The Arraignment TRYAL AND CONDEMNATION OF Robert Earl of Essex AND HENRY Earl of SOVTHAMPTON At Westminster the 19th of February 1600. and in the 43 year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth For Rebelliously Conspiring and Endeavouring the Subversion of the Government by Confederacy with TYR-OWEN that Popish Traytor and his Complices of whom these following viz. Sir Christopher Blunt Sir Charles Danvers Sir Gillie Merrick and Henry Cuffe Were the 5th of March following by a special Commission of Oyer and Terminer Arraigned Condemned and Executed The PEERS had to their Assistance the Learned JUDGES Counsel for the Queen Sir Henry Yelverton the Queens Serjeant Sir Edward Cook the Queens Attorney General afterwards Lord Chief Justice of England Mr. Bacon afterwards Lord Chancellor London Printed for Tho. Basset at the George in Fleet-street Sam. Heyrick at Grayes-Inn-Gate in Holborn and Matth. Gillyflower in Westminster-Hall 1679. THE Arraignment AND TRYALL OF Robert Earl of Essex AND HENRY Earl of SOVTHAMPTON At Westminster the 19th of February 1600. and in the 43 year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth A Spacious Court was made in Westminster-Hall where the Lord Treasurer Buckhurst sate as High Steward of England under a Canopy of State where sate also about the Table the Earls Barons and Judges of the Land according to their degrees The Judges were these The Lord Chief Justice Popham and the Lord Chief Justice Anderson The Lord Chief Baron Justice Gawdie Justice Fenner Justice Walmesley Justice Warberton Justice Kingsmill Mr. Baron Clarke These sate all in the Court next the Barr before the High Steward Seven Sergeants at Arms came in with Maces before the High Steward and laid them down before him in the Court The King at Arms stood on the one side of the High Steward by his Chair of Estate and one of Her Majesties Gentlemen-Ushers with his White Rod in his hand on the other side The Clerk of the Crown and his Assistant sate before him to read the Common Indictments and Examinations The Captain of the Guard Sir Walter Rawleigh and Forty of the Queens Guard were there to attend the Service Then the Sergeant at Arms made three O Yes and Proclamation That the Lord High Steward of England commanded Silence and to hear the Commission read upon pain of Imprisonment Then the Clerk of the Crown read the Commission whereunto the Earl of Essex was very attentive Another Proclamation was made That the Lord High Steward of England commanded all Justices to whom any Writs had been directed for this Service to bring them in and certifie the same Another Proclamation was made by a Sergeant at Arms That the Lieutenant of the Tower of London should return his Precept and bring forth his Prisoners Robert Earl of Essex and Henry Earl of Southampton Then the Lord High Constable of the Tower the Lieutenant of the Tower and the Gentleman Porter who carried the Ax before the Prisoners came first in and the Prisoners followed and made their appearance at the Barr the Gentleman Porter with the Ax standing before them with the Axes edge from them and so the Lieutenant delivered his Precept into the Court. The two Earls which were Prisoners kissed one anothers hands and embraced each other Another Proclamation was made That the Sergeant at Arms to the Queens Majesty do return his Precept of the Names of all the Peers of Robert Earl of Essex and Henry Earl of Southampton the which he delivered into the Court accordingly Another Proclamation was made That all Earls Viscounts and Barons of the Realm of England which were Peers of Robert Earl of Essex and Henry Earl of Southampton and summoned to appear this day do make answer to their Names upon pain and peril that will fall thereon Then the Lords were called and answered and appeared as followeth Edward Earl of Oxford Gilbert Earl of Shrewsbury William Earl of Derby Edward Earl of Worcester George Earl of Cumberland Robert Earl of Sussex Edward Earl of Hartford Henry Earl of Lincoln Charles Earl of Nottingham Thomas Viscount Bindon Thomas Lord De la Ware Edward Lord Morley Henry Lord Cobham Henry Lord Stafford Thomas Lord Gray Thomas Lord Lumbley Henry Lord Windsor William Lord Shandois Robert Lord Rich. Thomas Lord Darcy George Lord Hunsdon Oliver Lord St. Johns of Bletso Thomas Lord Burleigh William Lord Compton Thomas Lord Howard Baron of Walden Then the Earl of Essex desired to know of my Lord Chief Justice whether he might Challenge any of the Peers or No whereunto the Lord Chief Justice answered No And Mr. Attorney General alledged a Case in Henry the Eighths time of my Lord Darcy whereupon the Earl bade them go on When the Lord Gray was called the Earl of Essex laughed upon the Earl of Southampton and jogged him upon his sleeve Then they were called to hold up their Hands at the Barr which they did And then the Clerk of the Crown read the Indictments That being done they were bid to hold up their hands again which they did and another Indictment was read whereunto