I Dye This was occasioned by Otes's threatning my Lord Chancellor and saying He was a Rogue and he would stick as close to him as the Shirt on his back This was in August 1679. Aaron Smith told me in Otes's Chamber that a Name sake of mine made the Ballad of the Raree Show I ask'd him who he then answered me You see him Mr. Burroughs the Glass-seller in York-buildings commonly repaired to Otes's Chamber on Sunday in the Morning His Province is to get to be a Jury Man at Hicks's Hall and VVestminster and to obstruct all business tending to the advantage of the Crown to make a disturbance in the Parish to Rail against the Bishops to perswade the People the King is bringing in Arbitrary Power and Popery and to Contribute and Raise Money for Otes Mr. VVilson one morning in March last in Otes's Chamber Discoursed to me thus VVe must draw our Swords nothing will be done with these Pimps and Rogues without it meaning the Ministers of State The King will never be good till we force him to it nor the Nation Happy till another course be taken we shall fee Popery and Despotical Power overwhelm us unless we draw our Swords and Fight for our Religion and Liberty This VVilson was continually Singing Bowdy and Treasovable Songs Reflecting on the King Mr. Richard Halford is an old Leveller and a Commonwealths man He was an Agitator at New-Market and in Thompsons Broil at Burford in 1647 and hath been I do believe in all the Pactious Cabals this Twenty Tears He is a very close and dangerous Man and hath had the Dexterity to Preserve himself undiscovered Mr. Blaney of the Temple the Short-Hand Writer did in my hearing in Otes's Chamber say There was a Printing-Press in the Temple where they could do any thing and by several hints I have heard I am perswaded most of the Treasonable Libels of late Years were Printed there Mr. John Harrington did at the same time Demonstrate how easie it was for a Gentleman to Compose and Print which he said Prevented all the Discovery by Mercenary Printers Sir Henry Inglesby told me one Afternoon in September last in Otes's Chamber That he believed all the True Protestants in Ireland would have their Throats Cut in a short time by the Papists and that by the connivance if not command of the Duke of Ormond and some body else Mr. VVilliam Snow who belongs to the House of Lords is a very great Confident of Dr. Otes's He when the Parliament Sits Informs the Factious Party what he hears about the House of Lords shows Lists of the Lords Names and tells which are Honest Protestants and which are Rogues and Tories He is a constant Singer of all the late Treasonable and Bawdy Ballads that abuse the King and Government Mr. VVilliam Dalby Otes ' s Clerk hath often told me That the King was a Papist that Mr. Parsons of the Temple had many times seen him at Mass at Somerset-House That the King was drunk when he Dissolved the Parliament at Oxford so Drunk that he could not stand or Speak I have often heard Mr. Dalby say This Popish Race of the Stewarts must be Rooted out there must be a Change He was formerly Clerk to the Committee of the Rebels in Rutland Thus far Gentlemen I have given you a small insight into this Grand Popular Cheat this great Mystery of Iniquity and as far as my little Walk amongst them has Empower'd me to do And truly if all Persons farther concern'd would be as Candid as my Self undoubtedly the whole Imposture would be fully Detected and the yet unsatisfied part of Mankind wholly undeceived FINIS POSTSCRIPT SOme things being omitted in the preceding Discourse it may not be thought impertinent to insert them in this Appendix And first I shall give an account so far as fell under my knowledge of the wrong Dr. Goade Mr. of Merchant-Taylors School sustaind in the late time of Fraud and Injustice hoping that Pious and Learned Person will not take my honest and fair Intentions otherwise than I mean them The Factious Party of the Company had watch'd with malitious Eys to gain any advantage for several years against Him But either not finding any plausible one or esteeming him a Man so extraordinarily qualify'd that a better could not be found in the Three Kingdoms and there I 'm sure they were in the right They attempted not to Eject him but lessen'd him in Priviledges belonging to his Place some years I think I may say before Oates's Plot appear'd above-ground It so fell out in the beginning of the year 1681 as I take it that John Smith commonly call'd Narrative Smith but his real name is David Barry happen'd to Dine with Elias Best the Hop-merchant in Thames-street He having Sons at Merchant-Taylors-School desir'd J. Smith to examine how they benefitted in Learning These Boys producing their Books drew out the Ch. of England's Catcehism with a Comment upon it in which Comment Smith positively avow'd there was plain Popery upon our B. Saviour's descent into Hell This formidable Spectrum of Popery thus opportunely conjur'd up by Smith the Renegado Priest the True Prot. Elias manag'd so effectually that Bushel Mallery Keys Delves and other Fanatical Members of Merchants Taylors Company caus'd Dr. Goad to be summon'd to the Hall to answer for his Comment which he undertook and unhappily did it under his Hand which was the only thing they wanted Next they consulted their Oracles Otes Ferguson and Dr. Owen the Independant The first to Swear and the latter to Evict the Popery of the Comment and its Defence Notwithstanding during the time that this Affair was transacted I was very intimate with Oates yet he cautiously conceal'd it from me knowing I would endeavour to prevent it having so great a Veneration for Dr. Goad He being the best Friend I ever found However he had before often tamper'd with me to have accused the Dr. of being a Papist which neither knowing or Believing him so I refus'd to do telling Oates that it would be the greatest piece of Ingratitude imaginable in Him to attempt any such thing To which he would always answer I did not spare You who were my Mr. too and therefore why should I spare Him And for this aversion of mine I was then wholly kept a stranger to their projects against him till they had fully done their work But to give you the full account of this Comment and the Dr's Ruine that attended it The matter of Fact is as follows Upon a fit of Sickness that the Dr. lay under the conduct of his School was wholly left to the Ushers who driving as is well known a great Trade in Selling Books to the Schollars did at that time for their own private Lucre Introduce this Comment upon the Church Catechism into the School which was so far from being Popish that it was both Licens'd and Dedicated to the then Arch-bishop of Canterbury Now tho' the Dr. did
