Flanders (Mercurius Politicus, 30 April to 7 May 1657). In July 1658 he was sent to Dunkirk, apparently to inquire into the provision made for the spiritual needs of the newly established garrison. He utilised the opportunity to inquire into the administration of the town in general, and to obtain several interviews with Cardinal Mazarin. Lockhart, the governor, praised the ‘great charity and goodness’ Peters had shown in his prayers and exhortations, and in visiting and relieving the sick and wounded. In a confidential postscript to Thurloe he added: ‘He returns laden with an account of all things here, and hath undertaken every man's business. I must give him that testimony, that he gave us three or four very honest sermons; and if it were possible to get him to mind preaching, and to forbear the troubling of himself with other things, he would certainly prove a very fit minister for soldiers.’ ‘He hath often,’ he continued, ‘insinuated into me his desire to stay here, if he had a call;’ but the prospect of his establishment in Dunkirk was evidently distasteful to the governor (Thurloe, vii. 223, 249).
On the death of the Protector, Peters preached a funeral sermon, selecting the text, ‘My servant Moses is dead’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 5th Rep. p. 143). During the troubled period which followed he took little part in public affairs, probably owing to ill-health. He deplored the overthrow of Richard Cromwell, protested that he was a stranger to it, and declared that he looked upon the whole business as ‘very sinful and ruining.’ When Monck marched into England, Peters met him at St. Albans and preached before him, to the great disgust of the general's orthodox chaplain, John Price (Maseres, Select Tracts, ii. 756). On 24 April, in answer to some inquiries from Monck, he wrote to Monck saying ‘My weak head and crazy carcass puts me in mind of my great change, and therefore I thank God that these twelve months, ever since the breach of Richard's parliament, I have meddled with no public affairs more than the thoughts of mine own and others presented to yourself’ (manuscripts of Mr. Leybourne Popham). No professions of peaceableness, however true, could save him from suspicion. The restored Rump deprived him of his lodgings at Whitehall in January 1660, and on 11 May the council of state ordered his apprehension (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1659–60, pp. 305, 338, 575, 360). Pamphlets, ballads, and caricatures against him testified to his general unpopularity (Cat. of Prints in Brit. Mus., satirical, i. 518, 522, 528, 532, 535–42). On 7 June the House of Commons ordered that he and Cornet Joyce should be arrested, the two being coupled together as the king's supposed executioners. On 18 June he was excepted from the Act of Indemnity (Kennet Register, pp. 176, 240). Peters, who had hidden himself to escape apprehension, drew up an apology for his life, which he contrived to get presented to the House of Lords. It denies that he took any share in concerting the king's death, and gives an account of his public career, substantially agreeing with the defence made at his trial and the statements contained in his ‘Last Legacy’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. p. 115). Peters was arrested in Southwark on 2 Sept. 1660, and committed to the Tower. His trial took place at the Old Bailey on 13 Oct. The chief witness against him was Dr. William Young, who deposed to certain confessions made to him by Peters in 1649, showing that he had plotted with Cromwell to bring the king to the block. Other witnesses testified to supposed consultations of Peters with Cromwell and Ireton for the same purpose, and to his incendiary sermons during the king's trial. Peters proved the falsity of the rumour that he had actually been present on the scaffold by showing that he was confined to his chamber by illness on the day of the king's execution, but he was unable to do more than deny that he used the particular expressions alleged to have been uttered by him. He was found guilty and condemned to death (Trial of the Regicides, 4to, 1660, pp. 153–84). During his imprisonment Peters ‘was exercised under great conflict in his own spirit, fearing (as he would often say) that he should not go through his sufferings with courage and comfort.’ But, in spite of reports to the contrary, he met his end with dignity and calmness. On 14 Oct. he preached to his fellow-prisoners, taking as his text Psalm xlii. 11. He was executed at Charing Cross on 16 Oct. with his friend John Cook (d. 1660) [q. v.] One of the bystanders upbraided Peters with the death of the king, and bade him repent. ‘Friend,’ replied Peters, ‘you do not well to trample on a dying man. You are greatly mistaken: I had nothing to do in the death of the king.’ Cook was hanged before the eyes of Peters, who was purposely brought near by the sheriff's men to see his body quartered. ‘Sir,’ said Peters to the sheriff, ‘you have here slain one of the servants of God before mine eyes, and have made me to behold it, on purpose to terrify and discourage me; but God hath made it an ordinance to me for my strengthening and encouragement.’ ‘Never,’ said the official newspaper, ‘was person suf-
