the University as some report or whether drawn in upon his Marriage as others alleage or to gratifie a Rich Vncle of that Persuasion as a third sort relate it on which or whether on some other occasion different from all these he revolted is not much material but revolt he did to the Roman Church and became a mighty Bigot to advance the same and gain Proselytes He was a Person of rare natural and acquired parts and so well conceited of himself that he once undertook to be one that should manage a Conference concerning Religion against the Learned Doctor Stillingfleet and another Divine of the Church of England which discourse is extant in Print But his Talent lay more in News and Policy than Divinity being for some time Secretary to her Royal Highness the Dutchess of York he was a Leading-man in this Horrid Conspiracy and a prime Promoter thereof by his great Correspondency abroad both at Rome and in the French Court. Concerning the manner of his Commitment an Account is given before Chapt. the 8th On Saturday the 23 of November he was Arraigned at the Kings-Bench Bar the Indictment being very Expressive and Significant we shall for Example sake See Colemans Tryal p. 2. recite part of it viz. That as a false Traitor against our most Illustrious Serene and most excellent Prince Charles by the Grace of God c. his natural Lord having not the fear of God in his heart nor duely weighing his Allegiance but being moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil his cordial Love and true Duty and natural Obedience which true and lawful Subjects of our said Lord the King ought to bear towards him and by Law ought to have altogether with-drawing and devising and with all his strength intending the Peace and common Tranquillity of this Kingdom of England to disturb and the true Worship of God within the Kingdom of England practised and by Law Established to overthrow and Sedition and Rebellion within this Realm of England to move stir up and procure and the cordial Love and true Duty and Allegiance which true and lawful Subjects of our Soveraign Lord the King towards their Soveraign bear and by Law ought to have altogether to withdraw forsake and extinguish and our said Soveraign Lord the King to Death and final Destruction to bring and put The 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the Reign of our said Soveraign Lord Charles the Second c. at the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster Falsly Maliciously and Traiterously proposed compassed imagined and intended to stir up and raise Sedition and Rebellion within the Kingdom of England and to procure and cause a miserable Destruction amongst the Subjects of our said Lord the King and wholly to Deprive Depose Deject and Disinherit our said Soveraign of his Royal State Title Power and Rule of his Kingdom of England and to bring and put our said Soveraign Lord the King to final Death and Destruction and to overthrow and change the Government and alter the sincere and true Religion of God in this Kingdom by Law establish'd and wholly to subvert and destroy the State of the Kingdom and to Levy War against our said Soveraign Lord the King within his Realm of England And that to accomplish these his Traiterous designs and imaginations on the 29th of Septemb. in the 27th year of the King he Traiterously composed two Letters to one Monsieur Le Chese then Servant and Confessor of Lewis the French King to desire procure and obtain for the said Edw. Coleman and other false Traitors the Aid Assistance and Adherence of the said French King to alter the true Religion in this Kingdom Establish'd to the Superstition of the Church of Rome and Subvert the Government of this Kingdom of England c. Reciting his receiving an Answer from Le Chese his Correspondence with Monsieur Rovigni Envoy Extraordinary from the French King and Letters to Sir William Throckmorton in France Concluding in usual form That all this was done against his true Allegiance and against the Peace of the King his Crown and Dignity To this Indictment he pleaded Not Guilty and on Wednesday the 27th of Novemb. 1678. was brought to his Tryal To the Jury Empannel'd he made no Challenges Their Names were Sir Reginald Foster Baronet Sir Charles Lee. Edward Wilford Esq John Bathurst Esq Joshua Galliard Esq John Bifield Esq Simon Middleton Esq Henry Johnson Esq Charles Vmfrevile Esq Thomas Johnson Esq Thomas Eaglesfield Esq William Bohee Esq His Tryal as it held very long so it was managed with all Integrity and Moderation by the Court The Charge against him was made out two ways partly by Witnesses Vivâ voce and partly by Letters and Papers found at his House which he could not deny to be his own hand writing Dr. Oates was the first Witness produced to whom the Lord Chief Justice gave this grave Caution That he See Colemans Tryal p. 17. should speak nothing but the truth not to add the least tittle that was false for any advantage whatsoever mind him of the Sacredness of the Oath he had taken declaring that since the Prisoners Blood and Life was at stake he should stand or fall be justified or Condemned by truth The substance of Mr. Oates's Evidence was 1. That in Novemb. 1677. being brought acquainted with Mr. Coleman by one John Keins then Dr. Oates's Confessor who Lodged at Colemans House he carried some Letters for him to St. Omers in which were Treasonable Expressions of the King calling him Tyrant and a Letter in Latine enclosed to Monsieur Le Chese to whom Dr. Oates carried it from St. Omers to Paris in which there were thanks returned for the Ten thousand pounds by him remitted into England for the Propagation of the Catholick Religion and promising that it should be Imployed for no other purpose but that for which it was sent which was to cut off the King of England as appear'd by the Letter of Le Chese to which this was an Answer and which Dr. Oates saw and read 2. That Coleman was concern'd in the design of taking away the Sacred Life of the King for that when at the Jesuits Consult at the pag. 2. Whitehorse-Tavern in the Strand in April Old Stile and May New Stile and afterwards adjourned into several Companies It was resolv'd that Pickering and Grove should Assassinate his Majesty by Shooting or other means for which the latter should have 1500 l. and the former Thirty thousand Masses which at 12 d. a Mass amounted much what to the same sum This resolve was in his hearing Communicated to Mr. Coleman at Wild-House who did approve thereof and said it was well contriv'd 3. That in August 78. Mr. Coleman was present at a Consult with the Jesuits and Benedictine Monks in the Savoy for raising a pag. 23. Rebellion in Ireland and was very forward to have Dr. Fogarthy sent thither to dispatch the Duke of Ormond by
do it both to Peter and me too The Emperour Henry the Seventh after the Pope and his Cardinals had long opposed his Coronation and instigated many Enemies against him was at last poysoned by a Monk one of their Creatures in the Sacrament And certainly all the wit and malice of Hell and Rome clubbed together could never have screw'd villany to an higher pitch than these Miscreants did by empoisoning their God as they pretend to believe it on purpose therewith to destroy and Murther their lawful Sovereign Joan Queen of Naples was deprived of her Kingdom by Pope Vrban who consented to her Murther 'T is well known how our King John was intolerably vexed and deprived by the Pope and his Agents and at last poysoned by a Monk as also our Henry the Second about the death of that turbulent Traytor Becket who had occasioned so many uproars in the State was by Popish appointment enforced to submit his Royal Back to the cruel Lashes of the Insolent Monks of Canterbury When our King Hen. 8. denyed and by Law in the 24th and 25th years of his Reign had taken away the Popes Usurped Supremacy though he and the Nation in general still continued in the Communion of the Church of Rome Pope Paul the Third presently Curses and Damns him and all his good Subjects for so is the Title of his Bull Damnatio Excommunicatio Heâ— 8. ejusque Fautorum Complicum The Dannation and Excommunication of King Henry the Eighth and all his Adherents and Favourers And so it might properly be Intituled for therein he not only deprives him of his Kingdom and Territories forbids him and all that should take part with him Christian Burial but also declares him and them Eternally Damned He likewise deprives all the Kings Children born or to be born of Queen Anne and all the Children of his Adherents of their Rights Priviledges and Goods annuls all Oaths and Treaties made with the King and commands all Christian Princes to make War upon him and his people and if they should take any of his Subjects who obey the said King and disobey these his Holinesses Commands then all and every such persons so taken to be Slaves for ever to those that take them with several other horrid Impieties which you may see in Bullario Romano Printed at Lions 1655. Tom. 1. p. 704. Since this Henry the Third of France after various Treasons and Conspiracies of the Sorbonists against him was at last An. 1589. Murdered by Jaques Clement a zealous young Friar on which Assassination Pope Sixtus the Fifth made a Panegyrical Oration in the Consistory and commended the same as a most Heroick and Religious Exploit and the Traiterous Assassinate being killed on the Attempt a Statue of Brass was made for him by the Command of the chief of the League his Picture set up in Churches he was sometimes prayed to by the Title of Saint Jaques Clement And to note the just Judgment of God 't is affirmed that this â—urther was committed in the self-same Chamber a St Clou where a Council had been held Anno 1572. wherein the horrid Massacre of the Protestans at Paris was resolved upon this King then Duke of Anjou being one of the chiefest of that Bloody Cabal See Thuanus l. 51. and Serres p. 789. His Successour the Great Henry the Fourth Grandfather to our present Gracious Sovereign after by a desperate Rebellion and Catholick League against him meerly on the account of his Religion he found himself obliged to declare himself a Roman-Catholick was notwithstanding all that first desperately wounded by John Chastel a Disciple of the Jesuites and by them suborned thereunto in memory whereof a Pillar was erected in Paris to the Infamy of the Jesuites and they banisht the Realm though not long after by their subtilty and Interest they got in again where their mischievous Influence hath not a little contributed towards Enkindling and Fomenting those fatal Flames which for divers years by-past have raged through so great a part of Christendome and particularly that kindness of their Re-admission did not at all abate their malice or secure the Life of that great Prince for afterwards in the year 1610. he was Murdered out-right by Ravilliac formerly a Monk but at that time a Sollicitor who was instigated to that divellish act by the Jesuits as 't is violently presumed as well by the manner of the thing as the constancy of his carriage at death and Confession that he made that he did it onely because the King favoured Hereticks and was preparing to make War against the Pope which was to fight against God c. as also for that he farther acknowledged that he had informed Father d'Aubigny a Jesuite of his intended Murder and shewed him the Knife but it was in Confession and so by their Doctrine not to be revealed and the said d'Aubigny being taken into examination denyed that he knew any thing of it or could have discovered it if it were revealed to him in Confession though he had never so much a mind to it For he protested that God had given him the Grace that as soon as any thing was revealeâ— to him in Confession the presently forgot it 'T is pity Father Garnet had not had such an excuse for his knowledge of the Powder-Treason pretended to be communicated to him the same way CHAP. II. A brief Account of the many Popish Treasons from time to time against Queen Elizabeth SECT 1. THE Insolencies of Popes and Treasons of Papists re-counted in the fore-going Chapter were all against Emperours Kings and Princes that generally owned the Church of Rome whence 't is abundantly apparent to all that are not wilfully blind That Papists of themselves and as such even before the Society of Jesuits was hatcht were a sort of very dangerous Subjects always ready nay oblig'd to Rebel against their Princes though of the same Faith and Religion with themselves when ever the Pope out of Interest or humour should put them upon it being obliged by the principles of their Religion so to do And can it then reasonably be expected that they will ever be Faithful and Loyal to Protestant in their account Heretical Princes especially now the Jesuits have so vastly improved and advanced Maxims of Treason Murther Equivocation c. as if they intended to banish not onely all Obedience to Kings but together therewith all kind of sincere Religion Truth and Moral Honesty between Man and Man out of the World Concerning the good Affection of this Society to Protestant Princes we may take our measures from their own expressions Father Campian a Jesuite and though Hang'd at Tyburn about the year 1581. for High-Treason yet at Rome reputed a famous Martyr and stiled by Ribadeneira in Catalogo Scriptorum societatis Jesu p. 377. in Indice Martyrum Martyr Christi inclytus sui seculi Clarissimus A most renowned and famous Martyr of Christ This holy man was not ashamed to declare in
