refus'd Paper and expresly deny'd to send for his Witnesses Besides Mrs. Yorke who actually liv'd both before and after April in her Brother Grove's house attested that she saw not Oates there which he excus'd by his being forsooth in Disguise In conclusion there were three that gave evidence against Mr. Ireland for Oates produced one Sarah Paine an ordinary Maid that had formerly serv'd Grove who swore she saw him about the Twelfth of August in Town at the door of his Lodging Whereupon the Prisoners were all Condemn'd and being carried back to Newgate Mr. Ireland writ there under his own hand a Journal which shew'd where he was every day and who saw him from the Third of August to the Fourteenth of September being the time of his absence from London The chief places were Tixhal Holy Well Wolver-Hampton and Boscobel the Persons that saw him were of great Quality as my Lord Aston and his Family Sir John Southâ—â—â— and his Family Madam Harwel and hers several of the Giffords of Chillington several of Sir John Winfords Relations Madam Crompton and Mr. Bidolph of Bidolph Sir Thomas Whitgrave Mr. Chetwin Mr. Gerard and his Family Mr. Heningham and his the Pendrels of Boscobel and above Forty more nor is there one day during the whole time 〈◊〉 which there cannot be produced above a dozen of these Witnesses On Fryday the Twenty Fourth of January Mr. Ireland and Mr. Grove were carried to Tyburn where they spoke as follows Mr. Irelands Speech WE are come hither as on the last Theater of the World and do therefore conceive we are obliged to speak First then we do confess that we pardon all and every one whatsoever that have any Interest Concern or Hand in this our Death Secondly We do publickly profess and acknowledge that we are here obliged if we were Guilty our selves of any Treason to declare it and that if we knew any Person faulty therein although he were our Father we would detect and discover him and as for our selves we would beg a Thousand and a Thousand Pardons both of God and Man but seeing we cannot be believed we must beg leave to commit our selves to the Mercy of Almightly God and hope to find Pardon of him through Christ As for my own part having been twenty Years in the Low-Countries and then comming over in June was twelve month I had return'd again had not I been hindred by a Fit of Sickness On the third of August last I took a journey into Stafford-shire and did not come back to Town before the Fourteenth day of September as many can Witness for a Hundred and more saw me in Stafford-shire and thereabouts Therefore how I should in this time be acting here Treasonable Stratagems I do not well know or understand Here one of the Sherifs told him he would do well to make better use of his time than to spend it in such like Expressions for No body would believe him Not that they thought much fo their time for they would stay but such kind of words did arraign the proceedings of the Court by which they were tryed Then Mr. Ireland proceeded and said I do here beg of God Almighty to Showr down a Thousand and a Thousand Blessings upon his Majesty on her Sacred Majesty on the Duke of York and all the Royal Family and also on the whole Kingdom As for those Catholicks that are here we desire their Prayers for a happy passage into a better World and that he would be Merciful to all Christian Souls And as for all our Enemies we earnestly desire that God would Pardon them again and again for we pardon them heartily from the bottom of our Hearts And so I beseech all good people to pray for us and with us Then Mr. Groves said WE are innocent we loose our lives wrongfully we pray God to forgive them that are the Causers of it MR. Pickering being Repriev'd till the Nineth of May was then brought to the place of Execution expressing infinit Joy at that great happiness and taking it upon his Salvation that he was Innocent in thought word and deed of all that was laid to his charge Being taxed for a Priest he smilingly deny'd it saying he was but a Lay-Brother then Praying for his Accusers and Enemies he said to the Hang-man Friend do thy Office and presently after was turn'd over being regretted by many as seeming a very harmless Man and altogether unfit for the Desperate Employment put upon him Concerning Mr. Hill Green and Berry MR. Hill servant to Doctor Godwin Green an antient â—eeble man Cushion-keeper of the Chappel and Berry the Porter of Somerset-House were tryed at the Kings Bench Bar on Munday the tenth of Feb. 1678. where Oates swore that he was told by Sir Edmund Godfrey the week before he was missing That after the Plot was known several Popish Lords some of whom are now in the Tower had threatned him asking what he had to do with it That other Persons desirous of the full Discovery threatned him with the Parliament for his Remisness That he was in a great Fright saying He went in â—ear of his