Selected quad for the lemma: king_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
king_n	duke_n	earl_n	edward_n	26,573	5	8.3040	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41167	An enquiry into and detection of the barbarous murther of the late Earl of Essex, or, A vindication of that noble person from the guilt and infamy of having destroy'd himself	Ferguson, Robert, d. 1714.; Braddon, Laurence, d. 1724.; Speke, Hugh, 1656-1724?	1684 (1684)	Wing F737; ESTC R25398	79,560	81

Death I would not be thought to acknowledge that it was a Razor wherewith the mortal and deplorable Wound was given him being well assured that it was with an Instrument much more proper for the purpose than that would have been but that which I intend by the proof hereof is partly the overthrow and subversion of Bomeny's and Russel's Informations upon which the inquisition and verdict of the Coroner's Inquest was built and partly to establish and evidence that antecedently to the noise and report of my Lord's death there were some persons in the Chamber where he was kill'd Which last if once obtained it will I suppose be thence readily granted that they were not there to be idle Spectators of my Lords cutting his own Throat but that their business was to perpetrate themselves that barbarous Fact upon him tho' for the concealing their guilt and avoiding the justice and severity of the Law they have endeavoured to cast the reproach and infamy of it upon that innocent and injured person The first who reported and divulged the Story of a bloody Razor 's being thrown out of the E. of Essex's Window before there was any news of my Lord's death was one William Edwards a Youth between thirteen and fourteen years of age who having heard as he was going to School that the King and Duke were in the Tower went in to see them and continuing there sometimes in one place and sometimes in another all that morning came home about ten of the Clock to his Mother and told the Earl of Essex was killed and that while he the said Edwards stood near the Earl's Lodgings looking up towards his Chamber-window he saw a Hand cast out a bloody Razor which being going to take up there came a short Maid or Woman with a white hood on her head cut of Captain Hawley 's House where the Earl lay and took up the Razor which she immediately carried into the Captain's H●use and run up stairs and that soon after he heard one cry out murder All this the B●y hath frequently repeated and averred to his Father Mother Sister and to one Mrs. Burt as well as to Mr. Braddon as those four persons deposed upon Oath at Mr. Braddon's Tryal yea the very B●y himself did confess and acknowledge in Court that he had said and reported it 'T is true that after he had often affirmed it he was at last by the flatteries of some and the menaces of others brought to say he saw no such thing as a bloody Razor thrown out of the Earl of Essex's window but that the whole which he had reported relating thereunto was seigned and invented by himself For having been told by his Sister that through persevering in his first Report he would not only ruine his Father and the Family but that he would bring both himself and his Father to be hanged he thereupon under the influence of dread and fear retracted what he had before affirmed But whether there ought not more credit to be given to his Affirmation than to his Denial I dare refer it to the judgment of all impartial men who have either heard of the Methods used towards the Boy at the Council Board or who have read the carriage and behaviour of my Lord Chief Justice and the Court of Kings Bench in this matter at the Tryal of Mr. Braddon And as I was amazed my self on the perusal of the Tryal to observe with what impudence and barefacedness they not only discovered the means used by others to influence the Boy to forswear himself but the arts and tricks in hussing on the one side and cajoling on the other whereby the very Bench drew him into and cherished him in perjury to I never had the fortune to speak with a man that was wise or honest but he was forced to acknowledge that the Boy 's first Report in saying he saw a bloody Razor thrown out of the Earl of Essex's window seem'd natural plain candid and true whilst his denying what he had so often affirmed to have seen appeared evidently to be wheedled out of him or by reason of the dread and fear wherewith they had possess'd him wrested and extorted from him How gross as well as unbecoming was it for my L. Chief Justice when old Mr. Edwards had upon his Childs being sworn charged him in the presence of Almighty God to speak the Truth and nothing but the Truth I say for my L. C. Justice to bid the Child turn about and say Father be sure you say nothing but the Truth For as the Father's command to his Son does plainly intimate the jealousie he was under concerning the Boy 's being wrought upon to perjure himself so the Reply which my Lord Chief Justice advised the Child to make to his Father did besides the irreverence towards a Parent whereof it savoured directly insinuate