it was taken before one of His Majesties Justices of Peace in Staffordshire and transmitted to Edmund Warcup Esq c. This Informant saith That he was at my Lord Astons Black-Smiths to have his Horse shodd there and that in the mean time Mr. Francis Aston eldest Son to the Lord Aston came to the said Black-Smith's Shop and calling to this Informant took him apart and told him that if he would he might with ease do his Father and him the greatest kindness imaginable He this Informant answered he would use all possible means to serve him and his Father if you do said Mr. Francis Aston and be true as to what I shall instruct you you shall have that piece of ground which you hold of my Father in Brinsh Rent-free for seven Years and Ten Pounds in present Money besides He this Informant answered that he would be true and faithful to him and his Father and desired to know what they would have him to do Mr. Francis Aston then told this Informant that Mr. Dugdale was coming into the Country and that he would have him the said Informant go from place to place with the said Dugdale and to watch his opportunity till he could find a convenient place to kill the said Dugdale being his Fathers greatest and only Enemy And that the surest way of accomplishing this was to charge a Pistol with a brace of Bullets and as this Informant should find conveniency to shoot him in the back saying he will so certainly kill him And withal he advised me that thereupon that I should ride to the next Town in a great fright and tell there that Dugdale and I being riding on the Rode together were met and assaulted by two men one of which shot Mr. Dugdale and killed him And this said he will both oblige my Father my self and all our Friends for ever and also remove all suspition from your self considering what the Papists think themselves allowed to do against the Enemies of their Church And considering how the Nation is filled with men of ill Principles and profligate lives it is no wonder that they have been able to produce some persons to detract from the Credit of the Kings Evidence but it is rather to be accounted matter of wonder that they have not found Instruments to assassinate every man of them But to proceed these Conspirators whom we have already mentioned are not the only persons who have left uncontrollable Evidence of their guilt when with the highest Confidence they asserted their Innocency for Mr. Ireland also had the Fate to betray himself in the same way of Indiscretion and Folly for thinking to have invalidated the Testimony of Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedloe he affirms he protests he calls God to Witness that he was in Staffordshire from the fifth of August till the fourteenth of September Whereas they had sworn that he was and that they had seen him at Lonaon within that time And as if it had not been enough to have insisted upon it at his Tryal he sealed it with most solemn Asseverations at his death And yet it hath appeared since by the Testimony of Mr. Jennison a person of an ancient and considerable family and of an unquestionable Reputation and Mr. Irelands own Relation and Kinsman that Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedloe's Credit deserved not to be impeached on this account nor by any other Asseverations or Oaths by any of the Papal Communion offered against them or either of the King's Evidences seeing as he affirms he had both seen and Conversed with him at his Lodging in Russel-Street on the 19th of August and this he not only affirms upon the Word and Oath of a Gentleman and a Christian but by such particular and undeniable Circumstances that there is no man of sense but must acknowledge himself convinced that the Jesuit dyed with a Lye in his Mouth He that hath or will read his several Narratives concerning this and what I have observed in mine in reference to it will soon see that Ireland discovered his being in Town not because he was not there but because the Errand he came and Employed himself about was so black and detestable and with all so positive sworn against him that he knew no way to vindicate himself from it but by swearing point blank that he was not so much as upon the spot where these things charged upon him were said to have been transacted But because there is no Sore and men live to be further confirmed and established in these very things whereof they are already sufficiently persuaded I shall subjoyn one Testimony more of an honoured and worthy Gentleman and a Kinsman of Mr. Ireland who also saw and discoursed about several things with him in London when he so positively calls God to witness that he was elsewhere which confirms Mr. Jenisons Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedlow's Evidence The Gentleman is desirous for a season to have his Name concealed but is a Person of known worth and will be ready to Confirm what is here said before any Magistrate when called thereunto And whosoever considers not only the many reproaches