Many men who have committed great errors have afterwards, in the midst of suffering, behaved in such a manner as somewhat to redeem their evil reputation. To a considerable extent it proved so in this instance. On its being proposed to him by the renowned Hugo Grotius that he should escape--a step which he believed his enemies were not averse to his taking--Laud replied: "They shall not be gratified by me in what they appear to long for; I am almost seventy years old, and shall I now go about to prolong a miserable life by the trouble and shame of flying?" "I am resolved not to think of flight, but continuing where I am, patiently to expect and bear what a good and a wise Providence hath provided for me, of what kind soever it shall be."[502] He delivered on the scaffold a speech which was prefaced by the first verse of the twelfth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews,[503] as if it had been a sermon; though, after the exordium, it forsook a homiletic form. He referred to himself as a martyr, declared that he forgave his enemies, and endeavoured to clear himself from the charge of favouring Popery and disliking Parliaments. Then, after praying, and pulling off his doublet, he said that no man could be more willing to send him out of the world than he himself was to go. Upon being asked by Sir John Clotworthy what special text of scripture he found most comfortable, he replied, "_Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo_." "A good desire," answered the knight, who added, "there must be a foundation for that desire and assurance." Laud had no notion of Puritan "evidences," and simply rejoined, "No man can express it, it is to be found within." "It is founded," the Presbyterian went on to say, "upon a word though." Laud closed the conversation by adding, "That word is the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that alone."[504] The Archbishop's last prayer is the most beautiful thing connected with his history, and reminds us of Shakespeare's words-- "Nothing in life Became him like the leaving it." "Lord, I am coming as fast as I can; I know I must pass through the Shadow of Death before I can come to see Thee, but it is but _umbra mortis_, a mere shadow of death, a little darkness upon Nature, but Thou, by Thy merits and passion, hast broke through the jaws of death; so, Lord, receive my soul, and have mercy upon me, and bless this kingdom with peace and plenty, and with brotherly love and charity, that there may not be this effusion of Christian blood amongst them, for Jesus Christ's sake, if it be Thy will."[505] [Sidenote: _Laud's Character._]