own Cause rescue the Light of thy Truth from all those Clouds of Errors and Heresies which do so much obscure it and let the Light thereof in a free Proffession break forth and shine again among us and that continually even as long as the Sun and Moon endures To this end O Lord bless us all and bless him the Posterity which in Authority ought to rule over and be above us Bless him in his Soul and in his Body in his Friends and in his Servants and all his Relations Guide him by thy Council prosper him in all Undertakings granting him a long prosperous and honourable Life here upon Earth and that he may attain to a Blessed Life hereafter And gracious God look mercifully upon all our Relations and do thou bring them to the Light of thy Truth that are wandering and ready to fall Confirm them in thy Truth that already stand show some good Token for good unto them that they may rejoyce O let thy good Hand of Providence be over them in all their Ways And to all Orders and Degrees of Men that be amongst us give Religious Hearts to them that now rule in Authority over us Loyal Hearts in the Subjects towards their Supream and loving Hearts in all Men to their Friends and charitable Hearts one towards another And for the Continuance of thy Gospel among us restore in thy good Time to their several Places and Callings and give Grace O Heavenly Father to all Bishops Pastors and Curates that they may both by their Life and Doctrine set forth thy true and lively Word and rightly and duly administer thy Holy Sacraments And Lord bless thy Church still with Pastors after thine own Heart with a continual Succession of faithful and able Men that they may both by Life and Doctrine declare thy Truth and never for fear or favour backslide or depart from the same and give them the Assistance of thy Spirit that may enable them so to preach thy Word that may keep the People upright in the midst of a corrupted and corrupt Generation And good Lord bless thy People every where with hearing Ears understanding Hearts conscientious Souls and obedient Lives especially those over whom I have had either lately or formerly a charge that with meek Heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy Holy Word truly serving thee in Righteousness and Holiness all the Days of their Lives And we beseech the of thy Goodness and Mercy to comfort and succour all those that in this transitory Life be in Trouble Sorrow Need Sickness or any other Adversity Lord help the Helpless and comfort the Comfortless vifit the Sick relieve the Oppressed help them to right that suffer wrong set them at Liberty that are in Prison restore the Banished and of thy great Mercy and in thy good Time deliver all thy People out of their Necessities Lord do thou of thy great Mercy fit us all for our latter end for the Hour of Death and the Day of Judgment and do thou in the Hour of Death and at the Day of Judgment from thy Wrath and everlasting Damnation good Lord deliver us through the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ In the mean Time O Lord teach us so to number our Days and me my Minutes that we may apply our Hearts to true Wisdom that we may be Wise unto Salvation that we may live soberly Godly and Righteously in this present World denying all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts Lords teach us so to live that we may not be afraid to dye and that we may so live that we may be always prepared to dye that when Death shall seize upon us it may not surprize us but that we may lift up our Heads with Joy knowing that our Redemption draws nigh and that we shall be for ever happy being assured that we shall come to the Felicity of the Chosen and rejoice with the Gladness of the People and give us such a fullness of thy Holy Spirit that may make us stedfast in this Faith and confirm us in this Hope indue us with Patience under thy afflicting Hand and withal a chearful Resolution of our selves to thy divine disposing that so passing the Pilgrimage of this World we may come to the Land of Promise the Heavenly Canaan that we may reign with thee in the World to come through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose blessed Name and Words we farther call upon thee saying Our Father c. Let thy mighty Hand and out-stretched Arm O Lord be the Defence of me and all other thy servants thy mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ our salvation thy true and holy word our instruction thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort and consolation to the end and in the end through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen His Speech and Prayer ended with much Meekness and spiritual Consolation He submitted his Neck to the stroak of the Ax to as great a Loss of the Church of Christ and of all good Men as hath happened in our Times I have the more enlarged my self that my Reader might not without a kind of a Consternation or Possession of strange Amazement pass by the Concernments of this blessed Heroe The same Day of Doctor Hewets Tryal was also tryed John Mordant of Clement Danes Esquire with whom he was a Fellow-Prisoner the Charge against him was for combining with Henry Bishop of Parham in Sussex Gent. Hartgil Baron and Francis Mansil with divers others for raising War against Oliver Lord Protector in the behalf of Charles Stuart and confering with J. Stapely Esq Henry Mallory and others how to effect the same and delivering Commissions to several Persons in the Name of and as from the said Charles Stuart c. He stood long upon it as did â—â—e Doctor before to have Council assigneâ— him and that he might be tryed by a Jury