their lawful Sovereign hath been the main foundation of all their Treasonable and Rebellious practices that have ensued from thence to this very day 2. Soon after this Anathema Bidolph by the Popes Order having distributed amongst the Confederates one hundred and fifty thousand Crowns as we are informed by Catena who wrote that Popes Life and was Secretary to his Nephew Cardinaâ— Alexandrino returned to give his Holiness an account how far all things were ready and by him is sent away to engage the King of Spain offering if need should be to expose all the Treasures of the Apostolick See and even pawn the Chalices Crucifixes and Sacred Vestments to carry on so holy an Enterprize But whilst Spain was preparing for the Invasion it pleased God to discover the whole Plot by a Messengers being intercepted with Letters to the Queen of Scots the Spanish Ambassador the Duke of Norfolk who was drawn into the Conspiracy by some under-hand promises or hopes of Marrying the said Scotish Queen and others whereby all their Project was blasted Norfolk seized Tryed found guilty and some time after Beheaded Pope Pius Quintus whom Queen Elizabeth was wont to call Impius intus died about the year 1572. Gregory the Thirteenth succeeded him as in his Popedom so in his endeavours to disturb Englands Tranquillity which he was first for giving away to Don John of Austria base Brother to the King of Spain and by him substituted Governour of the Low Countries but he being snatcht away by Death another intrigue is carried on between the Pope and that King himself the one providing Men the other Money England and Ireland are both to be Invaded at once the latter by Forces under the Command of Tho. Stukeley an English Fugitive whom the Pope had made Marquiss Earl Viscount and Baron so prodigal he was of his Honours of several eminent places in that Kingdom But Stukely in his Voyage from Italy diverting to assist Sebastian King of Portugal in his Expedition in Africk against the Moors was with most of his men slain in that memorable Battle where Three Kings were cut off in one day Anno 1578. But notwithstanding this discouragement next year one James Fitz-Morice was sent into Ireland with some Troops from Spain and from the Pope our late-cited Author Saunders in the quality of his Legate and with a Consecrated Banner which were re-inforced in the year 1580. with 700 Italian and Spanish Souldiers under one San Joseph who likewise brought some Money and Arms for 5000 Irish on whom the better to encourage them in Rebellion his Holiness bestowed his Apostolical Benediction and sent them a Bull reciting That whereas he had of late years by his Letters exhorted them to the recovery of their Liberty and Defence of it against the Hereticks c. and that they might more cheerfully do it had granted to all such as should be any ways assisting therein a plenary Pardon and Forgiveness of all their sins He now furthermore grants to all such whom he exhorts requires and urges in the Lord to assist against the said Hereticks the same plenary Indulgence and Remission of their sins which those who fight against Turks and Infidels do obtain Vide Histor Cathol Hibern Though how much greater or more effectual that is or can be than a plenary Pardon of all sins which he had promised them before we do not readily apprehend but it seems his Infallibility-ship did imagine that expression would be more taking amongst the Irish nor did he onely egg them on with such fair words but promised a Crusado and to bestow rather then fail a Million of Crowns in the Expedition but still all was blasted for these Italians with their Irish Confederates and whole Party were happily routed by the Queens Troops at the very instant when divers Ships were at Sea to bring them more Forces and Assistance and Sanders the Popes Legate miserably perished for hunger in the Woods and as some say distracted and raving mad upon the ill success of this hopeful Rebellion SECT 4. Besides these open Secular Forces of Spain and Rome the Pope about this time employed another Spiritual sort of Militia to promote his designs viz. the Seminaries who now began to swarm in great numbers thereby laying then such a ground-work for future disturbances not onely to Queen Elizabeth but even to all her Successours and to this Nation and the Protestant Religion in general that hitherto it hath wrought and is still working by undermining restless Policies and Projects the dangerous effects whereof we feel at this day in this late discovered Plot and so are like to continue to all successive Generations as long as the Seminaries and Jesuitism remain in the World whose Trade and Business it is to encourage themselves and others in Mischiefs or in the phrase of the Psalmist To commune amongst themselves how they may privily lay snares The first of these Nests of Treason or Randesvouzes of Rebellion was erected at Doway in the year 1568. the English Fugitive Priests assembling themselves there by the design of William Allen the most learned amongst them and living together in a common Colledge-like Discipline the Pope allowing them an Annual Pension Soon after another like Seminary was establisht at Rheims by the bloody Guises the Queen of Scots Kinsmen a third at Rome by Pope Gregory the Thirteenth and afterwards a fourth at Valledolid in Spain That there might never want a successive Generation of men of corrupt minds heady high-minded despisers of Dominion Idolatrous and Traiterous Priests to poison England with their false Doctrines and pernicious Principles And because the before-mentioned Bull of Pius the Fifth had not yet sufficiently produced its intended effects even with many Papists themselves who seeing the Neighbour Popish Princes and States not to forbear their wonted Negotiations with the Queen continued still in their Obedience to her and were displeased at the said Bull as a mischievous Snare putting them upon this miserable Dilemma either to be Executed for Treason against the Queen if they did resist or be accursed by their Holy Father if they did obey her therefore for their satisfaction and to extricate them out of that Labyrinth wherein they were thus involved an Expedient was found out and afterwards re-inforced by Pope Gregory the Thirteenth viz. A Decree or Explanation That the Bull aforesaid should always oblige Elizabeth and the Hereticks but not the Catholicks Rebus sic stantibus whilst affairs remained in that posture but that they might render their outward obedience to her Ad redimendam vexationem ad ostendendam externam obedientiam donec publica Bullae Execretio fieri possit To prevent their being troubled for so long onely until they might get into strength sufficient to put the said Bull publickly into execution See Thuan. l. 74. and Camden An. 1580. And to the end that the same might in due time be effectually executed Missions are daily made of the
several Circumstances as may God willing be shewed in the ensuing Discovery and History thereof This detestable Treason is generally esteemed the Contrivance of Catesby and of no antienter Original than their despair of Assistance upon their last Negotiation with Spain but that the same was of longer standing and proceeded from other heads and designed by the Jesuits even in the Queens days but on further consideration of her Age unlikely by course of nature to trouble them long deferâ—ed till the arrival of King James is by a most rational probability made appear as well by Watsons said words and the odd hints thereof before given by Delrio the Jesuit as other circumstances mentioned in a solid and ingenious Treatise Intituled A Discourse concerning the Original of the Powder-plot published 1674. which are sufficient to satisfie any impartial Reader in that point however we shall not here insist thereupon nor stand to give any long Account of the horrid nature close progress and happy Discovery of that Hellish Conspiracy the same being generally well known from our common Historians but especially by that Authentick Narrative Intituled The Gun-powder Treason with a Discourse of the manner of its Discovery lately Re-printed with an excellent Preface by the Right Reverend and of the Protestant Religion most highly deserving Father in God Thomas Lord Bishop of Lincoln to which most useful and satisfactory Discourse we refer the Reader Onely shall note here that whereas Papists of late years have endeavoured to whiffle off that cursed Attempt as a contrivance of Secretary Cecils or some other Politicians that had to make the Romanists odious cunningly drawn in onely a few desperado's and that but a very small number of the Romish Party and those inconsiderable were engaged therein and so it ought not to be charged on their Church in general As to the first the same is a most false and groundless Evasion coyn'd some scores of years after the thing Transacted none of those that suffered for it alleadging or suspecting one syllable either at their Tryals or Deaths of their being so wheadled into the Conspiracy who yet were most like to know how and by whom they were if at all they had been so drawn in whom undoubtedly they would have discovered Besides supposing it to be Truth yet their guilt was never the less for they acted on Popish Principles proprio motu and with a Traiterous Resolution to accomplish the Destruction of King Parliament and Kingdome As to the second neither was the number even of those that after all their Oaths of Secresie and close contrivances were discovered so small nor their Qualities so inconsiderable as is now impudently suggested for first for Religious men there were many actually concerned in it and persons of the greatest account three or four of them especially being Legiers and States-men as Henry Garnet the Superiour or Provincial of the Jesuits the same place that Father Whitebread lately had who succeeded him as therein so in his bloody Treasonable Attempts and deserved punishment Father Creswel Legier-Jesuite in Spain Father Baldwin Legler in Flanders and the notorious Father