Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	chief_a	john_n	sir_n	14,841	5	6.8865	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63146	The tryal and condemnation of Mervin, Lord Audley Earl of Castle-Haven At Westminster, April the 5th 1631. For abetting a rape upon his Countess, committing sodomy with his servants, and commanding and countenancing the debauching his daughter. With the learned speeches of the Lord High-Steward, the arguments of the King's-Councel upon that occasion, and the Lord Audley's speech at the place of execution.	Castlehaven, Mervyn Touchet, Earl of, 1592?-1631.	1699 (1699)	Wing T2144; ESTC R219718	15,249	39

Counsellers to be Covered the Lords were call'd by their Names as followeth Earl of Po●●land Lord Treasurer Earl of Dorset and Middlesex Lord Chambl Earl of Manchester Lord privy Seal Earl of Arundel Lord Marshal Earl of Pembroke Earl of Kent Earl of Essex Earl of Warwick Earl of Carlisle Earl of Bedford Earl of Worcester Earl of Derby Earl of Leicester Earl of Salisbury Earl of Holland Lord Viscount Conway Lord Visc Wimbleton Lord Visc Wentworth Lord Visc Dorchester Lord Howard Lord Peircy Lord Strange Lord Clifford Lord North. Lord Peeters Lord Goring Judges Assisting at this Tryal Sir Nicholas Hyde Lord Chief Justice of England Sir Thomas Littleton Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Sir Humphrey Davenport Lord Chief Baron Mr. Justice Jones Mr. Justice Whitlock Mr. Justice Crook Mr. Baron Denham The King 's Learned Counsel Mr. Sergeant Crew Mr. Attorney General Mr. Sollicitor General Sir John Finch Sir Thomas Fanshaw Clerk of the Crown Mr. Keeling with other Officers and Attendants The Lords having answer'd to their Names the Lieutenant of the Tower was requir'd to bring forth his Prisoner who was then in the Treasury Chamber and from thence was Guarded into the Court by the Warders of the Tower and being put into a place inclos'd for that purpose cover'd with Blew Bays and the Lieutenant of the Tower into another place adjoyning to it the Prisoner having made his Complement to the Lord High-Steward and the rest of the Noble Lords that were to Try him the Lord High-Steward spake to him in these words My Lord The King's Majesty being inform'd by common Fame and the Verdict of divers Gentlemen of Quality in the Country where you ●ive That you stand Impeach'd of several Great and Heinous Crimes that the Truth of the Charge may be known he has this day brought you to your Tryal therein imitating the Almighty in the XVIIIth of Genesis who came down to see if the Sins of the People were as Notorious as the Cry that was about them and truly the Kings of the Earth can have no better Example than what has been given them by the Great and all Wise King of Heaven and therefore our Sovereign who is God's Vicegerent upon Earth has now brought you to Justice and desires that all proceedings should be carried on with as much equality as the Rules of Equity and Justice themselves have prescribed And because my Lords the Crimes that will now be brought before you are of such a Horrid Nature that may justly raise in some of your Lordships a Detestation and in others Pity and Compassion I advise you to lay aside both these Considerations and let your Reasons and Consciences sway your Judgments and your Heads direct your Hearts My Lord Audley I question not but you are really satisfied as well as I am my self that the Noble Peers here Assembled have as much Justice in their Hearts as Noble Blood in their Veins and since such as they are to Try you if you are Conscious of your own Innocency speak without Fear for if you are falsely Accused those that do it shall not escape an Exemplary Punishment but if you know your self Guilty I advise you to give Honour to God and the King by Confessing your Faults for neither vain Confidence nor Subtlety can obscure or prevail against the Truth and if that touches your Heart your own Conscience will be a thousand Witnesses against you and God also who is greater than them all Persist not therefore in an Obstinate denial of the Truth for if you do God will put it into 'th Hearts of these Noble Lords to find it out and to do what is Just in relation to the Punishment of the Crime Consider of it and the Lord Direct you Lord Audley My Lord I have been six Months a Prisoner under a close Confinement without the Advice of Friends or Counsel and long Imprisonment has reduced me into a very weak Condition When I was in my best state of Health my Voice was very low and therefore I desire your Lordships will be pleas'd to allow me the liberty of Counsel to speak for me Lord High-Steward Your long Imprisonment has been a singular favour to you You have had more time than ever any Peer had that was brought to this Bar. However you shall ask nothing which the Law can give you but it shall be freely granted to you and therefore I will propound your Request to the Judges and leave them to give you satisfaction in it My Lords the Judges Will the Law allow us to give my Lord Audley the liberty of Counsel to speak for him I