Mr Solicitor had shortened his Labour by the pains he had taken to sum up the Evidence to them which he concluded he had without doubt done with all faithfulness to his Master He then proceeds to blacken the Defendant with all the foul Language that Malice could suggest and tells his old Friends of the Jury whose acquaintance with him disposed them to credit him that the Popish Plot was a sham and that under the pretence thereof another black and bloody Conspiracy was carried on Then he magnifies the evidence against the Defendant both from the number of the St Omers Sparks no less then twenty but also their harmony and he affirms that against the credit of their Testimony there was no objection really made but only Impudence that the Defendant had produced but two positive Witnesses that they were likewise positive in their contradiction of one another that they swore according as their humour led them and not according to any remembrance they had of the thing and that he rather believed it because the third Witness Page gave an evidence contrary to both of them how notoriously false these malitious Suggestions are will evidently appear upon the perusal of what these three honest and plain-dealing Witnesses swore Then he comes to the Defendants fourth Witness Mr Walter and positively affirms that he says nothing to the matter for that it did plainly appear the time which he speaks of was about a year and a half before the five Jesuits Tryal which must be in 1677 before the Defendant went to St Omers Mr Solicitor told the Jury that Mr Walter spoke of a year and a quarter before the discovery of the Plot had that been true it had run it back to the year 1677 and to a time before the Doctor went to St Omers His Lordship makes Mr VValter to speak of about a year and a half before the Jesuits Tryal which runs it back to December 1677 and then the King 's celebrated Witnesses and Mr VValter are agreed but Mr Vvalter speaking for himself says the time was near a year and a quarter before the Tryal of the Jesuits which brings us to April 1678. Though the Chief Justice and Solicitor were not agreed in this matter yet they would not quarrel about it provided the understanding Jury would credit either of them against Mr Walter and so serve the turn they aimed at the baffling the credit of the Popish Plot and not allow this Witness to be serviceable to the Vindication of Dr Otes Upon the following day after this Tryal Dr Otes was tryed upon an Indictment for another supposed Perjury but that prosecution being of the Complexion with what is here presented I shall not trouble the Reader with any thing further upon this subject then to present him with the Names of the Jury viz. Sr Thomas Vernon Nicholas Charlton Esq Tho. Langham Esq Thomas Hartop Francis Griffith John Kent George Tory Ano. Hen. Loades Tory Also John Midgley John Pelling Thomas Short and George Peck The Juries having according to the direction of that Man of Blood Jeffryes brought in the Defendant guilty of both the Perjuries Comes the Abhorrer of Parliaments the tender-hearted good natured Protestant Judge VVythens to pronounce the Sentence This very Person Wythens being Counsel for Knox did declare openly in the Court of King's Bench that Dr Otes had served the Nation too well to be vilified in that Court. previous to it he tells the Defendant That no Christian 's Heart can think of the innocent Blood which was shed by his Oath without bleeding That every knowing Man believed and every honest Man grieved for it He proceeds God be thanked our Eyes are now opened You had not one Word to justifie your self from that great and heinous Perjury you were accused of transcendant Impudence The Judgment of the Court inter alia is You shall upon Wednesday next be VVhipt from Algate to Newgate Vpon Friday you shall be VVhipt from Newgate to Tyburn by the Hands of the common Hangman This I pronounce to be the Judgment of the Court upon you and I must tell you plainly If it had been in my power to have carried it further I should not have been unwilling to have given Judgment of Death upon you I shall sum up all with the sense of the present House of Commons upon this whole proceeding which take in this Vote Martis 11th die Junij 1689. Resolved That the Prosecution of Titus Otes upon two Indictments for Perjury in the Court of King's Bench was a design to stifle the Popish Plot and that the Verdicts given thereupon were corrupt and that the Judgments given thereupon were cruel and illegal Notes upon the Tryal of Nathaniel Reading Esq for attempting to stifle the King's Evidence as to the horrid Popish Plot upon Wednesday the 24th of April 1679. before the Lord Chief Justice North c. THe Conspirators against our Religion Laws and Liberties being struck with astonishment and the Imprisoned and Impeached Traytors with no small Terror at the most providential and happy accession of Captain William Bedloe's Testimony to the discovery made by Dr Otes of the hellish Popish Plot in which he had stood single much discouraged we do quickly find their thoughts at work how to remove this newly acquired Witness Their way of taking off Sr Edmundbury Godfrey having so highly dis-served their Cause that is not to be again practised therefore the resolution taken in the present case is to tamper with and buy off Captain Bedloe they pitched upon Mr Reading to carry on this Intrigue whose parts and principles did very well qualifie him for such an undertaking but Mr Bedloe being above the reach of very powerful Temptations he very honestly detected the villainous Attempts upon him and the Suborner was brought to Justice as follows The Indictment sets forth the Plot against the King the Government and the Protestant Religion and that Colman Ireland and Grove were tryed condemned and executed for the same That several Lords viz. the Earl of Powis Lord Viscount Stafford Lord Bellasis Lord Arundel of Wardour Lord Petre and also Sr Henry Titchbourn stand impeached of the said Treason That Reading well knowing these things and to obstruct and stifle them and to retard the prosecution of Justice against the Lord Powis Stafford Bellasis Petre and Sr Henry Titchbourn did on their part the 29th of March last solicit suborn and endeavour to perswade Mr VVilliam Bedlooe whom he knew to have given Information of those Treasons against the said Persons to lessen stifle and not to give in evidence the full truth against them and to give such evidence as he should direct and to that purpose did give him fifty six Guineas and promised him other great Rewards to the hindrance and suppression of Justice The Jury were these Sr John Cutler Thomas Cass Joshua Galliard Rains. Waterhouse Edw. Willford Mathew Bateman Tho. Henslow Walter Moil Thomas Earsby
