standing and had not yet put off their blood-died Robes in expectation of this Grand Contrivance which should make them farther work Mr. Love being one of the chief was first Tried afterwards some others who recanted and humbly besought the Parliaments mercy as Mr. Jenkins and Potter but Mr. Love's submission such as it was for they required Confession and discoverie too came too late and to no purpose so that he and this Ms. Gibbons a Taylor was condemned by that High Court for the same businesse lost their Heads on Tower-hill as aforesaid The Earl of Derby beheaded at Bolton in Lancashire Octob. 15. 1651. WHosoever shall look upon the sad Historie of this Princely person must be armed against all humanitie if he condole not this miserable Traggedie every circumstance whereof is a Scene of sorrow which alike moves indignation and compassion If we deduce him from his glorious originals we see him descended from a most ancient and illustrious Family in which Loyaltie was one of the Gentilitions in herent vertues derived in the succession of those Heroes who to this day adorn'd the noble name of Stanley so memorated and famed in our Annals especially in the Reign of Henry the 7th direct Ancrestor to his present Majestie The signal Services done at that time to this Crown and Kingdom both by Victorie and Advice in the blessed union of the Houses of York and Lancaster were so placed that they seem to have directed only the imitation of their most Honourable Posteritie without the affectation of any thing but duty For those Heroick actions have been ever since as Spurs and Incentives to the same Grandeurs of Loyaltie manifested in all occasions and Affairs of the Crown through the whole current of Succession But this Noble Earl whose unworthie Fate we now deplore came nearest that great Pattern the Times concurring with the activity of his mind afforded him the advantage of employing and exercising that stock of Prudence and Valour which had so long been treasured up in the loines of his Princely Progenitors and yet to the scandal and reproach of that Age rewarding all his Honourable Attchievements with a most lamented Catastrophy If we also consider therefore his great and personal merit and obligations upon this Kingdom we shall find his Services not to come short of those of his Ancestors though clog'd with the burdensome glory of giving a Crown in designment and attempt however they failed of their most probable effects But to mitigate the Envy of his Fate to innocent Posteritie I will not presume with so rude a Pen to write their Monument and at large relate them He that hath heard of a Latham-House and Marston-Moor as I suppose all men have will easily confess his glories which shone brightly in the Sphear of all Military worth to the setting of Charles his Wain In those gloomy and black dayes he withdrew himself to a shelter in his Royaltie of the Isle of Man awaiting a new opportunity of serving his present Majestie which not long after offered it self and was with all readiness of duty encertained by him For the King having resolved Cromwel being gotten into Fife in Scotland to pass into England over Sterling-bridge by the advantage of three daies march gave present intimation thereof to the Earl who in order to some other design had some forces in readiness with these according to his instructions upon the Kings advance that way he landed in Lancashire where his Interest and Power lay and joined with his Majestie who leaving him some forces to aid and assist him in his new Levies against the Parliaments Forces then marching thitherward to suppress them marched directly for Worcester As soon as the King was departed Col. Lilburn was upon him and at Wiggon in that County with thrice his number fell upon the Earls small party not amounting to above 600 men and after a sharp encounter which favourably promised Victory at the first but through want of Reserves failed the Earl in conclusion put him to the rout where a many gallant Noble men and Gentry were slain and taken as my Lord Widdrington and others and the Earl himself hardly escaping to the King at Worcester being in the way forced to shelter at Boscolet the receptacle afterwards by my Lords direction of the King himself who being worsted at Worcester by the Rebels under Gromwel where his Majestie and his Nobilite discharged the place of brave Captains and Warriours particularly this undaunted Earl not yet wearied with his ill fortune was constrained to abandon that City and betake himself to a swift flight in Companie with this faithful Lord and other Honourable Persons At White-Ladies whither by the direction of the Earl the King was guided he took his leave of his Majestie having first taken care of his security where also he himself might have found a subterfuge but that he would not hazard his Majesties safty by a divided care of his Guardians for two and that number though but so small might not betray him At his departure he fell on his knees and wept and then conjured the Pendants to be faithfully careful of his Majesties person dearer to him then ten thousand lives and so betook himself again to flight in company of the same retinue who made after the road the Scotch horse they had taken under David Leshly At Newport in Shropshire they overtook them but with the same Col. Lilburn at their heels who fell into the Town and after a short dispute dispersed and took most of the party among the principal whereof was this Noble and unfortunate Earl the Earl of Landerdale Lord Sinclare and others the Duke of Buckingham strangely making his escape Becoming thus the prey of those barbarous rebels he was a while detained there till at last Orders came for his removal to Chester where shortly after he was convented by instructions of them at Westminster where the Earl desired to be heard in person before a Council of War all of them base and mechanick fellows and of no great Command in their army a barbarous shame that the Honour of so great a personage in a Country where he was so well esteemed reputed and reverenced both for his own superlative vertues of liberality and bounty and the continued obligements of his Ancestry should be so violenced and profaned by a rascally sort of men who assumed to themselves and arrogated the power of life and death upon a Peer of such magnitude and veneration an indignity worse by far then those outrages committed and perpetrated by Jack Cade and Wat Tyler and the rest of those rabbles who in their mad fury did such-like pranks whereas here thâ—s murther was countenanced by a colour of Law Martial and done in the form and process thereof but in this he imitated his dearly beloved Soveraign who was reviled contemned and mocked in the same manner at their irreverent High Court of Justice which no question did much sweeten that
