Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	great_a	king_n	lord_n	8,214	5	3.8032	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53183	The observator prov'd a trimmer: or, Truth and justice vindicated in the history of the murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, and the several popish shams since made use of to amuse the world about it. Being a full answer to certain late pamphlets, intituled, Observators; wherein the evidence of that gentlemans being murthered by papists, is very falsly stated; and the positions and practices of the Church of Rome, too favourably represented. Humbly dedicated to the clergy of England.		1685 (1685)	Wing O123JA; ESTC R220290	48,608	47

be concerned in the Murther tho' then not naming the Person and he promised to meet them for that purpose at Somerset-house on the twelfth of October at night but failed This might raise some Suspicions of him However to ingage him as deep as 't was possible Lephair appoints him to meet on Monday night and then told him the business was done proposes a Reward if he would help to carry off the Body and shew'd him the same having first told him the before mentioned long but false story of the manner of the Murther and conjur'd him upon the Sacrament he had lately received to be there again that night about eleven or twelve a Clock to help off with the Body which they said they would carry out in a Chair and put it upon himself and that the Porter was to sit up to let them out c. Now the design of telling him these false Circumstances of the Murther might very well be That if he should offer to discover whereof they might have some certain Suspicion for the Reasons aforesaid then he charging it upon wrong persons viz. Lephair Walsh c. They no doubt were well provided with Testimony where they were all that very Night the murther was done and so would have thrown off his Evidence And finding that Bedloe did not come that Monday night at eleven or twelve a Clock according to his promise they grew more jealous of him and deferred the carrying out of the Corps till Wednesday following Which answers all the Observators Taatle numb 141 142. on that Subject which he would make a mighty Contradict of as if whereas Prance swears the Body was not carried out till Wednesday night Bedloe should depose that it was carryed out an Monday Whereas Bedloe swears no such thing but that they told him or said they had agreed to carry it out then but he replyed it would be too soon and that eleven or twelve a Clock would be better And that they were under some such Suspicion of Bedloe especially after his second failing on Monday night may be presumed from their removing the Body the next night into another Room where it had not been before as Prance sets forth Tryal p. 19. How much the Court was satisfied with the Truth and Co-herence of the Evidence and so far from apprehending any Contradictions that on the contrary they judged the same wonderful Agreeable as far as the nature of the Case would bear appears besides what we cited before by these words of the Lord Chief Justice to the Jury upon the Tryal of Green Berry and Hill Fol. 80. It is hardly possible for any man to invent such a Story for Prance it is I believe I find it is no hard thing for the Priests to contrive such an Action but for Witnesses to agree in so many material Circumstances with one another which had never conversed together is impossible If all this had been a Chimera not really so then Prance must be one of the most notable Inventors in the World there must have been the mightiest chance in the World that Mr. Bedloe and he should agree so in all things and that the Maid should swear that Hill was there that Morning and that the Constable should find the Body just as they had told Prance they had left him so that upon the matter you have two Witnesses almost in every thing for Mr. Bedloe seeing him in the place Murthered is a plain Evidence that the thing was done and all the other Witnesses speaking to Circumstances both before and after makes the Evidence plain that these were the men that did it And I see nothing in-coherent in all Mr. Prances Testimony I would noturge this so if I were not satisfied in my own Conscience that the Relation is true Thus the Lord Chief Justice to the Jury It is farther to be noted That Bedloe on his Death-bed when he was on the Brink of Eternity and was satisfied that his Dissolution was very near did with repeated Asseverations avow the Truth of all his Depositions And as I find it in an Account soon after Published of his Death by Randal Taylor and which I never heard was questioned or confuted did to the Right Honourable the then Lord Chief Justice North now Lord Guilford and Keeper of the great Seal declare amongst other things That whatsoever he had Declared to the King and Council and the secret Committee and at the SEVERAL TRYALS upon Oath were all true upon the Word of a dying man Adding these Emphatical Expressions That he expected no Crown of Martyrdom for lying as the Papists did but what he said was sincerely true as he was shortly to appear before the Great Jehovah the Maker of all Flesh where he should stand with a clear Conscience as to all matters of the Plot wherein he had given Evidence This was Monday August 16. 