the apprehensions he had lest the Father's Christian Counsel should fortifie the Child to assert the Truth How palpably as well as shamefully did my Lord Chief Justice betray and reveal their entangling the Boy to swear a lie by the rage as well as superciliousness wherewith he treated Mr. Wallop a person not only to whose age honour is due but who in all the qualifications of a Gentleman and the accomplishments of a Scholar in all other Learning as well as the Law infinitely transcends and exceeds his Lordship and for no other reason but because Mr. Wallop would have ask'd young Mrs. Edwards whether she had not told her Brother that the King would hang his Father if he did not deny what he had so often affirmed to have seen And tho' it was a Question the answering whereof would have unfolded and laid open the means by which the Boy was wrought to retract what he had formerly declared and would have confirmed the truth of his first Report yet my L. C. Justice instead of suffering any Answer to be given to it not only upbraided that ancient learned and worthy Gentleman as if he had intended to have charged the King with a design of hanging men or else of making them deny the Truth both which were far from his thoughts and the intention of the Question but having huff'd and hectored him did threaten him with the animadversion and correction of the Court for reflecting upon and aspersing the Government Nor is young Edwards the only one who hath declared that he saw a bloody Razor thrown out of the Earl of Essex's window before any noise or rumor of his death but there is also a Girl one Jane Lodeman of about thirteen years of age who being in the Tower that Morning the Earl of Essex was killed and standing over against his Lodgings came home and told both her Aunt and others about ten of the Clock that it was reported the Earl of Essex had cutt his Throat and that she had seen a hand cast a bloody Razor out of the window where the people said that

window immediately before the news of his death and that all which was deposed concerning a Report in City and Countrey about his having cut his Throat before it was done were false and only invented by the Informers yet as it is evident by the Oaths and Depositions of the Witnesses that Mr. Braddon was not the Forger of these things so it is demonstrable that they were in their nature of that weight and importance upon which a wise as well an honest man might suspect that my Lord had not murdered himself but was destroyed by others Nor could the Gentleman have ever been found guilty but by means of Mercinary Judges and an overaw'd as well as a pick'd and prejudiced Jury who will boggle at nothing tho never so unjust that may but gratisy a great Man and oblige His Majesties Ministers of State And the reason as I have said before upon which Mr. Braddon came to be convicted and found guilty was plainly to skreen a great Man and some other persons from coming to be involved in the guilt of that Noble Man's death and to keep up the belief of a Protesiant Plot which as Justice Withins phraseth it was likely otherwise to lose its credit and to be esteemed a Sham Plot for the taking away Innocent Protestants Lives Nor was the whole Trial against this Worthy and Vertuous Person more extravagant arbitrary and illegal than the Sentence against him upon the Juries finding him convict of the Indictment was unjust and severe For besides the condemning him in a Fine of 2000 l. which is more than his whole visible Estate amounts unto and expressly contrary to the Law of the Land which requires no man shall be fined but with a salvo contenemento i. e. the leaving him as much as may support him in some degree answerable to his quality they have over and above ordered his finding Sureties for good behaviour during life which as I question whether it be lawful by the ancient and Common Law tho it hath been sometimes practised any more than it is to condemn a person to perpetual Imprisonment so I am sure there is no President to be found for the like in a matter that was not of a more criminal and heynous Nature But all serves to prove that whosoever hath the courage or honesty to ●avel into the Earl of Essex's death are to be persecuted oppressed and ruined and by consequence serves to demonstrate that there is a villanous mystery in the manner of his coming to that Fatal End which they are affraid to have searched out and detected And as if it were not enough in the judgment of all rational men to acquit and vindicate the Earl of Essex from the guilt and infamy of having destroyed himself that those have been prosecuted with the utmost s●verity and oppressed in their Estates and Liberties who with all imagin●ble modesty towards the Government were willing to inquire into the manner of his death and to declare their just suspitions with the grounds of them to persons trusted with the administration of affairs that he did not murder himself but was assassinated by others Behold that as one Crime is not to be concealed but by the perpetration of more so the