with the most Reproachfull of Libells under the Title of Petitions and Addresses and in a Style and Countenance of Duty and Respect When they Miss'd of any thing at First Request they were sure to follow it with Passion Instance Menace and Clamour The Monarchy it Self could not Stand without Excluding the Duke and no way to Prevent the Bloud that was like to Ensue but by an Association And in Excuse for the Liberties they took they had recourse to the Trust Reposed in them by those they Represented If the King Buckles he 's Lost by his Own Act If he Persists in the Negative there 's the Ruine of Religion and the Three Kingdoms laid at his Door If he Yields it must be either to the Right and Reason of their Demands or in Acknowledgment that they are too Strong for him which is Equally Dangerous Both ways To Conclude what matters it whether a Prince be Lost by Treaty or by Violence or whether the People be Gull'd into a Barefac'd or into a Plausible Rebellion But at the same time the Common Medium that they Depended upon to Either End was the Good Will and Favour of the People And there needed no more to Secure That Interest then to put their Shams Plausibly Together And under the Colour of Zeal for the Publique to Draw Credit to the Imposture At the First Opening of This Plot Almost All peoples Hearts took Fire at it and Nothing was heard but the Bellowing of Execrations and Revenge against the Accursed Bloudy Papists It was Imputed at first and in the General to the Principles of the Religion and a Roman-Catholique and a Regicide were made One and the Same Thing Nay it was a Saying Frequent in some of our Great and Holy Mouths that they were Confident there was not so much as One Soul of the Whole Party within his Majesties Dominions that was not either an Actor in This Plot or a Friend to 't In this heat they fell to Picking-up of Priests and Iesuits as fast as they could Catch 'em and so went on to Consult their Oracles the Witnesses with All Formalities of Sifting and Examining upon the Particulars of Place Time Manner Persons c. while Westminster-Hall and the Court of Requests were kept Warm and Ringing still of New Men Come in Corroborating Proofs and Further Discoveries c. Under This Train and Method of Reasoning the Managers Advanc'd Decently enough to the Finding-out of what They Themselves had Laid and Concerted before-hand And to give the Devil his due the Whole Story was but a Farce of so many Parts and the Noisy Enformations no more then a Lesson that they had much ado to go thorough with even with the Help of Diligent and Carefull Tutors and of many and many a Prompter to bring them off at a Dead Lift. But Popery was so Dreadfull a Thing and the Danger of the Kings Life and of the Protestant Religion so Astonishing a Surprize that People were almost bound in Duty to be Inconsiderate and Outrageous upon 't And Loyalty it Self would have look'd a little Cold and Indifferent if it had not been Intemperate Insomuch that Zeal Fierceness and Iealousy were never more Excusable then upon This Occasion And Now having Excellent Matter to Work upon and the Passions of the People already Dispos'd for Violence and Tumult there needed no more then Blowing the Cole of Otes's Narrative to put All into a Flame And in the mean Time all Arts and Accidents were Emprov'd as well toward the Entertainment of the Humour as to the Kindling of it The people were first Hayr'd out of their Senses with Tales and Ielousies and Then made Iudges of the Danger and Consequently of the Remedy Which upon the Main and Briefly came to no more then This. The Plot was Laid all over the Three Kingdoms France Spain and Portugal Tax'd their Quotas to 't we were All to be Burnt in our Beds and Rise with our Throats Cut and no way in the world but Exclusion and Vnion to help us The Phancy of this Exclusion Spread Immediately like a Gangrene over the whole Body of the Monarchy and no saving the Life of his Majesty without Cutting-off every Limb of the Prerogative The Device of Union pass'd Insensibly into a League of Conspiracy and instead of Uniting Protestants against Papists Concluded in an Association of Subjects against their Sovereign Consounding Policy with Religion By these Steps the Managers I remember proceeded to the Instrument of the Association that is now in Question They Labour'd at first to Sham-it-off for the Old Queen Elsabeths Association Reviv'd Secondly That it was only the Copy of a Bill that had pass'd the House of Commons But when the Matter appear'd so Foul that there was No Defending of it they made use of a Third Shift to Evade the Danger and the Scandal by pretending that there was No such Paper in my Lord Shaftesbury's Closet any otherwise then as They that Found it there Laid it there And so they Endeavour'd to Turn the Malice on the One side into a Trick on the Other This Last Shuffle was as well Colour'd as the Case would bear in a Paper call'd A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend about Addresses and Abhorrers It was an Artificial Sly Piece and the Noble Peer more then Suspected to have a Hand in 't Himself Now as to the First Pretext to say nothing of the State-Craft of the Old Association there was This Difference Between them The One was to Defend the Queen against any Pretender upon the Suggestion of a False Title The Other was a Conspiracy set up against a Iust and Legal Title the One was only to Work at a Distance in Case of such an Occasion The Other was to Blow-up a Civil War Immediately for fear of Imaginary Dangers to Come The One had the Countenance of an Vnion against the Queens Enemies and With her Allowance and Consent The Other was a Plot upon the Kings Brother and Against his Majesties Mind and Consent The One was in fine a Limited Association with Submission to Authority The Other a Treasonous Vsurpation in Defyance and in Despite of Authority The Second Cavil was as good as a Gagg to many People in That Troublesome Conjuncture for a Parliamentary Association in Those Days would have been Sacred even against both Law and Gospel and therefore Those that Believ'd the Flam of its being a Bill that had pass'd the House And Consequently Asserted the Reason of the Proceeding reckon'd upon 't that they had the Wisedom of the Nation on their side on One hand as they had most Certainly the Folly and the Madness of it on the Other Now This Opinion serv'd for a Protection to All that could be said in favour of the Project upon That Text. But the Passing of That Bill was a Mistake for ought that I could ever hear to the Contrary The King 't is True was Press'd in 't over
Folded it up which looks as if it had not been Folded before In Sir George Wakeman's Tryal he says that Sir Geo. VVakeman Fetched a Turn or Two about the Room seeming Angry and Discontented and asked Harcourt if he had any Thing for him Then Harcourt asked him how he did Proceed sayd he I don't know whether I shall or No c. fol. 31. with That Harcourt went to his Cabinet and took out Five or Six papers and brought a small Bill c. Ib. of 2000 l. Well sayd Sir George I will go and see if the Bill be accepted and you shall hear of me to Night And Bedloe met him Presently after and Sir George told him it was accepted and that he was to go in the Afternoon to Receive it Ib. Soon after This He is Call'd upon to go over with This Part of his Evidence again fol. 46. and There we have him searching among his Bags and finding a Little Note among them And the Relation Effectually to be quite Another Thing He is Now got into Clear Another story than the Two Former for there was no such Question as Have you any Thing for Me No such Peevishness or Hesitation as I don't know whether I shall or No In One Deposition Five or Six Papers taken out of the Cabinet Whereas in the other Depositions there 's mention made only of One. Nor is there any Talk of Acceptance or Payment There remains Yet Another scruple with a respect to the Timing of This action which is Never to be Reconcil'd He makes it before the Council to have been the Latter part of the last Summer i. e. 1678. That This Meeting was in Harcourt's Chamber It was I think says He about the beginning of August Sir George Wakeman's Tryal fol. 37. But being Press'd afterward by Sir George Wakeman in These words What Day was it that I had the Discourse with Harcourt and Received the Bill from him as You say Mr. Bedloe To satisfie you as well as I can I say it was the Beginning of August or Part of the Beginning I do not speak to a Day p. 40. So that according to Bedloe's Oath before the Council of Iune 24. 1679. Mr. Harcourt gives Sir George Wakeman a Hint which Bedloe Understood to be Meant of his being Employ'd to kill Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey and Bedloe looks the same way in his Evidence at Sir George Wakeman's Tryal Sir George asked of Harcourt says he Who I was Said he 'T is a Friend that hath been long Engaged in our Bus'ness and is to do the Next Great Work to Yours Fol. 37. Now upon the Upshot of the Matter Bedloe swears that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murthered because of Tong 's and Otes's Enformations that he had Taken and Bedloe was Employed at the Beginning of August to Destroy Godfrey for having Taken those Enformations which he never Took nor ever so much as heard of till the Sixth of the Following September His Swearing Off and On in the Case of Whitebread and Fenwick was a Notable Cast of his Faculty too that is to say They being upon their Tryals with Ireland Grove and Pickering Bedloe declares that he does not Charge any Man but them Three and when he was told by the Court What he said was not any Evidence against Whitebread and demanded what he could say as to Fenwick his Answer was in These words No more then as I have to Mr VVhitebread Ireands Tryal fol. 42. But This Notwithstanding Whitebread and Fenwick were remanded back to the Goale by reason that Otes's Testimony was so Full It being Insisted on That the King having sent forth a Proclamation for further Discovery there was No Question made but that before the Time therein prefixed should come out there would come in more Evidence Ib. pag. 56. This was at the Sessions-House at the Old-Bayly December 17. 1678. where They were brought upon their Tryals again on the 13. and 14. of Iune 1679. at which Tryal Bedloe Charged Whitebread upon the Matter of the Four Ruffians that were sent to Windsor about September fol. 32. and Whitebread and Fenwick Both with being Privy and Consenting to the Practice fol. 33. Bedloe's Evidence pass'd for Currant notwithstanding his former Declaration and upon the Summing of it up Prance was also accounted upon as a Third Witness CHAP. VI. An Abstract of the Evidence that Bedloe gave concerning the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey First before the Lords House the Lords Committees and the King and Council 2ly Vpon the Tryals of Green Berry and Hill in the Court of the Kings Bench With Notes upon the Whole THE Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey being found a View pass'd upon it and a Verdict deliver'd up It Behov'd the Witnesses whether they were True or False to keep close to the Circumstances of the Fact that was before them And therefore since a Malicious Murther it VVas to be There must be some Provocation Thought upon or Presum'd Hands found out to Execute it a Place Convenient for the Action some Way or other Propos'd for the Doing of it and then some Means or other for the getting of the Body out of the Way when the Deed was done This Train of Fore-cast brings us Decently to Primrose-Hill and whether he went Thither by Horse Chair Litter Coach or Waggon it Matters not a Single Marque Provided there be a Decorum in the Story and that the Thing be done A-Gods-Name as they say and without the Help of Spirits or Art Magick to Convey him Thither The Next Point to be consulted is the Position of the Body in the Ditch The Sword the Bruises the Circles about the Neck and Finally the Linnen Cloth that he was Strangled with which will all be taken into Consideration in Due Time and Place As to the Visible Matter of Fact it stands good and agree'd upon at All hands That is to say the Death the Finding of the Body the Place where he was found the Date When the Time and the Manner of Removing it the Summoning of a Iury the View the Debate and the Verdict But for what lay out of Sight it must be left either to Further Discovery or to Conjecture Though in a Made-story as This was from the Beginning That which was well Fancy'd was well Prov'd And no doubt but Bedloe and Prance would have made More on 't if they had but been aware time enough of the Blessings Heaven had in store for them and that the Fates had Design'd them one day for Supporters of a Glorious Church and State. They made a Shift however to draw Blood and at That Time and in That Cause the Speaking Head might have done as much The Mischief was that Bedloe's Bolt was Shot so long before Prance appear'd And that notwithstanding the General Lights given to Prance about Godfrey and Bedloe in the Newgate-Paper heretofore spoken of he was yet left Miserably in the Dark how to put Things and Things together toward the Formalizing
