against the people----

COURT--Truly, Mr. Harrison, this must not be suffered; this doth
not at all belong to you.

HARRISON--Under favour, this doth belong to me. I would have
abhorred to have brought him to account, had not the blood of
Englishmen that had been shed----

COUNSEL--Methinks he should be sent to Bedlam, till he comes to
the gallows to render an account of this. This must not be
suffered.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL--My Lords, I pray that the jury may go
together upon the evidence.

SIR EDWARD TURNER--My Lords, this man hath the plague all over
him, it is a pity any should stand near him, for he will infect
them. Let us say to him as they used to write over an house
infected, 'The Lord have mercy upon him,' and so let the officer
take him away.

The argument then continues a little longer, chiefly between Harrison
and the Lord Chief-Baron; till--

LORD CHIEF-BARON--Mr. Harrison, you have appealed to our
consciences. We shall do that, which, by the blessing of God,
shall be just; for which we shall answer before the Tribunal of
God. Pray take heed of an obdurate, hard heart and seared
conscience.

HARRISON--My lords, I have been kept six months a close
prisoner, and could not prepare myself for this trial by
counsel. I have got here some acts of parliament, of that House
of Commons, which your Lordship will not own; and the
proceedings of that house, whose authority I did own.

The Lord Chief-Baron then summed up shortly, and the jury brought in a
verdict of Guilty, apparently without much hesitation. Sentence of
dragging, hanging, and quartering was accordingly passed in the ordinary
terms.

HUGH PETERS[39]

HUGH PETERS was called upon to plead on the 9th of October 1660.

CLERK--Hugh Peters, hold up thy hand. How sayest thou? Art thou
guilty of the treason whereof thou standest indicted; and for
which thou standest arraigned? Or Not Guilty?

HUGH PETERS--I would not for ten thousand worlds say I am
Guilty. I am not Guilty.

CLERK--How will you be tried?

HUGH PETERS--By the word of God [here the people laughed].

COURT--You must say By God and the Country. Tell him, you that
stand by him, what he should say, if he doth not know.

CLERK--How will you be tried?

HUGH PETERS--By God and the country.

The trial took place on the 13th of Octobe