homes and let me be never so unhappy as that the last drop of my Bloud should rise up in Judgment against any one of you but I fear you are in a wrong way My Lords I have but one word mâ—re and with that I shall end I prosesse that I die a true and obedient Son to the Church of England wherein I was born and in which I was bred Peace and Prosperity be ever to it It hath been objected if it were an Objection worth the answering that I have been enclined to Popery but I say truly from my heart that from the time that I was one and twenty years of age to this present going now upon forty nine I never had in my heart to doubt of this Religion of the Church of England Nor ever had any man the boldnesse to suggest any such thing to me to the best of my Remembrance and so being reconciled by the Merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour into whose bosom I hope I shall shortly be gathered to those Eternal happinesses which shall never have end I desire heartily the forgivenesse of every man for any rash or unadvised words or anything done amisse And so my Lords and Gentlemen Farewel Farewel all the things of this world I desire that you would be silent and joyn with me in Prayer and I trust in God we shall all meet and live eternally in heaven there to receive the Accomplishment of all happinesse where every Tear shall be wiped away from our eyes and every sad thought from our hearts and so God blesse this Kingdom and Jesus have mercy on my Soul Then turning himself about he saluted all the Noble-men and took a solemn leave of all considerable Persons upon the Scaffold giving them his Hand After that he said Gentlemen I would say my Prayers and entreat you all to pray with me and for me then his Chaplain laid the Book of Common-prayer upon the Chair before him as he kneeled down on which he prayd almost a quarter of an hour and then as long or longer without the Book concluded with the Lords Prayer Standing up he espies his Brother Sir George Wentworth and cals him to him saying Brother we must part remember me to my Sister and to my Wife and carry my Blessing to my Son and charge him that he fear God and continue an obedient Son to the Church of England and warn him that he bears no private grudg or revenge toward any man concerning me bid him beware that he meddle not with Church-Livings for that will prove a Moth canker to him in his Estate and wish him to content himself to be a Servant to his Country not aiming at higher preferments Aliter To his Son Mr. Wentworth he commends himself and gives him charge to serve his God to submit to his King with all Faith and Allegiance in things temporal to the Church in things Spiritual chargeth him again and again as he will answer it to him in Heaven never to meddle with the Patrimony of the Church for if he did it would be a Canker to eat up the rest of his Estate Carry my blessing also to my Daughter Anne and Arabella charge them to serve and fear God and he will blesse them not forgetting my little Infant who yet knows neither good nor evil and cannot speak for it self God speak for it and blesse it now said he I have nigh done one stroke will make my Wife husbandlesse my dear children fatherlesse and my poor Servants masterlesse and will separate me from my dear Brother and all my Friends But let God be to you and them all in all After this going to take off his Doubler and to make himself unready he said I thank God I am not afraid of death nor daunted with any discouragement rising from any fears but do as chearfully put off my Doublet at this time as ever I did when I went to bed then he put off the Doublet wound up his hair with his hands and put on a white Cap. Then he called where is the man that is to do this last Office meaning the Executioner call him to me when he came and asked him forgivenesse he told him he forgave him and all the world then kneeling down by the Block he went to Prayer again himself the Primate of Ireland kneeling on the one side and the Minister on the other To the which Minister after Prayer he turned himself having done Prayer and spoke some few words softly having his hands lifted up and closed with the Ministers hands Then bowing himself to lay his Head upon the Block he told the Executioner that he would first lay down his Head to try the fitnesse of the Block and take it up again before he would lay it down for good and all And so he did and before he laid it down again he told the Executioner that he would give him warning when to strike by stretching forth his hands And presently laying down his Neck upon the Block and stretching forth his Hands the Executioner struck off his Head at one blow and taking it up in his hand shewed it to all the People and said God save the King His Body was afterwards embalmed and appointed to be carried into Yorkshire there to be buried among his Ancestors He lift these three Instructions for his Son in Writing First That he should continue still to be brought up under those governors to whom he had committed him as being the best he could pick out of all those within his knowledge and that he should not change them unlesse they were weary of him that he should rather want himself then they should want any thing they could desire Secondly He chargeth him as he would answer it at the last day not to put himself upon any publick Employments till he was Thirty years of age at least And then if his Prince should call him to Publick Service he should carefully undertake it to restifie his Obedience and withal to be faithful and sincere to his Master though he should come to the same end that himself did Thirdly That he should never lay any hand upon any thing that belonged to the Church He foresaw that Ruine was like to come upon the Revenues of the Church and that perhaps they might be shared amongst the Nobility and Gentry But if his Son medled with any of it he wished the Curse of God might follow him and all them to the destruction of the most Apostolical Church upon Earth Epitaph on the Earl of Strafford HEre lies Wise and Valiant Dust Huddled up 'twixt Fit and Just STRAFFORD who was hurried hence 'Twixt Treason and Convenience He spent his time here in a Mist A Papist yet a Calvinist His Princes nearest Joy and Grief He had yet wanted all Relief The Prop and Ruine of the State The Peoples violent Love and Hate One in Extreams lov'd and abhorr'd Riddles lie here or in a word Here lies Bloud