Life by the Popish Party as having bin often dogg'd That he came some times to the said Oates for Encouragement That he did encourage him by telling him That he would suffer for a just Cause and the like Prance swore That at the plow Girald and Kelley two Priests did about a fortnight before the Murder entice him to it saying That Sir Edmund-Godfrey was a busy man and would do a great deal of mischief That Green Girald and Hill dogg'd Sir Edmund Godfrey to a House at St. Clements That Green came about seven at night to tell Prance of it Kelly and Girald being at watch there but the said Green did not tell him where at St. Clements Sir Edmund Godfrey was nor did any of the rest do it That about the hour of Eight or Nine Sir Edmund Godfrey came homewards That Hill ran before to give the Conspirators notice of it at Sommerset-House and then going to the Gate He told Sir Edmund that two men were quarelling within and desir'd him being a Justice to qualify them that he consented to it but when he came to the bottom of the Railes Green threw a twisted Handâ—ercher about his neck and cast him behind the Railes and throtled and punch'd him That within a quarter after Prance who had bin before watching above at the Water-gate came down and laying his hand upon the body found the leggs to totter and shake and then Green wrung his neck quite round But here the Reader is to take notice that Prance having related the matter of Fact in this manner Mr. Attorney askt him on a sudden if he saw Green thus wâ—ing his neck No answered he forgeting what he had just before said but Green did afterwards tell me that he did it which words supris'd not a â—ew Then he proceeded and
as also of their never having such Hopes since the Dayes of Q. Mary with the like Rhetorical Flowers Mr. Coleman being then found Guilty upon the account of his Letters for my Lord Chief Justice told him as I already mention'd †That the Cause hung not on the Matter he insisted upon to wit on the Consult of August which Oates pretends him to be at He was next day Condemned at the same Bar where he declar'd with all the Execrations imaginable That he told the House of Commons all that he knew of this Business That he never heard of Proposition or knew of any to Supplant the King or Government by Invasion Disturbance or the like That he thought 't is true by Liberty of Corscience Popery might come in and that every Body is bound to wish all People of the Religion be professes with much more to the same Purpose Then being carryed back to Prison where his Wife had only private Admittance he was on Tuesday the Third of December brought to Tyburn where he made the following Speech Mr. Coleman's Speech IT is now expected I should speak and make some Discovery of a very great Plot I know not whether I shall have the good Fortune to be believed better now than formerly if so I do here solemnly declare upon the words of a Dying Man I know nothing of it And as for the raising of Sedition Subverting the Government stirring up the People to Rebellion altering the known Laws and Contriving the Death of the King I am wholly Ignorant of it Nor did ever I think to advance that Religion which People think I am so Zealous of hereby I thank God I am of it and declare I dye of it nor do I think it prejudicial to King or Government But though I am as I said a Roman Catholick and have been so for many Years yet I Renounce that Doctrine which some say the Remish Church doth usher in to promote their Interest That Kings may be Murder'd and the like I say I abominate it Here Mr. Coleman being interrupted by being told that if he had any thing to say by way of Confession or Contrition for the Fact he might proceed otherwise it was unseasonable to go on and spend time with such like Expressions Mr. Coleman then reply'd No! But he thought it was expected then being told to the contrary he concluded with these few words following I do say I had no intention to subvert the Government or to act any thing contrary to Law but what every Man of a contrary Religion would do in a peaceable manner if he could And if I may be believ'd the Witness that Swore against me did me wrong and that Witnesses that swore He was with me in Sommerset-House-Gallery upon the words of a Dying Man I never saw his Face before Being afterwards ask'd if he knew any thing of the Death of Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey He also declared on the words of a Dying Man he knew nothing of it Concerning Mr. Ireland Grove and Pickering WIth these three Mr. White the Provincial and Mr. Fenwick Procurator of Saint Omer's held up their Hands at the Old Baily on the Seventeenth of December and though they were charg'd home by Oates yet Bedlow had so little against the said Mr. White and Fenwick that after a Tryal of several Hours they were for want of two Witnesses as the Law requires in Treason