may see how the Priests treat their Penitents in the condition and circumstances my Lord was in My Lord THE Character I bear gives me some Title And the singular esteem I have for your Noble and Truly virtuous Person and Family gives me Confidence to present your Lordship in this your last and Grand Affair with a Consolatory or rather Congratulatory Letter As I daily make my Supplication to God on your behalf so I hope I may make my Addresses to you on Gods behalf You are chosen by the King of Kings to share with him in Immortal Crowns You are called from an Abisse of misery to the top of Felicity You now pay a debt on the score of Grace which is due and which you must shortly have paid to the course of Nature And herein my Lord you are adorned with all the Trophies of Jesus's Victory He was Condemned of High Treason by false Witnesses for the love of you And you stand Condemned of the same Crimes by the like Evidence for the love of him Yet you shall not die my Lord 'T is a mistake of this blind World you shall only pass from a state of Death to a state of Life True Life Eternal Life you shall be Transformed into him whose essence is to live In whom with whom and by whom you shall enjoy all that is good all that is lovely alt that is pleasant And this enjoyment shall be in all its fulness altogether all at once without Interruption without Bound Limit or End The Omnipotent Creatorâ— of Heaven and Earth The searcher of Hearts The dreadful Judge of Men and Angels He who justly might otherwise peradventure have cast you into Eternal Fire From whose Sentence there is no Appeal He I say will now be forgetful of past Frailties regard you with a merciful Eye with a pleasing Countenance a loving heart an open Arm an endeared affection Millions of Lawrels hang over your Head Thousands of Millions of Glories and Sweets attend you which neither Eye hath seen nor Ear hath heard nor hath entered into the heart of man The Virgin Mother shall meet and conduct you to her beloved Son The Apostles Martyrs and Confessors shall receive and accompany you And all the blessed Quires of Saints and Angels shall Celebrate your victory and Sing Halleluja's to their celestial King for his Inspeakable goodness to you My Lord You were made for the enjoyment of God and now you arrive at the accomplishment of that End you owe to God all you have and all you are And now you restore to him all both what you have and what you are O happy Restauration where the advantage is wholly yours where Misery is turned into Bliss where Temporal into Eternal where God is found where Death as the Apostle saith is Gain The Innocence of your Cause The Dignity of your Religion for which you Suffer entitles you to the merits of the Cross and Incorporates You to the Bloud and Passion of Jesus your Saviour If we shall be dead with him saith St. Paul we shall live together with him If we suffer with him we shall Reign with him Hence our Saviour himself He that looseth his Life for me shall save it Again If any Man will serve me let him follow me And where I am there shall my Servant be also You are going to the Nuptials of the Lamb. God who is all good is pleased to Impart himself entirely to you Love hath made him wholly yours What need you fear What can you desire He that dyed for the love of you will now reap the Fruits of his pains and joy himself in you with delights proportionable to his own Goodness and Merits You are Select from amongst Thousands for the Espousals of Love Let nothing either past or present deject you nothing disturb you nothing retard you Let not your heart be troubled saith our Saviour nor let it be afraid As for the Crimes for which you stand Condemned God and your own Conscience knows you are Innocent All un-interested Men believe you so Passion and prejudice against your Religion hath advanced the credit of Perjured Persons and influenced your Adversaries to carry on your Death Had you been no Catholick we all know you had never been a Condemned Man So that it is palpably manifest you Die for your Religion and for your Religion wrongfully traduced What greater comfort What greater glory What greater happiness can arrive to a true Christian Blessed shall you be saith our Saviour when Men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you Falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven Concerning your real defects and frailties Take courage take confidence in God my Lord I have already told you what right you have to the Passion of Christ Your present Death is more then a Pledge of future Pardon Many sins are forgiven her saith our Saviour to Magdalen because she loved much to him that loveth less less is forgiven Now what it is to love much he himself sheweth saying No Man hath greater Love then this That a Man lay down his Life for his Friend Hence the Spouse in the Canticles Love is strong as death c. And our Saviour in express terms assureth us He that looseth his Life for me shall find it First therefore acknowledge your faults with a Penitent Heart and firmly believe what the Scripture avoucheth If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and cleanse us from all Iniquity Next offer with a chearful Heart your Life to God In satisfaction for your offences In union of the Sufferings of Jesus Christ In a Sacrifice of Love And then doubt not in the least but that Dying as you do in and for the Profession of your Faith Jesus hath signed your Pardon and pronounced upon your Soul those Life giving words Thy Sins are forgiven thee Thy Faith hath saved thee Go in Peace Neither let any endearments towards your Wife Children Friends or Family enfeeble your mind check your Love or imbitter your Joy Remember that Sentence of our Saviour He that loveth Son or Daughter above me is not worthy of me Again Every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Wife or Children or Lands for my Names sake shall receive an hundred fold and possess eternal Life You cannot give God too much You can bestow nothing on him but what you have received of him and what upon many accounts is infinitly due to him But in reality my Lord you do not desert your Friends nor they you by rendring your self and them to God suffering for Jesus He it is standeth Charged with the care of your Wife Children and Family He stileth himself The Father of Orphans and Judge of Widdows As he punisheth to the