but finding it would not be granted he at last pleaded not Guilty many Witnesses deposited against him yet he by his Ingenuity so cleared himself that notwithstanding many Endeavours to the contrary he was discharged July the 17. following Colonel Ashton and John Betley were executed the one in Tower-street the other in Cheap-side Colonel Ashton was the first being drawn on a Sledge that Worthy Divine Doctor Warmestry submitting for the good of a poor Christians Soul to lie along with him upon the Sledge that he might lose no Time for his spiritual Converse They were drawn from Newgate to Tower-street over against Mark-lane end where a Gibbet was erected As he ascended the Ladder Doctor Warmestry said Almighty God who is a strong Tower be with thee and make thee know and feel that there is no other Name under Heaven whereby to attain everlasting Life but by the Name of Jesus The Blessing of God the Father the Son and Holy Ghost be with you henceforth and for ever Amen He being upon the Ladder exprest a great deal of Confidence he had in the
Obstruction of it upon nothing more than 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 fear of God particular Malice to any one of State or Parliament to do them a bodily Injury 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 on 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 beyond all you possess here In my Conversation in the World I do not know where I have an Enemy with cause or that there is such a Person whom I have to regret but if there be any whom I cannot recollect under the notion of christian Men I pardon them as freely as if I had named them by name I freely forgive them being in free Peace with all the World as I desire God for Christs sake to be at Peace with me For the business of Death it is a sad Sentence in it self if Men consult with Flesh and Blood But truly without boasting I say it or if I do boast I boast in the Lord I have not to this minute had one consultation with the Flesh about the blow of the Axe more then as my passport to Glory I take it for an honour and I owe thankfulness to those under whose Power I am that they sent me hither to a place however of Punishment yet of some Honour to die a death somewhat worthy of my Blood answerable to my Birth and Qualification and this courtesie of theirs much helped towards the pacification of my Mind I shall desire God that those Genâ—lemen in that sad Bed-roll to be tryed by the High Court of Justice that they may find that really there that is nominal in the Act an High Court of Justice a Court of High Justice high in its Righteousness though not in its severity Father forgive them and forgive me as I forgive them I desire you now that you would pray for me and not give over praying till the Hour of my Death not till the Moment of my Death for the Hour is come already the instant of Time approaches that as I have a great load of Sins so I may have the wings of your Prayers to help those Angels that are to convey my Soul to Heaven and I doubt not but I shall see my Saviour and my gallant Master the King of England and another Master whom I much honoured my Lord Capel hoping this Day to see my Christ in the presence of the Father the King in the presence of him my Lord Capel in the presence of them all and my self there to rejoyce with all other Saints and Angels for ever more After the uttering of these and many the like Words declaring his Faith and Confidence in God with as much undaunted yet Christian Courage as possibly could be in Man he exposed his Neck to the fatal Ax commending his Soul into the Hands of a faithful and merciful Creator thro' the meritorious Passion of a gracious Redeemer and having said Lord Jesus receive me the Executioner with one Blow severed his Head from his Body For such a collateral design not long after one Master Benson was executed at Tyburn one that had some Relations to Sir John Gell who was tried for the same Conspiraccy with his Man Sir John's former Services to the Parliament being his best and most assured Intercessors for his Life and at that time were more then ordinary Advantages to him I shall in the next place give you an account of the Beheading of Sir Henry Hide He was by the Scots King commissonated as Ambassadour to the Grand Signior at Constantinople and stood in Competition with Sir Thomas Bendish then Ambassadour for the English for his Place whereupon they had a Hearing before the Vizier Bassa the result whereof was that Sir Thomas Bendish should dispose of the said Sir Henry Hide as he thought good who was to the same purpose sent to Smyrna thence into England and there condemned and executed before the Royal Exchange in London March 4. 1650. His last Words were to this Effect CHristian People I come hither to die I am brought hither to die and that I may die Christian like I humbly beseech the assistance of your Christian Prayers that by the benefit of them my passage may be the more easie Yet because Men in that condition which it hath pleased God to reduce me to give the more credit to Speech in the discharge of my Duty towards God I shall use a few Words and so conclude I pray all of you join with me to praise this Almighty God to whom I desire to render all hearty Thanks as for all his Mercies so in particular for this that he hath brought me hither that whereas I owe a Debt to Sin and and to Nature that now I can pay the Debt to Nature I can pay it upon the account of Grace And because it is fit to render the blessed account of that hope that is in me I shall tell you to the praise of Almighty God that I have been born and bred up in the