great Seal of England bearing date at Westminster the said first day of March in the one and thirtieth year of his Majesties reign and here into this most High and Honourable Court produc'd under the said great Seal of his special Grace certain Knowledge and meer Motion hath pardon'd remised released to him the said Earl of Danby all and all manner of Treasons Misprisions of Treasons Confederacies Insurrections Rebellions Felonies Exactions Oppressions publications of words Misprisions Confederacies Concealments Negligences Omissions Offences Crimes Contempts Misdemeanors and Trespasses whatsoever by himself done or with any other person or persons or by any other by the command advice assent consent or procurement of him the said Thomas E. of Danby advis'd committed attempted made perpetrated conceal'd committed or omitted before the 27th day of Feb. then and now last past being also after the time of the said Articles exhibited although the said Premises or any of them did or should touch or concern the person of his said Majesty or any of his publick Negotiations whatsoever and also his Majesties affairs with foreign Embassadors sent to his said Majesty or by not rightly prosecuting his Majesties Instructions and Commands to his Embassadors residing on his Majesties behalf in foreign parts And as to all and singular accessories to the said premises or any of the indicted impeached appealed accused convicted adjudged out lawed condemned or attainted and all and singular Indictments Impeachments Inquisitions Informations Exigents Judgements Attainders Outlaries Convictions pains of Death Corporal punishments Imprisonments Forfeitures Punishments and all other pains and penalties whatsoever for the same or any of them and all and all manner of suits Complaints Impeachments and demands whatsoever Which his said Majesty by reason of the Premises or any of them then had or for the future should have or his heirs or successors any way could have afterwards against him the said Thomas Earl of Danby And also suit of his Majesties peace and whatever to his Majesty his heirs or successors against him the said Earl did or could belong by reason or occasion of the Premises or any of them And his Majesty hath thereby granted his firm Peace to the said Tho. E. of Danby And further his Majesty willed and granted that the said Letters-Patents and the said Pardon and Release therein contain'd as to all the things Pardon'd and Releas'd should be good and effectual in the law though the Treasons Misprisions of Treasons Insurrections Rebellions Felonies Exactions Oppressions Publications of words Misprisions of Confederacies Concealments Negligencies Omissions Offences Crimes Contempts Misdemeanors and Trespasses were not certainly specified And notwithstanding the Statute by the Parliament of King Ed. 3. in the 14th year of his reign made and provided or any other Statute Act or Ordinance to the contrary thereof made and provided And moreover his said now Majesty by his said Letters Patents of his farther Grace did firmly command all and singular Judges Justices Officers and others whatsoever That the said Free and General Pardon of his said Maj. and the general words clauses and sentences abovesaid should be construed and expounded and adjudged in all his Majesties Courts and elsewhere in the most beneficial ample and benign sense And for the better and more firm discharge of the said Earl of and from the crimes and offences aforesaid according to the true intents of his Majesty and in such beneficial manner and form to all intents and purposes whatsoever as if the said Treasons Crimes Offences Concealments Negligencies Omissions Contempts and Trespasses aforesaid and other the said Premises by apt express and special words had been remitted released and pardoned and that the said Letters Patents of Pardon and the Release and Pardon therein contain'd shall be pleaded and allowed in all and every his Majesties Courts and before all his Justices whatsoever without any Writ of allowance any matter cause or thing whatsoever in any wise notwithstanding as by the said Letters Patents themselves more at large appeareth which said Letters Patents follow in these words Carolus Dei Gratia Angliae Scotia Franciae Hibernae Rex Fidei defensor c. Omnibus ad quos prasentes Literae nostrae pervenerint Salutem Sciatis quod nos pro diversis bonis causis considerationibus Nos ad hoc specialiter moventibus de Gratia Nostra speciali mero motu Nostris Pardonavimus Relaxavimus c. And the said Earl doth averr that he the said Thomas Earl of Danby in the said Articles named is the said Thomas Earl of Danby in the said Letters of Pardon here produced likewise named Which Pardon the said Earl doth rely upon and pleaded the same in Bar of the said Impeachment and in discharge of all the Treasons Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences contained or mentioned in the said Articles of Impeachment and every of them And this the said Earl is ready to averr Whereupon he humbly prays the judgement of your Lordships and that his Majesties most Gracious Pardon aforesaid may be allowed And that he the said Earl by vertue hereof may be from all the said Articles of Impeachment and all and every of the Treasons and Crimes therein alledg'd against him acquitted and discharg'd The Earl of Danby having thus put in his Plea to the Articles of Impeachment the Commons referr'd it to the Committee of Secresie to examine the matter of the Plea of the Earl of Danby and to enquire how Presidents stood in relation to the Pardon and in what manner and by what means the same was obtained Who thereupon made their Report That they could find no President that ever any Pardon was granted to any Person impeach'd by the Commons of High Treason and depending the Impeachment So that they presently order'd that a Message should be sent to the Lords to desire their Lordships to demand of the Earl of Danby whether he would rely upon and abide by his Plea or not In the midst of these disputes a business of another Nature intervenes For one Mr. Reading having been accus'd to the Commons for going about to corrupt the Kings Evidence in the behalf of the five Lords in the Tower they presently order'd him to be secur'd and made an Address to his Majesty that he would be pleas'd to issue forth a Commission of Oyer and Terminer for the Tryal of the said Mr. Reading wherein they made the more hast to the end his Tryal might be over before that of the Lords which it was then thought was near at hand Hereupon the Commission was expedited and upon the 24th of this Month the Commissioners met at Westminster-Hall in the Court of Kings Bench. The Commissioners were the twelve Judges of England Sir James Butler Sir Philip Matthews Sir Thomas Orby Sir Thomas Byde Sir William Bowles Sir Thomas Stringer Sir Charles Pitfeld Thomas Robinson Humfrey Wirley Thomas Haryot and Richard Gower Esquires The Prisoner was endicted by the name of Nathaniel Reading for
Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom Of all which Treasons Crimes and Offences the Knights Citizens and Burgesses in Parliament Assembled did in the Name of themselves and of the Commons of England impeach the said William Earl of Powis William Viscount Stafford Henry Lord Arundel of Warder William Lord Petre and John Lord Bellasis and every of them And the said Commons saving to themselves the Liberty of Exhibiting at any time hereafter against other Accusations or Impeachments against the said Lords and every of them and also of Replying to the Answers which they and every of them should make to the premises or any of them or to any other Accusation or Impeachment which should be by them exhibited as the cause according to course and proceedings of Parliament should require did pray that the said Lords and every of them should be put to Answer all and every the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Tryals and Judgments might be upon them and every of them had and used as should be agreeable to Law and Justice and course of Parliament The Articles of Impeachment being drawn up and finish'd and carri'd up to the Lords House the Lieutenant of the Tower was ordered to bring up the Prisoners to the Bar where after they had kneeled awhile they were order'd to stand up and hear their Charge which when they had heard the Lord Chancellor ask'd them what they had to say for themselves letting them know withal that his Majesty would appoint