To the Right Honourable, the Councell of State The Humble Petition of Elizabeth Worſopp, and Frances Clarke, the diſconſolate Siſters of Harcourt Greenway, late of Leckhamſteed, in the County of Bucks, Eſquire, deceaſed. Sheweth:

THAT on Tueſday the 22. of November the Portugall Ambaſſadours Brother, and divers others his Servants with Swords and Piſtols came upon the New-Exchange, in a moſt inſolent and riotous manner, where their ſaid Brother civilly, and peaceably then being, was moſt barbarouſly (no provocation given them by him) ſet on by the ſaid Portuguez, and piſtoll'd in the head: of which wound (the very braine flying out thereat) within twelve houres after, in extreame anguiſh and torture he moſt miſerably dyed.

That he was their only Brother, and by whoſe untimely death (as not exceeding the age of 24 years, and unmarried, their whole Name and Family is become utterly extinct, and they bereaved not onely of the preſent comforts of a deare Brother, but faire hopes alſo of much future emolument, in the Right and Title which was in him for the recovery of his Fathers Eſtate, neare 1000 l. per annum aliened from him.

It is therefore moſt humbly deſired, that the cry of their ſaid Brothers bloud might bee heard in them, and that your Honours would be pleaſed to take into your Chriſtian conſideration (none of your owne perſons being ſecure from ſo bold an aſſaſſination) the foulneſſe of ſo horrid a Murther with all its due circumſtances and aggravations: whereby Juſtice, according to the Lawes of God and the Nation, may bee impartially done on the Murtherers, and ſuch other reliefe conferred on your Petitioners, as ſhall ſeeme to your Wiſdomes moſt meet and proper for them in this their moſt ſad and miſerable condition.

And your Petitioners ſhall ever pray, &c.

NOw whereas by a late Printed paper, ſubſcribed by the name of Pantaleon Sa, the world is in ſome danger to bee impoſed on to an erroneous faith, that the perſons againſt whom we have petition'd have been too violently proſecuted by us, and (though in order to a legall triall) too rigorouſly treated by the Juſticiaries of our Common-wealth, I conceived it moſt imported mee (my ſiſters ſickneſſe indiſpoſing her otherwiſe) then by aſſent to joyne with mee in ſome Animadverſions on the ſaid paper, to vindicate to both Nations, Engliſh and Portuguez, at leaſt thoſe who underſtand Engliſh, the onely tongue I know to expreſſe my ſelf in, as well the honour as the legality of the proceedings; and withall, that by thoſe the Engliſh Nobility, and the Citie of London, whom this paper endeavours to Cajole into ſuch a commiſeration of his Perſon, and opinion of his innocency, that the horrid and barbarous murther of an Engliſh Gentleman, in every thing (as to the Murtherers) a moſt innocent perſon, and one who (let mee without envy ſince hee is dead, affirme) had known valour and bravery enough to have rendered him not only ſerviceable, but an honour to his Nation, might be forgotten, and out of a foeminine, and in matters of bloud, unmanlike, and unchriſtian pitty a proſecution of Juſtice againſt the Offenders might be remitted.

To the Relation of the firſt dayes paſſages I ſhall ſay little, nothing being more in my abhorrency then incivility, and eſpecially to ſtrangers, and yet unleſſe report bee very falſe, if any of our Engliſh Gentlemen ſhewed themſelves ill diſciplined in the Ethicks, they found the Portuguez but uncivill Tutors: For unleſſe for a word (perhaps too provoked) a blow, yea a ſtab be (what I have more noble thoughts of them then to believe) Portugall Juſtice, and foure afterwards upon one Portugall fortitude, they themſelves muſt needs conclude Morality to have been as fouly tranſgreſt by ſome of their owne Nation.

But ſuppoſing an affront beyond a Gentlemans ſufferance, and a complaint to that Power under whoſe protection hee was, beneath his honour, was there no nobler way of vindication then by a Riot? Street combates, and popular engagements were never held to have much of the Cavalier in them: But Don Pantaleon (whom were not his hands red with my Brothers bloud) I ſhould equally honour with his height of birth and minde profeſſeth that hee feared none, nor ſuſpected in the leaſt that any would aſſault him when they ſaw him unarmed: I ſhall not queſtion how unarmed he came on the Exchange, though (if report be true) hee had defenſive Armes enough for more then one perſon; but if the evidence which hath been given in this buſineſſe be true, it will ſufficiently appeare, if he had no ſword himſelfe, his ſervant who was at his heeles had two; and that when the Exchange was cleared (I cannot but believe more through the civility then feare in the Engliſh that were on the place, or valour of the Portuguez) he was one of thoſe who when my dear Brother lay wallowing in his bloud and braines, in a triumphing, and braving manner, both of jeſture and language, went ſlaſhing their ſwords againſt the ſtones.

