Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	duke_n	earl_n	john_n	48,781	5	6.3855	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47869	The history of the Plot anatomised: or the late sham fanatical-plot, briefly and plainly laid open Wherein, those worthy patriots who were charged therewith, are vindicated from the malicious and false aspersions cast upon them by a late author. In a letter to a friend.	L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.	1689 (1689)	Wing L1259A; ESTC R179472	22,315	34

such dangerous things were discoursed of and that he and West and Keeling were the forwardest to talk of such things Mr. Rouse likewise utterly denies his having ever assented to any such design and besides that the words which were spoke by the Witnesses in their hearing were made use of as Evidence against them And Mr. Holloway who was taken at Nevis in his Answer to the many Questions proposed to him by Sheriff Daniel particularly as to this design of Assassinating the King and Duke confirms the same For he utterly denied that any such thing was agreed upon nay on the contrary that there were but very few for it to use his own words not above four or five of whom Rumsey West and Keeling were three and that the rest looking upon it as a design which so small a number could not accomplish without their Aid and Assistance took no further notice of it And being askt in particular if Captain Walcot Rouse and Ferguson were for that design of cutting off the King he answered in the negative And it is worth the while to take notice how severe a check this Sheriff had at Court for his proposing so many Questions to this Prisoner which plainly shews that some there were afraid lest their Tricks should appear to the World and the truth is by the sincerity of this person a great deal of the Odium of this Plot was removed the most hainous part of it then seeming in in all probability to have been a Contrivance of their Adversaries And Mr. Rumbold himself who is said by them to have been one of the deepest in this Conspiracy at his Execution in Scotland utterly denied his in the least consenting to any such Barbarous Design And Mr. Nelthrope at his Execution in the West of England in the year 1685. protested that it was a thing highly against his Judgment and which he always detested and that he never was in the least concerned in it neither in purse nor person nor ever knew of any Arms bought for that intention nor did believe there was any such design or that he ever heard of any disappointment in such an Affair or Arms or Time or Place save what after the general design Mr. West spoke of as to Arms bought by him To conclude Zachary Bourne who was likewise one of the Evidence and who had the Plot communicated to him by Ferguson in whose House he lodged never mentions Mr. Ferguson's speaking any thing to him of that Assassination tho' he says that one Roe spoke to him of it and West By all which it plainly appears that there was no design of Assassinating the King and Duke but that this horrid project of taking off the King was at first proposed by the Witnesses on purpose to ensnare others and that the same tho' some few were brought over was absolutely upon proposal rejected by most of them and those who did reject it being three times the number of the others knew that they could not effect it by themselves and so took no further notice of it I say it plainly appears to have been so if we consider under what suitable apprehensions of Eternity all those that were Executed went off this World. And that they were so ingenuous as to confess there had been some design on foot which how honest soever it might have been yet seeing it would be interpreted an Association against the Government could not excuse them as matters then went from being made Examples of Justice And it is well known that the Principles of the Protestant Religion do not allow any man to go out of this World with a Lye in his Mouth tho' those of the Romish if I may so call it Church do And I cannot but wonder when I reflect how a great many Protestants should have been so lavish in their Charity to Papists as to conclude because they all went off the World denying the Crimes for which they were justly condemned especially when they know what Injunctions are laid upon them by their Priests viz. that they may confess nothing that may prejudice Mother-Church under pain of Damnation that they were Innocent of the Crimes they were accused of and yet have so little to spare to those of their own Faith who yet they know cannot die with any Comfort or hopes of Pardon except they make a frank Confession of the Crimes they are guilty of much less if they persist in an obstinate Denyal thereof But it is well known that the Papists not only went off the World with a Lye in their Mouths as to their being guilty of the Horrid Crimes they were condemned for but likewise as to their having ever before their Tryal been with any of the Witnesses that appeared against them when yet 't was well known that they had been very familiar with them To mention only one of them the late Lord Stafford in his last Paper declared with great asseverations that he had never seen Stephen Dugdale before his Tryal whereas a little after his Execution it was proved by the Depositions of above fifteen Witnesses who all lived by his Countrey House that the