A Child's History of England.198

The Parliament, after being fearfully bullied by the army - who demanded to have seven members whom they disliked given up to them - had voted that they would have nothing more to do with the King. On the conclusion, however, of this second civil war (which did not last more than six months), they appointed commissioners to treat with him. The King, then so far released again as to be allowed to live in a private house at Newport in the Isle of Wight, managed his own part of the negotiation with a sense that was admired by all who saw him, and gave up, in the end, all that was asked of him - even yielding (which he had steadily refused, so far) to the temporary abolition of the bishops, and the transfer of their church land to the Crown. Still, with his old fatal vice [致命恶习] upon him, when his best friends joined the commissioners in beseeching him to yield all those points as the only means of saving himself from the army, he was plotting to escape from the island; he was holding correspondence with his friends and the Catholics in Ireland, though declaring that he was not; and he was writing, with his own hand, that in what he yielded he meant nothing but to get time to escape.

Matters were at this pass [stage] when the army, resolved to defy the Parliament, marched up to London. The Parliament, not afraid of them now, and boldly led by Hollis, voted that the King's concessions [让步] were sufficient ground for settling the peace of the kingdom. Upon that, Colonel Rich and Colonel Pride went down to the House of Commons with a regiment of horse soldiers and a regiment of foot; and Colonel Pride, standing in the lobby with a list of the members who were obnoxious [讨厌的] to the army in his hand, had them pointed out to him as they came through, and took them all into custody. This proceeding [event] was afterwards called by the people, for a joke, Pride's Purge [清洗]. Cromwell was in the North, at the head of his men, at the time, but when he came home, approved of what had been done.

for a joke: purge有"泻药"、"通便"的意思。

What with [用于列举原因] imprisoning some members and causing others to stay away, the army had now reduced the House of Commons to some [about] fifty or so. These soon voted that it was treason in a king to make war against his parliament and his people, and sent an ordinance [法令] up to the House of Lords for the King's being tried as a traitor. The House of Lords, then sixteen in number, to a man [像一个人一样] rejected it. Thereupon, the Commons made an ordinance of their own, that they were the supreme government of the country, and would bring the King to trial.

Thereupon: 1. as the result of that; 2. immediately after that

The King had been taken for security to a place called Hurst Castle: a lonely house on a rock in the sea, connected with the coast of Hampshire by a rough road two miles long at low water [低潮时]. Thence, he was ordered to be removed to Windsor; thence, after being but [except] rudely used [behave towards {abuse}] there, and having none but soldiers to wait upon him at table [伺候他吃饭], he was brought up to St. James's Palace in London, and told that his trial was appointed for next day.

On Saturday, the twentieth of January, one thousand six hundred and forty-nine, this memorable trial began. The House of Commons had settled that one hundred and thirty-five persons should form the Court, and these were taken from the House itself, from among the officers of the army, and from among the lawyers and citizens. John Bradshaw, serjeant-at-law, was appointed president. The place was Westminster Hall. At the upper end, in a red velvet chair, sat the president, with his hat (lined with plates of iron for his protection) on his head. The rest of the Court sat on side benches, also wearing their hats. The King's seat was covered with velvet, like that of the president, and was opposite to it. He was brought from St. James's to Whitehall, and from Whitehall he came by water to his trial.

六级/考研单词: parliament, bully, dislike, isle, yield, abolish, bishop, fatal, vice, plot, resolve, defy, march, bold, suffice, colonel, regiment, lobby, custody, imprison, supreme, lonely, rude, abuse