The Bishop of Rome's Letters in Behalf of John Reynard.

BE it known unto all men, to whom this writing shall come, that the bringer hereof, John Reynard, Englishman, a gunner, after he had served captive in the Turks gallics, by the space of fourteen years, at length, through God's help, taking good opportunity, the third of January, slew the keeper of the prison, whom he first struck on the face, together with four and twenty other Turks, by the assistance of his fellow-prisoners, and with two hundred sixty-six Christians (of whose liberty he was the author) launched from Alexandria, and from thence arrived first at Gallipoli, in Candy, and afterwards at Tarento, in Apulia: the written testimony and credit of these things, as also of others, the same John Reynard hath, in publick tables, from Naples.

Some few days since he came to Rome, and is now determined to take his journey to the Spanish court, hoping there to obtain some relief toward his living: wherefore, the poor distressed man humbly beseecheth, and we, in his behalf, do, in the bowels of Christ, desire you, that, taking compassion of his former captivity, and present penury, you do not only freely suffer him to pass throughout all your cities and towns, but also succour him with your charitable alms; the reward whereof you shall, hereafter, most assuredly receive; which, we hope you will afford to him, whom, with tender affection of pity, we commend unto you. At Rome.

Thomas Grolos, Englishman, bishop of Astraphan.

Richard Silleun, prior Angliæ.

Andreas Ludovicus, register to our sovereign lord the Pope; which, for the great credit of the premises, have set my seal to these presents, at Rome, the day and year above written.

Mauricius Clenotus, the governor and keeper of the English hospital in the city.

THE

ARRAIGNMENT AND EXECUTION

OF

THE LATE TRAITORS,

WITH A

RELATION OF THE OTHER TRAITORS,

Which were executed at Worcester, the twenty-seventh of January last past.

London: Printed for Jeffrey Chorlton, and are to be sold at his shop, at the great north door of St. Paul's. 1606. Octavo, containing twenty-eight pages.

The following tract contains a short narrative of the behaviour of these men at the gallows, who were executed for the gun-powder plot, of which I know not whether there is any other Protestant relation, and therefore have preserved this, though not very valuable either for its elegance or decency, for it is writ. ten in a strain of merriment and insult, which the religion, professed by the Author, does not teach.

However, as one extreme is naturally opposed to another, this pamphlet, in which the cause and sufferings of these wretches are treated with scoffs and derision, may be justly placed in contrast against those writings of their own church in which they are reverenced as martyrs. J.-

A brief Discourse upon the Arraignment and Execution of the eight Traitors, Digby, the two Winters, Grant, Rockwood, Keyes, Bates, and Johnson, alias Fawkes, four of which were executed in St. Paul's Church-yard, in London, upon Thursday, being the thirtieth of January; the other four in the old Palace in Westminster, over-against the Parliament-house, upon Friday next following.

NOT

OT to aggravate the sorrow of the living in the shame of the dead, but to dissuade the idolatrously blinded, from seeking their own destruction in the way to damnation, I have here briefly set down a discourse of the behaviour and carriage of the eight persons before named, from the time of their imprisonment, to the instant of their death; the nature of their offence, the little shew of their sorrow, their usage in prison, and their obstinacy to their end. First, for their offence, it is so odious in the ears of all human creatures, that it could hardly be believed, that so many monsters in nature should carry the shapes of men: murther, oh, it is the crying sin of the

world, and such an intended murther, as, had it taken effect, would have made a world to cry; and therefore the horror thereof must needs be hateful to the whole world to hear of it.

Men, that saw them go to their execution, did in a sort grieve to see such proper men, in shape, go to so shameful an end; but the end was proper to men of so improper minds, who, to satisfy a blinded 'conceit, would forget their duties to God and their king, and unnaturally seek the ruin of their native country: they are said to be born unhappy, that are not someway profitable to their country; and then, how accursed are they born, that seek the destruction of the whole kingdom? Papists will perhaps idly say, it was a bloody execution; but, in repect of their desert, in the blood they intended to have shed, it was a merciful punishment: for, if Jezabel, a Queen, for seeking the murther of one private man, was thrown out of a window, and fed upon by dogs: how can these people be thought to be cruelly used, that could intend and practise so horrible a villainy as the death of so gracious a king, queen, and prince, so noble peers, and the ruin of so flourishing a kingdom?

But since my intent is chiefly to make report of the manner of their demeanors, from the prison to the arraignment, and from thence to execution: I will truly set down what I have gathered, touching the same. After their apprehension in the country, and being brought up to London, upon the appearance of their foul treason, before his Majesty's most honourable council, they were, by their commandment, committed to his Majesty's Tower of London, where they wanted nothing, that, in the mercy of a Christian prince, was thought fit, and, indeed, too good for so unchristian offenders.

