good Wishes pursue you ever Adieu I Hope my Love is well yet have I been much disturbed by ill Dreams of you I guess it might proceed from some Cold I have taken which perhaps made my Rest the more unquiet Your Company Early may help to dissipate my Melancholy Thought Adieu I Am glad to hear my Life finds her self better since her Sitting up I think you did very well in not Venturing out this Cold Weather be it any way for the Safety of your Health I take it kindly your Obedience but I meant only your Italian Breeches would do well to defend you from the Cold. Your Brother is here and we are going to divert at Back-gammon I joy in my Dears better Health Business is in a pretty forwardness and I hope will do well I han't time to enlarge but wish my Love a good Night's Rest and pray for the Continuance of your Health Who am ever Yours My Love I Fear the Weather will be Catching in If it Rain it will spoil our Diversion abroad But if my Love has a Mind to go to the Park I would have her with Mrs. Darnhill However I have Business after Dinner at the Temple and I will call at the Serjeants to know how you dispose your selves Adieu The very next ensuing Paragraph will explain the meaning and give you the reason of his writing this Letter My Love MY hopes are again vanish'd I have discours'd the Marshal and Mr. Framdon both and find it will not be permitted me to stir out and therefore do desire to see you and we will agree what to do in our Affairs For my Lord not being admitted to Bail was removed from Newgate to the King 's Bench Prison and there like to continue for a longer time than expected during which time finding it inconvenient for me to go and come to him every Day from my Sister's House in St. James's street the Marshal keeping him a Close Prisoner he took a Lodging for me at one Mrs. Fletcher's House in Southwark not far from the Marshal's House and such was his Care and Tenderness of me Mr. Fletcher Mrs. Fletcher Margaret Vassal Christopher Blower that he hired a Coach by the Week to bring me to him and never suffered me a Day from him nay scarce an Hour Entertained my Brother with all the Friendship and Kindness of a Brother Owned my Marriage and often assured him that as soon as he was out of his Troubles would do it publickly and his Servants attended me and paid me the respect due to his Wife upon all Occasions gave me Title of their Lady and your Honour declared to Mrs. Fletcher where I Lodged that I was his Lady and Wife tho' called Ridley In all this time I never heard the least Syllable of Mrs. Litster nor did she ever so much as appear either by her Self or Relations to my knowledge Nor did my Lord so much as acquaint me that he knew any such Person and so Matters continued whilst my Lord was in the King 's Bench. And by this time I hope I have given the Reader an undeniable Proof of my Lord 's Conjugal Affection to me during all the time of his Troubles Upon the Third of May 1693. He was by Habeas Corpus brought to Westminster in order to be Bailed and was that Day set at Liberty and as the Keepers were carrying him up he came to Mr. Fletcher's House where I lay and gave me Notice of his going to be Discharged from Prison with Orders to remove my Lodgings and go to my Sisters where he told me he would come to me as soon as his Business was done in Court And that Day as soon as he parted with his Bail he came to me at my Sister 's and from that time was daily and hourly with me carried me Abroad with him seldom Dined or Supped from me and in this appearance of Kindness and Friendship lived with me till June And then went upon some occasion to his House at Thistleworth where his Sister the Lady Katharine then lived where he made a stay of about Four or Five Days Upon his coming back he seemed very much altered and after some Discourse about the Sale of his Estate he told me It would be of Service to him for me to subscribe a Paper purporting a Disclaimer of my Marriage This Paper was in Form and ready prepared I was surprized at it upon the View of the Contents in so much that I utterly rejected it and told him That no Consideration should make me disown my Marriage but as to the Sale of his Estate that should be no hindrance For I was ready to join with him in any Act to make good any Contract of that Quality or Nature But this did not seem to satisfy and from that time he began to withdraw himself by little and little from my Conversation which gave me Jealousy that he had some ill Designs against me And shortly after hearing that he had carried Mrs. Litster to Thistleworth and kept her there I immediately sent for him and when he came told him That I would no longer conceal my Marriage but publish it to the World He used several Arguments to disswade me but not prevailing left me dissatisfied and in some Disorder and the next Day wrote me the Letter following THE News of your continued Health would be very acceptable to me for though I may