barbarous Murther her Husband should have a general Pardon and both Him and Her provided for But if her Husband was innocent notwithstanding whatsoever was said to the contrary and should take upon him a Crime for any advantage whatsoever of which he was not guilty he deserv'd to be Hang'd here and Damn'd hereafter seeing by his Perjury he would make Justice an Instrument of executing the worst of Murthers But if he were indeed the Man and should surrender himself and discover the whole matter he must be sure to keep within the limits of Truth for should he be detected in the least Perjury no man was ever more vigorously prosecuted nor any more severely punished than he for such his Perjury must expect to suffer These were the Arguments with which I would have suborn'd as that Letter calls it Holland to a full Discovery And I do appeal to all the World Whether admitting this to be true as it will be proved when occasion serves I deserve this villanous Charge For the truth of this I do appeal to the Consciences of Mrs. H. Mr. P. and Mr. S. with whom I several times treated in this Affair I shall now mention one or two more Objections against my Lord's being murder'd and then draw to a Conclusion The first is this viz. the Right Honourable the Lady Countess-Dowager of Essex having heretofore declared whether lately I cannot say That she did believe her Lord cut his own Throat and being so possessed some time after this Committee had several times sate she desired several Lords amongst which some were of this Right Honourable Committee to meet at her House and after her Honour had acquainted their Lordships with the occasion of her request an eminent Divine and now Bishop did inform their Lordships what were the Reasons that moved her Honour to believe that her Lord did indeed lay violent hands on himself the Chief if not the Only whereof was That some short time before my Lord's Commitment to the Tower his Lordship seemed to be under a great concern of mind but then declared That the trouble he was in did not arise from any thoughts of Self-preservation for Himself was the least of his Care but the thoughts of his Family what would after his Death become of them was what did indeed trouble him As for himself he was resolved what to do SEVERAL TIMES VERY RESOLUTELY REPEATING THAT EXPRESSION AS FOR MY SELF I AM RESOLVED WHAT TO DO This I was told by a Gentleman then present who as I have great reason to believe would have represented every thing to the best advantage as far as Truth would permit on the behalf of such Objections But with all submission to such Judgments as are sway'd with this Objection I think it carries not that force which many imagine For is there nothing to which that Resolution of his Lordship might so probably have relation as a Self-destruction was that the only or the most likely thing he was resolved to do I do humbly conceive a little consideration may afford us both a more charitable Opinion of his Lordship's Resolution and somewhat more probable than Self-murther to be assigned as what his Lordship was resolved to do For when I consider the time when his Lordship was apprehensive of the like danger as threatned him just before his last Imprisonment viz. when my Lord Shaftsbury and my Lord Howard c. were committed to the Tower and a Gentleman who had a very great Honour for his Lordship as all good men had who had the honour to know him in true Zeal for his Lordship's preservation having heard that the Court designed likewise to commit my Lord of Essex and to take off many in Form of Law or rather that which they falsly called so went to his Lordship and informed him of what he had been told and humbly submitted it to his Lordship's Judgment Whether it were not proper for some time to withdraw till the fury of the Court by time was a little appeased This Gentleman told his Lordship He found by the Papists that they did design to take off several and his Lordship being to their Arbitrary and Popish Designs as great and profess'd an Enemy as any he did fear his Lordship might not be safe from their pretended Justice when once within their Power My Lord hereupon smiled and said very sedately and yet very resolutely That he would not stir though he did expect the Court would proceed very far not only to the Imprisoning but against the Lives of many and if God in his Providence should think fit to suffer him to fall a Sacrifice to the Malice and Rage of the Court he did hope and did not doubt but the World should see that he could die with as GREAT RESOLUTION as ever his Father did for he was ready at all times and upon all occasions to lay down his Life for hiâ— Countrey Reflecting therefore on my Lord 's declared Resolution of his not stirring though then under the like danger as in this case apprehended and with what readiness courage and chearfulness he could lay down his Life for his Country and likewise the knowledge that he may be supposed to have of the then Court-Designs which those Villains nine days before his Death declared for it is a Vide D. Smith's Evidence first mentioned sworn the Papists then said The Earl knew so much of their Designs and was so very averse to their Interest that they could never carry them on UNLESS HIS LORDSHIP WAS TAKEN OFF AND HIS LORDSHIP WAS THEREFORE TO BE MURDERED I say when I consider these things and that the more this Honourable Lord knew of the black Intrigues of the Court the more so good a Man and so true a Patriot must be supposed to hate them I can't but imagine that this brave State-Champion when he had been once satisfied that the Court under colour of Law would have taken him off had RESOLVED AS TO HIMSELF to lay open those Popish Arbitrary Court-Contrivances and justified that just Design of standing upon their Guard there was no other way under God to defend what was so grosly invaded Now though his Lordship might suppose by dealing thus plainly he should the more exasperate the Court so that their Malice would be more inveterately bent in his Destruction yet that he declared he FEARED NOT but was ready chearfully to lay down his life in so just a cause And should this daring true Lover of his Countrey have thus expired by his State-Martyrdom he would have given such satisfaction in the Truth of what he thus couragiously with his last breath should have affirmed as would have raised a general hatred against those Arbitrary and Popish Court-resolutions and this might so suddenly have given another so general a Resurrection to that just Cause as would have totally routed those true and only Enemies of both Church and State Our then Enemies under colour of Law were industriously endeavouring the
B. the Bed R where the razor was pretended to be found cl w. the Closset window st the Close Stole E. the bloody foot on my Lords Stockin c. the only Chink of the Closset door ch the Chimney c w. the Chamber window out of which the razor was thrown C D the Chamber door E the Earl of Essex as he was first found by those yt. saw the body before it was pretended to be moued Murder Murder Murder Throw him down Pul him to the Closset Stope his mouth Higher than the highest regardeth Eccl. 5 8 He that formd the Eye Shall he not see Psl 94 9 He that planted the Ear Shall he not heare Psl 94 9 blood cryeth unto me from the ground â— fugitive vagabond shalt thou be Gen the 4. 10. 12. The razor notch'd brook B. 5. foot-6-inch 7 foot-1-inch ESSEX's INNOCENCY and HONOUR VINDICATED OR Murther Subornation Perjury and Oppression JUSTLY CHARG'D ON THE MURTHERERS OF That Noble Lord and True Patriot ARTHUR LATE Earl of Essex As Proved before the Right Honourable late Committee of LORDS or ready to be Deposed In a LETTER to a Friend Blood crieth unto me from the ground Gen. 4.10 A Fugitive and Vagabond shalt thou be in the Earth 4 11. How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth Rev. 6.10 Written by LAWRENCE BRADDON of the Middle-Temple Gent. who was upwards of five years Prosecuted or Imprisoned for endeavouring to discover this Murther the third day after the same was Committed London Printed for the Author and Sold by most Booksellers 1690 AN APOLOGY For the Letter to a Friend To the Right Honourable WILLIAM Earl of Devonshire Lord Steward of Their Majesties Houshold c. WILLIAM Earl of Bedford c. CHARLES Earl of Monmouth c. HENRY Earl of Warrington c. The Lords of the late Close Committee appointed to Examine into the Death of the Right Honourable Arthur late Earl of Essex MY LORDS WHEN immediately after the Death of the Right Honourable Arthur late Earl of Essex I did first make enquiry with relation thereunto upon such a Page 5. Information as I have already given your Lordships there was nothing that might be expected from a Powerful and Revengeful Party against which I then moved but what I did believe they would endeavour to inflict upon me for this I had the greater reason having then been often credibly told That SOME whose Interest was most concerned to prevent this Discovery had several times declared I should be both Pillory'd and WHIPT But this or whatever else was within their power to impose I was resolved should not deter me from searching after such Circumstances as might rationally convince persons unprejudic'd THAT HIS LORDSHIP FELL not through Self-violence but BY THE TRANSCENDENT AUTHORITY and INTEREST OF SOME AND THE TREACHERY and BLOODY CRUELTY OF OTHERS because that Great Patriot with your Lordships and such others b 22. D. S. stood as Bulwarks against those Popish and Arbitrary Designs which were then judicially seen through a Glass but since to our great Cost and greater Danger face to face and carried on for the Total Subversion of our Church and State Wherefore I had great reason to believe admitting his Lordship was murdered That SUCH who were therein concerned if they found there was no inquisition made after this Blood but that all did seem to believe ONLY by the Evidence of those c Page 23. in whose Custody his Lordship was that this Noble Lord indeed cut his own Throat to avoid what his great Misfortunes seemed to threaten That then the natural Consequence thereof would be this viz. Whomsoever those POWERFUL and BLOODY MEN found to d Page 23. stand in their way whom they then had or should take into Custody they would place over them SUCH as they had prepared to COMMIT or PERMIT what was treacherously designed to be acted and then by Strangling Stabbing Pistolling or CUTTING OF THROATS either of which is a common way of Self-destruction they would take such off pretending as in this Case they did it was done by the persons themselves to prevent an infamous Execution and avoid those FORFEITURES of HONOUR and ESTATE which the Law would otherwise have made by their Conviction and Punishment My Lords The Prevention as much as in me lay of such vile Practices was not the least Inducement that first mov'd me to this Inquiry and whatever Opposition I then met with either under Colour of Justice or Malicious Detractions I was not at all surprised with and therefore the better prepared to suffer it and seeing I could then expect no Relief or just Satisfaction from those who were chief in imposing the Injuries I suffer'd I thought that a time for me in this respect to keep Silence But since God by our present Sovereign hath mercifully removed such Oppressions I think now is the time to speak and not suffer to go unanswered such Malicious and Infamous Calumnies representing me the very worst of Suborners and deserving far Worse usage than ever Dr. Oates underwent and this said not by a few but many Wherefore out of a just Self-regard which every Man owes to himself I thought I was in Duty bound to endeavour some way or other to clear my self to the World from being that profligate Villain I have been as industriously as maliciously Misrepresented And because I would that the Plaister should be as large as the Wound I have in this following Epistle attempted to undeceive the unprejudiced part of Mankind but as for some Miracles will not convince them and others there are who KNOWING much more than I can inform them will never confess themselves Converts to Truth My Lords Would such Men as maliciously Misrepresent me Proceed against me by way of Judicial Information I should take it very kindly for then I should have an Opportunity now Justice is duly Administred and Favour in this I desire none to clear my Innocence And there having been about SEVENTY Persons in all Sworn or Examin'd before Your Lordships and some Justices of the Peace and some hundreds discoursed to find these Witnesses out if I had been such an infamous Suborner as represented In this Cloud of Witnesses they have a fair Opportunity to find some for Suborning of whom they may Proceed against me But being well satisfi'd in my Abhorrence of and Innocence in all such detestable Practices and that I have ever been so far from desiring People to say more than they could safely depose That I did always beseech and enjoyn them much rather not to Swear any thing than the least Tittle more than was true assuring them That whosoever in this Case testifie more than is truth and thereupon any should suffer by such Perjury they would commit the worst of Murthers for which one day tho here not detected they must give a severe Account My Lords In all I did heretofore
