FAIRFAX. 473 



the names of others who were to compose the tri- 

 bunal, came to call that of lord Fairfax, a female 

 voice was heard from the gallery to exclaim, " He 

 Jtas more wit than to be here.' 1 '' WJten the im- 

 peachment was read, " In the name of all the good 

 people of England; " No (replied the same voice) 

 not the twentieth part of them ; Oliver Cromwell 

 is a rogue and a traitor" One of the officers or- 

 dered a file of musqueteers to fire at the place whence 

 the voice came, but they soon perceived the person 

 who spoke was no other than the lady Fairfax her- 

 self, whom with much difficulty they prevailed up- 

 on to withdraw. It is well known that the strict 

 presbyterians to which she belonged, abhorred the 

 measure of taking away the king's life ; Fairfax 

 was therefore expected to have interfered in order 

 to prevent the execution ; biit it is said that he was 

 held in prayer and conference, at major Harrison's 

 apartments in Whitehall, till the fatal blow was 

 struck. If he felt any resentment on the occasion, 

 he was soothed by the new appointment of general in 

 chief of the forces in England and Ireland ; and 

 under this commission he suppressed the levellers 

 \vho were become formidable in Oxfordshire. 



When in 1650 the Scotch nation had declared 

 for Charles, II., and the English council of state 

 had resolved to anticipate them by carrying the Avar 

 into their country, Fairfax, though first approving 

 the design, was induced by his wife and the pres- 

 byterian ministers to regard it as unlawful ; and he 

 chose conscientiously to lay down his commission, 

 rather than be instrumental in it. He received a 

 pension of 5,000 per annum, for his past services, 

 and thenceforth lived in retirement, at his seat in 

 Yorkshire, where he took no part in the public 

 measures of the commonwealth. At the eve of the 

 restoration, he, like many others who had been en- 

 gaged in the same cause, came forward to partici- 

 pate in . the merit of that event, and it was chiefly 

 through his influence that the Irish Brigade forsook 

 Lambert and joined Monk's army. He afterwards 

 took possession of the city of York, was made a 

 3 6 



