Commodity was Security to Us Peace to Our People And We are confident another Parliam would remember how useful a Kings Power is to a Peoples Liberty Of how much We have divested Our self that We and they might meet again in a due Parliamentary way to agree the bounds for Prince and People And in this give belief to our Experience never to affect more Greatness or Prerogative then what is really and intrinsecally for the good of your Subjects not satisfaction of Favorites And if you thus use it you will never want means to be a Father to all and a bountiful Prince to any you would be extraordinarily Gracious unto You may perceive all men trust their Treasure where it returns them Interest and if Princes like the Sea receive and repay all the fresh streams and Rivers trust them with they will not grudge but pride themselves to make them up an Ocean These Considerations may make you a great Prince as your Father is now a low one and your state may be so much the more established as mine hath been shaken For Subjects have learnt We dare say that Victories over their Princes are but Triumphs over themselves and so will be more unwilling to hearken to Changes hereafter The English Nation are a sober People however at present under some Infatuation We know not but this may be the last time We may speak to you or the world publickly We are sensible into what hand We are faln and yet We bless God We have those inward Refreshments that the malice of Our Enemies cannot perturb We have learnt to own our self by retiring into Our self and therefore can the better digest what befals Us not doubting but God can restrain our Enemies malice and turn their fierceness into his Praise To conclude if God give you success use it humbly and far from Revenge If he restore you to your Right upon hard conditions whatever you promise keep Those men which have forced Laws which they were bound to observe will find their Triumphs full of Troubles Do not think any thing in this world worth obtaining by foul and unjust Means You are the Son of our Love and as We direct you to what we have recommended to you so we assure you We do not more affectionately pray for you to whom We are a Natural Parent then We do that the ancient Glory and Renown of this Nation be not buried in Irreligion and Phanatick humour And that all Our Subjects to whom VVe are a Politick Parent may have such sober Thoughts as to seek their peace in the Orthodox Profession of the Christian Religion as it was established since the Reformation in this Kingdom and not in new Revelations And that the ancient Laws with the Interpretation according to known practises may once again be an hedge about them that you may in due time govern and they be governed as in the fear of the Lord. C. R. The Lord Capel beheaded March 9. 1949. in the Palace yard Westminster THis Noble Lord Noble in his Life nobler in his Death and Memory noblest in his Posterity who fill the trumpet of Fame that summons all men to render them their deserved honours though he was not like some of our foregoing Martyrs viz. Sr. Charles Lucas and Sr. George Lisle murthered in the instant of the rendition of Colchester having quarter for life given him by the General yet did not long survive their hard fate being brought with more solemnity more perfidiousness though alike glory to his Death which he suffered with a Christian and no Roman but Colchester Spirit and resolution He was no great Captain nor ever undertook such a charge serving without any signal command in his Majesties Armies though no doubt sufficient thereto yet he is no less to be eternized for his indeavours his courage constancy and faithful adherence to the King when deserted by a great part of the Nobility parting with and hazarding a great and ample Estate which was sequestred from him and in conclusion laying down his life so that he may justly be stiled one of the Worthies of the English Nobility and his name ever to be honourably mentioned according to that of the Psalmist Psal 112.6 The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance He was Son and Heir to Sr. Arthur Capel of Hadham Hall in Herefordshire a Gentleman of Great Estate and who loved and followed the old mode of our Nation kept a Noble and bountiful House and shewed forth his Faith by his charity extending it in such abundant manner to the poor that he was bread to the hungry drink to the thirsty eies to the blind and legs the the same so that he might justly be stiled Great Almoner to the King of Heaven As this diffusive charity and bounty spread it self abroad no less did his Relative love and Paternal affection bestow it self on this his Son whom he most liberally educated to a perfection in Learning as his rich expressions and elegant stile in his Book Printed after his death and in other letters do best evidence Sr. Arthur dying as this Noble Lord inherited his Estate so did he his Virtues his pious bounty appearing so conspicuous that some envious persons who hate good works in others because they will do none themselves have maliciously traduced him as inclining to Popery But as such aspersions amongst persons of understanding signifie nothing more than the speakers malice so wrought it in others a deserved commendation of this Noble Person especially in those times and our own are worse when Charity lay bed-rid and Faith only and such hungry notions were talkt of whereas his Faith appeared by his works From the degree of Knight the ancient Dignity of his Family now advanced to the Earldom of Essex he was made Baron Capel of Hadham a little before the time the Earl of Strafford received his Tryal which in this brave Lords conscientious Judgment of himself was his original condemnation in foro coeli During the Rebellion and those differences between the King and Parliament he constantly and faithfully adhered to his Majesty contributing both in purse and person to his aid and assistance being appointed in that time for his eminent wisdom and prudence Councellour to the Prince by the King his Father whom he abandoned not till the disbanding of my Lord Hopton's Army in Cornwall from whence his Highness took shipping to Scilly giving my Lord an honourable but sorrowful dismission and conge to return home and attend though his heroical mind spur'd him on to pursue his most unworthy fate For at his coming home upon those Articles having scarce warmed himself there after his long absence from thence but some hopes appearing of the King's restauration to his former Authority by the coming in of Duke Hamilton with a potent Army as also by the Welch Insurrection and the rising of several Counties who declared for the same purpose he with a select number of his friends acquaintance and
of Apprentices Seamen and others intermingled with so me of the leading Grandees who were to instruct this many-headed Monster what they should cry out for or what they should do upon any emergency who coming to Westminster-Hall made a violent cry for Justice against Strafford which continued so many dayes together till at last not seeing the businesse go on with that disparch they wished and being informed by their Members of the Faction in the House that the Bill of Attainder stuck with the Lords and that they refused to passe it they proceeded to that Impudence as to stop the Lords Coaches as they went to the House and threaten them if they would not consent to his Condemnation to hinder them from entring into the House and that they would turn them back withal they posted up the Names of those Lords who would not consent to this cruel and barbarous way of proceeding against the said Earle calling them Straffordians and enemies of their Country with this menacing Subscription This and more shall be done unto them c. If this had been meerly the Rage of the Multitude the Fate of this worthy and Noble Person had been something the lesse lamentable by how much injuries of violence are lesse terrible and imputable then those of Deliberation but here was the bloudy hand of the Puritan Preacher most apparently concerned who now thought to wreak himself of all those Silencings had been put upon their Seditious Mouths by this cry for bloud which no Horseleech ever more greedily sucked so by these Prophets the Word was put into the mouth of the multitude Many Enemies and those the ablest Lawyers of the Kingdom and Eloquent Orators also this Noble Earle was combated with against whom neverthelesse he most rationally politely and learnedly without any the least Passion confidence or Fear being alike distant from them both but in an even and excellent temper of mind so well defended himself that his Peers could not find where to fasten his Charge which because of the extraordinary manage of it and that he is the Protomartyr take a view of in this short Account An Account of the Life Tryal and Death of that Loyal PROTO-MARTYR THOMAS Earle of Strafford Lord Deputy of Ireland Beheaded May 12. 