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
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
Country for to clear my self both as an honest man a good King and a good Christian I shall begin first with my Innocency In troth I think it not very needful for me to insist long upon this for all the world knows that I never did begin a war with the two Houses of Parliament and I call God to witness to whom I must shortly make an Account That I never did intend for to incroach upon their Priviledges they began upon me it is the Militia they began upon they confest that the Militia was mine but they thought it fit for to have it from me and to be short if any body will look to the Dates of Commissions of their Commissions and mine and likewise to the Declarations will see clearly that they began these unhappy Troubles not I so that as the guilt of these Enormous crimes that are laid against me I hope in God that God will clear me of I will not I am in Charity God forbid that I should lay it upon the Two Houses of Parliament there is no necessity of either I hope they are free of this guilt for I do believe that ill Instruments between them and me has been the chief Cause of all this bloudshed so that by way of speaking as I find my self clear of this I hope and pray God that they may too yet for all this God forbid that I should be so ill a Christian as not to say that Gods Judgments are just upon me Many times he does pay Justice by unjust Sentence that is ordinary I will only say this that an unjust Sentence * that I sufferred to take effect Strafford is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me this I have said to shew you that I am an Innocent man Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian I hope there is * Pointing to Dr. Juxon a good man that will bear me witness That I have forgiven all the world and even those in particular that have been the chief causers of my death who they are God knows I do not desire to know I pray God forgive them But this is not all my Charity must go further I wish that they may repent for indeed they have committed a great sin in that particular I pray God with St. Stephen that this be not laid to their Charge nay not only so but that they may take the right way to the peace of the Kingdom for my Charity commands me not only to forgive particular men but my Charity commands me to endeavour to the last gasp the Peace of the Kingdom Turning to some Gentlemen that wrote So Sir I wish with all my soul and I do hope there is some here will carry it further that they may endeavour the Peace of the Kingdom Now Sirs I must shew you both how you are out of the way and will put you in the way first you are out of the way for certainly all the way you ever have had yet as I could find by anything is in the way of Conquest certainly this is an ill way for Conquest Sir in my opinion is never just except there be a good just Cause either for matter of Wrong or just Title and then if you go beyond it the first quarrel that you have to it is it that makes it unjust at the end that was just at first But if it be only matter of Conquest then it is a great Robbery as a Pirat said to Alexander that he was the great Robber he was but a Petty Robber And so Sir I do think the way that you are in is much out of the way Now Sir for to put you in one way believe it you will never do right nor God will never prosper you until you give God his due the King his due that is my Successors and the People their due I am as much for them as any of you You must give God his due by regulating rightly his Church according to his Scriptures which is now out of order For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot but only this A National Synod freely called freely debating among themselves must settle this when that every Opinion is freely and clearly heard For the King indeed I will not then turning to a Gentleman that touched the Ax said Hurt not the Axe that may hurt me * Meaning if he did blunt the edge For the King the Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that therefore because it concerns my own particular I only give you a touch of it For the People and truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any body whosoever but I must tell you that their Liberty and Freedom consists in having of Government those Laws by which their Life and their Goods may be most their own It is not for having share in Government Sir that is nothing pertaining to them A Subject and a Soveraign are clean different things and therefore until they do that I mean That you do put the people in that Liberty as I say certainly they will never enjoy themselves Sir it was for this that now I am come here If I would have given way to an-Arbitrary way for to have all Laws changed according to the power of the Sword I needed not to have come here and therefore I tell you and I pray God it be not laid to your Charge that I am the Martyr of the People Introth Sirs I shall not hold you much longer for I will only say this to you that in truth I could have desired some little time longer because I would have put this that I have said in a little more Order and a little better digested then I have done and therefore I hope you will excuse me I have delivered my Conscience I pray God that you do take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and your own Salvations Dr. Juxon Will Your Majesty though it may be very well known your Majesties Affections to Religion yet it may be expected that you should say somwhat for the worlds satisfaction King I thank you very heartily my Lord for that I had almost forgotten it Introth Sirs My Conscience in Religion I think is very well known to all the world and therefore I declare before you all That I die a Christian according to the Profession of the Church of England as I found it left me by my Father and this honest man * Pointing to Dr. Juxon I think will witness it Then turning to the Officers said Sirs excuse me for this same I have a good Cause and I have a Gracious God I will say no more Then turning to Col. Hacker he said Take care they do not put me to pain and Sir this and it please you But then a Gentleman coming near the Axe the King said Take heed of the Axe pray take heed of the Axe Then the King speaking to
