presently brake his Oath and accused me of these things Cardinal Como's Letter to Parry Foulis Hist lib. 7. cap. 3. f. 393. The Letter also in that Confession mentioned to be writ from Cardinal Como to him as the same is related by Fowlis followeth SIR HIS Holiness hath seen your Letter of the first with the Certificate inclosed and cannot but commend the good disposition and resolution which you write to hold towards the Service and common good wherein his Holiness doth exhort you to persevere and to bring to effect that which you have promised And that you may be the more assisted by that good Spirit which hath moved you thereunto his Holiness grants unto you his Blessing plenary Indulgence and Remission of all your sins according as you have desired assuring you that besides the merit which you shall receive for so doing in Heaven his Holiness will farther make himself Debtor to acknowledg your deservings in the best manner that he can and the more because you use the greater modesty in not pretending any thing or reward Put therefore to effect your holy and honourable purposes and regard your health And to conclude I offer my self to you heartily and desire you all good and happy success At your Service N. Card. Di. Como Rome January 30th 1584. All this he confessed before the Lord Hunsdon Sir Christopher Hatton and Sir Francis Walsingham all three of the Privy Council he acknowledged his Fault and begged Pardon for the same by his Letters to the Queen to Burleigh and Leicester His LETTER to the Queen as Foulis relates it was as followeth Parry's Letter to Queen Elizabeth Foulis Hist lib. 7. cap. 4. f. 341. YOVR Majesty may see by my voluntary Confession the dangerous Fruits of a discontented Mind and how constantly I pursued my first conceived Purpose in Venice for the Relief of the afflicted Catholicks continued it in Lyons and resolved in Paris to put it in adventure for the Restitution of England to the antient Obedience of the See Apostolick You may see withal how it is commended allowed and warranted in Conscience Divinity and Policy by the Pope and some great Divines though it be true or likely that most of our English Divines loss practiced in Matters of this weight do utterly mislike and condemn it The enterprize is prevented and Conspiracy discovered by an honourable Gentleman my Kinsman and late familiar Friend Mr. Edmond Nevil Privy and by solemn Oath taken upon the Bible Party to the Matter whereof I am heartily glad but more sorry in my very Soul that ever I conceived or intended it how commendable and meritorious soever I thought it God shame him and forgive me who would not now before God attempt it if I had Liberty and Opportunity to do it to gain your Kingdom I beseech Christ that my Death and Example may as well satisfie your Majesty and the World as it shall glad and content me The Queen of Scotland is your Prisoner let her be honourably intreated but yet surely guarded The French King is French you know it well enough you will find him occupied when he should do you Good he will not loose a Pilgrimage to save you a Crown I have no more to say at this time but that with my Heart and Soul I do now honour and love you am inwardly sorry for my Offence and ready to make you amends by my Death and Patience Discharge me a Culpa but not a Paena good Lady And so farewel most Gracious and the best Natured and Qualified Queen that ever lived in England From the Tower the14th of Feb. 1584. William Parry Some short time after he was arraigned at the Kings-Bench-Bar in Westminster-Hall Parry's Arraignment and Confession and confessed himself Guilty and when his Confession was recorded and Judgment demanded against him Hatton thought it necessary for the Satisfaction of the Multitude that were present that his Crime should be clearly and fully represented out of his own Confession which Parry acknowledged to be voluntary and prayed the Judges that he might read it Himself But the Clerk of the Crown read both it and also Cardinal Como's Letter and Parry's own to the Queen to Burleigh and to Leicester which he confest to be the very Letters themselves yet did he deny that ever he was resolved to Kill the Queen Being now commanded to speak if he had any thing to say why Judgment should not be given against him he answered perplexedly as if he were troubled in Conscience for the foul Fact he had undertaken I see I must die because I have not been constant to my self Being will'd to declare more plainly what he meant My Blood said he be amongst you Sentence of Death being pronounced he in a Fury cited the Queen to the Judgment-Seat of God. He was executed in the Palace-Yard he said he was never fully resolved in his Mind to take away the Queens Life and then died without in the least commending himself to God. So let all the Enemies of Jesus Christ and his Gospel perish These Plots and Conspiracies produced the said two Acts before mentioned the one for Provision to be made for the Security of the Queens Majesties Person and the Continuance of the Realm in Peace by which the said Association was confirmed The other Act against Jesuits Seminary Priests who would ground any Villanous Plots and Designs upon the Bull of Pius Quintus The former of which Acts of Parliament followeth in these Words as it is in Rastal 27 Eliz. cap. 1. Rast Stat. 2. part f. 283. An Act for Provision to be made for the Surety of the Queens Majesties most Royal Person and the Continuance of the Realm in Peace Treason in any Successor or other for them to take away the Queens Life And in case it happens to be tried notwithstanding the Succession and their Issues utterly excluded from the Crown FOrasmuch as the good Felicity and Comfort of the whole State of this Realm consisteth only next under God in the Surety and Preservation of the Queens most excellent Majesty And for that it hath manifestly appeared that sundry wicked Plots and Means have of late been devised and laid as well in forreign Parts beyond the Seas as also within this Realm to the great endangering of Her Highness most Royal Person and to the utter Ruine of the whole Common-Wealth if by Gods merciful Providence the same had not been revealed therefore for the preventing of such great Perils as might hereafter otherwise grow by the like detestable and devilish Practices at the humble Suit and earnest Petition and Desire of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same Parliament Be it enacted and ordained if at any time after the end of this present Session of Parliament an open Invasion or Rebellion shall be had or made into or within any of Her Majesties Realms
brought their Designs about and the Palatinate was irretrievably lost they broke off the Match and left the King and Prince in the Lurch Right Popish Jugling After this Treaty was dissolved the King thinks of a Match with France The French Match Rushw Coll. 1 pt f. 114. A Parliament called and the Lord Kensington was sent Ambassadot into France to feel the Pulse of that Court touching it and gives an Account that it would be accepted soon after which a Parliament was called to meet the twelfth of February in the 21 st year of this King 1623. and now the King is of the Mind to take the Parliaments Advice about his Sons Match as he told them and is grieved for the Increase of Popery if after all the foregoing Passages it be to be believed and promises a great deal and porforms never a whit And here I cannot omit what Wilson saith speaking of this Parliaments Petition against Papists and the Kings Answer both which he hath printed at large f. 272.273 274 275. to which I refer the Reader If the King saith he had seriously and really considered the very last Clause of this Petition wherein the Glory of God and the Safety of his Kingdoms so much consisted as the Parliament wisely express and foresee and which the King saith is the best Advice in the World and which he promised so faithfully to observe in the next Treaty of Marriage for his Son it might perhaps have kept the Crown upon the head of his Posterity But when Princes break with the People A good Caution for all Christian Princes and States in those Promises that concern the Honour of God God will let their People break with them to their Ruine and Dishonour And this Maxim holds in all Powers whether Kingdoms or Common-wealths as they are established by Justice so the Justice of Religion which tends most to the Glory of God is principally to be observed The Parliament followed the Chase close The Parliament displaceth Papists and bolted out divers of the Nobility and Gentry of Eminency popishly affected that had earthed themselves in Places of high Trust and Power in the Kingdom as if they meant to undermine the Nation Their Names Wilson saith were these Francis Earl of Rutland the Duke of Buckinghams Wives Father Sir Thomas Compton Their Names VVilson's Hist f. 276. that was married to the Dukes Mother and the Countess her self who was the Cynosure they all steered by the Earl of Castle-haven the Lord Herbert after Earl of Worcester the Lord Viscount Colchester after Earl of Rivers the Lord Peter the Lord Morley the Lord Windsor the Lord Eure the Lord Wotton the Lord Teinham the Lord Scroop who was Lord President of the North and which they omitted the Earl of Northampton Lord President of Wales who married his Children to Papists and permitted them to be bred up in Popery Sir William Courtney Sir Thomas Brudnell Sir Thomas Somerset Sir Gilbert Ireland Sir Francis Stonners Sir Anthony Brown Sir Francis Howard Sir William Powel Sir Francis Lacon Sir Lewis Lewkner Sir William Awbury Sir John Gage Sir John Shelly Sir Henry Carvell Sir Thomas Wiseman Sir Thomas Geâ—rard Sir John Filpot Sir Thomas Russel Sir Henry Beddingfield Sir William Wrey Sir John Counwey Sir Charles Jones Sir Ralph Conyers Sir Thomas Lamplough Sir Thomas Savage Sir William Mosely Sir Hugh Beston Sir Thomas Riddall Sir Marmaduke Nivell Sir John Townesend Sir William Norris Sir Philip Knevet Sir John Tasborough Sir William Selbie Sir Richard Titehborn Sir John Hall Sir George Perkins Sir Thomas Penrodduck Sir Nicholas Saunders Knights besides several Esquires popishly addicted either in their own Persons or by means of their Wives too tedious to be expressed here and these were dispersed and seated in every County who were not only in Office and Commission but had Countenance from Court by which they grew up and flourished so that their Exuberancy hindred the Growth of any Goodness or Piety their Malice pleased to drop upon Soon after which the Parliament was adjourned after they had made thirty five publick Acts and seventy three private ones but nothing was done with relation to the Papists Rushw Coll. 1 pt f. 154 155. VVilson f. 277. saith the King desired this Match above all Earthly Blessings The King admiring the Alliance of mighty Kings though of a contrary Religion desired the Match with France unmeasurably notwithstanding his Promise