some Illuminations in Aldersgate Street he began to see Day-Light and to Promise Discoveries if he Might be sure of a Pardon On Munday the 23. The House was Inform'd as I find it upon the Lords Journal That Miles Prance hath made some Discovery of the-Plot and hath offer'd to make further Discovery of the Plot and also touching the Death of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey and the Whole Manner of it If he might First be fully Assured of his Majesties Gracious and General Pardon c. The Plot goes First I perceive but upon This Report Immediate Application was made to His Majesty a Full and General Pardon Promis'd and it was forthwith Order'd that certain Lords should acquaint Miles Prance in Newgate That Afternoon with his Majesties Gracious Assurance and that they should then and there Proceed to Examine him thorougly in Order to a True and perfect Discovery and that Care should he taken that No other Person Lord or Commoner should be present at the said Examination but the said Lords and the Pris'ner The House of Commons pass'd Two Orders of the same Date likewise upon the same Subject 1. Order'd That the Committee of Secrecy or any Three of them do repair to the Prison and take the Examination of Mr. Prance touching the Plot and the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Post Meridiem 2. Ordered That the Committee of Secrecy appointed to Examine Mr. Prance do Impart to the Pris'ners in Newgate the Contents of His Majesties Proclamation in Relation to the Discovery of the Plot against his Majesties Person and Government Commons Journal pag. 206 207. It makes a Man Tremble to think what a Iayl-Delivery of Discoverers this Temptation might have Produced The Assurance of a Pardon had by This Time Mellow'd Prance and made him Ripe for a Further Examination so that upon Tuesday Morning Decemb. 24. He was Examin'd by the King in Council about the Plot and about the Murther with a Promise of Pardoâ— upon a Full Discovery Hereupon he Declar'd That One Girald an Irish Priest spoke to him about the Killing of a Man not saying who it was this was about a Fortnight before the Murther And about a Week after Girald Green and Hill told him they would Kill Sir Edmundbury Godfrey for he was an Enemy to the Queen or her Servants He had us'd some Irish Men Ill and Girald told him the Lord Bellassis would see the Action rewarded Girald owning an Old Grudge to Sir Edmund about a Bus'ness of Parish-Duties He said they had Watch'd him a Week or Fortnight before his Death Green had call'd at his House that Saturday Morning and that He Girald and Hill had Dogg'd him That Day until he came by his Death His Majesty thereupon appointed the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Ossory to take Prance's Enformation at Somerset-House from Place to Place where the Things were acted which they did accordingly and reported the Matter to his Majesty in Council which Report we shall here Insert at Length as the very Key of the Imposture to any Man that shall but Trace the Story through the Lodgings May it Please your Majesty IN Obedience to your Majesties Order signified to us this Morning in Council we have been at Somerset-House and there taken the Examination of Miles Prance a Silver-Smith touching the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey upon the Place where the same was Committed and in Virtue of the Oath taken before your Majesty he declared as followeth That it was either at the Latter End or the Beginning of the Week that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey did about Nine of the Clock at Night pass from towards St. Clements as far as the Great Water-gate at Somerset House being watched and followed by Lawrence Hill one Green and one Gerald that Hill making some hast before stept within the Wicket which was open and turning soon out again call'd to Sir Edmund as he was Passing and said there were two Men quarrelling within who might soon be quieted if once they saw him Whereupon he entred through the Wicket and after him Green and Gerald and down they all went till they came to a Bench that is at the Bottom of the Deep Descent and joyning to a Rail next to the upper end of the Stables on the Right hand That upon the said Bench there were sitting and attending their coming the Examinate Miles Prance and one Berry the Porter of the Other Gate together with an Irish-man that Lodg'd at Green's House whose Name 〈◊〉 knows not And by that time they were come half way down he the said Prance went up to the Wicket there to attend and give notice if any came and at the same time the said Berry went streight on from the Bench toward the Stone Stairs which led to the Upper Court and when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey came down to the Bench Green who follow'd him put about his Neck a large Twisted Handkercher and thereupon all the rest Assisted and dragged him into a Corner which is behind the said Bench and the said Rail and Green who Inform'd him in the manner hereof and with whom he had before Seen the large Twisted Handkercher added that he had Thumped him on the Breast and Twisted his Neck untill he Broak it And the Examinant saith that he did in about a Quarter of an hour after he had been standing at the Wicket come down to see what was done and found that they had Throatled him but his Body remain'd Warm and seem'd hardly Dead But He together with the said Hill Green Gerald and Berry and the Irish-man took him up and convey'd him through a Door that is on the Left Hand coming down at the Corner of the Coach-House which leads up several Stairs into a long dark Passage or Gallery opening at last into the Upper Court in which Passage there is a Door on the Left hand which being open'd leads up with Eight Stairs into Another House adjoyning but Immediately upon the Right hand being got up there is a little Closet or Square Room into which they convey'd the Body and there set the Body Bending with the Back against a Bed which the Examinant having now seen again thinks to be the same Bed that was there at the said Time. He further said that Hill lived at this House and the Body was for Two Days Left there in his care but then being afraid of Discovery Hill Gerald Green Berry and the Irishman as they told him did Take and Convey the Body from thence about Nine or Ten of the Clock at Nâ—â—ht and carry'd it into the House and into some Room towards the Garden and that while the Body lay there he was by Hill conducted to see it and saw the Body as it lay Bended and Green and Gerald were present That from Thence upon a Tuesday Night the Body was brought back near to the Place where first it lay into a Room in the said Gallery over-against the first Door somewhat higher up
is no Security or Safety for the Protestant Religion the King's Life or the Well-Constituted and Established Government of This Kingdom without Passing a Bill for Disabling James Duke of York to Inherit the Imperial Crown of England and Ireland and the Dominions and Territories thereunto belonging and to Rely upon any other Means and Remedies without such a Bill is not only Insufficient but Dangerous Here 's the Horrid Popish English Plot made the Ground for the Excluding of the Duke and keeping the King short of Mony according to the Intent of the Votes of Ian. 7. 1680. above-mention'd And That 's made the Foundation likewise for the Refusal in the Address before-Cited in the very Syllables of the said Address That your Majesties Sacred Life is in Continual Danger under the Prospect of a Popish Successor is Evident not only from the Principles of Those Devoted to the Church of Rome but also from the Testimonies Given in the Prosecution of the Horrid Popish Plot against Divers Traytors Attainted for Designing to put Those Accursed Principles into Practice against your Majesty There needs no Subtlety of Quirking or Reasoning upon this Case of MONY the Spite of it lying so Open that Every Common Eye sees thorough it and that the Terms the Republican Cabal Treated upon in some of those Parliaments were no other then a Tryal of Skill to see if they could bring his Late Majesty to a Composition for his Crown For the King was to have No Mony but upon Conditions of Disinheriting his Brother and more yet as I shall shew in Due Place Contrary to all the Tyes of Conscience Gratitude Iustice and Prudence And All for fear of a Damnable Hellish Popish Plot. We shall see now how they Dealt with his Majesty likewise in the Matter of Power No Power THE Power of a Prince Exerts it self in the Means of an Ample Revenue to Answer all the Necessities of the Crown to Pay his Troups and to Reward Honourable Services In the Privileges of Sovereign Authority the Love and the Reputation that he has in the Hearts of his People In the Arms of his Militia the Command of his Subjects and the Chearfull Obedience of his Friends They had allready Maim'd and Disabled his Late Sacred Majesty in the First Great Point of his Revenue That which comes-on Next is to see how they dealt with him in respect of his Power of Prerogative in General and as to his Forces both by Land and by Sea in Particular and whether the whole Proceeding was not still Grounded upon the Damnable Bug-bear of the Popish Plot. How they us'd him upon the Matter of his Credit and Friends shall come-on in due Time. But to Proceed now to an Enquiry how they handled him upon the Subject of his Prerogative First in the Case of the Earl of Danby The Kings Prerogative of Pardoning Question'd REsolved That an Humble Address be made to His Majesty Representing to his Majesty the Irregularity and Illegality of the Pardon mentioned by his Majesty to be Granted to the Earl of Danby and the Dangerous Consequence of Granting Pardons to Any Persons that lie under an Impeachment of the Commons of England Here 's the Kings Power of Life and Death shaken at the very Root and what 's the Unpardonable Crime at last but This among Others That he is Popishly-Affected and hath Trayterously Conceal'd after he had Notice of the Late Horrid Plot or Conspiracy Contrived by the Papists against his Majesties Person and Government and hath Suppress'd the Evidence and Reproachfully Discountenanced the Kings Witnesses in the Discovery of it in favour of Popery Immediately tending to the Destruction of the Kings Sacred Person and Subversion of the Protestant Religion There happen'd no Evil under the Sun in those Days but the Late Horrid Plot or somewhat like it had still a Finger in the Pye But from Pardoning in my Lord Danby's Case they proceeded afterward to a Bolder Step in my Lord Staffords and to make a Moot-Point of it whether the King by his Prerogative could so much as Remit any Part of the Sentence but Sir W. I. gave his Opinion upon 't in Favour of the Prerogative upon a very Weighty Reason This House says he lyeth not under any Obligation to Offer at any Opposition nor concern themselves herein Especially at This Time when such a Dispute may End in Preventing of the Execution of the said Lord Stafford And therefore I do humbly Conceive you may do well to give your Consent that the said Writ be Executed according to its Tenor. The Short of the Bus'ness was This Sentence of Death was pass'd in Form upon my Lord Stafford and the Kings Writ to the Sheriffs Commanded only his Head to be Sever'd from his Body Bethel and Cornish the then Sheriffs of London and Middlesex Apply'd themselves by Petition to the Lords to know whether they should Obey the Writ or Not The Lords found the Scruples Vnnecessary and Declar'd That the Kings Writ ought to be Obey'd After this to the Commons Stating the Matter under These Four Following Quaeries I speak upon the Credit of the Collection of Debates above-mention'd 1. Whether the King being neither Iudge nor Party can Order the Execution 2. Whether the Lords can award Execution 3. Whether the King can Dispense with any part of the Execution 4. If the King can Dispense with some part of the Execution why not with All Upon the Debate it was in the Conclusion Resolved That This House is CONTENT That is to say it does VOVCHSAFE and with MVCH A-DO too that the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex do Execute William Late Viscount Stafford by Severing his Head from his Body only The Story of these Insolencies will never be Believ'd in After-Ages but however we are upon the Foot still of the Trayterous and Execrable Conspiracy for the Imprisoning Deposing and Murdering his Sacred Majesty and the Raising and Disposing of Men Monys Arms and other Things Necessary for their Wicked and Trayterous Designs and Namely a Commission for William Viscount Stafford to be Paymaster of the Army HEre 's a Dreadfull Bus'ness as the Good Woman said about this same Trayterous and Execrable Conspiracy Pray the Lord it be all True at Last for the Government was Mightily off the Hinges about it and the Fountain of Mercy and Power seem'd to be quite Dry'd-up The Sheriffs were become the Peoples Officers and the Commons made Iudges of the Validity of the King 's Writ The Style of Authority was no longer We Charge and Command but Resolv'd upon the Question and the Power of the Keys dropt into St. Stephens Chapel Parliamentary as well as Pardoning Power Encroch'd upon AND that they might not seem Partial to One Prerogative more then Another They struck at the King's Power of Parliaments as well as of Pardons and finding that an Everlasting Parliament Agreed so well with their Predecessors