fastned upon the Names but the attempts made upon the Lives of several of those who have concerned themselves in detecting and obstructing this Hellish Plot will think it no matter of surprise or amasement that Gentlemen should be shy in concerning themselves in it especially when the life of their Prince or the safety of the People doth not so much depend upon it but that all which their Discovery will amount unto is only the detecting the Perjury of a Romish Priest Nay is it not come to that that it is very little less than a dishonour to be a Discoverer even where the Kings life is eminently in danger So that if you would in some Company design the Exposing of a man you can not do it with a greater Emphasis and more to the general gust than by proclaiming him an Evidence Which as it may serve for an Apology why this Gentleman conceals his Name so I do here pledge my Faith that the World is not shamm'd by a Counterfeit Information but that what is here subjoyned is no more than what a Person of entire Credit and very good Quality will be ready to Justifie Namely That this Gentleman being about the beginning of Bartholomew Fair 1678. going up Holborn with an intention to carry a Lady and a Relation of his to the Fair to entertain her with what the place could afford or at least what she would principally have a mind to see he accidentally met with Mr. Ireland who was also his Relation and between whom and him there had intervened a long Acquaintance And that Mr. Ireland of whose Company because of their different Principles he was never fond not only accosting him but being importunate to drink with him he accordingly attended him into an adjoyning Ale-House at the Sign of the Three Pipes Where they not only continued almost an hour
only Faux declared that he was moved into it only for the sake of Religion and Conscience because he thought the King not to be his lawful Soveraign seeing he was an Heretick But Sir Everard Digby professed upon his Tryal that it was not ambition nor discontent with his Estate nor malice to any in Parliament but zeal for his Religion and the hopes of restoring it in England The fourth and principal thing wherein my Lord Stafford did either mistake himself or greatly prevaricate was in these words That the men concerned in the Powder-Plot did all acknowledge and confess it and begged Pardon of the King and God and all good men for it Nor shall I here insist upon this that I do not see how it was possible for my Lord Stafford to be assured that all the Persons who were in it were known and found out or that he could ever throughly understand whether even those that confessed after their apprehension did not conceal much more than they discovered But I shall confine my self to two things whereof the first is this that the conspirators when under Examination did with Oaths and Asseverations deny what themselves had full knowledge of and whereof the State had sufficient Evidence For Garnet having by the pretended favour of his Keeper an opportunity allowed him to discourse with Hall and being the next day charged by several Lords of the Privy Council with divers things which had passed betwixt them two in that conference he not only denied the whole upon his Soul and the word of a Priest but with so many repeated Protestations and terrible Execrations that my Lord of Salisbury who was then present said it wounded all their Lordships hearts to hear him And yet when confronted by Mr. Fauset who was both a learned person and a Justice of Peace and by Mr. Lockerson one likewise of known Reputation who had overheard all they said having conveniently placed themselves before hand to that purpose and withal understanding that Hall had confessed what they had discoursed he then acknowledged what with so many asseverations he had immediately before denied and begged mercy of the Lords saying he had offended if Equivocation did not help him And that we may not think Equivocations and Perjuries peculiar only to the Jesuits we have an Example of the like carriage in Sir Everard Digby who being upon his first apprehension examined did with most solemn Protestations and all kind of Execrations deny his being privy to the Powder-Plot and yet being afterwards confronted by the Testimony of Faux who had confessed that being at Sir Everards house in the Country some months before the intended Session of Parliament that Sir Everard having taken him aside told him he was afraid the Powder in the Cellar was grown dank and that some new must be provided lest that should not take fire he did thereupon not only acknowledge it notwithstanding all his former Execrations to the contrary but when he came to be indicted he confessed it upon his Arraignment Whence we evidently see that they not only with horrid Oaths and astonishing Asseverations denied what they knew themselves guilty of but that the Confessions they made did not proceed from any tenderness of Conscience or remorse for what they had been