Doctrine of the Church of England I have no negative Religion believing to be saved by the only merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ and whatsoever else is profest in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England authorized by Law humbly beseeching Almighay God to restore unto this Church her Peace Prosperity and Patrimony whereof I have an Obedient and a Loving however an unworthy Son and now both my Hope being consident and my Faith perfected there remains only Christian Charity Charity we carry into Heaven Charity on Earth that I leave beseeching all whomsoever I have offended to forgive me as I from the bottom of my Heart do all whomsoever blessing Almighty God for the happy advantage he takes to bring me the sooner to Heaven I bless 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 a suffering for his Name in Obedience to his Commandment On this Day sevennight I was summoned before that Justice which condemned me on Friday last praised be Almighty God that by this way he hath brought me nearer to himself 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
having been to this Day of this Opinion and this have been my constant Judgment well known to many that hear me speak if this one thing had been inserted that one thing that this Government should have been and placed in my Family hereditary I would have rejected it And a little after If this be of humane structure and invention and it be an old plotting and contrivance to bring things to this issue and that they are not the births of Providence then they will come to nothing But notwithstanding his Speech was candied over with Scripture phrases and great expressions of his zeal for the good Government of the Land yet these his Actings much discontented the common People whereupon ensued risings in Shropshire Montgomery Nottinghamshire Northumberland and Yorkshire but the most considerable was at Salisbury where Sir Jâ—seph Wagstaff Penruddock and Jones who had formerly been Officers in the late King's Army having gotten together about 200 armed-Men entered Salisbury seized on all the Inns and chief Houses and the Assizes being holden there at that time they took away the Judges Commissions and Pattents and all their Horses and so marched away Sir Henry Slingsby and Sir Richard Malleverer assembled some Forces also in Yorkshire but not being seconded according to their expectation they disperst themselves on their own account For these actings were put to Death Master Lucas Thorp Kensey Graves and Penruddock Sir Henry Slingsby was taken and Imprisoned and aftewards beheaded upon another account as I shall show you in its due place About this time the great Head-piece of Europe joyns his Foxes Tail to our Lions Skin Correspondencies are held betwixt the French and us which occasioning some Jealousies with some other bitter Pills that had before been swallowed but not disgested by the Spaniard caused some Heart-burnings which soon broke forth into an open War first managed by the Generals Pen and Venables who on the 27. of December 1654 with a gallant Fleet set sail from Portsmouth and on the 28 of January following arrived at the Barbadoes where they seized on 18 Holland Merchant Men who contrary to the Ordinance of the long Parliament traffiqued in those Parts from thence they sailed to Hispaniola arriving near to the Port Sancta Domingo where by the deepness of Sands and heat of the Climate being infinitely tired they were by the Spaniards put to Flight and enforced to march back again to their Ships from thence they set-sail to the Island of Jamaâ—ca which after a little resistance they mastered and have since preserved notwithstanding the Spaniards to regain the same landed there with two or three thousand Men but were discomsited with the Loss of all their Cannon and Baggage In the Interim General Blake with a considerable Fleet of Ships having cast Anchor before Tunis April 18 1655. sent unto the Dey of the Place demanding satisfaction for some English Ships which the Pyrates of those parts had carried away and the Liberty of the English Slaves they had detained but his message and himself was refused with scorn and derision the Turk making this answer Behold our Castles of Galleta and our Castles and Vessels of Portâ— Ferino do your worst against them and do noâ— think to brave us with the sight of your greaâ— Fleet. This answer so exasperated the English Admiral that notwithstanding there were one hundred and twenty Guns planted on the Shore and in the Castle against them yet regardless of all danger he set upon their Men of War which lay in Portâ— Ferino and in less then in four Hours space burnt all their Ships being in number nine to their very Keels which enforced the King of Tunis to seek to the English for their friendship and restored all the Prisoners for little or nothing These successes were seconded by two other great Victories obtained over thâ— Spaniards at Sea the one by Genera Mountague about nine Leagues from Cadiz where he destroyed six of their Ship whereof two were taken two run aground one sunk and another burnt and thereâ— the Marquess of Badex his Wife and Daughter the young Marquess and hâ— Brother with a great deal of Wealth beiâ— taken and brought into England Thâ— Fight being incomparably related by 〈◊〉 Laureat of our times I thought fit to inseâ— it not to deprive the Reader of so Elegant a Poem let him wave the poetical Flattery of it as he pleases Upon the present War with Spain and the first Victory obtained at Sea NOw for some Ages had the Pride of Spain Made the Sun shine on half th' world invain