Mort who sayeth That being at Deep Turbervil told him if they went to Calais they might go over with my Lord in the Yacht so that in the whole Mr. Turbervil may be said to have been peradventure something unwary in expressing himself but not Perjured in his Evidence To which the Papists answer To excuse a man from Pejury by pretending an occuls meaning and intention in the Swearer not expressed in the words of his Oath is such an Evasion as if admitted would destroy the Integrity of an Oath and elude all proof of Perjury whatsoever Turbervil Swears in down right terms my Lord came over by the way of Calais in the Company of Count Gramount without any addition That he was Informed so In which Oath he is directly Perjured for he Swears as an absolute Truth and without Restriction what of it self is an absolute Lye and what at best he could but Guess at by report and hera-say It is true indeed he contradicts himself in the sequel of his Information by saying He came away before my Lord and had not his Passage with him but it is connatural to Perjury to include contradictions Wicked Men are often blinded with Malice Passion or Interest And no wonder to find Incoherence of parts in a Story divested of Truth The only thing can be collected of Probability in this whole matter is That Turbervil being at Paris in an Indigent condition and desirous to return home got imperfect Intelligence that an English Lord whose name as yet he knew not and a French Count called Gramount had a Yacht waited for them at Diep And having also a Brother then in Paris he sought by his means to gain admittance for a Passage in the said Yacht This design of his he imparts to Mort a Person in the same condition and who had the same purpose with himself Hereupon Mort and he go to Diep in hopes to find the Yacht there but they fail'd of their expectation and Turbervil missing the Yacht would have perswaded Mort to go in the search of it to Calais Whilst they were in this debate they lighted on a Fisher-Boat and so came over in it into England Thus much may be conjectured from the Relation of Mort. But that Turbervil during his stay at Diep reccived a Letter from my Lord intimating his intention of coming for England by the way of Calais and that he should hasten to meet him at London is a most palpable Forgery For neither could Turbervil when required produce any such Letter nor did my Lord come over by the way of Calais as Turbervil would have us believe that Letter Imported And indeed who can imagine my Lord should send word to his new Confederate at Diep to hasten to meet him at London when he himself remained at Paris as hath been proved above a month after and at length also came not to Calais but to Diep and from thence home so that here is nothing but contradictions in the whole course of Turbervil's Evidence SEventhly Turbervil in the last mentioned Information positively Swore That the Lord Castlemain was present at certain Fraiterous Consults at Powis-Castle several times within the years 72 or 73 Now my Lord proved that the said Earl of Casilemain was never at Powis-Castle within the compass of that whole time This was demonstrated by the Attestation of Mr. Lidcot a Protestant and Fellow of Kings-Colledge in Cambridge who having Lived with the Earl Nine years and particularly Accompanied him in all his Journeys and Residences during those two above named years gave this distinct account out of his Book of Journals viz. My Lord set forth from Liege to Paris January 1st 72. Stilo novo where he remained three Weeks and from thence arrived at London January 24. Stil ' vet there he staid till May 73 from thence he went to Liege again in June and from Liege he set forth to London in August and returned back to Liege October the 3. Stilo novo 73. where he remained till January 74. c. Thus much to the charge of Perjury UPon this proof of Perjury the Mannagers made this Observation Mr. Lydcot the Fellow of Kings-Colledge as he call'd himself was indeed so out in his Arithmatick so mistaken in the year And used the Roman stile or date so much more then the English That they suspected he was not so great a Protcstant as he pretended to be To which the Papists answer That a solid Witness ought not be Railed out of his Evidence in a matter of Life and Death Mr. Lydcot however skilled in Arithmatick however great or little Protestant substantially proved the Earl of Castlemain never was at or near Powis-Castle from the first of January 72 till past December 73. the inclusive time wherein Turbervil Swears He was at a Consult there And it is strange so weighty and convincing a proof of Perjury in a matter of so high and serious a concern should be shifted off by a trissing Jest LAstly My Lord upon occasion made some Remarks upon Turbervil's Beggery Loose manner of Life and divers odd Circumstances in the course of his Evidence which much reflected upon his Reputation To support it therefore the Managers produced these Witnesses Mr. Arnold Jones Hobby and Scudamore Deposed That they knew Turbervil but for their parts never heard or saw any evil by him Mr. Matthews a Minister