suffer from my Adversaries whether during my being Prosecuted or Five Years Imprisonment I had not one uneasy Thought that moved me in the least to repent my having engag'd in so just a Cause and I was firmly possessed with a strong Belief that I should live to see the day wherein my Lord's Death might receive it's PROPER NAME and my self vindicated from that for which I had been so powerfully and maliciously Accused and unjustly Convicted and I hope that day will then come when Your Lorships shall think fit to move to revive this Committee in order to the bringing in Your Lordships Report But what I have or do suffer in the mean while tho it 's more than can be imagin'd yet I must and shall submit to Your Lordships great Judgment herein My Lords I am very sensible of the great Charge the Right Honourable the Earl of Essex hath been at in this prosecution before your Lordships though not greater than therein hath been expended but I cannot apply my self to his Lordship either for what remains or to his Lordship or his Honourable Family or elsewhere for any satisfaction for what I have done and through Oppression as severely as unjustly suffered under the Male-administration of the late Times till the Honour of the Truly Right Honourable but Vnfortunate Earl of Essex is rescu'd from that Unjust FALSE and Infamous Imputation under which in many mens Opinions it hath so many years been buried and without some assistance I must reasonably expect to be cast into Gaol for some of those very Debts which my long Misfortunes have contracted in which miserable place I may possibly perish for want of bread But which is much worse than death thus I was like to suffer under the most odious Character from too many of an infamous Imposture and common Suborner For the avoiding therefore the worst of these two Evils I have published to the World my own Just Vindication and I am sure your Lordships can never blame me for endeavouring to avoid so hard and undeserv'd a Fate And should all this prove my misfortune I am well satisfied 't is without in this respect my fault and therefore having done nothing herein but what I can answer to God and a good Conscience AND I CHALLENGE ALL EVEN THE GREATEST of my ADVERSARIES TO PROVE THE CONTRARY I shall I hope never repent of having done my Duty but shall patiently wait for a deliverance from that which will put a period to all the Tyrannous Oppressions of such as groan under the weight thereof but without true repentance which God in mercy grant to all even the greatest of my Enemies will prove but the beginning of a more lasting sorrow to the CHIEF AUTHOR hereof from WHOM as God in mercy by our present SOVEREIGN hath once delivered us so I hope he will even against the Wills of too many amongst us and contrary to the Deserts of all continue that Blessing Towards the first procuring whereof as your Lordships were some of our Chiefest Patriots so I am sure you will in that evil day which threatens exert your utmost for the prevention of that worse than Egyptian Bondage in which the more than Israelitish Madness of not a few strenuously endeavour to re-enstate us And that God may continue your Lordships Health to see this black Cloud all blown over and a prosperous and a well-grounded Peace firmly setled amongst us and a long continuance of your Lordships in the enjoyment thereof is the humble Prayer of him who doth earnestly beseech your Lordships pardon if in this Publication or present Address I have in the least offended your Lordships whose I am in the most humble Services and whilst I live shall be ambitious of being thought My LORDS Your Lordships most Obedient and Devoted Servant Lawrence Braddon A LETTER TO A FRIEND SIR YOURS of the 10th instant came the last night to my hands and I give you many thanks for your kindness therein expressed and more particularly that you have so often endeavoured to rescue me from the slanders of such as without either knowing my Person or Offence have given me those uncharitable and unjust terms worse than which the greatest Offenders can hardly deserve Sir Your Countrey is not the only place where I have been so traduced but my misfortunes having made my Name known where in person I have never been and my Adversaries being as malicious as numerous I have heard from other hands That I have elsewhere met with the like treatment But to do my self that Justice which I think is incumbent on me in order to the clearing my self from those undeserved Calumnies with which I have been and am daily slandered I have herein sent you a particular Account of what and how and for what I did so unjustly suffer under our late Male-administration And seeing the Honourable late Committee of Lords appointed to examine into the Death of the Right Honourable