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
was not done for the Lords stuck at it Some of which having not extinguished all the sparks of honour did by the light thereof discover the injustice of so foul a practice together with the danger might befal themselves if once disfavoured by the Grandees of that potent Faction A thing so stomacked by the Commons that after some evaporations of their heat and passion which broke out into open threats they presently drew and sent up an Ordinance to the Lords tending to dispossesse them of all power and command in their Armies But fearing this device was too weak to hold they fall upon another and a likelier project which was to bring the Lords to sit in the Commons House where they were sure they should be inconsiderable both for power and number And to effect the same with more speed and certainty they had recourse to their old Arts drew down Sir David Watkins with his general muster of subscriptions and put a petition in his hands to be rendred by him to the Houses that is themselves wherein it was required among other things that they would vigorously proceed unto the punishment of all Delinquents and that for the more quick dispatch of the publick businesses of the State the Lords would please to vote and sit together with the Commons On such uncertain terms such a ticklish Tenure do they now hold their place and power in Parliament who so officiously complied with the House of Commons in depriving the Bishops of their Votes and the Churches birth-right And this was it which helped them in that time of need For by this though stale and common Stratagem did they prevail so far upon some weak spirits that the Earls of Kent Pembroke Salisbury and Bullingbrooke the Lords North Gray of Wark and Brews a Scotchman but an English Baron and generally called the Earl of Elgin resolved to yield unto the current of so strong a stream and thought they had made a gaining voyage if by delivering the Lord Arch-Bishop to the Peoples fury they might preserve themselves in the Peoples favour And we know well both who it was and what end he came to who though he knew that the accused party was delivered him out of envy only and that he found no evil he was guilty of yet being wearied with the clamours and the Crucifiges of the common people and fearing that some tumult would be made about it delivered him unto his enemies to be put to death And for those other Lords who withdrew themselves and neither durst condemn nor protect the innocent though far the major part as it is reported it is not easie to determin whether their consciences were more tender their Collusion grosser or their courage weaker All I shall say is only this that Claudius Lysias in the Acts had been as guilty of Saint Paul's death as any of the forty who had vowed to kill him if upon notice of the Plot which was laid to murther him he had brought him down unto the people or not conveied him with a strong guard to the Court of Felix The journies end must needs be foul which such lewd and crooked waies do conduct unto And it is worth your observation that the same day the fourth of January in which they passed this bloody Ordinance as if therein they would cry quittance with his Sacred Majesty who on the same accused the six guilt Members they passed another for establishing their new Directory which in effect was nothing but a total abolition of the Common-Prayer-Book and thereby shewed unto the World how little hopes they had of setling their new form of Worship if the foundation of it were not laid in blood The Bill being thus dispatched in the House of Lords if still they may be called Lords which are so over-loaded by the Common-people there wanted yet the Kings Assent to give life to it which they so far contemned they had more reason to despair of it that they never sought it They had screwed up their Ordinances to so high a pitch that never Act of Parliament was of more authority and having found the Subjects so obedient as to yield unto them in matters which concerned them in their goods and liberties it was but one step more to make trial of them whether they would submit their lives to the self-same tyranny And this they made the first experiment in this kind both of their own power and the peoples patience he being the first man as himself noted in his Speech which words are purposely omitted in Hindes Copy of it that was ever put to death by Ordinance in Parliament but was not the last as we have too sadly experienced Certain it is that by that Ordinance they then made themselves the absolute Master of the Subjects lives and left them nothing that they could call their own but ruine and destruction Just as it was observed by our Gracious Soveraign upon occasion of the Ordinance for the 20th part that the same power which robbed the Subject of the twentieth part of their Estates had by that only made a claim and entituled it self to the other nineteen when soever it should be thought expedient to hasten on the general ruin In which His Majesty proved but too true a Prophet And though perhaps some of the people were well pleased with this bloody Ordinance and ran with joy to see it put in execution yet all wise men did look upon it as the last groan or gasp of our dying liberty And let both them and those who passed it be assured of this that they who did so gladly sell the blood of their fellow Subjects seldom want Chapmen for their own in an open Market And here as it was once observed that the predominant Party of the United Provinces to bring about their ends in the death of Barnovelt subverted all those fundamental Laws of the Belgick liberty for maintenance whereof they took up Arms against Philip the Second so would I know which of those Fundamental Laws of the English Government have not been violated by these men in their whole proceedings for preservation of which Laws or rather under colour of such preservation they did bewitch the people unto that Rebellion It is a Fundamental Law of the English Government and the first Article in the Magna Charta that the Church of England shall be free and shall have her whole Rights and Priviledges inviolable yet to make way unto the condemnation of this innocent man and other the like wicked and ungodly ends the Bishops must be Voted out of their place in Parliament which most of them had held far longer in their Predecessors than any of our noble families in their Progenitors And if the Lords refuse to give way unto it as at first they did the people must come down to the House in multitudes and cry No Bishops no Bishops at the Parliament doors till by the terror of their tumults they extort it from them It
