upon the first sight of me required of me Whether the Catholick Religion was established in England this was in the Year 1674. in the Month of April and I told him No Why then said he the Dutch War is to no purpose Why said I was our engaging in a War against the Dutch to bring in Popery Well well saith the Friar you will see in time In some few Days we had notice of a Peace with the Dutch What then said he our great King of France is not at Peace with them and he must do the Work In the Year 1675 I had obtained an Interest with Henry Duke of Norfolk then Earl of Norwich and Earl Marshal of England who was very kind to me upon the Account of my contending earnestly for his Right of Presenting to a Living in the Diocess of Chichester to which Living the then Bishop a turbulent Man pretended a Right of Collating And in the Year 1676 I was made his Chaplain and I call the whole Family of the Norfolk Howards to witness to my Fidelity to him and to his Children tho I am but churlishly used by some of them for my Truth and Fidelity to my Lord and Master but God forgive them for their Ingratitude to me especially Charles Howard who owes me more than I shall mention here but I always had a Thought that Popery rendred a Man incapable of being grateful to his Friend I in the Service of the Duke of Norfolk came acquainted with several Priests and being then resolved upon a strict Inquiry into their Designs against us and our Religion and Laws and Liberties I met with one Berry a Priest that had been a Jesuit but had left that Order through some Discontent and Madness that had seized the poor Wretch as he hath told me He was a Scholar in Cambridg was a Minister in England if he told me the Truth then turned Jesuit and then as before left that Order and became a secular Priest and then came to the Church of England and was a Curate at Berking and since is gone to the Church of Rome again This Berry I found a poor zealous Man whose Zeal was far beyond his Knowledg and he fell upon me to come over to their Church and he brought me acquainted with Mr. Langworth a Jesuit who since is dead as he the said Berry hath told me and with Mr. John Keins a great Jesuit and one Mr. Morgan a Jesuit that lived with the Lord Powis in the Year 1676 1677 1678. till the Plot was discovered where he is now I know not I was by Langworth reconciled to the Church of Rome he was then Confessarius to the Ld Petre and his Family and upon my being reconciled I was brought to Mr. Strange the then Provincial of their Order who admitted me into the Society of Jesus when I was admitted it was resolved by the Jesuits that I should pass the time of my Novitiate abroad in dispatching Business for the Society which I chearfully accepted and therefore accordingly they provided for me When I had paid Mr. Luke Roch Commander of the Biscay Merchant Earnest for my Passage to Bilboa the said Strange then Provincial of the Order gave me 100 Pistols for my Supply in order for my Passage into Spain and for my necessary Expences there and ordered me what Money I should need exhorting me to be as good a Husband as I could for they had great Occasions for Money What Letters they sent by me I have set forth in my Narrative but when I had got a competent Knowledg of the Design I found the great Reason why they would murder the late King was because he had deceived them and in Spain they assured me he had been reconciled to their Church and that upon his Reconciliation the Society in Spain had contributed 3000 Pistols to his Support which was paid in by Father Courtney sometime Provincial of the Jesuits in England I say several Letters written to one Father Knot in which the late King did testify his Zeal for the Catholick Religion and promised to restore it whenever he should come to the Enjoiment of his Right in England and that till he had an Opportunity to do it they should have all the Connivance in the World and if the Case should be so hard with him when he came to the Crown that he could not bring about his Desires to make their Religion to be the Religion of the Government yet they should have an Indulgence that should be equivalent however they should not be excluded out of Offices and Employments under him and that they had his Heart and Soul When I found the late King not inclined to believe that he was to he murdered I did in private tell him these things and that the only reason why they did design to take away his Life was because that he had made such Promises to them and assured them he was theirs and that he was reconciled to the Church of Rome when beyond Sea as I had seen by his own Letters The King commanded me to take no notice of his being reconciled to the Church of Rome and declared to me upon the World of a King that now he did believe they had a Design to murder him acknowledging be had written those Letters I had intimated to his Majesty and withal told me if I had come to him