of the Families knowledge but as he was removing the said Packs there came in 4 persons like Gentlemen to take Coach for Dover or that way which Coach was standing by the said Shed and they by it drinking immediately after which the said Ostler was called into the Street and left all in safety but in short time returning met the said Coach driving our with all speed and found the said Flax Shop on Fire Anthony Blake the Head-Tapster attesteth that he waited on those Gentlemen filling them drink and being sent for 6 Canns at his return the Coach was driving away and the Tow in the place aforesaid all on a Flame Mr. Weyland the Master of the House and his whole Family solemnly attesting they know not how it came to kindle there but verily believe it must come through some Treachery This is the more probable because one Harrison some small time before had told Mr. Atkins at the Grey-hound-Inn in Holbourn that there would within three weeks or a Month be great and dreadful Fires about London and Southwark and particularly mentioned the Talbot and George-Inns and advised him to put off his House and Goods which Harrison in the time of this Fire was seen suspitiously lurking about the Talbot-Inn which suffered much by this Fire and being known by the said Mrs. Atkins Daughter of the Gentlewoman that kept the Talbot and coming thither to help them he was seized and carried to a Foot-Company that stood in Arms near the said Inn and a Charge given them by my Lord Craven and Sir Iohn Smith then one of the Sheriffs of London to keep him safe after the Fire was put out enquiry being made for him the Captain told them he was discharged by the Lord Craven However on the 27 of July being informed he taught School in Thredneedle-street he was retaken and examined before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen where the following Articles were prov'd against him upon Oath 1. THat he had had frequent Correspondency with Iesuites and Papists 2. That he had spoken to several of his Acquaintance to go with him to Popish Meetings declaring that he knew of many 3. That he had been perswaded to turn Mendicant Fryar and hath been offered a stipend to turn to the Romish Religion 4. That he knew there would be divers great and dreadful Fires in and about London within a month 5. That he advised Friends to rid their hands of all their Concerns in and about London for there would be a great consumption of houses there 6. That when he was in Custody of the Foot Company aforesaid Mr. Atkins aforesaid offering to swear the former Article he threatned him if he did it should Cost him the best house he had 7. That he said there were forty Thousand French Papists lately come over to his knowledge besides many that were amongst us already 8. The Lord Mayor asking him Who perswaded him to turn Catholick He answered King's Under-Barber Phillips After which he told the Court That when he was first apprehended for these things my Lord Craven discharged him and took him with him in his Barge to Whitehall He further told the Court that he was sometime an Assistant to Mr. Lovejoy School-Master at Canterbury and that he had Letters Testimonial of his goood behaviour from the Dean of Canterbury Upon which my Lord Mayor remembred that he had seen him with Mr. Lovejoy and said that Mr. Lovejoy told him That he was an Idle Rogue And so he was committed to Newgate On Saturday the 30th of July it was further desposed upon Oath by Thomas Roe before Sir Iohn Fredrick as follows The Information of Thomas Roe of Bernards Inn Gent. taken the 30th of July 1690 by Sir John Fredrick Alderman one of His Majesties Justices of Peace in the City of London upon Oath as followeth THomas Roe saith that he hath for at least twelve or thirteen years last past been acquainted with one Ioseph Harrison who was examined lately at the Guild-Hall London before the Honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen upon suspition of his being a Conspirator in the Fireing the City and Suburbs in several parts thereof Thomas Roe and Ioseph Harrison having been School-fellows at Eaton Colledge and being thereby acquainted Ioseph Harrison hath several times lately been with him and advised him to with-draw his Concerns and remove above twenty miles out of the City for that the City and twenty miles round would be suddenly destroyed and laid waste or to that purpose Whereupon Thomas Roe asked him whether he were privy to any such conspiracy or concern'd in its Agitation pressing him with divers Arguments to discover what he was acquainted with of that kind Harrison replyed That he had no personal and positive knowledge thereof Thomas Roe demanded upon what ground then he did thus advise him Ios. Harrison replyed That he was sometimes conversant among some Papists and perceived a Plot or Design was carrying on by them against the City of London and the Protestant Religion which Plot or design said he the Papists call The Game of Trap or do you understand Trap ad Crucem which is the watch-word amongst them Further Ios. Harrison said That he