Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n
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A25448
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The Account of the manner of executing a writ of inquiry of damages between His Royal Highness James Duke of York &c. and Titus O[a]tes which was executed at the bar of the Court of Kings Bench at Westminster on Wednesday the 19th of June, 1684 in the presence of the high sheriff of Middlesex.
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1684
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Wing A320; ESTC R34141
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20,410
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34
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I Do appoint Benjamin Tooke to Print these Proceedings and Order that no other Person presume to Print the same Geo. Jefferys THE ACCOUNT Of the manner of EXECUTING A Writ of Inquiry OF DAMAGES BETWEEN HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS JAMES Duke of York c. AND TITVS OTES Which was executed at the Bar of the Court of KINGS BENCH at WESTMINSTER on Wednesday the 19th of June 1684. in the presence of the High Sheriff of Middlesex LONDON Printed for Benj. Tooke at the Ship in S. Paul's Church Yard 1684. THE ACCOUNT Of the manner of EXECUTING A Writ of Inquiry OF DAMAGES BETWEEN HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS JAMES Duke of York c. AND TITVS OTES Die Mercurii 18. Junii An. Dom. 1684. B. R. Dux Ebor. versus Otes HIS Royal Highness the Duke of York having brought an Action against Titus Otes grounded upon the Statute de Scandalis Magnatum for very Slanderous and Opprobrious Words the Defendant suffered Judgment to go against him by default and thereupon a Writ of Inquiry was taken out directed to the Sheriff of the County of Middlesex to enquire by a Jury of that County what Damages the Plaintiff had susteined hereby and upon a Motion made at the Court of Kings Bench a day was given to the Defendant to shew cause why that Writ of Inquiry should not be executed at the Bar of that Court which he not doing it was ordered that it should be executed at the Bar on this day and that the High Sheriff should appear and attend the execution of the Writ in person Accordingly this day Sir Peter Daniel Knight and Samuel Dashwood Esquire the present Sheriff of the County of Middlesex came into this Court and being placed at the Table at the Judges feet were during the Execution of the Writ covered Mr. Tho. Rous the present Undersheriff managed it and proceeded in this manner Mr. Undersheriff Cryer call Sr. Charles Lee. Cryer Vous avez Sr. Charles Lee. Who was sworn thus Mr. Undersheriff You shall well and truly enquire of Damages between the most illustrious Prince JAMES Duke of York and Albany Plaintiff and Titus Otes Defendant and therein a true Verdict give according to your Evidence So help you God The rest were sworn thus Mr. Undersheriff Sir William Hill Sir Richard Downton and Sir John Berry the same Oath your Foreman hath for his part taken you and every of you for your parts shall well and truly keep So help you God Mr. Undersheriff Thomas Harriott Thomas Row and Walter Brydall the same Oath c. Edward Guise Thomas Done and William Wood the same Oath c John Sharp and Nehemiah Arnold the same Oath c. Will you please to have any more than twelve sworn L. C. J. How many do you use to have Pray swear an odd Number as you used to do Mr. Undersheriff Then I will swear three more and that will be just fifteen Francis Stephens Nicolas Bagster and John Kirk The same Oath c. The Names of them that were upon the Inquiry Sir Charles Lee Knight Sir William Hill Knight Sir Richard Downton Knight Sir John Berry Knight Thomas Harryot Esquire Thomas Rowe Esquire Walter Brydal Esquire Edward Guise Esquire Thomas Done Esquire William Wood Esquire John Sharpe Esquire Nehemiah Arnold Esquire Francis Stevens Esquire Nicolas Baxter Esquire John Kirke Gentleman Mr. Undersheriff Gentlemen you that are sworn hear the Kings Writ L. C. J. Ay road it to them Mr. Undersheriff CHARLES the Second by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. to the Sheriff of Middlesex Greeting Whereas the most Illustrious Prince JAMES Duke of York and Albany one of the Nobles and Peers of England our most dear and only Brother who as well c. lately in our Court before Us at Westminster by Bill without our Writ impleaded Titus Otes then in the Custody of the Marshal of our Marshalsea before us being For that whereas in a Statute made in the Parliament of Richard the Second late King of England after the Conquest held at Gloucester in the Second Year of his Reign amongst other things It is ordained and strictly prohibited that from thence none should be so hardy to devise tell or relate of the Prelates Dukes Earls Barons and other Nobles and great Men of England nor of the Chancellor Treasurer or Clerk of the Privy Seal Steward of the King's Houshold Justices of the one or of the other Bench nor of other great Officers of the Kingdom aforesaid any false News