have many false yet common Reports I hope will have no Influence over you to encourage you to a Breach of Promise after which you may be certain there never shall be any Correspondence betwixt us nor will I give you one Penny more for separate Maintenance than what the Law will allow You have your Choice whether you had rather disobey your Friends or me but if you comply with me in my Desires of Secrecy you may have hopes of possessing as much of my Love as ever and continue me Your Affectionate This Letter needs some Explanation The Secret meant in the Letter was a Promise I made to him to conceal my Name and Marriage when I came first into England and continue the Name of Ridley till he should think fit to let me appear publickly as his Wife But however by the Words Separate Maintenance it imports a plain Confession under his own Hand that I was and am his lawful Wife But however he persisting afterwards to keep Company with Mrs. Litster and I being informed that she pretended to be his Wife in July 1693. I libelled against him in the Spiritual Court and caused him to be served to answer which he seemed very unwilling to do and by his Advocate Dr. Pinfold proposed to give me Two Thousand Pound to disclaim my Marriage deliver up all my Papers Writings and Certificates relating to it and sign the same Paper or to the same Effect he had tendred to me before when he came from Thistleworth This being refused by me with this Declaration That I would
THE TRUE Countess of Banbury's CASE Relating to Her MARRIAGE RIGHTLY STATED IN A LETTER TO THE Lord BANBURY LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCVI ERRATA PAge 1. between the Words elsewhere and with all the Virulence Read tho' Page 27. these Lines The very next ensuing Paragraph will explain the meanning and give you the reason of his writing this Letter following Should have come in after the Letter in p. 28. THE Countess of Banbury's CASE MY LORD THE Esteem Duty and Affection I have ever had for your Lordship since our Marriage and the first Assurances of Love and Friendship between us has hitherto restrained me from doing my self right in any publick Vindication of my Honour and the Justice of my Cause to the World Because in so doing I must necessarily have exposed your Lordship to such a Degree that you your self must have joined in Opinion with your Fellow-Peers even against your self that is to say That in denying you the Honour and Privilege of Sitting with them in Parliament The Refusal was both Righteous and Reasonable and such was the Tenderness I had for your Lordship's Honour and good Name that I should have kept my self still within these Bounds if the causless and the calumnious Bitterness of your Proceedings against me had not made this Defence necessary As to the Falseness and Injustice of your Pretensions it was sufficiently laid open in the Respective Courts of Chancery King's Bench and elsewhere with all the Virulence of personal Reflections upon me that ill Nature ill Manners could put together and ill Instructed Lawyers invent Yet had not you publickly owned Mrs. Litster by Cohabitation Quartering of Arms Christening of Children by Great and Noble Persons and by their Countenance given the World a strong Presumption of Marriage with her and consequently of disclaiming your Marriage with me though most notoriously Solemnized and Licensed upon your Lordship's taking your Oath and the Holy Sacrament That you were a single Man and free from all Contracts of Marriage with any other Person whatsoever And lastly had not your Lordship with all Industry protracted and kept off the Judgment and Sentence ready to be pronounced in Doctors Commons by appealing to a Court of Delegats because the Dean of the Arches would not admit contrary to all Law Reason and Practice your Mistriss to say no more for a Witness in her own Cause to swear her self a Countess and her Bastard-Children Legitimates by which means the Sentence was deferred for at least Six Months longer I say my Lord had it not been this together with the Insupportable Expences you daily and almost hourly put upon me the Indignities and Affronts you perpetually expose me to I should perhaps have suffered patiently under the heavy Load of all the chargeable Miseries that your faithless Inhumanity hath undeservedly cast upon me But being now fully convinced by the Obstinacy and Iniquity of your Proceedings that there is no Hope left me of recovering your causlesly lost Affections your Lordship must forgive me if at last I repair to the regular Ways of maintaining that which your Lordship cannot take from me that is the Honour you conferred upon me by our Intermarriage We are all mortal My Lord and both of us may die before a Sentence of Law pass and therefore for fear of the worst I have here drawn up a true and impartial Narrative of all the Proceedings between your Lordship and my self relating to our Marriage from the Day you and