to the Parliament which the French perceived and though they were very forward before yet now abated of that Forwardness And whereas they were at first very modest in their Demands in favour of the Papists yet now inlarged those Demands and strained the King to the Concession of such Immunities as he had promised the Parliament he would never grant In August 1624. this Match was concluded and in November the Articles were sworn unto by King James Prince Charles and the French King the Articles concerning Religion were not much short of those for the Spanish Match Papists encouraged by the Treaty with France Rushw Coll. 1 pt f. 154. The Papists formerly daunted by the Breach of the Spanish Match were now again revived by the Marriage Treaty with France And at this time upon the Death of William titular Bishop of Calcedon most of the English Secular Priests did petition the Pope that another Bishop might be sent over into England there to ordain Priests give Confirmation and exercise Episcopal Jurisdiction Among others Matthew Killison and Richard Smith were presented And though the Regulars were opposite to the Seculars in this Matter yet those of the Order of St. Benedict joyned with the Seculars and Rudesin Barlo the President of the English Benedictines of Doway wrote a Letter in their Behalf at the Congregation at Rome named of the Propagation of the Faith. Dated the 12 th of December 1624. In which Letter was this Passage That there were above sixty Benedictine Monks in England and that it is not to be doubted said he for that it is already seen the good Success under the first Bishop that another Bishop being constituted there would be more joyful Fruits within two Years in the English Mission than hitherto hath been for sixty years now lapsed But not long after the Episcopal party of the Romish Church prevailing Pope Vrban the VIII created Richard Smith Bishop of Calcedon and sent him into England with Episcopal Authority over the Priests within the English Dominions The Close of this Kings Reign Rushw Coll. f. 155. And now I am come to the Close of this Kings Reign for after he had notwithstanding all his connivance at the Papists out of either Ambition or Cowardise recommended the Protection of the Church of England to the then Prince of Wales Charles the First advised him to love his Wife but not her Religion and exhorted him to take special care of his Grand-Children the Children of the Elector Palatine by his Daughter
made the Papists were ingaged in a most Horrid Plot against the Protestant Religion and the Parliament having now made this Act whereby the Papists are excluded from all Places of Profit and Trust it is not hard to believe that their Malice was thereby greatly heightned and their Rage very much increased against the Protestants and their Actings put it beyond doubt that it was so For this Act passed in the Year 1673. and then it is we find them deeply ingaged in contriving our Destruction and so inhumane were they that notwithstanding the late King Charles the Second's Kindness to them yet unless he would fully comply with them in the butchering his Protestant Subjects extirpating the Protestant Religion which they called a * Coleman's Tryal p. 69. Pestilent Heresie and the introducing of the Romish Superstition and Idolatry he must be taken out of the way to make room for one that would I confess I have met with very many that have owned the Dis-believing of any such Design but when I seriously reflect upon the Letters that were produced against Mr. Coleman and owned by himself to be his when I consider the Evidence that was given by all the Witnesses that proved the Horrid and Treasonable Popish Plot that was discovered in 1678. and the Agreement that there is in the Substance of the thing although there may be some Variations as to Circumstances when I consider the Witnesses were Strangers to one another that did so agree in their Testimony and that the Discovery was so sudden and the Witnesses came in so quick one after another after the Discovery that it is not to be presumed there could be any Subornation when I consider the Credit they had with the King himself and with four Parliaments when I consider the great Attempts notwithstanding to take the Odium off the Papists and cast it upon the Protestants when I consider the unwearied Pains taken by the Papists and some that are much worse because they espoused their Cause under a Protestant Vizar to lay the Murther of Sir Edmond-Bury-Godfrey at the Protestants Door and to wipe off the Stain thereof from the Papists when I consider the Methods that were taken in the late King James the Seconds his Reign so exactly pursuant to what was designed in case Charles the Second had fallen as was contrived * Either by Shooting Poison or Stobing the first of which Methods was by granting a general †The Declaration for Liberty of Conscience Designed to be published in case the Popish Plot had then taken effect you may find printed in Coleman's Trial p. 58. Liberty of Conscience and thereby deluding divers Protestants to serve a Popish Interest although against their Wills it is to me matter of Amazement that there should remain the least doubt of the Truth of that Plot in the Minds of any that are really Protestants especially when I consider that there wanted nothing in the late King James's Reign but a Parliament to take off the Penal Laws and Tests to bring that Popish Plot to the highest Perfection that the Papists ever designed and what Endeavors there were to obtain that is sufficiently known To run through the whole Series of that Popish Plot would be to draw out this Account of the Grounds of making the Penal Laws to a Length beyond what its Design can warrant which is the publick Good and therefore as a Confirmation of the Truth of that Plot and to refresh the Memory of those who perhaps are willing to forget it I shall here only insert Coleman's Letters as you will find them printed in his Tryal and also Bedloes Depositions as they were taken before and printed by Sir Francis North then Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and afterwards made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England for the good Services he had done the Crown Coleman's Letters are as followeth Mr. Coleman's First Letter SInce Father St. German has been so kind to me Coleman 's Tryal p. 44. as to recommend me to your Reverence so advantagiously as to encourage you to accept of my Correspondency I will own to him that he has done me a Favour without consulting me greater than I could have been capable of if he had advised with me because I could not then have had the Confidence to have permitted him to ask it on my Behalf And I am so sensible of the Honour you are pleased to do me that though I cannot deserve it yet to shew at least the Sense I have of it I will deal as freely and openly with you this first time as if I had had the Honour of your Acquaintance all my Life And shall make no Apology for so doing but only tell you that I know your Character perfectly well though I am not so happy as to know your Person and that I have an Opportunity of putting this Letter into the Hands of Father St. Germans Nephew for whose Integrity and Prudence he has undertaken without any sort of Hazard In order then Sir to the plainness I profess I will tell you what has formerly passed between your Reverences Predecessor Father Ferryer and my self About three Years ago when the King my Master sent a Troop of Horse Guards into his most Christian Majesties Service under the Command of my Lord Durass he sent with it an Officer called Sir William Throckmorton with whom I had a particular Intimacy and who had then very newly imbraced the Catholic Religion to him did I constantly write and by him address my self to Father Farryer The first thing of great Importance I presumed to offer him not to trouble you with lesser Matters or what passed here before and immediately after the fatal Revolution of the Kings Declaration for Liberty of Conscience to which we owe all our Miseries and Hazards was in July August and September 1673. when I constantly inculcated the great Danger the Catholic Religion and his most Christian Majesties Interest would be in at our next Sessions of Parliament which was then to be in October following at which I plainly foresaw that the King my Master would be forced to something in prejudice to his Alliance with France Which I saw so evidently and particularly that we should make Peace with Holland that I urged all the Arguments I could which to me were Demonstrations to convince your Court of that Mischief and pressed all I could to perswade his most Christian Majesty to use his utmost Endeavor to prevent that Session of our Parliament and proposed Expedients how to do it But was answered so often and so positively that his most Christian Majesty was so well assured by his Embassador here our Embassador there the Lord Arlington and even the King himself that he had no such Apprehensions at all but was fully satisfied to the contrary and looked upon what I offered as a very zealous Mistake that I was forced to give over arguing though not believing as I did
Sessions then we are now I pray God we do not loose ground By my next which will be er'e long I shall be able to tell your Reverence more particularly what we are like to expect In the mean time I most humbly beg your Holy Prayers for all our undertakings and that you will be pleased to Honour me so far as to esteem me what I am entirely and without any reserve The Examination of Capt. William Bedlow taken upon Oath before the Lord Chief Justice North at Bristol on Monday the 16th of August 1680. Bedlows Examination before the then Lord Chief Justice North taken immediately before his death THe Examinant saith that the Duke of York hath been so far engaged in the Plot as he hath seen by Letters in Cardinal Barbarines's Secretarys Study that no part hath been proved against any Man already that hath suffered but that to the full those Letters have made him guilty of it all but what tended to the Kings death And at Rome I asked Father Anderton and Father Lodge two Jesuites what would the Duke do with his Brother when he was King and they answered me they would find a means for that they would give him no trouble about it Then I told them I believed the Duke loved his Brother so well he would suffer no violence to be done to him they said no if the Duke could be brought to that as he had been Religiously to every thing else they might do their work their other business was ready and they might do it presently But they knew they could not bring him to that point but they would take care for that themselves they had not begun with him to leave him in such scruples as that But they would set him in his Throne and there he should reign blindfold three or four days * * According to the old Game the Protestants must hear the odium of the Papists