shall be glad to have your Opinions in it Lord Chief Justice Hyde In Criminal Causes Counsel cannot be allowed in matters of Fact in matters of Law it may Lord Chief Baron The Law is express in this Case and Counsel ought not to be granted Lord High-Steward Read the Indictment Clerk of the Crown Mervin Lord Audley Thou art here Indicted c. for that thou and Gyles Broadway Gen. both of Fountain Gifford in the County of Wilts not having the Fear of God before your Eyes but being moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil Did on the twentieth day of June in the Sixth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. at Fountain Gyfford aforesaid in the County aforesaid did by Force and Arms c. In and upon Ann Lady Audley then being in the Peace of God and our Sovereign Lord the King Make an Assault And the aforesaid Gyles Broadway the aforesaid Ann Lady Audley by Force and Arms against the Will of the said Ann then and there did violently and Feloniously Ravish and the said Ann then and there against her Will did Carnally know against the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Statute in that Case made and provided what sayest thou Mervyn Lord Audley art thou Guilty of the Rape of which thou standest Indicted or not Guilty Lord Audley Not Guilty Clerk of the Crown How will you be Tryed Lord Audley By God and my Peers Then the Clerk of the Crown Read another Indictment against the Lord Audley to this effect viz. That he Mervin Lord Audley not having God before his Eyes nor respecting the Order of Nature but moved and seduced by the Instigation of the Devil the first of June in the Sixth Year of our Sovereign Lord Charles c. at Fountain Gifford in the said County of Wilts in the Mansion House of the said Lord Audley Did there by Force of Arms upon one Florentius Fitz Patrick Wickedly Devilishly Feloniously and contrary to Nature exercise Venery and the said Florentius Fitz Patrick then and there did Carnally know and that Detestable and Abominable Sodomitical Sin called Buggery not to be named among Christians Then and there with the said Florentius Fitz

Patrick Devilishly Feloniously and contrary to Nature did commit and perpetrate to the great Displeasure of Almighty God and Disgrace of all Mankind and contrary to the Peace of our said Sovereign Lord the King his Crown and Dignity and against the Statute in this Case made and provided c. The like Indictment for the same Offence Committed with the same Person on the Tenth of June the same Year at New Sarum in the Mansion House of the Lord Audley was also prefer'd but not Read against him All which Bills were found against the Prisoner in a Court held by special Commission granted for that purpose at New Sarum before Edward Georges Sir Thomas Richardson Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench Sir Nicholas Hyde Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir John Denham one of the Barons of the Exchequer Sir Edward Hungerford Sir Walter Vaughan Sir Lawrence Hyde Sir Thomas Fanshaw to them or any three or more of them to inquire into the matters of Fact as is before alledged To all which Indictments the Lord Audley having Pleaded Not Guilty and put himself upon his Tryal the Lord High-Steward deliver'd himself to the Lords as followeth My Lords The Prisoner is Indicted for Rape and Sodomy by two Indictments he has Pleaded Not Guilty and 't is my Duty to Charge your Lordships with the Tryal of it and yours to Judge of it The Matters of Fact are to be prov'd by Evidence and your Lordships are to balance it I have already observed to you that probably this Cause may move some of you into Pity and others into Detestation but neither of these ought to be thrown into balance since a Grain on either side may sway the Scales Therefore let Reason rule your Affections and your Heads govern your Hearts hear diligently weigh matters equally and then the Scale will lean on the right side The Judges will assist your Lordships in point of Law and therefore if any doubt ariseth among you you 'll propound it to me and I to them In these proceedings your Lordships are not upon your Corporal Oaths for the Law presumes you of such Honour and Integrity that you will act as Justly without an Oath as others under that Obligation and for the same Reason the Law admits of no Challenges God direct you to do it His Lordship having concluded the King's Attorney General opened the Indictment in the following Words May it please your Grace my Lord High Steward here are two Indictments against Mervyn Lord Audley the first is for Rape and the second is for Sodomy the Prisoner is Honourable the Crimes of which he stands Indicted are foul and Dishonourable and if they should be prov'd true I dare be bold to say That never Poet invented nor Historian related any thing so Odious Inhuman and abominable Suetonius has with Horror display'd the Vices of some Heathen Emperors that having ingross'd an absolute power were fearless of punishment and shameless in committing abominable Enormites yet no Author has produc'd a Man that ever