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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34573	Stafford's memoires, or, A brief and impartial account of the birth and quality, imprisonment, tryal, principles, declaration, comportment, devotion, last speech, and final end, of William, late lord viscount Stafford, beheaded upon Tower-hill on Wednesday the 29. of December 1681 hereunto is also annexed a short appendix concerning some passages in Stephen Colleges trial.	Corker, James Maurus, 1636-1715.	1681 (1681)	Wing C6306; ESTC R20377	92,206	80

for Treason To which the Papists answer To the first 'T is an evasion contradictory to common Sense that a man whose Business and Study it was to Discover a Plot against the Life of the King and who by several long premeditated Depositions had as he said discharged himself of all he knew should notwithstanding all this while never remember the most Essential part viz. The Inhumane Murder of the King Designed and Consented to by his own Royal Consort To the second Oates Depos●ed upon Oath he heard such words and circumstanced them with such particulars of Time and Place as plainly denote he intended a full and home Accusation against the Queen And granted his Evidence was not positive yet the matter was of such dangerous consequence as ought not to to be concealed especially at a time when he was upon his Oath to speak all he knew and when he pretended by Discoveries to Save the Life of the King To the Third Though Oates left to himself 〈◊〉 be very Stupid yet he could not be so ignorant as not to know that a Queen designing to Murder the King her Husband is guilty of Treason and whether She was lyable to a Tryal or no. Oates was guilty of Perjury In that being Commanded and Encouraged by the Lords to make an entire Discovery of all he knew against any Person of what Degree or Quality soever he expresly Swore He had no more to Accuse in England Indeed the Transcendent Lustre of the Queens Virtue Innocence and Endeared Affection to His Majesty leaves no place for Calumny to six upon And the bare Charge of so soul a Crime upon so Renowned a Goodness is of it self Independent of other Contradictions a more then sufficient Conviction of Oates's Perjury THe third Exception made by my Lord against Oates's Evidence was That though Oates in his several Depositions particularly those taken before the Privy Councel and House of Lords did often affirm he had given an entire and Faithful account to the best of his remembrance Of all whatsoever he knew as to the matters and persons concerned in the Plot And though he had then also time and opportunity to reflect and deliberate upon what might any wise relate to my Lord Stafford in that affair yet he never accused him of any other thing then only That he had seen beyond the Seas some Letters Signed Stafford wherein the Writer had testifyed his zeal for the Catholick Design But when afterwards consulting with himself and possibly with some others he found this flamm of his would not amount to any thing material whereon to ground an Impeachment he Invented and Imposed upon my Lord a Commission of Pay-Master-General to the Army a device he never once thought on before From which proceeding my Lord argued If there were such a Commission received by my Lord at Fenwick's Chamber in such a manner as Oates relates this Commission being a matter of so grand Importance and the Delivery of it accompanied with so many remarkable circumstances in the very presence of Oates It is impossible that the said Oates who as he saith on purpose for Discovery had taken Notes and Memorials even of Trivial Occurrences should forget and by consequence omit a thing of this high concern in his former Depositions But if there were no such Commission as Most assuredly there was none then is Oates Perjured in his present Evidence And verily added my Lord if it be permitted to this man dayly to frame New Accusations If easie credit be given to all his Fables and whatsoever he shall from time to time Invent may pass for good Evidence Who can be secure At this rate he may by deegrees Impeach the whole Nation for Crimes which neither he nor any man else ever yet dream'd on UPon these Arguments and Inferences made by my Lord the Managers would not and the Papists say They need not make any remarks THe fourth Exception made by my Lord against Oates his Evidence was That whereas Oates now declares He never was really a Roman Catholick but only Feigned himself to be so My Lord often and strongly insisted That a Protestant of the Church of England who convinced in his Judgment of the Truth of his Religion shall nevertheless on what pretence soever Provoke God belye his own Conscience and violate all Sacred things So as to make a solemn Abrenuntiation of his Faith and Church To profess himself a Roman Catholick to live amongst them to practice Religious duties with them for three years together and this to such an height of Sacriledge as frequently to receive the Sacrament and perform daily external Worship to it which in the Judgment both of Protestants and Catholicks was to him so believing direct and gross Idolatry cannot rationally be supposed to stick