Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	earl_n	john_n	king_n	50,169	5	4.1692	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02764	The examinations, arraignment & conuiction of George Sprot, notary in Aye-mouth together with his constant and extraordinarie behauiour at his death, in Edenborough, Aug. 12. 1608. Written & set forth by Sir William Hart, Knight, L. Iustice of Scotland. Whereby appeareth the treasonable deuice betwixt Iohn late Earle of Gowry and Robert Logane of Restalrig (commonly called Lesterig) plotted by them for the cruell murthering of our most gracious Souereigne. Before which treatise is prefixed also a preface, written by G. Abbot Doctour of Diuinitie, and Deane of Winchester, who was present at the sayd Sprots execution.	Hart, William, Sir, Lord Justice of Scotland.; Abbot, George, 1562-1633.	1608 (1608)	STC 12894; ESTC S118749	27,055	64

many teares after the prayer affirmed this his deposition to be true and for the confirmation thereof declared that he would seale the same with his blood And the next day thereafter being the twelfth of the foresaid moneth of August the said George was brought forth and presented in iudgement vpon pannell within the Towlebewth of Edenborough before Sir William Hart of Preston his Maiestis Iustice and there in a fenced Court holden by him that day assisted by the honourable persons following his Assessors in that errand They are to say Alexander Earle of Dumfermling L. Chanceller George Earl of Dunbar Treasurer Iohn Archbishop of Glascow Dauid Bishop of Rosse Gawin Bishop of Galloway Andrew Bishop of Brechine Dauid Earle of Crawford Marke Earle of Lothiane Iohn L. Abirnethy of Saltoun Iames L. of Balmerinoth Secretarie Walter L. Blantyre Iohn L. Halyrudehouse Michael L. Burley Sir Richard Cokburne of Clarkintoun Knight M. Iohn Preston of Fenton Barnes Collector Generall Sir Iohn Skeyne of Currhil Knight Clerke of Register was delated accused and pursued by Sir Thomas Hamilton of Binning Knight Aduocate to our Souereigne Lord for his Highnesse Entries of the crimes conteined in his Inditement produced by the said Aduocate whereof the tenure followeth GEorge Sprot Notarie in Aye-mouth You are indited and accused forsomuch as Iohn sometime Earle of Gowrie hauing most cruelly detestably and treasonably conspired in the moweth of Iuly the yeere of God 1600 yeeres to murther our deare and most gratious Souereigne the Kings most excellent Maiestie And hauing imparted that diuellish purpose to Robert Logane of Restalrig who allowed of the same and most willingly and readily vnder tooke to be partaker thereof The same comming to your knowledge at the times and in the maner particularly after specified you most vnnaturally maliciously and treasonably concealed the same and was arte and part thereof in maner following In the first in the said moneth of Iuly six-hundred yeres after you had perceiued and knowen that diuers letters and messages had past betwixt the said sometime Earle of Gowrie and the said Robert Logane of Restalrig you being in the house of Fast-Castle you saw and read a letter written by the said Robert Logane of Restalrig with his owne hand to the said Iohn sometime Earle of Gowrie of the tenure following MY Lord my most humble dutie and seruice heartily remembred At the receit of your Lordships Letter I am so comforted that I can neither vtter my ioy nor finde my selfe sufficiently able to requite your Lordship with due thanks And perswade your Lordship in that matter I shall be as forward for your Lordships honour as if it were mine owne cause And I thinke there is no liuing Christian that would not be content to reuenge that Machiauellian massacring of our deare friends yea howbeit it should be to venture and hazzard life lands and all other thing els My heart can binde me to take part in that matter as your Lordship shall finde better proofe thereof But one thing would be done namely That your Lordship should be circumspect and earnest with your brother that hee be not r●sh in any speeches touching the purpose of Padua And a certaine space after the execution of the aforesaid treason the said Robert Logane of Restalrig hauing desired the Laird of Bour to deliuer to him the foresaid letter or els to burne it And Bour hauing giuen to you all tickets and letters which he then had either concerning Restalrig or others to see the same because he could not reade himselfe you abstracted the aboue written letter and reteined the same in your owne hands and diuers times read it conteining farther in substance nor is formerly set downe according to the words following My Lord you may easily vnderstand that such a purpose as your Lordship intendeth can not be done rashly but with deliberation And I thinke for my selfe that it were most meet to haue the men your Lordship spake of readie in a boat or barke and addresse them as if they were taking pastime on the sea in such faire Summer time And if your Lordship could thinke good either your selfe to come to my house of Fast-Castle by sea or to send your brother I should haue the place very quiet and well prouided after your Lordships aduertisement where we should haue no scant of the best Venison can be had in England And no others should haue accesse to haunt the place during your Lordships being heere but all things very quiet And if your Lordship doubt of safe landing I shall prouide all such necessaries as may serue for your Lordships arriuall within a flight shot of the house And perswade your Lordship you shall be as sure and quiet heere while we haue