with, which, having fortunately escaped these huge saurians, bear on their limbs the marks of their sharp teeth.

BANKERS' DISCOUNT.

(1) What is the discount on £100 due in 3 months at 8 per cent. per

annum?

(2) What is the present value of £230 10s. due 220 days hence at 4 per cent. per annum?

(3) What is the discount on a bill of £800 due 61 days hence at 5 per cent. per annum?

(4) If the present value of a bill for £300 due at 91 days be £296 5s. 2 d., what is the rate of discount?

(5) If the bank rate of discount be 7 per cent., and I receive £493 15s. for a £500 bill, in what time would it have become due ?

THE IMPEACHMENT OF AND ATTEMPT TO ARREST THE FIVE MEMBERS.

A.D. 1641-2.

(From the Comprehensive History of England,' by C. Macfarlane and Rev. T.

Thomson.)

cri'-sis (Gr.) pl. cri'-ses, a turning point | al-le'-gi-ance, the duty of a subject to the for good or ill

pris'-tine, first, original, ancient

vague, wandering, not precise

com-bus'-tion, tumult, confusion, burning

government

am'-nes-ty, an act of general pardon con-cil'-i-a-tor-y, tending to conciliate or reconcile

[This event is remarkable as being the crisis of the quarrel between Charles I. and the Parliament, and the immediate cause of both sides preparing for hostilities. The excitement and fear produced by this act led the king to quit London, never to return till the day of a terrible and memorable reckoning had arrived,' After several months of fruitless negotiation, the Civil War began, August 1642.]

ON the last day of this eventful year the commons sent Mr. Denzil Hollis to the king, with what they called an address to his majesty, praying for a guard, and an answer without delay. Hollis told the king, by word of mouth, that the House of Commons were ready to spend the last drop of their blood for his majesty, but that they had great apprehensions and just fears of mischievous designs to ruin and destroy them; that there had been several attempts made heretofore to bring destruction upon their whole body at once, and threats and menaces used against particular persons; that there was a malignant party daily gathering strength and confidence, and now come to such a height as to imbrue their hands in blood in the face and at the very doors of the parliament; and that the same party, at his majesty's own gates, had given out

insolent and menacing speeches against the parliament itself. And in the end Hollis informed him that it was the humble desire of the commons to have a guard to protect them out of the city, and commanded by the Earl of Essex, chamberlain of his majesty's household, and equally faithful to his majesty and the commonwealth. Charles desired to have this message in writing; the paper was sent to him accordingly, and he replied to it, not without delay, as the commons had requested or enjoined, but three days after. In the interval the commons had ordered that halberts should be provided and brought into the house for their own better security. The halberts were brought in accordingly, and Rushworth informs us that they stood in the house for a considerable time afterwards. Then, understanding that the lords would not sit on the morrow, which was New Year's Day, they adjourned till Monday, the 3rd of January, resolving, however, that they should meet on the morrow, in a grand committee at Guildhall, leaving another committee at Westminster to receive his majesty's answer to their petition, if it should come in the meantime.

On January 3rd, the commons, meeting in their usual place, received the king's tardy and unsatisfactory answer to their petition for a guard. Charles expressed his great grief of heart at finding, after a whole year's sitting of this parliament, that there should be such jealousies, distrusts, and fears; he protested his ignorance of the grounds of their apprehension, and he offered to appoint them a guard if they should continue to think one necessary. A guard of the king's appointing was precisely the thing that the commons did not want. While they were debating upon the message, they received a communication from the lords, the effect of which was galvanic. That morning Herbert, the king's attorney, was admitted into the House of Lords, at the request of the lord-keeper, and approaching the clerk's table (not the bar), Herbert said that the king had commanded him to tell their lordships that divers great and treasonable designs and practices against him and the state had come to his majesty's knowledge. For which, continued Herbert, 'his majesty hath given me command, in his name, to accuse, and I do accuse, by delivering unto your lordships these articles in writing, which I received of his majesty, the six persons therein named of high treason, the heads of which treason are contained in the said articles, which I desire may be read. The lords took the articles, and commanded the reading of them. They were entitled 'Articles of high treason, and other high misdemeanours, against the Lord Kimbolton, Mr. Denzil Hollis, Sir Arthur Hazlerig, Mr. John Pym, Mr. John Hampden, and Mr. William Strode. The seventh and

the last, and most significant article, affirmed that they have traitorously conspired to levy, and actually have levied, war against the king' Lord Kimbolton, who was in his seat, stood up, and expressed his readiness to meet the charge, offering to obey whatever the house should order. None of the courtiers had courage to move his arrest as a traitor. The lords wavered, stood still, and then appointed a committee, consisting of the lord steward, and the Earls of Essex, Bath, Southampton, Warwick, Bristol, and Holland, to consider precedents and records touching the regularity of this accusation, and to discover whether such an accusation might be brought by the king's attorney into their house against a peer, &c. Thus they avoided committing themselves, gained time, and no doubt made sure that the commons, whom they warned by message, would take the affair upon themselves. And nearly at the same moment that their message was delivered in the lower house, information was also carried thither that several officers were sealing up the doors, trunks, and papers of Hampden, Pym, and the other accused members. Upon which the commons instantly voted, "That if any person whatsoever shall come to the lodgings of any member of this house, and offer to seal the trunks, doors, or papers of any of them, or seize upon their persons, such member shall require the aid of the constable to keep such persons in safe custody till this house do give further order; and that. if any person whatsoever shall offer to arrest or detain the person of any member without first acquainting this house, it is lawful for such member, or any person, to assist him, and to stand upon his or their guard of defence, and to make a resistance, according to the protestation taken to defend the privileges of parliament.' They also ordered that the serjeant-at-arms attending their house should proceed and break open the seals set upon the doors, papers, &c., of Mr. Hampden and the rest; and that the speaker should sign a warrant for the apprehension of those who had done the deed. The house then desired an immediate conference with the lords; but before they could receive an answer, they were told that a serjeant-at-arms was at their door with a message to deliver from his majesty to their speaker. Forthwith they called in the said serjeant to the bar, making him, however, leave his mace behind him. 'I am commanded by the king's majesty, my master,' said the serjeant, upon my allegiance, to require of Mr. Speaker five gentlemen, members of the House of Commons; and those gentlemen being delivered, I am commanded to arrest them, in his majesty's name, of high treason; their names are Denzil Hollis, Arthur Hazlerig, John Pym, John Hampden, and William Strode.' When he had delivered this message, the house commanded him to withdraw, and sent