and over as the Expedient sine qua non for the Saving of his Life his Crown the Protestant Religion and his People And it is Obvious to Presume that they had Resolv'd upon the Draught the Conditions and the Provision of it before ever they made any Application about it Beside the Manifest Agreement that was between them upon the special Matters in Issue But in One Instance for All. On the 24th of Nov. 1681. There Sate at the Sessions-House in the Old-Bayly a Commission of Oyer and Terminer upon a Bill of Indictment for High-Treason against Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury The Foreman of the Grand-Iury put certain Questions to a Principal Secretary of State and a Clark of the Councel that gave Evidence there about this Paper of Association which coming from a Member of the Last Westminster House of Commons could not but carry Great Weight i. e. Do not you know Sir or have not you heard of a Discourse or Debate in the Parliament concerning an Association Do not you remember in the House of Commons Sir it was Read upon Occasion of That Bill This Question made many People think that the Noble Peer and the Plot-Managers in That House of Commons were upon the Same Bottom and that the Former was only to Execute what the Other had Contriv'd which was no more in Truth then the Execution of his Own Purposes and Designs For his Lordships Head Heart and Purse were in at both Ends of the Bus'ness The Third Evasion was Immediately Blown off by Proofs under Mr. Wilson's Own Hand over and over a Servant of Great Trust in the Family to make Good that the very Paper of Associations which was Produc'd at the Old-Bayly was found in my Lords Closet according to the Depositions There can be no Doubt in the World from what is allready said but that the Knight-Voters and the Knight-Vndertakers as to the Bus'ness of the Association were Both of a Mind and that there was little Difference betwixt the One and the Other more then that the One Cut out the Work and the Other made-it-up So that if it was an Ill Thing in One it was so in Both and whether it was so or not is now to be Enquir'd into and first upon the General THere was a very Loyal Declaration from the Middle Temple Presented to his Late Majesty by Mr. Saunders afterwards Lord-Chief-Iustice of the King's-Bench upon This Subject I cannot bring an Instance of more Honour or Greater Authority toward the Confounding of This Association then That Paper nor an Address more Pertinent to My Purpose or Better Warranted both in Law and Reason OVR Sense of That Execrable Paper Purporting the Frame of a Trayterous Association produced at the Late Proceâ—dings against the Earl of Shaftsbury at the Old-Bayly We do therefore Declare it our Opinion that the same Contains most Gross and Apparent Treasons more Manifestly tending to the Ruine of your Majesties Dominions then the Old Hypocritical Solemn League and Covenant which they that were Seduced to take are no more bound to keep then he that should Swear to Murther his Father is Obliged to Commit the Parricide And it is most Evident to us that whoever promoted That Rebellious Association Designed by the said Paper or Countenanced the Same by Refusing upon the Full Evidence to find Bills of Indictment against the Authors and Promoters thereof and thereby as much as in them lay Preventing their being brought to a Fair Tryal have in a High Measure Perverted the Laws And could have no other Design thereby then to Vsurp to Themselves an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Dominion not only over your Subjects but over your Majesty also I Shall proceed now to the Dissecting of it and see if the Particulars be not as Foul upon the Retayle as the Whole has been here Represented in the Lump and in Gross The Ground of it is a Popish Plot The Preservation of the King Religion Laws and People are set forth to be the Intent of it So that by an Orderly Examining of One Thing after Another it will be Easily seen how far the Means here Propounded will Answer the End. Notes upon the Association WE the Knights c. in the Preface Signifies in the Uow and Promise the Major Part either of This Present Parliament while Sitting or of the Members of Both Houses Subscribing This Association when Prorogu'd or Dissolv'd And what is This Majority to Do now To Defend and Assist one Another In the Preservation of the True-Protestant Religion His Majesties Person and our State and our Laws Liberties and Properties And Against Whom are they to Defend and Assist Against Popish Priests and Iesuites with the Papists and their ADHERENTS and ABETTERS That same Adherents and Abetters goes a Great way and needs Another Explanation But what 's the Quarrel now A most Pernicious and Hellish Plot to Destroy All that the Associators have by Solemn and Sacred Promise Engaged Themselves to Preserve And now for the Adherents and Abetters There are Several Sorts of them There are the Plotters Themselves the Duke of York the Mercenary Forces alias the Guards The Officers that the Dukes Interest has brought in both by Sea and Land and All that HAVE ANY WAYS Adher'd to Him or Them And All such as SHALL Adhere unto Him. So that here is an Association against the King Himself for Adhering unto his Brother and Consequently against All the Kings Loyal Subjects for Adhering to Him that Adher'd to his Royal Highness which is only a Degree or Relation of Adherency once Remov'd But How now is This same Adherency to be Vnderstood What is it that is here Call'd an Adherency And how far does it Extend Any man that shall Séek by Force to Set up the Duke's Pretended Title or raise any War Tumult or Sedition for Him or by his Command Or that upon any Title whatsoever shall Oppose the Iust and Righteous Ends of This Association Or in fine that shall ANY WAYS Adhere which is an Vnlimited Latitude and reaches to Thought Word and Deed That Man is an Adherent Allways Provided God Save the King I hope No No. Without any Respect of Persons or Causes 'T is against the Duke of York or any other that hath any ways Adhered to the Papists in their wicked Designs So that This League is as Particularly Levell'd at the King for Refusing to pass a Bill of Exclusion as the Votes of Ian. 7. 1680. was at the Noble Lords there for Advising the King to Refuse it Well! Again And What Course is to be Taken at last with These Papists and Adherents Why the Associators will Endeavour Entirely to Disband All Mercenary Forces They will by all Lawfull Means and by Force of Arms if néed so require Oppose the said Duke of York and Endeavour to Subdue Expell and Destroy him if he comes into England and All such as shall Adhere unto him They will also with their Ioynt and Particular Forces
draw from This Preposterous way of Proceeding is that the Whole Story from End to End was a Practice that the Suborners of the Perjury were also the Protectors and the Patrons of it Both under One And that they had their Accomplices in the House of Commons upon This Crisis of State that play'd the same Game which their Fore-fathers had done upwards of Forty Years before The Earl of Shaftsbury a Busie Man in our Late Troubles BUt after the History of the Wickedness of These People it will be Needfull to look a little into the Woe they Wrought us Or at least to Compute upon the Calamitous Infelicities of That Season and Whence they took theâ—r Rise The Man knows little of the Histoâ—y of Our Troubles that 's a Stranger to the Life Practice and Character of the Late Earl of Shaftsbury who had the Wit in All Changes and Revolutions of State still to Turn Tail to the Weather and Swim with the Tyde And he did This too by Nature as well as by Application for beside the Advantages of a Mercurial Humour a Ready Tongue And a Dext'rous Address he had none of Those Vulgar Barrs upon him of Honour Shame or Conscience to put any Checque to the Impetuous Course of his Ambitious Lusts I am not upon the Story of his Life but it shall serve My Purpose to say that thorough All the Vsurpations from Forty to Sixty he came Sailing down still before the Wind and so from that time forward steer'd by the same Compass ON November 17. 1672. His Lordship being already Chancellour of the Exchequer and one of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury was further Advanc'd by his Majesty to the Keeping of the Great Seal with the Title of Lord Chancellour of England And upon the 8th of November 1673. He was Discharg'd of That Commission Upon the Opening of the Parliament Feb. 5. 1672. His Lordship in a Large and Elegant Speech Blesses God and the King as follows LEt us Bless God that he hath given us such a King to be the Repairer of our Breaches both in Church and State and the Restorer of our Paths to dwell in That in the midst of War and Misery which Rages in our Neighbours Countrys our Garners are full and there is no Complaining in our Streets c. Let us Bless God that he hath given This King Signally the Hearts of his People and most Particularly of This Parliament Let us Bless the King for taking away All our Fears and leaving no room for Jealousies for those Assurances and Promises he hath made us Let us Bless God and the King that our Religion is Safe That the Church of England is the Care of our Prince That Parliaments are Safe That our Properties and Liberties are Safe What more hath a Good Englishman to Ask but that This King may Long Reign and that This Triple-Allyance of King Parliament and People may never be Dissolv'd HIs Lordships Matters as yet went Merrily on and his Good Humour kept pace with his Good Fortune But so soon as ever the Wind came about All these Blessings were thrown over the Left Shoulder The Clouds began now to Gather and soon after Discharge themselves in a Storm upon Papists and Publique Ministers In This Mood they brought-on the Bill about the Test whereof Andrew Marvel for the Honour of his Noble Patron gives This Account The Parliament having met the 5th of Feb. 1672. Prepared an Act before the mony-Mony-Bill Slipt thorough their Fingers by which the Papists were Obliged to Pass thorough a New State-Purgatory to be Capable of Any Publique Employment Vpon this Occasion it was that the Earl of Shaftsbury though then Lord Chancellor of England yet Engaged so far in Defence of That Act and of the Protestant Religion that in due time it Cost him his Place and was the First Moving Cause of all Those Mis-adventures and Obloquy which since he lies ABOVE not UNDER IT deserves a Note the Libellous Deduction Marvel gives the World of the Kings Administration of Affairs as well Before as After This Celebrated Exploit of my Lord Shaftsbury's in a flat Contradiction to his Lordships Character of the King and to his Report of the Happy the Safe and the Peaceable State of the Government For whoever reads That Pamphlet will find it only an Artificial Scandal Imposture Cast-out to