the Earl of Essex was attentive After which the Clerk of the Crown asked them whether they were Guilty or Not Guilty they pleaded Not Guilty and for their Tryals they put themselves upon God and their Peers They spake this severally Then my Lord High Steward in a few words gave the the Peers a Charge requiring them to have a due regard of their Consciences Sergeant Yelverton's Speech First he began to open the Evidence and shewed the effect of the Indictment and held it in his hand and said as followeth May it please your Grace speaking to the High Steward about the eighth of February last my Lord of Essex there Prisoner at the Barr went about with Armed men very rebelliously to dis-inherit the Queen of her Crown and Dignity which when it came to Her Majesties Ear She of Her abounding mercy sent to see if it were possible to stop the Rebellion and who did She send She sent my Lord no worse persons than my Lord Keeper my Lord Chief Justice of England the Earl of Worcester and Sir William Knowles all which went in Her Majesties name and commanded the Earls and their Adherents very strictly to dissolve their Assemblies and to lay down their Arms but he knowing it very treacherously imprisoned the said Lords and Councellors by her Majesty so sent and altogether refused Her Majesties Authority and divers of their Confederates cry'd out Kill them Kill them thereby putting Her Majesties Council in fear of their Lives and withall left them with Sir Jo. Davis to keep safe lest they themselves should miscarry in the City but my Lord I must tell you this by the way that my Lord of Essex can no way excuse nor shadow this his Rebellious Purposes nor turn his Actions to any other intent for the sending of Temple his Secretary into London the night before manifesteth his determination without scruple or question for by that means he
think it the just Judgment of God in his meer Mercy towards our Sovereign to have the Truth so marvellously revealed coming from them of their own Accords without Back or Torture to any of them Essex Mr. Attorney I answer then this for that point the self-same Fear and the self-same Examiner may make these several Examinations agree all in one were they never so far distant but good my Lord let me intreat your Lordship to consider who they be that testifie this against me My Lord they are men within the danger of the Law and such as speak with a Desire to live but I think they have much to answer for between God and their Souls and me I see they charge me with the Surprizing of the Tower but upon what ground do they speak they had only some particular Notes of my Friends names but ever very scornfully dashed at me For when my Friends perswaded me to any course this was my purpose to have come with eight or nine Honourable Persons who had just cause of discontentment though not equal with mine unto her Majesty and so by Petition prostrating our selves at her Majesties feet to have put our selves unto her Mercy and the Effect of our Desires should have been that she would have been pleased to have severed some from her Majesty who by reason of their Potency with her abused her Majesties ears with false Informations and they were Cobham Cecil and Raleigh For we thought my Lord Cobham carried himself in such factious and dangerous Courses as he told her Majesty many Untruths which was a principal Cause as I think of withdrawing her Favour from us And to that intent to remove such from her Highness I confess was the only Desire we had to present our selves in all humility before her Majesty but without any purpose of Hurt to her Highness for I protest before God I do carry a Reverent and Loyal Duty to her Majesty as any man in the World But now my Lord seeing that I have heard the Testimony of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and himself here in Court to testifie it I will say no more but that if it please her Majesty to be merciful unto him I will be glad and pray for it yet whatsoever he hath said let my Life and his Dealing testifie the truth and Sir Ferdinando speak nothing to touch thy self and speak what thou wilt to me for I see thou desirest to live yet speak like a man Lord Admiral I desire for the better satisfaction of my self and fellow-Peers that Gorges might unfold openly what other Secrets have pass'd between him and my Lord of Essex touching the State Essex Ah my Lord Admiral assure your self in faith no Treason but yet I pray thee good Sir Ferdinando speak openly whatsoever thou do'st remember and with all my Heart I desire thee to speak freely Gorges All that I can remember I have delivered in my Examination and further I cannot say Essex Yes Ferdinand If ever you knew any other matter which contained any Thought of Treason or Disloyalty speak it for they are things not to be forgotten Southampton Good Sir Ferdinando satisfie the Court what was intended among all our Conferences and talk of our Enemies and Discontentments and Consultations what was our best Course for our Defence