broke all their Measures But upon the Arrival of Sir George Barclay who after having declar'd to the Disaffected Party the Occasion of his coming produc'd a Commission authorizing them to perpetrate the Parricide he withal told them that the late King was retired from St. Germains to Calais where lay a considerable Body of Troops under his Command that the French King had given Orders to Bouffleurs to draw together immediately to Imbark as soon as the Signal was given that their Hellish Contrivance for Assassinating His Majesty's Person had taken effect Whereupon they renew'd their Cousultations with more Vigour than before The Principal Managers having their frequent Meetings as also the Inferiour Instruments theirs whilst some of each number gave secret Intimations to the other of what was passing in their seperate Assemblies Of the great Council the Consults that have been hitherto plainly testified and sworn to were those at the old King's-head in Leadenhall street and Mrs. Montjoy's in St. Iames's street The Subordinate Cabals were kept in divers other Places in and about the City of London as in Ianuary in that Year at Capt. Porter's and at Mr. Charnock's Lodgings in Norfolk-street Or in common Taverns as at the Nag's-Head in Covent-Garden the Sun in the Strand the Globe in Hatton-Garden c. As also on February the 14 th the very Day the Discovery was made at the Blew-Posts in Spring-Garden and on the 15 th and 22 d at Capt. Porter's Lodging in Maiden-lane being both the Times agreed upon to put the Design in Execution Their Meetings being so generally in places of publick Entertainment therefore to prevent the Observation of Drawers and Servants they often discours'd of their whole Bloody Business in a Canting Language of their own making The King was sometimes call'd the Spark the Prince of Orange the Little Gentleman c. Provision of Arms as Bluuderbusses Musquets Pistols c. were talk'd of under disguised Names The Insurrection was stil'd the General Point the Assassination taking off the Spark and striking at the Head And because several or most of the Conspirators were notorious Papists it was sometimes agreed that their wicked Intentions against the King and Government should be veil'd under the terms of taking off the Insupportable Yoke But for the most part when they were free and among themselves they did discourse of the whole Contrivance in plain Language and without Reserve their common Healths were such as these To the Restoring the late King James the Health of the Prince of Wales the late Queen and the French King But when Harris Lowick and others who were less harden'd in Cruelty express'd some kind of Consternation and Dread of the Consequences of so dire a Stroak readily declar'd themselves willing to joyn in the Insurrection but shrunk a little at first at the Horror of the Assassination they said tho it was a Barbarous Work yet they would obey Sir George Barclay's Orders In these their private Cabals the Matters they promiscuously treated of were either a general Insurrection or the Assassination of the King's Person Of the Assassination divers ways were consulted 'till they fix'd on that Lane coming form Brentford to Turnham-Green The Insurrection was propos'd to be made at the same time in England and Scotland The adjusting that part of it which related to Scotland was chiefly under the Care and manag'd by Commissioners appointed for that purpose by the French King and the late King Iames as well as this in England all which Particulars are Circumstantially set forth so often repeated and demonstrably confirm'd in the ensuing Evidences that it will be sufficient here only to direct the Reader 's Observation by given a brief Summary of the whole Towards an in Insurrection throughout England they laid the greatest Stress on the City of London not doubting but if that was once secured to them the rest of the Nation would of Course fall in For the increasing their Numbers and drawing in New Converts this one General Rule was carefully prescribed that the bottom of the Design should in the beginning be warily conceal'd from all Persons with whom they treated First their Inclinations were to be tried by gradual Insinuations and plausible Discourses at a Distance till they had gain'd a full assurance of their Fidelity They were to be ask'd If they would be concern'd in Easing them from the Yoke that laid upon ' em Meaning to murder King William when it was Answer'd They would readily assist in any thing of that Nature Then it was next to be demanded Whether they would contribute the Assistance of their Persons or Purses or both That being also determined It was to be farther inquired What Furniture of Arms Horses and Money they had in readiness What Friends they could engage And if these Questions were resolved according to their Minds then the whole Mystery of the Villainy was to be frankly disclos'd They were to be told in down-right Terms That their Design was to Assassinate the Person of King William in order to fix King Iames again in the Throne to which if they would lend their Assistance it would answer their Expectation