the effects of it to this very hour But nothing being done in it and seeing on the other hand that my Lord Arlington and several others endeavoured by a thousand deceits to break the good Intelligence which is between the King my Brother his most Christian Majesty and my self to the end they might deceive us all three I have thought fit to advertise you of all that is past and desire of you your assistance and friendship to prevent the Rogueries of those who have no other design then to betray the concerns of France and England and who by their pretended Service are the occasion they succeed not As to any thing more I refer you to Sir William Throgmorton and Coleman whom I have commanded to give an Account of the whole State of our affair and of the true condition of England with many others and principally my Lord Arlington's endeavours to represent to you quite otherwise then it is The two first I mentioned to you are firm to my interest so that you may Treat with them without any apprehension Coleman's Third Letter SIR I Sent your Reverence a tedious long Letter on our 29 th of September Coleman's Tryal p. 68. to inform you of the Progress of affairs for these two or three last years I having now again the opportunity of a very sure hand to conveigh this by I have sent you a Cipher because our Parliament now drawing on I may possibly have occasion to send you something which you may be willing enough to know and may be necessary for us that you should when we may want the conveniency of a Messenger When any thing occurs of more concern other than which may not be fit to be trusted even to a Cipher alone I will to make such a thing more secure write in Limon between the lines of a Letter which shall have nothing in it visible but what I care not who sees but dryed by a warm Fire shall discover what is written so that if the Letter comes to your hands and upon drying it any thing appears more then did before you may be sure no Body has seen it by the way I will not trouble you with that way of writing but upon special occasions and then I will give you a hint to direct you to look for it by concluding my visible Letter with something of Fire or Burning by which mark you may please to know that there is something underneath and how my Letter is to be used to find it out We have hear a mighty Work upon our Hands no less then the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a Pestileat Heresie which has domineered over great part of this Nothern World a long time there were never such hopes of success since the Death of our Queen Mary as now in our days when God has given us a Prince who is become may I say a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work but the opposition we are sure to meet with is also alike to be great So that it imports us to get all the Aid and Assistance we can for the Harvest is great and the Labourers but few that which we rely upon most next to God Almighty's providence and the favour of my Master the Duke is the mighty mind of his most Christian Majesty whose generous Soul inclines him to great undertakings which being managed by your Reverence's exemplary Piety and Prudence will certainly make him look upon this as most suitable to himself and best becoming his Power and thoughts so that I hope you will pardon me if I be very troublesome to you upon this occasion from whom I expect the greatest help we can hope for I must confess I think his Christian Majesties Temporal Interest is so much attracted to that of his R. H. which can never be considerable but upon the growth and advancement of the Catholic Religion that his Ministers cannot give him better advice even in a Politic Sence abstracting from the considerations of the next World that of our Blessed Lord to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof that all other things may be added unto him That I know his most Christian Majesty has more powerful motives suggested to him by his own devotion and your Reverences zeal for Gods Glory to engage him to afford us the best help he can in our present circumstances but we are a little unhappy in this that we cannot press his Majesty by his present Minister here upon these latter Arguments which are most strong but only upon the first Mr. Rouvigny's sence and ours differing very much upon them though we agree perfectly upon the rest And indeed though he be a very able Man as to his Masters Service in things where Religion is not concerned yet I believe it were much more happy considering the posture he is now in and his temper were of such a sort that we might deal clearly with him throughout and not be forced to stop short in a discourse of Consequence and leave the most material part out because we know it will shock his particular Opinion and so perhaps meet with dislike and Opposition though never so necessary to the main concern I am afraid we shall find too much reason for this Complaint in this next Session of Parliament for had we had one here from his most Christian Majesty who had taken the whole business to Heart and who would have represented the State of our Case truly as it is to his Master I do not doubt but his most Christian Majesty would have engaged himself further in the affair then at present I fear he has done and by his approbation have given such Councels as have been offered to his R. H. by those few Catholics who have access to him and who are bent to serve him and advance the Catholic Religion with all their might and might have more Credit with his R. H. then I fear they have found and have assisted them also with his Purse as far as 10000. Crowns or some such Sum which to him is very inconsiderable but would have been to them of greater use than can be imagined towards gaining others to help them or at least not to oppose them If we had been so happy as to have had his most Christian Majesty with us to this Degree I would have answered with my Life for such success this Sessions as would have put the Interest of the Catholic Religion his R. H. and his most Christian Majesty out of all Danger for the time to come But wanting those helps of recommending those necessary Councels which have been given his Royal Highness in such manner as to make him think them worth his accepting and fit to Govern himself by and of those advantages which a little Mony well managed would have gained us I am afraid we shall not be much better at the end of this
An Historical ACCOUNT Of Making the PENAL LAWS By the PAPISTS against the PROTESTANTS And by the PROTESTANTS against the PAPISTS WHEREIN The true Ground and Reason of Making the Laws is given the PAPISTS most Barbarous Usuage of the PROTESTANTS here in England under a Colour of Law set forth and the Reformation Vindicated from the Imputation of being Cruel and Bloody unjustly cast upon it by those of the Romish Communion By Samuel Blackerby Barrister of Grays-Inn Summa est ratio quae pro Religione facit Co. 5.14 b. LONDON Printed for William Churchill at the Black-Lyon in St. Paul's Church-Yard and John Weld at the Crown between the Temple-Gates in Fleet-Street MDCLXXXIX Licensed By Command of the Right Honorable the Earl of Shrewsbury Principal Secretary of State. The 10 th of May 1689. JA. VERNON To the Right Honorable CHARLES EARL of MONMOUTH VISCOUNT MORDANT OF AVILAND BARON of RIGATE ONE of their MAJESTIES most Honorable PRIVY-COUNCIL And the FIRST of the LORDS COMMISSIONERS Of their MAJESTIES TREASURY c. This Historical Account of making these Penal Laws is most humbly Dedicated by the Author His Lordships Most Humble and most Obedient Servant AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT Of making the Penal Laws By the Papists against the Protestants and by the Protestants against the Papists CHAP. I. Rich. II. BY the 1 Mirror of Justices f. 152. Common Law of England the punishment of Heresie was burning the Heretick by vertue of the Writ de Haeretico comburendo 2 Fitz. Natur. Brev. f. 269. which was first to issue What was accounted Heresie before the time of Ed. the 3 d I shall not enquire That the Church of Rome hath always termed those Hereticks who have opposed her Innovasions and Corruptions can't be denyed and is sufficient to my purpose The first of these that apppeared in England was John Wickliffe in the