sentence than a fine of 500 marks and imprisonment until
it was paid.(1567)

(M806)

There was doubtless a large number of inhabitants of the city who would
gladly have assisted Monmouth--"the champion of the dissenters and extreme
Protestants"--had they been in a position to do so. But as soon as the news
of the duke's landing in Dorsetshire reached London orders were issued by
the mayor for a strict watch to be kept by night throughout the city, and
for the arrest of all suspicious characters, whilst the duke and his
supporters were proclaimed traitors and rebels. It was forbidden to
circulate the duke's manifesto in the city, and on the 16th June, or
within five days of his landing, a price of L5,000 was put upon his
head.(1568) After Monmouth's defeat at Sedgmoor (6 July) he and his
companions sought safety in flight. Monmouth himself fled to the New
Forest, where he was captured in the last stage of poverty, sleeping in a
ditch, and was brought to London. He was lodged in the Tower, where his
wife and three children had already been sent. Thousands of spectators,
who, we are told, "seemed much troubled," went forth to witness his
arrival by water on the evening of the 13th July. Two days later he was
executed on Tower Hill.

(M807)

The utmost cruelty, both military and judicial, was inflicted on
Monmouth's supporters. Many were hanged by royalist soldiers--"Kirke's
lambs," as they were called--without form of law. Others were committed for
trial until Jeffreys came to hold his "Bloody Assize," when to the cruelty
of the sentences passed on most of them was added the ribald insolence of
the judge. The opportunity was taken of giving the city of London a
lesson, and Henry Cornish, late alderman and sheriff, was suddenly
arrested. This took place on Tuesday the 13th October. He was kept a close
prisoner, not allowed to see friends or counsel, and deprived of writing
materials. On Saturday he was informed for the first time that he would be
tried on a charge of high treason, and that the trial would commence on
the following Monday (19 Oct.). His attitude before the judges was calm
and dignified. Before pleading not guilty to the charge of having
consented to aid and abet the late Duke of Monmouth and others in their
attempt on the life of the late king (the Rye House Plot), he entered a
protest against the indecent haste with which he had been called upon to
plead and the short time allowed him to prepare his ca