natural wit and a better judgement with a bold and plausible tongue whereby he could set out his parts to the best advantage and to these he had the adjuncts of some general learning which by diligence he enforced to a great augmentation and perfection for he was an undefatigable reader whether by Sea or Land and none of the least observers both of men and the times And I am confident that among the second causes of his growth that variance between him and the Lord Grey in his descent into Ireland was a principall for it drew them both before the Councel Table there to plead for themselves where what advantage he had in the cause I know not but he had much the better in the telling of his tale and so much that the Queen and the Lords entertained no ordinary considerations of his person and his parts for from thence he came to be known and to have access to the Queen and to the Lords and then we are not to doubt how such a man might rise by his compliance the most expeditious way of progression Whether Leicester had then cast in a good word for him to the Queen I cannot determine but true it is he had gotten Queen Elizabeths ear at a trice and she began to be taken with his elocution and loved to hear his reasons to her demands and the truth is she took him for a kinde of Oracle which nettled them all yea those that he relyed on began to take his sudden favour for an allarum and to be sensible of their own supplantation and to project his which made him shortly after sing Fortune my foe c. So that finding his favour declining and falling into a recess he undertook a new peregrination to leave that Terra infirma of the Court for that of the Wars and by declining himself and by absence to expell his and the passion of his enemies which in Court was a strange device of recovery but that he knew there was some ill office done him that he durst not attempt to minde any other wayes then by going aside thereby to teach envy a new way of forgetfulness and not so much as to think of him Howsoever he had it alwayes in minde never to forget himself and his device took so well that at his return he came in as Romans do by going backwards with the greater strength and so continued to her last great in her grace and Captain of the Guard One observation more may not be omitted namely that though he gained much at the Court yet he took it not out of the Exchequer or meerly out of the Queens Purse but by his Wit and the help of the Prerogative for the Queen was never profuse in the delivering out of her Treasure but payed many and most of her servants part in money and the rest with grace which as the case stood was taken for good payment leaving the arrear of recompence due to their merit to her great successour who payed them all with advantage our Rawleigh excepted who fortunately in the very first beginning of his Reign fell into his displeasure by combining with the Lords Cobham and Gray Sir Griffin Markham George Brook Esquire and several others to destroy the King raise sedition commit slaughter move rebellion alter Religion subvert the State to procure Invasion leavy War and to set up the Lady Arabella Steward c. of all which crimes being arraigned he was found guilty and condemned But King James being a Prince of peace unwilling to stain the beginning of his Reign with blood contented himself with onely his Imprisonment this following Letter to his Favorite having saved his life Sir Walter Raleigh to the Duke of Buckingham If I presume too much I humbly beseech your Lordship to pardon me especially in presuming to write to so great and so worthy a Person who hath been told that I have done him wrong I heard it but of late but most happy had I been if I might have disproved that villany against me when there had been no suspicion that the desire to save my life had presented my excuse But my worthy Lord it is not to excuse my self that I now write I cannot for I have now offended my Sovereign Lord for all past even all the World and my very Enemies have lamented my loss whom now if his Majesties mercy alone do not lament I am lost Howsoever that which doth comfort up my soul in this offence is that even in the offence it self I had no other intent then his Majesties service and to make his Majesty know that my late enterprize was grounded upon a truth and which with one ship speedily set out I meant to have aspired or have died being resolved as it is well known to have done it from Plimouth had I not been restrained Hereby I hoped not onely to recover his Majesties gracious Opinion but to have destroyed all those Malignant Reports that had been raised of me That this is true that Gentleman whom I so much trusted my Keeper and to whom I opened my heart cannot but testifie and wherein I cannot be believed living my death shall witness yea that Gentleman cannot but avow it that when we came back to London I desired no other treasure then an exact description of those places in the Indies That I meant to go hence as a discontented man God I trust and my own actions will disswade his Majesty whom neither the loss of my Estate thirteen years Imprisonment and the denial of my pardon could beat from his service or the opinion of being accounted a fool or rather a distract by returning as I did ballanced with my love to his Majesties person and estate had no other place in my heart It was the last severe Letter from my Lords for the speedy bringing of me up and the impatience of dishonour that first put me in fear of my life or enjoying it in a perpetual Imprisonment never to recover my Reputation lost which strengthened me in my late and too late lamented resolution If his Majesties Mercy doth not abound if his Majesty do not pitty my old age and scorn to take the extreamest and utmost advantage of my errours if his Majesty in his great charity do not make a difference betwixt offences proceeding from a life saving naturall impulsion without all ill intent and those of an ill heart and that your Lordship remarkable in the world for the nobleness of your disposition do not vouchsafe to become my successour whereby your Lordship shall binde a hundred Gentlemen of my Kindred to honour your Memory and bind me for all that time my life which your Lordship shall beg for me to pray to God that you may ever prosper and ever binde me to remain Your most humble Servant W. Raleigh He remained prisoner in the Tower above thirteen years during which time he writ that Elabourate Work entituled the History of the World which Book for
of the holy Catholique Church that I abhor all Sects Schisms Sedition and Tyranny in Religion Affirmatively so that as I hold communion with so I love and honour all Christians in the world that love the same Lord Jesus in sincerity and call on his name agreeing with those truths that are absolutely necessary and clearly demonstrated in the Word of God both in the Old and New Testaments though in Charity dissenting from some others that are not necessary And I as I am thus a Christian I hope for salvation through the merits of Christ Jesus his blood I rely on his merits I trust to for the salvation of my own soul Though to this Faith good works are necessary not meritorious in us but onely made meritorious by Christ his death by his all sufficiency by his satisfaction and his righteouss they become meritorious but in us they are no other then as defiled rags And truly as I am a Member of the Church so I told you I was a Member of this Community and so pleaded for the Liberties and Priviledges thereof I must now answer something I am aspersed withal in the world They talk of something of a Plot and a Treasonable design and that I had a great interest in the knowledge and practice thereof and that for the saving my life I would have discovered and betrayed I cannot tell what I hope my conversation hath not been such here in this City where I have been a long time very well known as to make one imagine I should intermeddle in such an action and go so contrary to the practice of my profession and I hope there are none so uncharitable towards me as to believe I had a knowledge of that design Here I must come to particulars for a Plot of having a design upon the City of London for the firing of it I so much tremble at the thought of the thing that should have been done as they say for the carrying on of such a design if my heart deceive me not had I known it I so much abhor the thing I should have been the first discoverer of it nor ever had I correspondency or meetings with such persons as would have carried on such a design It is said likewise I entertained the Earl the Marquess of Ormond to my remembrance I never saw the face of that honourable person in my life It is said One Lords day I did