Deposed the same as to Turbervil's Reputation and added That Turbervil a little before he made his Discovery owned himself a Roman-Catholick but seemed to have a mind to quit that Religion being convinced by the Arguments Matthews gave him of the Excellency of the Principles and Practices of the Protestant Church yet would never acknowledge he knew one Syllable of the Plot. UPon these several Remarques the Mannagers made this Observation The good Character here given of Turbervil by four Witnesses shew him a Man of much Vertue and Integrity And it ought to be considered as a farther addition to his Praise that he had the grace though indigent to refuse the proposal made to him by my Lord of Killing the King To which the Papists answer It is no sufficient proof of Turbervil's Vertue and Integrity that four Persons say They know no ill of him He may be guilty nevertheless of a Thousand Crimes unknown to them few or none are so intirely abandoned or detested by all Mankind as not to find four Persons in the World who will make a favourable report of them But it is evident from what hath been already proved That Turbervil was a man in all points compleatly equipped for a Knight of the Post For first he was indigent Secondly he was horridly addicted to Cursing and Swearing Thirdly he looked upon feigning Discoveries as the only way to get Moneys All this is manifested by his own Words and conversation with Mr. Yalden and Mr. Porter before mentioned As I hope for Salvation said he I know nothing of the Plot. The
Devil take the Duke of York Monmouth and all God damn me there is now no Trade good but that of a Discoverer Who shall ever want Witnesses that can find men thus qualified And whereas it is said he had the grace to refuse the proposal made to him of Killing the King It ought first to be proved otherwise then by his own assertion He had such a Proposal made before the refusal of it can be justly alledged as an argument of grace in him Finally It is very remarkable what Parson Matthews the last of the Witnesses here Deposeth viz. That though Turbervil had a mind to quit the Roman Catholick Religion being as he said convinced by the Arguments Matthews gave him of the excellency of the Principles and Practices of the Protestant Church yet he would never acknowledge to the said Matthews his new Ghostly Father That he knew one sillable of the Plot. The sum of the whole Evidence both for and against my Lord. ¶ 4. IN this sort passed and ended the Particular Evidences given as well by the Mannagers against my Lord as by my Lord in his own defence After this the Court required each Party to sum up their respective Evidence And it being by course of Law my Lord's turn to begin He performed it to this purpose First He pleaded his Age his want of Endowments his Exhausted Spirits and strength in this long Tryal In consideration of which he hoped their Lordships who were both his Judges and Councel would Pardon the many defects he must needs commit in Summing up his defence Then he Recapitulated the whole Evidence already specified as well as his weak memory and discomposed condition would permit He reminded their Lordships of the several points wherein he had proved the Witnesses Forsworn He recounted their sayings and unsayings to the same things The various Contradictions the moral Impossibilities and Absurdities as to divers though before-hand studied parts of their Evidence Inferring from hence That he who will Forswear himself in one thing is not to be credited in any He insisted upon the Infamy of the Witnesses and Wickedness of their Lives especially the more the Atheistical Sacriledge of some of them acknowledged in open Court He Inculcated their former Beggery compared to the present Encouragement Carasses and Allurements of Gain and Applause they find in their new Employment He alledged their Subornation of others to make good their Forgeries their bare Oaths without any corroborating circumstances but what depended on the same Oaths concluding that such as will Swear Lyes will never stick at Swearing of false Circumstances to hancle those Lyes together And having thus summed up his Defence as well as a weak Old Man harrassed and spent with five days pleading And as he said deprived of Sleep could do on a suddain He cast himself into their Lordships hands desiring them to remember how faithfully he had served the King in the late Wars How much himself his Wife and Family had suffered on that account How easily he might have prevented those Miseries if he would as others did have turned a Rebel And consequently how-unlikely it is he should now in his Old Age and settled contented State be guilty of so horrid a Crime proved only against him by the Incredible Stories of three Infamous Men. Then he proceeded to propose certain Points or Doubts in Law which occurred in his case concerning the manner of his Impeachment the continuance of it from Parliament to Parliament Whether the Indictment contained an Overt Act necessary to a Conviction of Treason Whether Men who Swear for Money ought to be credited or admitted for Witnesses Whether the Plot being supposed a Plot of the Papists was as yet legally proved so Lastly Whether there being but one particular Witness to any one particular point such an Evidence be sufficient in Law WHen my Lord had ended his Queries the Learned Mannagers those dexterous Masters of Law and Eloquence addressed themselves to sum up the Evidence and Illustrate the Proofs on their side That part which regards the especial matters charged by the Witnesses upon my Lord in particular I have already incerted in the body of the Tryal as the said several matters respectively occurred The other Arguments made use of to enforce a belief of my