While she bid War to to all that durst supply The place of those her Cruelty made dye Of Nature's Bounty Men forbear to taste And the best Portion of the Earth lay waste From the New World her Silver and her Gold Came like a Tempest to confound the Old Feeding with these the brib'd Elector's Hopes She made at Pleasure Emperors and Popes With these advancing her unjust Designs Europe was shaken with her Indian Mines When our Protector looking with disdain Vpon this gilded Majesty of Spain And knowing well that Empire must decline Whose chief support and sinews are of Coyn Our Nation's solid vertue did oppose To the rich Troublers of the World's repose And now some months encamping on the main Our Naval Army had besieged Spain They that the whole Worlds Monarchy designâ—d Are to their Ports by our bold Fleet confin'd From whence our Red Cross they triumphant see Riding without a Rival on the Sea Others may use the Ocean as their road Only the English make it their abode Whose ready Sails with every Wind can flie And make a covenant with th' unconstant Skie Our Oaks secure as if they there took root We tread on Billows with a steady foot Mean while the Spaniards in America Near to the Line the Sun approaching saw And hop'd their European Coasts to find Cleard from our Ships by the Autumnal Wind. Their huge capacious Gallions stuft with Plate The labouring Winds drives slowly towards their Fate Before Saint Lucar they their Guns discharge To tell their Joy or to invite a Barge This heard some Ships of ours tho' out of view As swift as Eagles to the Quarry flew So heedless Lambs which for their Mothers bleat Wake hungry Lions and become their Meat Arriv'd they soon begin that Tragick Play And with their smoaky Cannon banish Day Night horrour slaughter with confusion meets And in their sable Arms embrace the Fleets Through yielding Planks the angry Bullets fly And of one Wound hundreds together die Born under different Stars one Fate they have The Ship their Coffin and the Sea their Grave Bold were the Men which on the Ocean first Spread their new Sails shipwreck was the worst More danger now from Men alone we find Then from the Rocks the Billows or the Wind. They that had sail'd from the Antartick Pole Their Treasure safe and all their Vessels whole In sight of their dear
Merits and Mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not doubting but that through the red Sea of his Blood he should arrive at the Heavenly Canaan and in little space behold his Saviour whom his Soul so much longed after Then fixing his Eyes upon the Multitude he spake to this effect I am brought here to a shameful Death I am an English Man born and as many know a Gentleman born I was drawn into this Business by several Persons and am now brought here for my former Sins God hath delivered me several Times from several Judgments he hath visited me at this Time because I slighted and did not pursue that Repentance that I promised Therefore I desire all good People to leave off their Sins for Christ his sake and beagme new Men for it is that that brings all Men to ruin I beseech God of Mercy have Mercy upon my Soul Lord God I come to thee Lord the Father of Heaven have Mercy upon me O God the Son Redeemer of the World have Mercy upon me O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have Merâ—y upon me Remember not my Offences but spare me good Lord God I beseech thee spare thy Servant whom thou hast vedeamed for thy dear Sons sake I have no more to say but desire the Prayers of all good People Having ended his Speech he committed his Spirit into the Hands of God and having said Lord have Morcy upon my Soul he was turned off the Ladder and instantly cut down his Belly ripped up and his Bowels burnt in a Fire ready prepared for that purpose he being not yet Dead then was his Head cut off and his Body divided into four Quarters put into a Basket and conveyed back to Newgate Next they proceeded and fetcht John Betley for there was a great deal of Business done by the Executioner that Day into Cheapside where formerly the Cross stood where was likewise a Gibbet set up being come to the Place with a Minister the Minister read and the People sung with him a Psalm beginning thus O Lord consider my Distress c. Then he went up the Ladder and said as followeth LOrd receive my Soul and be merciful to me I commit my Soul into Almighty Gods Hands for he is my Protector and Redeemer I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to die for my Conversation hath been such in Christ Jesus I hope I shall find Mercy As concerning them that are my Enemies I pray God forgive them their Sins I freely forgive them all that have done me wrong As for the late Plot I was never but once in Company with them concerned therein I did know of such a Thing but deny that I acted therein Shall I damn my Soul at this Instant I will speak the Truth One Brandon that was one of them drew me into the Business and his Man I carrying Work to him could not refrain his House he so often enticed me thereto and would not let me alone till he had got me into a House where we drank together I have no more to say as to the Plot but desire Mercy from God Having this said the Executioner turned him off and the rest of the Sentence was executed upon him as before upon Colonel Ashton and his Head and Quarters were conveyed also to Newgate Some two Days after one Edmund Stacy also about the same Conspiracy was executed in Cornhil over against the Exchange as also a Youth in Smithfield having the Rope about his Neck the horror of Death being worse then Death it self but for his Souls Health