thus made the unsearchable Providence of God all hands were set to work to demolish and throw down that goodly structure and Fabrick of Government under which this Nation had so long flourished upon the Support and Bâ—sis of the Three Estates The King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal To the Ruine of all which these New Modellers proceeded in this Method most prophetically foretold by that incomparable M. Hooker Hook Eccles Pol. Lib. 8. init under the Embleme of a stately and well-spreaded Tree consisting chiefly of 3 great Boughs to all which it seemed not at first expedient to offer the Edge of the Axe at once but rather to single them and strike at the weakest first making shew that the Lop of that one Dolus Intervalla scelerum poscebat Tacit. shall draw the more abundance of Sap to the other two that thereby they may the better prosper This was put in practice by our Deformers and the Bishops first designed to the Fatal Stroke the weighty Fall of whom was sure to draw down the other two with any the least touch together with them For a Parliament being called in Nov. 1640 with as much Clamour as Impudence did these Factious Incendiaries of the Puritan Party affront and assault the Members of both Houses thrusting their Demands into the Two Houses under the Title of Petitions being backt with armed Force and Violence several tumultuous Rabbles came swarming down to Westminster by the Kings Gates at White-Hall others in Boats and Barges armed likewise by water obtruding their unknown Caprichio's and conceits upon the Parliament many of whom were so far from checking or resisting so dangerous a Torrent which had overflowed the Banks of either Modesty Loyalty or Christianity that they rather abetted sided with and countenanced those treasonable Attempts nor did these Tumults cease till the King was forced to abandon his own House to save Himself His Honour and Conscience But before they began this great Enterprize upon a whole Order so rooted and setled by the Laws their Dignities and Revenues so reverenced and esteemed for their individual Persons and Worth by all men of Wisdom and Honour so supported and defended by the King and his Authority which at first they durst not grapple with his chief Ministers of State his Judges and for the greatest part of the Nobility they cast about how to effect their Tragical Intentions and Designs another more cruel but plausible way and indeed otherwise then so they could not possibly or at least probably have accomplished their Mischiefs Therefore they began with the Terrible Outcries of Justice of calling Delinquents and the Kings evil Counsellers words of course with Traytors to condigne punishment Many there were whom they had put down in their black List for such and many violent Speecâ—es were made by the Faction in the House of Commons concerning them that what they wanted in the matter substance of the Charge or guilt they might make up in the number quality of those whom they pretended to be guilty Divers of them to avoid the popular Fury knowing themselves to be marked out by the chief of the Faction for Ruine and withal that the grearness of their places could not consist without some little Offences which their enemies had opportunity to aggravate withdrew themselves out of a wise confideration of the prevalency and overbearing power of those men But some whose Honour and Innocency could endure no such Eclipses and betwixt whose greatness and Verrue they scorned the Vulgar and hopeless peopâ—es Oblequy should so interpose as to darken and obscure their Glory and Lustre stood still in their Orbs and Stations and shone with the same brightness of Integrity The pretended Crime was a dutiful Observation of the Fifth Commandment which lay in the way to their designed absolutenesse the Faction was engaged against all Power or Authority but that of their own Wils and could allow no render Consciences to the Second Table which having prophaned in the first and most important Command they easily contravened and abrogated the rest in murdering plundering and adulterating the Affections perjuring and insaâ—iably covering the Goods and Lives of their Fellow-Subjects who may deservedly be canonized for Martyrs for Confessing and Maintaining to their death so precious and so commanded a Duty of Loyal Obedience Amongst the first of these was the Earl of Sirafford a Person whom the Faction knew to be a firm Friend to the Bishops and a great Lover of that Sacred Function and Order one that had manifested that Affection to them in his Administration of the Government of Ireland a wise yea the wisest Subject in the Kingdom who stood as a Bulwark and Defence against all Invasions Plots and Conspiracies against either Church or State and without whose Removal they well knew they should effect nothing The King had summoned this very Parliament by his Advice concurring with others of his Council having called him out of Ireland somtime before to assist him in the War against the aforesaid Rebellious Scots as Lâ—Gen to his Army then upon the Borders from whence he was no sooner come to London and at the opening of the Parliament taken his Place in the House of Lords but a Charge of High Treason was exhibited against him by the Commons and thereupon he was committed to the Black Rod and from thence to the Tower of London This was the first Parliament wherein the Faction was predominant not that their particular number made them so but they closed with all Interests that were any way offended at the Government and some well-meaning men there were too that were led by the Nose by these forsooth good Patriots but having by these means got the Vote of the Commons in their own management they resolved noâ— to abate the least Ace of that Power The King in the beginning of the Parliament to remove all Distrust and Jealousie of him had granted them whatever they had demanded had signed the Bill for a Triennial Parliament had Enâ—cted that he would not dissolve this without the Consent of the Lords Commons themselves so that there rested nothing of the Kings part which Reasonable men could desire for him more to grant or they to ask therefore he took it very unkindly that in the midst of these Favours and Grants they should so unhansomly affront him in challenging his Prime Minister of State in so high a manner But they were resolved to passe the Limits of all Duty and Obedience and having the King so engaged as beforesaid and necessitated also for Money to put and impose any thing upon him though never so disagreeable to his honour and Conscience nay to common Reason To this purpose after the Charge was exhibited the Faction in the House and their Agents and Partisans in the City who had their Correspondents also in the Country as appeared afterwards by several Petitions brought out of divers Counties of England drew down a confused Râ—bble
providence can avail nor prevent my destruction Lay aside all humane wisdom and let us rest upon Divine Revelation if you will condemn before you forewarn the danger Oh my Lords may your Lordships be pleased to give that regard unto the Peerage of England as never to suffer our selves to be put on those nice points upon such contractive interpretations and these are where Laws are not clear or known If there must be a tryal of wits I do humbly beseech you the subject and matter may be somewhat else than the lives and honours of Peers My Lords we find that the primitive times in the progression of the plain Doctrine of the Apostles they brought the Books of curious Arts and burned them And so likewise as I do conceive it will be wisdom and providence in your Lordships for your Posterity and the whole Kingdom to cast from you into the fire these bloudy and most mysterious Volumes of Constructive and Arbitrary Treason and to betake your selves to the plain Letters of the Law and Statute that telleth us where the crime is and by telling what is and what is not shews us how to avoid it And let us not be ambitious to be more wise and learned in the killing Arts than our Forefathers were It is now full two hundred and forty years since ever any man was touched for this alledged crime to this height before my self we have lived happily to our selves at home and