Richard Pagget John Serle John Haines Esquires The King's Counsel were Sr Creswell Levens The Attorney General Mr Ward The evidence of this practice subornation was very clear and full particularly Mr Bedloe witnessed that Reading had often treated with him about mincing his Evidence for the bringing off the Lords and Sr Henry Titchborne and gave him Money at several times and did draw up a Paper of what Bedloe should Swear and did carry it to the Lords in the Tower to be viewed and corrected by them Mr Speke testified that Bedloe had from time to time informed him how the Treaty was carried on that upon the 29 th of March 1679. Mr Speke and VViggins Bedloe's Servant being concealed in his Chamber Mr Reading came and in the first place asked whether any body could hear their discourse and being assured that he was secure and secret he told Mr Bedloe upon his demand what the Lords in the Tower said and what my Lord Stafford said that as to my Lord Stafford he should be sure of the Estate in Gloucester-shire which had been promised to be setled upon him for my Lord had ordered him to prepare a blank Deed which within ten days after his Discharge should be perfected and the rest of the Lords did assure him that after they were acquitted in proportion to the service he did them in lessening of his Evidence he should have a plentiful Reward That Bedloe did then demand to have something under their hands but Reading said that they think that not convenient but I do take their Words and you must take mine and then promised to go to the Lords in the Tower against Munday to prepare and bring him the Instructions from them for his Evidence Mr Speke added that upon the Munday morning he was to watch and see the Delivery of the Paper and did see Reading put it into Bedloe's hand in the painted-Chamber who immediately delivered it to Mr Speke This Paper was all of Mr Reading's writing and being read in Court was found to contain the purport of the Evidence to be given against the Lords and was so ordered that the whole was only hear-say and could no way touch them Wiggins agreed with Mr Speke in the Evidence given of the Transactions between Mr Bedloe and Mr Reading in Mr Bedloe's Chamber Reading coming to make his Defence offered nothing against the credit of the Witnesses but did in effect confess all they had testified and the whole matter charged in the Indictment and in truth he was the greatest witness against himself as was well observed after he was found guilty by the Right Honourable Sr Robert Atkyns then one of the Judges of the Common-Pleas but soon after thrust out for non-Compliance with Sr Francis North then Chief Justice and is now most deservedly Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Lords The Jury having brought him in guilty he was fined 1000 l. adjudged to a years Imprisonment and to be set in the Pillory upon the munday following for the space of one hour in the Palace-Yard in VVestminster When the late King James ascended the Throne he was a particular Favourite and his Suffering in this matter was well rewarded It may not seem impertinent to present the Reader upon this occasion with so much of Captain Bedloe's solemn Death-Bed Declaration as the Lord Chief Justice North allowed the World to see His Lordship was pleased to acknowledge that he took Captain Bedloe's Examination upon Oath at Bristol upon the 16 th of August 1681. And that he declared that the Duke of York had been so far engaged in the Plot that there was no part that had been proved against any Man that had suffered but he was to the full guilty of it all but what tended to the Kings Death from the trouble whereof the Jesuites had undertaken to deliver the Duke And his Lordship added that Mr Bedloe told him he lookt upon himself as a dying Man and that he must shortly appear before the Lord of Hosts to give an account of all his Actions and that because many persons had made it their business to baffle and deride the Plot He did for satisfaction of the World there declare upon the Faith of a dying Man and as he hoped for Salvation that whatever he had testified concerning the Plot was true and that he had many Witnesses to produce who would make the Plot as clear as the Sun. That the Jesuites had resolved the King's Death and would spare him no longer than he continued to be kind to them And that they resolved to set up an Head for their Cause here whatever came of it and said that if they should slip the opportunity they then had they should never have such another Notes upon the Tryal of Thomas Knox and John Lane for a Conspiracy to Defame and Scandalize Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe thereby to discredit their Evidence about the Popish Plot At the Kings-Bench Bar at VVestminster upon the 25 th of November 1679. The Judges then upon the Bench were Sr VVilliam Scroggs Lord Chief Justice Sr Francis Pemberton and Sr Thomas Jones THe unlucky miscarriage of Reading's attempt to corrupt the King's Evidence or to overthrow the credit of their Testimony deterred not others from prosecuting so pious a work for that is instantly succeeded by the cursed Conspiracy of Knox and of Lane and Osborne the one lately the other at that time a Servant to Dr Otes but Justice overtook them as the following Scheme of their Tryal shews The Indictment being read upon their pleading not guilty the following Jury was sworn Sr John Kirke Kt. John Roberts Thomas Harriot R. Waterhouse Henry Johnson Thomas Earsby Simon Middleton Joseph Ratcliffe Hugh Squire James Supple Francis Dorrington Richard Cooper Esq. The King's Counsel were Mr Attorney General Mr Solicitor General Mr Serjeant Maynard Sr Francis VVinnigton Mr VVilliams Mr Thomas Smith Mr Trenchard For Knox Mr Saunders Mr VVithens and Mr Scroggs For Lane Mr Holt assigned by the Court. The Indictment opened by Mr Trenchard was that whereas Colman Ireland Pickering and Grove conspired to destroy the King and change the Religion Established by Law to introduce Popery and were thereof Convicted Attainted and Executed And whereas the Lord Powis Lord Arundel of VVardour and others were accused of those Treasons and Impeached for the same in Parliament c. The Defendants knowing Mr Otes and Mr Bedloe had given Information of these Treasons to stifle the Evidence and scandalize them did conspire to represent them as wicked Persons and of no credit And the Indictment further sets forth that Knox with the agreement of Lane and Osborne caused Letters to be wrote with contrivance to accuse Otes and Bedloe that they had conspired falsly to accuse the E. of Danby And that Otes had attempted to commit Sodomy with Lane that to effect those wicked designs Knox gave several sums of Money to Osborne and
Lane and had promised great Rewards to them Then the Cause was opened by that most incomparable Person the honour of the Law old Sr John Maynard now first Lord Commissioner of the great Seal whose Ability Integrity and Desert have kept him from a Seat upon the Benches of Westminster till about the eighty eighth Year of his Age when Heaven set the Law free he spoke to this effect This Cause is of great consequence there hath been an horrid and abominable Conspiracy against the King the Nation our Religion and the Law The first discovery of this Conspiracy came from a single Person who stood single and discouraged a long time and there were endeavours to discourage his further discovery when it stood so Sr Edmundbury Godfrey having taken his Examination then the endeavour was to suppress it and that by no less a wickedness then the barbarous Murder of that honest Gentleman that being accomplished they strived to baffle and defame him when dead All this while he stood single it fell out by the mercy of God that Bedloe made a further discovery and publick Justice has gone upon it Then they attempted to corrupt his Testimony with Bribes and Rewards and Reading who transacted it is attainted of it scelere tutandum est scelus Having gone all these ways they return again to see if they can disgrace and baffle the Evidence of Otes and Bedloe by scandalizing them with foul offences especially Dr Otes and that was thus Knox tampered with Lane a Servant to Otes to accuse him of the Horrid Sin of Sodomy In order to it there were Letters wrote by Osborne who is run away but contrived by Knox. It happens in this case as it did long ago as the Historian told us multi ob stultitiam non put