I find a great Reward of it for I have found their Prayers and their kindness now in this distress and in this condition and I think it a great reward and I pray God reward them for it I am a great sinner and I hope God will be pleased to hear my prayers to give me faith to trust in him that as he hath called me to death at this place he will make it but a passage to an eternal Life through Jesus Christ which I trust to which I rely upon and which I expect by the Mercy of God And so I pray God bless you all and send that you may see this to be the last execution and the last bloud that is likely to be spilt among you And then turning to the side-rayl he prayed for a good space of time after which Mr. Bolton said My Lord now look upon him whom you have trusted My Lord I hope that here is your last Prayer there will no more Prayers remain but Praises and I hope that after this day is over there will a day begin that shall never have end and I look upon this my Lord the Morning of it the Morning of that day My Lord You know where your Fulness lies where your riches lie where is your only Rock to anchor on you know there is fulness in Christ If the Lord comes not in with fulness of Comfort to you yet resolve to wait upon him while you live and to trust in him when you die and then say I will die here I will perish at thy feet I will be found dead at the feet of Jesus Christ Certainly he that came to seek and save lost sinners will not reject lost sinners when they come to seek him He that intreateth us to come will not sleight us when we come to intreat him My Lord there is enough there and fix your heart there and fix your eyes there that eye of Faith and that eye of Hope exercise these Grace now there will be no exercise hereafter As your Lordship said here take an end of Faith and take an end of Hope and take a Farewel of Repentance and all these and welcome God and welcome Christ and welcome Glory and welcome Happiness to all Eternity and so it will be an happy passage then if it be a passage here from misery to happiness And though it be but a sad way yet if it will bring you into the presence of Joy although it be a Valley of Tears although it be a shadow of death yet if God will please to bring you and make it a passage to that happiness welcome Lord. And I doubt not but God will give you an heart to tast some sweetness and Love in this bitter Potion and to see somthing of Mercy and Goodness to you and shew you some sign and token of good so that your soul may see that which we have had already experience of blessed be God for it many Experiences many Expressions not only in words nor tears God hath not left us without much Comfort and evidence and I hope my Lord you that have given so many Evidences to us I hope you want none your self but that the Lord will be pleased to support you and bear up your Spirit and if there want Evidence there is Reliance my security lies not in my knowing that I shall come to Heaven and come to Glory but in my resting and relying upon him when the Anchor of Faith is thrown out there may be shakings and tossings but there is Safety nothing shall interrupt Safety although somthing may interrupt Security my safety is sure although I apprehend it not and what if I go to God in the dark What if I come to him as Nicodemus did staggering in the night It is a night of trouble a night of darkness though I come trembling and staggering in this night yet I shall be sure to find comfort and fixedness in him And the Lord of Heaven be the strength stay and support of your soul and the Lord furnish you with all those Graces which may carry you into the besom of the Lord Jesus that when you expire this life you may be able to expire it into him in whom you may begin to live to all Eternity and that is my humble Prayer Holland M. Bolton God hath given me long time in this world he hath carried me through many great accidents of fortune he hath at last brought me down into a condition where I find my self brought to an end for a dis-affection to this State to this Parliament that as I said before I did believe no body in the world more unlikely to have expected to suffer for that cause I look upon it as a great Judgment of God for my sins And truly Sir since that the death is violent I am the less troubled with it because of those violent deaths that I have seen before principally my Saviour that hath shewed us the way how and in what manner he hath done it and for what cause I am the more comforted I am the more rejoyced It is not long since the King my Master passed in the same manâ—er and truly I hope that his purposes and intentions were such as a man may not be ashamed not only to follow him in the way that was taken with him but likewise not ashamed of his putposes if God had given him life I have often disputed with him concerning many things of this kind and I conceive his sufferings and his better knowledge and better understanding