after Oates's Exaltation and Renown of being a Discoverer for the credit of the Author was sold by him to Mr. Sawbridge for 40 or 50 Guineas but answered not expectation for no other fault but the Satyr against their darling Calvin in it which indeed was no small crime in that season and for which had not his other Vertues atoned might have proved very injurious not only to his Narrative but also his Reputation too amongst his greatest Friends and supporters the Phanaticks Soon after this Oates cast off his Habit and put himself into a Campagne Coat and a Sword and being entertain'd by the Jesuites he was by them sent into Spain where they were soon weary of him and remitted him to England where applying himself again to the Jesuites especially to Father Whitebread whom afterwads he so fairly requited by his Interest he was sent over to St. Omers From thence returning in the year 78 he sculckt about the Town in a Secular Habit and came to visit me as formerly being very intimate also as before with Medburne who was instrumental in obtaining him some assistance for his relief from persons of Quality of the Romish Religion This Familiarity continuing between us one thing was remarkable That about that time that we had an account of the Battel of Mons he met Medburne and Mr. Thomas Hughes who is now living and a Member of the Church of England and ready to attest it and complaining of his extreme necessity he told them He had not eaten a bit of Bread in Three Days upon which they carryed him into the Cock in the Hay-market and made him Eat and Drink giving him also some Money notwithstanding this was the very time when in his Discovery after he was in the height of his pretended Plot and daily interested and engaged with so many persons of such great Quality to carry on the Cause of Rome From the middle of July till the latter end of August I saw him not and the first week of September Medburne and John Philips brought him to me at Islington we went to the Catherine-Wheel where we drank a Bottle or two of Claret and my Boy brought me some new Acts of Parliament then newly publish'd Upon reading of them there happned a very great Debate between Medburne and Titus Oates concerning the Three Estates Titus affirming the King to be one of the Three Estates and answerable to the other Two which he called the Lords and Commons Medburne contradicted him and told him he lied insomuch that they grew to very hard words Philips justifying Oates and I Medburne I showing my reason in the preamble of one of the Acts wherein 't was exprest Be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty with the Consent and Advise of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons Assembled in Parliament c. urging That if the King had been One of the Three Estates it would have run thus Enacted by the King Lords and Commons c. Here t is observable The very time when Oates was just upon Discovering a Plot in Zeal for the Preservation of His Majesties Life he was nevertheless talking Treason against his Prerogative In some few days after this he came to me again in the Evening and desired me with all intreaties imaginable to write him a Paper of Verses in Latin upon our Blessed Saviour and the Virgin Mary which he intended as he said to carry to the Jesuites as his own to demonstrate his Learning and try if thereby they would re-entertain him or get him into some Catholick Family where he might teach some Children he being then totally destitute of any livelihood The Verses I made for him and he fetch'd them the next morning forcing upon me as a gift a pair of Tweezers which he said he brought out of Flanders He particularly desired me in the afore-named Verses to make a long harangue in the praise of the Virgin Many pretending it would very much please the Jesuites But truly I thought not fit to do so and omitted it The next and last time he came to me was on a Saturday some few days after in September on a Saturday which happen'd to be the day before the great noise of the Popish Plot broke out and I invited him to the Katherine-Wheel where he pull'd out a handful of money which seem'd to be about 30 or 40 shillings offering me the acceptance of it in return of the many Reckonings I had paid for him and the Treats I had made him but I refused it Then he ask'd me if I had heard any thing of a Plot I told him No upon which he said There had been great complaints at Whitehall about a I lot of the Jesuites against the King He promised to come and Dine with me next day but I saw him no more till the First day of November when he appear'd at the Lords Bar and swore falsely against me The reason why I mention these two passages is this He told me after I was got into his favour That he came both those times to me to trapan me This I avoided by the great mercy of God not my own Prudence I being always too credulous and easie to be imposed upon never laying Snares for any Man and thinking no body would lay any for me If I had writ what he desired me of the Blessed Virgin he had made me under my own hand a Papist If I had taken his money he had swore me into his Plot yet I was brought into the Bryars for all this Oates in the interim had given into the Council Depositions of his Plot wherein he gave in my Name for meeting at a Club in Fuller's Rents Hereupon the Lord Bishop of London sent for me to the Vestry in Islington Church His Lordship ask'd me How I happn'd to be concern'd in such a Club. I replied I never had any ill intent in going thither neither ever saw or heard any bad Action or Discourse in the Company one reason that caused me to be there now and then was this The person that kept the House was a Gentleman fallen to decay having many Children This being his last shift I conceiv'd it to be a sort of Charity when I could spare a six pence to spend it with him rather than another especially having the Society of ingenuous Men. His Children likewise I taught and was not paid nor ever expected I should Nor am I to this day His Lordship seemed to be satisfied It was then urged against me by a Doctor there present That I kept company with one Medburne a Player who was a rank Papist intimating thence that I must be so too and blundering out the old bald Verse Noscitur a Socio qui non dignoscitur a se I replied I reckoned it no crime to keep company with a Man to whom I had seen the greatest Men in the Kingdom speak kindly and amongst others his Lordships Brother the Earl of Northampton but if
the Famous but after diligent and tedious Inquiry it so fell out that Titus Oates was either the First Hero of his Family or the Heraulds had been unkind in not transmitting his Name and Arms to posterity for neither could be found Our Discoverer it seems being like the Champion mentioned by Silius Ita icus Ast illi sine Luce Genus surdumque Parentum Nomen These men being unwilling nevertheless to defeat the Doctor 's Honourable expectations or that the Major should lose his Reward expected for this eminent piece of service to him found out a Coat which they believed no body now could claim viz a Chevron between three Crosses Croslet Fitchee Being the Atchievement of Sir Otes Swinford Husband to the Lady Katherine Swinford afterwards married to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster This the Doctor believed and joyfully received and most Triumphantly Engraved it on all his Plate and in a large Seal Ring requiting the Major with 20 s. but into the Bargain obliged him to bring him his Pedegree all which he would pay for but that being as hard to be produced as one of his own Commissions the Major's non-performance quite lost the Doctor 's favour But to return to our purpose In May 1679. the Parliament then sitting at Westminster I met one Mr. Barrow since Prebendary of Windsor we went into a House to drink together after some common discourse he began to tell me a long story how the Saturday last he had met the Bishop of Chester's Chaplain who enquired of him concerning me I asking him for what and also telling him I knew not the man He made answer That the Parliament being going to try the