Bloud I did willingly undergoe but now finding by too certain proofs that this my continued Patience would not only turn to my personal ruine but likewise be of much more prejudice then furtherance to the publick good I thought I was bound as well by natural as political Obligations to seek my safety by retiring my self for some time from the publick view both of my Friends and Enemies And I appeal to all indifferent men to judge if I have not just cause to free my self from the hands of those who change their Principles with their condition and who are not ashamed openly to intend the destruction of the Nobility taking away their negative voice and with whom the Levellers Doctrine is rather countenanced then punished And as for their Intentions to my person their changing and putting more strict Guards upon me with the discharging most of all those Servants of mine who formerly they willingly admitted to wait upon me doth sufficiently declare Nor would I have this Retirement misse-interpreted for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace wherever I am or shall be that as much as may be without the effusion of more Christian Bloud for which how many times have I desired prest to be heard and yet no ear given to me And can any reasonable man think that according to the ordinary course of Affairs there can be a setled Peace without it Or that God will bless those who refuse to hear their own King Surely no Nay I must further add that besides what concerns my self unless all other chief Interests have not only a hearing but likewise just satisfaction given unto them to wit the Presbyterians Independants Army those who have adhered to me and even the Scots I say there cannot I speak not of Miracles it being in my Opinion a sinful Presumption in such cases te expect or trust to them be a safe or lasting Peace Now as I cannot deny but that my personal security is the urgent cause of this my Retirement so I take God to witness that the publick Peace is no less before my eyes and I can find no better way to express this my Profession I know not what a wiser may do than by desiring and urging that all chief Interests may be heard to the end each may have just satisfaction As for example the Army for therest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to content ought in my judgment to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences have an Act of Oblivion or Indempnity which should extend to all the rest of my Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let me be heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew myself really to be Pater Patria Hampton Court Novemb. 11. 1647. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore c. He was no sooner come into the Isle of Wight but Hammond gave notice thereof to the Parl. who were now overawed by the Army Eleven of their Members being impeached of High Treason as they called it for their Loyalty and Affection to his Majesty many not daring to appear in the House Cromwel and his Faction Jan. 30. the black Forerunner of that his day of Martyrdom the next Year ensuing voted those destructive and cruel Resolves of no more Addresses which were published with a Preface in these words being the hinges on which the sad Revolutions succeeding so direfully turned The Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament after many Addresses to his Majesty for the preventing and ending of this unnatural War raised by him against the Parliament and Kingdom having lately sent four Bils to his Majesty which did contain only matter of Safety and Security to the Parliament and Kingdom referring the Composure of other Differences to a Personal Treaty with his Majesty and having received an absolute Negative do hold themselves obliged to use their utmost Endeavours speedily to settle the present Government in such a way as may bring the greatest security to this Kingdom in the enjoyment of the Laws and Liberties thereof and in order thereunto that the Houses may receive no Delay or Interruptions in so great and necessary a work they have taken their Resolution and passed these Votes following Resolved by the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament That no Application or Address be made to the King by any Person whatsoever without leave of both Houses Resolved That the Person or Persons that shall make Breach of this Order shall incur the Penalty of High Treason Resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare that they will receive no more any Message from the King Resolved That no Person whatsoever do presume to receive or bring any Message from the King to both or either of the Houses of Parliament or any other I shall not descant on the unparalelled unreasonableness of these Votes but reflect only on that story of Ahashuerus recorded in Esther to whom no person of what degree soever durst approach or address himself without he held forth his Golden Scepter whereas here were Subjects yeâ— Christian Subjects holding their Soveraign off at the Swords point denying him Access to them and debarting him Converse with any Persons but the Instruments and Officers of their barbarous disloyalty Upon these Votes the Army close with the Parliament declaring that they would live and die with them in the pursuit of their Resolutions and now this Pious recluse Prince all humane hopes failing being shut up a Prisoner and none of his friends admitted to come near him betakes himself to the Divine Assistance spends his sad hours in meditation devotion which heightened and perfected in him that Christian Courage and resolution with which he so nobly triumpht over the utmost malice of his Enemies This sweetned and alleviated those sorrows and unspeakable distresses he went through this afforded him a Calmness and Serenity of mind amidst the Storms and Tempests of his impetuous and angry Fate this made him infinitly more to prize the Crosse then the crown witnesse those most incomparable soliloquies which the Prison wals ecchoed to Heaven such were these I care not to be reckoned among the unfortunate so I be not in the black List of sacrilegious Princes Again As I have leisure so have I cause more then enough to meditate and prepare for my death for I know that there are but a few steps between the Prisons the Graves of Princes But so great and excellent is his variety of divine Consolation and Instruction that I will not lose the Reader in my Maze of Collections but refer him wholly to the Original particularly to what he hath written concerning this very Subject But it may be a
Country for to clear my self both as an honest man a good King and a good Christian I shall begin first with my Innocency In troth I think it not very needful for me to insist long upon this for all the world knows that I never did begin a war with the two Houses of Parliament and I call God to witness to whom I must shortly make an Account That I never did intend for to incroach upon their Priviledges they began upon me it is the Militia they began upon they confest that the Militia was mine but they thought it fit for to have it from me and to be short if any body will look to the Dates of Commissions of their Commissions and mine and likewise to the Declarations will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not I so that as the guilt of these Enormous crimes that are laid against me I hope in God that God will clear me of I will not I am in Charity God forbid that I should lay it upon the Two Houses of Parliament there is no necessity of either I hope they are free of this guilt for I do believe that ill Instruments between them and me has been the chief Cause of all this bloudshed so that by way of speaking as I find my self clear of this I hope and pray God that they may too yet for all this God forbid that I should be so ill a Christian as not to say that Gods Judgments are just upon me Many times he does pay Justice by unjust Sentence that is ordinary I will only say this that an unjust Sentence * that I sufferred to take effect Strafford is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me this I have said to shew you that I am an Innocent man Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian I hope there is * Pointing to Dr. Juxon a good man that will bear me witness That I have forgiven all the world and even those in particular that have been the chief causers of my death who they are God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my Charity must go further I wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great sin in that particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their Charge nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the peace of the Kingdom for my Charity commands me not only to forgive particular men but my Charity commands me to endeavour to the last gasp the Peace of the Kingdom Turning to some Gentlemen that wrote So Sir I wish with all my soul and I do hope there is some here will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you both how you are out of the way and will put you in the way first you are out of the way for certainly all the way you ever have had yet as I could find by anything is in the way of Conquest certainly this is an ill way for Conquest Sir in my opinion is never just except there be a good just Cause either for matter of Wrong or just Title and then if you go beyond it the first quarrel that you have to it is it that makes it unjust at the end that was just at first But if it be only matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirat said to Alexander that he was the great Robber he was but a Petty Robber And so Sir I do think the way that you are in is much out of the way Now Sir for to put you in one way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his due the King his due that is my Successors and the People their due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to his Scriptures which is now out of order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not then turning to a Gentleman that touched the Ax said Hurt not the Axe that may hurt me * Meaning if he did blunt the edge For the King the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that therefore because it concerns my own particular I only give you a touch of it For the People and truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whosoever but I must tell you that their Liberty and Freedom consists in having of Government those Laws by which their Life and their Goods may be most their own It is not for having share in Government Sir that is nothing pertaining to them A Subject and a Soveraign are clean different things and therefore until they do that I mean That you do put the people in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sir it was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an-Arbitrary way for to have all Laws changed according to the power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to your Charge that I am the Martyr of the People Introth Sirs I shall not hold you much longer for I will only say this to you that in truth I could have desired some little time longer because I would have put this that I have said in a little more Order and a little better digested then I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God that you do take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and your own Salvations Dr. Juxon Will Your Majesty though it may be very well known your Majesties Affections to Religion yet it may be expected that you should say somwhat for the worlds satisfaction King I thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it Introth Sirs My Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the world and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as I found it left me by my Father and this honest man * Pointing to Dr. Juxon I think will witness it Then turning to the Officers said Sirs excuse me for this same I have a good Cause and I have a Gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Col. Hacker he said Take care they do not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming near the Axe the King said Take heed of the Axe pray take heed of the Axe Then the King speaking to