the Multitude upon set Purpose to make his Majesty Odious to his People One would have thought that the Gaining of the Test-Bill should have set their Hearts a little at Ease but That was not sufficient without calling for Fast upon Fast Raising the Militia Voting down the Guards Enquiring into Publique Grievances c. which being Said and Done with a Noverint Vniversi in the Eyes and Ears of the Nation is all one in many Cases with Ringing the Bells Backward and Firing the Beacons as if the Town were a Burning or an Enemy Landed and as far as Black-Heath in their March to London And all upon the Old and Everlasting Ground of Iealousie and Apprehension still That is to say BECAVSE The Restless Practices of Popish Recusants threatn'd the subversion both of Church and State. The Wheel was now in Motion and they drove like Iehu 'till they Dropt at last into Otes's Bottomless Plot. Shaftsbury had been a long time at the Trade of Fast and Loose and what with Industry Craft Malice and Experience the Fittest Man perchance in the Three Kingdoms to be the Head of a Faction And he was the Fitter for 't because his very Inclination prompted him to Mischief Even for Mischiefs sake It was his Way and his Humour to Tear All to pieces where he could not be the First Man in Bus'ness Himself And yet All this while his Faculty was rather a Quirking way of Wit then a Solidity of Iudgment and he was much Happier at Pulling-down then at Building-up In One Word He was a man of Subtlety not of Depth and his Talent was Fancy rather then Wisdom His Arts were Popular and after All his Politiques he was as great an Hypocrite in his Vnderstanding as in his Manners But the Best Incendiary yet upon the Face of the Earth for he had an Excellent Invention and a Protesting Face without either Faith or Truth Now when the Common People are to be Couzen'd One Imposture puts off Another and False Conclusions follow Naturally upon False Premises This is the Brief of his Character from those that knew and understood him Best and a man cannot do Right to the History without giving the Next Age a True Account of a Person that had so Great a Hand in the Confusions of This 'T is with the Mobile as with the Waters the very Blowing upon them makes them Troublesom and Dangerous and in the End to Overflow their Banks His Author sets him forth as the Great Advocate and Champion for the Bill of the Test and makes him Effectually
a Martyr for the Meritorious Services he did in That Act both to Church and State. It is most Certain that he was a great stickler in 't and it is No less Certain that he was afterward as Violent for the Bill of Exclusion and for Stripping the Roman-Catholique Lords and Commons of the Vndoubted Privileges of their Birthright Nay and of the Common Benefits of Life Liberty and Property either as Reasonable Creatures or as Members of a Political Body As to his Protestant Zeal All the world knows that he was not a man to Burn at stake for his Religion and if he Propos'd to himself the same End in what he did for the Test and what he did some years after for the Plot the Association and Exclusion he had undoubtedly in his eye the Ruine of the King the Duke of York and the Monarchy from First to Last and Designed the One as well as the Other for an Expedient toward the Gaining of his Point It looks unluckyly too that Marvel should with the same Breath so much Extoll both the Lord and the Project for his Whole Book is a Train of Scandal upon the King and of Treason against him from End to End. The Scribler and the Peer were Both Men of Parts They Knew what was for their Turn and what Not and it was Impossible for any thing to please them in Government that was not Pernicious to the State. This appear'd abundantly by the Sequel For Marvels Pamphlets and This Peers Practices were the Main Incentives and Encouragements to the Following Rebellions To Close This Head It was the Removal of the Lord it seems that brought on the Desperate Apprehensions of Popery for in one and the same Year his Lordship found no Danger of it at All and yet No Living for Fear on 't without any Visible Cause of Change Intervening Now when Another Generation shall come to look into the Hurry and the Distraction of These Times they cannot but in Reason presume that there was some Mighty Bus'ness in 't to Produce such Wonderful Effects Little Imagining that Otes's Popish Monstrous Snake in the Grass should be found at last to be but a Glow-worm But now to the State of the Kingdom upon the coming of This Blasphemous Saviour of the Nation into the World. A Short View of the Miseries that this Plot brought upon us I am at a loss in the Infinite Variety of Miseries that I have now before me Where to Begin Here 's Soul and Body Life Liberty and Estate Peace of Mind Religion Reputation Charity Truth and Iustice All in fine that can be Dear to a Nation to a Christian or to a Man to the Present Age or to Posterity All This I say at stake and All these Privileges Interests Rights and Duties Swallowed up in a Licentious and Abandon'd Contempt and Violation of All Obligations Sacred and Prophane How many People had we that under the Temptations of Fear Avarice Malice Revenge Envy Ambition Sold themselves to Work Wickedness play'd the Hypocrites with God and the King and Betray'd them Both under the Masque of Loyalty and Religion How many Instances had we of people that had no Other Choice before them but either to Hang or Damn and of Persons that made their Election some the One way and some the Other Only so much Money Cast-in on the Swearing-side as if it had been upon an Estimate betwixt the Body and the Soul to make the Scales Even And so much for Soul and Body Now to Proceed How many Lives taken away by Perjury and Subornation And what Security had Any man for his Life when the Kingdom ran as Quick of False Witnesses as a Cony-Warren of Rabbets and Every mans Breath lay at the Mercy of a Couple of Reprobated Villains Where was the Free-born Subjects Liberty When the Kings Witnesses were only the Re-publicans Beagles to Draw Dry-Foot to the Door of Every Honest or but Suspected Honest Man When Priest-Hunters and Prince-Hunters were One and the Same sort of People What an Intelligence was there betwixt the Evidences and the Catch-Poles When Knights of the Post made More Rogues then the Government had provided Prisons to Receive them When the English of Resolv'd upon the Question was only Take him Iaylor When Mittimus-es ran without Cause shewn and Commitments as Arbitrary as their Keepers-Fees When men were Taken-up and Spirited away without Warrants and made Slaves contrary to Law. What Title had any man to his Estate when a Pair of Affidavit-Sparks Match't like Indentures could Swear him Out on 't When Guinneys pass'd for Popish Medalls Crucifixes for the Reliques of Superstition Choice and Historical Pictures in Honour and Memoriall of the Christian Profession When These Paintings I say went for the Remains of Idolatry When Ordinary Drinking-Plate pass'd for Chalices and men were Rifled Robb'd and Vndone by the Basest of Felons under the Masque of Zeal and Conscience This was Undenyably our Condition in the Matters of Life Liberty and Estate Now to the Next Point of Peace of Minde What could be more Miserable then to live in Perpetual Fears Ielousies Frights and Alarums In fear for the Kings Life the Protestant Religion The Peace of the Government Tyranny Popery Slavery In Fear for Souls Bodies and Fortunes Fires Massacres Portugal-Black-Bills and Smithfield-Faggots In Fear of All that it was Possible for us to Lose or to Suffer and under an Incurable Ielousie of our Governours and our Friends that they meant to Betray us and to bring All These Evils upon us And so for Frights and Alarums Our Danger was to come from All Quarters of the Heavens College Searches the Cellars in the Palace-Yard for fear of Gunpowder There was the Black-Heath Army The Purbeck-Invasion the City-Guards to be Doubled Shaftsbury and Tonge to be Murder'd as Godfrey was And what did they say for All This now Why the Pulpits are Wise and They tell of Squibbs and Fire-Balls to make Sport for the Philistins Such a Lord sat up all night with his Pistols and Blunderbusses about him for fear of a Rising The House knew what they Did when they Voted the Guards to be a Grievance and the Militia to be Rais'd at a Days Warning What Peace of Minde could there Be or rather What Horror of Thought did not they Endure that liv'd under the Continual Agony of These Terrours Neither were we one jot more at Ease in the Matter of Religion for they Bely'd the very Religion that they pretended to and the Practices of the Faction ran directly Counter to All the Precepts of the Gospel Treachery was call'd Truth and Faith. Slander was only Liberty of Speech Perjury was Hallow'd by the Lips and Credit of a Kings-Evidence Forgery if Detected was but a Mistake Rebellion a True Protestant Association A Shamm-Narrative pass'd for the Discovery of a Damnable Hellish Popish Plot and the People were Stirr d-up and Instructed to Hate and Persecute the
is This Let him be Detected of a Thousand Falsities A man is Pop't in the Mouth with this Answer Where 's your Record Why You might have Indicted him If you can Produce a Record you say Something when yet to my Certain Knowledge Means have been made by Application and Petition for Leave to Prosecute him for Perjury according to the Ordinary Methods of Common Iustice and there was no Obtaining of it This in one Instance for All was the Case of Mr Cox a Linnen-Draper in Covent Garden who Frankly and Honestly made the Attempt and he was only Brow-Beaten Repuls d and Baffled for his Pains I would fain get over This Topique but the Nature the Reason and the Importance of the Subject in hand forces me to be yet a little more at Large It will now come into Course to see what Quarrel it is that SrWilliam Iones had to the Testimony of Mr. Lydcot First as he was Secretary to the Earle of Castlemain he was True to his Lord. 2 ly In the Honour and Freedom of a Companion to Him He was Iust to his Noble Friend 3 ly In taking Notes for my Lords Service who was himself Concern'd in Otes'es Accusation He did no more then what in Generosity Good Faith Common Humanity Tenderness and Prudence he was Bound to do He took Notes that he might be able upon any occasion in the Future to bear Witness to a Truth which Truth would have been as much Against my Lord if he were Guilty as For him if he were Innocent and the Service he Intended my Lord by These Notes was only the Attesting of a Truth on his Behalf in Confidence of his Integrity The Want of an Evidence in This Case would have been Just as Mortal as the want of a Record in the Other before Spoken of and mens Lives were Lost both ways in This Controversy for want of a Legal Proof of an Indubitable Truth So that here 's a short Result of the Stress of the Exception First Block-up the way to an Enformation of Perjury against a Forsworn Varlet and Then Hang-up an Honest Man for Want of one Make it a Misdemeanor and a Scandal High enough to Incapacitate any man for a Witness that shall Presume to take Notes in a Popish Cause and then Truss-up the Pretended Traytor though never so Innocent for want of an Evidence to Prove what was Said or Sworn upon such a Tryall Why This looks like Lying in Wait for Bloud when they find they Cannot reach a Man upon a Guilt of Fact to Ty-him-up by Surprize for either Ignorance or Neglect upon a Formality of Proof But in One Syllable now From a General Contemplation or Supposition of the Case to the Real Condition and Quality of that Case as it was found afterwards before a Court of Iustice in Truth and in Effect No man was More Press'd or Harder put to 't and no man put himself more Franckly upon his Iustification then my Lord Castlemaine I remember what Pains was taken upon his Lordships Tryal to make a Witness of Dangerfield A Wretch of a Character to bring an Infamy upon a Common Iayl. And I remember an Oath of Otes'es there in a Flat Contradiction to what he Swore in my Lord Staffords Tryal I have a Charge of High Treason says Otes against That Man one Mr. Hutchison an Evidence against him for Seducing me from my Religion My Lord I will Swear he Turn'd me to the Church of Rome and I desire it may be Recorded Lord Castlemain's Tryal fol. 51. Upon the whole Matter his Lordship was acquitted with Honour and to the Confusion of his Enemies and it is but a Bare Iustice Abstracted from All other Considerations to say that no Man Lâ—ving perhaps has given a more Vncontestable Proof of his Faith and Affections to the Crown then Himself And as to Mr Lydcot now Sr Iohn Lydcot and Worthily advanc'd to a more Honourable Station It is beyond Question that he Behav'd himself in This Office toward both the Government and my Lord Castlemaine with a Resolution and Integrity Answerable to the Character of a Man of Honour There have been so many Hares Started in my way and the Change of Subject has Carry'd me into so many Digressions that I had almost forgot one Passage which though formerly Cited Cannot be well Pass'd over in this Place There were Certain Quaeries offer'd to the House of Commons by the Sheriffs of London and Midl Dec. 23. 