Mr. Hampden afterwards made a
celebrated speech in the House to clear himself from the charge brought
against him.
In the beginning of the civil war Hampden commanded a regiment of foot,
and did good service at the battle of Edgehill; but he received a mortal
wound in an engagement with Prince Rupert, in Chalgrave-field, in
Oxfordshire, and died in 1648. Hampden is said to have possessed in a
high degree talents for gaining and preserving popular influence, and
great courage, industry, and strength of mind, which procured him great
ascendancy over other men.
* * * * *
OTHELLO'S HISTORY.
[Illustration: Letter H.]
Her father loved me; oft invited me;
Still question'd me the story of my life,
From year to year: the battles, sieges, fortunes,
That I have past.
I ran it through, even from my boyish days
To the very moment that he bade me tell it.
Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,
Of moving incidents by flood and field,
Of hair-breadth 'scapes in the imminent deadly breach,
Of being taken by the insolent foe,
And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,
And 'portance in my travels' history;
Wherein of antres vast, and deserts idle,
Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven,
It was my hint to speak--such was the process;
And of the cannibals that each other eat--
The Anthropophagi--and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.
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