latter end of the Reign of King Ed. the 3 d in the year 1371. And therefore there was no occasion for putting the Law in Execution till his time but upon his appearance he Preaching and Teaching several Doctrines that tended to a Reformation the Romish Clergy fond of their Diana presently endeavours to silence him which they had done had not the favour of some great men at that time stopt their proceedings against him so that notwithstanding their Rage and Malice against him he at last dyed in his Bed But such an Implacable Hatred they bore to his Memory because he had begun to dispel those Clouds of Darkness and Ignorance with which this Church of England was then overspread that they 3 Ex actis Consilii Constan Procured a Decree of the Synod of Constance for the taking up his Body and Bones to be burnt one and forty years after he was buried for being an obstinate Heretick In obedience to which Decree the Popish Clergy in the time of King Richard the 2 d took up his Bones out of his Grave and burnt them and cast the Ashes into a River Such Enemies were they then to Christ's Religion that they would not suffer the Ashes of this great Luminary to rest lest as they were superstitious enough to think they should again revive to make a further discovery of their Works of Darkness In this 4 Trussel's Continuation of Daniel's History of England fol. 49. King's Reign execution by Fire was first put in practice within this Realm for opposing the Superstition and Idolatry of the Church of Rome Before this time there being no Statute to punish the Oppugners of the Romish Innovasions and Corruptions in matters of Doctrine and Worship The Clergy of the Romish Church made use of the weakness of R. 2. and prevailed with him to consent to the owning a supposititious Law of their own contriving and drawing up without the consent of the Commons Co. Inst 3. p. fol. 40 41. That Commissions should be by the Lord Chancellor made and directed to Sheriffs and others to arrest such as should be certified into the Chancery by the Bishops and Prelates to be Preachers of Heresie and notorious Errors their Fautors Maintainers and Abettors and to hold them in strong Prison until they would justifie themselves to the Law of Holy Church Which Act of Parliament was the first that was made against them that preached against the Church of Rome under the Notion of their being Hereticks who were then called Wicklivites The Act it self I have here inserted as it is Printed in Rastal's Statutes 5 R. 2. Ca. 5. Rast Stat. f. 140. The Wicklivites to be imprisoned Forasmuch as it is openly known that there be divers evil persons within the Realm going from County to County and from Town to Town in certain habits under dissimulation of great Holyness and without the Lycens e of the Ordinacies of the places or other sufficient Authority Preaching daily not only in Churches and Church-yards but also in Markets Fairs and other open places where a great Congregation of people is divers Sermons containing Heresies and notorious Errors to the great embleamishing of the Christian Faith and destruction of the Laws and of the estate of Holy Church to the great peril of the souls of the people and of all the Realm of England as more plainly is found and sufficiently proved before the Reverend Father in God the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Bishops and other Prelates Masters of Divinity and Doctors of canon and of civil Law and a great part of the Clergy of the said Realm especially assembled for this cause which persons do also preach divers matters of slander to engender discord and dissention betwixt divers Estates of the said Realm as well Spiritual as Temporal in exciting of the people to the great peril of all the Realm which Preachers cited or summoned before the Ordinaries of the places there to answer of that whereof they be Impeached will not obey to their Summons and Commandments nor care not for their Monitions nor Censures of the Holy Church but expresly despise them and moreover by their subtil and ingenious words do draw the people to hear their Sermons and do maintain them in their Errors by strong hand and by great Routs It is ordained and assented in this present Parliament that the King's Commissions be made and directed to the Sheriffs and other Ministers of our Soveraign Lord the King or other sufficient persons Learned and according to the Certifications of the Prelates thereof to be made in the Chancery from time to time to arrest all such Preachers and also their Fautors Maintainers and Abettors and to hold them in Arrest and strong Prison till they will justifie them according to the Law and Reason of Holy Church and the King will and commandeth That the Chancellor make such Commissions at all times that he by the Prelates or any of them shall be certified and thereof required as is aforesaid By this Act it appears that there were then several persons who would not
streight Camb. Annal. f. 363 364 365. between her Natural inclinations to mercy backt with the consideration of the near Relation the Queen of Scots stood in to her and the danger her Person and the Protestant Religion were in sufficiently evidenced by an Oath which she her self said she had seen wherein some had bound themselves to kill her within a Month. By which she said she saw her Subjects danger in her Person which she would be careful to prevent she told them she had not forgot the Association they had entred into for her safety which was a thing she never somuch as thought of till a great number of Hands and Seals to it were shewn her that it had laid a perpetual tie and obligation upon her to bear them a singular good Will and Love That she had no greater comfort then in the Common-Wealths respect and affection towards her and promised them that whatsoever the best of Subjects might expect at the hands of the best Princes they might expect from her to be performed to the full After this she sent to the Lords by the Chancellor and to the Commons by their Speaker Puckering to enter anew into the consideration of this Matter A message from Qu. Eliz. to the Parliament Camb. Annal. l. 3. f. 365. and to find out a more pleasing expedient whereby both the Queen of Scots Life might be spared and her own security provided for They Concur again in their former Opinion for these Reasons The Parliament Concur in their former Opinion their Reasons for it the Queens safety they said could no ways be secured so long as the Queen of Scots lived unless she should either seriously repent and acknowledge her offence or were kept with a closer or stricter Guard and sufficient security given by Bond or Oath for her good Demeanour or delivered Hostages or else departed the Realm They proved by invincible Reasons that neither by expectation of Reformation in the disposition of the Queen of Scots if the Queens Majesty should spare her Life Nor yet by safer or stronger Garding of her Person nor by her promise upon word or Oath D' Ewes Journal f. 405. nor by the Hostages of other Princes or Allies nor by her Banishment nor by the revocation of the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus nor yet by the Bond or Word of a Prince or of any or all the Princes her Allies nor by any other way or means whatsoever other then by the speedy Execution to Death of the said Scottish Queen the safety or continuance of the true Religion of the most Royal Person of the Queens Majesty and all the peaceable State of this Realm could in any ways be provided for and Established As for her repentance they were out of all hopes of it considering that she had so ill requited the Queen who had saved her Life yet would not acknowledge her fault as for a surer Guard stricter Custody Bonds Oaths and Hostages they esteemed them all as nothing worth because if the Queens Life were once taken away all these would presently vanish and if she should depart the Realm they feared least she should presently take up Arms and Invade the same therefore they pressed hard that the Sentence might be put in Execution because as it were injustice to deny Execution of the Law to any one of her Subjects that should demand it so much more to the whole Body of her People of England unanimously and with one Voice humbly and Instantly suing for the