the double imprisonment I lie under of the flesh and bones and am ready for the opportunity to make an escape though in a fiery Chariot All things betwixt God and me are removed from my sight and I see him clearly without reflexion on my Judges and Accusers and submit chearfully to His fatherly Dispensation and Judgement My Judges have done me no wrong they have a Law for their Warrant and my confession for their Evidence neither have capacity to be Chancellors in matters of life Let them go free and the Law-makers and inforcers of it for their errours in constituting them before the padling in blood grow too customary to be thought a sin worthy their confession or sorrow which I desire for the fakes of their souls and the lives of the oppressed and in indeed prescribed Free Christians of the Nation The God of all goodness hath in mercy â—hoked upon me directed counsel'd me comforted and sanctified my afflictito me and I am ready to fall into his merciful Hands as soon as the heavy hand of the Executioner shall have given a Nune Dimitis to Yours c. E. A. ABout the same time he made his Will a taste whereof take in these few following lines If it be the unalterable and uncontrolable Will of God that I Eusebius Andrews Esq shall for my manifold and high Provocations of his Divine Majesty be shipwrackt by that storme which impendeth over my head I most humbly and chearfully submit unto such his good will and pleasure and forgive c. and desire that my body may be privately interred in the Parish Church of Alhallows Bark in London as near as may be to the Reverend Arch-Bishop of Canterbury there with him to expect a joyful resurrection I beseech God to bless my daughter Mavilda Andrews and to supply to her what by my improvidence and the accidents of the late tempestuous times as in my being taken away became deficient and that he would preserve her from want and dishonour and from being by any evil Counsel or example led aside into the foul errors of this Nation in matters concerning her souls health c. Here he gave her and the whole world an account of his faith which was equally distant from Popery Presbytery and Independency all which he charactered professing himself a true son of this Church as governed by Episcopacy and conluded thus I desire such who approve my profession to cover my faults in their charity and to let me be sweet in their memory As for the rest I wish them a seasonable repentance but set no price either upon their opinion or report Vivat Rex currat Lex floreat Grex fiat voluntas Des modo in mina mea He was shortly after beheaded and enrolled into the noble army of Martyrs in Heaven the day and year abovesaid Barnard his accuser and betrayer was hanged four years after at Tyburn for robbing Colonel Winthorps house at Westminster so did God avenge the blood of this Royal and pious person by signal testimony of his unjust and mercilesse prosecution The Speech of Col. Eusebius Andrews immediately before his Execution on the Scaffold on Tower-hill on Thursday August 22. 1650. being attended on by Dr. Swadling AS soon as he came upon the Scaffold kissing the block he said I hope there is no more but this block between me and heaven and to the Lieutenant of the Tower he said I hope I shall neither tire in my way nor go out of it After he had been a good while upon the Scaffold turning to the rail he speaks to the people as followeth Christian Gentlemen and people Your business hither to day is to see a sad spectacle a man to be in a moment unman'd and cut off in the prime of his years taken from further opportunities of doing good either to himself his friends the Common-wealth or especially to God it seldom happens but upon very good cause And though truly if my general known course of life were but inquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral of honesty upon it as some may be so sawcy as to expostulate why this great judgment is fallen upon me but know I am able to give them and my self an answer and out of this breast am able to give a better account of my Judgment and Execution then my Judges themselves or you are able to give It is Gods wrath upon me for sins long unrepented of many Judgements withstood and mercies slighted therefore God hath whipped me by his severe rod of correction that he might not lose me I pray joyn with me in prayer that it may not be a fruitless rod that when by this rod I have laid down my life by this staffe I may be comforted and received into glory I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence there is more exception made against proceedings against me then I even made My tryers had a Law and the value of that Law is indisputable and for me to make a question of it I should shame my self and my discretion In the strictness of that Law something is done by me that is applicable to some clause therein by which I stand condemnable the means whereby I was brought under that interpretation of that which was in my self intended maliciously being testimony given by persons whom I pity so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing sentence against me according to legal Justice for equity lieth in higher breasts As for my Accusers or rather betrayers I pity and am sorry for them they have committed Judas his crime but I wish and pray for them Peters tears that by Peters repentance they may escape Judas his punishment and I wish other people so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk up more blood of Christian men possibly less deserving then my self It is true there have been several addresses made for mercy and I will put the obstruction of it upon nothing more then upon my own sin and seeing God sees it fit having not glorified him in my life I might do it in my death which I am contented to do I profess in the face of God particular malice to any one of State or Parliament to do them a bodily in jury I had none For the Cause in which I had long waded I must needs say my engagement or continuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my Conscience it was in principles of Law the knowledge whereof I profess and on principles of Religion my Judgement satisfied and Conscience rectified that I have pursued those ways which I bless God I find no blackness upon my Conscience nor have I put it into the bed-roll of my sins I will not presume to decide controversies I desire God to honour himself in prospering that side that hath right with it and that you may enjoy peace and plenty when I shall enjoy peace and plenty beyond all
is a Fundamental Law of the English liberty that no Free-man shall be taken or imprisoned without cause shewn or be detained without being brought unto his Answer in due form of Law yet here we saw a Freeman imprisoned ten whole weeks together before any Charge was brought against him and kept in prison three years more before his general Accusation was by them reduced into particulars and for a year almost detained close prisoner without being brought unto his answer as the Law requires It is a Fundamental Law of the English Government that no man be disseised of his Freehold or Liberties but by the known Laws of the Land yet here was a man disseised of his Rents and Lands spoyled of his Goods deprived of his jurisdiction devested of his Right and Patronage and all this done when he was so far from being convicted by the Laws of the Land that no particular charge was so much as thought of It is a Fundamental Law of the English Liberty that no man shall be condemned or put to death but by lawful judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land i. e. in the ordinary way of a legal tryal and sure an Ordinance of both Houses without the Royal Assent is no part of the Law of England nor held an ordinary way of trial for the English subject or ever reckoned to be such in the former times And finally it is a Fundamental Law in the English Government that if any other case than those recited in the Statute of King Edward 3. which is supposed to be Treason do happen before any of his Majesties Justices the Justices shall tarry without giving judgment till the cause be shewn and declared before the King and His Parliament whether it ought to be judged Treason or not yet here we had a new found Treason never known before nor declared such by any of His Majesties Justices nor ever brought to be considered of by the King and His Parliament but only voted to be such by some of those few Members which remained at Westminster who were resolved to have it so for their private ends Put all which hath been said together and then tell me truly if there by any difference for I see not any between the ancient Roman slaves and the once Free-born Subjects of the English Nation whose lives and liberties whose goods and fortunes depend on the meer pleasure of their mighty Masters But to return unto our Story the passing of the Ordinance being made known unto him he neither entertained the news with a Stoical Apathy nor wailed his Fate with weak and womanish Lamentations to which Extreams most men are carried in this case but heard it with so even and so smooth a temper as shewed he neither was afraid to live nor ashamed to die The time between the Sentence and the Execution he spent in Prayers and applications to the Lord his God having obtained though not without some difficulty a Chaplain of his own to attend upon him and to assist him in the work of his preparation though little preparation needed to receive that Blow which could not but be welcom because long expected For so well was he studied in the Art of dying especially in the last and strictest part of his Imprisonment that by continual Fasting Watching Prayers and such like Acts of Christian Humiliation his flesh was rarified into Spirit and the whole man so fitted for eternal Glories that he was more then half in heaven before death brought his bloudy but triumphant Chariot to convey him thither He that had been so long a Confessor could not but think it a release of miseries to be made a Martyr And as it is recorded of Alexander the great that the night before his best and greatest Battel with Darius the Persian he fell into so sound a sleep that his Princes hardly could awake him when the Morning came so is is certified of this great Prelate that on the Evening before his Passeover the night before the dismal combat betwixt him and death after he had refreshed his spirits with a moderate Supper he betook himself unto his rest and slept very soundly till the time came in which his Servants were appointed to attend his Rising a most assured sign of a Soul prepared The fatal morning being come he first applied himself to his private Prayers and so continued till Penington and other of their publick Officers came to conduct him to the Scaffold which he ascended with so brave a courage such a cheerful countenance as if he had mounted rather to behold a triumph then to be made a Sacrifice and came not there to die but to be translated And to say Truth it was no Scaffold but a Throne a Throne whereon he shortly was to receive a Crown even the most glorious Crown of Martyrdom And though some rude uncivil people reviled him as he passed along with opprobrious Language as loath to let him go to the Grave in peace it never discomposed his thoughts nor disturbed his patience For he had profited so well in the School of Christ that when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously And as he did not fear the Frowns so neither did he cover the applause of the vulgar Herd and therefore rather chose to read what he had to speak unto the People then to affect the Ostentation either of memory or wit in that dreadful Agony whether with greater Magnanimity or Prudence I can hardly say As for the matter of his Speech besides what did concern himself and his own purgation his great care was to clear His Majesty and the Church of England from any inclination unto Popery with a persivasion of the which the Authors of our then miseries had abused the People and made them take up Arms against their Soveraign approving himself a faithful Servant to the last By means whereof as it is said of Samson in the Book of Judges that the men which he slew at his death were more then they which he slew in his Life so may it be affirmed of this famous Prelate that he gave a greater blow unto the enemies of God and the King at the hour of his Death then he had given them in his whole life before But this you will more clearly see by the Speech it self which followeth here according to the best and most perfect Copies The Speech of the L. Archbishop of Canterbury spoken at his Death upon the Scaffold on the Tower-hill Jan. 10. 1644. Good People THis is an uncomfortable time to preach yet I shall begin with a Text of Scripture Heb. 12.2 Let us run with patience that Race which is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Crosse despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of
God I have been long in my Race and how I have looked to Jesus the Author and Finisher of my Faith he best knowes I am now come to the end of my Race and here I find the Crosse a death of shame but the shame must be despised or no coming to the right hand of God Jesus despised the shame for me and God forbid but I should despise the shame for him I am going apace as you see towards the Red Sea and my feet are now upon the very Brink of it an Argument I hope that God is bringing me into the Land of Promise for that was the way through which he led his People But before they came to it he instituted a Passeover for them a Lamb it was but it must be eaten with sour herbs I shall obey and labour to digest the sour herbs as well as the Lamb. And I shall remember it is the Lords Passeover I shall not think of the herbs nor be angry with the hand which gathereth them but look up only to him who instituted that and governs these For men can have no more power over me then what is given them from above I am not in love with this passage through the Red Sea for I have the weaknesse and infirmities of flesh and bloud plentifully in me and I have prayed with my Saviour ut transiret Calix iste that this Cup of Red Wine might passe from me But if not Gods will not mine be done and I shall most willingly drink of this Cup as deep as he pleases and enter into this Sea yea and passe through it in the way that he shall lead me But I would have it remembred good people that when Gods Servants were in this boysterous Sea and Aaron among them the Egyptians which persecuted them and did in a manner drive them into that Sea were drowned in the same waters while they were in pursuit of them I know my God whom I serve is as able to deliver me from this Sea of Bloud as he was to deliver the Three Children from the Furnace and I most humbly thank my Saviour for it my Resolution is now as theirs was then They would not worship the Image the King had set up nor will I the Imaginations which the people are setting up nor will I forsake the Temple and the Truth of God to follow the bleating of Jeroboams Calf in Dan and Bethel And as for this People they are at this day miserably misled God of his mercy open their eyes that they may see the right way for at this day the Blind lead the Blind and if they go on both will certainly fall into the Ditch For my self I am and I acknowledge it in all humility