engaged in but were extorted from them by the uncontrollableness of the Evidence and by improving the confessions of some of themselves to oblige others to an acknowledgement The second thing I would have observed in the Gun-powder Conspirators is that several of them went out of the world in the same manner that our late Traitors did denying divers things to their last which they knew themselves to be guilty of And of this to avoid prolixity I shall give but two Instances one whereof shall be that of Francis Tresham Esq who not only gave it under his hand but took it upon his Soul and as he hoped for Salvation within three hours before his Death that he had not seen Garnet the Provincial of the Jesuits in sixteen years before and yet Garnet himself afterwards declared that they had enjoyed frequent conversation with each other within less than the space of three years and that he supposed Mr. Tresham meant to equivocate in denying it Where was now the sense of the Omnisciency of God or the dread of the future Tribunal which the Advocates for the late Traitors derive their Topicks to persuade the world of their Innocency from Alas the reputation and Interest of the Catholick Cause and the Confidence they reposed in Equivocations Dispensations and Absolutions had stifled all such Impressions The other Instance shall be Sir Everard Digby who not only endeavoured to clear all the Jesuits from being any waies concerned in that Treasonable Plot but gloried in the venturing his Salvation and Happiness upon it Whereas they themselves to the eternal reproach of that poor Gentleman's memory confest and acknowledged it And as if this had not been enough to witness his own insincerity and to instruct future Generations what little Faith is to be given to Papists either living or dying he with the same Impudence and to his very last denied that ever Father Wally i. e. Garnet had been at Coughton with him or that he knew Darcy to be the same with Garnet or understood that he was a Priest Whereas it appeared that he was not only very well acquainted with him but even Garnet himself confessed that he had been at his house Let our many pleading Orators for the late Traitors continue now to argue from the Confessions of the Gun-powder Conspirators that they acknowledging their guilt while the others dyed in the denyal of theirs as those were criminal so these must be innocent Whereas we cannot desire a more convincing proof how little the Oaths and Asseverations of Papists in the very circumstances of dying are to be depended upon than the assurance which we have from Authentick Records of the behaviour of those engaged in the Gun-powder Plot whom we have mentioned And that no danger which might arise to particular Romanists may be conceived to have discouraged our late Conspirators I shall subjoyn the case which Catesby propounded namely Whether for the Promotion of the Catholick Cause against Hereticks the necessity of time and occasion so requiring it were lawful among many nocents to take away some innocents To which Father Garnet with the greatest seriousness and utmost fixedness of Judgment answered That if the advantage to the Catholick Party were greater by taking away some Innocents together with many Nocents then doubtless it was lawful to kill and destroy them all So that if we do but apprehend that they were possessed with the least probability of prevailing in the issue the lives of multitudes of their own faction that would have been last in the Interim were to be esteemed a small price for so great a commodity as the re-establishing Popery in
England the rooting out the Protestant Religion and destroying of Hereticks § 8. But to make a nearer approach to the present Plot can there be a greater Evidence of the Papists readiness to forswear their own guilt than the many Examples of hiring and suborning persons to perjure themselves to make the Innocent Criminal A design more horrid in itself and more destructive to Government and the safety of Mankind than for one that is guilty to protest his Innocency with the highest Execrations For by the Arraignment of one innocent person upon a countenanced subornation all who deserve the same character are virtually indicted and the whole Law becomes perverted from its true end which is to justifie the guiltless and is turned into an Engine to condemn the Innocent And it will prove of such fatal consequence should it be connived at or allowed that all the ligaments of society will become dissolved and all obligations not only between man and man but betwixt Rulers and People finally cancelled For who can be so innocent that it is not in the power of a suborned Villain to slander or so Loyal whom on the encouragement of a Reward and at the suggestion of a prompter he will not brand for a Traitor And we may be sure that they who are so void of all Conscience as to undertake so horrid an Employment will be furnished with Impudence to swear any Charge that their Masters