servants joyned himself with the Lord Goring Sr. Charles Lucas and others who with a considerable Army were then in Essex and after a long Siege were forced to surrender their Garrison of Colchester In the Articles of that rendition this right noble Lord was included and had quarter given him for life though it was afterwards unhansomly unsaid again by him that gave it who left him after his Parol given to a High Court of Justice upon this surrender he was committed to the Tower where whilst he remained he endeavoured to escape which he well effected but crossing the water through some discourse he let fall Jones the Waterman conceiving what he was upon his landing discovered him had him retaken and committed again in order to his Tryal In the middle of March 1648 he was brought before the said High Court of Justice where he said enough in reason and justice to have cleared himself insisting upon his Priviledge as a Peer and claiming the benefit of the Laws which owned no such arbitrary Power as this against the life of any Subject especially a Noble Man and in sum denied their Jurisdiction and pleaded his quarter given him as abovesaid but nothing would avail they proceeded to Judgment and with Duke Hamilton the Earl of Holland Earl of Norwich and Sr. John Owen sentenced him to be beheaded which was executed accordingly on the ninth of March. We will now take a view of him after the tmie of his Condemnation when he was to encounter and look Death in the face He alwaies kept a very chearful and well composed temper of mind which proceeded from true Christian Principles he would often say it was the good God he served and the good cause he had served for that made him not to fear Death adding that he never had the temptation of so much as a thought to check him for his engagement in this quarrel for he took it for his Crown and glory and wished he had a greater ability and better fortune to engage in it The afternoon before his suffering he was a great while in private with a Minister where bewailing with that sense which became a true and not despairing penitent the sins of his life past the greatest he could remember was his voting my Lord of Straffords death which though as he said he did without any malice at all yet he confessed it to be a very great sin and that he had done it out of a base fear his own words of a prevailing party of which he had very often and very heartily repented and was confident of Gods pardon for it Then he desired to receive the Blessed Sacrament before he dyed After this being afraid of some danger to the Minister that attended him for that work of Love and some Conference in order to his preparation both for his provision and his voyage the Sacrament and his death he desired to go to Prayers which being performed he returned to his private devotions The next morning being the day of his death he desired the Minister who was with him before to hear and joyn with him in Prayers which he did for half an hour in an excellent method very apt Expressions and most strong hearty and passionate affections First confessing and bewailing his sins with strong cries and tears then humbly and most earnestly desiring Gods mercy through the Merits of Christ alone Secondly For his dear Lady and Children with some passion but for her especially with most ardent affections recommending them to the Divine Providence with great confidence and affurance and desiring for them rather the blessings of a better life than of this Thirdly For the King Church and Kingdom And Lastly For his Enemies with almost the same ardour and affection After Prayer ended my Lord of Norwich and Sr. John Owen being sent for the Minister read the whole Office of the Church for Good Friday and then after a short Homily for the occasion he received the Sacrament again in which action he behaved himself with great Humility Zeal and Devotion Being demanded after the receiving thereof how he found himself he replyed very much better stronger and cheerfuller for that heavenly repast and that he doubted not to walk like a Christian through the vale of death in the strength of it But he was to have an Agony before his Passion and that was the parting with his Wife eldest Son now Earl of Essex his Son in Law two of his Uncles and Sr. T.C. especially his parting with his dearest Lady which indeed was the saddest spectacle that could be In which occasion as he could not choose but shew and confesse a little of humane frailty yet even then he did not forget both to comfort and counsel her and the rest of his friends particularly in blessing the yuong Lord he commanded him never to revenge his death though it should be in his power the like he said unto his Lady He told his Son he would leave him a Legacy out of David's Psalms and that was this Lord lead me in a plain path For Boy saith he I would have you a plain honest man and hate dissimulation After this was past with much adoe his Wife and the rest of his Friends were perswaded to begone and then being all alone with the Minister he said Doctor the hardest part of my work in this World is now past meaning the parting with his Wife Then he desired the said Minister to pray preparatively for his death that in the last action he might so behave himself as might be most for Gods Glory for the indearing of his dead Masters memory and his present Masters service and that he might avoid the doing or saying of any thing which might savour either of ambition or vanity This being done he was conveyed with the other two Lords who suffered with him to Sr. Robert Cottons where the Minister staid with him till he was called to the Scaffold whither the Guard of Souldiers permitted him not to come so that my Lord took leave of him there The same day he died he wrote this following Letter to his Wife My dearest Life MY Eternal life is in Christ Jesus my wordly considerations in the highest degree thou hast deserved let me live long here in thy dear memory to the comfort of my Family our dear Children whom God out of mercy in Christ hath bestowed upon us I beseech thee take care of thy health sorrow not afflict not thy self too much God will be unto thee better than an Husband and to my Children better than a Father I am sure he is able to be so I am confident he is graciously pleased to be so God be with thee my most vertuous Wife God multiply many Comforts to thee and my Children which is the fervent Prayer of Thy c. He hath also left behind him an excellent Book of Meditations and some other Miscellaneous things especially an Exhertation to stir up the hearts and endeavours of