abant multi ob ignorantiam non videbant multi ob pravitatem non credebant et non credendo conjurationem adjuvabant To this Sr Creswell Levens the King's Attorney-General added This is a counter-part of Mr Reading 's Case only it seems in this to differ that it exceeds the Original In the proceeding upon the cause it was proved that Lane upon his first coming to Dr Otes in November 1678 had a design to accuse him as he afterward did of Sodomy a Crime above the common standard of Villanies That he declared whilst he was with the Doctor that he hoped in a short time to get 1000 l. That Lane sent for Sr William Waller that he might confess the whole Contrivance to him declaring that he was pricked in Conscience for the false Oaths he had taken That Lane and Osborne had confessed before a Committee of the House of Lords and also before Sr William Waller and Justice Warcup that they were suborned by Knox to swear falsly against Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe and that he had given them money to do it That Knox made Lane and Osborne swear Secrecy and to stand fast to the Instructions he had given them That he went to the Sugar-Loaf in Pickadilly and took Lodgings for them and lay there with them and promised them Money and Preferment and told Lane that he need not doubt but the Lords in the Tower would acknowledge their Kindness That Lane and Osborne said they were going from Dr Otes that they were sworn Brothers if the one did go the other would and they should get Preferment and have 100 l. per annum and 500 l. in Money As to Knox his endeavours to blast the Testimony of Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe it was proved That Knox endeavour'd to suborn H. Wiggins to accuse Mr Bedloe his Master That he proposed to Thurston a Servant to Dr Otes to be very kind to him if he could find any thing to Swear against his Master That Knox to invite VViggins to betray and accuse Mr Bedloe said The King knows Otes and Bedloe to be great Rogues and when he has got what he can out of them he will hang them up That when Knox Lane and Osborne were Prisoners in the Gate-house for this contrivance Knox offered the Vnder-Keeper a Reward to allow him to correspond by Letters with Lane and gave him three half Crowns desiring him to speak to Lane to stand fast to him and then they should be two against one for he fear'd Osborne had betrayed them about the business of Dr Otes That Knox and Lane and Osborne went to Justice Dewy and Knox told him he was advised to come to him to take an Information against Dr Otes and that they went to Justice Cheyney upon the same errand That Lane had been kept the last Summer at the Lord Powis his house had 10 s. per week allowed him That Knox was to have 30 or 40 l. to carry on the business and that Knox Osborne and Lane were to be rewarded by the Lords in the Tower for their evidence against Dr Otes and Mr Bedloe That Lane being taken Knox sent for Osborne and carried him in a Coach to White Fryers That the Papers relating to the Conspiracy were delivered by Knox to Dangerfield and went about to the Lords in the Tower and afterwards to Nevil alias Paine and were by him amended and then delivered to Knox again The Case appearing so very clear upon the Evidence the Jury without going from the Bar found the Defendants guilty Whereupon they received this merciful Sentence Knox the principal who is now at this day in a better station at Court than ever he was in his Life or could ever have hoped for Fined two hundred Marks to be Imprisoned a year and to be bound to the good behaviour for three years Lane fined one hundred Markâ— to stand once in the Pillory and to be Imprisoned a Year Notes upon the Tryal of John Tasborough and Ann Price for Subornation of Perjury in endeavouring to perswade Mr Stephen Dugdale to retract and deny his Evidence about the Popish Plot with an intent to stifle the further Prosecution of the same At the Kings Bench upon the third of February 1679 before Sr William Scroggs Sr Thomas Jones Sr William Dolben and Sr Francis Pemberton Judges of that Court. The Jury were Thomas Harriot Tho. Johnson Char. Vmphrerile Tho. Earsby Richard Pagget John Greene Edward Willford Richard Bull Joseph Ratclaffe Richard Cooper James Supple George Read. THe suborning attempt of Knox Lane was succeeded by another of the like nature carried on by two Popish Engines Mr Tasborough and Mrs Price which being likewise happily detected they were prosecuted as follows The Indictment was to this effect That Whitebread Harcourt and Langhorne and others were convicted and attainted for Treason and that Dugdale had been a material Evidence against them and the Defendants knowing this and contriving to stifle the evidence of those Treasons did before Harcourts Tryal suborn and endeavour to perswade Dugdale not to give evidence against him and after the Tryal solicited him to retract the Evidence he had given and promised him large Rewards
was no Popish Plot. The Jury without stirring from the Bar found them all three guilty of the Information and the judgment was that Farwell and Thompson should stand in the Pillory in the Palace-Yard for one hour the last day of the Term and each of them pay 100 l. Fine and to be Imprisoned till paid and that Paine should only pay 100 l. Fine and be imprisoned till paid Upon the 5th of July 1682. according to the judgment Thompson and Farwell stood in the Pillory with this Writing over their Heads For Libelling the Justice of the Nation by making the World believe that Sr Edmundbury Godfry murdered himself Tho' this bold and daring Contrivance of these Champions for Holy Church was thus happily defeated and their own Counsel did not only declare that it was an unadvised undertaking but some of their own Gang began to say that the Devil owed them a sham yet no doubt of it the design was better laid then some imagined But what fence for ill luck They did confidently relie upon the Council-Board to cherish the undertaking and to instruct the prosecution thereof and nothing disappointed them there but an unlucky mistimeing the matter They also knew full well that the credit of Popery must be restored and that by suppressing the evidence of their Plot and that if one thing failed another would hit they remembred the Prophecy of one of the Guides of the hare-brain'd Toryes Heraclitus Ridens who fore-told soon after the election of Sr John Moore to be Lord Mayor that at or before 1683. they should have Juries for their turn and that then talking to the Whiggs about hanging that Author with great assurance told them They must come to 't and should come to 't so that all had been Cock-sure if they had tim'd it so as to have had it tryed before any one of the corrupt and murdering Juryes which that year of 1683. furnished for my Lord Russel Colonel Sidney and others Reflections upon the Tryal of Thomas Pilkington Esq and Samuel Shute Esq Sheriffs of London And of Ford Lord Grey Alderman Cornish Sr Thomas Player Slingesby Bethel Esq Mr Francis Jenks Mr John Deagle Mr Richard Freeman Mr Robert Key Mr John Wickham Mr Samuel Swinnock Mr John Jekyl and Mr R. Goodenough Vpon an Information for a pretended Riot at Guild-hall at the day for Election of Sheriffs being the 24th of June 1682. THe Conspirators having in the beginning of the Year 1681 delivered themselves from the danger of Parliaments They well knew that there then stood nothing in their way but the old fashioned abhorred way of Tryals by Juryes Therefore they must now to cut off all who stood in their way have Jury-Men as they had already Judges at their