the Rye House Plot: Delamere of having abetted the Western
insurrection.

It was not the intention of the government to put either Gerard
or Hampden to death. Grey had stipulated for their lives before
he consented to become a witness against them.37 But there was a
still stronger reason for sparing them. They were heirs to large
property: but their fathers were still living. The court could
therefore get little in the way of forfeiture, and might get much
in the way of ransom. Gerard was tried, and, from the very scanty
accounts which have come down to us, seems to have defended
himself with great spirit and force. He boasted of the exertions
and sacrifices made by his family in the cause of Charles the
First, and proved Rumsey, the witness who had murdered Russell by
telling one story and Cornish by telling another, to be utterly
undeserving of credit. The jury, with some hesitation, found a
verdict of Guilty. After long imprisonment Gerard was suffered to
redeem himself.38 Hampden had inherited the political opinions
and a large share of the abilities of his grandfather, but had
degenerated from the uprightness and the courage by which his
grandfather had been distinguished. It appears that the prisoner
was, with cruel cunning, long kept in an agony of suspense, in
order that his family might be induced to pay largely for mercy.
His spirit sank under the terrors of death. When brought to the
bar of the Old Bailey he not only pleaded guilty, but disgraced
the illustrious name which he bore by abject submissions and
entreaties. He protested that he had not been privy to the design
of assassination; but he owned that he had meditated rebellion,
professed deep repentance for his offence, implored the
intercession of the Judges, and vowed that, if the royal clemency