had declared, "That he heard Mr. Penry say, that Mr. Udal was the author of the Demonstration.

This was all the evidence of the fact, upon which he was convicted, not a single living witness being produced in court. The poor man had, therefore, no opportunity to ask any questions, or refute the evidence. And what methods were used to extort these confessions, may be easily imagined from their non-appearance in court, and having testified their sorrow for what they had done. What man of common understanding, would hang his dog on such evidence as this?

To prove Mr. Udal guilty of sedition, and bring him within the statute, the counsel insisted, that his threatening the bishops, who were the queen's officers, was, by construction, threatening the queen herself. The prisoner desired liberty to explain the passage; when he insisted, that offence against the bishops was not sedition against the queen. But all that could be said, was set aside, and the judge gave it for law, even without allowing the two remaining points of the indictment to be examined, "That they who spake against the queen's government in causes ecclesiastical, or her ecclesiastical laws, proceedings, and officers, defamed the queen herself." Upon this the jury were directed to find him guilty of the fact, and the judges taking upon themselves the point of law, condemned him as a felon. Fuller even confesses, that the proof against him was not pregnant; for it was generally believed, that he wrote not the book, but only the preface. His enemies might as well have condemned him without the formality of a trial. The statute was undoubtedly strained beyond its meaning, and evidently with a design to reach his life. The good man behaved himself with great modesty and discretion at the bar; and having said as much for himself as must have satisfied any equitable persons, he submitted to the judgment of the court.

"The case of Mr. Udal seems singular," says Hume, " even in the arbitrary times in which he lived. He was thrown into prison on suspicion of having published a book against the bishops, and brought to his trial for this offence. It was pretended that the bishops were part of the queen's political body; and to speak against them, was to attack her, and was, therefore, felony by the statute. This was not

Strype's Annals, vol. iii. Appen. p. 263-State Tryals, vol. i. p. 147-152. + Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix. p. 222.

the only iniquity to which Udal was exposed. The judges would not allow the jury to determine any thing but the fact, of his being the author of the book, without examining his intention, or the import of his words. In order to prove the fact, they did not produce a single witness to the court: they only read the testimony of two or three persons absent. They would not allow Udal to produce any exculpatory evidence, saying, it was not permitted against the crown. His refusing to swear that he was not the author of the book, was employed against him as the strongest proof of his guilt. Notwithstanding these multiplied iniquities, the verdict of the jury was brought against him. For, as the queen was extremely bent upon his prosecution, it was impossible he could escape."*

Mr. Udal was convicted at the summer assizes, 1590, but did not receive sentence till the Lent following. In the mean time, pardon was offered him, if he would sign the following recantation, dated February, 1591:

"I, John Udal, have been heretofore, by due course of "law, convicted of felony, for penning or setting forth a "certain book, called The Demonstration of Discipline;' "wherein false, slanderous, and seditious matters are

contained against her majesty's prerogative royal, her "crown and dignity, and against her laws and government, "ecclesiastical and temporal, by law established under her "highness, and tending to the erecting a new form of "government, contrary to her laws. All which points, I "do now, by the grace of God, perceive to be very dangerous to the peace of this realm and church, seditious "in the commonwealth, and infinitely offensive to the 66 queen's most excellent majesty. So as thereby, now seeing "the grievousness of my offence, I do most humbly, on my knees, before and in this presence, submit myself to "the mercy of her highness, being most sorry that I have so deeply and worthily incurred her majesty's indignation "against me; promising, if it shall please God to move her "royal heart to have compassion on me, a most sorrowful, "convicted person, that I will, for ever hereafter, forsake all "undutiful and dangerous courses, and demean myself "dutifully and peaceably; for I acknowledge her laws to be "both lawful and godly, and to be obeyed by every subject."+ No arguments or threatenings of the judges could prevail upon Mr. Udal to sign the above recantation. He could

* Hume's Hist. of Eng. vol. v. p. 345, 346.

+ Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 26, 27.-Baker's MS, Collec. vol. xv. p. 45.

VOL. II.

C

not, for the world, subscribe to that as true, which he knew to be false. He, therefore, resolved to suffer on the gallows, rather than be guilty of such prevarication and hypocrisy. But the day before sentence was to be passed upon him, he offered the following submission, drawn up by himself, dated February 19, 1591:

"Concerning the book whereof I was by due course of "law convicted, by referring myself to the trial of the law, "and that by the verdict of twelve men, I am found to be "the author of it, for which cause an humble submission is "worthily required and offered of me. Although I cannot "disavow the cause and substance of the doctrine debated ❝in it, which I must needs acknowledge to be holy, and (so "far as I can conceive of it) agreeable to the word of God; "yet I confess, the manner of writing it is such, in some "parts, as may worthily be blamed, and might provoke her "majesty's indignation. Wherefore the trial of the law "imputing to me all such defaults as are in that book, and "laying the punishment of the same in most grievous "manner upon me; as my most humble suit to her most "excellent majesty is, that her mercy and gracious pardon "may free me from the guilt and offence, which the said "trial of the law hath cast upon me, and further, of her "great clemency, to restore me to the comfort of my life "and liberty; so do I promise, in all humble submission to "God and her majesty, to carry myself in the whole

course of my life, in such humble and dutiful obedience, "as shall befit a minister of the gospel and a dutiful "subject, fervently and continually praying for the good 66 preservation of her highness's precious life and happy "government, to the honour of God, and comfort of her "loyal and dutiful subjects."*