same The Answer to this Speech will I hope give the Reader great satisfaction as to Queen Elizabeth's proceedure in this weighty concern and therefore I have here inserted it verbatim as I find it in Cambden which is as followeth The Queens Speech in Answer to the Parliaments Reasons Camb. Annal. f. 366. Very unpleasing is that way where the setting out Progress and Journeys end yield nothing but trouble and vexation I have this day been in greater conflict with my self then ever I was in all my Life whether I should speak or hold my peace If I should speak and not complain I shall dissemble if I should be silent all your Labour and Pains taken were in vain and if I should complain it might seem a strange and unusual thing Yet I confess that my hearty desire was that some other means might have been devised to provide for your security and my own safety then this which is now propounded So that I cannot but complain tho not of you yet to you since I perceive by your Petition that my safety dependeth wholly upon the ruin of another If there be any that think I have spun out the time on purpose to get commendation by a seeming shew of Clemency they do me wrong undeservedly as he knoweth who is the searcher of the most secret thoughts of the Heart or if there be any that are perswaded the Commissioners durst pronounce no other Sentence for fear they should displease me or seem to fail of their Care for my preservation they do but wrong me with such injurious conceits for either those whom I have put in Trust have failed of their Duties or else they acquainted the Commissioners in my Name that my will and pleasure was that every one should act freely according to his Conscience and what they thought not fit to be made publick that they should communicate to me in private It was of my favourable inclination towards her that I desired some other way might be found out to prevent this mischief But since it is now resolved that my security is desperate without her death I find a great reluctancy and trouble within me that I who have in my time pardoned so many Rebels wincked at so many Treasons or neglected them by silence should now seem to shew my self cruel towards so great a Princess I have since I came to the Government of this Realm seen many defamatory Libels and Pamphlets against me Queen Elizabeth foresaw she should be reflected upon for this Action but by the Papists only She could not suspect the Protestants would judge hereby of her or censure her taxing me to be a Tyrant wellfaret he Writers hearts I believe their meaning was to tell me News and News indeed it was to me to be branded with the note of Tyranny I would it were as great news to hear of their wickedness and impieties But what is it which they will not venture to write now when they shall hear that I have given my consent that the Executioners hands should be embrewed in the Blood of my nearest Kinswoman But so far am I from cruelty that though it were to save my own Life I would not offer her the least violence Neither have I been so careful how to prolong mine own Life as how to preserve both hers and mine which that it is now impossible to do I am heartily troubled I am not so void of sence and
the Honour of God so much as in you lyeth I Grant and promise so to do Then one of the Bishops read this passage to the King. Our Lord and King we beseech you to Pardon and to Grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to your Charge all Canonical Privildges and do Law and Justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King to his Kingdom ought to be a Protector and Defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government The King Answereth With a willing and devout Heart I Promise and Grant my Pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your Charge all Canonical Priviledges and due Law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and Defender to my Power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government Then the King arose and was led to the Communion Table where he takes a solemn Oath in sight of all the People to observe all the Promises and laying his hand upon the Bible said The things which I have here Promised I shall perform and keep So help me God and the Contents of this Book The sixth Day of February the Parliament met The Parliament meets Papists are prohibited from going to Mass at Ambassadors Houses the Judges are ordered to put the Laws in Execution againsts Papists which notwithstanding the Committee of Grievances reported to the Commons House That one general evil was the encrease and countenancing of Papists The Marshal of Middlesex meeting with resistance in seizing of Romish Priests Goods and complaining of the matter the then Arch-Bishop writ to Mr. Attorney General on behalf of the Priests which Letter was as followeth Good Mr. Attorney I thank you for acquainting me what was done Yesterday at the Clinck But I am of opinion The Arch-Bishops Letter on behalf of the Priests Rushw Coll. 1. part f. 243. that if you had curiously enquired upon the Gentleman who gave the Information you should have found him to be a Disciple of the Jesuites for they do nothing but put Tricks on these poor Men who do live more miserable Lives then if they were in the Inquisition in many parts beyond the Seas By taking the Oath of Allegiance and writing in defence of it and opening some points of high consequence they have so displeased the Pope that if by any cunning they could catch them they are sure to be burnt or strangled for it and once there was a Plot to have taken Preston By this Letter it appears how unwilling the Government was to be in any sort cruel even the Priests and yet how ungrateful are the Papists to this Day as he passed the Thames and to have shipped him into a bigger Vessel and so to have transported him into Flanders there to have made a Martyr of him in respect of these things King James always gave his Protection to Preston and Warrington as may be easily shewed Cannon is an old Man well affected to the cause but medleth not with any Factions or Seditions as far as I can learn they complain their Books were taken from them and a Crucifix of Gold with some other things which I hope are not carried out of the House but may be restored again unto them for it is in vain to think that Priests will be without their Beads or Pictures Models of their Saints and it is not improbable that before a Crucifix they do often say their Prayers I leave the things to your best Consideration and hope that this deed of yours together with my word will restrain them for giving offence hereafter if so be that lately they did give any I heartily commend me unto you and so rest Your very Loving Friend G. Canterbury The Parliament Petition the King against Papists Rushw Coll. 1. part f. 391. In this Parliament the Commons Petitioned the King to remove the Papists or justly suspected out of Places of Government Authority and Trust and named them of the Nobility and Gentry to the number of sixty one who were got into such Offices and prayed they might be displaced The Petition and Names take as followeth To the Kings most Excellent Majesty The Parliaments Petition against Papists with the names of the Persons who were crept into Offices notwithstanding the severity of the Laws against them YOur Majesties most Obedient and Loyal Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do with great Comfort remember the many Testimonies which your Majesty hath given of your sincerity and Zeal of the true Religion established in this Kingdom and in your particular gracious Answer to both Houses of Parliament at Oxford upon their Petition concerning the Causes and Remedies of the increase of Popery that your Majesty thought fit and would give Order to remove from all places of Authority and Government all such Persons as are either Popish Recusants or according to direction of former Acts of State justly to be suspected which was then presented as a great and principal Cause of that Mischief But not having received so full Redress herein as may conduce to the peace of this Church and Safety of this regal State they hold it their Duty once more to resort to your Sacred Majesty humbly to inform you that upon Examination they find the Persons