villanies for they had settled some they should pitch the action upon should clear their Party And then he should fly upon them with the Sword of Revenge And this Examinant doth further adds that the Queen is not to this Examinants knowledge nor by any thing that he could ever find out any way concerned in the Murther of the King But barely by her Letters consenting and promising to contribute what Money she could to the introducing the Catholic Religion nay 't was a great while and it made her weep before she could be brought to that The Narrative of Sir Francis North Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas at the Council-board AT my first coming to Mr. Rumsey's House where I was to Lodge at Bristol upon Monday the 16th day of August in the Afternoon being the first day of the Assizes Sir John Knight came to me and said That Mr. Bedlow lay dangerously ill of a Fever and had little hopes of Life and desired that I would give him a Visit that he might impart something of great consequence to me before his death I told him I would give him a Visit that Night after Supper about Nine a Clock if I might be satisfied of two things first that there was no infection in his distemper Secondly that the time would not be inconvenient but he might discourse to me without prejudice to his Condition After a little while two Physitians came to me and assured me that there was no danger of Infection and that the time I had appointed would be most proper for commonly he took his repose in the Afternoon and at nine a Clock he would in all probability be refreshed and fit to Discourse with me thereupon I declared my resolution of going and desired the company of the two Sheriffs and my Brother Roger North and appointed my Marshal William Janes to go with me to him As we were upon the way Mr. Crossman a Minister in that City told me Mr. Bedlow had desired him to come with me to him I said it was very well and I should be glad of his Company whereupon we went altogether and being come into the Room where Mr. Bedlow lay I saluted him and said I was extream sorry to find him so ill I came to visit him upon his own desires I did imagine he had something to impart to me as a Privy Counsellor and therefore if he thought fit the Company might withdraw He told me that needed not yet for he had much to say which was proper for the Company to hear and having saluted the Sheriffs and Mr. Crossman he discoursed to this purpose That he looked upon himself as a dying man and found within himself that he could not last long but must shortly appear before the Lord of Hosts to give an account of all his actions and because many Persons had made it their business to baffle and deride the Plot he did for the satisfaction of the World there declare upon the Faith of a dying Man and as he hoped for Salvation that whatever he had testifyed concerning the Plot was true And that he had wronged no Man by his Testimony but had testifyed rather under that over what was truth That he had nothing lay upon his Conscience upon that account That he should appear chearfully before the Lord of Hosts which he did verily believe he must do in a short time He said he had many Witnesses to produce who would make the Plot as clear as the Sun and he had other things to discover which were of great importance to the King and the Country Hereupon he making some pause I told him the Plot was so evidently made out that no reasonable Man no Protestant I was sure could doubt of the Truth of it but he ought not to have concealed any thing that concerned the King so highly he ought to discover his whole knowledge in Matters of Treason that Traytors may be apprehended and secured who otherwise may have opportunity to execute their Treasonable Designs To this he reply'd that much of that which he had not discovered was to coroborate his former Testimony that he had concealed nothing that was necessary to the Kings preservation That he thought it not fit to accuse more Persons till he had ended with those whom he had already accused He expressed great grief and trouble at the the Condition of this poor King and Country so he termed them whom he knew at that time to be in eminent Danger from the Jesuites who had resolved the Kings death and he was sure they would spare him no longer then he continued to be kind to them he said he was privy to their Consultations at Salamanca and Valadolid where they used to observe the favourable Conjuncture they had to introduce their Religion into England which consisted in their having a Head he must be set up what ever came of it and if they let slip that opportunity they should never have such another for without a Head they could do nothing he said further he knew the
his submission having most religiously vowed his Fidelity and Obedience to the Queen pardoned He having at the earnest solicitations of Saunders an English Priest and Allen an Irish one both of them Doctors in Divinity gotten a little Money of the Pope the Authority of a Legate granted to Saunders a consecrated Banner and Letters of recommendation to the Spaniard went to Spain and thence into Ireland where he landed the first day of July with those two Romish Priests three Ships and a small body of men who were all soon disperst and Fitz Morris slain There is one story relating to this Rebellion that for the Cruelty of it I can't let pass As soon as the Lord Deputy had certain intelligence of Fitz-Morris his being landed he commanded the Earl of Desmond and his Brothers jointly by Henry Davil an English Gentleman and a stout Souldier and very familiar with the Desmonds that they should forthwith assault the Fort which when they shifted off as a thing full of Danger Davil departed in order to obey the Deputy's Commands and John Desmond followed after him at Trally a small Town he overtook him at his Inn and in the dead of the night having corrupted his Host broke into his Chamber with certain Cut-Throats having their Swords drawn where Davil slept securely with Arthur Carter Lieutenant to the Marshal of Munster a stout old Soldier but being awakened with the noise when he saw John Desmond in the Chamber with his Sword drawn he raised himself up saying what 's the matter my Son for so he was wont familiarly to call him I will no longer be thy Son says he nor shalt thou be my Father thou shalt dye and therewithal they slew both him and Carter that lay with him stabbing them in many places after that Davil's Lackey by interposing his naked body had done the best he could for a while to defend his Master and had receiv'd some wounds then he slew all Davil's Servants one after another who were lodged here and there in several Chambers and so returning all begored with Blood he boasted amongst the Spaniards of the Murther And let this said he be a pledge to you of my faithfulness towards you and the * They were then ingaged in a Conspiracy for the Subversion of the Protestant Religion Desmond carries on the Rebellion Camb. Annals f. 238 239 240. Baker's Chron. f. 355. Cause you are ingaged in This Fact Sounders commended as a sweet Sacrifice in the sight of God. This may be a warning to all Protestants how they enter into any familiar Friendship with Papists or trust them seeing when they butcher them they think they do God good Service and offer up their Blood to him as an acceptable Sacrifice and seeing that 't is their avowed Principle that no Faith is to be kept with Hereticks as they esteem Protestants of all perswasions to be This Rebellion ended not with John Fitz-Morris but was after his death carried on by John Desmond and notwithstanding the Earl of Desmond had promised Drury then Lord Deputy his fidelity and obedience to the Queen and bound himself by Oath that both himself in person and his would serve her against the Rebels yet he afterwards pulled off his Vizzard and openly went over to the Rebels and the Lord Deputy dying and the Council of Ireland having made Sir William Pelham Justicer of Ireland he admonished the Earl of Desmond and demanded the delivery up of Saunders the Foreign Souldiers and the Castles of Carigo Foyle and Asketten but he refusing was Proclaimed a Traytor and guilty of High Treason for having dealt with Foreign Princes for the Conquest and Destruction of his Native Country reliev'd Saunders and James Fitz-Morris Rebels harboured the Spaniards which escaped out of the Fort at Smerwick hanged up divers faithful Subjects displayed the Pope's Banner against the Queen and brought Foreigners into the Realm And then the Lord Justicer committed the prosecution of the whole War to Ormond which he prosecuted so vigorously that this Desmond and his Brethren were forced to lurk and hide their heads yet they added so much Popish Impudence to their former base Treachery and Perfidiousness that they signified to the Lord Justicer in a long Letter that they had undertaken the protection of the Catholick Faith i. e. Popery in Ireland and that by Authority from the Bishop of Rome and direction of the Catholick King i. e. the King of Spain and therefore they do kindly advise him to joyn with them in so pious and meritorious a Cause for the Salvation of his own Soul O horrid Impiety To make the committing Treason Rebellion Murder Rapine and all manner of Cruelties to be the direct way to Heaven Camb. Annals f. 241 and 256. Another Conspiracy in Ireland for the destruction of the Protestant Religion Arthur Lord Grey in the year 1580 being made Lord Deputy of Ireland after a great deal of blood spilt happily supprest that Rebellion which he had no sooner done but another dangerous Conspiracy was detected and crusht in the Bud for divers of Noble Families in Lemster most of them descended of English Blood partly out of Affection to the Romish Religion and partly out of hatred against the new English had conspired together to surprize the Lord Deputy with his Houshold to take the Castle of Dublin at unawares where all the Provision for War lay and to put the English in Ireland every man to the Sword And so close they were in carrying on their Conspiracy that they never confer'd or discoursed about it more than two and two together But amongst so many that were privy to it it came at last to light and was by the Execution of a few timely prevented Colledges framed abroad fâ—r breeding up Seminary Priests to be sent hither to alienate the hearts of the Queens Subjects from her Camb. Annals f. 244 245. Baker's Chron. f. 356. These Plots and Conspiracies not answering the Designs of the Papists To the intent that they might the more effectually carry on their Treasons and Conspiracies for the future in order to the Extirpation of the Protestant Religion out of the Queen's Dominions and the introducing Popery in its room They thought it very necessary to alienate the Hearts of the Queen's Subjects from her by the secret and crafty insinuations of Priests and Jesuits and that they might be furnisht with enough for that end even of the Queens own Subjects certain English Priests who had fled into the Netherlands for their Treasons committed here by the procurement of the Romish Party formed themselves into a Collegiate Form of Government at Doway and to these the Pope allowed a yearly Pension But Tumults arising in the Low Countries and the English Fugitives being commanded by the King of Spain's Deputies to depart from thence other the like Colledges for the training up of the English Youth were erected one at Rheimes by the Guises and another at Rome by Pope