remanded to Newgate where we will leave them till by and by being now only to treat of the others Oates then not only repeats the beforementioned April Consult at the White-Horse-Tavern his comming over with Sir John Warner Sir Thomas Preston Fa. Williams Nevil Hildesley and others his lying close in the time of the said Consult at Groves's when as the Prisoners attest that he was then actually at Saint Omers but he further deposes that Mr. Ireland was caballing in Mr. Fenwicks Chamber about a Fortnight or ten Days in August and that the said Mr. Ireland gave him particularly on the first or second of September twenty Shillings Then He sayes that two Jesuits were sent into Scotland to stir up the Presbiterians there That at the aforesaid April meeting there was a formal Resolve drawn up by Mico their Secretary signed by at least Forty and entered into a Book or Register That Grove and Pickering should go on with their Attempt to Kill the King and that the first should have 1500 l. and the other 30000. Masses That it was to be done by long Pistols something shorter than Carbines and that the Bullets were Silver which Grove said he would champ that the wound might be uncureable That Pickering had mist an opportunity in the preceding March by reason his Flint was loose for which he underwent a Penance of twenty or thirty stroakes with a Discipline That the Duke was also to be deposed if he were not vigorous for the Cause That he saw in their Entry book that Sir George Wakeman had accepted of 15000. l. to poyson the King if the others fail'd That he perus'd the Entry-book of the Peter-pence which Grove and Smith had gathered That Grove told him that he fir'd Southwark and that his the said Oates's business of comming now over was to Kill Doctor Tongue for Translating the Jesuits Morals Bedlow being called acknowledges the Entry-book and adds that Mr. Langhorn was the Register That the Earl of Shaftsbury the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Ossory and Duke of Ormond were to be kill'd That Mr. Ireland was at Mr. Hartcourts Chamber in the latter end of August where it was agreed the other Plot not succeeding Coniers should go with Pickering and Grove to New-Market to kill the King in his Morning-walk there That Pickering Grove were also present in the said Chamber that his Brother James Bedlow heard him often talking of the Prisoners and as one acquainted with Priests and that he brought him as the said James attested Fifty and Sixty pòunds at a time from the Jesuits The Charge was solemnly deny'd by them all and besides their own constant Loyalty they alledg'd that of their respective Relations who had been great Sufferers both in their Lives and Fortunes for the King and Pickering as to his particular protested he never Shot off a Pistol in his Life which by his very mine and looks seem'd not very improbable to the Spectators Then Mr. Ireland after Answers to the several other particulars affirm'd That he was constantly out of London from the third of August till above a week after the beginning of September which he prov'd by three Witnesses got together by chance by his Sister He also urg'd that he had Witnesses that there were more Witnesses but that he and the rest were kept so strict that they were not permitted to send for any body nay that he was
Oates presently affirm'd That He was bound on pain of Damnation not to disobey his superior and if he choose him or others to a place they must take it upon them and yet every body knows that knows any thing that nothing is more frequent than for a Jesuit in these Cases to reply as they term it to the General and consequently to free himself even after Nomination After this the Prisoners call'd for Witnesses to prove Mr. Ireland's Absence out of London from the 3d. of August to the 14th of September contrary to the Positive Oath both of Oats and Bedlow which several of the Judges were against because that Business had received Tryal Others urg'd That the Jury was not to take notice of any thing done at a former Tryal unless it were then spoken of which seemed hard and strange to many because in reason the Accused were to lay hold of all Matters that could lessen the Credit of their Accusers and more especially of things relating to the Plot. But the Court even according to their own Rules were at last forc'd to grant them their Demand because Oates did in this very Tryal say That Ireland was in Town between the 8th and 12th of August and that Mr. Fenwick was with him Then the Witnesses to wit Sir John Southcot my Lady their Son and Daughter were called whereupon Sir Edward Southcot the Son affirm'd that he was told That Mr. Ireland came to his Uncles my Lord Astons in Hartford-shire on the 3 d. of August at Night but he saw him not there till early on the 4 th and that he went with him and his Family to Tixhal my Lord 's usual Residence