Scotiae Franciae Hiberniae Regis Fidei Defensoris c. Tricesimo quinto Annoque Domini 1683. SAith That he hath viewed the Throat of the Earl of Essex and doth find That there is a large Wound and that the Aspera Arterias or Windpipe and the Gullet with the Jugular Arteries are all divided of which Wound he certainly died The Information of Robert Andrews of Crouched-Fryers Chyrurgeon taken upon Oath the 14th day of July Anno Regni Caroli secundi nunc Regis Angliae c. Tricesimo quinto Annoque Domini 1683. SAith That he hath viewed the Throat of the Lord of Essex and doth find That it was cut from the one Jugular to the other and through the Windpipe and Gullet into the Vertebres of the Neck both Jugular Veins being also quite divided Upon these Informations the Coroner's Jury found my Lord Felo de se The Substance of these Informations in short is this viz. That my Lord of Essex called for a Penknife to pare his Nails but the Penknife not being ready his Lordship required a Razor which was delivered him with which Razor his Lordship retired to his Closet and locked himself in But soon after the Closet-door being opened my Lord was found with his Throat cut through both Jugular and Arteries to the Neck-bone and the Razor as before delivered lying by him These Informations taken by the Coroner were published the next Monday after my Lord's Death and I the 16th of July buying one of these that very Morning with one Mr. William Hatsel went to Wanstead to the House of one Mr. John Evans then an Officer of the Custom-House Upon reading the last part of Bomeny's Information which deposed That when they opened my Lord's Closet-door they found his Lordship on the ground with his Throat cut AND THE RAZOR BY HIM Mr. Evans declared That could not be true for Friday morning about Ten of the Clock being upon the Custom-house-Key with one Mr. Edwards the said Mr. Edwards told him with several others That his Son being in the Tower that morning just before the Death of the Earl of Essex was known he was standing just over-against the Earl's Chamber-window and saw a bloody Razor thrown out of that Window which he went to take up but a Maid came out of Captain Hawley's House and took it and forthwith ran with it into my Lord's Lodgings and up Stairs immediately several times crying out Murther and then coming down pretended the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat Upon hearing Mr. Evans give this Relation I declared If this was true what was sworn before the Coroner must be false and I did not believe they had sworn false for nothing but must conclude my Lord was murdered Hereupon I did desire the said Mr. Evans to inform me where this Mr. Edwards lived for I protested I would enquire into the matter Mr. Evans then told me Mr. Edwards lived in Mark-lane by the Tower When I came to Town that Afternoon about Six of the Clock I did forthwith acquaint several of my Friends with my Design of making immediate enquiry into the Truth of this Story which if I found reason to believe I thought it was proper to be taken upon Oath before some Justice of Peace in order to a further enquiry By most of my Acquaintance I was disswaded from it they telling me That if my Lord was indeed murdered the Persons and Interest concerned in the Murther were too Powerful for me to engage and therefore I must expect nothing but Ruine by medling in the matter To all which disswasions I generally gave this Answer That I would do nothing herein but what I could justifie to God and a good Conscience And the threatned Ruine I did not fear or would thereby be deterred for if my Lord was indeed barbarously murdered the same Principles and Practices that murdered him might take off many of those Honourable Persons they then had or should take into Custody and pretend as they did in this Case That this was done by the Prisoners themselves to avoid an Infamous Execution So that God only knew in how many Mens Destruction such treacherous practices might determine But if those bloody Men once found that such their Design was suspected and like to be detected in all probability they would desist from the like villanous Practices and seeing this would be more for the Interest of the Publick than I could possibly be either in my Liberty or otherwise I was resolved to Sacrifice that and whatsoever else I had to the Service of my Country My Friends finding me thus resolved to engage they advised me at first to inform my Lords Honourable Family herewith and to observe such Directions as from them I should receive wherefore that very Monday Evening I went to St. James's Square to my Lords House where I found Sir Henry Capell under great disorder by reason of that deplorable Accident I did inform Sir Henry of what I had heard but told him That I had not then spoken either with the Boy or his Father who as I was informed lived in Mark-Lane by the Tower and if Sir Henry thought fit I would the next Morning go with any whom he should appoint to Discouse the Father and Him Sir Henry thanked me for my Information but said he was then under such a concern for so great a Misfortune as had herein befaln his Family that he hardly knew what he did or said c. The next Morning I went to Mr. Edwards to whom as soon as I had told the cause of my coming the old Man seemed much surprized and concerned and in Tears told me he was Ruin'd to which I answered That I did suppose he was not ignorant what great things the Father of this Unfortunate Lord had done and suffered for His Majesties Interest and how this very Lord himself had been highly in His Majesties Favour having been imployed in Places of the greatest Honour and Trust and therefore if his Lordship fell by treacherous Hands none in reason could be supposed so zealous for a Discovery as His Majesty would who could protect him from whatsoever Danger might seem to threaten him besides if there were any Danger I stood principally subject to it but the Danger I did not fear considering of what Consequence this might prove by being inquired into at length Mr. Edwards gave me the same Information in substance I had the day before received from Mr. Evans I then desired to see his Son who being then at School I could not speak with him but that Afternoon about Two of the Clock I went again and was then told That the Boy had denied all which denial was occasioned hy his Sisters telling him He should be Hang'd for what he had herein declared this the Sister could not deny but as soon as the Boy was called into the Parlour where I with several others were before I questioned him about it I discoursed him concerning the
you deliver this Razor to my Lord Bomeny About eight of the Clock on Thursday morning being the day before my Lord's Death This as you observe he swears in the Information himself writ and brought to the Coroner Bomeny then to withdraw and let Russel answer to this particular Jury Mr. Russel do you know when this Razor was delivered to my Lord Russel Very well for I saw it delivered to my Lord by Bomeny Jury When did you see this Razor delivered Russel Less than a quarter of an hour before we found my Lord dead I stood Warder at my Lord's door and I heard his Lordship ask for his Pen-knife to pare his Nails and Bomeny said It was not brought upon which my Lord required a Razor saying It would do as well and I saw Bomeny give my Lord the Razor it being then about Nine a Clock Jury Who first stood as Warder at my Lord's Chamber-door or in my Lord's Chamber yesterday morning before my Lord died was it You or Monday Russel Monday upon my Lord's Chamber-door being opened first stood at the door and after he had been there as long as we use to stand he called me up and then went down and stood at the Stairs-foot at the House-door where I did before stand Jury Then this Razor you saw delivered to my Lord after Monday went down Stairs and whilst you stood as Warder at my Lord's door Russel It is very true for I am sure I stood by Bomeny when he delivered the Razor and saw it delivered to my Lord. Jury What distance of time do you say there might be from the time this Razor was delivered to the time of my Lord's Death Russel I am sure it could not be half an hour from the time of the delivery of the Razor to the time we found my Lord dead in the Closet Russel withdraws and Monday is examined Jury Mr. Monday did you see my Lord have any Razor in his hand yesterday morning before his death Monday Yes I did Jury What time was it when you saw my Lord have the Razor in his hand Monday About Seven of the Clock as soon as the Gentleman-Gaoler had opened my Lord's Chamber-door for I first stood Warder above Stairs and as soon as the door was opened I saw my Lord have the Razor in his hand and observed him to pare his Nails with it Jury Was this before Russel came up to my Lord's Chamber-door to stand Warder there Monday Yes almost two hours This is according to their own Informations and Relations Now can you believe that this Razor was delivered by Bomeny at Eight of the Clock on Friday morning according to his first Oath and yet not delivered till Eight of the Clock on Thursday morning according to Bomeny's second Oath And can you also believe that the Razor was not delivered till about Nine of the Clock on Friday morning according to Russel's Information and at the same time give credit to Monday who declared My Lord had the Razor by Seven of the Clock two hours before Russel came up to stand Warder at my Lord's Chamber-door These three are of equal Credit and consequently you have as much reason to believe Bomeny as Russel and Monday deserves equal Credit with either of the former But all cannot be credited neither can Bomeny's Contradiction be reconciled Or can One of these be thought True without giving the Lie to the other Two Therefore upon the whole matter you cannot reasonably believe there was any Razor at all delivered If any shall say that all Three in the main agree That my Lord had a Razor delivered him to pair his Naile and their Contradictions is only in point of Time I Answer 'T is true it 's a Circumstantial Contradiction in point of Time and the Contradiction of the Two Elders in the History of Susanna was a Circumstantial Contradiction in point of Place for the first swore they took Susanna in Adultery under a Mastick-tree and the second under a Holm-tree both these agree in the main viz. That they found her in Adultery but by this Contradiction as to the place where Daniel convinced all then present that these two Elders were perjured in their Evidence and consequently Susanna innocent of her Charge and thereupon these Two Accusers justly suffered what by Perjury they would have unjustly