a Lord High Steward for their Tryals Thereupon the Lords impeach'd made several requests in order to their several Defences upon their Tryals and then withdrew for a time After the House had taken their requests into consideration they were called in again and the Lord Chancellor gave them to understand that the several Endictments found against them by the Grand Jury should be brought into that Court by Writ of Certiorari and that they might have Copies of the Articles of Impeachment and should have convenient time given them to send in their respective Answers thereunto All this while the Lord Bellasis had not appeared at the Bar it being sworn that he was so ill that he could not stir out of his bed which reasonable excuse was allow'd for the time Not long after a Message was sent from the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the Lords impeach'd had all except the Lord Bellasis brought up their Answers to the Charge exhibited against them and that their Lordships had sent them the Originals desiring to have them return'd Soon after it was found that the Lord Bellasis had sent in his Answer without Appearance which occasion'd a great Debate Whether by his not appearance he had been Arraign'd or no and whether his Answer were legal The consideration of which business was referr'd to the Committee of Secrecy as also to look into the Answers of the five Lords to consider of the Methods of Proceedings upon Impeachments and to Report their Opinions Which were That the Lord Bellasis being Impeach'd of High Treason by the Commons could not make any Answer but in person And that the several Writings put in by the other Lords which they call'd their Pleas and Answers were not Pleas or Answers but Argumentative and Evasive to which the Commons neither could nor ought to reply That though the Answers of the other four Lords were sufficient yet that there ought not to be any Proceedings against them until the Lord Bellasis had put in a sufficient Answer in person That the Commons should demand of the Lords that their Lordships would forthwith order and require the said Lords to put in their perfect Answers or in default thereof that the Commons might have Justice against them Thereupon it was order'd by the Commons That a Conference should be desir'd with the Lords touching the Answers of the five Lords in the Tower and that the Managers thereof should acquaint their Lordships that they intended to make use of no other Evidence against the five Lords then for matter done within seven years last past desiring their Lordships withal to appoint a short day for the said five Lords to put in their effectual Pleas and Answers to the Articles of Impeachment But e're this Conference could be had a Message came from the Lords to acquaint the House That John Lord Bellasis had that day appear'd in person at the Bar of the House and had put in his Answer to the Articles of Impeachment which they had accordingly sent them The next day came another Message from the Lords to acquaint them That the Lords Powis Stafford and Arundel had appear'd likewise at the Bar and had retracted their former Pleas and had put in their Answers which they had also sent for them to view and consider All which Answers were by the Commons referr'd to the Secret Committee What these Answers were may be easily seen by that of the Lord Petre's here inserted For as their Crimes were the same so their Defences could not vary much either in sence or matter The Lord Petre's Answer to the Articles of Impeachment THE said Lord in the first place and before all other protesting his Innocency c. The said Lord doth with all humility submit himself desiring above all things the Tryal of his Cause by this most Honourable House so that he may be provided to make his just Defence for the clearing of his Innocency from the Great and Hainous Crimes charged against him by the said Impeachment This being prayed as also liberty to Correct Amend and Explain any thing in the said Plea contained which may any ways give this Honourable House any occasion of Offence which he hopes will be granted The said Lord as to that part of the Impeachment that concerns the matter following Namely That for divers years last past there had been contrived and carryed on by the Papists a most traiterous and execrable Conspiracy and Plot within this Kingdom of England and other places to alter and subvert the Antient Government and Laws of this Kingdom and Nation and to suppress the true Religion therein Establisht and to extirpate and destroy the Professors thereof and that the said Plot and Conspiracy was contrived and carryed on in divers places and by several ways and means and by a great number of several Persons of Qualities and Degrees who acted therein and intended thereby to execute and accomplish their aforesaid wicked and traiterous Designs and Purposes That the said William Lord Petre and other Lords therein named together with several other persons therein likewise named and mentioned as false Traitors to his Majesty and Kingdom within the time aforesaid have traiterously acted and consulted to and for the accomplishing of the said wicked pernicious and traiterous Designs and to that end did most wickedly and traiterously Agree Consult Conspire and Resolve to Imprison Depose and Murther His Sacred Majesty and deprive
TITUS OATES D. D. Cap t. WILLIAM BEDLOE M r Stephen Dugdale M r Miles Prance A COMPENDIOUS HISTORY OF THE MOST Remarkable Passages OF THE LAST FOURTEEN YEARS With an Account of the PLOT As it was carried on both before and after the FIRE OF LONDON to this present Time Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum LONDON Printed by A. Godbid and J. Playford and are sold by S. Neale at the Three Pidgeons in Bedford-Street over against the New-Exchange 1680. TO THE READER THese ensuing Sheets are chiefly the Relation of the wonderful passages of the 14 last Years Then the 2 last of which there are few that deserve to be more Celebrated in Historie next to those that were so renowned for the Active part of the KINGS Restoration though it may be questioned to which Historie will give the precedence whether to those of His Restoration or those of His preservation In reference to which several of the occurrences have almost equall'd Miracles and therefore merit to be recorded and to be read with consideration as the evincing Proofs of an over-ruling Providence The Relation begins at the great Conflagration of the CITY as being the first remarkable Effect of the Treason then hatching For to repeat the stories of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the first would have bin only to have tir'd the Reader with what is already sufficiently made known both in English and Latin to all the Protestants in the World and only serves to swell a Volume to the unprofitable and needless expence of the Buyer If any thing has bin left out it has bin for fear of invading the properties of other Men whose Narratives though at that time seasonable yet can never hope to be inserted in a story where their Epitomes are only necessary Omissions may be but t is thought by those that have viewed these sheets there are very few or none of Moment Whatever they be the Reader t is hop'd will pardon them considering the multiplicitie of affairs and the present juncture of time ADVERTISEMENT THE Cabal of Several Notorious Priests and Jesuits Discovered as William Ireland Thomas White alias Whitebread Provincial of the Jesuits in England William Harcourt pretended Rector of London John Fenwick Procurator for the Jesuits in England John Gaven alias Gawen and Anthony Turner c. shewing their Endeavours to Subvert the Government and Protestant Religion viz. Their Treasonable Practices in England and France Articles of their Creed Their stirring people to Rebellion frequenting Quakers Meetings in all sorts of Apparel Their Usurpations Murthering of Infants and Incontinency in their own Classis Their unclean acts in their Visits Churches Houses Travels and Nunneries Coyning false money Bloody Revenges and strange Ingratitudes The number of their Orders with the divisions and strifes now in that Society By a Lover of his King and Countrey who formerly was an Eye-witness of these things THE high zeal of those that are of the Roman Catholic profession proceeds either from Policy or Devotion The Politic zeal is counterfeited by the Priests and Rulers of the Church but the zeal of Devotion is imposed by