Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	master_n	respect_n	servant_n	1,977	5	7.1711	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93858	A narrative of the late Popish Plot in Ireland, for the subjugating thereof to the French king together with the proceedings against, and tryal of the Earl of Tyrone, and others who were accused for carrying on the same : containing the several examinations of Hubbart Bourke, Edward Ivie, John Macnemarrah, and Thomas Samson, Gent., upon information taken before the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland ... / by Tho. Samson, Gent., late steward of the Earl of Tyrone.	Samson, Thomas.	1680 (1680)	Wing S542; ESTC R202423	43,134	40

after my arrival there in Ireland I lived most in the Province of Munster being acquainted with most of the Nobilitie and Gentrie of the Counties therein where a Certificate of my Life and Conversation might if desired have been easily procured for I desie the world to charge me with any Misdemeanours which may in the least render me uncapable of being a Witness for the King or other persons in any Judicial proceedings or that can otherwise blemish my Reputation Yea the very Tenants of the Earl of Tyrone himself not interested or pre-engaged will testifie for me and three of the Jurie examined before the Council did on their Oaths swear that they never knew or heard any evil Action done by me Secondly The Motives engaging me to make this Discoverie after a long forbearance of the same when summoned up to the Council was 1. The fear of God which should be the ground of all our Actions and Undertakings for that will not allow a man to approve Guilt in himself or conceal it in others especially when the Confequence is so portentous as to threaten Ruine to the King and Countrie which would have been involved in the common Calamitie if real as it seemed to appear 2. Love to the Protestant Religion which must needs be in great danger if not quite extirpated if a forraign Papal power had the upper hand in that Kingdom the Papists having so great a part alreadie 3. My Dutie and Allegiance to his Majestie Ireland having for some hundred years been his and his Royal Predecessors so that no good Subject could possibly hear any thing tending to the rending it out of his Majesties hands and being ●●lled thereunto on Oath but must testifie his truth therein ●●ld Tyron● of Irish Extraction had in Queen Elizabeth's days ende●●●red to betray it unto the Spanish who by Gods Mercie and English Valour were ferreted out Being satisfied sin my Conscience of Endeavours to betray it to the French now I looked upon my self under a deep Engagement no● to conceal it 4. I will not deny but that Self-preservation and Command of Superiours had also some influence upon my Discoverie in concurrence with the former Motives Having discovered some dangerous Intrigues I thought it hazardous to conceal them there being no Accessaries in Treason but Concealers as well as Actors coming under the same Guilt and the rather incited thereunto by his Majesties Proclamation signifying That if the Discoverie were not made by a day appointed there was no Pardon to the Discoverers Herein I hope amongst the intelligent sort of mankind I have not laid in any great prejudice against my Testimonie because Self-preservation is a natural Principle which runs through the whole Species of mankind And yet I confess I had some struglings in my self before I could conquer those difficulties which lay in my way I mean those prejudices which I foresaw would be objected against me Thirdly The Objections and Prejudices I foresaw were these 1. I was comparatively but a mean and inferiour person and therefore unfit to act in so high a Concern and against so potent a Power especially having the harsh usage of Mr. Bourke before my eyes It was a Saying as I remember of Sir Walter Rawly That ●f a man followed the Truth too close by the heels it might perhaps knock out his brains For an inferiour person to accuse great men doth many times make the Witness suffer and set the Offender free Truth it 's but seldom entertained for its own sake that it hath need of piecing advantages to buoy it up against the power of great Persons This I confess put some stop on me for a while until the former Considerations did out-ballance them 2. There was much danger of Life Libertie loss of Employment foreseen by me which are Clogs and Weights hindring the attempts of many noble Actions it being the predictions of most persons that such would attend those that appeared therein Considering likewise the many Slanders and Reproaches that was cast upon us by the Earls Friends and to reckon up all the Abuses and Threatnings against me and the rest of the Witnesses some of which are hereafter mentioned would be tedious if love to Truth had not carried us on it was impossible we should have been supported under them 3. It is alleadged as a Disparagement to me that I appeared against my Lord and Master for such the Earl of Tyrone had been which is counted a thing of no credit for a former Servant to do To which I say I was the Earl's Steward for which I had his Commission and do acknowledge it the dutie of a Steward to be true and faithful to his Master in things wherein the safetie of King and Kingdom are not concerned Yea and to persist in that frame of respect as long as matters will bear any favourable interpretation it being the part of a Servant to take all in the best sence And I my self was so far excusable herein that at first when I heard the Earl speak some discontented words I thought them merely indited from his passion of other particular pressure without any real or solid ground which made me go so far in concealing