Various / 2008-09-24 00:00:00
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"About three days before he dy'd, he lay speechlesse, uttering many a
sigh and heavy groan, and so in a most desperate manner departed from
his bed of sorrow. For the buriall whereof great store of wines were
sent in by the sheriff of the city of London, and a great multitude of
people stood wayting to see his corpse carryed to the church-yard, some
crying act, 'Hang him, rogue!' 'Bury him in the dunghill;' others
pressing upon him, saying, they would quarter him for executing of the
king: insomuch that the churchwardens and masters of the parish were
fain to come for the suppressing of them, and (with great difficulty) he
was at last carryed to White Chappell church-yard, having (as it is
said) a bunch of rosemary at each end of the coffin, on the top thereof,
with a rope tyed crosse from one end to the other.
"And a merry conceited cook living at the sign of the Crown, having a
black fan (worth the value of thirty shillings), took a resolution to
rent the same in pieces, and to every feather tied a piece of
pack-thread dyed in black ink, and gave them to divers persons, who (in
derision) for a while wore them in their hats.
"Thus have I given thee an exact account and perfect relation of the
life and death of Richard Brandon, to the end that the world may be
convinced of those calumnious speeches and erroneous suggestions which
are dayly spit from the mouth of envy against divers persons of great
worth and eminency, by casting an odium upon them for the executing of
the king; it being now made manifest that the aforesaid executioner was
the only man who gave the fatal blow, and his man that wayted upon him,
was a ragman (of the name of Ralph Jones) living in
Rosemary-lane.
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