own Nomination and Devotion so In October 1681 Sr John Moore is made Lord Mayor of London than which to the discerning part of Mankind nothing was more portentous nor of worse Omen and the dire effects with that foreboded were quickly felt For now the Lord Mayor giving himself up intirely and implicitly â—o the dispose and conduct of Sr Leoline Jenkins all things went according to the Will of the Conspirators The great care now is how to get such Sheriffs as would furnish proper Juryes to serve the turn for securing this great point the Mayor is closely plyed by their little Engines in the City and directed to insist upon a pretended Prerogative to elect one of the Sheriffs This point being gained upon him they bethink themselves of a fit Man and incline to Sr Benjamin Newland but at length they pitch upon Mr North lately returned from Turkey Brother to the Lord Chief Justice North He readily embraces the Employment and before the day for election of Sheriffs was come a thing never before known he seals a Bond to the Court of Aldermen to hold Sheriff and the Gazette proclaims it to the World that the Lord May or had elected Dudley North Esq Sheriff of London The Conspirators and the Mayor having thus acted the matter by concert Midsummer-day the accustomed time for Election of Sheriffs being come the Mayor insists to have Mr North admitted as one of the Sheriffs and his Party put up Mr Box to be joyned with him But the Citizens withstood the Mayor's Usurpation upon their undoubted Rights and proceeded according to immemorial Custom to Elect their Sheriffs and fixed upon those well-deserving and eminent Citizens Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois who were chosen upon the view by a very great majority of Voices Hereupon to gain time for Consultation how to trick this Election the Accomplices of the Conspiracy demand a Poll that being yielded to them the Sheriffs went upon the takeing the Poll and it being far proceeded upon and it appearing that there were two to one of the Electors polled for Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois the Mayor was sent with a Rabble in a Tumultuous manner to interrupt the finishing the Poll by Adjourning the Court. The Sheriffs Mr Pillington and Mr Shute well knowing the Managment of the Election to belong to them continued for some time to proceed in takeing the Poll and then adjourned to the Tuesday following The Conspirators call this a Riot as in truth it was of their own side and the Council at Whitehall commit the Sheriffs to the Tower and there lock them up till by an unlucky English Instrument called an Habeas Corpus the Tower Gates were forced open they nevertheless with undaunted resolution persisted to assert their own and the Citizens Rights and declared Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois to be Elected Sheriffs Then it was proposed and consented to that a new Poll should be taken which being done it appeared that Mr North had 170 Voices Mr Box 1353. and Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois upwards of 2700. and they are a second time declared to be Elected Sheriffs Thereupon upon the 20 th of July divers eminent Citizens attended the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen and for themselves and on behalf of the rest of the Citizens demanded that they would cause Proclamation to be made for Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois to appear and seal Bonds according to Custom to take the Office of Sheriffs And at the same time they entered a Caveat to Mr Wagstaffe the Town-Clerk against the swearing and admitting Mr North and Mr Box Sheriffs However the Lord Mayor by the direction of Sr L. Jenkins and the influence of Saunders and of Jefferies both declared Enemies to the City Rights and at that time of Council with the Conspirators for the overthrow of their Antient Charters assumes the boldness to declare both Mr North and Mr Box Sheriffs and so ravishes from the Citizens the right to Elect either of the Sheriffs But Mr Box appearing to be endued with a better stock of Discretion than to undertake the Office upon that Title declined it Whereupon 't is resolved that Mr Rich shall be the Man and a Common-Hall being called a little before
Michaelmas where tho' above ten to one were found against Rich yet the Common Serjeant who was deeply engaged in the Intrigue makes report to the Mayor as was before concerted that Mr Rich was Elected and so without more to do he is declared Mr North's Partner Upon the day for swearing the new Sheriffs being Michaelmas-Eve 1682. The Citizens went in a very great Body to Guild-hall to present Mr Papillon and Mr Dubois to be sworn but were with-stood by Souldiers Armed with Pikes and Musquets then in possession of the Hall By these means and in this Military Arbitrary and most Illegal way were Mr North and Rich constituted Sheriffs of London and Middlesex to the unspeakable joy of the Conspirators and their insipid Adherents in the City These new Sheriffs to gratifie their Faction and to oblige the World with notice of what must be expected from them At the publick Feast upon their entring upon the Office They entertain their Crew with these Rhimes Sung at their own Table Thanks to Sr John our good Lord Mayor ' Gainst Sheriffs tricks he kept the Chair Then to the famous Sr John Moore May after Age that Name Adore For Ropes and Gibbets the next year The Whigs we hope need not despaire If Rich find Timber give 'em scope Brave North will never grudg 'em Rope Then to brave North a double Dose Who the strong Factions did oppose Then to brave Rich a Health off hand Who the loud Tumults did withstand Well to be serious and after a too tedious digression to return to the matter proposed These Sheriffs being thus settled and by consequence Juryes to serve the turn at hand They set themselves to a vigorous prosecution of the Quo Warranto brought against the City Charters and of an Information exhibited about this notorious and horrid Riot and to make sure work herein they cast an Eye into Westminster-Hall and finding Sr Francis Pemberton Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench would not serve this purpose He is thrust down into the Common-Pleas with a Complement from the Lord Keeper North that no Man's services were more eminent nor better accepted than my Lord Chief Justice Pemberton's And Mr Saunders the Counsel against the City upon the Quo Warranto and Adviser of the Lord Mayor's most extravagant proceeding in the matter of the Sheriffs is upon the 23d of January 1682 promoted to be Lord Chief Justice being then told by the Lord-Keeper That the King's People might not suffer in the want of so good a Magistrate as his Predecessor his Majesty had taken care in the choice of him to succeed in that great and important Office he being a Person of manifest Integrity and Affection to the King's service And that his Lordship might say without flattery that he came into the Seat of Lord Chief Justice with as few Passions and personal Frailties as any that had been before him Methinks Sr Matthew Hale or Sr William Scroggs might have been excepted That the Age was so degenerate and full of Faults ☞ Faults of Irreligion Immorality Debauchery c. that it required more than a Man to censure them And his Lordship added That the temper of the present Age required his Severity in cases of Sedition Which he said was â—…lly grown to that height and Insolence and managed with that Malice that it was very near breaking out into open force All things being now thus well prepared upon the 8th of May 1683 the