preach at Saint Gregory's and the next Lords day I was at Brussels or Bruges and kist the Kings hand and brought I cannot tell what orders and instructions from him this I shall say For these three years last past together I have not been sixty miles from this City of London and I think it is somewhat further to either of those places then threescore miles It is said that I kept correspondence with one Barrow and Bishop they are persons I have heard of their names but never saw their faces and to my knowledge I do not know they know me nor do I know them at all but onely as I have heard of their names And whosoever else hath suggested such things against me I know not His Highness was pleased to tell me I was like a flaming Torch in the midst of a sheaf of Corn he meaning I being a publick Preacher was able to set the City on fire by sedition and combustions and promoting designs Here truly I do say and have it from many of those that are Judges of the High Court that upon examination of the business they have not found me a meddler at all in these Affairs And truly I must needs say therefore that it was a very uncharitable act in them who ever they were that brought such accusations against me and irritated his Highness against me I will not say it was malice it might be zeal but it was rash zeal which caused me to be sentenced to this place the God of mercy pardon and forgive them all and truly as I am a Member of the Church and as a Member of the Community whereon behalf I have been speaking I cannot but do as our Saviour himself did for his Disciples when he was to be taken from them he blessed them and ascended up to heaven My trust is in the mercy of the most High I shall not miscarry and however my dayes are shortned by this unexpected doom and shall be brought untimely to the grave I cannot go without my prayers for a blessing upon all the people of this Land and cannot but bless them all in the Name of God and beseech God to bless them in all their wayes and his blessing be upon them Let us pray O most glorious Lord God thou whose dwelling is so far above the highest Heavens that thou humblest thy self but to look upon the things that are in heaven and that are in earth and thou doest whatsoever thou wilt both in heaven in earth in the sea and in all deep places in thy hands are the hearts of all men and thou turnest them which way soever thou wilt O Lord look in mercy and compassion we beseech thee on this great and innumerous people of this Land look upon them O Lord with an eye of pitty not with an eye of fury and indignation O look not upon all those great and grievous sins that have provoked thee most justly to wrath and displeasure against us Gracious God who can stand in thy sight when thou art angry when thou with rebuke doest correct man for sin thou makest his beauty to consume away like as it were a Moth fretting a Garment O Lord thy indignation and wrath lyes heavy upon us and thou hast vexed us with thy scourges thou hast made us a reproach and a by-word amongst our Neighbours and the very heathen laugh us to scorn O that thou wouldest turn us again O Lord God of Hosts that thou wouldest shew us the light of thy countenance that we may behold it that thou wouldest humble us for all those sins and grievous transgressions that are amongst us for those Atheisms for those infidelities horrid blasphemies and prophaneness for those sacriledges for those Heresies for those Schisms Errors and all those blindnesses of heart pride vain glory and hypocrisie for that envy hatred and malice and all uncharitableness that hath set us one against another that we are so dashed one against another even to destroy each other Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah O Lord we are like those Moabites and Ammonies c. This thou hast done to us O Lord because we have rebelled against thee O how greatly and grievously have we sinned against thee yet for all this thou hast not requited us according to our ill deservings for thou mightest have brought us to desolation and destruction fire might have come down from heaven and destroyed us our forreign enemies and the enemies of thee and thy Christ our Saviour might have swallowed us up
for fear or favour backslide or depart from the same and give them the assistance of thy Spirit that may enable them so to preach thy word that may keep the people upright in the midst of a corrupted and corrupt generation And good Lord bless thy people every where with hearing ears understanding hearts conscientious souls and obedient lives especially those over whom I have had either lately or formerly a charge that with meek heart and due reverence they may hear and receive thy holy word truly serving thee in righteousness and holiness all the dayes of their lives And we beseech thee of thy goodness and mercy to comfort and succour all those that in this transitory life be in trouble sorrow need sickness or any other adversity Lord help the helpless and comfort the comfortless visit the sick relieve the oppressed help them to right that suffer wrong set them at liberty that are in prison restore the banished and of thy great mercy and in thy good time deliver all thy people out of their necessities Lord do thou of thy great mercy fit us all for our latter end for the hour of death and the day of judgement and do thou in the hour of death and at the day of judgement from thy wrath and everlasting damnation good Lord deliver us through the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ In the mean time O Lord teach us so to number our our dayes and me my minutes that we may apply our hearts to true wisdom that we may be wise unto salvation that we may live soberly godly and righteously in this present world denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts Lord teach us so to live that we may not be afraid to dye and that we may so live that we may be alwayes prepared to dye that when death shall seize upon us it may not surprise us but that we may lift up our heads with joy knowing that our redemption draws nigh and that we shall be for ever happy being assured that we shall come to the felicity of the chosen and rejoyce with the gladness of the people and give us such a fulness of thy holy Spirit that may make us stedfast in this faith and confirme us in this hope indue us with patience under thy afflicting hand and withal a chearful resolution of our selves to thy divine disposing that so passing the pilgrimage of this world we may come to the Land of promise the heavenly Canaan that we may reign with thee in the world to come through Jesus Christ our Lord in whose blessed name and words we further call upon thee saying Our Father c. Let thy mighty hand and out-stretched arme O Lord be the defence of me and all other thy servants thy mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ our salvation thy true and holy word our instruction thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort and consolation to the end and in the end through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen His Speech and Prayer ended with much meekness and spiritual consolation He submitted his neck to the stroak of the Axe to as great a loss of the Church of Christ and of all good men as hath happened in our times I have the more enlarged my self that my Reader might not without a kinde of a consternation or possession of strange amazement pass by the concernments of this blessed Heroe The same day of Doctor Hewets tryal was also tryed John Mordant of Clement Danes Esquire with whom he was a fellow-prisoner the charge against him was for combining with Henry Bishop of Parham in Sussex Gent. Hartgil Baron and Francis Mansil with divers others for raising War against Oliver Lord Protector in the behalf of Charles Stuart and confering with J. Stapely Esq Henry Mallory and others how to effect the same and delivering Commissions to several persons in the name of and as from the said Charles Stuart c. He stood long upon it as did the Doctor before to have Councel assigned him and that he might be tryed by a Jury but finding it would not be granted he at last pleaded not guilty many witnesses deposited against him yet he by his ingenuity so cleared himself that notwithstanding many endeavours to the contrary he was discharged July the 17. following Collonel Ashton and John Betley were executed the one in Tower-street the other in Cheapside Collonel Ashton was the first being drawn on a Sled that Worthy Divine Doctor Warmestry submitting for the good of a poor Christians soul to lye along with him upon the Sled that he might lose no time for his spiritual converse They were drawn from Newgate to Towerstreet over against Mark-lane end where a