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
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
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
very honestly in defending it it was more than he was oblig'd to do because it was brought into the School without his knowledge The Fault if any had been lying only at the Ushers dores who by the Custom of that School ought first to have consulted the Dr. which they never did and to have had his approbation this Book being for the lower Formes only The Catechism used in the Fifth and Sixth Formes under the Dr's more immediate Care being only in Greek without any Comment at all Now though the Dr. did give his Enemies the above-nam'd advantage against him by getting it under his Hand and for That only reason this being the only quarrel against him they depriv'd him of his School and utterly blasted his Name and Reputation to the world as a down-right Papist yet That whole Tenent on which they grounded their pretended Popery was expresly a particular Doctrine of the Ch. of England the descent of our Saviour into Hell being a special Article even of our very Apostles Creed But forsooth because several Fanaticks dissent from Us in that Point of our Belief those very persons were set up for Judges in the Cause and even a Defence of our Ch. of England the Dr's Defence of the Comment being no other Arraign'd Convicted and Condemn'd as Popish and Antichristian by the Sentence and Decree of Oates Ferguson Owen c. together with the Assent of Bushel Mallary Keys and the rest of the Lay Brethren in Inquisition assembled Why the reforming Zeal of Dr. Owen was so active in Dr. Goad's Ruin was for the introduction of his Sisters Son Mr. Harcliff into his place a Person undoubtedly not unworthy of the Preferment for having once Heroically attempted to Preach before His late Majesty and not being able to utter one word of his Sermon he descended from the Pulpit as great an Orator as he went up Treating His Majesty with no other Entertainment than a silent Meeting But to give you the farther management of this Affair passing by all the Injustice done to Dr. Goad here was a violation of the Custom of the School in introducing this Mr. It being agreed ab Origine between Famous Sir Thomas White Merchant Taylor and Founder of St. Johns Colledge in Oxford and the Company of Merchant Taylors that the Mr. of that School should always be a Member of that Colledge which this man was not being an Eaton Scholar and consequently of Cambridge Now their reason for this illegal Election of a School-master the Then over-ruling Factious Party of the Merchant-Taylors though offer'd an able Man by the Colledge suspended this Custom pretending That the Colledge of St. Johns would send none but Persons that would propagate Popery so that here 's the Gown men of a whole Colledge at one stroke branded with Popery by these Infallible Mechanick â—urs About the time of this Business of Dr. Goads Nat. Thompson had Publish'd in his News Book the Apprentices intent of burning the Rump which being no sooner view'd with a pair of Whig-Spectacles but it was turn'd to a Popish Plot and to be manag'd by Sir W. Waller In order to which he attempted to get a Warrant from the Privy Councel for Thompson But That Project failing he decoy'd him in another persons Name without Temple-Bar and there by his own Warrant charg'd him with High Treason and committing him to the Gate-house The next day Sir Will. made it his whole business to boast what great Service he had done to the Cause in securing Him further telling me that Thompson had said and done such things that did amount to Treason and he did not doubt but to Hang him But as Providence order'd it in few days after Sir Will. was fairly dismist of his Justice-ship and consequently made incapable of Plund'ring any more Upon which he stept for Holland and there turn'd his Plunder'd Relicks c. into Gold to the value of 6 or 700 l. One Slander more they cast upon me was that I writ Seditious Pamphlets for Oates Truly I will not wrong him he never desir'd any such thing of me Indeed he promis'd me 20 l. per annum and Dyet to Translate certain Books in Latine concerning the Institutions Rules and Orders of the Jesuits Some of which I put into English and have part of them yet by me all which if Printed would no ways prejudice Jesuits or other persons but be useful to many curious men Now for all my pains Oates never paid me one Peny though he punctually satisfy'd John Philips for writing the many Lies and Villanies that even yet remain under his Name on every Fanatical Booksellers Stall Many other wrongs I have long labour'd under which I believe if known would draw compassion from my greatest Enemies But those having no relation to the Publick shall be now conceal'd ERRATA PAge 4. l. 35. r. Bobbing in Kent p 7. l. 19. r. October p. 8. l. ult r. Plot. p. 17. l. 11. r. Mr. Clare Barester p. 19. for 13 d. r. 18 d. a Week p. 21. l. 36. for question r. mention p. 33. l. 24. r. this Comment