was Reprieved the Torrent of Blood being for a while stayed Whilst these Tradgedies were acting on the Land a strange Accident no less prodigious happened on the Water a Whale of a monstrous bigness at least sixty Foot and of a proportionable Breadth was cast up on the River of Thames near London which by the common People was accounted a Prognostication of the Protectors Death which ensued not long after But to return to Flanders where we formerly left the Sea whereof like a sharp Humour did always nourish the Wounds of incurable Evils nor was the French their letting of her Blood sufficient she wanted an English Physician to treat her Our Armies whose Valours made not a stand at Mardike but with a gallant Resolution besieged Dunkirk which being a Place of great Importance the Spaniard intended to relieve and with an Army of sixteen thousand came within an English Mile and a half of the French Quarters whereupon the Engeish and French uniting their Forces leaving some part of them before Dunkirk to make good the Approaches and guard the Trenches with fifteen thousand Men and ten Pieces of Cannon set upon the Spaniard whom after a long and sharp Fight they put to a total Rout and Confusion with the Loss of three thousand five hundred Men which Victory was in a manner wholy attributed to the Valour of the English The Loss of this Day lost the Spaniard Dunkirk who quickly after surrendered up the Town upon these following Conditions 1. That the Town shall be yielded up with all their great Guns their stores of Victuals Magazines of Arms and Ammunition without any embezlement 2. That all Officers and Soldiers shall have Liberty to marth out with their Arms Drums beating Golours flying two Pieces of Oridinance and their Baggage 3. That they shall have the Liberty to march with a Convoy so conduct them to Saint Omers 4. That the Inhabitants should remain indempnified in their Persons and Goods and enjoying their former Customs and Priviledges for two Years and not be molested touching the Exercise of their Religion The Articles signed the Spaniards marched out being about one Thousand Horse and Foot and seven hundred more that were wounded the French according as it was articled before put the English in Possession thereof which ever since they have maintained I have heard of an expression of the Governours of Ostend A little before the Massacre there a Person of Quality being sent thither about the exchange of Prisoners after he was civilly treated the Glasses of Wine going freely about the Governour being in a safe Place began to throw forth Words to this effect Sir is this the Mode of your Mushroom Protector hath he no other Way to pay my Master the King of Spain for his Bullion but with Bullets Soon after the taking of Dunkirk deceased the Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to the Protector a Lady whom Posterity will mention with an honourable Character who often interposed and became an humble Supplicant to her Father for many Persons design'd to dye her last request as it was thought for some eminent Persons being deny'd was a means of hastening her Death which much sadned her Father's Spirits nor did he long survive her her Death causing more Wounds in his Heart than all he received in the Wars But as his Severity was great to his Enemies so did he excell in
Gratitude to his Friends amongst other Examples I shall Instance in the Person of one Duret a Frenchman who attonded him during his Generalship and served him with so much Fidelity and Zeal as that he entrusted him with the Managing and Conduct of the greatest Part of his Domestick Affairs always retaining him nigh his Person bearing so great an affection towards him and reposing so entire a Confidence in him that during a great Sickness which he had in Scotland and whereof it was thought he wou'd have died he would not be served by any one nor receive any nourishment or any thing else that was administer'd unto him save from the Hands of Duret who both Day and Night continued to watch by his Master tending him with a special care and assiduity not giving himself a Moments rest until his Master had recovered his perfect Health which long and continued Watches of Duret and the great Pains he had taken drove him into a sad fit of Sickness to recover him his endeared Master in retribution of his great Services spared no Cost but applied all possible means that could be procured not only by his Commands but by his personal Visits so oft as his urgent Affairs would permit Duret dying he sends over into France for his Mother Sister and two Nephews to requite in them the Obligations he owed to his deceased Friend and Servant and where as by reason of the continuance of the Scotch Wars he was as it were confin'd to the North he wrote unto his Wife That she should proportion that Kindness which during his Absence she should shew unto them to the Love which she bare unto him In somuch that Duret's Mother was admitted into her own Family and seated at her own Table his Sister was placed in the rank and Quality of a Maid of Honour and his two Nephews were admitted to be her Highnesses Pages which Love of his he extended towards them to the Day of his Death One writes that when he came to have more absolute Power towards the latter End of his Days that he hath been heard often to wish that those that had been put to Death were yet alive protesting solemnly that if he could not have changed their Hearts he would have changed their Dooms and converted their Deaths into Banishment Waving this digression as in respect of the distance of Time we are now come to his own