them upon the People The one is Active the other Passive and though the Passive are sometimes seduced by the Active to Action yet doth that Action seem to be a passion in regard they suffer themselves to be overpersuaded to do it Of these two sorts of zeal doth the Roman Catholic Religion consist Which because they are both made use of for the propagation of their pretended Faith or rather for the enlargement of their Tyrannical Dominion and the satisfaction of their insatiate Avarice they are therefore founded upon all the Maxims of Cruelty and Barbarism imaginable Nay their very mercies are inhumanities while their Absolutions and Dispensations do but encourage the perpetration of all manner of Impiety and by that means maintain a perpetual War against all mankind and destroy the necessary Converse of humane Society Thus while they seek to subjugate the World to themselves where they find themselves too weak they fall to contrivance Hence those Effusions of Blood and dismal Massacres licensed by the Pope and encouraged and applauded in their public harangues by the Jesuites and Priests his Godly Emissaries and holy Instruments Hence those Treasons against Queen Elizabeth those Horrid Machinations against King James hence this Villanous Plot that has been so long hatching against the Person of the best of Kings of which we are now to make a short but a Methodical History to remain as a public Record fil'd to Perpetuity of their inhuman Butcheries and foul Contrivances so bloodily and so prophanely intended The Design was laid home and smartly the Conspirators aimed at no small things no less than the Murther of a Great Monarch the subversion of his Laws and Government and the total Perdition of three Kingdoms under his Soveraign care The Chief Actors upon this bloody Stage were the whole Body of the Roman Catholic Clergy even from the Triple Crown to the poor self-denying Dominican and Innocence pretending Benedictine For his Holiness in a General Council for the propagation of the Faith held in December 1677. had adjudg'd the King of Great Britain to be certainly a Heretic and for that very reason had vainly deposed him and as impudently confiscated his Dominions as being St. Peter's Patrimony forfeited to him for the Heresie of the King and People To which purpose he also appointed Cardinal Howard to take possession of England as his Legate in his Name He had moreover in his fond imagination displaced all the Archbishops Bishops c. from their Ecclesiastical Employments and all others from their Secular Dignities and constituted his own Minions in their places What Jesuite or Priest upon so free and authentic Donation as the Pope thus made them of his new Forfeitures but would have ventur'd a Caper at Tyburn for an Archbishopric of York or a Bishopric of Winchester or the fat Glebes belonging to many a reassumed Abbey and Monastery Nor can we doubt but that they had been many Years brooding over such a Magnificent design which they had so nearly hatch'd and matur'd to perfection Especially considering how long ago it was that we felt the dreadful Effects of their Treason before the happy discovery of their impious Conjurations It was in the Year 1666. upon the 2d of September that the greatest fire brake forth hardly to be parallell'd in Story which sacrific'd to the fury and Ambition of the Jesuites and Popish Priests the fairest and largest part of one of the Richest and most populous Cities in the World As to this fatal and destructive Fire which destroy'd 373 Acres within and 63 Acres and three Roods without the Walls of the City it appears to have been under Consultation long before the fact was put in Execution For when they had once after several Debates and Communications of Letters unanimously resolv'd That it was absolutely necessary to ruin the
ten miles from the City of London And the third was a Proclamation that no Officers or Souldiers of his Majesties Guards should be a Papist His Majesty also observing the affection of both His Houses towards His Royal Person and their zeal for the security of the Nation was pleased to make them a most Gratious Speech wherein he gave them thanks for the care which they took of his Government and Person promising to pass all Acts which they should make for preservation of the Protestant Religion During these Proceedings of Parliament and Council one Staley having out of the abundance of his Heart on the fourteenth of November 1678. spoken most desperate treasonable words against the King and being the next day apprehended for the same was brought publicly to his Tryal at the King's Bench Bar in Westminster Hall upon the twenty first of the same Month. This Staley was a Goldsmith in Covent-Garden and the reason of his inveteracy against the King is said to be for that being a Papist and a Goldsmith that dealt in money he found his Trade decay because the Catholicks with whom his chiefest dealings were call'd in their money faster than he desir'd upon the discovery of the Plot. The Treason urged against him was this that being at the Black Lyon in King-street in the new Buildings between High Holborn and Long-acre with one Fromante his Friend the said Fromante among other discourse was saying That the King of England was a great Tormentor of the people of God Upon which the said Staley flew out into a violent Passion and made answer with the addition of other irreverent words That the King was a great Heretick there 's the heart and here 's the hand I would kill him my self These words being spoken in French were distinctly understood by two English Gentlemen that over-heard and saw the said Staley when he spoke them the door of the Room being open And this also in the presence of another that did not understand French to whom the others immediately interpreted the words He was endited for Imagining and Contriving the Death of the King The Jury were Sr. Philip Matthews Sr. Reginald Foster Sr. John Kirk Sr. John Cutler Sr. Richard Blake John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Thomas Cross Esq Henry Johnson Esq Charles Umphrevil Esq Thomas Egglesfield Esq William Bohee Esq The Witnesses swore the words positively upon him and the Statute of this Kings Reign making desperate words to be Treason was read and urged against him But his defence was weak while he only endeavoured to evade the Crime by alledging a mistake of the Expression as if he had said I will kill my self instead of I will kill him my self But that shift would not serve for the Jury soon brought him in Guilty whereupon he was condemn'd to be hang'd drawn and quarter'd which Sentence was upon the 26th of the same month executed accordingly So that he had this honour to be the Popes first Martyr for the Plot. It was his Majesties pleasure that his Relations should have the disposal of his Quarters to give them a decent and private burial but they abusing his gracious favour with a publick and more than ordinary funeral Pomp his buried Quarters were ordered to be taken up and to be disposed by the Common Executioner upon the Gates of the City 1678. Next to him Coleman became the publick spectacle of his own conceit and Ambition He had been committed to Newgate by the Council upon the 30th of September which was the next day after Dr. Oates's first Examination He was brought to his Tryal upon the 27th of November before the Judges of the Kings Bench. The Jury were Sr. Reginald Foster Sr. Charles Lee Edward Wilford Esq John Bathurst Esq Joshua Galliard Esq John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Henry Johnson Charles Umphrevile Thomas Johnson Thomas Egglesfield William Bohee The general Charge of the Enditement was for an intention and endeavour to murder the King for an endeavour and attempt to change the Government of the Nation for an endeavour to alter the Protestant Religion and instead thereof to introduce the Romish Superstition and Popery The particular Charges were one or two Letters written to Monsieur Le Chaise Confessor to the King of France to excite and stir him up to procure aid and assistance from a Forreign Prince Arms and Levies of Men. That this Letter was delivered and an Answer by him received with a promise that he should have Assistance That he wrote other Letters to Sr. William Throckmorton who traiterously conspired with him and had intelligence from time to time from him The main things insisted upon for the Evidence to prove were first That there had been a more than