Gibbet was erected As he ascended the Ladder Doctor Warmestry said Almighty God who is a strong Tower be with thee and make thee know and feel that there is no other name under heaven whereby to attain everlasting life but by the name of Jesus The Blessing of God the Father the Son and Holy Ghost be with you henceforth and for ever Amen He being upon the Ladder exprest a great deal of confidence he had in the merits and mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not doubting but that through the red Sea of his blood he should arrive at the heavenly Canaan and in little space behold his Saviour whom his soul so much longed after Then fixing his eyes upon the multitude he spake to this effect I am brought here to a shameful death I am an English man borne and as many know a Gentleman born I was drawn into this business by several persons and am now brought here for my former sins God hath delivered me several times from several judgements he hath visited me at this time because I slighted and did not pursue that repentance that I promised Therefore I desire all good people to leave off their sins for Christ his sake and become new men for it is that that brings all men to ruine I beseech God of mercy have mercy upon my soul Lord God I come to thee Lord the Father of heaven have mercy upon me O God the Son Redeemer of the world have mercy upon me O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have mercy upon me Remember not my offences but spare me good Lord God I beseech thee spare thy servant whom thou hast redeemed for thy dear Sons sake I have no more to say but desire the prayers of all good people Having ended his Speech he committed his spirit into the hands of God and having said Lord have mercy upon my soul he was turned off the Ladder and instantly cut down his belly ripped up and his bowels burnt in a fire ready prepared for that purpose he being not yet dead then was his head cut off and his body divided into four quarters put into a basket and conveyed back to Newgate Next they proceeded and fetcht John Betley for there was a great deal
as envy is alwayes attendant on the best deserving so did some malicious person whisper in the Kings ear that Doctor Donne had preacht a Sermon that implied a dislike of his Government the King herewith incens'd sent for him to answer the accusation which was so satisfactory as gave the King exceeding great content who with much earnestness said to some of his Councel My Doctor is a very honest man He was made Dean in the fiftieth year of his age and in the fifty fourth year a dangerous sickness seized him which turned to a spotted Feaver and ended in a Cough that inclined him to a Consumption During this sickness he wrote this heavenly Hymn expressing the great joy he then had in the assurance of Gods mercy to him A Hymn to God the Father Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun Which was my sin though it were done before Wilt thou forgive that sin through which I run And do run still though still I do deplore When thou hast done thou hast not done For I have more Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin and made my sin their door Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two but wallowed in a score When thou hast done thou hast not done For I have more I have a sin of fear that when I have spun My last thred I shall perish on the shore But swear by thy self that at my death thy Son Shall shine as he shines now and heretofore And having done that thou hast done I fear no more But it pleased God to restore him to his health and to adde unto his life five years more August 1630. being with his Daughter Mistress Harvy at Abrey-hatch in Essex he fell into a Feaver which with the help of his constant infirmity vapors from the Spleen brought him into a Consumption yet notwithstanding his disability the first Friday in Lent being come which was his old constant day he was appointed to preach on he resolved not to decline that service and although some of his Friends perswaded him from undertaking it fearing it might be a means to shorten his dayes he passionately denied their requests saying He would not doubt that God who in many weaknesses had assisted him with an unexpected strength would now withdraw it in his last employment His Text was To God the Lord belong the issues from death Many that saw his tears and heard his hollow voice professing they thought the Text prophetically chosen and that Doctour Donne had preacht his own Funeral Sermon He would often desire if that God would be pleased to grant it that he might die in the Pulpit if not that yet that he might take his death in the Pulpit that is die the sooner by occasion of those labours And indeed we may justly conceive that God granted his requests for after his Sermon was over hastening to his house he never moved out of it until like St. Stephen He was carried by devout men to the grave During the time of his sicknesse his spirits being much spent which made him unapt to discourse a Friend asked him Why are you sad to whom he replyed after this manner I am not sad I am in a serious contemplation of the mercies of my God to me and now I plainly see it was his hand that prevented me from all temporal employment And I see it was his will that I should never settle nor thrive until I entered into the Ministery in which I have now lived almost twenty years I hope to his glory and by which I most humbly thank him I have been enabled to requite most of those friends that shewed me kindeness when my fortunes were low And as it hath occasioned the expression of my gratitude I thank God most of them have stood in need of my requital I have been useful and comfortable to my good father-in-law Sir George More whose patience God hath been pleased to exercise by many temporal crosses I have maintained my own Mother whom it hath pleased God after a plentiful fortune in her former times to bring to a great decay in her very old age I have quieted the consciences of many that groaned under the burthen of a wounded spirit whose prayers I hope are available for me I cannot plead innocency of life especially of my youth but I am to be judged of a merciful God who hath given me even at this time some testimonies by his holy Spirit that I am of the number of his elect I am full of joy and shall die in peace He lay fifteen dayes earnestly expecting his hourly change his speech which had long been his faithful servant remained with him till his last minute In his very last hour as his body melted away and vapourated into spirit his soul having some revelation of the beatifical vision he said I were miserable if I might not die And after many periods of his faint breath with these words Thy Kingdom come thy will be done he rendred up his soul to him that gave it him He was buried in Saint Pauls Church attended with many persons of Nobility and Eminency after his burial some mournful friends repaired and as Alexander the Great did to the grave of the most famous Achilles so they strewed his with curious and costly flowers Nor was this though not usual all the honour done to his reverend ashes for some person unknown to perpetuate his memory sent to his two Executors Doctour King and Doctour Montford an hundred Marks towards the making of a Monument for him which they faithfully performed it being as lively a representation as in dead Marble can be made of him The recreation of his youth were Poety in which he was so happy as if Nature with all her varieties had been made to exercise his great wit and high fancy nor did he leave it off in his old age as is witnessed by many of his Divine Sonnets and other high holy and harmonious composures as under his Effigies in these following verses to his printed Poems one most ingeniously expresses This was for youth strength mirth and wit the time Most count their golden age but 't was not thine Thine was thy later years so much refin'd From youths dross mirth and wit as thy pure minde Thought like the Angels nothing but the praise Of thy Creatour in those last best dayes Witness this Book thy Emblem which begins With love but ends with sighs and tears for sins He left behinde him many fruits of his labours as six-score Sermons all writ with his own hand a large and laborious Treatise entituled Biathanatose concerning self-murther The resultance of fourteen hundred Authours most of them analized with his own hand Nor were these onely found in his study but all businesses that past of any publique consequence in this or any of our Neighbour-Kingdoms he abreviated either in Latine or in the Language of the Nation and kept them