at Perjury when Advantageous to him And ought not by the Law of God or Man to be credited or admitted for an Evidence against any one But rather detested and abhorred by all good Men as undeserving the name of a Christian UPon this pressing Inference the Mannagers made this following Observation Suppose Dr. Oates did out of Levity or for want of being well grounded in his own turn to another Religion It is hard That the matter of changing his Religion when nothing else is laid to his charge should disparage his Testimony seeing many who have changed their Religion more then once Example Mr. Chillingworth are yet esteemed credible Persons To which the Papists answer To change from a wrong to a right Religion is no disparagement but Protestants will hardly allow Oate's first pretended change to be such However my Lord insisted not upon the changing but the seigning Religion Oates did not out of Levity or Conviction of Judgment as Mr. Chillingworth turn from his own to another Religion but remaining interiourly of the same belief he exteriously renounced what he so believed and Sacrilegiously practised the direct contrary than which nothing can be more detestable Nay he affirmeth he often received the Sacrament and took dreadful Oaths of Secrecy in pursuance of most Bloody and Hellish Designs If this be true what credit can be given to a Monster accustomed and insured by his own cofession to such damnable Oaths But if it be false as indeed it is then is he Perjured in his Evidence Edward Turbervil's Deposition against my Lord. THe last Witness that gave direct Evidence to my Lord's Impeachment was Edward Turbervil who Swore That in the year 75. he was perswaded by his Friends to take upon him the Fryers habit at Doway That being weary of that state he left it and came into England for which he incurred the displeasure of his Friends and Relations who he said discountenanced him and could not endure to see him That hereupon he went into France and Arrived at Paris and became acquainted with the now Prisoner my Lord Stafford by means of two Priests Father Nelson and Father Turbervil That after a

Stafford's Memoires OR A Brief and Impartial Account OF THE BIRTH and QUALITY IMPRISONMENT TRYAL PRINCIPLES DECLARATION COMPORTMENT DEVOTION Last SPEECH and Final END OF WILLIAM late Lord Viscount STAFFORD Beheaded upon Tower-hill on Wednesday the 29. of December 1681. Published for Rectifying all Mistakes upon this Subject Wisd 4. Vitam illorum estimabamus insaniam Finem illorum sine Honore c. Hereunto is also annexed a short APPENDIX concerning some Passages in STEPHEN COLLEDGES TRIAL Printed in the Year MDCLXXXI The INTRODUCTION IT is a wonder to see how Passion and Interest predominate over Reason in Mankind Nothing is done nothing said without some tincture of either or both Even common Occurrences are usually related as Men would have them to be rather then as they are Plain-dealing is almost fled And all things now a days whether Private or Publick Sacred or Prophane are according to different Inclinations without regard to Truth promiscuously made the Subject of a Satyr or Panegirick An obvious example of this we have in the several accounts given of the Tryal Declaration Demeanor and Death of the late Lord Stafford concerning whose Tragedy though acted for the most part in the face of the whole Nation yet there have flown about in a manner as many and those contradictory Stories as there are Relaters and such as know least commonly talk most to compleat the Error It is true the Printed Tryal set forth by Authority is no wise liable to these gross mistakes But it hath swelled in the Press by forms c. To so vast a volume that few can spare either money to buy it or time to read it Besides it is in a manner silent of matters chiefly designed for the Subject of this Treatise viz. My Lords Comportment Declaration Devotion Last Speech and other Occurrences which happened inclusively from the time of his Tryal to his final end Having therefore attained to a most exact and certain knowledge of these particulars I shall for the satisfaction of the curious and manifestation of Truth give together with an abstract of the whole Tryal and some occurrences concerning it a plain and sincere relation of what I know and can by unquestionable Evidence justify to be true And herein I shall also totally abstain from any the les● moralizing upon transactions whereby to forestal the Readers Judgment But contenting my self with a plain and candid Relation of things as I find them leave every one to the freedom of his own censure and verdict upon them SECT I. My Lords Birth Education Quality c. William Howard Viscount Stafford was second Son to Thomas Earl of Arundel and Uncle to the now Duke of Norfolk In his youth he was educated with all care and industry imaginable to improve in him the endowments of Nature and Grace And to speak truth he was ever held to be of a generous Disposition very Charitable Devout addicted to Sobriety inoffensive in his words and a lover of Justice When he arrived to years of maturity he married Mary descended from the ancient Dukes of Buckingham Grandchild to Edward and Sister and sole Heiress to Henry