ordinary design to bring in the Popish and extirpate the Protestant Religion That the first On-set was to be made by a whole Troop of Jesuites and Priests who were sent into England from the Seminaries where they had been train'd up in all the Arts of deluding the people That there was a Summons of the principal Jesuits the most able for their head-pieces who were to meet in the April or May before to consult of things of no less weight than how to take away the Life of the King That there was an Oath of Secrecy taken and that upon the Sacrament That there were two Villains among them who undertook that execrable work for the rewards that were promised them Money in case they succeeded and Masses for their souls if they perished That if the first fail'd there were also four Irish men recommended to the Caball men of mean and desperate Fortunes to make the same attempt when the King was the last Summer at Windsor That Forces Aids and Assistances were prepared to be ready both at home and abroad to second the Design That Mr. Coleman knew of all this and encouraged a Messenger to carry money down as a reward of those Murderers that were at Windsor That there were Negotiations to be maintain'd with publick persons abroad money to be procured partly from friends at home and partly beyond Seas from those that wish'd them well in all which Negotiations Mr. Coleman had a busie hand That this Conspiracy went so far that General Officers were named and appointed and many engaged if not listed and this not only in England but in Ireland likewise That the great Civil Offices and Dignities of the Kingdom were also to be disposed of and that Coleman was to have been Secretary of State and had a Commission from the Superiours of the Jesuits to act in that Quality That he had treated by vertue thereof with Father Ferrier and La Chaise Confessors of the King of France for the Dissolution of the Parliament and Extirpation of the Protestant Religion to which purpose he had penned a Declaration with his own hand to justifie the Action when the Parliament was dissolved That he kept intelligence with Cardinal Norfolk with Father Sheldon and
which was for the four Assassinates at Windsor in his own Chamber Mr. Dugdale Depos'd against him That he being pitch'd upon to be one of the King's Murderers was by Harcourt chosen to be dispos'd of at London for that purpose under the Tuition of one Mr. Parsons That there was a Letter written from Paris which pass'd through Harcourt's hands wherein Advice was given to the Conspirators in England so to order the Business that the Death of the King might be accounted a Presbyterian Plot and in case of his Miscarriage to engage the Protestants in a Revenge upon the Presbyterian Party as guilty of the Fact And after that to go on to a Massacre and those that escap'd it to be afterwards totally cut off by the Army That he had seen several Treasonable Letters striking at the Life of the King and the Protestant Religion which the Witness had intercepted and read at least a hundred of them all sent from Harcourt to Ewers under a Cover from Groves That the first Intelligence of the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey which they had in the Country was sent from Harcourt which Letter came to Harcourt on Monday and bore date on Saturday upon the night of which day the said Murther was committed with these particular words This Night Sir Edmundbury Godfrey is dispatch'd Mr. Praunce being sworn Depos'd That Harcourt had told him above a year before as he was paying him for an Image of the Virgin Mary that there was a Plot upon the Life of the King Mr. Bedloe being sworn Depos'd That he saw Harcourt take the Fourscore Pound out of a Cabinet and pay the Money to the Messenger that was to carry it to the Ruffians at Windsor giving the said Messenger at the same time for Expedition a Guiney as from Coleman to drink his Health That the Summ of 1500 l. which was to have been Groves Reward for killing the King was agreed upon and appointed in Harcourt's Chamber That he was one of those that agreed and consented to the addition of 5000 l. to the first 10000 l. to be given to Sir George Wakeman That he was very well acquainted with the Witnesses bringing over divers Pacquets and Portmantles from beyond the Seas of which he had brought over several for himself That he had brought him several Letters from Wotton St. Omers Bruges Paris Valladolid and Salamanca all of them for carrying on the Plot of changing the Religion of England and overturning the Government what Men what Money in readiness and what more expected That the Contributions and Account lay generally in Harcourt's hands and that he had carri'd several Papers from Harcourt to Langhorn concerning the same matter The said Witness farther Depos'd That he carri'd a Consult to St. Omers from Mr. Coleman to whom Harcourt went with him and that in that Consult was the main of the Design and lastly That he saw Harcourt give Sir George Wakeman a Bill upon some certain Citizen for 2000 l. telling him at the same time that it was in part of a greater Sum. As to Gavan Doctor Oates Depos'd That he saw his Name to the Resolve though he could not Swear he was at the Consult of the 24th of April That he gave an account from time to time of the Affairs of Stafford-shire and Shrop-shire relating to the Plot and that coming to London he gave the same account to Ireland in his own Chamber and talk'd of Two or Three Thousand Pound that would be ready for the Design Mr. Dugdale Depos'd against Gavan That it was he who engag'd the Witness in the Plot upon the Life of the King and often persuaded and encourag'd him to it That at Ewers's and the Witnesses Chamber at Boscobell and other places several Consultations had been had about the Death of the King and bringing in of Popery Wherein Mr. Gavan was always a great Man having a good Tongue and the Faculty of moving the People That at the same Consultations he had heard the Massacre often discours'd of And that Gavan should say That though they were but in a low Condition themselves yet they would have Men and Money enough to spare for such a Design That the said Gavan had many times endeavour'd to convince the Witness of the Lawfulness if not the Merit of killing any person whatsoever for the advancement of their Religion As to Turner it was sworn by Dr. Oates That he was at the Consult at Fenwick's Chamber and Sign'd the Resolve Mr. Dugdale also Depos'd That Ewers had told him by word of mouth That Turner was to carry on the Design in Worcester-shire That the said Turner had met with Ewers Leveson and others in several places and had in every one of them given his consent to and assisted with his Counsel in the carrying on of the Grand Design of killing the King and Introducing of Popery This was the main of the Evidence for the King The main Defence of the Prisoners lay in seeking to invalidate the Testimoney of the Witnesses And indeed they thought they had done their business by calling over to their assistance a cluster of Birds of their own Feather a crue of young Seminarians nurtur'd up at St. Omers in all their own Principles and Lessons of Equivocation and Jesuitical Tongue-Jugling and Religious Velitation These were the Emets of Tunquin that were in one hour to eat down the Pillars of the King's Evidence by proving That Doctor Oates was at St. Omers upon the 24th of April and so not being ubiquitary he could not be at the same time at the White Horse in the Strand and then the Plot had vanish'd the Witnesses had been meer Accusers that is to say Diaboli indeed and they had been as Innocent as the Children unborn This flexible Flock were very punctual to their time and laid their Allegations home enough nay some of them were so positive that they affirm'd That Dr. Oates never lay but two Nights out of the Colledge from December till the middle of June So that when the Cloud that rain'd upon the King's Evidence came to be dissipated by the warm Testimony of Sir Richard Barker Mr. Walker and Mr. Smith all Scholars and Men of unbyass'd Repute and several others though of meaner Quality yet of honest Reputation it was a thing that could not be a little admir'd to see the Effects of blind Popish Education that so many young Declaimers should make such an early venture of their Credit as to out-brazen Truth it self in a matter which upon the manifest Contradictions of their Affirmatives it appear'd could not be unknown to themselves There is but one Consideration that pleads for them That as they were under Discipline they durst not but Swear in verba Magistri well knowing what Entertainment they were to expect at their return if they did not stand fast to their tackling Their Masters knew no better means then to oppose blind Zeal against blind Justice Having arm'd deluded Youth with