equal'd or came near the Crimes that this Lord is accus'd of This is a Crime to the Honour of our Nation be it spoken that is scarcely heard of in an Age and whenever it happens calls aloud for timely punishment that the Infection spread no farther nor provoke Divine Vengeance to pour down the Vials of his wrath upon the whole Kingdom I can speak it with great satisfaction That in all King James's Reign and from his Majesties first Accession to the Crown till now I never heard the like occasion to speak against a Peer of the Realm and as God knows I do it now with abundance of Regret so I hope I shall never have the like occasion to do it any more His Majesty who is your Pattern of Vertue not only as a King but in his personal Capacity and of whom it is hard to say whether he excels most in Justice or Mercy tho' I am inclin'd to believe 't is in his Mercy would have my Lord Audley the Prisoner at the Bar heard with as much favour as a Crime of that Horrid Nature will allow When the Notice of this Crime came first to His Majesty's knowledge he was amazed and gave strick command that the Truth might appear and his Throne and People might be cleard from the Guilt of such abominable impieties therefore the Prisoner was Indicted according to Law in his own Country and by Gentlemen of known Worth and Integrity Billa Vera being found against him he is brought to this Bar to be Tryed by these Honourable Lords his Peers of whose Wisdom and Justice there can be no question and therefore we may expect the Event accordingly First I shall begin with the Rape Now Rape is defin'd to be an Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Abuse of a Woman by Force against her Will. This was Felony by the Common Law and tho' the Statute of Westminster 1. Cap. 13. lessen'd it into a Misdemeanor yet it was soon after 13. Ed. 1. C. 34. made a Capital Offence without Clergy agreeable to the Law of the Almighty Legislator Deut. 22. and Gen. 34. and was accounted by our Fore-Fathers so Detestable and Abominable a Crime Bracton l. 3. p. 147 that those who were guilty of it were punish'd with the Loss of their Eyes and their Privy Members that they might at once be deprived of the wicked Inlets and Instruments of their Base and Unlawful Lusts but I shall not Tyre your Lordships patience with Citing Authorities nor inlarging upon the Hainousness of an Offence that admits of no aggravation and therefore shall only mention three or four Rules in Law relating to the present Case the Truth of which I submit to the Opinions of my Lords the Judges First When any Offence is Felony either by the Statute or Common Law all Accessaries before and after are incidently included so that if any be aiding assisting or abettiag any to do the Act tho' the Offence be personal and done by one only as is in this Case not only he that doth the Act is Principal but also they that are present Abetting and Aiding the Misdoer are Principals also Secondly If the party on whom the Crimes was Committed be notoriously Unchast and a known Whore yet there may be a Ravishment Thirdly In an Indictment of Rape there is no Limitation of time for the prosecution for Nullum tempus occurrit Regi no time occurs against or prevents the King 's Suit but in case of an Appeal of Rape if the Woman do not prosecute in Convenient time it will bar her Fourthly If a Man take away a Maid and Ravish her by Force and afterward she gives her consent and Marries him that did the Act yet it is a Rape As for the Crimen Sodomiticum in the second Indictment I shall not Paraphrase upon it since it is of so abominable and Vile a Nature that as the Indictment truly expresses it Crimen inter Christianos non

nominandum it is a Crime not to be named among Christians and by the Law of God as well as the Antient Laws of England it was punish'd with Death Levit. 20. Fleta l. 6. Cap. 35. Sodomitae in terra vivi confodiantur Sodomites are to be buried alive in the Earth or rather as some understand the Phrase be set deep and alive into a Pit dig'd for that purpose with their heads above ground till they are famish'd to Death and this agrees with the Mirror Cap. 4. The Statute of 25. Hen. 8. Cap. 6. made it Felony without Clergy which tho' Repeal'd by 1. Mar yet it was revived by the 5. El. Cap. 17. and is still in Force As to this Indictment there is no other Question but whether it be Crimen Sodomiticum penetratione whether he penetrated the Body or not to which I answer the Fifth of Elizabeth sets it down in general Terms and ubi Lex non distinguit ibi non distinguendum and I know you will be cautious how you give the least Mittigation to such abominable Sins for when once a Man indulges his Lust and Prevaricates with his Religion as my Lord Audley has done by being a Protestant in the Morning and a Papist in the Af●ernoon no wonder if he commits the most abominable Impieties for when Men forsake their God 't is no wonder he leaves them to themselves But here I find things that exceed all imagination and is what the Poet truly Calls imprincipiti vitium or meditated mischiefs