we have lived gloriously to the World abroad Let us rest contented with that our Fathers left us and not awaken those sleepy Lions to our own destructions by raking up a few musty Records that have lain so many Ages by the walls quite forgotten and neglected May your Lordships be nobly pleased to add this to those other mis-fortunes befallen me for my sins not for my Treasons that a president should be derived from me of that disadvantage as this will be in the consequent to the whole Kingdom I beseech you seriously to consider it and let not my particular Cause be looked upon as you do though you wound me in my interest in the Commonwealth and therefore those Gentlemen say that they speak for the Commonwealth yet in this particular I indeed speak for it and the inconveniencies and mischiefs that will heavily fall upon us for as it is in the first of Henry the Fourth no man will after know what to do or say for fear Do not put my Lords so great difficulties upon the Ministers of State that men of wisdom honour and vertue may not with chearfulnesse and safety be imployed for the Publick if you weigh and measure them by grains and scruples the publick affaires of the Kingdom will be laid wast and no man will meddle with them that hath honours issues or any fortunes to lose My Lords I have now troubled you longer than I should have done were it not for the interest of those dear pledges a Saint in Heaven left me I should be loath my Lords there he stopped What I forfeit for my self it is nothing but that my indiscretion should forfeit for my child it even woundeth me deep to the very Soul You will pardon my infirmitie something I should have said but I am not able and sighed therefore let it passe And now my Lords I have been by the blessing of Almighty God taught that the afflictions of this life present are not to be compared to the eternal weight of that glory that shall be revealed to us hereafter And so my Lords even so with tranquility of mind I do submit my self freely and clearly to your Lordships judgments and whether that Righteous judgment shall be to life or death The Earl of Straffords Speech on the Scaffold immediatly before his Execution on Tower-hill May 12 1641. My L. Primate of Ireland IT is my very great comfort that I have your Lordship by me this day in regard I have been known to you these many years and I do thank God and your Lordship for it that you are here I should be very glad to obtain so much silence as to be heard a few words but I doubt I shall not the noise is so great My Lords I am come hither by the good will and pleasure of Almighty God to pay that last Debt I owe to sin which is death and by the Blessing of that God to rise again through the Merits of Jesus Christ to Righteousnesse and Life Eternal Here he was a little interrupted My Lords I am come hither to submit to that Judgment which hath passed against me I do it with a very quiet and contented mind I thank God I do freely forgive all the world a forgivenesse that is not spoken from the teeth outwards as they say but from the very heart I speak it in the presence of Almighty God before whom I stand that there is not a displeasing thought arising in me towards any man living I thank God I can say it and truly too my Conscience bearing me witness that in all my employment since I had the honour to serve his Majesty I never had any thing in the purpose of my heart but what tended to the joynt and individual prosperity of King and People although it hath been my ill fortune to be mis-construed I am not the first that hath suffered in this kind it is the common portion of us all while we are in this life to erre righteous Judgment we must wait for in another place for here we are very subject to be mis-judged one of another There is one thing that I desire to free my self of and I am very confident speaking it now with so much chearfulnesse that I shall obtain your Christian Charity in the belief of it I was so far from being against Parliaments that I did alwaies think the Parliaments of England were the most happy Constitutions that any Kingdom or Nation lived under and the best means under God to make the King and People happy For my Death I here acquit all the world and beseech the God of Heaven heartily to forgive them that contrived it though in the Intentions and Purposes of my heart I am not guilty of what I die for And my Lord Primate it is a great comfort for me that his Majesty conceives me not meriting so severe and heavy a punishment as is the utmost Execution of this Sentence I do infinitely rejoyce in this Mercy of his and I beseech God return it into his own bosom that he may find mercy when he stands most in need of it I wish this Kingdom all the Prosperity and Happinesse in the world I did it living and now dying it is my wish I do most humbly recommend this to every one who hears me and desire they would say their hands upon their hearts and consider seriously whether the beginning of the happiness and Reformation of a Kingdom should be written in Letters of Blood consider this when you are at your
and Patrimony and the settlement of this distracted and distressed People under their ancient Laws and in their native Liberties And when thou hast done all this in meer mercy for them O Lord fill their hearts with thankfulnesse and with Religious dutiful-obedience to thee and thy Commandments all their daies So Amen Lord Jesus Amen and receive my Soul into thy Bosome Amen Our Father which art c. The Speech and Prayers being ended he gave the Paper which he red unto Dr. Sterne his Chaplain now Lord Bishop of Carlisle desiring him to shew it his other Chaplains that they might know how he departed out of this World and so prayed God to shew his mercies and blessings on them And noting how one Hinde had employed himself in taking a Copy of his Speech as it came from his mouth he desired him not to do him wrong in publishing a false or imperfect Copy Which as Hinde promised him to be â—areful of calling for punishment from above if he should do otherwise so hath he reasonably well performed his promise he next applied himself to the fatal Block as to the Haven of his rest But finding the way full of people who had placed themselves upon the Theatre to behold the Tragedy he desired he might have room to dye beseeching them to let him have an end of his miseries which he had endured very long All which he did with so serene and calm a mind as if he had been rather taking order for another mans funeral then making way unto his own Being come near the Block he put off his doublet and used some words to this effect Gods will be done I am willing to go out of this World no man can be more willing to send me out of it And seeing through the chinks of the boards that some people were got under the Scaffold about the very place where the Block was seated he called on the Officers for some dust to stop them or to remove the people thence saying it was no part of his desires that his bloud should fall upon the heads of the People Never did man put off mortality with a braver courage not look upon his bloudy and malitious Enemies with more Christian charity And thus far he was gone in his way towards Paradise with such a Primitive magnanimity as equalled if not exceeded the example of ancient Martyrs Then he turned towards his Executioner and gave him money saying without the least distemper or change of countenance here honest friend God forgive thee and do thy office