But who that will not againſt Juſtice it ſelfe be partiall, can beleeve that the Exchange mens ſhutting up their ſhops began this ſecond unhappy broyle? eſpecially if he conſider indeed the warlike preparations to it: doth Gunpowder and Granadoes, and I know not what, uſe to be carried about for defence? Indeed I am none of thoſe that think there was a deſign of beſiegeing or blowing up the Exchange, but that their Deſign was revenge, I not only believe, but am very confident the proofe of their preparations all that day of all ſorts of Armes, and invitation of others to their aſſiſtance, beſides their own Family will make apparent enough.

Or who that were not ſo nearely concerned could chuſe but ſmile at the vanity of that inſinuation that it might bee an Engliſh man as well as a Portugall, that ſhot that diſaſtrous Piſtoll, and that it was ſhot from the aſcent of the lower walk to the higher, but I ſhal ſay little of this at the preſent; I hope that their juſt triall will not be long deferred, when I doubt not but it will be enough proved, that the bold murderer was a Portugall, that hee did that cruell and baſe action upon an innocent and unprovided perſon, not by accident but by aime and deſigne, directing his Piſtoll to his head which fell at the feete of the bloudy murtherer.

But ſurely to have ceaſed that needleſſe terrour it had been more proper to have fairely retreated, or at leaſt repelled the irruption of his ſervants then to have headded them to the driving off of the Engliſh on the place, and to have cleared himſelfe of the murther of my Brother: to have expreſt a ſorrow for it, if not a care for him rather than a triumph: but his ſorrow ſince now I beleeve he may have reaſon for it, I beleeve and blame him not, in this condition which I can hartily even for him as a Gentleman and a Chriſtian grieve, for to tell the faireſt tale he can for himſelf, but if in criminall acts the delinquents Rhetoricall envying againſt the unreaſonableneſſe of them may argue the improbability of his commitment of them, I would wonder to heare in • n age of any one perſon guilty; and if the being a ſtranger may excuſe bold aſſaſſinations and murders, His texts of Scripture, and Polyanthea may befreind him, but then what magiſtracy, what government is ſecure from the blodieſt and yet unpuniſhable aſſaults? yet I hope neither the perſons concerned, nor any other will beleeve this from me to be the production of malice, or unchriſtianlike revenge; ſince I think it is no more then what the rights of my moſt unfortunate deare Brother extort from me. For I can, if my griefs may receive an addition, adde to them a harty ſorrow for every unfortunate perſon (that nevertheleſſe I cannot but hope) muſt ſuffer for this bloudy murther: I can heartily bewaile that a Gentleman of ſo noble and illuſtrious an extraction, ſhould amongſt ſtrangers, from whom his owne King (I may I thinke ſay by him) required amity and friendſhip, premeditatedly run himſelfe into ſo diſaſtrous and ruinous an action, though I do profeſſe to all the world that neither my ſiſter or my ſelfe who are the only neerly concerned perſons do know that he hath afforded us a pitty or condolement in our unſpeakable griefes, nor oblieged us to any ſuch commiſeration by a civill meſſage that he was ſorry for our miſfortunes, notwithſtanding his flouriſh of comfort and ſatiſfaction at the end of his narration; but the comfort and ſatiſfaction I begge in the behalfe of myſelfe and ſiſter is juſtice, which I humbly implore from God, the Magiſtrate, and all who may give it us, or aſſiſt us in the procuring of it, and which I doubt not but the unparralleld equity of our Laws, and adhering of our Juſticiaries to them will give us.

I ſhall therefore ſay nothing more to thoſe inſinuations of his kindneſſes or civilities to the Engliſh Gentry, ſince I cannot but believe every one of them will remember my Brothers unhappy fate might have beene his owne.

12. Decemb. 1653. FRANCES CLARKE.