the Seminary Priests then in England or which should after that timâ— have come hither had been of Mr. Morton and Mr. Saunders his mind before mentioned when the first Excommunication came out or of Mr. Saunders his second resolution being then in Arms against Her Majesty in Ireland or of Mr. Parsons The Parliament excused Traiterous disposition both to our Queen and Country The said Laws no doubt had carried with them a far greater shew of Justice But that was the Error of the State and yet not altogether for ought they knew improbable those times being so full of many dangerous designments and Jesuitical practices In this Year also divers other things fell out unhappily towards us poor Priests and other the graver sort of Catholics who had all of us single Hearts and disliked no man more all such factious enterprizes For notwithstanding the said Proclamation and Law Heywoods Practices Mr. Heywood a Jesuit came then into England and took so much upon him that Father Parsons fell out exceedingly with him and a great trouble grew amongst Catholics by their Brablings and Quarrels A Synod was held by him the said Mr. Heywood and sundry Ancient Customs were therein Abrogated to the offence of very many Campian answered as Sherwin did These Courses being understood after a sort by the State the Catholics and Priests in Norfolk felt the smart of it This Summer also in July Mr. Campian and other Priests were apprehended whose Answers upon their Examinations agreeing in effect with Mr. Sherwins before mentioned did greatly incense the State for amongst other Questions that were propounded unto them this being one viz. if the Pope do by his Bull or Sentence pronounce Her Majesty to be deprived and no Lawful Queen The Question propounded to Campian and others and her Subjects to be discharged of their Allegiance and Obedience unto Her and after the Pope or any other by his Appointment and Authority do Invade this Realm which part would you take or which part ought a good Subject of England to take some Answered that when the Case should happen they would then take Councel what were best for them to do Another that when that Case should happen he would Answer and not before Another that for the present he was not resolved what to do in such a Case Another that when the Case happeneth then he will Answer Another that if such deprivation and Invasion should be made for any Matter of his Faith he thinketh he were then bound to take part with the Pope Now what King in the World being in doubt to be invaded by his Enemies and fearing that some of his own Subjects were by indirect means drawn rather to adhere to them then to himself would not make the best Tryal of them he could for his better satisfaction whom he might trust to In which Tryal if he found any that either should make doubtful Answers or peremptorily affirm that as the Case stood betwixt him and his Enemies they would leave him their Prince and take part with them might he not justly repute them for Traitors and deal with them accordingly sure we are that no King or Prince in Christendom would like or tolerate any such Subjects within their Dominions if possibly they could be rid of them Thus much the secular Priests themselves Confess and certainly then 't is not to be denied but they own all the Treasons and Villanies that the Protestants charge upon the Papists only they would fain excuse themselves and the grave sort of Catholicks from having any hand in them And at the same time they justifie the State in their procedure against them because they have a Colour of reason to believe them all alike and know not but they are so But may the Papists say tho the States might have reason to make it a Capital offence to reconcile any of the Subjects of England to the See of Rome yet it seems hard to make a Man a Traitor for staying in or if a Man be out returning to his Native Countrey which 27 th Eliz. cap. 2. doth which Objections will be sufficiciently answered by the following Account of their Practices in the Queens Dominions from the twenty third year of her Reign to the twenty seventh The Papists had Writ so much against the Queen and other Excommunicate Princes that divers who had the Popes power in Esteem were perfectly drawn from their obedience and amongst others in the Year 1583 one Somervil Somervils Conspiracy Camb. Annals f. 289. Foulis Hist l. 7. cap. 4. f. 338. Bakers Chron. f. 361. who went to the Queens Court and breathing nothing but Blood against the Protestants furiously set upon one or two by the way with his drawn Sword and being apprehended Confessed that he designed to have killed the Queen with his own hands One Edward Arden Somervil's Wives Father his own Wife Somervil's Wife and one Hall a Priest were Arraigned and Condemned for this Conspiracy Somervil was three days after found strangled in Prison Arden was hanged and Quartered But so merciful was the Queen that she spared the Women and the Priest This unfortunate Gentleman Somervil was drawn into all this by the cunning of a Priest and cast by his Evidence saith Mr. Cambden In the Year 1584. Francis Throgmorton eldest Son of John Throgmorton a Justice of Peace in Cheshire Francis Throgmorton's Conspiracy Camb. Annals f. 294.298 Bakers Chron. f. 362. was Clapt up for being in a Conspiracy to bring in an Army of Foreigners and Deposing the Queen And no sooner was he Committed to Custody and had Confessed some things But Thomas Lord Paget and Charles Arundel a Courtier who joyned with him in the Conspiracy privily fled the Land and withdrew themselves into France And Mendoza the Spanish Ambassador who was likewise engaged in the same Design being greatly reprehended for it secretly Crost the Seas into France Throgmorton Confessed the Fact and afterwards denied it and after that cast himself upon the Queen's Mercy and in writing Confessed the same again at large But at the Gallows pretended to deny it again he being executed and the others fled that Conspiracy came to nothing Soon after this there was a further Discovery of the design of the Pope the Spaniard Camb. Annals f. 299. Foulis Hist l. 7. cap. 5. f. 345. The Earl of Arundel and Northumberland were ingaged Camb. Annals f. 310 311. there you will see the design was for delivering the Queen of Scots for the Conquering of England and the destruction of the Protestant Religion and the Guises for invading England which was Discovered in this manner One Chreighton a Scotch-man of the Society of Jesus passing into Scotland and being taken by some Netherland Pirates tore certain Papers in pieces the torn pieces being thrown over board were by the Wind blown back again and fell by chance into the Ship not without a Miracle as Chreighton himself said and Sir Willam
Obstacle by killing her altered his opinion but was for joyning five more to Savage to make sure of the Matter Which being agreed on they set forward the design of the Invasion The design was by Babington imparted to the Queen of Scots and she was to reward the Heroical Actors in this barbarous Attempt or else their Posterities in Case they perisht in it And he was Commanded to pass his word to the six Gentlemen and the rest concerning their reward for their Service In this Conspiracy were ingaged divers Gentlemen who were very Zealous for Popery Edward Windsor Brother to the Lord Windsor Thomas Salisbury of a Knights Family in Denbeighshire Charles Tilney of an ancient Family who was then but lately reconciled to the Romish Church Chideock Tichburn of Southampton Edward Abbington whose Father had been the Queens under Treasurer Robert Gage of Surry John Travers and John Charnock of Lancashire John Jones whose Father was Yeoman of the Wardrobe to Queen Mary Savage before named Barnwel of a noble Family in Ireland and Henry Dun Clark in the Office of first Fruits and Tenths and one Polley To every of these Gentlemen was a Part in this Conspiracy assigned and all things went according to their hearts desire as they thought Nothing perplexed Babington But his Fears of being failed in the Foreign Aid that was promised him therefore to make sure of it he resolved himself to go over into France and to that purpose to send Ballard privately before for whom by his Money under a Counterfeit name he procured a License to Travel And that there might not be the least Suspicion of himself he insinuated into Secretary Walsingham by means of Polley and earnestly besought him to procure him a License from the Queen to travel into France promising her to do her extraordinary good Service in pumping out and discovering the secret designs of the Fugitives in behalf of the Queen of Scots The Plot discovered but as we say forewarned forearmed he being a faithful and cunning Secretary by his Spies had discovered all and informed the Queen and therefore only commended Babingtons pretended design and made him fair Promises and so from time to time delayed him The chief instrument in discovering this Plot was one Gilbert Gifford who lurked in England under the Name of Lauson in mind Salvage of his Oath but had informed the Secretary what he was and to what purpose sent into England This having gone on for some time Ballard apprehended the Queen apprehending there might be great danger in letting it proceed further ordered Ballard to be apprehended who was seized on before he was aware in Babingtons House just as he was setting out for France Babington and some others of the Confederates being jealous the design was discovered hid themselves in St. Johns Wood near London Notice being given of their withdrawing they are proclaimed Traitors at last are found and seized on and the rest of their fellow Rebels fourteen of whom were executed in September 1586. in St. Giles in the Fields where they used to meer and consult about their intended murthering of the Queen and invading the Kingdom Mary Queen of Scots having been at the bottom in all these designs The Queen of Scots at the bottom Cam. Annals from f. 33 to f. 35. D' Ewes Journal f. 392 393 395 400 401 405 408. A Commission Issued for trying Mary Queen of Scots grounded on 27 Eliz. Cap. 1. Camb. An. l. 3. f. 347. and there being no probability of the Kingdoms continuing in the safe and secure exercise of the Protestant Religion under their Protestant Queen so long as she was in being The Papists being assured by her that in case she had the Crown she would introduce Popery Queen