Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	edward_n	king_n	sir_n	22,698	5	5.9318	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75607	The arraignment, confession, and condemnation of Alexander Knightley for the horrid and execrable conspiracy to assassinate His sacred Majesty, K. William, in order to a French invasion of this kingdom: at the Kings Bench Bar, Westminster, on the 30th of April, and the 20th and 25th of May.	Knightley, Alexander, d. 1696.	1696 (1696)	Wing A3748A; ESTC R210494	7,838	12

THE Arraignment Confession AND CONDEMNATION OF Alexander Knightley FOR THE Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy TO Assassinate His Sacred Majesty K. WILLIAM in order to a French Invasion of this Kingdom AT THE Kings Bench Bar Westminster ON THE 30th of April and the 20th and 25th of May. LONDON Printed for Samuel Heyrick at Greys-Inn-Gate in Holbourn and Isaac Cleave at the Star next to Sergeants-Inn in Chancery-lane MDCXCVI De Termino Pasche Anno Regni Regis Gulielmi Tertii Octavo In Banco Regis Die Jovis Tricesimo Aprilis Anno Domini 1696. THIS day the Keeper of Newgate brought to the Bar of the Court of Kings Bench Alexander Knightley by virtue of a writ of Habeas Corpus issuing out of that Court for that purpose to be Arraigned upon an Indictment of High Treason found against him at the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer holden for the County of Middlesex which Indictment by Writ of Certiorari was removed into the Kings Bench. The Return of the Habeas Corpus was delivered and then the Prisoner was Arraigned thus Clerk of Arraignment Alexander Knightley hold up thy hand which he did Thou standest Indicted by the name of Alexander Knightley late of the Parish of St. Paul Covent-Garden in the County of Middlesex Gent. for that you not having the fear of God in your heart nor weighing the duty of your Allegiance but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil as a false Traytor against the most Serene most Illustrious and most Excellent Prince our Sovereign Lord William the Third by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. your supreme true rightful lawful and undoubted Sovereign Lord the cordial Love and true and due Obedience Fidelity and Allegiance which every Subject of our said Lord the King that now is towards him our said Lord the King should bear and of right ought to bear withdrawing and utterly to extinguish intending and contriving and with all your force purposing and designing the Government of this Kingdom of England under him our said Lord the King that now is of right duly happily and very well-establish'd altogether to subvert change and alter as also the same our Lord the King to death and final destruction to put and bring and his faithful Subjects and the Freemen of this Kingdom of England into intolerable and most miserable slavery to Lewis the French King to subdue and inthral the Tenth day of February in the seventh year of the Reign of our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is and divers other days and times as well before as after at the Parish of St. Paul Covent-Garden aforesaid in the County aforesaid falsly maliciously devilishly and traiterously you did compass imagine and contrive purpose design and intend our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is to slay kill and murther and a miserable slaughter among the faithful Subjects of our said Lord the King throughout this whole Kingdom of England to make and cause and your said most wicked most impious and devilish treasons and traiterous compassings contrivances and purposes aforesaid to fulfil perfect and bring to effect you the said Alexander Knightley afterwards to wit the same tenth day of February in the year abovesaid at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid and divers other days and times as well before as after there and elsewhere in the same County falsly maliciously advisedly secretly traiterously and with force and arms with very many other Traytors to the Jurors unknown did meet propose treat consult consent and agree him our said Lord the King that now is by lying in wait and deceit to assassinate kill and murther and that execrable horrid and detestable Assassination and killing the sooner to execute and perpetrate afterwards to wit the same day and year and divers other days and times at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid traiterously you did treat propose and consult with those Traytors of the ways manner and means and the time and place where when how and in what manner our said Sovereign Lord the King so by lying in wait might be slain and killed and that you did consent agree and assent with the same Traytors that forty Men on Horseback or thereabouts of whom you the said Alexander Knightley were to be one with Guns Muskets and Pistols charg'd with Gunpowder and Leaden Bullets and with Swords Rapiers and other Arms armed should lye in wait and be in ambush the same our Lord the King in his Coach being when he should go abroad to attack and that a certain and competent number of those Men so arm'd upon the Guards of our said Lord the King him then attending and being with him should set upon and should fight with them and subdue 'em whilst others of the same Men so armed him our said Lord the King should assassinate kill slay and murther and you the said Alexander Knightley your treasons and all your traiterous intentions designs and contrivances aforesaid to execute perform fulfill and bring to