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the Power was then, thought fit to have preferv'd his Life. But fince he was thenceforth to be of. no more use, all he could do, was to wish the Kingdom Happiness and Peace, and to pray that his Blood might be the laft fhould be fhed: And tho' perhaps he had fome Reluctance within himself at the Suffering for this Fact, yet he freely forgave all Men, and carried no Rancour with him to the Grave; but did fubmit to the Will of him who created Heaven and Earth, and himself, a poor finful Creature then fpeaking before him: He conceiv'd it could contribute to no End for him to speak of State Business, of the Government of the Kingdom, or things of that Nature; his own Inclinations had been fill for Peace. He was never an ill Inftrument betwixt the King and his People, nor had he acted to the Prejudice of the Parliament. And as he had not meddled much in thofe Wars, fo he was never wanting in his Prayers to Almighty God for his King's Happiness, and he earnestly prayed God to direct his Majefty (who then reigned) that he might do what fhould tend to his Glory, and the Peace and Happiness of the Kingdoms. He faid he was of the establish'd Religion, which he had profefs'd in his own Country where he was born and bred; but for particular Opinions he was not rigid, he knew many godly Men had Scruples about divers things, wherein he had never concern'd himself; nor did Difference of Opinion (which was never more than at this time) move him. His own was clear. He pray'd the Lord to forgive him his Sins, as he freely forgave even thofe againft whom he had the greatest Grounds of Animofity, remembring that Prayer, Forgive us our Trefpaffes, as we forgive them that trefpafs against us.

He difcover'd a great Composure by his Looks and Manner of Expreffion; and when he was defir'd to change the Pofture he stood in, fince the Sun fhin'd full in his Face: He answer'd presently, no, it would not burn it; and he hoped to fee a brighter Sun than that very speedily.

After the Duke had done fpeaking, he call'd for the Executioner, and defir'd to know how he fhould fit his Body for the Blow, and told him his Servants would give him Satisfaction. Then he called to his Servants, and commanded them to remember him kindly to divers of his Friends in England, particularly to his Mother-in-law, the Countefs of Denbigh, to whom he had ever paid a filial Respect, and to the old Countess of Devonfhive: He bid them tell her fhe would no more queftion his Loyalty (which he had done fometimes in Raillery) fince he was now to feal it with his Blood: Then he kneel'd down and prayed, after which Dr. Sibbald entertain'd him with fome pious Difcourfes; then the Duke pray'd a hort Prayer himself, and with a chearful Counte'nance embrac'd the Doctor, and faid, Truly I bless God I do not fear, I have an Affurance that is grounded here (laying his Hand on his Heart) that gives me more true Foy than ever I had. I pass out of a miferable World, to go to an eternal and glorious Kingdom; and tho' I have been a moft finful Creature, yet -I know God's Mercy is infinite; and 1 blefs my God I go with fo clear a Confcience, that I know not the Man I have perfonally injur'd. Then embracing his Servants, he said to every one of them, You have been very faithful to me, the Lord bless you. He turn'd next to the Executioner, and after he had obferv'd how he fhould lay his Body, he told him he was to fay a fhort Prayer to his God while he lay all along, and fhould give a Sign by ftretching out his right Hand, and then he was to do his Duty;

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whom he freely forgave, as he did all the World. And then he ftretched himfelf out on the Ground, and having plac'd his Head right, he lay a little while praying, with great Appearance of Devotion and then gave the Sign Upon which the Executioner, at one Blow, fever'd his Head from his Body, which was receiv'd in a Crimson Taffety. Scarf by two of his Servants, kneeling by him, and was, together with his Body, immediately put in a Coffin, which was ready on the Scaffold, and from thence convey'd to a House in the Meufe, from whence it was, according to the Orders he had given, fent down by Sea to Scotland, and inter'd in the Burial-place of his Family.

The CHARACTER of JAMES Duke of HAMILTON, &c. taken from Dr. BURNET'S Memoirs.

