Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	action_n	defendant_n	plaintiff_n	3,071	5	10.8111	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64729	Innocency and truth vindicated an account of what hath been, or is ready to be deposed to prove the most treacherous and cruel murder of the Right Honourable Arthur, late Earl of Essex : with reflections upon the evidence, and the most material objections against this murder discuss'd and answered, in a conference between three gentlement concerning the present inquiry into the death of that noble Lord and true patriot.	Braddon, Laurence, d. 1724.; V. P.	1689 (1689)	Wing V10; ESTC R25177	149,907	113

that every man will first plead the best and consequently the truest Plea he can in bar of the Action and if his first Plea proves false it s presumed he can give no true and just Cause to exclude the Plaintiff his Action for if he could he would first have pleaded it T. The same holds good upon Criminal Prosecutions for if a man shall be accused though but upon suspicion of having committed a Robbery within two miles of Salisbury such a day upon such a Coloured Gelding and to avoid this Charge the Prisoner pretends he was never within Thirty miles of Salisbury in his life and he likewise produces some not of the best Reputation who declare that for Ten days before that Robbery and as long after the Prisoner being very sick kept his Chamber and stirred not out of it if in Contradiction to this it be positively sworn by Persons of undoubted Credit who well knew the Prisoner that the very day of the Robbery committed within a very short time before the Robbery appears to have been committed they met the Prisoner nigh the place where c. the Piisoners Gelding and all other circumstances in his Cloaths c. agreeing with the description the Prosecutor gave I say if this be credibly proved in contradiction to the Prisoners Defence it cannot but satisfy any Judge and Jury that the Prisoner is really Guilty neither are they to answer at the last day for his Blood should he prove innocent but his Blood shall be required at his own hands seeing by his false Defence he became a Self-destroyer according to the common Judgement of all Mankind The like may be said in a thousand other Cases L. Innocence is naturally suspected as Guilt when the falsity of its Defence is detected for if a Person of a very ill Reputation charged a Man with a Crime if I knew the Disreputation of the Accuser the bare denyal of the Accused might more influence my Belief than the Oath of the Prosecutors but if once I found the Prisoner false in his Defence that Charge which before I disbelieved as false I should then immediately as firmly credit for Truth but I desire to know what can be said in answer to these Counter-evidences T. Dorothy Hewits Deposition declares That D. S. was turned away in April before my Lord's Death upon suspicion of stealing a Silver Spoon and upon her being so turned away she threatned Mr. Holmes with Revenge This Depouent further deposeth That she went with Mr. Holmes into the Country the 6th of July and tarried with him till about the 27th so that Mr. Holmes was not at home the 13th of July as Smith deposeth Elizabeth Christopher deposeth That she came to Mr. Holmes's Service in April 1683. and tarried there for Nine Months and no other Maid Servant was with Mr. Holmes all that time Mr. Swan deposeth That Mr. Holmes was with him from about the 9th of July 1683. till about the 23d or 24th of the same Month. Hewit and Christopher have sworn further back from my Lord's Death than the Case required for if they had deposed that D. S. went away the first or second of July 1683. it had been more difficult to have disproved them but having allowed almost three Months to prove them forsworn it hath been done with the greater ease whereas these two swear That D. S. went away in April before my Lord's Death by these two Depositions following it appears that she came not a Servant to Mr. Holmes till after May 1683. Pray read these Depositions G. S. D. of Little Brittain London Widow deposeth That in June and July 1683. she lodged next Door to Mr. Holmes's in Leopards Alley in Baldwin's Gardens and in June or July 1683. she knew D. S. to be then a Servant to the said Mr. Holmes and whilst the said D. was there a Servant she did several times borrow a Bible of this Deponent Note and eat green Pease with this Deponent Pease being then three pence or a Groat a Peck This Deponent further deposeth That the said D. S. whilst she was a Servant as aforesaid to the said Mr. Holmes came crying to