in Stafford-shire continuing every Day with them till the sixteenth My Lady Southcot who was my Lord Aston's Sister said That he was with her from the fifth to the sixteenth Sir John the Father said to the same purpose to wit that he met Mr. Ireland at St. Albans on the fifth and that he was in their Company for Twelve Dayes after To them succeeded Mrs. Harwel the Mother Mrs. Harwel the Daughter and their Maid as also Sir John Winford's Ncece four Giffords of the Chillington-Family Mr. Biddulph of Biddulph and two of the Perdrels of Boscobel Son and Daughter to him who had there saved the King in his Escape from Worcester These proved Mr. Ireland's being at Wolverhampton from the 17 th to the 26 th when he returned to my Lord 's at Tixhal And five of them to wit Mr. Biddulph two of the Giffords and the two Pendrels attested that they saw him on the 2 d. of September some at Boscobel and others hard by which 2 d. of September was the very Day or the Day after that Oates positively swore Mr. Ireland gave him Twenty Shillings in London But Oates fore-seeing this Evidence did notwithstanding the Fact was in Print and that he had made Oath of it in that very Court even in the Hearing of several of the Judges and two of the Prisoners at the Bar insiâ—â— now That it was the Day to the best of his Remembrance but whether it was the 1 st 2 d. 7 th 8 th or 9 th of September he would not positively say Whereupon Mr. Gifford who had bin a summon'd Witness in Ireland's Tryal stood up and affirm'd That when Oates after much pressing would not be positive as to the Dayes in August he came at last to a Circumstance and aver'd That on the 1 st or 2d of September Ireland gave him in London Twenty Shillings The said Mr. Gifford also and his Wife when the Court objected whether it were the same Ireland that Dyed that was in Staffordshire declared That they had seen him in the Country and afterwards Tryed and Executed This Evidence being full and clear and the Witnesses that appeared Persons of great Quality nay there were twice as many more in the Countrey that could not come by reason of their Domestick Affairs Oates had nothing to ballance it but the Testimony of Sarah Paine the Servant-Maid which he had produc'd formerly in Ireland's Tryal about his being in Town on the 12 th of August as I said And here 't is to be Remember'd that there were two Mrs. Giffords Witnesses in this Affair which confounds the Reader at the first sight when he peruses the Printed Tryal for the Short-hand-Writer makes little Distinction between those Gentlewomen and therefore sometimes the same Person seems as it were to answer Negatively and Positively to the same Question Besides the said Writer is not alwayes Exact when the Witnesses are many who speaks so that he sayes sometimes John a Nikes spoke when 't was in truth John a Stiles The Prisoners then having cleverly proved this Point strike at all that Oates had ever said for having in Mr. Ireland's Tryal often said That he was here at the Consult of April 1678. he endeavor'd as a greater Satisfaction to the Court to further prove it by these Circumstances viz. That he came over with Fa. Williams Pa Nevil Fa. Pool Sir Thomas Preston Sir John Warner Hildesley a young Scholar and others So that Mr. Fenwick demanding now Whether he did not own his coming over with the said Hildesley Oates would have avoyded it by Bidding him ask Questions of what he said to Day but Mr. Fenwick insisting upon this as necessary and threatning Oates That he had Witnesses to prove his Asserting his thus Coming from beyond Sea Oates at last owned it whereupon Mr. Hildesley who is a Gentleman's Son of Quality appear'd and deny'd it protesting that he left him at St. Omers behind which Oates granted but would have it that he met him at Calis the next Day and to confirm this alledged that Hildesley lost his Mony there that Fa. Williams did relieve him and that he went not streight to London with them Hildesley readily confest the loss of his Mony c. saying He knew how Oates understood this to wit by a Gentleman that having met Hildesley came to St. Omexs with whom Oates was very familiar on the 2 d of May as several Witnesses present would prove Then were called in Nineteen Witnesses from beyond Sea Fourteen of which were from St. Omers and among them Sir James Dâ—rington's Son Sir Philip Palmer's Son Sir R. Dalison's Son and Sir Richard Colester's Son Son-in-Law to Colonel Charles Gifford who was so instrumental in saving of the King after Worcester but Dalison not hearing when the rest were called appeared not and so could not be a Witness till next Day The Substance of the St. Omarian Evidence was this Some remember'd by very good Circumstances Oates at St. Omers at and after Hildersley's Departure which was on the 24 th of April New stile Others of Burnaby's coming to them on the First of May who was the Person you must know Reader that could tell Hildesley's Adventures by meeting him on the Way