He having already sent over several Men and Money to buy Horses to help to do the Work The way being thus made to sound and prepare the Dispositions of ill Men for any Violent Enterprize the next thing came under deliberation was Money For that several of the Conspirators declar'd they had considerable sums of their Own or deposited with them which were ready and might be call'd for on Occasion That Sir George Barclay subscribed Money enough to furnish 40 Horses likewise Sir Iohn Friend offered if the late K. Iames would give order for it to disburst 3000 l. that the Cause might not be lost Neither was Sir W. Parkyns with many others slack in making provision for a sudden Push for they if the Business succeeded were in Hopes to satisfy their thirsty Appetites and inrich themselves with the Blood and Estates of just and honest Men. The next necessary Provision they debated on was Arms. And it is notoriously known the whole Party had been gathering great abundance of all sorts All probably with the same prospect and in the same proportion for their parts in the Conspiracy as Sir William Parkyns had done for his though they happened not all to be so manifestly detected for not long after the Conspiracy was discover'd to His Majesty and His Ministers the said Sir William Parkyns was found to have by him hid under-ground by his Garden-Wall several Chests of compleat Arms belonging as he pretended to his Country-House where no thought of Robbery or Assault could be fear'd and by consequence there could not be the least shadow or pretence that they were laid in there for his own lawful use or defence But besides these Stores which they had every one made for themselves it was resolved at the very
the Gate and the Conspirators were to divide into three Parties Some before in the Habit of County-men were to throw down the Pales afore sawn a-sunder for the same purpose in the narrowest Passage so to prevent all possibility of Escape Then Mr. Charnock with his Party were to attack the Guards in the Rear and Rookwood and Porter with another Party in two Wings were to attack both sides of the Guards The other Party to Aim only at His Majesty's Coach which Party consisted of 8 Persons and was to be under the Particular direction of Sir George Barclay the Villian declaring before-hand Mr. Prendergast was to have a very good Blunderbuss which carried 7 or 8 Bullets to be of his Party and to Shoot into it King at the same time telling him He hop'd he would not be afraid of breaking the Glass-Windows It is indeed a thing prodigious to tell and were it not for the undeniable Proofs of it very difficult to be believ'd that not only One or Two such Furies should rise up in a whole Age but that so great a Number of Men should be found so void of all Humanity as not only to imagine and contrive so Horrid a Fact but to discourse of it in so many Meetings so sportfully and merrily as they did as if the Cruelest Tragedy which Wicked Men or the Devil ever invented had been only a Matter of Common Past-time and loose Raillery The execrable Deed being thus supposed by them to be feasible without much Opposition they then farther considered the several Ways of their escaping afterwards Sometimes they thought if it were possible to take the King alive and carry him to France whether they intended to bear him Company But if not another way was proposed by Sir George Barclay after the Fatal Blow was given to get privately into the City before the News of what was done could possibly get thither It was concluded at the same time That those Lords and Principal Men of their Party should be ready to Head the Faction upon the first arrival of the News that the late King Iames was Landed Thus Saturday the 15 th of February being come the first day pitch'd upon for executing their Hellish Design whilst they were thus wholly intent on this Barbarous Work and proceeded securely in its Contrivance without any the least doubt of a prosperous Success having prepar'd every thing in order to have perpetrated this Villainous Work Behold on a sudden God miraculously disappointed all their Hopes by Chamber 's bringing word about Noon the King went not Abroad that day Yet notwithstanding they being disappointed at this time which made them look one on another in much disorder yet they could not part 'till they had drank their accustomed Healths And to add to their Villainny Capt. Porter took an Orange in his Hand and began a Health to the Squeezing the rotten Orange which having gone round they took leave of each other for that Time Presently after at their next meeting their Discourse first tended to doubting whether the Design had not been discover'd but then 't was immediately answer'd If it had they should not have been there but taken up Whereupon they resolv'd notwithstanding the former Disappointment to Excecute the Divilish Design the next Saturday following The Result of this their Consultation they imparted to their inferior Agents who were to act under them and order'd all things to be ready against that time The late King for preparing a Declaration to facilitate his Re-accession to