Lord's Guilt and advance the credit of the Witnesses take here together with the Papists Answers in short as followeth The Managers therefore argued They had made it plain and apparent in the beginning of the Tryal by the Testimonies of fix positive Witnesses by the Declaration of both Houses of Parliament by Coleman's Letters by the Tryal and Conviction of other Traytors that there was a general Design amongst the Papists to introduce their Religion By raising of Armies murdering the King and subverting the Government THe Papists answer It is clear and manifest from the Reasons given and Arguments answered in the Preamble to this Tryal That there never was any such general Design any such Armies raised c. amongst the Papists These being the meer groundless Suggestions of Infamous Men whom Lucre and Malice instigated to Perjury against Innocent Catholicks THe Managers farther argued It was necessary this great Design of the Papists should be managed by the greatest Persons amongst them Now my L. Stafford was a man whose Quality and Merit might well entitle him to an Office as great as Pay-master General to the Army From whence they inferred That the particular Evidence given herein against my Lord was highly credible THe Papists answer It is a wrested Inference and that also bottomed upon a false supposition For first There never was as is said before any such Design nor by consequence any Armies or Officers other then what were the Chymerical product of Perjured Men. Secondly Though there had been such a Design in general as is here pretended it is a strangely far fetched conjecture surely not allowable in a case of Life and Death that my Lord Stafford because a Nobleman must needs have a great or indeed any part in it Great Offices especially amongst Traitors are not usually committed to the best Born but to the best Qualified for such employments Now all the World that knew my Lord his Humour his Condition his Economy in Money matters will avouch so incongruous are the Witnesses in their Lyes there was not peradventure amongst all the Persons of Quality Catholicks in England one less proper then he for Pay-master General to an Army In fine If there were a Plot in general 't is no necessary consequence my Lord was Guilty But if there were none as most certainly there was not 't is absolute demonstration my Lord was Innocent THe Managers argued They had amply proved by their Witnesses That the Priests and Jesuits in their Sermons and Discourses had justified the lawfulness and incited their Votaries to the practice of Treason Rebellion and Murder of Heretick Princes Conformably hereunto whenever my Lord
undertook any Treasonable Designs it was still when the Priests and Jesuits were at his Elbow still when they were egging him on still when they were giving him Ghostly Counsel when my Lord was amongst them or but newly come from them then it was he uttered the Treason of Killing the King These notable Circumstances must needs say they render credible the Testimony of the Witnesses against my Lord. THe Papists answer Here are Trayterous Sermons and Discourses alledged How are they proved Why by the Oaths of the Witnesses that heard them But the Credit of these Witnesses are questioned How is that made out Why by the Trayterous Sermons and Discourses which they heard Thus still the Question is begged and nothing proved but by bare swearing peremptory swearing of infamous men without any face of one single Circumstance to support their Evidence other than what dependeth on the same swearing As if those that stick not to swear a false Oath should stick at Circumstances to second their Perjury Had the Managers flourished upon the Honesty of the Witnesses the Vprightness of their Lives the Integrity of their Manners their dis-engagement from Self-interest the Circumstances inducing a probability distinct from the bare Oaths things necessary to a legal Conviction the Tryal would have had another appearence It is therefore again urged That there are such Wretches as Knights of the Post. That men may and often do break God's great Commandment Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour That wicked Persons of lost Consciences and desperate Fortunes are most propense to commit this Crime That this Propension is much augmented by an assured prospect of Indempnities from Punishment and advantage of Gain And consequently the bare and otherwise improbable Oaths of such men so circumstanced cannot especially in matters of Life and Death be credited against honest and vertuous Persons nay against whole Nations without a dreadful hazard of Injustice But there will be a further occasion to speak of these alledged Trayterous Sermons and Discourses when we come to treat of my Lord's Principles THe Managers still argued The three Witnesses were all express and positive in their Evidence against my Lord. THe Papists still answer It is not positive swearing of evil but probable swearing of good men should convict my Lord or any other of guilt especially in matters of High-Treason THe Managers likewise argued It was impossible there could be a Contrivance amongst the Witnesses themselves to depose the same Crimes against my Lord seeing there was no intercourse between Oates and Dugdale nor did they know each other till long after Oates's accusation of my Lord And it is as little credible they could concurr in the same thing unless the Evidence of both were true THe Papists answer Though there were no Contrivance arising from any acquaintance or intercourse had between Oates and Dugdale before their several Discoveries yet the latter might well take example and encouragement from the practice of the former and so indeed it was for Dugdale being involved in Debts and