be a happy and glorious Nation again, and that your King may be an happy King in fo good and fo obedient a People; God Almighty keep you all, God Almighty preferve this Kingdom, God Almighty preferve you all.

Then he call'd for the Executioner, to whom he gave five Pounds, and faid, I not only forgive thee from my Soul, but defire God to give thee Grace for a better Employment. And having ftood ftill a while, he faid, God Almighty ftanch this Blood, God Almighty stanch, ftanch, ftanch, this Iffue of Blood, this will not do the Buffness, God Almighty find out another way to do it. Having taken leave of his Friends and Servants, he betook himself to his Prayers; and upon a Sign given, the Executioner fever'd his Head from his Body.

His FAMILY,

The Lord Capel was Son and Heir of Sir Arthur Capel of Hadham-Hall in Hertfordshire (defcended from Sir William Capel, Lord Mayor of London, Anno 1504, 20 Hen. VII.) He was advanced to the Dignity of Baron of the Realm, by the Title of Lord Capel of Hadham, Anno 1641, 17 Car. I. He put himself in Arms, and raifed fome Troops of Horfe for his Majesty's Service, at his own Charge, during the Rebellion. The King being a Prifoner in the Isle of Wight, he' endeavour'd, with what Strength he could raise, to rescue him; but miscarrying, fuffer'd Death for the glorious Attempt. Coll. Hift. Diet,

Nothing can better difcover the Sedatenefs and Compofure of this Gentleman's Mind, when he was about to lay his Head upon the Block, than the Dialogue between his Lordship and the Executioner, which was prov'd at Hulet's Tryal, part whereof is hereafter inferted, viz.

Lord Capel, Was't thou the Man that cut off the King my Master's Head? Ex

Executioner. Yes, God forgive me, and this was the Ax.

Then the Lord Capel took the Ax and kiss'd it. Lord Capel. And, Sirrah, wer't thou not afraid?

Executioner. They made me cut it off, and gave me thirty Pounds for my Pains. See Tryals of the Regicides, Fol. Ed. Vol. I. p. 913. 8vo Ed. P. 750.

Lord CAPEL'S CHARACTER.

His Death, fays the Lord Clarendon, depriv'd the Nation of the nobleft Champion it had. He was a Man in whom the Malice of his Enemies could difcover very few Faults, and whom his Friends could not wifh better accomplish'd; whom Cromwell's own Character well defcrib'd, and who, indeed, would never have been contented to live under that Government. His Memory all Men lov'd and reverenc'd, tho' few follow'd his Example; he had always liv'd in a State of great Plenty and general Eftimátion, having a very noble Fortune of his own by Defcent, and a fair Addition to it by his Marriage, with an excellent Wife, a Lady of very worthy Extraction, of great Virtue and Beauty, by whom he had a numerous Iffue of both Sexes, in which he took great Joy and Comfort; fo that no Man was more happy in all his Domeftick Affairs; and he was fo much the more happy, in that he thought himself moft bleffed in them.

And yet the King's Honour was no fooner violated, and his in Power invaded, than he threw at thofe Bleffings behind him; and having no other Obligations to the Crown, than those which his Honour and Confcience fuggefted to him, he frankly engag'd his Perfon and his For

tune,

tune, from the Beginning of the Troubles, as many others did, in all Actions and Enterprizes of the greatest Hazard and Danger, and continued to the End without ever making one falfe Step, as few others did, though he had once, by the Iniquity of a Faction that then prevail'd, an Indignity put upon him, that might have excus'd him for fome Remiffion of his former Warmth. But it made no other Impreffion upon him, than to be quiet and contented, whilft they would let him alone, and with the fame Cheerfulness to obey the first Summons when he was call'd out, which was quickly after.

In a Word, he was a Man, that whoever fhall after him deferve beft of the English Nation, he can never think himfelf undervalued, when he fhall hear that his Courage, Virtue and Fidelity, are laid in the Ballance with, and compar'd to thofe of my Lord Capel. Clar. Hift. Vol. 3. p. 273.

