I shall consider you
as an assassin, and shall treat you as such; and wherever I meet you I
shall pistol you, though you stood behind the king's chair; and I tell
it you in his majesty's presence, that you may be sure I shall not fail
of performance.'
Blood's next feat was to carry off from the Tower the crown jewels. He
was overtaken and arrested: and was then asked to name his accomplices.
'No,' he replied, 'the fear of danger shall never tempt me to deny guilt
or to betray a friend.' Charles II., with undignified curiosity, wished
to see the culprit. On inquiring of Blood how he dared to make so bold
an attempt on the crown, the bravo answered, 'My father lost a good
estate fighting for the crown, and I considered it no harm to recover it
by the crown.' He then told his majesty how he had resolved to
assassinate him: how he had stood among the reeds in Battersea-fields
with this design; how then, a sudden awe had come over him: and Charles
was weak enough to admire Blood's fearless bearing and to pardon his
attempt. Well might the Earl of Rochester write of Charles--
'Here lies my sovereign lord the king,
Whose word no man relies on;
Who never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one.
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