Lord Stafford To whose Title he succeeded being created by the late King Charles of Glorious memory Baron Anno 1640. And soon after Viscount Stafford During the time of the last bloody Rebellion he suffer'd much for his Loyalty to the King Always behaving himself with that courage and constancy as became a Nobleman a good Christian and a faithful Subject After his present Majesties joyful restauration he lived in Peace Plenty and Happiness Being blessed with a most Virtuous Lady to his Wife And many pious and dutiful Children In which state he remained till the 66. year of his age when happened this Revolution of his fortune as followeth SECT II. My Lords Imprisonment Charge and Arraignment c. ABout Michaelmas Anno 1678. Mr. Titus Oates formerly a Minister of the Church of England accused upon Oath before the King and Council and not long after also before the two Houses of Parliament several Roman Catholicks some Persons of Quality and amongst the rest the Lord Viscount Stafford of High Treason for intending and designing the Death of the King the introducing of Popery and subversion of the Government My Lord though he immediately heard of this Impeachment yet relying as he said on his own Innocence never left his Family nor withdrew himself from his ordinary known Acquaintance and Affairs till the 25th of October 78. when by Virtue of a Warrant from the Lord Chief Justice he was sent Prisoner to the Kings Bench and from thence soon after to the Tower where he remained above two years before he could be admitted to Tryal During this interval the whole Nation was surprized and allarm'd with the noise of an horrid Plot contriv'd by the Pope Priests and Jesuits wherein the King was to be murthered Armies raised Protestants Massacred and the three Kingdoms destroyed by Fire and Sword the People were affrighted searches made Guards doubled and all in an uproar The King hereupon consulted the Parliament and both Houses declared it a Plot. Yet to strengthen the Evidence as yet but weak and make farther discoveries Indempnities are promised Rewards proposed and encouragements given by Proclamation to any who would make out upon Oath the particulars of what in substance was already declar'd By this and the like sedulity of the King and three succeeding Parliaments several new Witnesses came in First Captain Bedlow Next Dugdale Prance and two others Bolron and Mowbray out of the North Then Mr. Jennison Smith Seigneur Francisco Dangerfield Zeile Lewis c. Lastly one Mr. Turbervile who together with Oates and Dugdale gave Evidence against this Lord Stafford of whom we now treat After two years Imprisonment when many Roman Catholicks both Priests and others had been Executed and most of the rest Imprisoned or fled At length my Lord was brought to his Tryal on the 30 th day of Novem. 1680. at the Peers Bar in Westminster-Hall the House of Commons being present and the Lord Chancellor High-Steward of England The Impeachment was drawn in the name of the Commons of England wherein my Lord was charged together with other Papists for having imagin'd and contriv'd to murder the King to introduce Popery and subvert the good Government of Church and State established by Law To this Impeachment my Lord being thereupon arraigned pleaded Not Guilty Allegations in proof of the Plot in general ¶ 1. THen the Cause was opened and the Commons Learned Counsel who were appointed Managers of the Tryal set forth the Charge in most Copious and Eloquent Language And beginning first with the Plot in general they shew'd to the life the Wickedness the Malice the Horror of so Dreadful Bloudy and Hellish a Design They strongly insisted on the express Positive Oaths of the Witnesses upon whose Testimony the credit of this Plot chiefly depended They amply dilated upon the Letters of Coleman

Letters bear a plain and open face of what the Authors intended And the Writers were Persons who had there been a Plot. were the most likely of all others to have been the main Engines and Contrivers of it Nevertheless we do not find one single world or sillable in them from whence may be gathered any such design The substance of them being only some imaginary Conceits and over-weening Policies of four or five aspiring men willing to be Great or at least to be thought so and desiring perhaps in some measure a liberty of Conscience yet without confronting much less destroying the King or Government Wherein also as far as appeareth by the Letters they were nowise seconded by the Catholicks in general nor much countenanced by those whose Favorites they pretended to be so that upon the whole matter these Letters rightly considered are rather as is said before a manifest Vindication of the Roman Catholicks Innocense then a Confirmation of the Plot. Concerning the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey there is nothing to fasten that Murder on the Roman Catholicks but the bare improbable though gainful Oathes of two Infamous Persons The one viz. Bedlow notorious for Cheats and Misdemeanours The other viz. Prance self Condemned of Falshood herein by the testimony of his own Mouth for he once Swore he was an Actor in the said Murder and soon after before