thrown into Gaol cast about how to retrieve his desperate Fortune and hearing that Oates and Bedlow men before sunk to the bottom of reproach and beggery had by Perjury and Impudence freed themselves from the Punishment of the Laws gained immense rewards and now lived in a degree above the port and expence of ordinary Gentlemen he at last yet not without frequent anguish and reluctance of Conscience swallowed the alluring bait and knowing my Lord Stafford whom he had seen at Tixal was already in the Tower and accused by Oates of the Plot he devised a like fabulous story of the Plot also making my Lord and other Gentlemen where he lived and served in Staffordshire the chief Actors in it By which means Dugdale became Partner with Oates and Bedlow both in the Title and Profit of the King's Evidence THe Managers argued Oates and Dugdale were so ready in their Answers when any Question was asked them and confirmed still their precedent discourses by their subsequent replies Nay the whole frame and series of the Plot though consisting of many particulars and attested by persons of no great natural capacities is yet so coherent in every part of it that it is impossible the same should be false THe Papists answer Oates and Dugdale were often so confounded when any Question was asked them out of the road and their precedent discourses were usually so inconsistent with their subsequent replies Nay the whole story though studied before-hand and the Authors all manner of ways encouraged and assisted in their invention is yet stuffed and involved with so many absurdities contradictions and impracticable chymaera's as has been already often and fully proved that it is impossible the same should be true for Falshood may but Truth cannot be inconsistent of parts LAstly the Managers having amply dilated and descanted upon each particular Evidence and Argument alledged as well against my Lord as in his defence and making even critical remarks upon whatever might be drawn either to the advantage of the one or prejudice of the other the substance of all which hath been already specified in its proper place At length they concluded with sharp and moving aggravations against the Popish Principles whereof also we shall by and by according to promise give a distinct account And insisting a while on this subject with much accuteness of Wit and seeming applause they closed up their Evidence THus when there was a period put to proof in matters of Fact there began a debate as to matter of Law concerning a doubt proposed by my Lord the other of his Queries not being admitted disputable viz. Whether two Witnesses be necessary to every Overt-act in point of Treason This Question being referred to the Judges they determined it to the Negative After this my Lord petitioned the Court as a peculiar favour That he might offer some things to their Lordships Consideration the purport of which was That he had proved direct Perjury upon all the three Witnesses against him That as well at the instance of his Wife Daughter and Friends as out of sincerity of Conscience he would in the presence of Almighty God declare to them All that he knew That he verily believed there had been in former times Plots and Designs against the Crown and Government as the Gun-powder-Treason c. owned by the Traytors themselves at their death wherein some Roman Catholicks as well as others might be concerned which Plots he from his heart as both his Duty and Religion taught him detested and abhorred That it was ever indeed his opinion That an Act of Comprehension for Dissenting Protestants and a Tolleration for Roman Catholicks yet so as not to admit them into any Offices of Profit or Dignity would much conduce to the happiness of the Nation But this not otherwise to be procured or desired then by a free consent of the King Lords
and Commons in Parliament assembled That he never read or knew of Coleman's Letters or Consultations for Tolleration till he saw the Letters themselves in the Printed Tryal How far Coleman was Criminal he did not know but he believed he did that which was not justifiable by Law That as to the damnable Doctrine of King-killing If he were of any Church whatsoever and found that to be its Principle he would leave it That he knew the disadvantage he was under in being forced alone to stand a contest with the Learned Gentlemen the Mannagers who have those great helps of Memory Parts and Understanding in the Law all which he wanted That therefore he hoped their Lordships would not conclude barely upon the manner either of his or their expressions But seriously debating the merits of the Cause in it self would please to be his Councel as well as his Judges That seeing he was to be Acquitted or Condemned by their Lordships Judgement He knew they would lay their hands upon their Heart Consult their Consciences and their Honours And then he doubted not they would do what was just and equitable That with submission to their Lordships he thought it hard measure and contrary to Law that any one should be Imprisoned above two years without being admitted to Tryal And that it was of evil consequence for any one to have Justice denyed him so long till his Opponents had found occasion to gain their ends That however those large Allowances and Rewards granted to the Witnesses for Swearing might peradventure be an effect of His Majesties Grace and Bounty yet it was not easily conceivable how the hopes and promises of so great Sums should not prove to dissolute indigent Persons strong Allurements and temptations to Perjury Finally That the defence he had made he owed it to the worth and dignity of his Family He owed it to his dear Wife and Children at which words he was observed to weep He owed it to his