SPEECH OF SIR CHRISTOPHER BLUNT. 395 



pher Blunt,.&quot; I pray you without offence let me put 

 you in mind that you have been esteemed, not only 

 a principal provoker and persuader of the earl of 

 Essex in all his undutiful courses, but especially an 

 adviser in that which had been confessed of his 

 purpose to transport a great part of her majesty s 

 army out of Ireland into England, to land at Mil- 

 ford, and thence to turn it against her sacred per 

 son. You shall do well to tell the truth, and to 

 satisfy the world.&quot; To which he answered thus : 



Sir, if you will give me patience, I will deliver a 

 truth, speaking now my last, in the presence of God, 

 in whose mercy I trust. [And then he directed him 

 self to my lord Gray and my lord Compton, and the 

 rest that sat on horseback near the scaffold.] 



When I was brought from Reban to Dublin, and 

 lodged in the castle, his lordship and the earl of 

 Southampton came to visit me ; and to be short, he 

 began thus plainly with me : That he intended to 

 transport a choice part of the army of Ireland into 

 England, and land them in Wales, at Milford or 

 thereabouts ; and so securing his descent thereby^ 

 would gather such other forces as might enable him 

 to march to London. To which, I protest before the 

 Lord God, I made this or the like answer : That I 

 would that night consider of it ; which I did. 



And the next day the earls came again : I told 

 them, That such an enterprise, as it was most danger 

 ous, so would it cost much blood, as I could not like of 

 it ; besides many hazards, which at this time I cannot 

 remember unto you, neither will the time permit it. 