against them Gorges Some delivered their minds one way some another but by the Oath I have taken I did never know or hear any thought or purpose of Hurt or Disloyalty intended to her Majesties Person by my Lord of Essex Lord Admiral I desire to know for the better satisfaction of my Conscience whether my Lord of Essex did at any time deliver out any Articles in Writing under his hand therein laying open the Projects of his Purpose for Surprising the Court and Tower Southampton It was a foolish Action I must needs confess the going through the Town and that was suddenly passed over but my Lord's purpose to have men planted at the Court was in regard he feared hindrance by private Enemies that would have stopped his passage to the Queen which I protest he intended to no other end but to prostrate himself at her Majesties feet and submit to her mercy as ye have formerly heard Cobham My Lord of Essex quoth the Lord Cobham standing up let me know I intreat you why you lay such Imputations upon me as you have delivered Essex My Lord I have forgiven all the World and therefore you shall not need to insist upon these Circumstances for I lay not my Cause upon ought that shall do your Lordship any harm for my sake for I protest my heart bears you no Malice but what I spake was freely and in Gods presence hoping her Majesty would have heard us and our Complaints being but true And I do further assure your Lordship that I never spake it out of Fear of Death or Desire of Life Bacon My Lord may it please your Grace whatsoever my Lord of Essex hath here denied in my conceit it seemeth to be small I speak not to any ordinary Jury but to Prudent Grave and Wise Peers And this I must needs say It is evident that you my Lord of Essex had planted a Pretence in your heart against the Government and now under colour of Excuse you must lay the Cause upon particular Enemies You put me in remembrance of one Pisistratus that was come into a City and doting upon the Affections of the Citizens unto him he having a Purpose to procure the Subversion of a Kingdom and wanting Aid for the accomplishing Humour thought it the surest means for the winning of the hearts of the Citizens unto him and so in that Hope entred the City and cut his Body over-thwart to the end they might conjecture he had been in danger and so by this Means held the same Conceit as you and your Complices did entring the City of London perswading your selves if they had undertaken your Cause all would have gone well on your side And now my Lord all you have said or can say in answer to these Matters are but Shadows and therefore methinks it were your best course to Confess and not to Justifie Essex May it please your Lordship I must plead Mr. Bacon for a Witness for when the course of private Persecution was in hand and most assailed me then Mr. Bacon was the man that profered me means to the Queen and drew a Letter in my name and in his Brother Sir Nicholas Bacon's name which Letter he purposed to shew the Queen and Gosnal was the man that brought them unto me wherein I did see Mr. Bacon's hand pleaded as orderly and appointed them out that were my Enemies as directly as might be which Letters I know Mr. Secretary Cecil hath seen and by him it will appear what Conceit he held of me and no otherwise than he here coloureth and pleadeth the Contrary Bacon My Lord I spent more hours to make you a good Subject than upon
was in hopes to have had the help of the Citizens Her Majesties most Loyal and Loving Subjects and he used not only his best endeavours to strengthen himself abroad but also fortified his House at home with strong Defence and Ammunition all which were tokens of his inclinations to a sudden and unexpected Rebellion and well confirmed in the opinion of all the World when he withstood divers of Her Majesties Subjects standing in Her Highness right and defence of her Peace against him and his Confederates Good my Lord I beseech your Grace and you my Lords that are the Peers to understand That if any man do but intend the Death of the King it is death by the Law for he is the head of the Commonwealth and all his Subjects as Members ought to obey and stand with him But as for this Rebellion being duly considered contains in it many branches of Treason which are and will be directly proved which being found to be so my Lords who are their Peers are to find them guilty hereof need to be made no doubt for it is more manifest than the Sedition of Cateline to the City of Rome and consequently England is in no less danger for as Cateline entertained the most seditious persons about all Rome to joyn with him in his Conspiracy so the Earl of Essex had none but Papists Recusants and Atheists for his Adjutors and Abettors in their Capital Rebellion against the whole Estate of England My Lord I much wonder that his heart could forget all the Princely Advancements given him by her Majesty and be so suddenly beflinted as to turn them all to Rebellious ends but it seems this overweighing a Mans own