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 Creatour and Redeemer Look on me O Lord at my last gasping Here my prayer and the prayers of all good people I thank thee O God for all thy dispensation towards me Then kneeling down he prayed most devoutly 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 sinnes 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 hainous transgressions Thou that sittest at the right hand of God make intercession for me O holy and blessed Spirit which art the comforter fill my heart with thy consolation O holy blessed and glorious Trinity be mercifull to me confirm my faith in the promises of the Gospel revive and quicken my hope and expectation of joyes prepared for true and faithfull servants Let the infinite Love of God my Saviour make my love to him stedfast sincere and constant O Lord consider my condition accept my tears asswage my grief give me comfort and confidence in thee impute not unto me my former sinnes but most mercifull Father receive me into thy favour for the merits of Christ Jesus Many and grievous are my sinnes for I have sinned many times against the light of knowledge against remorse of conscience against the motions and 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 generall 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 Mediatour 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 Saviour 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 lie 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 Speech of that piously resolved Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the parish of Enford and County of Wilts Esquire beheaded the 16 day 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 cannot 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 will bear me witness I die a true sonne of the Church of England as it was established by King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the first of ever blessed memory That I die a Loyall Subject to King Charles the second my undoubted Soveraigne 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 doe under take this engagement and for which I am ready to lay down my life God forgive the bloudy 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 mercifull to you and to my soul Amen And so meekly laying his neck to the block and giving a signe his head at one blow and a draw of the axe was severed from his bodie FINIS * Meaning the Earle of Strafford * Pointing at Doctor Juxon * Turning to some Gentlemen who took his Speech in short writing * Pointing at Dr. Juxon * Pointiâ—â— at Dr. Juâ—â—on * Witnesse one Benner and Stroud who in open Court confessed to be guilty of all they proved against me yet Mr Attorney gave the Jury directions to find them not guilty Hobart folio 120. Dact. Bonames case 8 part of Cooks reports * Nota bene Mr Sebastine Isack although he seemed very sollicitous for Colonel Penruddock in his life since his death hath been very unworthy to his memory contrary to his promise to the said Colonel in his life and hath done contrary to the will of the dead the trust reposed in him the principle of honour and much unbecoming a Gent. * Note when this letter was writ Colonel Penruddock did not know other then that he was to die the same day
of the whole Nation who being freely called and freely debating amongst themselves may by Gods blessing settle the Church when every opinion is freely and clearly discussed For the King indeed I will not much insist Then turning to a gentleman whose cloak he observed to touch the edge of the Ax he said unto him Hurt not the Ax meaning by blunting the edge thereof for that he said might hurt him Having made this short digression he proceeded For the King the laws of the land will clearly instruct you what you have to do but because it concerns my own particular I onely do give you but a touch of it As for the People truly I desire their liberty and freedome as much as any whosoever but I must tell you that their liberty and freedom consists in having of government by those laws by which their lives and their goods may be most their own It is not for them to have a share in Government that is nothing Sirs appertaining unto them A â—ubject and a Sovereign are clean different things and therefore untill that be done I mean untill the people be put into that liberty which I speak of certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sirs It was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an arbitrary power to have all laws changed according to the power of the sword I needed not to have come hither and therefore I tell you and I Pray God it be not laid to your charge that I am the martyr of the people In troth Sirs I shall not hold you much longer I shall onely say this unto you that in truth I could have desired some little longer time because I had a desire to put this that I have said into a little better order and to have a little better digested it than I have now 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 most for the good of the Kingdome and your own salvations Doct. Juxon Will your Majesty although the affection of your Majesty to religion is very well known yet to satisfie expectation be pleased to speak something for the satisfaction of the world King I thank you very heartily my Lord because