a most grievous sinner many waies by thought word and deed and I cannot doubt but that God hath Mercy in store for me a poor Penitent as well as for other sinners I have now upon this sad occasion ransacked every Corner of my heart yet I thank God I have not found among the many any one sin which deserves death by any known Law of this Kingdom And yet hereby I charge nothing upon my Judges for if they proceed upon Proof by valuable Witnesses I or any other Innocent may be justly condemned And I thank God though the weight of the Sentence lie heavy upon me I am as quiet within as ever I was in my life And though I am not only the first Archbishop but the first man that ever died by an Ordinance of Parliament yet some of my Predecessors have gone this way though not by this means For Elphegus was hurried away and lost his Head by the Danes and Simon Sudbury in the Fury of Wat Tyler and his Fellows Before these St. John Baptist had his Head danced off by a Lewd Woman and St. Cyprian Archbishop of Carthage submitted his Head to a persecuting Sword Many examples great and good and they teach me Patience For I hope my Cause in Heaven will look of another Dye then the colour that is put upon it here And some comfort it is to me not only that I go the way of these great men in their several generations but also that my Charge as foul as 't is made looks like that of the Jews against St. Paul Acts 25.3 For he was accused for the Law and the Temple i. e. Religion And like that of S. Stephen Acts 6.14 for breaking the Ordinances which Moses gave i. e. Law and Religion the holy place and the Temple v. 13. But you will say do I then compare my self with the Integrity of St. Paul and St. Stephen No far be that from me I only raise a Comfort to my self that these great Saints and Servants of God were laid at in their times as I am now And 't is memorable that S. Paul who helped on this Accusation against S. Stephen did after fall under the very same himself Yea but here is a great Clamour that I would have brought in Popery I shall answer that more fully by and by In the mean time you know what the Pharisees said against Christ himself If we let him alone all men will believe in him venient Romani and the Romans will come and take away both our Place and the Nation Here was a causelesse Cry against Christ that the Romans will come And see how just the Judgment of God was they crucified Christ for fear lest the Romans should come and his death was it which brought in the Romans upon them God punishing them with that which they most feared And I pray God this Clamour of venient Romani of which I have given no cause help not to bring them in for the Pope never had such a Harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us In the mean time by honour and dishonour by good and evil report as a Deceiver and yet true am I passing through this world 2 Cor. 6.8 Some Particulars also I think it not amiss to speak of And first this I shall be bold to speak of the King our Gracious Soveraign He hath been much traduced for bringing in of Popery but on my Conscience of which I shall give God a very present account I know Him to be as free from this Charge as any man living and I hold him to be as sound a Protestant according to the Religion by Law established as any man in this Kingdom and that he will venture his Life as far and as freely for it and I think I do or should know both His affection to Religion and His Grounds for it as fully as any man in England The second Particular is concerning this great and Populous City which God bless Here hath been of late a fashion taken up to gather hands and then to go to the Great Court of this Kingdom the Parliament and clamour for Justice as if that great and wise Court before
and Patrimony and the settlement of this distracted and distressed People under their ancient Laws and in their native Liberties And when thou hast done all this in meer mercy for them O Lord fill their hearts with thankfulnesse and with Religious dutiful-obedience to thee and thy Commandments all their daies So Amen Lord Jesus Amen and receive my Soul into thy Bosome Amen Our Father which art c. The Speech and Prayers being ended he gave the Paper which he red unto Dr. Sterne his Chaplain now Lord Bishop of Carlisle desiring him to shew it his other Chaplains that they might know how he departed out of this World and so prayed God to shew his mercies and blessings on them And noting how one Hinde had employed himself in taking a Copy of his Speech as it came from his mouth he desired him not to do him wrong in publishing a false or imperfect Copy Which as Hinde promised him to be â—areful of calling for punishment from above if he should do otherwise so hath he reasonably well performed his promise he next applied himself to the fatal Block as to the Haven of his rest But finding the way full of people who had placed themselves upon the Theatre to behold the Tragedy he desired he might have room to dye beseeching them to let him have an end of his miseries which he had endured very long All which he did with so serene and calm a mind as if he had been rather taking order for another mans funeral then making way unto his own Being come near the Block he put off his doublet and used some words to this effect Gods will be done I am willing to go out of this World no man can be more willing to send me out of it And seeing through the chinks of the boards that some people were got under the Scaffold about the very place where the Block was seated he called on the Officers for some dust to stop them or to remove the people thence saying it was no part of his desires that his bloud should fall upon the heads of the People Never did man put off mortality with a braver courage not look upon his bloudy and malitious Enemies with more Christian charity And thus far he was gone in his way towards Paradise with such a Primitive magnanimity as equalled if not exceeded the example of ancient Martyrs Then he turned towards his Executioner and gave him money saying without the least distemper or change of countenance here honest friend God forgive thee and do thy office upon me with mercy and having given a sign when the blow should come he kneeled down upon his knees and prayed as followeth The Lord Arch-Bishops Prayer as he kneeled by the Block LOrd I am coming as fast as I can I know I must pass through the shadow of death before I can come to see thee But it is but umbra mortis a meer shadow of death a little darknesse upon nature but thou by thy merits and passion hast broke through the jaws of death So Lord receive my Soul and have mercy upon me and blesse this Kingdom with Peace and Plenty and with brotherly love and charity that there may not be this effusion of Christian blood amongst them for Jesus Christ 's sake if it be thy will Then laying his head upon the Block and praying silently to himself he said aloud Lord receive my Soul which was the signal given to the Executioner who very dextrously did his office and took it off at a blow his Soul ascending on the wings of Angels into Abrahams bosome and leaving his Body on the Scaffold to the care of men after he had lived 71 years 13 weeks and 4 dayes which was interd in Alhollows Barkin Church with the decent Ceremonies of the Church of England On the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury I Need no muse to give my passion vent He brews his tears that studies to lament Verse chymically weeps that pious raine Distill'd with Art is but the sweat o' th brain Who ever sob'd in numbers can a groan Be quaver'd out by soft division T is true for common formal Ellegies Not Bushels Wells can match a Poets eyes In wanton water-works hâ—e'l turn his tears From a Geneva Jig up to the Sphears But when he mourns at distance weeps aloof Now that the Conduit-head is our own roof Now that the fate is publick we may call It Britaines Vespers Englands Funeral Who hath a Pensil to express the Saint Put he hath eyes too washing off the paint There is no learning but what tears surround Like to Seths Pillars in the Deluge drown'd There is no Church Religion is grown From much of late that she 's increast to none Like an Hydropick body full of Rheumes First swells into a bubble then consumes The Law is dead or cast into atrance And by a Law dough-bak't an Ordinance The Lyturgie whose doom was voted next Died as a Comment upon Him the Text. There nothing lives life is since he is gone But a Nocturnal Lucubration Thus have you seen Deaths Inventory read In the sum total Canterburies dead A sight would make a Pagan to baptize Himself a Convert in his bleeding eyes Would thaw the rabble that fierce beast of ours That which Agena like weeps and devours Tears that flow brackish from their Souls within Not to repent but pickle up their sin Mean time no squallid grief his look defiles He guilds his sadder fate with noble smiles Thus the worlds eye with reconciled streams Shines in his showers as if he wept his beams How could success such villanies applaud The State in Strafford fell the Church in Laud The twins of publick rage adjudg'd to dye For Treasons they should act by Prophecy The facts were done before the Laws were made The trump turn'd up after the game was plaid Be dull great spirits and forbear to climbe For worth is sin and eminence a crime No Church-man can be innocent and high 'T is height makes Grantham steeple stand awry Master Robert Yeomans and Master George Bowcher Citizens of Bristol murdered there May 30 1643. THere were few cities in the Kingdom for all the Artifices and popular cheats of those at Westminster who had debauched a great number of the Kings good Subjects wherein his Majesties Cause had not an equal share in the Affection and Opinion of the Inhabitants if in some places it went lesse in others it was paramount as the Difference was visible in the neighbouring Cities of Glocester and Bristol In the last whereof we shall present you with a very sad and deplorable example of Loyalty and cruelty in the persons of Mr. Yeomans and Mr. Bowcher intending it as a sweet Oyntment to embasm their Funerals that though with their Saviour the Ignominy of whose Crosse sanctified even the death of that accursed Tree in their death they were numbred among the Transgressors yet Loyalty being their Epitaph they may make their Graves amongst the
but filled with the scornful Reproofs of the Proud by reproaches and such like rancorous Language was ready to die that Morning of his Execution For being a man of a magnanimous Spirit a large Soul and of great employments was more sensible of Indignities so that fitting by his Wife that Morning and leaning on her Breast he fell into a swoon and probably had then departed but that the shrieks and outcries of his Wife recalled him to a more Glorious Death that so Posterity might read his Name with Mr. Bowchers not in the Catalogue of Confessors but enrolled in the Noble Army of Martyrs The time of their Execution was concealed for fear the City should oppose so bloody a Fact but when the Fatal day was come Fiennes drew his Forces into the Marish the common place where they make their Musters and then suddenly caused the Gates to be shut drew Horse and Foot into every street of the City to awe the Citizens and to suppress Insurrections which the Indignity and affront offered to two of their most eminent Fellow-Citizens whose Crime was nothing else but Loyalty might incite them to especially if they should consider that an Issue of Bloud was that day opened that might in the end prove fatal to them and involve them in the same condition if they should see those Persons led to the slaughter and they stand like Sheep and not oppose it for if Fiennes and his Blood-hounds should for any other Vertue as well as Loyalty pass the same Sentence on any of them who should defend them who having refused the Kings Protection are grown so tame as not to venture their Lives for themselves All things being thus made secure the Prisoners are brought from the Castle to the Main Court of Guard being saluted all the way thither by the people who pressed with hazard enough to see and take leave of these Martyrs who would have asserted their Liberty they likewise returned hearty thanks for their dangerous Expressions of their Affections it being a sin next to Malignancy to own them or pray for them To fit themselves for their ends they desired they might have the assistance of Mr. Toogood and Mr. Standfast two Orthodox and pious Ministers of that City to sweeten the Cup they were ready to drink but this Christian Request was most unchristianly denied them and two Ministers of the Faction designed for their miserable Comforters When they were at the foot of the Ladder to that Tree which was presently to bear fruit to Eternal Life it was observed by some of the Murderers that knew the knack of it that the Halters were either too long or short or some fault which made the Executioner go and take them off whereupon the People that were Spectators of this bloudy Tragedy that stood at a distance and knew not the reason of their so doing conceiving that Fiennes had sent a Reprieve suddenly expressed their Joy by loud Acclamations but the deaths-man making his Fatal Instruments fast again and the Guards continuing still upon the place as if they were thunder-struck they stood still astonished and soon changed their Joy into Tears and Lamentations Being thus ready to be offered up as a Sacrifice to the implacable rage and malice of Fiennes and his fellow-Rebels Mr. Robert Yeomans first ascended the Ladder thence to reach his Crown of Martyrdom but before he went up he took care after the example of our Saviour to recommend his wife to his father in Law Mr. Yeomans in this addresse that he had left him a Legacy his VVife