matter of the Riot is brought to Tryal at Guild-hall before this vertuous Lord Chief Justice Saunders upon an Information to this effect That upon the 24 th of June 1682. in Guild-hall there was a Common-Hall summoned by Sr John Moore Lord Mayor for the Election of Sheriffs and that on that day the Lord Mayor in a lawful manner adjourned the Court till Tuesday following That after the Adjournment the Lord Mayor made Proclamation for all persons to depart That the Defendants intending to disturb the King's Peace did unlawfully meet together and riotously assault the Lord Mayor And that after the Adjournment Mr Pilkington and Mr Shute by colour of their Office as Sheriffs and the rest of the Defendants did continue the Poll and affirm to the People that Sr John Moore had no power to adjourn them and that they continued this great Tumult three hours to the terror of the King's Subjects and against the Peace The Prosecution of this Information was managed by The Kings Atturney General Solicitor General Sr George Jefferies Mr Dolben Mr Jones and Mr Molloy And defended by Mr Wallop Sr Francis Winnington Mr Williams Mr Thompson Mr Holt Mr Sommers and Mr Freke Mr Sommers and Mr Thompson upon calling the Jury offered a Challenge of the Array and pressed to have it read which being done Sr George Jefferies called it a Tale of a Tub But Mr Thompson persisted Vrging that Sheriff North was interessed in the matter and if Sr John Moore had not Authority to Adjourn the Poll Mr North was not duly chosen Sheriff and so ought not to return a Jury the very Title to the Office of Sheriff being in question This point was further pressed by Mr Williams Sr Francis Winnington and Mr Wallop but opposed by the Atturney and Solicitor General and Jefferies and over-ruled by the Lord Chief Justice Then Mr Thompson prayed the Benefit of a Bill of Exceptions but that was also over-ruled and the Jury returned by the Sheriffs who were forced upon the City by the true Rioters were Sr Benjamin Newland Sr John Mathews Sr John Buckworth Sr Tho. Griffith Sr Edmund Wiseman Percival Gilburne Henry Wagstaffe Barth Ferryman Tho. Blackmore Samuel Newton William Watton George Villers Then Mr Dolben opened the Information and Mr Atturney followed saying That the Information was brought for settling the Peace of the City and to shew who is the Supream Magistrate there That the Lord Mayor in all times was the Kings Lieutenant and no publick Assemblies could ever meet without his Summons That the question was about the Election of Sheriffs That the Lord Mayor adjourned the Court and the Sheriffs proceeded and made Proclamation that it was not in the power of the Mayor and continued the Poll in a Riotous manner and when the Mayor attempted to go out of the Hall they struck him struck his Hat off and pressed several of the Aldermen That if the others had made opposition all had been in Confusion upon this Usurpation To this Mr Solicitor added That after my Lord Mayor commanded them to depart they continued their Assembly there in a very riotous manner and as my Lord came down they offered Insolencies to his Person Then comes Sr George Jefferies the main Contriver and Abettor of the Lord Mayor's most daring and unjustifiable attempt and tells the Jury That the Rabble came upon my Lord Mayor had him down upon his Knees and if some Gentlemen had not come in they had trod him under feet He
them to safe retirements and so were clap'd into the Tower and afterwards in different wayes butchered It was resolved that my Lord Russell the Honour of his Age should be cut off in a seeming way of Justice and as he was a Person of inestimable value so the art used to destroy him was extraordinary in the first place The Conspirators to introduce a belief of his Lordship's guilt procure two Persons charged with Keeling's Plot to be convicted just before my Lord is brought to Tryal reserving other two of them of whose Conviction they more doubted to be tryed after his Lordship Then a well prepared Pannel of Jurors many of them train'd and disciplin'd under L'Estrange and some Inferiour Clergy-Men his Prostitutes was returned by Sr John Moore 's Sheriffs Matters being thus prepared He is brought upon his Tryal at the Old-Bayly upon Friday the 13th of July 1683 At the instant of entring upon it the Conspirators cut the Eaâ—l Essex's Throat in the Tower and to facilitate the dispatch of the Lord then at the Bar they immediately intimate by an express to the Old-Bayly that the Earl of Essex had murdered himself from hence a wicked and unquestionably a premeditated Inference is raised of the good Lord Rassell's guilt and by this diabolical contrivance the Blood of the Earl of Essex is made a main Evidence towards the Prisoner's Conviction that being accomplished upon the day ensuing the Verdict of his guilt is made an Argument to seduce and delude the Coroner's Inquest into a belief that the Earl of Essex had destroyed himself The Jury being called his Lordship was over-ruled in his Challenges of those of them who were not Freeholders though the learned in the Laws did and do say that he was entituled to those Challenges not of Grace but Right and the same was allowed to others by my Lord's Prosecutors at such Seasons when it would not disserve their turn thus the Estate Honour and Life of this Noble Lord are put into the Hands and Power of Tradesmen and Shop-keepers He being charged with an Indictment for high Treason the right of my Lord 's Challenging for want of Freehold was argued and insisted upon by his Council Mr Pollexfen Mr Holt and Mr Ward But was opposed by The Attorney General The Solicitor General Sr George Jeffryes and Mr North. And was over-ruled by the Judges upon the Bench who were The Lord Chief Justice Pemberton The Lord Chief Baron Justice Jones Justice Wyndham Justice Charleton Justice Levins Baron Streete and Justice Wythens Then the following Jury were sworn Jahn Martin William Rouse Gervas Seaton William Fashion Thomas Short George Tory Ano. William Butler James Pickering Thomas Ieve Hugh Noden Robert Brough and Thomas Oneby Then Mr North the King's Counsel opened the Indictment to this effect That the Prisoner stood charged with no less than conspiring the Death of the King and that in order to it he with other Traytors the second of November 1682 conspired to raise War against him and to Massacre his Subjects and to seize his Guards and Person The Attorney General being so hot upon this bloody pursuit that he had before positively refused to defer the Tryal till the Afternooon * 'T is probable that he might imagine that by the Afternoon the suspition of the Earl of Essex's Assassination might reach the Ears of the Jury as it did in a few hours many about the Town and then Mr Attorney had lost that which he made a mighty part of his Evidence and imposed upon the Court to go instantly upon it did now apply himself totis viribus to impress the Jury telling them that the Prisoner was one of the Council of State as he in a scornful way expressed himself to give forth directions for the general Rising that as had appeared was to be in the Kingdom That the Rising was of great concern and expence and must be managed by Persons of Interest Prudence and Secrecy That they consulted in October and November how to seize the Guards and at several meetings they received Messages from my Lord of Shaftesbury touching the Rising That this was the great Consult and moved all the Wheels That there were Vnderlings who were to manage the Assassination who were an inferiour Council of seven That there was a great Council of six who were the