I had almost forgotten it In troth Sirs my conscience in Religion I think is already 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 by my father and this honest man I think will witnesse it Then turning to the Officers he said Sirs excuse me for this same I have a good cause and I have a gratious God I will say no more Then turning to Colonel Hacker he said Take care they do not put me to pain and Sir this if it please you but then a gentleman one Mr. Clerk comming neer the Ax the King said take heed of the Ax Then the King turning to the Executioner said I shall say but very short prayers and when I stretch forth my hands Then the King called to Doctor Juxon for the Nightcap and having put it on he said to the Executioner will my hair trouble you who desired him to put it all under his Cap which the King did accordingly by the assistance of the Executioner and the Bishop the King then turning to Doctor Juxon said I have a good Cause and a Gratious God on my side Doctor Juxon There is but one stage more This stage is turbulent indeed and troublesome but very short and which in an instant will lead you a most long way from earth to Heaven where you shall finde great Joy and Solace King I go from a corruptible to an incorruptable Crown where can be no trouble none at all Doctor Juxon You shall exchange a temporall Crown for an eternall one it is a good change The King then said unto the executioner Is my haire as it should be He then did put off his cloak and his George which he gave to Doctor Juxon saying Remember He immediately afterwards did put off his Doublet and did put on his cloak again and looking on the block he said unto the Executioner you should make it to be steddie Execut. It is so King It might have been something higher Execut. It cannot be made higher now King When I shall stretch forth my hands in this manner then After that when standing he had spoke two or three words unto himself with his hands and eyes lifted up towards Heaven immediately stooped down he laid his neck upon the Block and when the Executioner had again put all his hair under his cap. The King said Stay till I give the signe Execut. So I do if it please your Majesty and after a very little respite the King did stretch forth his hands and immediately the Executioner at one blow did sever his head from his Body Sic transit gloria Mundi THE Illegall proceedings against the honourable Colonell John Penruddock of Comppton in Wiltshire and his Speech Which he delivered the day before he was beheaded in the Castle of Exon being the 16 day of May 1655 to a Gentleman whom he desired to publish them after his death Together with his prayer upon the Scaffold and the last Letter he received from his verteous Lady with his answer to the same Also the speech of that Piously resolved Gentlemen Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the parish of Enford and County of Wilts Esquire beheaded there the same day Printed by order of the Gent. intrusted 1660. Col. Penruddock being writ to by a friend for an account of his triall writ as followeth SIR THough I received your desires something too late it being but two days before notice given me from the Sheriff of the day of my expiration for I cannot call this an execution it being for such a cause yet in order to your satisfaction I have borrowed so much time from my more serious Meditations as to give you this short account of my Triall wherein you must excuse both the brevity and imperfections it being but the issues of a bad memory UPon Thursday the 19. April 1655. the Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer being sate in the Castle of Exon summoned before them my self Mr. Huge Grove Mr. Richard Reeves Mr. Robert Duke Mr. George Duke Mr. Thomas Fitz-James Mr. Francis Jones Mr. Edward Davis Mr. Thomas Poulton and Mr. Francis Bennet Being all called to the Barre we were commanded to hold up our hands and an Indictment of high treason was read against us and being asked whether we would plead guilty or not guilty to the Indictment in the behalf of my self and of the Gentlemen therein charged I spake as followeth Col. Penruddock My Lords though my education hath been such as not to give me those advantages which the knowledge of the Laws would assisted me with
men believe falsehoods to be truth too At. Gen. Sir You interrupt me you said but now you were a gentleman Col. Pen. Sir I have been thought worthy heretofore to sit on the bench though now I am at the bar Mr. Attorny then proceeded in his speech and called the witnesses Then I said Sir You have put me in a bears skin and now you will bait me with a witnesse But I see the face of a gentleman here in the Court I mean Captain Crook whose conscience can tell him that I had articles from him which ought to have kept me from hence Captain Crook hereupon stood up and his guilty conscience I supposed advised him to sit down again after he had made this speech that is to say he opened his lips and spake nothing The severall witnesses now come in Mr Dove the Sheriff of Wilts and others my charity forbids me to tell you what many of them swore I shall therefore omit that and onely tell you that one of our own party and indeed I think an honest man being forced to give his evidence I said My Lords it is a hard case that when