and Protestation and every part thereof in the Plain and Ordinary Sense wherein the same stands Written as they are commonly understood by English Protestants and the Courts of Justice of England without any Evasion or Equivocation or Delusion or Mental Reservation whatsoever And without any Dispensation or Pardon or Absolution already granted to me for this or any other purpose by the Pope or any other Power Authority or Person whatsoever Or without any hope expectation or desire of any such Dispensation and without thinking or believing that I am or can be acquitted before God or Man or absolved of this Declaration or any part thereof although the Pope or any other Person or persons or Power or Authority whatsoever should dispence with Or take upon him or them to dispence with or Annul the same Or declare that it was or is or ought to be Null or Void in part or in the whole from the beginning or otherwise howsoever Having made this Declaration and Protestation in the most plain Terms that I can possibly imagin to express my sincere Loyalty and Innocency and the clear intention of my Soul I leave it to the Judgment of all Good and Charitable persons whether they will believe what is here in this manner affirmed and sworn by me in my present Circumstances or what is sworn by my Accusers I do now farther declare That I die a member though an unworthy one of that Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church of Christ mentioned in the Three Holy and publick Creeds of which Church our Lord Jesus Christ is the Invisible Head of Influence to illuminate guide protect and govern it by his Holy Spirit and Grace and of which Church the Bishop of Rome as the Successor of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles is the visible Head of Government and Unity I take it to be clear That my Religion is the sole cause which moved my Accusers to charge me with the Crime for which upon their Evidence I am adjudged to die and that my being of that Religion which I here prosess was the only ground which could give them any hope to be believed or which could move my Juâ—â—y to believe the Evidence of such men I have had not only a Pardon but also great Advantages as to preferments and Estates offered unto me since this Judgment was against me in case I would have forsaken my Religion and owned my self guilty of the Crime charged against me and charged the same Crimes upon others But blessed be my God who by his Grace hath preserved me from yeilding to those Temptations and strengthened me rather to choose this death than to stain my Soul with sin and to charge others against truth with Crimes of which I do not know that any person is guilty Having said what concerns me to say as to my self I now humbly beseech God to bless the Kings Majesty with all temporal and eternal Blessings and to preserve Him and His Government from all Treasons and Traitors whatsoever and that his Majesty may never fall into such hands as His Royal Father of Glorious Memory fell into I also humbly beseeh thee O God to give true Repentance and Pardon to all my Enemies and most particularly to the said Mr. Oates and Mr. Bedloe and to all who have been any ways accessary to the taking away of my Life and the shedding of my Innocent Blood or to the preventing the King's Mercy from being extended unto me and likewise to all those who rejoyced at the Judgment given against me or at the Execution of the said Judgment and to all those who are or shall be so unchristianly uncharitable as to disbelieve and to refuse to give credit unto my now Protestations And I beseech thee O my God to bless this whole Nation and not to lay the guilt of my Blood unto the charge of this Nation or of any other particular person or persons of this Nation Unite all O my God unto thee and thy Church by true Faith Hope and Charity for thy mercies sake And for all those who have shewed Charity to me I humbly beg O my Jesus that thou wilt reward them with all Blessings both temporal and eternal 13 July 1679. R. Langhorn Mr. Langhorns's Speech at the time of Execution WHen the Hangman was putting the Rope over his Head he took it into his hands and kissed it Afterwards He said I would gladly speak to Mr. Sheriff HOW who coming up to him he addressed himself thus Mr. Sheriff I having some doubt whether I should be suffered to speak in relation to my Innocency and Loyalty I did for that Reason prepare what I had to say and what I intended to say in Writing and it is delivered into your hands Mr. Sheriff and therefore for the particular and precise Words and Expressions I do refer my self to that and I hope you will be so just to my Memory that you will permit it to be seen I shall therefore make only a short Preface and I do declare in the Presence of the Eternal God