was informed of those things by some German Protestants and that he had offers of fifty pounds per annum made him by some Iesuites and Papists to turn to their Religion but he had refused it and would not embrace the Romish Religion Thomas Roe further saith That about five weeks since he walked through New-Cheapside and from thence into Mark-lane with Ioseph Harrison in company with Mr. Moseley a Gentleman belonging to Bernards Inn likewise and one of his acquaintance together with another man a stranger to Thomas Roe Upon their first associating Harrison said unto him That he would not discover himself to be an Englishman but pretended himself to be a German or Italian whether of the two he doth not well remember and that he might not detect himself spake in the company as occasion offer'd in Latine But leaving the place where they tarried in Mark-lane going towards Bishopsgate-street Mr. Harrison told Mr. Roe secretly That he believed that Mr. Mosely understood the Game of Trapp by some signs he had observed from him and that he would try him Then going altogether into a house about the end of Thredneedle-street Mr. Harrison having by this time discovered himself to be an Englishman said Trapp and made a Cross over his face with his finger directing himself to Mr. Moseley whereupon Mr. Moseley did also say Trapp crossing his forehead or race two or three times and with a quick motion drew his finger over his own Throat Upon which Mr. Roe asked Mr. Moseley what was the meaning of Trapp but he refused to tell Mr. Roe urging him again He replied He would not saying You are not of my Religion Then Mr. Moseley asked Mr. Harrison what his Name was for he knew him not by Name He
Cap t WILLIAM BEDLOE Discoverer of the Popish Plott A NARRATIVE AND IMPARTIAL DISCOVERY OF THE Horrid Popish Plot Carried on for the Burning and Destroying THE CITIES OF LONDON and VVESTMINSTER With their SUBURBS c. SETTING FORTH The several CONSULTS ORDERS and RESOLUTIONS of the JESUITES c. Concerning the same AND Divers DEPOSITIONS and INFORMATIONS Relating thereunto Never before Printed By Capt. William Bedloe Lately Engaged in that Horrid Design and one of the Popish Committee for Carrying on such Fires LONDON Printed for Robert Boulter John Hancock Ralph Smith and Benjamin Harris Booksellers in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange 1679. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO THE Surviving Citizens OF LONDON RUINED by FIRE SIRS I Know not to whom I could Address these Leaves more properly than to You who have been so dismally concern'd in the dreadful Effects of the late Conflagrations Such deep Sufferers by the Hellish Practises herein more fully than ever yet discovered You have suddenly and unexpectedly seen a glorious City laid waste Your own Habitations turn'd into Rubbish your Estates destroyed your dear Incomes of your many years hard Labour and careful Industry All in few moments swept away and consumed by devouring flames together with some of Your dear Relations and faithful Servants whilst Your selves and Families reduc'd from a plentiful a comfortable Trade and Fortune over-night to the extremest misery next Morning without an House to shelter You Goods to Accommodate You or setled Course of Trade to support You Have been forc'd many of You in Old Age to Begin the World anew and remain Exposed to all the Hardships and Inconveniences of want and poverty The Authors and Promoters of All these Your deplorable Calamities have been no other than those Common Bontefeu's of Christendom The general Disturbers of the Peace and Happiness of Europe and Pests of human Society I mean those subtle active and most cruel Engineers of the Roman Hierarchy who having long been Big with the Project of a Fifth-Monarchy intending to make all the World slavishly to truckle to their Tripple Crown'd Idol at Rome did meerly in order thereunto contrive Your Destruction For as they wellknow England to be the Bull-work of Liberty Protestanism and indeed I may justly add Christian Faith in General throughout the world The main Bank that hinders the Sea of Rome from over-whelming all Christian Nations with an Universal Inundation of Tyranny and Superstition So they are not insensible what a mighty Influence LONDON hath to obstruct their Designs upon England In so much That I have heard not a few of the Principal of them frequently protest That until That City were Ruined or brought low it was impossible But All their Attempts on this Nation must prove Abortive How rigorously how unweariedly have they endeavoured this I shall say nothing of their Politick By-strooks Their promoting by Influenc'd Counsels Wars at Sea to interrupt Your Commerce Their Setting up a New Algier and perhaps more formidable and mischievous than the Old One on the other side the Channel Their Multiplying Buildings in the Suburbs and Out parts thereby to drain away the Trade and having stock't many of those Colonies with people of their own Gang hope to be able in time to out number and overpower You. These and a thousand other