he challeng'd Dr. Owen and some others in a Letter written in several Languages and that so learnedly that it was deem'd worthy the Consideration of the Convocation by whom he was censur'd as a Jesuit or some other of the best sort of Popish Education and thereupon imprison'd in the Castle Prison in Oxford where he pretended distraction and acted the Madman so rarely to the life that in few days some Friends of his procur'd his liberty He was seen several times running up and down the Streets with his Hat under his Arm full of Stones throwing at every small Bird he saw But e're long he was met by a Minister of the Church of England at the House of a Roman Catholick who there heard him Discourse so gravely learnedly and discreetly that he got not onely into an acquaintance but familiarity with him insomuch that this Gentleman being of Maudlin Colledge he there gave him several Visits in several Disguises But at length being again suspected and in danger of being apprehended he stole away privately for London To which place business calling the same Gentleman about six Months after he was no sooner come to Town but he had notice of a famous Preacher among the Quakers near Charing-Cross and the same day he met Whitebread the great man of Fame going to speak in an old fashion pink'd Fustian Jerkin clouted Shoes his Breeches fac'd with Leather and a Carter's Whip in his hand in that Garb altogether disguiz'd from his knowledge however he knew the Gentleman and spake to him and so they renew'd their acquaintance For that time however they took leave and he went forward upon his intended work but the next day he came to the Gentleman's Quarters in the neat habit of a London Minister and carried him to his own Lodging within the Precincts of the Middle-Temple where he gave the Gentleman a handsom Entertainment and a sight of the several odd Habits in which he disguiz'd himself to the several sorts of people into whose good Opinion he had insinuated himself There the Gentleman saw his Orders from Rome and an Instrument wherein he was assur'd of and had Orders to receive of certain Merchants in Town a Hundred Pound per Annum besides a yearly Pension of Eighty Pound from his Father He pretended to this Gentleman that he was born at Wittenbergh and that his Father's Name was John White and in the Writing he himself was stil'd Johannes de Albis by the Court of Rome He was both Jesuit and Priest in Orders for that to the same Gentleman's knowledge he celebrated Mass in one House in Southwark to more then Forty after which upon the same day he visited several Presbyterians and others The same Gentleman continu'd in his Company for about a Month till he was apprehended and by special Order from the Protector imprison'd in the Tower of London where he lay above six Months No wonder then that he stook closest to the Romish Church for she it seems was his best friend and gave him the fairest Allowance what signifi'd a little Imprisonment for her sake who gave him a hundred pound a year to support him in his tribulation The next day Mr. Langhorn was brought to his Tryal at the same Bar. A Councellor at Law and one who got his bread by that very Law which he was plotting to subvert An imprudent piece of Ingratitude to forego the Law of his Country which afforded him a substantial Employment to catch at the shadow of a Judge Advocate Generals place in treasonable Hopes The general sum of his Charge was High Treason for conspiring the Death of the King and endeavouring an Alteration both in Church and State The particular Charge against him was That in order to the accomplishing as much as in him lay these designs of his he had wrote two Letters to be sent to Rome and St. Omers to procure aid from the Pope and the French King on purpose to introduce a change of the Religion by Law establish'd in the Kingdom and to set up the Romish Religion in the stead thereof That he had wrote two other Letters to one Anderton Rector of the English Colledge of Jesuites at Rome and two others to be sent to St. Omers wherein he undertook to advise the means and ways by which the success of those Treasons might be made to answer their expectations That he had received several Commissions in writing transmitted to him by an Authority that deriv'd it self from the See of Rome which Commissions were for constituting Military Officers to command in an Army which was to effect their Treasons by force That he was privy to all the Consultations of the rest of the Conspirators for carrying on the grand design and that he had sollicited the Benedictine Monks for 6000 l. for the same purpose and had notice from time to time of the Treasons and Conspiracy's of the Confederates To make Good this Charge Mr. Dugdall and Mr. Praunce were both sworn to give a short evidence of the reality of the Design in general Which being done Dr. Oates was sworn to particulars who thereupon depos'd That upon his return out of Spain in November 1677. he brought Letters from Mr. Langhorn's sons the one in the Jesuites Colledge at Madrid the other at Valladolid and that when the Witness told him that he believ'd his Sons would both enter into the Society Mr. Langhorn shew'd himself not a little pleas'd saying that by so doing they might quickly come to preferment in England for that matters would not hold long in England as they were That upon his return to St. Omers he carry'd two Letters written by Mr. Langhorn one to the Fathers another to Mr. Le Cheese the King of France's Confessor as Mr. Langhorn expressed himself in order to our Affairs in England and to the same effect as Mr. Coleman had wrote to him before That not long after he wrote another Letter to the Fathers expressing his wonderful zeal for the Catholic Design declaring moreover that the Parliament began to cool in the business of the Protestant Religion and that therefore speaking of the present Opportunity Now was the time to give the Blow That though he were not at the Consults yet that the Witness was order'd to give him an account from time to time and that upon a pleasing report made by the Witness Mr. Langhorn with Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven Pray'd God to prosper them That the Report of the Witness was That the Death of the King was resolv'd upon and that Grove and Pickering were chosen out for the Execution of the Result That at the same time several Parchments were lying upon Mr. Langhorn's Study-Table which he found to be Commissions for the Lords Arundel of Wardour Powis Bellasis and Petre to be Chancellor Treasurer General and Lieutenant General Another for Coleman to be Secretary of State and another for himself to be Judge Advocate of the Army all which had the
Jesuites Cross upon them and were sign'd Paulus D'Oliva That he saw the Answer of Le Cheese and Anderton to Mr. Langhorns Letters wherein they assur'd the Fathers of their firmness to the English Society and that the French King would certainly assist them for carrying on the work That Mr. Langhorn being the Jesuites Sollicitor went with Harcourt Fenwick Keines and Langworth to the Benedictine Monks to desire their Aid toward the Work That being told that Sir George Wakeman refus'd 10000 l. for poysoning the King he made Answer That it was a public work and a Body would have done it for nothing but that he was a Covetous and narrow Soul'd Man Mr. Bedlow being sworn deposed That he was entrusted with certain Letters from Mr. Coleman to Le Cheese but that first Mr. Coleman carry'd the Witness to Mr. Langhorn's Chamber who there enter'd the said Letters the scope of which was to inform Le Cheese that he wanted nothing but Money to accomplish the Work and to learn what supplies they might expect from France That at another time he carry'd to Mr. Langhorn another Pacquet containing several Letters to be by him register'd being sent to him for that purpose by Mr. Harcourt That he transcrib'd three Letters one to Father Anderton the other to the Pope's Nuntio and a third to Le Cheese wherein were these expressions That the Arms and Hearts of the Catholics were all ready and that considering the Easiness