Lords in the Tower I was wanted to prove Oates's being in Town for which end he told me the Chaplain had sent for him to enquire me out I was very much surprized at this and reminding him of the great Troubles I had lately been in which he very well knew I desired to be excused from any such thing as being mighty unwilling to be brought upon the Stage again I confest indeed I very well remembred he had been with me several Times that last Summer as indeed he had but however I besought him not to desire any such thing of me expressing my great aversion thereunto but he urged the great service I should do to the publick and told me I should be highly gratified by the Parliament Nevertheless I persisted in my Denyal continuing to express several reasons for my dislike in doing any such thing till at last he plainly told me he had order to bring me and that if I would not go he would send for a Constable and I should not stir from thence till he had sent the Parliament word of me in which finding him in earnest rather than be so compell'd I thought it better to go quietly along with him and to Westminster we went and coming to the House of Lords we sent in to the Bishop of Chester but he being that day ill of the Gout and not there we sent in to the Bishop of London who was pleased to come forth to us we signified to his Lordship the intention of our coming who was pleased to say I did ill I had not told him of this thing before to which I replied I did not know there was any occasion for my testifying any such thing My Lord was pleased to say I had done well if I had come sooner there being testimony wanting in that point but now the Papers concerning the Popish Plot being this morning carried down to the House of Commons the Lords would say nothing to me we then desired his Lordship to instruct us what we should do who order'd us to go to the House of Commons and send in a Note to Sir Thomas Meers letting him know we came from his Lordship But before we went his Lordship gave me caution that I did nothing but what was just and honest and that I should no ways wrong my Conscience Accordingly we went and coming into the Lobby where the Crowd was great after the Note was sent in I lost Mr. Barrow whom I then saw no more but Sir Thomas Meers came out to me I acquainting him with the business he required me to stay in that place till he went back into the House which he thought would soon adjourn and return'd to me I staid a little while and the House adjourning he came to me again and told me I must go to the Secret Committee in Lincolns-Inn-Fields at Serjeant Maynard's House about six a Clock at night and in his Name enquire for Sir Thomas Lee But says he I shall see him before then and prepare him to send for you in presently when you come thither At six I went where I found the Committee sitting where meeting Mr. Banister of Grays-Inn who was order'd to be their Door-keeper as a confiding man and signifying my desire of speaking with Sir Thomas Lee he went in and Sir Thomas immediately came out and told me I should be presently call'd in which was done and the door very carefully shut after me with two Locks as I remember Sir Thomas Lee sat at the upper end of the Table I suppose as Chairman who made an Harangue much such another as Councellor Smith had done before expressing the great Deliverance this Kingdom had received from the late Discovery and how it was every mans duty to do all that lay in his power to be instrumental in serving the Nation and the Protestant Religion c. He required me to inform him what time Oates was with me the Summer before I answered several times about Midsummer and after to the best of my Remembrance Another of the Committee ask'd me if I did not see him in April or the beginning of May 5. I told him I could not remember certainly But they all prest upon me that it must be in April or May promising me that if I would tell the Truth they would endeavour with the King and House of Lords to have me restored to the place I lost or a better urging withal That if I would not tell the Truth things would be worse with me and much more to that threatning purpose I being apprehensive of danger and having already suffer'd too much considering too I was not upon my Oath I ventured to say that truly I thought it might be about May which Sir Thomas Lee wrote down and afterwards required me to subscribe to which I not suspecting they would ever demand of me was surprized into and durst not deny them They enquired likewise where I lodged and to find me again wrote down that too which I durst not deny likewise fearing to be laid by the heels upon refusal Then they all said we are now ready and will acquaint the House to morrow morning and something else they said they would do with the House of Lords which I cannot particularly remember VVhen they had put down the place I
lodged at one of them stood up and said We shall have all the Rogues out of every hole and corner by degrees which not a little troubled me though now too late to think how they had drawn me in and before I went out of the Room with what a course appellation they treated the tool they had made However at parting they returned me thanks and promis'd me also the whole House of Commons would thank me too and so with much Civility and many good words dismist me But the Commons soon afterwards falling upon the Succession the Parliament was Dissolved in some few days after Upon which I heard no more of this business and indeed expected to hear no more on 't But in June I coming late home one night found a Subpana for me to appear at the Old-Baily by 8 a clock next morning the Subpana imported a Cause depending between the King and Thomas Whitebread whom I do declare in the presence of God I did not then know what or who he was for tho all the Town at that time was full of no other discourse than of the Jesuites in Newgate and other Popish Criminals yet their Names I never troubled my self to enquire into being then very melancholy under my long Adversity and scarce daring to shew my head abroad Now to shew the oddness of the circumstances that surprized me in this thing I was found out at my Lodgings by the Paper Sir Thomas Lee had made me sign Neither should they have done this had I had the least suspicion that I should have been Subpoena'd in this cause for when I appear'd before the Committee their pretensions were wholly of using me in the Tryal of the Lords which the Parliaments Dissolution made me conclude was now over and therefore not in the least imagining I should have been call'd upon in this Case at the Old-Baily I had not provided me any other Lodgings or sought any concealment or preventions against it To the Old-Baily accordingly in the morning I went and coming to the door I spoke to an Officer and show'd him my Subpana not then knowing what I was summon'd thither for by reason I came home late the night before and this was the first enquiry I made for the Fellow that brought the Subpoena staying till 11 a clock at night for me at my Lodgings and not finding me come in left it with strict orders with my Landlord to deliver it me and being asked what it concerned he would give him no account of that but in general terms told him it was business of great consequence and so repeated his strict charge of not failing the Delivery of it and sending me next morning accordingly The Officer made me