said Stephen Dugdale was often familiarly entertained by the said Lord Stafford and that he has left the Company of several considerable Gentlemen to discourse with the said Dugdale and that they had been observed discoursing several times above an hour together which may fully inform us what credit is to be given to any of that Persuasion as to any thing relating to the advancement of Mother Churches Interest I shall now proceed to the Plot said to be managed by that Council of Six viz. The Duke of Monmouth the Earl of Essex the Lord Russel the Lord Howard Collonel Algernon Sidney and Mr. John Hambden Junior Where we shall briefly take notice of what is most Remarkable in the Tryals of those of them who were Arraigned and what is observable as to others who were not I shall begin with my Lord Russel's Tryal and first in the Evidence of Colonel Rumsey I find this seeming contradiction viz. That he being sent by the Earl of Shaftesbury to the said Lord then at Mr. Sheppard's with the Duke of Monmouth Lord Gray Sir Thomas Armstrong and Mr. Ferguson to know if the Rising in Taunton went on and that they or some of them returned answer that it did not go on and that yet they afterwards had a discourse about viewing the Guards in order to seize them when notwithstanding he says afterward that they were only to seize the Guards when the Rising went on Besides it is more than probable that the Duke of Monmouth or Sir Thomas Armstrong knew well enough before what posture the Guards were in and how to surprize them without all that debate which he says was held there And this is all the Evidence this Souldier of Fortune gives in which yet might have been done without any design against the Kings Person Another thing is in Mr. Sheppard's

Evidence who was at the same time at that meeting in his own House who besides his saying in one place that my Lord Russel was at two Meetings in his House and afterwards acknowledging that he could not be positive whether or not was of so unfaithful a Memory as to forget a remarkable passage which he had discovered before to wit that of Ferguson's reading a Declaration which he said nothing of till Sir George Jefferies askt him about that Declaration and then he returns Yes now I recollect my self I remember one Paper was read Now he could not have known that if he had not heard it of Sheppard before for Rumsey declared he was not there when it was read tho' Sheppard seemed to be as positive in that that he was present then till the other contradicted him as he was in what he gave in against my Lord Russel Now I say the Loyal Scimus Jury-men might have taken notice that the Evidence of a Person so forgetful as Sheppard seemed to be in forgetting so material a passage which he had given in Evidence but two or three days before should not have been accounted of so great weight in Case of a Noblemans Life as they reckoned it The next Evidence was my Lord Howard who to prepossess the Jury with a belief of this Plot begins with such a base insinuation that I think had any of the Jury had the least common either honesty or discretion they would have suspected the Evidence of this Lord for he first begins so low that they could not hear what he said which did more argue a guilty Conscience than any thing else and when he was desired by my Lord Chief Justice to raise his voice he pretended that the news of my Lord Essex's Fatal End had sunk his voice whereas all that are acquainted with his Lordship know very well that he was not of that Temper only this was said to insinuate as was afterwards sufficiently buzz'd about that the Earl of Essex to escape the hand of Justice had cut his Throat that the Jury might have a deeper impression upon them of the reality of this Plot. As to the deplorable Murder of this Nobleman I need not say any thing of it here there having been lately some Informations published relating to that Noble Lord's Murder of that weight that few honest men now doubt of the said Earls having been Assassinated and Murdered by barbarous Russians and I doubt not but in a little time those Bloody Cannibals the Horrid Actors thereof shall be brought to condign punishment Only this I may say that this was made use of to persuade the Jury of my Lord Russel's guilt that one who was engaged in the same Plot out of a sense of such unpardonable guilt that he who had received such singular marks of his Majesty's Grace and Favour should be so inhumane as to Embark in such a horrid design against his Life to evite that disgrace that must needs attend him here had laid violent hands on himself And this very thing had such influence on the Jury that they brought in my Lord Russel Guilty some of them having since declared that had it not been for this they had found him not Guilty But when men are forced to have recourse to such unheard-of Villanies to carry on their wicked and malicious designs it is easie to imagine what shall be the Fate of those Persons they have a Pique at And this barbarous Murder of the Earl of Essex in order to gain credit to their Plot and to be an additional if not main Evidence against my Lord Russel is sufficient with all thinking men to invalidate this Plot. For they that imployed those Russians knew well enough that if any could expect a Pardon that Earl might and that besides his Majesty having such a respect for him and so firm a persuasion of