Finding that his death was inevitable, he determined to make the only reparation which was any longer in his power to Elizabeth. When placed on the platform, after desiring the people to pray for him, lamenting his crime, and expressing a hope that he might be the last person to suffer for the rebellion, he concluded thus:—
'Whereas it is said abroad that I should accuse my Lady Elizabeth's Grace and my Lord Courtenay; it is not so, good people, for I assure you neither they nor any other now yonder in hold or durance was privy of my rising or commotion before I began.'[1]
The words, or the substance of them, were heard by every one. Weston, who attended as confessor, shouted, 'Believe him not, good people! he confessed otherwise before the council.' 'That which I said then I said,' answered Wyatt, 'but that which I say now is true.' The executioner did his office, and Wyatt' s work, for good or evil, was ended.
All that the Court had gained by his previous con-
- ↑ So far the Chronicle of Queen Mary, Holinshed, Stow, and the narratives among the Harleian MSS. essentially agree. But the chronicle followed by Stow makes Wyatt add, 'As I have declared no less to the Queen's council;' whereas Foxe says that he admitted that he had spoken otherwise to the council, but had spoken untruly. Noailles tells all that was really important in a letter to d'Oysel: 'M. Wyatt eust la teste coupée, dischargeant advant que de mourir Madame Elizabeth et Courtenay qu'il avoit aulparavant chargé de s'estre entendus en son entreprinse sur promesses que l'on luy avoit faictes de luy saulver la vie.'—Noailles, vol. iii.
threw himself at Courtenay's feet and implored him to confess the truth. The sheriffs of London, on the other hand, said that he entreated Courtenay to forgive him for the false charges which he had brought against him and against Elizabeth.—Foxe, vol. vi. Compare Chronicle of Queen Mary, p. 72, note.