1680. and growing weaker and weeker on Wednesday Night was taken Speechless but on Thursday night his Speech being restored one standing by again asked him If he were satisfied in his Conscience as to what he had sworn To whom he Answered That as he hoped for Salvation all that he had sworn about the Plot was just and true and that he had rather Omitted than Augmented any thing he had given in Evidence This he spoke the very Night before he dyed and after he had been in a Trance several hours the next day August 20. 1680. about two of the Clock in the Afternoon he expired And so notorious in Bristol was this his last Assertion of the Truth of his Evidence That there were Escutcheons fixed on his Hearse with this Inscription in Black Letters in a Field Argent Testimonium quod vivens Exhibuit Moriens constanter Obfirmavit The Testimony which he living Exhibited dying he constantly did Confirm And is it not hard very hard inhumane and uncharitable as well as bold and reflective on the publick Justice for the Observator now four years after this Persons death and near fix since the manner of Godfreys Murther was settled by Law to come with the Negromancy of a Company of palpable Tricks actuated and raised by the Daemon of Drollery to load the deceased with opprobious Names and render that Solemn Testimony of his and all those Reverend Authorities that gave it Credit Contemptible and Ridiculous and as much as in him Lyes Odious As for Prance the other chief VVitness be being as much a Stranger to me as the Observator himself I love not to make needless Apologies for People I am acquainted with only I cannot but observe 1. That the Observator has moil'd and toil'd most heartily for some years to Blacken him but after all I do not see that he has so much as Charged him with any thing that can be pretended to invalidate his Evidence and if he cannot do that all the rest is impertinent Libelling even supposing the matters were true 2. That the Observators common

killed himself all of them would have cryed out The Popish plot was a sham nothing but a thing raised by the Protestants against the Papists and all the Plot must have gone for nothing Gentlemen I do leave it with you c. The matter was so plain that the Jury without stirring from the Bar found them all three Guilty The Prisoners were not brought to Sentence till the third of July 1662. Between which time and the Tryal Thompson having in his Intelligence took upon him to give an Account as if Justice had not been done them though they had as much time and liberty given them by the Lord Chief Justice to call their WITNESSES and examine who they would as they could desire therefore for further satisfaction the following AFFIDAVITS of WITNESSES for the King that attended the Tryal but were not then called were read in open Court the first was of Captain Spence a tall black Man and in person very like Sir Edmundbury Godfrey in these words Spence's Affidavits Richard Spence Citizen and Upholder of London living in Arundel-street in the Strand in the Parish of St. Clements Dane in the County of Middlesex having been twice sub-pena'd to give Evidence for the King upon an Information exhebited in the Crown-Office against Nathaniel Thompson William Payn and John Farewel and not being call'd at their Tryal to give Evidence in open Court maketh Oath That upon Thursday the tenth day of October 1678 it being the Thursday before Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was missing from his House in Hartshorn-Lane in the Strand as he this Deponent was coming from St. James 's Market to go to his own House about seven of the Clock at night there were then at the Water-gate at Somerset-house five or six men standing together who laid hold on this Deponent as he was passing by them and they taking hold of both this Deponents Arms dragged him down about a yard within the Water-gate of Somerset-house it being dark but one of the said men which this Deponent believes to have been HILL for that this Deponent knew him very well as also his Master Doctor Godwyn cryed out and said This is not he upon which they immediately let this Deponent go Richard Spence Jurat the 10th of July 1682. Coram me W. Dolbin Then John Oakly's Affidavit was read John Oakly of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields in the County of Middlesex Servant to Mr. Robert Breeden of Hartsshorn-lane in the said Parish and County Brewer maketh Oath That on Saturday the 12th day of October 1678. about eight or nine of the Clock in the Evening he was in the City of London in the Company of his Father Robert Oakely of Bissiter in the County of Oxon Maulster And his Father came with him as far as Ludgate where they parted And this Deponent going homewards to his master Breedons-House coming by Sommerset-House in the Strand when he came near the Gate of that House which leads down to the Water-side commonly called the Water-Gate which was about nine of the Clock at night he there saw Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and past close by him and put off his Hat to him and Sir Edmundbury Godfrey put off his Hat again to him And after that this Deponent had passed beyond Sir Edmundbury he this Deponent turned about and looked upon him again