Arthur late Earl of Essex is dissolved by the last Dissolution of Parliament and most of the Depositions and Examinations taken before this Honourable Committee have been read before the Honourable House of Lords and so no longer to be thought a Secret I do humbly conceive it 's neither an offence or divulging a Secret to publish what since this happy Revolution hath been proved for the clearing of That Truth which when I first engaged to assert was the highest Offence By the Proceedings before this Honourable Committee you will in some measure perceive what great pains those Honourable Persons have been at in the many Committees which have herein sat and the many Examinations taken before their Lordships All which had long since been published to the World had it not been for the Prorogations and Dissolution which have happened depending this Prosecution But when the Honourable House of Lords shall think fit to revive this Committee and order this Report to be made I hope I shall have an opportunity to vindicate my self in some other way than at present is proper Sir Tho this Letter may at first sight seem much longer than you think the Subject-matter required yet when you shall have read the whole and observed the numerous Examinations and Depositions which herein have been made what industrious and villanous Oppositions it hath met with not only in false Reports and sly Insinuations but the many false Oaths which have been procured to destroy the belief of this barbarous Murther you will I hope not find this Discourse so tedious in its perusal as at the first glance you may fear it will prove Sir With the leave of a late Author upon this Subject I have freely borrow'd of that Discourse Yet in all parts not observed his Method but according to your Command shall begin with the Reasons that moved me to this Prosecution In order to which I shall in the first place give you a short Relation of my Lord's Commitment to the Tower with the Depositions
the Razor through the Chink he call'd Russel the Warder and Russel push'd the Door open and in his k Speak and Braddon 's Trial p. 55. third Oath declar'd he knew not who open'd the Door Russel l Page 4. depos'd before the Coroner That he first open'd the Closet-door the Key being on the outside and he mentions no difficulty in the doing it but Monday m White-church 's Inf. page 35. declar'd the day my Lord dy'd and n Jord Inf. page 36. afterwards confirm'd the same that my Lord's Body lay so close against the Door that neither Bomeny nor Russel could stir the Door but he being much stronger than either thrusting with all his might broke it open These Mens Depositions and Relations THUS AGREEING in every part in proof of the Self-murther can't but satisfy all men except such as are like my self of strong imaginations and too easily inclin'd credulously to believe the contrary And whereas Bomeny Monday and Russel have o Bom. Dep. p. 2 3. Bom. Dep. 35. Speak and Braddon 's Trial p. 57. depos'd or often declar'd That the Razor was lock'd into the Closet with the Body and p Mond and Russ in their Examination before the Lds. no Razor thrown out of my Lord's Chamber-window before his Death was discover'd It 's q Vide ante page 42. the Second Column prov'd I do humbly conceive to the satisfaction of more than the Credulous that there was a bloody Razor thrown out of my Lord's Chamber-window which is about sixteen Foot from the Closet where the Body lay and the Maid who caried up this Razor first Discover'd my Lord's Death to those out of the House wherefore the Razor was afterwards laid by the Body for to colour the pretended Self-murther and when my Lord's Body was seen in the very posture in which the Warders pretended it was first found his Lordships legs r Turner and Peck p. lay part outside the Closet-door and therefore the Door could not be lock'd and upon his Stockin the print of a bloody Foot coming out of the Closet wherefore somebody before that and after my Lord was Dead had come out of the Closet Is there not rational grounds from the many contradictions before observ'd for any man tho not possess'd with prejudice against the Self-murder to believe that there was no Razor delivered to my Lord just before his Death nor the Closet-door lock'd upon the Body or the Razor first found lying by the Body as these have Sworn whose Interest and Lives depend upon the proof of the Self-murder and consequently their relation a forgery throughout by which they would prove his Lordship Felo de se But farther to excuse from partiality such as disbelieve the Self-murder upon the Evidence before observ'd in all parts contradictory and from credulity because they are perswaded that his Lordship fell by treachery and violence seeing they find it s D. S. p. 22. Sworn to