Selected quad for the lemma: life_n
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A47808
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L'Estrange's case in a civil dialogue betwixt 'Zekiel and Ephraim
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L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing L1204; ESTC R15999
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18,053
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36
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wait upon me at my House and propounded such or such a time So that I agreed at last to the time of his own choosing But so little satisfy'd was I with this kinde of Entertainment that I slipt out of the way and so he lost his labour But the next morning Mr. Choqueux brought me a Letter from him desiring me that in regard he mist of me last night I would appoint him another time for he had something to say to me Upon reading of His Letter which I shew'd to the Bearer of it Mr. Choqueux said I he that has to do with these Fellows Must be as wary as if he were upon the High Rope a slip is as much as a man's Neck 's worth If you do but misplace One word hee 'l be your Ruine But I 'le write him an Answer however which in effect was This. I 'm sorry that I mist you last night but if you have anything to say to me I shall be at home at 7. in the Evening Truly Sir says Mr. Choqueux I believe young Tonge to have no sort of Guile in him but however he can do me no hurt for I have nothing to do with him but in relation to his Health About 7. in the Evening came Mr. Choqueux Mr. Tonge and two more who are meer Strangers to me Mr. Choqueux telling me that Mr. Tonge had desir'd him to bring him to me and that he had something to acquaint me with Sir said I This businesse has an Ill face I will not meddle in any thing looks so like a Consultation So the two strangers departed leaving the Other two behind Sr. says Mr. Choqueux Mr Tong has deliver'd some Enformations already and he has an Enformation to offer to your self as a Justice of Peace Gentlemen Sayd I if it be an Enformation ready Drawn and in your own hand Mr. Tong so as to need no alteration if you please to Insert a clause in 't for my Security wherein you shall declare that it is your own voluntary Act and without any Argument or Inducement from me to move you to 't let me see the Information and if I find it a matter fit for me to meddle in I 'le Swear you to 't but otherwise I can do nothing in it Mr. Tong making Answer that he had nothing ready drawn Mr. Choqueux went his way and Tong Stayd I think about a Quarter of an hour after at most after him telling over the same Stuff again that I was so Sick of at the Savoy I was so far from Pumping him for matter to work upon or making any Improvement or Collections from what he sayd that I quitted the Table where he sat and walkt about the Room which made him change his Discourse to talk of some little Foolish Things that I had written which in good manners I gave him and so he departed After which time I never receiv'd either Note or Message from him Zek. But did not Dr. Oates charge you for concealing a Conspiracy contrary to your Duty as a Magistrate And did he not Appeal to the Board whether or no you had rendred any account to their Lordships of That Conspiracy L' Est. He did so And my Answer Then was that it would be a strange boldnesse and Impertinence to trouble their Lordships with every ridiculous Story that I heard and a more ridiculous then This I never met withall under so Grave a Pretense I do now answer further that as I was not at all Inquisitive into the Particulars so the matter in Generall of what I heard was in the very quality of it so Insignificant and Trivial that bating the Charge and Trouble of Fees and Attendance I would have stood the shook of the Issue of such a Charge for a single Half Crown even admitting that every Article of it could have been prov'd against me So that as I said upon my Examination I do not account it worth my while to disguise or evade any one Circumstance in This matter being wholly Intent upon the discharge of my Conscience in this affair with a respect to Modesty Truth and Duty Beside that on the other hand I have a natural abhorrence for the Office of a Setter or a Trepanner And it is the Last Lavfull Service in this world that I would render even to my Prince and Countrey Zek. These are but Words still But since you have gone thus far of your own accord pray'e go a little further for my sake Did you neither Tamper with young Tonge Originally nor advise him afterward to disclaim his Retractation to his Uncle of his former Informations L' Estrange No I do ' aver it upon my Hopes of Heaven that I never saw the Eyes of Young Tonge to my knowledge till after that disclaiming of his Retractation And so far was I from laying any stresse upon what I believe Tonge suggested that I would have stood in Mr. Oates his Place for Three half-pence if it could have been proved against Me. Zek. You never had any thing to do neither with Mrs. Celliers for the carrying on of This Contrivance against the Doctors had ye L' Estr. Upon the word of a Christian I do not so much as know the Woman and I do verily believe that I never saw her Face Nor had I ever any thing to do with her either directly or Indirectly in my whole Life Nor did I hear so much as her Name mention'd upon my Examination Eph. Pray let me put you a Question now Did you never deliver Tong a hundred Guyneys by order from the Duke of York Or do not you either know or believe that he had That or some other Sum given him or some Reward promis'd him for the Carrying on of This Affayr and by Whom L'Estr No by all that is Sacred I do neither Know nor Believe that any Sum of Money or any Reward was either Given or Promised to Tonge by his Royal Highness or his Order nor do I know of any Money given him or any Reward Promised him in consideration of his appearing as an Evidence by any Person whatsoever Neither did I ever touch a Penny of the Duke's Money in my Life either for my own or for the Use of any other Person But as to any Gratification to him or the Hopes of it in case he could draw me into the Snare I can say nothing to That But by his Proposing of me beforehand for his Assistant being as then wholly unknown to him and by the Sequel of his Addresses and Applications it doth manifestly appear that the entrapping of L' Estrange was one part of his Design But you say nothing all this while of a Conspiracy on the other side and an endeavour to set up the whole Nation in Evidence against me For what is it less the dispersing of so many hundreds of Papers every Week all over the Kingdom stuffed with the basest and falsest Scandals against me imaginable belying the very Ordâ—rs and Proceedings of