Conceit and an aspiring mind to wished Honour is like the Crocodile which is ever growing as long as he liveth your Lordships knows in what sort they went into the City with Armour and Weapons and how they returned to Essex-house again as you my Lord Admiral and my Lord of Cumberland with others of their honourable Peers do know which makes me wonder they do not blush to be so forward to stand upon their Tryals without Confession when their intended Treasons are in all mens judgements palpable For my part my Lord I can conjecture nothing hereby and it will not easily out of my conceit but that there is some further matter in it than as yet appears but my hope is that God of his mercy that hath revealed their Treasons will not suffer the rest of his or any others to the hurt of the State or prejudice to her Majesties most Royal Person whom I pray God long to preserve from the hands of her Enemies Amen cry'd the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Southampton and God confound their Souls that ever wished otherwise to her Sacred Person Attorney Gen. May it please your Grace the Lords Chief Judges which are the Fathers of the Law do know that the thought of Treason to the Prince by the Law is Death and he that is guilty of Rebellion is guilty of an Intent by the Laws of the Land to seek the destruction of the Prince and so adjudged Treason and I will prove this unto your Lordships by two several Cases First he raiseth Power and Strength in a settled Government the Law will not suffer it but it is construed as in case of High Treason he that doth usurp upon it the Law doth intend that he hath purposed the destruction of the Prince he that doth assemble Power if the King doth Command him upon his Allegiance to dissolve his Company and he continue it without any question it is High Treason He that doth levy Forces to take any Town in the Princes Dominions it is so likewise but my Lord of Essex hath levied Power to take the Tower of London and to surprise the Queens own Court then this must needs be higher than the highest and he that doth fortifie himself against the Princes Power must needs be within the compass of Treason and by your favour my Lord of Essex I will now speak a word unto you for I know you can speak as well as any man That whereas you say the Law of Nature compelled you to do this which in Judgment you have though most treacherously attempted I will in a word disprove your own judgment admitting you must make that freely your Argument First I will open the Quality of your Rebellion Secondly the Manner of it Thirdly I will touch the Circumstances and lastly I will observe the Person The Quality hath High Treason for which I think I shall not need to say any more For the manner of it I hold it an unnatural Act for a natural Subject to commit Treason against his natural Sovereign and methinks it cannot be by any probability denied but that this High Treason is and must be both against the Law of God Nature and Reason and under your Graces Favour my Lord the manner of it being of so high a Nature as it is must needs be High Treason which was not only carried in their Hearts but for a continual Remembrance kept in a black Purse which my Lord of Essex wore on his Breast next to his Skin Let me note unto you my good Lord that they being both born under the Government of this Princess and so highly advanced by Her Majesties Favour should have trembled once to think of such Rebellion as they have Enterprised Doth not my Lord of Essex now enjoy his Earldome of Essex by the Gift of Henry the Eighth to his Father Was not he made Master of Her Majesties Horse at twenty two years of Age One of Her Majesties Council to be Earl Marshal of England General of Her Majesties Forces in Ireland and lastly hath he not received divers Gifts and Summs of Money to his own use of Her Majesties Gracious and Princely Bounty to the Value of thirty thousand Pound yet all these were as cleverly forgotten as if they had never been Now shall I shew you the Person whom this concerns even Her Majesties Sacred Person against whom their Attempts have been only for the Undertaking of Gods Cause and exercising of Justice with admirable Mercy and though I cannot speak without reverent Commendations of Her Majesties most Honourable Justice yet I think her overmuch Clemency to some turneth to overmuch Cruelty for her self for though the Rebellious Attempts were so exceeding hainous yet out of her Princely Mercy no man was Racked Tortured or pressed to speak any thing further than of their own Accord and willing minds for discharge of their Consciences they uttered and then to see the Mercy of God that will have the Truth known it is admirable beyond the Conceit of Mans Capacity For they being severally examined notwithstanding all agreed directly without varying But when Her Majesty sent a Counsellor of State to have the Earl come before Her when she heard of his Rebellion for no other End or Purpose but for his Admonishment he