dictate and prescribe unto them And what a damnable Religion must that be that at once inspires them to seek the destruction of Protestants and justifies them in all kind of subornations and falshoods for the accomplishing of it Now besides many Instances not yet come to light of this treacherous and Romish Practice we have several accounts of their endeavours of this kind which deserve our observation and remark The first is that of Netternille an Irish Papist his attempting to corrupt Mr. William Brooks one of the Aldermen of Dublin and Captain Bery to swear what should be prescribed unto them for the fixing of scandalous Crimes on Dr. Oats and Mr. Bedloe and charging the Plot on Dissenting Protestants The next is Readings Attempt upon Mr. Bedloe to have obtained of him the renouncing all the material part of his Depositions against the Lords in the Tower for which he promised him in Money and Estate a great Reward The third is Mr. Price's and Mr. Tasbrough's labouring to persuade Mr. Dugdale to recant whatsoever he had said concerning the Plot and to call the Almighty God to witness that no motive had induced him to retract the Testimonies he had given but remorse of Conscience for the Mischiefs which he had done though they were in the mean time to give him a great sum of money in hand besides a further Reward which they assured him of afterwards The fourth is their suborning Thomas Knox and John Lane to swear such Crimes against Dr. Oats as they supposed would not only weaken the Credit of all his Evidence but bring him under a sentence of Death and so rob the Nation of the most considerable Witness in reference to the Plot. A fifth is Longmores and Draxtons endeavouring to bribe Simon Wright to declare upon Oath that Mr. Dugdale had promised to protect him and give him money as one of the King's Evidence if he would swear against Sir James Symons and Mr. Gerrard The last which I shall mention is their Employing Mr. Dangerfield to charge a Plot on the Presbyterians wherein they intended to involve most of those that appeared active and zealous for the Protesant Religion and English Liberty And to conclude Instances of this nature at present I shall only add two Depositions which may serve to instruct us that they still persevere in the Practice of the same Villany The Tenor of the first is as followeth The Examination of Edward Howcott of the City of Lichfield taken at the said City the first day of Jan. 1680 1 before me Francis Bayly one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace forth County of the said City The said Examinant upon his Oath saith That Joseph Salt of Utoxeter Feltmaker about the month of June last told this Deponent that one John Murrall a Barber in Rugby in the County of Stafford would have had the said Joseph Salt to have gone with him to London and be a witness against Mr. Stephen Dugdale one of the King's Evidence in the late Horrid Plot the said Murrall pretending as the said Salt told this Deponent that he knew as much of the Plot as Mr. Dugdale did and if he would but testifie three or four words which Murrall would direct him to swear against Mr. Dugdale he should live better than ever he did in his life telling the said Salt that he now lived meanly but if he would do what he desired him he should never want whilst he lived for in this Juncture of time the Oath of a Protestant would be better accepted than twenty Oaths of a Papist And further this Deponent saith That the said Murrall had sworn him never to confess what he said to him and threfore Salt said He would be hanged and drawn and quartered before he would discover the saying of Murrall And this is not only sworn by Edward Howcott but by his Wife Mary Howcott and by one Edward Blakesly who were all present when Salt declared and acknowledged as is above deposed The second Information declarative also of the like Practices is that of Thomas Lander of Shutborrow in the County of Stafford as it was taken upon Oath the 24 of Decemb. 1680 1. before Edmund Warcupp Esq one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex c. This Informant saith that having been employed as a workman several times at the house of my Lord Aston at Tixall in the County aforesaid he was solicited by Mr. Francis Hind Steward to the Lord Aston to become a Witness against Stephen Dugdale any way to invalidate or take off his Evidence in relation to the Popish Plot and he served this Informant with a Supena to come up to London for that purpose at the late intended Tryal of the late Lord Aston in June last past But before his coming up the said Hind Francis Aston Son to the Lord Aston Thomas Sawyer servant to the said Lord Aston sent for this Informant into a private room in the said Lord Aston's house and there told him That if he would swear such things as should be dictated to him by the Persons aforesaid to invalidate or take away the Evidence of the said Mr. Dugdale he should have such reward as should be to his own content and not want for Money or house as might become a man of better quality than himself Can any man now have horror enough for that Religion which doth at once both authorise and sanctify such subornations and treacheries or can we without abandoning our
