house was surrounded by a riotous mob, and on the second day of the sitting, the King was deposed by universal acclamation, and the Prince of Wales presented to the excited populace as their future monarch. To add weight to these unconstitutional doings, the Bishop of Winchester, on the thirteenth of January, laid before the house a bill charging Edward the Second with incapacity, indolence, pride, the loss of the Scottish crown, the violation of his coronation oath, oppression of the church, cruelty to the barons, and the abandonment of his realm. This bill was passed without -opposition, Prince Edward was proclaimed King in Westminster Hall, by the style and title of Edward the Third. Many of the peers and prelates publicly swore fealty to him as their sovereign, and the proceeding was closed by the Archbishop of Canterbury preaching a sermon on the adage, " The voice of the people is the voice of God," in which he made it appear that the conduct of the parliament was holy and praiseworthy, and exhorted the people to pray to the King of Kings for their new sovereign. At the same time the Bishops of Winchester and Hereford held forth to the same purpose in other places. When the resolution of her own party was made known to the Queen, she burst into tears, and lamented the misfortunes of her husband with such violent expressions of grief, that her generous unsuspicious heir, believing in her sincerity, solemnly vowed that he would never accept the offered crown, unless his father himself desired him to do so. 'i ο silence the pretended scruples of the Queen, and satisfy the virtuous resolution of the youthful Prince, twelve commissioners were appointed to obtain from the unfortunate King a legal abdication of his regal dignity. As the traitorous Bishop of Hereford had, immediately after the capture of the King, succeeded in obtaining from him the great seal, he was deputed, along with tho Bishop of Lincoln, to head the commission. The Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln were the first to reach Kenilworth Castle, the prison home of the fallen monarch, and after they had worked upon the feelings of the King to the utmost of their power by arguments, promises, and threats, they led him, dressed in a morning gown, into the presence of the other commissioners ; when the sight of the Bishop of Hereford, and his other mortal foes, so overcame him, that he sank to the ground in a swoon. As soon as he recovered, the Bishop of Hereford told him they had come to demand from him a voluntary resignation of the crown, and with insulting threats declared, if he refused to abdicate in favour of his son, they would depose him by force, and choose a monarch from another familv, as the crimes and errors of his life and* government were far too great and many to be longer endured. Luring this malicious harangue, the King wept bitterly. Friendless, powerless, and deeply dejected in mind, he, in reply, expressed sorrow for having provoked the hatred of his subjects, owned that his conduct had been sinful, implored the compassion of the commissioners, and thanked the parliament for having chosen his heir as his successor. He then formally surrendered the crown and the other insignia of royalty, after which Sir William Trussel, the judge who had condemned the Spencers, addressed him as follows : " I, William Trussel, Procurator of the earls, barons, and people of England, having for this full and sufficient power, do surrender and give back to you the homage and fealty of all persons in my procuracy, and do acquit the same in the best manner the law and custom will allow. And I now make protestation in their name, that they will be no longer in your fealty or allegiance, nor claim or hold anything of you as King, but will account you as a private person, without any manner ot royal dignity." Sir William Blunt, the steward of the household, then broke his wand of onice, as was customary at the King's death, and declared all persons in the King's service discharged. Thus was Edward the Second deprived of his regal dignity in the forty-third year of his age, and