Parsons at Rome These are known to have dealt in the matter and 't is most probable were the first Contrivers Designers and Directors of the whole Plot though they would not be seen in it lest it might bring a scandal on their Order if it should miscarry and they be discovered and therefore Laymen must be put upon doing the Drudgery or rather Butchery whilst the wily Priests stand aloof and give alm So of late the Benedictines and others gave their Votes against employing Pickering in the horrid Attempt of Murthering the King not that they disliked the thing but because he waited at the Altar and if prevented and found out it might be the greater disgrace to their Party though they assigned another very bad reason for it Thus 't is plain they study to avoid the discredit not the villany the scandal not the wickedness But besides these Mal-intelligences of an higher Jesuitical Orb there were divers other inferiour Instruments and Cursory Agents of the same Society employed in this detestable Treason as Gerard Oswald Tesmond alias Greenway Hamond Hall and others Then as for the Lay-Conspirators they were most of them Gentlemen of considerable Descent and excellent parts though most perniciously perverted seduced and corrupted by the private instigations of the said Jesuits for of those that were first engaged and actually laboured in the Mine there were Robert Catesby and Robert Winter Esquires Thomas Piercy of the Noble House of Northumberland Thomas Winter John Wright Christopher Wright and Guido Fawkes all Gentlemen with Thomas Bates Yeoman Servant to Squire Catesby who being somewhat scrupulous and doubting in Conscience concerning so barbarous a Design was resolved and assured of the lawfulness thereof by Tesmond the Jesuit Then of those that were acquainted with it though not personally labouring in the Mine or Cellar there were Sir Everard Digby Knight Ambrose Rookwood and Francis Tresham Esquires John Grant Gent and Robert Keys besides Sir William Stanley who principally imployed Fawks into Spain and John Talbot of Grifton both within misprision of the Treason and both of great and Honourable Families Then Sir Edmand Baynam was appointed to carry a Message from Garnet and acquaint his Holiness with the said Plot but not forsooth as Pope but as he was a Temporal Prince This Baynam was a man grievously debauched and used to call himself The Prince of the Damned Grew a person fit for such an Errand to be sent Ambassador between the Pope and tho Devil There was likewise an Association to be made of Forreign Princes of the Popish Religion by a Solemn Oath like that of the holy League in France to have assured the business These are the very words in the Letters of Sir Everard Digby Executed for this Treason which Papers were never discovered till September 1675. and are since Printed as an Appendix to the Re-printed Discovery and Narrative of the said Gun-powder Plot under an Authentick Testimonial Thus evident it is and not to be denyed but by an effronted â—awling Impudence that the same was in effect a general Conspiracy of the Papists actually carried on by a considerable number and which would have been approved by the rest had it succeeded And though its happy Discovery and the deserved odium thereby cast upon their Party disabled and hindred them from making any other publick Attempt of that kind here in England during the rest of the Raign of King James for concerning his death we shall say nothing yet 't is notorious that abroad they plyed their business vigorously and gave both him and the Protestant Religion a considerable Wound in the Affair of the Palatinate unhappily to say no worse of so bad 〈◊〉 matter lost for want of timely assistance to prevent and divert which we were wheadled with fair promises 〈◊〉 cajoul'd into a tedious mischievous Treaty for
that is by the aid and power of the French King whom next to God who might as well have been left out and the Duke they rely on and expect the greatest help they can hope for from and this to be obtained by the Interest of Le Chese his Confessor inspiring him with the glory and piety of the business There were also read divers other Letters written by the Prisoner and one especially of Aug. 21. 1674. to the Popes Internuncio at Brussels where in so many words he owns his design to be the utter Ruin of the Protestant party in general But these were never thought fit to pass the Press and indeed the others which are published are sufficient alone to satisfie any rational man nay I durst almost say a Papist himself not only that Coleman was Guilty of the Treason in the Indictment for endeavouring to Subvert the Government and Establish'd Religion of England but also to convince him of the truth of the Plot in general and that what Dr. Oates testifies is real for had he seigned or guess'd at things how was it possible that he should tell the Council before hand that if Mr. Colemans Papers were search'd there would be found that in them which would cost him his Neck as Sir Robert Southwell positively Swears he did p. 36. of the Tryal And indeed it was digitus dei a most signal Providence that these few Papers were left behind to be produced If we consider what grounds and opportunities Mr. Coleman had to abscond all his Papers as t is plain he did the most of them none of his Letters of this Subject since 1675 being to be found For being a man of that Interest and Intelligence as he was and being expresly Charged by Name in Dr. Oates's Informations which were delivered to the King and transmitted to the Treasurers perusal and had lain in his hands almost 50 days before this seizure of Colemans Papers as aforesaid and since it appears Bedingfield his R. H s. Confessor had notice of the Discovery of the Plot almost as soon as ever it was made to his Majesty We cannot after all this reasonably imagine Mr. Coleman could so long be Ignorant of it at least he must needs have some Inkling of the business on the Saturday-night when almost all the Town knew of it which was time enough for him to have remov'd all as well as some of his dangerous Papers had not Providence Infatuated him that his own Hand-writing and which he could not nor did deny to be so might be brought in Evidence against him and undeniably justifie both his Treasons and the Witnesses Integrity The defence he made for himself consisted in these Particulars 1. That Dr. Oates who now pretended such Acquaintance with him declared before the King and Council That he never saw him before or did not know him To this the Dr. Answered That it being by Candle-light and his sight weak and Coleman altered in Habit and Wig he did indeed at first say That he would not Swear that was the Man or that he had ever seen him before but as soon as he heard him speak he knew him well and could then have Sworn it had he been demanded 2. That had the things Dr. Oates now alledged been true he would have Charged the same before the Council But then he charged him only with a Letter which he thought was his hand and such slender matters that the Council was ready to let him go at large and therefore all the rest must be Invented since To this the Dr. replied That he was then so weak and weary that he cannot tell particularly all he then said and possibly in that condition might forget something besides his design then was to lay no more to his Charge than might serve for Information for Prisoners may supplant Evidence when they know it and when he saw Mr. Coleman was secured he had no need to give a further Account for he never apprehended the Council inclined to let him go at large if he had he should certainly have charged him home And so in truth it appears he did as weak as he was for in full Answer to this Objection Sir Robert Southwell Swears that Dr. Oates did then pag. 38. declare that Coleman paid Wakeman 5000 l. of money which he was to have for Poisoning the King 3. Whereas Dr. Oates charg'd him with consenting to Wakemans Poisoning the King and that it was consulted by him in August and as he remembred about the 21th day Mr. Coleman alleadged that he was then in Warwickshire and one of his Men and he was all August there as he thought but was not sure of it and after Conviction he talkt of a Book that would shew he was out of Town from the 15th to the 31. of August But as this was no Evidence in it self and offered too late so it did not contradict Dr. Oates for he was not positive to the day but only to the moneth and it might as well be before the 15th day And this was all he had to object against Dr. Oates's Testimony Against Mr. Bedloe he had nothing to say but that he never saw him in his life To which Mr. Bedloe replied Yes you saw me in the Stone-Gallery in Somerset-House pag. 40. when you came from a Consult where were great Persons whom I am not to name here that would make the very bottom of your Plot tremble then you saw me Then as to his Papers he would excuse himself by alleadging there was no Treason in them though very extravagant Expressions and that his design thereby was so far from Killing the King that it was only to make the King and Duke as great as could be But to Answer to this It was observed that it is apparent he was Guilty of Contriving and Conspiring the Destruction of the Protestant Religion and how could this be done without the Death of the King He that will Subvert the Protestant Religion and would bring in Popery that is a Forraign Authority does an act in Derogation of the Crown and in Diminution of the Kings Title and Soveraign Power and endeavours to bring a Forraign Dominion both over our Consciences and Estates which in it self is no less than Treason Lastly He pleaded the Act of General Pardon but in vain because his Papers were written since the last Act of that kind pass'd Then the Jury going together after some time returned and brought him in Guilty The next day he was again brought to the Bar and there received Sentence the Lord chief Justice advising him to Confess the whole Truth and not to be deluded with the sond hopes of having his Sentence respited to which purpose amongst others he used this Expression Trust not to it Mr. Coleman you may be flattered to stop pag. 99. your mouth till they have stopt your breath and I doubt you will find that to be the event However he did not think
