pts to obtain, if not a pardon, at least a respite.
He wrote piteous letters to the King and to several courtiers, but in
vain. Some Roman Catholic divines were sent to him from Whitehall. But
they soon discovered that, though he would gladly have purchased his
life by renouncing the religion of which he had professed himself in an
especial manner the defender, yet, if he was to die, he would as soon
die without their absolution as with it. [427]

Nor were Ken and Turner much better pleased with his frame of mind. The
doctrine of nonresistance was, in their view, as in the view of most of
their brethren, the distinguishing badge of the Anglican Church. The two
Bishops insisted on Monmouth's owning that, in drawing the sword against
the government, he had committed a great sin; and, on this point,
they found him obstinately heterodox. Nor was this his only heresy. He
maintained that his connection with Lady Wentworth was blameless in the
sight of God. He had been married, he said, when a child. He had never
cared for his Duchess. The happiness which he had not found at home
he had sought in a round of loose amours, condemned by religion and
morality. Henrietta had reclaimed him from a life of vice. To her he had
been strictly constant. They had, by common consent, offered up fervent
prayers for the divine guidance. After those prayers they had found
their affection for each other strengthened; and they could then no
longer doubt that, in the sight of God, they were a wedded pair. The
Bishops were so much scandalised by this view of the conjugal relation
that they refused to administer the sacrament to the prisoner. All that
they could obtain from him was a promise that, during the single night
which still remained to him, he would pray to be enlightened if he were
in error.

On the Wednesday morning, at his particular request, Doctor Thomas
Tenison, who then held the vicarage of Saint Martin's, and, in that
important cure, had obtained the high esteem of the public, came to the
Tower. From Tenison, whose opinions were known to be moderate, the Duke
expected more indulgence than Ken and Turner were disposed to show. But
Tenison, whatever might be his sentiments concerning nonresistance in
the abstract, thought the late rebellion rash and wicked, and considered
Monmouth's notion respecting marriage as a most dangerous delusion.
Monmouth was obstinate. He had prayed, he said, for the divine
direction. His sentiments remain