upon me with mercy and having given a sign when the blow should come he kneeled down upon his knees and prayed as followeth The Lord Arch-Bishops Prayer as he kneeled by the Block LOrd I am coming as fast as I can I know I must pass through the shadow of death before I can come to see thee But it is but umbra mortis a meer shadow of death a little darknesse upon nature but thou by thy merits and passion hast broke through the jaws of death So Lord receive my Soul and have mercy upon me and blesse this Kingdom with Peace and Plenty and with brotherly love and charity that there may not be this effusion of Christian blood amongst them for Jesus Christ 's sake if it be thy will Then laying his head upon the Block and praying silently to himself he said aloud Lord receive my Soul which was the signal given to the Executioner who very dextrously did his office and took it off at a blow his Soul ascending on the wings of Angels into Abrahams bosome and leaving his Body on the Scaffold to the care of men after he had lived 71 years 13 weeks and 4 dayes which was interd in Alhollows Barkin Church with the decent Ceremonies of the Church of England On the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury I Need no muse to give my passion vent He brews his tears that studies to lament Verse chymically weeps that pious raine Distill'd with Art is but the sweat o' th brain Who ever sob'd in numbers can a groan Be quaver'd out by soft division T is true for common formal Ellegies Not Bushels Wells can match a Poets eyes In wanton water-works hâ—e'l turn his tears From a Geneva Jig up to the Sphears But when he mourns at distance weeps aloof Now that the Conduit-head is our own roof Now that the fate is publick we may call It Britaines Vespers Englands Funeral Who hath a Pensil to express the Saint Put he hath eyes too washing off the paint There is no learning but what tears surround Like to Seths Pillars in the Deluge drown'd There is no Church Religion is grown From much of late that she 's increast to none Like an Hydropick body full of Rheumes First swells into a bubble then consumes The Law is dead or cast into atrance And by a Law dough-bak't an Ordinance The Lyturgie whose doom was voted next Died as a Comment upon Him the Text. There nothing lives life is since he is gone But a Nocturnal Lucubration Thus have you seen Deaths Inventory read In the sum total Canterburies dead A sight would make a Pagan to baptize Himself a Convert in his bleeding eyes Would thaw the rabble that fierce beast of ours That which Agena like weeps and devours Tears that flow brackish from their Souls within Not to repent but pickle up their sin Mean time no squallid grief his look defiles He guilds his sadder fate with noble smiles Thus the worlds eye with reconciled streams Shines in his showers as if he wept his beams How could success such villanies applaud The State in Strafford fell the Church in Laud The twins of publick rage adjudg'd to dye For Treasons they should act by Prophecy The facts were done before the Laws were made The trump turn'd up after the game was plaid Be dull great spirits and forbear to climbe For worth is sin and eminence a crime No Church-man can be innocent and high 'T is height makes Grantham steeple stand awry Master Robert Yeomans and Master George Bowcher Citizens of Bristol murdered there May 30 1643. THere were few cities in the Kingdom for all the Artifices and popular cheats of those at Westminster who had debauched a great number of the Kings good Subjects wherein his Majesties Cause had not an equal share in the Affection and Opinion of the Inhabitants if in some places it went lesse in others it was paramount as the Difference was visible in the neighbouring Cities of Glocester and Bristol In the last whereof we shall present you with a very sad and deplorable example of Loyalty and cruelty in the persons of Mr. Yeomans and Mr. Bowcher intending it as a sweet Oyntment to embasm their Funerals that though with their Saviour the Ignominy of whose Crosse sanctified even the death of that accursed Tree in their death they were numbred among the Transgressors yet Loyalty being their Epitaph they may make their Graves amongst the
reason to have expected the Council would have justified my Plea which hath been Ancient Honourable Sacred and Vnviolable until this time that I am made the first suffering Precedent for 1 dare affirm it that never Gentleman before in any Christian Nation was adjudged to death by a Council of War after quarter given I am the first and I pray God I may be the last Precedent in this caâ—e I must die and I thank God I am ready for it Death would now be my choice had I the whole world in competition with it I leave nothing behind me which I much care for but my King my Wife my Children my Friends whom I trust the never-failing mercies of my God will provide for I beseech God shew mercy to those who neither had mercy nor justice for me My blessed Saviour taught him by his example and command both to pray for my enemies and to forgive my enemies I forgive them freely even those that contrived my ruine and pursued to death I thank God never persinally offended them to my knowledge in my life and let me not offend against them at my death I forgive them freely and pray God for Christs sake to forgive them also Of my Faith and Religion I shall not hope need to say much herein I hope my enemies if now I have any will speak for me I profess my faith to be in God onely from whom I look for my salvation through the precious merits and sufferings of my blessed Saviour Jesus Christ which merits and sufferings are applied to my soul by the blesâ—ed spirit of comfort the Spirit of God by whom I am assured in my own Soul that my God is reconciled unto me in Jesus Christ my blessed Redeemer I die a dutiful son the Church of England as it was established in that blessed Prince my late Masters Reign which all my of learning and temperance will acknowledge to be the most pure and agreable to the Word of God and primitive Government of any Church within 12. or 1300. years since Christ and which to my great comfort I left established in the Isle of Man God preserve it there and restore it to this Nation And O blessed God I magnifie thy Name that thou gavest me the happinesse and mercy to be born in a Christian Nation and in a Nation where thy truth was professed in purity With honour to thy Name and comfort to thy people I ascribe the comforts of the Holy Spirit which I feel in my bosome to the Ministry of thy Word and Sacraments conveyed unto me in thy Church and made effectual by the operation of the same blessed Spirit In this faith good people I have lived and in this I die pray for me I beseech you and the God of mercies hear your prayers and my prayers for mine and your salvation Presently after the tumult was over Here his Lordship began to speak again his Lordship called for the Headsman and asked to see the Axe and taking it in his hand said Friend I will not hurt it and I am sure it cannot hurt me and then kissing it said Methinks this is as a Wedding Ring which is as a sign I am to leave all the VVorld and eternally to be married to my Saviour Then putting his hand in his pocket said to the Headsman Here Friend take these two pieces all that I have thou must be my Priest I pray thee do thy work well and effectually Then handling the rough furr'd coat the Headsman had on This says he will be troublesome to thee I pray thee