and as I hope to be saved by the Merits and Death of my dear Jesus That I am not Guilty directly or indirectly of any Crime that was sworn against me I do not speak this to Arraign the Court of Publick Justice either Judges or Jury but those Men that did swear it and the Jury had liberty to believe or not believe as they pleased And I do like wise say with the same Averrment That I did never in my Life see any Commission or Patent or any Writing or any other Thing under the hand of Johannes Paulus de Oliva c. S. Nor under no other Hand L. No nor under any other Hand of any Commission or Patents for the Raising of an Army or any Thing else against the King S. What was the Patent for for Nothing L. I never saw any nor do I believe there was any And whereas I have read in a Narrative that I sent a Commission by my Son to the Lord Arundel of Warder and that I delive'rd another to the Lord Petre or Petres with my own hands I take God to Witness that I never knew him in my life or ever to my knowledge saw the face of that Lord nor did I send or know of any thing that was sent to my Lord Arundel of Warder of that nature S. Shorten your business you have Mr. Langhorn and your Party so many ways to Equivocate and after Absolution you may say any thing L. I refer my self to that Paper I gave you Mr. Sheriff S. I think it is not fit to be Printed I will do you no wrong L. I do not think you will S. You have already printed a Paper or some body for you L. Sir I did not Print it and it was done without any Direction or Permission of mine The Lord preserve his Majesty from all manner of Treason and preserve Him from falling into such Hands as His Royal Father
to be well followed and closely observ'd because so much depends on it for if we should miss to kill him at Windsor or you miss in your way we will do it at New-Market This impudent and Notorious addition for if there were any Hint of such a design in Bedlow's before recited Evidence it was you see only in doubtful words or as a thing told Bedlo by Hartcourt I say this impudent and Notorious addition amaz'd the C. Justice and most of the Auditory but when Sir George saw that some seem'd in earnest to allow it and consider'd the Fate of all that had been yet tryed he turn'd himself to his Fellow-Prisoners and with a Disdainfull smile said There is my business done But resolving nevertheless not to die a mute he and they fell to their Defence the main of which is as follows First Sir George proved by the present Mayor of Bath his Apothecary who had read and his Son did the like the Letter of Directions for Mr. Ashby That there was not the least mention of the King or Queen besides the Baths called by their names That he had the Physical part still by him having torn it off the bottom of the said Letter and that Milk was ridiculous and never prescribed by any Physitian Oates being thus pinch'd would fain have the Milk to be Mr. Ashby's direction in Town before his going to the Bath and that there were then two Letters To this Sir George reply'd that it was Non sense to think he should write two Letters of Directions for the same man at the same place and that Mr. Ashby went to the Bath presently after the writing of them so that what he had order'd was for him there which he prov'd by young Madam Heningham and his man Hunt for he attested that his Master coming in late and weary and understanding by him that Mr. Ashby was going next day to the Bath the said Sir George made the Witness write his directions Mrs. Heningham being also all the while present who averr'd the same and that he carried them that very night to Mr. Ashby nor was there any mention of Milk only Mr. Ashby told him the said Hunt that a friend had advised him to drink it Besides Sir George told the Court that Oates at his first examination before the King and Council declar'd he never saw him and consequently could not see him write that he charg'd him there so slightly that the Board thought it not fit so much as to Commit him That he had his Liberty 24 days after his being accus'd before the Council That when Oates had accus'd him a new at the Common's Bar the Lords as appear's by the Journal examin'd Oates about this very pretended Letter and when the Chancellor askt him if he knew Sir George his hand he answered NO and that he only knew it was his Letter by being subscrib'd George Wakeman which is Reader directly contrary to his present charge Then Sir Philip Lloyd being called by Sir George he said That on the 31 of September Oates declared in Council that Fenwick writ to St Omers that Sir George had undertaken to poyson the King for 15000 l. of which 5000 l. was paid by Coleman That Sir George deny'd the thing and demanded Reparation that the Board not likeing his Carriage the Chancellor askt Oates if he knew any thing personally more than by Hear say desiring a sufficient ground for a