The Poems of Lord Fairfax. 241 



Bodleian and saved it from destruction, as he had spared the 

 minster at the siege of York.^ 



With Charles hopelessly defeated, Fairfax was miwilling to depose 

 him, wishing the King to rule, with the constitution safeguarded 

 from encroachments of the crown. He hotly resented the seizure 

 of Charles by Joyce, and through his insistance Charles was allowed 

 to see his friends, and above all, his children— a favor for which 

 he repeatedly thanked Fairfax.^ In the political intrigues which 

 preceded the execution of Charles, Fairfax took no part ; but when 

 the Royalists made a last stand, he laid siege to Colchester, cap- 

 tured the town, and crushed the insurrection. It was at this time 

 that Milton addressed to him his noble sonnet: 



Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings, 



Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, 



And all her jealous monarchs with amaze. 



And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings, 



Thy firm, unshaken virtue ever brings 



Victory home, though new rebellions raise 



Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays 



Her broken league to imp their serpent wings. 



O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand 



(For what can war but endless war still breed?) 



Till truth and right from violence be freed, 



And public faith cleared from the shameful brand 



Of public fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed, 



While Avarice and Rapine share the land. 



Though appointed one of the Commissioners to try the King, 

 Fairfax refused to be present at the trial, and opposed it in vain. 

 Surely there are few more dramatic moments in history than when 

 Lady Fairfax rose in the gallery of Westminster Hall to protest 

 against the trial, and to defend her husband's name. Indeed, so 

 well known was Fairfax's opposition to the execution of the King 

 that Cromwell accused the general of planning to rescue Charles. 



In 1650 Lord Fairfax resigned his command, and returned to his 

 estates at Nunappleton. On the death of Cromwell he decided 

 that there would be anarchy unless Charles II returned and ruled. 

 Lambert, with a disciplined army of ten thousand men, was on the 



' Ibiif.^.21\. Fairfax bequeathed to the Bodleian 28 manuscripts. See 

 \V. D. Macray : Annals of tlir Bodleian Library, Oxford. 

 « Ibid. pp. 290, 21 IH. 