this 17th day of January 1680. before me Edmond Warcupp Esq one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace in the said County and City Middle Westm. ss THis Informant saith that he waited on Robert Howard of Horecross in the said County of Stafford Esq to the House of the Lord Aston at Tixall in the said County of Stafford on the 12th of September 1678. and then and there saw William late Lord Viscount Stafford talking with Mr. Stephen Dugdale And on the 13th day of the said month of September 1678. this Informant stepping by accident into a Room there called the little Dining-Room or little Parlour some time before Dinner he then and there saw the said William late Viscount Stafford and the said Stephen Dugdale talking and discoursing together in private no other person then being in the said Room besides themselves whereupon this Informant soon withdrew lest he should interrupt their Conference And this Informant is most assured of the Premisses by a certain Memorandum which he then wrote down in his own Pocket Book which at the time of this Information is produced And he likewise saw the said William late Viscount Stafford and the said Stephen Dugdale discoursing together in Tixall Park in the Buck season of the same year 1678. no other Person being with them while the Gentry then Assembled were hunting the Buck in the said Park And this Informant further saith that as he was walking in Tixall Hall about the 18th or 19th day of September 1678. he observed the said William late Lord Viscount Stafford go into a Room called the great Parlour or the Dining-Room which adjoyned to his Lordships Lodging Chamber and immediately the said Stephen Dugdale followed him into the said Room and this Informant saw them two alone discoursing together but how long they continued there or what their Discourse was he knoweth not And by these and other Observations this Informant did believe that the said Stephen Dugdale was in good esteem and in some trust with the said late Viscount Stafford And he further saith that the said Stephen Dugdale was then Steward to the Lord Aston and had great Power and Command in the said Lord Astons Family at Tixall and bought and sold all things relating to the Family or Estate at Tixall and was the Chiefest man in the Lord Astons Family and paid the Wages of Labourers and had a very good Name and Reputation among the Gentry of that Countrey as well Papists as Protestants and was frequently termed Honest Stephen Dugdale And this Informant further saith that he hath observed the said William late Lord Viscount Stafford own the said Stephen Dugdale with respect calling him Mr. Dugdale at Dinners and Suppers before the said Lord Astons face both when they did eat in private and when they did eat in publick with other Gentry and Persons of Quality in the said House to which there was great resort in that year And this Informant likewise observed the said Stephen Dugdale was well respected and very civilly treated by the said William late Lord Viscount Stafford in other Companies and Places where they Occasionally met And further saith not William Skelton Jurat ' die Anno supradict ' coram me Edm. Warcupp Vera Copia Ex ' per me Edmond Warcupp The Information of Walter Collins of the Burrough of Stafford Gent. taken upon Oath the 19th day of January 1680. before Tho. Blacks and Sampson Byrch his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the said Burrough Stafford Burrough ss WHo saith that in or about the year of our Lord Christ 1678. he saw the late Lord Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale walk together in the Court Yard belonging to Tixall Hall between the Gate-house and the said Hall about the space of a quarter of an hour and that no other Person did walk with them or was in hearing of them Wal. Collins Signed in presence of William Southall Jurat ' die Anno predict ' coram Tho. Blake Sam. Byrch Thomas Jordan of Little-Haywood in the County of Stafford Gent. one of the High-Constables for the said County Staff ss SAith that in the Summer time in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred seventy and eight on a Thursday being a Bowling day at Tixall in the said County he this Informant saw the Lord Stafford and the Lord Aston stand together on the side of the Bowling-Green a distance from the rest of the Company there and out of their hearing And while their Lordships stood at that distance this Informant saw Mr. Stephen Dugdale go to their Lordships and stand with them in that place out of hearing of the rest of the Company about a quarter of an hour and their Lordships and Mr. Dugdale did Discourse together all that time as this Informant verily believes this Informant being in their sight all that time but not in their hearing Thomas Jordan 15 die January 1680. Signed then in the presence of Thomas Whitbey Edward Foden The Information of William Suelson of Great-Haywood Nailer taken upon Oath before Sir Bryan Broughton Knight and Barronet Jan. 13. 