1641. VVHat was tauntingly said by the French concerning this great and prudent Statesman that the English were mad having but one wise Head to cut it off was Truth enough and too sadly experienced All Essaies of describing those great Abilities and comprehensiveness of his mind are therefore unfeasable because none but himself could pourtraict them to any Appearance or Semblance of that Life and Quicknesse which manifested it self even in that unsearchable and profound depth of his Counsels and Actions so that he hath left nothing transmittible to our Imitation but his Loyalty wherein we and his Enemies agree in this that we have nothing else to lay hold on his other superexcellent qualities being above our and their reach and understanding The Reason undoubtedly why he was assaulted with the new Engine of accumulative and constructive Treâ—son He hath for his honour and glory a most illustrious character given him by King Charles of blessed memory in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in these words I look upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose abilities might make a Prince rather afraid than ashamed to employ him in the greatest affaires of State c. so that all that can be added to his memory and renown by any other pen will be but a superfluous labour but because that good Prince only considered him in his setting wherein he was as unhappily concernd as he was happily in the raising of him it is thought requisiâ—e to take a farther view of him and deduce him from his Ancestry to whom he hath contributed more honour than he received from them He was born in Yorkshire of the illustrious Family of the Wentworths and educated according to the greatnesse of his Family which had brought forth many famous men As soon as he came of age he was chosen a Parliament Man where he presently gained the reputation of a States-Man and good Patriot by stickling against the Prerogative which mist not the Courts observation By King Charls the First out of honour to his merit and great parts he was made Bâ—ron Wentworth of Raby and soon after other Titles were conferred on him together with places of trust which he discharged to the Kings great content the services he received from him ballancing his favours bestowed on him which he never abused but continued to his death a most prudent Councellour Loyal Subject and faithful Friend being taken into the Kings bosom and most retired secrets Soon after he was created Earl of Strafford he was made also Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in which Government he exceeded in policy and good Laws and careful management in advancing the Kings revenue and ascertaining it for the future all that went before him He did also take care for the Church established the Protestant Religion countenanced learned men and preferred them and setled a constant revenue for them in that Kingdom of which prudent and pious action the now Clergy there do reape the fruit Some offences were taken at him by the Irish whom he kept in a very hard but orderly subjection suppressing their out-laws and Tories and reducing them to a perfect entire obedience to the Kings Authority and the Laws Unlesse the strings be wound up hard we cannot look for good Musick he repressed and beat down the insolent Lordings of the great ones over the Commons whom he sweetned and arctized into the English from their wild and barbarous Customs which caused him no great Love from the Irish Nobility who understood the design was by such artifices to take from them the absolute power they had over their poor Vassals and Tenants when they should find the difference between the English Manners and Laws and those of their own Country Herein notwithstanding the great opposition he meâ— in the obstinacy and indocibility and prejudice of that opinionated Nation he made a good procedure and no doubt had he continued longer in the Government and those times had not fallen out which soon put all into a confusion had obtained his end The Scotch War breaking out first as aforesaid he was called out of Ireland to assist the King with his Counsel in those Exigencies which had so unpreparedly surprized him to which work like a Noble Friend he set his head his hands and his purse advancing by subscription which the rest of the Nobility followed according to their estate twenty thousand pounds with which aid and the large supply of the Clergy who granted the King four shillings in the pound for six years together which was effected by his influence that King raised that Army against the Scots The Earl of Strafford was sick at the Defeat given the English at Newburne under my Lord Conway whereupon
an overture was made by other Lords then about the King for a Peace with the Scots which soon after taking effect the King returned to Westminster where he had summoned his Parliament according to the advice of this Lord and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury both whom they rendred odious to the People upon the very account of being Enemies to Parliaments The very first thing of consequence done at the first Sessions was a charge exhibited by the House of Commons against this Earl which consisted of 28. Articles of high Treason Feb. 16 1640. The substance of them all was That he had endeavoured to subvert the fundamental Laws and Governments of the Realms of England and Ireland that he had done ill Offices betwixt the King and the Scots and betwixt the King and his Subjects of this Kingdom that he had advised the King to bring up the Army out of the North and overawe the Parliament and that he had informed his Majesty that he had an Army of 10000 men in Ireland ready to be transported for the same Service His Tryal thereupon April 13. ensued which was done with all solemnity a Court being made for the purpose with seats for both Houses and a Canopy for the King with a Terrasse before it The Earl of Arundel was Lord High Steward his Accusers were Pym St. Johns Whitlock Sr. Walter Earles Serjeant Glyn Maynard Stroud Mr. Selden Hambden c. The Lieutenant warded all their blows defending himself bravely and learnedly so that there was no hopes of prevailing against his innocence by the Law before the Lords that were his Judges But the implacable fury of the House of Commons since chey could effect nothing this way put them upon another which was to draw up a Bill of Attaindor and present it to the Lords whereby the matter of Fact was declared to have been sufficiently proved and then as to Law that he had incurred the censure of Treason the Lords stumbled at this way of proceeding as a path leading to their own destruction it being a course unsuitable to the practice and state of the Kingdom and their own safety and against Common Justice To this it was replied by the Commons that if the Lords would not joyn with them in this way they feared a rupture might follow for that the People would not be satisfied without Justice done upon the Earl as the Author of all their grievances The Lords stood for a while to their first determination and heard the Earl by his Council at their Bar as to matter of Law this made the House of Commons though the King in a set speech to them had cleared the Earl from any design of Treason or consulting to any arbitrary Government nor could he concur to punish him as a Traitor the more eager Whereupon the Londoners came down in Tumults crying Justice and threatning the Lords as aforesaid so that at last the said Bill ushered in by a Protestation passed the whole House of Commons nemine contradicente but the Lord Darby and one or two more and presently after the House of Lords where were present 45 26 against him and 19 for him most of his friends absenting themselves for fear of the multitude Immediatly the Kings assent was required to the Bill who consulted with the Bishops who all but the Bishop of London now his Grace of Canterbury and who as the King observed in his Book fared the best of all advised him against it but that which most swayed the King to sign it which he bitterly afterwards repented was a Letter of the Earls to his Majesty which being too long here to insert I shall only give you that Passage wherein he desires his Majesty to passe the Bill And therefore in few words as I put my self wholly upon the Honour and Justice of my Peers so clearly as to beseech your Majesty might please to have spared that Declaration of yours on Saturday last and intirely to have left me to their Lordships so now to set your Majesties Conscience c. at liberty I do most humbly beseech you for the preventing of such mischief as may happen by your refusal to pass the Bill by this means to remove praised be God I cannot say this accursed but I confess this unfortunate thing forth of the way towards that blessed agreement which God I trust shall for ever establish betwixt you and your Subjects Sir my consent herein shall more acquit you to God than all the World can do besides to a willing man there is no injury done c. I have also here inserted for their excellency and elegancy these two following Speeches the first at Westminster Hall to the Lords at the conclusion of his Trial the other at the Scaffold which are as follow MY Lords There yet remaines another Treason that I should be guilty of the endeavouring to subvert the fundamental Laws of the Land that they should now be Treason together that is not Treason in any one part