Prisoner the Earl of Essex whom he pretended he was sorry to name he having that Morning prevented the hand of Justice upon himself * Note this was spoken within an hour or two after the Earl's death before any Inquisition taken or it could possibly be known how he came by his death but right or wrong this Jury must now pass upon him and find him Felo de se to facilitate and justifie the Murder they are now to commit and four others That they debated how they should make the Rising Resolved that before they fell upon it they would have an exact account of the time Method of the Scotch Rising and thereupon Colonel Sidney sent Aaron Smyth on purpose to invite Scotch Commissioners to treat with these Noble Lords that pursuant to this just before the Plot broke out several came from Scotland to treat how to manage the Work They demanded at first 30000 l. then fell to 10000 l. and at last to 5000 l. but they not coming to their terms it broke off the Week the Plot was discovered He concluded that they should shew that all the Inferiour party still look'd upon these to be the Heads I shall not here trouble the Reader with the particulars of the Evidence given against this Noble Lord by the Lord Howard Colonel Romsey and Mr Shepheard nor offer at any Remarks thereupon much less to touch upon the many Hardships and great Injustice put upon his Lordship in this Prosecution in point of Law all that having been admirably well done by the Learned Pens of the right Honourable the Lord Chief Baron Atkyns and of Mr Hawles of Lincolns Inn My purpose not only in extracting these Notes in my Lord Russell's Case but also in this whole Tract being only to present the World with some matters of History which they did not put down or remark upon and which indeed invited me to this work to gather together for publick use Abstracts and Remarks upon some memorable Tryals in the late unhappy Reigns upon which they never touched I shall therefore now proceed to represent something further of the carriage and exasperating Speeches of the King's Council c. against his Lordship The Solicitor General sum'd up the Evidence in this manner That the Prisoner stood Indicted for High Treason in conspiring the Death of the King That the Overt Act laid to prove that Conspiracy by is the assembling in Council to raise Arms against the King and to raise a Rebellion and that they had proved that by three Witnesses He then proceeded to state the substance of the Evidence which having done as
charged against them touching the Proceedings against Sr Thomas Armstrong Then Mrs Mathews Sr Thomas Armstrong's Daughter was called in and examined what she knew of the Prosecution against her Father And Sr Robert Sawyer then Attorney General being named by her as one of the Prosesecutors After she was with-drawn he was heard in his place to what was objected against him and then he withdrew and upon debate of the matter it was Resolved That Sr Robert Sawyer 's name be put into the Bill as one of the Prosecutors of Sr Thomas Armstrong Resolved That Sr Robert Sawyer be expelled the House for the same Saturday the 25th of January 1689. The House being acquainted that according to their Order Sr Francis Wâ—thens Sr Richard Holloway Mr Graham and Mr Burton attended at the Door thâ—y were severally called in and examined touching the Prosecution and Proceedings against Sr Thomas Armstrong And also the Executors of the late Lord Jeffryes that were attending at the Door were likewise called in and asked what hey had to say why Reparation should not be made out of the Lord Jeffryes Estate to the said Sr Thomas Armstrong's Family No Persons appearing as Executors to the late Justice Walcot the House was acquainted that he dyed Intestate and had not left an Estate sufficient to pay his Debts After the Persons before-mentioned were heard and with-drawn Mr Blaney was called in who gave the House an Account of the Proceedings in the Court of King's-Bench upon the Awarding Execution against Sr Thomas Armstrong And then the House proceeded upon the Amendments made by the Committee to the Bill for annulling the Attainder of Sr Thomas Armstrong And after having inserted the Name of Sr Robert Sawyer as a Prosecutor and resolved That the sum of five thousand Pounds should be paid by the Judges and Prosecutors to Sr Tho. Armstrong's Lady and Children as a Recompence of the Losses they had sustained by reason of his Attainder the Bill was recommitted upon the debate of the House to the same Committee Notes upon the Tryal between Sr William Pritchard Alderman of London and Thomas Papillon Esq. at Guildhall upon the 6th day of November 1684. before Sr George Jeffryes Lord Chief Justice of the Kings-Bench THat Mr Papillon was second to none in his zealous and undaunted opposition to the wicked attempts of introducing Popery and Arbitrary Government is very well known and deserves to be for ever remembred with honour None out did him in a diligent and faithful discharge of his Trust in several Parliaments In the Year 1681 there appeared a Race of Men fond of Vassalage and Slavery to that degree that they made Addresses of Thanks to the King for breaking two Parliaments in the compass of three Months meerly upon the score of their steady Resolution to extirpate the Popish Plot and Popery One of these fawning Addresses with promise of venturing their Lives and Fortunes to maintain this Violation of the Constitution of the Government having been presented to the King by Sr William Pritchard Sr George Jefferies and others Mr Papillon in abhorrence of it promoted and personally prosecuted a Petition to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council praying that the Thanks of the City might be returned to Sr Robert Clayton Sr Thomas Player Alderman Pilkington and Alderman Love their worthy and well deserving Representatives in the Oxford Parliament and shewing That as matters then stood the Papists being animated in their Bloody designs by the hopes of a Popish Successor a Declaration to have frequent Parliaments could not attribute to the safety of the Kingdom and the composing the minds of Protestants but that it must be the sitting of a Parliament so as to search the Plot to the bottom to Prosecute the Conspirators and provide suitable Laws against the impending Evils and that nothing else could be effectual Further This Gentleman having in the same year 1681. greatly added to his guilt by baffling the Popish designs upon the Lives Liberties and Estates of all Protestants in the attempt upon the Earl of Shaftesbury He exerts himself in the year 1682. in the defence of the great and undoubted Right of the Citizens to chuse their own Sheriffs but now arbitrary Power being by the aid of ill Men become rampant and uncontroulable he must be sacrificed to their Revenge Mr Papillon having been duly elected one of the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex he brought a Writ of Mandamus out of the Court of King's-Bench to command the Mayor Aldermen to swear him into the Office that being disobeyed he is advised by his Counsel that he is entitled to an Action at Law for the wrong done him he sends in a respectful way to the Mayor and Aldermen requesting them to give voluntary appearances to his Action that being refused he proceeds by a legal process to bring them to answer him at Law whereupon Sr William Pritchard being arrested by the Coroner of London to whom the King's Writ was directed and detained some hours upon his refusal to give an appearance to Mr Papillon's Action Sr William brings an Action against him for thus arresting