and means poor Justice Godfrey fell? And is it not apparent by these instances, that such is the frantic zeal of some bigotted Papists, that they resolve, no means to advance the Catholic cause shall be left unattempted, though it be by fire and sword?

"My lord, as the Plot in general is most manifest, so your lordship's part in it hath been too too plain. What you did at Paris, and continued to do at Tixall in Staffordshire, shews a settled purpose of mind against the king; and what you said at London touching honest Will, shews you were acquainted with that conspiracy against the king's life which was carrying on here too: And in all this there was a great degree of malice; for your. lordship at one time called the king heretic and traitor to God; and at another time you reviled him for misplacing his bounty, and rewarding none but traitors and rebels.

"And thus you see that which the wise man forewarned you of, is come upon you : 'Curse not the king, no, not in thy heart: For the birds of the air shall reveal, and that which hath wings will declare the matter.'

"Three things I shall presume to recommend to your lordship's consideration. In the first place, your lordship now sees how it hath pleased God to leave you so far to yourself, that you are fallen into the snare, and into the pit, into that very pit which you were digging for others. Consider therefore, that God Almighty never yet left any man, who did not first leave him.

"In the next place, think a little better of it than hitherto you have done, what kind of religion that is, in which the blind guides have been able to lead you into so much ruin and destruction as is now like to befal you.

"In the last place, I pray your lordship to consider, That true repentance is never too late. A devout penitential sorrow, joined with an humble and hearty confession, is of mighty power and efficacy both with God and man.

"There have been some of late who have refused to give God the glory of his justice by acknowledging the crimes for which they were condemned; nay, who have been taught to believe, that it is a mortal sin to confess that crime in public, for which they have been absolved in private, and so have not dared to give God that glory which otherwise they would have done.

"God forbid your lordship should rest upon forms; God forbid your lordship should be found among the number of those poor mistaken souls, whom the first thing that undeceives is death itself.

you do or no, I am to assure your lordship, That all my Lords here, even they that have condemned you, will never cease to pray for you, that the end of your life may be Christian and pious, how tragical soever the means are that must bring you thither.

"And now, my lord, this is the last time that I can cail you my lord; for the next words I am to speak will attaint you. The Judg. ment of the Law is, and this Court doth award, That

"You go to the place from whence you 4 came; from thence you must be drawn upon 'a hurdle to the place of execution: When you come there, you must be hanged up by the neck, but not till you are dead; for you 'must be cut down alive, your privy-members 'must be cut off, and your bowels ript up be'fore your face, and thrown into the fire. Then your head must be severed from your body, and your body divided into four quar'ters; and these must be at the disposal of the king. And God Almighty be merciful to your 'soul.'"

Prisoner. My lords, I humbly beseech you give me leave to speak a few words; I do give your lordships hearty thanks for all your favours to me. I do here, in the presence of God Almighty declare, I have no malice in my heart to them that have condemned me; I know not who they are, nor desire to know; I forgite them all, and beseech your lordships all to pray for me. My lords, I have one bumble request to make to your lordships, and that is, my lords, That the little short time I have to live a prisoner, I may not be a close prisoner as I have been of late, but that Mr. Lieutenant may have an Order that my wife and children and friends may come at me. I do humbly beg this favour of your lordships, which I hope you will be pleased to give me.*

L. H. S. My lord Stafford, I believe I may, with my lords leave, tell you one thing further, That my lords, as they proceed with rigour of justice, so they proceed with all the mercy and compassion that may be; and therefore my lords will be humble suitors to the king, that he will remit all the punishment but the taking off your head.

Prisoner, (weeping). My lords, your justice does not make me cry, but your goodness.

*Macpherson, in what he calls (see the Introduction to lord Clarendon's Case, vol. 6, p. 291, of this Work,) "The Life of James the Second, written by himself," (p. 110.) says, "Carlisle and Escric had voted Stafford their kinsman Guilty, yet moved to change his sentence to perpetual banishment. This being re

he had ever made. But be committed one great indecency in it: for he said, Who can doubt any longer that London was burned by Papists, though there was not one word in the whole Trial relating to that matter." Burnet.

of carrying the bishop of London and Dr. Burnet to him. They only wanted to get something out of him against the duke of York: but the Lords would not allow them to see him alone, without a Recorder present, so their project was disappointed."