Conspirators and Authorisors of that Noble Mans death have proceeded to the murdering several other men who as they had a perfect knowledge and comprehension both of the manner of the Fact the villanous bloody Agents who were immediately instrumental to commit it and the Persons who employed rewarded and encouraged them so they had been guilty of what some will call indiscretion to communicate to others what they had seen and observed and too fully understood themselves Among others who partly saw heard and observed themselves and partly learned from others several circumstances relating to the matter of my Lord's death there was one Meak a common Sentinel who had stood on duty all that morning ●●er unto the place and house where the Earl of Essex was confined For whereas on other days the Sentinels used to stand but two hours at a time on duty there was care taken that morning that those who were on duty when the King and Duke came into the Tower which was about six of the clock should not be changed till both after the time of the Earl of Essex's death which was about nine and till after the King and Dukes departure from thence which was about half an hour after And the reason of this is obvious namely that tho it was impossible to keep all persons from seeing who walk't to and fro and what was transacting yet they resolved to preserve it in as narrow a compass as they could and to admit as few to an opportunity of observing persons and things as might be Whence it came to pass that those Souldiers who entred upon Duty at Four and should according to course have been relieved at Six were suffered and obliged to stay on till Ten. Now this Meak having an advantage from the post he was in of observing the several persons that went that morning to my Lord Essex's Lodgings and having par●ly himself seen and partly learned from others divers material particulars relating to the manner of the Assassination of that Noble Person it will be easily acknowledged that he was as capable as any to detect it or at least of letting these who should have the honesty courage and zeal to enquire after my Lord's death so far into it as to be able to unravel that whole villany and to trace it not only to the Instruments but the original Authors and Contrivers This poor fellow both abhorring in himself what he had seen and conceiving the greatest detestation imaginable against all the Villains who had been accessory to it was neither able to conceal his knowledge of what he had seen nor his resentments of so horrid a Fact but at the same time had not the prudence to distinguish betwixt persons who without dammage to the Author might be entrusted with so important a Secret and those who at first would seem forward enough to hear it but would withall make their advantage by revealing it to such as would reward them and destroy him Whence it unhappily came to pass that this poor foolish man not only related it to such as were honest and faithful to him and who will be ready in due time to testify the whole of what he acquainted them with but to others who conveyed it to St. James's as a piece of important intelligence and of wonderful consequence to his Royal Highness And tho it be not yet seasonable to recount the several particulars relating to that barbarous Murder which he declared upon his own knowledge as well as the confirmation of others yet I may take the liberty to digest and branch them into their several heads and to let the World know that some of them were such as preceeded his death others accompanied it and one or two came

Russel and made appear my Lord's being murthered by others instead of perishing by his own hands To all that we have hitherto said in vindication of the Earl of Essex from the guilt and infamy of having been a F●lon of himself and in proof that he was most treacherously as well as barbarously murdered by others we shall in the next place give an account of some remarkable passages which were observed in the Tower that Morning my Lord was kill'd which will not only inform us there was something requiring great secrecy then transacting but will conduct us home to the Authors and Authorizers of that villanous and ever to be abhorred Assassination The first thing then remarkable was That the Gate at the lower end of those Apartments in the Tower where the Earl of Essex and all the other Gentlemen committed for the late pretended Plot were lodged and secured and which always used to stand open from Morning to Evening was all that Morning kept shut till after my Lord of Essex was dead except that it was once opened to let out my Lord Russel to his Trial being immediately after he was gone lock'd up again And as this could not escape the sight of the persons who were then confin'd so it gave that surprise to some of them being a thing which had not fallen out before that one Gentleman in particular called to his Warder and ask'd him the meaning of it and receiv'd for answer That there was special Order given for it Nor is it difficult to guess the reason of the Order and upon