e, in his Sermon, November 5th, 1715, that it
appeared "as if the writer had already looked into the cellar and had
surveyed the powder, and had heard the confessions of the conspirators."
The proceedings were at length brought to a close; and judgment was
demanded against the prisoner. When the clerk of the crown asked what he
had to say why judgment should not be given, Garnet replied that "he
could say nothing, but referred himself to the mercy of the king and God
Almighty." Judgment was pronounced in the usual form, that the prisoner
should be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
On the third of May 1606, the prisoner was executed on a scaffold
erected at the west end of St. Paul's church-yard. Overal, dean of St.
Paul's, with the dean of Winchester, exhorted him to make a plain
confession to the world of the offence of which he had been convicted.
Garnet desired them not to trouble him, as he came prepared to die, and
was resolved what he should do. The recorder asked if he had anything to
say to the people before his death, reminding him that it was not the
time to dissemble, and that his treasons were manifest to the world.
Garnet evidently had no wish to address the crowd; and without refusing
the permission, he alleged that his voice was weak, his strength
exhausted, and that the people would be unable to hear him, except in
the immediate vicinity of the scaffold. To those who stood near,
however, he said that the intention was wicked, and the fact would have
been cruel, and that he entirely abhorred it. He was reminded that he
had confessed his own participation in the plot. It was also stated,
that he had acknowledged, under his own hand, that Greenway had asked
him who should be protector? and that he had replied that the matter was
to be deferred until the blow was actually struck. He confessed that he
had erred in not revealing all that he knew of the plot; but he refused
to make any further declaration on the scaffold.
He kneeled down at the foot of the ladder; but so distracted was he
during his prayer, that he constantly paused and looked about him, as if
in expectation of a pardon. He now expressed his sorrow in dissembling
with the lords, but justified himself by saying, that he was not aware
that they were in possession of such proofs against him. Then exhorting
all Romanists to abstain from treasonable practices, he was launched
into eternity.
Garnet was viewed as a martyr by his church after his de
|