effect afterwards to wit the aforesaid tenth day of February in the seventh year abovesaid at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid divers Horses and very many Arms Guns Muskets Rapiers and Swords and other Weapons Ammunition and Warlike things and Military instruments falsly maliciously secretly and traiterously you did obtain buy gather together and procure and to be bought obtain'd gathered together and procured did cause with that intent to use employ and bestow them in and about the detestable horrid and execrable assassination killing and murther of our said Lord the King that now is as aforesaid and the same premises the more safely and surely to execute ●o and perform you the said Alexander Knightley with one Edward King late for High-treason in contriving and conspiring the death of our said Lord the King that now is duly convicted and attainted by the consent and assent of divers of the Traitors and Conspirators aforesaid the said tenth day of February in the seventh year abovesaid traiterously did go and come to the place propos'd where such intended assassination killing and murther of our said Lord the King by lying in wait should be done performed and committed to view search and observe the conveniency and fitness of the same place for such lying in wait assassination and killing there to be made performed and committed and that place so being seen and observed afterwards to wit the same Day and Year your Observations thereof to some of the said Traytors and Conspirators you did relate and impart to wit at the Parish aforesaid in the County aforesaid against the Duty of your Allegiance and against the Peace of our said Sovereign Lord the King that now is his Crown and Dignity and against the Form of the Statute in this Case made and provided How sayst thou Alexander Knightly art thou guilty of the High-Treason whereof thou stands indicted or not guilty

to it L. C. J. Holt. But I say we cannot by the course of the Court give Judgment now for after a person is Convicted here whether by Confession or Verdict he ought to have four days from the time of such Confession or Verdict to move in Arrest of Judgment if there be so many days of the Term remaining if not then the longest time that can be had in the Term is allow'd In Staley's Case it was otherwise practised Judgment was given the same day that was in the time of the Popish Plot and is a Case not to be imitated because not justified by any President before that time or since but it has been always observ'd to have four Juridical days for moving in Arrest of Judgment if so many remain of the Term. Die Lunae Vicessimo Quinto Die Maii An. Dom. 1696. Being the last day of the Term the Prisoner was brought from Newgate to the Kings-Bench-Bar Mr. Att. Gen. If your Lordship please I desire the Judgment of the Court to be pronounc'd upon Mr. Knightley upon his Conviction Cl. of the Crown Alexander Knightley hold up thy hand which he did thou hast been Indicted and Arraigned for High Treason in Compassing and Imagining the Death of the King and adhering to the Kings Enemies what canst thou say for thy self why Judgment should not be given against thee to dye according to the Law Knightley I have nothing more to say my Lord than what I have said Cl. of the Crown Cryer make Proclamation for Silence Which was done on both sides the Court. Cryer O Yez Our Soveraign Lord the King straitly charges and commands all manner of persons to keep silence while Judgment is in giving upon pain of Imprisonment L. C. J. Holt. Mr. Knightly You are by your own Confession convicted of High Treason in designing the Murder of the King and the Subversion of the whole State of England in promoting an Invasion from the French its most antient and inveterate Enemies It hath appeared before your Arraignment not only by the Evidence that hath been given at former Trials but even by the signs of the times and the manner of some mens actings that there hath been for some years last past a Train of Plots and Conspiracies against this Government and when the various means which the Conspirators did project among themselves for its ruin proved ineffectual it was at last resolved among some of the Conspirators to assassinate the King as the most certain way of accomplishing their end In which design you were deeply engaged and was an active instrument in the carrying it on being sent to view the ground on both sides the Water and with others that were sent with you reported your opinion which was the most convenient place to attack the King and his Guards And tho you did the last time you were at the Bar urge by way of extenuation of your crime that you being engaged in the Interest of the Late King and thereby supported you was surprized into this barbarous design which being proposed to you you thought your self obliged in Honour to engage in it which is so far from an extenuation that it is an high aggravation For Men of honourable Principles tho most zealously disposed to the advancement of any particular Interest yet always detest the use of base and vile means Therefore when the Assassination of the King was proposed you had an opportunity to have retreated with Honor and might have refused to be further concerned but you rather pursued this wicked enterprize with great Zeal And tho you are by your Profession a Roman Catholick and may for that reason think that your crime is mitigated because you acted in the behalf of a Prince of your own Religion which you hoped thereby to introduce