Selected quad for the lemma: day_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
day_n	friday_n	lord_n	thursday_n	4,699	5	13.2887	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41167	An enquiry into and detection of the barbarous murther of the late Earl of Essex, or, A vindication of that noble person from the guilt and infamy of having destroy'd himself	Ferguson, Robert, d. 1714.; Braddon, Laurence, d. 1724.; Speke, Hugh, 1656-1724?	1684 (1684)	Wing F737; ESTC R25398	79,560	81

surprised with the expression she related it to her Sister that evening when she came home And upon hearing the next day that the Earl of Essex was murdered and how it was reported That he should have cut his own Throat the poor Lady thô strangely alarmed with the News could not but immediately make this reflexion That what she had look't upon overnight as a Parable and Mystery was then deciphered and unriddled and that the Earl must needs have come to that untimely end by the Treachery and Villany of others To this we shall subjoin what Mrs. Mewx a Gentlewoman who also lives in London was ready to Depose upon Oath relating to a previous report of this nature at Mr. Braddon's Trial. For being on Thursday the 12th of July which was the day before my Lord of Essex death travelling with her Daughter in a Coach from the City down to Berkshire she is ready to swear that her Daughter then told her how she had heard it reported That one of the Lords committed for the late Plot had cut his Throat in the Tower Which fully evidenceth That there was a discourse not only of his death but the manner of it antecedently to his Fatal and Tragical end But the Daughter being with Child and near her time and therefore not daring to venture abroad much less into the Court at Mr. Braddon's Trial my Lord Chief Justice would not suffer the Mother thô she was there and sworn to be examined alledging That because she could not Depose on her own knowledge but only on the report of her Daughter it was no evidence and therefore against all judicial forms to admit it But as Mr. Wallop well replied It was evidence there was such a talk previous to my Lord of Essex's death so I may add That by consequence he did not murder himself but was assassinated by others Nor was it only in and about the Town that my Lord of Essex was reported to have cut his Throat at least a day if not more before he came to his untimely end but the same was discoursed of at a considerable distance in the Country and related after the same manner and with the same circumstances For one Mr. Fielder a Shopkeeper in Andover a Town removed from London above fifty Miles positively swears that it was talk't there the 11th and 12th of July That the Ea●l of Essex had cut his Throat in the Tower whereas he was not killed till the 13th nor could the news arrive so far in the ordinary way of conveying Intelligence before the 14th And the said Mr. Fielder further avers That this was to commonly discoursed of from Wednesday night till Friday noon that he fully expected the confirmation of it by the Post-Letters which were to arrive that day But finding no mention in those Letters of any such thing tho they all agreed in the relation of the Earl of Essex's commitment to the Tower he concluded there could be no truth in the report but withal wondred how such a thing came to be talk'd of And therefore when the certain news of my Lord's death was brought to Andover about Saturday noon by some Cloathiers that came out of London on Friday at twelve of the Clock he could not but be amased at the report which had been current among them two days before But my Lord Chief Justice was pleased to ridicule all this when it was deposed at Mr. Braddon's Trial as a contrivance to deceive the King's Subjects and to set us together by the ears stiling it stuff rak'd out of Dunghills and pick'd up on purpose to kindle a fire and set us all into a flame But can his Lordship think that his blustering his impudence and the huffing the World with foaming wrathful speeches are enough to take off the positive testimony of an honest and credible person and who had spoken of this report long before he thought any improvement would be made of it Nor is it sufficient to blast the reputation of the Man or detract from the Truth of what he swore that he could not particularly name the persons that had reported it because as he never expected to be called into question about it so he had no occasion to recollect it till he was served with a sub poena to appear at Mr. Braddon's Trial which was above five Months after the time of the said talk and discourse And besides how many things are there which a publick Skopkeeper as this person is may hear his Customers speak of which he would be nonplust to give an account of the Authors of at a weeks end Nay by how much a Report is common as he says this was at Andover by so much are we apt to neglect by whom it hath been particularly related And the more our understandings are struck with the horror of a matter declared to us the