the King and Council unswore what he had said and Protested upon his Salvation he knew nothing of it There are furthermore some remarkable and pressing circumstances which the Papists urge in their own defence herein One is that Sir Edmnndbury Godfrey was esteemed by all a moderate man and particularly Indulgent to Catholicks And 't is not credible the Papists would Murder their Friends especially in a conjuncture of time when it was to no purpose not could any ways Stifle the Discovery of the Plot already made Nay when they could not but see such an Horrid Action if known must needs draw the wrath and detestation of the whole Nation upon them The other is that the whole though premeditated series of this Murder as it is related by the Witnesses seems to be involved with innumerable Absurdities Contradictions moral Impossibilities and Pregnant appearences of Perjury The Scene of the Tragedy must be forsooth the publick Yard of Somerset-House a place or rather thorow-fare of continual intercourse within twenty Paces of the Common Guards where Watch is kept night and day The Assassines to effect their design must feign a Quarrel and call Justice Godfrey out of the Street a notable Policy to keep the Peace though none Passengers Soldiers or Neighbours perceived any thing of this Tumult When they had him in the Yard they Strangled him with an Hankerchief a very proper Instrument studyed and contrived before-hand to strangle a Man After the business was done they let him lie exposed in this open place half living half dead above a quarter of an hour At length they dragged him into a Chamber in Doctor Godwin's Lodgings a Room attested to be of daily use to the Servants never lock'd but constantly obvious to all Comers and Goers here they kept him two days and then carryed him through several Courts into several Rooms and Apartments in Somerset-House And having thus to no purpose tossed him up and down from Saturday till Wednesday they finally placed him though stiff and Inflexible in a Sedan and carryed him to the Soho and there set him astride on Horse-back to ride before Hill to the place where he was afterwards found Bedlow deposeth Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Throtl'd with a Cravat Prance Swears it was with an Handkerchief The names of the Assassines cited by Bedlow are Prichard Welsh Le Phaire and other Jesuits But the Murderers nominated by Prance are Greene Hill Bury Gyrald and Kelly and these two parties are quite different Actors and as far as apears by the Evidence neither their Designs nor Persons well known to each other Prance saith he saw the dead Body very plainly in a low Room by the light of a dark Lanthorn but what was thrown over it he could not tell Nor could he afterwards when required go to the Room where he said he saw it Bedlow tells us he refused to have any hand in the Murder for which cause the Jesuits did not acquaint him who it was yet they shewed him the dead Body in the presence of many who neither knew him nor he them Prance himself further declared he never was in Bedlow company till he came to Prison The main Assassines were ignorant of what reward they were to have But Bedlow though no compartner in the Murder could tell there were Four Thousand Pounds ordered of which Two Thousand Pounds were proffered to him alone if he would but assist the rest to convey away the Corps This Murder is affirmed to have been committed on Saturday the twelfth day of October 78. at nine a clock at night and the Body conveyed away on the Wednesday following about Midnight In direct opposition to which Hill Green and Bury who were Accused Tryed and Executed for this Fact produced these Witnesses One Mrs. Tilden and Mrs. Broadstreet attested that Hill who dwelt with them never kept ill hours but always came in by Eight of the Clock That he could not go out afterwards because he waited at Table and the Maid Catherine Lee locked up the doors and the Family went not to Bed till Eleven That particularly he was at home on Saturday night when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey is said to be Kill'd and on Wednesday night when carried away James Warrier attested That Green his Lodger was in his House and company on Saturday October the 12th from seven till after ten at Night and that he exactly remembred it by his Work The three Centinels who Successively kept strict Guard on the aforesaid Wednesday Night at the great Gate at Somerset-House through which 't is affirmed the Body was carried out in a Sedan declared there went out that way no Sedan at any hour whatsoever from seven a Clock that Night to four the next Morning The Amplitude of which Testimony includes at least three hours immediatly before and after the time Sworn to by Prance and Bedlow Eury's Maid attested That her Master came in that same Wednesday in the Dusk of the Evening went to Bed about 12. and could not well after that go out again without her knowledge the passage to his Chamber being through hers And it is most worthy of observation that this Bury was and professed himself to be both during his Imprisonment and at his very Death a Protestant of the Church of England Yet this Man though after Condemnation he was proffered his Life if he would own the Fact Nevertheless absolutely denyed it to his last Breath And when the very Cart was drawing away from under him he lifted up his Hands and said As I am innocent so receive my Soul O Jesus wherefore if