Plotter and That perswasion I promise you goes a great way Nay I le tell ye a word more too but in Confidence I heard a Gentleman undertake the other night to prove him one and This is a man that speaks him as fair to his Face to as any man Living which carrys the greater Credit Eph. But do you believe Zekiel that L' Estrange holds any Correspondence with Celliers or not Zek I do not believe that ever he exchang'd any message with her or ever so much as saw the Eyes of her in his whole Life This is a thing I would not say to every Body but I know to whom I speak it Eph. You must know Zekiel that I did not only start the first General Report of L' Estranges being in Tongs Plot but I fixed the Particular Article and layd it for Tampering with Tong to Renounce the Retractation he made to his Vnkle of his former Enformation Zek. That might passe well enough to serve a present Turn but at the long Run you could never expect that it would hold water for at the time of Tongs Renouncing That Retractation L' Estrange had not as yet ever seen the face of Tong. To deale frankly with ye I do not approve the laying of so much stresse neither upon Tongs Testimony First he advances an Enformation and at the same time gives us a Counterpart of it which according to our Principles was fairly done Secondly he Retracts That Information and Thirdly denys upon his Salvation that ever he retracted it and Swears it to have been his own Spontaneous Act with Three Wittnesses to Assert That Disclamer Now This is so Notorious a forfeiture of his Credit that I should be very loth to Venture the Pinch of the Question upon his Evidence So that I am still blowing up the Clamour of L' Estrange and Celiers and the Jelousy of L' Estranges being a Papist And I 'le tell ye what beside I have pushâ—d it forward that the Duke of York sent Tong a Hundred Guinnyes by L' Estrange for an Encouragement And This works in the peoples heads like Bottle Ale Eph. That it does upon my word Zekiel for I was rounded in the ear but yesterday that Prance had Ten Wittnesses in Readiness to prove that L' Estrange had been Forty times at Mass here Solemnly Worshipping according to the Profession of the Romish Communion And I was told by another at the same time that L' Estrange was run quite away and a Sum of money offer'd to any man that should bring him back again Zek. This Play of Fast and Loose may do well enough so long as the Truth is kept out of sight But you see since L' Estrange's appearing at the Councell that the businesse of Tonge is in a manner blown over and that we are put to our shifts for Other Pretenses to uphold the Controversy So that if it were not for My story of Celliers and the Common Theme of Popery and Popishly-Affected I do not know but we might e'en shut up our shops and let fall the Question Eph. I know very well how matters pass'd upon L' Estrange's Examination and all things consider'd I am of Opinion that John Gay has done his part again to help us out at a dead Lift in his paper of Intelligence Octo. 7. Yesterday says he Mrs. Cellier Mr. L' Estrange Mr. Choqueux Captain Ely Mr. Tonge his Father and Dr. Oates had a Hearing before the Councill where several material things were discovered and many Words past betwixt Dr. Oates and Mr. L' Estrange The Council upon Dr. Oates desiring L' Estrange might be committed Order'd Dr. Oates to bring a Bill against him and if it was found he should be Secur'd And L'Estrange own'd that Mr. Tonge had been with him but did not communicate any of his Plot to him The further Hearing of Him and Mrs Cellier is adjourn'd till Friday Zek. What dost thou mean Ephraim to encourage such a Flam as This There are twice as many known Falshoods in it as there are Lines And they are so Palpable too that there is hardly any man of business but is able to Contradict them Nor is there one Syllable in it to the Purpose but where L'Estrange and Cellier are coupled together He says nothing at all here of L' Estrange's being snapt up at the Councell for his Sawcynesse and the Moan he made to their Lordships for Dr. Oates's making so bold with one of the Kings Justices and the Drs. telling him that he would prove him a Rogue by the Best in the Land and of the Cause being only put off in order to the Drs. bringing of further Evidence Now since Mr. Gay was so bent upon it to strain a point of Candour and Integrity methinks he should have had the Brains to have made a better Choice of the Lyes he intended to publish especially when the One was every jot as True and as Cheap as the Other Eph. Pray'e tell me what Exception you have now to the Paper of honest Mr. Hill that of a Strong-Water-man is now become an Intelligencer It bears Date Octo. 7. Yesterday says he Mr. Justice Bridgman and Dr. Oates appear'd at the Councell-board where he deliver'd the Confession of young Tonge which he made in Newgate whereby he accused Mr. L'Estrange and one Choqueux to be Conspirators with him in the Plot against his Father and Dr. Oates Very high Words pass'd between Dr. Oates and Mr. L'Estrange the Latter telling the Councell that Dr. Oates took the Liberty to call him a Thousand times Rogue and Rascall which the Dr. owned saying he would prove him to be Both and desir'd he might be Secur'd Whereupon the Councell Order'd the Dr. to prefer a Bill against him and if it were found promised that he should either be Secur'd or give sufficient Bayle Upon Examination L'Estrange owned that Young Tonge had been with him and at the same time told him he had something to discover but he knew not what it was Zek. This piece of Intelligence Ephraim is like Chip in Porridge it does neither good not hurt only it keeps the Wheel a going And yet the leaviug out of Cellier let me tell ye is the want of a Principal Verb. It was not well to put in the Doctors calling L'Estrange Rogue and Rascall unlesse it had been accompany'd with some Intolerable Provocation for fear it might be look upon as an Irreverence toward the Board The Dr. they say made often mention of the Parliament which the News-Letters do well not to take notice of upon matter of Discretion as well as Respect Upon the whole matter I observe This Decorum in all these Papers that in the Main they have the Wit to hold mostly in a Tale. The most Positive and Concise of the whole Tribe is little Hancock October 7th The Papers of young Tong 's Sham-Plot being seiz'd Mr. L'Estrange and Mrs. Cellier were Summon'd but they deny'd they knew any thing of it