men to have saved the precious life of the King c. which being to be had will need no other Commendation When the other two Lords were beheaded he was brought last to the Scaffold where he spake as followeth His Lordship in the way to the Scaffold put of his hat to the People on both sides looking very austerely about him And being come upon the Scaffold Lieut. Collonel Beecher said to him Sir Is your Chaplain here CAPEL No I have taken my leave of him and perceiving some of his Servants to weep he said Gentlemen refrain your salves refrain your selves and turning to Lieut. Col. Beecher he said what did the Lords speak with their hats off or no Col. Beech. With their Hats off And then coming to the front of the Scaffold he said I shall hardly be understood here I think and then began his Speech as followeth Capel The conclusion that I made with those that sent me hither and are the cause of this violent death of mine shall be the beginning of what I shall say to you When I made an address to them which was the last I told them with much sincerity that I would pray to the God of all mercies that they might be partakers of his inestimable and boundless mercies in Jesus Christ and truly I still pray that Prayer and I beseech the God of Heaven forgive any injury they have done to me from my Soul I wish it And truly this I tell you as a Christian to let you see I am a Christian But it is necessary I should tell you somewhat more that I am a Protestant And truly I am a Protestant and very much in love with the profession of it after the manner as it was established in England by the Thirty nine Articles a blessed way of profession and such an one as truly I never knew none so good I am so far from being a Papist which some body have truly very unworthily at some time charged me withall that truly I profess to you that though I love Good Works and commend Good Works yet I hold they have nothing at all to do in the matter of Salvation my Anchor-hold is this That Christ loved me and gave himself for me that is that that I rest upon And truly something I shall say to you as a Citizen of the whole World and in that consideration I am here condemned to die truly contrary to the Law that governs all the World that is the Law of the Sword I had the protection of that for my life and the honour of it but truly I will not trouble you much with that because in another place I have spoken very largely and liberally about it I believe you will hear by other means what Arguments I used in that case But truly that that is stranger you that are English-men behold here an English-man here before you and acknowledged a Peer not condemned to die by any Law of England not by any Law of England nay shall I tell you more which is strangest of all contrary to all the Laws of England that I know of And truly I will tell you in the matter of the civil part of my death and the Cause that I have maintained I die I take it for maintaining the fifth Commandment injoyned by God himself which enjoyns reverence and obedience to Parents All Divines on all hands though they contradict one another in many several opinions yet all Divines on all hands do acknowledge that here is intended Magistracy and Order and certainly I have obeyed that Magistracy and that Order underwhich I have lived which I was bound to obey and truly I do say very confidently that I do die here for keeping for obeying that fifth Commandment given by God himself and written with his own finger And now Gentlemen I will take this opportunity to tell you that I cannot imitate a better nor a greater ingenuity than his that said of himself For suffering an unjust judgment upon another himself was brought to suffer by an unjust judgment Truly Gentlemen that God may be glorified that all men that are concerned in it may take the occasion of it of humble repentance to God Almighty for it I do here profess to you that I did give my Vote to that Bill against the Earl of Strafford I doubt not but God Almighty hath washed that away with a more precious blood the Blood of his own Son and my dear Saviour Jesus Christ and I hope he will wash it away from all those that are guilty of it truly this I may say I had not the least part nor degree of malice in doing of it but I must confess again to Gods glory and the accusation of mine own frailty and the frailty of my Nature that truly it was unworthy Cowardize not to resist so great a torrent as carried that business at that time And truly this I think I am most guilty of of not courage enough in it but malice I had none but whatsoever it was GOD I am sure hath pardoned it hath given me the assurance of it that Christ Iesus his Blood hath washed it away and truly I do from my Soul wish that all men that have any stain by it may seriously repent and receive a remission and pardon from God for it And now Gentlemen we have had an occasion by this intimation to remember his Majesty our KING that last was and I cannot speak of him nor think of it but truly I must needs say that in my opinion that have had time to consider all the images of all the greatest and vertuousest Princes in the World and truly in my opinion there was not a more vertuous and more sufficient Prince known in the World than our gracious King CHARLES that died last God Almighty preserve our King that now is his Son God send him more fortunate and longer dayes God Almighty so assist him that he may exceed both the vertues and sufficiencies of his Father For certainly I that have been a Councellour to him and have lived long with him and in a time when discovery is easily enough made for he was young he was about thirteen fourteen fifteen or sixteen years of age those years I was with him truly I never saw greater hopes of vertue in any young person than in him great judgment great understanding great apprehension much honour in his nature and truly a very perfect Englishman in his inclination and I pray God restore him to this Kingdom and unite the Kingdoms one unto another and send a great happinesse both to you and to him that he may long live and Reign among you and that that Family may Reign till thy Kingdom come that is while all temporal power is consummated I beseech God of his mercy give much happinesse to this your King and to you that in it shall be his Subjects by the Grace of Iesus Christ Truly I like my beginning so well that I
