iii. p. 249, 250,
etc.

They were all three condemned, and the two latter executed on gibbets
erected before their own doors. A covenant, as a test, was taken by
the lords and commons, and imposed on their army, and on all who lived
within their quarters. Besides resolving to amend and reform their
lives, the covenanters their vow, that they will never lay down their
arms so long as the Papists, now in open war against the parliament,
shall by force of arms be protected from justice; they express their
abhorrence of the late conspiracy; and they promise to assist to the
utmost the forces raised by both houses, against the forces levied by
the king.[*]

Waller, as soon as imprisoned, sensible of the great danger into which
he had fallen, was so seized with the dread of death, that all his
former spirit deserted him; and he confessed whatever he knew, without
sparing his most intimate friends, without regard to the confidence
reposed in him, without distinguishing between the negligence of
familiar conversation and the schemes of a regular conspiracy. With
the most profound dissimulation, he counterfeited such remorse of
conscience, that his execution was put off, out of mere Christian
compassion, till he might recover the use of his understanding. He
invited visits from the ruling clergy of all sects; and while he
expressed his own penitence, he received their devout exhortations with
humility and reverence, as conveying clearer conviction and information
than in his life he had ever before attained. Presents too, of which,
as well as of flattery, these holy men were not insensible, were
distributed among them, as a small retribution for their prayers and
ghostly counsel. And by all these artifices, more than from any regard
to the beauty of his genius, of which, during that time of furious cant
and faction, small account would be made, he prevailed so far as to have
his life spared, and a fine of ten thousand pounds accepted in lieu of
it.[**]

The severity exercised against the conspiracy, or rather project of
Waller, increased the authority of the parliament, and seemed to insure
them against like attempts for the future. But by the progress of the
king's arms, the defeat of Sir William Waller, the taking of Bristol,
the siege of Gloucester, a cry for peace was renewed, and with more
violence than ever. Crowds of women, with a petition for that purpose,
flocked about the house, and were so clamorous and, imp