approaching Catastrope His Death was ushered in by an extraordinary Tempest and violent gust of Weather which blew down some Houses tore up the Trees by the Roots one in the old Palace Yar'd by the Parliament-House which by the event hath signified no otherwise then the Root and Branch of his Government It was a horrid Tempest as if Nature would have the Protectors Death to be accompanied with a general horrour The same is elegantly set forth in a Poem by the same Laureat I shall set down his smooth Poem which was answered as roughly in respect of the single rapier'd Sense though otherwise in the same Virgil stile Line for Line the latter as too Satyrical I have ommitted the other follows We must resign Heaven his great Soul doth claim In Storms as loud as his immortal Fame His dying Groans his last Breath shakes our Isle And Trees uncut fall for his Funeral Pile About his Palace their broad Roots were tost Into the Air so Romulus was lost New Rome in such a Tempest mist their King And from Obeying fell to Worshipping On Aetna's top thus Hercules lay dead With ruin'd Oaks and Pines about him spread Those his last Fury from the Mountain rent Our dying Hero from the continent Ravish't whole Towns and Forts from Spaniards reft As his Last Legacy to Brittain left The Ocean which so long our Hopes confin'd Could give no Limits to his vaster Mind Our Bounds enlargement was his latest Toil Nor hath he left us Prisoners to our Isle Vnder the Tropick is our Language spoke And part of Flanders hath receiv'd our yoke From Civil Broyles he did us disengage Found nobler Objects for our Martial rage And with wise Conduct to his Country show'd Their ancient way of conquering abroad Vngrestful then it were no Tears t' allow To him that gave us Peace and Empire too Princes that fear'd him grieve concern'd to see No pitch of Glory from the Grave is free Nature her self took notice of his Death And sighing swell'd the Sea with such a Breath That to remotest shores her Billows roll'd The approaching Fate of their great Ruler told September the third 1658 he march'd off from his earthly Honours and received his Writ of Ease from all his Labours as Death alone was able to encounter him which was on a Day one Year after another Anno 1650 and Anno 1651 rubrickt with two of his remarkable Victories as Antipater died the same Day of his rising But as concerning the manner of his Death after he had been sick about a Fortnight of the Disease which at the beginning was but an Ague of which Tamberlain died on Friday being the third of September 1658. in the Morning he gave all the Signs of a dying Person he remained in that manner till three of the Clock in the Afternoon he had to his last a perfect and intire Understanding his greatest and most important Affair was to name a Protector to be his Successor which after his decease was conscentaneously confirmed on his eldest Son Richard he died in the midst of his Victories and Triumphs and in a Bed of Bucklers On his Death-bed he dispatcht several Businesses of Consequence answering the Physicians who reproved him as the Emperor did That a Governour ought to die standing Alexander the Great was born on the sixth Day of April on the like Day the famous Temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt presaging that Fire which this Conqueror should kindle in Asia The same Gnatho from whom I borrow this example who hath many more but at last saith he to look no further then our own Country into our own Histories it is observed that the late Richard the succeeding Protector was installed in his Protectorship the third Day of September when as Richard the First so much spoken of in our Histories begun his Reign an Accident saith he which cannot but promise him a most favourable Omâ—n and good Token But a blunt Fellow in two rustical Verses hath since as to the event better specified That his successors Government ne'er staid A stray'd Sheeps Time not to be year'd and dayd As to the remarkable Passages which happened on the like Days of Olivers Life some have observed that on the third of September he was confirmed in his Protectorship by the Parliament on the third of September he gained that Battle of Dunbar on the third of September he gained that great Battle of Worcester and on the third of September he died at White Hall with all the Comforts that good Hopes could give in his
said the Gleanings of this Victory were as considerable as the whole Harvest itself Many of the common Soldiers were transported into Barbadoes and other Plantations this Mercy extended to them in saving their Lives causing much Gain to accrue thereby unto the Commonwealth in selling the poor heathenish Highlanders to the Plantations I shall end these sad Transactions with what Mr. Wharton chronologized in these Words Since England 's Hogs eat our dear Brethren up He only reflects on the half Graves were made for them in Tuttle Fields Of all this long List two only suffer'd Death viz. Sir Timothy Featherstone Knight and the Earl of Darby who on the 15th of October following was beheaded at Bolton in Lancashire being conducted thither by sixty Foot and eighty Horse about two of the Clock he was brought forth to the Scaffold which was built at the Cross part of it with the Timber of his own House at Latham there was not above an hundred Lookers on besides Soldiers presently after his coming upon the Scaffold there happen'd a great Tumult the Occasion whereof was not certainly known in appeasing of which there were some cut many hurt and one Child killed The Earl was no eloquent Orator and the Tumult put him out of his speaking what he