Lyes or any such false things whereby Scandal or Discord within the said Kingdom might arise and whosoever should do this should incur and have the Penalty otherwise thereon ordained by the Statute of Westminster the first as in the Statute aforesaid is more fully contained And whereas the fourth day of December in the Five and Thirtieth Year of our Reign and long before the yearly Rents Issues and Profits arising or due and payable for or by reason of the General Post Office within this Kingdom of Emgland for the carriage of Letters before were erected and yet are established upon the said most Ilustrious Prince JAMES Duke of York and Albany The aforesaid Titus Otes the Statute aforesaid not considering but the good Name State Credit Dignity and Honour of the said JAMES Duke of York and Albany our Brother devising and malitiously intending to hurt and detract and Him the said JAMES Duke of York and Albany our Brother into the great displeasure and hatred of Us and of the Peers of this Kingdom of England and also divers other venerable Persons our Subjects to bring out his meer Malice and Envy had and forethought the aforesaid fourth day of December in the Year of our Reign the five and Thirtieth at the Parish of S. Martin in the Fields in the County of Middlesex aforesaid upon a certain discourse then had aed moved by and between the aforesaid Titus Otes and divers of our Leige People of and concerning the aforesaid JAMES Duke of York and Albany our Brother and of and concerning a certain Letter in the hand of the aforesaid Titus Otes at that time being divers false News and horrible Lyes of the aforesaid JAMES Duke of York and Albany our Brother at that time and yet being of the Peers and Nobles of this Kingdom in the presence and hearing of divers venerable Persons publickly falsly maliciously and scandalously said and related and with a loud voice published in these English words following viz. This Letter the Letter aforesaid so in the hands of the afore-said Titus Otes as is beforesaid being meaning cost me the said Titus Otes meaning ninepence and might have been brought for a peny I himself the aforesaid Titus Otes meaning know no body is the better for it but that Traitor JAMES Duke of York the aforesaid JAMES Duke of York and Albany our only Brother meaning And the aforesaid Titus further devising and maliciously intending the
to a Scavenger of London or Westminster no that was a Station too honorable for him in his Thoughts but he must necessarily be compared to a Scavenger of Kent-street which we all know to be one of the meanest filthiest and most beggerly parts of the Town The next piece of Evidence is that which is given by one Mr. Philips and when he came to him he began to have some Reflexions about the House of Commons and the Duke and truly he did not doubt but he should see him at the Bar of the House of Commons and it would be no Disparagement to him to come there for there were a great many Members there that were as good Men or better than he And even by this Fancy of his he would fain degrade His Royal Highness for in Case he had him in no other Consideration but as a Peer he should know that no Peer of this Realm can be forced by any Vote or Order of the House of Commons to come to their Bar. But he had a mind to take off his very Privilege of Peerage and it would be no lessening of his Greatness since that House had in it many Members better Men than the Duke himself I presume he meant some particular Friends of his own in that House The next Man is one Mr. Ashlock and he tells you That because he would engage all People into an hatred of the Duke's Person he must as a thing of the greatest Consequence in order to it make it be believed that the Duke had a great hand and concern in the Dismal Fire of London in Sixty Six that thereby he might make him obnoxious to the Rancour and Malice of all that suffered in that dreadful Calamity And with what handsom Expression he cloaths it He fired the City of London he is the Son of a Whore and we will have him hanged or sent out of England for it whenever a Parliament meets So that here is not only a Personal Reflexion and Malicious Indignity done to His Royal Highness but carries in it a great Reflexion upon His Sacred Majesty himself in his Relations and he is not contented only to belch out his Venom and Malice against those that are alive but even against those that are Dead too For you see it is a most foul Imputation and Slander against Her late Majesty the Queen Mother to our Soveraign and His Brother by calling him the Son of a Whore which is an Expression of that Impudent and Insolent Nature as is not fit to be mentioned in a Civil Government These things I think my self obliged to take Notice of for Example's sake and to induce all People to consider to what a height of Corruption we were grown when such Scoundrel Fellows as this dare to take such base words into his Mouth of the Royal Family Then comes Captain Cressett and he gives you an Account That when His Royal Highness and the Dutchess were going last to Scotland as the