of Treason accumulative that so when all will not do it is woven up with others it should seem very strange Under favour my Lords I do not concieve that there is either Statute Law nor Common-Law that doth declare the endeavouring to subvert the fundamental Laws to be high Treason For neither Statute-Law nor Common-Law written that ever I could here of declareth it so And yet I have been diligent to enquire as I believe you think it doth concern me to do It is hard to be questioned for life and honour upon a Law that cannot be shewn There is a Rule which I have learned from Sir Edward Cooke De non aparentitibus non existentibus eadem ratio Jesu where hath this fire lain all this while so many hundred of years without any smoak to discover it till it thus burst out to consume me and my children extreme hard in my opinion that punishment should precede promulgation of Law punishment by a Law subsequent to the Acts done Take it into your considerations for certainly it is now better to be under no Law at all but the will of men than to conforme our selves under the protection of a Law as we think and then be punished for a crime that doth precede the Law what man can be safe if that be once admitted My Lords it is hard in another respect that there should be no token set upon this offence by which we should know it no admonition by which we should be aware of it If a man passe down the Thames in a Boat and it be split upon an Anchor and no booy be ser as a token that there is an Anchor there that party that ows the Anchor by the Maritine Laws shall give satisfaction for the damage done but if it were marked out I must come upon my own peril Now where is a mark upon this crime Where is the token this is high Treason If it be under water and not above water no humane
so many Martyrs in this Kingdom to which glory and Crown far above all his other Diadems this Defender of the Faith was through so many future hazards to aspire And the better to clear his innocency from those malicious aspersions it suffered under though the Sun at noon-day never was brighter or clearer than his entire profession of the Protestant Religion of his being in heart a Papist his Majesty being at Christ-Church in Oxford in 1643 and prepared to receive the Sacrament from the hands of the Lord Arch-Bishop of Armagh used these publick expressions just before the receiving of the blessed Elements My Lord I Espy here many resolved Protestants who may declare to the World the resolution I now do make I have to the utmost of my power prepared my Soul to become a worthy receiver and so may I receive comfort by the blessed Sacrament as I do intend the establishment of the true Protestant Religion as it stood in its beauty in the happy dayes of Queen Elizabeth without any connivance of Popery I bless God that in the midst of these publick distractions I have still liberty to communicate and may this Sacrament be my damnation if my heart do not joyn with my lips in this Protestation But even this most sacred asseveration and then which nothing can more oblige belief and confidence was by these profaners of all holy things rejected and slighted and measured by their own perjurious Oaths and Covenants wherefore the King to undeceive the Forein Reformed Churches since he could not convince his own Subjects with whom their Emissaries had tampered and insinuated the same detestable falshood and who seemed to be otherwise affected to this their noble Defender than their duty required in those his times of affliction published a Declaration in Latin and sent it abroad the tenour whereof being of main concernment to our purpose is in English as followeth CHARLES by the special Providence of Almighty God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith To all those who profess the true reformed Protestant Religion of what Nation condition and degree soever they be to whom this present Declaration shall come Greeting Whereas we are given to understand that many false Rumours and scandalous Letters are spread up and down amongst the Reformed Churches in Forein parts by the politick or rather the pernicious industry of some ill affected persons that we have an inclination to recede from that Orthodox Religion which we were born baptized and bred in and which we have firmly professed and practised through the whole course of our life to this moment and that we intend to give way to the introduction and publick exercise of Popery again in our Dominions which conjecture or rather most detestable calumny being grounded upon no imaginable foundation hath raised these horrid Tumults and more than barbarous Wars throughout these flourishing Islands under pretext of a kind of Reformation which would not prove only incongruous but incompatible with the Fundamental Laws and Government of this our Kingdom We desire that the whole Christian World should take notice and rest assured that we never entertained in our imagination the least thought to attempt such a thing or to depart a jot from that Holy Religion which when we received the Crown and Scepter of this Kingdom we took a most solemn Sacramental Oath to profess and protect Nor doth our most constant practise and daily visible presence in the exercise of this sole Riligion with so many asseverations in the head of our Armies and the publick attestation of our Lords with the circumspection used in the education of our Royal Off-spring besides divers other undeniable Arguments only demonstrate this but also that happy alliance of mariage we contracted between our eldest Daughter and the illustrious Prince of Aurange most clearly confirms the reality of our Intentions herein By which nuptial engagement it appears further that our endeavours are not only to make a bare profession thereof in our own Dominions but to enlarge and corroborate it abroad as much as lieth in our power This most Holy Religion with the Hierarchy and Liturgy thereof we solemnly protest that by the help of Almighty God we will endeavour to our utmost power and last period of our life to keep entire and immovable and will be careful according to our Duty to Heaven and the tenour of the aforesaid most sacred Oath at our Coronation that all our Ecclesiasticks in their several stations and incumbencies shall preach and practise the same This came very seasonably into the World as to the Protestant part of it who never imagined or thought Subjects of their perswasion would take up Arms or resist without some grievous alteration in Religion though they condemn it in any case whatsoever and therefore the Protestant States abroad did wholly decline their owning of them though they did nothing positively for the Kings assistance which by this means he could not rationally promise to himself from the Catholick Princes who would not engage without some great advantages for his Popish Subjects against which his Majesty was so religiously resolved though he were most dutifully and cordially served by them throughout the War To resume our narrative the Kingdom was all in a flame the Sectaries every where finding Friends to their specious Cause and having the City of London for their inexhaustible Magazine and supplies of men money and Arms. Divers fields were fought in the chief whereof the King himself was personally present with various success till the year 1645 where at Naseby he received that fatal overthrow which ushered in so many succeeding calamities most unworthy of his great virtues and piety I cannot but observe before I come to repeat the perpetration of all their complicated mischief in his murder how gradually his enemies forsook their allegiance and how the paint of their religious and loyal pretences wore off by time which will leave their fair-faced impiety indelible First their General must go fight with the Kings Army and rescue him from his evil Councellors but preserve his Person this Riddle was resolved in my Lord Fairfaxes Commission when they had so far engaged their partakers that there was no way of receding from those dangerous courses where there was not such a word but kill and slay without exception During the War all their importunate desires were that he would be graciously pleased to disband his Army and return to his most dutiful Subjects at Westminster afterwards towards the expiration of the War when he urged what they had so vehemently obtested they were most ungraciously displeased at the proposal and so proceeded in conclusion to that heighth of impiety as Tacitus speaks of another cursed caytiffe Ferox scelerum quia prima provenerant their successe in one wickednesse provoking them to more For the King being every where worsted and besieged in his Chief Garrison the University of Oxford was advised and resolved to cast