Previous to this, Mr. Udal had often, and with great earnestness, petitioned his judges for their mediation with the queen. In his letter to Puckering, dated November 11, 1590, he thus expressed himself:-"I resolved to call to your remembrance my hard estate, which I pray you to accept as proceeding from him who wisheth as well to you as to his own soul. I need not offer to your lordship's consideration of the miserable state I am in, being deprived of that living by which myself, my wife and children, should be supported; and spending the little substance which God has given me, in this tedious state of imprisonment;

Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 27.-State Tryals, vol. i. p. 152–155. + Baker's MS. Collec. vol. xv. p. 50-52.

and thus exposing both me and them to beggary and misery. I pray you call to mind, by what course this misery was brought upon me; and if you find, by due consideration, that I am worthy to receive the punishment from the sentence of upright justice, I pray you hasten the execution of the same: for it were better, in this case, for me to die than to live. But if it appear to your consciences, as I hope it will, that no malice against her majesty can possibly be in me, seeing I pray daily for her majesty's prosperity and happiness, both in soul and body, then I do humbly and heartily desire you to be a means that I may be released. In doing this, I shall not only forget that hard opinion conceived of your courses against me, but also pray heartily unto God to bury the same, with the rest of your sins, in the grave of his son, Jesus Christ." Mr. Udal wrote several other letters, expressed in most humble and dutiful language. But all these applications were to no purpose. The court would do nothing till he signed their submission; which, being directly contrary to the convictions of his conscience, he utterly refused.

At the close of the Lent assizes, Mr. Udal, being called to the bar, with the rest of the felons, and asked what he had to say, why judgment should not be given against him, according to the verdict, delivered a paper to the court, consisting of certain reasons; the principal of which were the following:

1. "Because the jury were directed only to find the fact, whether I was the author of the book; and were expressly freed by your lordship from inquiring into the intent, without which there is no felony.

2. "The men on the jury were not left to their own consciences, but were wrought upon, partly by promises, assuring them it should be no further danger to me, but tend to my good; and partly by fear, as appears from the grief some of them have manifested ever since.

3. "The statute, in the true meaning of it, is thought not to reach my case, there being nothing spoken in the book concerning her majesty's person, but in duty and honour; I beseech you, therefore, to consider, whether drawing it from her royal person to the bishops, as being part of her body politic, be not a violent depraving and wresting of the statute. 4. But if the statute be taken as it is urged, the felony must consist in the malicious intent; wherein I appeal first

Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 28-30.

to God, and then to all men who have known the course of my life, and to your lordships' own consciences, whether you can find me guilty of any act, in all my life, that savoured of any malice or malicious intent against her majesty. And if your consciences clear me before God, I hope you will not proceed to judgment.

5.By the laws of God, and, I trust also, by the laws of the land, the witnesses ought to have been produced in open court before me; but they were not, nor any thing else, only certain papers and reports of depositions. This kind of evidence is not allowed in the case of lands, and, therefore, it ought much less to be allowed in the case of life.

6. "None of the depositions directly prove me to be the author of the book in question; and the principal witness is so grieved for what he has done, that he is ashamed to come where he is known.

7. "Supposing I were the author of the book, let it be remembered that the said book, for substance, contains nothing but what is taught and believed by the best reformed churches in Europe; so that in condemning me, you condemn all such nations and churches as hold the same doctrine. If the punishment be for the manner of writing, this may be thought by some worthy of an admonition, or fine, or some short imprisonment; but death for an error of such a kind, cannot but be extreme cruelty, against one who has endeavoured to shew himself a dutiful subject, and a faithful minister of the gospel.

"If all this prevail not," says Mr. Udal, "yet my Redeemer liveth, to whom I commend myself, and say, as Jeremiah once said, in a case not much unlike mine, 'Behold, I am in your hands to do with me whatsoever seemeth good unto you; but know you this, that if you put me to death, you shall bring innocent blood upon your own heads, and upon the land.' As the blood of Abel, so the blood of Udal, will cry to God with a loud voice, and the righteous Judge of the land will require it at the hands of all who shall be found guilty of it."

All that he could say proved unavailable. His reasons were rejected; and his judges remained inflexible, unless he would sign the recantation drawn up for him; which his conscience not suffering him to do, sentence of death was passed upon him February 20th, and execution openly awarded. When he received the unjust and cruel sentence,

* Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 21–23.