this effect viz. That about nine days before my Lord's Death the Papists declared That because the Earl of Essex knew so much of their designs and was so very averse to their Interest he was to be taken off and that his HIGHNESS HAD CONCLUDED AND ORDER'D HIS THROAT TO BE CUT and had promis'd to be there when it was done and about three days after these men said that it was resolved the Earl's Throat should be Cut but they would give it our he had done it himself and if any should deny it they would take them up and punish them for it and the very day it was done after my Lord's Murder they seemed extremely overjoy'd and confessed THEY HAD DONE THE FEAT AND COULD BUT LAUGH TO THINK HOW LIKE A FOOL THE EARL OF ESSFX LOOKED WHEN THEY CAME TO CUT HIS THROAT and that this is not a new made Story but long since revealed to many who did caution this Deponent to secrecy appears by the Testimony of t Mr. Rowden Mrs. Rowden Mrs. Mary Rowden Mr. Adams Mrs. Adams Mr. May and Mr. Tourny p. 23 24. six or seven Witnesses and for a farther confirmation of the truth of that Consult u Mrs. Hewits Christophers and Mrs. Swans p. 24 25. three Depositions which were made to destroy the Creditt of that Deponent are detected and by v Morris Dupine Baldham Doushwait Bond and Mr. Welstead p. 24 25 26. many Witnesses proved false in every part but as farther rational grounds and not strength of imagination for this barbarous Murther x Mr. Hubland Mrs. Hubland Mrs. Meux Trehem Burgis Savage and Mr. Butteo Maynoe will attest the same p. 26 27. Eight Witnesses have proved That before the Earl's Death or before his Death could be known was it reported in many Parts of England that the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat in the Tower all these several previous Reports agreed in the manner how viz. cutting his Throat and place where viz the Tower though at some of those Places when so reported it could not be known that the Earl of Essex was a Prisoner in the Tower and one of these previous Reports the next day after my Lord's Commitment viz. the Wednesday pretended to give the reason wherefore the Earl cut his Throat that is to say because the King and Duke being in the Tower he was af aid his then Majesty would have come up into his Chamber and seen him but his Guilt and Shame was such as he could not bear the thought of it and therefore cut his Throat to avoid it this being said about 60 miles off two days before the King and Duke went to the Tower and the very next day after my Lord's Commitment wherefore many that are not of too strong an imagination credulously to believe without grounds from those very particular previous Reports as to manner place and pretended reason are apt to think that the MANNER HOW THE PLACE WHERE AND PRETENDED REASON to be given out WHEREFORE were all previously agreed upon some days before my Lord's Death for they cannot perceive how my Lord's Death in all its parts as it was afterwards pretended to be acted could be so particularly related in so many and far distant Places from each other And though those who had my Lord in close Custody Monday Rus-declare this before the Lords to excuse themselves from a barbarous and bloody Treachery did declare That no men were let in to my Lord that morning he died yet many rational men not credulously inclin'd to believe without cause are verily persuaded to the contrary because it is y Hughes and Gladwin Bampton and his Wife 29 30. proved That two Soldiers who have been prevented from giving their own Relation the day of my Lord's Death declared That they saw His HIGHNESS send two men to the Earl's Lodgings to murder the Earl and that his HIGHNESS did send two Men towards the Earl's Lodgings just before his Death and tbat these two Men
Chamber wherein the late Earl of Essex did cut his Throat whereupon the said Solder pointing to the Chamber in which the Earl had been Prisoner said that is the Chamber in which it is said the Earl of Essex cut his Throat The Doctor then asked the Soldier what he did believe to which the Soldier answered That he did believe in God but being prest by the said Doctor to tell him whether he did believe my Lord cut his Throat The Soldier then replied be would not say he did believe it for which only saying the Punishment aforesaid was inflicted And the more effectually to prevent any discourse that might give the least credit to my Lord 's being murthered our then Misgovernment took all possible care to punish or rather oppress such as should declare their belief thereof amongst which one of the Coroner's Jury upon the Earl's Body suffer'd under this Tyranny for this man some time after my Lord's Death discoursing concerning the Earl's Death and the several Irregularities which he observed practised upon my Lord's