or rather acting for the Earl that I could hardly retrieve my Allegiance Yea his Lordship when he was accused by Bourke I was very forward to appear for him as thinking him wrong'd and accordingly accompanied him to Dublin to that purpose so that I was not the first Starter of the business against the Earl but was brought in by the information of Mr. Bourke and I was so passionately zealous for him that I could hardly retrieve my Allegiance Indeed upon serious recollecting of things and confidering that the faid Earl had a constant defiance to the King and also the multitude of Papists and other Irish Officers disbanded in France resorting to my Lord and harboured by him I was convinced that a transient discontent could not form it self unto so great a designe but that it must have a firmer root And thereupon began to observe things more narrowly and then found matter enough to ground more than a Suspition and did believe there was some truth in Bourk's Information Being also further awakened by the Plots in England against his Majesty and Government I had a great conflict in my self what to do At last the noblest consideration weighed down all the rest and I resolved to maugre all fears and doubts and testifie the truth resolving that it was not an incumbant dutie on a Servant utterly to lose his own Reputation to piece up his Masters Whereupon I made several days to make some discoverie at Kilkenny to the Lord Lieutenant but did not then effectually proceed but then I acquainted Esquire Bradley which after was charged one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace who told me that he dare not meddle for fear the Irish would fire his house and burn his Family Whereupon I undertook a Journey to

to be summoned up and to be examined upon whose examination A Summons was issued out against Quarter Mr. Ely John Ronan Maior Butler aforesaid and Laurence Swillivant and my self who were all sent for to the Council Board Quarter Mr. Ely went first to the Earls House to have Instructions touching the management thereof the Earl also sent his Gentleman Mr. Power for me I being then in Waterford the said Power came to me and told me that the Earl of Tyrone and Quarter Mr. Ely sent for me to the intent I might repair to Doublin and having no horse with me at Waterford the said Power the Earls Gentleman provided me with a horse on which I went with him to Curringmore to the Earls house where I met the said Earl and Quarter Mr. Ely together Upon which the said Earl and Quartermaster Ely took me into the Garden and there did agree to send for John Ronan Who came immediately at which time the Earl and Quatermaster Ely did instruct us what we should say when we came to Dublin before the Council and told me the great danger if I should discover any thing of the matter but proffering an Oath unto us and finding us unwilling to swear what they would have us to swear the said Earl then told us that we should be absolved by Dean Power his Cousin This Dean Power is a Papist Dean secured by the Earl and the rest of the Clergy and after instructing us in the Garden for a considerable time the Earl gave me a horse and gave John Ronan Lawrence Swillivant and my self money to bear our charges to Dublin And when we came there we were maintained at the Earls charge with promises to get bail for me if imprisoned And we were there always accompanied with the Earls Friends who promised me great rewards if I would conceal what I knew I also had Money from Quartermaster Ely whilst I was in the Pursivants hands and several Masses were said in the Country for the Earl and me whilst I contained from discovering but since have excommunicated me But at length Mr. Ivie and Mr. Samson petitioned the Lord Lieutenant and Council to have me kept close Prisoner and to keep the Earls Friends and Sollicitors from me which accordingly was done Now being by my self and considering the Evil Case I was in God so touched my Conscience that I confessed the Truth Several other things there are relating to the Powers concerning Stealing of Horses and providing of Arms for the same purpose which you will find treated of in Mr. Ivies Examinations and in James Finicans which Powers were examined on Oath by Sir John Davies and since bailed out of Goal by means of Captain Morris the Prosecutor who now goes armed and mostly accompanied with the Earls Friends and Kindred James Finican was solicited by Mr. Bradly not to confess any thing against him the said Bradly for which the said Bradly promised him a good reward in money and was before the Committee and did for some time continue to conceal the matter but being kept from the said Bradly for a Season in the Marshals hands told the said Marshal that he would not be in Trouble for concealing others Treasons he the said Finican desired to be carried again before the Committee confessed the whole matter saying that if Mr. Bradly were put where he was he would confess the Truth too This astonished the said Bradly for as much the said Finicans promise to the said Bradly of concealing made him the said Bradly to tell the Committee that he would be saved by the said Finicans Testimony You may observe also that whilst I denyed to confess the Truth and to conceal the Plot the Earls Friends got a petition writ against Mr. Ivie to be preferred to the Lord Lieutenant and Council viz. That the said Ivie was a man of ill Fame and a dishonest man and that he knew nothing of those Treasons and Briks before mentioned which petition they gave me to send unto or deliver unto the Lord Lieut. and Council in the mean time I being kept from them my Conscience forced me to confess the Truth I then shewed the Petition unto the said Mr. Ivie of which