least ten gentlemen, besides all the servants in the house, can prove I dined there that day." *

Baillie of Jerviswood, who was the chief person concerned in the Scotch part of the conspiracy, also denied, in a manner which forces belief, his knowledge of any plot for murdering the King and Duke. He was, as we have seen, weak and faint, and could not remain at the bar of the justiciary, even sitting, without the help of frequent cordials. When the King's Advocate had finished, he desired leave to speak a few words, not being able to say much on account of his great weakness; which being granted, he said, that he did not expect to live many days, but he found he was intended for a public sacrifice, both in life and estate. He complained that the witnesses had recollected many things which had not passed in his presence: "But there is one thing," he added, as we are informed by Wodrow," which vexes me extremely, and wherein I am injured to the utmost degree; and that is the charge for a plot to cut off the King and His Royal Highness, and that I sat up at nights to form a declaration to palliate or justify

* Lord Howard had accused him of being absent on that day, on an expedition to interrupt the King and Duke. Burnet is mistaken in saying that Armstrong denied having been engaged in any design "against the government." His words, as we see above, were, "to alter the government.”

such a villainy. I am in probability to appear, in some hours, before the tribunal of the Great Judge; and, in presence of your Lordships, and all here, I solemnly declare, that never was I prompted, or privy to any such thing, and that I abhor and detest all thoughts or principles for touching the life and blood of His Sacred Majesty, or his royal brother. I was ever for monarchical government."

"And then, looking directly upon the King's Advocate, he said, My Lord, I think it very strange you charge me with such abominable things: you may remember, that when you came to me in prison, you told me such things were laid to my charge, but that you did not believe them. How then, my Lord, come you to lay such a stain upon me, with so much violence? Are you now convinced in your conscience, that I am more guilty than before? You may remember what passed between us in the prison.'

"The whole audience fixed their eyes upon the Advocate, who appeared in no small confusion, and said, 'Jerviswood, I own what you say: my thoughts there were as a private man; but what I say here is by special direction of the privy council;' and pointing to Sir William Paterson, clerk, added, he knows my orders,' . Well,' says Jerviswood, if your lordship have

one conscience for yourself, and another for the council, I pray God forgive you; I do.' And turning to the Justice-General, he said, 'My Lord, I trouble your Lordships no further.'"*

It will be remembered, that Colonel Rumbold, who, by marrying a maltster's widow, had become the proprietor of the Rye-House, was accused of having lent his house for the assassination. Yet, as far as I remember, this accusation depends on the authority of none but Rumsey and West. His answer to it I shall relate in the words of Mr. Fox, who has added such valuable remarks to the narrative, that I could not wish for a better conclusion to this part of my enquiry. When relating the fate of those who came over with Argyle, he says:

"Rumbold, covered with wounds, and defending himself with uncommon exertions of strength and courage, was at last taken. However desirable it might have been thought, to execute in England a man so deeply implicated in the Rye-House plot, the state of Rumbold's health made such a project impracticable. Had it been attempted, he would, probably, by a natural death, have disappointed the views of a government, who were eager to see brought to the block, a man whom they thought, or pre

* Wodrow.

tended to think, guilty of having projected the assassination of the late and present King. Weakened as he was in body, his mind was firm, his constancy unshaken; and notwithstanding some endeavours that were made by drums and other instruments, to drown his voice when he was addressing the people from the scaffold, enough has been preserved of what he then uttered, to satisfy us, that his personal courage, the praise of which has not been denied him, was not of the vulgar or constitutional kind, but was accompanied with a proportionable vigour of mind. Upon hearing his sentence, whether in imitation of Montrose, or from that congeniality of character, which causes men, in similar circumstances, to conceive similar sentiments, he expressed the same wish which that gallant nobleman had done; he wished he had a limb for every town in Christendom. With respect to the intended assassination imputed to him, he protested his innocence, and desired to be believed upon the faith of a dying man; adding, in terms as natural as they are forcibly descriptive of a conscious dignity of character, that he was too well known, for any to have had the imprudence to make such a proposition to him. He concluded with plain, and apparently sincere, declarations of his undiminished attachment to the principles of

liberty, civil and religious; denied that he was an enemy to monarchy, affirming, on the contrary, that he considered it, when properly limited, as the most eligible form of government; but that he never could believe that any man was born marked by God above another, for none comes into the world with a saddle on his back, neither any booted and spurred to • ride him.".

"Except by Ralph, who, with a warmth that does honour to his feelings, expatiates at some length upon the subject, the circumstances attending the death of this extraordinary man have been little noticed. Rapin, Echard, Kennett, Hume, make no mention of them whatever; and yet, exclusively of the interest always excited by any great display of spirit and magnanimity, his solemn denial of the project of assassination imputed to him in the affair of the Rye-House plot, is in itself a fact of great importance, and one which might have been expected to attract, in no small degree, the attention of the historian. That Hume, who has taken some pains in canvassing the degree of credit due to the different parts of the RyeHouse plot, should pass it over in silence, is the more extraordinary, because, in the case of the

* Ralph, i. 872.