no other answer than that I must go to the Fountain Tavern at Snow-hill where coming I found the two Oates's Father and Son that being the first time that I had ever seen the Father together with Councellour Smith and many other persons strangers to me This likewise was the first time as before-mentioned that I had seen Oates from about Christmas before After a Glass or two of VVine drank to me and some other usual Civilities past the two Oates and Councellor Smith retired and in some minutes after sent a Messenger to tell me there was one would speak with me in another room whereupon I went out and found it was they They had likewise a Bottle of VVine there and after some further Civilities Councellor Smith began to speak much to the purpose he had done at White-hall which for brevity I pass by But at length they came to insist upon my Testimony for Oates his being in Town in the month of May beforementioned which I endeavouring to evade they answered I had confest it to the Committee and subscribed my Hand to it which they said they had ready to produce against me if I retracted from it and refused to do him Justice and own the Truth for Justice and Truth were then words of course with him till in fine they plainly told me This I must averr or there was a Jayl ready hard by to receive me which truly would have been soon done for the Court was then sitting and undoubtedly that accursed and unlucky Paper with the strength of Oates his credit and sway at that time of day would have laid a bigger man than my self by the heels Reflecting upon the impending Danger and withal my own already too ruinous condition I being then under that extreme poverty that I had long lain in a Lodging of but 13 d. a week and was reduced to the most pressing want and more than all this having been lately informed of the dismal effects of Newgate of those great numbers of Preists and other Prisoners on the Popish Account that daily died through the unhealthiness of the place occasioned by the infinite swarms there My own Poverty and the imminent Danger of my Life not only this way but also by some of the old Stories formerly charg'd upon me at the House of Lords which might still have been revived with other Additions that the malice of Oates and his great Abettors upon that refusal through the prevailing VVickedness of those times might have raised against me All this I say together with my own want of Money Advice or Friends at that time and indeed not leisure enough throughly to consider the fatal consequences the Tryal then hastning on my own VVeakness at last forced me to comply whilest my Apprehensions Surprize and Fears overpowred my vanquisht Reason and husht all other sentiments Thus was I unfortunately ensnared by a continual Chain of cross contingencies together with an Humane Frailty which some time or other attends all mankind Yet truly that the VVorld may not lie in a mistaken Opinion I profess before God Men and Angels that I neither had any malice against any of the persons then impeacht whom till then I had never seen nor did I comply through any prospect of Reward or Mercenary end whatever having never had so much as one farthing from that day to this no not so much as one shilling at the delivery of the Subpoena The rest of the Summer I was very quiet being very kindly treated by Oates whenever I came to visit him And after Michaelmas following Dangerfield sets up his Plot which when I heard of in Curiosity I went the next morning to Oates to hear his opinion of it he was in his Chamber and when I had stayed some small time with him in came Sir Will. Waller Coll. Mansell Peter Gill Mr. Chetwyn and Tho. Merry vvith some others Waller had a very great bundle of Papers vvhich he pulled out from under his Coat they having that night searched Mrs. Celliers House and brought these from thence Oates then ask'd Sir William hovv matters vvent Sir William made a discourse of half an hour long as much of which as I remember was to this purpose VVe says he have searcht Celliers house
complained of Colledges ill usage in many bitter expressions among others I very well remember he said these words at our parting By God this pace will not carry it we must take another course I askt him what he replayed We must Dagger them nothing but a Dagger will do it Dagger who quoth I These Rogues the Judges says he we must make a Tumult in the street and Stab them like Villains in their Coaches for an Example to others for no good will be done we shall have no Justice till these Rogues be served so Mr. Merry said to me in Mr. Ote's Chamber at Whitehall when the Parliament was sitting at Oxford 1680 1. That the King had a Design to seize upon all the Protestant honest Lords and Gentlemen at Oxford and chop off their Heads but says he They are well provided for Defence and Offence yet the King will cut off all the honest Party and bring in Popery at last by the help of the King of France but if he Travels once more neither he nor any of the Race of him will ever return Rhoderick Mansel at Lambs Ordinary in March 1679. told Mr. Savage Mr. Hughs Mr. Button and my self That there were Commissions given out that Sir William Waller had seized them that he had seen them that he knew of Twenty Horses in divers Stables ready that he and Collonel Disney would Head the Prentices that he would Fight for the Cause in Blood up to the Knees and that the King resolved to bring in Popery This was before the business of Captain Tom. Nicholson when he was fitting up Otes's Pistols a little before the Parliament met at Oxford said to me Come come we shall have occasion for these before we come back again from Oxford I shall be once again on Horseback I would I were Twenty Years Younger He was a Trooper in Cromwells Army The aforesaid Creswel is a most Audacious Villain His many Horrid Expressions against the King and the great Ministers of State would fill many Sheets His ordinary Execrations against the King are The Devil confound him he is a Papist the Devil run through him with a Scythe at 's Back The Devil Run through that Papist Whore that Bitch the Queen with a Scythe at 's Back The like Curses against the Chancellor Mr. Seymore Secretary Jenkins Privy Seal c. I have heard him express I do really think above a hundred times Doctor Oates hath in my hearing I belive a hundred times affirmed very Peremptorily That the Supream Power was in the People That the King was but the Peoples Servant and Steward That the People had Power to Depose him and set up another when they pleased That the King was as deep in the Plot and was as Errant a Papist as his Brother That the King had Suborned VVitnesses to stifle the Popish Plot and to throw it upon the Protestants mentioning Dangerfield Tongue and Fitz-Harris One day when Tongue was Examined before the Council Otes told me All the Subornation will come up to our Master at last meaning the King Many times Otes has said to me His Fingers Itches meaning the King to bring in Popery and the French Government But it will not do we are ready we are Provided against him with Men and Arms upon any occasion He may remember what became of former Kings that abused Parliaments Let him Remember his Father He must expect the same Sauce if he goes on The Persons that most frequented Otes's Chamber were Councellor Smith Starkey Pascal Charleton Aaron Smith VVilson Burroughs Nelthrop VVest Hunt Snow