Commitment That he lifting up his hands answer'd NO God forbid I should say any thing against Sir George for I know nothing more against him and the said Sir Philip for the Truth of what he attested appeal'd to the whole Board To this killing stroak and unquestionable evidence for every body knew Sir Philip durst not for his head have asserted a false thing since the Council before whom Oates had depos'd would have certainly question'd him I say to this killing stroak Oates had no other answer but his former to Coleman that he was weak by his two nights fatigue and that he was not COMPOS MENTIS Whereupon the C. Justice replyed That it requir'd not much strength to say he saw a Letter under Sir George's hand which was a plain and full answer also to Sir Tho. Doleman who witness'd That Oates was in a very weak and feeble condition at the Council for can any body Reader life up his hands and cry God forbid I should say more than I know and yet be so feeble as not to be able to say I know he has written Treason in a Letter Now when Oates saw this foolish Excuse would not do he openly cry'd It was such a Council as would commit no body which was not only a most Rascally Reflection and for it the Court reprehended him but a most Notorious lye since they secur'd every body whom he personally accus'd I say this was not only a Reflection and a Lie but enough to perjure him also for if he thought that this partial Councel would not secure Sir George then he has forsworn himself by saying that the remisness of his Accusation proceeded from forgetfulness and Lassitude After this Sir George desir'd that the Record of the House of Lords might be read but the Court refus'd it and then Mr. Corker began his plea. He told the Court That it was swearing with probable Circumstances that must render a man Guilty and not a ridiculous Charge by Scandalous men for otherwise no-innocent person could ever escape an Oates or a Bedlow That the Record or Lords Journal shows that Oates acknowledg'd he had nothing to say against any man but those already accused and that his name was not there That when Oates came to seize on Mr. Pickering He the Officers ask't who was in the House and when the Names of Mr. Pickering Mr. Corker Mr. Marshal were mention'd they said they had nothing to do with any body but Mr. Pickering as Ellen Rigby the House-Maid attested which plainly mproves that had Mr. Corker and Mr. Marsh been Traytors to Oates his knowledge they would have been apprehended also That the said Mr. Corker was not President of the Benedictines as Oates had depos'd and this he proved by three to wit Madam Sheldon Mrs Broad-head and the said Ellen Rigby who declared that Mr. Stapleton was in that Office and had been so for many years Besides this El. Righby who had also with others attended the Court the two former Tryals witnest That Oates last Summer came to their House a begging to Pickerings and that Pickering bad her not let him come in any more which shew'd to all the Court what a Plotter Oates was being forc'd to beg even in the very heat of the Plot and contemn'd also by his pretended Partisans Mr. Marsh added also and had the Messenger in Court That he sent for Witnesses out of the Countrey against his
his keeping himself then close and private as he publickly declared upon Oath in Mr. Ireland's Tryal and from the time of his pretended stay in Town after the said Meeting which was but three or four days as he swore in his Narrative and before the Lords also though now he would fain extend it to twenty which two particulars prove sufficiently without other Circumstances as I show'd you before the downright perjury of the Witnesses that saw then his Doctorship here so long and so publickly also And since I have mention'd this Title or Dignity it is truly so prodigiously odd and simple that I cannot pass it by without some few Reflexions For if he were thus graduated it was either out of favour in relation to his particular Merits and Service in the present Affairs Or upon the score of his Learning As for the first Can any one believe if there had been a Plot and he employ'd it that he would have been suffer'd in the midst of his Negotiation and Business to go out of his way not only to lose time on so foolish an Errand but to render himself suspected by so unusual a Grace Nor could he himself hope to make any Advantage by a Dignity since it was to be conceal'd you may be sure 'till after the Success of this wonderful Design in England and then 't would be wholly useless seeing he might we suppose expect far greater Honors and Preferments Now if his Learning promoted him and you must remember That Doctors at Salamanca do defend in the open Schools a whole Course of Divinity against every Body that will oppose them let any Man that knows Oates judge of his Doctorship by it and as for those that have no Acquaintance with