says The King the House of Lords and the House of Commons have each particular Privileges And among those which belong to the King he reckons Power of Pardoning After the enumerateing of which and other his Prerogatives His said Majesty adds thus Again That the Prince may not make use of this high and perpetual Power to the hurt of those for whose good he hath it and make use of the name of publick necessity for the gain of his private Favourites and Followers to the detriment of his People The House of Commons an excellent Conserver of Liberty c. is solely intrusted with the first Propositions concerning the Levies of Money and the Impeaching of those who for their own ends though countenanced by any surreptitiously-gotten Command of the King have violated that Law which he is bound when he knows it to protect and to the protection of which they were bound to advise him at least not to serve him in the contrary And the Lords being Trusted with a Judicatory Power are an excellent Screen and Bank between the Prince and People to assist each against any encroachments of the other and by just Judgments to preserve that Law which ought to be the Rule of every one of the three c. Therefore the Power legally placed in both Houses is more then sufficient to prevent and restrain the power of Tyranny c. IV. Until the Commons of England have Right done them against this Plea of Pardon they may justly apprehend that the whole Justice of the Kingdom in the Case of the Five Lords may be obstructed and defeated by Pardons of like nature V. An Impeachment is virtually the Voice of every particular Subject of this Kingdom crying out against an Oppression by which every Member of that Body is equally wounded And it will prove a Matter of ill Consequence that the universality of the People should have occasion ministred and continued to them to be apprehensive of utmost danger from the Crown from whence they of right expect Protection VI. The Commons Exhibited Articles of Impeachment against the said Earl before any against the Five other Lords and demanded Judgment upon those Articles Whereupon your Lordships having appointed the Tryal of the said Earl before that of the other Five Lords now your Lordships having since inverted that Order gives a great cause of doubt to the House of Commons and raises a Jealousie in the Hearts of all the Commons of England that if they should proceed to the Tryal of the said Five Lords in the first place not only Justice will be obstructed in the Case of those Lords but that they shall never have right done them in the matter of this Plea of Pardon which is of so fatal Consequence to the whole Kingdom and a new device to frustrate publick Justice in Parliament Which Reasons and Matters being duly weighed by your Lordships the Commons doubt not but your Lordships will receive satisfaction concerning their Propositions and Proceedings And will agree That the Commons ought not nor can without deserting their Trust depart from their former Vote communicated to your Lordships That the Lords Spiritual ought not to have any Vote in any Proceedings against the Lords in the Tower and when that Matter shall be settled and the Methods of Proceedings adjusted the Commons shall then be ready to proceed upon the Tryal of the Earl of Danby against whom they have already demanded Judgment and afterwards to the Tryal of the other Five Lords in the Tower May 27th 1679. The Narrative and Reasons delivered at the Conference Yesterday with the House of Commons were again read and after a long Debate the Vote of this House dated the 13th of May instant and the explanation thereupon dated the 14th instant were read and the Question was put Whether to insist upon these Votes concerning the Lords Spiritual and it was resolved in the Affirmative But there were present These Dissenters Buckingham Huntington Kent Shaftsbury PR Bedford Winchester Rochester North and Grey Suffolke J. Lovelace Townsend Herbert Gray Stamford Newport Say and Seal L. Wharton Leicester Scarsdale Stafford Derby Delamer Howard Paget Clare Salisbury Falconberg Windsor CHAP. XVIII The Proceedings against Whitebread and the other Four Jesuits ON Friday the 13th of June 1679 was the grand Tryal of Five notorious Jesuits viz. Thomas White aliàs Whitebread Provincial or cheif of the Jesuits in England a comely antient man of a very grave deportment both at his Tryal and Execution William Harcourt pretended Rector of London who 't is thought after the first discovery of the Plot had been beyond the Seas and had the confidence to return hither again where being apprehended in his Lodging near long Acre he was by the Lords and Commons Committed to Newgate on the 8th of May last John Fenwick Procurator of the Jesuits in England John Gavan aliàs Gawen and Anthony Turner Committed first to the Gate-house and thence brought to Newgate There was at the same time Arraigned one James Corker a Benedictine Monk but he pretending he had not his Witnesses ready was put off and happy it was for him who since was acquitted with Wakeman whereas if he had then been tryed 't is most probable it would have prov'd as Fatal to him as the rest Whitebread and Fenwick pleaded that they were tryed before for the same Fact but the Court answer'd That though they were indeed once Arraign'd yet the Jury was discharg'd of them and they not then in any Jeopardy of their Lives and therefore must plead to this Indictment Then the Prisoner made a general Challenge That none should be of their Jury that were of any of the former Juries concerning the Plot Those now sworn were Thomas Harriot William Gulston Allen Garraway Richard Cheney John Roberts Thomas Cash Rainsford Waterhouse Matthew Bateman John Kaine Richard White Richard Bull. Thomas Cox The Proofs were long and consisting in divers particulars As 1. Dr. Oats Swears That the Consult of the 24th of April was by the Order of Whitebread the Prisoner at the See the Tryal of Whitebread c. P. 12. Bar as Provincial and that then the said Whitebread and Fenwick and Harcourt and Turner did all in his presence Sign the Resolve for the King's death 2. That Whitebread after his return back again to St. Omers did say That he hoped to see the King's Head laid fast enough only he had not the manners to give him the Title of King but shew'd his spight by calling his Majesty opprobriously These are those that speak evil of Dignities 3. That in July Ashby alias Timbleby brought over Instructions from Whitebread P. 13. to offer Sir George Wakeman 10000 l. to poyson the King and also a Commission to Sir John Gage to be an Officer in the Army which they design'd to raise which the Witness himself delivered to him the said Sir John 4. That Turner was at the Consult and at Fenwick's Chamber he saw him
signe the Resolve for the King's Death 5. That as for Gavan alias Gawen though he could not positively say he saw him at the Consult yet he saw his hand subscribed to it and makes it out how he knows it to be his hand And that he in July 78. gave P. 15. them in London an account how prosperous their affairs were in Staffordshire and Shropshire that the Lord Stafford was very diligent and that there was two or three Thousand Pound ready there to carry on the Designe And that some time in July homet the said Gawen at Ireland's Chamber where in his presence he gave Father Ireland the same account as before he had written The next Witness was Mr. Dugdale that never gave Evidence before at any of their Tryals who had no knowledge of either Mr. Oates or Mr. 〈◊〉 when he first came in and so could not conspire with them to charge the very same persons as they had done He swears 1. Against Whitebread That he saw a Letter under his hand and tells you how he knew it to be his to Father Ewers a Jesuit and the said Mr. Dugdale's Confessor in which he ordered him to be sure to chuse men that were hardy and trusty no matter whether they were Gentlemen p. 22. and p. 29. he swears it again and what they were to do that the words under his hand were in express terms For Killing the King 2. Against Gawen he swears directly that he entertain'd him the said Mr. Dugdale to be of the Conspiracy to Murther the King as one of those resolute Fellows prescribed by Whitebread and that they had several Consultations in the Countrey at several places which he names for Murdering of the King and bringing in Popery as at Boscobel and at Tixal in Sept. 1678. And that he heard them discourse at one of these Consults that it was the opinion of the Monks at Paris who were concern'd in the Conspiracy and were to assist That assoon as the Deed was done that is the Killing of the King they should lay it on the Presbyterians thereby to provoke the other Protestants to cut their P. 25. Throats and then they might the more easily cut theirs And p. 26. That he hath intercepted and read for all their Letters in those Parts came under his Cover above 100 Letters to the same purpose all tending to the Introducing of Popery and Killing the King which being without any Names only directed to Mr. Dugdale and to be delivered by marks known to Father Ewers if they had been intercepted by the way only Dugdale could have been called in question for it 3. That himself was so zealous in the Cause that he had given them 400 l. for carrying on this Design which Gavan had made him believe was not only lawful but meritorious and that he was to be sent up to London by Harcourt there to be instructed for Killing the P. 23. King 4. That the same Harcourt whose hand the Witness well knows did write word of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's being Murthered that very Night it was done to Father Ewers so that they knew of it in Staffordshire several days before any except those privy to the Murder at London knew what was become of him And to confirm his Testimony herein he produceth Mr. Chetwin a Person of Quality who swears That he did hear it then reported as from Dugdale and that he was not in Town when the Murderers of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey were Tryed or else he would then have witnessed the same 5. Against Turner he positively swears That he saw him with others at Ewers's Chamber where they consulted together to carry on this Design and that he agreed to the Plot that is bringing in of Popery by Killing the King Then Mr. Prance gave Evidence 1. Against Harcourt That such a day when he paid him for an Image of the P. 30. Virgin Mary to send into Maryland he told the Witness that there was a Design of Killing the King 2. Against Fenwick That he told him in Ireland's Chamber Ireland and Grove being by that there should be 50000 Men P. 31. in Arms in a readiness to settle their Religion and that they should be commanded by the Lords Beliasts Powis and Arundel Lastly Mr. Bedloe was sworn who first gives a satisfactory account why he did not before give in his Evidence against Whitebread and Fenwick because he was then finding out the Bribery and Subornation of Reading in behalf of the Lords in the Tower but now he positively swears 1. That he hath seen both Whitebread and Fenwick at several Consults about this Plot and that he heard Whitebread at Harcourt's Chamber tell Coleman the manner of the sending the four Russians to Windsor to kill the King 2. That he saw Harcourt take out of a Cabinet about 80 or 100 l. and give it to a Messenger to be carried to the said Russians P. 32. with a Guiney to drink Mr. Coleman's health 3. That Whitebread told him That Pickering was to have a great number of Masses and Grove 1500 l. for killing the King P. 33. 4. That Harcourt employed him several times to carry their Consults beyond the Seas and that he received in Harcourt's presence Mr. Coleman's thanks for his Fidelity and P. 35. that Harcourt recommended him to the Lord Arundel who promised him great favour when the times were turned Also that he saw Harcourt give Wakeman a Bill to receive 2000 l. in part of a greater sum and heard Sir George say 15000 l. was a small Reward for the settling Religion and preserving three Kingdomes from Ruine Thus we see there is the positive Testimony of three viz. Dr. Oates Mr. Dugdale and Mr. Bedloe against Whitebread Of three quite blank against Fenwick viz. Oates Bedloe and Prance And against Harcourt four very fully Oates Dugdale Bedloe and Prance Against Gavan there is positively Dugdale's and Oates's and the same directly against Turner Whereby the matter of Fact is plainly proved and the Evidence full and legal against them all There was also the before-mentioned Letter read found amongst Harcourt's Papers which did much fortifie the Evidence as to the certainty and nature of the Consult of the 24th of April It was written from one Petre a Jesuit to another of their Society to let him know there was to be a Consult on the said 24th of April in which were these words Every one is minded also not to hasten to London long before the time appointed nor to appear much about the Town till the meeting be over lest occasion should be given to suspect the Design Finally Secrecy as to the Time and Place is much recommended to all those that receive Summons as it will appear of its own nature necessary Now as to what the Prisoners had to say against all this it was well observed by the Lord Chief-Justice p. 89. That they defend their Lives as they do their Religion with