the last Words of a dying Protestant who might but would not live by a false accusation of himself or others may be credited The Papists were innocent of this Murder and the forenamed Witnesses Perjured in their Evidence As for what is objected about a Letter sent from London to Tixall c. It is answered supposing such a Letter was really sent and received That a Letter intimating the Murder of a Justice of the Peace might well be Writ from London on Saturday when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was known to be missing and arrive at Tixall in Staffordshire by the common Post on Munday following And thereupon Dugdale might tell the news the self same day to divers Gentlemen at Tixall What of all this Where 's the Inference against the Papists Yet this is all some Gentlemen seemed to attest whilst others denyed and all can be necessarily deduced from the receipt of such a Letter But that this Justice of the Peace was Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that the Papists had Murdred him is proved only by the Common tract of Dugdales peremptory Swearing without any rational motive of credibility Thus much of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey As for the Narratives and from them deduced Stories of Firing the City Burning the Navy Black-Bills Fire-Balls Sham-Plots Wild-Irish Spanish-Pilgrims with other the like innumerable Popperies and known contradictions to wise men though they make a dreadful sound amongst the Mobile yet carry along with them such an excess of Gross and Ridiculous Nonsence that to sober understandings they only serve to demonstrate the Perjury of the Witnesses and need no Confutation in Equitable Courts such as ours are no wise disposed per fas nefas without appearance of Justice to oppress the Innocent And whereas it is alledged as a main Argument of Popish Guilt That the two Houses of Parliament have declared it a Plot and several Persons in several Courts of Judicature have been Tryed Condemned and Executed for it The Papists answer with all due Submission to the Government in defence of Innocence That it is not Impossible nor altogether without President That a Lawful Authority proceeding Secundum allegata Probata should be abused and consequently drawn into a Mistake by the Malice and Perjury of Wicked Men. Those who make it their study and Trade to frame Artificial Lyes and have time assistance and all imaginable encouragement and opportunity for it may easily invent plausible Stories with more coherence then any hitherto devised such as may amuse and deceive the most just and prudent Persons especially in a conjuncture when a transporting Zeal to the Protestant and as Papists say a misconceived prejudice to the Catholick Religion influenceth the Nation Nor have all been Convicted who were Impeached and Tryed upon the Plot but as some have been Condemned so others Impeached upon the same Evidence and in the same Courts of Judicature have been acquitted the wickedness and forgery of the Witnesses detected and their Depositions rejected as unworthy of Credit It is further hoped the Wisdom Justice and Integrity of the State will at length discover the whole Imposture vindicate the Innocent and Punish the Injury herein done to God to the King to the Nation and to almost all Europe To the Instances given of Popish malice and Bloodiness from former examples viz. Queen Mary's Cruelties the Powder Plot the Irish Barbarisme the French Massacre c. committed by Profest Papists It is answered that by the same reason and to as good purpose the Trayterous Seditions and Outrages in Germany France Bohemia and Holland Authorized and Fomented by Calvin Swinglins Beza and other Reformers the late Bloody Wars in England the almost yesterday's Remonstrances and Practices in Scotland The even now actual Rebellion in Hungary raised and managed by Protestants for Protestanizm But above all that never to be paralelled Hellish Murder of the Lords Annointed Our glorious Soveraign Charles the first in cold Blood by outward form of Justice on pretence of Reformation might be imputed to the Protestant Religion For all these now mentioned Horrid Villanies were committed by Protestants Protestants who gloried in being more then ordinarily refined from Popish Errors and Superstitions If it be said as most justly it may the Church of England never taught such Practices the same say and protest the Papists in behalf of their Church But because meer recrimination is no justification on either side And for that a full decision of this heavy charge dependeth much on the right understanding of Roman Catholick Principles in matter of obedience to God and the King We shall treat of this Subject apart by it self when we come to examine the Principles of My Lords Faith and Religion Reflections upon the several above-cited Depositions of Smith Dugdale Oates and Jenison LAstly The above-cited Depositions respectively made