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A61726 The two last speeches of Thomas Wentworth, late Earle of Strafford, and deputy of Ireland the one in the Tower, the other on the scaffold on Tower-Hill, May the 12th, 1641. Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of, 1593-1641. 1641 (1641) Wing S5800; ESTC R9625 6,309 11

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The two last Speeches of Thomas Wentworth late Earle of Strafford and Deputy of Jreland The one in the Tower the other on the Scaffold on Tower-hill May the 12th 1641. LONDON Printed for Francis Coules 1641. His speech in the Tower to the Lords before he went to execution RIght Honourable and the rest you are now come to convey mee to my death I am willing to dye which is a thing no more than all our Predecessors have done and a debt that our Posteritie must in their due time discharge which since it can be no way avoyded it ought the lesse to be feared for that which is common to all ought not to be intollerable to any It is the Law of Nature the tribute of the flesh a remedy from all worldly cares and troubles and to the truly penitent a perfect path to blessednesse And there is but one death though severall wayes unto it mine is not naturall but enforced by the Law and Justice it hath beene sayd that the Lawes vex only the meaner sort of people but the mightie are able to withstand them it is not so with me for to the Law I submit my selfe and confesse that I receive nothing but justice for hee that politikely intendeth good to a Common-weale may be called a just man but hee that practiseth either for his owne profit or any other sinister ends may be well termed a delinquent person neither is delay in punishment any privilege for pardon And moreover I ingenuously confesse with Cicero That the death of the bad is the safetie of the good that be alive Let no man trust eyther in the favour of his Prince the friendship and consanguinity of his Peeres muchlesse in his owne wisdome and knowledge of which I ingenuously confesse I have beene too confident Kings as they are men before God so they are Gods before men and I may say with a great man once in this Kingdome Had I strived to obey my God as faithfully as I sought to honour my King diligently J had stood and not fallen Most happie and fortunate is that Prince who is as much for his justice feared as for his goodnesse beloved For the greater that Princes are in power above other the more they ought in vertue to excell other and such is the royall Soveraigne whom I late served For my Peeres the correspondence that I had with them during my prosperitie was to mee very delightfull and pleasing and here they have commiserated my ruine I have plentifully found who for the most generous of them I may boldly say though they have detested the fact yet they have pitied the person delinquent the first in their loyaltie the last in their charitie ingenuously confessing that never any subject or peere of my rank had ever that help of Counsell that benefit of time or a more free and legall tryall than I have had in the like whereof none of my precessors hath had so much favour from his prince so much sufferance from the people in which I comprehend the understanding Commons not the many headed moster Multitude But I have offended am sentenced and must now suffer And for my too much confidence in my supposed wisdom and knowledge therein have beene the most deceived For hee is wise to himselfe that knowes by others faults to correct his owne offences to be truly wise is to be Secretaries to our selves for it is meere folly to reveale our intimate thoughts to strangers wisdome is the most precious Gem with which the mind can be adorned and learning the most famous thing for which a man ought to bee esteemed and true wisdome teacheth us to doe well as to speake well in the first I have failed for the wisdome of man is foolishnesse with God For knowledge it is a thing indifferent both to good and evil but the best knowledge is for a man to know himselfe hee that doth so shal esteeme of himselfe but little for hee considereth from whence he came and wherto he must go he regardeth not the vaine pleasures of this life hee exalteth God and strives to live in his feare but he that knoweth not himselfe is wilful in his owne wayes unprofitable in his life unfortunate in his death and so am I. But the reason why I sought to attaine unto it was this I have read that he that knoweth not that which he ought to know is a Bruit beast amongst men hee that knoweth more than hee ought to know is a man amongst beasts but hee that knoweth all that may be knowne is a God amongst men To this I much aspired in this I much failed Vanitie of vanities all is but vanitie I have he●rd the people clamour and cry our saying That through my occasion the times are bad I wish that when I am dead they may prove better most true it is that there is at this time a great storme impending God in his mercie avert it And since it is my particular lot like Jonah to bee cast into the sea I shall think my life well spent to appease Gods wrath and satisfie the peoples malice O what is eloquence more than aire fashioned with an articulate and distinct sound when it is a speciall vertue to speake little and well and silence is oft the best oratorie for fooles in their dumbnesse may be accounted wise It hath power to make a good matter seeme bad and a bad cause appeare good but mine was to mee unprofitable and like the Cypresse trees which are great and tall but altogether without fruit What is honour but the first step to disquietnesse and power is still waited on by envie neither hath it any privilege against infamie It is held to be the chiefe part of honor for a man to joyne to his office and calling curtesie and affabilitie commiseration and pitie for thereby he draweth to him with a kind of compulsion the hearts of the multitude But that was the least part of my study which now makes me call to mind that the greater the persons are in authority the sooner they are catcht in any delinquencie and their smallest crimes are thought to bee capitall the smallest spot seemes great in the finnest linnen and the least flaw is soonest found in the richest Diamond But high and noble spirits finding themselves wounded grieve not so much at their owne paine and perplexitie as at the derision and scofs of their enemy but for mine owne part though I might have many in my life I hope to finde none in my death Amongst other things which pollute and contaminate the mindes of great spirits there is none more heinons than Ambition which is seldome unaccompanyed with Avarice Such to possesse their ends care not to violate the Lawes of Religion and Reason and to breake the bonds of Modesty and equity with the nearest tyes of Consanguinity and Amity of which as I have beene guilty so I crave at Gods hands forgivenesse It is a Maxime in Philosophy that