Halford Blaney Merry Mansel Sir Hugh Inglesby Collonel Scot Chetwin Colledge Yarrington Harrington Dr. Jones Dr. Butler Dr. Pole Dr. a Prebendary of Chichester Cannon Billing Penn and VVhitacre That Afternoon Oats Returned from Oxford after Colledges Tryal he laid him down on the Chairs in his Chamber at Whitehall and said Oh! there is a great Man fallen this day in Israel I wish I may lay down my Life in so just a Cause He is his Countries Martyr Well! well we may now see how the Game is like to go Our Master meaning the King is resolved to bring in Popery No Man ever had such foul Play as this poor Colledge all the True Protestants will be Murdered thus one after another Major Wildman and Mr. Charleton Furnished Oats at his going to Oxford to the Parliament with Forty Pound his Collections are now gathered by Elias Best the Hop-Merchant in Thames-street William Powel said to me one day in Scotland-yard Dam this Dog Warcup By God if I could light on him handsomely I would Cut his Throat he hath been the cause of all this mischief meaning the business of Colledge This Powel will commonly say Our Family lost a great Estate by Windsor at the Kings coming in but if things go on we shall get it again I doubt not I have divers times in Oats's Chamber in Whitehall particularly after the Dissolution of the Two last Parliaments and during that at Westminster heard Henry Starkey Aaron Smith Mr. Hunt Mr. Wilson Mr. Chetwin Mr. Thomas Merry Mr. Richard Halford Mr. VVhitaker Collonel Mansel and Doctor Oates Affirm and Discourse thus VVe have 20000 Horse and Foot ready Armed upon occasion we Value not the Kings Guards a Fart and if the Duke of Monmouth will but draw his Sword he 'l find Friends enough and if the Parliament would but sit their Friends could Protect them against the King and all his Guards The means how they can have 20000 Men so ready as far as I could perceive is this The Gentlemen of the Three Great Clubs and their Adherents of the better sort and the meaner fort of the Trained-bands are double Armed I have heard many of them say They would loose their Lives before they would part with their Arms and if the King should come to demand them they would Fire upon him I Remember when the matter of presenting the Guards was on Foot that Mr. Merry said to me The Grand Inquest are Cowardly and Timerous Fellows and dare not go through with the work they are too much of the Court Party but afterwards upon advice from my Lord Shaftsbury the business was laid aside My Lord said It was better to let the Guards alone because they were of small moment to obstruct our Designs and help'd to Impoverish the King This Dr. Otes told me and I once heard my Lord Speak to that purpose Otes often visited my Lord Shaftsbury and was put upon Swearing against the Duke of York by his Instigation as Otes himself told me and verily I believe it was true Dr. Otes when I have ask'd him of my Lord Shaftsbury hath often told me my Lord was Well and would say what are they all Starved yet at Whitehall The King will not be able to buy a Shirt to his Back in a short time And I once heard my Lord say to Otes I shall see thee Bishop of Winchester or Canterbury before
that matter gave offence I would forbear his company His Lordship ask'd me If I Catechized the Children I assured his Lordship That I had not one in the School but had his Catechism as perfect as A b c yet those two Doctors my Neighbours had never Catechized since I came thither which was then Twelve Years His Lordship was displeased at it however all things were patch'd up for that time About that time Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was found dead in a Ditch near Primrose Hill and the main cry was That the Papists had murder'd him This business happen'd well for Oates as he afterwards often told me He would usually say I belive not a Word on 't but my Plot had come to nothing without it It made well for me I believe the Council would never have taken any farther notice of me else if he had not been found He was a Cowardly Rascal for when I went with my Depositions to him he was so frighted that I believe he beshit himself for there was such a stink I could hardly stay in the Room This Character he would frequently give of that their pretended Protomartyr to Popery and the very person whose misfortune even by his own confession was the very support of his Pocket Notwithstanding this made well for Otes and his future Colegue Bedloe it turn'd to a scurvy account for many honest Men and put the unthinking Rabble into such a rage that most of Mankind except Phanaticks were accounted Papists of which number I was soon adopted a Member And a certain Worthy and Learned Vicar sent up and down his Parish for Witnesses to make out I was such or something worse At length he found Two Men as honest as himself to swear a blind sort of Treason against me The One formerly a Gold-finder and one of Cromwel's Jannizaries the Other a Miscreant that has scarce been in a Church since he was Christen'd These Hell-hounds accompanied with the Noble Vicar took their way into Aldersgate-Street and proffer'd to swear against me before the Lord Bishop of London who generously did refuse to meddle in the Affair Thus repulsed they applied themselves in all Humility to Otes the Saviour of the Nation whom the Vicar had accustomed to mention kindly in a long swinging thing he calls a Prayer and after Three low Reverences unfolded their Supplications to him in words to this Effect That William Smith the School-Master of Islington had spoken Treason against his Majesty that they were ready to aver it But he being a Person of greater Authority it would be much better for him to swear than for them This I had from Otes's own Mouth Otes readily accepted the Offer though he knew no more than the Man in the Moon any thing of the matter but what they told him Now Actum est de vitâ sanguine Turni Otes with great diligence procures a Warrant from some Peers whose Names I forbear to Apprehend me and bring me before the House of Lords This Warrant and Work was recommended to one Sarracoal a flagitious and profligate Rascal He with about twenty Villains of his own Gang who I believe would have murder'd me had it not been for thirty Souldiers which with an Officer of the Guards attended them came about One of the Clock in the Night and without knocking broke open my outward Door the other being open to them They rifled my House frighted a Child of about Five Years I had that he dyed soon after I was carried by these Persons into Black-Spread-Eagle-Court in the Strand over against Somerset-House to one Mr. Tomson's This House the Varlet Sarracoal had seized upon and converted into a kind of Goal There was I confin'd in a little Room in which I believe Forty or Fifty smoaked and though I smoak't my self I was almost smother'd Before Morning Sarracoal brought in several Persons more And in the Morning this impudent Fellow march't us one by one between two Musquetteers to Westminster and into the Painted-Chamber he brought us where we were placed upon the Forms and made a publick Spectacle Now a Porter with a Note in his Hand would have been enough to have commanded me before the House of Lords But the Children of Edom who managed such like Designs in those Days of Wickedness knew very well that their Conspiracy would soon fall to the Ground unless kept up by needless Noise Clamours