if God had spared him life might have made him a Pr. very happy toward himself this Kingdom I have seen and known that those blessed souls in Heaven have passed thither by the gate of sorrow and many by the gate of violence and since it is Gods pleasure to dispose me this way I submit my soul to him with all comfort and with all hope that he hath made this my end and this my conclusion that though I be low in death yet nevertheless this lowness shall raise me to the highest glory for ever Truly I have non said much in publick to the People concerning the particular Actions that I conceive I have done by my Counsels in this Kingdom I conceive they are well known it were somthing of vanity methinks to take notice of them here I 'le rather die with them with the comfort of them in my own bosom that I never intended in this Action or any action that ever I did in my life either malice or bloudshed or prejudice to any creature that lives For that which concerns my Religion I made my Profession before of it how I was bred and in what manner I was bred in a Family that was looked upon to be no little notorious in opposition to some liberties they have conceived then to be taken and truly there was some mark upon me as if I had some taint of it even throughout my whole
Honourable When the Long Parliament first sate these two Gentlemen with the rest of the Kingdom rejoyced to see that day and stood at gaze as greedily as any expecting what acts of Bounty what Relief of Grievances the King would through their hands convey unto his Subjects And while they kept in the Sphere of their Duty and Allegiance were as forward to applaud them as any but after the Publication of the Remonstrance wherein the Parliament so abominably slandered the Kings Government which was the Ground-work of the Rebellion and the Critical time being come in which men must either declare themselves either for or against their Soveraign though the City was deeply leavened with disloyal Principles yet these Gentlemen and the major Part of the Citizens of whom they were chief were the Kings most faithful Subjects They were men of good esteem plentiful estates known Integrity and true Children of the Church of England who seeing the miserable condition of those places where the Rebels bore sway and beginning to be sensible of the same Bondage under Col. Essex entred into a Consultation how to put the City of Bristol into the Kings Possession and Protection To this purpose they dispatcht an Agent to the Court to inform the King that he had many good Subjects in Bristol and withal to signifie their desire to deliver up his own City to himself if he would send some of his Forces thither to take it The Inducements and Reasons of this Design were these First Conscience to God not to resist the King knowing they that do shall receive unto themselves Damnation Detesting that abominable Sect of the Hothamites those State-Hereticks who accounted it their duty to keep the Kings Towns for the Kings use by shutting the Gates against the Kings Person Secondly the frequent Affronts given to His Majesty by scandalous and disloyal Speeches on all Occasions belched out against him by Protestations Declarations Messages Contempt of his Gracious Offers before the Face of his Messengers as to instance in Sr. Baynham Throckmorton whom the King sent to Bristol requiring the Mayor and Aldermen not to give admittance to any of the Parliament Forces promising that he himself would not impose any on them together with tender of the promise of his Favour yet did the Mayor and Sheriffe two Boutefews in that City send 4 Pieces of Ordnance at that very instant to Marleborough to be employed against the King Lastly Out of regard to their own security and to quit themselves of those Oppressions and Grievances under which they suffered and these were many 1. The often repeated Taxations and Loans of Money unto the King and Parliament as they were pleased to twist them upon the thredbare Security of the publick Faith the illegal exactions employed for repairing the Castle building of Forts and maintaining a Garrison against the King 2. By urging upon them new and treasonable Votes and Protestations if not fully in words yet in the use and interpretation of them directly opposite to the Oath of Allegiance the Oath of every Citizen when made a Freeman with a paticular Engagement to resist Prince Rupert the Lord General the Earl of Forth and Brainford the Lord Marquesse Hertford the Earl of Newcastle Sr. Ralph-Hopton and their Forces 3. By their disarming all such as were any way suspected to bear duty and Affection to his Majesty unlesse they would take the aforesaid Protestations 4. The perpetual Scorn and Obloquy to which they were exposed being reproached every day as they passed the streets with the names of Malignants and Papists 5. The General Contempt and Prophanation of Gods holy Worship and Service tearing the Common-Prayer-Book