this Deponent and told this Deponent that whilst she was out of her Masters House there was a Silver Spoon lost and her Mistress told her she should pay for it which the said D. S. crying did much complain of This Deponent further saith That she saw the said D. several times after this Spoon was said to be lost and whilst the said D. was Servant to the said Mr. Holmes But how long the said D. S. tarried Servant with the said Mr. Holmes after the Spoon was lost or when she left the said Mr. Holmes's Service this Deponent knoweth not But this Deponent saith That the said D. S. came not to the Service of the said Mr. Holmes till some time after the 27th of May in the Year aforesaid The Information of R. B. R. B. of Oldstreet Blacksmith deposeth That he knew D. S. in May or June 1683. and about Twelve Weeks next before to be Servant to one Mistress Ward in Oldstreet where this Deponent then lodged and the said D. did not go from the said Mistress Ward 's Service to be Servant to Mr. Note Holmes in Baldwins-Gardens till after Green Beans were fit to eat This Deponent further deposeth That about the end of June or beginning of July in the year aforesaid this Deponent went into Baldwins Gardens and sent to the said Mistress Holms's to speak with the said D. S. who did thereupon come and speak with this Deponent at one Mr. Billingers with whom the said D. had been before a Servant but when the said D. left the said Mistress Holmes's Service this Deponent knoweth not L. I perceive Hewit and Christopher have sworn D. S. to have gone away from Holmes's above a Month before she came there to Service but what farther Evidence have you of this matter T. I desire these Depositions may likewise be read The Information of A.D. A. D. of Oldstreet Spinster deposeth That some time after Midsummer in the year 1683. either the end of June or beginning of July of the same year this Deponent saw D. S. then a Servant in the House of Mr. Holmes in Leopards Alley in Baldwins Gardens but when the said D. went from the said Mr. Holmes's Service this Deponent knoweth not The Information of K. C. K. C. of Baldwinds Gardens maketh Oath That in or about the Month of July 1683. she met D. S. by Leopards Alley in Balwins Gardens with Green Pease and the said D. S. crying this Deponent asked the reason to which the said D. answered that her Mistress Mrs. Holmes of Leopards Alley in Baldwins Gardens with whom she said she then lived whilst she was at Market that Morning had lost a Silver Spoon and told her she should pay for it or Words to that effect This Deponent further maketh Oath That several Days after this

man speaks of an action to be done about such a Year Month or Week certainly in common acceptation about a Year includes either the very Year or the Year before or after and about such a Month either the very Month or the Month before or after c. G. I am herein satisfied now this Information of D. S. thus strengthened would alone convince me of the truth of my Lords being Murdered were it not that I had heard some Informations read in the Court of King's Bench upon a Motion made for the Bailing of Mr. Holmes which with me and indeed with all men must totally destroy the Credit of this pretended Consult If I mistake not those Informations proved this D. S. for suspition of Theft to have been turned out of Mr. Holmes's Service in April before my Lords Death whereas she Swears her self a Servant with Holmes at the time of my Lords Death which was July the 13th I remember not the Names of these Deponents but I am almost possitive this was what was sworn and if I mistake not there was somewhat else deposed by a Countrey Parson which in some other particulars contradicted D. S's Information T. I will herein arm you against my self and produce you Copies of these Informations you speak of The first is of one Dorothy Hewit Sister in Law to Mr. Holmes a very violent Papist and otherwise not of the best Reputation The second is of one Elizabeth Christopher once reputed of a very loose Character And the third of Nathaniel Swan Clerk to whose Character I shall speak in a more proper time and place These are the names of the Informants and here are the Informations which you may read if you please G. Dorothy Hewit of Hatton-Garden in the County of Middlesex Widdow maketh Oath That one Dorothy now called by the name of Dorothy Smith was Servant to William Holmes of Baldwins Gardens in the County of Middlesex Varnisher and Brother-in-Law to this Deponent and lived with the said William Holmes as his Maid Servant about the space of a Month and went away from the