Tumults Fears Jealousies Shamms and abominable Lies After about an Hour's space we were all brought into the House of Lords by Sir George Charnock then the Serjeant at Arms attending the House After we had kneeled sometime the Lord Chancellor bade us rise And in comes Otes very gravely habited in his Canonical Vestments He having sworn very profoundly against two or three my Turn came The Lord Chancellor ask't him What he had to say against me Otes pretended much Modesty replying He was ashamed to declare the Words I had spoken of the King After a seeming reluctancy he swore That I in Company refusing to drink the King's Health wished the King's B in a cleft Stick His Majesty was then present sitting amongst the Barons near the Barr And being pleased to smile at this ridiculous Story I could hear him say I believe he would drink my Health I humbly requested the Chancellor that I might speak His Lordship told me I might speak what I would I then besought his Lordship to ask Otes Where and when I spake these Words and if he heard me My Lord reminding him that he was upon his Oath exactly put these Three Questions to him To the First Otes answer'd He knew not where the Words were spoken To the Second He believed it was some Years ago To the Third That he did not hear me speak them but he could produce those that did hear me After Leave to speak I said thus to the Lords My Lords I am very certain I never spake any such Words in all my Life for never any such wicked Thought enter'd into my Heart And if I mistrusted that my Tongue did or ever would utter such vile Words concerning my King I would my self here cut it out and cast it down at your Lordship's Barr And as to the King's Health I am sure I never deny'd it I then made my humble Request to my Lord Chancellor to ask Otes If I was in the Plot or a Papist Otes answer'd to both in the Negative Then he proceeded to swear against one Mr. Preston declaring he was a Romish Priest and his Confessor This Mr. Preston was known to be so deaf that he could scarce hear when he was whoop't and hollow'd to so that Otes and his Confessor must have chose Salisbury-Plain for their Chappel unless they had a mind all People should hear them Yet Mr. Preston upon this Oath lay in Newgate two or three Years Well we were order'd all to withdraw and re-placed upon the Benches in the Painted-Chamber in worse condition than before for now we
had a Souldier planted betwixt each of us In an hour's time the Lords Adjourned till Four in the Afternoon and Sir Edward Carteret the Black Rod came to us with a Paper in his Hand importing our Doom Some were order'd to the Gate-house some to Newgate some discharg'd I was left among the Souldiers whom the Black Rod discharged telling me I was his Prisoner He recommended me to one Button a Messenger and charged him to treat me civilly which truly he did This was on Fryday the First Day of November 1678. And notwithstanding Mr. Latimer and Mr. Hughes whom with Gratitude I here mention proffer'd to be bound Body for Body in my behalf I was kept in Custody so strong was the Ferment of that Season In the Afternoon Dr. Dean and Mr. Wells a Minister visited me and next Morning Mr. Gadbury and Major Fisher came to me And these were all the Friends I saw in this unhappy Juncture All things were in a most violent hurry and I was in such a great Consternation that I knew not which way to turn my self or what to do Between Seven and Eight at Night out came my Lord Shaftsbury in a great Cloak to warm himself at a Fire in the with-drawing Green-Lobby By the Messenger's Perswasion I followed him I told his Lordship I was clearly Innocent of what Otes had sworn against me in the Morning and I hop'd his Lordship out of Pity and Commiseration would stand my Friend He told me He would not speak for any one nor be a Friend to any one that spoke against the King I replyed His Lordship was too Wise to believe all Reports to be true No says he I believe not all Reports to be true and I think what was spoke of thee in the Morning was an idle Story But I have this Afternoon an Account of thee from Dr. Tonge and Mr. Ferguson Men that know thee as well as thou knowest thy self which will prove of dangerous Consequence to thee I desired his Lordship to let me know what dangerous things they had inform'd against me He told me I had made a Practice of talking for and desending the Church of Rome in every Place where I came which was Treason I humbly did beseech him again to stand my Friend He reply'd If thy Friends can get thee out of these Bryars Wilt thou be an honest Man I told him Yes I would to my Power I then told him again I could justify my self against that which Otes had sworn But says he if thou goest about to justify thy self thou'lt be utterly lost for thy Friends had very much ado to keep the House from sending for those Two Persons Otes mention'd Petition therefore the Lords to be discharg'd And so he left me promising he would assist me the best he could which I believe he did I shall make a short Observation upon this Dialogue I had not to my Knowledge ever before that Day seen Tonge and with Ferguson I had never been in Company save once and I 'm sure we talk't nothing of the Church of Rome So that I believe these Men were then as busie to bring People into the Plot as Otes and doubtless were as deeply concern'd It may be consider'd likewise that I then was intended for the future Work because I was to be in his Lordship's Sense an Honest Man A term of Art I have had cause to understand the meaning of very well since Thus instead of getting out of the Bryars I got much faster in I had not stay'd so long as the Reading this Digression in the Lobby but a Prelate repair'd thither to warm himself as I imagine I made my Address as well as I could to him for his Help and Assistance It seems Dr. Tonge was this Prelate's great Confident which I presume made me fare the worse The Prelate told me plainly That I having kept company with so many Papists and perhaps one my self must needs either be in the Plot or know something of it and that it would be best for me to deal freely with the Lords they having been so kind to me as not to commit me to Prison I might imagine they meant not to ruin me but only to make me an Honest Man I protested by all that is Sacred I knew nothing of any Plot. Here I cannot but remark that this Prelate was much severer than the Lord Shaftsbury for now I was a Papist and a Plotter notwithstanding the very Oracle Titus himself had upon Oath clear'd me from being either of them and that but just before in his Lordship's Hearing This Good Man had certainly read all the Major and Minor Prophets together with the Book of Revelations with incomparable Judgment and singular Advantage to himself else he could never have known more of me than I knew of my self and that I must be undone before I could be made an Honest Man This was a sharp use of an Evening Consolation and more severe than Otes's Morning-Lecture Saturday came and I Petition'd the House to be discharged my Petition was read an Order being made to this effect That my License for teaching School was to be taken from me and that I was to give an Account of what I could that might deserve the Favor of the House In the mean time my old Friend the Vicar afore-mentioned was not idle he being all this while as strenuous and sedulous to take away my Livelihood as