himself upon the Scotch Army then lying at the Siege of Newark The News of his Departure from Oxford was no sooner known to the Parliament but supposing he would come to London and rely upon the Affections of the City who were reclaimed from those wild Exorbitancies by having emptied those veins of Wealth which were expended in the War and at last found themselves never the nearer those things they fought for but were every day affronted both by the Parliament and Army therefore they caused it to be proclaimed that it should be Treason for any to harbour the Kings Person which makes every place of his Residence a Court and a kind of Sanctuary and thereupon the Lord Mayors House was searched as for a Malefactor Oh unheard of Impudence of Subjects to their Soveraign But they were quickly eased of this fear by an Expresse from their Commissioners in the Scotch Army that he was arrived there This put them upon new Counsels so they agree if they could not get him out of their hands by Treaty to obtain him by purchase as our Saviour was sold before by his own And very satyrical if true as it is reported to be was that Saying of Monsieur Bellieure the French Ambassador who came to the King then at Newcastle upon his dismissing the Convoy that brought him into the Parliament Quarters having a half Crown in his hand he asked one of the Souldiers how much it was that Judas sold our Saviour for who replying 30 Pieces of Silver just so much saith he take among you for selling your Lord and Master and therewith gave him the half Crown in conclusion for 200000 Pounds the King was bargained for and brought by the Order of the Parliament who sent Commissioners to attend him to Holmby one of his own Houses where he was so strictly guarded that none of his Friends nor his Servants but who must passe the Allowance of the Two Houses were permitted to wait upon him they were very few and inconsiderable besides Being thus lockt up and waiting the Pleasure of the Parliaments Consideration of him who minded him no more then as if he had been one of their Fellow Subjects he was in the night time hurried away from thence by Cornet Joyce June 4. 1647. to Childersley thence to New-Market thence to Royston to Hatfield to Windsor to Cavesham to Maydenhead to Latimer to Stoke to Oatlands to Sion House and lastly to Hampton-Court being forced to shift his Abode at the pleasure of the Army who near his Person with feigned Overtures of Loyalty and as in order to his Safety and Service kept alwaies their Head Quarters when the Design was meerly by his Presence with them of so great Reverence and Concernment are and ought to be Princes though devoyded of all Power both in Rebels and Subjects esteem as the King himself excellently in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observed in this juncture to counterbuffe and balance the unlimited usurped Power of the Parliament and to shew them that they might not expect to be absolute or masterless as long as Interest and the Sword could serve them Thus was the King driven about having no place to rest his Head in which presented it not with diversity of sad thoughts and cares till for some time the space of three Moneths he remained and was continued at Hampton Court in some shew of Regality During which time several Contracts and Disputes arose between the Parliament and Army who then appeared as the Kings Friends but in truth were no such matter but used his Name as the Parliament did in the beginning of the War to shrowd their Trayterous designs against him and to strengthen the weak beginning of their Future projected Attempts as the Parliament afterwards in their declination to bring up themselves and that Respect Veneration and esteem they had so wretchedly forfeited the King serving only as the Beam to the Scales and Balances of each Faction and Party which for a while went up and down counterpoysing each other till at last the heavy and sad weight of the Armies Faithlesseness and unparallel'd disloyalty and Rebellion brought him down to his Grave For the King having staid at Hampton Court about the time afore specified debating the Propositions of the Parliament who were instantly and uncessantly called upon by the People for a speedy Composure and Compliance with his Majesty the Grandees of the Army thought it high time to obviate the happy Opportunities of a Settlement which they saw all good men so desirous of by the Kings Residence any longer near the City of London with whom they had lately had a Bickering and through which they had insolently in triumph marched to the Affront and Regret of the Citizens the Grugde whereof they well knew was yet fresh and recent and wanted but the Advantage of the Kings Person and Presence Therefore with devilish Policy by an Instrument and Engine of their own Col. Whaley they give the King a kindly forsooth Notice and Information of an attempt and Assassinate intended against his Person if he should venture to stay any time longer at this his Mannour and therefore out of Duty and Affection earnestly wisht and obtested his Majesty to consult and provide for his safety elsewhere This sudden news weighed with its probable Circumstances and the passionate manner of the Discovery and the King being in the custody of a most perdite sort of men begot a Resolution of speedily withdrawing himself from the Danger Alas how many Vexations and Miseries did this good Prince pass in his way and progress to more These men that resolve to murder him publickly make this impudent Essay of his Courage and Patience by a counterfeited Parricide to be perpetrated privately By this Achitophel the King is wrought out of this secure and advantageous Mansion and by a swift flight in company with Two of his Servants recovered the Isle of Wight where Col. Hammond Brother to the most Loyal and Reverend Dr. Hammond and whose Father was one of the Physitians to Prince Henry and therefore the rather confided in was Governour for the Parliament At his Departure from Hampton Court he left behind him a Paper which for its sad and pensive matter but yet as himself in a Cloud reflected with Majestick Rayes of pietcing Elegance wherewith the Spirit of that good Prince was over-burdened and distrest I have thought fit to insert The Kings Letter left behind him at Hampton Court in his Flight to the Isle of Wight C. R. LIberty being that which in all times hath been but especially now is the common Theam and Desire of all men common reason shews that Kings less then any should endure Captivity And yet I call God and the World to witness with what patience I have endured a tedious restraint which so long as I had any hopes that this sort of my Suffering might conduce to the peace of my Kingdoms or the hindring of more effusion of
Bloud I did willingly undergoe but now finding by too certain proofs that this my continued Patience would not only turn to my personal ruine but likewise be of much more prejudice then furtherance to the publick good I thought I was bound as well by natural as political Obligations to seek my safety by retiring my self for some time from the publick view both of my Friends and Enemies And I appeal to all indifferent men to judge if I have not just cause to free my self from the hands of those who change their Principles with their condition and who are not ashamed openly to intend the destruction of the Nobility taking away their negative voice and with whom the Levellers Doctrine is rather countenanced then punished And as for their Intentions to my person their changing and putting more strict Guards upon me with the discharging most of all those Servants of mine who formerly they willingly admitted to wait upon me doth sufficiently declare Nor would I have this Retirement misse-interpreted for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace wherever I am or shall be that as much as may be without the effusion of more Christian Bloud for which how many times have I desired prest to be heard and yet no ear given to me And can any reasonable man think that according to the ordinary course of Affairs there can be a setled Peace without it Or that God will bless those who refuse to hear their own King Surely no Nay I must further add that besides what concerns my self unless all other chief Interests have not only a hearing but likewise just satisfaction given unto them to wit the Presbyterians Independants Army those who have adhered to me and even the Scots I say there cannot I speak not of Miracles it being in my Opinion a sinful Presumption in such cases te expect or trust to them be a safe or lasting Peace Now as I cannot deny but that my personal security is the urgent cause of this my Retirement so I take God to witness that the publick Peace is no less before my eyes and I can find no better way to express this my Profession I know not what a wiser may do than by desiring and urging that all chief Interests may be heard to the end each may have just satisfaction As for example the Army for therest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to content ought in my judgment to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences have an Act of Oblivion or Indempnity which should extend to all the rest of my Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let me be heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew myself really to be Pater Patria Hampton Court Novemb. 11. 