George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 2, 17th edition.

The day before his execution, his friends were admitted to his prison; and he cheered their drooping spirits by his own serene intrepidity, reasoning calmly on death and immortality. He reviewed his political career, from the day when he defended Anne Hutchinson, to his last struggle for English liberties, and could say, ‘I have not the least recoil in my heart as to matter or manner of what I have done.’ A friend spoke of prayer, that for the present the cup of death might be averted. ‘Why should we fear death?’ answered Vane; ‘I find it rather shrinks from me, than I from it.’ His children gathered round him, and he stooped to embrace them, mingling consolation with kisses. ‘The Lord will be a better father to you.’ ‘Be not you troubled, for I am going home to my Father.’ And his farewell counsel was, ‘Suffer any thing from men rather than sin against God.’ When his family had withdrawn, he declared his life to be willingly offered to confirm the wavering, and convince the ignorant. The cause of popular liberty still seemed to him a glorious cause. ‘I leave my life as a seal to the justness of that quarrel. Ten thousand deaths, rather than defile the chastity of my conscience; nor would I, for ten thousand worlds, resign the peace and satisfaction I have in my heart.’

The plebeian Hugh Peters had been hanged; Sir Henry Vane was to suffer on the bock. The same cheerful resignation animated him on the day of his execution. As the procession moved through the streets, men from the windows and tops of houses