Innocense He owed it to God the Author of Life That he confided their Lordships would duly reflect what a dreadful thing Murder is and the Bloud of Innocents And that he verily believed none of the House of Commons desired his Death for a Crime of which he was not Guilty That he hoped their Lordships would not permit him to be run down by the shouts of the Rable the Emblem of our past Calamity It began in the late times with the Lord Stafford and so continued till it ended in the Death of the King the most execrable Murder that ever was committed And where this will end said he God knows To conclude He again declared in the presence of God of his Angels of their Lordships and all who heard him That he was intirely Innocent of what was laid to his charge That he left it to their Lordships to do Justice and with all submission resigned himself to them To this discourse of my Lords the Mannagers returned for answer That his Lordships last Address was not regular nor according to the due method of proceedings for if after his Lordship had summed up his Evidence and the Prosecutors had concluded theirs he should begin that work again and they by consequence be admitted to reply he might still rejoyn upon them and so there would be no end of proceedings They therefore desired this Indulgence granted to my Lord might not serve for a future President The Conclusion of the Tryal ¶ 5. HEre then the Lord High Steward wholly terminating all further process on either side The Court gave final Judgment And the Lord High Steward collecting the Votes my Lord Stafford was Pronounced Guilty by fifty five Votes against thirty one When the Votes were passed the Lord High Steward declared to the Prisoner He was found Guilty of High Treason whereof he was Impeached To which my Lord Stafford answered Gods holy name be praised my Lord for it Then the Lord High Steward asked him What he could say for himself why Judgment of Death should not be given upon him according to Law He reply'd My Lord I have very little to say I confess I am surprized at it for I did not expect it But Gods will be done and your Lordships I will not murmur at it God forgive those who have Falsly Sworn against me We are now come to the final Sentence of Death For a Prologue to which the Lord High Steward made a short Pathetick Speech wherein after some reflections upon the Plot in general he descended to my Lords case in particular And then advised his Lordship as now a supposed guilty Person to bething himself of the State and Condition he was in of his Religion and Guides that 't is said had seduced him Of the repentance due to so hainous Crimes And concluded with an assurance to his Lordship That a true Penitential Sorrow joyned with an humble and hearty Confession was of mighty power and efficacy both with God and Man He then pronounced Sentence upon him in these words The Judgment of the Law is and the Court doth award it That you go to the place from whence you came from thence you must be drawn upon an Hurdle to the place of Execution when you come there you must be Hanged up by the Neck but not till you are Dead for you must be cut down Alive your Privy Members must be cut off And your Bowels Ript up before your Face and thrown into the Fire Then your Head must be severed from your Body and your Body divided into four Quarters And these must be at the disposal of the King And God Almighty have mercy on your Soul My Lord received this dismal Sentence with a meek and resigned Countenance He declared in the presence of Almighty God he had no malice in his Heart to them that had Condemned him But freely forgave them all He made one and only one humble request to their Lordships viz. That for the short time he had to Live a Prisoner his Wife Children and Friends might be permitted to come at him My Lord High Steward told him their Lordships had so far a Compassion for him They would be humble suiters to the King That he will remit all the punishments but the taking off his Head Thus Sentence being passed the Lord High Steward broke his Staff and my Lord Stafford was led back from the Bar to the Tower The Ax being carryed before him as the Custom is in such cases with the Edge toward him SECT III. My Lords PRINCIPLES of FAITH and LOYALTY DOubtless the thing which most weighed to my Lord's prejudice most advanced the credit of the Evidence And most influenced both his Prosecutors and Judges against him was a pre-possessed Opinion of wicked Principles supposed to be held and practised by my Lord as the matter of his Faith and Religion It is by many taken for granted The Papists hold it an Article of Faith That to Depose and Murder Kings to Massacre
am hourly looking to hear of the hour of my Execution I have time by his Omnipotent mercy to lay my Heart prostrate on the ground to beg his Pardon and acknowledg his infinite mercy and goodness God grant me grace to reflect as I ought on all these assurances and as I ought to do love his Divinity and nothing created independently of him Nothing in this World but the Holy Trinity deserving the whole love and Adoration of Mankind God give me grace to love him and only him And though I cannot do it so well as otherwise I ought yet I hope I do it what I can And do firmly resolve by his holy Grace I will to the uttermost of my power so long as it shall please him to give me my life wholly and willingly to resign my self to his Holy will and doubt not by his Grace but to find more true delight in serving him then ever I did in the vanities of the World All Glory Praise and Honour be given unto him for all Eterniâ—â— Amen THere was likewise found in his Chamber this following Prayer or Resignation Thou hast said O Lord he that loves Father or Mother c. more then me is