privately and acquainted him with the Plot he could of himself have dashed it and though I designed well yet the Discovery of it had created a Jealousy in the People of him Then I acquainted him with his Letters to the Nuns of Ghent when he borrowed Money of them which they waited for several Years here in England now he in that Letter did declare to them he would restore their Religion when he came to his Right and that was another Reason that provoked the Party against him and that St. Germane a French Jesuit had a hand in the Murder of Killigrew's Man when he lay upon the Couch in his Majesty's Cloak Here the King interrupted me and commanded me to take no farther notice of that Business declaring he knew more than I could tell him in that Affair of Killigrew's Man but withal again repeated the great Jealousy the People had of him and that it was much encreased by ill Men that did labour to possess Peoples Minds against him and said unless an extraordinary Care were taken the Phanatick Party would rebel and very much inveighed against the Dissenters and thought himself in as much danger from them as from the Popish Party That upon the Discovery of several Papers found about January 167 8 9 at one Jolliff a Taylor 's I did observe that the late King Charles the First unless his Hand was counterfeited had commissioned several Irish to rise and withal I saw Instructions given to them to give the English no Quarter and I saw a Letter of his to a Titular Bishop the Bishop of Cassal as
necessary to make use of both their joint and utmost Credits to prevent the Success of the Parliament's Evil Designs against them both which of his side he promised really to perform Nay which is more do not you remember the Duke tells the French King of a very dangerous Plot against them both My Lord Arlington was incessantly at work to advance the Interest of the Prince of Orange and the Hollanders and to lessen that of the French King and that he and several others were endeavouring to break the good Intelligence between K. Charles the Second the French King and the Duke wherefore his Royal Highness earnestly sollicites the most Christian King to assist with the help of his Purse to prevent such ROGVERIES You see here is a Triple League against a Triple Confederacy The King of England French King and Duke of York against the Parliament of England the States of Holland and his Royal Highness the Pr. of Orange The French is to furnish the Sinews of War Money The Parliament are declared Enemies K. Charles indeed standing only as a Cypher the French King and the Duke put themselves under the most solemn Engagements to perform what was stipulated and strenuously to assist each other against the Designs of both their Enemies and seeing there was a desperate Design to advance the Prince and to lessen the French the Duke puts in his Memorial to that King demanding his Assistance to prevent such Rogueries But to return to our Narrative The House of Commons is no more to sit No nor was it advisable they should they were proclaimed Enemies to France and to the Duke The French King whose Interest was to be secured in England was fully convinced that they were not only unuseful but very dangerous to both their joint Interests may they ever continue so and it much satisfied the Duke to see his most Christian Majesty altogether of his Opinion in the Point Then with what reason could we expect the use of Parliaments would be continued The Protestant Peers as to be destroyed or excluded the House and the Magpy are to be changed for Purple Bishops And who at this day has the effronted Forehead to say that all this was Fiction Did not they embrew their Hands in the Blood of some of our Nobility And were not more threatned to that degree that 8. Years since no true Protestant Lord in England could at any rate have got his Head or his Seat in Parliament ensured to him for one Year Such was the Case of our Bishops We beheld some of their Diocesses visited by those of the Purple Dye and had not Heaven in a miraculous way delivered them we might not at this day have seen a Black and White One in the Nation In order to the Accomplishment of their sanctified Villanies the Jesuits with the Assistance of French and Irish Papists burnt London and Southwark and that they might the more securely carry on that Design without being detected they cunningly draw in a few silly Fifth-Monarchy-Men and fairly leave them in the lurch to be hang'd as they were about April 1666. When any Popish Plot is near the Point of Execution they ever will have the Dissenters at hand to account for their Villanies The burning this Nest of Hereticks had been concerted both at Rome and Paris and the time for putting it in execution approaching in April 1666 a Fanatick Plot is brought upon the Stage and seven or eight were condemned at the Old-Baily for plotting to kill the King and to burn the City on the 3d Day of September