the Crown order'd divers of his Agents in England to send him their Conceptions out of which Collection a Compleat Remonstrance was gather'd The main Drift of the whole was to amuse the People's Fancies for a Time with new Chymera's of Freedom from Taxes and Advantages for Trade Then to calumniate and asperse King William as a Tyrant and Oppressor and accuse all his Faithful Subjects as Servile Instruments of Arbitrary Power and Betrayers of their Country Whilst he and his Party were to be magnified as the only Asertors and Restorers of Liberties and Properties who it is notoriously known have ever acted the contrary His and their Design in all this being the same that has been put in Practice by all Promoters of Popish and Slavish Principles Sedition and Treason in all Ages who have always thought they have done more than half their Business if they can but once appropiate to themselves all the good and pleasing Words of things plausible and popular and fasten on His present Majesty's Government the Names and Titles of things vulgarly odious or contemptible But in their particular Heads of Discourse in which the Conâ—piratâ—rs chiefly delighted and were wont in their Meetings most amply to enlarge their Inventions was concerning their resolutions of several kinds of Vengeance to be executed on those Eminent Persons of all Professions whom they thought most capable and willing to oppose their Bloody Enterprize Their Passions in that part indeed transported them beyond all bounds of common Prudence even to the highest degree of ridiculous Vanity and extravagant Ostentation of their full assurance to succeed in the dire Attempt Having first gloried in the Imagination of imbruing their Hands in Royal Blood they scrupl'd not to profess they would continue the Assassination on all the Principal Officers of the Crown and Ministers of Justice and spightfully projected all Circumstances imaginable which they thought might aggravate the Terrour or Ignominy of their Punishment The Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs of that Year were concluded fit to be Murder'd All others were doom'd to the like Destiny who might think they deserv'd well of the Faction by their Moderation But they resolv'd that Neuters should be treated as ill as their most avowed Enemies They made no Distinction of Opinions the Soberest and Richest of the Church of England together with the Presbyterians and orher Dissenters they hated and dispis'd in general as Men whose Interest could not be divided from King William as knowing they must fall with him and undergo the same Fate In this furious manner they proceeded to lay about 'em in their common Discourses with all the Infernal Malice that is so agreeable to their Principles and inseperable from them There never having yet been found in all Records of Time any Popish Plot but it was always most certainly attended with a fierce Spirit of Implacable Cruelty As it cannot be imagin'd that either of the Cabals was altogether unacquainted with what the other were doing during all this time so it is manifest some of their great Men understood the dark Hints that were sometimes given them of taking off the Spark removing the Yoke that lay so heavy upon them and knocking him on the Head And also that the inferiour Instruments proceeded on assurance That when they came to Action they should be Headed by Men of much higher Quality and Condition than as yet openly appear'd amongst them
share of the Complement Then Mr. Goodman swore That about the middle of the Month of May Mr. Porter acquainted him there would be a Meeting of some of King Iames's Friends at the Old King's-head in Leadenhall-street that tho he could not dine with them he would come to them after Dinner which he did when he came there Mr. Porter brought him into a Room where was my Lord Montgomery my Lord Aylesbury Sir Iohn Fenwick Sir Iohn Friend Sir William Parkins Mr. Charnock and Mr. Cook after we were set down there was a Consultation that considering the French King's Wars retarded the Affair of sending back King Iames and the means of restoring him to the Crown it was thought fit after some Debate to send Mr. Charnock into France to King Iames to prevail with the French King to furnish Ten Thousand Men whereof 8000 to be Foot 1000 Horse and 1000 Dragoons That we would meet him at the Head of 2000 Horse When our Resolution of the Thing and the Number was thus fixed Mr. Charnock ask'd whether it were with all our Consents And that he might assure the King that this was our Resolution Whereupon we all rose up and said to him Yes you may Yes you may every one particularly that at the same time Mr. Cook kneel'd upon the Chair when he said Yes you may and his Elbows were upon the Table There was another Meeting as Capt. Porter told me but I had Business in the City but whatever he promis'd on my behalf as to the Quota of Men I would be sure to make it good but was not at the second Meeting So that after a Long Tryal and hearing Council both for the King and Prisoner the Jury with-drew to consider of their Verdict about three quarters of an Hour they return'd into