of the King of England and the Strength of the Power of France the Opportunity was by no means to be neglected Mr. Langhorn offer'd to the Court that the two Witnesses against him were Parties to the Crime which was laid to his Charge and therefore he desir'd to know whither they had their pardons or no Which though it were sufficiently made out yet the Court for the prisoners further satisfaction declar'd that whether they had or had not they were nevertheless good Witnesses or else they should not have been admitted Upon which another Question was started by the Prisoner Whether having had their pardons they might not fall under the same prospect in Law with an Approver not as being approvers but as under some Equivalence of reason with them From whence he would have drawn this Consequence That if the Approver be pardon'd the Appellee ought to be discharg'd To this the Court made Answer That an Approver was ever allow'd maintenance and that there ought to be a proof of Corrupt Contract or Subornation to invalidate a Testimony This failing he desir'd to know whether they had ever receiv'd or whether they did not expect Gratifications and Rewards for their discoveries In Answer to which Dr. Oates declar'd That he was so far from having receiv'd a Reward that he was a very large sum of Money out of pocket which he knew not whether he should ever receive again or no. The Prisoner urg'd that Mr. Reading had told him that Mr. Bedlow had receiv'd Five hundred pound But the Court inform'd him that that was not upon account of the Plot but for the discovery of the Murtherers of Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey These little passes being all put by and finding himself ready to sink he catches hold of the Saint Omers twigs and flyes to the allegations of a shoal of young boys already baffl'd by the Verdict of a former Jury The Court however since he depended upon it and desir'd it could not avoid the trouble of a reexamination of the same testimonies which had been heard the day before For the Prisoners satifaction therefore they were all examin'd over again and the same Evidence oppos'd against them on the King's behalf as had been at first But this second attempt of those forward striplings rather made a farther display of the severe injunctions of their Superiors then otherwise and prov'd rather to the prejudice of him that call'd them then to his advantage For their Testimony still continu'd so starch'd so straight lac'd so fix'd to the Months of April and May that when they were demanded any Questions concerning any other Months they seem'd as if they had not receiv'd Instructions to Answer them Nay some of them were so confident as to say that April and May were onely the Months in dispute and that they were not to Answer any farther Which so clearly evinc'd both the Court and the Jury that they came from School with a conn'd Lesson in their Mouths that some persons of judgment did believe their Superiors might have spar'd them so much loss of time This scene being over and the Prisoner being call'd upon to speak for himself he did nothing else but like a bad Logician petere Principium and taking it for granted that the young Lads of St. Omers had spoken Truth which was never granted but rather credibly evinc'd by several Oaths to the contrary would have thence infer'd that Dr. Oate's had given in a false Evidence and for that reason was not to be regarded As to Mr. Bedlows Evidence he offer'd that it ought to be consider'd That there was no proving a Negative Secondly That he never had had any acquaintance with him nor could say that ever he saw him before that day in his life And therefore that it was not probable had he been guilty that he would ever have trusted him with a privacy of such a nature Having made so weak a defence he could expect no other then to be found guilty which was done after a very short consideration of the Jury Thereupon the five Prisoners cast the day before were all brought to the Bar and receiv'd Sentence all together To be Drawn Hang'd and Quarter'd Upon the 21 of this Month Whitebread Harcourt Fenwick Gawen and Turner were Drawn on three several Sledges from Newgate to Tyburn and there Hang'd Drawn and Quarter'd according to their Sentence Langhorn being repriev'd for longer time How they liv'd appears by the Crimes for which they dy'd how they dy'd may appear by their blasphemous Justifications of those Crimes for which they were so fairly Condemn'd Of which that the World may be convinc'd let all impartial judges but compare their Speeches with the Observations that have been made upon them The Speeches I Suppose it is expected I should speak something to the matter I am condemned for and brought hither to suffer it is no less than the contriving and plotting His Majesty's Death and the alteration of the Government of the Church and State you all either know or ought to know I am to make my appearance before the Face of Almighty God and with all imaginable certainty and evidence to receive a final Judgment for all the thoughts words and actions of my whole life So that I am not now upon terms to speak other than truth and therefore in his most Holy Presence and as I hope for Mercy from his Divine Majesty I do declare to you here present and to the whole World that I go out of the World as innocent and
the Jesuit's Doctrine concerning Kings as believing it conformable to what the best Doctors of the Church have taught But why do I relate the testimony of one particular Prince when the whole Catholic World is the Jesuits Advocate For to them chiefly Germany France Italy Spain and Flanders trust the Education of their Youth and to them in a great proportion they trust their own Souls to be governed in the Sacraments And can you imagin so many great Kings and Princes and so many wise States should do or permit this to be done in their Kingdoms if the Jesuits were men of such damnable principles as they are now taken for in England In the third place dear Country-men I do attest that as I never in my life did machine or contrive either the Deposition or Death of the King so now I do heartily desire of God to grant him a quiet and happy Reign upon Earth and an Everlasting Crown in Heaven For the Judges also and the Jury and all those that were any ways concern'd either in my Tryal Accusation or Condemnation I do humbly ask of God both Temporal and Eternal happiness And as for Mr. Oates and Mr. Dugdale whom I call God to witness by false Oaths have brought me to this untimely end I heartily forgive them because God commands me so to do and I beg of God for his infinite Mercy to grant them true Sorrow and Repentance in this World that they be capable of Eternal happiness in the next And so having discharged my Duty towards my self and my own Innocence towards my Order and its Doctrine to my Neighbour and the World I have nothing else to do now my great God but to cast my self into the Arms of your Mercy as firmly as I judge that I my self am as certainly as I believe you are One Divine Essence and Three Divine Persons and in the Second Person of your Trinity you became Man to redeem me I also believe you are an Eternal Rewarder of Good and Chastiser of Bad. In fine I believe all you have reveal'd for your own infinite Veracity I hope in you above all things for your infinite Fidelity and I love you above all things for your infinite Beauty and Goodness and I am heartily sorry that ever I offended so great a God with my whole heart I am contented to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of you my dear Jesu seeing you have been pleased to undergo an ignominious Death for the love of me Gawen BEing now good People very near my End and summon'd by a violent Death to appear before God's Tribunal there to render an account of all my thoughts words and actions before a just Judge I am bound in Conscience to declare upon Oath my Innocence from the horrid Crime of Treason with which I am falsely accused And I esteem it a Duty I owe to Christian Charity to publish to the World before my death all that I know in this point concerning those Catholics I have conversed with since the first noise of the Plot desiring from the very bottom of my heart that the whole Truth may appear that Innocence may be clear'd to the great Glory of God and the Peace and Welfare of the King and Country As for myself I call God to witness that I was never in my whole life at any Consult or Meeting of the Jesuits