him or his Abilities They are to understand that he went to the English College at Valladolid in April 77. to begin his LOGICK and return'd Home in November following as dismist for his good Qualities Nor in truth was he ever within many Miles of Salamanca in his Life In short We will joyn issue in this for the Point may be easily decided That he shall chuse One and we will chuse another to be sent to this Vâ—iversity and if they find him to have Commenced there or if they shall be deny'd the Sight of the Publick Registers or perceive in them Blots or any thing tending to a Falsiâ—ication we will for the future own him not only a Doctor but to have prov'd once in his Life a thing contradicted by us which will give no little Lustre to his other Evidence But to end with him for the present though I confess I have not half done nay as I mention'd before there is no end when one reflects on his strange Assertions and Follies take this Circumstance as a Demonstration That there is not one true Word in all his Charge And therefore I may here well say to each of you Accipe nunc Danaum Insidias crimine ab uno Disce omnes Aen. lib. 2. For on the one fide he has declar'd in his very Narrative That it was presented to the King on the Thirteenth of AUGUST by the Means of Mr. Kirkby who on the Twelfth was made acquainted with the Matters contained in it by Dr. Tongue as appears in the little Pamphlet called The Narrative or Manner of Discovery of the Plot to his Majesty On the other side If we consider the various Particulars and the Number of Persons concern'd 't was impossible for him and Dr. Tongue to digest and methodize the Whole under a Moneths time so that we may suppose it to be begun about the XII of JVLY Nor can we allow less than a Fortnight between his first Debate about the Discovery and his falling to work on the said Narrative so that his Head was full of it and consequently more particularly nice and observing from the End of JVNE at least and especially in JVLY AVGVST and SEPTEMBER For then Protestants knew of the Treasor as well as himself But now when he comes to be prest about Time Circumstances Papers and the like in relation to what he urges against the Prisoners He is so far though the Matter happens within the said Moneths from producing any one Note as certainly he might have done had his Charge been true that he will come to no positive Day when the Accused at the Bar require it of him and yet in his Flourishes throughout his said Narrative he is so exact for nothing there he knows can be brought as Evidence against him that besides Consults Accidents and several Particularities He remembers above a Hundred Letters with their respective Dates How and Whence they came and Who Subscribed them though sometimes Ten or Twelve do it together according to his Relation I say He is so far from producing Letters or Notes that at the Bar he will come to no positive Day And thus he has notoriously done in every Trial. For in Mr. Coleman's he shuffles you see about the 21 th of August as soon as he perceiv'd that the said Mr. Coleman was absent in that Moneth though since his Death and no further fear of the Business he is again positive The like you find in Mr. Ireland's about the time of his being in Town that Moneth As for the Jesuit's Trial he absolutely Hang'd you see Mr. Gavan by not standing as he first Accus'd him to the Latter End of July and Beginning of August when he understood that the said Mr. Gavan could prove himself then at Hampton And here also he would fain have gotten off you see from the 2 d. of September the Day positive he pretended to have received Twenty Shillings from Ireland in London In Mr. Langhorn's besides other Particulars he was not certain though on so remarkable an occasion and so little a while ago Whether he came from Dover by Coach or on Horse-back And in the Last Trial he had not only the Impudence to tell Mr. Marsh when the Dispute was about a Day in August That it was a great priviledge that he nam'd the Month but flew also as I shew'd you from the Fifteenth though he once granted it as soon as he began to suspect that there would be Counter-Witnesses Is not this then as I said a clear Demonstration of their VILLAINY and LYING all along for was it possible for him who had now Discover'd all to the King himself and was to make it good at a Bar to go afterwards to Consults with the Conspirators and not know the Time precisely and to see and peruse several of their Papers and Letters without being able to produce the least Scrip or Scroll or to have any Circumstance that has not been most evidently disprov'd Whenas on the contrary notwithstanding the strict Searches that have been made in all our Houses and the Reading of our secret Letters and notwithstanding our Examinations before Magistrates and our Imprisonments afterwards and by the way these Wretches have