by Smith Dugdale Oates and Jenison in proof of the Plot in general are liable also to divers remarkable Exceptions And the Papists stick not here to say they wonder how so many and gross Incongruities and Falshoods attested only by Infamous Men could pass for currunt Truths amongst Persons of Justice Worth and Prudence For instance Smith in his Deposition gives us to understand That being as yet a Protestant but troubled it seems with some doubts in matters of Religion he applyed himself for satisfaction to certain Priests in France They to settle his mind told him They would shortly bring in their Religion into England Right or Wrong a notable argument to convince a well-meaning Protestant But ne●●er this as you may well think nor all the Jesuits could say or do ●ould prevail with him so that he lived and studied with them several years a likely story remaining still a professed Protestant At length the Jesuits desponding as well they might of their own abilities herein sent him to be converted by Cardinal Grimaldi and he it was did the Feat which none of the Priests or Jesuits could compass The Cardinal to remove all Scruples from the tender Conscience of his new Convert and further to convince his Judgment in the truth of his Religion entertained him one day with this Learned and Pious discourse viz. That he had great assurances the Popish Religion would prevail in England and that there was but one in the way and that to accomplish their designs they must take him out of the way Thus the young Man being now well confirmed in his Faith was made a Priest and sent into England with Instructions to teach his Countrey-men They were not obliged to obey their King and that to Murder him was a Meritorious Act. But the misfortune was that arriving in England he quite mistook his Errand And though he continued firm in the belief of the Popish Doctrine and Principles yet made it his whole business to root out the Jesuits the Popes chief Emissaries and disswade Roman Catholicks from sending Moneys to Colledges beyond Seas Dugdale tells us All

the Jesuits Letters containing Damnable Treason and sent for the most part by the Common Post came to his hands most of which he saw and read but could never produce one single Letter He informs us also of dreadful Oaths and Sacraments of Secrecy administred to the Conspirators before they were made privy to any dangerous Design yet with the same breath declares there were whole Armies both privy and ready to a design no less then of Cutting all the Protestants Throats throughout the Nation at an hours warning Nay he assures us there was a Free Pardon of all Sins Proclaimed every where at the Chappels to all Persons Men and Women whosoever would be active in Killing the King a notable way of concealing Secrets Is it possible this fellow should find credit in such gross such palpable Forgeries Oates likewise relates How that whilst he was Chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk the Priests attempted the utmost of their skill to perswade him out of his Religion by telling him The Church of England was upon it's last Legs Surely the Priests took him to be either a notorious Fool or Knave for otherwise they might doubtless have devised some more plausible and less dangerous Argument to convert a Protestant Minister Yet he feigned to be convinced by their reasons and was hereupon presently entertained by the Jesuits the sottish careless Jesuits who on a suddain intrusted this Neophite with all their concerns made him privy to all their most Damnable Intrigues And in short 't is most certain nothing of Treason Murder or Villany was contrived or even thought on by them without him By this means he became acquainted not only with the strange adventures of Pickerings loose Flint Whipping Thirty Thousand Masses c. But also with the manner of Firing the City Introducing Chimerical Armies French Irish Spanish c. Mustered up in the Deposition Nor is it a wonder the Jesuits should be so rash in discovering their Secrets to Oates Seeing he himself if you will believe him here also deposeth that some of them were so ●●sperately mad as to Preach a publick Sermon before a company of ●●dents wherein the Kings Legitimacy was vilified and abused and it was declared His Majesties Religion entituled him to nothing but sudden Death and Destruction I● i● credible a Jesuit or any other in his wits should publickly Preach such Black Treason to a Company of Boyes But what shall we say of the Doctor 's tender Conscience and Zeal in preserving the King He tells us here he only feigned himself a Catholick on purpose to make Discoveries Alas good Man It was to save His Majesties life made him seem to the Papists what he really was not Yet O prodigious Impudence he owns at the same time he was conscious for above a year together of the daily attempts made by Groves and Pickering to Shoot the King He hourly expected for several Months the horrid effects of Sir George Wakeman's Poyson He was privy as he ad's else-where to the designed Assassination of the King at Windsor He knew the Ruffians were actually upon the Place and ready for the Villany He saw the Money sent to them for their encouragement