Court and brought him in Guilty of High-Treason As for the Persons Out-law'd my Lord they having by Law the space of a whole Year allow'd to surrender themselves before they are to be look'd on as Men absolutely to be condemn'd it 's hoped before that Time 's expired that some of them will voluntarily come in and stand a legal Trial and if possible prove themselves innocent but if not they must not think the Evidence against them will be any longer suppress'd there being to be found in the Informations given in upon Oath abundantly sufficient to convict every Man of them either of the intended Insurrection or Assassination both which are made out with as much Clearness of Testimony and Strength as any Humane Affair is capable of And his Majesty is deeply sensible and hath publickly acknowledg'd how he has once more been preserved by the immediate Hand of Heaven from the Rage and Violence of blood-thirsty and cruel Men cannot but look on himself as a-fresh oblig'd to manifest his Gratitude to Heaven by promoting the Glory of his Preserver in continuing to consult above all things the Welfare of his Church and the Peace and Happiness of this great People committed to his Charge And since my Lord the Divine Favour has so marvellously put into his Hands this new Advantage he will improve it not in Acts of Severity and Revenge which your Lordship knows his Nature utterly abhors but by imitating the Divine Goodness in a regular Course of strict Justice to all obdurate Impenitents so which he much rather desires in his usual Method of Mercy and Kindness to as many as shall give sincere Proofs of Penitence and Reformation of their pail Crimes Vertues which we have too much Reason to believe his Enemies have been hitherto little acqâ—ainted with Before I conclude my good Lord let me entreat your Lordship's Patience whilst I address my self to those misguided English-men who after all this persevere to be disaffected to his Majesty and the Government whom I would willingly perswade to cease doting on their old Bondage and hankering after a Perjur'd Prince who when amongst us broke his Coronation Oath and studied nothing more than subjecting us to Popery Slavery a Despotick and Arbitrary Government Did he not assume to himself a Power to suspend and dispence with the Execution of the Laws enacted for the Security and Happiness of the Subjects and thereby rendred them of none effect And did he not in order to the obtaining a Judgment in the Court of King's-Bench for declaring the Dispensing Power a Right belonging to the Crown turn out such Judges as could not in Conscience concur in so pernicious a Sentence And after having pack'd Judges for his Purpose he obtain'd the Judgment he requir'd What Can no King please them but him who set up a Commission of Ecclesiastical Matters against express Laws to the contrary which were executed contrary to all Law Can no one content them but a Prince who values nothing in the World so much as the overturning our Religion and in order thereto Did he not send the Archbishop of Canterbury and six other Bishops to the Tower for setting forth in a Petition their Reasons why they could not obey the Order requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience Finally Can nothing please them but a King who Arbitâ—ally and against Law turn'd the Fellows of Magdalen College in Oxford out of their Freeholds and put the College into the hands of Papists Did he not bring his Army of Irish Cut-throats by whom we went in danger of being Murder'd every Moment Or if the Experience of Time past so dearly bought can prevail nothing with them let them but seriously reflect on their present Condition Who may if they will Securely enjoy Peace Plenty Liberty and the best Religion under the best of Princes whilst many Misguided Gentlemen both English and Scotch who have abandon'd their Families and Estates to follow that Unhappy Prince to St. Germain's where a considerable Party being Protestants they only desir'd a Chappel from the late King Iames for the Exercise of their Worship according to the Church of England and propos'd Dr. Granvile Brother to the Earl of Bath formerly Dean of Durham as a fit Person to be their Chaplain They urged the great Incouragment such a Toleration would give to his Adherents in England and what Satisfaction it would be to such Protestants as followed him but tho' common Policy and his Circumstances made every body believe that this request would be easily granted yet it was positively denyed and Dr. Granvile obliged not onely to retire from Court but also from the Town of St. Germains to avoid the daily Insults of the Priests and the dreaded Consequences of the Jealousies with which they possess'd King Iames's Court against him Dr. Gordon a Bishop of Scotland the only Protestant Divine that then was there met with a worse Treatment still than Dr. Granvile and was reduc'd to the necessity of abjuring his Religion for want of Bread with which he could not be supplyed but upon those hard Terms Let them examine