put it off and do it as willingly as I put off this garment of my flesh that is now so heavy for my soul then some of the standers by bid the Heads-man kneel and ask his Lordship pardon but he did not but was surly and crabbed but his Lordship said Friend I give thee the pardon thou wilt not ask and God forgive thee also Then turning up his eyes to heaven said aloud How long Lord how long then gently passing over the Scaffold and seeing one of his Chaplains on horseback among the people Good Sir said he pray for me and the Lord return your prayers into your own bosome and I pray remember me kindly to your Brother and God remember him for his love to me and mine Then turning towards his Coffin Thou art said he my bridal Chamber in thee I shall rest without a guard and sleep without souldiers Then looking towards the block he asked if all were ready That said he methinks is very low and yet there is but one step betwixt that and heaven then turning his eyes to the people he saluted them and desired again their prayers then said I see your tears and hear your sighs and groans and prayers the God of heaven hear and grant your supplications for me and mine for you and the Mediation of Christ Jesus for us all Here his Lordship caused the block to be turned that he might look upon the Church saying Whilst I am here I will look towards thy holy Sanctuary and I know that within a few minutes I shall behold thee my God and King in thy Sanctuary above under the shadow of thy wings shall be my rest till this calamity be overpast then he pulled off his blew garter and sent it to his Son and pulling off his doublet with a very religious chearfulness he said I come Lord Jesus and O come thou quickly that I may be with thee for ever upon this he said Pray tell me how must I lie I have been called a bloody man yet truly I never yet had that severe curiositie to see any put to death in peace then laying himself down on the block after a few minutes he rose again and caused the block to be a little removed then said to the Headsman Friend remember what I said to thee and be no more afraid to strike then I to die and when I put up my hand do thy work so looking round about his friends and the people he said The Lord blesse you all and once more pray for me and with me at which words he kneeled down and prayed privately within himself with great sighings about half a quarter of an hour concluding with the Lords Prayer then rising up again he said smilingly My soul is now at rest and so shall my body be immediately The Lord bless my King and restore him to his right in this Kingdom and the Lord bless this Kingdom and restore them to their rights in their King that he and they may joyn hand in hand to settle truth and peace and the Lord bless this County and this Town and this People The Lord comfort my sad wife and children and reward all my friends with peace and happinesse both here and hereafter and the Lord forgive them who were the cause and authors of this my sad end and unjust death for so it is as to mankind though before God I deserve
the title was mistaken and no answer given therefore it was that another petition was drawn up to the same effect with a new Title given as I remember presented by the Serjeant at arms and one writ it over in such hast lest they should be drawn out of the Painted-Chamber into the Court that I had not time to read it over only I subscribed my name and there was in the front of the Petition a word left out but what the word was I know not and this was taken so ill as if I had put an affront or contempt upon the Court And it was thought they would have heard me plead and then because of that mistake they sent word I should have my answer when I came into the Court and my answer was the sentence of condemnation And therefore I pray with all my sonl that God would forgive all those that occasioned the charge to be drawn against me to give such unjust things against me I pray with all my soul that God would forgive all those upon so slender and small grounds adjudg'd me to die taking advantage of such simple ignorance as I was in And I had at the very beginning of my pleading engaged their honours no advantage should be taken against me to my prejudice that in as much as I understood nothing of the Law And having heard that a man in the nicety of the Law might be lost in the severity thereof meerly for speaking a word out of simple ignorance I made it my prayer to them that no advantage might be taken against me to the prejudice of my person and there was to me a seeming consent for the President told me there should be no advantage taken against me and upon these considerations I am afraid there was too great uncharitableness But I pray God forgive them from the very bottom of my soul and I desire that even those that shed my blood may have the bowels of the God of mercy shed for them And now having given you the occasion of my coming hit her it is fit I should give you somewhat as concerning my self as I am a Christian and as I am a Clergy-man First as I am a Christian I thank God I was baptized to the holy Church so I was baptized to be a Member of the holy Catholique Church that is the Church of England which I dare say for purity of Doctrine and orderly Discipline till a sad reformation had spoiled the face of the Church and made it a query whether it were a Church or no I say it was more purely Divine and Apostolical then any other Doctrine or Church in the Christian world whether National or Classical or Congregational And I must tell you That as I am a Member of this Church so I am a Member of the holy Catholick Church shall give a most just confession of my Faith both negatively and affirmatively Negatively I am so a Member of the Catholick Church that I abhor all Sects Schisms Sedition and Tyranny in Religion Affirmatively so that as I hold Communion with so I love and honour all Christians in the world that love the same Lord JESUS in sincerity and call on his Name agreeing with those truths that are absolutely necessary and clearly demonstrated in the Word of God both in the Old and New Testament though in charity dissenting from some others that are not necessary And I as I am thus a Christian I hope for salvation through the Merits of Christ Jesus his blood I relie on his merits I trust to for the salvation of my own soul though to this Faith good Works are necessary not meritorious in us but onely made meritorious by Christ his death by his alsufficiency by his satisfaction and his righteousness they become meritorious but in us they are no other than as defiled Rags And truly as I am a Member of the Church so I told you I was a Member of this Community and so pleaded for the Liberties and Priviledges thereof I must now answer something I am aspersed withal in the World They talk of something of a Plot and a Treasonable design and that I had a great interest in the knowledge and practise thereof and that for the saving my life I would have discovered and betrayed I cannot tell what I hope my conversation hath not been such here in this City where I have been a long time very well known as to make one imagine I should intermedle in such an action and go so contrary to the practice of my profession and I hope there are none so uncharitable towards me as to believe I had a knowledge of that design Here I must come to particulars for a Plot of having a design upon the City of London for the firing of it I so much tremble at the