there were blank Commissions signed by the King to the purport aforesaid were found with him and carried to the Council who thereupon ordered him to be proceeded against as a spie and referred him to a Council of War Accordingly he was soon afterwards tried by a Court Martial where he did not excuse himself or extenuate his fault but very modestly handsomly acknowledged their allegations against him and the justice of his cause of which he told them he was no way ashamed but if it must be so would willingly lay down his life in the owning of it He told them moreover that he was bound indispensably by the Laws of God and this Kingdom to do what he did and so referred himself to them They very earnestly pressed him to reveal the other parties engaged with him and gave him some fallacious hopes of life if he would freely declare them but those offers prevailed not with him being resolved to suffer and take all upon himself rather then to ruine others whom they could not fasten upon without his discovery So the Court proceeded to Sentence which was that he should be hanged over against the Exchange in Cornhill in Exchange time which after some little preparation was executed he being brought in a Coach from the Mews with the Executioner vizarded with him and a Troop of Horse to guard him to the said place where the Sheriffs received him into their charge After he alighted and some words passed between them concerning the said discovery he told them they should not expect it and desired them to forbear any further trouble to that purpose and so ascended that ladder which reached unto heaven wherein he prayed very fervently for the King and the Church and commended his soul into the hands of the Redeemer and so concluded his last breath which at the falling of his body mounted his soul to heaven in whose blissful mansions he nows sings Hallelujah for ever Colonel Eusebius Andrews beheaded on Tower-hill August 22. 1650. THis Gentleman a most sincere and religious Protestant being by profession a Counsellour of Grays-Inn and who during the War had followed the Kings fortune out of Conscience of his obedience and duty was most wickedly trapand by the said Council of State and their Officers to his lamentable death a Narative of the whole take as followeth On Monday the 24 of March 1649. Collonel Andrews was taken prisoner at Graves-end by Major Parker and by a Troop of Horse that night conveighed to the George in Kings-street Westminster The next day he was convented before the President Bradshaw Sir Henry Mildmay and Thomas Scot three members of the said Council delegated by them for the taking of the Examination of him and of Sir Henry Chichley Doctor Henry Edwards and Mr. Clark casually found in the same Inne with Mr. Andrews These Gentlemen examined him so punctually to every action and circumstance that had passed on his part since he took up Armes and especially since the render of Worcester and his return from thence to London and also concerning his several Lodgings Names Acquaintances Removes Abodes in the Country correspondencies by Letters and interests in places and persons as if they had kept a Diary for him Which considered and that Sir John Gell Baroner Major Bernard Captain Smith Captain Benson and Capt. Ashley with whom he had the last and most questionable correspondency were all in custody he found himself to be betrayed but could not at present guesse by whom but well saw that he had better be fair in his Confession then to deny what he saw by the perfectness of his Examiners would be proved against him by the discovery of those formerly secured and examined before his coming up and so resolved to bear the worst and not so much to shame himself or the matter as to deny things evident or easily proveable but rather to cast himself upon God and come off as well as he could with a truth in his mouth In his Answers he would have been circumstantial but was kept close to the Question At his departure he desired he might set down his own Narrative according to his own sense which was granted him to prepare and to send or bring them as there was opportunity And having totally and as much as in him lay excused his fellow-prisoners as to any thing related to his Delinquency he was with them committed to the Gate-house Wednesday following he was re-convented and re-examined and on Friday again convented and delivered in his Narrative to the Lord President and by him without further words returned On Saturday he was re-called and then as at all times before used and treated with civility being only much pressed to discover some great Persons his supposed Confederates their aym being as he supposed at Sir Guy Palms Sir John Curson and Sir Thomas Whitmore c. But it was a great blessing in his unhappiness that it was not cumulative nor fatal to any of his friends and familiars who yet knew nothing of the reason of his imprisonment more then by common same On Sunday next he was called out of his bed and by two Messengers his keeper and his man brought into a Boat at Kings-bridge Westminster and thence carried to the Tower The Warrant which was read at the Lieutenants house imported That he was committed close prisoner for high Treason in endeavouring to subvert the present Government to be kept till delivered by Law He was designed for a Prison-lodging by Col. West the Lieutenant but upon notice of his quality he was put into the custody of Mr. Slaidon one of the Warders in his house equally convenient with the best At his first coming to the Tower he had but two shillings in his Purse and supposing he should be provided for at the States-charges he sent to the Lieutenant to know what he would order for him who returned that if he had money he might have what he would but at his provision nothing His keeper was upon his delivery to his charge commanded to keep him safe and if he escap'd threatned to be hanged and a Sentinel set immediately at his door and that day two Gentlewomen coming to see him were all imprisoned in the Round-house and next day carried to the Council of State and strictly examined His Waterman that week brought him some money for which and some affectionate words spoken of him he was brought before the President examined rebuked and dismissed and a Centinel set at Mr. Andrew's window that he might not speak to any without His Case was this His Engagement for his late Majesty began in 1642. and continued until the surrender of Worcester 1645. He compounded not for his Delinquency not having a considerable and not willing to own an inconsiderable Estate He took neither Protestation Solemn League and Covenant Negative Oath nor subscribed Engagement At his return to London to a private practice in his Calling for his necessary support John