1680. about the Kings Prerogative in Dispensing with any part of the Sentence upon My Lord Stafford upon which occasion Sir W. I. Deliver'd his Opinion and Advice in These Words It is probable that the Royal Power hath always Dispensed with such Sentences formerly and if so This House Lyeth not under any Obligation to offer at any Opposition nor Concern themselves herein Especially at This Time when such a Dispute may End in Preventing the Execution of the said Lord Stafford And Therefore I humbly Conceive you may do well to give your Consent that the said writ be Executed according to its Tenure Collections p. 215. Here 's an Indubitable Prerogative subjected to a Question The Resolution given is that It is Probable c. Mr Attorneys Advice is Not to Offer at any Unseasonable Opposition for fear My Lord Stafford's Life might be Sav'd by 't Theâ—efore says he 〈◊〉 Give your Consent For the Avoiding of Confusion I have Interjected where there was Room Convenient for 't Some Remarques and Reflexions upon the Attorny Generalls State of the Evidence and upon the Progress of his Animadversions in the Further Prosecution of that Pretended Popish Cause as well in the Quality of a Kings Councel upon the Tryals of Green Berry and Hill as in That afterward of a Principal Manager of the Evidence against my Lord Stafford This did not yet Hinder the Saving to my self the Liberty of a Word or Two more upon the Whole Matter at Last There are Three General Points that fall Naturally under Consideration in This Place First Did the Kings Witnesses as the Law Terms them Agree in their Evidence or Not 2 ly If they did Not Agree Where and How does That appear Did they Swear One Thing at One Time and Another Thing at Another Was not their Evidence in Court the Same with that before the King and Councel The Kings Iustices of the Peace the Two Houses and the Committees 3 ly Was Sir W. I. Sufficiently Arm'd and Instructed with All Necessary Powers and Papers for the Perfect Vnderstanding of the Matter both in the Whole and in Every Part To These Three Questions I return These Three Answers First That there are Disagreements and Inconsistencies in the Evidence both Ioyntly and Severally that are Utterly Impossible to be Reconcil'd 2 ly I appeal for the Proof of This to the Council-Books The Lords Iournal and the Printed Tryals even under All their Partialities where their Depositions many times are no more
61. Order'd to Manage the Fire at the Hermitage 71. To carry the White-Horse Consult from Company to Company fol. 18. And was not Our Discoverer Privy to Wakeman's Poyson Conyers'es Dagger Pickerings Screw'd-Gun and the Silver Bullets The History of the black-Black-Bills the Pilgrims Ruffians and the Levies of Men and Mony c. Was not Otes privy to a matter of Eighteen Commissions Military and Civil under the Hand of Ioannes Paulus De Oliva by Vertue of a Brief from the Pope as he Swore before the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs One of them to Iohn Lambert to be Adjutant-General to the Army and Nine or Ten of them Deliver'd with his Own Hand Was he not Privy in fine to the Price of the Whole Villany to a Single Six-Pence So that as to the matter of Privity the Privity of Habernfeld and his Principal is quite Out-done by the Privity of Tong and Otes who according to their Narrative and Pretensions were Vndoubtedly Privy to Fifty times more then ever any Two men upon the face of the Earth were Privy to before them The Discoverer says the Preface again was Troubled in Conscience and Therefore Disclosed the Conspiracy Renounc'd That Bloudy Church and Religion though Promised Greater Advancements for his Diligence in This Design Ib. And what was it but Horror of Conscience too if we may believe Oaths either Iudicial or Extrajudicial that made our Converted Discoverers whether Papists Bred-up or Proselyted to Disclose This Popish Treason and to Renounce That Bloudy Religion in Defiance of All Offers of Rewards and Advancement Was not Dugdale to have 500 l. Lord Staffords Tryal p. 43. And to be Sainted Ib. 44. Was not Bedloe to have 4000 l. in the Case of Godfrey Greens Tryal p. 30. And might not Otes and all his Fellows have come in for Their Snips to if their Consciences would have Touch'd But This Plot was Discover'd under an Oath of Secrecy says the Preface and the Discoverer Offer'd his Own Oath too in Confirmation of the Particulars Ib. What was Bedloes Sacrament of the Altar Twice a Week to Conceal the Plot Greens Tryal fol. 33. but an Oath of Secrecy Dugdale took at least Ten Sacraments of Secrecy Sr George Wakemans Tryal p. 10. Otes an Oath of Secresy at Weld-House-Chappel Irelands Tryal p. 28. And then there was Another Oath of Secrecy taken at Fox-Hall too And so for the Rest Our Discoverers did not only Offer but Deliver their Own Oaths in Confirmation of Every Article Habernfeld Discovers Persons Places and Times of Meeting too Ib. And does not Otes Discover the Lords in the Tower and such Others of the Nobility and Gentry as are in the Conspiracy See his Narrative from fol. 61. to the End. Their Priests Iesuits and Papists of All Sorts The Times and Places of their Meetings Even to the Year Week Day Nay and sometimes to the very Hour One while at the Savoy Another while at the White-Horse Russel-Street Weld-Street and the like Well! But Habernfeld's Principal Conspirators are known to be Fit Instruments for such a Design Ib. And are not Otes'es as Fit Instruments as Habernfelds The Principals are most of them Men of Quality Brains Interest and Estate and Consequently better Qualify'd then other People for the Execution of any Mischief they have a Mind to Beside that as 't is a Popish Plot they are not only to be All Roman Catholiques but All made Principals too without leaving so much as One Soul of them to Witness for Another Now as there 's no Means of Clearing them on the One hand saving by Palpable Blunders and Contradictions on the Part of the Accusers So if any of 'em will Swear to the Hanging-up of his Fellows on the Other Hand he is presently made Sacred under the Character of a Kings Evidence and Touch not his Majesties Witness carries more Authority along with it then Touch not the Lords Anointed The Preface says further that Sir W. Boswell and the Arch-Bishop if not the King Himself were fully Satisfy'd that the Plot was Reall Ib. Men may be Satisfy'd in the Reality of a Thing and yet Mistaken about it As we have found many Men in Both Plots that have Seem'd to be Satisfy'd and yet afterward abundantly Convinced that they were Abus'd So that the Belief of a Thing does not Necessarily Inferr the Truth of it but it must be the Work of Time and Scrutiny to Perfect the Discovery Neither do I find Effectually that there was so much Credit given to Habernfelds Plot as is here Suggested A Nemine Contradicente is No Article of my Faith Though it says that There Is and Hath been a Damnable and Hellish Plot Contriv'd and Carry'd on by Popish Recusants for Assassinating and Murdering the King for Subverting the Government and Rooting-out and Destroying the Protestant Religion Commons Iournal Oct. 31. 1678. Though I must Confess they had One Powerfull way of Convincing Men by the Argument of Swearing them out of their Reputations Lives Liberties and Fortunes if they would Not Believe it The Parallel holds thus far Exactly and we 'le see now how it Suites with the Minutes of Habernfelds Letter to the Arch-Bishop which I have made as short as I can for the Readers Ease and for my Own. The Minutes of Habernfelds Letter Beside Expectation This Good Man says Habernfeld speaking of the First Discoverer became Known unto me p. 1. By the same Providence it was that Otes Bedloe Prance and Twenty more of our Plot-Merchant-Adventurers came Acquainted Bedloe Swore to the Lords that he did not know Otes 'till it came out by Providence that he knew him as Ambrose but not as Otes And so Otes to requite his Kindness knew Williams though he did not know Bedloe 'T was such another Wonderfull Providence Bedloes knowing Prance over a Pot of Ale at Heaven after he had Enquired and been Told which was Prance in the Commons-Lobby Damme says Bedloe That 's one of the Rogues that Murder'd Sr Edmundbury Godfrey As to the Scottish Stirs he speaks of p. 1. Otes'es Missionaries Answer Habernfelds Scotch Lords of whom hereafter The Factions of the Iesuits thorough England and Scotland p. 2. and the Discoverers Descant we have in Dr. Beale's Readings to Tong upon them Otes'es Narrative â—its the Adjacent Writing there spoken of Ib. Habernfeld got Free Liberty to Treat Ib. And so did Tong. There must be No Delay says Habernfeld Ib. Make Otes'es Enformation a Record Immediately says Tong And so away goes the One to Sr William Boswell Ib. the Other to Sr Edmund-bury Godfrey And now forward As Some Principal Heads in Habernfeld's Relation were purposely Pretermitted p. 3. So Bedloe shorten'd his Evidence against Whitebread and Fenwick in the Iesuits Tryal and Swore Further after he had Sworn All Before And so did Otes and the rest Purposely Pretermit many things
of Christian Charity suffers them not to Conceal These Things Yet both from his Majesty and the Lord Arch-Bishop some Small Exemplar of Gratitude will be Expected p. 8. These are the very Reasonings and Pretences of Ezrel Tong put into the Mouth of Titus Otes No Figments So help me God No Thought of Gain but Pure Zeal and Christian Charity to work upon the Discoverers But yet some Small Exemplar of Gratitude will be Expected as a matter of Ten or Twelve Pound a Week-Pension for Otes and the Value perhaps of Four or Five times as much more in Presents and Veils A Deanery or some such Trifle for Tong. What is All This but a Flat Contradiction thrown in the very Face of the Pretext It is as Clear as Day that Tong and Habernfeld in All Things Material Walk Hand in Hand thorough the Whole Story But to avoid Idle Repetitions as much as may be I shall in the Next Place make a Short Abstract of Habernfeld's Last and Long Paper of Intelligence and so Finish my Parallel It bears This Following Title And from thence I shall Proceed to the Heads of it The Large and Particular Discovery of the Plot against the King Kingdom and Protestant Religion and to raise the Scottish Wars p. 13. The A King is in Danger of his Life and Crown B England and Scotland to be Subverted The Discoverer of This was Born and Bred in the C Popish Religion being D Fit for the Design p. 13. He was E sent over by Cardinal Barbarini F Troubled in Conscience and G came over to the Orthodox Religion H Reveal'd the Treason to a Friend I Put the Particulars in Writing out of which were drawn K. Articles p. 14. He falls upon the L Iesuitical Off-spring of Cham. p. 15. The M Society are the Conspirators The N Popes Legat is their Chief Patron They hold their O Weekly Intelligences p. 16. Cuneus the Instrument of the P Conjur'd Society He Presents the King with Roman Curiosities Promises but Means it not to Espouse the Cause of the Palatinate p. 17. Offers the Bishop a Cardinals Cap makes use of Court-Instruments and Mediations p. 18. But finding All in Vain Q Ambushes were to be Prepar'd wherewith the Lord Arch-Bishop together with the King should be Taken p. 19. They pass R Sentence against the King and lay hold of the Indignities put upon Prynne Burton and Bastwick and the Scotch Service-Book to stir up the Puritans to a Revenge Some Scottish Popish Lords are sent to Enflame S Scotland by which the T Hurtfull Disturber of the Scottish Liberty might be Slain V An Indian Nut provided by the Society and shew'd to the Discoverer in a W Boasting Manner To Poyson the X King after the Example of his Father p. 21. Hamilton's Chaplain Private with Cuneus A Chaplain of Richelieu's sent over to Assist the Conspiracy A Character given of Sr Toby