Body before they saw it and how they were not permitted to make that Inquiry which was necessary said to this effect That he did believe they viz. the Coroner's Jury were all infatuated to bring my Lord in Felo de se but he did suppose had they not been hurried into their Inquisition they should have found it otherwise For this Discourse this honest poor man was prosecuted upon information and fin'd at first I have heard 300 l. but it appearing he was very poor his Poverty prevail'd for a mitigation of his Fine and his Age and great Infirmities of Body together with the charitable Intercession of a Gentleman of Interest in the then times avoided the corporal punishment which he had otherwise undergone If such practices as these were us'd by our then Court to prevent my Lord 's but being suspected to be murthe'd it could not be suppos'd that any encouragement should be given to a full detection and therefore all proposals in order thereunto were to be rejected an Instance whereof was as followeth viz. About six weeks after my Lord's Death there was a Letter unsealed left with one Mr. Cadman then living in Durham Exchange the Letter was directed to the Right Honourable the Countess Dowager of Essex the substance of this Leter was That if her Honour could prevail with the King for the Author's pardon he would ingenuously make a full discovery how by whom and whose Order my Lord was Murthered and this Letter did assure her Honour that the DUKE of YORK and were authorizing this Murther This Letter was subscribed P. B. By the Hand that writ it and the Letter subscribed it was Paul Bomeny before-mentioned who did once blasphemously say That he could as well tell how my Lord came by his Death as God Almighty himself for the Letter was fairly writ in a hand between a Roman and an Italian and such an Hand Bomeny when he would write fair did write besides the two letters subscribed are the letters of his Name I do suppose it may be objected That this Letter cannot be thought to be writ and subscribed by Bomeny for the Letter had it been brought in accusation against him and prov'd to be his would have cost him his life seeing herein he confess'd himself guilty of the Fact But with submission I think Bomeny by this Letter could it have been proved to be his own writing was in no danger at all of being punished for had they seized Bomeny they would have catched a Tarter should they have proceeded against him for this Murther upon this Confession the World would have believed the whole Contents of this Letter to be true and consequently that the Duke of York and authorized or rather commanded this most treacherous Murther And then pray consider what that Government could have got by such prosecution conviction and punishment This Letter was carried by Cadman to a Justice of Peace and by him to the Secretary of State but this Bookseller was never sent for nor any enquiry made after the Author The backwardness of the then Government in not examining into the matter gave just grounds of suspicion they were too well satisfied in the Truth of the Contents which was of such a nature as it could not bear an Inquisition for that would have centred in His Ruine who was then by Blood and Cruelty and other illegal and oppressive Methods endeavouring the total Subversion of our Church and State and this by the removal of some of the Chief of those Noble Lords and Worthy Gentlemen who had ever opposed their Arbitrary Designs Amongst which this Noble Lord and the Right Honourable the Lord Russel they did esteem two of the Chief Had none then in Authority and Power been concerned in this barbarous Treachery and had our then Government had the least desire to know this Truth in order to a just Punishment of those bloody Villains with what diligence would they bave search'd out the Author who desired no other Reward than the Security of his Life and in order to his Indemnity if they could no otherwise have found him out a Proclamation of Pardon would immediately have been issued forth by which the Author would have been assured of his Life and then without doubt according to his promise would have laid open this bloody deed of darkness Hath our Age ever seen or known recorded any Murther admit this one committed within this Kingdom that hath been all its Circumstances considered attended with such aggravations We have seen a Reward of 200 l. as well as a Pardon by Proclamation offered for the discovery of those bloody Ruffians who barbarously wounded but design'd to have murdered that Worthy Gentleman Mr. Arnold And was there not 500 l. and a Pardon by Proclamation promised to Him or Them that should detect the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Such means as these would have been likewise in this Case used if