setled our plot as if you were in your owne chamber for I trust and am assured we shall haue word within few dayes from them your Lordship knoweth of for I haue care to see what ships comes home by Your Lordship knoweth I haue kept the L. Bothwell quietly in this house in his greatest extremitie say both King and Counsell what they liked I hope if all things come to passe as I trust they shall to haue both your Lordship and his Lordship at one good dinner afore I die Haeciocosè to animate your Lordship I doubt not my Lord but all things shall be well And I am resolued wherof your Lordship shall not doubt of any thing on my part yea to perill life land honor and goods yea the hazzard of hell shall not affray me from that yea although the scaffold were alreadie set vp The sooner the matter were done it were the better for the Kings bucke-hunting will be shortly and I hope it shall prepare some daintie cheere for vs to dine against the next yeere I remember well my Lord and I will neuer forget so long as I liue that merrie sport which your Lordships brother tolde me of a Noble man at Padua for I thinke that a parasceue to this purpose My Lord thinke nothing that I commit the secrecy hereof and credit to this bearer for I dare not only venture my life lands and all other things I haue els on his credit but I durst hazzard my soule in his keeping if it were possible in earthly men for I am so perswaded of his truth and fidelitie And I trow as your Lordship may aske him if it be true he would goe to hell gates for mee and hee is not beguiled of my part to him And therefore I doubt not but this will perswade your Lordship to giue him trust in this matter as to my selfe But I pray your Lordship direct him home with all possible haste and giue him strait command that he take not a wincke sleepe while hee see me againe after hee come from your Lorship And as your Lordship desireth in your letter to me either riue or burne or els send backe againe with the bearer for so is the fashion I grant Which

That hee had beene an offender against Almightie God in very many respects But that none of his sinnes was so grieuous vnto him as that for which he must die wherin notwithstanding he was not an Actor but a Concealer only That he was ingyred in it by the Laird of Rastalrig and his seruant the Laird of Bour both which hee sayd were men that professed not religion Whereupon he exhorted men to take heed how they accompanied with such as are not religious because sayd he with such as make not profession of religion there is no faith no trueth no holding of their word as himselfe had tried and found But touching the treason for the concealing whereof he was condemned he added That he was preserued aliue to open that secret mysterie which so long had layen hidde That God had kept him since that attempt of the Earle Gowrie from very manie dangers but notedly from one when being in apparent hazzard of drowning he was strangely deliuered which said he was Gods worke that I might remaine aliue vnto this happie and blessed day that the trueth might be made knowen And now I confesse my fault to the shame of my selfe and to the shame of the Diuell but to the glorie of God And I doe it not either for feare of death or for any hope of life for I haue deserued to die and am vnworthie to liue but because it is the trueth which I shall seale with my blood My fault sayth hee is so great that if I had a thousand liues and could die ten thousand deaths yet I might not make satisfaction that I should conceale such a treason against so gracious a King These and the like words when hee had spoken vpon one side of the scaffold hee turned him to the second side and afterward to the third that all the people might heare where he spake to the same purpose as formerly he had done And here it may not be forgotten that in the vttering of these things his tongue serued him verie well with words readie and significant his memorie was perfect his countenance reasonably erect and full of alacritie without all feare of death his voice was loud and audible on euery part which was the more strange because at the times of his examination as also that very fore-noone at the houre of his arraignment his speech was low and weake but now so strong as if God of purpose had giuen him power to deliuer his words in such a maner that all the people might heare and vnderstand When this aboue-mentioned declaration had beene made Sprot returned to that part of the scaffold where he first began to speake and there falling on his knees he vttered a prayer to the same purpose as is set down in this ensuing Treatise And hauing ended the same one of the Ministers praied againe and the prisoner ioyned with him That God would forgiue his sinnes and receiue his soule to mercie After which Sprot standing vp made diuers requests First that what he had deliuered by this Confession on the scaffold might be put into his Processe that the world might take notice of it Secondly that such as were present as they might haue opportunity would be suters vnto the King that his Maiestie would forgiue him this offence for the which he sayd he craued pardon of God of his Souereigne and the world And thirdly hee desired those of the Ministerie which were present that wheresoeuer they came they would proclame in the Pulpit his confession of his crime his sorow for the same and his full hope that God would pardon him And to the end that this might be performed hee tooke the hands of such Ministers as stood neere about him so binding a promise on them And heere being told by