1680. WHo saith that about Michaelmas was two years he saw the Lord Stafford walking alone with Mr. Stephen Dugdale upon Tixall Bowling-Alley And this Informant saith that he knew the Lord Stafford as well as the one hand from the other for he hath often seen him at Tixall William Suelson Jurat ' coram me B. Broughton The Information of Richard Parkin of Shutburrough in the County of Stafford taken upon Oath in Stafford before James Lewes of the Burrough of Stafford and Thomas Blake and Sampson Byrch Justices of the said Burrough Staff ss WHo upon his Oath saith that in the Summer time in the year of our Lord Christ 1677. he saw William late Viscount Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale together by themselves and none else with them in the Court at Tixall betwixt Tixall Hall and the Stables there And also that he this Informant saw the said Lord Stafford and the said Mr. Dugdale together and none else with them upon a Hempland belonging to Walter Eld of Tixall Rich. Parkin his A Mark Signed in the presence of William Southall 15. Jan. 1680. Jurat ' coram James Lewes Tho. Blake Samp. Byrch Vera Copia The Information of Tho. Creswell of Little-Haywood Cordwayner Januar. 11. 1680. Staff WHo saith that in the Summer time in the year of our Lord 1676. he was at Tixall to ride Horses and about a month before Michaelmas the Lord Stafford took him to be his Page with whom he lived a year and a quarter within that time my Lord Stafford was three or four times at Tixall and staied sometimes two or three nights together and three or four mornings he hath sent this Informant to see for Stephen Dugdale and bid him come to him for to speak with him And this Informant saith that he hath seen him at the least three times go into the Parlour to my
Lord Stafford and his Gentleman and as soon as Mr. Dugdale came in his Gentleman came out and he remained single with the Lord Stafford and at several other places he hath seen my Lord Stafford with Mr. Stephen Dugdale The Information of Sampson Rawlins of Tixall in the County of Stafford Taylor Staff WHo informeth that in the latter end of Summer in the year of our Lord 1678. the Lord Stafford being then at Tixall he this Informant saw the said Lord Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale walk together in Tixall Hall and after some time they had been together walking themselves the said Mr. Dugdale went and fetcht the Lord Aston to the said Lord Stafford The Informations above written were taken upon Oath the 11th of January 1680. before Henry Vernon Esq one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Stafford in the presence of me William Southall The Information of Thomas Robinson of Ingestry in the County of Stafford Husbandman taken upon Oath the two and twentieth day of January in the year 1680. before James Lewes Mayor of the Burrough of Stafford and Sampson Byrch Justice of Peace for the said Burrough Staff ss THis Informant saith that in the month of September 1678. he this Informant being then at Tixall Hall he saw William late Viscount Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale come together and none else with them out of a Garden belonging to Tixall Hall and afterwards they both walked together themselves in the Walks nigh to the said Garden but what Discourse they had this Informant knows not And at another time after the time aforesaid the said late Viscount Stafford came to Tixall Hall on Horseback and the said Mr. Dugdale meeting his Lordship and after he had saluted him and shewed his obedience to his Lordship they both did walk themselves together into Tixall Hall and none else with them Thomas Robinson his Mark. Jur ' apud Stafford vicesimo secundo die Januarii Anno Regni Caroli secundi nunc Ang. xxxii coram nobis James Lewes Mayor Sampson Byrch The Information of Ann Hinckley Wife of Samuel Hinckley of Penckrich in the County of Stafford Cordwayner taken upon Oath the ninth day of Febr. 1680. before Richard Congreve Esq one of his Majesties Justices of Peace for the County aforesaid VVHo saith that in or about the month of August one thousand six hundred seventy and eight this Informant went with her Husband to Tixall in the said County to speak with Mr. Stephen Dugdale and coming to one Elds House in Tixall her Husband desired her to go into Tixall Hall to look for the said Mr. Dugdale and when she came into the said Hall she saw the said Mr. Dugdale with an ancient Gentleman in the said Hall standing both together and talking and after some time this Informant asked one Joseph Tarbox who stood with this Informant who that Gentleman was who told her it was the Lord Stafford And she saw at that time the said Lord Stafford pull a Paper out of