following the very Day the Papists afterwards did it For a more full Account of this I refer the Reader to the London-Gazette of April 30 1666. Numb 48. Thus when they were cock-sure of cutting off K. Charles the Second before Christmass 1678. Mr. Claypole Son-in-Law to Oliver was made close Prisoner in the Tower in July 1678. upon an Accusation of conspiring the Death of the King and it is very probable that had not Dr. Oates's Discovery happily interposed he might have died for it the next Term and the King been soon sent after him Then our Counsels are to be betrayed to France that Part is committed to Mr. Coleman the Duke or Dutchess of York 's Secretary and he is to manage it by a Correspondence with Le Chese Confessor to the French King I cannot with-hold my self from remarking here that this Information was given upon Oath on the 27th of September 1678. before Sir Edmond-Bury Godfrey and before the King and Council the 28th and 29th of that Month that hereupon Coleman was taken up on the 29th and his Papers seized which happily furnished the World with irrefragable Evidence had there been no other of that diabolical Intrigue In fine Trade is to be discouraged that so it was I know none will deny Our Coin was to be adulterated I shall not surely be called upon to prove that that was done to purpose and to crown the day King Charles was not to be reprieved beyond Christmas 1678. and then our Popish Successor was to play us such a Game as never was plaid since the Conquest They mistook the time indeed but the Feat was done and then the Gamester came upon the Stage to play his Game but having an unlucky Hand he quickly plaid himself out and therefore I shall not further pursue him I only say to him as the Welshman did to his Horse There 's a Trick for your Trick and a Stone in your Foot still Proceed we now to the further Narrative of this hellish Conspiracy of which it seems requisite to hint these things Dr. Oates after he had endured a long and most cruel Imprisonment upon a Judgment for 100000 l. Damages given against him to the Duke of York for saying the Duke was a Papist now saw that his irreconcilable Enemy upon the Throne and that he with his Jesuits and corrupt Judges were resolved to run upon him with all their Rage as they did in Easter-Term 1685. ordering him to be tried in the Court of King's-Bench upon two several Indictments for two pretended Perjuries in his Evidence concerning the Plot and that upon the Testimony of those very Popish Witnesses who had confronted him in three several Trials of the Conspirators The Case standing thus with him and remembring that his Life had been several times attempted was now under an Apprehension that they were bent upon his Destruction and therefore in the Month of April 1685. he drew up this ensuing Narrative in the Presence of Sir Robert Thomas Baronet John Arnold and John Dutton-Colt Esqs and having signed it with his own Hand deposited it with a Person of Worth and Quality with whom I am well assured it has ever since remained till upon the 21st of January 1695 6. it was put into my Hands Dr. Oates's further NARRATIVE of the Popish Plot 29 April 1685. THE Malice of my Popish Adversaries being so great that I
cannot but judg that they design nothing less than my Ruine in Revenge for that Service I did my Country in discovering their more than abominable and hellish Conspiracy against the Life of the late King the Protestant Religion and the Government as by Law established both in Church and State I thought it my Duty in case of any harder Usage than I have yet met with to put something in Writing which my Friends I hope will publish for the Satisfaction of my dear Country-men for whose Cause I have been a living Martyr exposed to the Rage and Reproach of a Generation of Men who neither fear God nor reverence Man whose Religion is either the worst of Religions or their Morals so debauched that they are fit to be of any Religion except that of Christ Therefore in the first place I do declare my self to be a Protestant of the Church of England as by Law established both in Doctrine and Discipline yet I must confess she stands in need of a further Reformation and it would be happy if that by the Removal of some Ceremonies useless and dangerous a way might be made for a more perfect Union amongst all English Protestants that our Hands might be strengthned against the Common Enemy the Papists in order to the rooting out of Superstition and Idolatry from amongst us that we may avert those Judgments from this Nation that do so highly threaten our total Destruction It hath been the greatest Grief of my Heart to see Protestants contending one with another about the meaner Parts of Religion and Worship whilst the Enemy the Popish Party stands by and adds Fuel to our Flames and nourishes the Quarrel till we have exposed our selves to be devoured by them and have wounded those amongst us who are