caused to be inflicted upon the Innocent And I never yet heard any deny Daniel's wisdom in this Detection or arraign his Justice in the punishment those Two False Accusers thereupon suffered Secondly That my Lord's Body was not locked into the Closet I will now suppose that Bomeny Monday and Russel were to answer as to the opening this Door according to their former Informations and you will find their Contradictions as to this as gross as the former Bomeny first appears Jury Mr. Bomeny Was my Lord's Body locked into the Closet when he was first found dead Bomeny Yes Jury Who opened the Door Bomeny When I had knocked at the Closet-door my Lord not answering I did open the door and there saw my Lord lying a-long in his Blood and the Razor by him and I then called the Warders This according to his first Information taken as before by the Coroner About an hour after this the Jury did again examine him as to this Point and he answering according to the Information which as before he writ in the Room next the Jury and then you will find it as followeth Jury Mr. Bomeny Did you first open the Closet-door upon my Lord's Body Bomeny No I did not but Russel did for after I had knocked at the Door thrice calling My Lord my Lord not answering I took up the Hangings and peeping through a Chink I saw Blood and part of the Razor whereupon I called the Warder Russel and the said Russel pushed the Door open At my Tryal Bomeny being asked who did first open the Door upon Oath aâ—swered he knew not who opened the Door Jury Mr. Russel Did you find the Closet-door lock'd upon my Lord's Body Russel Yes Jury Who first opened the Closet-door Russel When Bomeny saw my Lord's Body through the Chink he cried out my Lord was fallen down sick whereupon I went to the Closet-door and opened it the Key being on the outside Here Russel makes no difficulty in opening the Door but observe Monday's Answer Russel withdraws and Monday is called Jury Mr. Monday Where were you when my Lord was first found dead Monday I was standing at the foot of the Stairs and hearing a great noise of my Lord's Death I ran up Stairs and found Bomeny and Russel endeavouring to open the Door but the Body being so close and strong against the Door neither could Jury Who then opened the Door Monday I being much stronger than either of these two put my Shoulder against the Door and pushing with all my might I broke it open Upon the whole matter you find first Bomeny opened the Door before he called either
suffer from my Adversaries whether during my being Prosecuted or Five Years Imprisonment I had not one uneasy Thought that moved me in the least to repent my having engag'd in so just a Cause and I was firmly possessed with a strong Belief that I should live to see the day wherein my Lord's Death might receive it's PROPER NAME and my self vindicated from that for which I had been so powerfully and maliciously Accused and unjustly Convicted and I hope that day will then come when Your Lorships shall think fit to move to revive this Committee in order to the bringing in Your Lordships Report But what I have or do suffer in the mean while tho it 's more than can be imagin'd yet I must and shall submit to Your Lordships great Judgment herein My Lords I am very sensible of the great Charge the Right Honourable the Earl of Essex hath been at in this prosecution before your Lordships though not greater than therein hath been expended but I cannot apply my self to his Lordship either for what remains or to his Lordship or his Honourable Family or elsewhere for any satisfaction for what I have done and through Oppression as severely as unjustly suffered under the Male-administration of the late Times till the Honour of the Truly Right Honourable but Vnfortunate Earl of Essex is rescu'd from that Unjust FALSE and Infamous Imputation under which in many mens Opinions it hath so many years been buried and without some assistance I must reasonably expect to be cast into Gaol for some of those very Debts which my long Misfortunes have contracted in which miserable place I may possibly perish for want of bread But which is much worse than death thus I was like to suffer under the most odious Character from too many of an infamous Imposture and common Suborner For the avoiding therefore the worst of these two Evils I have published to the World my own Just Vindication and I am sure your Lordships can never blame me for endeavouring to avoid so hard and undeserv'd a Fate And should all this prove my misfortune I am well satisfied 't is without in this respect my fault and therefore having done nothing herein but what I can answer to God and a good Conscience AND I CHALLENGE ALL EVEN THE GREATEST of my ADVERSARIES TO PROVE THE CONTRARY I shall I hope never repent of having done my Duty but shall patiently wait for a deliverance from that which will put a period to all the Tyrannous Oppressions of such as groan under the weight thereof but without true repentance which God in mercy grant to all even the greatest of my Enemies will prove but the beginning of a more lasting sorrow to the CHIEF AUTHOR hereof from WHOM as God in mercy by our present SOVEREIGN hath once delivered us so I hope he will even against the Wills of too many amongst us and contrary to the Deserts of all continue that Blessing Towards the first procuring whereof as your Lordships were some of our Chiefest Patriots so I am sure you will in that evil day which threatens exert your utmost for the prevention of that worse than Egyptian Bondage in which the more than Israelitish Madness of not a few strenuously endeavour to re-enstate us And that God may continue your Lordships Health to see this black Cloud all blown over and a prosperous and a well-grounded Peace firmly setled amongst us and a long continuance of your Lordships in the enjoyment thereof is the humble Prayer of him who doth earnestly beseech your Lordships pardon if in this Publication or present Address I have in the least offended your Lordships whose I am in the most humble Services and whilst I live shall be ambitious of being thought My LORDS Your Lordships most Obedient and Devoted Servant Lawrence Braddon A LETTER TO A FRIEND SIR YOURS of the 10th instant came the last night to my hands and I give you many thanks for your kindness therein expressed and more particularly that you have so often endeavoured to rescue me from the slanders of such as without either knowing my Person or Offence have given me those uncharitable and unjust terms worse than which the greatest Offenders can hardly deserve Sir Your Countrey is not the only place where I have been so traduced but my misfortunes having made my Name known where in person I have never been and my Adversaries being as malicious as numerous I have heard from other hands That I have elsewhere met with the like treatment But to do my self that Justice which I think is incumbent on me in order to the clearing my self from those undeserved Calumnies with which I have been and am daily slandered I have herein sent you a particular Account of what and how and for what I did so unjustly suffer under our late Male-administration And seeing the Honourable late Committee of Lords appointed to examine into the Death of the Right Honourable Arthur late Earl of Essex is dissolved by the last Dissolution of Parliament and most of the Depositions and Examinations taken before this Honourable Committee have been read before the Honourable House of Lords and so no longer to be thought a Secret I do humbly conceive it 's neither an offence or divulging a Secret to publish what since this happy Revolution hath been proved for the clearing of That Truth which when I first engaged to assert was the highest Offence By the Proceedings before this Honourable Committee you will in some measure perceive what great pains those Honourable Persons have been at in the many Committees which have herein sat and the many Examinations taken before their Lordships All which had long since been published to the World had it not been for the Prorogations and Dissolution which have happened depending this Prosecution But when the Honourable House of Lords shall think fit to revive this Committee and order this Report to be made I hope I shall have an opportunity to vindicate my self in some other way than at present is proper Sir Tho this Letter may at first sight seem much longer than you think the Subject-matter required yet when you shall have read the whole and observed the numerous Examinations and Depositions which herein have been made what industrious and villanous Oppositions it hath met with not only in false Reports and sly Insinuations but the many false Oaths which have been procured to destroy the belief of this barbarous Murther you will I hope not find this Discourse so tedious in its perusal as at the first glance you may fear it will prove Sir With the leave of a late Author upon this Subject I have freely borrow'd of that Discourse Yet in all parts not observed his Method but according to your Command shall begin with the Reasons that moved me to this Prosecution In order to which I shall in the first place give you a short Relation of my Lord's Commitment to the Tower with the Depositions
Death being objected against it was proposed to His Highness That the Earl should be stabbed but this manner likewise not being thought proper His Highness had concluded and ordered his Throat to be cut and His Highness had promised to be there when it was done About three days after this viz. about six days before the Earl's Death some of the aforesaid persons met again at her said Master's House where she heard them declare to this effect That they had resolved the Earl's Throat should be cut but they would give it out That he had done it himself and if any should deny it they would take them up and punish them for it This Informant being hereupon much troubled in her mind and willing to prevent if possible this intended Mischief did hereupon advise with one Mr. Billinger who before that time had been her Master but the said Mr. Billinger told her to this effect That if she valued her life she should not discover it to any for the Papists then carrying all before them she was ruined if she did Wherefore she did not before my Lord's Death to her remembrance discover it to any other unless she might to Mrs. Billinger in which she can't be positive But the day of my Lord's Death about Two or Three of the Clock the same day some of the aforesaid Consult coming to her said Master Holmes's House one leap'd about the Room as extremely over-joy'd and strikes the said Mr. Holmes on the back and cried The Feat was done or we have done the Feat And further said He could not but laugh to think how like a Fool the Earl of Essex look'd when they came to cut his Throat She further saith That about five years since living with Mr. Rowdon of the Old-Exchange she was willing to discover what she had as before heard to her said Master and Mistress and Daughter but her said Master Rowden was not free to hear all she could say with relation hereunto but advised her to hold her peace for by such her discourse she might ruine Him and all his Family This is further confirmed by the Oaths of Mr. Rowden Mrs. Rowden and Mrs. Mary Rowden And Mrs. Rowden doth further depose to this effect viz. That the said Dorothy Smith hath some years since with great concern declared That she did hope to live to see the day wherein she might fully testifie her knowledge herein and this she would do when she might without danger Mr. Adams and his Wife have deposed to this effect That November last was two years this Dorothy lived with them as their Servant and in tears hath often declared her over-hearing the Papists consult of my Lord of Essex's Murther several days before his Death and by whose Order the Earl was to be murdered But these Informants knowing the danger of such discourse the late King James being then in so great Power did advise her for her