his Pocket and gave it to the said Mr. Dugdale to read and after Mr. Dugdale had looked on the said Paper he gave it again to the said Lord Stafford And she further saith that she continued in sight of the said Lord Stafford and Mr. Dugdale above the space of half an hour and during that time there was no person with them And she further saith that afterwards Mr. Dugdale came to this Informant and bid her go to one Dorothy Aldridges in Tixall aforesaid and he would come to her which she did taking her Husband with her and being there with Mr. Dugdale he the said Mr. Dugdale after some Discourse told this Informant that he must go again to the said Lord Stafford for he had earnest business with him And further saith that both in the said Hall and the said Aldridges House she heard Mr. Dugdale say that the Person he was talking with was the Lord Stafford Anne Hinkley A her Mark. She is a Papist Die Anno predict ' Jurat ' coram me Rich. Congreve The Information of John Boulton of the Burrough of Stafford Sadler taken upon Oath at Stafford aforesaid before Tho. Blake and Sampson Byrch his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the said Burrough on the 19th day of January 1680. Stafford Burrough ss VVHo saith that in the Summer time about the year of our Lord Christ 1678. he saw the Lord Stafford on a Bowling-day on the Bowling-Green at Tixall amongst many Gentlemen and saw Mr. Stephen Dugdale come to the said Green and saw the Lord Stafford go from the other Gentlemen and meet the said Mr. Dugdale and ask him where he had been Mr. Dugdale answered he had been at Haywood and had got some Betts about a Race after which this Informant saw the said Lord Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale withdraw themselves at a further distance from the said Company and there continued without any other Company than themselves for the space of almost a quarter of an hour John Boulton Signed in the presence of William Southall Jurat ' die Anno predict ' coram Tho. Blake Sam. Byrch The Information of Semer Ansell of Shutburrough in the County of Stafford Skinner taken upon Oath in the Burrough of Stafford the two and twentieth day of January 1680. before James Lewes Esq Mayor of the Burrough of Stafford and Sampson Byrch one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace of the said Burrough Staff ss VVHo saith in the Summer time in the year of our Lord 1678. he saw William late Lord alias Viscount Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale talking together at a place called Ruffecroft-Gate in Tixall and no other Person with them and they both continued together themselves there above a quarter of an hour in the sight of this Informant who staied to speak with the said Mr. Dugdale and within few days after he this Informant saw the said late Lord Stafford and Mr. Dugdale together themselves and none else with them in the place called the Hall in Tixall for the space of above half an hour and afterwards both of them went together into the great Parlour into Tixall Hall Semer Ansell Jur ' apud Stafford xxxii die Januarii Anno Regni Caroli secundi nunc Ang. xxxii coram nobis James Lewes Sampson Byrch Now though these be but a few of the many Depositions which we could have produced to this purpose yet they are enough to detect the Imposture and Perjury of the late Viscount Stafford and to convince the World what little Credit is to be given to a Papist in the solemnest appeals which he makes to God and that in those very Circumstances when the worst of men are usually found to be candid and ingenuous For whereas Mr. Dugdale hath been represented as an infamous Person and one that neither my Lord Aston nor any other Gentlemen put the least confidence in or esteemed worthy of common Respect it is made fully evident by
who hath a Dispensation for it And surely if a Papal Dispensation may make Incest lawful it may make Lying and Perjury lawful also But so much hath been said on this Subject by others that I shall wave enlarging on that particular Sect. 17. And as if it had not been enough to obtrude Maxims on the World by which a man may speak dissonantly to what he knows and believes and yet not lye and by which a man may be guilty of lying and perjury and yet not sin They have also made provision that what they themselves both acknowledge to be a lye and confess to be a sin yet that it shall no ways endanger the Salvation of him who contracted such a guilt And surely what the Papists may do without the hazard of future blessedness and in subserviency in the mean time to many great and secular ends they will not much scruple the doing of it Now the provisions which that tender and compassionate Church hath made for her Children by vertue of the benefit of which they may be as wicked as they can desire and yet be in no danger of the Vindictive Justice of God or Eternal Punishments are such as these 1. She allows them the benefit of Absolution Now the nature and end of Absolution is