him and demands 10000 l. damages wherein he committed a great over-sight for had he ask'd 100000 l. the usual damages given in that day he had not failed of it with the following Jury which tryed the Cause Bartholomew Ferryman an old Informer one of the Jury of the Guildhall Riot Thomas Blackmore One of Dr Otes's Jury and also of the Riot Jury Thomas Symonds William Whatton One of the Riot Jury John Greene Thomas Amy One of Sr S. Barnardiston's Jury Joseph Baggs Daniel Chandler John Reynolds John Allen. Joseph Caine and Will. Wythers junior Fathers own Son. Mr Mundy opened the Declaration to this effect That the Plantiff being Lord Mayor and to attend that Office in the diligent Government of the City The Defendant envying the happy Estate of the Plantiff and contriving unjustly to disturb him in the Execution of his Office did to vex him not having any probable Cause of Action against him maliciously prosecute the King 's Writ out of the Court of King's-Bench against him directed to the Coroner of London commanding him to take Sr William Pritchard at Mr Papillon 's suite in an Action of Trespass and did procure Mr John Brome The Coroner to arrest him and that he was detained in custody six hours To the disgrace and scandal of the Plantiff and of his Office Whereas in fact he had not any just Cause of Action against him to his damage 10000 l. Then the Attorney General told the Jury that the action was brought to vindicate the honour of the Chair from such Affronts as these which in no Age till our times of faction and confusion it ever met with and he said We shall shew you that there lay a further Malice in this case and that there was a design in it against the Government This design was laid to carry on the great
Sr John Peak Sr John Chapman Sr Sym. Lewis Sr John Mathews Sr Benj. Newland Sr William Dodson Sr John Buckworth Lt. Colonel John Steventon Thomas Cowden Edward Beaker John Wallis John Nicolls William Parker Henry Loads Peter Aylworth John Short Richard Aily Benj. Skut Humphrey Stroud William Carpenter Remarks upon the Tryal of Alderman Cornish at the Old-Bayly upon Munday the 19th of October 1685. Before the Lord Chief Justice Jones the Lord Chief Baron Justice Wythens Justice Levins Justice Streete Baron Gregory and Jenner the Recorder WHen the Reader remembers what part this Eminent and Worthy Citizen acted in the mighty Struglings between Christianity and Popery English Liberties and Tyranny he will not be surprised to see him overwheml'd when by the Aid of the worst of men the Banks of our Security were broken down and the Torrent of Popery and Arbitrary Power carried all before it That from the time of the discovery of the Popish Plot the Conspirators did with indefatigable Industry apply themselves to shift it off to the Protestants is most undoubtedly and beyond contradiction true This alarming the City and it being well known that the Lives Liberties Estates of English-men against Arbitrary Attempts upon them Lay in Tryals by Juryes The Citizens in the Year 1680 rouz'd out of the Lethargy in which they had long lain and bethink themselves how to secure substantial honest Juryes knowing that that could only be accomplished by proper Sheriffs They pitched upon and elected Mr Bethel and Mr Cornish to serve in that Office By so doing and by a like Election of Mr Pilkington now deservedly Lord Mayor and Mr Shute in the succeeding Year 1681 the Popish design of murdering Protestants under colour of Law was Post-poned until the Ancient Right of Electing Sheriffs was ravish'd from the City in the year 1682. However the Conspirators impatient of delay made their attempt in the Sheriffalty of Mr Bethel Mr Cornish The Earl of Shaftesbury and divers others are now clapt up upon pretence of a Plot and an experiment is made upon Mr Stephen Colledge a Man of great Honesty and who wanted nothing but a Figure to make him every way valuable But these Sheriffs not furnishing a Jury to cut him off The Earl of Shaftesbury and the rest who were imprisoned are reserved for the next Sheriffalty When they hoped tho' as Heaven would have it without ground to get Sheriffs and by them Juryes for their purpose And the Conspirators being enraged at the disappointment and baffle put upon them by an honest City-Jury in the Case of Mr Colledge They hurry that poor man to Oxford and there by most unpresidented illegal Practices basely murder him Further it cannot be forgotten that the honest endeavour of these worthy Sheriffs Mr Bethel and Mr Cornish to have the Sham-Plot of Fitz. Harris throughly searched into did greatly contribute to their future Sufferings The mentioning this Wretch forces a Remembrance of the Stratagems then used to present his discovery of the Authors of his Trayterous Libel and of the design for which it was framed That that matter might not be pryed into by the Magistrates of London he is removed from Newgate to a most close Confinement in the Tower Then he being Impeached in the Oxford Parliament in March 1680 to hinder the Examination of it there that Parliament is dissolved Quickly after he is tryed and condemned in the Court of Kings-Bench Then tho' a Papist he is left solely to the management of Dr H. of the Tower and without controversie was held to the last Moment of his Life under the hope and expectation of a Pardon if he would confess or to speak more properly say as he was directed But being deluded and his Mouth stop'd The Doctor in his Name emits to the World a Mock Confession inconsistent in it self and most notoriously void of truth but most wickedly contrived to render these Sheriffs and also those worthy Gentlemen Sr Robert Clayton an Alderman and Sr George Trâ—by Recorder of London infamous and odious to the highest degree and all this with design to create a belief of a Protestant Plot particularly the Doctor 's Paper charged the Sheriffs that they came to Pitz. Harris in Newgate with a Token from the Lord Howard which he knew to be true and told him nothing would save his Life but discovering the Popish Plot and gave him great encouragement from the Lord Howard that if he would declare that he believed so much of the Popish Plot as amounted to the introducing the Roman Catholicks or if he would find out any that would criminate the Queen or the Duke or make so much as a plausible story to confirm the Plot that the Parliament would restore him to his Father's estate with the profits thereof since his Majesty's Restoration How idle false groundles and villanous soever this Story was it highly irritated the Conspirators against these Gentlemen About this time God for the Scourge of the Nation had sent into the City that common Nusance to Mankind a Race of blind sensless Creatures who hardly deserved to be called Men and therefore took to themselves the Name of Tories These Animals seeming to delight in Fetters of Iron rather than Chains of Gold were the Champions for Arbitrary and Despotick Power They set themselves to betray the Rights and Liberties of the City and to bring all Free-born Englishmen to live at the Will of an Absolute Prince These by Addresses of Thanks for the Violation of the Laws and of Abhorrence of those who endeavoured to maintain them invited the Conspirators to attempt the overthrow of the Antient Priviledges and Government of London Nay their Solicitation Backt with assurance of a Surrender procured the bringing a Quo Warranto against the City Charters But the Wretches failing their Principals herein as they ever did in all things but Noisy Huzza's and a Committee of Aldermen and Commoners true English-Men being appointed to guard the City Franchises against the Quo Warranto Attack New Measures must be taken hereupon The Tories now perceiving that their Quo Warranto must pass the Formalities of Westminster-Hall witb bended Knees supplicate the aid of that Tool of State Secretary Jenkins He readily espouses them and having the Ascendant of Sr John Moor at this time most unluckily Lord Mayor directs him to constitute Mr North and Mr Rich Sheriffs of the City which he as obsequiously as daringly undertakes Many worthy Citizens whose names deserve eternal remembrance boldly withstood these Arbitrary Illegal Attempts Amongst them Mr Bethel and Mr Cornish were not the last and they felt with the first the rage of the Conspirators and their Adherents Their honest innocent and peacable appearing to Vote for the Election of Shâ—riffs in 1682. according to the undoubted right of the Citizens was termed a Riot and in Mr Cornish's Tryal now before us a Branch of the Plot. and most certainly is was the greatest Plot and Treason