little Strategems for Discouraging c. I shall not insist upon but only instance as my present business Their horrid Design of Burning and Destroying Treacherously this CITY This they counted a Master-piece of their Cunning not doubting when they had laid this Noble City in Ashes But that they should soon after have buried Your Religion too in the same Ruines But notwithstanding all their facinorous Performances and more Cursed Attempts God in his Infinite Mercy hath Restor'd the One and hitherto preserv'd the Other Both as it were by Miracle Let therefore the Remembrance of SIXTY SIX be engraven in Indelible Characters on the Hearts of the Posterity To make them abhor Popery and detest such vile Incendiaries Let it remain a Monument of Gratitude to God Caution to England and shame to Rome in after times when even that stately and durable PILLAR Erected for that Purpose shall by the Revolutions of many Ages be decayed Indeed could you be so shamefully Ingrateful as to forget it These restless Furies will not suffer You But still with fresh Alarms and Exploits Awaken Your Memories 'T was a shrewd Item they bestow'd on You But a few Years since when Grove and his Irish Ruffians consumed so great a Part of Your Neighbourhood in the Borough of Southwark not to mention other smaller Attempts But above all They have given You and the whole Nation such a Catholick Memorandum in their detestable Plot lately discovered just before it was ripe for Execution as I trust shall never be forgotten wherein though All these three Kingdoms nay the whole Protestant-Interest throughout the World was Essentially Concern'd yet none should have drank more deep of that Cup of Misery which they had prepared than You the Protestant Inhabitants of This by them hated CITY and Parts adjacent For as soon as ever the Fatal Blow had been given against the pretious Life of our dear and dread Soveraign they would immediately have proceeded to a Second Devastation first upon the Dwellings and next upon the Persons and then what Horrors and Calamities what a Sea of Blood and Chaos of Confusion You All long ' ere this should have been involved in Whilst these Sons of Cruelty had been Acting over their Parisian Tragedy and Irish Butcheries amongst You is no less easy to Imagine than lamentable to have seen and Intollerable to have felt I am not ignorant how strenuously they make it their Business to deny not only their being any way privy to these Mischiefs of FIREING but likewise all other their Traiterous Designs And I scarce know which is greatest Their Impudence in committing horrid Villanies or in out-facing them when they are done The Desperate Protestations of Innocence lately made by some of them at the place of Execution hath I am informed mightily unsetled some Peoples Heads and a few Formal contrived Speeches have been so prevalent as to make weak Women and weaker Men begin to stagger and ready to imagine they died for Crimes they might not be guilty of But as for my own Part I bless God I am throughly satisfied in the TRUTH of every Tittle of the Evidence I have given against them and every of them and have no checks or guilt on my Conscience on that Account nor would in the least be guilty of that bloody Perjury that might tend to the Taking away any mans Life wrongfully for more than all England is worth But if I have Erred in any Case it was on the contrary hand in Speaking the least of Things and Persons so for the satisfaction of others I desire them to consider besides the Joint Testimonies of so many Witnesses speaking to different Times Persons
Posterity to which is added some Account of Latter Fires and several Observables that occurred relating thereunto not before made publick All which I conceive may be both welcom and useful in this Juncture TWO Things I would particularly Advertise You to Take Notice of The FIRST is the several ways whereby these Mischievous People begin and promote Fires which indeed are so various that 't is difficult to Enumerate them all But we know they have practised these that follow viz. 1. By Fire-Balls put in with Poles or otherwise through Holes or open places into Houses as at Mr. Farriners House which began the Great Fire 2. By hard Fire-balls thrown through Glass-windows as at the Smiths in Black-Friars 3. By flinging the said Balls or other Combustible Matter fired into Cellars through the Bars or Grates where they are left without Shutters as at the Oyl-Mans in Southwork 4. By firing their own Lodgings as the French-man did in Shoe-Lane in the time of the Great Fire and likewise the two Peters near Safron-Hill 5. By hiring Cellars in dangerous places filling them with Combustibles and then firing them which was a Course they much advised me to 6. By Firing Haylofts as in Smithfield 7. By Strangers faining Errands as in the Temple 8. By untiling Houses Breaking Windows c. and there putting in their Combustibles 9. By getting into Empty Houses and Setting them on Fire as in Budge-Row 1670. 