in his Fourth Book and the 21. Chap. speaking of the time when they should be received neque illud praetereundum c. Neither is it to be over passed that it is remembred that to Legates and Forreign Nations admitted into the Senate the Roman Consuls were not accustomed to give any answers but onely in Latin who being admitted after the manner of the Fathers the Senate gave them power of that they would have but the Greeks by their Deputies appointed did declare their mindes if any body required any thing And the Arrebates and Belonaces did assemble their Councels by the sound of Trumpets but if they would speak any thing in their own Language to such being admitted in the Senate were interpreters given by whom they did propound what was needful and receive the agreement and answers of the Senate Many have been the priviledges immunities and advantages they have derived to their own honour and the happiness of those that have employed them Francis Dandalus the Venetian Orator being sent Ambassador into France to pacifie the French King and the great Clergy-man for that he was displeased with the States of Venice for the receiving of Feraria when he had divers times used his best arguments yet could not remove the anger of the Bishop of Rome falling on his hands and knees no compulsive but a free way of introducing the subtilty of his design being raised by the Pope he powred forth such a flood of Rhetorick that he so wrought on him that he reconciled him and the Venetians When Clement the Seventh Bishop of Rome and Charles the Fifth the Emperour had met at Bononia about divers affairs Francis Alvarez the Legate of Denide commonly called Presto John was King of the Abyssine Ethyopians which do possess the middle part of Africa being come to Benonia by the conduct of the Ambassadors of John King of Portugal did in the Senate in the name of the King promise Faith and Obedience to Clement Bishop of Rome in the year of our Lord 1533. For which wise dispatch of his Embassy after ages took notice of him I shall forbear to inlarge my self and onely insert a few of their Apothegms Policartidas an Orator being sent with others to certain Dukes when it was demanded of them whether his coming was publick or private they answered that if they had obtained the effect of their message they came publickly if not privately which subtil answer did admirably manifest their good intentions to their Countrey for if the legation succeeded to their mindes they would give the glory to their Countrey if otherwise they would have the reproach and repulse to appertain to the Common-wealth The Lacedemonians sending but one Legate to King Demetrius he highly resented it for an indignity asking if one man were enough to come to him To which the Ambassador answered Yes Sir we deemed it sufficient to send but one to one man Such another answer did Agis the Son of Archidamus use being sent to Philip King of Macedon When certain Lacons a people of Greece inhabiting Sparta went Ambassador to the tyrant Ligdanus who often deferred conference with them excusing himself that he was somewhat sickly they desired the messengers to return him this answer That they came to talk not to wrestle with the King The Romans dispatcht their Ambassadors to Bithnia to asswage a domestical breach betwixt Drusus the Father and Nicomodes the Son which Legates were such as one of them had many scars of wounds in his head and face another was diseased in his feet and the third but of a slender Wit of whom M. Cato was wont to jeast that the same Embassie lacked both head feet and heart Two Legates saith Poggius being sent from the Councel of Constance to Petrus de Luna the false Pope did amongst other bitter chidings and hard speeches which they used together upon the Title of the Pontificiality after that the Pope had said of himself This is the ark of Noah meaning that all the power of the Pontifical Sea remained in him they answered there were many beasts in the Ark of Noah expressing thereby that there were many vices in the Pope and many wicked men in the Church These with infinite more might be collected out of our English Authors but to knit up this discourse wherein I have epitomized the office management gravity magnanimity policy witty and wise answers of Ambassadors to conclude these messengers of Princes to Princes had as we may allude their first institution and original from the order of Archangels who have been the Ambassadors of God to such persons as God hath honoured in great matters either of revelation or successes of kingdoms as Gabrel was to Daniel or of opening some strange things as he was also to the Virgin of the conception of the Saviour of souls But enough of and perchance too much to some cavelling heads that there hath been so large a digression which I have onely enterprised to illustrate the perfection of our Knight in this illustrious employment he having observed all the laws of Ambassadors and so mannaged the Affairs of his Prince that he was the wonder of those times he lived in and an admirable example for ours Sir Henry Wotton returning home in the latter year of King James his Reign his estate much wasted with his continued Embassies very desirous to enjoy the quiet of a retired life he obtained to be made Provost of Eaton Colledge which how well it suited to his fancy this speech of his to a friend will sufficiently testifie I thank God and the King by whose goodness I am now in this condition a condition which that Emperour Charles the Fifth seem'd to approve who after so many remarkable victories when his glory was great in the eyes of all men freely gave his Crown and the Cares that attended it to Philip his Son making a holy retreat to a Cloystral life where he might by devout meditations consult with God which the rich or busie men seldome do and have leisure both to examine the errours of his life past and prepare for that great day wherein all flesh must give an account of their actions And after a kinde of tempestuous life I now have the like advantage from him that makes the out-goings of the morning to praise him even from my God whom I daily magnifie for this particular mercy of an exemption from business a quiet minde and a sufficient maintenance even in this part of my life when my age and infirmities seem to sound me a retreat from the pleasures of this world and invite me to a contemplation in which I have ever taken the greatest felicity This contemplative life he continued to his end so that this place seemed to be the beginning of his happiness the Colledge being to his minde as a quiet Harbour to a Sea-faring-man after a tempestuous Voyage where by the bounty of the pious Founder his very food and raiment were plentifully
his private Devotions Sir Hardress Waller Collonel Harrison Collonel Dean Comissary General Ireton are to consider of the time and place of his Execution and in the Painted Chamber Munday January 29. the President and Judges met and within the Committee resolve that in the open street before White Hall his own House is the fittest place that the King be there executed to morrow Tuesday between ten and two of the Clock upon a Scaffold covered with black next to the Banquetting House where he was wont to ascend his Throne It was supposed the King would not submit his neck to the Enemies Axe and therefore it was so provided with staples and cords that he should not resist January 27. the King lodged at White Hall the next day Sunday the Bishop of London preached before him Afterwards his children had leave to visit him his children being come to him he first gave his blessing to the Lady Elizabeth and bad her to tell her Brother James when soever she should see him that it was his Fathers last command that he should no more look upon Charles as his eldest Brother onely but be obedient to him as his Sovereign that they should love one another and forgive their Fathers Enemies Then said the King to her Sweet Heart you 'l forget this no said she I shall never forget it whilest I live and pouring down abundance of tears promised him to write the Particulars Then the King taking the Duke of Glocester upon his knee said Now they will cut off thy Fathers head upon which the childe lookt very stedfastly on him Mark Childe what I say they will cut off my head and perhaps make thee a King But mark what I say You must not be King so long as your Brother Charles and James do live for they will cut off your Brothers heads when they can catch them and cut off thy head too at last therefore I charge thee do not be made a King by them at which the Childe sighing said I will be torn in pieces first at which the King smiled The fatal day appeared Tuesday 30. January when he prayes and receives the Sacrament just at ten of the Clock in the forenoon he is called to come forth from St. James's