your Family came first to my House appealing to your own Conscience upon the Truth of every Syllable I deliver with the Manner and Proofs of it submitting my self upon the whole matter to the Judgment of God and the World If any thing bear hard upon your Lordship your Wife's Honour my Lord is at Stake and this Defence is in some sort a Duty to your Lordship in the Right of your Wife Your Lordship well knows that about August 1689. you took my House in the Pall-mall and brought your Sister the Lady Katharine with all your Family thither and at that time you were taken for a single Man by your own Servants and Relations You wanted nothing then but a Wife and to supply that Want you were pleased to make Applications to me Upon this Address I was so far prevailed upon as to break off a Match in a manner agreed upon by the Consent of all my Friends with a Gentleman not inferiour in Fortune to your Lordship and moreover to oblige my self in the most solemn Vows and Promises of Marriage to your Lordship and in order to Consummation of the Marriage your Lordship perswaded me to go into France to have it celebrated there Pursuant to that Agreement in December 1689. your Lordship carried me and my Sister Brownsworth privately to Dover Mrs. Hanah Brownsworth and prevailed with her to go over with me to Calis sending your Plate Clothes and some of your Servants to attend me till you could come your self assuring me upon parting That you would dispatch your Business in England and come over with all the speed you could But your Affairs so fell out that your Lordship did not come to Paris till May following where you may remember you found me in a Monastery and received and treated me with all the Respect and Endearments of a most affectionate Husband and though we were not formally married suffered me yet to take your Title upon me and wrote Letters to me your self as Countess of Banbury All this is fully proved in Court I shall not trouble your Lordship or the Reader with the History of our-Travels and the manner of our living in France but pass over that and all other Actions between us till by your Lordship's Order I came into Italy and met with your Lordship there How your Lordship treated me at Mantua Verona and other places in Italy will appear by your own Letters and Proofs herein truly recited whereby it is proved That about Easter 1692. I was carried by your Lordship from Mantua to Verona and there solemnly married to you And for further Satisfaction I shall desire the Reader 's leave in the first place to inform him how careful they were in taking the Foreign Depositions and Proofs of my Marriage with your Lordship and for that purpose I shall insert a true Copy of the Archbishop of Verona's Letter who is likewise a temporal Prince to Doctor Oxenden Dean and Judge in the Cause between us Word for Word as it is registred in the Arches and it is as follows We PETER LEON by the Grace of God and the Holy Apostolick See Bishop of Verona and Count c. To our Beloved in Christ the Right Worshipful George Oxenden Dr. of Laws Official Principal of the Arches Court of Canterbury lawfully Constituted or his Surrogator Health c. YOur Letters Remissorial of the Second day of April last past directed to Vs by your Worship and actually presented by Mr. Francis
to Pompeio's and there lived in the same manner And he says That in April 1692. the Earl invited him and his Brother and Wife to a Dinner which he prepared in memory of the Birth-day of the Lady Elizabeth desiring us to bring some other Gentry along with us which we did and there they were openly and publickly saluted as Husband and Wife and taken as such by all the Gentry for that otherways they would not have come to the Feast And deposes That he travelled with them towards Paris and saw and read their Pass from the King of France as Husband and Wife and after parting there came Letters from the Earl directed to the said Lady Elizabeth which I saw with this exact Superscription A Madama Madam La Countesse de Banbury and says That the Duke of Mantua honoured them with costly Presents when they left Mantua and upon the Earl's Request gave him the deponent Leave to travel with them into France and saw several Letters directed to her as Countess of Banbury Pompeio the Merchant from the Earl and other Persons The last Foreign Witness is Mr. Pompeio the Merchant at whose House they lived in Mantua And he swears That he knew the Earl and Lady That they came from the House of Seignior Antonio Pavesio Treasurer to the Duke's Houshold and there continued for three Months so that he had Converse with them and served them with what they had occasion for and took them for Husband and Wife and they treated each other as such were so held and reputed by their Serene Highnesses For that our most Serene Dutchess did always admit my Lady to be her Companion and to play with her in her Court I could have produced several more Witnesses