376 P1errepont, and ()11 the old sage parliament men, out of very heartie kindne5Se, spoke and labour'd very effectually lo bring him cleare of; and there was not at that day any man that receiv'd a more generall testimony of love and good esteeme of all parties then he did, not one of the most violent hunters of blood opposing favour, and divers most worthy persons giving a true and honourable testimony of him. Although they knew his principles contrary to theirs, yet they so iustified his cleare and upright carriage, according to his owne perswasion, as was a record much advancing his honour, and such as no man else in that day receiv'd.• Yett though he very well dcserv'd it, I cannot so much attribute that uni,·crsall concurrence that was in the whole house to expresse esteeme of him and desire to save him, to their iustice and gratitude, as to an over-ruling power of him that orders all men's hearts, who was then pleas'd to reserve his servant, even by the good and true testimony of some that afterwards hated him and sought his ruine, for the perseverance in that goodnesse, which then forc'd them to be his advocates; for even the worst and basest men have a secrett conviction of worth and virtue, which they never dare to persecute in its owne name. The collonell being thus discharg'd the house, retir'd to a remoter lodging from 'Vestminster, and lay very private in the towne, not comming into any companie of one sort or other, waiting till the act of oblivion were perfected, to goe downe againe into the countrie; but when the act came to be past in the house, then the Lord Lexington sett divers friends on worke in the common's house to get a proviso inserted, that the Newarker's mony, which he pay'd into the committee of Haberdasher's Hall, and was by that committee pay' cl to the collonell for his pay; might, with all g Mr. Lassels (probably Lascelles) enjoyed exactly a similar exemption, the peculiar reasons for it are not accurately known, but it is natural to suppose they were similar.
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