e principle that the country could not afford for ever this
periodical trouble of a Royalist Conspiracy, and that some examples
of severity might make the present upheaving the last of the kind,
Cromwell had resolved on a few such examples. His information,
through Thurloe and otherwise, was unerring. He knew, and had known
for some time, who were the members of the so-called "Sealed Knot,"
i.e. that secret association of select Royalists resident in England
who were in closest correspondence with Hyde and the other
Councillors of Charles abroad, and were chiefly trusted by them for
the management of the cause at home, Indeed, Sir Richard Willis, one
of the chiefs of the "Sealed Knot," had for some time been in
understanding with Cromwell, pledged to him by a peculiar compact,
and revealing to him all that passed among the Royalists. Hence,
before the end of April, some of the members of the "Sealed Knot,"
and a number of leading Royalists besides, had been lodged in the
Tower. Among them were Colonel John Russell (brother of the Earl of
Bedford), Colonel John White, Sir William Compton, Sir William
Clayton, Sir Henry Slingsby (a prisoner in Hull since the Royalist
rising of 1654-5, but negotiating there desperately of late to secure
the officers and the town itself for Charles), Sir Humphrey Bennett,
Mr. John Mordaunt (brother of the Earl of Peterborough), Dr. John
Hewit (a London Episcopal clergyman), Mr. Thomas Woodcock, and a
Henry Mallory. It was part of the understanding with Willis that
several of the prisoners, Willis's particular friends, should be
ultimately released. For trial were selected Slingsby, Clayton,
Bennett, Mordaunt, Woodcock, Mallory, and Dr. Hewit. The trials were
in Westminster Hall, in May and June, before a great High Court of
Justice, consisting of all the judges, some of the great state
officers, and a hundred and thirty commissioners besides, all in
conformity with an Act of the late Parliament prescribing the mode of
trial for such prime offences. Five of the seven were either
acquitted or spared: only Slingsby and Dr. Hewit were brought to the
scaffold. They were beheaded on Tower Hill, June 8. Much influence
was exerted in behalf of Hewit; but, besides that he had been deeply
implicated, he had been contumacious in the Court, challenging its
competency, and refusing to plead. Prynne had stood by him, and
prepared his demurrer.--From the evidence collected in Dr. Hewit's
case it appeared