then great with child and eight small children the Eldest not able to put on his own Cloaths and so after many Embraces left him and set forward on his way to Heaven Being thus seated in that place of shame and disgrace as it is in its own nature where the Cause doth not change the accursed Tree into a Theatre of Honour and seeing himself made a Spectacle to that City wherein he had lived in plenty and Honour being Sheriffe but the Year before which Office he discharged with as much Magnificence and Bounty as any of his Predecessors And from that Prospect taking a view of many friends that could not well look through their Tears to see him again seeing also others of a far different temper that rejoyced in his sufferings amongst which was Robert Baugh one of the aforesaid Council of VVar in a most devilish cruelty stand jeering and mocking at him to his face here flesh and bloud interposed which transported him to an Expostulation bordering between Indignation and Submission saying Good God what have I done to be here but instantly sorry that humane Frailty should extort any thing from him unbeseeming the Justice of his Cause or the hardness of Christian resolution silencing the Suggestions of such evil Counsellors he composed himself to speak to the People Being weakned by long and many Sufferings he was not able to speak much or loud only as to clear himself from the imputation of an intent to have massacred all that adhered to the Parliament Laying his Hand upon his Breast and fixing his eyes on Heaven the Habitation of the God of Truth he made a solemn Protestation of his Innocency from any such thought and withal professed a firm perswasion of the Justice of that cause for which he suffered adding that if he had more Lives he would sacrifice them all to his Soveraign in that way While he was thus speaking Major Hercules Langrish since dead in Goal and extream want having before betrayed his Master the King in discovering his Majesties Coming to the House of Commons to demand the 5 Members who by that means had time to shift away and Clifton call upon the Executioner to hasten his work they interrupted Mr. Yeomans also and goaded him in the thighs with their Halberts bidding him to make an end for they were yet afraid of his rescue whereupon he desired the Witnesses of his suffering to sing with him the 130 Psalm which he sung with great Devotion and Fervency knowing that he should be presently translated out of Bochim the valley of Tears into that triumphant Quire where with Angels he should sing Hallelujah for evermore Having finished the Psalm and his Prayers and desired God not to charge his Bloud on that City and having prayed for his Persecuters charging his friends not to harbour any revengeful Thoughts against them and in the close of all beginning to defend his cause as words which would leave the deepest impression this Langrish and Clifton caused him to be thrown off the Ladder hardly affording him time to recommend his soul unto God Being thrown off and his Brother M. Haggat staying his Body that swung with the fall this Clifton gave the said Mr. Haggat such a Blow with his Cane that almost struck him to the ground Oh the barbarous Inhumanity of these Villains After Mr. Yeomans was thus executed without any resistance of the Citizens
no truly Loyal Person ever was brought who was within the reach of their griping talents that ever escaped with his skin so aptly might that Fable of the Fox to the Lyon be rather unmoralized Vestigia cerno Omnia te advorsum spectantia nulla retrorsum It was in vain to move either their Honour Conscience or Duty or to plead ones own their ambiguous salvo's and reserves to themselves and their forward facing of others out of reason by their Janus-like cause which was for and against the King like the Basilisk killed all whom it directly aspected or were brought before them This Gentlemâ—ns fare was huddled up at Essex House before a Council of War held there on the walls whereof any man then might have red the Event The grand pillâ—r raiser and support of that unnatural War being proprietor thereof and at that present personally inhabiting it who was just come from Newbery first Fight where as yet he had left himself unrevenged Without any more adoe therefore but a setting Mr. Kniveton at their Bar as the mark and aim of all their impotent malice he was condemned to be hanged as a Spie for maintaining and managing intelligence with and from the Enemy that was the King whom they said they fought for but on what Article of War I never could tell and I presume the Reader can hardly imagine Little respit was afforded for the time of Execution for the Faction were enraged that any man should presume to tell them that it was Treason to counterfeit the Kings Seal and if such continual Messages upon every of their actions should be brought and declared it might in time open the eyes of the people to understand the Law and leave them in conclusion to its Justice and their due demerit He was brought therefore on the day he suffered as aforesaid on foot from Newgate being accompanied with Mr. Benson a Bookseller his acquaintance in Fleetstreet to a Gibbet erected over against the Exchange where he may most properly be said to have Sealed his Cause with his Blood being sent of another Message to Heaven where his Bliss and Happiness shall have no Terme Captain Burleigh Martyred at Westminster February 10. 1647. THe Execution of this Person was the absurdity of Law the contradiction of Magna Charta the infringment and violation of Nature and if it could be strained higher than an affront and Rebellion against the supreme power of the Universe it would passe with a lesser ignominy than the merit of this Cause will afford it That men tyed by their allegiance by several Oaths of Fealty by the benefit of their protection and advantages they received under the Government of so excellent a Prince were to be dispensed nay must be discharged from that Duty and Obedience they ought him and that the Parliament as they had subdued their Lawful King might give Law to him propound their own insolent terms and demands and rigidly insist on them secure his Person under pretence of publick safety administer the Kingdom themselves sequester and seize their Estates who resisted them in these violent and unheard of outrages all this I say might be as otherwise it could not be helpt as the sad state of the miseries of the Kingdom then was with some kind of patience endured but to see and hear to be upon the place where so many undutiful unchristian contempts after the Votes of Non Addresse were put upon the King in that place which he had chosen for his refuge and Sanctuary I can hardly allow any man in this case the glory of Martyrdom whose frame and temper had but the least ingredients of natural not to pride it in loyal compassion if he durst do that which bravery and courage prompted him to the Law and his obedience required and God commanded Yet I do not the less wonder and stand amazed at this butchery upon several considerations which though they be of different respects yet do center universally in this that they will make the murder of this person prodigiously infamous to all persons concerned in it First not to meddle with the Laws whose Divine stamp was most treasonably defaced in this act we will consider this attempt of Captain Burleighs in the invariable latitude of common humanity His pretended crime was the beating of a Drum in the Isle of Wight upon the news the Islanders had received that the Parliament had rejected the King upon their Votes of Non addresse and had resolved to settle the Kingdom without him when his Majesty was confined a close Prisoner to Carisbrook Castle This was misconstrued according to the left-handed learning of those times for Treason whereas had there been any sympathetical Musick in those Drums they would have made a noyse and Alarm of themselves borrowed from those groans and sighs the captive Prince made to his more compassionate walls who burst to give vent and eccho to those doleful notes And could men not allow that soft and tender-heartedness to men to Christians to Subjects to a Subject too well reputed and esteemed of in his Island as a good and honest man one who out of conscience and integrity and for no other sinister end whatsoever had faithfully served his Soveraign abroad that is had crost the Sea to do his devoir and there having weâ—ried himself and his fortunes had retired to his home as a shelter against his hard pursuing destinie where in privacy he thought to shroud himself No he finds death in the place of it first he is chiefly concern'd in the publick sorrow and distress of his Soveraign those breaths of grief soon pierce his ears and those Royal lamentations heightned by a generous Spirit quickly transport and possess him and by this most laudable and glorious action which signified only a courage to rescue what villany had captivated and hindred their wicked attempts no farther then by affording a brave and imitable example of Loyal magnanimity to all true Subjects in all exigencies and dangers of their Princes be becomes a sacrifice to their Moloch of Anarchycal Tyranny We will view him in the next consideration as his case stood in direct opposition to that of Major Rolfe then an Officer in the Army and of very great trust and intimacy with Cromwell who was tryed at the same time and Assizes by the same Commission Judges and Jury and then certainly nothing can appear more flagitious and hainously arbitrary than this Gentlemans condemnation Contraria juxta se posit a magis elucescunt contraries opposed one to another make each of them appear the clearer and so will it prove in the memory of this Noble Person which will hereby appear in a most venerable splendor Rolfes Crime was this he was accused by one Mr. Osborne and another gentleman then attending on the King in the Isle of Wight where this Rolfe had a Charge to have consâ—ired the death of the King and that particularly by assassinating him with a Brace of Pistols
this pretended Court but also that no Earthly power can justly call Me who am your KING in question as a Delinquent I would not any more open My mouth upon his occasion more than to refer My self to what I have spoken were I alone in this case alone concern'd But the duty I owe to God in the preservation of the true liberty of My People will not suffer Me at this time to be silent For how can any free-born Subject of England call Life or any thing he possesseth his own if power without Right daily make new and abrogate the old fundamental Law of the Land which I now take to be the present case Wherefore when I came hither I expected that you would have endeavoured to have satisfied Me concerning those grounds which hinder Me to answer to your pretended Impeachment but since I see that nothing I can say will move you to it though Negatives are not so naturally proved as Affirmatives yet I will shew you the Reason why I am confident you cannot judge Me nor indeed the meanest man in England for I will not like you without shewing a reason seek to impose a belief upon My Subjects * * Hereabout I was stopt and not suffered to speak any more concerning reasons There is no proceeding just against any man but what is warranted either by Gods Laws or the municipal Laws of the Country where he lives Now I am most confident that this dayes proceeding cannot be warranted by Gods Law for on the contrary the authority of obedience unto Kings is clearly warranted and strictly commanded both in the Old and New Testament which if denied I am ready instantly to prove and for the Question now in hand there it is said That where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Eccles 8.4 Then for the Laws of this Land I am no lesse confident that no learned Lawyer will affirm that an impeachment can lye against the King they all going in His Name and one of their Maximes is That the King can do no wrong Besides the Law upon which you ground your proceedings must either be old or new if old shew it if new tell what Authority warranted by the fundamental Laws of the Land hath made it and when But how the House of Commons can erect a Court of Judicature which was never one it self as is well known to all Lawyers I leave to God and the World to judge And it were full as strange that they should pretend to make Laws without King or Lords-House to any that have heard speak of the Laws of England And admitting but not granting that the People of Englands Commission could grant your pretended power I see nothing you can shew for that for certaintly you never asked the question of the tenth man of the Kingdom and in this way you manifestly wrong even the poorest Ploughman if you demand not his free consent nor can you pretend any colour for this your pretended Commission without the consent at least of the major part of every man in England of whatsoever quality or condition which I am sure you never went about to seek so far are you from having it Thus you see that I speak not for My own right alone as I am your KING but also for the true liberty of all My Subjects which consists not in sharing the power of Government but in living under such Laws such a Government as may give themselves the best assurance of their lives and propriety of their goods Nor in this must or do I forget the Priviledges of both Houses of Parliament which this dayes proceeding doth not only violate but likewise occasion the greatest breach of their publick Faith that I believe ever was heard of with which I am far from charging the two Houses for all the pretended crimes laid against Me bear date long before this late Treaty at Newport in which I having concluded as much as in Me lay and hopefully expecting the two Houses