CHAPTER X.

Dr. Morley's account of Lord Capell's last hours

Lord Capell's last letters to his Wife His demeanour on the scaffold He addresses

the people He is beheaded

King

His feeling of loyalty towards the

Alleged fondness of the English people for judicial murders Conduct of the High Court of Justice in Lord Capell's case.

LORD Capell's conduct during the few hours of existence that now remained to him was in perfect harmony with the rest of his life. The same undoubting conviction of the rectitude of his cause-the same unbroken spirit in declaring his opinion-the same forgetfulness of self and thoughtfulness for others-the same lofty courage in encountering death-the same deep humility in bowing to the will of Heaven.

The prisoners were removed after their sentence to St. James's House in the Park, and it was there that Dr. Morley visited Lord Capell and administered to him such consolations as the ordinances of religion and the prayers and conversation of so good a man could afford, during the short time that intervened between his condemnation and execution. An account of these interviews was written by Dr. Morley "when the " events were fresh in his mind." That account has happily been preserved. It is in Dr. Morley's own words that these interesting and affecting details are best related.

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Bishop Morley's Account of the Manner of the Death of the Right Honourable Arthur Lord Capell, who was beheaded by the Rebels, March the 9th, 1649.'

"I went often to visit the Right Honourable the Lord Capell a little before his dath, whilst he was a prisoner in St. James's House in the Park, and always found him in such a temper as became an innocent and well-resolved person.

"The night before he was to suffer, he told me he had a great desire to receive the sacrament before his death, if he might receive it from a minister of the King's party, and according to the Liturgy of the Church of England; but said withal, be feared no such person as he could receive it from could give it him without endangering himself, and that he was loth to endanger any man. I replied I knew not what danger there might be in doing that Christian office to a dying man; but was resolved (if he pleased to take it from my hands) to venture anything that could come of it rather than his Lordship should die without that satisfaction. He seemed to be, and no doubt was, very glad of this offer of mine, and gave me many thanks for it, desiring me that (without losing any more of the little time he had left) I would confer and pray with him in order to his preparation for receiving the Holy Sacrament next morning. I did so; and found that he could not accuse himself of any great known sin, committed against the light of his own conscience, but one only-and that was the giving his vote in Parliament for the death of my Lord of Strafford; which (said he) I did against my conscience, not out of any malice to the person of the man, but out of a base fear (they were his own words), and carried away with the violence of a prevailing faction, and for which (said he) I have been and am heartily

1 From the original paper of that Bishop's own writing, in the possession of the present Earl of Essex. This paper was communicated to J. B. Howell, Esq., editor of the State Trials, by the late Earl of Essex, 1809.

sorry, and have often with tears begged, and (I hope) obtained, pardon of Almighty God; adding that (if I thought it necessary or fit) he would confess this great and scandalous sin of his, together with the cause of it, openly upon the scaffold, to God's glory and his own shame; which I telling him I thought it would be ingenuously and Christianly done of him to do, he did accordingly the next morning.

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Then, having prayed again with him, I left him for that night in a most Christian temper to his own devout meditations. “The next morning (at the hour agreed on between us, which was between 6 and 7) I came to him again and found him ready to receive me. We went into a chamber alone together, where, after some spiritual conference suitable to the present occasion, I first prayed with him and then he prayed himself with very great zeal and fervour, and for others as well as for himself; nay, for his enemies as well as for his friends, but especially for the King, the kingdom, and the Church. And all this with such apt and unaffected expressions, and in so regular a method, that one might easily perceive that prayer was a thing he had so often exercised that it was grown habitual to him.

"Having thus prepared himself, he did, with great humility and devotion, receive the Holy Sacrament, together with the Earl of Norwich and Sir John Owen, who were condemned to suffer with him, but are yet (thanks be to God) both living, and will live, I hope, to see justice done upon those who did condemn them.

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Having received the Sacrament, and being much comforted by it (as finding in himself all the gracious effects of it), he was presently put to the trial of his spiritual strength, by taking his leave of the nearest and dearest relations that can be betwixt flesh and blood, and the strongest ties that a noble nature can have unto the world. For that excellent lady his wife and his eldest son, together with two of his uncles, and his nephew Sir Thomas Corbett, came all into the room at once (as being not

permitted to do it severally), and at once assaulted him (as it were) with such passionate looks, gestures, and words, bemoaning and bewailing him and themselves (his lady especially) with such sweet and tender expressions of love, sorrow, and pity, that the greatest natural courage in the world must needs have been shaken with it, had it not been supported (as his was) with more than human strength and firmness. I am sure it was the saddest sight that ever I saw; and such a one as even that great courage of his could not choose but be a little softened and melted with it; but he quickly recollected himself, and then, with a cheerful countenance, told his wife and the rest that he and they must all submit, not only with patience, but cheerfulness, to the Divine Providence, which, no doubt, had and would order all things so as should be best for him and them too, though, perhaps, it did not yet appear to them to be so. Then, having recommended the care of his children and servants unto his lady, he commanded both her and his son, as they loved him, to forgive his enemies; and though' (said he unto his son) I would not have you neglect any honourable and just occasion to serve your King and country with the hazard of your life and fortune, yet I would have you to engage yourself (as I, thanks be to God for it! have done) neither out of desire of revenge, nor hope of reward, but out of a conscience of your duty only. My land' (said he) 'was so settled upon you by your grandfather, that no pretence of crime in me can deprive you of it. The best legacy I can leave you is my prayers for you and a verse of David's Psalms, which I command you upon my blessing to make a part of your daily prayers, as I have always made it a part of mine, viz. “Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path," Ps. xxvii. 11. For I have always loved plainness and clearness both in my words and actions, and abhorred all doubling and dissimulation, and so I would have you to do also.' Then he gave him his blessing; and having embraced his uncles and nephew, he took his last leave of them all, not without some tears on his

part, as well as many of theirs. His poor lady, being not able to support such a weight of grief, did sink under it, and was fain to be carried out from him. As soon as all were gone, and none left in the room but he and I, 'Well, doctor' (said he), the hardest thing that I had to do here in this world is now past, the parting with this poor woman; let us now again to our main concernment. I believe' (said he) 'I shall be called upon presently to go to the place where I am to take my leave of all the rest of the world, and, I thank my God, I find myself very well disposed to it and prepared for it.' And then he told me he was in good hope that when he came to die he should have nothing else to do but to die only. For' (said he), when I am upon the scaffold, having made a confession of my faith, and said something in honour of my master that was, and for the service of my master that now is, I will only repeat the Lord's Prayer upon my knees, and then lay my head upon the block, desiring the executioner that, upon the stretching forth of my right hand (which shall be in the very act of recommending my soul to my Saviour), he would instantly do his office.' And then he showed me the heads of what he meant to speak off, written with his own hand, which, after he had made use of, he gave unto his servant, just as he laid himself down to receive the stroke, and commanded him to deliver that paper unto me as soon as he was dead, which he did accordingly. We had scarce made an end of reading this paper when Lieutenant-Colonel Beecher, the officer appointed to convey him and the other condemned Lords, with Sir John Owen, to the place of execution, knocked at the door and told him it was time for his Lordship to go, whose summons he very readily and cheerfully obeyed.

Presently afterward Duke Hamilton, the Earl of Holland, the Earl of Norwich, and he, together with Sir John Owen, were carried through St. James's Park in sedans, to Sir Robert Cotton's house, beyond the upper end of Westminster Hall, where they were all put into one room, and stayed there at least