Then the Lord High Steward broke his staff, and the Lords adjourned into the Parliament Chamber, and the Commons returned to their House, and the prisoner with the axe borne before him with the edge towards him (it being carried contrarily during his trial) was sent back to the Tower.*

* Burnet tells us, that lord Stafford behaved himself during the whole time, and at the receiving his Sentence, with much more constancy then was expected from him. And he thus proceeds: "Within two days after he sent a message to the Lords, desiring that the bishop of London" [Compton, one of the SEVEN ; see their Case, A. D. 1688, infra. ] “ and | I might be appointed to come to him. We waited on him. His design seemed to be only to possess us with an opinion of his innocence, of which he made very solemn protestations. He heard us speak of the points in difference between us and the Church of Rome with great temper and attention. At parting he desired me to come back to him next day; for he had a mind to be more particular with me. When I came to him, he repeated the protestations of his innocence; and said, he was confident the villainy of the witnesses would soon appear : he did not doubt I should see it in less than a year. I pressed him in several points of religion; and urged several things, which he said he had never heard before. He said, these things on another occasion would have made some impression upon him; but he had now little time, therefore he would lose none in controversy; so I let that discourse fall. I talked to him of those preparations for death in which all Christians agree: he entertained these very seriously. He had a mind to live, if it was possible: he said, he could discover nothing with relation to the king's life, protesting that there was not so much as an intimation about it that had ever past among them. But he added, that he could discover many other things, that were more material than any thing that was yet known, and for which the duke would never forgive him; and of these, if that might save his life, he would make a full discovery. I stopped him when he was going on to particulars; for I would not be a confident in any thing in which the public safety was concerned. He knew best the importance of those secrets; and so he could only judge, whether it would be of that value as to prevail with the two Houses to interpose with the king for his pardon. He seemed to think it would be of great use, chiefly to support what they were then driving on with relation to the duke. He desired me to speak to lord Essex, lord Russel, and sir William Jones. I brought him their answer the next day; which was, that if he did discover all he knew concerning the Papists designs, and more particularly concerning the duke, they would endeavour that it should not be insisted on, that he must confess those particulars for which he was judged. He asked me, what if he should

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His majesty afterward ordered the Lord High-Chancellor to issue out under the great seal of England the following writs for executing the said late viscount Stafford; the first being to the lieutenant of the Tower, to deliver him on the 29th of December 1680, between nine and eleven o'clock in the forenoon,

name some who had now great credit, but had once engaged to serve their designs: I said, nothing could be more acceptable than the discovering such disguised Papists, or false Protestants: yet upon this I charged him solemnly not to think of redeeming his own life by ac cusing any other falsely, but to tell the truth, and all the truth, as far as the common safety was concerned in it. As we were discoursing of these matters, the earl of Carlisle came in. In his hearing, by lord Stafford's leave, I went over all that had passed between us, and did again solemnly adjure him to say nothing but the truth. Upon this he desired the earl of Carlisle to carry a message from him to the House of Lords, that whensoever they would send for him he would discover all that he knew: upon that he was immediately sent for. And he began with a long relation of their first consultations after the Restoration about the methods of bringing in their religion, which they all agreed could only be brought about by a toleration. He told them of the earl of Bristol's project; and went on to tell who had undertaken to procure the toleration for them: and then he named the earl of Shaftsbury. When he named him he was ordered to withdraw: and the Lords would hear no more from him. It was also given out, that in this I was a tool of lord Halifax's to bring him thither to blast lord Shaftsbury. He was sent back to the Tower: and then he composed himself in the best way he could to suffer, which he did with a constant and undisturbed mind: he supped and slept well the night before his execution, and died without any shew of fear or disorder. He denied all that the witnesses had sworn against him. And this was the end of the Plot. I was very unjustly censured on both hands. The earl of Shaftsbury railed so at me that I went no more near him. And the duke was made believe, that I had persuaded lord Stafford to charge him, and to discover all he knew against him: which was the beginning of the implacable hatred he shewed on many occasions against me. Thus the innocentest and best meant parts of a man's life may be misunderstood, and highly censured."

It is certainly worthy of attention, that in the course of this effort to save his life, lord Stafford did not confess any of, according to Burnet's expression, “ those particulars for which he was judged." If he had made such a confession, it might yet leave many minds unconvinced of his guilt. In bad times, it is not surprising confessions of uncommitted crimes should be made for the purpose of obtaining mitigation of punishment. With respect to lord Bacon's Confession, (See his case Vol. 2, p. 1087.)