others were to take away my Life He I say together with a broken Brewer introduced one Clatterbuck a Parson's Son into my House and Imployment without any Order from the Company of Brewers who are the Patrons they being of a different Opinion as this following Certificate given at that time will evince We the Master Wardens and Assistant of the Company of Brewers London Governours of the Lady Owen's Free-School at Islington whereof William Smith Master of Arts hath been for Twelve years School-Master who now is suspended from his said Imployment Do on the behalf of the said William Smith humbly Certify That he was an Industrious and Careful Person in his Place and is a very Loyal Subiect to his Sacred Majesty and Government for any thing we know to the contrary James Reading Master Joseph Lawrence Thomas Morton William Courtis Wardens Ralph Bowes Richard Hammond Jo. Raymond David Knight Assistants Now the Vicar had atchieved his Design namely he had got me fast enough and almost in as ready a Road to the Gallows as Mr. Staley He had put the afore-said Clutterbuck into my Place yet he ceased not to persecute me still Trudging to Brewer's-Hall to say Grace and replenish his Gutt he there most falsly bespatter'd me in a Fustian-Harangue after Dinner having not leisure I suppose till he had filled his Belly to rail against and abuse the Innocent Yet observe what came of all this Clutterbuck has since spent his Patrimony which was considerable and ruin'd by his illiterature and negligence the School with his
own Reputation and even flown in the Face of his Promoter and Patron the Vicar On Saturday in the Afternoon I was Examin'd by a certain P He perswaded me That I was one of the Black-Bill-Men or one of the Dagger-Men of Drury-Lane This struck me into a profound Amazement I not having heard of any such kind of Creature till that very minute But how unknown soever those dreadful Names might be to my self certainly the Apparition must be not a little terrible which even Gravity Learning and Wisdom was so apprehensive of However all I could offer to clear my self from being either of the fore-mention'd dangerous Things or any other sort of guilty Person it all avail'd the little For now I was not only a Papist but a Plotter and a small Officer into the Bargain Really I then believed my self gone In the Interim such speedy Care was taken to send the Lord's Order to Doctor's-Commons as that Night by the Exemplary Vigilance of Sir Thomas Exton and his careful Register Newcourt I received a Command To deliver my License which I had bought and paid for to the Messenger and not to teach School in the Diocess or any where else My License thus taken from me it was impossible that I under my Circumstances should ever be so connived it as to teach without One as some others did then and do so to this Day Therefore I was if not in Duty yet in fear of the Statute obliged to desist otherwise I might have proceeded in my School for the Governours thereof never discharged me Here 't is observable that my whole Livelihood and all I had in the World being thus taken from me and that upon no other ground than either the fore-mentioned unintelligible Treason swore to by Otes without either the How When and Where to it or else for my being suspected one of the above-named Dagger or Black-Bill-Men either of these Chymaera's having Influence enough to undo me Here was Ruin and Poverty laid-on my back but Two necessary Preparatives to make me embrace that Honesty that was so requisite to give my Lord Shaftsbury Satisfaction A Blow of this kind being but too apt to make Men malleable to Purposes and Impressions not so easily taken and received in Prosperity On Monday-Night following the Lords discharged me and in their very Order as will appear by the Journal of the House of Lords they express'd me a Protestant Yet see the Caprice of Fortune and what Fatality attends the Unhappiness of some Men. By this most Just and Generous Acquitment of their Lordship's from the Imputation of Popery and the Dangers thereunto belonging I was re-instated into my former Innocence Nevertheless though by this Re-instatement all my Daggering Black-Billing Treasoning and Plotting wholly disappeared yet the Guilt vanish't but the Punishment remain'd For my License and my School were never restor'd me again though the Phantom that took them from me was dissolved into Air. Soon after this Otes spoke to Major Fisher to find me out and bring me to him which the Major promised him to do for indeed the Major then lodg'd in the same House with me though he did not tell Otes so as suspecting it might be to my prejudice because Otes threatned it should be the worse for me if I came not Considering this Menace I attended my Lord Bishop of London and pray'd his Advice who counsell'd me to go to Otes but to be cautious of what I said and likewise to have a Friend with me to be Witness if occasion requir'd of what past between us and also to attend his Lordship again to give him an account of the Particulars All which I perform'd Mr. Thomas Hughes before mentioned in this Discourse being the Friend I made choice of to go along with me We came to White-hall and were permitted to speak with Otes whom we found in his Chamber and Mr. Thomas Smith a Counsellor of the Temple with him After we had talk't of some indifferent Things Otes ask't me What I knew of Matthew Medburne who was then in Prison and whom he had preferr'd to be a Captain To which I answer'd I knew no ill of him Then he question'd me If I had never heard him cry up the French King and disparage and speak ill of the King of England I reply'd That truly I heard him often applaud and extol the French King but I never heard him speak an ill Word against our King but on the contrary defend him to his Power against others that spoke reflectingly of him Then Counsellor Smith began to speak and in a long Harangue told me to this effect That he believed I was an Honest Man and that I would do what Service I could to my King and Country as became a Good Man and Loyal Subject And therefore since it had pleas'd God to make Discovery of this Hellish Design and Conspiracy if I had heard or known any thing done or said tending thereunto I ought to disclose it And therefore he prest me very earnestly to be frank with the Doctor in my Knowledge and Conversation with Medburnet and in the Questions made me by the Doctor concerning him But to all this I still positively Answer'd him That I neither knew any thing at all of a Plot or any thing against Medburn Then Otes desir'd me to step in with him into his Closet where he privately told me That if I would appear against Medburne he could procure an Order from the King to the Brewers to re-instate me in my School which he promis'd to perform upon the Condition afore-said The Answer I made him to excuse my self was That the School would be little worth to me now under my present Aspersions and Circumstances Upon this he offer'd me his Power and Interest in promising me any thing else I could find convenient with reiterated Protestations of serving me and Intreaties to accuse Medburne All this I refused with a Compliment That I would consider of it Upon which we return'd into the Chamber to our Company again And soon after parted friendly This Interview was about Christmas in the Year 1678. After which time I saw Otes no more till June 1679. though he desired Major Fisher who sometimes visited him to tell me He would have me call upon him And the Reason why I was but a little while troubled with that Importunity from him was That Mr. Medburne soon after died in Newgate However I cannot omit one divertive story that intervened Oates being exalted with his high Dignities and Great Name of The Saviour of the Nation wanted to know his Coat of Arms and Major Fisher sometimes waiting on him and being also skill'd in Herauldry the Doctor communicated himself to the Major for his assistance herein The Major to favour so comical a Request of the Doctor consulted with Mr. Wright and Mr. Blackamore two Herauld-Painters who readily embraced the search into Records for the Honourable Original of so Illustrious a Personage as Titus
