display of pomp and ceremonial magnificence, which was duly chronicled and illustrated by the journalists of the time. '_The true manner and forme of the proceeding to the Funerall of Devereux, Earl of Essex_,' contains, besides a copperplate portrait of the Earl, numerous woodcuts of banners, and the funeral canopy. Several illustrated broadsides relating to this event were also published. In looking over the old newspapers we are frequently reminded of the truth of the saying that 'history repeats itself.' The Duke of Wellington's funeral in 1852 was a repetition, on a much more splendid scale, of the funeral of the Earl of Essex in 1646, with such differences as arose from the taste and circumstances of the time. Portraits of the Earl of Essex are of frequent occurrence in the pamphlets of this period. In the pamphlet containing the escape of the King from Oxford there is an etching of the burning of the Book of Sports on the site of Cheapside Cross, which is thus described:--'10 of May the Booke of Sportes upon the Lords Day was burned by the Hangman in the place where the Crosse stoode and at Exchange.' There is also in the same pamphlet a representation of breaking the Great Seal:--'The Great Seale broken before the Lords and Commons, on Tuesday, the 11 of August, 1646.' Some authorities say the Great Seal was not broken till January, 1649, new style. [Illustration: THE GREAT SEAL BROKEN, 1646.] Sir Thomas Fairfax succeeded the Earl of Essex as commander of the Parliamentary army, and had Oliver Cromwell for his Lieutenant-General. Though a Presbyterian, he suffered himself to become the tool of the Independent party, and followed the councils of Cromwell until the Army had become master both of the Parliament and of the kingdom. All that related to a person of so much importance must have had uncommon interest for the popular mind, and accordingly we find Sir Thomas Fairfax and his military council form the subject of an engraving in a pamphlet of 1647. It is entitled '_The manner of His Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax and the officers of his Army sitting in Council_.' In this engraving it will be seen that Fairfax, though farthest removed from the spectator, is made the largest figure in the picture, apparently for the purpose of giving him proper importance. Note also the huge pens, and the mysterious way in which the foreground figures appear to grow _out_ of the benches instead of sitting _on_ them. [Illustration: SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX AND HIS MILITARY COUNCIL, 1647.]