c. Lastly Because upon the Point they were confined to Bristol not daring to go out of the City for in all places where the Commands and Ordinances of the Two Houses prevailed they had given a List of the Names of those that durst appear for the King to the end that if any of them came thither they might be apprehended and sent Prisoners to Taunton Barkley Castle as Delisâ—quents to the Parliament It was no wonder therefore that a City thus robbed of its Wealth and Liberty groaning under an insupportable Yoke of Bondage and Tyranny should endeavour by restoring the King to his Rights to restore themselves to their former Freedom Upon these Motives therefore they engaged in a Loyal Confederacy to deliver the City from its Captivity into his Majesties Protection if possible without any bloodshed as afterwards by their Examination appeared 'T is therefore true that these two Gentlemen with their Associates had an Intention to cast out the Rebels and to secure Bristol for the King and ro seize the Governour and some of the Chief Rebels but not to kill them and to that end a Commission was got and sent to Mr. Yeomans to raise Forces and constitute Commanders for the Kings Service whereupon a Protestation was drawn by Mr. Bowcher to be taken by all the Partakers in this businesse which fully exprest their Intentions in this undertaking which being in general Terms for the Assistance and Defence of the King against all Forces raised without his Command need not here be inserted After Communication of Counsels and many Messages interchanged between Oxford and Bristol drawing to the Design some of the Parliament Officers under Coâ— Essex who loathed and condemned themselves for being in their Service in was resolved that upon Monday Mar. 7. 1642. Prince Rupert with a Party of the Kings Forces should face the City on Durdan-Down distant not a full Mile from the City while they within should possesse and make good Froom Gate and Newgate seize the Court of Guards open the Gates and give the Signal thereof for the Kings Forces to make their Approach by Ringing of St. Johns and St. Michaels Bels. Accordingly Prince Rupert came expecting the Signal by Five of the Clock in the morning and the Ports to be opened but the Combination was discovered and these two Gentlemen with others apprehended there being found several Armed men with them in their Houses which being signified to the Prince he marched presently away Having them thus in their power they clap Irons upon them tie them Head and Feet together make them close Prisoners deprive them of all Comfort to be administred by their Wives Children or Friends and used them with that Barbarousness and Inhumanity as is not imaginable could be practised by one Christian upon another and after 11 weeks hard Imprisonment frequent Examination barbarous insulting over them especially by Nathaniel Fiennes they were brought to their Trial at a Council of War where upon the Articles exhibited against them by Advocate Walker they were condemned to die but first Mr. Yeomans received this Judgment The Judgment upon Robert Yeomans Upon due Consideration of the Articles exhibited on May the 8th by Clement Walker Esquire Advocate to this Council of War against Robert Yeomans and others the late conspirators in this
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
Buckingham Earl of Peterborough Lord Francis Villers and Lord Peter who with a gallant company of men rendezvouz'd at Kingston where immediately Sr. Michael Livesey set upon them and routed them The Earl fled to St. Neets in Bedfordshire where in his Quarters he was taken by Collonel Scroop's Regiment of Horse where Collonel Dolbier was killed and by order of the Parliament sent Prisoner to Warwick Castle He continued there for the space of six moneths in pretty good health both of body and mind but as soon as he heard of the murther of the King his heart failed him and sickness seized on him so that he never dawed day afterwards nor could endure to stir out of his chamber lamenting the loss of his gracious Master and providing for his own violent dissolution the same way which being condemned by the same High Court of Iustice with my Lord Capel and Duke Hamilton he suffered on the same Scaffold His Lordships Speech on the Scaffold immediatly before his Death March 9. 