thought of the thing that should have been done as they say for the carrying on of such a design if my heart deceive me not had I known it I so much abhorre the thing I should have been the first discoverer of it Nor ever had I had correspondency or meerings with such persons as would have carried on such a design It is said likewise I entertained the Earl the Marquess of Ormond To my remembrance I never saw the face of that honourable person in my life It is said one Lords day I did preach at Saint Gregories and the next Lords day I was at Brussels or Bruges and kist the Kings hand and brought I cannot tell what Orders and Instructions from him This I shall say For these three years last past together I have not been sixty miles from this City of London and I think it is somewhat further to either of those places than threescore miles It is said that I kept correspondency with one Mallory and Bishop They are persons I have heard of their names but never saw their faces and to my knowledge I do not know they know me nor do I know them at all but only as I have heard of their names And whosoever else hath suggested such things against me I know not His Highnesse was pleased to tell me I was like a flaming Torch in the midst of a sheaf of Corn He meaning I being a publick Preacher was able to set the City on fire by sedition and combustions and promoting designes Here truly I do say and have it from many of those who are Judges of the High-Court that upon examination of the business they have not found me a medler at all in these Affairs And truly I must needs say therefore That it was a very uncharitable act in them whoever they were that brought such accusation against me and irritated his Highness against me I will not say it was malice it might be zeal but it was rash zeal which caused me to be senrenced to this place The God of mercy pardon and forgive them all And truly as I am a Member of the Church and as a member
of Community where on behalf I have been speaking I cannot but do as our Saviour himself did for his Disciples when he was to be taken from them he blessed them and ascended up to heaven My trust is in the mercy of the most High I shall not miscarry and however my daies are shortned by this unexpected doom and shall he brought untimely to the Grave I cannot go without my prayers for a blessing upon all the people of this land and cannot but blesse them all in the name of God and beseech God to blesse them all the blessing of the Almighty be upon them Colonel Edward Ashton John Bettely and Edward Stacy Executed July 2. 1658. THese persons being all Arraigned together at the same High Court with four more being concerned in one Sentence and one pretended Crime I have put together and briefly will give you an account of them They were charged to have conspired the raising of a new War the firing of the City and the Death of Cromwel to which they all pleaded not guilty as all the World did judge them who sensibly understood the detestable practice against them Colonel Ashton was then a prisoner for Debt in Newgate but by the Keepers favour having liberty to go abroad one day fell into Company with some of Cromwel's Trapan's who finding or perhaps knowing him to be a Cavalier uttered in his Audience such dangerous words as those and without amy more ado delated him to the Secretary as conscious and partaker to the design which was all his guilt as he justified it upon his Death which he suffered in Tower-street by being hanged drawn and quarrered where he declared his Loyalty to the King but took it upon his approaching salvation he was innocent of any the Crimes charged against him John Bettely suffered next being brought from the Tower to Cheapside in the same Sledge that drew Colonel Ashton from Nawgate their Executions being divided into several quarters of the City as their pretended Plot was of firing it the old Cheat of picking out places to attend the guilt and to collogue with the City by the dissembled care thereof and near the Crosse Executed in the same manner where he likewise protested his Innocency being meerly betrayed by those Ruffian Emissaries of Cromwels After he had hung a long while that every one concluded him dead in a strange miraculous way as might serve to the confusion of his Blood-thirsty Enemies he pulled off his Cap and held it in both hands staring with his eyes as if alive but the Executioner quickly after dispatcht him and concluded his Martyrdom Mr. Edward Stacy was hanged onely two dayes after where he said the like and suffered with patience the losse of this temporal to enjoy with unspeakable happinesse Life Everlasting The others Were Reprieved and by the Death of Cromwel soon after set at Liberty which was consummated at the Restauration of his Sacred Majesty whose benign Rayes of Peace and Security have dryed up all our Teares of sorrow and mourning into Teares of Joy and is leaving us to forget our past miseries and losses of our Liberties Estates and Relations CAROLO SECVNDO TER Maximo Britanniarum Franciae Regi Precibus Martyrum Revocato restituto Restitutori In sacrosanctam Beatissimam Memoriam TAM Pientissimi Patris ac Principis QUAM Fidelium Heroum ac Procerum Caeterorumque Subditorum Qui pro Rege Lege mortem sunt perpessi HOC OBLATUM Humillime vovet Dicatque F. H. To the most Illustrious TRIUMVIRATE The Heirs of Martyr'd LOYALTY and HONOUR Charles Earl of Derby c. William Earl of Strafford Knight of the most Honourable Order of the Garter c. and Arthur Earl of Essex c. My Lords THis Piece directs it self into your hands for without a greater presumption it could not pass them Your Noble Families were the resplendent Triones that accompanied the Devex of Charles his Wain his Morning and Evening attendants that portended and extended his Declination for in two of them He suffered beyond His own Fate being plunged with Him in the depths of the same Red Sea and are now risen again in a full and most radient lustre They were that Constellation that directed three wandring Kingdoms into their way of Loyalty and pointed out the due veneration to the King their Redeemer It was their all-powerful Influence of Duty and Obedience that hath serened these Times The dark Obscurity of that Cloud that hid them in their death soon revealed it self in Glory This storm which tempested these Kingdoms being laid by their Bloud which was poured out like water in the streets hath brought again our Halcyon dayes and turned our Miseries into Jubilees This is the supererrogated Merit of your Illustrious Parents whom this Age and Posterity shall reverence and admire That your Lordships may surmount their Vertues as well as their difficulties as you have exceeded their Titles that you may as the Branches of those Vines which being made to bleed produce more generous and abundant Fruits that you may be the delight and Joy of these Nations and flourish for ever is and shall be the incessant prayers of My Lords Your Honours most obedient and Devoted Servant James Heath THE AUTHOUR TO THE READER THis is only to inform you that I have used my best endeavors to be punctually true in these Collections but in such Distractions of the times and Divisions of the mind and opinion in which they were registred I hope to be excused if there be any uncertainty found therein If I have omitted any out of this Martyrology or have slightly passed them over it is for want of fuller Information I likewise desire all the Persons Related to