such who then misled Charles 2. and corrupted the State had not been the deepest in this black Contrivance This Bomeny soon after my Lord's Death gives an eminent Divine an Account to this effect viz. That his Lord did use to be taken with sudden frenzical Passions and in particular with one that morning he died just before his Death For said this vile Judas as soon as my Lord saw my Lord Russel go to his Trial he struck his Breast and said Himself was the cause of my Lord Russel 's misery seeing he had vouched for that Gentleman whose Treachery would prove my Lord Russel 's Ruine c. and hereupon fell almost distracted But this Fellow 's repeated Oaths give the Lye to this Forgery Before the Coroner in the coclusion of his first a Page 35. Deposition he swears That on Thursday night which was the night before his Lord's Death the Earl was very merry at Supper AND DID NOT SEEM TO BE DISCONTENTED THE NEXT DAY And when one
B. the Bed R where the razor was pretended to be found cl w. the Closset window st the Close Stole E. the bloody foot on my Lords Stockin c. the only Chink of the Closset door ch the Chimney c w. the Chamber window out of which the razor was thrown C D the Chamber door E the Earl of Essex as he was first found by those yt. saw the body before it was pretended to be moued Murder Murder Murder Throw him down Pul him to the Closset Stope his mouth Higher than the highest regardeth Eccl. 5 8 He that formd the Eye Shall he not see Psl 94 9 He that planted the Ear Shall he not heare Psl 94 9 blood cryeth unto me from the ground â— fugitive vagabond shalt thou be Gen the 4. 10. 12. The razor notch'd brook B. 5. foot-6-inch 7 foot-1-inch ESSEX's INNOCENCY and HONOUR VINDICATED OR Murther Subornation Perjury and Oppression JUSTLY CHARG'D ON THE MURTHERERS OF That Noble Lord and True Patriot ARTHUR LATE Earl of Essex As Proved before the Right Honourable late Committee of LORDS or ready to be Deposed In a LETTER to a Friend Blood crieth unto me from the ground Gen. 4.10 A Fugitive and Vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth 4 11. How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth Rev. 6.10 Written by LAWRENCE BRADDON of the Middle-Temple Gent. who was upwards of five years Prosecuted or Imprisoned for endeavouring to discover this Murther the third day after the same was Committed London Printed for the Author and Sold by most Booksellers 1690 AN APOLOGY For the Letter to a Friend To the Right Honourable WILLIAM Earl of Devonshire Lord Steward of Their Majesties Houshold c. WILLIAM Earl of Bedford c. CHARLES Earl of Monmouth c. HENRY Earl of Warrington c. The Lords of the late Close Committee appointed to Examine into the Death of the Right Honourable Arthur late Earl of Essex MY LORDS WHEN immediately after the Death of the Right Honourable Arthur late Earl of Essex I did first make enquiry with relation thereunto upon such a Page 5. Information as I have already given your Lordships there was nothing that might be expected from a Powerful and Revengeful Party against which I then moved but what I did believe they would endeavour to inflict upon me for this I had the greater reason having then been often credibly told That SOME whose Interest was most concerned to prevent this Discovery had several times declared I should be both Pillory'd and WHIPT But this or whatever else was within their power to impose I was resolved should not deter me from searching after such Circumstances as might rationally convince persons unprejudic'd THAT HIS LORDSHIP FELL not through Self-violence but BY THE TRANSCENDENT AUTHORITY and INTEREST OF SOME AND THE TREACHERY and BLOODY CRUELTY OF OTHERS because that Great Patriot with your Lordships and such others b 22. D. S. stood as Bulwarks against those Popish and Arbitrary Designs which were then judicially seen through a Glass but since to our great Cost and greater Danger face to face and carried on for the Total Subversion of our Church and State Wherefore I had great reason to believe admitting his Lordship was murdered That SUCH who were therein concerned if they found there was no inquisition made after this Blood but that all did seem to believe ONLY by the Evidence of those c Page 23. in whose Custody his Lordship was that this Noble Lord indeed cut his own Throat to avoid what his great Misfortunes seemed to threaten That then the natural Consequence thereof would be this viz. Whomsoever those POWERFUL and BLOODY MEN found to d Page 23. stand in their way whom they then had or should take into Custody they would place over them SUCH as they had prepared to COMMIT or PERMIT what was treacherously designed to be acted and then by Strangling Stabbing Pistolling or CUTTING OF THROATS either of which is a common way of Self-destruction