CHAPTER
III.

1685.

The situation in which he was found.

ways. Monmouth, Grey, and a gentleman of Brandenburg, went southward, with a view to gain the NewForest in Hampshire, where, by means of Grey's connections in that district, and thorough knowledge of the country, it was hoped they might be in safety, till a vessel could be procured to transport them to the continent. They left their horses, and disguised themselves as peasants; but the pursuit, stimulated as well by party zeal, as by the great pecuniary rewards offered for the capture of Monmouth and Grey, was too vigilant to be eluded. Grey was taken on the 7th in the evening; and the German, who shared the same fate early on the next morning, confessed that he had parted from Monmouth but a few hours since. The neighbouring country was immediately and thoroughly searched, and James had ere night the satisfaction of learning, that his nephew was in his power. The unfortunate Duke was discovered in a ditch, half concealed by fern and nettles. His stock of provision, which consisted of some peas gathered in the fields through which he had fled, was nearly exhausted, and there is reason to think, that he had little, if any other sustenance, since he left Bridgewater on the evening of the 5th. To repose he had been equally a stranger: how his mind must have been harassed, it is needless to discuss. Yet that in such circumstances he appeared dispirited and crest-fallen, is, by the unrelenting malignity of party writers, imputed to him as cowardice, and meanness of spirit. That the failure of his enterprize,

III.

1685.

together with the bitter reflection, that he had suffered CHAPTER himself to be engaged in it against his own better judgment, joined to the other calamitous circumstances of his situation, had reduced him to a state of despondency is evident; and in this frame of mind, he wrote on the very day of his capture, the following letter to the King:

"SIR,

"Your Majesty may think it the misfortune I now lie "under, makes me make this application to you; but "I do assure your Majesty, it is the remorse I now have "in me of the wrong I have done you in several things, "and now in taking up arms against you. For my taking

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up arms, it was never in my thoughts since the King "died: The Prince and Princess of Orange will be wit"ness for me of the assurance I gave them, that I "would never stir against you. But my misfortune was such, as to meet with some horrid people, that "made me believe things of your Majesty, and gave me so many false arguments, that I was fully led away "to believe, that it was a shame and a sin before God, "not to do it. But, Sir, I will not trouble your Majesty "at present with many things I could say for myself, "that I am sure would move your compassion; the "chief end of this letter being only to beg of you, that I "may have that happiness as to speak to your Majesty ;

CHAPTER
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"for I have that to say to you, Sir, that I hope may give you a long and happy reign.

66

"I am sure, Sir, when you hear me, you will be con"vinced of the zeal I have of your preservation, and how heartily I repent of what I have done. I can say no "more to your Majesty now, being this letter must be "seen by those that keep me. Therefore, Sir, I shall “make an end, in begging of your Majesty to believe

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so well of me, that I would rather die. a thousand "deaths, than excuse any thing I have done, if I did "not really think myself the most in the wrong that ever "a man was; and had not from the bottom of my heart an abhorrence for those that put me upon it, and for "the action itself. I hope, Sir, God Almighty will "strike your heart with mercy and compassion for me, "as he has done mine with abhorrence of what I have "done: Wherefore, Sir, I hope I may live to shew you. "how zealous I shall ever be for your service; and could "I but say one word in this letter, you would be con"vinced of it; but it is of that consequence, that I dare "not do it. Therefore, Sir, I do beg of you once more ❝ to let me speak to you; for then you will be convinced "how much I shall ever be,

The only certain conclusion to be drawn from this letter, which Mr. Echard, in a manner perhaps not so seemly for a churchman, terms submissive, * is, that Monmouth still wished anxiously for life, and was willing to save it, even at the cruel price of begging and receiving it as a boon from his enemy. Ralph conjectures with great probability, that this unhappy man's feelings were all governed by his excessive affection for his mistress; and that a vain hope of enjoying, with Lady Harriet Wentworth, that retirement which he had so unwillingly abandoned, induced him to adopt a conduct, which he might otherwise have considered as indecent. At any rate it must be admitted, that to cling to life, is a strong instinct in human nature, and Monmouth might reasonably enough satisfy himself, that when his death could not by any possibility, benefit either the publick or his friends, to follow such instinct, even in a manner that might tarnish the splendour of heroism, was no impeachment of the moral virtue of a man.

CHAPTER

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1685.

expression in

With respect to the mysterious part of the letter, A mysterious where he speaks of one word, which would be of such his letter. infinite importance, it is difficult, if not rather utterly impossible, to explain it by any rational conjecture. Mr. Macpherson's favourite hypothesis, that the Prince

* Echard, p. 771. "His former spirit sunk into pusillanimity, and he "meanly endeavoured, by the following submissive letter," &c. E.

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1685.

CHAPTER of Orange had been a party to the late attempt, and that Monmouth's intention, when he wrote the letter, was to disclose this important fact to the King,* is totally destroyed by those expressions, in which the unfortunate prisoner tells his Majesty he had assured the Prince and Princess of Orange that he would never stir against him. Did he assure the Prince of Orange that he would never do that which he was engaged to the Not applicable Prince of Orange to do? Can it be said that this was a false fact, and that no such assurances were in truth given? To what purpose was the falsehood? In order to conceal, from motives whether honourable or otherwise, his connection with the Prince? What? a fiction in one paragraph of the letter in order to conceal a fact, which in the next he declares his intention of revealing? The thing is impossible. †

to the Prince

of Orange.

The intriguing character of the secretary of state, the Earl of Sunderland, whose duplicity in many instances cannot be doubted, and the mystery in which almost every thing relating to him is involved, might lead us

*Macpherson's Hist.

+ Even if this complete refutation were wanting, the whole system of conduct imputed to the Prince of Orange by the above mentioned author, by which he is made to act in concert with Monmouth at this time, is so contrary to common sense, that the hypothesis never could have been offered to the belief of mankind by one whose mind was not fortified by some previous experience of their unbounded credulity.