them would be pleased to give me a better Account then our Re-searches could arrive at and I shall insert rectifie and enlarge their Narrative as occasion shall offer For the Confessors I acknowledge I have not been nice nor yet have I been uncurious in their Catologue I suppose I have set down the most Noted and Publick Persons but if there be more to add I shall be very ready to do their Memory the Honours that duly appertain to them Vale. Courteous Reader BE pleased to pass by the Errours of the Press where-ever you meet with them and Pag. 119. Title for Wesiminster read Winchester A CATALOGUE AND Brief Account of the Confessors of the Royal Cause I Should undertake a volumenous and as difficult a labour were it my purpose here to register all those gallant persons that have suffered in their liberty estates for their Loyalty But I confine my self to the chief of those only who by particular Orders of Parliament their pretended Courts of Law and High Courts of Justice were vexed oppressed and persecuted even to the brinks of death leaving the other to the reward of a good Conscience and the faithful record thereof in Heaven These ensuing illustrious and Noble Patterns as well for imitation as
information I thought fit to propose and do humbly crave their pardon if this weak and mean endeavour cannot reach that grandeur of Spirit with which they constantly endured their fiery tryals and dreadful and doleful sufferings I observe the order of time and not of Dignity and shall begin with the right Honourable the Lord Finch of Fordwich who being Lord Keeper of the Seal upon their arbitrary proceedings against the life of the Earl of Strafford wisely withdrew himself and endured banishment and exile from his own Country for sixteen years and then returned and died in Honour His faithful serving his Soveraign in that great employment being all his charge and accusation Mr. Secretary Windebanke who pursued the same course to avoid the Popular fury and died abroad The Right reverend Father in God Matthew Lord Bishop of Ely who with eleven more of his Sacred Order were committed to the Tower in 1641 from which imprisonment he never â—irred till the end of the year 1659 at which time by the means of the ever renowned Lord General the Duke of Albemarle he was set at liberty from thence in kind remembrance of those fatherly counsels and happy advice the said noble Duke had during his restraint in the same place for the same account of Loyalty received from this reverend Bishop who is now reestablished in this same Diocesse to the Honour and support of this restored Church Doctor Featly a very Learned Religious and grave Divine to whom this Church oweth much for his accurate defences of its Doctrine and Discipline being for no other cause committed to Peter House by an Order of Parliament languished there a year and a half and with much importunity was at last removed to Chelsey Colledge for the aire but he died there within three weeks after his coming being too far spent by his barbarous misusage Sir Robert Heath Lord Chief Justice of England known so well for his integrity and moderation and as famous for his constant Loyalty of whom quarrelsome John Lilburn a sworn Enemy to the Royal Party gave so noble a character before his Judges at Guild-hall forced to abandon his Country fled over towards the expiration of the War into France being by the bloody prevalent Faction at Westminster excepted from mercy not long after the Kings death with grief and anxiety of mind to see the miseries and ruines of the King and his Country he himself died at Caen in Normandy and was received no doubt into mercy Judge Bartlet who weathered the same Storm being the first committed of that reverend Robe and long survived their high and insignificant charge and accusation This gives us an Evidence of the intended Justice of the Reformers who would first put out the eyes of the Law that the Subject might see the better Sir Ralph afterwards Lord Hopton who so couragiously and prudently and as an Expert Captain commanded for the King in the West and had so many notable successes after his disbanding in Cornwall he took Shipping with the Prince our now Soveraign into the Island of Scilly and from thence into France following the Kings hard Fortune in all his peregrinations till Death arrested him at Paris and put an end to his Travel Judge Jenkins one of his Majesties Justices in Wales brought to the Chancery Bat for some misdemeanours of Loyalty where he denied the Authority of the Court for that the Seal was contrary to Law as well as the Commissioners whereupon he was sent to the Tower where he persisted in his integrity published several Presidents and Statutes and argued them Rebels and owned the same again at other bars did what he could to set the Army and the Parliament together by the ears desied them and their threats and asserted the King and the Laws against their usurpation was continued a close Prisoner till they were weary of him and then was sent to Windsor in the same quality where he continued of the same mind till without thanks he was permitted the liberty of the Town This brave stout person is yet living but when dead his memory shall endure for evermore Mr. Secretary Sir Edward Nicolas who constantly abode with the King from the beginning of his troubles and afterwards continued the same Service and Office to his present Majesty in all his troubles abroad by no less trouble than Honour having faithfully and prudently managed that employment to the happy effect of his Majesties Restitution Sir Edward Hide now the Right Honourable Earl of Clarendon Lord Chancellour of England the Counsel-Favourite of his late Martyr'd Majesty and therefore no wonder so hated by the Faction at Westminster and traduced by their scandalous Votes being excepted likewise out of their mercy He not only continued the same advice but also saw it in conclusion attain that successe to which it had alwaies been directed but had missed of approbation till the general applause and shouts of our Deliverance The Lord Wilmot afterwards by King Charles the Second made Earl of Rochester who throughout the War particularly at Roundway Down neer the Devizes so valiantly behaved himself passed over with the Prince and my Lord Hopton into Scilly and accompanied his Highnesse in all those difficulties he passed more especially at Worcester and in his Majesties happy conveyance from thence which he principally managed And here I must not omit the Duke of Buckingham with an honourable reference also to his noble Brother my Lord Francis Villers who young at Kingston as in the primitive times gave early testimony to this cause the valiant Earl of Cleveland the Lord Wentworth his Son and other Gentlemen in that Expedition who suffered for their assistance and obedience to his Majesty in those commands As also my Lord Gerard now Captain of his Majesties Life-guard who bore part afterwards as well as before in the calamity and misfortune of the Kings adventures in forrein parts My Lord Wilmot unhappily died a little before the Kings restitution and hath left behind him the sweet favour of a most Loyal affection to his Majesty Nor without due observation can I pass by the Earl of Norwich my Lord Loughborough Bernard Gascoign Col. Far Squire Hales and the rest engaged in that design at Colchester nor Sr. John Owen for the same endeavour in Wales being condemned with the said Earl of Norwich by the High Court of Justice but must give their names and memories their veneration Nor likewise the right reverend Dr. Shelden now Lord Bishop of London and the famous Dr. Hamond who were a long while in restraint and threatned with more cruelties at the same time expecting to have been transported to some forreign plantations Dr. John Berkenhead who so hazardously and in so very great dangers and several imprisonments asserted his Majesties cause in its lowest extremities this Gentleman is so deservedly well reputed that this mite will signifie nothing Sr. Marmaduke Langdale now Lord Langdale a Person not inferiour to any of his Majesties