and Undone Coming one Evening to Visit him at Whitehall I found Bedloe and Prance with him amongst other Discourses they Talkt of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Oats Laught at the business and said Here is Bedloe that knew no more of the Murder than you or I did But he got the Five Hundred Pound and that did his work and gave this Blockhead 30 l. of it He pickt him up in the Lobby of the House of Lords and took him for a Loggerhead fit for his purpose at which Bedloe laught heartily and Prance look'd a little dull as displeased At this Rate I have heard Oats and Bedloe Discourse very often who used always themselves to make the business of Godfrey a Ridiculous Story and Entertain'd themselves when Private with the Jest on 't At the Lord Staffords Tryal I got in for Curiosity amongst the Witnesses against him and that Morning the Sentence was past when the Question of Guilty or not Guilty passing among the Barons we being so near them as to hear what past when the Major Voices at first went Not Guilty Dugdale walk'd about very Melancholy and Dejected muttering to himself I ask'd him what was the matter he Replyed I believe he 'l be Quitted and I am undone but let what will come on 't I am Ruin'd I hapned the Winter after this to be in Dugdales Company in the Kitchin at the Three-Tun Tavern at Charing-Cross one Night where an Old Gentleman happening to come to the Bar to Inquire for some Person there I observed Dugdale to startle and stare I ask'd him what was the matter he made me no Reply but in much disorder rose up and went to the Woman at the Bar the Gentleman being then gone and ask'd who that Antient Gentlemen was she told him she knew him not God bless me said he I believe 't is my Lord Stafford as the Woman Inform'd me afterwards and returning again to me I ask'd him what he went out for Lord says he Did you not see a Gentleman come to the Bar and Speak to the Woman of the House No said I My Back was towards the Bar and I saw him not I Protest replyed he I thought it had been my Lord Stafford and continued so terrified with the Apprehension that he was very uneasie and went away This story coming to his Landladies Ear who lived within a few Doors of the place her Name Mrs. Beak she and I discoursing this Matter she told me also something of the like Nature of him which was this Having occasion to come into his Bed-Chamber for something one Night that she wanted from thence when Dugdale was in bed she went in softly with a candle in her hand and a white Apron on designing if asleep not to wake him no sooner came she in but Dugdale in a very great Fright and start cryed out Stafford Stafford Stafford with many other expressions of a most Terrible Fear till the Woman with much ado at last undeceived him It will not be amiss in this place to add the Relation of Turbevils Death the other great Witness against the Lord Stafford Falling sick of the Small-Pox at his Landladies Mrs. Holmes in the Savoy near his Death he began to Rave extreamly of Stafford crying Take away Stafford Take away Stafford with several other continued crys upon the same subject which several Persons both the Landladies Relations and others will Testifie and at the Minute of his Death his Bed shook so extreamly that his Landlady and several other People then present thought it would have fal'n to pieces Nay and there came such a strong blast of Wind that the People were afraid the House would have been blown down And 't is not unknown also that a much greater Man than Turbevil at his Exit demonstrated an extraordinary Remembrance of Stafford I have given the Reader these particulars of my Conversation and Knowledge of those Villains hoping that this small detection being what lay in my Reach of these Hellish Impostures which then Ruled our Ascendant will not be ungrateful And how unhappy soever I have been to my self I have nevertheless always been a Faithful and Loyal Subject and in those worst of Times in my greatest Familiarity with Oats I have used my little Power with him to divert him from his Wickedness having at several times as far as I durst with safety disswaded him from divers of his Malitious Accusations In the Year 1681. I wholy deserted his company and have never spoken to him since and also gave Mr. Secretary Jenkins an Honest Account of things that I heard and saw intending it as a Service to the King as these following Depositions will Attest for me September 19 th 1681. I delivered this to Mr. Secretary Jenkins at his Office in Whitehall ABout the time that Mr. Colledge was taken I well remember one Mr. William Smith a Fifth-Monarchy-man askt me in Otes ' s Chamber in Whitehall in the presence of James Creswel William Dalby and William Powel the two first being Otes ' s Menial Servants where Smith the Priest Macnamarra and the other Irish Witnesses Lodged I askt him why he enquired their Lodgings he replyed That himself and others would take them and carry them to Tyburn and hang them on the Gallows and pin papers on their Backs to enform the World why they were Hanged The said Smith likewise told me at Greys in Scotland-yard That he and others would be about Henly and meet Colledge and Rescue him as easily as they formerly Rescued Mason This was in the presence of the aforesaid Powel and Dalby Smith then called Dalby into the next Room and talked with him some time About Bartholomew-tide 1680 Alderman Wilcocks gave a Treat at the Crown Tavern without Temple-Barr to divers Gentlemen of which he being my very good Friend I was one the time appointed was one a Clock about which time Otes his Brother Sam and Counsellor Smith came and about half an hour after up comes John Smith and Colledge I not then well knowing Colledge askt John Smith who he was which he told me saying It was Mr. Colledge the Protestant Joyner One of the Company I think it was Colledge produced a Pamplet in Quarto of two sheets about the Duke of York which was Read It was long before Dinner came up which being ended Mr. Otes Mr. Savage and Mr. John Smith fell into a friendly dispute in Divinity Mr. Colledge was so far from sleeping during their Discourse that he was often interrupting them with his Quibbles and Rhime-doggrel for which Otes rebuked him I am very certain neither Colledge nor any body else slept in the Room before Dinner or after We parted and I left Otes Smith Colledge and others of the Company in an Alley by the Palsgraves head The very day after as I take it that Colledge was Condemned about Nine in the Morning I was walking through St. Margarets Church-yard Westminster and Mr. Hunt the Lawyer hum'd to me I met him he