his Honesty and consequently that he would not be engaged in any such Design against his Life might have doubted of the reality of this Plot which indeed he did at first as our Author well observes having sufficiently known what Counter-plots had been hatched before and proved abortive and therefore to gain credit to it they found themselves obliged to have redress to such unchristian means and the success did not deceive them for after his having been given out by the Inquest for Felo de se his late Majesty did really believe it The next thing remarkable in my Lord Howard's Evidence is that he says in his Hear-say Evidence that the Duke of Monmouth told him that my Lord Russel was with Shaftesbury being conveyed to him by Rumsey who undoubtedly had he conveyed him to my Lord Shaftesbury would have been admitted with him he being as he pretended so much in the said Earls Councils and so might have given some account in his Evidence either of what past between them or at least that he conveyed the said Lord to my Lord Shaftesbury which he does not in the least make mention of But my Lord Howard might say what he pleased there being no body to contradict him as to this Another thing remarkable is that upon the Attorney Generals asking my Lord Howard in these words Did he sit there as a Cypher what did my Lord say The said Lord Howard answered him in these Every one knows my Lord Russel is a person of great Judgment and not very lavish in Discourse And upon Sir George Jefferies returning But did he consent My Lord Howard answered We did not put it to the Vote but it went without contradiction and I took it that all there gave their consent Lord Russel's Tryal pag. 47. So that here was no positive Evidence that my Lord Russel gave his consent but only that my Lord took it so so that all that was Sworn here against my Lord Russel was that he was present when such Discourse was talkt and because he did not say any thing therefore my Lord Howard believed he consented to it So that had those Gentlemen of the Jury had the least Grain either of Conscience or common Sense they would not have brought in this Nobleman of High Treason upon such Evidence as this seeing as the said Lord says in his last Speech this could be termed no more than Misprision Besides the said Lord Howard declares that there was no way condescended upon for raising of Money which yet must be the first step to Levying War the main point of his Indictment that what Evidence was given concerned And to conclude what I could observe from this Tryal the Evidence that came in for this Noble Lord were sufficient to have invalidated that of my Lord Howard against him for they declared that the said Lord H. in their hearing with hands lifted up to Heaven and with great Asseverations protested that he knew nothing against my Lord Russel Now I appeal to all the World how strongly soever the Court carried it otherwise whether a Man that dare

Application to God for Vindication of his Innocency has brought down the Vengeance of God upon some of the Jury already there being three our four of them who have died sudden and unnatural deaths the last of whom is very remarkable viz. the Vintner on Fish-street-Hill the same person who in the beginning of the last Summer by his stingy covetous humour occasioned the Death of that worthy Gentleman Sir Charles Pynn who having been present at the late dreadful Fire in Thames-street was at the blowing up of a House killed by a piece of Timber by Carpenters called the Cornish It may not be amiss here to insert a Passage of Sheriff Cornish and his Son with my L. Howard the latter of whom encountred with my Lord at Guild-Hall about the time the heat was in chusing Sheriffs and going into a Tavern with his Lordship he endeavoured to inflame this Gentleman against the Government with all the specious pretexts he could telling him the Citizens were Asses that it was in their own power to redress themselves if they would but the Gentleman replied that it was their business to mind their own private Affairs and Trade and not to meddle with matters of Government he being wary and not so easily to be brought in as might be supposed The Gentleman going home gave account of it to his Father who forbid his Son the said Lord's company The other of the Sheriff himself was thus My Lord Howard a little after dined at Sheriff Cornish's House and after dinner my Lord desired to speak with him in private but Mr. Sheriff Cornish refused telling his Lordship if he had any thing to say that was lawful he might freely speak in presence of the company if any thing that was unlawful he would not hear it nor would he go into a room with him lesthis own friends might think that they had some business betwixt them that might not be talkt of before company so that the said Lord had at that time no private discourse with him and suspecting him more he gave a Watch word to his Brethren the Aldermen that were for the preserving the Privileges of the City and were therefore hated at Court to have a care of coming into my Lord Howard's company for that he was sure he had a design of ensnaring some People So that had it not been for Mr. Cornish it 's like we should have had some of the Aldermen brought in as Actors in this Plot. As to what our Author says as to the Duke of Monmouth's being privy to the pretended Assassination of the King herein