agreement thereunto I was suddenly surprised and hurried from thence as a Prisoner upon which I account I am against My will brought hither where since I am come I cannot but to My power defend the ancient Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom together with My own just right Than for any thing I can see the higher House is totally excluded And for the House of Commons it is too well known that the major part of them are detained or deterred from sitting so as if I had no other this were sufficient for me to protest against the lawfulnesse of your pretended Court. Besides all this the Peace of the Kingdom is not the least in my thoughts and what hopes of settlement is there so long as Power reigns without rule of Law changing the whole frame of that Government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years nor will I say what will fall out in case this lawless unjust proceeding against me do go on and believe it the Commons of England will not thank you for this change for they will remember how happy they have been of late years under the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the King my Father and My Self until the beginning of these unhappy Troubles and will have cause to doubt that they shall never be so happy under any new And by this time it will be too sensibly evident that the Arms I took up were only to defend the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom against those who have supposed My power hath totally changed the ancient Government Thus having shewed you briefly the Reasons why I cannot submit to your pretended Authority without violating the trust which I have from God for the welfare and liberty of my People I expect from you either clear Reasons to convince my judgment shewing me that I am in an Error and then truly I will readily answer or that you will withdraw your proceedings This I intended to speak in Westminster-Hall on Monday 22 January but against Reason was hindred After that horrid Sentence his Majesty was hurried from their Bar As he passed down the stairs the common Souldiers laying aside all Reverence to Soveraignty scoffed at him casting the smoak of their stinking Tobacco in his face no Smell more offensive to him and flinging their foul pipes at his feeâ— But one more insolent than the rest defiled his venerable Face with his spittle for his Majestry was observed with much patience to wipe it off with his Handkerchief and as he passed hearing them cry out Justice Justice Poor Souls said he for a piece of money they would do so for their Commanders That Night being Saturday January 27. the King lodged at White-hall that evening a Member of the Army acquainted the Committee with the desires of the King that seeing they had passed Sentence of Death upon him and the time of his Execution might be nigh that he might see his Children
the Executioner said I shall say but very short Prayers and when I thrust out my hands Then the King called to Dr. Juxon for his Night-cap and having put it on he said to the Executioner Does my hair trouble you who desired him to put it all under his Cap which the King did accordingly by the help of the Executioner and the Bishop then the King turning to Doctor Juxon said I have a good Cause and a Gracious God on my side D. Juxon There is but one stage more this Stage is turbulent and troublesom it is a short one But you may consider it will soon carry you a very great way it will carry you from Earth to Heaven and there you shall find a great deal of cordial Joy and Comfort King I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown where no disturbance can be no disturbance in the world Dr. Juxon You are exchanged from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown a good Exchange The King then said to the Executioner Is my Hair well Then the King took off his Cloak and his George giving his George to Dr. Juxon saying Remember * It is thought to give it to the Prince Then the King put off his Doublet and being in his Wastcoat put his Cloak on again then looking upon the Block said to the Executioner You must set it fast Executioner It is fast Sir King When I put my hands out this way stretching them out then After that having said two or three words as he stood to himself with hands and Eyes lift up immediatly stooping down laid his Neck upon the Block and the Executioner again putting his hair under his Cap the King said thinking he had been going to strike stay for the sign Executioner Yes I will and it please your Majesty And after a very little Pause the King stretching forth his Hands the Executioner at one blow severed his Head from his Body the head being off the Executioner held it up and shewed it to the People which done it was with the Body put in a Coffin covered with black Velvet for that purpose and conveyed into his Lodgings there And from thence it was carried to his House at St. James's where his Body was embalmed put in a Coffin of Lead laid there a Fortnight to be seen by the people and on the Wednesday seven-night after his Corps embalmed and coffined in Lead was delivered chiefly to the care of four of his Servants viz. Mr. Herbert Captain Anthony Mildmay his Sewers Captain Preston and John Joyner formerly cook to his Majesty they attended with others cloathed in Mourning Suits and Cloaks accompanied the Herse that night to Windsor and placed it in that which was formerly the Kings Bed-Chamber next day it was removed into the Deans Hall which Room was hanged with Black and made dark with Lights burning round the Herse in which it remained till Three in the Afternoon about which time came the Duke of Lenox the Marquess of Hertford the Marquess of Dorchester the Earl of Lindsey having obtained an Order from the Parliament for the Decent Interment of the King their Royal Master provided the Expence thereof exceeded not five hundred Pounds at their coming into the Castle they shewed their Order of Parliament to Col. Whichâ—ott Governour of the Castle desiring the Interment might be in St. Georges Chappel and by the Form in the Common-Prayer-Book of the Church of England this Request was by the Governour denied saying it was improbable that the Parliament would permit the use of what they had so solemnly abolished and therein destroy their own Act. To which the Lords replied there is a difference betwixt destroying their own Act and dispensing with it and that no power so binds its own Hands as to disable it self in some cases all could not prevail the Governour persisting in the Negative The Lords betook themselves to the search of a convenient place for the Burial of the Corps the which after some paines taken therein they discover a Vault in the middle of the Quire wherein as is probably conjectured lieth the Body of King Henry the Eighth and his Beloved Wife the Lady Jane Seamor both in Coffins of Lead in this Vault there being room for one more they resolve to interre the Body of the King the which was accordingly brought to the place born by the Officers of the Garrison the four Corners of the Velvet Pall born up by the aforesaid four Lords the pious Bishop of London following next and other Persons of Quality the body was committed to the Earth with Sighs and Tears especially of the Reverend Bishop to be denied to do the last duty and Service to his Dear and Royal Master the Velvet Pall being cast into the Vault was laid over the Body upon the Coffin was these words set KING CHARLES 1648. I cannot let pass this Horrid Act of treason without letting the world know of the Damnable hypocrisie of that Arch Traytor Oliver Cromwel The Day assigned for Murdering of the King being come the Council of War sate which then managed all A Letter without name was addressed to the Council to represent to them by Reasons Conscience of and Prudence the formidable Consequence of so strange and execrable an Execution Cromwel seemed to be much toucht at it which caused some then present to suspect that he had a hand in procuring it and proposed it to the consideration of the Council many of which began to relent and lean toward Compassion Cromwel observing it made a Turn toward the Door and sent one of his Confidents to those to whom the Execution was committed to command them to dispatch the business then returning to the Council-Table made a large discourse shewing the Inconvenience of this Execution and advised them so to secure the Person of the King that he might neither do nor receive hurt which Discourse was seconded by others and re-assumed by himself with a great many words to lengthen out the time until one briskly entring into the Chamber told them Gentlemen you may cease to consult the Work is done the King is executed upon which Cromwel fell down upon his Knees with great Devotion and made an Eloquent Prayer giving Glory to God and acknowledging his Divine Justice A Letter worthy Perusal written by King Charles to his Son the Prince from Newport in the Isle of Wight Dated Nov. 29. 1648. Son BY what hath been said you may see how long We have laboured in the search of Peace Do not you be discouraged to tread those waies in all those worthy means to restore your self to your Right but prefer the way of Peace shew the Greatness of your mind rather to conquer your Enemies by pardoning them then by punishing If you saw how unmanly and unchristianly this implacable disposition is in our ill-willers you would avoid that Spirit Censure Us not for having parted with too much of Our own Right the Price was great the
servants joyned himself with the Lord Goring Sr. Charles Lucas and others who with a considerable Army were then in Essex and after a long Siege were forced to surrender their Garrison of Colchester In the Articles of that rendition this right noble Lord was included and had quarter given him for life though it was afterwards unhansomly unsaid again by him that gave it who left him after his Parol given to a High Court of Justice upon this surrender he was committed to the Tower where whilst he remained he endeavoured to escape which he well effected but crossing the water through some discourse he let fall Jones the Waterman conceiving what he was upon his landing discovered him had him retaken and committed again in order to his Tryal In the middle of March 1648 he was brought before the said High Court of Justice where he said enough in reason and justice to have cleared himself insisting upon his Priviledge as a Peer and claiming the benefit of the Laws which owned no such arbitrary Power as this against the life of any Subject especially a Noble Man and in sum denied their Jurisdiction and pleaded his quarter given him as abovesaid but nothing would avail they proceeded to Judgment and with Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland Earl of Norwich and Sr. John Owen sentenced him to be beheaded which was executed accordingly on the ninth of March. We will now take a view of him after the tmie of his Condemnation when he was to encounter and look Death in the face He alwaies kept a very chearful and well composed temper of mind which proceeded from true Christian Principles he would often say it was the good God he served and the good cause he had served for that made him not to fear Death adding that he never had the temptation of so much as a thought to check him for his engagement in this quarrel for he took it for his Crown and glory and wished he had a greater ability and better fortune to engage in it The afternoon before his suffering he was a great while in private with a Minister where bewailing with that sense which became a true and not despairing penitent the sins of his life past the greatest he could remember was his voting my Lord of Straffords death which though as he said he did without any malice at all yet he confessed it to be a very great sin and that he had done it out of a base fear his own words of a prevailing party of which he had very often and very heartily repented and was confident of Gods pardon for it Then he desired to receive the Blessed Sacrament before he dyed After this being afraid of some danger to the Minister that attended him for that work of Love and some Conference in order to his preparation both for his provision and his voyage the Sacrament and his death he desired to go to Prayers which being performed he returned to his private devotions The next morning being the day of his death he desired the Minister who was with him before to hear and joyn with him in Prayers which he did for half an hour in an excellent method very apt Expressions and most strong hearty and passionate affections First confessing and bewailing his sins with strong cries and tears then humbly and most earnestly desiring Gods mercy through the Merits of Christ alone Secondly For his dear Lady and Children with some passion but for her especially with most ardent affections recommending them to the Divine Providence with great confidence and affurance and desiring for them rather the blessings of a better life than of this Thirdly For the King Church and Kingdom And Lastly For his Enemies with almost the same ardour and affection After Prayer ended my Lord of Norwich and Sr. John Owen being sent for the Minister read the whole Office of the Church for Good Friday and then after a short Homily for the occasion he received the Sacrament again in which action he behaved himself with great Humility Zeal and Devotion Being demanded after the receiving thereof how he found himself he replyed very much better stronger and cheerfuller for that heavenly repast and that he doubted not to walk like a Christian through the vale of death in the strength of it But he was to have an Agony before his Passion and that was the parting with his Wife eldest Son now Earl of Essex his Son in Law two of his Uncles