Elizabeth was advised to try her for Treason which she was with great difficulty prevailed to do and Issued out a Commission grounded upon 27 Eliz. Cap. 1. herein before set forth The Commissioners appointed to Try her were these viz John Archbishop of * Whitgift Bakers Chron. f. 369. Canturbury Sir Tho. Bromley Kt. Chancellor of England William Lord Burleigh Treasurer of England William Lord Marquess of Winchester Edward Earl of Oxford great Chamberlain of England George Earl of Shrewsbury Earl Marshal Henry Earl of Kent Henry Earl of Darby William Earl of Worcester Edmund Earl of Rutland Ambrose Earl of Warwick Master of the Ordinance Henry Earl of Pembrook Robert Earl of Leicester Master of the Horse Henry Earl of Lincoln Anthony Vicount Mountague Charles Lord Howard Lord High Admiral of England Henry Lord of Hunsdon Lord Chamberlain Henry Lord Abergavenny Edward Lord Zouch Edward Lord Morley William Lord Cobham Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports Edward Lord Stafford Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton John Lord Lumley John Lord Stourton William Lord Saunders Lewis Lord Mordant John Lord St. John of Bletnesho Thomas Lord Buckhurst Henry Lord Compton Henry Lord Cheney Sir Francis Knolles Kt. Controller of the Houshould Sir Christopher Hatton Vice-Chamberlain Sir Francis Walsingham Secretary William Davison Esq Sir Ralph Sadleir Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster Sir Walter Mildmay Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Amias Pawlet Captain of the Isle of Jersey John Woolly Esq Secretary for the Latin Tongue Sir Christopher Wray Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas Sir Edward Anderson Chief Justice of the Bench Sir Roger Manwood Chief Baron Sir Thomas Gawdy and William Periam Judges The substance of their Commission was this The substance of the Commission Cambd. Annals f. 348. after the recital of 27. Eliz. Cap. 1. thus it followeth Whereas since the end of the Session of Parliament viz. since the first day of June in â—â—e 27 th Year of our Reign divers things have been compassed and imagined â—â—nding to the hurt of our Royal Person as well by Mary Daughter and Heir of James the Fifth King of Scots and commonly called Queen of Scots and Dowager of France pretending a Title to the Crown of this Realm of England 〈◊〉 by divers other Persons cum scientia in English with the Privity of the said Mary as we are given to understand And whereas we do intend and resolve that the aforesaid Act shall be in all and every part thereof duly and effectually put into Execution according to the Tenour of the same and that all offences abovesaid in the Act abovesaid mentioned as afore is said and the circumstances of the same shall be examined and Sentence or Judgment thereupon given according to the Tenour and Effect of the said Act to you and the greater part of you we do giâ—e full and absolute Power License and Authority according to the Tenour of the said Act to examin all and singular Matters composed and imagined tending to she hurt of our Royal Person as well by the aforesaid Mary as by any other Person or Persons whatsoever cum scientia in English with the Privity of the said Mary and all circumstance of the same and all
then called a Puritan and Sir Walter Raleigh a States-man and Souldier and Fowlis saith troubled with no more Religion than would serve his interest and turâ— The design it self Fowlis Hist. li. 10. ca. 1. f. 499 500. Bakers Chron. f. 405. VVilsons Hist f. 4. The design was to set the Crown on the Head of the Lady Arabella or to seize on the King and make him grant their desires and a Pardon to raise a Rebellion and alter Religion and Government and in order thereunto to procure aid and assistance from Foreign Princes to turn out of the Court such as they disliked and to place themselves in Offices Watson was to have been Lord Chancellor George Brook Lord Treasurer Sir Griffith Markham Secretary of State Lord Grey Master of the Horse and Earl Marshal of England for the more secure carrying on these designs Watson drew up an Oath of Secrecy which they all took But all is discovered they are Apprehended Examined and Tryed in November 1604 at their Tryal they insisted that this could not be Treason because the King was not then Crowned but this Plea was soon over-ruled and they legally Convicted of the Treason and Watson Clark and George Brook were Executed the rest finding Mercy the King being loath to soil his Throne with Blood and therefore spilt no more then was absolutely necessary The Lord Grey dyed in the Tower the last of that Line (a) Said to lose his Life to gratify Gondamor Bakers Chron. f. 516. Wilson f. 115 116 117. Raleigh was beheaded in 1618. The rest were discharged of Imprisonment but dyed miserably poor Markham and some others abroad but Cobham as we * Osborns Traditional Memoires of King James p. 12. are told in a Room ascended by a Ladder at a Poor Womans house in the Minories formerly his Landress dyed rather of Hunger than a Natural disease This Conspiracy gave occasion for the Kings looking about him and taking such measures as might secure his Person and Government against such attemps for the future and perceiving that swarms of Priests came every day over from the Foreign Seminarys he suspected some mischief was a hatching and therefore issued out his Royal Proclamation against Jesuits which I find related by Wilson in these Words Having after some time spent in setling the politick Affairs of this Realm of late bestowed no small Labour in Composing certain Differences we found among our Clergy about Rites and Ceremonies heretofore established in this Church of England King James 1st his Proclamation against Jesuits Wilsons Hist. f. 9. and reduced the same to such an Order or Form as we doubt not but every Spirit that is led only with Piety and not with Humour should be therein satisfied it appears unto us in debating these Matters that a greater Contagion to our Religion then could proceed from these light Differences was imminent by Persons common Enemies to them both Namely the great numbers of Priests both Seminaries and Jesuits abounding in this Realm as well of such as were here before our coming to the Crown as of such as have resorted hither since using their Functions and Professions with greater Liberty then heretofore they durst have done Partly upon a vain Confidence of some Innovation in Matters of Religion to be done by us which we never intended nor gave any Man cause to suspect and Partly from the assurance of our general Pardon granted according to the Custom of our Progenitors at our Coronation for Offences past in the Days of the late Queen which Pardon 's many of the said Priests have procured under our Great Seal and holding themselves thereby free from Danger of the Laws do with great Audacity Exercise all Offices of their Profession both saying Masses and perswading our Subjects from the Religion established reconciling them to the Church of Rome and by Consequence seducing them from their Duty and Obedience to us wherefore we hold our selves obliged both in Conscience and Wisdom to use all good means to keep our Subjects from being affected with superstitious Opinions which are not only pernicious to their own Souls but the ready way to corrupt their Duty and Allegiance which cannot be any way so safely performed as by keeping from them the Instruments of that infection which are Priests of all sorts ordained in Foreign parts by Authority prohibited by the Laws of the Land concerning whom we have thought fit to publish unto all our Subjects this open Declaration of our Pleasure c. Willing and Commanding all manner of Jesuits Seminaries and other publick Priests having Ordination from any Authority by the Laws of this Realm prohibited to take notice that Our Pleasure is that they do before the nineteenth of March next depart forth of Our Realm and Dominions And to that purpose it shall be Lawful for all Officers of our Ports to suffer the said Priests to depart into foreign parts between this and the said nineteenth Day of March admonishing and assuring all such Jusuits Seminaries and Priests of what sort soever that if any of them after the said time be taken within this or any of our Dominions or departing now upon this our Pleasure signified shall hereafter return into this our Realm or any of our Dominions again they shall be left to the Penalty of the Laws here being in force concerning them without hope of any Favour or Remission from us c. Which tho' perhaps it may appear to some a great Severity towards that sort of Our Subjects Yet doubt we not when it shall be be considered with indifferent Judgment what Cause hath moved us to this Providence all Men will justifie us therein for to whom is it unknown into what peril our Person was like to be drawn and our Realm into Confusion not many Months since by Conspiracy First conceived by Persons of that sort Which when other Princes shall duly observe we assure our selves they will no way conceive that this Alteration proceedeth from any Change of Disposition but out of Providence to prevent the Perils otherwise inevitable considering their absolute Submission to foreign Jurisdiction at their first taking Orders doth leave so conditional an Authority to Kings over their Subjects as the same Power by which they were made may dispense at Pleasure with the strictest bond of Loyalty and Love between a King and his People Among which foreign Powers though we acknowledge our self personally so much beholden to the now Bishop of Rome for his kind Offices and private temporal Carriages towards us in many things as we shall be ever ready to requite the same towards him as Bishop of Rome in state and condition of a Secular Prince yet when we consider and observe the Course and Claim of that See We have no reason to imagine that Princes of our Religion and Profession can expect any assurance long to continue unless it might be asserted by Mediation of other Christian Princes that some good Course might be