less do we advert by whom it is spoken and the more unprepared are our memories to treasure up the names of the reporters Nor was it at Andover only that it was reported the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat the day before he was killed but the same story and cloathed with the same circumstances was discoursed of before his death in divers other places For I am not only credibly informed That the Earl of Essex's having cut his Throat was reported on Thursday being the day before his death at Warmister in Wiltshire which is distant from London about eighty Miles but there is one Thomas Cox who lives near Bruningham that did positively declare That the same was told him in that Town the 12th of July whereas my Lord was not killed in the Tower till the 13. And besides all this to evidence a Report of that Noble Person 's being Murthered previous to the commission of the 〈◊〉 there are two Informations more delivered upon Oath Mr. Braddon's Trial 〈◊〉 〈…〉 miah Burg●s that lives at Marlborrough who swears that he heard it at Frome a place 90. Miles from London the very day that the Earl of Essex died and another by one Lewes that lives at Marleborrough who deposeth That being riding on the Road within three or four Miles of Andover on Friday in the Afternoon the same day that the Earl of Essex was murdered he was told by a person whom he fell in with on the way That the said Earl had cut his Throat in the Tower And notwithstanding all the affronts and discouragements put upon those two Witnesses whilest they were giving their Testimony and notwithstanding all the scorn and contempt wherewith Sir George Jeffery's endeavoured to expose and ridicule what they Deposed yet I dare venture their Informations upon the Faith of all indifferent and ingenuous Men whether they do not abundantly prove that there was such a Report spread abroad antecedently to my Lord of Essex's death or at least before the tidings of it could reach so far as that he had cut his Throat in the Tower

Russel 's misery seeing had it not been for him my Lord Russel would never have admitted my Lord Howard into his company And that thereupon seeing my Lord Russel like to be ruined by the Testimony of that person for whose integrity he had engaged his Honour he fell destracted Now as this is directly repugnant to the Testimony which his own Lady and all other persons who had the advantage of being known to his Lordship do justly give him affirming that he was the most sedate best composed and freest from passions of all men they ever knew so there is not one word of it in his information to the Coroners Inquest tho' it would have been a stronger evidence of my Lords murdering himself than all that he deposed or swore besides Truth being ever the same whosoever is called to testifie a Truth that falls within his knowledg can give the same account of it a thousand times over without the least variation from it or from himself but a Lie having no foundation save what it has in the invention of the Author easily escapes the memory and lay's the Reporter as often as he is called to repeat and declare it under a continual liableness of inventing either some thing new that was not or which is different to what was in his former report so that by the last Fiction he both detects and discredits the first But secondly as the Informations of these two Witnesses interfere with the Reports which themselves gave concerning my Lords Death to other persons so the Testimony of the one does directly contradict and supplant the Testimony of the other For whereas Bomeny positively swears that on the 12. of July in the morning before my Lord of Essex was up be sent the Footman home with a Note to the Steward in which among other things he ask'd for a Penknife for my Lord and that when the Footman was gone about or a little after eight of the Clock my Lord sent Russel the Warder to the said Bomeny who came and ask'd him if the Penknife was come to which Bomeny replyed no my Lord but I shall have it by and by and that thereupon my Lord bid him bring him one of his Razors which he went and fetched and gave to his Lordship who applyed himself there with to pair his Nailes Russel in a direct contradiction to this swears that on the 13. of July about 8 or 9 of the Clock in the Forenoon he was present when he did hear the Lord of Essex call to his Man Bomeny for a Penknife to pare his Nailes and then for a Razor which Bomeny brought him and that thereupon my Lord went up and down the Room scraping his Nailes with the Razor So that whil'st Bomeny deposed upon Oath that my Lord called for the Razor and had it delivered to him on the 12 of July being Thursday and the day before my Lords death Russel comes and swears that it was on the 13 of July being Friday and the day on which my Lord was killed that he ask'd for the Razor and received it from his man We may with the same ease bring the Time Past to be the Time present or Future as make the 12 of July upon which Bomenie swears he gave my Lord the Razor to be the 13 