under written to be either Recusants Papists or justly suspected according to the former Acts of State who now do or since the sitting of the Parliament did remain in places of Government and Authority and trust in your several Counties of this your Realm of England and Dominion of Wales The Right honourable Francis Earl of Rutland Lieutenant of the County of Lincoln Rutland Northamton Nottingham and a Commissioner of the Peace and of Oyer and Terminer in the County of York and Justice of Oyer from Trent Northwards His Lordship is presented to be a Popish Recusant and to have affronted all the Commissioners of the Peace within the North Riding of Yorkshire by sending a License under his Hand and Seal unto his Tenant Thomas Fisher dwelling in his Lordships Mannor of Hemsley in the said North Riding of the said County of York to keep an Alehouse soon after he was by an Order made at the Quarter Sessions discharged from keeping an Alehouse because he was a Popish Convict Recusant and to have procured a Popish Schoolmaster namely Roger Conyers to teach Schollars within the said Mannor of Hemsley that formerly had his License to teach Scholars taken from him for teaching Scholars that were the Children of popish Recusants and because he suffered these Children to be absent themselves from the Church whilst they were his Schollars For which the said Conyers was formerly complained of in Parliament The Right Honourable Vicount Dunbar Deputy Justice in Oyer to the Earl of Rutland from Trent Northward and
declare her to be deprived of her pretended Title to the Kingdom aforesaid and of all Dominion Dignity and Priviledge whatsoever and also the Nobility Subjects and People of the said Kingdom and all others who have in any sort sworn unto her to be for ever absolved from any such Oath and all manner of Duty of Dominion Allegiance and Obedience and we also do by Authority of these Presents absolve them and do deprive the said Elizabeth of her pretended Title to the Kingdom and all other things before named And we do command and charge all and every the Noblemen Subjects People and others aforesaid that they presume not to obey her or her Orders Mandates and Laws And those which shall do the contrary we do include them in the like Sentence of Anathema And because it would be a difficult matter to convey these Presents to all places wheresoever it shall be needful Our Will is that the Copies thereof under a Publick Notaries hand and Sealed with the Seal of an Ecclesiastical Prelate or of his Court shall carry altogether the same credit with all men judicially and extrajudicially as these Presents should do if they were exhibited or shewed Given at Rome at St. Peters in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 1569 the fifth of the Calends of March and of our Popedome the fifth year Cae. Glorierius One Felton hung up this Bill upon the Bishop of London's Palace Gates Cambd. Annals f. 148. Fowlis Hist lib 2. ca. 3. f. 327. Collections f. 24 Felton hanged as a Traytor for publishing the Bull. and scorning to seek an escape boldly vindicates the Pope and himself in what was done defying the Queen and her Authority for which he was Arraigned Condemned and Hanged near the same place in St. Paul's Church-yard Now for any thus to contemn and villifie his Soveraign nul her Authority renounce his Allegiance and so far to submit himself to a Foreign Jurisdiction even in Temporalities as to declare his own Soveraign deprived and deposed from her Kingdom what punishment this man incurr'd let the Reader Judge provided he will also consider That had a Protestant thus renounc'd his Obedience in Queen Mary's daies the party must have dyed for it and those who commend Felton would have called the other Traytors and yet Felton did it to procure a National Rebellion Besides this in the beginning of the 13 th year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth The 4 th Rebellion was in Ireland begun in the beginning of 13 Eliz. by Conogher O Brien Earl of Twomond Cambd. Annals f. 153. in Ireland Conogher O Brien Earl of Twomond closely contrived a Rebellion which just as it was ready to break forth was by meer chance blown over and Thomas Steukley an Englishman a Ruffian a notorious Spendthrift and a notable vaporer who having consumed his Estate fled over into Ireland after he had first vomited forth most undeserved disgraces against his Princess to whom he was extraordinarily bounden soon after slipt out of Ireland into Italy to Pius V. Bishop of Rome where incredible it is into how great grace and favour he wrought himself by his Flatteries with that old man who breathed after the destruction of Queen Elizabeth This Steukley saith the Lord Treasurer Burleigh was a defamed person almost thro' all Christendom and a faithless Beast rather than a Man Collections f. 2 3 fleeing first out of England for notable Piracies and out of Ireland for Treacheries not pardonable and that he and the said Charles Nevil Earl of Westmerland were the Ring-Leaders of the rest of the Rebels the one for England the other for Ireland But notwithstanding the notorious evil and wicked Lives of these and others their confederates void of all Christian Religion it liked the Bishop of Rome as in favour of their Treasons to animate them to take Arms against their lawful Queen to invade her Realm with Foreign Forces to pursue all her good Subjects and their Native Country with Fire and Sword for maintenance whereof the Bull aforesaid had proceeded And the Pope the Guises the King of Spain Contrivances by the Pope the King of Spain the Guises and the Queen of Scots against Queen Elizabeth and the Protestant Religion Fowlis p. 330 331. Cambd. Annals lib. 2. f. 154. and the rest of the confederates against the Queen and the Protestant Religion the better to carry on their designs did soon after Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown set up a Title thereto in the Queen of Scots as aforesaid which was one principal cause that there were so many Plots and Conspiracies during her Reign tho' none gave her any great trouble till about the 10 th or 11 th year of her Reign It appears by Letters from the Pope to the Queen of Scots written in the year 1571. 13 Eliz. that there was a design on Foot to introduce Popery and to subvert the Protestant Religion here in England which Letter was delivered by Ridolpho the Florentine before mentioned his means to the Queen of Scots And Ridolpho by his own particular Letters to the Queen of Scots desired her to acquaint the Duke of Norfolk and her Friends with the Design but there being at that time a Treaty begun in order to her being restored to her Kingdom of Scotland whereof she was at that time dispossest she defer'd answering the Letter but the Treaty afterwards coming to nothing she privately sent a large commentary or draught of her Counsels and Affairs to the Duke of Norfolk before mentioned written in Cyphers known only to them two as also other Letters to be conveyed by Ridolpho to the Pope and the Spaniard Camd. Hist lib. 2. fol. 157. Baker's Chron. f. 344. Ridolpho greatly pressed the Duke to enter into the Confederacy and as an encouragement affirmed That the Pope so that the Catholick i. e. the Popish Religion might be promoted would bear the charge of the whole War and that he had to that purpose laid down 1 Some Writers say 150000. Crowns an hundred thousand Crowns the last year when the Bull was Published whereof twelve thousand he the said Ridolpho had distributed amongst the English Fugitives He promised that the Spaniard would supply him with 4000 Horse and 6000 Foot which might be sent over to Harwich near whereunto the Duke had many Potent Adherents and that most commodiously and without suspicion in the beginning of Summer when the Duke of Medina Caeli was to come with a strong Fleet into the Netherlands And concluded that such Caution might be used that the Duke might be cleared from all Suspition of affecting the Crown and the Queen of England safely might be provided for so as she would Embrace or tollerate the Romish Religion and give her assent to the Queen of Scots Marriage with the Duke Which Conspiracy the Duke at that time refused to enter into Cambd. Annals p. 158. Baker Chron. fol. 844. Camb. Annals li. 2. fol. 162.