in one Week viz. in May 1606 who though he won his Wager yet was a Looser never getting his Winnings Piercy Wright c. who now lurked about London to expect the fatal Blow informed of the Discovery takes Horse making what haste they can to their Companions appointed to be at the Rendezvous on Dunsmore in brief according to their Abilities they run into open Rebellion but to their own Destruction The high Sheriffs with other Magistrates and Loyal Subjects so hunting them that they were either all dispersed slain or taken and the Chief of them afterwards condemned and executed Proceedings against Garnet and his Confederates printed by Robert Barker Printeâ— to the Kings most excellent Majesty 1606. to prevent untrue and incoherent Reports and Relations of their Tryals as the Epistle to the Book informs us And for the Confirmation of the Truth of these things I shall here insert the Heads of Sir Edward Coke's Speech at the Tryal of Robert Winter and divers others for their Treason in Westminster-Hall before the Earl of Nottingham the Earl of Suffolk the Earl of Worcester the Earl of Devonshire the Earl of Northampton the Earl of Salisbury the Lord Chief Justice of England the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir Peter Warburton Knight one of the Justices of the Court of Common-Pleas Lords Commissioners for that purpose On the 27 th of January 1605. were arraigned upon one Indictment Robert Winter Esq Thomas Winter Gent. Guy Fawks Gent. John Garnet Esq Ambrose Rookwood Esq Robert Keys Gent. and Thomas Bates upon another Indictment Sir Everard Digby At the Tryal of Winter and the rest upon the first Indictment * The Heads of the Speech of Sir Edward Coke at the Tryal of some of the Conspirators Sir Edward Coke than Attorney General made a very long and learned Speech wherein he first answered the Clamor that the Papists and their Adherents had then made because they were not sooner tryed Then he opened the Hainousness of the Crime in all the Aggravating Circumstances of it He said that as the Powder-Treason was of its self prodigious and unnatural so was it in its Conception and Birth most monstrous as arising out of the dead Ashes of former Treasons and then takes notice of very many if not all the Treasons before mentioned I think in this Speech and the Speech he made at Garnets Tryal all I am sure the most are taken in He then considered the Powder-Plot it self with regard to the Persons by whom the same was conspired And they were Clergy and Laity of the Roman Communion The Laity Gentlemen of good Houses of excellent Parts however most perniciously seduced abused corrupted and Jesuited of very competent Fortunes and Estates It being then said that there was never a Religious Man in the Action saith he in answer I never yet knew a Treason without a Romish Priest and names as ingaged in this Henry Garnet alias Wally the Superior of the Jesuits Legier here in England Father Creswel Legier Jesuit in Spain Father Baldwin Legier in Flanders as Parsons at Rome besides their Cursory Men as Gerrard Oswald Tesmond alias Greenway Hamond and Hall then he opened the Doctrines and Practices of the Jesuits and other Priests of the Romish Church which he proves from Simanca Creswels Philopater and other Books Then he considered the Persons against whom this Treason was conspired the King the Queen the Royal Issue Male the most honourable and prudent Councellors and all the true hearted and worthy Nobles all the Reverend and Learned Bishops all the Grave Judges and Sages of the Law all the principal Knights Citizens and Burgeesss of Parliament the Flower of the whole Realm Then he considered that this was designed notwithstanding the King had used so great Lenity toward the Papists that by the space of a whole Year and four Months he took no Penalties of them due upon the Statutes and besides this divers of the Papists were greatly preferred Then he considered the House of Parliament which they pretended they chose because there the Penal Laws were made against them which he answered by briefly showing what Laws were made against them and that their own Treasons were the true Grounds of making them Then he considered the End of this Conspiracy which was to bring a final and fatal Confusion upon the State and this is to be effected by damnable Means by mineing by thirty six Barrels of Powder having Crows of Iron Stone and Wood laid upon the Barrels to have made the Breach the greater Then he considered the Secresie of the Contrivance and Carriage of this Treason in three Respects the first that Catesby had Recommendation for a Regiment of Horse in the Low-Countries that under that Pretence he might furnish this Treason with Horse without Suspicion The Second was the Oath before mentioned The Third the Sacrament He then took notice of the admirable Discovery of this Treason and proceeded to make nine several Observations upon the whole which were these First The Mine had never been discovered had not the Cellar been hired 2. The Kings Directing the Search to be made there from those dark Words A Terrible Blow 3. Catesby Rookwood and Grants their narrow Escapes having a few Days before they were taken been in very great Danger of being blown up by Gun-powder 4. Gun-powder was the Invention of a Fryar 5. Binham was sent to the Pope to give notice of this Blow and to crave his Direction and Aid 6. Notwithstanding their rising in open Rebellion and giving out that the Catholics Throats would be cut not one Man came in to take their Parts but their own Company 7. The Sheriff immediately supprest them 8. The Discovery was made a few hours before it was to have been put in Execution 9. That there never was any Protestant Minister in any Treason and Murther that had been then attempted within the Realm Then he compared this Plot with that of Raleigh and Watson and Clark. 1. They had both one end 2. Both to be effected by Popish and discontented Persons Priests and Laymen 3. They all played at Hazzard the Priests were at the By Raleigh at the Main but these in at all purposing to destroy King Issue whole State. 4. All obliged by the same Oath and Sacrament 5. The same Proclamation after the Fact for Reformation of Abuses 6. The like Army provided for Invading 7. The same Pension of Crows promised 8. The Agreeing of the Times which was when the Constable of Spain was coming hither which was intended a Colour to the Invasion that it might not be suspected After Sir Edward Coke had ended his Speech The Evidence against the Traitors the Examinations of Winter and the rest subscribed by themselves were shown particularly to every one of them and acknowledged by them to be their own and true and in their Examinations every one had confest the Treason which Confessions were afterwards openly and distinctly read by
which it appeared that Bates was resolved for what he undertook in this Powder-Treason being therein warranted by the Jesuits Also that Hamond the Jesuite the 7 th of November after the Discovery confest and absolved them The Confessions of Watson and Clark Seminary Priests upon their Apprehension was also taken notice of who affirmed that there was some Treason intended by the Jesuits and then in hand After the reading their several Examinations Confessions Their Conviction Condemnation and Execution and voluntary Declarations as well of themselves as of some of their dead Confederates they were all found guilty and having nothing to say for themselves were comdemned and executed Sir Everad Digby having likewise confest the same was found guilty condemned and executed for the same Treason Garnets Arraignment Tryal and Confeson Proceedings printed in 1606. Foulis l. 10. c. 2. f. 514 517. Henry Garnet Superior of the Jesuits in England was arraigned and tryed for the same Treason on Friday the 28 th of March 1606. at Guild Hall in London before Sir Leonard Holiday Lord Mayor the Earl of Nottingham the Earl of Suffolk the Earl of Worcester the Earl of Northampton the Earl of Salisbury the Lord Chief Justice of England the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir Christopher Yelverton Knight one of his Majesties Justices of the Kings-Bench Lords Commissioners for that purpose He was a grand Agitator in this Plot and did himself at last confess thus much That Catesby had told him of the Plot but not by way of Confession that Greenwel had told him of this not as a Fault for how could they do so that approved it as meritorious but as a thing that he had Intelligence of and told it him by way of Consultation that Catesby and Greenwel came together to him to be resolved that Tesmond and he had Conference of the Particulars of the Powder-Treason in Essex that Greenwel asked him who should be Protector Garnet said that was to be deferred till the Blow was past that he ought to have revealed it to the King that nothing deterred him from the Discovery so much as his Unwillingness to betray Catesby that he had greatly sinned against God the King and the Kingdom in not revealing it of whom he heartily begged Pardon and Forgiveness Garnet Condemned and Executed Foulis Hist lib. 10. cap. 2. f. 514. Proceedings And for this Treason he was condemned and after his Condemnation he himself said That the Sentence was justly passed on him The third of May following he was executed at the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard where he appeared in a troubled and amazed Condition still prying and peeping about for a Pardon although Henry Montague Recorder of the City pitying his Perplexedness assured him there would be none granted And thus died this Garnet after he had confirmed the Matters contained in the Confessions of them that had been before executed by this Confession of his own And that none that are willing to receive Truth as it is which ingenuous Men always are may remain in doubt take the true reason of his Confession from himself at Foulis relates it The reason of Garnets Confession Foulis Hist lib. 10. cap. 2. f. 515. The Jesuits being not a little offended that he should any way confess himself guilty which with some might be a Blot both to himself and their Order Garnet to vindicate himself to them and to shew the Folly of denying any longer thus writes to them What should I do First of all the rest of the Confederates have accused me Secondly Catesby always made use of my Authority amongst them whereby most of them were perswaded to have a good Opinion of the Enterprize so that all knew I was in it Thirdly two set on purpose heard me discourse the whole business with Oldcorn and tell him how I thought to answer all Objections Fourthly My Letters writ with the Juice of Orange to Mrs. Anne Anne Vaux are I know not how fallen into their Hands whereby I plainly enough discovered my Knowledge of it Whence I gather that the Jesuits did sufficiently tamper with him to conceal his Guilt and that he would have concealed it if he could and all that have writ in Justification of him are sufficiently answered by his own Confession and the four Reasons above mentioned that induced him thereunto to which add his further Confession That he had often vowed both by Words and Writings to the Lay Conspirators that he would never discover or betray any of them and his acknowledging his Offence wishing it were in his Power to undo that which was done and that if the whole World were his he would willingly give it to quit himself from the Guilt of Treason which now troubled his Conscience Moreover he himself owned in a Letter to Mrs Anne Vaux That he was sorry he could not die for Religion but for Treasons These Instances are certainly sufficient to convince any unbyassed Reader but to put the Matter out of doubt and if it be possible to convince even the Papists Thuanus himself one of their own Communion Privy-Councellor to the French King and