and Sr. T.C. especially his parting with his dearest Lady which indeed was the saddest spectacle that could be In which occasion as he could not choose but shew and confesse a little of humane frailty yet even then he did not forget both to comfort and counsel her and the rest of his friends particularly in blessing the yuong Lord he commanded him never to revenge his death though it should be in his power the like he said unto his Lady He told his Son he would leave him a Legacy out of David's Psalms and that was this Lord lead me in a plain path For Boy saith he I would have you a plain honest man and hate dissimulation After this was past with much adoe his Wife and the rest of his Friends were perswaded to begone and then being all alone with the Minister he said Doctor the hardest part of my work in this World is now past meaning the parting with his Wife Then he desired the said Minister to pray preparatively for his death that in the last action he might so behave himself as might be most for Gods Glory for the indearing of his dead Masters memory and his present Masters service and that he might avoid the doing or saying of any thing which might savour either of ambition or vanity This being done he was conveyed with the other two Lords who suffered with him to Sr. Robert Cottons where the Minister staid with him till he was called to the Scaffold whither the Guard of Souldiers permitted him not to come so that my Lord took leave of him there The same day he died he wrote this following Letter to his Wife My dearest Life MY Eternal life is in Christ Jesus my wordly considerations in the highest degree thou hast deserved let me live long here in thy dear memory to the comfort of my Family our dear Children whom God out of mercy in Christ hath bestowed upon us I beseech thee take care of thy health sorrow not afflict not thy self too much God will be unto thee better than an Husband and to my Children better than a Father I am sure he is able to be so I am confident he is graciously pleased to be so God be with thee my most vertuous Wife God multiply many Comforts to thee and my Children which is the fervent Prayer of Thy c. He hath also left behind him an excellent Book of Meditations and some other Miscellaneous things especially an Exhertation to stir up the hearts and endeavours of
especially that of the King 's they made no bones of him but condemned him to the Gibbet with such fury and hast that they would scarce afford him time to recommend himself from their merciless Bar to the merciful and just Tribunal of Heaven which would ere long judge righteously in his cause between his Enemies and himself He was not long in preparation for his dissolution having as well learned as taught the necessity of Death improved to him into an easie suffering undergoing of it by the glory of his cause so that he quietly submitted to their Sentence and with Christian resolution owning his actions in order to his duty laid down his life the day and year aforesaid and will therefore deservedly among the rest of his glorious Company be had in precious and everlasting remembrance Not long afterwards followed the rendition of Pontefract-Castle surprized as aforesaid by Col. Morris they had stood it out to extremity there being no place in England for the King besides therefore were forced to accept of very hard Conditions which were that six of the garison whom they should chuse should be left at discretion The reason of this calling out this Number was a resolution to Sacrifice them to the ghost of the said Rainsborough being assured that those that performed that exploit were then in the Castle might be discovered upon view Among those or rather for those this Gentleman was taken being the Governor of the place and with Cornet Michael Blackbourn and the others brought to the City of York and committed to that Goal until the Summer-Assizes held there by Baron Thorp for that County when an Indictment of Treason was brought against them for levying War against the Parliament therupon found guilty by a pack'd Jury and after Sentence of being hanged drawn and quartered they were executed the day and year aforesaid the rigour of dismembring them being only abated At their death they spake as followeth The Speech of Col. John Morris Governour of Pontefract Castle at the place of his Execution at York August 23. 1649. WHen he was brought out of prison looking upon the Sledge that was there set for him lifting up his eyes to Heaven knocking upon his breast he said I am as willing to go to my death as to put off my doublet to go to bed I despise the shame as well as the Cross I know I am going to a joyful place with many like expressions When the Post met him about St. James Church that was sent to the Parliament to mediate for a reprieve and told him he could not prevailin it he said Sir I pray God reward you for your pains I hope and am well assured to finde a better pardon then any they can give my hope is not in man but in the living God At the place of Execution he made this profession of his faith his breeding his cause he had fought in Gentlemen First I was bred up in the true Protestant Religion having my education and breeding from that honorable House my dear Lord Master Strafford which place I dare boldly say was as well governed and ruled as ever any yet was before it I much doubt better then any will be after it unless it please God to put a period to these distracted times this Faith and Religion I say I have been bred in and I thank God I have hitherto lived in without the least wavering and now I am resolved by Gods assistance to dy in These pains are nothing if compared to those dolors and pains which Jesus Christ our Saviour hath suffered for us when in a bloody-Sweat he endured the Wrath of God the pain of Hell and the cursed and shameful death which was due to our sins therefore I praise the Lord that I am not plagued with far more grievous punishment that the like hath befallen others who undoubtedly are most glorious and blessed Saints with Christ in Heaven It is the Lords affliction and who will not take any affliction in good part when it comes from the hand of God And what shall we receive good from the hands of God and not receive evil And though I desire as I am carnal that this Cup may depart from me yet not my will but thy will be done Death brings unto the godly an end of sinning and of all miseries due unto sin so that aâ—ter death there shall be no more sorrow nor cry nor pain for God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes by Death our souls shall be delivered from thraldom and this corruptible body shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality Therefore blessed are they that are delivered out of so vile a world and freed from such a body of bondage and corruption the soul shall enjoy immediate Communion with God in evetlasting bliss and glory it takes us from the miseries of this world and society of sinners to the City of the living God the celestial Jerusalem I bless God I am thought worthy to suffer for his Name and for so good a cause and if I had a thousand lives I would willingly lay them down for the cause of my King the Lords Anointed the Scripture commands us to fear God and honour the King to be subject to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as supreme or to to those that are in authority under him I have been always faithful to my Trust and though I have been most basely accused for betraying Leverpool yet I take God to witness it is a most false aspersion for I was then sick in my bed and knew not of the delivering of it till the Officers and Souldiers had done it without my consent and then I was carried prisoner to Sir John Meldrum afterwards I came down into the Country and seeing I could not live quietly at home I was perswaded by Colonel Forbes Colonel Overton Lieut-Colonel Fairfax whom I took for my good friends to march in their Troops which I did but with intention still to do my King the best service when occasion was and so I did and I pray God to turn the hearts of all the Souldiers to their lawful Sovereign that this Land may enjoy Peace which till then it will never do and though thou kill me yet will I put my trust in thee wherefore I trust in God he will not fail me nor forsake me Then he took his Bible and read divers Psalms fit for his own occasion and consolation and then put up divers prayers some publiquely and some privately the publique was this whiâ—h follows His Prayer WElcome blessed hour the period of my Pilgrimage the term of my Bondage the end of my cares the close of my sins the bound of my travels the Goal of my race and the haven of my hopes I have fought a long fight in much weakness I have finished my course though in great faintness and the Crown of my joy is that through the
there were blank Commissions signed by the King to the purport aforesaid were found with him and carried to the Council who thereupon ordered him to be proceeded against as a spie and referred him to a Council of War Accordingly he was soon afterwards tried by a Court Martial where he did not excuse himself or extenuate his fault but very modestly handsomly acknowledged their allegations against him and the justice of his cause of which he told them he was no way ashamed but if it must be so would willingly lay down his life in the owning of it He told them moreover that he was bound indispensably by the Laws of God and this Kingdom to do what he did and so referred himself to them They very earnestly pressed him to reveal the other parties engaged with him and gave him some fallacious hopes of life if he would freely declare them but those offers prevailed not with him being resolved to suffer and take all upon himself rather then to ruine others whom they could not fasten upon without his discovery So the Court proceeded to Sentence which was that he should be hanged over against the Exchange in Cornhill in Exchange time which after some little preparation was executed he being brought in a Coach from the Mews with the Executioner vizarded with him and a Troop of Horse to guard him to the said place where the Sheriffs received him into their charge After he alighted and some words passed between them concerning the said discovery he told them they should not expect it and desired them to forbear any further trouble to that purpose and so ascended that ladder which reached unto heaven wherein he prayed very fervently for the King and the Church and commended his soul into the hands of the Redeemer and so concluded his last breath which at the falling of his body mounted his soul to heaven in whose blissful mansions he nows sings Hallelujah for ever Colonel Eusebius Andrews beheaded on Tower-hill August 22. 1650. THis Gentleman a most sincere and religious Protestant being by profession a Counsellour of Grays-Inn and who during the War had followed the Kings fortune out of Conscience of his obedience and duty was most wickedly trapand by the said Council of State and their Officers to his lamentable death a Narative of the whole take as followeth On Monday the 24 of March 1649. Collonel Andrews was taken prisoner at Graves-end by Major Parker and by a Troop of Horse that night conveighed to the George in Kings-street Westminster The next day he was convented before the President Bradshaw Sir Henry Mildmay and Thomas Scot three members of the said Council delegated by them for the taking of the Examination of him and of Sir Henry Chichley Doctor Henry Edwards and Mr. Clark casually found in the same Inne with Mr. Andrews These Gentlemen examined him so punctually to every action and circumstance that had passed on his part since he took up Armes and especially since the render of Worcester and his return from thence to London and also concerning his several Lodgings Names Acquaintances Removes Abodes in the Country correspondencies by Letters and interests in places and persons as if they had kept a Diary for him Which considered and that Sir John Gell Baroner Major Bernard Captain Smith Captain Benson and Capt. Ashley with whom he had the last and most questionable correspondency were all in custody he found himself to be betrayed but could not at present guesse by whom but well saw that he had better be fair in his Confession then to deny what he saw by the perfectness of his Examiners would be proved against him by the discovery of those formerly secured and examined before his coming up and so resolved to bear the worst and not so much to shame himself or the matter as to deny things evident or easily proveable but rather to cast himself upon God and come off as well as he could with a truth in his mouth In his Answers he would have been circumstantial but was kept close to the Question At his departure he desired he might set down his own Narrative according to his own sense which was granted him to prepare and to send or bring them as there was opportunity And having totally and as much as in him lay excused his fellow-prisoners as to any thing related to his Delinquency he was with them committed to the Gate-house Wednesday following he was re-convented and re-examined and on Friday again convented and delivered in his Narrative to the Lord President and by him without further words returned On Saturday he was re-called and then as at all times before used and treated with civility being only much pressed to discover some great Persons his supposed Confederates their aym being as he supposed at Sir Guy Palms Sir John Curson and Sir Thomas Whitmore c. But it was a great blessing in his unhappiness that it was not cumulative nor fatal to any of his friends and familiars who yet knew nothing of the reason of his imprisonment more then by common same On Sunday next he was called out of his bed and by two Messengers his keeper and his man brought into a Boat at Kings-bridge Westminster and thence carried to the Tower The Warrant which was read at the Lieutenants house imported That he was committed close prisoner for high Treason in endeavouring to subvert the present Government to be kept till delivered by Law He was designed for a Prison-lodging by Col. West the Lieutenant but upon notice of his quality he was put into the custody of Mr. Slaidon one of the Warders in his house equally convenient with the best At his first coming to the Tower he had but two shillings in his Purse and supposing he should be provided for at the States-charges he sent to the Lieutenant to know what he would order for him who returned that if he had money he might have what he would but at his provision nothing His keeper was upon his delivery to his charge commanded to keep him safe and if he escap'd threatned to be hanged and a Sentinel set immediately at his door and that day two Gentlewomen coming to see him were all imprisoned in the Round-house and next day carried to the Council of State and strictly examined His Waterman that week brought him some money for which and some affectionate words spoken of him he was brought before the President examined rebuked and dismissed and a Centinel set at Mr. Andrew's window that he might not speak to any without His Case was this His Engagement for his late Majesty began in 1642. and continued until the surrender of Worcester 1645. He compounded not for his Delinquency not having a considerable and not willing to own an inconsiderable Estate He took neither Protestation Solemn League and Covenant Negative Oath nor subscribed Engagement At his return to London to a private practice in his Calling for his necessary support John