Day His Majesty has gain'd this very considerable Advantage that he plainly perceives the strength of all his Enemies Arrogance lyes not now as heretofore in their extravagant Power to pack the City Juries Therefore now may not even a Lord Securely project or a Ferguson write or a Confederacy act against the Government they not having Sheriffs and a Settled Club at hand with their Corrupt Pannels to indempnify and to second and applaud their most Villainous Practices And His Majesty seems resolv'd at length after a many intollerable Provocations to strike at that which he has now found to be the very Root of the Faction and not to suffer an ill Party of Men to destroy his Government as they might have done had they been suffered to go on never so little farther uncontrouled and it is not to be doubted but the Righteousness of His Majesty's Cause will meet with an answerable Success and that so many guilty Persons will not escape unpunished who were just at the point of bringing their devilish Purposes to a quick Issue and once for all to strike boldly at the Heart of the King and Kingdom But to proceed to the History of the Times this Conspiracy was resolved upon by the French King and the late King Iames in Ianuary last and for the carrying of it on the Duke of Berwick and others were sent into England to concert the grand Point of the Assassination Their Party thenceforth gave over all their quieter and more plausible Arts of Sedition and betook themselves to more precipitate Enterprizes inflaming some to Insurrections others to Assassinations They proudly brag'd throughout the Nation that the late King Iames would be here within a Month Nay they offered to lay Wagers that within that time we should have a New Lord Keeper and Mr. F. was to be the Man They bought up Horses and Arms in all Parts of the Kingdom at the same time using innumerable Deceits to alienate the minds of His Majesty's Subjects from His Government Their pretended Protestant Clergy both Iurors and Non-Iurors talked at this time very impertinently of the horrid Murder of King Charles the First insinuating the Abdication of Iames the Second to be of the same Complexion They ridicul'd the Popish Plot in 1678 that theirs of 1695 might be less credited They took occasion to exclaim against the Rebellion in 1641 and of the Duke of Monmouth's not sticking to represent the Prince of Orange's glorious Expedition parallel thereto At other times under Umbrage of great Loyalty to King William many of them declaim'd of the Divine Right of Kings and of their unaccountableness on this side Heaven from whence this wicked Inference was made that the late King Iames still remains their rightful King Such Practices as these were found by evident Proof to have been the Principal Rise and Occasion of ripening the horrid Conspiracy in this Nation As for his Majesty's Kingdom of Scotland it is Notorious there has been long Shelter'd in it a desperate Faction of furious Zealots that under the Notion of Prelatists were growing up by degrees to a Violation at last not only of all the Rules and Institutions of true Religion but of Common Humanity Have they not proceeded to all the execrable Rage of Rapine aud Violence Their Principles are not yet entirely extinguish'd tho their Force has been Vanquish'd in open Field by God's Provindence prospering His Majesty's Arms. It is certain also the Peace of that Kingdom has been much endangered by other Factious and Seditious Spirits who tho at first they would not venture to encourage publickly the Treason yet stuck not secretly to favour and foment their Cause and would soon have own'd and headed the furious Traitors had the Plot prospered By this brief Recollection of the Troubled State of Affairs and the tumultuous temper of ill Men's Minds in His Majesty's Kingdoms of England and Scotland about the time when this Treasonable Conspiracy was in Agitation the Impartial World may perceive from what destructive Seeds of Sedition private Passions and Animosities under the disguise of Religion and the Publick Interest so Monstrous a Birth was produced In the wonderful Discovery of which detestable Confederacy and in the happy prevention of its dire Effects as all who have heard of it must acknowledg that a signal care of God's Providence has appear'd for His Majesty and these Nations preservation so it must be acknowledged by all that nothing has been done on his Majesties Part but what was agreeable to that Royal Benignity and Natural Candor of his whole Life whereof all the World even his Enemies have had such undoubted Experience Much of the Evidence was deliver'd in His Majesty's own presence The Examinations were taken by Men of unquestionable Reputation and Honour The whole proceedings has been managed with all imaginable Integrity There has been no straining or extorting of Accusations to blemish the Fame of the Innocent No Temptations of Rewards proposed no Pardon assured before-hand for discovering or aggravating the Crimes of the Guilty Some Witnesses who offer'd themselves of whom there might have been any colourable Suspition were wholly rejected Lest it should once again happen that the blasted Credit or needy Condition or Profligate Lives of the