they would take such off pretending as in this Case they did it was done by the persons themselves to prevent an infamous Execution and avoid those FORFEITURES of HONOUR and ESTATE which the Law would otherwise have made by their Conviction and Punishment My Lords The Prevention as much as in me lay of such vile Practices was not the least Inducement that first mov'd me to this Inquiry and whatever Opposition I then met with either under Colour of Justice or Malicious Detractions I was not at all surprised with and therefore the better prepared to suffer it and seeing I could then expect no Relief or just Satisfaction from those who were chief in imposing the Injuries I suffer'd I thought that a time for me in this respect to keep Silence But since God by our present Sovereign hath mercifully removed such Oppressions I think now is the time to speak and not suffer to go unanswered such Malicious and Infamous Calumnies representing me the very worst of Suborners and deserving far Worse usage than ever Dr. Oates underwent and this said not by a few but many Wherefore out of a just Self-regard which every Man owes to himself I thought I was in Duty bound to endeavour some way or other to clear my self to the World from being that profligate Villain I have been as industriously as maliciously Misrepresented And because I would that the Plaister should be as large as the Wound I have in this following Epistle attempted to undeceive the unprejudiced part of Mankind but as for some Miracles will not convince them and others there are who KNOWING much more than I can inform them will never confess themselves Converts to Truth My Lords Would such Men as maliciously Misrepresent me Proceed against me by way of Judicial Information I should take it very kindly for then I should have an Opportunity now Justice is duly Administred and Favour in this I desire none to clear my Innocence And there having been about SEVENTY Persons in all Sworn or Examin'd before Your Lordships and some Justices of the Peace and some hundreds discoursed to find these Witnesses out if I had been such an infamous Suborner as represented In this Cloud of Witnesses they have a fair Opportunity to find some for Suborning of whom they may Proceed against me But being well satisfi'd in my Abhorrence of and Innocence in all such detestable Practices and that I have ever been so far from desiring People to say more than they could safely depose That I did always beseech and enjoyn them much rather not to Swear any thing than the least Tittle more than was true assuring them That whosoever in this Case testifie more than is truth and thereupon any should suffer by such Perjury they would commit the worst of Murthers for which one day tho here not detected they must give a severe Account My Lords In all I did heretofore
City-Marshal I was first carried before Sir James Edwards and after that the then Lord Mayor before whom I refused to answer such general Questions as were asked without seeing my Accuser and hearing my Accusation but I soon found what was the pretence of my Commitment which I had grounds to suspect was designed to be stretched to the highest Offence nothing less than Treason for I was charged with bespeaking several Hundreds of the Protestant-Flails with a Design therewith to Massacre the Kings then called Loyal Subjects Refusing to answer the Lord Mayors Questions I was committed to Captain Richardson who was ordered forthwith to carry me before the King and Council as soon as I came there my old Friend the Lord Keeper North began to interrogate me in several Particulars but I refused to answer any till I saw my Accuser and heard my Accusation his Lordship told me my not answering that Honourable Board was a contempt for which I might be prosecuted To which I replied with Submission I did not understand I was obliged in strictness of Law to answer to any Accusation till I came judicially to be tryed where I should both see the Accuser and hear my Accusation At length the King ordered my Accuser to be called in whose Charge in Substance was this viz. That such a time about four Years and a half before I came to his Shop and bespoke a Pocket-Flail which by Descriptition I did order him to make the next day after I bespake three more which I was to fetch the third day And did likewise declare He should make me several hundreds but I came not according to my Promise for either of the three or did he make any of that number I pretended to bespeak That I did bespeak one and the next day three I did confess to be true and likewise fetched one of the three the third day but these not being made according to Direction I would not have the other two As for the Five hundred or any such Number I should bespeak I did declare as the Truth