1649. Holland IT is to no purpose I think to speak any thing here Which way must I speak And then being directed to the Front of the Scaffold he leaning over the Rayls said I think it is fit to say somthing since God hath called me to this place The first thing which I must profess is what concerns my Religion and my Breeding which hath been in a good Family that hath ever been faithful to the true Protestant Religion in the which I have been bred in the which I have lived and in the which by Gods Grace and Mercy I shall die I have not lived according to that Education I had in that Family where I was born and bred I hope God will forgive me my sins since I conceive it is very much his pleasure to bring me to this place for the sins that I have committed The cause that hath brought me hither I believe by many hath been much mistaken They have conceived that I have had ill Designs to the State and to the Kingdom Truly I look upon it as a Judgment and a just Judgment of God not but I have offended so much the State and the Kingdom and the Parliament as that I have had no extream vanity in serving them very extraordinarily For those Actions that I have done I think it is known they have been ever very faithful to the Publick and very particularly to Parliaments My Affections have been ever exprest truly and clearly to them The dispositions of Affairs now have put things in another posture then they were when I was engaged with the Parliament I have never gone off from those Principles that ever I have professed I have lived in them and by Gods Grace will die in them There may be Alterations and Changes that may carry them further then I thought reasonable and truly there I left them But there hath been nothing that I have said or done or professed either by Covenant or Declaration which hath not been very constant and very clear upon the Principles that I ever have gone upon which was to serve the King the Parliament Religion I should have said in the first place the Common-wealth and to seek the Peace of the Kingdom That made me think it no improper time being prest out by Accidents and Circumstances to seek the Peace of the Kingdom which I thought was proper since there was somthing then in Agitation but nothing agreed on for sending Propositions to the King that was the furthest aim that I had and truly beyond that I had no Intention none at all And God be praised although my Bloud comes to be shed here there was I think scarce a drop of Bloud shed in that Action that I was ingaged in For the present Affairs as they are I cannot tell how to judge of them and truly they are in such a condition as I conceive no body can make a judgment of them and therefore I must make use of Prayers rather then of my Opinion which are That God would bless this Kingdom this Nation this State that he would settle it in a way agreeable to what this Kingdom hath bin happily governed under by a King by the Lords by the Commons a Government that I conceive it hath flourished much under and I pray God the change of it bring not rather a Prejudice a disorder and a confusion then the contrary I look upon the Posterity of the King and truly my Conscience directs me to it to desire that if God be pleased that these people may look upon them with that Affection that they owe that they may be called in again and they may be not through bloud nor through disorder admitted again into that power and to that glory that God in their birth intended to them I shall pray with all my soul for the happiness of this State of this Nation that the Bloud which is here spilt may even be the last that may fall among us and truly I should lay down my Life with as much Chearfulness as ever person did if I conceived that there would be no more Bloud follow us for a State or Affairs that are built upon Bloud is a Foundation for the most part that doth not prosper After the Blessing that I give to the Nation to the Kingdom and truly to the Parliament I do wish with all my heart happiness and a blessing to all those that have been Authors in this business and truly that have been Authors in this very work that bringeth us hither I do not only forgive them but I pray heartily and really for them as God will forgive my sins so I desire God may forgive them I have a particular Relation as I am Chancellor of Cambridge and truly I must here since it is the last of my Prayers pray to God that that University may go on in that happy way which it is in that God may make it a Nursery to plant those persons that may be distributed to the Kingdom that the souls of the people may receive a great benefit and a great advantage by them and I hope God will reward them for their kindness and their affections that I have found from them * Looking towards Mr. Bolton I have said what Religion I have been bred in what Religion I have been born in what Religion I have practised I began with it and I must end with it I told you that my Actions my Life have not been agreeable to my Breeding I have told you likewise that the Family where I was bred hath been an exemplary Family I may say so I hope without Vanity of much affection to Religion and of much faithfulness to this Kingdom and to this State I have endeavoured to do those Actions that became an honest man and a good Englishman and which became a good Christian I have been willing to oblige those that have been in trouble those that have been in Persecution and truly
