A brief Discourse of the most heinous and traitorlike fact 〈◊〉 Thomas appletree: For which he should have suffced Death on Tuisday the one and twentieth of julie last: wherein is set down his Confession.  
Whereunto is annexed, the Report of the message sent to the place of execution from her most excellent Majesty, by the right honourable Sir Christopher Hatton Knight, Vizchamberlain to her highness.   printer's device of the brazen serpent, passed to Henry Bynneman in 1574-75 
AT LONDON, Imprinted by Henry Bynneman. Anno Domini. 1579.   

To the Reader.  
FOr as much as the nature of man is affected to listen after news, by the report whereof either the mind is delighted, or else stricken with fear, I have thought it convenient to publish unto all the world, and namely to all good and godly subjects, a thing of no small importance, very strange, and not so strange, as most certain true. May it therefore please thee to peruse this little book, wherein as in a looking glass, thou shalt behold to thy great comfort, the very effects of justice, justly executed against an offender, worthily condemned to death: and further, thou shalt to thy joy behold the rare and singular mercies offered unto him, that had most grievously trespassed against the royal estate of this noble realm of England, even by the Queen's most excellent majesty, for whose prosperity all faithful hearts are bound continually to pray to the Almighty, who guide and govern her, highness with his holy spirit, pour upon her the everlasting dews of his heavenly grace, prospero her in all her affairs, grant her long life, health, peace, and quietness of body and mind, where unto all true hearted subjects vouchsafe with me to say. AMEN.   

THe. 17. day of july this present year of our Lord God. 1579. the queens most excellent Majesty being on the river of Thames, betwixt her highness Manor of Greenwich, and Detforde, in her privy Barge, accompanied with monsieur Schemere the French Ambassador, the Earl of Lincoln, and M. Vizchamberlaine. etc. with whom she entered discourse about weighty affairs: it chanced that one Thomas appletree a young man and servant to M. Henry Carie, with ii or iii children of her Majesty's Chapel, & one other named Barnard Acton, being in a boat on the Thames, rowing up & down betwixt the places aforenamed, the aforesaid Thomas appletree had a Caliver or Harquebus, which he had three or four times discharged with bullet, shooting at random very rashly, who by great misfortune shot one of the water men (being the second man next unto the bales of the said Barge, labouring with his Dare, which sat within six foot of her highness) clean through both his arms: the blow was so great and grievous, that it moved him out of his place, and forced him to cry and scritche out piteously, supposing himself to be slain, and saying he was shot thorough the body. The man bleeding abundantly, as though he had had a hundred daggers thrust into him, the queens Majesty showed such noble courage as is most wonderful to be heard and spoken of, for beholding him so maimed, and bleeding in such fort, she never bashed thereat, but she wed effectually a prudent and magnanimous heart, & most courteously comforting the poor man, she bade him be of good cheer, and said he should want nothing that might be for his ease, commanding him to be covered till such time as he came to the shore, till which time he lay bathing in his own blood, which might have been an occasion to have terrified the eyes of the beholders. But such and so great was the courage and magnanimity of our dread and sovereign Lady, that it never quailed. To be short, this said Thomas appletree and the rest were apprehended and brought before her honourable Counsel who with great gravity and wisdom employed their times very carefully, & with great diligence examined the said appletree and his companions, and finding the case most heinous and wicked, justly pronounced against him the sentence of Death, and committed him to the Marshalsea in Southwark, from whence the tuesday following he was brought through the City with the Knight Marshals men, lead up to the Tower hill, and sore Radcliffe, up to Black wall, and so down to the water side, where was a Gibbet set up directly placed betwixt Desforde and Gréenwitch, for the execution of this malefactor, who in téede very pitifully bewailed the offence he had committed, and as well in prison as by the way prepared himself very penitentely and willingly to offer his body to the death, loathing this world and the pleasures of the same, and constantly by faith flette unto JESUS CHRIST, affirming that without him there was no salvation, and often said and protested very vehemently, that jesus Christ the son of the living God, was his only hope & comfort, in whose precious blood he was purged and made clean, and in him by faith he was fully assured, that his sins (were they never so many in number) should be freely for given and forgotten: such was his immovable constancy, & so strong he was in CHRIST JESUS, that although he confessed his imperfection to be such and so great that of himself he was not worthy to lift up his eyes to heaven, yet by faith he was assured that though his life were wicked and worthy the sentence of everlasting damnation, his Lord JESUS CHRIST his merciful saviour had for him satisfied the law, pacified God's indignation, made an agreement betwixt God and him, to whom he was by grace reconciled, conceived and borne again, not according to the flesh, but in spirit by grace, in the precious death and bloodshedding of his Mediator, and in him assured, that neither sin, death nor all the power of hell should harm him, but that his faith firmly fixed in that mighty conqueror that had overthrown Sin, subdued Death, and convinced Satan, should be sufficient for him to combat and maintain fight against his enemies, which traveled for the utter spoil and destruction of his body and soul, over whom in Christ his hope persuaded him to triumph. But when he came to the place of execution, he fell on his knees, and desired all the people to pray with him, where he very devoutly and with a constant courage prayed in this wise: O bountiful jesus, O sweet jesus. etc. a necessary prayer to be said at the hour of Death: after this he said the lords prayer, & then discoursed very godly, that the Lord jesus Christ was the rock whereon he laid his foundation, and that his only death and passion was the mean to wash away his sins and offences, and that he for him and all other sat on the right hand of his heavenly father, pleading and making continual intercession, representing his bloody and painful wounds which never could be dried up, which being seen in the eyes of his glorious majesty, his anger was converted to love: his fury, to kindness and fatherly pity. Thus very godly he purposed to finish his miserable and wretched life, and so prepared himself to ascend and go up the ladder, and being on the same, he turned himself, and spoke to the people as followeth: Good people I am come hither to die, but GOD is my judge, I never in my life intended hurt to the Quaenes most excellent Majesty, nor meant the harm of any creature, but I pray to God with all my heart, long to prospero and keep her highness in health, who bless and defend her from all perils and dangers, who prospero her in all her affairs, and bless her most honourable counsel, giving them grace to do all things to the glory of GOD and the benefit of this realm: But of all things, I am most sorry for my offence, and woefully bewail the same: and more, I am penitent and sorry for my good master, M. Henry Carie, who hath been so grieved for my fault, suffering rebuke for the same: I would to God I had never been borne that have so grievously offended him. And with that the tears gushed out of his eyes very fast. This said, he persuaded all men to serve God and to take an ensample by him, and every night and morning moved the devoutly to say the lords prayer. And as the executioner as one greedy of his prey, had put the rope about his neck, the people cried, stay, stay, stay, and with that came the right honourable sir Christopher Hatton Vice-chamberlain to her highness, who inquired what he had confessed, and being certified as is before expressed, he veiled his bonnet, and declared that the queens majesty had sent him thither both to make the cause opento them how heinous and grievous the offence of the said Thomas appletree was, and further to signify to him her gratipus pleasure: & so continued his message, as ye may read it priuted by itself, and annexed to this discourse. Which when he had declared, the hangman was commanded to take the rope from his neck, clean contrary to his expectation, & I think (as was seen to the people) sorry to loose his prey: but whether it were so or not, whether that appletree had cause to be joyful or not, I leave to your judgements, who being come down from the ladder, received his pardon, and gave GOD and the Prince praise, for so great a benefit as he had by her most gracious bounty received. This done, M. Vizchamberlaine said: Good people pray for the queens majesty, and then was this prayer said, which is usually read (for the preservation of her Majesty) in the church:  
O almighty and everliving God, the Lord of Lords, and king of kings, which dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers of the earth, most heartily we beseech thee with thy favour to behold our most gracious sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth. etc.  
Whereunto all the people joyfully accorded to say AMEN, crying, God save the Queen, and casting up their caps.  
Thus was the dead man restored to life, and brought back to the Marshalsea again, even as he was led thence to the place of execution, where he by the way most joyfully prayed for the security of the queens Majesty.  
Lo thus good reader hast thou heard discoursed unto thee, the offence of Thomas appletree, justly condemned for his trespass to die the death, and most graciously (notwithstanding the greatness of his crime) by the singular mercy and bounty of our dread and sovereign Lady Queen EIIZABETH preserved, for the which cause and all others, like faithful and true subjects strongly armed with an earnest love, let us not cease to pray to the Almighty with loyal & faithful hearts for her highness safeguard, who with his mighty and outstretched hand protect and deliver her as he hath done wonderfully from the hands of all her enemies, and so mercifully look upon us her subjects, that to our continual joys, the advancement of sin, religion and virtue, the fall and overthrow of all iniquity, we may possess the presence of this our royal virgin Queen even to the coming of jesus Christ in the clouds of the skies: whereunto let all that fear God and love the queens majesty from the bottom of their hearts, say AMEN.  
The night before he should suffer, he wrote this prayer following with his own hand, and on the backside of the paper wherein the same was set down, he wrote these words:  
To the Queen's most excellent Majesty, whom I beseech God long to continued over the Realm of England in prosperous felicity.  
This was the title.  