the Church of England I have no negative Religion believing to be saved by the onely merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ putting off his Hat and whatsoever else is profest in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England authorized by Law humbly beseeching Almighty God to restore unto this Church her Peace Prosperity and Patrimony whereof I have been an obedient and a loving however an unworthy Son And now both my Hope being confident and my Faith perfected there remains onely Christian Charity Charity we carry into heaven Charitie on Earth and that I leave beseeching all whomsoever I have offended whether I have or no to forgive me as I from the bottom of my heart do them whomsoever blessing Almighty God for the happy advantage he takes to bring me nearer to heaven blessing Almighty God that he hath given me this advantage as he hath been merciful to me before the foundation of the world in my Saviour so that now he hath in mercy honoured me with suffering for his Name in obedience to his Commandment On this day seven night I was summon'd before that Justice which condemned me on Friday last praised be Almightie God that by this way he hath brought me the nearer to himself putting off his hat My Charge I presume is publick as my punishment is visible if there have been any thing in the management of my part being unskilful having discontinued my own Countrie many years I shall beseech the Christian charity of all you my beloved Country-men to impute it unto the right part the ignorance that is in this skilful way of managing It was objected unto me there that I had a vanitie of delighting in strange Tongues I was best skill'd in the Italian but free from that vanity I thank Almightie God and therefore I would in defence of my life if it had been the Custom here or the Judges favour have used that Language It was objected That I did not so freely as a thorow-paced Cavalier own my Master I was told since I came into England for other skill I have not in your Laws that a legal Denial in Law might be tolerable I hope I did not exceed the bounds of that in any thing for God forbid that I should be ashamed of serving so good so pious so just a Master putting off his hat for that I therein rejoyce and I humbly beseech Almightie God to fill my heart and my tongue and all that hear me this day with thankfulness for it As to the business that another construction had been made and believed here then what was there the righteous God knoweth it if any weakness was in the management that was mine I was sent to serve and protect not to in jure any and as God acquits me of the intention in matter of Fact as having done any manner of evil that way however here understood blessed be his holy Name putting off his hat so those Gentlemen of the Turkey Company if they would seriously consider for they know it very well the impossibilitie of my doing them any manner of harm Whereas that of the Embassie objected against me that my Master never honoured me with all I was never worthy of it I was his Messenger an Internuncia for the conservation only of his good Subjects of all the Merchants until such time as he could confirm that Gentleman now Resident or to send any other and they themselves know that there was impossibility in me as I bless God there was an innocency in me unto any such intention to do them any harm for my Masters Commands were point-blank the contrary I was onely sent for their good as I never owned the Title so the very Letters themselves speaking no other I never did so much as think of any manner of Address unto the Grand Seigniour but gave him the Letter from my Master the rest of the English Nation that were there present may when they please assert so much This I would insert That those Gentlemen as they have been losers by the miscarriages of others may now have no breach of their charity with me but if it be as it seems it is now in this Country a Sin to be Loyal I hope my God hath forgiven that when it is upon harmless employment not invading any according to his just Masters Order for indeed I have bin alwais bred up in that Religion my Allegiance hath been incorporated into my Religion and I have thought it a great part of the service due from me to Almighty God to serve the King putting off his Hat I need not make any Apology for any thing in relation to the present things in England for were I as I spake before my Judges as evil as my Sentence hath made me black it were impossible for me to have prejudiced any body in England or to England belonging in that employment but I bless God for his infinite mercy in Jesus Christ putting off his Hat who hath brought me home to him here in this way it was the best Physick for the curing of my Soul and those that have done it have no more power then that of my body I leave nothing behind me but that I am willing to part withal all that I am going to is desireable And that you may all know that Almighty God hath totally wrought in me a total Denial of my self and that there is that perfect Reformation of me within and of my own corruption by the blessed assistance of his holy Spirit I desire Almighty God in the abundance of the bowels of his mercy in Jesus Christ not only to forgive every Enemy if any such be in the World here or wheresoever but to bring him into his Bosom so much good and particular comfort as he may at any time whether the Cause were just or unjust have wished me any manner of evil for I take him to be the happy instrument of bringing me to Heaven It is tedious but I have an inward comfort I bless Almighty God pray Gentlemen give me leave speaking to some that prest upon him I should never do it but to give satisfaction to all charitable hearts I have been troublesome Sheriff You have your liberty to speak more if you please Sir Henry Hide But as to that part Master Sheriff that did concern the Denial as it was affirmed by Master Attorney General of my Masters employment Truly landing at Whitehall I told that Council there was just Commissions to an old Officer by the blessing of God I have by me and I have other good things that God hath blessed me withall more then all the good Christians in the World that are not the Grand Seigniour's Slaves And we that are Merchants abroad we allow our selves any sufferance that may conduce to our own safety enlargement of Trade or preservation of what is ours Why I had by the grace of my gracious Master a confirmation of my old Commission of Consulage in Greece But
if the heart be clean aliâ—s well enough Being thus prepared he calls for the Block and viewing it as with delight laid himself down upon it to see how it would fit and was so far from sinking at the sight of it that he almost play'd with it and rising quickly pulls a little paper-book out of his pocket which he gave to the Minister willing him to find that particular Prayer which was proper for that occasion but the crowd being great he could not quickly find it so that he kneeled down with the book open a while in his hand as if he had read but quickly shut it and prayed with great expressions of fervency by himself When he had done the Lieutenant said something to him as it seems concerning his Brother Charles that had witnessed against him I know not what the Lieutenant said for he spake low but Mr. Gerhard spake aloud and replyed passionatly O Christ Sir I love my poor brother with all my heart he is but a youth and was terrified I know how he was dealt with tell him I love him as well as ever I lov'd him in my life And commend me to my brother Sir Gilbert whose release I beseech you Sir to assist there being no more cause that I know of for imprisonment then only that he was found in the same bed with me which sure is no capital crime Having said this he took his leave of him and the Sheriff and all he knew on the stage and turning about once more to the people desired them to pray for him himself kneeling down with the Minister laid his hand in his bosom and they prayed together the last time After this he bids them all farewell again and besought them to remember they had a poor Soveraign abroad who deserved to be remembred Then forgiving the Executioner and saluting the Minister with his last embrace and kisses he bow'd himself to the stroak of death with as much Christian meeknesse and noble courage mix'd together as I beleive was ever seen in any that had bled upon that Altar And this all the people that were Spectators did seem to understand and acknowledge beholding his fatal blow with an universal sadness and silence whereas when the other Gentleman fell quickly after upon another score of blood and ryot they gave a great and general shout as applauding the Justice of the Portugals death but pittying and bewailing the untimely fall of so brave and magnanimous a spirit as did through all the clouds of death shine gloriously in this unfortunate Gentleman His Speech Gentlemen AS this kind of spectacle is no new entertainment to your eyes for you havhad a late glut of such objects So is it no strange thing to me to be made such a spectacle for I have been bred upon the Theatre of death and have learned that part so well though I confess a very hard one as to perform it pretty handsomly both as becomes a Gentleman and a Christian Only I must desire you to expect no fine Prologue or Speech from me I never studied to make Orations a very unfit man to lay plots against a State who am scarce able to lay a few lines of plain English together as I ought But though I cannot speak happily I doubt not but I shall die happily I confesse my self a great sinner Who is innocent God be mercifull to me a miserable sinner I adore the justice of God in all this that is come upon me I have deserved to die long since and blessed be God who hath given me such time to prepare But for this Crime I stand condemned for to day I do protest mine own innocency as to any consent or ingagment to act in it I hope you will believe me when you consider upon what slender proofs and testimonies I suffer none of them legal or positive but circumstantial For my brother Charles Alas poor youth how he was wrought upon but I desire all my friends to think honour ably of him For my Brother Sir Gilbert This imagination of a Plot is said to be hatched in France but I fear the nest was at Whitehall As for the King so far from concurring to such a Deed that I am only unsatisfied in this whether I shall dye right in his favour because suspected of any thing so unworthy of him I fear he lost his Kingdom by such practices but whether he would recover them so is a question God hath better ways when it shall be good in his sight to plead his cause I was lately in France but on my own score for I have commanded there and probably might For my past life it hath been but a troublesome one but now I hope I shall rest Since I was any thing I have served the King as I was bound And I wish all that did so had done it as faithfully He was condemned for a tyrant but God For my Religion though a Souldier I am able to profess I am a Christian souldier a true Son of the Church of England as constituted under Queen Elizabeth K. James and K. Charles of blessed memory Her Doctrine and Government I embrace Her Truth and Peace I pray God to restore I humbly give thanks to God Almighty for providing me the comfort of a Minister on whose fidelity I might repose my soul And I pray God to bless the poor faithfull Ministers of this Church and give you hearts to esteem them the want whereof is no small cause of our misery My dayes have been few and evil yet God be blessed in all the vanities and folly of youth I have been far from Atheism or concempt of Gods worship I had always awfull impressions of Gods honour and service which is now my comfort And now dear Countrymen fare you well I pray God blesse you all his whole Nation Alas poor England When will these black days be over When will there be blood enough I wish mine might fill up the measure I forgive all Once more fare you well Commend me to all my friends Pray for me I pray God make you as faithfull and loyal as I have lived and as happy as I shall be by and by when I am dead Come Lord Jesus come quickly Father of mercies have mercy on me Saviour of the world save my soul O lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world hear my prayers Into thy hands O Lord I commend my pâ—irit Lord Jesus receive my soul The last Speech of Mr. Peter Vowell which he intended to have delivered had he been permitted upon Munday the 10th of July 1654. on which day he suffered death in the place where Charing Crosse stood as from the Original paper written with his own hand appeareth Gentlemen AT this earthly Bar from them that pretend to have a great measure of sanctity I had hard measure but to that Bar I am now going the Bar of heaven I shall have Justice yea one day Justice against them