Palace then his Prison to go on foot over the Park to White Hall guarded with a Regiment of Foot Souldiers part before and the rest behinde him with Collours flying and Drums beating his private Guard of Partisans about him and Doctor Juxon Bishop of London next to him on one side and Collonel Thomlinson on the other Ascending the stairs up to the Park Gallery into his Cabinet Chamber he continued there at his devotion and refused to dine onely about twelve of the Clock he eat a bit of bread and drank a Glass of Clarret-wine from thence he was conveyed into the Banquetting House and the great Window enlarged out of which he ascends the Scaffold the Rails being hung round and the floor covered with Black the Executioners disguised with vizards encountring him he not affrighted shews more care of the people living then fear of his own dying for looking round about upon the people whom the thick set Guards and Troops of Horse kept a great distance off and seeing he could not be heard by them omitting probably what he purposed to have spoken to them turning to the Officers and Actors but rather to Collonel Thomlinson he said I would now speak nothing unto you in this place were it not that some men would interpret my silence as an argument of guilt and think that I took on me the crimes objected with the same conscience as I submit to the punishment with patience I call God to witness of my innocency before whose Tribunal I must shortly appear it never entred into my thoughts to intrench on the just priviledges of Parliament and that I raised not any Army before such time as they had raised hostile forces against me which from the order of proceedings on both sides and dates of Commissions and Proclamations will be clearly manifested to the inquirer Mean while I acknowledge and submisly own Gods Justice which this day by an unjust sentence of mine he hath inflicted a just judgement on me for as much as heretofore I would not quit an innocent man meaning the Deputy of Ireland when opprest by a most unjust decree With what Charity I embrace my enraged enemies this good man is my witness pointing to the Bishop of London I pardon them all from my very heart and I earnestly beseech the God of all mercies that he would vouchsafe to grant them serious repentance and remit this great sin Yet I cannot to my last gasp but be solicitous of the peace of my kingdom which I am not able at the present better co consult for then by chalking out the way from which you of the souldiery have exceedingly deviated and by which we must return to sobriety and peace Herein I perceive you are most miserably out of the way in that by the rule of the Sword without all even a shadow of right you think good to wrest the government to your selves and endeavour to establish the Kingdom not by the authority of the Laws but upon the score of Conquest which can never have any accruit of right unless adhered in by a just Cause and Triumph of War namely either by the repulsing of wrongs of recovering of rights unjustly detained But if more prosperous success shall advance the victor beyond the modest bounds of just and lawful nought hinders but that the Kingdoms that are erected both be and be accounted great robberies which we read heretofore a Pirat objected to Alexander But being out of the way as you are can you by no other expedient return into the the right wayes of peace by no other counsel believe me can you hope to divert Gods wrath then by restoring to God the King the people respectively such things as are their dues You shall give God his due by restoring his pure worship and Church rightly regulated according to the prescript of his holy word which hath long since been miserably convulst and disjoynted And this a national Synod duly called will best effectuate to the King namely my successour you will render full right if you restore those things which by the clear Letter of the Law stands exprest Lastly you will put the people in their rights and due liberties not by lifting them in the consort of the Throne and sway of the Scepter but by recovering unto the Laws there Authority and the peoples observance to the abrogating of which by the enormious power of the Sword when as by no means I could be induced I was brought hither to undergo Martyrdom for my people So his last breath gently dissolving into a most meek prayer the Bishop of London said to him thus If his most excellent Majesty pleased he would openly profess what he thought touching his Religion not
Lord amongst others being one that gave his fatal Vote for the passing that Bill In those great differences betwixt the King and Parliament he constantly and faithfully adhered to his Majesty contributing very much to his aid both in purse and person and at such time as the King was secured in the Isle of Wight some hopes being given of his restauration to his former dignity by the coming in of Duke Hamilton with a potent Army as also of Langhorns Powels and Poyers declaring themselves for his Majesty together with the rising of the Countries in several places to the same unhappy purpose he with a selected number of his friends associates and servants joyned himself with the Lord Goring Sir Charles Lucas and others who with a great Party were up in Arms in Essex and having valiantly defended Colchester for the space of three moneths against a potent enemy sated with success were at length as I have already discoursed in the Life of Sir Charles Lucas for want of provision forced to yield both it and themselves the superior Officers to mercy the common Souldiers with the loss of their flying Garments the Townsmen to pay the mulct of fourteen thousand pounds which was above a thousand pounds a moneth for the time that they held out the Siege And for the Articles of agreement which the Cavaliers had made with General Fairfax they could not but imagine that they had ascertained their lives yet notwithstanding upon their surrender as hath been mentioned Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle were shot to death which to all discerning men must needs seem strange and unusual though the General in his Letter to the Parliament calls it Military Execution upon which the House debated and sent to the General to explain his Letter of the 29. of September His head Quarters were then at Saint Albanes from whence they had this answer That the General doth not take upon him to conclude but waving the business leaves them to the Civil Power and so in effect to Tryal for life The Lord Capel and divers others were committed to the Tower where whilest he remained he endeavoured an escape and had effected it had he not been betrayed by a second Banister a Water-man whom the Noble Lord intrusted himself with who ignominiously for the lucre of a little money discovered him not long after this his misfortune this honourable Lord together with the Earl of Holland Duke Hamilton the Earl of Norwich and Sir John Owen was brought to a Tryal before a High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall where for the brevity to omit the particulars after a formal Tryal they were all condemned the Earl of Norwich and the undaunted Welchman Sir John Owen whom they made march on Foot to his Tryal were reprieved It hath been reported that the Earl of Norwich who was ever pleasantly conceited was sent to by a dear friend of his the day after his Reprieve to know what he conceived as concerning the danger of his condition who returned this answer That he thought in all haste to have put off his Doublet but now he had leisure to unhook his Breeches But to return to our enterprise to furnish this Landskip rather then History of this honourable person concerning his deportment before and after the time of his condemnation when he was to encounter and look grim death in the face by way of introduction to a larger discovery of his Christian fortitude I shall set down the Copy of a Letter written by a reverend Doctor who knew the passages thereof as may be clearly perceived by the tenour of it SIR I hope this paper will finde you upon recovery you have my daily and hearty prayers for it not so much for your own sake for I doubt not but it would be much better for you in regard of your self to be dissolved and to be with Christ but in the behalf of the Church your Friends and poor Family to which notwithstanding be assured God will be merciful howsoever he disposeth of you either for this life or for a better But if you live as I pray and hope you will you shall do very well to write the Life and Death of that noble Lord and blessed Martyr who professed at his death That he dyed for the fifth Commandment and to dye in the defence and for the Testimony of any Divine truth is