and Sir Edmundbury Gopfrey stood still and there was a man or two near Sir Edmundbury And this Deponent further saith that he knew Sir Edmundbury Godfrey very well for that he saw him almost daily pass by his Master Bredoons-House in Hartshorn lane going or coming from his own Dwelling-house which was also in Hartshorn-lane And this Deponent further saith that about two or three days after when the Rumor was that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was missing he acquainted his Fellow Servant Elizabeth Dekin that he saw Sir Edmundbury Godfrey near the Water-gate at Sommerset-House in the Strand that very Saturday night that he was reported to have been missing from his House in Hartshorn-lane And this Deponent further saith that he told the same thing to his Uncle Ralph Oakely of the Parish of Little St. Bartholomew about a week after the time that Sir Edmundbury Godfreys Body was found and also that he told the same thing to his Father the aforesaid Robert Oakely and to several others in a short time after John Oakely Jurat 22. die Junii 1682. Coram me John Moor Mayor Note in this Appendix to Thompsons Tryal p. 43 44 and 45. You may see four Affidavits viz. of Elizabeth Dekin John Breedon Ralph Oakely the Uncle and Robert Oakely corroborating this last Affidavit and all proving that the Deponent did both before the Body was found ahd soon after relate to them the substance of what he had now sworn therein The Affidavit of Robert Forset Robert Forset of Maribone in the County of Middlesex Esquire having been twice Subpaena'd to give Evidence for the King upon an Information exhibited in the Crown-Office against Nathaniel Thompson William Pain and John Farewel and being not called to give Evidence in open Court maketh Oath That Tuesday the 15th of October 1678. Being the Tuesday that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was missing He this Deponent was a Hunting with his Pack of Hounds at the very place where the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was afterwards found and beat that very place with his Hounds and the Body was not then there nor any Gloves nor Cane thereabout the said Deponent further saith that the same day Mr. Henry Harwood requested him this Deponent that he would let him have his Hounds the next day after being Wednesday and be would find that Hare they could not find on Tuesday or Words to that purpose And this Deponent further saith That he the said Harwood hath several times since affirmed that he did accordingly Hunt in the same place and beat the same Ditch and said that the Body was not there that Wednesday at Noon which said Henry Harwood is newly dead Robert Forset Jurat 1. Die Julii 1672. Coram me W. Dolben After these Affidavits were read the Court proceeded to Sentence which was That Thompson and Farewel should stand in the Pillory at the Old Palace-yard at Westminster and each of them pay an hundred Pound and to be imprisoned till they paid it And Pain only Fined an hundred Pound Accordingly Thompson and Farewell did stand in the Pillory with this Writing over their Heads For Libelling the Justice of the Nation by making the World believe that Sir EDMUNDBURY GODFREY Murthered himself But now as if all these things had been transacted in a Corner or were utterly forgot as if still against the Testimony of so many Records the manner of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murther were as uncertain as the story of Brute or a Popish Legend of St. Kit or the eleven thousand Virgins comes the witty Observator and not to mention several of his former squinting reflections in defiance both of Iruth

against the before mentioned De Pree touching the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey The Court took time till next day to consider And then awarded a Habeas Corpus upon which being brought up May the 16th and sworn he was ordered to give his Evidence to the Grand Jury in open Court where he told a long story And the Bill before mention'd was found upon his positive Oath what other Grounds the Grand Jury had for finding it I am not to inquire but if there were leave in such Cases for Conjecture it might justly be supposed that the Jury remembring the former attempt of the Papists in their Libel of Reflections and that the Witness was of the same stamp and party were desirous to see what could possibly be offered to maintain it that the Truth might be sifted to the utmost and the Innocency of the Accused have a publick Vindication Whereas should they have refused to find the Bill the Romanists would then undoubtedly have improved it constructively to a tacit discharge of their Party and cryed out of a stoppage of Justice But so little started was that Honourable Lord that immediately as I am credibly informed he exhibited a Petition that he might speedily be brought to Tryal thereupon Now by what Constructiveness any Honest Protestant should improve this fair deliberate judicial procedure into a tacite discharge of the Papists from the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey because a known Papist in hopes to save his own Neck swore such and such Protestants were Accessary I am utterly ignorant thô yet the OBSERVATOR has published it in Black Letters as a special hint to those