Notwithanstding all which your offence is highly aggravated in respect of the ingratitude and folly with which it is attended For there is no English Papist that is Master of any property but it is interested in the preservation of this Government to which the whole Party of them hath been and still are continually obliged for its Moderation and Justice for instead of being exposed to the Severity of those Laws to which they are obnoxious they have had the same indulgence in the enjoyment of their Religion and the same protection and as much benefit in the destribution of the Common Justice of the Realm as any other of the Kings Subjects therefore none of them could ever expect to mend their condition under a French Domination But the contrary is foreseen by all considering Men For the English Papist as well as Protestant would have been reduced to a most dismal stare if you had obtained your end For it is against all the Rules of Reason and the Experience of all Ages to imagine that the French King would spare English Papists more than Protestants for it is not Zeal to Religion or Affection to the Interest of the Late King that hath excited him to invade England but it 's his Pride and Ambition to conquer the three Kingdoms and to reduce this to be a Province to France Indeed the pretence of restoring the Late King and introducing the Popish Religion may serve to delude some warm and unwary Zealots to engage in his assistance who do not consider that if they should be successful would be as certainly destroyed as others but with more disadvantage to themselves For after they shall have survived the Liberty of their Country have embrued their own hands in their Countrymens Blood they will be at the Mercy of the Conqueror who can never think it his Interest to trust them but will despise them for being such villanous Traitors to their own Country Nay rather these Englishmen who by their courage and resolution shall endeavour to defend their Country tho they should be unfortunately vanquished will meet with a much better reception for they will have given assurances that they may be confided in when the others have by such a wicked Treason given a demonstration to the contrary There being then nothing to be said that can palliate such a crime as that of which you are convicted but you having taken a different course the last time you were at the Bar from what you took at first you have relinquished your Plea of No● Guilty and have confessed the Indictment I wish out of charity to your person it was as sincere as I think it it was prudent in you for after several Convictions of others that were your Accomplices you could not be a stranger to the Evidence upon which they were grounded you must therefore in all probability have expected to have undergone the same fate If your Confession be a real effect of your Repentance you will reap the advantage of it in the next world but what confequence it will have in this I cannot say For the heart of the King is in the hand of the Almighty which as the Rivers of Water he turneth whithersoever he will Live therefore for the time to come in expectation of a speedy Death and prepare your self to appear before another Judgment Seat to the making of which important preparation I shall dismiss you first discharging the Court of the Duty now incumbent upon it in giving that Judgment which the Law hath appointed And the Court doth award That you be conveyed from hence to Newgate the Prison from whence you came and from thence you are to be drawn upon a Hurdle to Tyburn where you are to be hanged by the Neck and while you are alive to be cut down your Privy Members are to be cut off and your Bowels to be cut out of your Body and burnt in your view your head is to be cut off and your Body is to be divided into four parts and your Head and your Quarters are to be disposed where his Majesty shall appoint And I pray God to have mercy upon your Soul Knightley My Lord I am truly sorry for what I have done and I humbly thank your Lordship and the rest of the Judges for your favour to me Then the Prisoner was carried back to Newgate FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THE Tryals of Charnock King Keys Sir William Parkins Sir John Freind Ambrose Rookwood Cranbourn and Lowick for the Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy for Assassinating In Sacred Majesty King William and for encouraging a French Invasion are all Sold by the Order of the Lord Chief Justice Holt for Samnuel Heyrick at Grays-Inn Gate Holbron and Isaac Cleave at Serjeants-Inn Gate Chancery-lane

Knightley Not guilty Cl. of Arr. Culprit how will you be try'd Knightley By God and my Countrey Cl. of Arr. God send you a good deliverance Knightley With submission to your Lordship I did not expect in this weak condition that I am in to be brought at this time to the Bar That having taken me off extremely from the application that I should have otherwise made of my self to my Defence but seeing there is no Mercy to be had here I will endeavour to have Patience and undergo my Fate as well as I can L. C. J. Holt. Mr. Knightley you have no reason to find fault for when I was acquainted you were ill and desired a Physician I ordered one to be sent to you and yesterday in the Afternoon you sent word you were so sick that you could not be brought hither to day but your Doctor was with me last night and upon Discourse with him I did apprehend you were not so ill but that especially considering the weather you might very safely