For in the time of their imprisonment they seemed to feel no part of fear, either of the wrath of God, the doom of justice, or the shame of sin; but, as it were, with seared consciences, senseless of grace, lived as not looking to die, or not feeling the sorrow of ther sins; and now, that no subtle fox, or rather goose, that would fain seem a fox, shall have cause to say or think, that the justice of the law hath not been truly ministered, according to the rules of the Divine will, behold here a true report, as I said before, of their behaviour and carriage, from their apprehension, to their imprisonment, and from condemnation to their execution. In the time of their imprisonment they rather feasted with their sins, than fasted with sorrow for them; were richly apparelled, fared deliciously, and took tobacco out of measure, with a seeming carelessness of their crime, as it were daring the law to pass upon them; but the Almighty, and our most merciful good God, first revealed them. His Majesty's and his council's careful head apprehended them, the law plainly did decipher them, justice gave judgment on them, and death made an end of them; but, to come to their arraignment, and to deliver the manner of their behaviour, after they went from the Tower by water, and came to Westminster, before they came into the hall, they made some half hour's stay, or more, in the Starchamber, whither being brought, and remaining till the court was all ready to hear them, and, according to the law, to give judgment on them, it was strange to note their carriage, even in their very counte

nances: Some hanging down the head, as if their hearts were full of doggedness, and others forcing a stern look, as if they would fear death with a frown, never seeming to pray, except it were by the dozen, upon their beads, and taking tobacco, as if that hanging were no trouble to them; saying little but in commendation of their conceited religion, craving mercy of neither God nor the King for their offences, and making their consciences, as it were, as wide as the world; and, to the very gates of hell, to be the cause of their hellish courses, to make a work meritorious.

Now being come into the hall, and upon the scaffold at the bar, standing to answer to their indictments, they all pleaded not guilty, but were all found guilty. Digby, without craving mercy, or favour, of either God or the King, made only five worldly requests, that his wife might have her jointure, his children the lands intailed by his father, his sisters their legacies in his hand unpaid, his debts paid, and for his death, to be beheaded, and not hanged.

Robert Winter, in like manner, thinking himself already half a saint for his whole villainy, said little to any purpose, that either made shew of sorrow, or sought mercy, but only made a request to the King for mercy towards his brother, in regard of his offence, as he said, through his only persuasion.

His brother said little, but, with a guilty conscience, swallowed up a concealed grief, with little shew of sorrow for that time.

Grant, stubborn in his idolatry, seemed nothing penitent for his villainy, asked little mercy, but, as it were, careless of grace, received the doom of his desert.

The younger Winter said little, but to excuse the foulness of his fact, in being drawn in by his brother, and not of his own plotting, with little talk to little purpose, troubled the time the lesser while.

Rockwood, out of a studied speech, would fain have made his bringing up, and breeding in idolatry, to have been some excuse to his villainy; but a fair talk could not help a foul deed, and therefore, being found guilty of the treason, had his judgment with the rest of the traitors.

Now, after their condemnation and judgment, being sent back to the Tower, there they remained till the Thursday following; upon sledges and hurdles they were drawn into St. Paul's Church-yard, four of them, viz. Everard Digby, the elder Winter, Grant, and Bates, of whom I forgot to speak, having no great matter to speak of, but only that, being a villain, and hoping for advancement by the same, he had the reward of a traitor.

Now these four being drawn to the scaffold, made on purpose for their execution: First went up Digby, a man of a goodly personage, and a manly aspect, yet might a wary eye, in the change of his countenance, behold an inward fear of death, for his colour grew pale and his eye heavy; notwithstanding that he inforced himself to speak, as stoutly as he could, his speech was not long, and to little good purpose, only, that his belied conscience, being, but indeed, a blinded conceit, had led him

That is, fright.

into this offence, which, in respect of his religion, alias, indeed idolatry, he held no offence, but, in respect of the law, he held an offence, for which he asked forgiveness of God, of the King, and the whole kingdom; and so, with vain and superstitious crossing of himself, betook him to his Latin prayers, mumbling to himself, refusing to have any prayers of any, but of the Romish catholicks; went up the ladder, and, with the help of the hangman, made an end of his wicked days in this world.

After him went Winter up to the scaffold, where he used few words to any good effect, without asking mercy of either God, or the King, for his offence; went up the ladder, and, making a few prayers to himself, staid not long for his execution.

After him went Grant, who, abominably blinded with his horrible idolatry, though he confessed his offence to be heinous, yet, would fain have excused it by his conscience for religion; a bloody religion, to make so bloody a conscience; but better that his blood, and all such as he was, should be shed by the justice of law, than the blood of many thousands to have been shed by his villainy, without law or justice; but to the purpose, having used a few idle words to ill effect, he was, as his fellows before him, led the way to the halter; and so, after his crossing of himself, to the last part of his tragedy.

Last of them came Bates, who seemed sorry for his offence, and asked forgiveness of God, and the King, and of the whole kingdom; prayed to God for the preservation of them all, and, as he said, only for his love to his master, drawn to forget his duty to God, his king and country, and therefore was now drawn from the Tower to St. Paul's Church-yard, and there hanged and quartered for his treachery. Thus ended that day's business.

The next day, being Friday, were drawn from the Tower to the Old Palace in Westminster, over against the parliament house, Thomas Winter, the younger brother, Rockwood, Keyes, and Fawkes the minor, justly called, The Devil of the Vault; for, had he not been a devil incarnate, he had never conceived so villainous a thought, nor been employed in so damnable an action.

The same day, being Friday, were drawn from the Tower to the Old Palace in Westminster, Thomas Winter, Rockwood, Keyes, and Fawkes, where Winter, first being brought to the scaffold, made little speech, but seeming, after a sort, as it were sorry for his offence, and yet crossing himself, as though those were wards to put by the devil's stoccadoes, having already made a wound in his soul, of which he had not yet a full feeling, protesting to die a true Catholick, as he said; with a very pale and dead colour went up the ladder, and, after a swing or two with a halter, to the quartering-block was drawn, and there quickly dispatched.

Next him came Rockwood, who made a speech of some longer time, confessing his offence to God, in seeking to shed blood, and asking therefore mercy of his Divine Majesty; his offence to the King, of whose Majesty he likewise humbly asked forgiveness; his offence to the whole state, of whom in general he asked forgiveness, beseeching God to bless the King, the Queen, and all his royal progeny, and that they