not worthy of me I acknowledge most dear Lord that I love my Wife and Children as much as a loving Husband and tender Father can love a most deserving Wife and most dutiful Children but to shew that I love thy Divine Majesty more than them and my own Life to boot I willingly render up and forsake both for the love of thee and rather then to offend thee though by the contrary I may have life and all worldly advantages both for my self and them Receive therefore Dear Jesus this voluntary Oblation of both Take us into thy protection O Helper in opportunities in Tribulation Be thou a Judge and Spouse to the Widdow a Father to the Orphans and Salvation to all our Souls I rejoyce to have so dear a Pledge to Offer and present thee for all thy blessings and benefits bestowed upon Us and for thy sake who offeredst thy self for us to Death to the most ignominious Death of the Cross Receive therefore Sweet Jesus this poor Oblation of mine though all I am able to offer thee in union of all the Oblations of thy most Sacred Life Death and Passion and of all those Divine Oblations which have been are and ever shall be offered upon thine Altars All which I Offer thee and by thy hands to thy eternal Father O Father look upon the face of thy Christ and turn away thy face from my Sins O Holy Mary Mother of God all ye Holy Angels and Saints in Heaven make Intercession for me that what I deserve not of my self may by your Intercession be bestowed upon me Amen Jesu Amen Grant and ratisie what I ask for thy Names sake Amen On Sunday the 19 th of December Mr Lieutenant of the Tower came to him and told him He was sorry he must bring him the ill news that he must dye on the 29 th of this Month. To which dismal Message he undauntedly replyed I must obey Then added in Latine that Text of the Psalm Haec dies c. This is the day which our Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it After which turning himself to his almost dead-struck Lady he said Let us go to our Prayers UPon this occasion also he writ a little Schedule containing these words In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost This day Mr. Lieutenant came and told me I must dye God's Holy name be praised and I prostrate beseech him to have mercy on my sinful Soul And deal with me as his Omnipotence knows I am Innocent of what was falsly sworn against me I do not doubt of Salvation through the Passion of our most blessed Saviour IT was truly a matter of wonder and astonishment to those who lived and were conversant with him during this short remnant of his life to see with what Constancy and equal temper of mind he comported himself What interior Quiet and serenity he seem d to injoy What confidence he expressed in God What Charity to all even to the worst of his Enemies Death hath usually an aspect formidable to nature especially when Treason and Murder slie in the face of a guilty Conscience A man who hath warning and leisure deliberately to consider he is now upon the point of being just dragged out of this mortal State before the dreadful Tribunal of a severe Judge who knows the Secrets of his Heart there to receive an Eternal Doom of Hell and Damnation for crimes detested by God and Nature This man surely can never die without such Conflicts of horrour and despair as will almost prevent the hand of the Executioner yet there appeared in my Lord no other symptoms then those of a most pleasing Tranquility as if Innocence had Guarded him As if the Injustice of others had secured him As if the Holy Ghost had fortified him As if Christ Jesus had united him to his Sufferings and undertaken his conduct and defence THat very morning he was to dye he writ a Letter to his Lady which afterwards he delivered on the Scaffold to a Friend there present the contents whereof are these My Dear Wife I Have I give God humble thanks slept this night some hours very quietly I would not dress me until I had by this given you thanks for all your great Love and Kindness unto me I am very sorry that I have not deserved it from you God reward you Were I to live numbers of years I assure you I would never omit any occasion to let you know the Love I bear you I cannot say what I would nor how well and many ways you have deserved God of His most infinite mercy send us an happy meeting in Heaven My last request unto you is that you will bear my Death as well as you can for my sake I have now no more to do but as well as I can though not so well as I would to recommend my sinful Soul unto the mercy of the Holy Trinity who through the Passion Bloud and Merits of our Savour I hope will mercifully grant me a place though the lowest in Heaven God grant it And bless you and Ours St. Thomas of Canterbury's day 1680 past six in the Morning Your truly loving Husband William Howard The Manner and Circumstances of my Lord 's Final End WHen the hour appointed for his Death drew near he exspected with some impatience the arrival of Mr. Lieutenant telling his Friends that were about him he ought not to hasten his own death yet he thought the time long till they came for him A Gentleman then with him in his Chamber put him in mind that it was a cold day and that his Lordship would do well to put on a Cloak or Coat to keep him warm He answered He would for said