intended At last after some Silence made he began as followeth Since it hath pleased God by this untimely Death to shorten my Days I am glad it is in this Town where some have been made believe I was a cruel Person that I might vindicate myself from this Aspersion It was my Desire the last Time I came into this Country to come hither as to a People that ought to serve the King as I conceive upon good Grounds It was said that I was accustomed to be a Man of Blood but it doth not lie upon my Conscience I was wrongfully bely'd I thank God I desir'd Peace I was born in Honour and I shall die Honourably as I suffer for my Sovereign I had a fair Estate good Friends and was respected and do respect Those that were ready to do for me I was ready to do for them I have done nothing but as my generous Predecessors acted to do you good It was the King that called me in and I thought it my Duty to wait upon his Highness to do him Service Here he was disturb'd by the Noise of the People after some Pause he said I intended to have exprest my self further but I have said I have not much more to say to you but as to my Good-will to this Town of Bolton I can say no more but the Lord bless you I forgive you all and desire to be forgiven of you all for I put my Trust in Christ Jesus Looking about him he said I did never deserve this hard Measure Honest Friends you that are Soldiers my Life is taken away after Quarter given by a Council of War which was never done before Walking up and down the Scaffold he said The Lord bless you all the Son of God bless you all of this Town of Bolton Manchaster Lancashire and the rest of the Kingdom and God send that you may have a King again and Laws I die like a Christian and a Soldier God and my Sovereign's Soldier Causing his Coffin to be opened he said I hope when I'm imprison'd here armed Men shall not need to watch me Looking upon them that were upon the Scaffold he said What do you stay for it is hard that I cannot get a Block to have my Head cut off Speaking to the Executioner he said Thy Coat is so troublesome and cumbersome that I believe that thou canst not het right the Lord help thee and sorgive thee Other Words he used which to avoid Proxillty I willingly omit At last submitting his Neck to the Block he had his Head severed from his Body with one Blow his sorrowful Son who was a sad Spectator of this woful Tragedy out of a pious care and filial duty conveyed his Corps back with him that Night to Wiggan and afterwards gave them honourable Burial Not long before at London was Colonel Eusebius Andrews apprehended who having formerly practiced the Law changed his Gown into a Coat of Armour having received a Commission from the King of Scots for the raising Men in England he was tryed in Westminster Hall at the High Court of Justice then again newly erected being the first unfortunate Centleman that hanselled the Court He was condemned and the 22. of August 1650. brought to the Scaffold on Tower-hill where he expressed himself to the People in these his last Words 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 more especially as to my continued services to my Creator Truly if my general known Course of Life were but enquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral Honesty upon it as some may be so sawcy as to expostulate why this great Judgement 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 Accompt of my Judgement and Execution then my Judgers 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 join with me in Prayer that it may not be a fruitless Rod that when by this Rod I have laid down my Life by his Staff I may be comforted and received into Glory I am very consident by what I have heard since my Sentence there is more exceptions made against proceedings against me then I ever made My Triers had a Law and the value of that Law is undisputable 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 not in my self intended maliciously there 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 though Equity lieth in the higher Breasts As for my Accusers or rather Betrayers I pity and am sorry for them they have committed Judas 's Crime but I wish and pray for them with Peter's Tears that by Peter's Repentance they may escape Judas 's Punishment and I wish other People so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk 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
Conscience to give offence to Almighty God I am now if it may be with your Commission Master Sheriff to pour out my Soul to Almighty God in two or three Words the place is straitned if I knew wherein to give any satisfaction to any Person whatsoever that imagines I have offended him or he me I am here in the fear of God to do it I forgive them with all my Soul and my forgiveness is clear as I am now going to receive Happiness at the Hand of my Saviour if I thought it were satisfaction to Sir Thomas Bendish and all the Company or any who think they have offended me I am come Master Sheriff to pay that Debt I owe to nature to pay it upon the Score of a Loyal Subject my Conscience within me informing me that for the intentions of serving my Prince I could not deserve such a Death though ten thousand times more other ways Having expressed himself to this effect with much meekness he submitted his Neck to the Ax having first said Lord Jesus receive my Soul the Executioner at one blow severed his Head from his Body Not long after Brown Bushel was beheaded under the Scaffold on Tower-Hill one who had formerly done great service to the Royal Party both by Sea and Land crimes of such a Nature as brought him into