what Motives and in reference to what end command was given for keeping the said Gate shut up all that Morning till after the Earl of Essex was kill'd For the Stage and Theater upon which the bloody Tragedy was to be acted being within that Gate it was needful to keep people out as much as they could to prevent the discovery of the Actors unless it were such as had their parts in some of the Scenes or would be sure to give their Plaudite to the whole A second passage very remarkable which was observed in the Tower that Morning and which speaks as loud to the matter we are upon as the former was that the King and Duke having been at the Lieutenant's house which is about the middle of the Alley where my Lord of Essex and the rest were imprisoned and having stood in a Balcony with a few attending them to see my Lord Russel pass by to his Trial the Duke did soon after with several waiting upon him withdraw from the King down into the Alley the Gate whereof was still kept shut Surely it could not be the pleasure of the walk that made the Duke leave his Majesty at that season but he had something to give Order about and to see the managing of which was of more moment than his Prince's company and which his heart was infinitely more set upon The Third and last thing which fell under the observation of divers then in the Tower was That the Duke having withdrawn from the King there were several persons immediately sent and dismissed from his very side towards the Earl of Essex's lodgings wh● returned not till after the death of that Noble person that they came and gave an account of the obedience they had paid to his Highness's commands and that the Earl of Essex was kill'd pretending he had cut his own Throat thereby murdering his Memory after they had assassinated his Person It may be expected that I should here mention the Names of those that were sent upon that barbarous errand but there being some of them who may be improved and made serviceable to detect the villanous crime they were assisting to commit it is but Justice to our selves as well as to them to conceal their Names And to publish the Names of the rest were but to set a mark upon the former and expose them to the rage and power of St. James's by not proclaiming them in conjunction with the others But this offer I renew again both to his Majesty and his Ministers of Justice that if a melius inquirendum into the manner of my Lord Essex's death may be ordered and an Indemnity granted to such as shall be willing and able to detect by whom and how he was murdered then shall the Names not only of the Russians who committed the bloody Fact but the Names of the Conspirators who were the Contrivers Authors and Encouragers of it he both discovered to his Majesty and judicial Officers and published to all the World The only thing which remains to be discoursed of in confirmation of the Earl of Essex's being murdered by others and that he was not Felo de se is that of a bloody Razor 's being thrown out of his chamber Window before any noise of his Death or the least intimation that he was killed And indeed this of a bloody Razors being thrown out of his Window has already made a great clamor in the World and was the first thing which raised a suspicion that my Lord had not destroyed himself but that he was assassinated by others For as it was impossible that after his Throat was cut he should throw it out himself so it could not be cast forth by others before the body is pretended to be found or any declaration made that he was killed unless it was by such as were present in the Room when he was slain and who were instrumental in his Murder Nor can any account be given why they did it but that God infatuated them thereby to detect the villany they had committed And it seems they had no sooner recollected themselves but they were sensible it would not serve the end they had design'd it unto namely of making the world believe he had cut his own Throat and in revenge upon the Instrument wherewith it was done thrown it away after the deed was performed and therefore they immediately both caused it to be taken up and carried back into the Closet and have had the impudence ever since to deny that ever such a thing was done Nor can the Story which a certain Gentleman at Whitehal had formed for them stand them in any stead viz. That Bomeny finding my Lord dead in the Closet and the Razor which had been the Instrument of his Death lying by him and that thereupon being struck with Surprize and Astonishment at so unexpected and deplorable an Accident he took up the Razor being acted by Grief and Indignation and not minding what he did threw it out of the Window For besides that the Razor was thrown out of the Window before there was the least noise of my Lord's death this Gloss and Qualification was invented too late to serve the end it was designed unto seeing Bomeny's and Russel's Examinations with which it is inconsistent were publick before Now in proving that a Razor was thrown out of my Lord Essex's Window before the news and tidings of his