be brought to the Bar to day Knightley The Gentleman that brought me the Copy of the Indictment found me very ill and I have been ill ever since this day sevennight L. C. J. Holt. Well now let us see what time we shall appoint for the Trial. Mr. Att. Gen. When your Lordship pleases to appoint L. C. J. Holt. I think you cannot try it till Wednesday fortnight Mr. Clark That day is free my Lord. L. C. J. Holt. It being upon a Certiorari the Venire facias must be Returnable upon a common day and there must be 15 days between the Teste and the Return Mr. Att. Gen. May it not be Tuesday then that the Jury appear L. C. J. Holt. You cannot have it before Wednesday for that is the Return-day Mr. Clark Tuesday fortnight is appointed for the Trial between Pride and the Earl of Bath Mr. Att. Gen. Then it must be upon Wednesday for there must be 15 days between the Teste and the Return L. C. J. Holt. Well take back your Prisoner and bringing him here again on Wednesday fortnight you shall have a Rule for it Then the Prisoner was carried back Die Mercurii Vicesimo Maij 1696. In Banco Regis Dominus Rex versus Knightley THis day being appointed for the Trial of the Prisoner he was brought to Westminster-Hall and the Jury were call'd over as soon as the Court appeared in the Hall and the Defaulters recorded and about 11 of the Clock the Prisoner was brought to the Bar. Cl. of the Crown Alexander Knightley Hold up thy Hand Which he did Those good men that thou shalt hear called and personally appear are to pass between our Sovereign Lord the King and Thee upon the Trial of thy Life and Death If therefore thou wouldst challenge them or any of them thy time is to speak unto them as they come to the Book to be sworn before they be sworn L. C. J. Holt. Mr. Knightley I perceive you have a Desire to speak something let us hear what you have to say Knightley I humbly beg your Lordship's leave that I may speak before the Jury be called What I have to say I beg I may have your Leave to read because I have a bad Memory Reads MY Lord I hope to save the Jury and the Witnesses against me a great deal of trouble and design to take up very little of your Lordship's time But in the first place I think my self obliged to Thank your Lordship for your great Indulgence in granting me so much time between my Arraignment and Trial the greatest part of which I have employ'd to appear before the great Tribunal of Heaven I speak in the face of the World here That I am convinc'd I cannot hope to be happy hereafter without a just Abhorrence of and a sincere Repentance for that Crime for which I here stand Indicted And since Confession is an essential part of Repentance I do acknowledge I was to have been concern'd in some part of the Barbarous Assassination and was unhappily surprized into a Consent to Act in it though in my heart I did abominate the Fact as much as any man living but under some Honourable and Fair Pretences I was drawn in at first and then of a sudden became so far engaged that by a mistaken Notion of Honour I thought I could not retreat without the Infamy of Cowardise My Lord I humbly crave your Lordship's Permission to acquaint you how that some time since I was brought before some of the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council where I do assure your Lordship I did freely own and fully discover my being concerned in that horrid Design and I here openly confess the same with that Sorrow and Repentance as becomes a man of Honour and Conscience My Lord There is one Circumstance particular in my Case I most humbly beg leave to insist upon and urge to your Lordship in my behalf which is That it was upon my Confession as I conceive that Mr. Harris now a principal Evidence against me was first discovered so that my own Confession has been a great means to take away my Life I expect after a few words now in this solemn Court to receive from your Lordship the Sentence due upon the Conviction from my own mouth of a Crime for which I cannot in modesty hope so much above my Deserts the King 's most Gracious Pardon yet the greatness of my Offence does not rob me of all thoughts of Mercy whilst I throw my self absolutely and entirely at His Majesty's Feet for it and I humbly beg of your Lordship as a Privy Councellor That you would represent my unfortunate Case to their Excellencies the Lords Justices of England as an Object of His Majesty's Favour And now my Lord I shall not detain your Lordship and the Court any longer but my next words Convict and lay me under the Just Sentence of Death So to my Indictment I beg leave to plead Guilty and throw my self entirely upon the King's Mercy and do desire my former Plea to my Indictment may be withdrawn Cl. of the Crown Thou haft been Indicted and Arraigned of High Treason in Compassing and Imagining the Death and Destruction of the King how sayst thou Alexander Knightley art thou Guilty of the High Treason whereof thou standst Indicted or Not Guilty Knightley Guilty my Lord. Cl. of the Crown Art thou content to withdraw thy Plea Not Guilty Knightley Yes Sir Cl. of the Cr. Do you plead to the Indictment Guilty or Not Guilty Knightley I am Guilty Mr. Att. Gen. Then my Lord we desire since he relinquishes his Plea of Not Guilty that you will Record his Confession and since he has Confest the Indictment we have nothing more to do but wait the Judgment of the Court. L. C. J. Holt. We shall not give Judgment now Mr. Att. Gen. If the Prisoner have any thing to say for himself your Lordships I suppose will hear him