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find evidence, or reason, to induce me to be-willing should be tried, and for things, which

lieve, that there was any farther design in the thing itself, or that the king gave farther countenance to it, I should not at all conceal it. No man can imagine, that if the king could have entertained any probable hope of reducing London, which was the fomenter, supporter, and indeed the life of the war, or could have found any expedient, from whence he could reasonably propose to dissolve, scatter, and disperse those who, under the name of a parliament, had kindled a war against him, but he would have given his utmost assistance, and countenance thereunto, either by public force, or private contrivance.

"There were very great endeavours used, to have proceeded with equal severity against the earl of Portland, and the lord Conway, (for the accusation of the earl of Northumberland, it was proceeded tenderly in; for though the violent party was heartily incensed against him, as a man weary of them, yet his reputation was still very great), who were both close prisoners; and, to that purpose, their lordships and Mr. Waller were confronted before the committee, where they as peremptorily denying, as he charging them, and there being no other witness but he against them, the prosecution was rather let alone than declined, till after a long restraint they procured enlargement upon bail. Mr. Waller himself, (though confessedly the most guilty; and by his unhappy demeanour, in this time of his affliction, he had raised as many enemies as he had formerly friends, and almost the same) after he had, with incredible dissimulation, acted such a remorse of conscience, that his trial was put off out of Christian compassion, till he might recover his understanding, (and that was not, till the heat, and fury of the prosecutors, was reasonably abated with the sacrifices they had made), and, by drawing visitants to himself, of] the most powerful ministers of all factions, had, by his liberality, and penitence, his receiving vulgar and vile sayings from them with humility, and reverence, as clearer convictions and informations than in his life he had ever had; and distributing great sums to them for their prayers, and ghostly counsel; so satisfied them, that they satisfied others; was brought, at his suit, to the house of commons' bar; where, (being a man in truth very powerful in language; and who, by what he spoke and in the manner of speaking it, exceedingly captivated the good will and benevolence of his hearers; which is the highest part of an orator) with such flattery, as was most exactly calculated to that meridian, with such a submission, as their pride took delight in, and such dejection of mind, and spirit, as was like to cozen the major part, and be thought serious; he laid before them their own danger, and 'concernment; if they should suffer one of 'their own body, how unworthy and monstrous soever, to be tried by the soldiers, who might thereby grow to that power hereafter, that 'they would both try those, they would not be

they would account no crimes; the inconvenience, and insupportable mischief whereof, all wise common-wealths had foreseen, and prevented, by exempting their own members from all judgment but their own:' He prevailed, not to be tried by a council of war; and thereby preserved his dear bought life; so that, in truth, he does as much owe the keeping his head to that oration, as Catiline did the loss of his to those of Tully: and by having done ill very well, he, by degrees, drew that respect to his parts, which always carries some compassion to the person, that he got leave to compound for his transgression, and them to accept of 10,000l. (which their affairs wanted) for his liberty; whereupon he had leave to recollect himself in another country, for his liberty was to be in banishment, how miserable he had made himself, in obtaining that leave to live out of his own. And there cannot be a greater evidence of the inestimable value of his parts, than that he lived, after this, in the good affection and esteem of many, the pity of most, and the reproach and scorn of few, or none.'

Whitelocke, speaking of the access to the King, of the Parliament's Commissioners in the late treaty at Oxford, says January 28, 1642-3. All of them kissed his hand, not as they were ranked in the Safe Conduct, but according to their several degrees. Mr. Pierpoint before the knights, he being an earl's son, and Mr. Winwood before Mr. Whitelocke, he being the eldest knight's son; and Mr. Waller was the last. The king said to him though you are the last, yet you are not the worst, nor the least in my favour.' The discovery of a Plot then in band in London, to betray the Parliament, wherein Mr. Waller was engaged with Challoner, Tomkins, and others, which was then in agitation, did manifest the king's courtship to Mr. Waller to be for that service."—Afterwards he says, " June began with the arraignment of Waller, a mem ber of the house of commons, Tomkins, Challoner, and others, for conspiring to surprize the city militia, and some members of parlia ment, and to let in the king's forces, to surprize the city, and dissolve the parliament.Waller, a very ingenious man, was the principal actor and contriver of this Plot, which was in design when he and the other commissioners were at Oxford with the Parliament's Propositions. And that, being then known to the king, occasioned him to speak the words to Waller when he kissed his hand, (though you are the last, yet you are not the worst, nor the least in our favour') as is before remembered. When he was examined touching this Plot, he was asked whether Selden, Pierpoint, Whitelocke, and others by name, were acquainted with it: he answered, That they were not,' but that he did come one evening to Selden's study, where Pierpoint and Whitelocke then were with Selden, on purpose to impart it to them all, and speaking of such a thing in general terms, those gentlemen did so

inveigh against any such thing, as treachery and baseness, and that which might be the occasion of shedding much blood. That, he said he durst not, for the awe and respect which he had for Selden, and the rest, communicate any of the particulars to them; but was almost disheartened himself to proceed in it. They were all upon their Trial condemned, Tomkins and Challoner only were hanged, Waller bad a reprieve from general Essex, and after a year's imprisonment, he paid a fine of 10,000l. was pardoned, and travelled into France."

