ast were Harrison, formerly his fellow-labourer in the
dissolution of the long parliament, now his most implacable enemy; and
Feakes and Powell, the Anabaptist preachers, who had braved his resentment
during the last parliament.[a] Symson, their colleague, shared their
imprisonment, but procured his liberty[b] by submission.[1]

To the royalists, as he feared them less, he showed less forbearance.
Charles, who still resided in Paris, maintained a constant correspondence
with the friends of his family in England, for the twofold purpose of
preserving a party ready to take advantage of any revolution in his favour,
and of deriving from their loyalty advances of money for his own support
and that of his followers. Among the agents whom he employed, were men who
betrayed his secrets, or pretended

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, i. 641, 642; ii. 67, 68. Whitelock, 580, 582, 596.
Ludlow, ii. 47.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1654. Feb. 30.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1654. July 26.]

secrets, to his enemies,[1] or who seduced his adherents into imaginary
plots, that by the discovery they might earn the gratitude of the
protector. Of the latter class was an individual named Henshaw, who had
repaired to Paris, and been refused what he solicited, admission to the
royal presence. On his return, he detailed to certain royalists a plan by
which the protector might be assassinated on his way to Hampton Court, the
guards at Whitehall overpowered, the town surprised, and the royal exile
proclaimed. Men were found to listen to his suggestions; and when a
sufficient number were entangled in the toil, forty were apprehended[a] and
examined. Of these, many consented to give evidence; three were selected[b]
for trial before the high court of justice. Fox, one of the three, pleaded
guilty, and thus, by giving countenance to the evidence of Henshaw,
deserved and obtained[c] his pardon. Vowell, a schoolmaster, and Gerard, a
young gentleman two-and-twenty years of age, received[d] judgment of death.
The first suffered on the gallows, glorying that he died a martyr in
the cause of royalty. Gerard, before he was beheaded, protested in the
strongest terms that, though he had heard, he had never approved of the
design.[2] In the depositions, it was pretended that Charles had given his
consent to the assassination of the protector.

[Footnote 1: Clarendon informs Nicholas (June 12), that in reality no one
secret had been betrayed or discovered.--Clar. Papers, iii. 247. Bu