us that right which a Gentleman and a Souldier ought to have done I had not now been here The man I forgive with all my heart but truly Gentlemen his protesting against those Articles he himself with so many protestations and importunities put upon us hath drawn so much dishonour and blood upon his head that I fear some heavy judgement will pursue him Though he hath been false to us I pray God I do not prove a true prophet to him Nay I must say more that coming on the road to Exon he the said Captaine Crook told me Sir Joseph Wagstaff was a gallant Gentleman and that he was sorry he was not taken with us that then he might have had the benefit of our ARTICLES but now said he I have beset all the Country for him so that he cannot escape but must be hanged He also questioned me as I passed through Salisbury from London whether he had given me conditions Which I endeavouring to make appear to Major Butler he interrupted me and unwillingly confest saying I profered him four hundred pounds to perform his Articles which had been a strange proffer of mine had I not really conditioned with him And I told him then having found him unworthy I would have given him five hundred pounds believing him to be mercenary To make it yet farther appear I injure him not by stiling him unworthy after these Articles were given he proffered to Pistol me if I did not perswade another house to yeeld which then were boldly resisting To which my servanr John Biby now a prisoner replyed I hope you will not be so unworthy as to break the Law of Arms. Thus much I am obliged to say to the honour of the souldiery that they have been so far from breaking any Articles given to others that they have rather bettered them then otherwise It is now our misfortune to be made presidents and examples together But I will not do the Protector so much injury as to load him with dishonour since I have been informed that he would have made our conditions good if Crook that gave them had not abjur'd them This is not a time for me to enlarge upon any subject since I am now become the Subject of death But since the Articles were drawn by my hand I thought my self obliged to a particular Justification of them I could tell you of some souldiers which are turned out of his Troop for defending those conditions of ours but let that pass and henceforward instead of life liberty and estate which were the Articles agreed upon let drawing hanging and quartering bear the Denomination of Cap. Crooks Articles However I thank the Protector for granting me this honourable death I should now give you an account of my Faith But truly Gentlemen this poor Nation is rent into so many several opinions that it is impossible for me to give you mine without displeasing some of you However if a man be so critical as to enquire of what faith I die I shall refer him to the Apostles Athanasius the Nicene Creed and to the testimony of this Reverend Gentleman Dr. Short to whom I have unbosomed my self and if this do not satisfie look in the thirty nine Articles of the Catholick Church of England to them I have subscribed and do own them as authentick Having now given you an account concerning my self I hold my self obliged in duty to some of my friends to take off a suspition which lies upon them I mean as to some persons of Honour which upon my examination I was charged to have held correspondency with The Marquess of Hartford the Marquess of Winchester and my Lord of Pembrook were the persons nominated to me I did then acquit them and do now second it with this protestation That I never held any correspondency with either or any of them in relation to this particular businesse or indeed to any thing which concern'd the Protector or his Government As for the Marquess of Winchester I saw him some twelve years since and not later and if I should see him here present I believe I should not know him And for the Earle of Pembrook he was not a man likely to whom I should discover my thoughts because he is a man of a contrary Judgment I was examined likewise concerning my Brother Freke my Cousin Hastings Mr. Dorrington and others It is probable their estates may make them liable to this condition but I do here so far acquit them as to give the World this farther protestation that I am confident they are as innocent in this business as the youngest child here I have no more to say to you now but to let you know that I am in charity with all men I thank God I both can and do forgive my greatest persecutors and all that ever had any hand in my death I have offered the Protector as good security for my future demeanor as I suppose he could have expected if he had thought fit to have given me my life certainly I should not have been so ungrateful as to have imployed it against him I do humbly submit to Gods pleasure knowing that the issues of life and death are in his hand My blood is but a small sacrifice if it had been saved I am so much a Gent. as to have given thanks to him that preserved it and so much a Christian as to forgive them which take it But seeing God by his providence hath called me to lay it down I willingly submit to it though terrible to nature but blessed be my Saviour who hath taken out the sting so that I look upon it with terrour Death is a debt and a due debt and it hath pleased God to make me so good a husband that I am come to pay it before it is due I am not ashamed of the Cause for which I die but rather rejoyce that I am thought worthy to suffer in the defence and cause of Gods true Church my lawfull King the liberty of the Subject and Priviledge of Parliaments Therefore I hope none of my Aliance and Friends will be ashamed of it it is so far from pulling down my Family that I look upon it as the raising of it one story hi heâ— Neither was I so prodigal of nature as to throw away my life but have used though none but honourable and honest means to preserve it These unhappy times indeed have been very fatall to my family two of my Brothers already slain and my self going to the slaughter it is Gods will and I humbly submit to that providence I must render an acknowledgement of the great civilities that I have received from this City of Exon and some persons of quality and for their plentiful provision made for the prisoners I thank Mr. Sheriff for his favour towards us in particular to my self and I desire him to present my due respects to the Protector and though he had no mercy for my self yet that he would have
respect to my family I am now stripping off my clothes to fight a duel with death I conceive no other duel lawful but my Saviour hath pulled out the sting of this mine enemy by making himself a sacrifice for me And truly I do not think that man deserving one drop of his bloud that will not spend all for him in so good a cause The Truth is Gentlemen in this Age Trea on is an individium vagum like the wind in the Gospel it bloweth wher it listeth So now Treason is what they please lighteth upon whom they will Indeed no man except he will be a Traytor can avoid this Censure of Treason I know not to what end it may come but I pray God my own and my Brothers blood that is now to die with me may be the last upon this score Now Gentlemen you may see what a condition you are in without a King you have no law to protect you no rule to walke by when you perform your duty to God your King and Country you displease the Arbitrary power now set up I cannot call it government I shall leave you to peruse my tryal and there you shall see what a condition this poor Nation is brought into and no question will be utterly destroyed if not restored by loyal Subjects to its old and glorious Government I pray God he lay not his Judgements upon England for their sluggishness in doing their duty and readiness to put their hands in their bosoms or rather taking part with the Enemy of Truth The Lord open their eyes that they may be no longer lead or drawn into such snares else the Child that is unborn will curse the day of their Parents birth God almighty preserve my Lawful K. Charles the second from the hands of his Enemies and break down that wall of Pride and Rebellion which so long hath kept him from his just Rights God preserve his Royal Mother and all his Majestys Royal Brethren and incline their hearts to seek after him God incline the hearts of all true Englisâ—men to stand up as one man to bring in the King and redeem themselves and this poor Kingdom out of its more then Egyptian slavery As I have now put off these garments of cloth so I hope I have put off my garments of sin have put on the Robes of Christs Righteousnesse here which will bring me to the enjoyment of his glorious Robes anon Then he kneeled down and kissed the block and said thus I commit my soul to God my Creator and Redeemer Look upon me O Lord at my last gasping Hear my prayer and the prayers of all good people I thank thee O God for all thy dispensations towards me Then kneeling down he prayed most devoutfuly as followeth O Eternal Almighty and most mercifull God the Righteous Judge of all the world look down in mercy on me a miserable sinner O blessed Jesus Redeemer of Mankind which takest away the sins of the world let thy perfect manner of obedience be presented to thy Heavenly Father for me Let thy precious death and bloud be the ransome and satisfaction of my many and heynous transgressions Thou that sittest at the right hard of God make intercession for me O holy and blessed Spirit which art the Comforter fill my heart with thy consolations O holy blessed and glorious Trinity be mercifull to me confirm my faith in the promises of the Gospel reviveâ— and quicken my hope and expectation of joys prepared for true and faithfull servarâ—ts Let the infinite Love of God my Saviour make 〈◊〉 love to him steafast sincere and constant O Lord consider my condition accept my tears aswage my grief give me comfort and confidence in theâ— impute not unto me my former sins but most mercifull Fathâ—r receive me into thy favour for the merits of Christ Jesus Many and grievous are my sins for I have sinned many times against the light of knowledge against remorse of conscience against the motions opportunities of grace But accept I beseech thee the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart in and for the perfect sacrifice oblation and satisfaction of thy Son Jesus Christ O Lord receive my soul after it is delivered from the burthen of the flesh into perfect joy in the sight and fruition of thee And at the general resurrection grant that my body may be endowed with immortality and received with my soul into glory I praise thee O God I acknowledge thee to be the Lord O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy on me Thou that sittest at the right hand of God hear my prayer O Lord Jesus Christ God and Man Mediator betwixt God and Man I have sinned as a Man be thou mercifull to me as a God O holy and blessed Spirit help my infirmities with those sighs and groans which I cannot expresse Then he desired to see the Axe and kissed it saying I am like to have a sharp passage of it but my Savior hath sweetned it unto me Then he said If I would have been so unworthy as others have been I suppose I might by a lye have saved my life which I scorn to purchase at such a rate I defie such temptations and them that gave them me Glory be to God on high On Earth peace Good will towards Men. And the Lord have mercy upon my poor soul Amen So laying his Neck upon the Block after some private Ejaculations he gave the Heads-man a sign with his hand who at one blow severed his head from his body The true Speech of that Valiant and piously resolved Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the Parish of Enford and County of Wilts Esquire beheaded the 16th of May 1655. in the Castle at Exon. Good people I Never was guilty of much Rhetorick nor ever loved long Speeches in all my life and therefore you cannor expect either of them from me now at my death All that I shall desire of you besides your hearty prayers for my soul is That you would bear me witnesse I die a true son of the Church of England as it was established by King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charls the first of blessed memmory That I die a Loyall Subject to King Charls the second my undoubted Soveraign and a lover of the good old Laws of the Land the just priviledges of Parliaments and Rights and Liberties of the People for the re-establishing of all which I did undertake this engagement and for which I am ready to lay down my life God forgive the bloody-minded Jury and those that procured them God forgive Captain Crook for denying his Articles so unworthily God forgive Mr. Dove and all other persons swearing so maliciously and falsely against me God forgive all my enemies I heartily forgive them God blesse the KING and all that love him turn the hearts of all that hate him God blesse you all and be merciful to you and to