truly and properly to be a Martyr That which I can contribute towards this work is to communicate some few observations I made of him and from him before and after his condemnation I was several times with him and alwayes found him in a very chearful and well composed temper of minde proceeding from true Christiun grounds and not from a Roman resolution onely as his enemies are pleased to speak of him he told me often it was the good God he served and the good Cause he had served for that made him not to fear heath adding he had never had the temptation of so much as a thought to check him for his engagement in this quarrel for he took it for his Crown and Glory and wished he had a greater ability and better fortune to engage in it After his condemnation and the afternoon before his suffering we were a great while in private together when bewailing with that sense which became a true and not despairing penitent the sins of his life past the greatest he could remember was his voting my Lord of Straffords death which though as he said he did without any malice at all yet he confessed it to be a very great sin and that he had done it out of a base fear they were his own words of a prevailing party adding that he had very often and very heartily repented of it and was confident of Gods pardon for it Then he told me he had a great desire to receive the Blessed Sacrament so he called it before he dyed the next morning asking what Divine of the Kings party I would recommend to him I replyed that though many were more worthy yet none would be more willing to do that service then my self which he accepting very kindly told me he durst not desire it for fear it might be some danger to me After this and some conference in order to his preparation both for his viaticum and his voyage the Sacrament and his death he desired me to pray with him which after I had performed and promised to be with him by seven the next morning I left him for that time to his own devotions The next day I was there at the time assigned and after some short conference in order to the present occasion he desired me to hear him pray which he did for half an hour in an excellent method very apt expressions and most strong hearty and passionate affections First confessing and bewailing his sins with strong cries and tears then humbly and most earnestly desiring Gods mercy through the merits of Christ onely
Secondly for his dear Wife and Children with some passion but for her especially with most ardent affections recommending them to the Divine Providence with great confidence and assurance and desiring for them rather the blessings of a better life then of this Thirdly for the King Church and State And lastly for his enemies with almost the same ardour and affection After this sending for my Lord of Norwich and Sir John Owen I read the whole Office of the Church for Good Friday and then after a short Homily I used for the present occasion we received the Sacrament in which action he behaved himself with great Humility Zeal and Devotion And being demanded after we had done how he found himself he replyed very much better stronger and chearfuller for that Heavenly repast and that he doubted not to walk like a Christian through the vale of death in the strength of it But he was to have an Agony before his Passion and that was the parting with his Wife eldest Son Son-in-law two of his Vncles and Sir T. C. especially the parting with his most dear Lady which indeed was the saddest spectacle that ever I beheld In which occasion he could not chuse but confess a little of humane frailty yet even then he did not forget both to comfort and counsel her and the rest of his friends particularly in blessing the young Lord he commanded him never to revenge his death though it should be in his power the like he said unto his Lady He told his Son he would leave him a Legacy out of Davids Psalms and that was this Lord lead me in a plain path For Boy saith he I would have you a plain honest man and hate dissimulation After this with much ado I perswaded his Wife and the rest to be gone and then being all alone with me he said Doctor The hardest part of my work in this world is now past meaning the parting with his Wife Then he desired me to pray preparatively to his death that in the last action he might so behave himself as might be most for Gods glory for the endearing of his dead Masters memory his present Masters service and that he might avoid the doing or saying of any thing which might savour either of ambition or vanity This being done they were all carried to Sir Robert Cotton's house where I was with him till he was called unto the Scaffold and would have gone up with him but the Guard of Souldiers would not suffer me The same day he suffered he writ this following Letter to his Wife My dearest life My eternal life is in Christ Jesus my worldly considerations in the highest degree thou hast deserved let me live long here in thy dear memory to the comfort of my Family our dear Children whom God out of mercy in Christ hath bestowed upon us I beseech thee take care of thy health sorrow not afflict not thy self too much God will be unto thee better then an Husband and to my Children better then a Father I am sure he is able to be so I am confident he is graciously pleased to be so God be with thee my most vertuous Wife God multiply many comforts to thee and my Children is the fervent prayer of Thy c. March the 9. 1648. was the day appointed for his beheading as also of Duke Hamilton and the Earl of Holland A Scaffold being erected in the new Palace-yard at Westminster over against the great Hall Gate The first that mounted the same was Duke Hamilton attended with Doctor Sibbald who after much delay and many impertinent discourses hoping as it was thought for a politick Reprieve but none coming he submitted his neck to the Ax upon whom an unlucky Wit writing his Epitaph thus descants A politition yet a fool A teacher and yet went to School A Hempen cord of silken twist A Papist yet a Calvanist A meer OGYGES yet a stranger To prudence that foresees a danger Here lies hee 's but to Scotland gone No worser Hell 't is Hamilton The next that entered the lists of death was the Earl of Holland one whose oft changing from side to side had made him less acceptable in the eyes of the people though the disposition of affairs altering their postures so often may in part plead his excuse no doubt he was real in his last undertaking He came to the Scaffold attended on by Mr. Bolton having made a long speech to the people of his honest intentions for the good of the Kingdom and desiring of God that it would please him the people might look upon the posterity of the King and that they might be called in again after many fervent prayers he had his head severed from his body upon whom our forementioned Poet thus Satyrically goes on By Venus self beneath this stone Lies Holland that spruce Earle His carcase here his head is gone To Bridget his brave Girle Who makes it her memento mori While she lies close to Captain Pory Last of all our honoured Heroe mounted the Scaffold to court grim death with an undaunted brow he came not as the two-former attended with a Minister having before prepared his way for death Coming to the front of the Scaffold he said as followeth 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 that 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 a one as truly I never knew none so good I am so far from being a Papist which some have very unworthily charged me withal 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 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 dye 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 I will not trouble you much with this discourse because in