and every moment waited to hear the fatal stroke was given Nevertheless this Man of Conscience whose watchful Eye so carefully guarded the King's Life all this while made no Discovery Though he knew for certain that the Pistols were all ready even at the King's Breast The Cup of Poyson at his Lips And the Dagger almost at his very Heart Yet he never cryed out Murder upon the Lord 's Annointed never called for immediate Succour never warned the King of his Eminent Danger never diverted the impending mischief never so much as opened his Mouth to disclose any of these horrid Treasons until such time as the King might have been killed a thousand times over Is this the Doctors Vigilancy Or rather is it not perfect Demonstration that all he hath Sworn of the Plot is damnable Perjury Jenison declares that though he often expressed to Mr. Ireland an horrid detestation of Treason and Bloodshed Yet Ireland as if he had a mind to hang himself was still urging this conscientious Man to Murder the King and when he could not prevail with him herein he would needs have him at last to nominate some Irish Ruffians whom he judged most proper for this Execrable Villany And thus far indeed Jenison acknowledgeth he condescended Now one would think a Man who had taken so deep an Impression of horrour and detestation of Bloodshed should have had some scruple in concealing so Hellish a Design and much more in nominating the very persons who were to effect it But that which seems above all most strange is the mighty reward the Jesuits proffered him in case he would joyn with the Four Ruffians in this Devilish enterprize Oates informs us Sir George Wakeman was to have fifteen thousand pounds to Poyson the King and Groves fifteen hundred for Shooting Him Dugdale also assures us he had not much less promised for the like attempt Yet when these Jesuits come to beat the Price with Jenison though a Man hard to be wrought upon they could afford him no more then twenty pounds and this only to be remitted of an Old Debt a wonderful encouragement to a Scrupulous Man for so desperate and damned an Exploit To conclude this whole matter The Papists aver if the Justice and Equity of their Cause be impartially considered the Integrity of their Principles rightly understood their formerly experienced Loyalty regarded The contrary practices of their chiefest Adversaries remembered The Infamy of the Witnesses and Inconsistancy of their Evidence duly weighed there will remain no colour of proof or even Suspicion of this fatal Plot which hath already drawn so much Innocent Blood and brought no small confusion both to Church and State The Process against my Lord in Particular ¶ 3. AFter a long and accurate discussion of the Plot in general The Court proceeded to take cognizance of what in particular affected my Lord the Prisoner at the Bar. In pursuance hereof the Managers regarding in all things a Methodical exactness first demanded before they produced their Evidence That none of my Lords Councel might stand near to prompt or advise him what he should say or answer as to matters of Fact wherewith he was charged Then they began by way of introduction to shew that they had made it out there was a Plot. That this Plot was a general design of the Popish party That it was not likely such a design could be carried on without the Concurrence of Persons of great Quality That therefore it was to be presumed my Lord at the Bar a Nobleman and a Zealous Papist had a share in it But what that share was and how far my Lord was engaged was to appear from the positive Evidence It will not be expected that my Lord one single Person of 68. years of

take upon you the Ministery of the Church of England And these words do not become a Minister of the Gospel His reply was God Damn the Gospel This is truth said Oates I speak it in the presence of God and Man The whole substance of this attestation Smith absolutely forswore saying Not one word of this is true upon my Oath Then addressing himself to Oates 'T is a wonderful thing said he you should say this of me But I will sufficiently prove it against you That you have confounded the Gospel And denied the Divinity too THis is the Sum of the Evidence given as well by Dr. Oates against Dugdale Turbervil and Smith as by Dugdale Turbervil and Smith against Dr Oates From which fatal manner of self-condemning and Perjuring each other The Papists with two good consequence draw these deductions Either Oates attesting these things against the aforenamed Witnesses In the word of a Priest As he was a Minister of the Gospel Sincerly In the presence of God and Man c. Did give true Evidence or not If he did Then are Dugdale Turbervil and Smith both in their Testimony against Colledge and in their several Oaths here against Oates doubly forsworn But if Oates did not give here true Evidence as the other three positively Swear he did not then is he guilty of manifest Perjury So that from the reciprocal Testimony of each other in this matter It is an undenyable demonstration Either Oates the Pillar of the Plot or Dugdale Turbervil and Smith the joynt Supporters of it or Both and All are Perjur'd Men and can justly Challenge no right of