LIBERATION OF HEYWOOD. 79 
made a salutary impression on the minds of 
all the ships' companies present. 
The following words were used by Mr. 
Heywood, when Captain Montague had read 
to him his Majesty's free and unconditional 
pardon, on the 27th of October ; 
" SIR, When the sentence of the law was 
passed upon me, I received it, I trust, as 
became a man ; and if it had been carried 
into execution, I should have met my fate, 
I hope, in a manner becoming a Christian. 
Your admonition cannot fail to make a 
lasting impression upon my mind. I re- 
ceive with gratitude my sovereign's mercy, 
for which my future life shall be faithfully 
devoted to his service." 
The pardon was a source of unspeakable 
delight to his family, especially to his sister 
Nessy, whose peace of mind had been broken 
by the terror of losing him by an ignomi- 
nious death, and whose joy, on hearing of 
his pardon was, perhaps, more difficult to 
bear than her previous grief had been : 
" For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first." 
She had written to her mother and sisters 
