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sisted in denying that he had any accomplices; while the people of all ranks and degrees, both near and at a distance, continued their exclamations, in token of their great grief for the loss of their king. Several persons set themselves to pull the ropes with the utmost eagerness; and one of the noblesse, who was near the criminal, alighted off his horse, that it might be put in the place of one which was tired with drawing him. At length, when he had been drawn for a full hour by the horses, without being dismembered, the people, rushing on in crowds, threw themselves upon him, and with swords, knives, sticks, and other weapons, they struck, tore, and mangled his limbs; and violently forcing thein from the executioner, they dragged them through the streets with the utmost eagerness and rage, and burnt them in different parts of the city.
JOHN FELTON,
FOR THE MURDER OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, 1628.
BUCKINGHAM was the ostentatious favourite of James and Charles. The former, in spirit of idiotism, preferred him for his handsome person, raised him above the ancient nobility, and placing himself above the law and public opinion, he became. hateful to the whole nation except to the infatuated Charles and his own creatures. Successive parliaments denounced him, and their strong declarations and high authority excited a spirit of political fanaticism against him.
About a month before the duke was assassinated, occurred the murder, by the populace, of the man who was called "The duke's devil." This was a Dr. Lambe, a man of infamous character; a dealer in magical arts, who lived by showing apparitions or selling the favours of the devil, and whose chambers were a convenient rendezvous for the curious of both sexes. This wretched man, who openly exulted in the infamous traffic by which he lived, when he was sober, prophesied