they were much ashamed and would have denyed it but that I justifyed it and told who brought it unto me naming Mr. Michael Row the hand also being known Which way J observed they always made use of to endeavour to clear themselves by calling in question the reputation of their Accusers The Examination of Thomas Sampson Gent. Taken upon Oath at several times before the Lord Lieutenant and Council and several Committees appointed for that purpose BEing put to his Oath Whether he knew any Treasons committea by the Earl of Tyrone or ever saw any Letters or ever heard the Earl of Tyrone speak any disaffected words of the King's Majesty or Government Saith That in March 1678. The Earl of Tyrone my then Lord and Master was Summoned up before the Lord Lieutenant and Council upon an Information given in against him by one Habbert Bourke who accordingly went and commanded me to wait on the said Earl and I then believing the said Earl to be abused by the said Bourke did as in duty I thought my self bound do my utmost to serve him and when we came to Dublin to the Inn called the Pide-horse the Earl sent me to the Council-Chamber the Council then sitting to Sir John Davis Clerk of the Council telling me that Sir John was his great friend and that I should tell him that the Earl was come to Town and did earnestly desire to speak with him before that the Council did know that the said Earl was come to Town on which I accordingly went to the Council-door and sending to Sir John Davis he came forth unto me After I had delivered my Message the said Sir John told me that the Council had heard that the Earl was come to Town and that he thought it the best way to acquaint them with it and that as soon as the Council was broke up he would wait on the Earl which accordingly he did and as the said Earl told me by Order of Council confined him unto his Chamber where the next day a Committee came to examine him a Copy of which Examination was allowed the said Earl which Copy I had paying for it nine shillings The next night after I was present with Dr. Moore who came into Ireland upon Dr. Oate's informing against him and was thereupon apprehended and went under Bail The said Moore being at the Earl's house at Curroughmore at his coming to Ireland by which I knew him and was ordered by the said Earl not to keep any Papers or any secret from him and upon the Dr's invitation I went with him to the Sun Tavern in Nicholas-Street in Dublin where he gave me a Bottle of Wine and entring into discourse with him he asked me whether I had read the Earls Examination I told

Youghall to the Earl of Orrery for to get his advice and counsel but found him in a dying condition In the mean time God himself open'd a door unto me for my Discoverie for upon Mr. Bourke's Information I was sent for by the Lord Lieutenant and Council to declare my knowledge of that matter which having before dis-engaged my self from the Earl's service I was the freer to do And having before seen the great swarms of Papists flocking to the said Earl's house thirtie or fortie more than our own Family I also considering the pretended settlement of his Estate for fear of Mr. Bourke his charge against him in case the Treason was found All these things considered I leave my self to the Censure of all uninterested persons whether my dutie to my Prince and love to my inperiled Religion ought not to over-ballance the inferiour consideration of being a Servant to Lord and Master if he had been so at that time which he was not when those two references do enterfere one with the other 4. It 's objected against me that I left the Earl and turned head against him because I could not make up my Accompts and that so I covered my dishonesty under a pretence of Loyalty To which I answer That there is no truth in the Allegation as they that know the Earl's concerns may easily judge for that I was not in his service above eight months and having never or scarcely above 10 s. in my hands but as the Rent was received or before it was ordered to be paid away And if at any time I undertook a Journey of a nights stay abroad I left with the said Earl my Money and Books for fear of being robbed and the Robberie put on my self a trick which I was forewarned of by my Friends and the Earl's too The truth of this I leave to the Countrie-Gentlemen whether they have not heard the Earl speak it to my commendation And of all the Years Rents that came to my hands was not with other Receipts above 500 l. what Estate the Earl had more I know not for which I was accountable out of which was paid 300 l. and more in solvent Bills and old Debts and Rent-charges on the Estate which considered with the charge of Law Building Improvements Journeys to Dublin Maintenance of the House buying almost all we used And sometimes when well freighted with Irish Gentlemen and disbanded Officers out of France it cost in Extraordinaries above 10 l. a week spending more in the Popish Fasting-days being always two or three days in a week than would maintain a well-govern'd Protestant Family the whole week But to give no more such needless Excuses I passed that Account of the first half years Rent to John Power Esq of Clachmore the Earl's Kinsman and by the Earl his order and having charged my self with the Receipt of the whole Rental the Earl was in my debt 30 l. which I owed at Waterford And to make me take up more there he gave me a Rental of the next half year which being so small and so great Debts charged on it that the Earl himself could not think on a way how to make provision for that Journey he was then going to Dublin and to pay the old Scores But I was forced to stay behinde and drive the Tenants Cattle and what Rents could not be had to take