Persons deposing should derogate from the strength of their Depositions and administer any the least doubt of Subornation Those Witnesses His Majesty admitted had been generally Men strongly prepossessed in Conscience Zeal and Interest for that Party Men whose former avow'd Hatred of the Government was reason sufficient to gain them an absolute Trust with any who studied to overthrow it They were not of desperate Fortunes nor despicable Men for the most part they seperatly and singly brought in their Discoveries Divers of them had little or no Conversation or Familiarity one with another There was no shadow or possibility of a Combination between them all to discover yet such is the prevalence of self Conviction and so great the Power of Truth that all their several Discoveries did perfectly agree with themselves and with each other in all Material Parts and Circumstances It was therefore in the Year 1695 a time when all His Majesty's Dominons enjoyed a settled Peace and profound Security whilst the greatest part of the Neighbouring World was involved in Wars and Combustions that his Majesty and his Council were suddenly awaken'd with the surprizing Knowledg of this dreadful Conspiracy which had been laying very deep and broad for many Months before The Man whom God chose to make the first Discoverer was Mr. Prendergast a Person of good Credit in his Conversation but otherwise a most perverse Papist and fiercely addicted to their Cause and one of the busiest Sticklers against the Government He by his approved Activity and Violence for the French Interest was Judg'd by the Chief Conspirators fitly qualified to be admitted into their most private Consultations and accordingly thereafter they trusted
Church and State and was actually to engage in putting the Hellish Conspiracy in Exectuion Goodman Harris Knightly Bertram and Bois notorious Papists their Hatred to the Government transported them to be Factious These were all Men of crafty Heads and nimble Tongues restless spreaders of False News bold Talkers in seditious Clubs where according to the Corrupt Fashion of the Times the most Profligate Persons of all Conditions were wont openly to Arraign the Monarchy and Vilifie the Church under the fair Shews of amending both and a tender Concernment for the Publick Good However these five last mentioned did in some measure expiate their Guilt by their Ingenious and Voluntary Confessions Sir George Barclay a Scotch Man and a Leiutenant in the late King's Guards and egregiously disaffected to the present Government and therefore of considerable Interest with the Court of St. Germain's and the French King who are the most professed Enemies of these Kingdoms by whom he was sent into England with about 20 Troopers under the disguise of being turn'd out of Commission to bring to pass his Master 's Devilish Contrivance And he was known to be one of the Chief Actors in the whole Conspiracy Brice Blair a furious Roman Catholick he was fitted for such a Design by his hot and fiery Temper and was a most desperate Enemy to the Government of these Kingdoms But of all the Conspirators the Man to whom belonged the Cheif Place and Precedence in the whole Diabolical Design was Robert Ferguson a Scotch Man he had long brandished his poysonous Tongue and virulent Pen against the Government He is manifestly convicted to have had a hand in the most Scandalous Libels of these Times and was particularly cherished and magnified by the Party for his peculiar Talent in aspersing the Government and reviling His Majesty's Person so that upon all Accounts of his restless Spirit fluent Tongue subtile Brain and Hellish Malice he was perfectly qualified to be the great Incendiary and common Agitator of the whole Conspiracy and it cannot be deny'd but he was the Life and Soul of all especially for the carrying on of the whole Design These Persons appear hitherto to have been the Principal Contrivers or Instruments of the whole Treason in the Kingdom of England and Scotland Divers others there are concerning whom more than conjectural Proofs may be given of their having been engaged in it but I chuse to spare particular Names as far as may stand with the necessary and just Vindication of the Government It may suffice that of these here mentioned the World is abundantly satisfied that the several Shares they undertook in this Conspiracy were very agreeable to their former well-known perverse Principles and declared Disaffections to the Government It is therefore certain that in the Year 1695 a time when the French King's Affairs were reduc'd to the heighth of Desparation this Diabolical Design of Assassinating His Majesty came afresh to be agitated and the whole Factious Interest in and about the Town nay throughout the three Kingdoms prepar'd to employ the main of their Power and Craft for overturning the Government All which time nothing was omitted by the Disloyal Citizens who were no way Numerous and a Multitude of Strangers unduly mingled with them in their Clubs to terrify the Loyal and gain over the timerous Members of the City and a new and Devillish Invention was much in Vogue