from the good understanding of their Duty towards God the Queen had by their Lewd and subtle Practices and Perswasions so far wrought that sundry persons had been reconciled to the said usurpt Authority of the See of Rome and did take Absolution at the hands of the said naughty and subtle Practicers whereby there was grown great disobedience and boldness in many not only to withdraw and absent themselves from all Divine Service but also did think themselves discharged from all Obedience Duty and Allegiance to her Majesty that thereupon most wicked and unnatural Rebellion had ensued and to the further danger of this Realm was likely to be renewed if the ungodly attempts in that behalf were not by severity of Laws restrained and bridled This Law therefore provides that they who by Bulls or other Instruments of the Bishop of Rome should reconcile any person to the Church of Rome and those also who should be so reconciled should incur the Penalty of High Treason That those who should relieve such as did so reconcile Men or should bring into England any Agnus Dei's or any Crosses Pictures Beads or such like vain and superstitious Things Consecrated by the Bishop of Rome should undergo the Penalty of a Premunire That they who should not discover such as did so reconcile should be guilty of Misprision of Treason From the precedent History of Fact and the Preamble of these two Acts of Parliament and the Acts themselves I observe three things 1 st That the Kingdom of England is in it self a Free State exempt from all Foreign Jurisdiction whatever by the Common Law of this Kingdom 2 dly That there had been deep Designs on foot before the making of these Acts of Parliament for the inslaving this Kingdom to the Bishop and See of Rome subverting the Protestant Religion and introducing Popery and in order thereunto there were several Plots laid to destroy the person of the Queen 3 dly That these were all laid and carried on by the Pope and some Papists that were the Queens own Subjects and others their adherents and therefore certainly it must be granted that it was very necessary at that time to make these Laws against the Papists And that it was but reasonable to make them The Secular Priests own the Reasonableness of making these Laws Collection of several Treatises concerning the reasons and occasions of the Penal-Laws The 1st printed in 1583. the second in 1601. the third in 1662. and all reprinted in 1688. fol. 36. even the Secular Priests themselves have owned in their important Considerations They confess that Pius V. did practise her Majesties subversion that Ridolpho was sent hither by the Pope under Colour of Merchandize to sollicit a Rebellion That Pius V. moved the King of Spain to Joyn in this exploit That the Bull was devised purposely to further the intended Rebellion for depriving her Majesty from her Kingdom That the Pope and King of Spain assigned the Duke of Norfolk to be head of this Rebellion That the Pope gave order to Ridolpho to take 150000 Crowns to set forwards this Attempt That some of this money was sent to Scotland and some delivered to the Duke That King Philip at the Pope's Instance determined to send the Duke of Alva into England with all his forces out of the Low-Countries to assist the Duke of Norfolk which they confess in this manner That these things their Adversaries the Protestants Charged on them as true and that they were in hand whilst her Majesty dealt so mercifully with them and therefore ask'd them how they could excuse these designs so Unchristian so unpriestly so Treacherous and so unprince-like To which they answer that when they first heard the aforementioned particulars they did not believe them but would have laid their Lives they had been false but when they saw them printed in the Life of Pius V they appeal to God they were amazed Collection f. 37 and say they can say no more but that his Holiness was misinformed and indirectly drawn to these courses They confess that there being several persons in Prison when the Rebellion in the North before mentioned brake forth that it was known that the Pope had Excommunicated the Queen that there followed a great restraint of the Prisoners but none of them were put to death upon that occasion the Sword being then only drawn against such Catholicks as had risen up actually into open Rebellion wherein say they we cannot see what her Majesty did that any Prince in Christendom in such a case would not have done and confess these things to have been the occasion of making 13 Eliz. ca. 2. against bringing in Buls c. thus they express themselves Collection f. 38. we cannot but confess as reasonable men that the State had great Reasons to make some Laws against us except they should have shown themselves careless for the continuance of it but be the Law as any would have it never so extream yet surely it must be granted that the occasions of it were most outragious and likewise that the Execution of it was not so Tragical as many have since written and reported of it for whatsoever was done against us either upon the pretence of that Law or of any other would never we think have been attempted had not divers other preposterous occasions besides the Causes of that Law daily fallen out amongst us which procured matters to be urged more severely against us And afterwards they accuse Saunders the Jesuit for writing a Book in 1572 de visibili Monarchia and therein justifying the Excommunicating the Queen and the said Rebellion in the North and do themselves own that the persons that suffered upon that account were Arraigned Condemned and Executed by the Antient Laws of the Country for High Treason As to the Acts themselves It is not to be denyed but they are very severe yet not severe enough to deter the Papists from carrying on their designs against the Queen and the Protestant Religion as I shall by and by make appear but before I do that let us a little enquire Story 's Plot. Cambd. Hist li 2. fol 168. Dyer 13 Eliz. fol. 298. Baker 's Chron. fol. 343. The Duke of Norfolk executed what proceedings there were upon these Laws after they were thus made In the year 1571 't is true one John Story Doctor in Laws one of the Duke of Alva's Servants an Englishman and a Papist was Executed but it was for High Treason not Religion for having conspired the Queen's Death cursed her daily in his Grace at Meals and shewing the Duke of Alva's Secretary the way to Invade England to put Ireland into Rebellion and to excite the Scots to break into England all at once The Duke of Norfolk was also Tryed Convicted and Executed and after his Condemnation and before his Execution one Barney and Mather were Executed for conspiring with one Herle to make away some of the Council and
out the Religion of the Gospel in all Places and to begin here as their greatest Impediment is Cause sufficient to make us the more vigilant and to have a wary Eye to their Doings and Proceedings how smoothly soever they speak or dissemble their Friendships for the time for let us think surely that they have joyned Hands together against us and if they can they will procure the Sparks of the Flames that have been so terrible in other Countries to fly over into England and to kindle as great a Fire here And as the Pope by open Hostility as you see hath shewed himself against her Majesty so the better to answer in time the Purposes that he hath set down in the mean Season till they may come to Ripeness he hath and doth by secret Practices within the Realm leaving nothing unprovided emboldning many undutiful Subjects to stand fast in their Disobedience to her Majesty and her Laws For albeit the pure Religion of the Gospel hath had a free Course and hath been freely preached now many Years within this Realm by the Protection of Her Majesties most Christian Government yet such have been the Practices of the Pope and his secret Ministers as the obstinate and stiff-necked Papist is so far from being reformed as he hath gotten Stomach to go backward and to shew his Disobedience not only in arrogant Words but also in contemptuous Deeds To confirm them herein and to increase their Number you see how the Pope hath and doth comfort their hollow Hearts with Absolutions Dispensations Reconciliations and such other things of Rome You see how lately he hath sent hither a sort of Hypocrites naming