was that part of the Charge was very Malicious and False Major Richardson being then there as foolishly as maliciously endeavoured to frustrate my Defence for he told His Majesty the true Cause I came not according to my Promise for any of that great number I had bespoke he would give His Majesty For Captain Richardson declared That almost three years before he had been in that Turners Shop where seeing one of those Instruments it being the first that he ever saw he demanded of the Turner what he called them who answered A Pocket-Flail and then further told him ' That the Gentleman for whom he made the first above a year before pretended he would then have several hundreds made and bespoke three Flails after the first but came not for either of the three or any of that number which he pretended he did want Captain Richardson declared upon this He did believe there was a general Design against the Government and therefore he did Charge the Turner That if the Gentleman came according to his Promise he should endeavour to secure him which Caution he did suppose I had heard of and therefore came not according to my Promise Of this most ridiculous Suggestion I took immediate advantage and told His Majesty what the Captain alledged could not possibly be true even by his own Suggestion For he confessed That the Turner told him when he first saw the Flail that I had bespoke a great Number above a year before and was forthwith to have fetched one of them but came not according to my appointment and yet the Captain alledges That his Caution so long after given did influence my not coming a year and a half before Immediately upon this the King saw this Charge mixt with such folly and falshood that His Majesty thought fit to order my immediate Discharge As soon as I came into the Room next the Council Captain Richardson took me by the Hand and protested he was extreamly glad I was discharged but considering his good Service in just before endeavouring to prevent it I gave little Credit to this Assurance Being once more at Liberty I continued as before my Inquiries in which I was daily hurried up and down for having made it my business to get the Names of most of the Soldiers upon Duty that day my Lord was Murthered I was in a constant Inquiry after some of them for I had reason by some Information I had received to believe that not a few could speak not only to the throwing out of the Bloody Razor but to that which was more material the sending in the Ruffians to my Lord and from whom those Villains went commissioned But as I spoke with any of those Soldiers I perceived them very shy and denied to me what they had before freely confessed to their intimate Acquaintance and afterwards told their Friends they would not be brought into trouble by testifying their Knowledg therein which they knew would most certainly prove their Ruin Whilst I was Prisoner in the Kings-Bench I with the rest of the Kings Prisoners was several times search'd but having still notice some short time before such Search I conveyed away such Papers as being seized might have tended to my Prejudice But in such hurries I lost a List of such Names that could have declared that which was not a little material to this Discovery In Hillary Term 83. Mr. Speake and my self were tried upon an Information the substance whereof was That whereas Arthur late Earl of Essex the 13th of July being Prisoner in the Tower for High-Treason himself feloniously and as a Felon of himself did Kill and Murther and the day after was by the Coroners Inquest so found The said Lawrence Braddon and Hugh Speake well knowing hereof but contriving and maliciously the Government of our said Lord the King of this Kingdom of England into hatred disgrace and contempt to bring c. did falsly unlawfully maliciously and seditiously Conspire and endeavour to make the King's Subjects believe that the said Coroners Inquisition was unduly taken and that the said Arthur Earl of Essex by certain Persons unknown IN WHOSE CUSTODY HE WAS was killed and murthered in order to which they the said Lawrence Braddon and Hugh Speake did falsly unlawfuly unjustly maliciously and seditiously Conspire to procure certain false Witnesses to prove that the said Arthur Earl of Essex by the said Persons unknown was killed and murthered Vide Tryal p. 4. Observe The Information doth not Charge us or either of us with conspiring or endeavouring to Suborn false Witnesses because to prove that some Money or other Consideration must have been prov'd offered or promised which they being not able to prove the Information saith we did Conspire to procure false Witnesses And yet because Subornation would represent the matter most Odious in the Title page of the Tryal it was expressed Upon an Information of High