10. By Creeping into back-yards and firing stacks of Bavins Reed c. as at Lime-House 11. By going into Victualling-Houses and leaving behind them Trains for Firing as at the Cooks in Fetter-Lane and in Southwark 12. By Consederate Servants as lately at the Attorneys in the same Lane And That such FIRES may be the more Destructive when begun their Instructions are 1. To do it in select Places amongst Old Buildings and where Engines cannot play 2. To FIRE the Water-Houses and get the New River-Water stopt if they can for that time near that Place 3. To have Some of their Chief Friends thereabouts that may misadvise Great Persons That they may blow up Houses where it is not necessary or where rather it will do harm by Opening a Passage for the FIRE 4. To have some of their Active Instruments who under pretence of helping may scatter FIRE BALLS in contiguous Houses and break down the Windows Roof c. to let in the FIRE more easily 5. To have others attending that shall cry out against French and Papists and mightily pitty the People thereby getting to be trusted with Removing of Goods and so to plunder and steal or if they find an oportunity to fire HOUSES at a Distance 6. Curiously to observe WIND and TIDE in all Attempts as likewise Frosts and very dry Times and chuse Sundays for doing the business because then there is the least Water The other Thing I would advise You of is not to Conceit because the PLOT is discovered in some measure and some few of Them brought to Justice That therefore now You are secure and that They will desist from such Attempts For I know their Nature and Principles so well That I dare assure You on the contrary They will be more Active and Virulent now than ever And for some proof of this be pleased to consider How many FIRES have either actually hapn'd or been design'd or begun though by Providence prevented since the Discovery of the PLOT As At Limehouse Septemb. 18. At the Temple At St. Pauls Church-yard Fetter-Lane Apr. 10. Near New-Inn Ship-yard Southampton Buildings Gray-Hound-Tavern in the Strand under a Chair Golden-Lane Vinegar-yard Crown-Court at the lower End of Chancery-Lane At the Water-house In the Minories At New-Prison All these and probably many others that I never heard of have been since the begining of September last so that you see they are still going on with the Trade of Twexbury-Mustard-Balls when ever they have an opportunity it will therefore concern all Protestants to be careful and cautious to prevent such mischeifs from these wicked Incendiaries who still swarm about this Town thinking themselves more safe here than in the Country and better able to hold correspondence c. I know well with what Envy and Malice they behold the City and that they will leave no Villany unatempted to lay it once more Level with the Ground unless possibly seeing it so gloriously Rebuilt and upon consideration of late Circumstances they should think it now better Hubandry to preserve it for their own use as Harcoat the Tower than to destroy it and so invert the other of their Design and strive first to Depopulate and Massacre its troublesom Inhabitants that so themselves and their French Friends may take Possession of these Noble Structures and quietly enjoy the Accomodation of the Hereticks Pains and Charge as the Jewes those of the Cananites this I am certain of thas you are continually to expect from them the worst that a most improved Subtilty joyned with the most Implacable Malice Both egg'd on with vast Bats of Profit and Power and sharpned with the Fury of blind Zeal and Thirst of Revenge can either contrive or execute To prevent which nothing can be more effectual than Union and a good understanding amongst all Protestants though of different Perswasions To obviate the ill Art of this common Enemy whose Instruments by a Thousand Devices dayly seek to exasperate you one against another you must study to cement as much as they to divide But above all let no Jesuitical Impressions howsoever maskt be able in the least to Impair the Loyalty to the King or wheadle you into any tumultuous disturbances you can no way gratifie or serve their Interest more than by such a wicked Folly this is the Point they would gain upon you and which they have pusht on so unhappily elsewhere and then infallibly you shall bear the whole Odium of their Hellish-Plot May the God of Heaven ever preserve His Majesty from the open violences and secret Assassinations of these Bloody-minded Men as likewise from their subtle Insinuations may the same Omnipotent Power Bless and Protect these Nations in general and the City of London in particular that his Majesty may have a long and Prosperous Reign the Protestant Religion flowrish and the Designs of Rome be blasted discovered and confounded Is and shall ever be the Hearty Prayers and Endeavours of him VVho is A most hearty VVell-wisher to the Prosperity of that CITY and of the True PROTESTANT INTEREST William Bedloe A NARRATIVE OF THE Popes late Fire-Works IN ENGLAND AS there is not a more malicious sort of Vermine in the World than the Iesuits and other Factors for Rome for let me tell you the Benedictines and rest of the Orders nay the dullest Mass-jobbing Seculars are not at all behind hand with the former in will to commit Roguery whatever they are in parts and sufficiencies to conduct and manage it so there can be none more cursedly ingenious in inventing and
