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The peti- holy a Prince, that, too, troubled them sore. tion of town was also greatly troubled for the men that Mansoul were committed to ward, for that they were their stay and their guide, and for that they believed that, if those men were cut off, their execution would be but the beginning of the ruin of the town of Mansoul. Wherefore, what do they, but, together with the men in prison, draw up a petition to the Prince, and sent it to Emmanuel by the hand of Mr Would-live. So he went, and came to the Prince's quarters, and presented the petition, the sum of which was this:

"Great and wonderful Potentate, victor over Diabolus, and conqueror of the town of Mansoul, we, the miserable inhabitants of that most woful corporation, do humbly beg that we may find favour in thy sight, and remember not against us former transgressions, nor yet the sins of the chief of our town; but spare us according to the greatness of thy mercy, and let us not die, but live in thy sight. So shall we be willing to be thy servants, and, if thou shalt think fit, to gather our meat under thy table. Amen."

So the petitioner went, as was said, with his petition to the Prince; and the Prince took it at his hand, but sent him away with silence. This still afflicted the town of Mansoul; but yet, considering that now they must either petition or die, for now they could not do anything else, therefore they consulted again, and sent another petition; and this petition was much after the form and method of the former.

But when the petition was drawn up, By whom should they send it? was the next question; for they would not send this by him by whom they

sent the first, for they thought that the Prince had A second taken some offence at the manner of his deportment petition before him so they attempted to make Captain

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Conviction their messenger with it; but he said he neither durst nor would petition Emmanuel for traitors, nor be to the Prince an advocate for rebels. "Yet withal," said he, “our Prince is good, and you may adventure to send it by the hand of one of your town, provided he went with a rope about his head, and pleaded nothing but mercy."

Well, they made through fear their delays as long as they could, and longer than delays were good; but fearing at last the dangerousness of them, they thought, but with many a fainting in their minds, to send their petition by Mr Desiresawake; so they sent for Mr Desires-awake. Now, he dwelt in a very mean cottage in Mansoul, and he came at his neighbours' request. So they told him what they had done, and what they would do, concerning petitioning, and that they did desire of him that he would go therewith to the Prince.

Then said Mr Desires-awake, "Why should not I do the best I can to save so famous a town as Mansoul from deserved destruction?" They therefore delivered the petition to him, and told him how he must address himself to the Prince, and wished him ten thousand good speeds. So he comes to the Prince's pavilion, as the first, and asked to speak with his Majesty. So word was carried to Emmanuel, and the Prince came out to the man. When Mr Desires-awake saw the Prince, he fell flat with his face to the ground, and cried out," Oh that Mansoul might live before

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The thee!" and with that he presented the petition; Prince's the which when the Prince had read, he turned away for a while and wept; but refraining himself, he turned again to the man, who all this while lay crying at his feet, as at the first, and said to him, "Go thy way to thy place, and I will consider of thy requests.

At last they saw their So, when he was come, fared, what Emmanuel

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Now, you may think that they of Mansoul that had sent him, what with guilt, and what with fear lest their petition should be rejected, could not but look with many a long look, and that, too, with strange workings of heart, to see what would become of their petition. messenger coming back. they asked him how he said, and what was become of the petition. he told them that he would be silent till he came to the prison to my Lord Mayor, my Lord Willbe-will, and Mr Recorder. So he went forwards towards the prison-house, where the men of Mansoul lay bound. But, oh! what a multitude flocked after, to hear what the messenger said! So, when he was come, and had shown himself at the grate of the prison, my Lord Mayor himself lookt as white as a clout; the Recorder also did quake. But they asked and said, "Come, good sir, what did the great Prince say to you? " Then said Mr Desiresawake, "When I came to my Lord's pavilion, I called, and he came forth. So I fell prostrate at his feet, and delivered to him my petition; for the greatness of his person, and the glory of his countenance, would not suffer me to stand upon my legs. Now, as he received the petition, I cried, 'Oh that Mansoul might live before thee!' So, when for a while he had looked thereon, he turned him about,

and said to his servant, Go thy way to thy place The again, and I will consider of thy requests. The prisoners' messenger added, moreover, and said, "The Prince judgment upon the to whom you sent me is such a one for beauty and glory, that whoso sees him must both love and fear him. I, for my part, can do no less; but I know not what will be the end of these things.'

At this answer they were all at a stand, both they in prison, and they that followed the messenger thither to hear the news; nor knew they what, or what manner of interpretation to put upon what the Prince had said. Now, when the prison was cleared of the throng, the prisoners among themselves began to comment upon Emmanuel's words. My Lord Mayor said, That the answer did not look with a rugged face; but Will-be-will said, it betokened evil; and the Recorder, that it was a messenger of death. Now, they that were left, and that stood behind, and so could not so well hear what the prisoners said, some of them catcht hold of one piece of a sentence, and some on a bit of another; some took hold of what the messenger said, and some of the prisoners' judgment thereon; so none had the right understanding of things. But you cannot imagine what work these people made, and what a confusion there was in Mansoul now.

For presently they that had heard what was said flew about the town, one crying one thing, and another the quite contrary; and both were sure enough they told true; for they did hear, they said, with their ears what was said, and therefore could not be deceived. One would say, "We must all be killed; another would say, "We must all be saved;" and a third would

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Mansoul say that the Prince would not be concerned with in per- Mansoul; and a fourth, that the prisoners must plexity be suddenly put to death. And, as I said, every

one stood to it that he told his tale the rightest, and that all others but he were out. Wherefore Mansoul had now molestation upon molestation, nor could any man know on what to rest the sole of his foot; for one would go by now, and as he went, if he heard his neighbour tell his tale, to be sure he would tell the quite contrary, and both would stand in it that he told the truth. Nay, some of them had got this story by the end, that the Prince did intend to put Mansoul to the sword. And now it began to be dark, wherefore poor Mansoul was in sad perplexity all that night until the morning.

But so far as I could gather by the best information that I could get, all this hubbub came through the words that the Recorder said when he told them, That in his judgment, the Prince's answer was a messenger of death. It was this that fired the town, and that began the fright in Mansoul; for Mansoul in former times did use to count that Mr Recorder was a seer, and that his sentence was equal to the best of oracles; and thus was Mansoul a terror to itself.

And now did they begin to feel what were the effects of stubborn rebellion, and unlawful resistance against their Prince. I say, they now began to feel the effects thereof by guilt and fear, that now had swallowed them up; and who more involved in the one but they that were most in the other, to wit, the chief of the town of Mansoul?

To be brief: when the fame of the fright was out of the town, and the prisoners had a little