Folks he writes unto or for that they may take more notice of and further improve it upon occasion Only this is further to be noted That the same Fitz-Harris in his Examination before Sir George Treby and Sir Robert Clayton March 10. said no more than that Depuy told him That the Murther was Consulted at Windsor and that in April 1680. Kelly told him at Calais that he was one of the persons concerned in the Murther and that the same was done much in manner as Prance had related it And the very next day was Fitz-Harris removed from Nevgate to the Tower and there kept close Prisoner so that it was impossible any of those THET whom the OBSERVATOR seems to aim at by the Title of true Protestants could put him upon any such villany as he afterward deposed touching this Affair * Another Irish-man one Magrath steps in pretending there were those that could make it appear that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Hanged himself and that one Mr. Moor who was Sir Edmunds Clerk cut him down Which matter being examined at the Council board May 26. 1681. the said Magrath was found to hold Correspondence with Mrs Celier and the Popish Priests in Newgate touching this matter though he solemnly vowed he had no Acquaintance with them and the whole appeared to be a false and malicious Contrivance Whereupon he was required to find Sureties and so that Project likewise fell to the ground See the Appendix to Thompsons Tryal printed by Authority p. 40. where also is an Affidavit of the said Mr. Moor utterly confuting that scandal and 't is reported the same honest Gentleman has since or lately been interrogated or Examined about the same business but still persisteth in his former Testimony Not yet discouraged one Thomson that called himself the Loyal Intelligencer but by others was commonly styled The Popish Printer How justly I know not but as I hear he is at this day or very lately was in Newgate for Printing Popish Books or Libels against his Majesties Supremacy the Protestant Religion and Government This Thompson I sav about February 1681 2 And in several succeeding Months by the Instigation of Pain and Farewel the latter of which stands charged upon Oath in Print to have been a Trustee for the Traytor Fenwick a Jesuite some time since executed See the Appendix to Thompsons Tryal Fol. 50 51. undertakes the business by several Scandalous Printed Letters to Prance on that subject wherein asserting many untruths as that the Coroner and Jury were first of Opinion and declared That Godfrey was Felo de se That there were Cakes or Gobbets of blood found in his Cloaths and near the place where the Body lay That the Cloaths Belt and Scabbard were Weather-beaten to raggs and his Eyes Nostrils and corner of his Mouth were Fly blown and that his Shooes were clean or glazed with his walking on the Grass and Grass seeds observed to stick in the seams of his Shooes And amongst the rest alledging all that the Observator now musters up viz. That Bedloes Evidence before the Committee of Lords and Prances in Relation to this Gentlemans Death were as different as the East from the West for one dogs him out of St. Clements the other decoyes him from Charing Cross One swears he was strang l'd with a Handkerchief near the Stables going to the Water-side the other that he was smoothered with a Pillow in a Room in the great Court in Somerset house One says that he took Horse at So hoe the other that he took Coach at Clarendine House with many other such like Contradictions And from these and the like Allegations the said Letters raised Arguments to invalidate the whole Evidence and insinuate that the Gentleman Murther'd himself Which Letters are at large recited in the Tryal of Thompson c. from page 10 to page 18. These pretended Letters were first rationally Answered and Confuted But Thompson in his Iutelligence Observator News-book or what you please to call it still persisting in his Impudence and boasting what wonderful matters he could make appear by a Cloud of undeniable Witnesses he was at last summoned before his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council where having declared his Authors they were committed to Newgate and Mr. Attorney General order'd to Prosecute them at Law And accordingly soon after an Information was Exhibited against them by Mr. Attorney wherein after the Recital of the Conviction of Green Bery and Hill upon the Evidence of Bedloe Prance John Brown Elizabeth Curtis Zachary Skillarm and Nicholas Cambride and the flying of Girald Kelly and Vernat As also having recited the Inquesi taken before the Coroner it is charged That the said Nathaniel Thompson William Pain and John Farewel well knowing the Premisses and being Persons devilishly affected devising practising and with all their Strength Intending the Peace and common Tranquility of the Kingdom of England to disturb and as much as in them lay the due Course of the Law to destroy subvert and elude and the Justice of this Kingdom of England to defame and scandalize and as well the said Miles Prance William Bedloe Jonathan Brown Elizabeth Curtis Zachary Willarm and Nicholas Cambridge as the said Jonathan Cooper and the honest and lawful men Sworn upon the Inquest aforesaid upon view of the Body aforesaid to bring into the