compass of Piracy and then of high Treason Soon after ensuing the Deaths of Mr. Love and Mr. Gibbons who were beheaded ed on Tower-hill the 22. of August 1651. Their Crimes objected were for combining with the Scots to re-establish Charles Stuart many others were apprehended upon the same Account but these two only suffered Passing over these Golgotha's the Reader may be pleas'd to understand that all these Persons here mentioned save only the Earl of Darby suffered Death before that memorable Battle at Worcester though in our History we have related them after as not willing to discontinue the series of our affairs with Scotland by such diversions But to return to matters of more publick concernment the Isles of Jersey Jernsey and Man who had hitherto held for the King submitted themselves so that now all seemed quiet when suddenly a War brake forth with Holland began only at first upon points of Honour at Sea Van Trump the Dutch Admiral refusing to vail his Flag a Ceremonial Honour which the English appropriate to themselves as being Lords of these narrow Seas whereupon a sharp Fight ensued betwixt them wherein the Dutch were discomfited one of their Ships sunk and another of thirty Guns taken with the Captains of both and about a hundred and fifty Prisoners This Skirmish produced open War betwixt the two Nations notwithstanding Overtures of Peace made by the Hollander General Blake the English Admiral surprizes twelve Dutch Men of War towards the Isles of Orkney Sir George Ascue in the Road betwixt Dover and Calice sets upon their Fleet being thirty in Number of which ten were taken and burnt the rest hardly escaping Soon after near Pliniouth he gave them another Fight wherein the Dutch went again by the worst These successes were seconded by others very remarkable General Blake steering Northwards took six Holland Ships of a great Value about the Downes Captain Penne also took six more upon the Coast of France Soon after the Navies engaged in another Fight at a place called the Kentish â—â—ock wherein the Dutch were again de eleven of their Men of War set upon four of the English in the Straights took the Phenix Frigot and much damaged the other In a short space after another Sea Engagement ensued on the Back-side of Goodwin Sands wherein the English were worsted four Ships taken and a considerable Loss of Men. The greatest Fight of all was near the Isle of Wight and Portland wherein the Dutch received a great Overthrow fifty Merchants being taken nine Men of War above two thousand slain and fifteen hundred taken Prisoners But this great Victory soon after received a check the English Fleet in the Levant Seas being again worsted by the Dutch with the Loss of divers Ships and Men. But leaving off these Affairs for a time let us come to General Cromwel who pretending for the better accomplishing of his own Designs the dialtory proceedings pernicious and arbitrary actings in the Parliament to perpetuate their Session to be very dangerous and enthrall the Nation this train of his he knew would take well with the People he therefore resolved to put a Period to the Parliament and accordingly accompanied by the chief Officers of the Army he entered the House and having declared his Intentions some by force some through fear and others not without a great deal of reluctancy and murmuring departed the House To set a fair gloss upon what he had done and to give some satisfaction to the People he publishes a Declaration the substance whereof followeth That after God was pleased marvelously to appear for his People in reducing Ireland and Scotland to so great a Peace and England to perfect quiet whereby the Parliament had opportunity to give the People the Harvest of all their Labour Blood and Treasure and to settle a due Liberty in reference to Civil and Spiritual things whereunto they were obliged by their Duty Engagements and those great and wonderful things God hath wrought for them But they made so little Progress therein that it was matter of much Grief to the good People of the Land who thereupon applied themselves to the Army expecting redress by their means who though unwilling to meddle with the Civil Authority agreed that such Officers as were Members of Parliament should move them to proceed vigorously in reforming what was amiss in the Common-wealth and in settling it upon a foundation of Justice and Righteousness which being done it was hoped the Parliament would have answered their expectations But finding the contrary they renewed their desires by an humble Petition in August 1652 which produced no considerable effects nor was any such Progress made therein as might imply their real Intentions to accomplish what was petitioned for but rather an averseness to the things themselves with much bitterness and opposition to the People of God and his Spirit acting in them insomuch that the Godly Party in Parliament were rendred of no further use then to countenance the ends of a corrupt party for effecting their desires of perpetuating themselves in the supream Government For obviating these evils the Officers of the Army obtained several meetings with some of the Parliament to consider what remedy might be applied to prevent the same but such endeavours proving ineffectual it became evident that this Parliament through the corruption of some the jealousie of others non-attendance of many would never answer those ends which God his People and the whole Nation expected from them But that this cause which God had so greatly blessed must needs languish under their Hands and by degrees be lost and the Lives Liberties and Comforts