_L._ So they are; for Sir Edward Coke produceth a record of one that was drawn and hanged for taking the great seal from an expired patent, and fastening it to a counterfeit commission to gather money. But he approveth not the judgment, because it is the judgment for petty treason: also, because the jury did not find him guilty of the offence laid in the indictment, which was, the counterfeiting of the great seal, but found the special matter, for which the offender was drawn and hanged. _P._ Seeing this crime of taking the great seal from one writing, and fastening it to another, was not found high-treason by the jury, nor could be found upon special matter to be the other kind of treason mentioned in the same statute; what ground had either the jury to find it treason, or the judge to pronounce sentence upon it? _L._ I cannot tell. Sir Edward Coke seems to think it a false record; for hereupon he saith, by way of admonition to the reader, that hereby it appeareth how dangerous it is to report a case by the ear. _P._ True; but he does not make it apparent that this case was untruly reported; but on the contrary, confesseth that he had perused the same record; and a man may, if it may be done without proof of the falsity, make the same objection to any record whatsoever. For my part, seeing this crime produced the same mischief that ariseth from counterfeiting, I think it reason to understand it as within the statute; and for the difference between the punishments, which are both of them capital, I think it is not worthy to be stood upon; seeing death, which is _ultimum supplicium_, is a satisfaction to the law, as Sir Edward Coke himself hath in another place affirmed. But let us now proceed to other crimes. _L._ Appendant to this is another crime, called misprision of treason; which is the concealing of it by any man that knows it; and is called misprision from the French _mespriser_, which signifies to contemn or undervalue. For it is no small crime in any subject, so little to take to heart a known danger to the King’s person, and consequently to the whole kingdom, as not to discover not only what he knows, but also what he suspecteth of the same, that the truth therefore may be examined. But for such discovery, though the thing prove false, the discoverer shall not, as I think, be taken for a false accuser; if for what he directly affirms, he produce a reasonable proof, and some probability for his suspicion. For else the concealment will seem justifiable by the interest, which is to every man allowed, in the preservation of himself from pain and damage. _P._ This I consent to. _L._ All other crimes merely temporal, are comprehended under felony or trespass.