by which they made the Swearing to the Government to be only an Instrument for the promoting their ungodly Designs All sorts of Arms never before known to be procured in such quantities by private Persons such as Blunderbusses c. were carefully sought after and bought up The most improbable and villainous false Rumors wherewith too many of our Pulpits with equal Industry and Malice design'd to poison our unthinking People filled every Street My Lord for tho I have insensibly slid into a tedious Letter I may not forget to whom I address this I take the freedom to reflect on the Stile of Modern Sermons which my Lord you know are or ought to be serious Things and to be confined to the Rules of strict and sober Truth When the Clergy find or make occasion to discourse of Princes one would think the Subject Matter should teach them Moderation and Temperance Decorum and Decency but I shall evince that some have little regarded Truth or Manners and for the performing it shall not ransack many Sermons but give your Lordship a Taste of the Fraternity's Goodly Method of disparaging and reproaching His Majesty and of their fine knack at Representation and Character and that from your Lordship's next Neighbour and a Prebendary of your Church of VVestminster I mean the Famous Dr. Birch who with his effronted Forehead tho then His Majesty's Chaplain began and that very early to sound the Trumpet to Rebellion and that before the August Assembly of the Nation 's Representatives in his lewd Harangue on the 30 th of Ianuary 1693 for which by surprise Sir T. D. obtain'd an Order of the House of Commons that he and Mr. H. who was soon after expell'd for Bribery should return the Doctor Thanks and desire him to print his Sermon which they accordingly did and so the World became Obliged by these high and extraordinary Flights We quoth His Majesty's Chaplain are still threatned in their Turn either with no Church at all or the worst among Christians Are not our very Blessings turn'd into a Curse Our Boasted Freedom is now only a Liberty to bite and devour one another Our long cry'd up Liberty of Conscience proves one of Impiety Licentiousness and Errour and at best serves for a Step to Dominion more than Devotion Our Laws are indeed open but to the continual Conspiracies of false Witnesses against the Lives and Fortunes of the Innocent Ours proceeds the Doctor is the first State-Schism known in the World We have says he entailed upon us Disputed Titles and for ought yet appears endless Wars We are fallen into those Dregs of Time wherein Hypocrisy and Profaneness seem to divide the World between them and all true and unaffected Piety is out of Countenance wherein all the Sacred Tyes to our King and Country appear as loose as our Manners If then we dare own discouraged Vertue and would stand in the Gap to save the whole from Destruction the true way is not to follow a Multitude to do Evil or to joyn in those Fashionable Flatteries that are ruine to the Embracers My good Lord I appeal to You whether this vile Discourse is not stufft with the most audacious Reproaches of a Crown'd Head that were ever heard among Christians Are such rare Men as this I beseech your Lordship fit to be trusted with our Consciences Now if I have not here set this bold Clergy-man in his true light I hope I shall do it to purpose when I tell yonr Lordship that this very Doctor was seen walking in St.
Providence of God in it and at the same time Declare our Detestation and Abhorrence of so Villainous and Barbarons a Design And since the Safety and Welfare of Your Majesty's Dominions do so intirely depend upon Your Life We most Humbly Beseech Your Majesty to take more than Ordinary Care of Your Royal Person And we take this Occasion to Assure Your Majesty of our utmost Assistance to Defend Your Person and Support Your Government against the late King James and all other Your Enemies both at Home and Abroad hereby Declaring to all all the VVorld That in case Your Majesty shall come to any Violent Death which God forbid we will Revenge the same upon all your Enemies and their Adherents And as an Inâ—nce of our Zeal for Your Majesty's Service we will give all possible Dispatch to the Publick Business And we make it our Desire to Your Majesty to Seize and Secure all Persons Horses and Arms that Your Majesty may think fit to Apprehend upon this Occasion To which His Majesty gave a gracious Answer to the effect following viz. My Lords and Gentlemen I Thank you heartily for this kind Address On my Part you may be assured that I will do all that is within my Power for the Conservation of this Kingdom to which I have so many Obligations I will readily adventure my Life for the Preservation of it and recommend my self to the Continuance of your Loyalty and good Affections The House of Commons also the same Day resolved upon the following Association to be signed by their Members Whereas there has been a Horrid and Detestable Conspiracy Formed and Carried on by Papists and other Wicked and Traiterous Persons for Assassinating His Majesty's Royal Person in Order to Incourage an Invasion from France to Subvert our