where any Oath of Secrecy was taken or the Sacrament as a Bond of Secrecy either by me or any one of them to conceal any Plot against His Sacred Majesty nor was I ever present at any Meeting or Consult of theirs where any Proposal was made or Resolve taken or signed either by me or any of them for taking away the Life of our Dread Soveraign an Impiety of such a nature that had I been present at any such Meeting I should have been bound by the Laws of God and by the Principles of my Religion and by God's Grace would have acted accordingly to have discovered such a devillish Treason to the Civil Magistrate to the end they might have been brought to condign punishment I was so far good People from being in September last at a Consult of the Jesuits at Tixall in Mr. Ewer's Chamber that I vow to God as I hope for Salvation I never was so much as once that year at Tixall my Lord Aston's House 'T is true I was at the Congregation of the Jesuits held on the 24th of April was twelve-month but in that Meeting as I hope to be saved we meddled not with State-Affairs but only treated about the Governours of the Province which is usually done by us without offence to temporal Princes every third Year all the World over I am good People as free from the Treason I am accused of as the Child that is unborn and being innocent I never accused my self in Confession of any thing that I am charged with Which certainly if I had been conscious to my self of any Guilt in this kind I should not so frankly and freely as I did of my own accord presented my self before the King 's Most Honorable Privy Council As for those Catholics which I have conversed with since the noise of the Plot I protest before God in the words of a dying Man that I never heard any one of them neither Priest nor Layman express to me the least knowledge of any Plot that was then on foot amongst the Catholics against the King's Most Excellent Majesty for the advancing the Catholic Religion I dye a Roman Catholic and humbly beg the Prayers of such for my happy passage into a better Life I have been of that Religion above Thirty Years and now give God Almighty infinite thanks for calling me by his holy Grace to the knowledge of this Truth notwithstanding the prejudice of my former Education God of his infinite Goodness bless the King and all the Royal Family and grant His Majesty a prosperous Reign here and a Crown of Glory hereafter God in his mercy forgive all those which have falsly accused me or have had any hand in my Death I forgive them from the bottom of my heart as I hope my self for forgiveness at the Hands of God O GOD who hath created me to a supernatural end to serve thee in this life by grace and injoy thee in the next by glory be pleased to grant by the merits of thy bitter death and passion that after this wretched life shall be ended I may not fail of a full injoyment of thee my last end and soveraign good I humbly beg pardon for all the sins which I have committed against thy Divine Majesty since the first Instance I came to the use of reason to this very time I am heartily sorry from the very bottom of my heart for having offended thee so good so powerful so wise and so just a God and purpose by the help of thy grace never more to offend thee my good God whom I love
concluding Conference having agreed to the Bill without further amendments and therefore desir'd the concurrence of the Commons Thus at length the Commons agreed to the amendments made by the Lords and sent a message to acquaint the Lords therewith This was done upon the fourteenth day of this month But upon the sixteenth a Message was sent by the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the night before the Earl of Danby had render'd himself to the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and that being call'd to the Bar they had sent him to the Tower Thereupon a Committee was appointed to prepare and draw up further Evidence against him and such further Articles as they should see cause Soon after his Majesty was pleas'd to dissolve his Privy Council and to make another consisting of no more than thirty persons And for the management of the Treasury and Navy five Commissiones were appointed for the Treasury and seven for the Admiralty Then the Commons took into consideration the disbanding of the Army and having voted a supply of 264602 l. 17 s. 3 d. to that intent they then voted that Sr. Gilbert Gerrard Sr. Thomas Player Coll. Birch and Coll. Whitley should be Commissioners to pay the disbanded forces off But now to return to the Earl of Danby upon the 25th of this month a message was sent by the Lords to acquaint the Commons that the said Earl had that same day personally appear'd at the Bar of their House and had put in his plea to the Articles of Impeachment against him The Articles were these as they were deliver'd into the House of Lords in the name of the Commons of England by Sir Henry Capel December 23. 1678. I. That he had traiterously encroacht to himself Regal Power by treating in matters of Peace and War with Foreign Ministers and Embassadors and giving instructions to his Majesties Embassadors abroad without communicating the same to the Secretaries of State and the rest of his Majesties Council against the express Declaration of his Majesty in Parliament thereby intending to defeat and overthrow the provision that has been deliberately made by his Majesty and his Parliament for the safety and preservation of his Majesties Kingdoms and Dominions II. That he had traiterously endeavour'd to subvert the ancient and well-establish'd form of Government of this Kingdom and instead thereof to introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical form of Government and the better to effect this his purpose he did design the raising of an Army upon pretence of a war against the French King and to continue the same as a standing Army within this Kingdom and an Army so rais'd and no war ensuing an Act of Parliament having past to disband the same and a great sum of money being granted for that end he did continue the same contrary to the said Act and mis-imploy'd the said money given for the disbanding to the continuance thereof and issued out of his Majesties Revenues great sums of money for the said purpose and wilfully neglected to take security of the Pay-master of the Army as the said Act required whereby the said Law is eluded and the Army yet continued to the great danger and unnecessary charge of his Majesty and the whole Kingdome III. That he trayterously intending and designing to alienate the hearts and affections of his Majesties good Subjects from his Royal Person and Government and to hinder the meeting of Parliaments and to deprive his Sacred Majesty of their safe and wholsom counsel and thereby to alter the constitution of the Government of this Kingdom did propose and negotiate a peace for the French King upon terms disadvantagious to the Interest of his Majesty and Kingdom For the doing whereof he did procure a great sum of money from the French King for enabling him to maintain and carry on his said traiterous designs and purposes to the hazard of his Majesties Person and Government IV. That he is Popishly affected and hath traiterously concealed after he had notice the late horrid and bloody Plot and Conspiracy contriv'd by the Papists against his Majesties Person and Government and hath suppress'd the Evidence and reproachfully discountenanc'd the Kings Witnesses in the Discovery of it in favour of Popery immediately tending to the destruction of the Kings Sacred Person and the subversion of the Protestant Religion V. That he hath wasted the Kings Treasure by issuing out of his Majesties Exchequer several branches of his Revenue for unnecessary Pensions and secret services to the value of 〈…〉 within two years and that he hath wholly diverted out of the known method and Government of the Exchequer one whole branch of his Majesties Revenue to private Uses without any accompt to be made of it to his Majesty in his Exchequer contrary to an express Act of Parliament which granted the same And he hath removed two of his Majesties Commissioners of that part of the Revenue for refusing to consent to such his unwarrantable actings therein and to advance money upon that branch of the Revenue for private uses VI. That he hath by indirect means procured from his Majesty to himself divers considerable gifts and Grants of Inheritances of the ancient Revenues of the