the double imprisonment I lie under of the flesh and bones and am ready for the opportunity to make an escape though in a fiery Chariot All things betwixt God and me are removed from my sight and I see him clearly without reflexion on my Judges and Accusers and submit chearfully to His fatherly Dispensation and Judgement My Judges have done me no wrong they have a Law for their Warrant and my confession for their Evidence neither have capacity to be Chancellors in matters of life Let them go free and the Law-makers and inforcers of it for their errours in constituting them before the padling in blood grow too customary to be thought a sin worthy their confession or sorrow which I desire for the fakes of their souls and the lives of the oppressed and in indeed prescribed Free Christians of the Nation The God of all goodness hath in mercy â—hoked upon me directed counsel'd me comforted and sanctified my afflictito me and I am ready to fall into his merciful Hands as soon as the heavy hand of the Executioner shall have given a Nune Dimitis to Yours c. E. A. ABout the same time he made his Will a taste whereof take in these few following lines If it be the unalterable and uncontrolable Will of God that I Eusebius Andrews Esq shall for my manifold and high Provocations of his Divine Majesty be shipwrackt by that storme which impendeth over my head I most humbly and chearfully submit unto such his good will and pleasure and forgive c. and desire that my body may be privately interred in the Parish Church of Alhallows Bark in London as near as may be to the Reverend Arch-Bishop of Canterbury there with him to expect a joyful resurrection I beseech God to bless my daughter Mavilda Andrews and to supply to her what by my improvidence and the accidents of the late tempestuous times as in my being taken away became deficient and that he would preserve her from want and dishonour and from being by any evil Counsel or example led aside into the foul errors of this Nation in matters concerning her souls health c. Here he gave her and the whole world an account of his faith which was equally distant from Popery Presbytery and Independency all which he charactered professing himself a true son of this Church as governed by Episcopacy and conluded thus I desire such who approve my profession to cover my faults in their charity and to let me be sweet in their memory As for the rest I wish them a seasonable repentance but set no price either upon their opinion or report Vivat Rex currat Lex floreat Grex fiat voluntas Des modo in mina mea He was shortly after beheaded and enrolled into the noble army of Martyrs in Heaven the day and year abovesaid Barnard his accuser and betrayer was hanged four years after at Tyburn for robbing Colonel Winthorps house at Westminster so did God avenge the blood of this Royal and pious person by signal testimony of his unjust and mercilesse prosecution The Speech of Col. Eusebius Andrews immediately before his Execution on the Scaffold on Tower-hill on Thursday August 22. 1650. being attended on by Dr. Swadling AS soon as he came upon the Scaffold kissing the block he said I hope there is no more but this block between me and heaven and to the Lieutenant of the Tower he said I hope I shall neither tire in my way nor go out of it After he had been a good while upon the Scaffold turning to the rail he speaks to the people as followeth Christian Gentlemen and people Your business hither to day is to see a sad spectacle a man to be in a moment unman'd and cut off in the prime of his years taken from further opportunities of doing good either to himself his friends the Common-wealth or especially to God it seldom happens but upon very good cause And though truly if my general known course of life were but inquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral of honesty upon it as some may be so sawcy as to expostulate why this great judgment is fallen upon me but know I am able to give them and my self an answer and out of this breast am able to give a better account of my Judgment and Execution then my Judges themselves or you are able to give It is Gods wrath upon me for sins long unrepented of many Judgements withstood and mercies slighted therefore God hath whipped me by his severe rod of correction that he might not lose me I pray joyn with me in prayer that it may not be a fruitless rod that when by this rod I have laid down my life by this staffe I may be comforted and received into glory I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence there is more exception made against proceedings against me then I even made My tryers had a Law and the value of that Law is indisputable and for me to make a question of it I should shame my self and my discretion In the strictness of that Law something is done by me that is applicable to some clause therein by which I stand condemnable the means whereby I was brought under that interpretation of that which was in my self intended maliciously being testimony given by persons whom I pity