if it had been needful besides authentick Attestations and Certificates Amongst many others that are Register'd in Doctors Commons I shall conclude my Foreign Concern with the Two following Attestations which surely make a compleat and full Proof of my Marriage WE Peter Leon by the Grace of God and the Apostolick See Bishop of Verona and Count c. To all to whom this present Process shall come do certifie for undoubted Truth and attest That all the Premises in this present Process contained were written and subscribed with the proper Hand of the Vnder-written Notary by us specially deputed in this present Cause and that the Acts and Examinations of the Witnesses were had and taken before us in our Presence In Faith and Testimony whereof we have thought fit to put hereunto this our Attestation and we have subscribed the same with our own Hand and ordered the great Seal of our Bishoprick to be hereunto put Given in Verona from our Episcopal Palace on Friday the Seventeenth Day of September 1694. Sec. Jud. Petrus Episcopus Veronensis I Bernard Roveti Son of Francis of Ponte Petro in Verona Publick Notary by the Venetian Authority and Clerk of the Bishop's Court in this present Cause specially deputed by the most Illustrious and Reverend Father in Christ and Lord Petro Leone Bishop of Verona and Count c. Do attest That I as Notary thereunto required was present at all and singular the Premises and did faithfully write with my own Hand in valid and authentick Form this present Process consisting of Ninety Nine Leaves In Witness c. Having given an Account of what was done abroad I shall now proceed to give the Reader a short and punctual Relation of what passed in my own Cause afterwards My Lord parted with me at Nona in Italy and ordered me for France when he parted from me assuring me That he would go and settle his Affairs in England with all the Care and Speed he could and come to me at Paris as soon as his Affairs would permit And accordingly I went to Paris where I stayed until September in which time having spent that small Provision my Lord left me and himself neither coming nor sending me any Supply my Equipage and Character having drawn me also to a more than ordinary Expence I was driven to great Streights to support my self And being informed That Mrs. Bowtel who then lived in a Monastery there under the Care and Government of Father Sherburne President of the English Benedictines had received a considerable Summ of Money I was forced to apply my self to her for Money to discharge the Debts I had contracted and to carry me into England and by the Approbation of Father Sherburne I did borrow a Hundred Pound of her and prevailed with her to come with me for England and for our better Conveniency in travelling she did procure a Pass both for me and her self in the Names of Ridley which was her Mother's Maiden Name designing to conceal my self as well in England as in my Travel till I understood my Lord's Resolutions touching the Disposition he intended to make of himself and me and with that Pass we travelled and came to London to my Sister Brownsworth's House and immediately dispatched a Servant to my Lord. Upon this Message he came to me without any Delay and entertained me with the greatest Tenderness imaginable But having at that time a purpose to sell his Estate he desired me to conceal my being in Town and not to appear at present under the Character of his Wife but to pass still by the Name of Ridley to which in Obedience I submitted and this Disguise was the Source of all the miseries that have since befallen me For had I but published my Marriage instead of this Complaince Mrs. Litster had never been heard of under any other Character but that of a Mistress Unfortunate Mr. Lawson in all Probability still living and your Lordship clear and free from Crimes That out of the Respect I still retain for your Lordship I will not mention at this time The vast Expences in Law had been saved and your Lordship undoubtedly much Richer without your Mistress and the Summs you borrowed of her upon your Plate and Jewels long after your pretended Marriage with her And when you lived publickly with me and owned me for your Wife as by your Letter to your Steward Palmer proved in the Cause and confessed by your Lordship most evidently appears And when the Reader shall have perused your Lordship's own Letters and considered the further Proofs I hope he will be of the same Opinion For I am resolved to keep my Word and alledge nothing in this Paper but what is proved by undeniable Testimony or by your own Letters and Confession and therefore I am now to acquaint the Reader That from the time of my Return to England his Lordship lived with me in the most affectionate manner imaginable until he went to visit his Sister the Lady Katharine at Thistleworth And in order to satisfie all Mankind and confirm them in the Truth of what I write it seems necessary for me to give the Reader an Account of my Lord's Behaviour to me when he was first taken after the