own Safety and the Safety of those she lived with not thus to discourse But the said Dorothy in tears did usually answer That it lay upon her mind night and day and she could not be quiet in her thoughts that the Earl of Essex should be falsly charged with cutting his own Throat when she had heard the Papists resolution to cut it themselves and after own they had done it And if ever she might with safety testifie the Truth herein she would and did hope those Men that did it might suffer for it Richard May deposeth to this effect That to the best of this Informant's remembrance before the Death of King Charles the Second observing Dorothy Smith to be very melancholy he desired to know the cause upon which she said That somewhat which she knew with relation to the Death of the late Earl of Essex was the cause of her trouble and it was not safe for her to reveal it to any Upon which this Informant advised her then to be silent in the matter But about the beginning of February after our now King's coming finding it safe for the said Dorothy Smith herein to declare her knowledge this Informant went to the said Dorothy Smith and told her She might now safely speak what she knew as to my Lord's Death upon which the said Dorothy Smith told this Informant How she had heard the Papists several days before my Lord's Death declare How the Earl's Throat was to be cut and by Whom ordered with several particulars in relation thereunto upon which this Informant discovered this to Mr. William Tornay who thereupon told this Informant he would reveal this to Mr. Braddon then upon the Prosecution of my Lord's Murther and some short time after Mr. Tornay told this Informant That he had therewith acquainted Mr. Braddon and desired this Informant with the said Dorothy Smith to meet the said Mr. Braddon and the said Mr. Tornay such a time at the Cross-Keys in Watlin-street where they met accordingly But when Mr. Braddon had been particularly informed herein by the said Dorothy Smith the said Mr. Braddon declared That unless the said Dorothy could make it appear That she had long since revealed this he would esteem it as a new-made Story and a Lye Upon which the said Dorothy mentioned the Names of several to whom she declared she had long since revealed it but by all was enjoined to Secrecy Mr. William Tourney hath likewise deposed what herein relates to him And I am ready to depose That I never heard of this Dorothy Smith till Mr. Tourney about February last was Twelve Month informed me of her and I never to my remembrance saw the said Dorothy Smith till the said Mr. May had as before brought her to the Cross-Keys in Watlinstreet where I first discoursed her in the presence of Mr. May Mr. Tourney and another Here are five or six Witnesses prove the very Substance of this Evidence revealed some years since when it was little less then Death to discourse it which clearly proves it is not a new-made Story and strongly argues the truth of the Relation for it can hardly be supposed that this Woman should often under the greatest Concern and Danger imaginable declare any thing of this nature unless the Relation was really true Because she could rationally then propose no Advantage by this Invention but was still told and convinced of the Danger Wherefore 't is rational to suppose that only the power of Truth moved her to declare what she so often in Tears related But as a further Argument of the truth of this Deposition I shall briefly relate what Informations have been taken in Contradiction to this Relation and how these Informations have been detected as false in every particular which corroborates the Truth of the Accusation For as a true Defence detects and frustrates a false Charge so a false Defence being discovered to be such as strongly strengthens a true one The Depositions in opposition to Smith's Evidence were Dorothy Hewits a most violent Papist who the 9th
have forced in after them but the Warder had made fast the outward door so that he could not and that upon the bustle he did hear somewhat thrown down like the fall of a Man which he did suppose was my Lord's Body and soon after it was cry'd out that my Lord of Essex had cut his Throat This is the substance of what Mr. Tempest hath deposed before the Lords By this it appears more than probable not only that my Lord was murthered but that there was some villanous Oath of Secrecy entred into by those concern'd therein not to discover what they knew with relation thereunto for what other as likely reason can be assigned for Lloyd's being troubled in Conscience as he pretended for having confessed what at the same time under repeated injunctions of secrecy he confirmed to be true though he said he should not have confessed it But to put this matter beyond all doubt that some men were bustling with his Lordship just before his pretended Self-murther discover'd evidently appears by this Information following Martha Bascomb declareth and before the Lords in substance hath depos'd That a little before the death of the late Earl of Essex was discovered this Informant was walking up before the Earl's Chamber-window and hearing a very great trampling and bustle in my Lord's Chamber this Informant stood still and looking to the Window of the said Chamber saw three or four Heads move close together and heard one in the Chamber which seemed to be one in this bustle cry out very loud and very dolefully Murther murther murther this Informant not then knowing it to be my Lord's Lodging nor thinking any other of this Cry than what might be occasioned by some accidental quarrel walked up towards the Chappel but not out of sight of the Lodgings and about a quarter of an hour after or less it was first cryed out in the House that the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat upon which this Informant went down to the House and being shewed the Chamber where the Earl lay she found that was the Chamber where she saw the men and heard the bustle and Murther cried out as before related This Informant further saith That some few days after this telling Mr. Perkins and his Wife whom she then kept in her lying in of what she had seen and heard as before declared the said Mr. Perkins advised her not to speak of it for her divulging it in all probability would prove her ruine Mr. Perkins hath upon Oath confirmed the latter part of Martha Bascomb's Information which clearly proves this not a newly-invented Story I think this proof is little less than occular Evidence of the Murther for my Lord was a close Prisoner to whom as was pretended and sworn by such as kept the Chamber-door none was admitted that Morning but his Lordship cut his Throat in all silence whereas it is here deposed that several were bustling together in my Lord's Chamber before his death and this part agrees with the Confession of the Sentinel who let in the Ruffins and one in this bustle which can be presumed to be no other than my Lord cry'd out several times very loud and very dolefully Murther Murther Murther And as a farther Confirmation of these Men being and by whom sent to murther my Lord Elizabeth Gladwin and Sarah Hughes declare and before the Lords in substance have deposed That the day of the death of the late Earl of Essex viz. the 13th of July 1683. about Eleven of the Clock the same day one Ruddle in the hearing of these Informants did declare That he was in the Tower that morning where it was reported that the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat but he was sure he was murthered and that by the Order of his ROYAL HIGHNESS for the said Ruddle then declared That he did observe His Majesty and Royal Highness part a little from those that attended them and discoursed to the best of these Informants remembrance The said Ruddle declared it was in French concerning the Prisoners then in the Tower and his HIGHNESS declared That of all the Prisoners then there the Earl of Essex ought to be taken off but His Majesty said he was resolved to spare him for what his Father had suffered upon which his HIGHNESS seemed very dissatisfied and a little before the death of the said Earl his HIGHNESS parted a little way from His Majesty and then two men were sent into the Earl's Lodgings to murther him So far before their Lordships The said Ruddle declared this with great earnestness and passion and protested he thought no man safe who was against the Popish Interest if once they began thus bare-faced to cut Throats And he protested his blood did so boil aginst his Royal Highness that if he could have got a Party that would have stood by him he would have shot his Highness dead upon the spot for so bare-fac'd a murther had before scarce ever been committed under a Civil Government John Bampton and his Wife both declare and in substance before the Lords have deposed That about one of the Clock the very day the late Earl of Essex died in the Tower one Robert Meak that morning a Soldier in the Tower came to these Informants House and these Informants desired the said Meake to give them the best account he could how the Earl of Essex cut his own Throat to which the said Meake with some earnestness and passion answered That the said Earl did not cut his own Throat but was barbarously murthered by two men sent for that purpose by his ROYAL HIGHNESS to the Earls Lodgings just before his death What Ro. Meake did further declare and what was since his fate you will hear in its proper order I do expect it will be objected That these four are but hearsay Evidence To which I shall answer almost in the very words of a late Discourse on this Subject viz. Seeing there is reason to believe that the stifling the first murther occasioned the addition of these two Soldiers blood as you will hereafter have some grounds to uppose I think such Informations ought not to be slighted for after that rate it 's but taking off such as knew any thing with relation to a murther and you are very secure from any discovery though never so many upon Oath give an account of what those men whose mouths have been by murther stopt from giving their own relation have declared in the mattor These two Soldiers related the same as to the sending the Men into my Lord's Lodgings in two Houses as far distant as Dukes-place and Baldwin's-Gardens and I am verily persuaded that neither Hughes nor Gladwin ever spoke to Bampton and his Wife in their lives for neither two remember to have seen or heard of the other Informants And who could imagine that two Soldiers should declare with such concern and earnestness that which was so very dangerous to be spoken if their love