for his ill inclinations were bent to force his Wife to be naught against her own Inclinations which the wickedest Man I ever heard of before would have Vertuous and Honest how bad soever he is himself but on the contrary the Prisoner at the Bar tells his Wife if she loves him she must love Antill his Servant also and to incline the Lady to lie with him he fetcheth an argument from Scripture and tells her that her Body is his and that she is bound to obey his Commands and if she Sinned in obeying him it was no fault of hers but his own and he would answer for it He allowed this Antill his vitious favorite to spend Five Hundred Pounds a Year but would not allow his Eldest Son One Hundred If his Lady or Daughter wanted necessaries they must lie with Skipwith another of his Servants before they could have Money to buy what they wanted telling his Daughter he had rather she should have a Child by Skipwith than any other person but these things my Lord I had rather should come out of the Mouths of the Witnesses than from mine therefore pray Cryer call Walter Tyte. Cryer Vous avez Walter Tyte who being sworn the Attorny General said Attorny General Walter Tyte Inform my Lord High Steward and the rest of these Noble Lords the Conditions and Circumstances of Antill and Skipwith before they came into my Lord Audley's Service and how my Lord Audley Preferr'd and Enrich'd them afterwards Walter Tyte. Antill my Lord was a Footman to Sir Henry Smith and had not as I verily believe one Farthing when he came to my Lord besides the Cloaths on his back he liv'd with my Lord as his Footman and Page several years then he had Leave given him to keep Horses in my Lord's Grounds by which it was discours'd that in a short time he got Two Thousand Pounds He never sat at Table with my Lord till he had Married my Lords Daughter with whom he gave him to the Value of Seven Thousand Pounds Henry Skipwith was sent by my Lord from Ireland to be my Ladies Page his Father and Mother was very poor people yet he spent Five Hundred Pounds a Year of my Lord's Mony He gave him at one time a Thousand Pounds and has since made over to him leveral parcels of Land to the value of Two Hundred Pounds a Year Attorny General Pray what Religion did my Lord profess Walter Tyte. At first every Body knows he was a Protestant but after the buying of Founthill House he turned to the Romish Religion at the Instance of some Popish Gentlemen who were Neighbours Then the Lady Audley appearing as an Evidence she was Sworn and the Attorney General said to her Attorny General Will your Ladyship be pleas'd to inform these Peers with the Real truth concerning my Lords Vile and unheard of Actions to your Ladyship Countess My Noble Lords I should be glad if a way might be found out that I might deliver my Testimony in a Written Affidavit and not by word of Mouth in this publick Audience Lord High Steward I will propound it to the Judges and if the Law will allow it you shall be at your own Election My Lords the Judges you have heard what the Countess desires of us will you give your Opinions and satisfie her Ladyship about it Lord Chief Justice Hyde By the Law the Testimony relating to matter of fact that is what relates to the Charge in the Indictment must be made Viva Voce and not otherwise and the reason is because persons may take a greater liberty of inserting in an Affidavit what is not really true which the Awe of the Court or asking apt Questions may probably prevent or discover the falsehood Lord High Steward Your Ladyship I hope is satisfied with the Judges Opinion and the Reasons on which its grounded Countess Why then my Lords the first or second Night after we were Married Antill came to our Bed and the Lord Audly talk'd lasciviously to me and told me my Body was his and if I lay with any Man with his consent 't was not my fault but his He made Skipwith come naked into our Chamber and Bed and took delight in calling up his Servants to shew their Nudities and forc'd me to look upon them and to commend those that had the longest Broadway a Servant of my Lord's by his Lordships command lay with me and I making resistance my Lord Audley held my hands and one of my Feet and I would have kill'd my self with a Knife afterwards but he took it from me before that Act of Broadway's I had never done it He delighted to see the Act done and made Antill come into the Bed to us and lie with me in such a marmer as he might see it and though I cry'd out he never regarded the complaint I made but incouraged the Ravisher Attorny General Pray Young Lady Audley will you give my Lord High Steward and these Lords an account of your Fathers barbarous usage of you I was Married to my Husband by a Romish Priest in the Morning and at Night by a Prebend of Killkenny I was first compell'd to lie with Skipwith by the Earls perswasions and Threatnings saying I should have nothing but what Skipwith gave me He saw Skipwith and I lie together several times and so did many Servants of the House besides He tempted me to lie with others also telling me my Husband did not love