Mathews p. 22. And an Account of his Intelligences Haunts and Meetings p. 23. The Story of Reade over again p. 24. Iesuits Letters and Meetings And Y All the Papists of England Contributing to the Design p. 25. One Widow Gave Forty Thousand Pound English toward it And Others beyond their Ability in Proportion He follows This with a Ramble upon Several Persons by Name that were dipt in the Conspiracy And further with This Remarkable Discovery The President of the aforesaid Society was my Lord Gage a Jesuit Priest Dead above Three Years since He had a Palace Adorn'd with Lascivious Pictures which Counterfeited Prophaneness in the House but with them was Palliated a Monastery wherein Forty Nuns were Maintained hid in so Great a Palace It is Scituated in Queen Street which the Statue of a Golden Queen Adorns The Secular Jesuits have bought All This Street and have Reduced it into a Quadrangle where a Jesuitical College is Tacitly built with the Hope that it might be Openly finish'd as soon as the Universal Reformation was begun p. 29. To pass a Short Note now upon the Whole The Design upon the A King and B England and Scotland is the General Scope of Otes'es Plot. He pretends to come over from C the Popish Religion No man Fitter for the D Design E sent over F Troubled in Conscience and G Converted The General of the Iesuits at Rome and the Provincial Here did the Parts of Cardinal Barbarini and the Popes Legat. Otes H Revealed the Treason to Tong and I put the Particulars in Writing out of which Tong Extracted K Articles Otes makes M the Society the Conspirators The Provincial serves for N The Popes Legat. The O Weekly Intelligences Grove took an Account of and for Instruments of the P Conjur'd Society Otes'es Narrative has them in abundance The Q Ambushes were laid in St. Iames'es and at Windsor The R Sentence pass'd at several Consults The Rebellion in S Scotland by Irritating the Puritans was Manag'd by Otes'es Missionaries and the King to be Murder'd as the T Hurtfull Disturber of their Liberties Wakemans Poyson was V the Indian Nut and Cuneus's Boasting of it Answers Conyers'es shewing Otes the Dagger in Grays-Inn-Walks Habernfelds Talk of Poysoning the X King after the Example of his Father was Match'd both in the Narrative of Otes'es Plot and Expressly in his Epistle before that Narrative to the Eternal Infamy of the Reporters of it And as Habernfeld Y makes All the Papists of England to be Concern'd in This Conspiracy so Otes in his Epistle and Narrative has made an Vniversal Plot on 't Only we want a Forty-Thousand-Pound Widow to Perfect the Parallel But That Defect is Amply Supply'd in Irish Contributions and Other Secret Services As to the Foolery of the Last Paragraph the Man must be a Great Stranger to London as well as to Common Sense that can look upon it as any other then a most Extravagant Foppery and without any Colour or Coherence After This Large Discovery as the Enformer Pretends comes a Summary in Eleven Heads of the Whole Matter which is only the same over again and is Answer'd over again by the same Parallel Only the 10 th Clause has an Expression in it Worthy of Remarque Some says he of the Principal Vnfaithful ones of the Kings Party are Notify'd by Name Many of whose Names Occur Not yet their Habitations are Known p. 31. Now in Otes'es Muster of the Conspirators it runs Whose Names Occurr at Present Nar. fol. 61. One would have thought they might have Vary'd the Phrase a little But our Modern Discoverers have been much better at Copying then at Inventing Witness This Whole Parallel and the Five Iesuits Letters It must not be Omitted neither that the Order of Politicians which Habernfeld speaks of p. 15. is Learnedly Turn'd forsooth into the Order of POLITITIANI by Otes in his Narrative Art. 53. In Conclusion here 's a Plot Copy'd-out to the Life and the Transcript a most Scandalous and Impious Cheat beyond all Controversy whatever the Original was
that the Men he had sworn against were All Innocent and that All he had sworn against them was False which he Affirmed with great Passion and Earnest Asseveration The Late Blessed King Pressing him in These very Words as I have good Authority for 't Upon your Salvation is it so Prance Replying Upon my Salvation the whole Accusation is False He was Carry'd thence to the Council where he fell down upon his knees also and Deny'd All that he had sworn at First Insomuch that the Duke of Monmouth Inferr'd that Certainly they had let Priests and Iesuits come to him he could Never have gone off as he did else He told the very same story to the King in Council upon the 30 th as he had done upon the 29 th To Conclude He stood Firm to This Denyal against All Terrors and Temptations from the 29 th of December to the 11 th of the Following Ianuary and his Carcass had not as yet gotten the full Mastery of his Conscience but when he once overcame That scruple He Proceeded by Degrees from a sin of Infirmity to the Habit of a Most Malicious Wickedness Though upon the VVhole Matter I have Charitable Reason yet to Believe that God has vouchsaf'd him the Mercy and the Grace of an Vnfeigned Repentance I should now come to take his Westminster-Hall Evidence to Pieces but telling his Tale by Book and having Little or No occasion to Change his Note His running the History over and over in his Evidence was in Effect but the so many times saying of the same Lesson again Not but that there are Blunders abundantly and Incongruities upon the Connexion that are never to be Justify'd or Reconcil'd As for Example Prance swears before the King and Council Decemb. 24. 1678. That Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey was Murther'd either the Latter end or the Beginning of the Week and afterward that the Body lay about Six or Seven Days in Somerset-house before it was Carry'd out But he swears Punctually upon the Tryals to the Saturday Morning Nay to the very Hour of Nine or Ten fol. 15. to the Dogging of him till about Seven to his coming to Somerset-house about Eight or Nine where he lay till Munday-Night and what became of him 'till Tuesday and so to the Chairing of him away to Prim-Rose-Hill upon Wednesday about Midnight which amounts to but Four Days from Saturday Night and from Munday but Two. But we shall have Work enough to Observe upon Contradictions and Absurdities when we come to Confront Prance and Bedloe One with Another and in the Mean time it shall suffice that he has given Himself the Lye with the Horridest Solemnity of Imprecations Imaginable in Denyal of Every Article of his Accusation Besides that he was as much Out when he was to shew the Duke of Monmouth and My Lord Ossory the Room in Somerset-house where the Body was First Lay'd December 24. as Otes was to bring the Earls of Ossory and Bridgwater to the Stair-Case that led to the Place where he Overheard the Queen speaking Treason Nov. 26. Nay My Lord Ossory Himself had such an Opinion of the Story that Mr. Vincent who was then Attending the Duke of Monmouth heard my Lord Ossory tell his Master upon Asking What he Thought on 't that it was All a Great Cheat. CHAP. VIII The Secret History of Prance's Condition from December 29. 1678. to January 11. 1679. and the Secret Manage of him in the Prison THE Readers Memory must be Refresh'd once again with it that Prance was Taken-up by the Lords Committees Examin'd and Committed to Newgate Decemb. 21. 1678. Finally Denying every Point that was Charg'd upon him On the 22 d. Shaftsbury c had the Handling of him as Captain Richardson well knows and by the Help of a Preparatory Paper of Instructions formerly spoken of Wrought upon Good Nature so far as the next Morning to obtain the Promise of a Pardon for him upon the Plot-Condition of Making out a Full and Perfect Discovery and on the same day he was Close Ply'd in the Prison with Two Committees one after another upon the Subject to Cross the Proverb of Confess and you shall Not be Hang'd On the 24 th he Deliver'd his Enformation at large to the King in Council from whence he was Remov'd back again and according to Order put into a Better Lodging There he continued near a Week with his Irons sometimes off sometimes on During which Time he was taken out by one of the Keepers who told him You are now going to be hang'd but they Carry'd him to my Lord Chief Iustice And upon his Refusal to Answer to Certain Interrogatories he was taken back again to Prison There pass'd Nothing Considerable till the 29 th and 30 th Upon which Two Days he did with Dreadful Imprecations Declare and Affirm both to the King and Council upon his Knees and upon his Salvation tho Those Words are left out of Mr. Chiffinche 's Evidence in the Tryal that his Depositions are wholly False and the Persons Innocent that he had Accus'd Affirming likewise to his Majesty and Council that he had no other Hints to the Story he had told then what he took from the aforesaid Paper of Instructions that was laid by him in the Condemn'd Hole in Newgate as is set forth in another place Now That which I call Prance's Secret History is the Account of what pass'd in the Interval betwixt his Falling off from his Former Evidence and his returning to it again a Parenthesis that lyes much in the Dark and a Period too Remarkable to be Bury'd in Silence Soon after This Vehement Denyal and Retractation of Prance's the Lords Committees Ian. 2. Order'd one William Boyce to Attend them about Miles Prance who accordingly with his Wife Attended their Lordships on the 4 th And being Interrogated upon the Enformation of Iohn Wren about Prances Lying abroad at His House they made This Answer WILLIAM BOYCE Enforms That upon Clapping up of the Jesuits into Newgate he was in a Coffee-House with Miles Prance who hearing thereof Lamented their Misfortune and openly Declar'd them to be such Honest Men that some of the Company said they would Complain of him to the Council-Board whereupon Prance being affraid did on Wednesday and Thursday Night the Second and Third of October Last come and lye at his House but never before nor since And the Wife of Boyce also being call'd-in Deposed the same Now This Enformation of Boyce Destroys the Oath of Iohn Wren that says he was out Tuesday and Wednasday Night when Godfrey was Missing and of Margaret his Wife that says he was Missing Four Nights that Week And so of Charles Manning and Elizabeth Trevor that swear to his Lying abroad some Nights More or Fewer betwixt the 12 th and the 17 th of October according to the Entryes of them made in the Council Books He Persisted in his Denyal of All and from the 30 th of December to the 8
th of Ianuary following what with the Deadly Cold and Nastiness of the Place the Distress of his Condition the Agony of his Thoughts under the Horror of Drawing upon himself the Guilt of Innocent Bloud and the Galling Weight of his Irons he lay in such Torments both of Body and Mind that he spent his Hours in Roaring and Groaning and Restlessly Exclaiming and Crying out Not Guilty Not Guilty No Murther And so the same Out-Cryes or Clamours at least to that Effect Over and Over that they had no way to Cover the Scandal and the Inhumanity of his Usage but either by Imputing the Anguish of a Wounded Conscience to the Ravings of a Distemper'd Brain or else to make a worse Matter on 't by Ridiculing a True Repentance into the Story of a Counterfeit Madness But when Things were at the worst Miles Prance was now and then by Fits as the Good Humour Prevail'd Eas'd of his Irons Comforted with Good Words and nothing of Manage Omitted for the bringing Him to Understand Reason Upon the 8 th of Ianuary 1678 9. Captain Richardson attended the Lords Committees about the Safe Custody of Miles Prance according to an Order of the Day before He was call'd-in to give some Enformation in Writing concerning him as Also the Enformation of his Servant Charles Cooper and it appearing to the Lords that Prance strives what he can to Counterfeit being Mad and that he spake Plainest when he was in Irons their Lordships therefore Direct Captain Richardson to return him to the Condition he was first in hoping by some Streightness he may be brought to stand to the Truth Their Lordships further Order'd that Dr. Lloyd the Dean of Bangor be Desired to Discourse with Prance in order to settle his Mind if there be any real Occasion for it and that Mr. Dean do attend their Lordships to Morrow to receive Directions therein On the Day following Dr. Lloyd Attended the Council-Chamber according to Order And thereupon a Letter of Instructions was sent