Gella Substitute Proctor of the Right Honourable Elizabeth Countess of Banbury alias Elizabeth Price together with his Original Proxy We have with all willingness received and with like Diligence ordered Proceedings to be made upon the Contents thereof according to the Form of the same in the best way We could And whereas by reason of an Indisposition We could not go out of Our Episcopal Palace to Examine Witnesses and make these Proceedings We deputed the said Episcopal Palace to be the proper Tribunal but took Care nevertheless that Notice should be given at the Doors of the Parish Church of St. Quiric and Julich and of the Episcopal Palace and of Our Cathedral Church of Verona to the Right Honourable Charles Knolls Earl of Banbury and Elizabeth Litster and their Proctors But no body appearing notwithstanding their Contumacy We thought fit to proceed though not without some Doubts because the Interrogatories of the Party which in the Letters Remissorial were said to be Annexed and Sealed came not to Vs nor Our Tribunal But nevertheless considering the straitness of the Time and importance of this Cause We Ex officio out of Respect to Justice supplying that Defect gave Interrogatories by the stile of Court and having assumed a Notary specially required We took the Depositions of the Witnesses upon their Oaths with all Care Faithfulness and Integrity All which being faithfully reduced into Writing and closed sealed and opened unto none We remit to your Worship with these Presents But whereas some necessary Witnesses named to prove some Articles contained in the Libel are at present in very distant Cities to wit the Reverend Father Decius Gasparinus of the Society of Jesus is in the City of Faccia and the Reverend Father Francis Donati of the same Society is at the City of Bononia in Italy and others are in the City of Mantua so that they could not appear before Vs We considering the Necessity thereof Have requested the Right Reverend the Bishops of Ordinaries of these parts to take the Depositions of the same Witnesses in Form The Articles and Interrogatories being sent to them for that purpose whose Rescripts We expecting did not think fit to send this Our Proceeding without them Nevertheless lest they should not Arrive before the time assigned in the Letters Remissorial We have sent these Presents together with the said Proceeding written in Ninety Nine Leaves and Subscribed by Vs reduced into Valid and Authentick Form closed and sealed The Libel Additional Article and Authentick Certificate to Vs with the Letters of the said Court formerly presented being inserted to the End That as soon as may be they may be faithfully Exhibited to your Worship But as soon as ever We shall receive the Rescripts of the said Right Reverend Bishops and Depositions of the Witnesses residing in those Parts of Italy We will take Care in like manner to Transmit them under Seal For We promoting Justice willingly Imploy Our Office in a Thing so agreeable to Law and whenever Occasion shall be shall use your Worship with all Good Will and Favour Given at Verona from Our Episcopal Palace Saturday the 18 th of September in the Year of our Lord 1694. and Second Year of the Pope Having given an Account by the preceeding Letter of the Care that was taken in the Examinations I shall in the next place make an Exact Abridgment of all the Foreign Depositions except that of the Arch-priests that married us But his Evidence I shall transcribe at large Word for Word as it was taken in order to instruct the Reader in the Method that was used in taking the Depositions of all the rest of the Witnesses that were examined by Virtue of the Commission directed to the Arch-bishop of Verona and the Arch-priests Deposition is in manner and form following On Saturday in the Morning the 11th Day of September 1694. Before the most Illustrious and most Reverend Father in Christ and Lord Peter Leon by the Grace of God and the Apostolick See Bishop of Verona and Count c. and in this present Cause Judge on the Commission c. in the Chamber of his Residence in the Palace John Baptist Picolati Arch-Priest appeared personally the Reverend John Baptist Picolati of Verona Son of Francisco Doctor of Laws Arch-priest of the Parish-Church of St Quirico and Julica of this City aged as he said and by Aspect appeared Fifty One Years a Witness produced and cited by the Messenger as by his Report c. and brought to be examined on the first second and additional Articles contained in their Libel who being admonished to speak the Truth as well upon the Interrogations as upon the Articles and all this present Cause without Hatred Fear Love Gain c. and being sworn as he did swear with his Hand on the Holy Evangelists in the Hands of his said Reverence to the needful Interrogations he said and deposed as follows speaking in the Italian Tongue And first