Of the plot, thus combined, they took care to make the most. They fent Pym among the citizens, to tell them of their imminent danger, and happy escape; and inform them, that the defign was "to feize the "Lord Mayor and all the Committee of Militia, and "would not fpare one of them." They drew up a row and covenant, to be taken by every member of either house, by which he declared his deteftation of all confpiracies against the parliament, and his refolution to detect and oppose them. They then appointed a day of thanksgiving for this wonderful delivery; which fhut out, fays Clarendon, all doubts whether there had been fuch a deliverance, and whether the plot was real or fictitious.

On June 11, the Earl of Portland and Lord Conway were committed, one to the custody of the mayor, and the other of the sheriff; but their lands and goods were not feized.

Waller was still to immerse himself deeper in ignominy. The Earl of Portland and Lord Conway denied the charge; and there was no evidence against them but the confeffion of Waller, of which undoubtedly many would be inclined to question the veracity. With these doubts he was fo much terrifed, that he endeavoured to perfuade Portland to a declaration like his own, by. a letter extant in Fenton's edition. "But for me," fays he, " you had never known any thing of this bufinefs, which was prepared for another; and there"fore I cannot imagine why you fhould hide it fo far

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as to contract your own ruin by concealing it, and "perfifting unreafonably to hide that truth, which, "without you, already is, and will every day be made "more, manifeft. Can you imagine yourself bound "in honour to keep that fecret, which is already re

"vealed

evealed by another; or poffible it should still be a secret, which is known to one of the other?-If you

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perfift to be cruel to yourself for their fakes who de"ferve it not, it will nevertheless be made appear, ere " long, I fear, to your ruin. Surely, if I had the "happiness to wait on you, I could move you to compaffionate both yourself and me, who, desperate "as my cafe is, am defirous to die with the honour of "being known to have declared the truth. You have

no reason to contend to hide what is already reveal❝ed-inconfiderately to throw away yourself, for the "interest of others, to whom you are lefs obliged than you are aware of."

This perfuafion feems to have had little effect. Portland fent (June 29) a letter to the Lords, to tell them, that he is in cuftody, as he conceives, without any "charge; and that, by what Mr. Waller hath threat-. "ened him with fince he was imprifoned, he doth "apprehend a very cruel, long, and ruinous re"ftraint-He therefore prays, that he may not find "the effects of Mr. Waller's threats, by a long and "close imprisonment; but may be speedily brought to a legal trial, and then he is confident the vanity " and falfehood of those informations which have been, given against him will appear."

In confequence of this letter, the Lords ordered Portland and Waller to be confronted; when the one repeated his charge, and the other his denial. The examination of the plot being continued (July 1), Thinn, usher of the house of Lords, depofed, that Mr. Waller having had a conference with the Lord Portland in an upper room, Lord Portland faid, when he came down, "Do me the favour to tell my Lord Northumberland, "that Mr. Waller has extremely preffed me to fave VOL. II.

R

66 my

my own life and his, by throwing the blame upor "the Lord Conway and the Earl of Northumberland."

Waller, in his letter to Portland, tells him of the reafons which he could urge with refiftless efficacy in a perfonal conference; but he over-rated his own oratory; his vehemence, whether of perfuafion or intreaty, was returned with contempt.

One of his arguments with Portland is, that the plot is already known to a woman. This woman was doubtlefs Lady Aubigney, who, upon this occafion, was committed to cuftody; but who, in reality, when the delivered the commiffion, knew not what it was.

The parliament then proceeded against the confpirators, and committed their trial to a council of war. Tomkyns and Chaloner were hanged near their own doors. Tomkyns, when he came to die, faid it was a foolish bufinefs; and indeed there feems to have been no hope that it fhould efcape discovery; for though never more than three met at a time, yet a defign fo extensive muft, by neceffity, be communicated to many, who could not be expected to be all faithful, and all prudent. Chaloner was attended at his execution by Hugh Peters. His crime was that he had commiffion to raise money for the King; but it appears not that the money was to be expended upon the advancement of either Crifpe or Waller's plot.

The Earl of Northumberland, being too great for profecution, was only once examined before the Lords. The Earl of Portland and lord Conway perfifting to deny the charge, and no teftimony but Waller's yet appearing against them, were, after a long imprisonment, admitted to bail. Haffel, the King's meffenger, who carried the letters to Oxford, died the night before his trial. Hampden efcaped death, perhaps by the in

tereft

tereft of his family; but was kept in prifon to the end of his life. They whofe names were inferted in the commiffion of array were not capitally punished, as it could not be proved that they had confented to their own nomination; but they were confidered as malignants, and their eftates were feized.

be

"Waller, though confeffedly," fays Clarendon, "the most guilty, with incredible diffimulation af"fected fuch a remorfe of confcience, that his trial "was put off, out of Chriftian compaffion, till he "might recover his understanding." What ufe he made of this interval, with what liberality and fuccefs he diftributed flattery and money, and how, when he was brought (July 4) before the Houfe, he confeffed and lamented, and fubinitted and implored, may read in the History of the Rebellion, (B. vii.). The speech, to which Clarendon afcribes the preservation of of his dear-bought life, is inferted in his works. The great hiftorian, however, feems to have been mistaken in relating that be prevailed in the principal part of his fupplication, not to be tried by a Council of War; for, according to Whitlock, he was by expulfion from the House abandoned to the tribunal which he fo much dreaded, and, being tried and condemned, was reprieved by Effex; but after a year's imprisonment, in which time refentment grew lefs acrimonious, paying a fine of ten thousand pounds, he was permitted to recollect himself in another country.

Of his behaviour in this part of his life, it is not neceffary to direct the reader's opinion. "Let us not," says his last ingenious biographer, "condemn him with "untempered feverity, because he was not a prodigy "which the world hath feldom feen, because his charac"ter included not the poet, the orator, and the hero." R 2

For

For the place of his exile he chofe France, and ftaid fome time at Roan, where his daughter Margaret was born, who was afterwards his favourite, and his amanuenfis. He then removed to Paris, where he lived with great fplendor and hofpitality; and from time to time amused himself with poetry, in which he fometimes speaks of the rebels, and their ufurpation, in the natural language of an honeft man.

At last it became neceffary, for his fupport, to fell his wife's jewels; and being reduced, as he said, at last to the rump-jewel, he folicited from Cromwell permiffion to return, and obtained it by the intereft of colonel Scroop, to whom his fifter 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 to Beaconsfield, where his mother refided. His mother, though related to Cromwell and Hampden, was zealous for the royal cause, and, when Cromwell vifited her, ufed to reproach him; he, in return, would throw a napkin at her, and fay he would not difpute 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 kinfman, to a familiar converfation. Waller, as he used to relate, found him fufficiently versed in ancient history; and when any of his enthusiastick friends came to advise or confult him, could fometimes overhear him difcourfing in the cant of the times: but, when he returned, he would fay," Coufin Waller, I must "talk to these men in their own way :" and refumed the common style of converfation.

He