the horror and detestation of this hellish Plot carried on by the Romanists having induced him to quit their communion Three days after the Execution of Whitebread and the other four Jesuits viz. 23 June was Apprehended by Captain Rich one of his Majesties Justices of Peace for Surry one Caryl alias Blunden supposed to be a Popish Priest at Lambeth-Marsh at the House of one Mr. Woodinbrook formerly an Haberdasher of Small Wares in the Burrough of Southwark in whose Chamber was found the following Letter prepared to give an Account thereof to their Correspondents beyond the Seas wherein 't is observable what liberty they take to scandalize the proceedings of Justice and invent so many palpable notorious Lies as that of the Reprieve being brought to the Gallows c. to keep up their Reputation with their Party The words of the Letter were as follow onely in the Margent we have added some necessary Observations IHS MR. 23 June 1679. My Dr. C. ON the Thirteenth of June being Friday Mr. Whitebread Mr. Harcourt Mr. Turner Fenwick and Gaven of the Society and Mr. Corker were brought to the Bar in the Old-Baily Mr. Corker moved the Court for a longer time being onely warned the night before whereas the other Prisoners had eight days warning to prepare themselves whereupon he was re-manded to prison till the next day Then was the Indictment read against the Five above-named Jesuits for conspiring the Kings Death subversion of Government and Protestant Religion Then Mr. Oates swore that on the Twenty fourth of April there was a Consult held in London where the Kings Death was Conspired and that he carried this Resolve from one to the other for their subscribing and swore particular Circumstances against each To Corroborate this Testimony other Witnesses Bedloe Prance Dugdale and Chetwind came in with 1 1 A pretty way of expressing plain positive Evidence of several Overt Acts of Treason Overtures to the matter sworn by Oates Then did the Prisoners after a most solemn and 2 2 It might be solemn but could not be counted Religious by any but you whose Religion consists in Lies and Blasphemous Hypocrisie Religious Protestation of their Innocence and ignorance of any Conspiracy against His Majesty desire that their Witnesses might be heard which could demonstrate that Mr. Oates was actually at St. Omers in all April and May and most of June when he swears he was in London at the Consult To prove this about twenty Witnesses were produced who did shew evidently by several remarkable passages how Oates was at St. Omers all the whole time But the Judge Scroggs asked each Witness as he did appear of what Religion he was of and upon answer that he was a Catholick the whole Court gave a shout of laughter Then the Judge would say to them 3 3 All absolutely false though it might have been the most proper way of Examining such bold young Villains for 't was apparent they did not speak their knowledge but their Masters dictates Well what have you then been taught to say and by many scoffing Questions which moved the Court to frequent laughter he did endeavour to take off the Credibility of their Witnesses Then the Butler Taylor and Gardiner of St. Omers offered to swear that they saw Mr. Oates all that time at St. Omers when he swore he was in London After this the Prisoners at the Bar produced Sixteen Witnesses more that proved Oates 4 4 Another impudent Lie and sure the Jesuits themselves and the Staffordshire Vouchers if they have any shame left will now blush at the story forsworn in Mr. Irelands Tryal because he was in Shropshire when he attested he was in London Then did Gaven one of the Prisoners with a great deal of clearness and Eloquence and with a cheerful countenance draw up their justification shewing the force of their Evidences and how fully their Witnesses had proved Mr. Oates 5 5 Not the least pretence for this old baffled Scandal perjured then he did lay open the improbabilities of such a Plot and how unlikely that Mr. Oates should be entrusted in delivering Commissions to Persons of Honour and Estates whom he never as he acknowledges had seen before or since This was delivered by Mr. Gaven 6 6 O brave Orator sure this Recommendation of such brave service don the Church will hasten Gavens Canonization at least one score or two of years with a Countenance wholly unconcered and in a voice very audible and largely and pertinently exprest The Judge was incensed at this Speech in which he often interrupted him but Gaven still urged My Lord I plead now for my Life and for that which is dearer to me than life 7 7 Ay and Soul to boot the honour of my Religion and therefore I beseech you have a little patience with me After this Plea of Mr. Gaven ' s the Judge made his Harangue to the Jury telling them that what the Prisoners had brought was onely the bare assertions of Boys who were taught it as a point of their Religion to lye for the honour of their Religion whereas Mr. Oates Bedloe and others were upon their Oaths and if Oaths were not to be taken no Courts could subsist Then Mr. Oates brought forth four 8 8 These four were no less than seven Witnesses which he had kept in reserve an old Parson in his Canonical Gown an old Dominican Priest 9 9 Is he so The honester man he to speak the truth and shame the Devil and the Jesuits But Proh dolor Alas how this grieves you that any one of your Religion should speak Truth when it makes against you Proh Pudor Dolor and two old women that swore they saw Mr. Oates in the beginning of May 1678. At this the whole Court gave a shout of 10 10 And who could forbear to hear how undeniably your Novices were proved to be like their Masters most egregious LIARS Nor yet did the Court laugh but the crowd of people whom the Court took order to silence laughter and hollow that for almost a quarter the Gryers could not still them Never was Bear-baiting more rude and boisterous than this Tryal Vpon this the Judge dismiss'd the Jury to consider and bring in their Verdict who after half an hours absence brought in the Five Prisoners at the But all guilty of High-Treason Thereupon the whole Court clapt 11 11 Better so than that you clap your hands at the murder of the King as some of your Tribe did at that of your Enemy his blessed Father their hands and gave a great hollow It being now eight at night the Court adjourned till next day at seven of the clock which was Saturday I was present from five in the morning till the Court broke up The Prisoners comported themselves 12 12 Bravely said Who would confess now To be thus Apostolified would make one venture Purgatory most Apostolically at
the Bar not the least passion or alteration appeared in them at the Invectives of the Judge or at the Clamours of the People but made a clear and candid defence with a chearful and unconcerned countenance and as 13 13 Dear Sir tell us his name he was a Wit undoubtedly unless it were your self A Jury of Turks have done strange things and may acquit any body but these were a Jury of honest Christians and therefore they found them guilty a Stander-by said if they had had a Jury of Turks they had been quitted I was with them both before and after their Tryal and had the honour of being in my Function 14 14 't is pity you had not been caught giving the Knaves that Absolution serviceable to them which I look upon as that God favoured me in I hope for my future good Next day Mr. Langhorne a Lawyer Sir George Wakeman Mr. Corker Mr. March Mr. Rumbly the three last Benedictines were brought to the Bar where the Indictment being read against them for conspiring the Kings death c. they pleaded all Not guilty Then was Langhorne first tryed whose Tryal held so long that they had not time to try the other four and the Commission by which they sat expiring that day the Judge adjourned the Tryal of the other four till the 14th of July and then the Judge commanded the Keeper to bring the five Jesuits whom with Langhorne 15 15 Poor Langhorne not one word of praise for thee methoughts thou lookedst as Apostolically as the best of them but this 't is to be a Lay-man and confess Jesuits Lands were sentenced to be hang'd drawn and quartered Mr. Corker and Mr. March are close Prisoners and have been so this eight months with whom I have been God has fitted and is still fitting them as Sacrifices for himself They are very well disposed and resigned to Gods holy will Mr. Rumbly hath the liberty of the Prison with whom is Mr. Heskett all chearful and expect the good hour On Thursday the day before the five Jesuits were executed my Lord Shaftsbury was with Turner and Gaven promising them the Kings Pardon if they would acknowledge the Conspiracy Mr. Gaven answered He would not murther his Soul to save his Body for he must acknowledge what he knew not and what he did believe was not On Friday the 20th of June Mr. Whitebread on one Sled with Mr. Harcourt Mr. Turner and Mr. Gaven upon another Sled and Mr. Fenwick in a Sled by himself were drawn from Newgate to Tyburn Mr. Langhorne is for a time reprieved and promised Pardon if he will as 't is reported discover the Estates of the Jesuits he was their Lawyer 'T is certain my Lord Shaftsbury has been often with him In the way they comported themselves seriously and chearfully Mr. Gaven had smug'd himself up as if he had been going to a Wedding When they arrived at Tyburn they each made a Speech 1. Assevering their ignorance of any Plot against his Majesty 2. Pardoning their Accusers 3. And heartily praying for them Mr. Gaven in his Speech made an Act of Contrition 16 16 Perhaps that whisking Lye That never any Jesuites have allow'd of King-killing which was much liked by all for he was an excellent Preacher Then they all betook themselves to Meditation for more than a good quarter The Multitude was great and yet there was a profound silence and their most Religious Comportment has wonderfully allayed the fury of the People When they had ended their Prayer and the Ropes were about their necks there came a Horse-man in full speed from Whitehal and cried as be rode 17 17 You may measure the truth of the rest by this most groundless and notorious Lye coyn'd to amuse the people beyond the Seas there being no such Pardon nor any thing in the world like it that might occasion such a Fable so that it must needs be purposely invented to deceive A Pardon a Pardon so with much difficulty he made through the press to the Sheriff who was under the Gallows to see Execution performed Then was the Pardon read which expressed how the King most graciously and out of his great inclination to Clemency granted them their lives which by Treason they had forfeited upon condition they would acknowledge the Conspiracy and lay open what they knew thereof but they all thanked his Majesty for his inclination of Mercy towards them but as to any Conspiracy they knew of none much less were guilty of any so they could not accept of any Pardon upon those Conditions After a little recollection the Cart was driven away After they were dead they were quarter'd but their Quarters were given to their Friends 18 18 Non poena sed Causa facit Martyrem Did any one of these die for Religion or any thing relating thereunto Or is Treason and killing of Kings part of your Religion Sanguis Martyrum sit semen Ecclesiae I sent to you an account of Mr. Pickering's death and will tell you what may happen but I know not if they come to you You may cover your Letter to me for Mrs. Ploydon at my Lady Drummonds in Queen-street London Superscribed A Madame Madame Catherine Hall à Cambray aux Refuge de Isemy Cambray This Letter was found upon a Table under the Carpet on which was a parcel of Money laid when the Justice came into the Room and though Mr. Carul was pleas'd to deny it to be his hand-writing yet the Steel-dust wherewith it was dried appeared by comparison to be the very same with that which was in his Dust-box And when they came to search him in his Pocket-book amongst other things there were upon one of the leaves these words written 9ber the 9th The Figure of the day in the Original is somewhat blotted but supposed to be a 9 but 9ber for the month of November is very plain Vpon my Salvation and as I hope to see the face of God I know no more of any Plot or Conspiracy of which I am accused directly or indirectly than the Child that is new-born Tho. Whitebread This will be proved to be the hand-writing of Father Whitebread the Jesuits Provincial lately executed and there is good reason to believe that this was the very form whereby he generally directed and allowed all Jesuits to deny the Plot and which when they had his command to do it could not be according to their Doctrine any sin for he being their Superiour is to be obeyed without scruple in all things nor can there be any other reasonable construction made thereof There were several other notable Circumstances attending the Apprehension of this person which may possibly in time give further light to the Plot. In the mean time the said Caryl is kept close in the Marshalsea CHAP. XXI The Proceedings against Sir George Wakeman Baronet William Marshal James Corker and William Rumley SIR George Wakeman Her