so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing sentence against me according to legal Justice for equity lieth in higher breasts As for my Accusers or rather betrayers I pity and am sorry for them they have committed Judas his crime but I wish and pray for them Peters tears that by Peters repentance they may escape Judas his punishment and I wish other people so happy they may be taken up betimes before they have drunk up more blood of Christian men possibly less deserving then my self It is true there have been several addresses made for mercy and I will put the obstruction of it upon nothing more then upon my own sin and seeing God sees it fit having not glorified him in my life I might do it in my death which I am contented to do I profess in the face of God particular malice to any one of State or Parliament to do them a bodily in jury I had none For the Cause in which I had long waded I must needs say my engagement or continuance in it hath laid no scruple upon my Conscience it was in principles of Law the knowledge whereof I profess and on principles of Religion my Judgement satisfied and Conscience rectified that I have pursued those ways which I bless God I find no blackness upon my Conscience nor have I put it into the bed-roll of my sins I will not presume to decide controversies I desire God to honour himself in prospering that side that hath right with it and that you may enjoy peace and plenty when I shall enjoy peace and plenty beyond all
Devonshire in their Quarters some of them beheaded at Exeter and Salisbury others hanged there at Chard in Somersetshire May 16. 1655. THe restlesse Feares and Disturbances which attended the ambitious head of this bloody Protector some drave him to the same facinensious courses and practices upon the Lives and Estates of other Loyal and honest persons who by the like Artifices fell into his Clutches It was but just a year past since his butchery committed upon the two aforesaid Gentlemen and now the Axe is whetted again against the lives of many more innocent persons He had called a Parliament by vertue of his Instrument in September 1654. This continued five lunary Months without any mutual faâ—isfaction or scarce entercourse betwixt them and Oliver therefore by the same Power he dissolved them at which time he gave them an account that by their sullennesse and disaffection to the settlement of the Common-wealth in Him the Common-Enemy meaning his Majesties Loyal Subjects were hatching and raising new troubles which he was well satisfied were fomented by some of them then present This was fair intimation for the Confederates to desist but believing this spoken by him out of a real fear of their Power the Designe being universally laid and that it was beyond his power to prevent it and no doubt some countenance and foundation of this enterprize they also had from the Parliament they resolved to proceed to the Execution thereof But Oliver had all along countermined them for by intelligence he held with one Maning whose Father was a Colonel in the Kings Army and slain in the service at Alesford fight then with the King at Colen in the quality of one of his Majesties private Secretaries near servants he understood the whole Cabal of that business from the beginning to the end and accordingly managed them whose Counsels were intended wholly against him but as it proved were aymed at themselves Maning at last came to be discovered to the King when his Friends in England were betrayed and undone and the whole design frustrated and was deservedly shot to Death at a Castle in the Duke of Newburghs Country But this as I said was too late for the Western Association which was to be commanded by Sir Joseph Wagstaffe according to the time agreed on rose in part at Salisbury at such time as the Judges were come thither in Circuit Here appeared to the number of two or three hundred Horse on Monday morning in Maxch where we having seized some of the Lawyers Horses and taken away the Judges Commissions they marched to Blandford where Col. Penruddock proclaimed the King and so on Westward some leaving but none joyning with them Cromwel had so ordered his businesse that his Troops were ready in every quarter but knowing that this rising would be the first and most general gave them fair time and opportunity of Rendesvouzing no more but onely two Troops under Butler then upon their march thither from Bristol being near thereabouts but as soon as ever they were up Forces were drawn together from several places to prevent their dispersing and returning The Royalists having marched day and night came at last wearied and tyred to Southmolton in Devonshire where they took up Quarters for that night intending for Cornwall where they expected an additional strength both from that County and from Forreign parts there to be landed But about ten a clock that night Captain Vnton Crook with a Troop of Horse entred the Town and beset the Innes and Houses