A Child's History of England.200

Notwithstanding [in spite of] all, the warrant [令] for the execution was this day signed. There is a story that as Oliver Cromwell went to the table with the pen in his hand to put his signature to it, he drew his pen across the face of one of the commissioners, who was standing near, and marked it with ink. That commissioner had not signed his own name yet, and the story adds that when he came to do it he marked Cromwell's face with ink in the same way.

The King slept well, untroubled by the knowledge that it was his last night on earth, and rose on the thirtieth of January, two hours before day [天亮], and dressed himself carefully. He put on two shirts lest [以免] he should tremble with the cold, and had his hair very carefully combed. The warrant had been directed to three officers of the army, Colonel Hacker, Colonel Hunks, and Colonel Phayer. At ten o'clock, the first of these came to the door and said it was time to go to Whitehall. The King, who had always been a quick walker, walked at his usual speed through the Park, and called out to the guard, with his accustomed voice of command, 'March on apace [飞快地]!' When he came to Whitehall, he was taken to his own bedroom, where a breakfast was set forth. As he had taken the Sacrament [圣餐礼], he would eat nothing more; but, at about the time when the church bells struck twelve at noon (for he had to wait, through the scaffold [断头台] not being ready), he took the advice of the good Bishop Juxon who was with him, and ate a little bread and drank a glass of claret [干红葡萄酒]. Soon after he had taken this refreshment, Colonel Hacker came to the chamber with the warrant in his hand, and called for Charles Stuart.

And then, through the long gallery [走廊] of Whitehall Palace, which he had often seen light and gay [欢乐的] and merry and crowded, in very different times, the fallen King passed along, until he came to the centre window of the Banqueting House, through which he emerged upon the scaffold, which was hung with black. He looked at the two executioners, who were dressed in black and masked; he looked at the troops of soldiers on horseback and on foot, and all looked up at him in silence; he looked at the vast array of spectators, filling up [全神贯注] the view beyond, and turning all their faces upon him; he looked at his old Palace of St. James's; and he looked at the block [放头的木块]. He seemed a little troubled to find that it was so low, and asked, 'if there were no place higher?' Then, to those upon the scaffold, he said, 'that it was the Parliament who had begun the war, and not he; but he hoped they might be guiltless too, as ill [bad] instruments [手段;方法] had gone between them. In one respect, [一方面]' he said, 'he suffered justly; and that was because he had permitted an unjust sentence to be executed on another.' In this he referred to the Earl of Strafford.

instruments: a means by which sth is done; an agency: "The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices / Make instruments to plague us" (Shakespeare).

六级/考研单词: notwithstanding, warranty, execute, lest, tremble, comb, colonel, hack, accustom, march, noon, advice, bishop, refreshment, chamber, gallery, seldom, gay, merry, mask, array, spectator, parliament, guilt, vice, plague