Thus lived and died James, Duke of Hamilton, who was born at Hamilton the 19th of June, 1606. His Parents were James, Marquefs of Hamilton, and Lady Anne Cunningham, Daughter to the Earl of Glencairn. He was of a middle Stature, his Body well-fhap'd, and his Limbs proportion'd and strait; in his laft Years he incliu'd to Fatnefs; his Complexion and Hair were Black, but his Countenance was pleafant, and full of Life, and fhewed a great Sweetnefs of Difpofition; his Health was regular, fuitable to his Diet, and free of Sickness or Pain, only in his laft Years he was a little fubject to the Stone: But when his Body was open'd, all his Inwards were found found and entire; fo that had not that fatal Stroke brought his Days to a too early Period, he might proba bly have been very long liv'd.

At the time of his Father's coming to Court, the Duke of Buckingham (being then in great Favour with King James, and defiring to ftrengthen his Family with noble Alliances) agreed a Marriage betwixt him and the Lady Mary Feilding, Daughter to William, Earl of Denbigh, and the Lady SuJanna Villiers, Sifter to the Duke of Buckingham; upon which his Father fent for him to Court, to be married, when he himself was fourteen Years of Age, and the Lady defign'd for him but feven. This broke off the Courfe of Studies, in which he had been educated till then in Scotland: And thol he was fent afterwards to the University of Oxford, yet the Interruption that his Stay at Court put to his Education in Letters, was fuch, that he never recover'd it. After the Years of confummating the intended Marriage were come, he was forc'd to it, not without great Averfion, occafion'd partly by the Difproportion of their Ages, and partly by fome other fecret Confide

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He lived with his Lady for fome Years in no good Terms, and that concurring with other Motives, made him leave the Court upon his Father's Death But her excellent Qualities did afterwards overcome that Averfion into as much Affection as he was capable of. She died the 10th of May, in the Year 1638, and left her Lord, a moft fad and afflicted Perfon: And tho' his Spirit was too great to dink under any Burden, yet all his Life after he remembred her with much tender Affection. She died indeed in a good time for her own Repofe, when her Lord was beginning to engage in the Affairs of Scotland, which provid fo fatal both to his Quiet and Life.

But the Distractions of the following Years concurring with the affectionate Remembrance of his Lady, which rather increas'd than abated with

Time; kept him from the Thoughts of re-engaging in a married Life. Neither did the Death of his Sons fhake him from that Purpofe, fince he had fo noble a Succeffor fecured for his Family in the Perfon of his Brother; and next to him he had two Daughters, who were dear to him, far beyond the ordinary Rate of Children, on whom he got his Dignity and Fortune entail'd, in cafe his Brother died without Sons.

His Religion was Proteftant and reform'd; and as he was a zealous Enemy to Popery, fo he was no lefs earnest for a good Correfpondence among all the reformed Churches, in particular betwixt the Lutherans and Calvinifts, and therefore was a great Patron and Promoter of the Designs of Mr. Dury, who beftow'd fo much of his Travel, and fo many of his Years in driving on that defir'd Union: For I find by many of Dury's Letters to him, that as he owed a great Part of his Subfiftence to the Money and Places were procured for him by the Duke, both from the King and my Lord of Canterbury; fo his beft Addrefles to the Swedish Court, and the Princes of Germany, were thofe he had from him; and therefore he continued, giving him an Account of his Succefs, as to his Patron and Benefactor.

As for our unhappy Differences which have divided this Ifland, he judg'd neither the one nor the other worth the Blood was fhed in the Quarrel; and the Excefs he had feen on both Hands, cured him from being a Zealot for either. He was diflatisfied with the Courfes fome of the Bifhops had follow'd before the Troubles began, and could not but impute their first Rife to the Provocations had been given by them: But he was no lefs offended with the violent Spirits of most of the Covenanters, and particularly with their Oppofition to Royal Authority. As long