where they were quartered and presently sell a storming of them After some two houres sharp Dispute where few were killed they came to a Capitulation which was that they should render themselves prisoners Captain Crook promising them quarter for life Colonel Penruddock and Col. Groves submitted on these terms but Joseph Wagstaffe Sir Robert Mason and Mr. Thomas Mâ—mpesson escaped away and got over Sea leaving their Estates to the disposal of the Usurper the rest of the party became Prisoners and were carried into Exeter Goal where lay while the next Assizes In the mean time several other persons engaged in the same fatal businesse were apprehended at Salisbury and other places and secured in the several Goals till such time as Cromwel to make himself more absolute had perverted and forced such Judges as he had designed for the Summer Circuit to comply with his instructions and by the respective Sheriffs upon pains of the same displeasure had empannelled Juries for his turn I omit wilfully the names of both Judges and Juries not so much for their sakes as the memory of that obtrusion upon the Lawes being that murther was countenanced by them while a High Court of Justice was ready at hand and it portended some ill irrecoverable mischief to the generality of the Nation where that passed by legal Verdict So great a shame to us that challenge English Freedom and have contested so often with our Princes for Magna Charta that it cannot pass our Pen without burning our fingers not onely stygmatize that age but set a mark on the future In the Summer Assizes as before is said the Judges went their Circuit but before that time Cromwel had caused Col. Penruddock and one Mr. Jones related to his Highness-ship to be brought up to be examined before him which they being in the custody of the Serjeant at Armes several times underwent in reference to a further discovery of other persons engaged in the business but that took not with them who had founded their loyaltie upon a Rock which some gusts and violent storms might batter but never pierce nor enter They were not wanting in an honourable way to their own preservation while they had this seeming advantage as knowing how grievous to their Families this their destruction would prove of staying here Mr. Jones got off indeed afterwards but Mr. Penruddock suffered the extremity of their own Law the Sword which had given him quarter for life at his taking Colonel Penruddock being removed to his prison at Exeter after they had finished their Inquisition with him at his departure desired the prayers of several Congregations in London for a supply of comfort to him in his distressed condition being then bound for his last home and assuredly knowing his near and inevitable dissolution which was earnestly and loyally endeavoured even in those dangerous times They were both presently re-guarded to their former Prisons to expect their Doom which not long awaited them and their partakers for at the Assizes held in the County of Devonshire in the City of Exeter they were indited for Treason in levying War again the Protector and by a perjured Jury found guilty according to that precedent newly brought to them from Salisbury where the same Charge was exhibited and for Example prosecuted to Effect In fine Judgement was given against them upon this Conviction and some 16 suffered the pains and penalties thereof whose Names we refer to an ensuing Catalogue only desiring
respect to my family I am now stripping off my clothes to fight a duel with death I conceive no other duel lawful but my Saviour hath pulled out the sting of this mine enemy by making himself a sacrifice for me And truly I do not think that man deserving one drop of his bloud that will not spend all for him in so good a cause The Truth is Gentlemen in this Age Trea on is an individium vagum like the wind in the Gospel it bloweth wher it listeth So now Treason is what they please lighteth upon whom they will Indeed no man except he will be a Traytor can avoid this Censure of Treason I know not to what end it may come but I pray God my own and my Brothers blood that is now to die with me may be the last upon this score Now Gentlemen you may see what a condition you are in without a King you have no law to protect you no rule to walke by when you perform your duty to God your King and Country you displease the Arbitrary power now set up I cannot call it government I shall leave you to peruse my tryal and there you shall see what a condition this poor Nation is brought into and no question will be utterly destroyed if not restored by loyal Subjects to its old and glorious Government I pray God he lay not his Judgements upon England for their sluggishness in doing their duty and readiness to put their hands in their bosoms or rather taking part with the Enemy of Truth The Lord open their eyes that they may be no longer lead or drawn into such snares else the Child that is unborn