Subjects for industry and personal Valour which he for the desence of his Sacred Majesty and his Restauration deserves to be had in everlasting Remembrance But above all the sad visitations of the Universities deserves remembrance that the guilt and danger of such barbarity may make posterity to tremble at the thought of it being the comprehensive design of all those evils they after perpetrated making those Sources and Fountains of Learning and Piety as broken Cisterns that should hold no water and the place become a meer puddle a mare mortuum that should send forth pernicious sents as might insect the Kingdom To enumerate all those excellent persons who were forced out of their Fellowships and other Collegiate Emoluments and places will require a Work of it self and so I pass that sad Story and beadrol though with that due compassion to those who though now Augâ—as stable be swept yet cannot find the Manger After the two Universities which afforded sufferers enough to make up a Catalogâ—e as big as this whole Book the next place is due to the Martyr'd City of Worcester the Scene of ruin'd Loyalty which would fill many pages with Red Letters whose Citizens might all be transcribed into this Cannon who besides their constant adherence to the Royal Cause from the first when the honest Mayor Mr. Soles hardly escaped a gallows set up for him at his own door held out to the last for King Charles the First not rendring without his Order and had the honour to entertain King Charles the Second in Fifty one where he was with great solemnity and greater joy proclaim'd and in that fatal defeat suffer'd with him and for him devoting their estates and lives as a ransom for his Majesties safety whilest the streets at the Rebels entrance resounded with the Peoples cries Oh! save the King save the King Sr. John Stowel a Somersetshire Gentleman and Knight of the Bath of a very great estate and as much loyalty who adhered vigourously to the King during the War till the surrender of Exeter upon whose Articles he came to London to make his composition where contrary to that capitulation the Committee at Goldsmiths-Hall tendred him the Negative Oath before any admission to compound He withstanding this unjust and perfidious dealing and pleading the benefit of the said Articles was reported to the Parliament as a Contemner of their Authority and an Enemy and thereupon committed to the Serjeant at Armes thence to New-gate from whence he was brought to their High Court of Justice where with much adoe he escaped with life being remanded to the Tower and all his Estate amounting to seven or eight thousand 1. per Annum sold by a pretended Act of Parliament as forfeited for Treason He now survives all those losses and miseries and may he like Job be rewarded trebble in the future of his life for his constant and stout integrity And here I could make a record of that black Bill and List that passed for Acts of Parliament against several of the Nobility and Gentry by which their estates were forfeited and sold by Trustees thereunto appointed for this only fault of Loyalty but shall forbear Let the Purchasers blush at their shame and folly while honest Loyalty keeps its countenance and wears out the sudden braves of staring Rebellion I must also pass over the old Earl of Kingston Father to the right Honourable Lord the Marquesse Dorchester who being surprized by the Parliaments Forces and by them put in a Vessel disigned for Hull was shot by some of the Kings Forces at his passing by Gainshorough the Rebels offering him if the Royalists would venture to shoot upon the Deck to their Bullets by which he sell immediately The noble Marquesses of Winchesters Newcastle and Worcester deserve a more durable Register than the scantling and shortnesse of this little breviary having divided all the sorrows of life viz. imprisonment distresse banishment deprivation of Estate and other discommodities of those wretched times among them without any Intermission of that which weak men term insupportable misery Dr. Barwick now the Reverend Deâ—n of Sr. Pauls who lay Prisoner in the Tower of London while he was near famished by the cruel Order of the Long Parliament soon after the Kings death and was scarce able to stand when Col. West the then Lieutenant gave him his Liberty on Parol to render himself at a certain time soon after which he performed but the Lieut dying his wife set him at perfect Freedom and gave him his Conge it being the method of those Tyrants to bury men in their Prisons unless they had that against them which would presently reach their Lives And upon this Account I hope to be excused if I cannot retrive other Loyal Persons from those Obscurities and Dungeons and the Depths of Villany and bring neither them nor their Memories into Light What should I mention the general calamity of the Clergy Loyal and Orthodox more especially the Fathers of the Church since nothing can be more evident to us and Posterity but yet I cannot forget that most cruel Edict of Oliver which by restriction of their Function nay their particular Abilities took clearly away from them all hopes of sustentation and Maintenance of Life The Honourable Col. John Russel Brother to the Earl of Bedford who served all along his Majesty in his Armies and suffered all along afterwards in the Usurpers Prisons being one of the first that upon any the least occasion of their fear was presently secured and tossed from one Custody to another till the happy Revolution of his Majesties Return Col. John and William Ashburnham the former so well known in our Annals both signally Loyal and honest were served in the same manner and in conclusion sent away to remote Castles and Islands and there debarred of any Intercourse or Correspondence with their Friends meerly upon suspition as to proof of any thing whatever was in the bottom The Right Honourable the Lord Bellasis in the very same Predicament no where more resident or constant then in their custody nor could go or travel any where without a Passe or safe Conduct from the next Officer to the place of his Abode for many years together and perpetually in danger of being betrayed out of his Life Sr. Humphrey Bennet formerly a Brigadeer in the Kings Army an eminent Person for his Loyalty seized and secured as a partaker and confederate in that unfortunate business of Col. Penruddock at Salisbury being of that Country as aforesaid was kept in Prison at the Tower of London from the time of that Rising till Olivers next Plot in 1658. upon Sr. William Slingsby c. which was near 3 years and then brought before the High Court of Justice with those Gentlemen where after some dayes attendance their preparations of his Charge not taking with their Intentions he was superseded from his Trial and remitted again to his Confinement For the Honour of the City of Lond. S.