69 ') E N G I 
ney and Effex were for a republic ; Monmouth had a de¬ 
fign on the crown for himfelf; and Ruffel and Hampden, 
attached to the ancient conftitution, wifhed only a redrefs 
of grievances, and the exclufion of the catholic duke of 
York from the fucceffion. Howard was a man ready to 
embrace any principle ; but, difcordant as they feemed 
in their aims, all united in a common hatred againft the 
heir apparent. 
While thefe fchemes were concerting among the lead- 
ers, an inferior plot was carried on by a number of con- 
fpirators, none of whom had any accefs to Monmouth 
and the cabal of fix, except colonel Rumfey, an old re¬ 
publican officer, and a perfon of the name of Fergufon. 
Thefe perfons indulged in the moll criminal difcourfe ; 
and, among other plans, propofed to affafiinate Charles 
in his way from Newmarket; but the houfe in which the 
king lived there, happening to take fire, obliged him to 
leave that place earlier than he intended ; and thus the 
execution of the defign was prevented. At length, 
Keiling, one of the confpirators, being under a Criminal 
profecution, in hopes of faving his life betrayed his af- 
fociates to fecretary Jenkins. Search being made after 
the confpirators, colonel Rumfey, and Weft, a lawyer, 
finding the dangers to which they were expofed, furren- 
dered themfelves, and turned evidence. The links of 
the confpiracy were now traced to the nobles, who had 
engaged in a different fcheme : Monmouth abfconded ; 
Ruffel was fent to the Tower ; Gray was arrefted, but 
efcaped ; and Howard, a profligate man, being taken,, 
in hopes of pardon and reward revealed the whole plot. 
Effex, Sidney, and Hampden, were immediately appre¬ 
hended ; and fome of the inferior confpirators, being con¬ 
victed, paid the forfeit of their lives. 
The trial of lord Ruffel, a nobleman illuftrious for his 
virtues, and highly popular, now commenced, againft 
whom Rumfey, Sheppard, and lord Howard, appeared. 
It was proved that an infurreftion had been refolved on, 
and the furprifal of the king’s guards taken into confider- 
ation by the prifoner : but (till with regard to law, there 
remained an important difficulty. By an aft paffed after 
the reftoration, it was indeed declared treafon to confuit 
on a rebellion during Charles’s life-time ; but then it was 
required, that profecution fhould be commenced within 
fix months of the commlffion of the crime. The fafts 
fworn to by Rumfey and Sheppard were beyond that pe¬ 
riod ; and to the other circumftances, Howard was the 
only vvitnefs, though the law of Edward III. provided, 
that there fhould be two in trials for treafon. Ruffel 
perceived this irregularity, and defired to have the point 
argued by counfel ; but the artificial confounding of two 
fpecies of treafon prevented him from gaining any thing 
by this plea. His veracity would not allow him to deny 
the confpiracy for an infurreftion ; but he folemnly pro- 
tefted that he had never entertained any defign againft 
the life of the king. The jury, however, brought him 
in guilty. The ftrongeft applications, with the moft libe¬ 
ral offers of money to court favourites, were made by his 
father, the earl of Bedford, to fave his life ; but the king 
was inexorable. 
Lady Ruffel, daughter and heir of the earl of South¬ 
ampton, a woman of the moft exalted charafter, threw 
herfelf at the king’s feet, and pleaded the fervices of 
her father as an atonement for the error of her hufband. 
Her tears and entreaties too being neglefted, fhe fum- 
moned up all the fortitude of her foul, and even endea¬ 
voured by Iter example to ftrengthen the refolution of 
her unfortunate lord. With a tender and decent compo- 
fure, they took leave of each other on the day of his 
execution. “ The bitternefs of death is now part,” faid 
he, as he turned from her. Lord Cavendifh, who was 
ftrongly attached to Ruffel, defected not his friend on 
this trying occufion ; he even offered to manage his elcape 
by changing clothes with him, and running all hazards 
in his place. Monmouth too, by a mefiage, declared his 
readinefs to furrender himfelf, if that was likely to avail 
A N D. 
his unfortunate affociate. It will be no advantage to 
me (faid Ruft'el) to have my friends die with me.” To 
the laft, he maintained the fame dignified deportment—- 
the fame equanimity and mild compofure which had dif- 
tinguifhed him through life ; and, as he was the moft 
popular among his own party, and moft admired for his 
virtues even by the oppofite faftion, his melancholy fate 
united every heart fenlible of humanity, in a tear of ten¬ 
der companion for him. 