1647. For the Speaker of the House of Peers pro tempore c. He was no sooner come into the Isle of Wight but Hammond gave notice thereof to the Parl. who were now overawed by the Army Eleven of their Members being impeached of High Treason as they called it for their Loyalty and Affection to his Majesty many not daring to appear in the House Cromwel and his Faction Jan. 30. the black Forerunner of that his day of Martyrdom the next Year ensuing voted those destructive and cruel Resolves of no more Addresses which were published with a Preface in these words being the hinges on which the sad Revolutions succeeding so direfully turned The Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament after many Addresses to his Majesty for the preventing and ending of this unnatural War raised by him against the Parliament and Kingdom having lately sent four Bils to his Majesty which did contain only matter of Safety and Security to the Parliament and Kingdom referring the Composure of other Differences to a Personal Treaty with his Majesty and having received an absolute Negative do hold themselves obliged to use their utmost Endeavours speedily to settle the present Government in such a way as may bring the greatest security to this Kingdom in the enjoyment of the Laws and Liberties thereof and in order thereunto that the Houses may receive no Delay or Interruptions in so great and necessary a work they have taken their Resolution and passed these Votes following Resolved by the Lords and Commons Assembled in Parliament That no Application or Address be made to the King by any Person whatsoever without leave of both Houses Resolved That the Person or Persons that shall make Breach of this Order shall incur the Penalty of High Treason Resolved That the Lords and Commons do declare that they will receive no more any Message from the King Resolved That no Person whatsoever do presume to receive or bring any Message from the King to both or either of the Houses of Parliament or any other I shall not descant on the unparalelled unreasonableness of these Votes but reflect only on that story of Ahashuerus recorded in Esther to whom no person of what degree soever durst approach or address himself without he held forth his Golden Scepter whereas here were Subjects yeâ— Christian Subjects holding their Soveraign off at the Swords point denying him Access to them and debarting him Converse with any Persons but the Instruments and Officers of their barbarous disloyalty Upon these Votes the Army close with the Parliament declaring that they would live and die with them in the pursuit of their Resolutions and now this Pious recluse Prince all humane hopes failing being shut up a Prisoner and none of his friends admitted to come near him betakes himself to the Divine Assistance spends his sad hours in meditation devotion which heightened and perfected in him that Christian Courage and resolution with which he so nobly triumpht over the utmost malice of his Enemies This sweetned and alleviated those sorrows and unspeakable distresses he went through this afforded him a Calmness and Serenity of mind amidst the Storms and Tempests of his impetuous and angry Fate this made him infinitly more to prize the Crosse then the crown witnesse those most incomparable soliloquies which the Prison wals ecchoed to Heaven such were these I care not to be reckoned among the unfortunate so I be not in the black List of sacrilegious Princes Again As I have leisure so have I cause more then enough to meditate and prepare for my death for I know that there are but a few steps between the Prisons the Graves of Princes But so great and excellent is his variety of divine Consolation and Instruction that I will not lose the Reader in my Maze of Collections but refer him wholly to the Original particularly to what he hath written concerning this very Subject But it may be a
especially that of the King 's they made no bones of him but condemned him to the Gibbet with such fury and hast that they would scarce afford him time to recommend himself from their merciless Bar to the merciful and just Tribunal of Heaven which would ere long judge righteously in his cause between his Enemies and himself He was not long in preparation for his dissolution having as well learned as taught the necessity of Death improved to him into an easie suffering undergoing of it by the glory of his cause so that he quietly submitted to their Sentence and with Christian resolution owning his actions in order to his duty laid down his life the day and year aforesaid and will therefore deservedly among the rest of his glorious Company be had in precious and everlasting remembrance Not long afterwards followed the rendition of Pontefract-Castle surprized as aforesaid by Col. Morris they had stood it out to extremity there being no place in England for the King besides therefore were forced to accept of very hard Conditions which were that six of the garison whom they should chuse should be left at discretion The reason of this calling out this Number was a resolution to Sacrifice them to the ghost of the said Rainsborough being assured that those that performed that exploit were then in the Castle might be discovered upon view Among those or rather for those this Gentleman was taken being the Governor of the place and with Cornet Michael Blackbourn and the others brought to the City of York and committed to that Goal until the Summer-Assizes held there by Baron Thorp for that County when an Indictment of Treason was brought against them for levying War against the Parliament therupon found guilty by a pack'd Jury and after Sentence of being hanged drawn and quartered they were executed the day and year aforesaid the rigour of dismembring them being only abated At their death they spake as followeth The Speech of Col. John Morris Governour of Pontefract Castle at the place of his Execution at York August 23. 1649. WHen he was brought out of prison looking upon the Sledge that was there set for him lifting up his eyes to Heaven knocking upon his breast he said I am as willing to go to my death as to put off my doublet to go to bed I despise the shame as well as the Cross I know I am going to a joyful place with many like expressions When the Post met him about St. James Church that was sent to the Parliament to mediate for a reprieve and told him he could not prevailin it he said Sir I pray God reward you for your pains I hope and am well assured to finde a better pardon then any they can give my hope is not in man but in the living God At the place of Execution he made this profession of his faith his breeding his cause he had fought in Gentlemen First I was bred up in the true Protestant Religion having my education and breeding from that honorable House my dear Lord Master Strafford which place I dare boldly say was as well governed and ruled as ever any yet was before it I much doubt better then any will be after it unless it please God to put a period to these distracted times this Faith and Religion I say I have been bred in and I thank God I have hitherto lived in without the least wavering and now I am resolved by Gods assistance to dy in These pains are nothing if compared to those dolors and pains which Jesus Christ our Saviour hath suffered for us when in a bloody-Sweat he endured the Wrath of God the pain of Hell and the cursed and shameful death which was due to our sins therefore I praise the Lord that I am not plagued with far more grievous punishment that the like hath befallen others who undoubtedly are most glorious and blessed Saints with Christ in Heaven It is the Lords affliction and who will not take any affliction in good part when it comes from the hand of God And what shall we receive good from the hands of God and not receive evil And though I desire as I am carnal that this Cup may depart from me yet not my will but thy will be done Death brings unto the godly an end of sinning and of all miseries due unto sin so that aâ—ter death there shall be no more sorrow nor cry nor pain for God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes by Death our souls shall be delivered from thraldom and this corruptible body shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality Therefore blessed are they that are delivered out of so vile a world and freed from such a body of bondage and corruption the soul shall enjoy immediate Communion with God in evetlasting bliss and glory it takes us from the miseries of this world and society of sinners to the City of the living God the celestial Jerusalem I bless God I am thought worthy to suffer for his Name and for so good a cause and if I had a thousand lives I would willingly lay them down for the cause of my King the Lords Anointed the Scripture commands us to fear God and honour the King to be subject to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether to the King as supreme or to to those that are in authority under him I have been always faithful to my Trust and though I have been most basely accused for betraying Leverpool yet I take God to witness it is a most false aspersion for I was then sick in my bed and knew not of the delivering of it till the Officers and Souldiers had done it without my consent and then I was carried prisoner to Sir John Meldrum afterwards I came down into the Country and seeing I could not live quietly at home I was perswaded by Colonel Forbes Colonel Overton Lieut-Colonel Fairfax whom I took for my good friends to march in their Troops which I did but with intention still to do my King the best service when occasion was and so I did and I pray God to turn the hearts of all the Souldiers to their lawful Sovereign that this Land may enjoy Peace which till then it will never do and though thou kill me yet will I put my trust in thee wherefore I trust in God he will not fail me nor forsake me Then he took his Bible and read divers Psalms fit for his own occasion and consolation and then put up divers prayers some publiquely and some privately the publique was this whiâ—h follows His Prayer WElcome blessed hour the period of my Pilgrimage the term of my Bondage the end of my cares the close of my sins the bound of my travels the Goal of my race and the haven of my hopes I have fought a long fight in much weakness I have finished my course though in great faintness and the Crown of my joy is that through the