The humble prayer of Thomas appletree, yielding himself to die, as innocent from any pretended cause, as the Infant this night borne.  
AS I here pray earnestly to God the Father, who by his divine providence hath ordained me to come to this place, I do not pray only for myself, but also for the whole Church, especially such as be persecuted for thy word: O Lord grant unto them, that whether it be by death or life, they may glorify thy name to their lives end: be merciful unto this Church of England and Ireland, we beseech thee good Lord, and preserve every part and member of the same, especially thy servant ELIZABETH our most gracious sovereign Queens grant her all such gifts as be needful for so high a calling, to the advancement of thy glory, and benefit of this common wealth, to the establishing of a perfect government of thy church, according to the rule of thy blessed word, to the rooting out of all superstition and relics of Antichrist, to the governing of her subjects in all peace & tranquillity: defend her o Lord from all conspiracies, treasons & wing her authority to come from thy heavenly majesty, they may with obedient hearts humbly obey her in thee and for thee O Lord preserve the whole counsel, and the Magistrates of the Realm, that being lightened by thy holy spirit, they may defend thy truth, suppress wickedness, and maintain equity: behold all the preachers and pastors of the whole world, bless their labours, increase the number of thee, place over every Church a painful watchman, and remove all idle lubbers, confowd the power of Antichrist, and turn the hearts of the people, that they may be obedient to thy tructh Blessed be the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, with all the Schools of learning, and the students in the same: behold good Lord all those that be afflicted with any kind of cross, that they may profit by thy correction in newness of life, also beseeching God to send her majesty no worse nor disobedient subject, than in my heart and mind (God is my witness) till this innocent cause did chance towards me, I have been, which is the first offence that ever I committed. And so, in whose name I was baptized, & in whom only I hope to be saved at the day of judgement, I trust the Lord will receive my Soul into heaven.