of his years taken from further opportunities of doing good either to himself his friends the Common-wealth or more especially as to my continued services to my Creatour Truly if my general known course of life were but enquired into I may modestly say there is such a moral honesty upon it as some may be so sawcy as to expostulate why this great judgement 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 accompt of my Judgement and Execution then my Judgers 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 fruicless Rod that when by this Rod I have laid down my life by his staff I may be comforted and received into Glory I am very confident by what I have heard since my sentence there is more exceptions made against proceedings against me then I ever made My Triers 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 not in my self intended malitiously there being testimony given by persons whom I pitty so false yet so positive that I cannot condemn my Judges for passing sentence against me according to Legal Justice though Equity lieth in the higher breasts As for my Accusers or rather Betrayers I pitty and am sorry for them they have committed Judas crime but I wish and pray for them with 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 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 fear of God particular malice to any one of State or Parliament to do them a bodily injury 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 on Principles of Law the knowledge whereof I profess and on principles of Religion my Judgement satisfied and Conscience rectified that I have pursued those wayes which I bless God I finde no blackness upon my conscience nor have I put it into the Bead-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 beyond all you possess here In my Conversation in the world I do not know where I have an enemy with cause or that there is such a person whom I have to regret but if there be any whom I cannot recollect under the notion of Christian men I pardon them as freely as if I had named them by name I freely forgive them being in free peace with all the world as I desire God for Christs sake to be at peace with me For the business of death it is a sad sentence in it self if men consult with flesh and blood But truly without boosting I say it or if I do boast I boast in the Lord I have not to this minute had one consultation with the flesh about the blow of the Axe or one thought of the Axe more then as my passport to Glory I take it for an honour and I owe thankfulness to those under whose power I am that they sent me hither to a place however of punishment yet of some honor to dye a death somewhat worthy of my blood answerable to my birth and qualification and this courtesie of theirs hath much helped towards the pacification of my minde I shall desire God that those Gentlemen in that sad Bead-roll to be tryed by the High Court of Justice that they may find that really there that is nominal in the Act an High Court of Justice a Court of High Justice high in its Righteousness though not in its severity Father forgive them and forgive me as I forgive them I desire you now that you would pray for me and not give over praying till the hour of my death not till the moment of my death for the hour is come already the instant of time approaches that as I have a great load of sins so I may have the wings of your prayers to help those Angels that are to convey my soul to Heaven and I doubt not but I shall see my Saviour and my gallant Master the King of England and another Master whom I much honoured my Lord Capel hoping this day to see my Christ in the presence of the Father the King in the presence of him my Lord Capel in the presence of them all and my self there to rejoyce with all other Saints and Angels for evermore After the uttering of these and many the like words declaring his faith and confidence in God with as much undaunted yet Christian courage as possibly could be in man he exposed his neck to the fatal Axe commending his soul into the hands of a faithful and merciful Creatour through the meritorious Passion of a gracious Redeemer and having said Lord Jesus receive me the Executioner with one blow severed his head from his body For such a collateral design not long after one Master Benson was executed at Tyburne one that had some relations to Sir John Gell who was tried for the same Conspiracy with his man Sir Johns former services to the Parliament being his best and most assured intercessours for his life and at that time were more then ordinary advantages to him And now being entered into this Tragical Scene of blood I shall in the next place give you an account of the beheading of Sir Henry Hide He was by the Scots King commissionated as Ambassadour to the Grand Signior at Constantinople and stood in competition with Sir Thomas Bendish then Ambassadour for the English for his place whereupon they had a hearing before the Vizier Bassa the result whereof was that Sir Thomas Bendish should dispose of the said Sir Henry Hide as he thought good who was to the same purpose sent to Smyrna thence into England and there condemned and executed before the Royal Exchange in London March 4. 1650. I have inserted his Speech which reflects on his Transactions this unfortunate Gentlemans end
being by the divine disposal from the foregoing part of his life as strange as ever I have read in History His last words were to this effect Christian People I come hither to dye I am brought hither to dye and that I may dye Christian like I humbly beseech the assistance of your Christian prayers that by the benefit of them my passage may be the more easie Yet because men in that condition which it hath pleased God to reduce me to give the more credit to Speech in the discharge of my duty towards God I shall use a few words and so conclude I pray all of you joyn with me to praise this Almighty God to whom I desire to render all hearty thanks as for all his mercies so in particular for this that he hath brought me hither that whereas I owe a debt to sin and to nature that now I can pay the debt to nature I can pay it upon the account of Grace And because it is fit to render the blessed account of that hope that is in me I shall tell you to the praise of Almighty God that I have been born and bred up in the Doctrine of the Church of England I have no negative Religion believing to be saved by the onely merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ and whatsoever else is profest in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England authorized by Law humbly beseeching Almighty God to restore unto this Church her peace prosperity and patrimony whereof I have been an obedient and a loving however an unworthy Son and now both my hope being confident and my faith perfected there remains onely Christian Charity Charity we carry into heaven Charity on earth that I leave beseeching all whomsoever I have offended to forgive me as I from the bottom of my heart do all whomsoever blessing Almighty God for the happy advantage he takes to bring me the sooner to heaven I bless Almighty God that he hath given me this advantage as he hath been merciful to me before the foundation of the world in my Saviour so that now he hath in mercy honoured me with a suffering for his name in obedience to his Commandment On this day sevennight I was summoned before that Justice which condemned me on Friday last praised be Almighty God that by this way he hath brought me nearer to himself My charge I presume is publick as my punishment is visible if there have been any thing in the management of my part being unskilful having discontinued my own countrey many years I shall beseech the Christian Charity of all you my beloved Countrey-men to impute it rightly to the ignorance of my unskilful wayes of managing of affairs it was objected unto me there that I had a vanity of delighting in strange tongues I do acknowledge that I was best skilled in the Italian but free from that vanity I thank Almighty God and therefore I would in defence of my life if it had been the custom here or the Judges favour have used that language which was almost as natural to me as my mother tongue It was objected that I did not so freely as a thorow-paced Cavalier own my Master I was told since I came into England this skill I have in our Laws that a legal denyal in Law might be tollerable I hope I did not exceed the bounds of that in any thing for God forbid that I should be ashamed of serving so good so pious so just a Master putting off his hat for this I rejoyce and I humbly beseech Almighty God to fill my heart and my tongue and all that hear me this day with thankfulness for it As to the business that another construction had been made and believed here then what was there the righteous God knoweth it if any weakness were in the management that was mine I was sent to serve and protect not to injure any as God acquits me of the intention of matter of fact as having not done any manner of evil that way however here understood blessed be his holy name again putting off his hat so those Gentlemen of the Turky Company if they would might acknowledge for they know it very well the impossibility of my doing them any manner of harm Whereas that of the Embassy objected against me that my Master honoured me with it though I was never worthy of it I was his messenger and Internuntio for the conservation onely of his good Subjects of all the Merchants untill such time as he could confirme that Gentlemen now Resident or to send any other and they themselves know that there was an unpossibility as I bless God there was an innocency in me unto any such intention to