the said Ministers and other persons of qualitie that being so neere his departure out of the world it concerned him to speake nothing but the trueth and that vpon the perill of his soule he answered that to the end that they should know that hee had spoken nothing but the veritie and that his Confession was true in euerie respect hee would at the last gaspe giue them some apparent token for the confirmation of the same Then fitting himselfe to the ladder the Executioner commeth to him and as the maner is asking forgiuenesse of him VVith all my heart saith hee for you doe but your office and it is the thing I desire because suffering in my bodie I shall in my soule be ioyned vnto my Sauiour Ascending vp to the ladder he desired the people to sing a Psalme with him which they did with many a weeping eye Hee named the sixt Psalme and beginning it or taking it vp himselfe in euerie verse or line thereof hee went before the people singing both lowd and tunably vnto the very end Then once againe confirming and auowing his former confession he couered his owne face and commending his soule to God hee was turned off the ladder where hanging by the necke some little while hee three seuerall times gaue a lowd clap with his hands that all the standers by might heare which was the signe or token as it seemeth which he a little before had sayd that hee would giue at his last gaspe for the ratification and auowing of those things which by his confession hee had so many times declared and deliuered These things were done in the open sight of the Sunne in the Kings Capitall towne at the Market-crosse in Edenborough in the presence of diuers thousands of all sorts of the Nobilitie of the Clergie of the Gentrie of the Burgesses of women and children my selfe with the rest of the English Ministers standing by and looking on and giuing GOD the glorie that after so long a space as eight yeeres and eight dayes for so it was by iust computation after the attempt of Gowrie he was pleased to giue so noble a testimonie vnto that which by some maligners had beene secretly called in question without any ground or reason I haue reported at length those particulars which I heard and saw which that honourable personage who wrote this Treatise following doth somewhat more briefly deliuer but yet both of vs very truly as thousands can witnesse Out of both these narrations there may diuers obseruations be gathered As first how hainous a thing it is in the sight of God himselfe for subiects of what nature or qualitie soeuer to enter into conspiracie against the life and person of the Lords Anointed for Almightie God hath threatned to discouer these traiterous enterprises and if no other way yet by some strange and miraculous fashion Hee who spake against cruell imaginations of the heart Curse not the King no not in thy thought for the fowle of the heauen shall carie the voice and that which hath wings shall declare the matter what will he do when acts of hostilitie in rebellious maner shall be entred into And doth his Diuine Maiestie disclose it

and will he not also punsh it The example of that Earle Gowrie among thousands of others may be a sufficient instruction in this behalfe who for his Soueraignes loue and gracious fauour testified in many respects and intended many more wayes vnto him returning nothing but vngratefulnesse and traiterous resolutions digged a pit for another but by Gods iudgement fell into it himselfe and did not only lose in one day his fidelitie estimation and life but ouerthrew his house and all the honour of his familie thorow succeeding generations Therefore farre be it at all times from any noble heart to walke in his wayes or vpon any occasion to entertaine such discontentment as may grow to vndutifulnesse for when the wrath of God shall ouertake men offending in this kinde and the iustice of a King shall once proceed against them what horror must there needs be in their bowels and conscience what trembling affrighting in their very soule If this poore man Sprot for concealing that odious combination found such touches in himselfe and such remorse in his heart what quaking and dreadfulnesse may we thinke will fall on him who is guiltie of the highest act of treason and rebellion Secondly wee heere may see the Lords protection ouer Christian Kings and Princes whom as hee placeth next himselfe in maiestie and authoritie and calleth them by his owne name I haue said Ye are Gods so he blesseth and vpholdeth them as his Deputies and Vice-gerents men representing himselfe especially if sincerely they serue and feare and loue him He is a God of order and loueth subordination in all Kingdomes and Countreys where if hee grace countenance and protect inferiour Magistrates what will hee doe to the heads and chiefe gouernours of his people who are next to his owne greatnesse Hee hath set them aboue other in honour and glorie which causeth them to be more obserued according to their state but withall the prayers of their subiects are powred out for their welfare day night and at all times which concurring with their owne requests to God do find acceptance with the Highest to their noted prosperitie and eminent felicitie It preserueth from many perils to haue at all houres and seasons the prayers and supplications of faithfull men and women houering ouer their heads which may be perpetuall Remembrancers for them to their heauenly Father if by humane fragilitie and vnauoidable imperfections they should forget themselues Thirdly we may note more particularly the sauing health of God vpon our gracious