Crown contrary to Acts of Parliament For which matters and things the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Commons in Parliament do in the name of themselves and of all the Commons of England impeach the said Thomas Earl of Danby Lord High Treasurer of England of High Treason and other high Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences in the said Articles contained And the said Commons by Protestation saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other accusation or Impeachment against the said Earl and also of replying to the answers of which the said Thomas Earl of Danby shall make to the Premises or any of them or any Impeachment or Accusation which shall be by them exhibited as the cause according to proceedings of Parliament shall require Do pray that the said Thomas Earl of Danby may be put to answer all and every the Premises that such proceedings Tryals Examinations and Judgements may be upon them and every one of them had and used as shall be agreeable to Law and Justice and that he may be sequester'd from Parliament and forthwith committed to custody To these Articles the Earl of Danby soon after put in his Plea as follows The Plea of the Earl of Danby late Lord high Treasurer of England to the Articles of Impeachment and other High Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences Exhibited against him by the name of Thomas Earl of Danby Lord High Treasurer of England THE said Earl for Plea saith and humbly offers to your Lordships as to all and every the Treasons Crimes Misdemeanors and Offences contained or mention'd in the said Articles That after the said Articles exhibited namely the first of March now last past the Kings most excellent Majesty by his most gracious Letters of Pardon under his
soliciting suborning and endeavouring to perswade Mr. William Bedlow to lessen stifle and omit to give in evidence the full truth according to his knowledge against the Lord Powis Lord Stafford Lord Peter and Sir Henry Tichborn but to give such evidence as he the said Reading should direct as also for giving the said Mr. Bedlow fifty Guineys in hand and promising him greater rewards for the ends and purposes aforesaid The Jury were Sir John Cutler Joshuah Galliard Edward Wilford Thomas Henslow Thomas Earsby John Searle Esquires Thomas Casse Rainsford Waterhouse Matthew Bateman Walter Moyle Richard Paget and John Haynes Esquires Mr. Reading at first challeng'd Sir John Cutler as being in the Commission of Peace and labour'd very much to have his challenge made good But his Challenge was over-rul'd by the Court first in regard that Sir John was not in the particular Commission then sitting and secondly for that he could not challenge him peremptorily the Indictment not endangering his life as it might have been laid but only for a Misdemeanour Thereupon the Court proceeded and First in point of Evidence Mr. Bedlow swore that he began with him as a friendly adviser admonishing him to be cautious and not to run at the whole Herd of Men. That he would make the Parliament his friends by proving the Plot the King his friend in not charging all the Lords and the Lords his friends by being kind to them That the persons he most sollicited for were the Lords Powis Petre and Stafford Sir Henry Tichborn Mr. Roper Mr. Caryl and Corker a Jesuite That he should have Money and an Estate by the negotiation of the Prisoner at the Bar to shorten the Evidence and bring them off from the charge of High Treason That he and Mr. Reading had several Consultations about this matter That the Prisoner in assurance of his reward told him he had order to draw blank deeds to be sign'd in ten days after the discharge of those for whom the sollicitation was made That Reading Mr. Bedlow had a private Consultation at what time Mr. Bedlow was to pen his Testimony as Mr. Reading should direct him for the mitigation of the Evidence That when that Paper was finish'd the Prisoner carry'd it to the Lords to consider of it and that after they had consider'd of it and mended it as they pleas'd Reading return'd with the emendations written with his own hand and deliver'd them to Mr. Bedlow in the Painted Chamber who held them so behind him that Mr. Speake as it was agreed walking after him came and took them out of his hand And that two Witnesses more being privately conceal'd by Mr. Bedlow in his own chamber overheard the main of the Consultation and overture of Mr. Reading After this the Paper was produc'd which contain'd the short and tender Evidence that Mr. Bedlow was to give according to the Correction of the Lords and read in open Court all under Readings own hand Which done Mr. Speake was sworn and depos'd that being privately conceal'd in Mr. Bedlow's Chamber he over-heard Mr. Bedlow's and Mr. Reading's Negotiation together That Mr. Bedlow ask'd Mr. Reading what the Lords said to the business and what my Lord Stafford said to the Estate in Glocestershire To which Mr. Reading made answer that the Lord Stafford had faithfully promis'd him to settle that Estate upon Mr. Bedlow and that he had Orders from that Lord to draw up a blank Deed in order to the settlement which the said Lord had engag'd to sign and seal within ten days after he should be discharg'd by Mr. Bedlow's contracting of his Evidence That Mr. Reading added That the Lords Powis and Peter and Sir Henry Tichborn had faithfully engag'd and promis'd to give Mr. Bedlow a very fair and noble reward which should be suitable to the service he should do them in bringing them off from the Charge of High Treason To which when Mr. Bedlow reply'd that he would not rely upon their promises only but expected to have something under their hands Mr. Reading reply'd That they did not think it convenient so to do as yet but that Mr. Bedlow might take his word as he had done theirs adding withal for a further confirmation That he would engage his life for the performance With much other discourse all tending to the same effect The third Evidence which was Mr. Bedlows man and was conceal'd in the Chamber to the same intent as the former witness was gave the same Evidence upon oath as to what had been discours'd of in the Chamber between his Master and the Prisoner without any thing of material alteration of the words themselves which therefore need no repetition The defence of the Prisoner was very weak more especially considering that he was a man of the Gown No more indeed than what after a tedious multiplying of words amounted to the Confession of the whole Charge For he could not deny but that he did carry the Kings Evidence to the Lords in the Tower but that it was purely out of Conscience to prevent the shedding of innocent blood The other part of his Evidence consisted in bespattering the witnesses for which he was so often corrected by the Court that it betrayed in him more of presumption than Law Therefore the Jury so little believ'd him that after a very short absence from the Bar they brought him in Guilty upon which the Court proceeded to Sentence which was That he should be fin'd a thousand pound That he should be imprison'd for the space of one whole year and be set in the Pillory for the space of one hour in the Palace-yard at Westminster Thereupon in order to the Judgement of the Court he was set in the Pillory on the Munday after his Tryal And as the Court were so kind as not to endite him for his life so they were careful to give the Sheriff a particular Charge of his Person lest the rage of the People understanding his Crime should have depriv'd him of what the mercy of the Law had granted him with so much favour May 1679. If Doctor Oates may be believ'd whom we have not found yet to fail he tells us that the Jesuites had sent several Emissaries of their own to foment the discontents and rebellious fermentations of the people of Scotland The mischief was laid upon the Presbyterians whether it were so or no God knows but the effect and consequence was dire nothing but Papistical murther which it is to be fear'd will come to be the Character of that Religion In England no less a sacrifice would serve them than a King though Heaven detested their oblation In Scotland there was no King and therefore they resolv'd to cut off the Primate of the Church A strange doctrine to preach that there could be no greater gift made to Jesus Christ than to send the Arch-bishop of St. Andrews head in a Silver Box to the King And yet this doctrine prevail'd with one James Mitchel to