LOVE. 137 severed his head from his body at one blow.. His mortal remains were afterwards interred, with great lamentation, in,the chancel of the church of St. Lawrence-Jewry. Mr. Love was a zealous presbyterian, a most popular preacher, and highly beloved among his brethren. But his memory has greatly suffered by the reproaches of high- church historians, and by none more than Clarendon, who says, 46 lie was guilty of as much treason as the pulpit could contain. And, therefore, when he appeared upon the scaffold, he seemed so much delighted with what he had done, that he could not even then forbear speaking with bitterness and animosity against both the king and the bishops. And in a raving fit, he laid his head upon the block, without so much as praying for the king, any further than he propagated the covenant."+ These are, indeed, most heavy charges. But if Mr. Love was really guilty of so C much treason,' it was in behalf of the king, andwith a view to promote the royal cause; there- fore, according to the noble historian's own principles, the charge is null and void. But if the historian refer to his preaching at Uxbridge, or on any other occasion, the charge is .asserted in like manner, without the smallest evi- dence, and, froth all that I have been able to collect, appears equally groundless and contrary to truth. With respect to Mr. Love's speaking with bitterness and animosity against both the king and the bishops,' when he was on the scaffold, the charge is altogether without foundation, and stands diametrically opposed to matter of fact; as appears from Love's speech at length, now before rne.t. And as to his laying his head upon the block, in a raving fit,' we are at a loss to understand his lordship's meaning, unless he undesignedly insinuates, that Mr. Love died in the enjoy ment of the most happy and exquisite religious feelings. Dr. Calamy assures us, 44 That he died neither timorously. o Love's Trial, p. 128, 129. f Clarendon's Hist. vol. iii. p. 338.-Dr. Grey informs us, that he had met with the following manuscript note, upon the margin of Nalson's Introduction, relative to Mr. Love's character and death :-" It might he " observed, (says the note,) as a circumstance contributing to make his " death appear the more judicial, that when Archbishop Land was be- .' headed, this Mr. Love, in a most inhuman triumph, flourished his hand- " . kerchief dipt in the blood of that great and venerable prelate; which," the doctor immediately adds, " will fully justify Lord Clarendon's cha- racter of Mr. Love." Every reader, however, will easily perceive the fallacy of the doctor's argument.-Grey's Examination Of Neal, vol. iii. p. 128. I Love's Trial, p. 121-128.-Lo;e's Case, p. 14-27.
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