Souereigne to whom as the Lord hath giuen many blessings and much happinesse beyond all his Progenitours so hee hath mainteined and protected his person in a maruellous and strange maner not onely from his cradle vnto this day but as it is very well knowen from before his comming into the world And how did the Lord free his seruant euen from the brincke of the pit and from the gates of the graue at the time of Gowries attempt as also since that day when those wicked sonnes of Belial the staine of the Land and Countrey wherin they were borne intended that Powder-treason Which as on the one side it expecteth at the hands of his Maiestie a greater thankfulnesse to God the King of kings so on the other side it calleth for of vs who sit peaceably vnder his shadow euerlasting tokens of gratefulnesse to so mercifull a Lord and heartie obedience to our Souereigne whom God hath raised vp defended protected maintained vpheld with his extraordinarie fauour to no common end but to the enlarging of his Church to the further ruine of Antichrist to the vniting of Kingdomes to the comfort of all the godly dispersed thorow Europe And happy is hee not who can finde deuices and cast imaginarie perils to hinder such a worke but who in his poore place can with a faithfull heart giue furtherance to the same Fourthly as many blessings from heauen haue been powred on the head of his Maiestie so it is not the least that tanquam è postliminio after so many yeeres and that as from the bones of a dead man when liuing men would not beleeue it God hath giuen farther light to the opening of the conspiracie of that vngodly Earle Gowrie which some few persons affected more to a rebell that is dead than to their liuing Souereigne did endeuour to disguise and maske at their owne pleasure The strange conceits of whom I can neuer sufficiently woonder at that men professing conscience and zeale to the trueth should vpon no kind of ground or shew of probabilitie suffer such vnreuerent thoghts to enter into their hearts especially against his sacred person whose life hath beene so immaculate and vnspotted in the world so free from all touch of viciousnesse and staining imputation that euen malice it selfe which leaueth nothing vnsearched could neuer finde true blemish in it nor cast any probable aspersion on it Against his sacred person whom as they must acknowledge to be zealous as Dauid learned and wise as the Salomon of our age religious as Iosias carefull of spreading Christs faith as Constantine the Great so if they will speake trueth they must confesse to be iust as Moses vndefiled in all his wayes as Iehosaphat or Hezechias full of clemencie as another Theodosius farre from spilling the blood of any of his Nobilitie but rather sparing those who haue lift vp their hand against him Notwithstanding when preposterous affection had so blinded these men that they would not see this truth the Lord hath giuen light yet once more to the rectifying of their iudgements A singular example of Gods vnlimited and vnbounded wisdome who will doe things as he liketh That when as S. Iohn sayth Qui sordescit sordescat adhuc He that lift to be peeuish and refractarie and selfe-conceited did thinke hee might haue persisted and died in that peeuishnesse and refractarie conceit and supposed that neuer any thing in this world should haue beene able to reforme him may see before his face so illustrious a testimony of his misconceited fancie and almost vnsatisfiable vndutifulnesse that vnlesse his face be hardened and his heart obdurated against both heauen and earth he must cease to be peruerse God is the God of truth and he who is the protectour of innocency in the poorest will certainly be the mainteiner and defender of integritie and sinceritie in his noblest and dearest seruant It is fit that he should haue his owne will to put off and prolong his mercies till the time which seemeth good to himselfe that men may wait vpon him and patiently expect and still tarie the Lords leisure yea that his power may be knowen who can bring light out of darknesse and good out of euill and truth out of treason who can giue hope beyond hope But when hee is once resolued that things acted in secret shall be preached vpon the house top that iniquitie shal be opened that simplicitie shall be cleered and innocencie disburdened of

scandalous imputations if men would not speake or children sound out the trueth in the streets yet the verie stones shall crie as our Sauiour once answered to the maligning Pharisees Blessed be the GOD of iustice who cleereth vp the fame of his holy ones when malice would obscure it Lastly heere may be a warning to men of mine owne profession I meane the Ministers of the Gospell that in cases of highest nature between a King and his rebell they conceiue not things to the woorst and because they will be opposite to him whom most of all they should honor by buzzings and whisperings and secret suggestions without all ground of trueth labour to sow sedition in the eares of women and children or in the mindes of men either weake or ill disposed For as the lips of the Priest should alwayes preserue knowledge so should they preserue trueth And we are to go before our flocks and Congregations in obedience and obsequiousnesse vnto the Christian Magistrate not in sowing sedition or making of mutinies to the disturbance of the State Who should sticke closer to Moyses welding so huge a charge than Aaron and his tribe And who should rather labour to doe his Prince all right than the Minister of the Gospell who next after teaching men their dutie to GOD is made to teach obedience and respectiuenesse vnto Kings And who more deserueth to be chastised than he if he wilfully transgresse These things I thought not amisse to obserue to thee Christian Reader before thou come to the perusing of this plaine and true narration touching the examination arraignment and death of the person here described GOD Almightie blesse the Kings Maiestie grant vnto him many dayes full of pietie and felicitie and after this mortall life expired send him an euerlasting Crown of glorie through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen Thine in the Lord GEORGE ABBOT THE EXAMINATIONS ARRAIGNMENT AND Conuiction of George Sprot Notary in Aye-mouth Together with his constant and extraordinarie behauior at his death in Edenborough August 12. 