Seymour Sir Rowland Beckley Col. Strangways Sir John Charlton Mr. Sandys Mr. Finch Sir Tho. Allen Sir Edward Massey Lord Ancram Col. Birch Lord Herbert Mr. Whorwood Sir Edm. Walpool Mr. Pepis Sir Robert Brook Sir John Heath Mr. Coventry Sir Robert Atkins Sir Richard Everard Sir Tho. Littleton Mr. Millward Serj. Maynard Sir Thomas Gower Mr. Crouch Mr. Prin Sir Richard Ford Sir Jo. Talbot Mr. Trevor Mr. Merrel Mr. Jones Mr. Rob. Milward Mr. Morley Sir Thomas Clifford Sir Will. Hickman Sir Solom Swale Sir Will. Lowther Mr. Garraway Sir Hen. Caesar Sir Richard Brown Sir Tho. Tomlins Sir Rich. Vatley Sir Fran. Goodrick Sir John Monson Mr. Maynard And they are to meet to morrow at two of the Clock in the afternoon in the Speakers Chamber and to send for Persons Papers and Records VVill. Goldesbrough Cer. Dom. Com. October 9. 1666. Ordered That these Members following be added to the Committee appointed to enquire into the Causes of the late Fire Viz Sir John Pelham Mr. Hugh Buscowen Mr. Giles Hungerford Sir VVilliam Lewis Sir Gilbert Gerrard Sir John Brampstone Mr. Milward Mr. Buscowen and all the Members that serve for the City of London VVill. Goldesbrough Cler. Dom. Com. October 16. 1666. Ordered That Mr. Davies Sir Thomas Higgons Mr. St. John Sir Richard Franklin Sir Thomas Tomkins Mr. Devereux Mr. Millard Mr. Lewis Mr. Dowdswell Sir James Thyn Sir Edm. Pierse Mr. Coleman Sir Tho. Allen Mr. Giles Hungerford Mr. Churchill be added to the Committee appointed to enquire into the Causes of the late Fire Will. Goldesbrough Cler. Dom. Com. THe Honourable Committee according to the fore-mentioned Orders of the House did meet in the Speakers Chamber and having chosen Sir Robert Brook for their Chairman proceeded to receive many considerable Informations from divers credible Persons about the matter wherewith they were intrusted and thereupon did at last agree that Sir Robert Brook should make the ensuing Report to the Honourable House of Commons The Report of Sir Robert Brook Chair-man to the Committee that was appointed by the House of Commons to enquire into the Firing of the City of London made the Two and twentieth of January 1666. THat in a Letter from Alanson of the 23d of August 1666 New Stile written from one Dural to a Gentleman lodging in the House of one of the Ministers of the French Church in London called Monsieur Herault there were these Expressions Pray acquaint me with the truth of certain News which is common in this Country That a Fire from Heaven is fallen upon a City called Belke scituated on the side of the River of Thames where a world of People have been killed and burnt and Houses also consumed Which seemeth a word of Cabal cast out by some that were knowing and taken up by others that might be ignorant of the signification of it Mrs Elizabeth Styles informs That in April last in an eager discourse she had with a French man Servant of Sir Vere Fan he hastily replied You English Maids will like the Frenchmen better when there is not a House left between Temple-Bar and London-Bridge To which she answered I hope your eyes will never see that He replied This will come to pass between June and October William Tisdale informs That he being about the beginning of July at the Greyhound in St. Martins with one Fitz-Harris an Irish Papist heard him say There would be a sad Desolation in September in November a worse in December all would be united into one Whereupon he asked him Where this Desolation would be He answered In London Mr. Light of Ratcliff having some discourse with Mr. Langhorn of the Middle-Temple Barrister reputed a zealous Papist about February 65 last after some discourse in disputation about Religion he took him by the hand and said to him You expect great things in Sixty Six and think that Rome will be destroyed but what if it be London Mr. Kitley of Barkin in Essex informs That one Mrs. Yazly a Papist of Ilford in the said County came unto his House August the 13th and being in discourse with his Mother said They say the next Thursday will be the bottest day that ever was in England She replied I hope the hottest season of the year is now past To which she answered I know not whether it be the hottest for Weather or for Action This Mrs. Yazly coming to the same House the Week after the Fire Mr. Kitley said to her with some trouble I have often thought of your Hot Thursday To which she replyed It was not indeed upon the Thursday but it happened upon the Sunday was sennight after Mrs Yazly hearing this Evidence produced against her endeavoured to avoid the words saying That upon the 13th of August she did tell Mrs. Kitley That they say the next Thursday will be the darkest Thursday that ever was in England but not otherwise which she affirms to have received from one Finchman an old Woman of Ilford who being