to the Admonition given him about the Weight of an Oath the Penalty of Perjury and the Importance of this Cause he answered I do very well know the Obligation of an Oath and I shall say nothing but the Truth To the first of the general Interrogatories being interrogated his Name Surname Father Country and Employment he answered I have already declared my Name Surname Age Father Country and Degree of Arch-priest and Employment as Parish-Priest Being asked if he knoweth the Noble Lord Charles Knolls Earl of Banbury and the Noble Lady Elizabeth Price Countess of Banbury he answered I know them no otherways than only that once they came to my Parochial House of St. Quirico and Julica to be married by the Bishop's Licence and upon that Occasion I knew their Names first by Father Decio Gasparini Rector of the Jesuits in Company with Father Donati Reader of Philosophy who came before them to give me Notice and a little time after the said Lord and Lady came and then they gave me their Names that is the Gentleman said his Name was Charles Knolls Earl of Banbury and the Lady Elizabeth Price both of England Being interrogated If he be a Friend related by Consanguinity Affinity Debtor or Creditor of the Parties He answered No I did never see nor was acquainted with them afterwards only upon the Occasion abovementioned Being interrogated if he did know what this present Cause was about and what he thinketh of it he answered As I have heard and by the many Attestations that I have made in Writing about this Cause I suppose that it is about the Validity of this Marriage between the said Parties the English Lord and Lady and as to my Sentiment I do hold the Marriage to be valid and lawful I having duely interrogated both Parties If they were willing to enter into this Matrimony according to the Rites of the Holy Roman Catholick Church and they both answered Yes The Latin Words signifie in English According to the Rite
starve first he was so concerned how to answer my Libel that he offered to give me One Thousand Pound and Two Hundred Pound per Annum only to desist and prosecute him no further in that Court And this likewise at first I rejected but afterwards Proved by Mr. Miller Mrs. Brownsworth Mr. Hancock by the over Perswasion of himself and my Friends I was prevailed with to accept and he gave me a Judgment to secure me the Payment of the Thousand Pound within Eight Months and promised punctual Payment of the Two Hundred Pound per Annum and thereupon I gave my Proctors order to desist in my Suit in the Ecclesiastical Court But my Lord soon after beginning to wrangle with me about the Judgment and not performing his Agreement and keeping Company with Mrs. Litster And the Libels and Answers upon Record I took up my Suit in the Commons and pressed him for an Answer to my Libel wherein he made so much Difficulty that I was forced with some Charge to procure the Judge himself of the Court to examine him upon the Articles in my Libel who thereupon asking him whether he took out the Licence at Verona in the Libel set forth he answered in these Words That he did procure and obtain the Licence to marry me but did not remember that he touched the Holy Gospel Being asked what he did with it and whether he married me or not he demurr'd and desired to answer that Matter by Councel And well knowing what undeniable Proof there was of my Marriage he betook himself to a new Invention when he saw nothing else would do for the Ruine of us both and upon the Third of August 1693. makes Litster by Collusion Libel against him for Conjugal Rights notwithstanding he kept her in his own House at Thistleworth at that very time and in that Libel she expresly suggests and declares That she was married to him in 1686. by Dr. Cluer a Reverend Divine of the Church of England in the presence of divers Credible Witnesses accordind to the Rites of the Church And my Lord in his Answer to this Libel confesses that he was Married to her But it seems they overshot themselves and considering as is proved in the Cause by her own Relations that they were not so much as acquainted at that time Mrs. Litster desires Leave of the Court to Reform her Libel as they call it and in November following brings in a new Libel and therein lays her Marriage to be upon the Sixteenth of May 1689. by the same Reverend Divine and in the presence of divers Credible Witnesses And here it is not improper to observe that she her self differs but Three Years with her self as to the time of her own Pretended Marriage But this is but a small Mistake amongst others in this Cause But however this last Libel being too general and the Place where she was married not being mentioned nor any of the divers Credible Witnesses named I put in an Allegation by my Proctors Requiring her to set forth the Place and who these divers Credible Witnesses were with their Names Qualities and Places of their Abode To which she answers That the Marriage