Inter-regnum. to the Clerk his Confent to the fame, in thefe 1656. December. Proceedings against James ker. Words, We do confent; and, thereupon, the Clerk made this Entry thereof on the Bill, The Lord Protector doth confent; and read the fame over again. 'Then the Clerk read the Titles of the rest of the public Bills firft, and next the private Bills, to each of which the Lord Protector's Confent was declared, entered, and published, as before. The Serjeant at Arms attending his Highness, and likewife the Serjeant attending the Parliament, ftood all this Time with their Maces on their Shoulders; and his Highness having made a fhort Speech, the Speaker, with the reft of the Members, departed, in the like Order as they came thither, to the Parliament House.'---But no Entry is made of this Speech in the Journals, or any other Authority we have yet met with. December. The Parliament now proceeded upon other Bills, both public and private; amongst which was carried on, in a Committee of the whole House, a Bill for uniting the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into one Commonwealth. An Affair which had long taken up the Attention of this and preceding Parliaments. The Beginning of this Month James Naylor, Naylor the Qua-ftyled, by the Diaries of thefe Times, The Quakers Apoftle, was brought up from Bristol, and feveral of his Female Followers along with him. On the 6th he was brought to the Bar of the Houfe; where, keeping on his Hat, the Serjeant, by Command of the Speaker, took it off. Being afked, If his Name was James Naylor; answered, He was fo called : and being also asked, How long he had been called fo; anfwered, Ever fince he could remember. The Particulars of his Confeffion being read to him, and asked if it was his, he acknowledged it all. The next Day, on Debate, the House voted him guilty of horrid Blafphemy; that he was a grand Impoftor, and a great Seducer of the People. But 1656. December. But after this the Parliament feem'd to be under Inter-regnum. fome Dilemma what Punishment to inflict upon him, for it was debated several Days, without coming to a Conclufion; till, on the 16th of this Month, the Question being put, That the Punishment of James Naylor, for his Crimes, shall be by Death, and that a Bill be brought in for that Purpofe, it paffed in the Negative, by 96 against 82. Then a Motion being made, That Part of his Punishment be to have his Hair cut off, it paffed in the Negative, without Divifion. After which the House came to the following Refolution: That James Naylor be fet on the Pillory, with his Head in the Pillory, in the New-Palace, Weftminfter, during the Space of two Hours, on Thurfday next; and fhall be whipp'd by the Hangman through the Streets, from Westminster to the OldExchange, London; and there likewife be fet upon the Pillory, with his Head in the Pillory, for the Space of two Hours, between the Hours of Eleven and One, on Saturday next; in each of the faid Places wearing a Paper containing an Infcription of his Crimes: And that at the Old Exchange his Tongue fhall be bored through with a hot Iron; and that he be there alfo ftigmatized in the Forehead with the Letter B. That he be afterwards fent to Bristol, and conveyed into and through the faid City, on a Horse bare ridged, with his Face backward; and there also publickly whipped the next MarketDay after he comes thither: That from thence he be committed to Prifon in Bridewell, London, and there reftrained from the Society of all People, and kept to hard Labour, till he fhall be releafed by Parliament; and during that Time be debarred from the Ufe of Pen, Ink, and Paper, and shall have no Relief, but what he earns by his daily Labour. The ૧ q Upon this Occafion there was published by Authority of the Parliament, the following Paper, intitled, A brief Account of James Naylor, the Quaker; and the uttering of many horrible Blafphemies, the like, for all Circumftances, never heard of in any Age before, with the Judgment propounced upon him by Mr. Speaker, be being brought Inter-regnum. 1656. December. The next Day James Naylor being brought up to receive his Sentence, a Motion was made, that he might be afked, Whether he had any Thing to offer why Judgment should not be pronounced upon him? it to the Bar in the Commons House, for thofe high Crimes thereof be bad been guilty, Dec. 17, 1656. At the Top of this Sheet is a Print engraved by Hollar, representing the Manner of Naylor's Sentence being put in Execution. Then follows the Account itfelf, in bac Verba. James Naylor, the Quaker, having been releafed out of Exeter Goal, he began immediately to play his Pranks at divers Places in the Weft; among the reft, he paffed by Wells and Glaftenbury, thro' which Towns he rode on Horfeback, a Man going bare before him, and others walking on Foot on each Side of his Stirrup, and others frewing their Garments in the Way; from thence he took his Way towards Bristol, and coming to a little Village call'd Bedminster, about a Mile from Bristol, he rode through that Place likewise, a young Man bare-headed leading his Horfe by the Bridle, and another Man before with his Hat on. There accompanied him two Men, with each a Woman behind him on Horfeback; which Women alighted when they came to the Suburbs of Bristol, and footed it along on each Side of Naylor's Horse, the Man ftill bare-headed leading the Horfe; and as they advanced along they fung, and entered Bristol finging, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Ifrael; and then the Women led the Horie with the Reins in their Hands, up to the High-Crofs of Bristol, and from thence to the White-Hart Inn in Broadftreet. The Magiftrates fending for Naylor and his Companions, they came finging all the Way Hofanna, and Holy, Holy, Holy, &c. His Name that went bare before him was Timothy Wedlock, a Devonshire Man. The one Woman was named Martha Symonds, Wife of Thomas Symonds, Stationer of London; the other Hannah Stranger, Wife of John Stranger, of