way now I have from them all received courtesie the Lord repay them I thank God I am otherwise bred and my Allegiance hath been incorporated embodred into my Religion and besides the great desires of other Gentlemen that I might go out of the World but that the World might see that the Grace of God hath had a perfect Reformation in me and a willing and thankful submission to his Will therefore I repent me not of it but I beseech Almightie God to bless and prosper all people whatsoever that to this Kingdom belong As my Speech is imperfect so is my health I have forced my self in this Discourse to give that satisfaction which I could And I beseech you Mr. Sheriff if you can hear of any Gentlemen that are wronged what I offer here I am to answer it and I beseech you join with me in your Christian prayers that I may have a passage whether I am now going to give an account not only of everie deed but of everie word Then turning to his Man he said Sir H. Hide John which is the Executioner The Executioner being brought to him he said Sir H. Hide Honest Friend I have no quarrel with you you are the welcom instrument do your work only let me set the place that I may fit my self for I have an infirm body Sheriff You shall when you have prayed if you please to pray first Sir H. Hide I desire to see the Block I can pray afterwards Here Mr. Executioner is that mony that is left here is four pounds for you Then being shewed the Block he kissed it saying Sir H. Hide It is unworthie for me to put my head where my Masters was blessed be God blessed be his holy Name putting off his Hat I have an infirmitie in my body but God hath enabled me inwardly Pray Mr. Sheriff let me have a little more room Sheriff Go to prayer and we will clear the room Sir H. Hide I have I thank Almighty God done those Christian Offices belonging to me at home I am come hither only to die Then kneeling down he said the Lords Prayer Then having prayed a short space he stood up and turning to the Executioner said Sir H. Hide Honest Friend I pray give me direction what I am to do and do your Office you will cure all diseases presently pray direct me Then the Executioner going to spread the Scarff over the Block he said Sir H. Hide Put it not on now but by and by D. Hide God Almightie strengthen you Sir H. Hide God reward you all Then the Executioner going to put up his hair under his Sattin Cap he thought he had been taking of it off whereupon he said Sir H. Hide Must I have my black Cap off it is very cold all these diseases will be cured the Lord be thanked Then going to lie down his Man not helping him he said Sir H. Hide John Help me a little I pray Did not I tell you I could neither rise nor fall Lay me down and lift me up again John Then rising again upon his knees he spake to the Executioner having the Ax in his hand Sir H. Hide Pray Sir give me the Ax. And then taking the Ax in his hand he kissed it and returned it to the Executioner again saying Sir H. Hide I will only say Lord Jesus receive my Soul and when I lift up my right-hand do your work And then lying down again after a little space he lift up his right-hand and the Executioner at one stroke severed his head from his body Mr. Benson Executed Octob. 7. at London 1650. THis person was ingaged and trapan'd into the same unfortunate business with Colonel Andrews on purpose by his means to draw in also Sir John Gell of whom before he having been a servant and retainer to the said Knight many years before He had also born office and had a command under him during the time Sir John serv'd the Parliament and numbred himself afterwards amongst these who being uncommissioned were generally known by the name of Reformadoes Upon these accounts he became obnoxious to them especially of the men at Westminster who by their instruments searching into his discontents soon worked him into the Plot. A capacious design it was which comprehended and included all interests Cavalier Presbyterian and Leveller together with those formerly cashier'd Officers under Essex and which had it taken its wicked intended effect would have made them appear so cunning and terrible so disheartned and terrified all men against opposing or endeavouring against the tyranny that their new Common-wealth would have been a solitude or wilderness where like beasts not men we should have been afraid one of another Col. Andrews at his taking was of opinion that this person was of the gang that betrayed him but in appeared to the contrary for Barnard had clearly possest him with the reality and feasibleness of the design into which he was so rationally as he thought and upon such sure grounds engaged such and such great persons being nominated as principal therein that not onely it was his belief but his confidence on which he had raised great hopes of advantage to himself that this meritorious piece of service would take effect Nay so certain was he that in the last trick put upon Colonel Andrews in reserence to the drawing in of Sir John Gell which was a menace that if the Colonel did not procure Sir Johns hand and seal the Confederates would themselves go over to the King in Holland and give such an account of the affair to his Majesty as should tend little to the crediand honour of them both that Mr. Benson was inveigled in the head he should be the man intrusted with the delivery thereof and receive the designed mony for the Colonel to defray the management of that service This conceit was so rooted in him that he quitted it not till he was really surprised and in custody Nay when there so strong was his fancy and so set upon the issue of this businesse that he complained to himself of the Colonel through whose backwardness and slow procedure therein he thought it only miscarried not yet dreaming that he was made the stalkingly-horse to his as well as their destruction It was imagined that they would have contented themselves with that industrious service he did them by so exactly realizing their counterfeit plot as a bird set to chirp others by his merry note into the snare but no such matter having mist the great ones they would be sure of the small to give some satisfaction to their unsatiable thiâ—st of blood and in order to some accomplishment of their design sacrifice one of a sort and interest to their policy and Government and him they marked out for a Reformado of whom by their claim of arrears due to them for service there was some danger and this was the most speedy and easie way of paying them At his Execution he spoke very little
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