themselves Jesuits a Rabble of Vagrant Fryars newly sprung up and running through the World to trouble the Church of God whose principal Errand is by creeping into the Houses of Men of Behaviour and Reputation not only to corrupt the Realm with false Doctrine but also under that Pretence to stir up Sedition to the Peril of Her Majesty and her good Subjects How these Practises of the Pope have wrought in the disobedient Subjects of this Land is both evident and lamentable to consider for such Impressions hath the Estimation of the Popes Authority made in them as not only those which from the Beginning have refused to obey but many yea very many of these who divers years together did yield and conform themselves in their open Accounts since the Decrees of that unholy Council of Trent and since the publishing and denouncing of that Blasphemous Bull against Her Majesty and since those secret Absolutions and Reconciliations and the swarming hither of a number of Popish Priests and Monkish Jesuits have and do utterly refuse to be of our Church or to resort unto our Preaching and Prayers The sequel whereof must needs prove dangerous to the whole State of the Common-wealth By this you see what Cause we have justly to doubt great Mischief threatned to this Realm and therewith you may easily see also how far the preventing and withstanding of the same it behooveth her Majesty not only to provide in time sufficient Laws for the continuing of this Peaceable Government but also to be ready with Forces to repress all Attempts that may be enterprised either by Enemies abroad or by evil Subjects at home What Difference there is between the Popes Persecuting Church and this * The Church of England Mild Church of the Gospel hath been seen in all Ages and especially in the late Government compared with the merciful time of Her Majesties Reign The Continuance of which Clemency is also to be wished so far as may stand with Gods Honour and the Safety of the Realm But when by long proof we find that this favorable and gentle Manner of Dealing with the Disobeyers and Contemners of Religion to win them by fair Means if it were possible hath done no good but hath bred in them a more arrogant and contemptuous Spirit so as they have not only presumed to disobey the Laws and Orders of the Realm but also to accept from Rome secret Absolutions Reconciliations and such like and that by the Hands of leud Runnagates Priests and Jesuits harbouring and entertaining them even in their Houses thereby shewing an Obedience to the Pope by their Directions also nourishing and training up their Children and Kinsfolks not only at home but also abroad in the Seminaries of Popery Now I say it is time for us to look more narrowly and strictly to them least as they be corrupt so they prove dangerous Members to many born within the Entrails of our Common-wealth And seeing that the Lenity of the Time and the Mildness of the Laws heretofore made are no small Cause of their arrogant Disobedience 't is necessary that we make a Provision of Laws more strict and more severe to constrain them to yield their open Obedience at the least to her Majesty in Causes of Religion and not to live as they lift to the perillous Example of others and to the encouraging of their own evil affected Minds but if they will needs submit themselves to the Benedictions of the Pope they may feel how little his Curses can hurt us and how little his Blessings can save them from that Punishment which we are able to lay upon them letting them also find how dangerous it shall be for them to deal with the Pope or any thing of his or with those Romish Priests and Jesuits and therewith also how perillous it shall be for those Seditious Runnagates to enter into the Land to draw away from Her Majesty that Obedience which by the Laws of God and Man are due unto her This then is one of the Provisions which we ought to take care of in this Council whereby we may both enjoy still that happy Peace we live in and the Pope take the less Boldness to trouble us by any Favour he shall find here Therefore seeing the Malice of the Pope and his Confederates are so notorious unto us and seeing the Dangers be so great so evident and so imminent and seeing that Preparations to withstand them cannot be made without support of the Realm and seeing that our Duty to God our Queen and Country and the Necessity that hangeth upon our own Safeguards be reason sufficient to perswade us let us think upon these Matters as the Weight of them deserveth and so provide in time both by Laws to restrain and correct the evil affected Subjects and by Provision of that which shall be requisite for the Maintainance of Forces as our Enemies finding our Minds so willing and our Hands so ready to keep in order our Country and to furnish her Majesty with all that shall be necessary may either be discouraged to attempt any thing against us or if they do they may find such Resistance as shall bring Confusion to themselves Honour to our most Gracious Queen and Safety to all of us Mr. Norton seconding the Motion it was referred to
or Dominions or any Act attempted tending to the Hurt of Her Majesties most Royal Person by of or for any Person that shall or may pretend any Title to the Crown of this Realm after Her Majestis Decease or if any thing shall be composed or imagined tending to the Hurt of Her Majesties Royal Person by any Person or with the Privity of any Person that shall or may pretend Title to the Crown of this Realm That then by Her Majesties Commission under Her Great Seal the Lords and others of Her Highnesses Privy Council and such other Lords of Parliament to be named by Her Majesty as with the same Privy Council shall make up the Number of twenty four at the least having with them for their Assistance in that behalf such of the Iudges of the Court of Records at Westminster as Her Highness shall for that purpose assign and appoint or that more part of the same Council Lords and Iudges shall by virtue of this Act have Authority to examine all and every the Offenders aforesaid and all Circumstances thereof and thereupon to give Sentence or Iudgment as upon good Proof the Matter shall appear unto them and that after such Sentence or Iudgment given and Declaration thereof made and published by Her Majesties Proclamation under the Great Seal of England all Persons against whom such Sentence or Iudgment shall be so given and published shall be excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the Crown of this Realm or any of Her Majesties Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And that thereupon all Her Highnesses Subjects shall and may lawfully by virtue of this Act and Her Majesties Directions in that Behalf by all forcible and possible Means pursue to Death every such wicked Person by whom or by whose Means Assend or Privity any such Invasion or Rebellion shall be in form aforesaid denounced to have been made or such wicked Acts attempted or other thing compassed or imagined against Her Majesties Person and all their Aidors Comfortors and Abettors And if any such detestable Act shall be executed against Her Highnesses most Royal Person whereby Her Majesties Life shall be taken away which God of his Mercy forbid that then every such Person by of or for whom any such Act shall be executed and their Issues being any wise assenting or privy to the same shall by virtue of this Act be excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the said Crown of this Realm or of any other Her Highnesses Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And all the Subjects of this Realm and all other Her Majesties Dominions shall and may lawfully by virtue of this Act by all forcible and possible Means pursue to Death every such wicked Person by whom or by whose Means any such detestable Fact shall be in form hereafter expressed denounced to have been committed and also their Issues being any way assenting and privy to the same and all their Aidors Comfortors and Abettors in that Behalf And to the end that the Intention of this Law may be effectually executed if her Majesties Life shall be taken away by any violent or unnatural means which God defend Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the Lords and others Commissioners to try such Traitors in case the Queen should be killed which shall