,84 HISTORY QF GRRAT BRITAIN.

e h A the scaffold was full of decency and courage,

jjv, ® He feared, ” he said , “ that the omen was bad

“ for the intended reformation of the state, thai;“ it commenced with the shedding of innocent" bipod. ” Having bid a last adieu to his brotherand friends who attended him, and having senta blessing to his nearer relations who were absent;w And now," said he, “I have nigh done !‘ c One stroke will make my wife a widow, mydear children fatherless, deprive my poor ser-vants of their indulgent master, and separateme from my affectionate brother and all my** friends! But let God be to you and them allf( in all! " Going to disrobe, and prepare himselffor the block, “ I thank God, ” said he, “ thatI am nowise afraid of death, nor am dauntedwith any terrors ; but do as chearfully lay“ down my head at this time, as ever I did whengoing to repose! ” With one blow was aperiod put to his life by the executioner

Thus perished, in the 49th year of his age,the earl of Stratford, one of the most eminentpersonages that has appeared in England. Thoughhis death was loudly demanded as a satisfactionto justice, and an atonement for the many vio-lations of the constitution; it may safely beaffirmed, that the sentence, by which he fell, wasAn enormity greater than the worst of those ,which hi« implacable enemies prosecuted with somuch cruel industry, The people, in their rage,

Rulhwprth, vol. v. p. -6?.