President of the Supream Senate of that Kingdom was so fully convinced of the Truth of this Conspiracy and that all the Conspirators before named were ingaged in it that he writ a most ingenuous Narrative of the whole in Latin which was in the year 1674. faithfully rendred into English and printed where the Papists that do not understand Latine may if they please receive ample Satisfaction So detestable it seems this Conspiracy was to some of the English Colledge at Rome that being informed of the Discovery of this Plot sixteen of them abhorring such jugling and bloody Designs forsook the Colledge slipt into France Translation of Thuanus f. 1. and thence some of them came into England and turned Protestants But nothing will convince some Papists for notwithstanding all the Confessions aforesaid and Convictions Foulis Hist l. 10. cap. 2. f. 510. and Executions upon those Confessions there are not a few who would perswade the World to believe that all this was but a mear Cheat a Trick of Salisbury the then Secretary And Foulis saith he once heard a Story very gravely told that one lurking under the Council-Table concealed by the long Carper heard much of the Contrivance a Tale so absurd and ridiculous that after what hath been already said to endeavour to confute it would argue more impertinence then they were guilty of who broached the Story This Conspiracy being discovered in so wonderful a manner and the Deliverance attended with so many amazing Circumstances the Parliament took the same into their Consideration and in the first place made a Law for keeping an Anniversary Day of Thanks-giving on the Fifth of November and enacted the same Law should be read in the Churches publickly upon the same Day and then made an Act for the Attainder of the Offenders Which Acts
a Commissioner of Sewers and a Deputy Lieutenant within the East Riding of York-shire His Lordship is presented to be a popish Recusant and his Indictment removed into the Kings-Bench and his Wife Mother and the greatest part of his Family are popish Recusants and some of them Convicted William Lord Eure in Commission for the Sewers in the East Riding a Convict Popish Recusant Henry Lord Abergaveeny John Lord Tenham Edward Lord Wotton in Commission for Sewers justly suspected for Popery Henry Lord Morley Commissioner for Sewers in Com. Lanc. himself suspected and his Wife a Recusant John Lord Mordant Commissioner of the Peace Sewers and Subsidy in Com. Northampton John Lord St. John of Basing Captain of Lidley Castle in Southampton indicted for a Popish Recusant Em. Lord Scroop Lord President of His Majesties Councel in the North Lord Lieutenant of the County and City of York and Comd. Eborac villae Kingston super Hull presented the last time and continuing still to give Suspicion of his ill affection in Religion 1. By never coming to the Cathedral Church upon those days wherein former Presidents have been accustomed 2. By never receiving the Sacrament upon Common days as other Presidents were accustomed but publickly departing out of the Church with his Servants upon those days when the rest of the Council Lord Mayor and Aldermen do receive 3. By never or very seldom repairing to the Fasts but often publickly riding abroad with his Hawks on those days 4. By causing such as are known to be firm on those days in the Religion Established to be left out of Commission which is instanced in Henry Alured Esq by his Lordships procurement put out of the Commission of Sewers or else from keeping them from Executing their places which is instanced in Dr. Hudson Doctor in Divinity to whom his Lordship hath refused to give the Oath being appointed 5. By putting divers other ill-affected Persons in Commission of the Councel of Oyer and Terminer and of the Sewers and in other places of Trust contrary to His Majesties Gracious Answer to the late Parliament 6. In October last 1625. being certified of divers Spanish Ships of War upon the Coasts of Schâ—â—borough his Lordship went thither and took with him the Lord Dunbar Sir Thomas Metham and William Alford and lay at the House of the Lord Eury whom he knew to be a convict Recusant and did notwithstanding refuse to disarm him although he had received Letters from the Lords of the Council to that effect And did likewise refuse to shew the Commissioners who were to be employed for disarming of Popish Recusants the Original Letters of the Privy Council or to deliver them any Copies as they desired and as his Predecessors in that place were wont to do 7. By giving Order to the Lord Dunbar Sir William Wetham and Sir William Alford to view the Forts and store of Munition in the Town of Kingston upon Hull who made one Kerton a convict Recusant and suspected to be a Priest their Clerk in that Service 8. By denying to accept a Plea tendered according to the Law by Sir William Hilliard Defendant against Isabel Simpson Plantiff in an Action of Trover that she was a convict Popish Recusant and forcing him to pay Costs 9. By the great increase of Recusants since his Lordships coming to that Government in January 1619. It appearing by the Record of the Sessions that there are in the East Riding only one Thousand six Hundred and Seventy more convicted then were before which is conceived to be an effect of his favour and countenance towards them William Langdale Esq convicted of Popish Recusancy Jordan Metham Henry Holm Michael Partington Esquires George Creswel Thomas Danby Commissioners of the Sewers and put in Commission by procurement of the Lord Scroop Lord President of the North and who have all Popish Recusants to their Wives Ralph Bridgman a Non-Communicant Nicholas Girlington whose Wife comes seldom to Church Sir Marmaduke Wycel Knight and Baronet presented the last Parliament his Wife being a convict Popish Recusant and still continuing so Sir Thomas Metham Knight Deputy-Lieutenant made by the Lord Scroop in Commission of the Council of the North and of Oyer and Terminer and other Commissions of Trust all by procurement of the said Lord president since the Kings Answer never known to have received the Communion his two only Daughters brought up to be Popish and one of them lately Married to Thomas Doleman Esq a Popish Recusant Anthony Vicount Mountague in Commission of the Sewers in Com. Sussex his Lordship a Recusant Papist Sir William Wray Knight Deputy-Lieutenant Collonel to a Regiment his Wife a Recusant Sir Edward Musgrave Sir Thomas Lampleigh Justices of Peace and Quorum Sir Thomas Savage Deputy-Lieutenant and Justice of Peace his Wife and Children Recusants Sir Edward Egerton a Non-Communicant Thomas Savage Esq a Deputy-Lieutenant a Recusant and his Wife Indicted and presented William Whimore Commissioner of the Subsidy his Daughter and many of his Servants Recusants Sir William Massie Commissioner for the Subsidy his Lady Indicted for Recusancy and his Children Papists Sir William Courtney Knight Vice-Warden of the Stannery and Deputy-Lieutenant a Popish Recusant Sir Thomas Ridley Knight Justice of the Peace his Wife a Popish Recusant and Eldest Son. Sir Ralph Conyers Knight Justice of Peace his Wife a Popish Recusant James Lawson Esq a Justice of Peace and one of the Captains of the Trained-Bands his Children Popish Recusants and Servants Non-Communicants Sir John Shelley Knight and Baronet a Recusant William Scot Esq a Recusant John Finch Esq not convicted but comes not to Church in Commission of the Sewers These are all Convicted Recusants or suspected of Popery Sir William Mullineux Deputy-Lieutenant and Justice of Peace his Wife a Recusant Sir Richard Houghton Knight Deputy-Lieutenant his Wife and some of his Daughters Recusants Sir William Norris Captain of the General Forces and Justice of Peace a Recusant Sir Gilbert Ireland Justice of Peace a Recusant James Anderton Esq Justice of Peace and one of his Majesties Receivers his Wife a Non-Communicant his Son and Heir a great Recusant and himself suspected Edward Rigby Esq Clerk of the Crown Justice of Peace himself a good Communicant but his Wife and Daughters Popish Recusants Edward Creswel Esq Justice of Peace his Wife a Popish Recusant John Parker Gentleman Muster Master for the County suspected for a Popish Recusant George Ireland Esq Justice of Peace his Wife a Popish Recusant John Preston Esq Bow-bearer for his Majesty in Westmoreland Forrest a Recusant Thomas Covil Esq Jaylor Justice of the Peace and Quorum his Daughter a Recusant Married Sir Cutbbert Halsal Justice of Peace his Wife a Recusant Richard Sherburn Esq Justice of Peace himself Non-resident his Wife and Son Recusants Sir George Hennage Knight Sir Francis Metcalf Knight Robert Thorold Esq Anthony Munson Esq William Dallison Esq in Commission of the Sewers and are justly suspected for Popish Recusants Sir Henry
the effects of it to this very hour But nothing being done in it and seeing on the other hand that my Lord Arlington and several others endeavoured by a thousand deceits to break the good Intelligence which is between the King my Brother his most Christian Majesty and my self to the end they might deceive us all three I have thought fit to advertise you of all that is past and desire of you your assistance and friendship to prevent the Rogueries of those who have no other design then to betray the concerns of France and England and who by their pretended Service are the occasion they succeed not As to any thing more I refer you to Sir William Throgmorton and Coleman whom I have commanded to give an Account of the whole State of our affair and of the true condition of England with many others and principally my Lord Arlington's endeavours to represent to you quite otherwise then it is The two first I mentioned to you are firm to my interest so that you may Treat with them without any apprehension Coleman's Third Letter SIR I Sent your Reverence a tedious long Letter on our 29 th of September Coleman's Tryal p. 68. to inform you of the Progress of affairs for these two or three last years I having now again the opportunity of a very sure hand to conveigh this by I have sent you a Cipher because our Parliament now drawing on I may possibly have occasion to send you something which you may be willing enough to know and may be necessary for us that you should when we may want the conveniency of a Messenger When any thing occurs of more concern other than which may not be fit to be trusted even to a Cipher alone I will to make such a thing more secure write in Limon between the lines of a Letter which shall have nothing in it visible but what I care not who sees but dryed by a warm Fire shall discover what is written so that if the Letter comes to your hands and upon drying it any thing appears more then did before you may be sure no Body has seen it by the way I will not trouble you with that way of writing but upon special occasions and then I will give you a hint to direct you to look for it by concluding my visible Letter with something of Fire or