triumphed at the Murder of King Charles the first telling us that it was one Sarabrass the then Queens Confessor who being present at the Kings death tossed up his Cap in the air and brandished his sword and being with admiration askt what he did there answered that there were twenty more Priests there besides himself and that the greatest Enemy to their Religion fell that day SECT 2. In page the 30. he recites the methods to be used for restoring Popery in England from Father Contzen's printed directions for that purpose in his Politicks l. 2. p. 16 17 and 18. in these words 1. That things be carried on by slow but sure Proceedings as a Musician tunes his Instrument by degrees lose no opportunity but yet do not precipitate the work 2. Let no Prince that is willing despair for it is an easie thing to change Religion For when the common people are a while taken with Novelties and diversities of Religion they will sit down and be aweary and give up to their Rulers wills 3. The Doctors and leading Pastors must be put out if it may be all at once sure he means some Bartholomew-business but if this cannot be let it be by some and some When the Leaders are down all will submit 4. The purpose of changing Religion and extirpating Lutheranism must be concealed not but that some of the wiser sort Coleman and a few more may know but the people must not lest it should move them 5. Some must be suborn'd to beg importunately of the Prince for liberty to exercise their Religion and that with many and gentle words that so the people may think the Prince is not enclined to novelty but onely to lenity and to a tenderness for tender consciences and that he doth it not as from himself For the vulgar use to commend a Prince that cannot deny the Subjects their desires though they are such as were fit to be denied 6. One or two Churches onely must be desired at first for the exercise of Popery he means as being so small a matter that the people will not much regard 7. When the zeal of Professors begins to rise against the Change they are to be pacified by admitting both Parties to a Conference before the Governours 8. Let there be a Decree for Pacification that one Party do not rail at the other nor calumniate them And so the Doctrines that are to be brought in will have great advantage when they are covered and may not be contradicted or so much as named And so the Rulers will be thought to be onely lovers of Peace and not to intend a change of Religion 9. Next that let there be some publick Disputation between the Parties but with some disadvantage to them that are to be outed 10. Let all this be done but on pretence that the several Parties may be joyned lovingly together in Peace And when the Ministers refuse this let them be accused of Unpeaceableness and Pride and Obstinacy and Disobedience against the Magistrate and not for their Religion When it comes to the putting out of some Ministers and the People begin to Petition for them let the matter be carried silently and in the mean time let the People be told that it is because those Ministers are heady obstinate men that the people may be perswaded that the Ministers are faulty and have deserved it and may be put only to desire Liberty for the more peaceable men 11. When thus the People are deluded and there is no danger of a Resistance then turn the Ministers out of the Churches and put in those that you would set up in their stead 12. Then change the Vniversities and tell all the Fellows and Scholars that they shall hold their Places if they will turn else not many will change Religion with the Rulers Next he instanceth in Asia where a Prince pretended that all the Professors and Ministers places were void at the Death of his Predecessor and he had the disposal of them by Law And the Change was there made as he saith by slow degrees one or two Opinions of Religion quarrel'd at first and so the people will think it but a small matter to yeild in one or two Opinions and be easily brought to obey At last let them fall to writing against each other but be sure let those that have the Court-favour be cryed up as Victors and that the others are ignorant and shamefully baffled 13. To put out of Honours Dignities and publick Offices all those that are most adverse to Popery it is just that those that hinder the safety of the Common-wealth should be deprived of the Honours and Riches of the Common-wealth If men are deposed for heynous Crimes why not for Blasphemy and contempt of Truth you must believe the Jesuite that this is the Protestant case If those of a contrary Religion be left in Honour and Power they will be able to cross the Prince in many things and encourage the people of their own Religion 14. That when a Heresie that is the Protestant Religion is wholly to be rooted out and that this must be done by degrees and in a way of reason and cannot be done by meer Command and Power by a Massacre he means or so forth then you must first fall on those Opinions that the common people are most against and which you can quickly make them think absurd So he instanceth in some that would work out Lutheranism that speak honorably of Luther but fall on his followers only under the name of Flaccians So the Arminians at Vtrecht when they would extirpate Calvinism made a Decree that no man should Preach any thing that seemed to make God the Author of sin Thus a Magistrate that would bring in Popeny must impute to the opposers fall upon such heinous Opinions which the impudent themselves are half ashamed of bring these into he light that they may be odious and so the Teachers will lose all their Authority when the people imagine that they are taken in a manifest fault 15. To make use of the Protestants Contentions How easie is it saith he in England to bring the Puritans into order if they be forced to approve of Bishops or to reduce the Puritans in the Low-countries if the Prince adhere to the Arminians For the variety of Opinions makes them doubtful that before seemed certain so that when the Magistrate joyneth with one side he easily overturns the other and leaves the whole obnoxious As Paul did by the dissention between the Pharisees and Sadduces joyning to one side he escaped This saith he I would principally perswade an Orthodox Magistrate to that is a Papist for he may to as much advantage make use of the Protestants Disagreements as of the Papists Concord to extirpate Protestants As in Wars it is not onely the skill and strength of the General but often also the carelesness of the Enemy or his mistake that gives very great advantages for success To
off so great a Scandal from their Party 2. They would seem not to know Mr. Oates or to have had scarce any acquaintance with him In answer to this he Swears to several Circumstances which they were forc'd to acknowledge As that Grove in December pag. 31. last lent him 8 s. to hire a Coach to Dover being then to go for St. Omers that Fenwick was his Confessor that the said Grove drank twice in his Company at the Red posts in Wild-Street and once more by a good token when he owned that he Fired Southwark assisted by three Irish men and that they had a Thousand pounds given them for it whereof he had 400 l. and the other 200 l. a piece And here as a Digression not altogether impertinent I cannot but inform the Reader that when Dr. Oates gave in his Informations to Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey when he read them and came to this passage concerning Grove Firing of Southwark being Article the 49th The said Sir Edmund-bury having it seems some knowledge of the said Grove said That he had been informed that the said Grove wrought so hard at the said Southwark-Fire and so over-heated himself that it was thought it would have cost him his life or words to that effect which hard working the said Sir Edmund-bury did before judge to have been in helping to quench the said Fire but as appears was indeed in promoting and carrying on the same which Circumstance unknown before to Dr. Oates doth exactly correspond with and confirm his Testimony in that point 3. Ireland endeavoured to oppose Mr. Bedloes Evidence who Swore that he was at the Consult at Harcourts Chamber in August Now he brings two or three to prove that he was not in London all the moneth of August and two of them but they are his Mother and his Sister say he went out of Town the 3d. of August and returned not till a Fortnight before Michaelmas And a Coach-man speaks of being with him from the 5th of August to the 16th and afterwards at Westehester But against these Peoples sayings whereof two were so related there was not only Mr. Bedloes positive Oath but likewise Dr. Oates's though he knew nothing of the particular Consult at Harcourts Chamber mentioned by Mr Bedloe yet he Swears directly that Mr. Ireland was in London the beginning of Septemb. by a remarkable Token that on the first or second of that moneth he had 20 s. of him And furthermore Sarah Pain formerly Grove's Servant and pag. 57. who knew Ireland very well of which knowledge she gives the reason because he came often to Grove's House and was the man that still broke open the Pacquets of Letters that her Master Grove carried about afterwards and Sealed all the Pacquets that went beyond the Seas and she Swears positively and by most certain Circumstances that she saw Mr. Ireland at a Scriveners door in Fetter-Lane where he Lodg'd about the 12th or 13th of August so that here were three clear Testimonies upon Oath to disprove this Allegation of Irelands which yet he insisted on at his Death with Solemn Protestations Whereas since it has pleased God further to manifest the falsiâ—y thereof by Mr. Jennison a Kinsman of his and then a Catholick as in due place shall be set forth whence we may take our measures what Credit is to be given to the dying Asseverations of such men 4. Mr. Ireland objected that Dr. Oates was all the moneth of May at Saint Omers when he Swears he was here at the Consult and to prove that he was so there then offered to bring a Certificate from St. Omers under the Seal of the Colledge for it seems the Youths either were not then come over or had not sufficiently Conn'd their Lesson But to this it was Answered that such a Certificate was not by the Law of England any Evidence in any