rom one
of the most illustrious houses of England, had been recently arrested
and committed close prisoner to the Tower on a charge of high treason.
He was accused of having been concerned in the Rye House Plot. A true
bill had been found against him by the grand jury of the City of London,
and had been removed into the House of Lords, the only court before
which a temporal peer can, during a session of Parliament, be arraigned
for any offence higher than a misdemeanour. The first of December had
been fixed for the trial; and orders had been given that Westminster
Hall should be fitted up with seats and hangings. In consequence of the
prorogation, the hearing of the cause was postponed for an indefinite
period; and Stamford soon regained his liberty. [36]

Three other Whigs of great eminence were in confinement when the session
closed, Charles Gerard, Lord Gerard of Brandon, eldest son of the Earl
of Macclesfield, John Hampden, grandson of the renowned leader of the
Long Parliament, and Henry Booth, Lord Delamere. Gerard and Hampden were
accused of having taken part in the Rye House Plot: Delamere of having
abetted the Western insurrection.

It was not the intention of the government to put either Gerard
or Hampden to death. Grey had stipulated for their lives before he
consented to become a witness against them. [37] But there was a still
stronger reason for sparing them. They were heirs to large property: but
their fathers were still living. The court could therefore get little in
the way of forfeiture, and might get much in the way of ransom. Gerard
was tried, and, from the very scanty accounts which have come down
to us, seems to have defended himself with great spirit and force. He
boasted of the exertions and sacrifices made by his family in the cause
of Charles the First, and proved Rumsey, the witness who had murdered
Russell by telling one story and Cornish by telling another, to be
utterly undeserving of credit. The jury, with some hesitation, found a
verdict of Guilty. After long imprisonment Gerard was suffered to redeem
himself. [38] Hampden had inherited the political opinions and a large
share of the abilities of his grandfather, but had degenerated from
the uprightness and the courage by which his grandfather had been
distinguished. It appears that the prisoner was, with cruel cunning,
long kept in an agony of suspense, in order that his family might be
induced to pay largely for mercy. His spirit sank