righteousnesse and the Holy Ghost fill you with all comforts Coming near the Scaffold he looked up and said God I thank thee I am not afraid to go up here though I am to dye there there are but these few steps to my Eternity Then kissing the Ladder he went up and saluted the people he walked a turn or two upon the Scaffold then went to the East-end of the Scaffold and pulled off his Hat again and saluted the people with a chearful countenance said I am come by the will of my heavenly Father to dye in this place and I thank God I do with all willingnesse and readinesse submit to his most blessed will 'T is a place I desired to see when I was last in the Country both for the mutual Obligations that have been betwixt this Town and my Family as also for your particular respects to me whom I have understood to be ready to clear me from that â—oul imputation That I was a man of blood and that particularly I killed one Bootle here in cold blood I doubt not but there are here many men present both that day this Town was taken and divers other times during this War that can justiâ—ie I preserv'd many lives but I know there is not any one present that can lay the blood of any man whatsoever to my charge unlesse what might casually happen in the fury and heat of a Battel and why I die in this Town I know not unless it be to perswade the Nation that I fall as a Sacrifice for that blood which some said I shed here from which I am acquitted before you and from which I had also cleared my self before my Grand Judges at Westminster had they pleased to hear me before they had destroyed me that 〈◊〉 â—ing hastily brought up among 〈◊〉 by some that I hoâ—e God hath foâ—giâ— and too readily drunk in by others whom I pray God to forgive As for my Crime as some are pleased to term it which was objected against me by the Council of War for Bootle's death was never mentioned against me there that being only secretly used to raise a prejudice against me in the judgements of such as old not know me my Crime I say though I hope it deserves a far better Name was That I came into my own Country with my own lawful King I came in obedience to his Majesties call whom both by the Lawes of God and the Lawes of this Land I conceived my self obliged to obey and according to the Protestation I took in Parliament in the time of that blessed Prince his Father so if it be my Crime I here confess it again before God Angels and Men That I love Monarchy as the best Government and I die with Love and Honour and for the Love and Honour I bear to my Master that now is Charles the Second of that Name whom I my self in this Country proclaimed King the Lord bless and preserve him and encline the hearts of those that have power in this Nation to accept him to his Fathers Throne with Honour and Peace for certainly as I believe this Nations will never be well contented never throughly happy without a King so I believe also that King Charles the Second our now lawfull King were he a stranger to this Crown were the most fit and most accomplisht Prince that this day lives to take the Government of this People his admirable Piety Vertue Justice great Valour and Discretion far above so few years doth now make him in all places he comes highly beloved and will hereafter make him honourable among all Nations and I wish the people of this Nation so much happiness when my eyes are closed that he may peaceably be receiv'd to the enjoyment of his just Right and then they shall never want their just Rights which till then they will alwayes want As for my being in Arms in the beginning of this War I profess here in the presence of my God before whom in a few minutes I must make an account for this profession I only fought for peace setling the late King my Master in his just Rights and the maintenance of the laws of this Land and that I had no other design intent or purpose for my then taking up Arms and for this last engagement I profess here again in the presence of the same God that I did it for the restoring of my lawful Sovereign into that Throne out of which his Father was most unchristianly barbarously taken by the most unjust sentence of a pretended Court of Justice and himself against Law all Justice kept out and disposest of and this was all my reason For as for estate and quality I wanted not a sufficient competency neither was I ever ambitious to enlarge either for by the favor of my Kings Predecessors my family was raised to a condition well known in this Countrey and now it is as well known that by his enemies I am adjudged to die and that by new and monstrous Laws as making me an enemy to my Country as fighting for my Country as a Traitor to the Laws for endeavouring to preserve Lawes But Oh! God give me grace to consider him who suffered such contradictions of sinners and O my God assert the King to his Fathers Throne assert the Laws to their former honour and restore thy own Religion in its purity that all these shadows and false pretences of Religion may vanish away and our childrens posterities may serve thee in Spirit and in Truth Good friends I die for the * At which words King and Laws a Trooper said aloud we will neither have King Lord nor Laws and upon a sudden the souldiers being either surprized with fear at a strange noise that was heard or else falling into mutiny presently fell into a tumult riding up and down the streets cutting and slashing the people some being killed and many wounded his Lordship looking upon this sadâ— spectacle said thus Gentlemen it troubles me more then my own death that others are burt and I fear die for me I beseech you stay your hands I flie not you pursue not me and here are none to pursue you But being interrupted in his speech and not permitted to go on further for which the Officers were much troubled he turn'd aside to his servant and gave him the speech into his hand saying I will speak to my God who I know will bear me and when I am dead let the world know what I would have said Here his Lordship was 〈◊〉 errupted but it was as follows in his own copy under his own band King the Laws of the land and the Protestant Religion maintained in the Church of England all which as I was ready to maintain with my life so I cheerfully suffer for them in this welcome death I am sentenced to death by a Council of War after quarter for life and assurance for honourable and safe usage by Captain Edge I had
if the heart be clean aliâ—s well enough Being thus prepared he calls for the Block and viewing it as with delight laid himself down upon it to see how it would fit and was so far from sinking at the sight of it that he almost play'd with it and rising quickly pulls a little paper-book out of his pocket which he gave to the Minister willing him to find that particular Prayer which was proper for that occasion but the crowd being great he could not quickly find it so that he kneeled down with the book open a while in his hand as if he had read but quickly shut it and prayed with great expressions of fervency by himself When he had done the Lieutenant said something to him as it seems concerning his Brother Charles that had witnessed against him I know not what the Lieutenant said for he spake low but Mr. Gerhard spake aloud and replyed passionatly O Christ Sir I love my poor brother with all my heart he is but a youth and was terrified I know how he was dealt with tell him I love him as well as ever I lov'd him in my life And commend me to my brother Sir Gilbert whose release I beseech you Sir to assist there being no more cause that I know of for imprisonment then only that he was found in the same bed with me which sure is no capital crime Having said this he took his leave of him and the Sheriff and all he knew on the stage and turning about once more to the people desired them to pray for him himself kneeling down with the Minister laid his hand in his bosom and they prayed together the last time After this he bids them all farewell again and besought them to remember they had a poor Soveraign abroad who deserved to be remembred Then forgiving the Executioner and saluting the Minister with his last embrace and kisses he bow'd himself to the