the House when my Lord was murdered seems farther probable from the Relation of Mary Johnson then at work in Major Hawley's House at the time of my Lord's Death and what Account she hath hereof given appears by these two Informations The Information of Philip Johnson of Whites-Alley in Coleman-street in London Free-mason taken the 22d day of January 1688 9. before John Robins Esq a Justice of the Peace for the County of Middlesex THis Informant maketh Oath and saith That Mary Johnson his Wife since deceased being a labouring Woman to Major Hawley in whose House the late Earl of Essex was found dead That the morning on which he died as she was at work she heard a noise and designing to go up stairs she met Major Hawley coming down who told her My Lord was dead upon which she went up stairs and found the said Earl dead in his Closet as she gave her Husband this Informant an account and that by Order of the said Major Hawley she helped and assisted a Man to the best of his memory his Name is Major Webster to strip the said Earl from his Cloaths and at the further Command of the said Major Hawley she washed the said Earl's Body and also washed the said Chamber and Closet belonging to the said Earl for the said Major Hawley gave her 10 s. and that the Neck of the Cravat that she took off the said Earl's Neck was cut in three pieces The Mark of Philip Johnson The Information of Miriam Tovey of Red-Lion-street in White-Chappel-Parish in Middlesex Widow taken the day aforesaid before John Robins aforesaid THis Informant maketh Oath and saith That she several times heard Mary Johnson abovesaid declare the Substance of the preceding Information and further sweareth The said Mary Johnson told her That Major Webster was the Person who helped her to strip the said Earl of his Cloaths which she was very unwilling to do saying She should bring her self into trouble and hazard of her life by intermedling with the Body before the Coroner had sat upon it and that Major Hawley told her She must do it and should come to no trouble by it Miriam Tovey But it seems Major Hawley's Principles were ever averse to those brave True English Champions that opposed the late Court-Arbitrary-designs and could afford those Honourable Lords and Truly-worthy Knights and Gentlemen no better Titles than Rogues This appears by what he declared the very day that a great number of Honourable Lords amongst which this unfortunate Lord I hearâ— was one and Worthy Knights Gentlemen and Citizens dined together at Mile-end-Green for some time that afternoon Hawley told Mr. Bunch then a Warder That above Two hundred Rogues that day dined together at Mile-end-Green but he did wish that he had Forty of the biggest of them there in the Tower that they might be made shorter by the Head for till then the Land would never be at quiet This in substance is deposed by the said Mr. Bunch who with one Mr. are ready likewise to depose That some time since discoursing with one a Servant-maid in the Tower at the time of my Lord's Murther but since turned out they told her That it was supposed to be Major Hawley that occasioned her being turned out of the Tower but she replied It could not be the Major for he was the best Friend she had in the world upon the account of somewhat which she knew with relation to the Death of the late Earl of Essex I have some grounds to believe that not a few in the Tower that morning my Lord was murdered could discover several things very material in order to a farther detection and particularly as to the coming out of the Ruffians after they had perpetrated this not to-be-parallell'd treacherous Cruelty for I have been informed by some who that very morning my Lord was murdered were in Leaden-hall-Market That there came a Servant-maid who then lived as she said in the Tower to that Market the very same morning and wringing her hands she wept and cried out The Earl of Essex was murdered upon which the People gathering about her advised her to silence telling her she would bring her self into trouble by such expressions the Maid thereupon declared She was sure it was true for she saw the Men that murdered him just as they came from his Lodgings I have used all diligence possible to find this Maid out but neither of those I have met with could tell me her Name or the Name of the person in the Tower with whom she lived Not long after my Lord's Death I was likewise informed of the Name of one who declared he saw the Ruffians just as they came out of my Lord's Lodgings and did observe some Blood upon the Cloaths of one of them But having been obliged in a hurry often to convey away my Papers this Name I have lost I do wish I could find men as free as their Duty obliges them in this matter to declare what they knew I have reason to suppose many men would be then examined and whosoever there is that can discover any thing material with relation to this Murther and in silence stifles it by such his silence he consents to the Blood of my Lord and though our Law may not reach his Offence yet he who knows it will one day lay it to his Charge for if God requires that all Governments should make diligent Inquisition for Blood in defect whereof he will require the Blood of the Slain at the hands of such Magistrates on whom this neglect is chargeable then on those more especially will the greatest guilt lie who refuse or neglect to give Information to those ordained for such Inquisition But to return Bomeny and Russel you find have before deposed That there was a Razor delivered to my Lord wherewith to pare his Nails which his Lordship having done he retired into his Closet and there cut his Throat The Closet-door being opened Bomeny and Russel have declared they saw the Body there lie in its Blood and the Razor lying by him This is in short the substance of these Mens Relations whose Interest it is to prove the Self-murther That this Story is false in every part I doubt not but to convince every unprejudic'd person and hope to satisfie all who are not blinded with prejudice First That his Lordship did not pare his Nails that morning he died as all these have sworn or declared nor was there any Razor delivered to my Lord for that purpose that morning he died Secondly That his Lordship's Body was not locked into the Closet when first found Thirdly That there was no Razor lying by the Body when these three first saw the Body but the Razor laid there after my Lord was murdered to colour the pretended Self-murther That my Lord's Nails were not par'd John Kittlebeater hath deposed That he being one of the Coroner's Jury did very narrowly observe my Lord's Nails on his Fingers and
gave as soon as she came from the Tower that morning Mrs. Gibbons hath before the Lords in substance deposed the same Here are two Children aged then about Thirteen years altogether strangers to each other and whose Relations were as much strangers to one another that gave the same Relation exactly agreeing in several Circumstances and this Story by them was told when there could not possibly be any use made of it to prove my Lord's being murthered For here are Seven or Eight Witnesses have for both Parties deposed that this Story was related by these two about Ten of the Clock the very day my Lord died when it could not possibly be known what would be sworn before the Coroner's Jury the then next day Now the only use made of it is to contradict the Depositions of those which before the Coroner would have proved the Self-murther Which Depositions as before observed were not taken till the Saturday which was the day after these two Children had given this Relation and not published before the then next Monday morning Nay these two Children were first so far from using it as an argument of my Lord 's being murthered that both of them to their respective Relations when checked for saying that my Lord cut his own Throat in their Childishness and innocent Simplicity urged this as an Argument of my Lord's Self-murther For they declared they were sure 't was true for they saw him throw the Razor out of the Window But these two Children were not the only Persons that saw this Razor thrown out for several others that very morning my Lord died declared That the bloody Razor was thrown out of my Lord's Chamber-window before my Lord's Death was known and that a little Boy did endeavour to take up this Razor but was prevented by the Maid who took it up and ran with it into the House and up Stairs immediately whereupon my Lord's Death was discover'd This Relation Robert Meake before mentioned did give the very day of my Lord s Death to Bampton and his Wife as they have deposed before the Lords The same Account did the aforesaid Ruddle give before Twelve of the Clock the day my Lord died to Hughs and Gladwin as they have testified before the Lords This Relation of these Two you find agrees exactly with what William Edwards declared And that the throwing out this bloody Razor was commonly reported in the Tower just after my Lord's Death was known appears by the Testimony of several Persons for John Salbury hath deposed That being sent as one of my Lord Russel's Guard to the Old-Bayly a they were returning to the Tower that morning one met them in great haste and declared he just then came from the Tower and that the Earl of Essex had cut his Throat in the Tower and thrown the Razor out of the Window upon which one reply'd to this effect That my Lord had a good Resolution first to cut his Throat and after to throw the Razor out of the Window He farther testifieth That when he came into the Tower he heard it declared by several that the bloody Razor was thrown out of my Lord's Chamber-window before his Death was known Grimes and Bostick both likewise in the Tower that very morning have deposed That the throwing out of this bloody Razor was talked of by several then in the Tower upon the first discovery of my Lord's Death some then and there declaring That they saw this bloody Razor so thrown out But if these many Testimonies will not satisfy I shall next give you the Confession of him who declared he threw it out and of the Sentinel who stood by my Lord's Lodging-door and confessed he saw it thrown out Mr. Samuel Story did farther depose That the very day Major Webster was taken up to wit the 21st of January 1688. as suspected to be concern'd in my Lord's Murther The said Webster being then charged as concern'd in my Lord's Murther declared He did nothing but throw the Razor out of my Lord's Chamber-window Being asked what made him throw the Razor out he said he was under such a consternation that he knew not what he did Upon this Confession of Major Webster Lloyd confirm'd the same saying That it was indeed true that the bloody Razor was thrown out for it was thrown out just over his head and a little Boy did endeavour to take it up but the Maid came out of the House and took it up and run immediately in with it and then discover'd my Lord's Death That this Maid did carry up the Razor and then discover my Lord's Death farther appears by the Testimony of John Nuthill who deposeth That just before my Lord's Death was known he was leaning over the Pales before Major Hawley's House and asked my Lord's Sentinel how his Lordship did To which the said Sentinel answered Very well And this Deponent did then observe a Maid run into the House in great hast and up Stairs when a Warder and another were coming down my Lord's Stairs but declared nothing of my Lord's Death as this Deponent could hear who stood about six foot from them but she immediately came down and cried my Lord had cut his Throat And this Informant did observe the said Maid to have a Razor in her hand either as she ran up stairs or as she came running down The several large Notches in the Razor as you may observe in the Cut are Self-evidences of its fall from some height upon an hard Body for these Notches could not be made by my Lord against his Neck-bone as a Surgeon foolishy or Knavishly suggested to the Coroner's Jury To sum up all in a word with relation to this Particular Major Webster one of the supposed Ruffians a Mr. Story confessed he threw the bloody Razor out of my Lord's Window Lloyd the Sentinel likewise b Mr. Story own'd that he saw it thrown out Edwards and Loadman have deposed That they did see the bloody Razor thrown out of my Lord's Chamber-window c Mr. Tho. Edwards Sarah Edwards Eliz. Edwards and Ann Edwards four have deposed That Edwards declared just as he came from the Tower that morning he saw it thrown out d Mrs. Smith Mr. Glasebrooke Mrs. Gibbons Three have sworn that Loadman gave this Relation as soon as she returned from the Tower that very morning and these Children and their Relations far distant from and altogether strangers to each other e Bampton and his Wife as to Meake Hughs and Gladwin as to Ruddle two Soldiers in every part of their Relation the very day of my Lord's Death did at two Places far distant from each other declare this matter and f Grimes Salisbury and Bostock three more have deposed That the throwing out of the Razor was generally discourst in the Tower just upon the first discovery of my Lord's Death This I do humbly conceive to be sufficient to convince any but Prejudice it self that the