was at the Nags-Head Ale-house by Doctor Cluer in the presence of Charles Sherrard Mr. Morton's Journeyman So that at last the divers Credible Witnesses are dwindled into that Scandalous Doctor and one single Servant and upon this infamous Testimony his Lordship endeavours to establish his Marriage with Litster and overthrow mine contrary to his own Oath all the Proceedings of Law Proofs Notorious Facts and other Circumstances in Concurrence And now I hope the Reader will allow me to have kept my word with him I promised him a simple Narrative of Facts relating to the Proof of my Marriage which I have exactly kept my self to not in the least touching or reflecting upon any Matters tho' never so absurd and improbable relating to Lyster's unaccountable Pretensions any further than in the few observable Remarks following which I hope the Reader will think no Transgression but a Necessary part of my Vindication I have already consulted in this Narrative all the Niceties of Law Honour Justice and Conscience that occur in my own Case but yet lest the repetition of so many necessary Forms and Recitals should have made it seem heavy and tedious It will not be amiss to pass some short Remarks in the Nature of a Summary upon the whole And the Point will be shortly this Was there ever any thing more Scandalous or Incredible than the Pretence and Menage of Litster's Pretended Marriage on the one hand or ever any thing more Solemn or Notorious or backt with a stronger Pregnancy of Proof and Presumptions than Mine with the Earl of Banbury is on the other Now I should not concern my self in the Story of Litster's Marriage if I were not in some sort upon a Disproof as well as a Defence and drawn into it by Litster her self but since it doubles the Credit of my Vindication to prove the one True and the other False I hope the Reader will not think the Digression impertinent To begin then with the Circumstances of Litster's Pretended Marriage When was she Married She charges it in 86. But upon second Thoughts and my Lord at that time having no Acquaintance with her as is Proved by her own Relations in the Cause She obtained Leave of the Judge of the Ecclesiastical Court where the Cause depended to reform her own Libel and then lays it to be upon the Sixteenth of May 89. and differs with her self but Three Years in the Time of her own notable Wedding But from that time till about April 93. none of her Friends ever heard of this Marriage and then it was high time she being big with Child And yet my Lord all this while until he Married me was at his own dispose and liberty of full Age had neither Father or Mother or any Relation to awe and controul him and Mrs. Litster likewise being in the same Condition Freedom it will be hard to fancy a Reason why they should conceal it In the next place I must mind the Reader that in August 89. which was scarce Three Months after this supposed Marriage Mrs. Brownsworth my Lord with his Sister the Lady Katharine and all his Servants came to my House in the Pall Mall Lay there constantly not a Night absent and I lived in Part of the House with them till December and then he perswaded me to go into France but he continued in the House disposed of my Goods and Writings at his own Will and Pleasure till May following and then came to me at Paris And in all this time no News of Litster either in Town or Country Consider agen Proved by Timothy Hill John Blake Mr. Vaughan Margaret Vassal the Place where they were Married It was at the Nags-Head Ale-house in Covent-Garden And now to Crown the Work The holy Man that Coupled
Death of Mr. Lawson and was in the Hands of the Constable and in the several Prisons of Newgate and King 's Bench and likewise when I was sick and ill at which time he now pretends Mrs. Litster was his Wife and for this purpose I will only produce such of his own Letters as have been judicially proved and owned to be his own Hands in Doctors Commons and remain there Registred Although I have and can produce Hundreds more and make up a compleat Journal for all the Days he did not see me after I came into England to the time of the Breach between us I shall begin with the Letter he wrote to me the Moment after he was taken upon the Unfortunate Accident of the Death of Mr. Lawson I Have happened of an unlucky Accident have fought and unhappily killed Mr. Lawson but am not a bit wounded nor hurt But as I went to make my Escape they raised Men and took me with a Constable but don't be frighted for no Harm can come to me only a little trouble and hinderance of your Company for the present I hope to see you this Evening though I must first get Bail Adieu Be not frighted and all is well My Love MY Lord Chief Justice refused me Bail and ordered my Commitment I am at Captain Richardson's House at Newgate-street where I believe I shall be civilly treated but all Confinements are Painful especially when banish'd what they Love I hope soon to