to Richardson as folows Sir THe Lords of the Committees have This Morning Discoursed Dr. Lloyd the Dean of Bangor concerning Miles Prance and the Various Tempers he hath appeared in and their Lordships have Desired the Dean to try whether he can Compose his Mind by such Methods of Discourse and Persuasion as he shall think fit to use Wherefore the Lords Direct that you do from Time to Time permit Mr. Dean to have Access to him as he shall desire and as well All the Papers of Mr. Prance's Evidence here Depending as also what your Man Cooper hath Certify'd touching his Behaviour there have been sent to Mr. Dean for his Better Enformation c. It appears likewise upon the Council-Books that a Servant of Captain Richardson 's Attended their Lordships the same Day Cooper a Servant from Captain Richardson acquainted the Lords that he sate up last Night with Prance who is according to Directions put in Irons He says that he slept very Little and used much Raving Talk but having Drink by him and pretending to have spilt it by Flinging down the Vessel there did not appear one quarter of the Drink to be spilt That when he put on his Stockings having Stirrups within and one of them Tore he layd the Pieces over each other before he drew the Vpper Stocking on and having put on his Shoes with the Buckles Wrong he presently Alter'd them to Rights The Next day Ian. 10. Captain Richardson had another Letter about giving Boyce Liberty to Visit Prance in the Words following SIR THE Lords of the Committee did think fit This Morning to send for William Boyce who was an old Friend and Acquaintance to Miles Prance and believing that he may do much toward the Composing of the Mans Mind the Lords have Discoursed with him at Large and would have you also Enform him in what you can and to permit him from time to time to have Access to the said Prance and he will come and Enform the Lords how things do Pass which is all I have in Command from the Lords to signifie and am c. On the Next Day came Cooper again with Another Report from Newgate about Prance Charles Cooper Servant to Captain Richardson gave their Lordships an Account how that Prance had Yesterday Rav'd very much but in the Afternoon grew more Mild and desir'd to speak with Captain Richardson which he did and soon after Dr. Lloyd came to him That he rested well till Midnight but then fell to Rave Crying out frequently that it was not He Murther'd him but They kill'd him He having long forborn to Eat Cooper told him he would lose his Stomach if he did not Eat whereupon he fell to Eat very Heartily and having the last Night thrown in to him a Flock-Bed with a Piece or Two of Blanket to cover him he made use of all to his Conveniency rather than to Continue on the Boards On Ian. 11. Captain Richardson receives Another Letter as follows about Prance SIR THE Lords of the Committee having put into the hands of Dr. Lloyd his Majesties Warrant for Prance's Pardon and Instructions how to make use of the same you are to follow such Direction as the said Doctor shall give you either to the taking off Mr. Prance's Irons or for his Better Accomodation notwithstanding their Lordships former Order to the Contrary And the same Day Mr. Dean of Bangor tells their Lordships that having been several times with Prance he first found him very Sullen and Denying all but at last his Speech was Consistent and he desired the Doctor to come the next day as if then he would say more which the Doctor doing he appear'd very well compos'd and in good humour saying that he had Confess'd Honestly before and had not Wrong'd any of those he had Accus'd This Report of the Doctors is follow'd with another of Boyces of the same Date William Boyce who had also been with Prance tells the Lords That he Enquir'd for his Wife and was glad to hear she was not in Prison That he fear'd he should be Hang'd by what my Lord Shaftsbury told him That if he did not Confess and Agree with Bedloe in what Concern'd the Murther that he should be Hang'd He also seem'd to fear that Those Three whom he accus'd meaning Green Berry and Hill were set at Liberty That he would Confess All if he were sure of his Pardon That he desired to speak with the Lord Shaftsbury about Four Men that had a Design to Murther him Captain Richardson tells the Lords that Prance sent Yesterday for him while he was in his good Temper told him that Four Persons Named in the Following Warrant together with Young Staley and Himself were lately Drinking at the Cross-Keys over against Staley's Shop and that their Discourse was how that the Lord Shaftsbury was a great Persecutor of the Catholiques and must be taken off by shooting or some Other way and that he would have told
the Saturday when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey went away from his House Lawrence Hill a Servant to Dr. Godden came to the House of this same Cutler about Four in the Afternoon and there finding some Company they went to Whisk there being one Mr. Robert Belt Mr. John Moor Cutler Himself and others in the Company and that the said Mr. Hill did not stir from Cutler 's House till about Eight of the Clock when Hill 's VVife went to fetch him Home Now this has quite spoil'd the Fashion of Prance's Story of Green and Hill's Dogging of Godfrey from Place to Place at These very Hours But a Man can hardly set one Single Step in This Proceeding without a Stumble And from the Monday Night's Remove out of Hill's Chamber to the Twelve-a-Clock-Adventure on the Wednesday Night following to Primrose-Hill in the Face and yet out of the Sight it seems of the Guards and Watches is but the same Vnaccountable Foolery all of a Piece There was a Plot first to make out the Murther 2 ly To make a Plot on 't And Then to throw it up into the Air like a Paper-Kite with Protestant Religion Priviledges Liberty and Property at the Tayl of it to set the Mobile a Gaping So that it was to be made a Murther of the First Magnitude And they were in All Conscience and Reason to Assign some Cause or Provocation Answerable to so Nefarious a Fact And what was This but either Green's Revenge for Sir Edmund's bearing hard upon him about a Parish-Duty as Prance has it or to Force Examinations from him according to Bedloe's Project which Examinations were Already before the King and Council Sworn Copies of them in several Hands and the Witnesses then in Being to swear them over again Was This a Matter of Moment to move the Foundations of Three Kingdoms Or was there ever a more Senseless Pretext in Nature without either Weight in the One or Colour in the Other But there was a Third Reason yet which by the help of a Popular and a Mercenary Eloquence made more Noise then the other Two. And that was his Zeal for the Discovery of the Plot and the Enmity he bare to the Papists when it is yet Notoriously known that he believed it a Sham from the Beginning That he took Tong and Otes for a Brace of False Miscreants and that he was so far from being an Enemy to the Papists that in Cases of Need he did them All the Good Offices he could And now to come to the Chair-work A Chair it was that certainly dropt out of the Clouds for This Particular Service and went Thither again for we do not find that it was either Made a Purpose or who was the Owner of it nor whence it came nor whether it went at last Only Prance tells us that they set it in a new House by So-ho till they came back again c. Tr. pag. 20. And then we are to Imagin a Tall Stiff Body to be Crowded Into 't and then Carry'd off with Ropes to Cut any Man's Shoulders to the Bone a Brace of Bearers to 't that never set one Step in a Chair before And 't is a Thing of Time to Break your Chair-men to the Work that they may March and Trot together But the Body is by This Time Cas'd Hous'd Sedann'd Box'd-up or call it what you will. Now the Matter duly Consider'd the whole Train of the History is but One Insuperable Difficulty upon the Heel of Another Hill brought the Sedan They put him Into 't and upon a Hem in the Queens Court at Midnight Berry open'd the Gate fol. 19. In the Lords Iournal Dec. 24. It was but Half the Gate and the Single Wicket would have serv'd as well too and with Less Danger of giving the Alarm And this was All to be done and the Body and Chair-men to Pass Invisibly too for Nicholas Trollop Nicholas Wright and Gabriel Hesketh that were plac'd Centinels by Corporal Collet that Wednesday Night within the Gate saw nothing of All This though Trollops stood from Seven to Ten Wright reliev'd him at Ten and staid till One Hesketh reliev'd him at One and staid till Four. They all swear to the Night to the Hour to the Place and Positively that they kept to their Post and that there was No Sedan Pass'd out at Somerset-House that Night Berry's Maid Elizabeth Minshaw swears that her Master came Home That Night in the Dusk and was not an Hour Out 'till he went to Bed about Twelve Tryal pag. 68 69 70. Consider the Season too when there were Two Plots a-foot at once One upon the King and Another upon Godfrey And a Man could hardly walk the Streets without being taken for a Suspected Person And they were to pass in the very Teeth of the Watch too And why so Far when they went every Moment in Danger of their Lives And the Single Question of Who goes there would have Hang'd them All If they were but met and Examin'd they were Lost So that wherever they found the Coast Clear it would have been infinitely more for the Bearers Security and for the Impostors purpose too to have thrown the Body into the very Kennel before the Gate of the House Which would have given some Countenance to the Sham or at a Venture to have left both Chair and Body together Any where in the Open Street to have taken their Fortune Would any People in their Right Wits now ever have sworn such a Huddle of Inconsistencies and Contradictions into the Pretext of a True History where the Fact was not only False but so Easily Prov'd to be so Hill was gone abroad to Dog Sir E. Godfrey about Nine or Ten a Clock on Saturday Morning October 12. 1678. Tryal p. 17. This is Prance's Story And Elizabeth Curtis agrees with Mr. Prance Exactly in Point of Time as Mr. Attorney Observes Tryal p. 40. And this Elizabeth Curtis again is Sworn and Examin'd Tryal pag. 38. as Sir Edmund's Servant which was a monstrous great Hazard they ran to lay the Stress of an Evidence upon her Privity to Matters as a Servant in the House when it was Notorious that she was never so But only a Poor Woman that now and then did Chair-work for them Now Robert How Swears That upon That Saturday Hill and He were together from about Nine till One pag. 61. And Richard Lazenby Confirms How 's Testimony by his Evidence that they two Din'd with Hill that Saturday And Lazenby swears again that upon the Wednesday Night following he was with him from Five to Seven And yet this was the Hour that Girald Green and Hill had Dogg'd him into St. Clements Tryal pag. 20. And so for Elizabeth Curtis that swears Directly to the Particular Knowledge of Green and Hill fol. 39. Iudith Pamphlin that liv'd in the House with Sir Edmund deposeth quite another Matter And Avis Warrier does very notably Corroborate Pamphlins Evidence Pamphlin 's Deposition is This. Iudith Pamphlin