⚫ of the Commons in Parliament assembled, and commanding your Petitioners to cause the said viscount Stafford's head to be severed from his body upon the 29th day of this instant Dec., notwithstanding any judgment, law, ordinance, or command to the contrary: That your Petitioners have not as yet received any command from your lordships for executing the said judgment. May it therefore please your lordships to take the premises into consideration, and to make such order 'therein, as shall be agreeable to right and jus 'tice. And your Petitioners shall pray, &c.' Upon which the Lords did declare as followeth

December 21, 1680.

Upon application from the sheriffs of London and Middlesex, making some scruples concerning the execution of the late lord viscount Stafford, which were found by this House to be unnecessary, this House do de'clare,That the king's writ ought to be obeyed." The said sheriffs likewise made application to the House of Commons upon the aforesaid matter, who made the following resolve:

December 23, 1680.

'Resolved, &c. That this House is content that the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex 'do execute William late viscount Stafford, by 'severing bis head from his body only.'

Accordingly, on the Wednesday following, being the 29th of December, between nine and ten in the forenoon, the two sheriffs, with a considerable number of gentlemen on horseback, went to the Tower-gate, and there demanded William Howard, late viscount Stafford; when a gentleman belonging to the Lieutenant of the Tower, told the Sheriffs, That the Lieutenant would wait on them presently, and bring the prisoner to the bars: To which the sheriffs answered, That they must preserve the privileges and bounds of the city: An officer replied, Sir, We were ordered to draw up two companies from the gate to the bar, and there you are to receive the prisoners'

Sheriffs. Gentlemen, we will preserve the liberties of the city: And we are come at the gate to demand the prisoner; whether the Lieutenant will deliver him or no, we demand

For the debates in the House of Commons concerning the king's power to vary the execution, see 4 Cobbett's Parl. Hist. 1261. Mr. Fox speaking of the fatality as it were, with which in the transactions relative to the Popish Plot men's minds were divested of all their wonted sentiments of justice and humanity; observes, that "even after the condemnation of Stafford, lord Russel himself, whose character is wholly (this instance excepted) free from the stain of rancour or cruelty stickled for the severer mode of executing the sentence, in a manner which his fear of the king's establishing a precedent of pardoning in cases of impeachment, (for this no doubt was his motive) cannot satisfactorily excuse." Fox's James II.

him. And accordingly, he was delivered to the sheriffs between the gates and the bars.

Before the prisoner came, several people were upon the scaffold, among which were two appointed to write. The headsman came up with two blocks, one old, one new, in a bag; also the axe covered with a cloth. The new block being taken out, was covered over with black, and laid upon a piece of black bays, about two yards and a half long, upon which the prisoner was to stretch himself. Then the coffin was brought up, being coloured with two letters, W. S. 1680. Then the prisoner cutioner; upon his appearing, he asked him, came upon the scaffold, and asked for the exeIf he had received money for the cloathis? being answered, No, his man took out a purse of 51., which the headsman objected against, and the prisoner gave him two guineas more. After a short pause, he stepped to one side of the scaffold, and taking a Paper out of his pocket, read it as his Speech, [Which came out print, as his Speech] and was as follows: the very same day, before two of the clock, in

"By the permission of Almighty God, I am this day brought hither to suffer death, as if I were guilty of high-treason. I do most truly, in the presence of the eternal, omnipotent, and all-knowing God, protest, upon my salvation, That I am as innocent as it is possible for any man to be, so much as in a thought, of the crimes laid to my charge.

"I acknowledge it to be a particular grace and favour of the Holy Trinity, to have given me this long time to prepare myself for eternity. I have not made so good use of that grace as I ought to have done, partly by my not having so well recollected myself as I might have done, and partly, because not only my friends, but my wife and children have for several days been forbidden to see me, but in the presence of one of my warders. This hath been a great trouble and distraction unto me, but I hope God of his infinite mercy will pardon my defects, and accept of my good intentions.

"Since my long imprisonment, I have considered often, what could be the original cause of my being thus accused, since I knew myself not culpable, so much as in a thought; and I cannot believe it to be upon any other account than my being of the church of Rome. I have no reason to be ashamed of my religion, for it teacheth nothing but the right worship of God, obedience to the king, and due subordination to the temporal laws of the kingdom. And I do submit to all articles of faith believed and taught in the Catholic church, believing them to be most consonant to the word of God. And whereas it hath so much and often been objected, That the church holds that sovereign princes, excommunicated by the pope, may, by their subjects, be deposed or murdered: As to the murder of princes, I have been taught as a matter of faith in the Catholic church, that such doctrine is diabolical, horrid, detestable, and contrary to the law of God, nature, and nations; and as such, from my heart I re