Doctor Johnson in his Life of Waller informs ns, that "he stayed some time at Roan, where his daughter Margaret was born, who was afterwards his favourite, and his amanuensis. He then removed to Paris, where he lived with great splendor and hospitality; and from time to time amused himself with poetry, in which he sometimes speaks of the rebels, and their usurpation, in the natural language of an honest man. At last it became necessary, for his support, to sell his wife's jewels; and being reduced, as he said, at last to the rump-jewel, he solicited from Cromwell permission to return, and obtained it by the interest of colonel Scroop, to whom his sister was married. Upon the remains of a fortune, which the danger of his life had very much diminished, he lived at Hall-barn, a house built by himself, very near Beaconsfield, where his mother resided. His mother, though related to Cromwell and Hampden, was zealous for the royal cause, and when Cromwell visited her, used to reproach him; he, in return, would throw a napkin at her, and say he would not dispute with his aunt : but finding in time that she acted for the king, as well as talked, he made her a prisoner to her own daughter, in her own house. If he would do any thing he could not do less. Cromwell, now protector, received Waller, as his kinsman, to a familiar conversation. Waller, as he used to relate, found him sufficiently versed in ancient history; and, when any of his enthusiastic friends came to advise or consult him, could sometimes overhear him discoursing in the cant of the times; but when he returned, he would say, Cousin Waller, I must talk to these men in their own way :' and resumed the common style of conversation."

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cerned in the plot of 1643 against the parliament, is in lord Wharton's papers in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.'

Sir; If you be pleased to remember what your poor neighboure has been, or did knowe what his heart now is, you might perhaps be inclined to contribute something to his vation. I hearde of your late being in towne, preserbut am so closely confined, that I knowe not 'how to present my humble serviss and request 6 unto you. Alas, Sir! what should I say 'for myself! Unless your own good-nature ' and proneness to compassion incline you towards me, I can use no argument, having deserved so ill; and yet, it is possible you may remember, I have heretofore done something better, when God blest me so as to take you

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and my dear cosen (your late friend now with God) for my example. Sir, as you succeed him in the general hopes of your country, so do you likewise in my particular hope. I knowe you would not willingly have that fall out, which he (if alive) would have wished otherwise. Be not offended (I beseech you) if I put you in minde what you were plesed to say to your servant, when the life of that worthy person was in danger, in a noble cause as anye is now in the country. You asked me then, if I were content my kinsman's blood should be spilt: and truly I thinke you found not by my words only, but my actions also, 6 my earnest desire to preserve and defend him, having had the honour to be employed among those who persuaded the shreves (the sheriff's) with the trayned bands to protect him and the rest in the same danger, to the house. As 'then you were pleased to remember I was of 'his bloode, so I beseech you forget it not now, and then I shall have some hopes of your 'favour. Sir, my first request is, that you will 'be nobly pleased to use your interest with Dr. Dorislaus, to shew me what lawful favour be may in the trya!l; and if I am forfeited to jusItice, that you will please to incline my Lord General to graut me his pardon. Your interest, both with his excellence, and in the house, is very great: but I will not direct your wisdome which way to favour me: only give me leave to assure you, that (God with his grace assisting the resolution he has given me) you shall never have cause to repent the saving a life which I shall make haste to render you again in the cause you maintain, and express, myself during all the life you shall

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Mr. Seward in the second volume of his lengthen,' "Anecdotes," p. 135, says, "The original of the following letter of Mr. Waller to colonel 'Godwin, when he was accused of being con

Sir,

Your most humble, faithful, and
' obedient Servant,

EDMUND WALLER.'