Religion Laws and Liberty We whose Names are hereunto Subscribed do Heartily Sincerely and Solemnly Profess Testify and Declare That His Present Majesty King William is Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms And we do Mutually Promise and Engage to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our Power in the Support and Defence of His Majesty's most Sacred Person and Government against the late King James and all his Adherents And in case His Majesty come to any Violent or Vntimely Death which God forbid We do hereby further Freely and Vnanimously Oblige our Selves to Vnite Associate and Stand by each other in Revenging the same upon his Enemies and their Adherents and in Supporting and Defending the Succession of the Crown according to an Act made in the First Year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary Intituled An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown There was also an Association agreed upon by the House of Lords which was carried by a Majority which appears to be of a Comfortable Importance Their Lordships Association differs so little from that of the Commons that I do not transcribe it but shew you how they vary Instead of the Words King William is RIGHTFVL and Lawful King their Lordships insert That His Present Majesty King William hath A RIGHT BY LAW to the Crown of this Realm and that neither the late King James nor the pretended Prince of Wales nor any other Person hath any Right whatsoever to the same c. Ninety six of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that was then present subscribed their Association and others who were at first absent come in daily it hath been refused only by 15. The House of Commons having as I told you agreed upon the above-written Association ordered it to be engrossed to be Signed by their Members and near 400 of that August Assembly which consists of 513 have already with great Alacrity subscribed it On Tuesday the House ordered that their absent Members as they come to the House do come up to the Table and sign the Association or in their Places declare their Refusal so to do and On Thursday it was ordered that the Association and the Subscriptions thereunto be entred upon the Journal of the House and Resolved that it should be presented to His Majesty by the Speaker and the whole House before the end of that Session It was also the same day ordered that such Members who had not already should by Monday Fortnight Sign the Association or declare their Refusal Now a day or two before the Conspirators final Seperation the King and his Council began to be convinc'd of the truth of Prendergast and Dela Rue's Evidence by a full knowledg of the Witnesses Characters and by the firmness and constancy of their Testimony besides many other concurring Circumstances Wherefore His Majesty ordered Warrants should be Issued out against the Persons accused whereof some absconded others were taken of these last divers confirm'd what Prendergast and De la Rue had sworn and Named others as Partakers in the Treason Whereupon more and more appearing every day to have been engaged Proclamations were Published in England and Scotland for their Speedy Apprehension By this means through the Providence of God so many of them were either Seized or Delivered themselves up as have irrefragably confirmed every part of the foregoing Account What became of the several Conspirators will appear by the Following List. The Duke of Berwick presently fled beyond the Seas from the Coast of Sussex Capt. Porter Mr. Prendergast and Mr. Keyes was taken at Letherhead in Surrey and were brought up to Town the last mention'd received the deserved Reward of his horrid Ingratitude and Treasons the two former largly confessed Capt. Harris surrender'd himself to Mr. Secretary Trumbull and largly confess'd Capt. Bois was taken and freely Confess'd Mr. â—ela Rue came in and Confess'd what was done and said at the Trayterous Meetings at Capt. Poter's Lodging c. Sir Iohn Friend fled froÌ„m his own House to hide himself at Quaker's in Stratton Ground where he was Taken Arraign'd Condemned and Executed Sir VVilliam Parkyns was Taken at Mr. Castlemain's Chamber in the Temple he was likewise Arraign'd Condemn'd and Executed he confest enough to shew his Crime but not his Repentance Mr. Bryerly taken and Confess'd Peter Cook Gent. taken March 17 th and committed to Newgate Arraign'd and Condemn'd but not as yet Executed Christopher Knightly was taken disguised in Womens Clothes Arraign'd and Condemn'd but as yet not Executed Sir Roger L'Estrange was taken up and dismist upon Bail Edward King was taken Arraign'd Condemned and Executed Capt. Stow taken the 6 th of March in a Spunging-House near Smithfield he having caused himself to be Arrested upon a Sham-Action of 300 l. under the Name of Smith Mr. Blair was taken examin'd and confess'd Mr. Robert Ferguson was seiz'd in Gray's Inn-lane hid under a Bed Lowick was seiz'd in Alley in Golden-lane very much disguis'd Arraign'd Condemned and Executed Sir Iohn Fenwick with-drew upon notice there was a Proclamation out against him was taken with one