154 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.
They cut his nofe to the bone, in order, asthey faid, to teach him what refpedt he owedto the king. The commons were inflamed bythis indignity offered to one of their members,on account of words fpoken in the houfe. Theypaffed a law, which made it capital to maimany perfon; and they enacted, that thofe cri-minals, who had aflaulted Coventry , fhould beincapable of receiving a pardon from the crown.
TheRB was another private affair tranfadtedabout this time, by which the king was as muchexpofed to the imputation of a capricious lenity,as he was here blamed for unneceflary feverity.Blood, a difbanded officer of the protestors, hadbeen engaged in the confpiracy for raiflng aninfurrection in Ireland ; and on account of thiscrime he himfelf had been attainted, and fomeof his accomplices capitally punifhed. The daringvillain meditated revenge upon Ormond, the lordlieutenant. Having by artifice drawn off theduke’s footmen , he attacked his coach in thenight time, as it drove along St. James’s ftreetin London ; and he made himfelf matter of hisperfon. He might here have finifhed the crime,had he not meditated refinements in his vengeance;He was refolved to hang the duke at Tyburn ;and for that purpofe bound him . and mountedhim on horfeback behind one of his companions.They were advanced a good way into the fields;when the duke, making efforts for his liberty,threw himfelf to the ground, and brought downwith him the aflaffin to whom he was fattened.