my soul Amen And so meekly laying his Neck to the block and giving a sign his head at one blow and a draw of the axe was severed from his body Sir Henry Slingsby and Dr. Hewyt beheaded on Tower hill June 8. 1658. THis was the last Act of Cromwel's Tragedies Death putting soon after a period to his Usurpation and Epilogizing other mens fate with his own his life had been attended and his hours measured with stillation of blood now they were determined this full pomp of slaughter went before and ushered his long desired Funerals to his usurped Grace He never stirt'd a Plot but money stuck at the bottom He had an Army of Janizaries which without constant pay could never be kept at his beck and obedience and all the design he practised could not raise him money without the tricks of Jealousies and Fears that State-Device serving by fondness and force to bring in mony for the Cause from the beginning to the very ending and this was the original of this horrid Plot. For nothing else can be made out he had lately so frighted all men by his known intelligence at the Kings Court that none but mad-men except the condition of the Tyrannie were altered would venture upon any new Contrivance the Usurper being stronger and farther seated in his Domination then ever before and the severity of his Revenge against those whom he took in such practices was so fresh and recent in memory that nothing but Desperation could thrust men upon such Pikes Therefore ho had recourse to his old Artifices and because no body would be dealing with him he would be dealing with others to make the people believe and apprehend danger and afterwards pay for the delivery from that is to say for the perpetration of it The Design was laid in all quarters North East West and South but centred in the City of London 't was a General Conbination betwixt him and his Secretary and so â—e not dive in it further but leave those parties who are concerned in the death 's of these and some preceding persons to consider of the rest and proceed to the Narrative The first man that was produced in this Plot which was to subvert the Usurpation till the Tyrant introduce and restore our Sovereign with a particular kind reference to the City which should be fired by its former Incendiaties was Sir Henry Slingsby a Gentleman of a very Noble Family in York shire of an ample and large Revenue and Estate in York shire but exhausted and wasted in the Kings Service and afterwards wholly sequestred for the Parliament This Knight for some time before had been a prisoner in Hull in order to the security of the Peace as their Tyrannie termed it but for manyyeares together no stranger to such demeurances In that Garrison he became acquainted as the solace of misery and life necessirated him with some of the Officers they likewise insinuating and ingratiating with him but more particularly when instructions were given them of trapanning him into some design against their Sultan Cromwel This engaged them into a nearer famisiarity Sir Henry's case and hard usage is lamented the state of the Kingdome laid open and the oppression of the people aggravated with many the like overtures to feel if the pulse of Sir Henry would beat an Alarm to an insurrection which for their part truly they feared but should not draw a Sword against any who should so attempt the regaining and recovery of their liberty To these Discoveries Sir Henry gave some pleasant but not serious eare though he did not utterly disbelieve the discontents of those men knowing if it was absolute truth they spoke and might in time be accomplished and therefore let fall some words tending to that purpose on which they replying and professing their serious service to the King if occasion presented it drew some further matter from Sir Henry which was the offering of a Commission to them to secure that place for the King This was an old Commission and which had lain by him a long while â—oremote and distant were his thoughts from effecting any thing Before they had thus brought him on and had then produced upon the sudden and unexpected hopes of gaining that Town The producing of this Commission was enough for their Tyrants satisfaction who straight gave Order that he should be sent up to London who after some Examination he was sent to the Tower and finally brought before a High Court of Justice where he manifested the Juggle by which he was brought into the snare and demonstrated the impossibility of his doing any prejudice to the State but that was no Argument there so that he was sentenced to be beheaded by vertue of a late Act of one of Olivers Conventions whereby it was made Treason to hold intelligence with the Kings Majesty Much application was made to save his life by the Lord Viscount Fauconbridge his Nephew who had lately married one of the Usurpers Daughters but as Sir Henry said at the Scaffold he was inexorable the truth is the Tyrant supposed that his not sparing a person so related to him would make all the World believe there was a reality of some horrid design which could not be dispensed with without extream danger to the publique He said very sittle at his death not caring to busy the world with his concerns having spoken largely to his Charge at his Trial before the said High Court the substance on the Scaffold was this The fatal Execution of Sir Henry Slingsby on Tuesday the 8. of June 1658. upon Tower-Hill With the substance of his speech before his Death ABout Eleven of the Clock Sir Henry Slingsby was brought from the Tower to the Scaffold on Tower-Hill whither being come he fell upon his knees and for a short space prayed privately Then standing up he did with a very low voice address himself to that noble Gentleman Mr. Sheriff Robinson telling him that what he had to say he would speak to him which was to this purpose That he had received a Sentence to die upon account of his endeavouring to betray the Garrison of Hull But said All that be did in that businesse he was drawn into by others That the Officers of that Garrison did believe he had some greater Design in hand and therefore they would needs pump him to the bottom But what he spake to them in private was brought into evidence against him He likewise said That he did no more than any person would have done that was so brought on That he had made many applications by his Friends for a Reprieve but found his Highnesse was inexorable He did confess that he did deliver a Commission as it was charged against him But said that it was an old Commission and what he meant was well known to himself but what construction others had made of it might appear by his present condition He dscovered little sense of sorrow or fear of Death but