Constitution of the Government of this Kingdom is the only way to continue peace and quietness which God long continue Next to Treason I hold Murther in Abhorrence and have ever done and do And I do sincerely profess that if I could at this time free my self Immediatly and Establish what Religion I would and what Government I would and make my self as great as I could wish and all by the death of one of these Fellows that by their Perjuries have brought me to the place where I am I so much abhor to be the cause of any Mans death that I would not any way be the cause of their Murther how much less would I endeavour the Assassination of his Majesty whom I hold to be a Gracious a King as ever this or any other Nation had And under whom the People may enjoy their Liberties as much as ever any did And if it please God to grant him Life and Happiness according as I have always Wished and Prayed for I am morally perswaded that he and all his Dominions will be as happy and prosperous as ever People were Which I beseech God grant I do most humbly ask Pardon of the Almighty and All-merciful God for all the great Offences I have committed against his Divine Majesty and I know he would not have the Death and Confusion of a Sinner but that he may Repent and Live In that assurance I hope knowing he never despiseth a Contrite Heart And though I have not so feeling a Contrition as I would yet I have it as well as I can and I doubt not but that God will accept of the Good Will I do desire that all People will forgive me any Injury that I have done them in any thing either Wilfully or by Chance and I do heartily forgive all People in this World that have Injured me I forgive even those Perjured Men that so Falsly have brought me hither by their Perjuries I do now upon my Death and Salvation aver That I never spoke one Word either to Oates or Turbervil or to my knowledge ever saw them until my Tryal And for Dugdale I never spoke unto him of any thing but about a Foot-boy or Foot-man or Foot-race and never was then alone with him All the Punishment that I wish them is that they may repent and acknowledge the Wrong that they have done me then it will appear how Innocent I am God forgive them I have a great Confidence that it will please Almighty God and that he will in a short time bring Truth to Light then You and all the World will see and know what injury they have done me I hope that I have made it appear that I have some Conscience for if I had none certainly I would have saved my Life by acknowledging my self Guilty which I could have done though I know I am not in the least Guilty And I having some Conscience make very ill use of it for I throw my self into Eternal Pain by thus plainly and constantly denying thus at my Death the knowledge of what I am accused of in the least I have said thus much in discharge of my Conscience and do aver upon my Salvation what I have said to be really true I shall say little of my Tryal and whether it were all according to the known Law I am too much a Party to say much of it if it were not so God forgive him or them that were the cause of it My Judges were all Persons of Honour who were all as much bound to Judge rightly as if they had been upon Oath upon what was legally proved And not to Vote but according as in their Consciences they were satisfied And if any of them did otherwise upon any account whatsoever I beseech God forgive them I do heartily I shall end with my hearty Prayers for the happiness of his Majesty that he may enjoy all happiness in this World and the World to come and govern his People according to the Laws of God and that the People may be sensible what a Blessing God hath so miraculously given them and obey him as they ought I ask Pardon with a prostrate Heart of Almighty God for all the great Offences that I have committed against his Divine Majesty and hope through the Merits and Passion of Christ Jesus to obtain everlasting Happiness into whose hands I commit my Spirit asking Pardon of every Person that I have done any wrong unto I do freely forgive all that have any ways wronged me I do with all the Devotion and Repentance that I can humbly invoke the mercy of our Blessed Saviour I beseech God not to Revenge my Innocent Bloud upon the Nation or on those that were the Cause of it with my last Breath I do with my last Breath truly assert my Innocency and hope the Omnipotent All-seeing Just God will deal with me accordingly HIS Speech being ended he delivered several Written Copies of it to the Sheriffs and others near him one of which Writ with his own hand he sent to the King Then he returned to the middle of the Scaffold where encompassed by his Catholick Friends He kneeled down and reverently making the Sign of the Cross pronounced aloud with exceeding Devotion this following Prayer AGnosco Domine Jesu peccata mea multa magna pro quibus timeo sed spero in misericordiâ miserationibus tuis quarum non est numerus Secundum igitur magnam misericordiam tuam miserere mei secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum dele iniquitatem meam Si Peccata mea magnasunt major est misericordia tua Si multae infinitae sunt miserationes tuae Si ego commisi unde me possis condemnare Tu non amisisti unde potes soles salvare Credenti in potentiâ tuâ dicenti Domine si vis potes me mundare tu statim respondisti Volo mundare Credo quod ipse credidit Spero quod ipse speravit Imploro quod ipse imploravit Dic igitur animae meae Salus tua ego sum Sana me Domine Jesu sanabor Salvum me fac salvus ero misericordias tuas in aeternum cantabo Ne projicias me igitur à faciê tuâ Spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas à me Sed redde mihi laetitiam Salutaris tui Spiritu principali consirma me Tu dixisti dulcissime Jesu Convertimini ad me ego convertar ad vos Ego me ex toto corde meo ex totâ animâ ex totâ mente meâ converto ad te Converte te igitur misericordissime ad indignum famulum tuum quem pretioso sanguine redemisti Tu dixisti Omnis qui confitebitur me coram hominibus consitebor ego eum coram Patre meo qui in coelis est Ego te Sanctam tuam Religionem Catholicam vivens confiteor moriens adjuvante gratiâ tuâ confitebor dignare me igitur suscipere ponfiteri coram patre tuo qui in Coelis