London, Comb-maker. The Magiftrates having convened Naylor and the reft, divers frange blafphemous Letters and Papers were found about them, wherein it appeared, that this Deceiver had fo far gained upon his Followers by his Impoftures, that they afcribed to him Divine Hoand gave him in Scripture Phrafe the fame Titles which are applicable to none but Chrift himself. nours, In a Letter of one Richard Fairman, from Dorchester Goal, to Naylor, were these horrid Expreffions, I am filled with Joy and Rejoicing when I behold thee in the eternal Unity. O my Soul is melting within me, when I behold thy Beauty and Innocency, dear and precious Son of Zion, whofe Mother is a Virgin, and whofe Birth is immortal. Another writes of him thus, All the wife Men fall feek for him, and when they have found him, they fhall open their Ears, and fhall give unto him of their Gold, Frankincenfe, and Myrrh. The fame Woman, in another Letter to him, proceeds thus, O zhou fairest of Ten Thousand: Thou only begotten Son of God, how my Heart panteth after thee, O ftay me with Flagons, and comfort me. with Wine. My Well-beloved, thou art like a Koe, or young Hart, upon the Mountains of Spices. Then, by way of Poftfcript, her Hufband, John Stranger, adds this, Thy Name is no more to be called James but Jefus. 'Alfo 1056. it passed in the Negative, by 107 against 85; which Inter-regnum. Thus much for this Enthufiaft. The rest of this Month, and Part of the next, was chiefly taken up in hearing of Petitions relating to private Affairs, and going upon Ways and Means to raise Money for the Spanish War. But, January. covery About the Middle of January, Secretary Thur- A Thanksgiving loe alarmed the Houfe with a wicked Design to take Day for the Difaway the Lord Protector's Life, and fire Whitehall; combe's Plot. of Synderand read the Examination of divers Perfons concerned in the faid Plot, taken before the Council: For the happy and timely Difcovery hereof the Parliament ordered a Day of Thanksgiving to be held, first by the Houfe, and afterwards by the three Nations. A Declaration, by way of Narrative of this dangerous Confpiracy, was ordered to be drawn Also a Maid, named Dorcas Erbury, being examined, declared James Naylor to be the Holy One of Ifrael, the only begotten Son of God; and that the pulled off his Stockings, and put her Cloaths under his Feet, because he was the Holy Lord of Ifrael, and that the knew no other Saviour but him; affirming moreover, That the Spirit of the Lord within her commanded her to call him Lord and Master, and to ferve him: That, in Exeter Goal, he had raised her from the Dead after she had been dead two Days: And that James Naylor fhall fit at the Right Hand of the Father, and judge the World. Thus you see how this wretched Impoftor hath prevailed upon his Followers, to bewitch them to the committing of strange Abfurdities. An Account whereof I had hitherto forborn, but have now given it in brief, that the Honour and Juftice of the Parliaments Sentence paffed upon him, may be evident to the People.' It was called Syndercombe's Plot, which is taken Notice of by most of our Hiftorians. This Man was found dead in his Bed the Morning before his intended Execution. Whether he poifoned himfelf, as was given out by public Authority at this Time; or was fmothered, by private Orders from Cromwell, for fear he should make fome Discoveries at the Gallows to the Prejudice of the Protector, (as charged upon him by Col. Titus, in his Killing no Murder) remains yet a Question. We fhall therefore content ourfelves with remarking, That, in the 5th and 6th Volumes of Thurloe's State Papers, there are Letters from Lockhart, Cromwell's Ambassador in France, to Thurloe; and from him to Henry Cromwell, in Ireland with feveral Examinations and other Papers rela ing to this Defign against the Protector's Life; which feems to have been, in fome measure, encouraged by the Court of Spain. 1656. January. Inter-regnum, drawn up and publifh'd; wherein the Minifters were enjoined, on all Occafions for the future, to pray for the Lord Protector, and all that are in Authority in this Commonwealth. The Parliament alfo voted their Thanks to Secretary Thurloe, for his great Diligence in tracing out this Plot; and refolved to congratulate the Lord Protector upon his happy Efcape. This was done by the whole House, with the Speaker at their Head; who, in his Harangue upon the Occafion, fet forth the terrible Confequences which might have enfued, had it not pleased Almighty God to defeat this Confpiracy; as, 1, The Danger and Ruin of the Reformed Churches abroad, and three Nations at home, who were all ftruck at by this intended Blow. 2dly, The cunning Secrecy of it, no more than two knowing the whole Defign. 3dly, The Extensiveness of it, for, if they failed in one Place, they refolved to do it in another. He concluded with faying, That, if Cicero were living, he would want Expreffion to fet out the Danger, or the Mercy; fo unparallel'd, fo unprecedented a Mercy, that the Parliament's Hymn was, O cantemus Canticum novum, O come let us fing a new Song unto the Lord! The Difcovery of this Confpiracy furnished the Protector and his Council with a fresh Pretence for oppreffing the Royalists; for, in confequence thereof, we find a Bill was ordered to be brought in For continuing and affeffing a Tax for the Payment of the Militia Forces in England and Wales, raifed for the Security and Prefervation of the Commonwealth; the Debate upon which was opened to the Houfe, by Secretary Thurloe, in a Speech to this Effect: Secretary Thur. ♦ loe's Speech for laying an extraordinary Tax upon the Royalists. Mr. Speaker, Tin HE Scope of this Bill is to fet an extraordinary Tax upon the old Delinquent Party, with a Retrofpect by way of Approbation of what hath From the 5th Volume of Thurloe's State Papers; in which there being fome Hiatus', we have endeavoured to fupply them, and to clear up a few Paffages which feem to have efcaped the Care of the Tranfcriber. |