any man in the World besides but since you have stirred up this Point my Lord I dare warrant you this Letter will not blush for I did but perform the part of an honest man and ever laboured to have done you good if it might have been and to no other end for what I intended for your good was wished from the Heart without Touch of any man's Honour Essex Well my Lord I do here protest before the Living God that an Honourable Grave and Wise Councellor hath lamented and grieved at the Courses he hath seen taken and therewith hath wished himself often dead and this I speak upon Credible and Honourable Information but I can prove thus much from Sir Cecil's own mouth that he speaking to one of his Fellow-Councellors should say that none in the world but the Infanta of Spain had Right to the Crown of England Here Sir Robert Cecil stepped forth into the Court having kept himself private till then and humbly desired Leave to speak to Essex Sir Rob. Cecil The Difference between you and me is great for I speak in the Person of an honest man and you my Lord in the Person of a Traytor For well I know you have it at Will The Preheminence hath been yours but I have Innocence Truth of Conscience and Honesty to defend me against the Scandal of slanderous Tongues and aspiring Hearts and I protest before God I have loved your Person and justified your Vertues and I appeal to God and the Queen that I told Her Majesty your Afflictions would make you a fit Ser-Servant for her And had not I seen your ambitious Affections inclined to Usurpation I could have gone on my Knees to Her Majesty to have done you good but you have a Sheep's Garment in Show and in Appearance are humble and Religious but God be thanked we know you for indeed your Religion appears by Blunt Davies and Tresham your chiefest Councellors for the present and by promising Liberty of Conscience hereafter I stand for Loyalty which I never lost you stand for Treachery wherewith your Heart is possessed and you charge me with high things wherein I defie you to the uttermost You my good Lords Councellors of State have many Conferences and I do confess I have said the King of Scots is a Competitor and the King of Spain a Competitor and you I have said are a Competitor you would depose the Queen you would be King of England and call a Parliament Ah my Lord were it but your own Case the loss had been the less but you have drawn a number of Noble Persons and Gentlemen of Birth and Quality into your Net of Rebellion and their Bloods will cry Vengeance against you For my part I vow to God I wish my Soul was in Heaven and my Body at rest so this had never been Essex Ah Mr. Secretarie I thank God for my humbling that you in the Ruff of your Bravery came to make your Oration against me here this day Cecil My Lord I humbly thank God that you did not take me for a fit Companion for you and your Humours for if you had you would have drawn me to betray my Sovereign as You have done but I would have you name the Councellour you speak of name him name him name him if you dare if you dare I defie you name him if you dare Essex Here stands an Honourable Person meaning the Earl of Southampton that knows I speak no Fables he heard it as well as I. Cecil Then my Lord of Southampton I adjure you by the Duty you owe to God Loyalty and Allegiance you owe to your Sovereign by all tokens of true Christianity and by the antient Friendship and Acquaintance once between us that you name the Councellour Southamp Mr. Secretary If you will needs have me name the Councellour it was Mr. Comptroller whereupon the Secretary falling down upon his Knees said I thank God for this day and upon his Knee desired the Lord High Steward that a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber or one that might have Access to the Queen might go and humbly intreat Her Highness to command Mr. Comptroller to come before your Grace Here the Lord High Steward calling Mr. Knevet a Gentleman of Her Majesties Privy Chamber said unto him go Mr. Knevet unto Her Majesty and let Her understand Mr Secretaries Demand Cecil Mr. Knevet You shall have free Access unto Her Majesty tell Her that I vow before the God of Heaven that if she refuse to send Mr. Comptroller whereby I may clear my self of these open Scandals I will rather die at her Foot as her Subject and Vassal than live to do her any more Service in this Honourable Degree wherein her Highness employs me And withal let me adjure you Mr. Knevet that you do not acquaint Mr. Comptroller with the Cause why you come for him Mr. Knevet went and not long after returned with Mr. Comptroller to whom the Lord High Steward repeated the Cause why he was sent for and desired him to satisfie the Lords whether Mr. Secretary did use any such Speech in his Hearing or to his knowledge Mr. Comptroller I remember that once in Mr. Secretaries Company there was a Book read that treated of such matters but I did never hear Mr. Secretary use any such words or to that effect whereupon Mr. Secretary thanked God that though the