Razor was seen thrown out and consequently that it could not be locked into the Closet with the Body as Bomeny and Russel have deposed or often declared Whereas Bomeny swore before the Coroner That peeping through a Chink of the Closet-door he saw the Razor this appears to be impossible considering the Position of the Razor and the Circumstances of the Chink For the Razor they all declare lay in the upper part of the Closet by the Close-stool where the Letter R. stands in the Closet according to the Figure the only Chink of the Door is in that part next the Chimney where the streak and Letter C stands now looking throw that Chink when the Door is locked you cannot see within three foot of the place where the Razor was said to lie this was about a year since demonstrated to the Right Honourable the Lord Lucas now Governor of the Tower and to several Gentlemen more The Maid who is supposed to have taken up the Razor denies it and in her defence saith to this effect That she went out of her Master's House almost half an hour before my Lord's Death was known and returned not until my Lord's Death was publick and several People in the House to see my Lord For she tells this Story ' That about half an hour before my Lord's Death was discover'd my Lord's Footman came to her and told her the Warder would not open the Wicket to let in my Lord's Provisions that were brought and therefore begged her to go to her Master Mr. Hawley the Gentleman Porter to desire him to go to the Warder that kept the Gate and order him to let in the Provisions She did accordingly go to her Master who thereupon order'd the Waredr to let in my Lord's Provisions and as they viz. my Lord's Footman Will. Turner and one Sam. Peck and a Porter were bringing the Provisions a Sentinel told them they were come too late upon which this Maid declares she was surprized and asked William Turner what should be the meaning of that Expression You are come too late for she did not understand it whereto Turner answered That he did suppose the Sentinel believed those Provisions to be my Lord Russel's who being gone to his Trial this Soldier might think he would never return again to the Tower and so the Provisions were brought too late This she declares she then believed but as soon as they came in sight of her Master's House they admired to see so great a Crowd about the Door but were soon too well satisfied in the occasion for it was just before discovered that my Lord of Essex had cut his Throat But this is a forged Lye throughout for William Turner Samuel Peck and the Porter do all three declare That the Maid was not with them whilst they were bringing in the Provisions neither did the Warder that kept the Gate in the least scruple the letting in my Lordâ— Provisions this they all say they are ready to depose All men I find are to seek of the reason that should move these Men to throw the bloody Razor out of the Chamber-window before my Lord's Death was discovered But if we consider the amazement that might naturally seize these men upon the least disturbance in this Deed of Darkness we must not expect that what is done under a sudden Confusion should be according to the deepest Policy And you find that Webster did confess That when he threw the Razor out he was under such a confusion that he knew not what he did This Disorder might be occasioned by some ones coming up Stairs who was not then privy to the Murther before they had laid all things aside as they designed they should be found by such as were not immediately concern'd in it and Webster having the bloody Razor in his hand which was designed to be laid by the Body as the pretended Instrument of the feign'd Self-murther upon the coming up of one of whom he was not aware he under a surprizing fear of a discovery threw the Razor out of the Window and the Maid was afterwards sent for it and then was it laid by the Body as the pretended Instrument of Death For this I have some reason which I think not fit now to publish That Major Webster was one of the Ruffians and consequently might be the Man who threw this bloody Razor out of my Lord's Chamber-window as himself confessed farther appears probable by his producing that day my Lord was murthered the Earl's Pocket-handkerchief all bloody the Handkerchief was known by the E and Coronet upon it and shaked it saying there was the blood of a Traytor and the very next morning a Purse of Gold of 49 Guineas and a Pistol which rejoycing he produced to some of his Neighbours and immediately after my Lord's Death lived at a rate much above his Quality being a poor Alehouse-keeper and Under-bailiff of the Tower Liberty and as I have been credibly informed in some few months after my Lord's Death lost at Gaiming several hundreds of Pounds which made those that had well known his Poverty conclude he robbed but ill got ill spent for his Extravagancy and Losses soon reduced him to his former necessity whereupon one upbraiding his Wife or his Whore as he now calls her for he saith he never married her and therefore though she is living he keeps or hath married another I say upbraiding his Wife with her Husband's Poverty she replied That her Husband not long before had five hundred Guineas whereupon the other declared he could not come by them honestly for his Trade would scarce find him Bread In Ale-house-keeping he run very deep in the Brewer's debt but just after my Lord's Murther he paid his Brewer Thirty Guineas in part which made the Brewer wonder how he came by so much Gold But not discharging the whole Debt and beginning to contract new the Brewer sued him and at last in Execution seised his Goods whereupon Mâ—jor Hawley for what reason is not unsuspected was a daily Solicitor to the Brewer for this Webster and at last offered a considerable Sum in discharge of the Debt This Webster very much abusing his Wife or Whore she told him That he was a Fool as well as a Rogue to abuse her so when he knew it was within her power to hang him and one in the Tower and naming as I have been informed Major Hawley for the Man in the Tower A great part of this is deposed and the whole ready to be proved But farther to disprove my Lord's cutting his Throat in the Closet Had my Lord cut his Throat standing in the Closet that part of the Wall as high as his Throat would have been all bloody for the Closet being about three Foot and two Inches wide it could not be otherwise for the Blood out of so large an Orifice might have gushed five Foot Or if my Lord had cut his Throat kneeling the blood in the Wall would then have
him who too often abused it This great haste to the Old-Bailey when that Great Patriot but unfortunate Lord Russel was there Trying and the indirect use by malicious Application of this pretended Self-Murther to the taking off him of whom we were no longer worthy This gave to an Honourable person then upon the Bench just grounds to suspect that this Noble Earl was murdered without Form of Law the more easily to destroy that great Lord under colour of Justice The Coroner's Inquisition and the Depositions of Bomeny and Russel being carried in all haste to White-hall in order to their immediate publication they were there perused and it being found that Bomeny and Russel had point-blank contradicted each other for the first as before observ'd had sworn the delivery of the Razor the day before my Lord's Death and the second that it was not deliver'd till the day of his Death These Contradictions were not thought convenient to be exposed lest they should give just ground of suspicion that the whole was forged and therefore a Reconciler was ordered to amend the one so it might be agreeable to the other it matter'd not how inconsistent or contradictory they were in the Original for those could be seen by none but the Coroner himself in whose custody they were and 't was to be supposed that the Coroner would not then dare to contradict what Authority had ordered so to be printed and hereupon was that Alteration made as was before observed in Bomeny's Information page 3. but this done as some years since observed by an Ingenious Author upon this occasion without the least congruity either to Sense or Grammar for nothing can be more apparent than that the foregoing part of the Information relates wholly to Thursday but at last without any regard to what Bomeny had before sworn on Friday the 13th Instant is foisted in contrary to all Rules of Grammar and common measures of Sense as well as Justice which justly esteems this printed Information forged This forged Reconciliation is done with the greatest incongruity and absurdness as well as falseness imaginable and I know not whether the folly of the Suborner for without doubt the Suborner and Reconciler in this case are the same or of the same stamp or the Perjury of the suborned in that false Information be most conspicuous The Soldiers that were in the Tower that morning my Lord was murther'd having made such Discoveries as satisfied them my Lord was treacherously taken off they used too great freedom in their discourse with relation thereunto and therefore as Robert Mâ—ake declared to two who have diposed it An Officer called several of them together and under severe Threatning enjoin'd them not to speak one word of what they had either seen or heard with relation to my Lord's Death Wherefore the said Meake desired his Friends not to divulge what he had told them for should it be known it would prove his rune but some short time after Meake declared as three have deposed That he did believe he should be privately murther'd for what he knew and had said with relation to my Lord's Murther and therefore he desired Bampton or Davidson as they have both sworn to keep him company that very day for he much fear'd he should that very day be destroyed But both of them fearing the danger themselves might be in refusing that very night was the said Meake thrown into the Tower-ditch As for Ruddle before-mentioned all the Information I can have of what is become of him is That not long after my Lord's Death he was drawn out of the Tower and sent to the East-Indies and at Fort St. George shot to death but for what reason I cannot learn There was one Mr. Hawley a Warder in the Tower that very morning my Lord was murther'd and by what he had observed with relation thereunto he had reason to declare to a Friend That it was a piece of Villany throughout This Mr. Hawley being in Westminster-Hall whilst I was upon my Trial said He wonder'd what made me stir in it when to his knowledge I knew nothing of the matter upon which one Mr. B. said Mr. Hawley If you know Mr. Braddon knows nothing in this what must you know to which Mr. Hawley made no reply But this Gentleman's knowledge in the matter cost him too dear for about March next after my Lord's Death being missing one of the Warders suspected to be a Papist said Mr. Hawley had been prating about the Earl of Essex 's Death and therefore was forc'd to fly But six Weeks discover'd how he fled for he was then found in a River by Rochester so changed through the barbarity he had met with that neither his Face or Body could be known by his nearest Relations and his Cloathes were all taken off except his Stockins and Shoes by which he was discovered to be the Man for he wore three Stockins upon one Leg and two Stockins and a Seer-cloth upon the other and as I have been informed the lining of the Toes of his Shoes cut out By these remarkable Circumstances his Wife knew him She had used all possible diligence for finding her Husband in order to which she offer'd in several Gazetts an Hundred pound Reward to any that could discover his Body dead or alive but it was six weeks before he was found Several of the Soldiers in the Tower that morning my Lord was murthered I have been enquiring after but have been told they were kill'd in the West against the late Duke of Monmouth But considering what fate befel Hawley Ruddle and Meake before mentioned I have reason to suspect that other may likewise have been murthered by way of prevention Besides such addition of blood other violent Methods were used to prevent a discovery by punishing such Soldiers as seemed to disbelieve upon very good grounds my Lord 's Self-murtner This appears by this Information following Richard Jorden declareth That some time that Summer the Earl of Essex died and not long after the said Earl's Death he saw a Solder tied to the Wooden-horse in the Tower by order of Lieutenant Collonel Nichols and whipt after a very cruel manner And this Deponent heard the said Lieutenant-Collonel tell the Soldier he ought to be hanged This Deponent further declareth That he was just after informed by the Marshal that whipt the said Soldier that by order of Lieutenant-Collonel Nichols he gave the said Soldier 53 Stripes tho the usual number was but 12. and that the said Soldier had lain a Fortnight before in close custody and been fed with Bread and Water and all only for the Offence following viz. Some short time after the Death of the late Earl of Essex Dr. H. of Norfolk Prebend of Norwich a Divine coming into the Tower the said Soldier was sent with him to shew him the Tower and as the Doctor was almost over-against Major Hawley 's the Doctor asked the said Solder which was the