case whatsoever much less to be allowed to them in this case for what Certificate could they not get from the Colledge at St. Omers if it might serve their purposes Lastly They essai'd to blast Dr. Oates's Credit with an Imputation of Perjury because they alleadged that there was once an Indictment against him for that Crime but upon Examination this appeared to be extreamly frivolous For 1. The pretended Perjury was only thus That Mr. Oates Swearing the Peace against a certain man did at the taking of his Oath say that there were some Witnesses that would evidence such a point of Fact which when they were produced would not testifie so much Now suppose this were true though it were never proved yet how could this be corrupt or wilful Perjury 2. There was no Record produced only a pretended Copy 3. It appeared if every any such Indictment was Exhibited it could not be made good for there was never any Conviction or Prosecution there-upon and if barely to Accuse would make a man Guilty who could be Innocent 4. Sir Denny Ashburnham who was called by the Prisoners to Discredit Dr. Oates was able to say nothing against him but this That he had known Mr. Oates in his Youth and that then he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Person of that Credit as to be depended on for what he should say and that had the discovery of the Plot come only from his Testimony he might have had same little daubt of it These are his very words p. 66. But then the very same Gentleman declares That as it is Corroborated with other Circumstances it hath saith he ibidem convinced me so that I am satisfied in the truth of the thing and I do think truly that nothing can be said against Mr. Oates to take off his Credibility This being all they had to offer in their own defence the full substance whereof we have impartially repeated with the Answers thereunto The Lord Chief Justice proceeded to sum up the Evidence and in his Speech to the Jury amongst many others had these excellent Expressions speaking of the Popish Priests and their Religion If they had not Murther'd Kings p. 73 74. saith he I would not say they would have done Ours But when it hath been their practice so to do when they have Debauch d mens Vnderstandings Over-turn'd all Morals and Destroy'd all Divinity What shall I say of them When their Humility is such that they tread upon the necks of Emperors their Charity such as to kill Princes and their Vow of Poverty such as to Covet Kingdoms What shall I judge of them When they have Licences to Lye and Indulgences for Falshoods nay when they can make him a Saint that dies in one and then pray to him as the Carpenter first makes an Image and after Worships it and can then think to bring in that Wooden Religion of theirs amongst us in this Nation What shall I think of them What shall I say to them What shall I do with them They Eat their God they Kill their King and Saint the Murderer they Indulge all sorts of Sins
and no humane Bonds can hold them After a short Recess the Jury brought them in all three Guilty and in the Afternoon Sir George Jeffries Recorder of London pronounced Sentence of Death upon them But there being a delay of their Execution on the 26th of Decemb. the House of Commons Ordered the said Recorder to attend and give the House an Account why he did not Issue out his Warrant to Execute them On which being call'd in the next day he informed the House that he had not yet received any Orders from the King for their Execution which Answer to some Members seem'd Unsatisfactory but the Debate was Adjourned And on the 24th of January the Prisoners William Ireland and John Grove suffered according to Sentence And on the same day was Publish'd a Proclamation for Dissolving the Parliament and calling a New one to be Assembled the 6th of March But Tho. Pickering whether to induce him to a Confession or for what other reasons I know not was kept a considerable time afterwards but at last likewise Executed on the 9th of May persisting in denials as the rest had done before him and scarce behaving himself as a dying man at the place of Execution CHAP. XII The manner of Mr. Prances coming in to give Evidence The Objection concerning his Recanting his Information Answered An account of Mr. Everards Discovery and Imprisonment with other subsequent proceedings SECT I. THough Mr. Bedloe had given some general Account of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey's Murther sufficient to fix it on the Jesuits and Popish Priests and their Confederates and that the same was transacted at Somerset House yet not being actually present he could not exactly set forth the Particulars But now it pleased God to give a more full Discovery thereof and by means so strange and unexpected that we must needs acknowledg it to be the act of a singular Providence The Murderers as you have heard Chapt. the 8th had so closely carried that Bloody Villany that now they had for ten Weeks slept in Security and imagining Heaven as well as their Priests had approved so black a deed by this success they had no doubt so far stifled all Convictions and Alarms of their Consciences as not to dream of giving any account for the same when on a sudden all is wonderfully brought to light The occasion thus There happening some mis-understandings between Mr. Prance and a Neighbour of his the latter knowing the former to be a Zealous Papist and having understood by some of his Servants that one time about Michaelmas he had absented himself two or three Nights from home an Imagination came into his head that he might be concern'd in Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey's Murder though in truth such his Absenting was a Fortnight before Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey's death on the first noise of the Plot when Penwick Ireland c. were taken whom he was so Zealous to defend in a publique Coffee-House that for some words then spoken he was threatned to be Prosecuted and on that score only lay from home the said three Nights as he could prove by Credible Witnesses till the Business might be composed However this Neighbour on the bare suspition aforesaid took out a Warrant against him to appear before the Council which France readily obey'd as knowing him not to be able to prove any thing of that nature upon him But being taken by Vertue of that Warrant on the 21th of December and being first carried into See Mr. Prances Narrative p. 20 21. the Lobby by the House of Commons Mr. Bedloe whom he did not know having but once been seen him before viz. upon the view of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey's Body in Somerset-House before-mentioned at which time Prance did not much observe him yet knew his face again and Charg'd him with that Murther whereupon after Examination he was Committed to Newgate Next day being the 22th of December he made a Discovery and Charg'd the before named Girald Dominick Kelly Robert Green Henry Berry and Laurence Hill of whom the three last were Apprehended but the two first escaped the subtle Priests shifting for themselves and leaving those whom they had drawn in to Answer for it though Kelly was afterwards taken up in Surry by the name of Daniel Edmonds as a Recusant but understanding Prances being taken got out upon hired Bail before he was known to be Kelly though afterwards the same was discovered as shall hereafter in its proper place be set forth The 24th of December Prance was Examined before the King and Council and having given the particular Circumstances of the Murther and in what respective Rooms and places the Body was kept as aforesaid several Lords were ordered to go with him to see if there were such Rooms as he described and whether he could readily go to them which he did to their Honours full satisfaction But sometime after remaining in Prison without any assurance of his Pardon he was so far prevailed with to retract by word of mouth what he had truly Confessed upon Oath as once to say before the King and Council That he was Innocent and they All were Innocent But as to the Temptations he was under and the Circumstances that sway'd him to that Ill Action he hath since set them forth so ingeniously as may satisfie any Impartial man and take off that Calumny wherewith the Papists load him and in vain endeavour to Invalidate his Testimony on that account In Answer to which he offers these Considerations in his Book pag. 23. which cannot be better express'd than in his own words viz. That what he before declared concerning the Murther in manner herein before set forth was Solemnly upon Oath This supposed Retraction was suddenly done under consternation and fear and not upon Oath 2. That he was at that time under certain danger of his Life if he persisted in that Confession for he had no Pardon granted nor any certainty of obtaining the same 3. That if he should obtain his Pardon he considered that yet his Life would be still in danger from the Revengeful and Bloody Priests and Jesuits 4. That his mind was sorely troubled as with all these dangers so with this further Apprehension that if he should escape with his Life yet by this Discovery he should lose his Livelihood and in all humane probability both he and all his Family be utterly undone For as he was the Queens Servant and that his Trade and Subsistence chiefly or indeed wholly depended on her Majesties Custom which was certain and considerable and that of other Roman Catholicks so it was not to be doubted but the most crafty and implacable Priests would soon use means by false Representations and Scandal to deprive him thereof if he proceeded in this detection 5. That he retained still a certain respect to the Popistâ— Religion in which he had so long been Educated for he had not yet entirely got his Soul out of that Snare and therefore he did then conceive
a lost man in his own apprehension from the strength of the proofs against him that yet he should meet with so favourable a Verdict And most people lookt upon it as a riddle That Coleman should be Hanged for the payment of 5000 l. upon the account of Treason and Sir George be acquitted for receiving of him the same 5000 l. for the same Treason Such were the popular discourses at that time for the reason or justice whereof we shall not engage but leave them floating on the surface of opinion till Time with his discriminating wings shall either disperse them into oblivion or hatch them into a better shape of Truth than yet they have been made appear in This is certain That the Papists took from hence occasion to insult to scatter many insolent Pamphlets up and down to perswade the world that there was no Popish Plot to scandalize the Evidence and magnifie the Innocence of Whitebread and his Companions intending it should seem to over-bear so many of His Majesties Declarations the solemn Votes of two Parliaments the Judgments of all the Judges of England and the Oaths of so many Juries of most substantial Gentlemen and Citizens with a few flashes of Rhetorick and the onely Logick of noise and impudence But in this Career of their Jollity and Revival of their hopes it pleased Providence again to quail and dash their confidence by the new and more full discovery made by Mr. Robert Jennison before-mentioned This Gentleman as he had been bred up a Papist and zealous in that perswasion so he had always approved himself of a devout temper and regular Conversation and was not onely descended of an antient worthy Family but within the prospect of a fair Estate so that he could not be imagined to have any temptations of malice envy or interest to prompt him to this Discovery as will more evidently appear by his generous Conduct in this affair towards his Elder Brother but onely out of pure unbiassed Conscience and sense