Neither of them was the man for a forlorn hope, and both
returned to England when the civil war opened prospect of preferment
there. Both, we suspect, were inclined to value their Puritanism for its
rewards in this world rather than the next. Downing's son, Sir George,
was basely prosperous, making the good cause pay him so long as it was
solvent, and then selling out in season to betray his old commander,
Colonel Okey, to the shambles at Charing Cross. Peter became a colonel in
the Parliament's army, and under the Protectorate one of Cromwell's
chaplains. On his trial, after the Restoration, he made a poor figure, in
striking contrast to some of the brave men who suffered with him. At his
execution a shocking brutality was shown. "When Mr Cook was cut down and
brought to be quartered, one they called Colonel Turner calling to the
Sheriff's men to bring Mr Peters near, that he might see it; and by and
by the Hangman came to him all besmeared in blood, and rubbing his bloody
hands together, he tauntingly asked, _Come, how do you like this, Mr.
Peters? How do you like this work?_"[137] This Colonel Turner can hardly
have been other than the one who four years later came to the hangman's
hands for robbery; and whose behavior, both in the dock and at the
gallows, makes his trial one of the most entertaining as a display of
character.
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