of July on which Russel swears it was delivered to him And tho this be such a dissagreement in their Testimonies that no wise and unbiaz'd person can give credit to what either of them sayes but is in justice obliged to believe that both of them swore falsely yet it is not the only thing wherein their Depositions contradict one another there being a second thing and as important as the former wherein the Information of the on lyes in a full contrariety to the Information of the other For whereas Bomeny swears that Russel push'd the closet door open where my Lord lay which implyes his using violence and force to get in Russel comes and deposeth that being called by Bomenie he went to the Closet door and opend it the Key being on the outside Nor it is possibl ' to reconcile what the one sayes in this particular to what is declared by the other unless we can make the unlocking the door with the key to be the same with the bursting it open in a forcibl ' way Yea as if it were not sufficient to demonstrate the falsehood of both their Testimonies that they do expressly contradict one another in two important and weighty particulars there is yet a third wherein their Informations do plainly cross and thwart each other For whereas Bomeny swears that upon looking through the Chink of the Closet door he saw blood and a part of the Razor without making mention of his seeing my Lords Body or any part of it Russel comes and deposeth that Bomenie upon peeping through a Chink of the door saw the Earl of Essex lying on the ground in the Closet without adding any thing of his having seen blood and a part of the Razor Now besides that Russel swears a thing positively which at most he could only swear upon Bomenie's Info●mation here is also a dissagreement between the account of what Bomenie say's he saw and that which Russel affirm's him to have seen The two Elders who in the Apocryphal History are reported to have sworn falsely a gainst Susanna did not more evidently nor in so many particulars interfere with and contradict one another as these two Fellows Bomeny and Russel appear to have don'in their Testimonies concerning the Earl of Essex death But alaz we have not been hitherto so happy as to have this pretended crime of my Lord Essex's cutting his Throat to fall under the examination and cognisance of persons of that integrity and uprightness as well as wisdom which the calumnious accusation of uncleanness fastned upon Susanna had the fortune to do And as the Informations of these two Rascals do plainly contradict each other so in the last place we shall observe how one and the same Witness does in his Deposition thwart and gainsay himself For whereas Bomenie swears that on Thursday the 12. of Iu'y he gave the Razor to my Lord who thereupon went to pare his Nailes with it he immediately adds without the least congrnity either to Sense or Grammer that he the said Bomenie having given my Lord the Razor went out of the room into the passage by the door on Fryday the 13. Nothing can be more aparent then that the for'go'ing part of the Information relates wholly to Thursday but at last without any regard in himself to what he said or relation in the next words to those which preceded Friday is brought in contrary both to all Rules of Syntax and the for'going words of his own Testimony For what was antecedently deposed referring to what had fallen out and was transacted on Thursday his immediately subjoyning that Then he went out of the Room into the passage by the door ought by

all the Rules of Speech and the Measures of Sence to relate to Thursday also But Friday being the day on which the Earl of Essex was killed and which as both Bomenie and Russel swear was soon after his having received the Razor it was therefore needful that in order to the giving some glose to that part of their Information wherein they swear my Lord cutt his own Throat that Friday should be mentioned tho with never so much incongruity and absurdness How conspicuous is the righteousness of God in suffering a villain who had first consented to the murdering his Master if not assisted in it and then undertaken to transferr ' the crime and infamy from the Assassinates and charge it upon his innocent Lord so evidently to contradict himself in what he swears as thereby to affoord the world an uncontroulabl ' demonstration both of the falshood of his own Deposition and of his Masters being guiltless of what he accused him And as the many contradictions of one kind and another which occurr ' in the informations of the Witnesses do as so many prints and Footsteps lead and conduct us to other Authors and Instruments of my Lords death than himself so the many irregularities which were committed about the ●ody by those who had the oversight and custody of it before the Coroner's Inquest had sat upon it administer unto us new proofs that the Earl of Essex was not Felo de se but that he was treacherously and barbarously murdered by the hands of bloody and suborned Ruffians By the custome of all Nations which is