a Bill for on my word in Waterford and so have the remainder of the Rents made over to me to discharge the same At the Earl's return from Dublin I was earnest to discharge my Accompts and Stewardship and in order thereunto got the aforesaid John Power to sollicit the said Earl to audit my Accompts who accordingly did and himself made up my Accompt by Acquittances which the Earl allowed him to pass and in the behalf of the Earl to set his hand to them On which all the Arrears due from the Tenants was due to me having charged my self with the whole Rental and Charge as received which the said John Power by the Earls order was ordered to acquaint the Tenants with which Arrears I was a fortnight gathering and distraining for at the Earls own door And what Arrears was due and I could not then receive I took Bond for in the Earls own house in my own name which I after sued for and recovered at the next Assizes which the Earl never found fault with until as you may see in my Examination I denied his Gentleman to appear for him the said Earl at the Assizes in Mr. Bourke's absence and when I would not appear for him then he pretended that he was not satisfied in his Accounts and desired to have them examined again and then every penny to the very Work-men was also examined and proved and others that were brought to deny what they had received and discharged under their hands went away with great shame John Power returning to the Earl ordered me to wait on the Earl in the Field where he discharged me with many Threats I passed the Accompt so often and so well that the said John Power said that he defied the whole world to shew a better or honester Accompt on which the Earl was Debtor to me 10 l. 10 s. 5 d. on the Ballance All Gentlemen that know the Earls Concerns can if they please say that the Earl yet never parted with any Steward but gave him the like scandalous parting no not so much as Mr. John Power himself who was as to the Earls concerns in all mens esteem a very honest man And when I was summoned up to Council-board then he got me arrested in the way which Suit the Lord Lieutenant offered to free me from Yet I answered the Suit to avoid the scandal and then the Earl let fall his Suit and as Counsellor Porter said he believed that the Earl knew not of it and farther said that he was sure he could not certainly sue me inasmuch as he had seen the Accounts and which were so just and legal Judge Keeling well observing that if I had been as great a Rogue as Clansey he was sure I could not cheat him in his Rents But to satisfie the world more fully I am ready to pass it again if fairly thereto admitted or to refer the farther scanning the same to indifferent men provided one of them is a Protestant 5. Objection laid in against me was of being bribed by others to throw the Treason on the said Earl This Cloud though black or blacker than the former may flie away as soon as the other For the Earl himself cannot think so when he knows that Maj. Butler was ordered to put this on foot against Col. Villiars as soon as the Earl heard that Mr. Bourke had charged him concluding that the world would believe it because of the Law-suit that had been betwixt them which certainly the Colonel had then no need to do having obtained the Estate from the Earl And when examined by the Chief Justice on Oath whether I was a Steward to Col. Villiars I answered That I was not but if free I would forasmuch as he was a good Protestant and a Loyal Subject And when the Question was put to the Colonel whether he had employed me he answered That he had heard by the Country that I was an honest man and if free from the Kings concerns in this Examination he would employ me And one thing I observed of the said Colonel was that when he had a Witness examined on a Commission about a weighty affair he then told the person encouraging him to speak truth that he had rather lose his Estate than to keep it by a false Oath And I do hereby declare in the presence of God that I never had one Penny bribe from him or others in my life 6. Hopes of Reward in the last place charged as a Motive inducing me to this Undertaking To which I say That my Carriage in both Kingdoms will be my Compurgators from this Charge I have been always more a Friend to others than to my self having straightned my self to do others good Besides the Accusation contradicts it self to lose a certain Employ for uncertain Hopes is not the part of a prudent man I did easily foresee the Troubles by Threats and Menaces to others and did not expect less to fall on me and which at length came to pass the Knife being taken out of the hand of one going to stab me and for me to dispossess my self of a quiet and peaceable Habitation and Livelihood and thereby as it were to court my own Trouble and Disappointment is not to be imagined I should have done unless higher Motives had engaged me I was but an ill Carver for my self the way I took if my aim was only at Rewards All mens judgments which are but fallible will be at last surveyed and examined at a higher Tribunal and if then it appear that the first recited Motives put me upon this Discovery and do still support me against all Discouragements under it I shall be then sufficiently acquitted before God as I am at present in my own Conscience whatsoever Slanders Obloquies and Reproaches the Envy of Adversaries doth cast in my way to asperse black and defame me These things I have offered to the view of the World in respect of my Allegiance knowing it my duty that if I saw but a Cloud as big as my hand I ought to discover it to my Master the King and also in love to my self to secure me against such Scandals which otherwise might be a hindrance to Truth THO. SAMSON FINIS