God in his heart, nor considering his duty or allegiance, but being seduced by the instiga tion of the devil, intending altogether to withdraw, blot out, and extinguish the cordial love and due obedience which faithful subjects owe to their sovereign; did, on the 20th of October, 17 Car. at Dublin in Ireland, in the parts beyond the seas, and at divers other times, both before and after, as well at Dublin as elsewhere, falsely, maliciously, and traitorously

175. The Trial of CONNOR Lord MACGUIRE,* at the King's-Bench, for High Treason, in being concerned in the Irish Massacre:† 20 CHARLES I. A. D. 1645. ON Monday the 11th of November 1644, the prisoner was brought to the bar of the King's Bench to be arraigned; By the Indictment he was charged, That he, together with sir Phil. O-Neale, Philip O-Kelly, Roger Moore, esq. Roger Macguire, esq. Toole O-Coule, clerk, being a Roman priest, Hugh Macmahune, and divers other persons, false traitors, unknown; as a false traitor against the king's majesty, his supreme liege lord, not having the fear of * This Macguire was one principally de-land, they continued there in custody till Sasigned for the surprizal of the Castle of Dub-turday the 17th of August 1644. And then lin, and the securing or murdering the Lords, Justices and Council, for which intent he came purposely to Dublin the day before; but the Plot being detected that night, he fled disguised from his usual lodgings at one Nevil's, a chirurgeon in Castle-street, and secretly hid himself at one Ker's, a taylor in Cook-street, where he was found in a cock-loft by John Woodcock, one of the sheriffs of Dublin, standing with his cloak wrapt about him in an obscure place, in which posture he was apprehended and brought before the Lords Justices and Council, where he made some sort of a Confession, upon which he was committed prisoner to the Castle the 23d of October 1641, from whence he was sent into England the 12th of June following, and continued prisoner there till the 18th of August 1644, when he made his escape; but was retaken the 20th of Oct. following. Former edition.

The following is Rushworth's Account: "These gentlemen," (Lord Macguire and Hugh Oge Mac Mahone, esq. who being arraigned with lord Macguire and pleading Not Guilty, and putting himself for trial upon God and his country, was convicted and executed in Nov. 1644), "were two of the principal contrivers of the Irish rebellion, and massacre of the Protestants in that kingdom; and taken upon the first discovery October 22, 1641, at Dublin, being come up thither on purpose to surprize the castle, the next day, the time appointed for the general insurrection; Mac Mahone upon his first apprehension freely confessed, and boldly avowed the Plot; but Macguire would then acknowledge nothing; but on the 26th of March following, being examined before the lord Lambert and sir Robert Meredith, Chancellor of his majesty's Court of Exchequer, he owned and set forth much of the Conspiracy, which examination you have before in the first chapter relating to Ireland. About July, 1642, they were sent over into England, and committed to the Tower, and by means of the multiplicity of affairs wherein the two houses were involved, and the difficulty of having the witnesses against them from Ire

by confederacy with two priests that belonged to the Spanish ambassador, and one Mrs. Leviston over against the New Exchange in the Strand, in whose house the French agent lay, they having got a small steel saw, therewith in the night sawed asunder the door of their chamber, which was above two inches thick, and so with cords got over the Tower-wall, and swam over the ditch; whereupon the parlia ment set forth an order for their apprehension, promising 100l. to any that should bring them in, or either of them, dead or alive; and that whosoever should harbour or relieve them, should be prosecuted as traitors. No news was heard of them till the 19th of September, and then they having got lodgings in a constable' house in Drury-lane, and one of them looking out of the window or balcony to call a woman that cried oysters, it happened at that instant a servant of sir John Clotworthy's espied him, and instantly gave notice to his master and the lieutenant of the Tower, who came and seized them, and carried them back to the Tower; Mrs. Leviston's room was also searched and she taken into custody, but because the French minister had lodgings in her house, to prevent any occasion of offence, a declaration was drawn up to give his most Christian majesty satisfaction touching this affair. This breaking prison put the two houses upon expediting their trial."

Of this shocking and terrific Massacre, May gives the following Account:

"About the end of October, 1641, during the king's abode in Scotland, the most barbarous and bloody rebellion that ever any age, or nation, were guilty of, broke out in Ireland. The atrocity of it is without a parallel; and as full of wonder was the close carriage of so black and far-reaching a design. The innocent Protestants were, upon a sudden, disseized of their estates, and the persons of above two hundred thousand men, women, and children, murdered, many of them with exquisite and unheard-of tortures, within the space of one month.