he basely asperses him for there is no positive Evidence for this in his whole History For Col. Rumsey in his further Information page 14. of the Copies of Informations says that when it was asked by some present whether the Duke of Monmouth would not revenge his Fathers Death that Ferguson undertook to have it under the Duke's hand against the next Meeting and that when they met again he told them there was no saying any such thing to the Duke A plain Evidence that the Duke knew nothing of that design And whereas my Lord Howard in his Supplement to his former Information page 72. of the Informations by the Title you may observe that as the Gentleman declared at Mr Sidney's Tryal this was part of his Drudgery-work has these words About the 10th or 12th of October after a stop put to the then intended Insurrection the Duke of Monmouth told me that he had seriously thought of it meaning the Insurrection and that after diverse ways proposed and seriously considered of he was clearly of opinion that there was nothing so easie to be accomplished nor so probable to do the Work so effectually as to fall in upon the King about New-Market Observe not the Rye-House with a smart Party of Horse about forty or fifty which he said he could soon have in a readiness To which I answered That I was of the same Opinion but whether or not it would be decent for him to appear in person in an Attack to be made when the King was in person deserved his consideration Two days after I spoke to him of it again and askt him what thoughts he had of it he answered me that it could not be brought about soon enough In his Deposition at my Lord Russel's Tryal page 45 he has these words And this had carried it to the latter end of October About the 17th or 18th Captain Walcot came to me and told me now they were resolved positively to Rise and did believe that a smart Party would meet with some Great Men. Thereupon I told the Duke of it I met him in the Street and went out of my Coach into his and told him That there was some dark Intimation as if there might be some Attempt upon the King's Person with that he struck his Breast with a great Emotion of Spirit and said God so Kill the KING I will never suffer that Then he went to the Play-House to find Sir Thomas Armstrong and sent him up and down the City to put it off as they did formerly and it was done with that success that we were all quieted in our minds that at that time nothing could be done Now I desire the Reader to judge how these two Depositions can be reconciled together and yet betwixt the one passage and the other according to his Deposition but four or five days intervene I do not know if any things so contradictory are to be found in Dr. Oats's Depositions for which he has been enjoyned four years severe Penance These are all the Depositions I could meet with that relate as to the Duke of Monmouth's being privy to the Assassination of His Majesty and the former to wit that of Coll. Rumsey seems to acquit him from being privy thereto And as for my Lord Howard's the one accuses him as guilty of it and the other plainly acquits him So that had the Author of that History been at the pains to peruse my Lord Russel's Tryal he would have had so much respect either to his own or the Credit of his History as to have left out this passage in my Lord Howard's Supplement As to the Depositions taken in Scotland I cannot think any of them valid in Law nor will any reasonable Man when he considers what Tortures two of them were put to there which were nothing inferior to those of the Spanish Inquisition viz. Mr. Carstairs and Mr. Spence the latter of whom had first his Leg put into the Boot an Instrument there never much in use till of late wherein they put in their Leg and drive in Wedges till the Bone is bruised afterwards his two Thumbs were put in an Instrument they call Tomikins wherewith they squeezed them till the Bones were likewise bruised which any Body may know must needs cause exquisite pains and then he was kept ten or eleven days without sleep there having constantly been by him

day and night two Sentinels with Iron pricks to keep him from sleeping who when-ever he began to slumber job'd him with those Iron pricks Now a Gentleman tortured in this manner you may be sure though he endured so long a time that he extracted Admiration even from his Enemies though their cruel Hearts harboured no such Guests as Pity and Compassion yet he could not long subsist and therefore was necessitated to condescend to their Demands Mr. Carstairs though he was exempted from the Boot as may be supposing him none of the best of Horsemen yet his Thumbs severely paid of it they having squeezed them thirteen or fourteen times the pain whereof did so torture him that as is reported his shrieks might have been heard a quarter of a Mile off and when he was wearied out with their Cruelty he promised to confess to them what he knew provided they would not make use of it against any man which they did and yet they made use of it against Mr. Bailie of Jerviswood And they not only broke their promise to him but also left out and put in sentences and words may be to make it better sense that our Author might have the less Trouble in composing his History which mightily altered the sense of his Deposition and taught them to speak more of a Plot than ever he did himself And the said Mr. Carstares