of Loyalty he came in a Votary to Truth being first scandalized at the unaccountable confidence of his Cousen Ireland insisting not onely at his Tryal but also at his death on that which this Gentleman knew to be absolutely false Yet on the inducements specified in his Narrative as the respect to his Relations an own Brother and Kinsman being concerned and regard to the credit of the Religion he had been Educated in and was not yet weaned from and some particular reflections on his own safety he at first proceeded no farther either in his Depositions or Oath vivâ voce at Wakemans Tryal against whom he then was perswaded there would be other sufficient Evidence than to disprove such the said Irelands false Allegations of his not being in Town yet afterwards the stings of Conscience still pricking him to a farther manifestation of Truth on the second of August 1679. before Edmond Warcupp Esquire one of His Majesties Justices of Middlesex and to his immortal Honour a very vigilant and active Magistrate in tracing and detesting this horrid Popish Plot he made Affidavit of some other particulars As that Ireland in June 1678. did say in his presence That it was an easie matter to poyson the King and that Sir George Wakeman might opportunely do it being the Queens Doctor and that on the nineteenth of August following the said Ireland offered to forgive him twenty pound which he had borrowed of him of the St. Omerians money if he would be assisting to the taking off the King which he absolutely refusing to be concerned in Ireland inquired if he did know any Irish Gentlemen that were Papists and stout and couragious for that purpose whereupon he named Mr. Levallyn Mr. Tho. Brahall Mr. Karney three Irishmen and Mr. Wilson an English Papist all of Grays-Inn or harbouring thereabouts who for some time before this Discovery for want of knowledge of their true Names had been Impeached by others of the Kings Witnesses by the general term of the Four Irish Russians hired to Assassinate his Sacred Majesty at Windsor and in a subsequent Affidavit of August 6. he sets forth That Ireland desired him to go down with these Four persons to Windsor to be assisting in the Murder the said Ireland approving of them as fit persons for such an Exploit being before acquainted with two of them And that his Brother Tho. Jennison at Harcourts Chamber once told him That if C. R. would not be R. C. he should not long be C. R. c. This Mr. Jennison likewise in such his Narrative well worthy of perusal sets forth the passionate Letters from his Brother and other Relations whereby they endeavoured to deter or inveigle him from declaring the Truth in these matters for the better understanding whereof the Reader is to be informed that Thomas Jennison his elder Brother was a Jesuite and upon Mr. Oates's information at the first Discovery secured in Newgate But so far was this his generous Brother from having any by-ends of advantage as to the Inheritance of his Fathers Estate which is considerable and to which he was next Heir after his Brother who had so incapacitated himself That he would not deliver in such his Information till he had obtained a promise from the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council of a Pardon to be extended to his said Brother though continuing obstinate thereby setting him again Rectus in Curia As also for his other Relations By which he hath for ever silenced and stopt the mouths of Popish slanderers who would calumniate him as designing to defeat his Brother of the Inheritance and advancing his own Interest Though true it is by the Providence of God his said Brother is since deceased of a natural death in Prison and thereby the Right justly devolved to him This Discovery of young Mr. Jennison had not onely a blessed effect on his aged Father who thereby and by several other previous discourses he had heard was convinced of the Traiterous Popish Design and consequently induced to abandon such a bloody vile Religion but also influenced one Mr. John Smith heretofore a Secular Priest retaining to that Family if rather we ought not to say that by some relation he had heard from the said young Mr. Jennison of discourses that had passed between Ireland and him the said Mr. Smith were not first alarm'd and grown apprehensive of the Hellish Plot and thereupon as a local Subject was not a little instrumental to incline him the said young Mr. Jennison to a candid delaration of the truth of what he knew thereof For the said Mr. Smith hath since published an excellent Treatise dedicated to the Kings most Excellent Majesty giving an account of the Inconsistency of the Popish Principles with the Peace of all States especially their destructiveness to Protestant Kingdomes the incouragements of this Popish Design at this time against England the progress they had made in it the reasons of their endeavouring the
death of His Majesty and a vindication of the justice on those Traitors already Executed Particularly by an Affidavit taken the eighth of September 1679. before the pre-named Justice Warcup he corroborates the Testimony of the said Mr. Jennison junior as to his seeing Ireland in London at the time before-mentioned for that soon after viz. in September he going into the North young Mr. Jennison did relate the same and acquainted them therewith at his Fathers house and likewise of so much of the said Irelands discourses to him touching taking off the King c. as gave them cause to believe that there was a Jesuitical Plot the apprehension whereof put Loyal old Mr. Jennison at that time into a great passion c. He likewise in his Narrative p. 23. sets forth That he being not long since at Rome heard the Jesuits affirm That the Pope had power to depose Kings and that it was lawful nay meritorious to kill any Prince or person Excommunicated and declared an Heretick and that he being then to return to England ought not to pay Obedience to any Heretical or Excommunicated Prince and that Father Anderton Father Campian and Father Green did then and there as likewise Abbot Montague at Paris assure him there would suddenly be great alterations in Church and State in England and that there was but one man in the way meaning the King who might soon be removed and that they were assured from the most eminent persons of this Nation That their Religion should be Establisht again here in as great glory as at any time heretofore and whoever opposed it should be removed And that particularly they bottomed their hopes on the Duke of York's being a Papist who they declared was brought over by the Jesuits and that they had the greatest influence over him And p. 30. as a pregnant Circumstantial Evidence of the Plot he sets forth an universal collection of Money made to his knowledge though he discouraged it amongst the Papists under pretence of repairing Doway Colledge but so general and in such large sums as twenty pound and ten pound a man that it was apparent to be for the carrying on some greater design c. Furthermore as Mr. Jennison in his Narrative hath answered all Objections as why he did not come in sooner c. so it thereby appears that he hath reserved some farther particularities to be yet discovered in time convenient In the interim upon such his information his Majesty was graciously pleased to issue forth his Royal Proclamation commanding the before-named Four Irish Gentlemen or rather Russians to render themselves and proposing rewards to any that shall seize them or any of them but they are fled or abscond a shrewd Argument of their guilt and the truth of his information so that at the time of writing hereof there was none of them come in or apprehended CHAP. XXIII The endeavours of the Papists to cast the Guilt of their Plot on the Protestants and the Providential Discovery of such their Designe in several Particulars An Account of the Rebellion in Scotland The Attempt on Colonel Mansel c. THat it was part of the Original Popish Plot when they had Murder'd the King to cast the odium thereof on the Dissenters from the Church of England thereby at once to have shifted off the scandal of the horrid Treason from their own Party and heated the Episcopists with a colourable pretence to have fallen upon and with their help to have destroyed all that they should think fit to call Presbyterians or Fanaticks under which ignominious Titles the soundest Protestants and most regular Sons of the Establisht Church should at last have suffer'd is apparent from what we have recited of Doctor Oates's Depositions and Master Dugdale's Testimony Which is no more than what their Predecessors intended For even their Gunpowder-Plot if it had succeeded was to have been charged on the then Puritans as the famous Thuanus in his History testifies Now in order to plaining the way for this suggestion in the present Case it must be noted that some time before the first Discovery of the Plot which was about August 1678 as aforesaid the Conspirators had fixt a groundless Accusation on one Mr. Claypool who though a Gentleman of a most innocent peaceable Deportment and far enough from intermeddliug with Intrigues of State having for many years wound himself up in a private Recess devoted to Books and Study yet he having formerly been Married to a Daughter of the quondam Protector Cromwel they fancied from the prejudice of that Alliance he might be a person fit for them to designe upon and make him a property for Suspicions Having therefore Charg'd him with high Crimes in general against the Government they caused him to be clapt up in the Tower And had not the Hand of Heaven soon after confounded their measures would no doubt have prosecuted him by suborn'd Witnesses But being so happily intercepted after a long Durance and no particular Crime chargeable he obtained his Liberty About the same time also they endeavoured to Trepan an eminent worthy Citizen of London under pretence of doing a kindness for an unknown Gentleman viz. To convey certain Letters to be left with him to a place beyond the Seas but he discreetly mistrusting the Project open'd one of them in presence of substantial Witnesses and finding therein Expressions of a dangerous nature communicated the same to a Magistrate and thereby frustrated their devilish Designe Nor is it to be forgot that near the same time there were certain riotous persons who with Horse and Arms were said to come out of Scotland represented for Presbyterians flying from the Justice of that Kingdome committing some Violences in the Marches of England of whom a dreadful Account was published in the Gazette but no more Tydings heard either of the Men or the matter These were some of their specious Preparatives that whenever they should strike the Accursed Blow their Clamours against the Fanaticks might appear credible And though their Plot in general was soon after so Miraculously discovered and the reality thereof confirm'd as well by their Murther of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey as by several fresh Evidence that came in yet they resolved still to push on the same Contrivance Nor had they indeed any way to amuse the People startle Authority and divert just Prosecution against themselves other than by starting a fresh scent and raising imaginary Jealousies But such was the peaceable Loyal temper of people in general in England that they could not yet hope to brand them with any such Imputation Towards the North therefore they must plant their Engines Scotland must be made the Scene to begin the Tragedy And this too Doctor Oates if you remember had before set forth and told us what and how many Jesuitical Instruments those common Boutefeus and Nursers of Rebellion had thither been delegated and fet on work Under what Circumstances that Kingdome had lain for some