Lives of the Poets | Page 8

such 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 seized.
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 confession of Waller, of which
undoubtedly many would be inclined to question the veracity. With

these doubts he was so much terrified, that he endeavoured to persuade
Portland to a declaration like his own, by a letter extant in Fenton's
edition. "But for me," says he, "you had never known anything of this
business, which was prepared for another; and therefore I cannot
imagine why you should hide it so far as to contract your own ruin by
concealing it, and persisting unreasonably to hide that truth, which,
without you, already is, and will every day be made more manifest.
Can you imagine yourself bound in honour to keep that secret, which is
already revealed by another? or possible it should still be a secret,
which is known to one of the other sex?--If you persist to be cruel to
yourself for their sakes who deserve 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 compassionate both yourself and me,
who, desperate as my case is, am desirous to die with the honour of
being known to have declared the truth. You have no reason to contend
to hide what is already revealed--inconsiderately to throw away
yourself, for the interest of others, to whom you are less obliged than
you are aware of."
This persuasion seems to have had little effect. Portland sent (June 29)
a letter to the Lords, to tell them that he "is in custody, as he conceives,
without any charge; and that, by what Mr. Waller hath threatened him
with since he was imprisoned, he doth apprehend a very cruel, long,
and ruinous restraint:- He therefore prays, that he may not find the
effects of Mr. Waller's threats, a long and close imprisonment; but may
be speedily brought to a legal trial, and then he is confident the vanity
and falsehood of those informations which have been given against him
will appear."
In consequence 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, deposed, that Mr. Waller having had a
conference with the Lord Portland in an upper room, Lord Portland said,
when he came down, "Do me the favour to tell my Lord
Northumberland, that Mr. Waller has extremely pressed me to save my
own life and his, by throwing the blame upon the Lord Conway and the

Earl of Northumberland."
Waller, in his letter to Portland, tells him of the reasons which he could
urge with resistless efficacy in a personal conference; but he overrated
his own oratory; his vehemence, whether of persuasion or entreaty, was
returned with contempt.
One of his arguments with Portland is, that the plot is already known to
a woman. This woman was doubtless Lady Aubigny, who, upon this
occasion, was committed to custody; but who, in reality, when she
delivered the commission, knew not what it was.
The Parliament then proceeded against the conspirators, and committed
their trial to a council of war. Tomkyns and Chaloner were hanged near
their own doors. Tomkyns, when he came to die, said it was a "foolish
business;" and indeed there seems to have been no hope that it should
escape discovery; for, though never more than three met at a time, yet a
design so extensive must by necessity 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
commission to raise money for the king; but it appears not that the
money was to be expended upon the advancement of either Crispe's or
Waller's plot.
The Earl of Northumberland, being too great for prosecution, was only
once examined before the Lords. The Earl of Portland and Lord
Conway persisting to deny the charge, and no testimony but Waller's
yet appearing against them, were, after a long imprisonment, admitted
to bail. Hassel, the king's messenger, who carried the letters to Oxford,
died the night before his trial. Hampden [Alexander] escaped death,
perhaps by the interest of his family; but was kept in prison to the end
of his life.