after having acquainted his Friends as I have heard it of several of their own Mouths knowing that having been so Ingenuous as to tell his Friends how he had been abused in this particular he might have been brought before my Lord's Inquisitors to have been examined again quickly withdrew himself from that Kingdom Now as to the rest of the Evidence there you may easily be persuaded that they seeing what treatment those two had would take what care they could to save themselves from the like and so what pain might extort from the former fear might do the same from them And if served in their Evidence as Mr. Carstare's was they durst not say any thing against it as remaining still there and so further questionable for it By what has been above said it plainly appears that there was no design of taking off the King concluded upon in either of their Meetings but that it was first mentioned in discourse by the Evidence as the most compendious way to free themselves and the Nation from the Fears they at that time were possessed with but that very few of the rest ever assented to so barbarous a design but expressed their greatest detestation of it nor can they be blamed so much for not discovering of it especially seeing they knew it could not be accomplished without their Aid Nor is it probable that either my Lord Russel or any of their Club had it ever directly communicated to them whatever my Lord Howard would suggest to the contrary in the words immediately following those last mentioned in my Lord Russel's Tryal viz. that upon the day that the King came from New-Market they dined together the Duke of Monmouth and the Lord Gray with others being there that a Notion was conveyed among them by whom he does not mention and therefore 't is most probable 't was done by himself that some bold Action should be done that day which says he comparing it with the King 's coming they concluded it was designed upon the King and that my Lord Gray affirmed with an Oath that if they attempted any such thing it could not fail That they were in great Anxiety of Mind till they heard the King's Coach was come to Town and that Sir Tho. Armstrong not being there he was supposed to be one of the Party Now why such a Notion should be conveyed among them at that time I cannot understand especially when it was false there having been no preparation made thereto except it was conveyed to ensnare them and that by his Lordship himself and I am apt to think that to use his own words in his Supplement this might be the first time it was mentioned and that when his Lordship could not have such entertainment for it amongst those Lords as he wished he committed it to his Brethren the Evidences to have the Notion conveyed by them to the others who he thought would entertain it more favourably One thing the Reader may take notice of that his Lordships words in the Relation of it are very ambiguous and may be taken in several senses particularly these words We were in great Anxiety of Mind till we heard the King's Coach was come in c. But I shall not further trouble the Reader with it not doubting but that every honest English man is by this time satisfied of the Innocency of all the Gentlemen that suffered as to the pretended design of taking off the late King. As to the other part of the Accusation viz. Levying War with design to alter the Government if every thing be duly weighed we shall find this nothing near as it was represented to be tho' there is not the least doubt but they have had some Consultations among them as to the securing their Religion and Properties in a time when there were such apparent dangers hanging over their Heads and that in those Meetings many things might be proposed pro and con But that Noble-men of that Integrity and Religion as the Earl of Essex and my Lord Russel were should be concerned in any design to overturn the Government no man that was ever intimate with them will believe It is too plain now that those whom it most concerned to support the Government and Established Religion were the persons that made the greatest breaches therein and that their Illegal Proceedings gave just ground of fear and suspicion of a design on foot by them to overturn the old Establishment and to introduce Popery and Slavery For in the first place the Popish Plot was endeavoured by all means to be stifled and several attempts made to turn it upon Protestants and tho' it pleased God several times to bring to Light their hidden Contrivances yet were they still countenanced by Authority and tho' there had been some of the Branches lopt off yet all persons that were not wholly blinded might easily have seen that the Body it self remained untouched yea rather cherished And it is well known how those that were most active against it were discountenanced Parliaments were dissolved and laid aside as finding that it was impossible to support that Cause and carry on their Designs so long as that great Court fate All underhand means were used to divide Protestants among themselves and to stir up Feuds and Animosities between them which they so far prevailed in that one party of them used their utmost endeavour to ruine another never considering the common Enemy that was hovering over their heads to devour both Manifest Breaches were made upon their Priviledges by endeavouring to set up such publick Ministers as would be wholly