"That which increased the amazement of most men, was, the consideration that the an

conspire, imagine, and compass utterly to de-kingdom; to change and alter, according to prive and disinherit the king's majesty of his their own wills, the government of the king royal estate and kingdom of Ireland; to bring dom, and the Religion there established, and his majesty's person to death and destruction; totally to subvert the well-ordered state of that to raise sedition, and breed and cause misera- commonwealth; to procure and bring in divers ble slaughter and destruction amongst the king's strangers and foreigners, not being the king's subjects throughout all the whole kingdom; subjects, in a warlike manner to invade that to make an insurrection and rebellion against kingdom of Ireland, and to levy war there. the king his sovereign; to levy public, open, And in execution of these their wicked treabloody, and fierce war against the king in that sons and traitorous conspiracies, 20th Oct. cient hatred, which the Irish, a thing incident dom from being wholly lost in one day, and to conquered nations, had borne to the Eng- that by a means strange and unexpected. Hugh lish, did now seem to be quite buried and for- Mac Mahon, esq. grandson to the famous regotten; forty years of peace had compacted bel Tyrone, a gentleman of a plentiful fortune those two nations into one body, and cemented in the county of Monagan, and one that had them together by all conjunctures of alliance, served in armies under the king of Spain as intermarriages, and consanguinity, which was lieutenant-colonel, a principal agent in this rein outward appearance strengthened by fre- bellion, and coming with others, as aforesaid, quent entertainments, and all kinds of friendly into Dublin the day before that great design neighbourhood. There seemed in many places was to be put in execution, being the 22nd of a mutual transmigration, (as was observed by a October, admitted into his company at a tanoble gentleman, whose place in that kingdom vern in that city, one Owen Conally, of Irish gave him means to know it, out of whose faith- extract, but a Protestant, and servant to sir ful relation of that rebellion and massacre, I John Clotworthy, a member of the English have partly collected my discourse of it), into parliament. To this Owen he revealed so each others manners. Many English strangely much, as they were drinking, that the honest degenerating into the Irish manners and cus man, escaping from him, (though not without toms; and many Irish, especially of the better great danger to himself, at the present) insort, having taken up the English language, formed the lord justice Parsons that night apparel, and decency of living in their private about nine o'clock, of a dangerous design upon houses. The present government was full of the whole kingdom; which being taken into lenity and moderation; and some redress of present consideration, Mac Mahon was appreformer grievances had then been newly granted bended, and, after his examination, the lord by the king to his Irish subjects; the same gen- Maguire also, another principal actor; who tleman in his History of the Irish Rebellion, were both committed to close custody, and the where the reader may more fully inform him- castle secured with all diligence. But many self of particulars, affirms, that he could never conspirators of great note escaped that night hear of any one Englishman that received any out of Dublin, as Birne, More, Plunket, and certain notice of this conspiracy, till that very others. evening before which it was to be put in execution. Some intimations had been given by sir William Cole, in a letter to the lords justices sir William Parsons and sir John Burlace, with the rest of the council, concerning dangerous resorts, and meetings of some persons who were judged fit instruments for such a mischief.

"This horrid Plot, contrived with so much secrecy, was to take effect upon the 23rd of October. The castle of Dublin, the chief strength of that kingdom, and principal magazine of the king's arms and ammunition, where all those arms which were taken from the late disbanded Irish army, and others which the earl of Strafford had provided, were deposited, was to be seized by nine o'clock that day by the rebels; to which purpose many of the Irish gentry of great quality were the night before come to Dublin, to be in readiness for the performing of that exploit. It was further agreed among those conspirators, that upon the same day, all other his majesty's forts and magazines of arms and ammunition in that kingdom should be surprized, and all Protestants and English that would not join with them, should be cut off. But it pleased God to prevent the seizure of that castle, and so to save the king

"The lords of the council, amazed at the discovery of so horrid a treason, did, notwithstanding, endeavour (since there was no prevention; for Mac Mahon had plainly told them, when he was examined, that by that time all the counties of Ireland were risen), to use the best remedies to that desperate disease; and hoping that perchance the news how the plot for seizing of Dublin castle was disappointed, might somewhat dishearten the conspirators in remote parts, and encourage the good subjects with more confidence to stand upon their guard; issued forth a Proclamation presently, and by careful messengers spread it into as many parts of the kingdom as they could. The effect of which proclamation was to signify the discovery of the treason, and exhort all men to their duty in suppressing of it.