do them harm for my Masters commands were point blank the contrary I was onely sent for their good as I never owned the title so the very letters themselves speaking no other I never did so much as think of any manner of address to the Grand Signior but gave him the letter from my Master the rest of the English Nation that were there present may when they please assert so much This I would insert that those Gentlemen as they have been losers by the miscarriages of others may now have a breach of their charity with me but if it be as it seems it is now in this Countrey a sin to be loyal I hope my God hath forgiven that when it is upon harmless employment not invading any according to my just Masters order for indeed I have been alwayes bred up in the Religion of Loyalty my Allegiance hath been incorporated into my Religion and I have thought it a great part of the service due from me to Almighty God to serve the King again putting off his hat He said I need not make any apology for any thing in relation to the present Affairs in England for were I as I spake beformy Judges were I as evil as my sentence here hath made me black it were impossible for me to have prejudiced any body in England or to England belonging in that employment but I bless God for his infinite mercy in Jesus Christ who hath taken me to himself by this manner of way it was the best Physick for the curing of my soul and those that have done it have no more Power then that of my body I leave nothing behinde me but that I am willing to part withal all that I am going to is desirable and that you may all know that Almighty God hath wrought in me a total denyal of my self and that there is that perfect reformation of me within of my own corruptions by the blessed assistance of his holy spirit I desire Almighty God in the abundance of the bowels of his mercy in Jesus Christ not onely to forgive every enemy if any such be in the world here or wheresoever but to bring him into his bosom so much good and particular comfort as he may at any time whether the cause
of business done by the Executioner that day into Cheapside where formerly the Cross stood where was likewise a Gibbet set up being come to the place with a Minister the Minister read and the people sung with him a Psalm beginning thus O Lord consider my distress c. Then he went up the Ladder and said as followeth Lord receive my soul and be merciful to me I commit my soul into Almighty Gods hands for he is my Protector and Redeemer I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to dye for my conversation hath been such in Christ Jesus I hope I shall finde mercy As concerning them that are my enemies I pray God forgive them their sins I freely forgive them all that have done me wrong As for the late Plot I was never but once in company with them concerned therein I did know of such a thing but deny that I acted therein Shall I damn my soul at this instant I will speak the truth One Brandon that was one of them drew me into the business and his man I carrying work to him could not refrain his house he so often enticed me thereto and would not let me alone till he had got me into a house where we drank together I have no more to say as to the Plot but desire mercy from God Having this said the Executioner turned him off and the rest of the Sentence was executed upon him as before upon Collonel Ashton and his Head and Quarters were conveyed also to Newgate Some two dayes after one Edmund Stacy also about the same Conspiracy was executed in Cornhil over against the Exchange as also a Youth in Smithfield having the rope about his neck the horror of death being worse then death it self but for his souls health was reprieved the torrent of Blood being for a while stayed Whilest these Tragedies were acting on the Land a strange accident no less prodigeous happened on the water a Whale of a monstrous bigness at least sixty foot and of a proportionable breadth was cast up on the River of Thames near London which by the common people was accounted a Prognostication of the Protectors death which ensued not long after But to return to Flanders where we formerly left the Sea whereof like a sharp humour did alwayes nourish the wounds of incurable evils nor was the French their letting of her blood sufficient she wanted an English Physician to treat her Our Armies whose valours made not a stand at Mardike but with a gallant Resolution besieged Dunkirk which being a place of great importance the Spaniard intended to relieve and with an Army of sixteen thousand came within an English mile and a half of the French Quarters whereupon the English and French uniting their Forces leaving some part of them before Dunkirk to make good the approaches and guard the trenches with fifteen thousand men and ten Peeces of Cannon set upon the Spaniard whom after a long and sharp Fight they put to a total rout and confusion with the loss of three thousand five hundred men which Victocy was in a manner wholly attributed to the valor of the English The loss of this day lost the Spaniard Dunkirk who quickly after surrendered up the Town upon these following Conditions 1. That the Town shall be yielded up with all their great Guns their stores of Victuals Magazines of Arms and Ammunition without any embezlement 2. That all Officers and Souldiers shall have liberty to march out with their Arms Drums beating Colours flying two Peeces of Ordnance and their Baggage 3. That they shall have the liberty to march with a Convoy to conduct them to Saint Omers 4. That the Inhabitants should remain indempnified in their persons and goods and enjoying their former customs and priviledges for two years and not be molested touching the exercise of their Religion The Articles signed the Spaniards marched out being about one thousand Horse and Foot and seven hundred more that were wounded the French according as it was articled before put the English in possession thereof which ever since they have maintained I have heard of an expression of the Governours of Ostend A little before the Massacre there a person of quality being sent thither about the exchange of Prisoners after he was civilly treated the glasses of wine going freely about the Governour being in a safe place began to throw forth words to this effect Sir is this the mode of your Mushrom Protector hath he no other way to pay my Master the King of Spain for his Bullion but with Bullets Soon after the taking of Dunkirk deceased the Lady Cleypoll second Daughter to the Protector a Lady whom posterity will mention with an honourable Character who often interposed and became an humble Supplicant to her Father for many persons designed to dye her last requests as it was thought for some eminent persons being denied was a means of hastening her death which much sadned her fathers spirits nor did he long survive her her death causing more wounds in his heart then all he received in the Wars But as his severity was great towards his enemies so did he excell in gratitude unto his friends amongst other examples I shall instance in the person of one Duret a Frenchman who attended him during his Generalship and served him with so much fidelity and zeal as that he entrusted him with the mannaging and conduct of the greatest part of his Domestick Affairs alwayes retaining him nigh his person bearing so great an affection towards him and reposing so entire a confidence in him that during a great sicknes which he had in Scotland whereof it was thought he would have died he would not be served by any one nor receive any nourishment or any thing else that was administred unto him save from the hands of Duret who both day and night continued to watch by his Master tending him with a special care and assiduity not giving himself a moments rest until his master had recovered his perfect health which long and continual watches of Duret and the great pains he had taken drove him into a sad fit of sickness to recover him his endeared Master in retribution of his great services spared no cost but applied all the possible means that could be procured not onely by his commands but by his personal visits so oft as his urgent Affairs would permit him Duret dying he sends over into France for his Mother Sister and two Nephews to requite in them the obligations he owed to his deceased Friend and Servant and whereas by reason of the continuance of the Stotch Wars he was as it were confined to the North he wrote unto his wife That she should proportion that kindness which during his absence she should shew unto them unto the Love which she bare unto him Insomuch that Durets mother was admitted into her own Family and seated at her own Table his Sister was placed in the rank and quality of a