will curse the day of their Parents birth God almighty preserve my Lawful K. Charles the second from the hands of his Enemies and break down that wall of Pride and Rebellion which so long hath kept him from his just Rights God preserve his Royal Mother and all his Majestys Royal Brethren and incline their hearts to seek after him God incline the hearts of all true Englisâ—men to stand up as one man to bring in the King and redeem themselves and this poor Kingdom out of its more then Egyptian slavery As I have now put off these garments of cloth so I hope I have put off my garments of sin have put on the Robes of Christs Righteousnesse here which will bring me to the enjoyment of his glorious Robes anon Then he kneeled down and kissed the block and said thus I commit my soul to God my Creator and Redeemer Look upon me O Lord at my last gasping Hear my prayer and the prayers of all good people I thank thee O God for all thy dispensations towards me Then kneeling down he prayed most devoutfuly as followeth O Eternal Almighty and most mercifull God the Righteous Judge of all the world look down in mercy on me a miserable sinner O blessed Jesus Redeemer of Mankind which takest away the sins of the world let thy perfect manner of obedience be presented to thy Heavenly Father for me Let thy precious death and bloud be the ransome and satisfaction of my many and heynous transgressions Thou that sittest at the right hard of God make intercession for me O holy and blessed Spirit which art the Comforter fill my heart with thy consolations O holy blessed and glorious Trinity be mercifull to me confirm my faith in the promises of the Gospel reviveâ— and quicken my hope and expectation of joys prepared for true and faithfull servarâ—ts Let the infinite Love of God my Saviour make 〈◊〉 love to him steafast sincere and constant O Lord consider my condition accept my tears aswage my grief give me comfort and confidence in theâ— impute not unto me my former sins but most mercifull Fathâ—r receive me into thy favour for the merits of Christ Jesus Many and grievous are my sins for I have sinned many times against the light of knowledge against remorse of conscience against the motions opportunities of grace But accept I beseech thee the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart in and for the perfect sacrifice oblation and satisfaction of thy Son Jesus Christ O Lord receive my soul after it is delivered from the burthen of the flesh into perfect joy in the sight and fruition of thee And at the general resurrection grant that my body may be endowed with immortality and received with my soul into glory I praise thee O God I acknowledge thee to be the Lord O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy on me Thou that sittest at the right hand of God hear my prayer O Lord Jesus Christ God and Man Mediator betwixt God and Man I have sinned as a Man be thou mercifull to me as a God O holy and blessed Spirit help my infirmities with those sighs and groans which I cannot expresse Then he desired to see the Axe and kissed it saying I am like to have a sharp passage of it but my Savior hath sweetned it unto me Then he said If I would have been so unworthy as others have been I suppose I might by a lye have saved my life which I scorn to purchase at such a rate I defie such temptations and them that gave them me Glory be to God on high On Earth peace Good will towards Men. And the Lord have mercy upon my poor soul Amen So laying his Neck upon the Block after some private Ejaculations he gave the Heads-man a sign with his hand who at one blow severed his head from his body The true Speech of that Valiant and piously resolved Hugh Grove of Chisenbury in the Parish of Enford and County of Wilts Esquire beheaded the 16th of May 1655. in the Castle at Exon. Good people I Never was guilty of much Rhetorick nor ever loved long Speeches in all my life and therefore you cannor expect either of them from me now at my death All that I shall desire of you besides your hearty prayers for my soul is That you would bear me witnesse I die a true son of the Church of England as it was established by King Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charls the first of blessed memmory That I die a Loyall Subject to King Charls the second my undoubted Soveraign and a lover of the good old Laws of the Land the just priviledges of Parliaments and Rights and Liberties of the People for the re-establishing of all which I did undertake this engagement and for which I am ready to lay down my life God forgive the bloody-minded Jury and those that procured them God forgive Captain Crook for denying his Articles so unworthily God forgive Mr. Dove and all other persons swearing so maliciously and falsely against me God forgive all my enemies I heartily forgive them God blesse the KING and all that love him turn the hearts of all that hate him God blesse you all and be merciful to you and to