Also ibid. 536. That
Pantaleon and his friends were armed, cannot be denied: was it for
revenge? So it would appear from the relation in Somers's Tracts, iii. 65;
Whitelock, 569; and State Trials, v. 482. Was it solely for defence?
Such is the evidence of Metham (Thurloe, ii. 222), and the assertion of
Pantaleon at his death.--Whitelock, ii. 595.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1654. July 5.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1654. July 10.]
at his arraignment, pleaded that he had taken orders in the church of Rome,
but was innocent of any treason. The recorder advised him to withdraw his
plea, and gave him four hours for consideration. But Southworth still owned
that he was a Catholic and in orders; judgment of death was pronounced; and
the protector, notwithstanding the urgent solicitations of the French
and Spanish ambassadors, resolved that he should suffer. It was not that
Cromwell approved of sanguinary punishments in matters of religion, but
that he had no objection to purchase the good-will of the godly by shedding
the blood of a priest. The[a] fate of this venerable man[a] excited the
sympathy of the higher classes. Two hundred carriages and a crowd of
horsemen followed the hurdle on which he was drawn to the place of
execution. On the scaffold, he spoke with satisfaction of the manner of his
death, but at the same time pointed out the inconsistency of the men who
pretended to have taken up arms for liberty of conscience, and yet shed the
blood of those who differed from them in religious opinions.
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