and Actions of the Persons the last Time they saw him CHAP. VI. What Endeavours were Vsed to lay the Death of Sir E. B. Godfrey upon the Papists THey began early to lay the Foundation of this Imposture by dealing it up and down among the People that somewhere or other Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murther'd by the Papists But sometime it was at One House sometime at Another and they were as much Puzled at First with the Shifting of the Story from This Place to That as Bedloe and Prance were afterward with the Removing of the Body but there was no Confidence or Industry wanting however toward Preparing the Multitude to swallow the Cheat As will appear by the Following Enformations Mr. Thomas Wynell Deposeth That enquiring of Mr. Welden for Sir E. B. Godfrey on Saturday early Afternoon when Sir Edmund was first Missing Mr. Welden looking this Enformant in the Face said to him to this effect Ah! Mr. Wynell You will never see him more This Enformant hereupon demanded of him What Ground he had to say so Adding withal to this effect You and I know very well that 't is a common thing for the said Sir Edmund to go out in a Morning so soon as his Justice Bus'ness is over and not come home till Night and no Apprehension all this while of any hurt to befall him Why should you be so suspicious then of any Ill for Two Hours Absence and at this time of the day Vnto which the said Welden made Answer to this Purpose To tell you the Truth says Mr. Welden His Brothers have been with me and are just now gone And they say the Papists have been watching for him a long time and that now they are very confident they have got him to which this Enformant objected to this effect Why should the Papists do Him any Hurt He was never observ'd to be an Enemy to them the said VVelden Persisting in the same Opinion as before This Enformant saith moreover That laying the Circumstances together of the Servants appearing at the Door as if all were not well in the House The Discourse of the said VVelden to this Enformant and a Remarkable Sadness which this Enformant observed upon the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Two or Three Days before he this Enformant was struck with an extraordinary Apprehension of some Fatal Disaster upon him This Enformant Finally saith that he hath often Discoursed all the Particulars in This Paper mentioned relating to Sir Edmundbury Godfrey from Time to Time in several Companies Mr. Thomas Burdet Deposeth That this Enformant well remembreth that Sir E. B. Godfrey and Mr. Wynell were by Appointment to Dine together That Saturday when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was said to be first Missing And saith That in an Afternoon about Two or Three of the Clock this Enformant met Mr. VVynell not far from Green-Lane in the Strand who said to this Enformant to this effect What have your People done with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey The Town says you have Murther'd him To which this Enformant Aâ—swered something with Admiration That he knew not what he meant To which Mr. Wynell Replyed That he had been at Sir E. B. Godfrey's House and at Collonel Weldens where they were to have Din'd and that it was a Report that the News of Sir Edmund's being Murther'd by the Papists came from his Brothers This Enformant verily believes that it was upon That Saturday when Sir Edmund was first Missing that This Enformant met Mr. VVynell the said Mr. VVynell speaking of it as a thing newly told him And this Enformant having heard nothing of the said Sir Edmund 's having Absented himself till as above it was told him by Mr. VVynell Richard Adams Deposeth Pursuant to the Discourse above That he met the Earl now Marquis of Powis at the End of Lombard-street with whom the Enformant had some Discourse and seeing one Mr. Harrison Nephew to Sir Edmundbury Godfrey on the other side of the Way He this Enformant begg'd my Lords Pardon to speak a Word to That Gentleman to enquire concerning the Truth of That Report Implying some Preceding Discourse of a Report Whereupon This Enformant pass'd over to Mr. Harrison enquiring of him the Truth of the Report concerning Sir Edmundbury Godfrey 's being murther'd who Replyed to this Enformant That he doubted the Report was too True and that he was Murther'd by the Papists And hereupon this Enformant return'd to the said Earl of Powis and told him what he heard from the said Mr. Harrison Mr. Edward Birtby also Deposeth That upon the Thursday after Sir Edmundbury Godfrey went from his House this Enformant went out of Town toward Leicestershire and came to North-Killworth in the Evening of the Day Following where this Enformant being in Company with one Mr. Belgrave and some others about Nine or Ten at Night while they were there together came a Letter to Mr. Belgrave Dated the Day before to the Best of This Enformants Memory and was brought by the Harborough Post to North Killworth being some Five Mile out of the Post-Road Mr. Belgrave read the Contents of the said Letter to the Company for so much as concern'd an Account of the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey saying Positively to the Best of this Enformants Memory That he was Murther'd by Papists Whereupon this Enformant reflected upon his having seen him in Drury-Lane as aforesaid and brake out into an Exclamation to this effect I pray God he has not Murther'd himself for hâ— looked upon the Friday before as if he were really Distracted This Enformant telling the said Company the Story as it is above Related Whereupon Mr. Belgrave observ'd upon it That if this Enformant had seen him so Lately and heard Nothing of it before he came out of Town he Hoped it was not True. This Enformant saith further That he wondred at the Letters of Thursday 's Post being brought that Night for he never Remembred any Letters of That Post in the Ordinary Course to come to Killworth before Saturday And further saith That this Enformant Travelling Two or Three Hundred Miles up and down the Country before his Return to London found the same Intelligence by the same Post in All Places where he came And saith also That the Letter before spoken of to Mr. Belgrave to the best of this Enformants Memory came from a Brother of the said Mr. Belgrave 's in London who liveth at Present as this Enformant believeth at Husbands Bosworth in Leicester-shire The Reader will observe I presume how quick they were in their Intelligence and what Care was taken to Change the very Course and Method of the Post to spread it so much the sooner Mr. Robert Whitehall Deposeth That upon the Sunday or Monday Next following the Saturday Whereupon Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was First Missing being at Georges Coffee-house in Freemans-yard a Considerable Citizen told him This Enformant upon Discourse that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murther'd by the Papists and that the Report came
have had Such a Superabundance of more Pregnant and Convincing Arguments and Evidences that I should not so much as have Mention'd This Particular but that there 's somewhat of Curiosity in it as well as of Use. We have now pass'd through the Several Points in order as they were laid down in the Course of our Distribution concerning the Sufficiency of the Proofs Produc'd The Sincerity of making the Best of them in Matters whereof the Examiners had Certain Knowledge the Competency of the Witnesses that were Summon'd and the Best Emprovement also of what they Did say and of what in Likelyhood and Reason they might be able to say More I shall pass now to a Consideration of some Witnesses that were not Summon'd and might have been more Serviceable in Common Probability to the Satisfaction of the Iury upon the Enquiry they had Then before them then any of the rest CHAP. XX. Mrs. Gibbon's Enformation Compared with the Coroners Report and the Matter submitted to All Indifferent Men whether the Design throughout was to Discover the Truth or to Stifle it With an Appendix for a Conclusion HEre 's a Subject a Magistrate a Master a Friend a Relation and an Acquaintance Lost in the Person of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and All these Circumstances are to be Consulted toward the finding out what is become of him Now in Order to such a Discovery a Man Naturally Bethinks himself somewhat to This Purpose What Confidences had he What Haunts What Persons were Most Privy to his Affairs his Ways and Humors What Servants Who saw him when he went away from his House Who saw him Afterward In whose Company was he Last c. There 's Nothing more Familiar or Reasonable then such Enquiries as These provided they be made in the Proper Place and Apply'd to the Right Persons So that the Brothers were well advis'd upon the First Missing of him to go to Coll. Weldens his Common Baiting-Place to hearken after him His Servant Pamphlin goes the Next day to Mrs. Gibbons upon the same Errand and so did the Brothers on the Munday as one of Sir Edmunds Ancient and Particular Friends It is to be taken for Granted that they did not Forget to Examine Sir Edmunds Domestiques What They Knew What they Thought What they Observ'd and it is as Little to be Doubted that the Servants gave them All the Lights they could upon such Questions The reason of the Thing Carry'd them still forward upon the same Train of Likely-hoods to Enquire of Parsons Mason Collins and the Milk-woman to Learn what he said What he Did How he Look'd Which way he Went c. and who knows but Such a Trayle might have brought them to the Ditch where he was found But to the Admiration of All People we do not find that any One of All These Persons Harry Moor only Excepted with his Lac'd Band was Formally and Publickly Examin'd about This Matter Nor so much as one Question put with any sort of Tendency or the Least Appearance of Good-will toward an Effectual Discovery as we have already Set forth in an Orderly Series of Observations upon This Topique And there Needs No Better Proof of This Assertion then the Testimony of the Enformations Themselves I find 't is true an Enformation of Mrs. Gibbons among the Coroners Papers but the Verdict was over before it was Taken It was by Command not by Choice and how it was Manag'd will appear upon a Collation of other Circumstances with the Enformation It was it seems by the Special Order of my Lord Chancellor Nottingham that Mr. Cowper the Coroner took This Enformation of Mrs. Gibbon and his Direction as he told her was to Examine her upon Oath what Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Said to her about a Fortnight before his Death As we shall see by and by This gives to Understand that the Matter in Question was a Thing of very great Importance for his Lordship would never have thought the Cause worth a Review if he had not been told something very Extraordinary concerning That Encounter Now to Expound the Story there was a very remarkable Passage upon a Visit that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey made to Mrs. Gibbons on Tuesday the First of October 1678. And That 's the Busness the Coroner was now to take an Account of But This Enformation has had the Fortune I perceive of the rest of it's Fellows to come into the World Lame and Imperfect to the Degree of Defeating the very Intent of the Examination But briefly Whatever it was the Coroner Undoubtedly Attended my Lord Chancellor with a Copy of the Enformation and an Answerable Report upon the Whole Matter as here under-follows Midd. ss The Enformation of Mary Wife of Thomas Gibbon Esq taken upon Oath before me SHE saith That about a fortnight last past in an Afternoon Sir Edmundbury Godfrey came to her House in Old Southampton Buildings and upon Discourse with her Ask'd her if she did not hear that he was to be Hang'd for not discovering the Plot against his Majesty for that He the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey had taken the Examination of one Otes and one Tong touching the same the 6th day of September and had not Discover'd it to any Person living whereupon this Enformant asked the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey why he had not acquainted the Duke of York or the Lord Chancellor or the Lord Treasurer with the same and Then This Enformant told the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey that she Suppos'd that what he then said was but in Jest touching his being Hang'd Whereupon he reply'd that he had not told Sir William Jones thereof although he had been at the said Sir William Jones his House Several times since and then told this Enformant that the King and Councel knew of the Plot before his Majesty went to Windsor which was about a Month before he took the said Examination Whereupon this Enformant ask'd him if he thought there was Really any Plot intended against his Majesty To which he reply'd that surely there Was but that Otes had Sworn Somewhat more then was True and therefore the Papists would find so much favour as to have All things that Otes had Sworn to be thought Lyes and Then This Deponents Brother Coll Rooke came into the Room and then the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey took his Leave of This Enformant saying that he was to Go to the Lord Chief Iustice about Bus'ness and said that he would Call on This Enformant some other Time and Tell her More and Since That Time she hath not seen Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and farther saith not Jo. Cowper Coroner Mary Gibbon There will be no great need of a Key to uncypher This Mystery if the Reader shall but duly Consider the Matter before him upon Comparing other Enformations of Mrs. Gibbons with This before the Coroner There 's One that Speaks Almost peculiarly to This Subject and Another that 's more General and at Large but I shall take so much