Justice he hath endeavoured to take off the credit of our Witnesses and he would have you believe that he is a very good Protestant though he does the Papists work I think it a great piece of arrogance for him to take upon him the Title of a Protestant when he hath abused that title by such unsuitable Practices I cannot but reflect upon the condition of this Man whose onely hope is that you should now forget your selves and become as ill as he is But as that cannot be presumed so I shall not need to say any more to you After the making of very long Speeches to the Jury by Sr George Jeffryes and also by the Lord Chief Justice North to the same effect with the Solicitor's The Prisoner minded the Lord Chief Justice that he had omitted to mind the Jury of several material things evidenced for him but his Lordship answered That he had repeated to them as much as he could remember And so the Jury having been for a short time sent out and returning it being about three in the Morning they brought in the Prisoner Guilty The Lord Chief Justice North coming to pronounce Sentence said I think the Court were all very well satisfied with the Verdict and the Jury did according to Justice and Right I thought it was a Case that as you made your own defence small proof would serve the turn to make any one believe you Guilty and so he was sentenced to dye as a Traytor At the place of Execution upon the 31st of August 1681. he behaved himself with great Courage and Constancy and expressed himself to this effect He professed in the presence of the Living God That he was so far from being Guilty of those Treasons falsly sworn against him by the wretched and mercenary Men Dugdale Turbervile Smyth and Haynes that he never spoke so much as one single word of those Treasons to them or either of them or ever heard them spoke till sworn in the Court. He declared that Haynes had discovered to him that the Parliament was to be destroyed at Oxford and that Fitz. Gerald and his party had a design to murder the Earl of Shaftesbury and that they did endeavour to bring Macnamar over and said that then it would be well with them And they would not be long before they had Shaftesbury's Life That as for what Arms he and others had they were for their own defence in case the Papists should make any attempt by way of Massacre He took it upon his Death that he was never engaged in any manner of Plot or Conspiracy against the King the Laws or Government or knew of any except that of the Papists That if it had been true that he was to have seized the King he knew not of so much as one single Person that was or would have stood by him in that attempt That Masters was unjust in what he swore in omitting the material part of the discourse about the Parliament of 1640 for when Masters cursed them and the last Westminster-Parliament and charged the Parliament of 1640 with beginning the War and cutting off the King's Head he denyed both and told Masters that the Papists begun that War and that the death of the King was the fatal consequence of it That Sr William Jennings also did him wrong for his words were that he had lost the first Blood for the Parliament and wish'd it might be the last That he was reported to be a Papist but he declared he detested Popery and that he had lived and dyed a Protestant That Secretary Jenkins my Lord Killingworth and Mr Seymour when they committed him did interrogate him to many things that he should be privy to against the King Mr Sevmour saying that Colledge did know the Lord of Shaftesbury the Lord Howard and Mr Ferguson were also engaged but that he answered were it to save his Life he could not accuse a Man of them nor any other Person whatsoever That upon the 23d of August the Messenger who brought him the message of his Death told him he might save his Life if he would confess who was the Cause of his coming to Oxford and upon what account And that he answered him that he came voluntarily of himself rode his own Horse spent his own Money and neither was invited nor had dependency on any Person whatsoever and had only one Case of Pistols and a Sword and that had the Papists offered to have destroyed the Parliament as was sworn they would that he was there to have lived and dyed with them That when he had said this to the Messenger though the very truth he found it was not that he wanted and so left him with a Curse He concluded I dye by the Hands of the Enemies of the great God his Christ his Servants his Gospel my Country to which I willingly submit and earnestly pray mine may be the last Protestants Blood that murdering Church of Rome may shed in Christendom And that my Death may be a far greater Blow to their Bloody Cause than I either have or could have been by my Life The Lord God Almighty save England from Popery and Slavery bless the City of London and unite all good Protestants in the Nation Amen Amen Notes upon the Tryal of Nathaniel Thompson the Popish Printer William Paine Brother of the famous Nevil Paine and John Farwell upon the 20 th of June 1682. before the Lord Chief Justice Pemberton upon an Information for Writing and Publishing Libels importing that Sr Edmundbury Godfry Murdered himself THe Conspirators from the very first discovery resolved that the Popish Plot should be turned to a Presbyterian Plot pursuant thereto the credit of the Evidence especially from the time of the Dissolution of the Oxford-Parliament in the beginning of the year 1681. had been with matchless Impudence and Virulence traduced and run down by the scriblings of L'Estrange and of Heraclitus ridens and the Intelligences of this Thompson now before us so that by this time a multitude were infected with the poison of their Works and seduced into a belief that the Popish Plot was a Sham nothing but a thing raised by the Protestants against the Papists however it still remained upon them to wipe off the Blood of that Martyr the worthy Sr Edmundbury Godfry which was more then One Thousand Witnesses against them and now they judging matters to be ripened for it with effronted fore-Heads set to the Work as will appear by what follows The Information against these notorious Criminals Thompson Paine and Farwell was to this effect That they well knowing that Green Berry and Hill were Convicted Attainted and Exâ—…uted for the Murther of Sr Edmundbury Godfry and that Prance Bedloe Brown Curtis Skillarne and Cambridge were Witnesses for the King against them and that by the Coroners Inquest taken upon view of the Body it was found that he was Strangled and Choaked they to subvert and elude the due course of