Earl stood there as a Traytor yet he was found an honest man and a faithful Subject withal saying I beseech God to forgive you for this open wrong done unto me as I do openly pronounce I forgive you from the bottom of my Heart Essex And I Mr. Secretary do clearly and freely forgive you with all my Soul because I mean to die in Charity Bacon My Lord you may now perceive that my Lord of Essex went about to procure matter and to give over on the instant Southamp Well I beseech your Lordship let me satisfie your Lordship and the rest thus much that for my own part I did never know the Laws Now to shew the Causes that made me adventure so far as I did The first occasion that made me adventure into these Courses was the Affinity betwixt my Lord of Essex and me I being of his Blood and marrying his Kinswoman so that for his sake I should have hazarded my Life But what I have by my forwardness offended in Act I am altogether ignorant but in Thought I am assured never And if through my Ignorance in the Law I have offended yet I humbly submit my self to Her Majesty and from the bottom of my Heart do beg Her Gracious Pardon if it please Her and I hope that neither your Lordship nor any of the Peers will hold any of the former Resolutions spoken of by these Orators for any Certainty which depends no otherwise than one upon another For if any foolish Speeches have passed I protest as I shall be saved that they were never purposed by me nor understood to
Canopie and Chair of Estate then the Two Chief Judges and the Lord Chief Baron were sent for in to them to deliver their Opinions in Law After half an hour they came all out again and each man took his place which being done the Serjeant at Arms begun at the punie Lord and called Thomas Lord Howard who stood up bare-headed then said the Lord High Steward Lo. Steward My Lord Thomas Howard Whether is Robert Earl of Essex guilty of this Treason whereupon he hath been Indicted as you take it upon your Honour or no Lo. Tho. Howard Whereupon the Lord Thomas Howard made answer bending his Body and laying his Left Hand upon his Right Side said Guilty my Lord of High Treason After which manner all the Peers found him guilty one after another from the Punie to the highest and so delivered in like sort upon their Honours Being called over anew they found Henry Earl of Southampton guilty of High Treason also Serjeant at Arms. Then the Serjeant at Arms commanded the Lieutenant of the Tower to bring his Prisoners to the Barr again Clerk of the Crown Then the Clerk of the Crown speaking first to the Earl of Essex said Robert Earl of Essex you have been Arraigned and Indicted of High Treason you have pleaded Not Guilty and for your Trial you have put your self upon God and your Peers the Peers here who have heard the Evidence and your Answer in your defence have found you Guilty Now what can you say for your self why you should not have Judgment of Death Essex I onely say this That since I have committed that which hath brought me within the compass of the Law I may be counted the Law 's Traitor in offending the Law for which I am willing to die and will as willingly go thereto as ever did any But I beseech your Lordship and the rest of the Lords here to have consideration of what I have formerly spoken and do me the right as to think me a Christian and that I have a Soul to save and that I know it is no time to jest lying and counterfeiting my Soul abhorreth for I am not desperate nor void of Grace now to speak falsely I do not speak to save my life for that I see were vain I owe God a death which shall be welcome how soon soever it pleaseth Her Majestie And to satisfie the Opinion of the World that my Conscience is free from Atheism and Popery howsoever I have been in this Action misled to transgress the Points of the Law in the Course and Defence of private Matters and whatsoever through the weakness of my Wit and dulness of Memory or through violent Courses if there be any violent that seek either life or death or if I have omitted or may have uttered any thing otherwise yet I will live and die in the Faith and true Religion which here I have professed Clerk of the Crown Then the Clerk of the Crown demanded of Henry Earl of Southampton What he could say for himself why Judgment of Death should not be pronounced against him Southampton My Lords I must say for my part as I have said before That since the ignorance of the Law hath made me incur the danger of the Law I humbly submit my self to Her Majesties Mercy and therefore my Lord High Steward and my Lord Admiral I beseech you both that seeing you are Witnesses I am Condemned by the letter of the Law it would please you to let the Queen know that I Crave her Mercy I know I have offended her yet if it please her to be Merciful unto me I may live and by my Service deserve my life I have been brought up under Her Majestie I have spent the best part of my Patrimony in Her Majesties Service with danger of my life as your Lordships know if there were any that