not to render a thing to be no sin which in it self is a sin but the making that which is sin not be punishable by the Divine Tribunal It doth not make a man to be free from having done that which he hath done but it secures him from the Justice of God though he did it Though a Papal Pardon doth not make that not to be which is yet it renders the Person as safe as if it were not or never had been And guilt implying an obnoxiousness to punishment they reckon that being by absolution discharged from all obnoxiousness to punishment they are no more guilty than if they had never committed such a Fact And so they aver themselves to be as Innocent as the Child unborn not of the Fact but with respect to the demerit of it How far this Popish Engine hath served the interest of the Papal Party and emboldned them to deny that which they were justly accused of hath been abundantly declared by many learned Pens and therefore my further pains about it are superseded by the foregoing labours of others 2. The second provision of this kind made by the Church of Rome for the Votaries of the Triple Crown and the Subjects of the Infallible Head is that of Indulgences by which whole Orders and many Families as well as Individual Persons are pardoned not only of all the sins that they have committed but of all that they shall commit as well for ages as years to come No doubt but they who could give Indulgences of all sins to such as heretofore fought in favour of the Pope and the Court and Church of Rome against Emperors or Kings that quarrelled with his Highnesses Usurpations or that listed themselves under the Papal Banners for the extirpation of Hereticks but that they will be as ready to give Indulgences of the same form and extent to such as are engaged for the rooting out of the Northern Heresie which hath so long tyrannised over these Kingdoms 3. To this we may subjoin their Doctrine of Purgatory Supererogations Masses for the dead which are all calculated to secure the everlasting happiness of Papists though they dye in known sins 4. Of Alliance to this is their opinion concerning the vertue and Power of the Eucharist which being received though only with attrition justifieth any one that is in Mortal Sin And for securities sake they may keep it by them and administer it to themselves if they should fail of an opportunity of having another to administer it to them And this course took Mary Queen of Scots Lastly Their Doctrine that Martyrdom doth Ex opere operato confer grace is highly useful and subservient to the same purpose And what a blessed condition are our Tyburn and Tower-hill Martyrs in though the last things they did was the forswearing of themselves and the invoking God to bear witness to falshood as an authentick and solemn Truth And it is but hanging or losing ones head for the interest of the Triple Crown and all is safe And may many of them have the good fortune to go this secure way as they believe to Heaven FINIS See his Examination in his last Sickness p. 10. See Ireland's Tryal p. 10. p. 28. Dugdal's further Information p. 16. The Papists Oath of Secrecy by Mr. Robert Bâ—leron printed by Order of the House of Commons This is to be had Printed by it self being fold by Rich. Baldwin in Boult-Court near the Black Bull in Old Baily See the new Plot p. 74. and the Compendium p. 75. See the Trval of William Viscount Stafford pag. 53. and p. 200. In Catalog Scriptorum societ Jesu p. 377. in Biblioth script societ Jesu In his book against the Oath of Allegiance called The Discussion of the Answer p. 22 23. * Idem Apology p. 151. Hist. An. 1605. Pap. 4. Pap. 9. See the Proceedings against the Traitors See the Proceedings against the Traitors Ibid. Abboti Antilogia p. 110. See the proceedings against the Traitors See his Papers published in the end of the late Editions of the proceedings against the Traitors See the proceedings compared with Digby's Papers See the Proceedings against the Traitors Bellarmin's Opinion Published and approved of by the holy See See the Narrative of this Deposition See Reading's Tryal See the Tryal of Mr. Tasbrough See the Tryal of Knox and Lane and Dr. Oats's Printed Narrative See my Lord Staffords Tryal p. 158. See Coll. Mansfield's Narrative and Mr. Dangerfield's Narrative The City of Lichfield See Coleman's Letters in his Tryal p. 69. and Published since by Sir Geo. Treby See the Tryal of the five Jesuits See Mr. Gauans Speech before his Execution at Tyburn In Epist. ad conciliarios Reginae Augliae p. 22. Alegambe in Biblioth script societ Jesu p. 258. In defens fidei lib 6. n. 14 c. Aphorism p. 115. de Instit. Tom. 4. T. 3. disp 6. Vid. Less de Instit lib. 2. c. 9. dub 4. See Mr. Serjeants and Mr. Morrices Informations See the Speeches of the five Jesuits See my Lord Staffords Tryal p. 134 135. See my Lord Stafford's Tryal p. 141 142. Ibid. p. 142 158. Ibid. p. 158. Ibid. p. 158. See his Speech up-the Scaffold See Page 78. See Page 50. See the said Trial Page 151. See Page 181.