said Service in the Month of April ☞ in the Year of our Lord 1683 and was turn'd away upon suspition of Stealing a Silver Spoon for which the said William Holmes's Wife refused to pay her any Wages and after a long dispute the said Mr. Holmes did detain 4 s. and 6 d. or 5 s. for satisfaction of the said Spoon upon which the said D. in the presence and hearing of this Deponent did give the said Mrs. Holmes very opprobrious Language and declared that she would be reveng'd of her or words to that effect And about Two or Three days after the said Dorothy was turned away as aforesaid one Elizabeth Cadman came into her place and lived with the said William Holmes for the space of Nine Months and upwards And this Deponant further maketh Oath that the 6th day of July in the said Year of our Lord ☞ 1683 this Deponent went with the said William Holmes from the said William Holmes's House into the Country and went that day to Wickam in the County of Bucks and the next day went to the City of Oxford where this Deponent and the said William Holmes continued till the 9th day of the said July and the said 9th day this Deponent and the said William Holmes went from thence to Alderminster in the County of Worcester to the house of one Mr. Nathaniel Swan Minister of the said Town and continued there till the 23d day of the said Month of July and then returned towards London and came to London the Six or Seven and Twentieth of the said Month of July 1683. Elizabeth Christopher late Elizabeth Cadman now Wife of John Christopher of Winford Street near White-Chappel Clothworker maketh Oath That she this Deponent was Servant to and lived with William Holmes Varnisher from the Month of April ☜ in the Year of our Lord 1683 which said Mr. Holmes then lived in Baldwins Gardens in the County of Middlesex and is now a Prisoner in the Gaol of Newgate and that this Deponent continued his Servant as aforesaid and lived in his House from the said Month of April for the space of Nine Months and upwards then next following and that there was not in that time any other Female Servant living with the said Mr. Holmes And this Deponent farther maketh Oath That the said Mr. Holmes in or about the beginning of the Month of July then next following did go into the Country with Mrs. Dorothy Hewit Widdow his Wives Sister and continued absent for about Three Weeks and she this Deponent hath heard the said Mr. Holmes his Wife and Sister declare that they went into Worcestershire and in their absence this Deponent did hear of the Death of the late Earl of Essex in the Tower of London Nathaniel Swan of Alderminster in the County of Worcester Clerk maketh Oath ☞ That about the 9th day of July in the Year of our Lord 1683 William Holmes of Baldwin's Gardens in the County of Middlesex Varnisher now a Prisoner in Newgate London with and in the Company of Dorothy Hewit of Hatton Garden in the said County of Middlesex Widdow Sister-in-Law to the said William Holmes and Grand-daughter to this Deponent came to this Deponents House in the said Town of Alderminster and continued there with this Deponent till about the Three and Twentieth day of the said Month of July 1683 and then departed thence towards London G. What can you say in Contradiction to these Depositions either of which being true your pretended Consult falls down to the ground and your first Evidence proved false Of the same nature are I believe all the rest though they may not be so happily detected as this Smiths Evidence is by these Depositions L. I believe these Depositions will be of but little service to you because your Adversary did so readily furnish you with them I am therefore apt to think he may be able to destroy the credit of these as these seem to do the credit of Smiths And if it shall appear that these Informations are false such a detection will add great force to the credibility of Dorothy Smiths Deposition for whosoever flies to Lyes for a Defence hath nothing of truth and innocence for protection G. I must confess there cannot be a greater Argument of Guilt than a false defence seeing every man in his defence doth virtually conclude If my Defence be false my Charge is true L. The Law concludes the same in all Civil Actions for instance he that is sued upon a Bond and Pleads non est factum or solvit ad diem or a Release or a former Recovery c. Whatsoever such general Issuable Plea is pleaded and the Plaintiff denies this Plea to be true and thereupon the truth hereof being tryed if what is pleaded appears false the Law immediately gives Judgment against the Defendant for it s to be supposed