you find you cannot otherwise cleave me in pieces that you must look after wedges made of my own timber The vertuous Cryor of Blandford being asked what were the words I used in proclaiming King Charles at the market he said I declared for Charles the Second and setling the true Protestant Religion for the liberty of the Subject and Priviledge of Parliaments Then I said unto the Attorny Generall and the whole Court you said even now that I had learned of the King my Master the Popish religion and endeavoured to bring him in your own witness tells you what and whom I would bring in and it was the true Protestant and not the Popish Religion his Majestie is of and intends to settle I urged divers cases to make the businesse but a Riot as my Lord of Northumberlands pretending it was for the taking of Taxes and that the power was not declared to be where they say it is I required the Judges to be of Councell for me told them it was their duty Commissioner Lisle told me I should have no wrong but he meant Right but Judge Rolls and Nicholas confessed themselves parties therefore would say nothing Then I told the Court if I had seen a Crown upon the head of any person I had known what had been Treason the Law of England would have taken hold of me out of the respects it has to Monarchy There was no such land-marks before me therefore I conceive I cannot be guilty of what I am charged with And my Lord and Mr. Atturney you here indict me for a Treason committed at Southmoulton in Devonshire and gentlemen ye swear witnesses against me for facts done in other Counties Sarum Blanford and Southmoulton are not in a parish You puzzle the Jurors with these circumstances pray go to the kernell and you Gent of the Jury save your labour of taking those notes Mr. Atturney then addressed himself to the Jury and to be short after the space of halfe an houre long gave them directions to bring me in guilty this being done I craved the favour from the Court that I might speak to the Jury which being allowed I said to them as followeth or to the same effect Gent. You are called a Jury of life and death and happy will it be for your souls if you prove to be a Jury of life You have heard what hath been said to make my actions Treason and with what vigor many untruths have been urged to you I have made appear to you that there can be no Treason but against the King that the Law knowes no such person as a Protector Mr. Atturney pretends a Statute for it but refuseth the reading thereof either to me or you vilifies me at pleasure and tells you I am a Papist and would bring in the Popish Religon and that if I had not been timely prevented I had destroyed you I hope you are al so satisfied of the contrary from the mouth of one of the best witnesses You are now judges between me and these judges Let not the majesty of their looks or the glory of their habits betray you to a sinne which is of a deeper dye then their scarlet I meane that sinne bloud which calls to heaven for vengence Gent. you doe not see a hair of my head but is numbred neither can you make any one of them much less can you put breath into my nostrils when it is taken out a sparrow doth not fall to the ground without the providence of God much lesse shall man to whom he hath given dominion and rule over all the creatures of the earth Gent. look upon me I am the Image of my creatour and that stamp of his which is in my vizage is not to be defaced without an account given wherefore it was I have here challenged as I am a Gentleman and free-born man of England the right which the law allowes me I demanded a copy of my Indictment and Councell but it is denied me The Law which I would have been tried by is the known Law of the land which was drawn by the wise consultation of our Princes and by the ready pens of our Progenitours The Law which I am now tried by is no Law but what is cut of by the poynt of a rebellious sword and the sheets in which they are recorded being varnished with the moisture of an eloquent tongue if you look not well to it may chance to serve for some of your Shrouds If the fear of displeasing others shall betray you to find me guilty of any thing you can at the most but make a riot of this Pray by the way take notice that the last Parliament would not allow the Legislative power to be out of themselves seventeen of twenty in this very County were of that opinion and deserted the house they were your Representative if you finde me guilty you bring them in danger and in them your selves Have a care of being drawn into a snare Gent. your bloud may run in the same channel with mine If what I have said do have been tried by is the known not satisfie you so as to aquint me if you bring me in a speciall verdict you do in some measure acquit your selves and throw the bloud that will be spilt upon the Judges Consider of it and the Lord direct you for the best The Jury after a quarter of an houres retirement brought me in guilty the Lord forgive them for they knew not what they did Upon Monday the 23 of April we were again called to the bar being then in number twenty six Serjeant Glyn asked of me first what I could say for my self that I should not have sentence according to the Law Then I said My Lords Gentlemen you askeâ— what I can say for my selfe that I should not have sentence