Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n
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A36351
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Mr. Tho. Dangerfields particular narrative of the late popish design to charge those of the Presbyterian party with a pretended conspiracy against His Majesties person and government written by himself.
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Dangerfield, Thomas, 1650?-1685.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing D192; ESTC R13969
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73,229
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82
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as I suppose and when she went from home desired me to call at Gadbury's for her that we might go together to Mr. Stamfords Accordingly I went to Mr. Gadbury's where I found her and from thence we went to the place beforementioned where Mr. Stamford told us he had been informed from very good hands that Dr. Tongue had at that time employed a considerable number of Writers to describe the whole manner of the Plot but said he I will acquaint the King with it and tell His Majesty my thoughts which are That the design of it is to direct Oats and Bedloe and the rest how to proceed and carry on the present Plot meaning I believe their own against the poor Catholicks but I do not know whether he informed his Majesty of it or not From thence Mrs. Cellier and I went home and the next morning she sent me to Gadbury's to enquire how the Lord Peterborough and Sir Robert Peyton entertained each other At their meeting Gadbury told me they agreed very well and stayed there several hours but what they treated on he did not yet know for he withdrew and left them together Then I returned and told Mrs. Cellier what he said who was very well pleased that their endeavors seem'd to succeed so well Soon after I met the Countess at Mrs. Celliers house who acquainted me that the Lord Peterborough had given her Ladiship an account of all that had passed between him and Sir Robert Peyton and also told me there were great hopes of him but at the same time she said I must go forwards with all speed to set some Intrigue on foot against the Presbyterians for his Royal Highness either was already come to Town or would be here the next day and something must be done to make his Royal Highness believe the Presbyterians were carrying on a Design against the King and Government Then we considered what course to take in order thereunto but could not agree without better Judgments or at least then mine was So the Countess went away and the next day sent for Mrs. Cellier to the Tower who when she returned told me the Lords had ordered that I should use all the speed I could to find out some idle persons that appeared well in apparel and give them Money to go to the Coffee-houses and make enquiry of all the Clubs and Meetings that were about the Town and get the names of such as frequented them and endeavour to learn how things went in all parts of the Town This I promised to do but not being acquainted with many such persons whom I durst trust in such an Affair I employ'd only two or three of whom I had a better opinion then of the rest viz. One Bedford by some called Captain though he never was in Commission to him I gave 40 s. in Cliffords-Inn Garden and endeavoured to make him sensible what it was for and he was to proceed He entred into a solemn Promise to use his utmost endeavors to give me satisfaction Soon after I employed one Curtice and gave him Ten Shillings Earnest and told him his business who also promised to use his utmost Endeavour Then was I my self very busie in visiting most Coffee-Houses about Town where I found all things very suitable to our Interests and Designs and many Persons very hot against the Presbyterians some saying The Plot was now most apparently discovered to be theirs This Rumour was very industriously spread about by all our Accomplices as Wood Dormer the Virginia Merchant my self and many others perhaps unknown to me By this time his Royal Highness was returned from Flanders and the Lord Peterborough sent for me to give the Duke an account of this New Plot by which it appears that his Lordship had heard something of it before And his Lordship has since declared to the King and Council That Mrs. Cellier had given him an account of one Willoughby as also of his behaviour in Flanders and some part of a Presbyterian Design that was then on foot But at that time when his Lordship sent for me I was unprovided and sent the Countess word of it who appointed me to wait on her at Powis House that Night at Four a Clock which I did and found her Ladyship there who bid me sit down and write which having done she dictated and I writ and this which follows is the Abbreviation of that which was found by Sir William Waller in the Meal-Tub for that was the Original and what the Countess dictated REMARKS c. Four Clubs or Meetings viz. Sir Robert Peyton at the Kings Head Tavern Mr. Bennet's at the Green Dragon Sir Francis Clark's at the Sun Tavern Colonel Blood 's at Westminster Market The three first being the Council Meetings and the last the Messengers for the Countries at present but when occasion shall require they are to be Field-Officers Mr. Gooding's promise to support D. M. if Banished Major Alsop's promise to me for a Commission Friday the 12th of September M. went to Sir Thomas Player The manner of sending Messengers to all parts of England The Manner of all their several Meetings and how the Converse with one another for the concurrence of matters The manner of their Contributing and to what purpose money is raised The posture they were in for a Rising if His Majesty had died and how they had a considerable Army posted in and about the Town for that purpose The Contrivance of the Bill against The Design to rise in the North in order to join with an Army of Scots commanded by Goodine's and others Accounts about their Government Lord Hallifax Lord Shaftsbury Lord Radnor Lord Essex Lord Wharton Duke of Buckingham and others for Counsel Duke of Monmouth to be General Lord Gray of Warke Lieutenant-General Lord Gerrard and his Son Lieutenant-Generals Sir Thomas Armstrong Lieutenant-General Colonel Blood Sir William Waller and others to be Major-Generals Colonel Mansel Quarter-master General Most of the Field-Officers meet at Bloood's Club and others at Cities and great Towns in the Countries The Detachment to be made from His Majesties Guards c. and also from the Trained-Bands and Militia both in City and Country Alsop's promise to bring me to my Lord Shaftsbury to be employed for an Intelligencer and to have his promise for a Commission Now I must obsrve to the Reader That though most of these Particulars were Dictated by the Countess yet I had them not all of her but some from Bedford Curtice Woods c. the which being by me afterwards abbreviated and the Lists of the persons named who I was informed met at the aforesaid Clubs being added to it Each of these Clubs consist of at least 200 persons all of good Estates and Substance These that follow are Lists of particular persons viz. At the Kings Head Tavern in Fleetstreet LOrd Howard Sir Robert Peyton Sir John Duke Sir Philip Matthews Sir Henry Blount Mr. John Gibson Mr. Charles Umphreville Mr. John