1608. Written and set forth by Sir William Hart Knight L. Iustice of Scotland Whereby appeareth the treasonable deuice betweene IOHN late Earle of Gowrie and Robert Logane of Restalrig commonly called Lesterig plotted by them for the cruell murthering of our most gracious Souereigne I Thought good gentle Reader for satisfaction of the true hearted and well affected subiects to their gracious Souereigne and closing of the mouthes of his Maiesties malicious enemies to spend a little time in discourse of a strange and almost miraculous accident that fell out of late anent the reuealing of the practises of Gowries treasonable Conspiracie intended against his Highnesse royall person Which purpose was hidden and concealed vntill the time it pleased God to moue one George Sprot who was priuie thereto to manifest and confesse the same as by this that followeth may appeare This Sprot after diuers examinations being moued with remorse of conscience for the long concealing of the foreknowledge of this treasonable conspiracie confesseth declareth and deponeth with the perill of his owne life That he knew perfectly that Robert Logane late of Restalrig was priuie and vpon the foreknowledge of Gowries treasonable conspiracie And for the greater assurance of his knowledge deponeth That he knew that there were diuers Letters interchanged betwixt them anent the treasonable purpose aforesayd in the beginning of the Moneth of Iuly 1600. Which letters Iames Bour called Laird Bour seruitor to Restalrig who was imployed mediatour betwixt them and priuy to all that errand had in keeping and shewed the same to Sprot in the place of Fast-Castle The first of Gowries Letters conteining in effect as followeth Good Laird of Restalrig you vnderstand what conditions should haue beene betwixt vs of before Indeed I purposed to haue come by your house but vnderstanding of your absence in Lothiane I came not Alwayes I wish you either your selfe to come West or els to send some sure messenger who may conferre with mee anent the purpose you know But rather would I wish your selfe to come not only for that errand but for some other thing that I haue to aduise with you To the which Letter Restalrig wrate an answer and sent the same to the Earle of Gowrie by the said Iames Bour of the tenure following MY Lord my most humble dutie and seruice heartily remembred At the receit of your Lordships Letter I am so comforted that I can neither vtter my ioy nor finde my selfe sufficiently able to requite your Lordship with due thanks And perswade your Lordship in that matter I shall be as forward for your Lordships honour as if it were mine owne cause And I thinke there is no liuing Christian that would not be content to reuenge that Machiauellian massacring of our deare friends yea howbeit it should be to venture and hazzard life lands and all other thing els My heart can binde me to take part in that matter as your Lordship shall finde better proofe thereof But one thing would be done namely That your Lordship should be circumspect and earnest with your brother that hee be not rash in any speeches touching the purpose of Padua My Lord you may easily vnderstand that such a purpose as your Lordship intendeth can not be done rashly but with deliberation And I thinke for my selfe that it were most meet to haue the men your Lordship spake of readie in a boat or barke and addresse them as if they were taking pastime on the sea in such faire Summer time And if your Lordship could thinke good either your selfe to come to my house of Fast-Castle by sea or to send your brother I should haue the place very quiet and well prouided after your Lordships aduertisement where we should haue no scant of the best Venison can be had in England And no others should haue accesse to haunt the place during your Lordships being heere but all things very quiet And if your Lordship doubt of safe landing I shall prouide all such necessaries as may serue for your Lordships arriuall within a flight shot of the house And perswade your Lordship you shall be as sure and quiet heere while we haue setled our plot as if you were in your owne chamber for I trust and am assured we shall heare word within few dayes from them your Lorship knoweth of for I haue care to see what ships comes home by Your Lordship knoweth I haue kept the L. Bothwell quietly in this house in his greatest extremitie say both King and Counsell what they liked I hope if all things come to passe as I trust they shall to haue both your Lordship and his Lordship at one good dinner afore I die Haeciocosè to animate your Lordship I doubt not my Lord but all things shall be well And I am resolued wherof your Lordship shall not doubt of any thing on my part yea to perill life land honor and goods yea the hazzard of hell shall not