examined by a Justice of Peace to discover the truth thereof denied that ever she said any such words to Mrs Yazly or that she had discoursed with her about any such matter And as to the subsequent words she saith Mrs Yazly denies ever to have spoken them But Mr. Kitley offered in her presence if it should be demanded to bring his Mother and Wife to testifie the same William Ducket Esq a Member of the House informs That one Henry Baker of Chippenham in the County of Wilts coming from Market with one John Woodman of Kelloway in the same County the Thursday before the Fire began in London they had some discourse about the buying of a yoke of fat Bullocks wherein they differed because Woodman who was to sell them was desired to keep them a while in his hands But the said Woodman denied so to do for that as he alledged he could not stay in the Country till that time which Baker would have them delivered to him in and being asked whither he was going he refused to tell Asking what had he to do to make that question But riding a little further the said Woodman exprest these words You are brave Blades at Chippenham you made Bonfires lately for beating the Dutch But since you delight in Bonfires you shall have your Bellies full of them ere it be long Adding that if he lived one week longer he should see London as sad a London as ever it was since the World began And in some short time after he should see as bloody a time as ever was since England was England This discourse was not much taken notice of at that time it was spoken But when the City of London was Burnt the said Henry Baker gave this Information to the said Mr. Ducket and thereupon he issued out his Warrant to apprehend Woodman but he was gone out of the Country and cannot be heard of since Robert Hubert of Roan in Normandy who acknowledged that he was one of those that
was on fire and the smoak thereof infested the adjacent Houses And when this was done there was No fire near the place Mr. Michael March an Officer in the Trained Bands in a Company of Sir Richard Browns apprehended a Walloon in the time of the Fire at the Nags-head in Leaden-hall-Street with an Instrument like a dark Lanthorn made as is conceived to lay a Train of Powder and it was tilled with Gun-powder There were two more of the same Nation in his company They being asked to what use they employed the same Instrument would give no Account thereof Newton Killingworth Esq informed That he apprehended a person during the Fire about whom he found much combustible matter and certain black things of a long figure which he could not indure to hold in his hands by reason of their extream heat This Person was so surprized at first that he would not answer to any question But being on his way to White-hall he acted the part of a Mad-man and so continued while he was with him Sir Iohn Maynard a Member of this House affirms That he had some of that combustible matter in his hands and though it were in its natural substance and unfired yet the heat of it was scarcely to be endured by the touch Mr. Freeman of Southwark Brewer whose House was lately fired informs That on the day his House was fired about a quarter of an hour before that happened a Paper with a Ball of Wild-fire containing near a pound weight wrapped in it was found in the Nave of a Wheel in a Wheelers-yard where lay a great quantity of Timber How his House was fired he knoweth not but this he affirmed to the Committee That it could not be by accident because there had not been any Candle or Fire in the Housewhere the Hay lay that whole day and that the Hay being laid in very dry and before Midsummer could not possibly be set on fire within it self Moreover he said That the Hay-loft was on fire on the top of the House and that the Fire spread from the one end of the Roof to another in an instant Mr. Richard Harwood informs That being near the Feathers Tavern by St. Pauls upon the fourth of September he saw something through a grate in a Cellar like Wild-fire by the sparkling and spitting of it he could judge it to be no other Whereupon he gave notice of it to some Souldiers that were near the place who caused it to be quenched I had Order from the Committee to acquaint you That we traced several Persons apprehended upon strong Suspicion during the Fire to the Guards but could not make further discovery of them ☞ Thus far was the Report What follows was given in to the Committee but not by them Reported to the House at that time A Letter from a Person of Credit to the Chair-man of the said Committee SIR HEaring that you are Chairman to the Committee for examining the Firing of London I thought good to acquaint you with this Information that I have received William Champneys a Hatband-maker now living upon Horslydown was upon Tuesday-morning September the fourth 1666 in Shoe-lane and there met with a Constable who had apprehended a Frenchman whom he took firing a House there with Fire-balls and charged the said Champneys to assist him who carried the said Frenchman to Salisbury Court hoping there to have found a