Sir Algernon Sidney was next brought to trial. He 
had been deeply implicated in the civil wars ; but a re¬ 
public was his idol, and a king or a proteftor was equally 
the objeft of his averfion. Charles, however, had par¬ 
doned him for the partite took againft his father; but 
now, having engaged in a 'new confpiracy, he was con¬ 
demned to die, perhaps not unjuftly, but certainly ille¬ 
gally. Howard was again the only vvitnefs againft him ; 
but, as the law required two, a fingular expedient was 
found to fupply the deficiency. Among the prifoner’s 
papers were found fome difcourfes on government, in 
which he maintained principles favourable indeed to li¬ 
berty, but fuch as could not have infringed any pofitive 
law, even had they been publifited. Thefe papers, how¬ 
ever, were faid to be equivalent to a fecond witnefs ; and 
the violent and inhuman judge Jefferies eafily prevailed 
on a prejudiced jury to give a verdift againft Sidney. 
He died glorying in the “good old caufe,” in which, 
from his youth, he faid, he had enlifted himfelf. 
As not even the ftiadow of a fecond vvitnefs could be 
found againft Hampden, he was only indifted for a mif- 
demeanour, and the exorbitant fine of forty thonfand 
pounds itnpofed on him. On the day that lord Ruffel 
was tried, Effex, a man eminent for virtue and abilities, 
was found in the Tower with his throat cut. Whether 
he fell by his own hands, or otherwife, has never been 
clearly afcertained. * 
On the detection of this confpiracy, A. D. 1684, loyal 
addreffes arrived from all parts of the kingdom; and, in 
order to increafe his prefent popularity, Charles judged 
it proper to give his niece, the lady Anne, in marriage to 
prince George of Denmark. But though Charles had 
thus recovered his former popularity, and was enabled 
to govern without a parliament, it is certain he was nei¬ 
ther happy nor fatisfied. The violent temper of the 
duke gave him conftant apprehenfion and uneafinefs-. In 
oppofing fome of the duke’s hafty counfels, he was heard 
one day to fay, “Brother, I am too old to go again on 
my travels : you may, if you choofe it.” 
It was evident the king had fome important changes in 
contemplation; and it was ftrongly believed that he in¬ 
tended to fend the duke of York back to Scotland, to 
recal Monmouth, to alfemble his parliament, and to dif- 
rnifs his obnoxious minifters; but amidft thefe wife and 
virtuous defigns, he was feized with an apopleftic fit, 
and after languifliing a few days, he expired, in the fifty- 
fifth year of his age, and the twenty-fifth of his reign. 
Having always enjoyed a good conftitution, his death be¬ 
gat the fufpicion of poifon ; but there does not appear to 
be any juft grounds for fuch a charge. On his death¬ 
bed, lie (hewed a total indifference to the devotions and 
exhortations of the clergy of the eftablillied church, but 
readily received the facrament from the hands of catholic 
priefts, and certainly died in the communion of Rome, 
though he appears to have fupported the moft volup¬ 
tuous court in Europe, with little fenfe of any religion 
whatever. 
The charafter of Charles II. like the tranfaftions of 
his reign, has afl’umed various appearances, in proportion 
to the paffions and prejudices of different writers. To 
affirm that he was a great and good king, would be as 
unjuft as to allege that he was deftitute of all virtue, 
and a bloody and inhuman tyrant. The indolence of his 
d-ifpolition, and the diffipation occafioned by his pleafures, 
as they were at firft the fource of his misfortunes, became 
afterwards the fafety of the nation. Had he joined the 
ambition 