But the general design was past prevention; and that very day came in some poor English Protestants, and others in a short time, every day, and almost every hour; shewing how they had been robbed, their houses surprised by the rebels, whose outrage daily increased in rapine and murdering, and firing towns and villages in divers counties. To oppose therefore the growth of that desperate

17 Car. the defendant Connor Macquire, at | Macmahune, Phil. O'Neale, Phil. O'Relly, Dublin, and divers other times and places, Roger Moore, Roger Macguire, and Toole by one Toole O'Coule, and divers other mes- O'Coule the priest, 20 Oct. 17 Car. at Dublin, sengers, by him sent to Owen O'Neale, being and divers other times and places in Ireland, then in Flanders, did move and incite Phil. before and after, did traitorously conspire to O-Neale to levy and raise an ariny in Flanders, enter into, seize, get into their own power, and and thence to bring that army over into Ireland surprize the king's castle at Dublin, and all in an hostile manner, to invade that kingdom. other the king's castles and forts in that kingAnd further to put in execution their traitorous dom, and the magazine therein. And at the purposes, the defendant, together with Hugh same time unlawfully and traitorously did endeamalady, the lords justices, dispatching letters creased by the charmings of their priests, who to the king in Scotland, and the earl of Lei- told them, that it was a mortal sin to protect, cester, lately made lieutenant of Ireland by the or relieve, any of the English. king, and yet resident at London, of their lamentable condition, examined with all diligence how they were provided for such a war. They found in Dublin stores, arms for 10,000, with artillery, powder, match and lead proportionable, laid in by the late earl of Strafford, though designed by him another way, yet reserved by God's providence for this service. But the officers and soldiers of the old standing army were so much dispersed into remote places of the kingdom for the guard of other forts, that there was scarce any possibility of drawing a considerable company together to defend Dublin, or make head against the reDels in the north. The greatest mischief to the state, and advantage to the rebels, was, that there was no money in the Excheoter; besides, the king's revenues, and rents of English gentlemen due for that half year, were either in tenants', or collectors' hands in the country, and must unavoidably fall into the rebels' power; so that although their disease were present, the only means of cure was remote, which was a dependence upon some supplies from the parliament of England.

"Upon the very day designed for surprisal of the castle at Dublin, the 23rd of October, the northern rebels broke out in the province of Ulster, and in a few days got possession of so many towns, forts, and gentlemen's houses, within the counties of that province, as might scem almost incredible, if we consider only the chief actors, men of no great skill in martial affairs, or any policy: such as sir Phelim Oneale, and his brother, with the rest; and not rather, which indeed was the true reason, the general engagements of the Irish, and their deep dissimulation, concurring with the great credulity of the English, upon the causes aforementioned, of so long intermixed cohabitation, and friendly relations betwixt them. Both these were the causes which afterward encreased the massacre of the English, who when the fire brake out, implored the friendship of their Irish neighbours, landlords, or tenants; committing into their hands and protection their treasure, wives and children, with all that was dear unto them, in hope that former friendship might prevail. But they generally either betrayed them into the power of other rebels, or perfidiously and cruelly murdered them with their own hands: which extreme falsehood and cruelty in the Irish was thought to be much in

YOL. IV.

"That intermixture of the nations, did also at this sad time, make the English less able to defend themselves, than if they had lived singly by parties of their own. For where the English were able to make any head, or stand upon their guard, though in such an amazement and sudden surprisal, they defended themselves beyond belief, till the Irish, principled by their priests, offered them fair quarter, with assurance of lives and goods, safe conduct, and free passage to what places they pleased; confirming such covenants with deep oaths and protestations, and sometimes their hands and seals. But when they had the deceived English in their power, the soldiers spoiled, stripped, and murdered them at their pleasure. So were many served, as at Armagh by sir Phelim Oneale, and his brother; at Belterbert by Philip Orelley; at Longford, Tullough, and other castles in the county of Fermanagh by other of those rebels. But if the English, who stood to defend their private houses, and so were the more easily cut off, could have deserted their habitations at the first rising, and joined themselves into bodies, they might happily have made a better resistance. Whilst these inhuman cruelties and massacres were acting in miserable Ireland, and daily spreading themselves in every part of that kingdom, many counties in several provinces declaring themselves, and following the barbarous example of those in Ulster, the sad news was brought to the parliament of England.

"The first letters, which before were mentioned, sent from the lords justices upon the 25th of October, were carried, and delivered at London on the last day of that month by Owen O'Conally the happy discoverer of the first plot; with a full information of all particulars, within his knowledge: which by the lords, who were first acquainted with it, was delivered at a conference to the house of commons; who presently ordered, That the house forthwith should be resolved into a committee, to consider the matter offered concerning the rebellion in Ireland, as likewise to provide for the safety of England. By which committee it was agreed that 50,000l. should presently be provided; and that the loan of it should be entreated from the city of London upon public security. 2. That a select committee of both houses be named to consider the affairs of Ireland. 3. That Owen O'Conally, who disce

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