The Waverley novels, by Sir Walter Scott, complete in 12 vol., printed from the latest English ed., embracing the author's last corrections, prefaces & notes.

272 WAVERLEY NOVELS.
ctiptrr tlt C~ itiq-elrh.
But see, his face is black, and full of blood;
His eye-balls farther out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man;
His hair uprear'd-his nostrils stretch'd with struggling,
His hands abroad display'd, as one who grasp'd
And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdued.
HENRY VI. PART I.
IIAD those whose unpleasant visit Sir Henry expected come straight to
the Lodge, instead of staying for three hours at Woodstock, they would
have secured their prey. But the Familist, partly to prevent the King's
escape, partly to render himself of more importance in the affair, had represented the party at the Lodge as being constantly on the alert, and had
therefore inculcated upon Cromwell the necessity of his remaining quiet
until he (Tomkins) should appear to give him notice that the household
were retired to rest. On this condition he undertook, not only to discover
the apartment in which the unfortunate Charles slept, but, if possible, to
find some mode of fastening the door on the outside, so as to render flight
impossible. He had also promised to secure the key of a postern, by which
the soldiers might be admitted into the house without exciting alarm. Nay,
the matter might, by means of his local knowledge, be managed, as he represented it, with such security, that he would undertake to place his Excellency, or whomsoever he might appoint for the service, by the side of
Charles Stewart's bed, ere he had slept off the last night's claret. Above
all, he had stated, that, from the style of the old house, there were many
passages and posterns which must be carefully guarded before the least
alarm was caught by those within, otherwise the success of the whole enterprise might be endangered. He had therefore besought Cromwell to
wait for him at the village, if he found him not there on his arrival; and
assured him that the marching and countermarching of soldiers was at
present so common, that even if any news were carried to the Lodge that
fresh troops had arrived in the borough, so ordinary a circumstance would
not give them the least alarm. He recommended that the soldiers chosen
for this service should be such as could be depended upon -no fainters in
spirit- none who turn back from Mount Gilead for fear of the Amalekites,
but men of war, accustomed to strike with the sword, and to need no second
blow. Finally, he represented that it would be wisely done if the General
should put Pearson, or any other officer whom he could completely trust,
into the command of the detachment, and keep his own person, if he should
think it proper to attend, secret even from the soldiers."
All this man's counsels Cromwell had punctually followed. lIe had travelled in the van of this detachment of one hundred picked soldiers, whom
he had selected for the service, men of dauntless resolution, bred in a thousand dangers, and who were steeled against all feelings of hesitation and
compassion, by the deep and gloomy fanaticism which was their chief principle of action- men to whom, as their General, and no less as the chief
among the Elect, the commands of Oliver were like a commission from the
Deity.
Great and deep was the General's mortification at the unexpected absence
of the personage on whose agency he so confidently reckoned, and many
conjectures he formed as to the cause of such mysterious conduct. Some
times he thought Tomkins had been overcome by liquor, a frailty to which
Cromwell knew him to be addicted; and when he held this opinion he discharged his wrath in maledictions, which, of a different kind from the wild