beleif or credit to any thing they ever did or shall swear Hence the Attorney General in this very Tryal ingeniously complained It is an unhappy thing That Dr. Oates should come in against these Men that supported his Evidence before And Mr. Serjeant Jefferies rightly inculcated to the Jury If Dugdale Smith and Turbervil be not to be believed you Perjure said he three Men And in them trip up the Heels of all the Evidence and Discovery of the Plot. In like manner The Papists argue If Oates also be not to be believed the whole Fabrick of the Plot Falls What Dr. Oates the Quondam Top-Evidence The prime Discoverer The Saviour of the King and Nation from Popish Massacre He swear false He not to be believed What Account shall be given to God and the World for the Bloud-shed and the Severities used upon his Sole or chief Evidence Yet it is impossible if Dugdale Smith and Turbervil Swear not false Oates should Swear true Or if he Swear not false They should Swear true And as it is impossible both should Swear true So is it next to impossible if either Swear false the Plot should be true However most assuredly one part of the Witnesses against my Lord Stafford without which the other could never have found credit are here by their very Compartners proved Perjur'd Men. IT is objected They might all of them peradventure have sworn true before Though some of them for certain Swear false now The Papists answer So might they all of them for certain have sworn false before though some of them peradventure swear true now We are not to Judge of Men's past or future proceedings in order to Justice by what they possibly might be but by what they probably were or will be And to make a rational Judgment herein we have no other Rule to guide us in the knowledge of covert intentions then the Test of Overt actions Seing therefore these Witnesses are proved actually Perjur'd We have no rational ground to believe but that upon the same motives and in the same concurence of Circumstances they both did and will commit the same Crimes Men of lost Consciences and desperate Fortunes allured by gain and encouraged by Indempnities regard not what when nor how they Swear And my Lord Stafford had just Cause to say If it be permitted these Men daily to frame new accusations If easy Credit be given to all their Fables And whatever they shall from time to time Invent may pass for good Evidence Who can be secure At this rate they may by degrees Impeach the whole Nation both Catholicks and Protestants for Crimes which neither they nor any Man else ever yet dream't on It is also objected by Colledge's Party That Dugdale Smith and Turbervil are Papists in Masquerade and now made use on to Sham off the Popish Plot by turning it upon the Presbyterians Wherefore though credit may be given them when they Swear against Papists yet the same credit ought to be denyed when they bear Testimony against his Majesties true Protestant Subjects The Papists answer First Granted that Dugdale Smith and Turbervil be real Papists how is it proved they were imployed to Sham off the Plot Why may not Papists be good Witnesses against the Presbyterians in point of Treason without Suspition of a Sham Is Treason a thing so strange and unheard of amongst the Presbyterians Or why should credit be given to the Witnesses when they Swear against the Papists who are only charged with a Design to Kill the King And Credit be denyed to the same Witnesses when they Swear against those who actually Killed the King Secondly What the least Argument or Appearence is there that Dugdale Smith and Turbervil are Papists or Popishly affected They profess the Protestant Religion They frequent the Protestant Church They receive the Protestant Communion They take all Oaths and Tests can be required of them as was acknowledged in this very Tryal They practise neither Fasting Pennance nor other works of Supererrogation the Symptomes of Popery They pursue their former Design of Swearing against the Papists with as much obstinacy and violence as ever as was likewise proved in this Tryal And is it possible the Papists should imploy in their Shams and Intrigues if they had any the very Persons who at the same time make it their Trade and Lively-hood to cut their Throats Indeed if any of the Witnesses against my Lord Stafford be Popishly affected It is Dr. Oates Whose present Disparagement of his fellow Evidence look's said Mr. Sollicitor General as if he were again returning to St. Omers Lastly It is argued The Jury bringing in Colledge Guilty of High Treason by that very Verdict cleared Dugdale Smith and Turbervil of the Perjury charged upon them by Dr. Oates It is answered First The Jury brought in their Verdict against Colledge not upon the sole Testimony of Dugdale Smith and Turbervil but more especially upon the Evidence given by Sir William Jennings and Mr. Maisters Persons of known worth and honesty As also upon pregnant proof made and acknowledged in a manner by Colledge himself That he by Combination with others appeared in open Arms at an appointed time and place ready for and Designing publique Acts of Hostility in the very presence of the King yet without his Knowledge or Authority which by