Lord Falkland and three other members to acquaint his majesty that the matter was of great consequence, and that the House of Commons would take it into their serious consideration, holding the members ready to answer any legal charge made against them.

All this was on January 3rd. 'The next day after that the king had answered the petition of the house (about the guard), being January 4th, 1642,' says May, he gave, unhappily, a just occasion for all men to think that their fears and jealousies were not causeless. He spent the preceding evening in making preparations. Arms were removed from the Tower to Whitehall, where a table was spread in the palace for a band of rash young men, who were ready to proceed to extremities for the reestablishment of royalty in its pristine state. Charles had determined to charge the five members with private meetings and treasonable correspondence with the Scots (a case met and provided for by the amnesty which had been procured both in Scotland and England), and with countenancing the late tumults from the city of London, and he now resolved to go in person to seize the five members of the House of Commons. On the morning of the 4th, the five accused members attended in their places, as they had been ordered. Lord Falkland stated that he was desired to inform the house that the serjeant-at-arms had done nothing the preceding day but what he had it in command to do. Then Hampden rose, and powerfully repelled the vague accusations which had been brought against him by the king. If to be resolute in the defence of parliament, the liberties of the subject, the reformed religion, was to be a traitor, then he acknowledged he might be guilty of treason, but not otherwise. Hazlerig followed Hampden. The house being informed that it was Sir William Fleming and Sir William Killigrew, with others, who had sealed up the studies and papers of the five members, ordered that they should be forthwith apprehended, and kept in the custody of the serjeant-at-arms till further notice. They also voted that a conference should be desired with the lords, to acquaint them of a scandalous paper, published with articles of high treason, against their five members and the Lord Kimbolton, a peer. The house rose at the usual dinner-hour, but met again immediately after. They had scarcely taken their seats when intelligence was brought by Captain Langrish, who had passed the party in the streets, that the king was advancing towards Westminster Hall, guarded by his gentleman pensioners, and followed by some hundreds of courtiers, officers, and soldiers of fortune, most of them armed with swords and pistols. The house was bound by its recent and solemn protestations to protect its privileges and the persons of its members; there were halberts

and probably other arms at hand, but could they defend their members against this array, led on by the king in person? Would it be wise, on any grounds, to make the sacred inclosures of parliament a scene of war and bloodshed? They ordered the five members to withdraw 'to the end,' says Rushworth, to avoid combustion in the house, if the said soldiers should use violence to pull any of them out.' Four of the members yielded ready obedience to this prudent order, but Mr. Strode insisted upon staying and facing the king, and was obstinate till his old friend Sir Walter Earle pulled him out by force, the king being at that time entering into New Palace Yard, and almost at the door of the house. As Charles passed through Westminster Hall to the entrance of the House of Commons, the officers, reformados, &c., that attended him made a lane on both sides the hall, reaching to the door of the commons. He knocked hastily, and the door was opened to him. Leaving his armed band at the door and in the hall, he entered the house with his nephew Charles, the Prince-palatine of the Rhine, at his side. He glanced his eyes towards the place where Pym usually sat, and then walked directly to the chair, saying, 'By your leave, Mr. Speaker, I must borrow your chair a little.' Lenthall, the speaker, dropped upon his knee, and Charles took his seat; the mace was removed, the whole house stood up uncovered. Charles cast searching glances among them, but he could nowhere see any of the five members. He then sat down, and addressed them, with much agitation :-'Gentlemen,' said he, 'I am sorry for this occasion of coming unto you; yesterday I sent a serjeant-at-arms, upon a very important occasion, to apprehend some that upon my commandment were accused of high treason, whereunto I did expect obedience, and not a message; and I must declare unto you here, that albeit no king that ever was in England shall be more careful of your privileges, to maintain them to the utmost of his power, than I shall be, yet you must know that in cases of treason no person hath a privilege, and therefore I am come to know if any of these persons that I have accused, for no slight crime, but for treason, are here. I cannot expect that this house can be in the right way that I do heartily wish it; therefore I am come to tell you that I must have them wheresoever I find them.' Then he again looked round the house, and said to the speaker, now standing below the chair, Are any of those persons in the house? do you see any of them? where are they? Lenthall fell on his knees, and told his majesty that he had neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak, in that place, but as the house was pleased to direct him. Then again casting his eyes round about the house, Charles said, 'Well, since I see all the birds are flown, I do expect from you that you do send them to me as