"And shall have Liberty, he knows not when.
"But if he falls; as he hath Liv'd, he Dies
"A Faithfull Martyr for our Liberties."
177.
A preparative to a Hue and Cry after Sir Arthur Haslerig, (a late Member of the forcibly dissolved House of Commons, and now the present wicked, bloody, and tyrannical Governor of Newcastle upon Tine) for his severall ways attempting to murder, and by base plots, conspiracies, and false Witnesse to take away the life of Lieutenant Colonel John Lilburn now Prisoner in the Tower of London: As also for his felonious Robbing the said Lieut. Col. John Lilburn of betwixt 24 and 2500.l. by the meer power of his own will, without ever fixing any reall or pretended crime upon the said Lieutenant Col. or so much as affording him any formall proceedings, though upon a paper Petition. In which action alone, he the said Haslerig hath outstript the Earl of Strafford, in traiterously subverting the fundamentall Liberties of England, and (in time of Peace) exercising an arbitrary and tyrannicall Government, over and above Law, and better and more justly deserves to die therefore, then ever the Earl of Strafford did (especially, considering he was one of his Judges, that for such actions condemned him to lose his head as a Traytor) by which tyranicall actions the said Haslerig is become a Polecat, a Fox, and a Wolf, (as a subverter and destroyer of humane society) and may and ought to be knockt on the head therefore, by the very words of Solicitor St. John's own doctrine against the said Earl of Strafford. All which the said Lieutenant Col. John Lilburn hath cleerly and evidently evinced in his following Epistle of the 18 of August 1649, to his Uncle George Lilburn Esquire of Sunderland, in the County of Durham.
A copy of this pamphlet is preserved in the British Museum Library. It is in quarto, and contains 40 pages.
178.
A Breife Memento to the present Unparliamentary Junto Touching their present Intentions and Proceedings to Depose and Execute, Charles Steward, their lawfull King. By William Prynne Esquire: A Member of the House of Commons, and Prisoner under the Armies Tyranny; who, it seemes, have leavyed Warre against the Houses of Parliament, their quondam Masters; whose Members they now forcibly take and detaine Captives, during their lawlesse Pleasures. London, 1648.
On January 5th, 1648/49, the House of Commons ordered that Mr. Humphrey Edwards and Mr. Fry should repair to Mr. Prynne and show him this "scandalous book or pamphlet," and to know of him if he would own and avow the same book. The next day Mr. Edwards reported Mr. Prynne's answer touching his owning this pamphlet, which was a characteristic one, viz.: "I will give no answer until I am commanded by a lawful authority." On January 10th, it was resolved that Mr. Prynne by this answer had disowned the authority of that House, and that he should therefore be forthwith sent for in safe custody by the Serjeant at Arms. But Prynne refused his attendance, for the next day the servant to the Serjeant at Arms who was sent to take Mr. Prynne gave the following information to the House; that he repaired to Mr. Prynne, and served the warrant upon him, that Mr. Prynne thereupon gave him this answer, viz. that upon the sixth of December last as he was coming to do his duty in the House of Commons, he was taken by Colonel Pryde and Sir Hardres Waller, and by them imprisoned he knew not for what cause; that he yet remained under that restraint and was not yet discharged from that imprisonment; and that therefore he would not come upon that warrant.[140]
A copy is preserved in the British Museum Library. It is in quarto, and contains 16 pages.