stroak of death with as much Christian meeknesse and noble courage mix'd together as I beleive was ever seen in any that had bled upon that Altar And this all the people that were Spectators did seem to understand and acknowledge beholding his fatal blow with an universal sadness and silence whereas when the other Gentleman fell quickly after upon another score of blood and ryot they gave a great and general shout as applauding the Justice of the Portugals death but pittying and bewailing the untimely fall of so brave and magnanimous a spirit as did through all the clouds of death shine gloriously in this unfortunate Gentleman His Speech Gentlemen AS this kind of spectacle is no new entertainment to your eyes for you havhad a late glut of such objects So is it no strange thing to me to be made such a spectacle for I have been bred upon the Theatre of death and have learned that part so well though I confess a very hard one as to perform it pretty handsomly both as becomes a Gentleman and a Christian Only I must desire you to expect no fine Prologue or Speech from me I never studied to make Orations a very unfit man to lay plots against a State who am scarce able to lay a few lines of plain English together as I ought But though I cannot speak happily I doubt not but I shall die happily I confesse my self a great sinner Who is innocent God be mercifull to me a miserable sinner I adore the justice of God in all this that is come upon me I have deserved to die long since and blessed be God who hath given me such time to prepare But for this Crime I stand condemned for to day I do protest mine own innocency as to any consent or ingagment to act in it I hope you will believe me when you consider upon what slender proofs and testimonies I suffer none of them legal or positive but circumstantial For my brother Charles Alas poor youth how he was wrought upon but I desire all my friends to think honour ably of him For my Brother Sir Gilbert This imagination of a Plot is said to be hatched in France but I fear the nest was at Whitehall As for the King so far from concurring to such a Deed that I am only unsatisfied in this whether I shall dye right in his favour because suspected of any thing so unworthy of him I fear he lost his Kingdom by such practices but whether he would recover them so is a question God hath better ways when it shall be good in his sight to plead his cause I was lately in France but on my own score for I have commanded there and probably might For my past life it hath been but a troublesome one but now I hope I shall rest Since I was any thing I have served the King as I was bound And I wish all that did so had done it as faithfully He was condemned for a tyrant but God For my Religion though a Souldier I am able to profess I am a Christian souldier a true Son of the Church of England as constituted under Queen Elizabeth K. James and K. Charles of blessed memory Her Doctrine and Government I embrace Her Truth and Peace I pray God to restore I humbly give thanks to God Almighty for providing me the comfort of a Minister on whose fidelity I might repose my soul And I pray God to bless the poor faithfull Ministers of this Church and give you hearts to esteem them the want whereof is no small cause of our misery My dayes have been few and evil yet God be blessed in all the vanities and folly of youth I have been far from Atheism or concempt of Gods worship I had always awfull impressions of Gods honour and service which is now my comfort And now dear Countrymen fare you well I pray God blesse you all his whole Nation Alas poor England When will these black days be over When will there be blood enough I wish mine might fill up the measure I forgive all Once more fare you well Commend me to all my friends Pray for me I pray God make you as faithfull and loyal as I have lived and as happy as I shall be by and by when I am dead Come Lord Jesus come quickly Father of mercies have mercy on me Saviour of the world save my soul O lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world hear my prayers Into thy hands O Lord I commend my pâ—irit Lord Jesus receive my soul The last Speech of Mr. Peter Vowell which he intended to have delivered had he been permitted upon Munday the 10th of July 1654. on which day he suffered death in the place where Charing Crosse stood as from the Original paper written with his own hand appeareth Gentlemen AT this earthly Bar from them that pretend to have a great measure of sanctity I had hard measure but to that Bar I am now going the Bar of heaven I shall have Justice yea one day Justice against them
the time and place of this Regicide also proved This Information was first made to the House of Lords and avowed by the said two Gentlemen whereupon Rolfe being apprehended in Bishopsgate where he had like to have been torn in pieces by the multitude of people had it not been for their very strong Guards they sent for him was carried in a Sedan to the Gate-house whence he was sent against the Assizes to Winchester where at his Arraignment the whole matter was punctually proved against him yet for all that both by Judges and Jury the then Lord Chief Baron and some packt desperate Wretches of that County he was to the wonder and astonishment of all the world acquitted and freed and soon after set at Liberty Next followed the Inditement and Arraignment of this our Martyr which was layd for levying war against the King to which he duly and of Right and Conscience pleaded Not guilty Tâ—e matter of Fact which was proved against him was that he had beaten up Drums in the Isle of Wight to raise men for to assist the King against the Parliament such a Contradiction in it self that had but Reason and Loyalty been at market there had been no such desperate Chapmen in the Country for without more ado these wretched Fellows bring him in guilty of High Treason and the Judge gave Sentence accordingly which was presently after executed We will consider Thirdly that this manner of Trial was never offered before to the Subjects of this Kingdom those men they murdered upon the Score of Loyalty during the war were either taken away by their Illegal Ordinances or Courts Marshal and Councils of war they not daring to refer their case to the decision of the Law but here assoon as they had reduced the King they thought it an easie work to reduce the Laws and though his Majesty would not comply with their unlimited demands they would bend the Law to their Lusts and most absolute will and Tyranny so that he is the first who suffered as a Martyr of the English Freedom Intercessions were made on all hands for his Life his poor wife even drowned in tears imploring their mercy but there was no Relenting or Compassion to be found among those men So Feb. 10. being come the day of his blessed Exchange he full of Christian Resolution and Comfort with Earnest Prayers to God for the King and Kingdoms Restoration to their former and lasting Happiness willingly resigned his Spirit to God sealing his Glorious Cause with his last Breath and Bloud Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle shot to death at Colchester by a Council of War upon the Rendition of the same Town THese Gemini of Valour and Honour as well as exact Loyalty I could not well divide in this Martyrology being so joyned in their deaths honourable Burial and Funerals and being both of them so equally eminent in their Generation for all true worth and Vertue Sr. Charles Lucas was descended of a very Ancient and Illustrious Family he who knows not the Name of Lucas knows nothing of Gentility but if this Noble Person had derived no Honour from his Ancestors yet his own purchased Glory and the Relative Merits of his two Famous Brethren the Lord Lucas and Sir Gervas formerly Governour of Belvoyr Castle in which three Nature and Education had summ'd up a Perfection will without any other Additaments transmit him to Posterity as a worthy and English Heroe He was a Person assisted with a resolute Spirit of an active disposition and a surable discretion to manage it strict and severe in his Commands without any pride or surliness free in his Rewards to persons of Desert and Quality in his Society and with his Friends he was affable and pleasant in his Charge serious and vigilant remiss in nothing that might any way improve or expedite his Dispatch in the Affairs of VVar as he is well charactered by a good Pen. We will therefore view him only in the Camp in which he gloriously lived and died excusing his Learning and other rare Endowments from the imputation of Crime and lay all the Load of his miserable Fate aggravated by the Name of an enemy to the Kingdom upon his Loyal carriage and magnanimity abstracted from all other Considerations In the beginning of the Tumults and Preparations for War in Scotland against their Native pious Pr. he raised a Troop of Horse in London and like an Expert and Resolute Commander behaved himself in that uncertain Service being a profest Enemy to the Insolencies and Rebellious Designs of that Nation That Broyl ceasing through the great condescentions of the King to the unreasonable Demands of that Kingdom which kindled the Combustions in