could challenge me that I have ever heretofore committed or intended Treason or any other thing prejudicial to Her Majestie or Estate God let me never inherit his Kingdom neither would I desire Mercy but since the Law hath Cast me I do submit my self to death and yet I will not despair on her Majesties Mercy for that I know she is Merciful and if she please to extend it I shall with all humility receive it Lord Steward My Lord of Essex the Queen's Majestie hath bestowed many Favours on your Predecessors and your Self I would wish therefore that you likewise would submit your self to Her Majesties Mercy acknowledging your Offences and reconciling your self inwardly to Her Majestie by laying open all Matters that were intended to prejudice Her Majestie and the Actors thereof and thereby no doubt you shall find Her Majestie Merciful Essex My Lord you have made an honourable Motion do but send to me at the time of my death and you shall see how penitent and humble I will be towards her Majesty both in acknowledging her exceeding Favours to my Ancestors and to my self whereby I doubt not but the penitent suffering of my Death and sprinkling of my Blood will quench the evil conceited Thoughts of Her Majesty against me And I do most humbly desire Her Majesty that my Death may put a period to my Offences committed and be no more remembred by her Highness If I had ever perceived any of my Followers to have harboured an evil thought against her Majesty I would have been the first that should have punished the same in being his Executioner and therefore I beseech you my good Lord mistake me not nor think me so proud that I will not crave her Majesties Mercy for I protest kneeling upon the very knee of my heart I do crave her Majesties Mercy with all humility yet I had rather die than live in Misery Then the Lord High Steward after a few exhortations unto the Earls to prepare themselves for God told them seeing the Law had found them Guilty it followed of course that he must proceed to Judgement The Earl of Essex replied very cheerfully and said yea my Lord with a very good will I pray you go on Then the Lord High Steward gave Judgment as followeth You must go to the place from whence you came and there remain during Her Majesties pleasure from thence to be drawn on a Hurdle through London Streets and so to the place of Execution where you shall be hanged bowelled and quartered your Head and Quarters to be disposed of at Her Majesties pleasure and so God have mercy on your Souls Essex My Lord I am not a whit dismayed to receive this Sentence for I protest Death is as welcome to me as Life and I shall die as chearful a death upon such a testimony as ever did man And I think it fit my poor Quarters that hath done her Majesty true Service in divers parts of the world should be sacrificed and disposed of at her Majesties pleasure whereunto with all willingness of heart I have submitted my self But one thing I beg of you my Lords that have free access to her Majesties person humbly to beseech her Majestie to grant me that during the short time I shall live that I may have the same Preacher to comfort me that hath been with me since my troubles began for as he that hath been long sick is most desirous of the Physician which hath been and is best acquainted with the Constitution of his Body so do I most wish to have the comfort and Spiritual Physick from the Preacher which hath bin and is acquainted with the inward griefs and secret affections of my Soul And my last request shall be only this that it will please her Highness that my Lord Thomas Howard and the Lieutenant of the Tower may be partakers with me in receiving the Sacrament and be a witness of it in token of what I have protested to be true in this life for my Loyalty Religion and peace of Conscience and then whensoever it shall please her Majesty to call me I shall be ready to seal the same with my blood The Lords promised they would move the Queen for his requests Essex I humbly thank your Lordships Then the Serjeant at Arms stood up with the Mace on his shoulder and after Proclamation was made said thus All Peers that were summoned to be here this day may now take their ease and all other Persons attending here this Service may depart in her Majestice Peace for my Lord High Steward is pleased to dissolve this Commission As the Lords were rising the Earl of Essex said My Lord De la Ware and my Lord Morley I beseech your Lordships pardon me for your two Sons that are in trouble for my sake I protest upon my Soul they knew not of any thing that was or should have been done but came to me in the morning and I desired them to stay and they knew not wherefore And so Farewell my Lords His Epitaph There sleeps great Essex Darling of Mankind Fair Honours Lamp foule Envies prey Arts fame Natures pride Vertues Bulwark lure of Mind Wisdoms Flower Valours Tower Fortunes shame England's Sun Belgia's light France's Star Spain's thunder Lisbon's lightning Ireland's cloud the whole Worlds Wonder FINIS