Chamber wherein the late Earl of Essex did cut his Throat whereupon the said Solder pointing to the Chamber in which the Earl had been Prisoner said that is the Chamber in which it is said the Earl of Essex cut his Throat The Doctor then asked the Soldier what he did believe to which the Soldier answered That he did believe in God but being prest by the said Doctor to tell him whether he did believe my Lord cut his Throat The Soldier then replied be would not say he did believe it for which only saying the Punishment aforesaid was inflicted And the more effectually to prevent any discourse that might give the least credit to my Lord 's being murthered our then Misgovernment took all possible care to punish or rather oppress such as should declare their belief thereof amongst which one of the Coroner's Jury upon the Earl's Body suffer'd under this Tyranny for this man some time after my Lord's Death discoursing concerning the Earl's Death and the several Irregularities which he observed practised upon my Lord's Body before they saw it and how they were not permitted to make that Inquiry which was necessary said to this effect That he did believe they viz. the Coroner's Jury were all infatuated to bring my Lord in Felo de se but he did suppose had they not been hurried into their Inquisition they should have found it otherwise For this Discourse this honest poor man was prosecuted upon information and fin'd at first I have heard 300 l. but it appearing he was very poor his Poverty prevail'd for a mitigation of his Fine and his Age and great Infirmities of Body together with the charitable Intercession of a Gentleman of Interest in the then times avoided the corporal punishment which he had otherwise undergone If such practices as these were us'd by our then Court to prevent my Lord 's but being suspected to be murthe'd it could not be suppos'd that any encouragement should be given to a full detection and therefore all proposals in order thereunto were to be rejected an Instance whereof was as followeth viz. About six weeks after my Lord's Death there was a Letter unsealed left with one Mr. Cadman then living in Durham Exchange the Letter was directed to the Right Honourable the Countess Dowager of Essex the substance of this Leter was That if her Honour could prevail with the King for the Author's pardon he would ingenuously make a full discovery how by whom and whose Order my Lord was Murthered and this Letter did assure her Honour that the DUKE of YORK and were authorizing this Murther This Letter was subscribed P. B. By the Hand that writ it and the Letter subscribed it was Paul Bomeny before-mentioned who did once blasphemously say That he could as well tell how my Lord came by his Death as God Almighty himself for the Letter was fairly writ in a hand between a Roman and an Italian and such an Hand Bomeny when he would write fair did write besides the two letters subscribed are the letters of his Name I do suppose it may be objected That this Letter cannot be thought to be writ and subscribed by Bomeny for the Letter had it been brought in accusation against him and prov'd to be his would have cost him his life seeing herein he confess'd himself guilty of the Fact But with submission I think Bomeny by this Letter could it have been proved to be his own writing was in no danger at all of being punished for had they seized Bomeny they would have catched a Tarter should they have proceeded against him for this Murther upon this Confession the World would have believed the whole Contents of this Letter to be true and consequently that the Duke of York and authorized or rather commanded this most treacherous Murther And then pray consider what that Government could have got by such prosecution conviction and punishment This Letter was carried by Cadman to a Justice of Peace and by him to the Secretary of State but this Bookseller was never sent for nor any enquiry made after the Author The backwardness of the then Government in not examining into the matter gave just grounds of suspicion they were too well satisfied in the Truth of the Contents which was of such a nature as it could not bear an Inquisition for that would have centred in His Ruine who was then by Blood and Cruelty and other illegal and oppressive Methods endeavouring the total Subversion of our Church and State and this by the removal of some of the Chief of those Noble Lords and Worthy Gentlemen who had ever opposed their Arbitrary Designs Amongst which this Noble Lord and the Right Honourable the Lord Russel they did esteem two of the Chief Had none then in Authority and Power been concerned in this barbarous Treachery and had our then Government had the least desire to know this Truth in order to a just Punishment of those bloody Villains with what diligence would they bave search'd out the Author who desired no other Reward than the Security of his Life and in order to his Indemnity if they could no otherwise have found him out a Proclamation of Pardon would immediately have been issued forth by which the Author would have been assured of his Life and then without doubt according to his promise would have laid open this bloody deed of darkness Hath our Age ever seen or known recorded any Murther admit this one committed within this Kingdom that hath been all its Circumstances considered attended with such aggravations We have seen a Reward of 200 l. as well as a Pardon by Proclamation offered for the discovery of those bloody Ruffians who barbarously wounded but design'd to have murdered that Worthy Gentleman Mr. Arnold And was there not 500 l. and a Pardon by Proclamation promised to Him or Them that should detect the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Such means as these would have been likewise in this Case used if such who then misled Charles 2. and corrupted the State had not been the deepest in this black Contrivance This Bomeny soon after my Lord's Death gives an eminent Divine an Account to this effect viz. That his Lord did use to be taken with sudden frenzical Passions and in particular with one that morning he died just before his Death For said this vile Judas as soon as my Lord saw my Lord Russel go to his Trial he struck his Breast and said Himself was the cause of my Lord Russel 's misery seeing he had vouched for that Gentleman whose Treachery would prove my Lord Russel 's Ruine c. and hereupon fell almost distracted But this Fellow 's repeated Oaths give the Lye to this Forgery Before the Coroner in the coclusion of his first a Page 35. Deposition he swears That on Thursday night which was the night before his Lord's Death the Earl was very merry at Supper AND DID NOT SEEM TO BE DISCONTENTED THE NEXT DAY And when one
of the King's Council at my Trial page 55. at the lower-end ask'd such a Question as seem'd either to imply my Lord's being melancholy or else would have had Mr. Bomeny For the Question was thus worded viz. Did you observe your Lord melancholy Mr. Bomeny Bomeny answered Yes but we took no notice of it for he us'd to be so and we had no reason to suspect any thing more than ordinary Had this Varlet rested in the general Affirmative without proceeding farther his Answer would it's probable have better served the design of the Question but by the latter-part of his Answer he destroy'd that Service which the first word Yes might have otherwise done And observe what a point-blank Contradiction this Evidence at the Trial is to what he deposed before the Coroner the very next day after my Lord's Death when had this been true it would have been fresh in his memory and he would without doubt have sworn it But this was according to some after-instruction not thought of at the time of the Coroner's Inquest In the next place I shall give you some Account of what was sworn against one Mr. Holland so much talk'd of in this Affair by which you will have some ground to suppose a more convenient Instrument than a Razor gave this barbarous and treacherous wound The Information of Rich. Davis of the Parish of St. Mary Somerset London Schoolmaster taken before J. Cardran Esq Justice of the Peace for the County of Middlesex THis Informant saith That a little after the late Duke of Monmouth was routed in the West one Mr. J. E. to the best of this Informant's remembrance told this Informant That it was almost universally whispered amongst the Acquaintance of Mr. John Holland formerly Servant to the Earl of Sunderland That the said Mr. Holland had confessed to one Mr. D. of his intimate acquaintance and afterward concerned with Holland in the Robbery of Mr. Gatford for which both were condemned and the said D. executed but Holland pardoned That the said Holland was concerned in the Murther of Arthur late Earl of Essex in which he was employed by the Earl of Sunderland upon this occasion viz. The said Mr. Holland one day waiting on my Lord Sunderland his Lordship seemed much disturbed with passion upon which the said Holland told his Lordship That if his then coming to his Lordship had so discomposed him he would withdraw and wait on his Lordship some more convenient time whereupon my Lord said That he should tarry for it was not with him the said Holland that he was angry but with others and that he was concerned to think that of so many Servants his Lordship had made and been so very kind to he had not one he could trust or would serve him or words to that effect upon which the said Holland replied He was then ready faithfully and punctually to observe his Lordship's Commands in any thing My Lord then discovered to the said Holland the designed Murther of the said Earl of Essex and would have the said Holland therein to be engaged to which the said Holland readily consented and that the said Earl's Throat was cut with a large Knife and not with a Razor And this Informant was then further informed That the said Holland had further declared to the said D. That some People were afterwards made away for blabbing what they knew concerning the said Earl's Death and that the said D. had charged the said Mr. Holland before several of their Acquaintance one day drinking together with what the said Holland had confessed to him the said D. as aforesaid and that he the said Holland being so charged seemed much dejected but could not deny it This Informant further maketh Oath That one D. P. about three years since did give this Informant almost the same Account with relation to Holland and D. And the said P. D. did further tell this Informant That when the said Holland and D. were committed to Newgate for robbing Mr. Gatford the said D. P. went to see the said Holland in Newgate to condoâ—â— _____ Condition but the said Holland was very chearful and told him the said D. P. He was secure of his Life and likewise not to want Money as long as the Earl of Sunderland was living The said D. P. did likewise then further tell this Informant That