Justice but finding that Place burning down returned into Fleet-street who was presently called upon by the Commander of the Life-Guard to know what the matter was The Constable told him He had apprehended a Frenchman firing a House in Shoe-lane he examined the Person and committed him to the Guard and told the Constable he would secure him and carried him along with him The Constable asked him whether he should go along with him to give in his Evidence He replied That he had done enough and might go home But what became of the Frenchman he knoweth not Your humble Servant S. G. In a Letter from Ipswich directed For the Honourable Sir Robert Brook it is intimated That about the 30th of August 1666 one of the Constables of Cotton in Harismer Hundred being about the survey of that Town about Hearth money was told by one Mr. Will am Thompson a Roman Catholick in that Town That though time were like to besad yet if he found any cause to change his Religion he would see he should not want And further said to him What will you say if you hear that London is Burnt The Affdavits touching a Frenchman that said There were Three hundred of them engaged in Firing the City The Informations of Richard â—ouâ—d of St. Giles in the Fields Ironmonget William Cotes Samuel Page Francis Cogny Edmond Dakins and Richard Pardoe taken the 8th day of Septemb. 1666 by Sir Justlnian Lewen Knight one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the Country of Middlesex upon Oath as followeth RIchard Bound saith That upon Tuesday night last about twelve or one of the clock there was a Frenchman brought by the Watch to this Informants Fathers house being at the sign of the White-Hart in King-street taken as a suspicious person The said person being questioned by them Whether he was not one of those that Fired the City or had a hand therein or any privity or knowledge of any that had designed the same or words to that effect The said person answered a great while in a perverse manner quite different from the question But being further pressed to tell the truth and being told that if be were guilty it would be the only way to save his life He did at first obstinately deny that he knew any thing of any Plot. Whereupon a young man took the Prisoner aside to the end of the Room and after some private discourse between them they both returned to this Informant and the rest of the Company and the said young man spake openly to us in the hearing of the Prisoner That the said Frenchman and Prisoner had confessed There were Three hundred Frenchmen that were in a Plot or Conspiracy to fire the City Upon which this Informant and others spake to the said Frenchman in these words or to the same effect Well Monsieur you have done very well to confess what you have done and no doubt but you may have your Pardon if you will confess all you know of this Plot And thereupon further asked him Are there no more than Three hundred persons in the said Plot He answered There are no more than Three hundred persons Then we inquired who they were and how he came to know they were Three hundred To which he would give no direct Answer but put it off with other extravagant discourse And being asked why he came to St. Giles Parish where he was apprehended He told a Story that he came from Islington-Fields where his Masters Goods were But the Goods were now removed but he could not tell whither and
that they spent 700 Fire-balls and had others both Men and Women attending to Plunder what they could having a Warehouse in VVild-street and another at Somerset-house to receive what they so got which amounted to the value of 14000 pounds as aforesaid c. As for the Fifth-Monarchy-men that were Executed mentioned by the said Strang to Mr. Oats in this Discourse 'T is very observable what Account the Gazett gave of their Tryal 'T is in the Gazett published on Munday April the 30th 1666. The words are these At the Sessions in the Old-Baily John Rathbone an old Army-Colonel William Saunders Henry Tucker Thomas Flint Thomas Evans John Miles William Wescot and John Cole formerly Officers or Soldiers in the late Rebellion were Indicted for Conspiring the Death of his Majesty and the overthrow of the Government having laid their Plot and Contrivance for the Surprizal of the Tower The Killing his Grace the Lord General Sir John Robinson Lieutenant of his Majesties Tower of London and Sir Richard Brown and then to have declared for an equal division of Lands c. The better to effect this Hellish design THE CITY WAS TO HAVE BEEN FIRED and the Portcullices to have 〈◊〉 let down to keep out all assistance The Horse-Guard to have been surprized in the Inns where they were quartered several Ostlers having been gain'd for that purpose the Tower was accordingly viewed and its surprise ordered by Boats over the Moat and from thence to scale the VVall one Alexander who in not yet taken had likewise distributed sums of Money to these Conspirators and for the carrying on the Design more effectually they were told of a great Council of the GREAT ONES that sate frequently