come to Trial. The Coroner that Sits upon the Body may do me great Kindness as he gives in his Verdict I believe he will Sit on the Body to Morrow I fear it will be Expensive The Wound is so odd that it is not hard to believe he hurt himself in his Fall if so 't is found I shall be acquitted Adieu I 'll Dream of what I cannot see Yours 'T will be too late to Night but to Morrow Night if you think fit Pray my Love don't you concern your self at what happens for nothing I hope can touch my Life that 's pretty safe and I don 't at all question but all will go well 'T is too late now to do any thing with the Constables and therefore I wou'd not have you appear in it I have this Day followed my Business with more than ordinary Care and doubt not a good Proceeding which you shall have a constant Account of as any Business happens Sir Erasmus Norrich came and prevented me from finishing of it or I had sent the Messenger three Hours sooner Adieu my Love be Merry and I am so Yours I Sent my Servant to acquaint you we was deferred till Monday and do apprehend that we may have some Trick shewed us then to hinder my being Bailed Note He makes his Concern Mine If there be not some Advice or Care taken to make Mr. A S. my Friend to whom the Attorney-General has left my Business he is a Man to be dealt with by Money and may be Five or Ten Guinea's disposed by a good Hand and privately may prevent his being mischievous Perhaps J N. will undertake it But this must be done speedily I shall add no more till I see you Adieu My Love I Have received both your Letters last Night and this Morning and I find that Company goes and comes so fast that it would be troublesome to you to let me see you Pray be not dissatisfied for I hope all will go well my only present Care is to Expedite my Trial this Sessions They say it would be necessary to have my Solicitor attend the Coroner's Inquest with my Servants that see me go out of the House whether friendly or not A B. kindly sent Mr. James to recommend a Solicitor I would have your Sister inform of her what He is and if acquainted with these Affairs Your Brother came kindly to me and I think it would not be amiss that the Coroner was friendly discoursed for it will be Considerable as he gives in his Verdict for if he should be possess'd that he might possibly wound himself it will be found Ignoramus or otherwise it may be but Man's Slaughter tho' there is already an unlucky Report raised of what he said at his House and that he came to justifie himself But this will be hard to be Proved If the Solicitor be found proper for me the sooner I see him the better My Love FInding you pretty well satisfied and pleased to see my Friends so Industrious to Serve me makes me as Chearful as I can be in your Absence I have been forced to delay the Messenger till now by reason of Company Hoping to see you this Evening I won't inlarge more than that no Misfortune can alter my Love which ye will be now better Convinced of Adieu Yours I Find my Love that Mr. Lawson's Relations or some one under-hand will put me to all the Trouble they can They are now finding a new Indictment by Charles Knowls Esq because they find they could not try me here which I fear will hinder me of Bail I have sent for Councel which shall be instructed to insist upon my Peerage The issue I hope can be no Damage to me but only present Trouble and Expence Therefore don't be frightned I Rest though Infortunate Yours My Love I Have partly answer'd the Contents of Yours and did desire that the Money might be brought as soon as conveniently by one you think proper not to give you the trouble hoping soon to be with you if my Lord Chief Justice will accept of Bail which I hope I need not fear therefore will not detain your Messenger Adieu I Can now my Love give you Hopes of paying you a Visit in your new Lodgings This Night my Lord and my Lord will be my Bail I shall not trouble you with more at present till I see you I doubt I shall want immediate Moneys for paying my Fees If ye can send by some one Adieu Yours My Love THe Attorney-General and Lord Chief Justice have been spoke to that I may be Tried at the King 's Bench Bar They say they won't oppose it but till the King has been spoke to they cannot resolve it but they tell me he never refused I have wrote to my Lord M. of C to desire him to speak for me I have ordered some Wine for you but will omit the rest till I see my Love Adieu I Have nothing more my Love to say to Mr. Darnhill but that 't is suspected the Court and Judges will maintain the Reply of the Attorney-General which may put me by the Proof of the new Witnesses I have found out or if they take time to Consider whether he will admit to Bail or if they can refuse it I am Sorry to hear my Dear did not Sleep well I hope your Dreams portend no ill to your self and I am prepared for the worst of Ills while you are safe Adieu THat which is my momentary Thought or Business of my Life