the said Holland as soon as he was committed to Newgate for the foresaid Robbery sent to my Lord Sunderland for some Money and that his Lordship sent him the said Holland 16 Guineas And this Informant hath been told by several That the said Lord Sunderland hath many times supplied the said Holland with Money When Holland was imprisoned for Mr. Gatford's Robbery in Newgate my Lord Sunderland sent often thither and took a more than ordinary care of him whereupon Major Richardson told my Lord's Gentleman That he did much wonder his Lordship would be so kind to so profligate a Fellow To which it was answered That his Lordship had a very great kindness for Holland because he had been Servant to my Lord Spencer my Lord Sunderland's Son but it seems somewhat else was in the matter for it 's deposed by John Waytis That observing Holland to be frequently furnished with Money by my Lord Sunderland and this Informant asked Holland how his Lordship became so kind to him To which Holland replied with his usual phrase Damn him he had done that for him that HE DURST NOT DO OTHERWISE And when this Informant was once saying It was whisper'd that the late Earl of Essex was murdered Holland said Damn him it was not a farthing matter if twenty such were taken off He that so little valued the lives of Twenty would not in all probability much boggle to be concerned in the murdering One. Holland writ a Letter to the Earl of Feversham wherein he represented me as endeavouring to suborn him to appear an Evidence in the Case of the late Earl of Essex which Letter was read in the House of Lords But that which Holland falsly called endeavours to suborn I shall truly and faithfully as it can be prov'd declare and appeal to every impartial Reader Whether it deserves that infamous Name Having some reason to believe Holland one of the Ruffians I did use all means possible for his Apprehension but I found that Holland lay very private and as I had reason to believe designed to fly beyond Seas as his own Letter before mentioned declared Hereupon I applied my self to some of Holland's Acquaintance and by them being brought to Mrs. Holland I told her That I had reason to believe her Husband was concerned in this villanous Murther and herein I was confirmed by Mr. Holland's absconding for Innocence desires a Trial but Guilt still flies from Justice I then told her That if her Husband were really guilty of this Fact and would immediately surrender himself ingenuously declaring how by whom with whom and for what hir'd to do this
soon after returned and said The Business was done appears by the z Mr Essington 30. Testimony of him who saw His HIGHNESS send those Men and their return to His HIGHNESS And it 's farther a Lloyd's Confession Mr. Story Mr. Tempest 27 28. proved That the Centinel who kept my Lord's Outward-door confessed by special Order he let in two or three to my Lord of which Webster was one who that night produced my Lord's bloody Pocket-handkerchief and the next day a Purse of Gold of 49 Guineas and a Pistol though he was very poor before just before his Death and that upon those mens going in to my Lord's Chamber there was so great a trampling and bustling that the Centinel would have forc'd in after them but could not because the first door was made fast and that upon the bustle he heard somewhat thrown down like the fall of a Man which he did believe to be my Lord's Body soon after which it was pretended my Lord cut his Throat And for what those Men were thus bustling appears by the Murther which was several times very loud and very dolefully cried out during this bustle and this heard by b Mrs. Bascomb 28. one who saw this bustling and soon after revealed it but was cautioned to secrecy for her safety by c Mr. Perkins 29. him who in this respect upon Oath hath confirmed the same And that his Lordship made use of his Hand to prevent as well as his Tongue to discover that Villany which he saw design'd his Destruction is verily believed by those who find it proved That there were several Cuts in my Lords Right-hand viz. d Mr. Stullingford 40. One upon his Fore-finger near the top another on the same Finger next the hand e Turner and Peck One upon the fourth Finger another on the Little-finger and a fifth f Mr. Sherwood the Surgeon 45. about two Inches long in the Palm of his Hand And lest my Lord 's Cravat which was g Mary Johnson who stript the Body confessed this Johnson and Tovey 32 33. and Alice Carter declared the same cut in three pieces and the print of a bloody Foot upon my Lord's Leg as before observed with other Circumstances which might have been discovered had the Jury seen the Body in its first posture and the Cloaths in which his Lordship died might have occasioned a Discovery speedy care was taken that the Body should be h This is sworn by the Coroner and several of the Jury stript though His then Majesty * T. Howard Esq had ordered all things to remain till the Coroner's Jury saw the Body and the Cloaths carried away and the Room and Closet washed before the Jury sate upon the Body And when i Mr. Fisher p. 44. one of the Jury desir'd to see the Cloathes in which my Lord dy'd the Coroner hereupon was immediately call'd into the next Room and returning in some heat told the Jury it was the Body and not the Cloathes they were to sit upon the Body was there and that was sufficient and when it was perceived that k Mr. Fisher p. 46. some of the Jury were doubtful of my Lord's Self-murther because his Lordship was very deservedly esteem'd a very good man and therefore not to be thought Felo de se Major Hawley to remove this Objection and to corrupt the Jury with a lie tells them to this effect viz. That whosoever did believe Self-murther unlike my Lord of Essex did not know his Lordship for every man that was well acquainted with the Earl knew that it was a fixt Principle in his Lordship that any man might cut his Throat or otherwise dispose of his Life to avoid a dishonourable and infamous Death and therefore this Action was according to the Lord of Essex 's avowed Principles But when Major Hawley was charg'd before the Lords with this Suggestion he did utterly deny it and professed that he never heard it said to be my Lord's Principle till their Lordships charg'd him with having suggested it and therefore be could not suggest it Besides he was not nigh the Jury at the Victualling-house any time whilst they were there upon their Inquisition but the Major had given them another reason not to forget his being then there for it is prov'd by one and ready to be prov'd by many then present that some of the Jury were for adjourning their Inquisition and immediately to give notice to my Lord's Relations so that if any thing could be prov'd on my Lord's behalf it might be heard This Major Hawley steps in and prevents it by protesting l P. 46. 2d Col. that his then Majesty had sent an Express for their Inquisition and His Majesty had declared that he would not rise from Council 'till it was brought and therefore they could not adjourn but must immediately dispatch In answer to this the Major protests that he was not near the Jury at that House and so did not or could hasten them But the Major was so well known to the Coroner Surgeons and Jury that it 's highly improbable all should be mistaken The timing my Lord's Death and the speedy hurrying it away to the Old-Bayly and the immediate use that was made thereof as an Evidence from Heaven of his Lordship's Guilt and of the truth of the Charge against the Right Honourable the Lord Russel then upon his Tryal and the corrupt influence it had upon the Court Council and Jury so that they did at one stroke virtually destroy two of as great Patriots as this Age or Nation ever knew and of whom we were no longer worthy This might be us'd by Impartiality it self as a probable Evidence of this Treacherous Cruelty The unjust Methods and Violence us'd to prevent any search after or discovery of this unfortunate Lord's Death are farther rational Inducements for sober men to believe this Murther when they find that m Vide p. 8. I was committed as soon as I came to White-hall with the Persons to be sworn with relation to my Lord's Death and this before either my self or any person had been examined and consequently before any thing criminal could appear against me And afterwards Mr. Speak and my self prosecuted and represented especially my self as the worst of Criminals tho' nothing like a Crime was proved against me admitting for true every thing sworn at my n I do appeal to the Tryal as Printed Tryal where those in whose Custody my Lord was o Vid. 16 17. and consequently whom we would have accused of my Lord's Murther were called a CLOUD of Witnesses to prove the Self-murther The Prosecution of p Mr. Colson page 52. one of the Coroner's Jury for declaring That he believed they viz. the Jury were all infatuated to find his Lordship Felo de se but he did suppose had they not been hurried they might have found it otherwise is an other instance of the severity of the Government with relation hereunto and the cruel usage of an q Ab Jorden p. 49. old Soldier in feeding him with Bread and Water in the Hole and afterwards causing him to receive Fifty three stripes with great force tho the usual Number was but Twelve and then telling him He ought to be Hanged for saying what he did and so discarded him and all this only for declaring when often pressed to give his opinion with relation to my Lord's death Whether he did believe his Lordship cut his own Throat Declared That he would not say he did believe it But greater Cruelties than these some bloody men may be supposed to have used to prevent a discovery of my Lord's Murther for Mr. Hawley who r Vid. ante pag. 49. KNEW THAT I KNEW NOTHING WITH RELATION TO MY LORD'S DEATH and his too freely imparting his own Knowledg'd in the matter is thought to have caused him not to run away but to be murther'd And honest Robert Meake s Bampton and his Wise and Davidson p. 49. protested the very day he was murther'd that he did fear that same day he should be murther'd for what he knew and had declar'd concerning my Lord's murther and the very next morning was found dead in the Tower Ditch And whether poor Ruddle was shot to death in the Indies where I 've heard he so dy'd for his knowing and revealing what he knew of this Murther time may discover To proceed no farther Now whether that CLOUD of three or four Witnesses in whose t Pag. 16 17. custody my Lord was to avoid being charg'd with treacherously consenting to my Lord's Murther with Halters about their Necks by contradictions endeavouring to prove the Self-murther or that GREAT CLOUD of upwards of sixty Witnesses for more have been and will be examin'd with relation to my Lord's Murther which swear not for their own lives but stand recti in Curia being Persons unprejudic'd deserve the most credit must be left first to the Right Honourable the Lords before whom this Cause will in convenient time be reviv'd and afterwards to such other Judicatures before which this matter may hereafter be brought till when it 's not proper to publish what might be farther said But I do humbly conceive I have herein already furnish'd you with sufficient grounds to satisfy some who have been deceiv'd by misinformation that there are more Arguments than they could have expected to clear his Lordship's Innocence and less reason for them to believe that I have us'd such villanous Practices as my greatest Enemies have suggested or as some of my pretented Friends would Insinuate am possess'd with such heat of imagination as credulously to believe a thing to be without rational grounds to convince me that it is Sir As you already have so I doubt not but you will as becomes a Friend endeavour to rescue me from the slanders of such as have unjustly accus'd me and likewise from those Reproaches which have been uncharitably taken up against SIR Your highly obliged and ever faithful Friend and Servant L. B. April 15. 1690 FINIS