in London from whom issued all Orders which Council received their Directions from another in Holland which sate with the States and that the Third of SEPTEMBER was pitcht on for the attempt as being found by Lillies Almanack and a Scheme erected for that purpose to be a Lucky day a Planet then ruling which Prognosticated the downfal of Monarchy The evidence against these Persons was very full and clear and they accordingly found Guilty of High-Treason Thus that Gazett verbatim From whence we may observe 1. How exactly the Account given by Father Strang to Mr. Oats agrees herewith as to the Number of Persons Time Design c. 2. How industrious these Popish Conspiraters are and how dexterous in turning themselves into all shapes and complying with all humours to carry on their designes as here pretending to embrace and promote Fifth-Monarchy-Principles Levelling c. which should methinks caution all Protestant Dissenters from the Establisht Church-Government yet to abhor all Conspiracies and never to be drawn into any Plot or Seditious Pranks on any pretensions whatsoever lest whilst by indirect means they fondly hope to advance some little Notions and Whimsies of their own they shall but do the Jesuits Drudgery and really be found diligent Instruments to advance that Scarlet VVhore whom they so loudly declaim against and abominate 3. The Jesuits herein Acted with that Devilish Policy which is so much the Study of their Society for having such an horrid Plot on Foot they thought fit to find out some other Party upon whom they might lay the Scandal of it but it seems could meet with none so ready to be Bubbled as the Fifth-Monarchy-men For said the subtle Fathers if we can perswade them to the Business viz. Fireing the City and Killing the King Then not only our work will be done to out hands but we shall have an excellent occasion to fall not only on these people but whoever else we shall please to call Fanaticks as their Accomplices and all the World shall acknowledge that we do but Justice in cutting them off when they shall be made guilty of such Treason and Villany On the other side if they attempt and fail in it Let the Rogues Hang we and our Church are free both from the Danger and the Odium of it Nay more we shall gain this advantage That when we shall do it in earnest 't will certainly be laid at their Doors because of their former Attempt and to load them the heavier they had set down the Names of all the most eminent Dissenters and such as had serv'd under the Parliament as concern'd in this Plot and left it with these people That as a List of the Conspirators it might be taken with them and consequently all those persons secured in Custody at a time when they design'd the French with whom we were then at War should invade the Kingdom and I am credibly inform'd they had all been taken had not his Grace the late Duke of Albemarle Interposed 4. As they had to do with ignorant Enthusiastical people so they managed them accordingly Telling them a Story of an Equal Division of Lands a Councel of Great Ones that must be nameless and another yet greater that sate with the States But especially they forgat not to name the Third of September to them being the day or next save one themselves had so long pitcht upon for the Burning of London and for this purpose the Oracle Lillies Almanack must be consulted but indeed it was the Astrology of St. Omars that resolved the Question for they did this meerly that if they should be discovered that circumstance should likewise be divulged as part of this Fifth-Monarchy-Plot and consequently being remembred by people when they should see the City on Fire They might thence take occasion to fall upon the Fanaticks as the Incendiaries and 't is more than probable that not finding these Half-witted Fellows very fit to serve their Purposes actively They resolved to make them do it passively and might themselves cause them to be betray'd it being nothing infrequent with the Jesuits to imitate their Father the Devil in tempting people first to Villany and then to be the first that shall accuse them An Account of some other Fires since that Grand Conflagration in 66. NExt after destroying the City of London the Popish Design hath all along been to Ruin and lay wast its Suburbs This several of the Fathers as Gifford and others have declared to me and the same is evident by matter of Fact For knowing the Borough of Southwark to be a place of eminent Trade and generally a sober industrious people how oft have they made Attempts thereon till at last they laid the best part thereof in Ashes As first At the George-Inn the 25 of July about 8 a Clock in the Morning Concerning the manner of this Iohn Whitler Head-Ostler at the said Inn did attest That the same morning he was removing some Baggs of Hopps which lay in a shed near to a Flax-shop in which was some Tow and other Combustibles ordinarily used to stuff Chairs with and then he did not perceive or smell any Smoak or Fire nor had any Candle or Fire been in the said Flax-Shop for many Months before to his or any