Burning by which mark you may please to know that there is something underneath and how my Letter is to be used to find it out We have hear a mighty Work upon our Hands no less then the Conversion of three Kingdoms and by that perhaps the utter subduing of a Pestileat Heresie which has domineered over great part of this Nothern World a long time there were never such hopes of success since the Death of our Queen Mary as now in our days when God has given us a Prince who is become may I say a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work but the opposition we are sure to meet with is also alike to be great So that it imports us to get all the Aid and Assistance we can for the Harvest is great and the Labourers but few that which we rely upon most next to God Almighty's providence and the favour of my Master the Duke is the mighty mind of his most Christian Majesty whose generous Soul inclines him to great undertakings which being managed by your Reverence's exemplary Piety and Prudence will certainly make him look upon this as most suitable to himself and best becoming his Power and thoughts so that I hope you will pardon me if I be very troublesome to you upon this occasion from whom I expect the greatest help we can hope for I must confess I think his Christian Majesties Temporal Interest is so much attracted to that of his R. H. which can never be considerable but upon the growth and advancement of the Catholic Religion that his Ministers cannot give him better advice even in a Politic Sence abstracting from the considerations of the next World that of our Blessed Lord to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof that all other things may be added unto him That I know his most Christian Majesty has more powerful motives suggested to him by his own devotion and your Reverences zeal for Gods Glory to engage him to afford us the best help he can in our present circumstances but we are a little unhappy in this that we cannot press his Majesty by his present Minister here upon these latter Arguments which are most strong but only upon the first Mr. Rouvigny's sence and ours differing very much upon them though we agree perfectly upon the rest And indeed though he be a very able Man as to his Masters Service in things where Religion is not concerned yet I believe it were much more happy considering the posture he is now in and his temper were of such a sort that we might deal clearly with him throughout and not be forced to stop short in a discourse of Consequence and leave the most material part out because we know it will shock his particular Opinion and so perhaps meet with dislike and Opposition though never so necessary to the main concern I am afraid we shall find too much reason for this Complaint in this next Session of Parliament for had we had one here from his most Christian Majesty who had taken the whole business to Heart and who would have represented the State of our Case truly as it is to his Master I do not doubt but his most Christian Majesty would have engaged himself further in the affair then at present I fear he has done and by his approbation have given such Councels as have been offered to his R. H. by those few Catholics who have access to him and who are bent to serve him and advance the Catholic Religion with all their might and might have more Credit with his R. H. then I fear they have found and have assisted them also with his Purse as far as 10000. Crowns or some such Sum which to him is very inconsiderable but would have been to them of greater use than can be imagined towards gaining others to help them or at least not to oppose them If we had been so happy as to have had his most Christian Majesty with us to this Degree I would have answered with my Life for such success this Sessions as would have put the Interest of the Catholic Religion his R. H. and his most Christian Majesty out of all Danger for the time to come But wanting those helps of recommending those necessary Councels which have been given his Royal Highness in such manner as to make him think them worth his accepting and fit to Govern himself by and of those advantages which a little Mony well managed would have gained us I am afraid we shall not be much better at the end of this
undertook to take this rub out of the way by killing the King to which purpose he went for Scotland but took England in his way At London one Daniel an Italian Fencing Master discovers the Plot to the Queen she seized them and sent them into Scotland Mowbray supposed Guilty is cast into Edenburgh Castle whence thinking one Night to escape out of a Window by his Bed sheets they proved too short and he fell upon the Rocks and so dyed his Body was hanged for sometime then quartered 1601. and set upon the Gates and several places of the City This Design failing another is in hand in Italy A design to poyson King James the First Ferdinando I. the Grand Duke of Tuscany by the intercepting some Letters discovereth a Plot to poyson the said King James The Duke by what reasons induced is not material but 't is conjectured in hopes to convert him rather pervert him to the Romish Religion resolved to discover and prevent it At this time one Mr. Henry Wotton sojourned in Florence 1602. and was well acquainted with Seigniour Vietta the Dukes Secretary upon whose Commendations Wotton is pitched on to be the Messenger The Letters and excellent Antidotes against Poyson such as were not then known in Scotland were delivered to him who disguised under an Italian Garb and Name of Octavio Baldi hasteth into Scotland cometh to the King discovereth himself and the Conspiracy and after some stay returneth to Florence he was afterwards Knighted by King James As the Popes are never without Designs for promoting some of their Nephews The Pope designs to exclude King James the First so Clement the VIII the then Pope in these Designs against the said King James his succeeding Queen Elizabeth was not wanting intending the Crown of England for some of his friends and perceiving that some in England English Papists to be sure were tampering to promote the Interest of the Lady Arabella in this case he thought it best to deal warily he was very desirous that the Duke of Parma should wear the Crown of England but finding that this was not feasible by reason Arabella's Interest was too strong for him he steers another course and thinks of Cardinal Farnese who being unmarried might take to Wife Arabella and so unite Forces and Interests to carry the Crown To carry on this design it was advised that all the Romanists in England should unite that their Cause might not suffer by any dissentions about this Succession amongst themselves a good Caution may hence be given to all Protestants in England that they do not divide upon their present Majesty's King William and Queen Mary's accession to the Crown who under God are the preservers of the Protestant Religion amongst us for vis unita fortior and nothing but division can hurt us to promote this union the Romish Clergy who then had and still have a great awe and authority over the Layety were exhorted by the Pope to be all of a Mind as to this Succession and to press it home upon the Layety that so the Layety might not be divided To which purpose it was concluded that there should be an Arch Priest who should have a Jurisdiction over the rest who are to â—it according to his Rules and Directions and in these designs Father Parsons who was not yet advanc'd according to his merit was a main stickler and contriver the Pope also had drawn up some Bulls and sent to his Nuncio in the Netherlands to Divulge and spread them abroad at convenient times wherein he declared that not any though never so near in blood should after Queen Elizabeths death be admitted to the Crown but such an one as would not only tollerate the Roman Religion but would swear to promote and resettle it and that in the mean time Cardinal Farnese might in this Island have the greatest vogue the Pope made him Protector of England as Pope Pius V. had before made Mary Queen of Scots Queen of England to carry on the same design as he was of other Countrys Nay rather then fail the same Pope had formerly exhorted the French and Spaniards to unite invade England and divide it between them nor did they neglect to instigate the Family of the Pools to have a Right Divers other Attempts were made by Winton Desmond and other Priests and Jesuits to exclude King James the First but all proved abortive as did the Treasons plotted against him after his Accessions to the Throne Queen Elizabeth's death Camb Annals f. 651. Bakers Chron. f. 403. On the 24th of March 1603. the Virgin Queen Elizabeth of every Glorious Memory exchanged her corruptible for an incorruptible Crown after she had Reigned Forty four Years and Four Months and in the Seventieth Year of her Age of whom her Successor gave this Character that she was one who in wisdom and felicity of Government surpassed all the Princes since the days of Augustus King James the First Proclaimed Camb. Annals f. 661. Bakers Chron. f. 403. A Conspiracy against him She being dead some few hours after King James was Proclaimed King of England the First of Scotland the Sixth and no sooner is he set upon his Throne even before he could well get the Crown upon his Head but we find a Plot laid against his Life for though the Papists could not keep him from the Throne they were resolved if possible that he should not sit long there This Plot I must confess is prima facie of a strange Complection but when 't is well viewed if we look upon the Majority of the Persons concerned we shall find them to be Romish Priests and Lay Papists and therefore if a thing may take its denomination from the greater part this may sure and we may safely call it a Popish Conspiracy for although some Protestants were inveigled into it Yet they were the smaller number and at that time under a discontent (a) Bakers Chron. f. 404. VVilsons History of Great Brittain f 4. which oftentimes carries Men beyond the Principles of their Religion and to do things contrary to the Rules of right Reason Whither their discontent was well grounded or not is not my purpose to enquire but taking it for granted they were Male-contents I shall now give an account of who were Actors in this Design and what the Design it self was The Names of the Conspirators Fowlis Hist li. 10. cap. 1. f. 499. VVilsons Hist. f. 4. Bakers Chron. f. 404. The main Actors in this Conspiracy were William Watson and Clark who had both writ against the Jesuits for their Treasons and Conspiracies Sir Griffin Markham Count Aremberg Ambassador from the Arch Duke of Austria Mathew de Lawrency a Merchant but an Instrument employed by Aremberg all zealous Papists Sir Edward Parham a Papist Bartholomew Roskesby and Anthony Coply Papists Henry Brook Lord Cobham and George Brook his Brother who seemed to be Protestants Thomas Lord Grey of Wilton a Protestant