LILBURNE'S CHARACTER, who was kim try'd Anno 1649.

OHN Lilburne, before the Troubles, was a poor Bookbinder, and for procuring fome feditious Pamphlets, against the Church and State, to be printed and difperfed, was feverely fentenc'd by the Star-Chamber, and receiv'd a fharp Caftigation, which made him fill more obftinate and malicious against the Government: And, as he afterwards confefs'd, in the Melancholy of his Imprisonment, and by reading the Book of Martyrs, he rais'd in himself a marvellous Inclination and Appetite to fuffer in the Defence, or for the Vindication of any opprefs'd Truth, and found himfelf very much confirm'd in that Spirit; and in that time diligently collected and read all thofe Libels and Books which had antiently, as well as lately been

written

written against the Church; from whence, with their Venom, he had likewife contracted the Impudence and Bitterness of their Stile; and, by Practice, brought himself to the Faculty of writing like them : And fo when that Licence broke in, of printing all that Malice and Wit could fuggeft, he publish'd fome Pamphlets in his own Name, full of that Confidence and Virulency, which might afperse the Government moft, to the Senfe of the People, and to their Humour. When the War began, he put himself into the Army, and was taken Prifoner by the King's Forces in that Engagement at Brentford, fhortly after the Battle of Edge-bill; and being then a Man much known and talk'd of for his Qualities above-mention'd, he was not fo well treated in Prifon as was like to reconcile him; and being brought before the Chief Juftice to be tried for Treafon by a Commiffion of Oyer and Terminer (in which Method the King intended then to have proceeded against the Rebels which fhould be taken) he behav'd himself with fo great Impudence in extolling the Power of the Parliament, that it was manifeft he had an Ambition to have been made a Martyr for that Caufe. But as he was liberally fupplied from his Friends at London, (and the Parliament in exprefs Terms declar'd that they would inflict Punishment upon the Prifoners they had of the King's Party, in the fame manner as Lilburne and the reft fhould fuffer at Oxford) fo he did find Means to corrupt the Marshal who had the Cuftody of him, and made his Escape into the Parliament Quarters; where he was receiv'd with publick Joy, as a Champion that had defy'd the King in his own Court. From this time he was entertain'd by Cromwell with great Familiarity, and in his Contests with the Parliament was of much Ufe to him, and Privacy with

him. But he began then to find him of fo reftlefs and unruly a Spirit, and to make thofe Advances in Religion against the Presbyterians, before he thought it seasonable; that he difpens'd with his Presence in the Army, where he was an Officer of Name, and made him refide in London, where he wifh'd that Temper fhould be improv'd. And when the Parliament was fo much offended with his feditious Humour, and the Pamphlets he publish'd every Day in Religion, with Reflections upon their Proceedings, that they refolv'd to profecute him with great Vigour (towards which the Af fembly of Divines, which he had likewise provok'd, contributed their Defire and Demand) Cromwell writ a very paffionate Letter to the Parliament, that they would not fo much discourage their Army, that was fighting for them, as to cenfure an Officer of it for his Opinion in Point of Confcience, for the Liberty whereof, and to free themselves from the Shackles in which the Bishops would enflave them, that Army had been principally rais'd.

Upon which all further Profecution against Lilburne was declin'd at that time, tho' he declin'd not the further Provocation, and continu'd to make the Proceedings of the Parliament as odious as he could. But from the time that Cromwell had difpers'd that Parliament, and was in effect in Poffeffion of the Sovereign Power, Lilburne withdrew his Favour for him, and thought him now an Enemy worthy of his Difpleafure, and both in Difcourfes and Writings, in Pamphlets and Invectives, loaded him with all the Afperfions of Hypocrify, Lying and Tyranny, and all other Imputations and Reproaches, which either he deferv'd, or the Malice or Bitterness of the other's Nature could fuggeft to him, to make him the most univerfally odious, that a faithlefs perjur'd Perfon could be.

Cromwell