Boy to the Tower with a Letter that contained the whole Relation and likewise desired that since I was to wait upon His Majesty the next day their Lordships would be pleased to give me some Directions how to behave my self there That night I received no other answer then that the Lady Powis would be with me the next day at three a Clock in the afternoon So she was at Mrs. Celliers house where I received from her these following Directions viz. That I should be sure to lay all the burthen I could upon the Presby terians but particularly upon the Lord Gray Lord Howard of Eserick Duke of Monmouth Duke of Buckingham Sir William Waller Colonel Blood and some others and that I should explain to His Majesty the meaning of the several contents of the Paper I had before presented to the Duke and how the Presby terians were resolv'd to use their utmost endeavors for the reducing the present Government and setting up a Commonwealth once more and setling the Duke of Monmouth in it and that the Lord Shaftsbury and other Persons of Quality were issuing out Commissions to that purpose and had promised some to divers persons This was the Story I was to tell the King as I did and then I thought His Majesty believed the same to be true but His Majesty has since been pleased to declare in Council he did not give Credit to it for that it was so impossible a thing but yet to shew that he would not wholly slight it till better satisfaction was pleased to order me money by Mr. Secretary Coventry to encourage me in the farther discovery thereof and soon after I received from Colonel Halsel 40 l. but when he paid it me he told me I must endeavor to make things a little more plain or the King would not be well pleased which I promised to do and took my leave Then I came home and told Mrs. Cellier what had passed who went immediately to the Tower to let the Lords know I had not only given His Majesty a satisfactory Account but had likewise received 40 l. by His Order to encourage me which they were glad to hear and then I suppose thought fit to prepare something that might induce a stronger belief and gain more credit to the discovery but desired me to go no more to Colonel Halsel for it should seem they had some reason to be afraid of him lest he might trace the Business till he had discovered it This Order I followed for I went no more to Colonel Halsel though I had been commanded by the King as often as I made any new progress in the Business to give Colonel Halsel an account of it When His Majesty was at Newmarket I was advised to send an account of some new Discovery made since the former and this I was to deliver to Colonel Halsel to be sent for it was before I had received the 40 l. from him and an Order from the Lords to apply my self to him no more The Paper I sent was to this Effect viz. SIR May it please Your most Sacred Majesty I Have discovered a great Correspondence between the Presbyterians and the Dutch and believe at your Majesties return to give a good Account of the same by God's help till which time I shall use my utmost endeavor to approve my self Your MAJESTIES Most Faithful and Obedient Subject WILLOVGHBY Soon after the King returned from New-market which when the Lords heard of they ordered me to wait on His Majesty with a supplemental Story but much to the same effect with my former and to apply my self to Master Cheffinch to be brought to His Majesties presence Col. Halsel being the person that had brought me to him before which I did and His Majesty ordered Mr. Cheffinch to bring me to Him where I related my business and withdrew then I met the Countess again at Mrs. Celliers house and gave her an account of my having been with His Majesty To which She answered The next time I should carry something of greater moment but that in the mean time she ordered me to make diligent enquiry after one Colonel Mansfield for so she said his Name was which I did and with some difficulty found by Curtice where he lodged and sent word by Mrs. Cellier of it to the Tower who when she came back told me The Countess ordered I should be at home in the Afternoon and her Ladiship would come to me but in the mean time that I should go to Mr. Sharp to Confession and receive the Sacrament which is a custom the Roman Catholicks constantly practise either before the undertaking or after the effecting some damnable enterprise and sometimes both that their Father Confessor may palliate the thing to them under a colour of Religion so as to make it appear meritorious be it never so criminal for the next Orders I should receive would be for the putting in execution what had been resolv'd on with relation to the Lord Shaftsbury on this I took some time to pause but at last did go to Father Sharp and Confess and Receive after which according to his usual custom he conjured me by all that was good to use all the possible speed to stabb the said Lord after I had received Orders from the Lords so to do I promised I would and so left him About three dayes after that Mrs. Cellier had received a Letter from the Lady Powis which made mention that that very night I should make my self ready and go to Lord Shaftsbury's house in Aldersgate street and desire to speak with him privately but from Mrs. Cellier her self I received a particular charge not to enter into any discourse with my Lord when I had him alone but after a little Apology for my coming to his Lordship though an absolute stranger to him and neither sent nor introduced by any other person and desiring to know whether if it should fall out to be in my power to serve him I might have his Lordships favour c. to do my business and come away Then she gave me a short French Dagger as I suppose 't was by the make I asked whence she had it she answered that on Sunday last the Virginia Merchant had brought her three or four such and out of a Cubbord in the same room took the rest and bid me chuse which I liked best but I kept that which I had already and made no further choice and went directly to Lord Shaftsbury's house where I was admitted but there being divers persons in the Room where his Lordship was I desired privacy lest some of them might know me and I be discovered then his Lordship sent me with one of his Gentlemen up stairs whither his Lordship came to me in a little time I repeated my story to him and his Lordship seemed desirous to have entred into some farther discourse but I was not willing to engage my self in any neither had I opportunity to do