be of Her Majesties Privy Council at the time of such her Decease or the more part of the same Council joyning unto them for their better Assistance five other Earls and seven other Lords of Parliament at the least foreseeing that none of the said Earls Lords or Council be known to be Persons that may make any Title to the Crown those Persons which were Chief Iustices of either Bench Master of the Rolls and Chief Baron of the Exchequer at the time of Her Majesties Death or in Default of the said Iustices Master of the Rolls and Chief Baron some other of those which were Iustices of some of the Courts of Record at Westminster at the time of Her Highnesses Decease to supply their Places or any twenty four or more of them whereof eight to be Lords of Parliament not being of the Privy Council shall to the utmost of their Power and Skill examine the Cause and Manner of such Her Majesties Death and what Persons shall be any way Guilty thereof and all Circumstances concerning the same according to the true meaning of this Act and thereupon shall by open Proclamation publish the same and without any delay with all forcible and possible means prosecute to Death all such as shall be found to be Offenders therein and all their Aidors and Abettors And for the doing thereof and for the withstanding and suppressing of all such Power and Forces as shall any way be levied or stirred in disturbance of the due Execution of this Law shall by virtue of this Act have Power and Authority not only to raise and use such Forces as shall in that Behalf be needful and convenient but also to use all other Means and things possible and necessary for the maintainance of the same Forces and prosecution of the said Offenders and if any such Power and Force shall be levied or stirred in disturbance of the due Execution of this Law by any Person that shall or may pretend any Title to the Crown of this Realm whereby this Law may not in all things be fully executed according to the Effect and true Meaning of the same That then every Person shall by virtue of this Act be therefore excluded and disabled for ever to have or claim or to pretend to have or claim the Crown of this Realm or of any other Her Highnesses Dominions any former Law or Statute whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding And be it farther enacted by the Authority aforesaid that all and every she Subjects of all Her Majesties Realms and Dominions shall to the utmost of their Power aid and assist the said Council and all other the Lords and other Persons to be adjoyned unto them for assistance as is aforesaid in all things to be done and executed according to the Effect and Intention of this Law and that no Subject of this Realm shall in any wise be impeached in Body Land or Goods at any time hereafter for any thing to be done or executed according to the Tenor of this Law any Law or Statute heretofore made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And whereas of late many of Her Majesties good and faithful Subjects have in the Name of God and with the Testimony of a good Conscience by one uniform manner of Writing under their Hand and Seals and by several others voluntarily taken joyned themselves together in one Bond and Association to withstand and revenge to the uttermost all such malicious Actions
Genserick and Henricus with their Arian Hereticks alluding to the State. Here we think both him and divers others that have written to the same effect very greatly to blame Sure we are that the general Cause of Religion for the which both we and they contend as oft we have said getteth no good but hurt by it and contrary to the Old saying be he never so bad yet let him have Justice tho some hard Courses have been taken by the State against us yet hath it not by many degrees been so extream as the Jesuits and that Crue have falsely written and reported of it nor indeed as they deserved Afterwards they inveigh against the Spanish Invasion against Parsons for a Book he writ and against him and Creswel for another they writ they go on thus Whilst the said Invasion was thus talked of and in preparation in Spain a shorter course was thought of Heskets Plot. it might have had success Mr. Hesket was set on by the Jesuits 1592. or thereabouts with Father Parsons consent or knowledge to have stirred up the Earl of Darby to Rebellion against Her Highness Cullen Not long after good Father Holt and others with him persuaded an Irish-man one Patrick Collen as he himself confessed to attempt the laying his violent and villanous hands upon Her Majesty Shortly after in the Year 1593. that Notable Stratagem was Plotted the whole State knoweth by whom for Dr. Lopez the Queens Physician to have Poysoned her Lopez for the which he was Executed the Year after This wicked designment being thus prevented by Gods providence the said Traiterous Jesuit York and Williams Holt and others did allure and animate one York and Williams to have accomplished that with their Bloody hands that the other purposed to have done with his Poyson we mean Her Majesties destruction Hereunto we might add the late Villanous attempt 1599. of Edward Squire animated and drawn thereto as he confessed by Wallpool that pernicious Jesuit Walpool But we must turn again to Father Parsons whose turnings and doublings are such as would trouble a right good Hound to Trace him For in the mean time that the said Traytors one after another were Plotting and Studying how best they might compass Her Majesties Death they cared not how nor by what means he the said Father Parsons so prevailed with the King as he attempted twice in two sundry Years his new Invasion meaning to have proceeded therein The Spaniard designed a Second Invasion not with such great preparation as he did at the first but only to have begun the same by taking some Port Westward Towards which he came so far onward as Silley with his Fleet. At both which times God who still hath fought for her Majesty and this Realm did notably prevent him by such Winds and Tempests as the most of his Ships and Men perished in the Sea as they were coming hitherward Furthermore the said good Father in the midst of all the said Trayterous enterprizes both at home and abroad devised and set forward by him and his Companions was ploding amongst his Papers and playing the herauld how if all his said wicked designments failed he might at the last Intitle the King of Spain and consequently the Infanta his Daughter to the Crown and Kingdom of England To which purpose he framed and after published a Book wherewith he acquainted the Students in those Seminaries in Spain and Laboured nothing more then to have their subscriptions to the said Infanta's Title therein promissing unto her their present Allegiance as unto their lawful Soveraign and that when they should be sent into their Country they should perswade the Catholics there to do the like without any further Expectation of the Queen of Englands Death As Mr. Charles Paget affirmeth in his Book against Parsons They confess in these words That the Jesuitical designments beyond the Seas Collect. 53 54. together with certain Rebellions and Traiterous attempts of some Catholics at home have been the cause of such Calamities and troubles as have happened to us far less we think then any Prince living in Her Majesties Case and so provoked would have inflicted upon us And after they tell us that divers of their Communion have owned so much I shall conclude this Reign with these words of theirs which fully justifie the making the Laws that were made in it We are fully persuaded in our Consciences and as Men besides our Learning Collect. 