weak in the Faith I could likewise wish that our dissenting Brethren would lay aside their Scruples in some things and comply with their Brethren in those Ceremonies that are innocent and harmless and not inconsistent with the Word of God and the Law of our great Lord Jesus Christ and that they that can conform for Christ's sake do not persecute their Brethren who through Tenderness of Conscience cannot partake with them in those Advantages that some of them have enjoyed to their Hearts Content Truly I have been so far from being inclined to persecute any for Conscience sake that I would not have had the least Thought of having or advising the Prosecution of Popery or molesting of any that are in Communion with the Church of Rome but that the Religion of Rome is a Conspiracy against God and Christ and Mankind for shew me a Papist that is thorow-paced I will shew you a Murderer of the People of God a Firer of Cities a declared Enemy to the Peace and Tranquillity of the Sons of Men. Now Men that are so united together against God and all Goodness our Religion Lives and Liberties must be rooted out and not suffered to continue amongst a well governed People for they make it their Business to debauch our looser sort of Christians and reproach and calumniate those whose Firmness to their God and the Gospel of Christ renders them Men above their Temptations tho by their Allurements some have been seduced to their Destruction Therefore as for the Popish Religion I do declare that I do detest and abhor it as a Religion whose whole Foundation is Blood Cruelty Murder and Rapine a Religion that stands in opposition to the Rule and Law of Jesus Christ And the Bishop of Rome whom they call Pope I believe to be Antichrist that exalts himself in the Temple of God above God and all that is called God the Son of Perdition and everlasting Wrath. But that which is expected of me is that I do declare my self fully concerning the damnable Plot carried on by the Popish Party for the Destruction of the late King and the Protestant Religion I must confess the Acquaintance I had with some considerable Papists in the Year 1670. made me to suspect a Design carrying on by them to advance their own Religion and to pull down ours but I little thought that they had a Design of murdering the King which in process of time I found out There was one Cotton that was at Mr. Guilfourd's in Kent that was often very pleasingly tempting me to come over to their Church for saith he it will not be long before you must either burn or turn therefore come over in time that your coming over may be looked upon as meritorious This Cotton since I understood to be a Priest of the Society of Jesus and one that was ingaged in the Popish Plot and with him I had a better and more intimate Acquaintance From him at first I found that the Popish Party had a Design of promoting their Religion and making what Proselytes they could in order to the inlarging their Interest and Power in this poor Nation I from that time had a great Desire to get into them to see whither their Designs tended being very fearful that they designed no less than the Ruine of our Religion and Government Nay this Cotton had the Impudence to tell me that the King was engaged with them to advance their Cause and Religion and was resolved to bring in Popery it being a Religion that was most consistent with Monarchy and that his Majesty was resolved to be like his Neighbour-Princes this was in the Year 1670 about Christmass Which Discourse I did discover to Mr. Walter Drury whom I did assist in the Service of his Cure at Sandburst in the County of Kent and he told me that that Mr. Cotton had talked as badly or rather worse to him but he had sufficiently told him his own so that Cotton was shy of having any farther Discourse with hâ—â— about those Matters and withal Mr. Drury having threatned to complain of him Mr. Cotton did withdraw from that Family and another came in his room In the Year 1672 I was acquainted with one Keimash who was very perswasive in his Arguments to have brought me over to their Church he then frequented Arundell-house in the Strand and was a Fellow that had insinuated himself into the Acquaintance of several Divines of our Church and bragged that he had reconciled above thirty Ministers of the Church of England but I found him a debauched lewd Fellow and so my Acquaintance ceased with him for it was a hard Matter unless in a Morning to find him sober I found him afterwards to have been Chaplain to the old Countess of Arundell with whom he lived several Years under the Notion of her Steward In the Year 1672 I left Mr. Drury's Cure and held a Living of my own which I resided upon for some time called Bobbing in Kent and from thence I went and served his Majesty at Sea as a Chaplain where I found many Difficulties by reason of Sickness of Body I refreshed my self at Tangire There was one Gerard an Irish Dominican that