Captain return'd from the Duke's Lodgings he met with the Defendant who fell upon him What you have been with JAMES it seems he was one of his intimate Acquaintance and very Familiar he was with his Name Indeed a Man would have thought if in Case he had spoke as one man ought to speak of another that he had been speaking of one of his Myrmidons and it would have been a very hard matter to have known who else he meant by that familiar Appellation Says the Captain What James Why YORK and he was very kind that he gave him that Addition to let him know what JAMES he meant But when the Captain chid him and told him Sure you might either say the Duke of York or His Royal Highness then immediately instead of that he flies out He is a Papist he is a Traitor and I hope to live to see him Hanged and you will go near to lose your Reputation if you go so often thither So that I perceive if he will not be advised by this Gentleman he should lose all his Credit and yet I presume it is wonderfully for the Advantage of Mr. Cressett to lose the Credit he could get by any Characters or Commendations such an one as he could give him Then Captain Cressett kindly advised him to take Care of injuring his Party by his Passion and his Indecent Behaviour and told him it would turn to his Prejudice at last And truly now I think if all his Party were in his Condition and made to smart for the Lavishness of their Tongues I think it were a good Accomplishment of his Prophecy and if we were rid of them we should be more at Peace And we may without offence hope to see that sooner than what the Defendant says he hoped to see The next is Sir William Jennings who tells you of a Passage at the Parliament at Oxford which shews his wonderful Gospel and Christian temper When a Company of Gentlemen were met together to Drink a Glass of Wine and were wishing Health and Long Life to His Sacred Majesty His Royal Highness and the Royal Family he would not be contented to refuse the Glass but to shew how wonderful a Christian Spirit he was of and to evidence his true Protestant Charity and by his Carriage who was one of the Heads of the Faction we may guess at the Temper of all the Party he cries out He has ruined the Nation and if there be any hotter place in Hell than other I hope the Devil will preserve it for him I presume his great Conversation with him he spoke of hath given him some Intelligence there is in Hell some hotter places than others and who they are reserved for But Gentlemen I speak not this that I think any thing that is thus proved by the by doth in the least aggravate the Damages for the Words in the Declaration are as bad as bad can be but to let you see the disposition of this Man that has been so much admired and courted After him comes Mr. Warcup who tells you he was not in the Room with Oates when the last words were spoken but coming in immediately after they all told him the same words and he afterwards meeting with Oates and reproving him for his indecent Behaviour and Expression instead of any remorse concern that he had upon him by reason of his having spoken such words he doth still add to it The DUKE of YORK is a Traitor he is in the Plot and because you take his part you are a Yorkist and we will be even with you for it at one time or another So he threatens him only for asking him why he behaved himself in such an indecent manner towards His Royal Highness The last Witness Mr. Chapman is produced to shew what Mind he continues in After all this is past and a body would have thought he might by this time have been brought to some Consideration and Submission to Authority yet you see how the Man is The Witness tells you since the beginning of this Term the Declaration being delivered and by the Course of the Court he ought to Plead within such a time the Attorney goeth to him for a Plea in order to make his Defence if he could in the Action now before you but he lets Judgment go by Default and so far is he from repenting of what he had formerly done that he persists in it and tells him Are you the DUKE's Attorney Yes Well I care not a farthing for the DUKE nor his Attorney neither it may be I may be in here for 100000 l. and that I believe is one of the truest things he ever spoke in his Life but suppose I be I do not doubt but when a Parliament meets a time will come when some other People may come in my place But truly since he has declared his Hopes I think it may not be amiss for us to declare ours too and for my part to say I hope I shall never see such a Parliament Mr. Under-Sheriff Lay your Heads together Gentlemen and consider of your Verdict They did so standing at the Bar. Mr. Under-Sheriff Are you all agreed of your Verdict Omnes Yes Mr. Under-Sheriff Who shall say for you Omnes Foreman Mr. Under-Sheriff What Damages do you find Sir Charles Lee. Full Damages an Hundred Thousand Pounds Mr. Under-Sheriff What Costs Sir Charles Lee. Twenty Shillings Which Verdict being Recorded in an Inquisition indented taken under the Hands of all the Jury was afterwards annexed as the Return to the Writ of Inquiry FINIS