55 56 57. who have some experience that if the Catholics had never sought by indirect means to have vexed Her Majesty with their designments against her Crown if the Pope and King of Spain had never plotted with the Duke of Norfolk If the Rebels in the North had never been heard of if the Bull of Pius the V. had never been known if the said Rebellion had never been justified If neither Steukly nor the Pope had attempted any thing against Ireland if Gregory the Thirteenth had not renewed the said Excommunication if the Jesuits had never come into England if the Pope and the King of Spain had not practised with the Duke of Guise for his attempt against Her Majesty if Parsons and the rest of the Jesuits with other our Country-men beyond Seas had never been agents in these Traiterous and Bloody designments of Throckmorton Parry Collen York Willians Squire and such like if they had not by their Treatises and writings endeavoured to defame their Soveraign and their own Country labouring to have many of their Books Translated into divers Languages thereby to shew more their own disloyalty if Cardinal Allen and Parsons had not published the Renovation of the said Bull by Sixtus Quintus if thereunto they had not added their scurrillous and unmanly Admonition or rather most Prophane Libel against Her Majesty if they had not sought by false persuasions and ungodly Arguments to have allured the Hearts of Catholics from their Allegiance if the Pope had never been urged by them to have thrust the Kingdom of Spain into that Barbarous Action against the Realm if they themselves with the rest of that generation had not laboured greatly with the said King for the Conquest and Invasion of this Land by the Spaniards who are known to be the cruelest Tyrants that live upon the Earth If in all their Proceedings they had not from time to time depraved irritated and provoked both Her Majesty and the State with these and other such like their ungodly and unchristian practices But on the contrary if the Popes from time to time had sought her Majesty by kind Offices and gentle Persuasions never ceasing the prosecution of those and such-like courses of humanity and gentleness if the Catholics and Priests beyond the Seas had laboured continually the furtherance of those most Priest-like and Divine allurements and had framed their own proceedings in all their words and writings accordingly if we at home all of us both Priests and
The Oath of Secrecy by Word or Circumstance the Matter that shall be proposed to you to keep Secret nor desist from the Execution thereof till the rest shall give you leave After this was done every Man betakes himself to the part assigned him some to provide Money other Materials and others a place to lay the Materials in The place pitched upon for placing the Materials in was Cellars under the Parliament House which Thomas Piercy had hired for that purpose the Materials were thirty six Barrels of Gun-Powder provided in Flanders carried into the Cellar from Lambeth in the Night covered over with Wood and Coals and all provided at the Charge of the English * Sr. Everard Digby 1500 l. Mr. Francis Tresham 2000. l. Piercy 4000 l. besides others Papists who promised themselves the extirpating this Northren Heresie as they called it and introducing in its Room Popish Superstition and Idolatry as we call it and the Divines of our Church have proved it to be to the Conviction of all 〈◊〉 who will not Wilfully shut their eyes against the Light. Things being thus prepared they looked upon the King and Prince Henry as already made a Sacrifice to attone the See of Rome for the revolt that England had made from her and Percy had undertaken for the slaying the Duke of York Charles the First that there might be no ingredient in the Sacrifice wanting to make it acceptable but because it was thought necessary for a Colour to their Bloody designs to preserve the Succession the Lady Elizabeth must be spared and made Queen Foulis Hist l. 10. cap. 2. f. 507. and the Odium of blowing up the Parliament cast upon the Puritans They designed the Accomplishment of this unparallel'd Cruelty on the 5 th of November 1604. when the King and both Houses of Parliament were to meet and that very day they appointed a great Hunting Match at Dunsmore Heath near Comb the Lord Harringtons House in Warwickshire where the Lady Elizabeth was upon which pretence divers Papists were to meet well Armed in order to seize and secure her with intention to marry her to a Papist and by that means to introduce Popery To carry on their Design of fixing this Plot upon the Puritans Foulis Hist l. 10. cap. 2. f. 508. they framed a Proclamation which they got printed and ready for publishing upon the Sign given which they supprest and burnt upon the Discovery though some of them by chance came to light and were seen and read by Dr. Parker Dean of Lincoln Sir William Ellis Recorder of the said City and others And that they might gain the greater Credit with the People in this Contrivance Keys Brother-in-Law to Mr. Pickering had a few days before either borrowed or bought the Swift-horse well known in London and thereabouts of Mr. Pickering of Tich March Grove in Northamptonshire a noted Puritan whom they also designed to kill upon which Faux having fired the Match and Touch-wood leading to the Train was to escape as they bore him in Hand But O Horrid Impiety their Design was to kill him as soon as he had imbrued his Hands in so much Innocent Blood just as he was to mount the Horse as being Pickerings Man which the People would easily believe seeing the Horse was so well known to them and the Multitude once perswaded of this would be more facile to joyn with them under notion of doing Justice upon such supposed Traitors and Wretches They also consulted how to keep the Romish Lords from going that Day to Parliament the better to strengthen their Cause by their Preservation But in the heighth of all their Hopes and Expectations a Discovery is made thus The Manner of the Discovery some of them supposed by Monteagle to be Piercy but Bishop * Answer to Sir Anthony VVeldon's Court of King James p. 73. M. S. Goodman saith it was Tresham who writ the Letter having a great Affection to the said Lord Monteagle Son and Heir to the Lord Morley had a mind to preserve him from the intended Slaughter So one Evening a Letter Sealed is delivered in the Street the Strand by an unknown Fellow to one of the Lords Foot-men charging him to deliver it with Care to his Lord. Monteagle opens it finds it without Date and Subscription writ with a very bad Hand and in a Stile he knew not what to make of The Letter was this My Lord OVT of the Love I bear to some of your Friends I have a care of your Preservation Foulis Hist l. 10. cap. 2. f. 508. Wilson's Hist f. 30. therefore I would advise you as you tender your Life to devise some Excuse to shift off your Attendance this Parliament for God and Man have concurred to punish the Wickedness of this time And think not slightly of this Advertisment but retire your self into your Country where you may expect the Event in Safety for though there be no Appearance of any stir yet I say they shall receive a terrible Blow this Parliament and yet they not see who hurts them This Councel is not to be contemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm for the Danger is past as soon as you have burned this Letter and I hope God will give you the Grace to make good use of it to whose Holy Protection I commend you Monteagle wondred at the Letter and its Delivery and thinking it might relate to some Mischief thought it his Duty to make it known so away he goeth to White-Hall shows it to the Earl of Salisbury then Secretary of State who tells some other of the Privy Council of it and the King being returned from his Hunting at Royston they delivered it to him His Majesty having seriously considered it and all other Circumstances concluded that it might relate to some Design to blow up the Parliament and in this Jealousie ordered the Rooms and Vaults about the House to be searched which was done the Night before the Session when in the aforesaid Cellar under the Lords House were found the Barrels of Powder and at the Door standing Guido Faux booted and Spurred with a large dark Lanthorn now to be seen in Oxford Library with Matches Tinder-Box and other Materials for his Design Faux was presently carried to Court and examined where he appeared sturdy and scornful maintaining the Design to be lawful that James was not his King because an Heretic was sorry that the Plot failed and that he had not blown up the House with himself and those that were sent to search affirming that God would have had the Plot concealed but it was the Devil who revealed it at last Faux himself confest all that he knew of the Treasons Thus far discovered the King suspecting some Commotions or Risings sent with all speed to prevent them by timely Notice by Lepton and others This was that Mr. John Lepton of Yorkshire who rid so often betwixt London and York