this the King being necessitated to take up Arms to defend his Person and the Authority of the Laws against the like Rebellion at home Sr. Charles readily engaged on his Soveraigns side against the pretended 2 Houses The first place where he signally shewed his Valour in that just Cause omitting Exployts of less concernment as not to our purpose was at Auburn Chase and Newberry Field where the first memorable Battel was fought here Sr. Charles Lucas with many other Gallant Gentlemen behaved themselves with undanted courage and Resolution which so far engaged him in that dangerous Business the fight being obstinately maintained that he received some desperate wounds that fatal day but the Blood he lost there was but an Earnest or prognostick stillations drops of that mass of Bloud which was afterwards to flow out with his Life for the same Cause His next Appearance to the terror of his Enemies his Valour having gained him a frighting name amongst them was in his deserting of Cawood Castle assaulted by the Parliaments Forces whence with good conduct and as true Courage he forced his way through their Quarters to such places as he thought convenient and came at last in safety to York His Bravery in charging at Marston Moor and enduring the Brunt of his Enemies when the Fortune of that day declined on the Kings side as it then challenged the Praise of all men so it deserves everlasting Remembrance His discreet and military Management of the Affairs at Newark where he manifested himself an absolute Souldier both in Discipline of war and personal Action to the great satisfaction of the Governour and Garrison which alwaies consisted of Gallant and truly Noble Persons merits a Record to serve as an Example to Future Times His brave and successeful Attempt in his March from Berkly Castle with part of his Regiment betwixt Slymbridge and Beverston Castle upon Col. Masseys Garrisons together with his incomparable Gallantry in the pursuit of his Design at Tedbury was work for noble Imitation But all these Particulars signifie nothing to his Heroick Magnanimity in defence of the Town of Colchester beleaguered by a potent and victorious Army This was as the Corollary the summing up of all his Atchievements in the times and circumvallations
of which place we shall confine and circumscribe all his Glories After that the Parliament by the success of their unlawful Arms had reduced the King his Friends Armies Towns and Forts into their power it was hoped by all men that now they would appear what they had so long fallaciously pretended themselves the Assertors of the publick Peâ—ce and Liberty in order whereunto no other Expedient was visible then by complying with their reiterated Protestations of Loyal Obedience to the King in a present and speedy Resumption of him to the Exercise of his Royal Authority his Majesty having and being willing to grant all that in Honour Justice and Conscience could be expected from him But contrary thereunto they Voted to settle the Kingdom without him as impossible as to have day without the Light of the Sun and so experimented in the dark Confusions that followed those Trayterous Resolves which so much discontented the Generality of the People who were now for the most part undeceived of those principles which had been cunningly spread amongst them of the Kings Averseness to hearken to his Parliaments that after several fruitless Petitions for a Composure and Treaty with the King from several Counties in the delivery whereof to the Houses some of the Petitioners as of Surry were killed and wounded and sent home otherwise unanswered they resolved to try another way and have Recourse to Arms. Col. Langhorn Powel and Poyer rise in Wales the Scots enter England but that which most alarm'd the two Houses was the Kentish Business which lookt full of Terrour the whole County unanimously declaring for a speedy Closure with the King and had formed to that purpose a very considerable Army made up with a numerous Company of Volunteers from London under the command of the Earl of Norwich against these therefore General Fairfax himself was sent with 6000 men as requiring his Presence who was valiantly opposed at Maidstone by part of the Kentish Army but they being not relieved by their Body at Rochester were for the most part cut off and the Town gained whereupon the Earl of Norwich with 3000 men marched hastily to Black heath and from thence ferryed and swam over the greatest part of his Army into Essex side and quartered at Bow and Stratford Being there he met with this Noble Heroe Sr. Charles Lucas and other eminent Persons of Honour and Quality as the Lord Capel Lord Loughborough with a compleat Body of resolved men with whom after they had skirmished with some Parliament Horse at Mile-end they marched to Chelmsford where they seized the Committee and thence to Colchester a Town defenceless and inconsiderable as was generally supposed both by the Enemy and the Adjacent Parts of the Countrey either to receive by a provisional way of Relief any great Force into it or by reason of the untenable Condition of it to hold out any time if they should venture to take up or stay there Yet so constantly couragious vigilant and incredibly industrious were these Loyally disposed Gentlemen as this Town which by reason of the inpreparation of Necessaries could not probably hold out against so potent and terrible an Enemy the space of one week continued 3 Moneths in a most resolute Defiance and resistance of a Victorious Army glutted with such variety of Conquests and supplied with such fresh and continual Recruits to accomplish those unjust Triumphs and Trophies which they had begun to rear upon the Ruines of the whole Kingdom But at length after many stout Endeavours in Sallies Eruptions and perpetual Firings gallantly performed the Loyal Garrison having eaten up all their Horses the Dogs and Cats and whatsoever though most reluctant to Nature being sweetned with Prunes and some other Fruit and Spice whereof some store was found in the Town at their Coming could afford them nourishment was compelled to come to a Capitulation though it was bravely resolved the night before to attempt breaking through which was not unfeasable by which it was concluded the Town should be surrendred upon these hard conditions the Officers at Mercy and the Souldiery upon Quarter for Life The Reason of these hard Conditions and their standing out so long which occasioned them was threefold The first was That not only the County wherein they were besieged but most of the Counties in England had engaged themselves that they would joyn with and Assist them in the business but all those Mountains of Promise came to nothing an inconsiderable Party appearing about Saffron Walden being routed by Major Sparrow The Second and which seemed more probable was the hopes they had from London a great many Persons of Quality and known Royalists therein having listed themselves under the Earl of Holland who had with him in that Action the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Peterborough the Lord Francis Villers and others these appeared at Kingston in a formidable manner but were presently supprest by Sr. Michael Livesey and the aforesaid Lord Francis bringing up the Rear was there killed refusing the Quarter offered from Rebels the Earl of Holland fled to St. Neats in Bedfordshire where his Quarters were beaten up by Col. Scroops Regiment of Horse where Col. Dalbeir was slain and himself taken Prisoner and carried to Warwick Castle The third and chiefest Reason which induced them to the continuance of the Siege was their daily Expectation of the Advance of the Scotch Army then entred England and to whom were joyned a number of Gallant Persons who had appeared for the King throughout the War Commanded by Sr. Marmaduke now Lord Langdale Over this Kirk-Army Duke Hamilton was made General a Person suspected of all hands and of whom and his success his Majesty it is said very much desponded when first he had notice of his Commanding in Chief And so it fell out for at Preston in Lancashire Lieut. Gen. Cromwel met with this Army and with 1â—000 men totally defeated them so that Hamilton was forced to fly and was taken by the Lord Grey of Grooby at Uttoxeter in Staffordshire and brought Prisoner to London where as Earl of Cambridge he was afterwards for this business beheaded But I venture not to Canonize him a Martyr Colchester being thus defeated of all hopes of Relief rendred it self to the Victors and 5 hours after the Surrender according to a Decree of a Council of War ensued the death of these two Noble Persons being destined by them to be shot 〈◊〉 a military Execution The only Reason why they were picked out from among the rest was nothing else but their superlative Courage and their fixedness of Duty towards the King in whose Cause and Defence they assured themselves they would never be wanting as long as their Breath would last were the Difficulties and Dangers of doing it never so greats and so many An Honourable Enemy would have scorned so unwarrantable and impotent revenge and for which the Names of some Persons will stink for ever But never was the Message of