equivalent to a common and Universal Law but most especially by the known and alwaise practiced Custom of England the Body of a person found dead and supposed to have come to an untimely End ought if it be possibl ' to lye in the place and posture that it is found till the Coroners Jury have sat upon the Body and inquired into the manner of the persons death Nor can we think that those in the House where my Lord was killed and found dead could be ignorant of this custom ' seeing it is so well and universally known to the meanest and most ignorant people of the Nation Neither is there any thing more adapted and proper as well as needful towards a discovery whether a person have fallen by his own hands or the hands of others than this received custome and practice is upon many frequent and repeated experiences found to have been For how many circumstances not only may but do often occurr ' from an observation of the Site and posture wherein the Body is found from an inspection of the marks tokens and impressions left upon the Cloaths which the party destroyed wore and from a view of the Footsteps Symtom's and Signes which the place where the Fact was committed and the Body fell may yield and afford all which may have their usefulness and tendency to give light unto the Jury that is to sit upon the Body and whose Du'ty and Office it is to make inquiry into the manner of the persons death But least the Earl of Essex should have been found to have come to his End after an other manner and by other way 's and means than was safe or convenient for some people to have known and believed therefor ' were all things otherwise carried and the custom ' of the Nation in cases of this Nature not only neglected and despised but with the greatest impudence imaginabl ' violated and acted contrary unto For besides their taking my Lords Body out of the Closet where it was found and by consequence ought to have lyen they did not only uncloath stripp and wash it but also wash both the Closet where it was found and the lodging chamber into and through which we must suppose the persons to have come if any assassination was by the violent hands of others committed upon him Yea and as if all this had not been too daring in it self and enough to administer a just suspition to all mankind of some villany perpetrated upon the person of this Nobl ' Lord they proceeded further even to the carrying away the very Cloaths which they would not so much as allow the Jury to see tho some of the Coroners Inquest had the wit and seeming ingenuity as to call for them I do not affirm nor would I have it thought that all these irregularities were committed before the Coroner himself saw the Body for I have been well informed and am fully satisfied to the contrary and have reason to believe that he was prevailed upon to consent and give way to the do'ing of these absurd and illegal things But that which I assert and which will be proved if occasion be both by the several members of the Jury it self and by diverse other persons who saw the Body before the time of the Coroners inquisition is that these irregularities were committed and done ere ever the Jury who were to be the judges of the manner of my Lord Essex's death were admitted or indeed could be to the sight of the Corps For as the Coroners Inquest neither sat upon nor saw the Body till the 14 of July in the forenoon so all these irregular things had been don ' the 13 being the same day on which my Lord was killed Now besides many other circumstances which the Jury might have observed detective of and serving to discover the manner of my Lord Essex's death had all things been suffered to remain as they were at the moment when his Body was found and as they ought according to the custome of the Kingdom and the practice in all cases of that Nature to have done there would have appeared three remarkabl ' things to them which had served to convince all men who had a spark of Reason or degree of honesty that this great and honorabl ' Peer did not destroy himself but was Massacred by hired and suborned Ruffians The first whereof would have been the print of a bloody foot upon one of my Lords Stockins which seeing it could not be an impression made by himself must necessarily have been the effect of a most perfidious cruelty exercised upon him by others Nor is this a fiction of mine raised to vindicate the memory of the E. of Essex from the guilt and infamy of so base and enormous a Crime nor given out to baffle and discredit the belief of the late Plot and deliver the Conspirators from the reproach and danger which that pretended Combination had derived upon them much less is it invented to defame the King cast an aspersion upon the Government and enflame the Nation but there are ey ' Witnesses ready to swear it and one as remote from all likelihood of being the Author of a groundless and Romantick Fabl ' as any man affirmed it before the Coroner and Jury when they sat upon an Inquisition into the manner of my Lords death For Samuel Peck a Servant of the Earl