this was in the Year 1674 in the Month of April I told him No. Why then said he the Dutch War is to no purpose Why said I was our engaging in a War against the Dutch to bring in Popery Well well said the Fryar you will see in time In some few days we had notice of a Peace with the Dutch of which I told the said Fryar What then said he our great King of France is not at peace with him and he must do the work In the Year 1675 I had obtain'd an Interest with Henry Duke of Norfolk then Earl of Norwich and Earl-Marshal of England who was very kind to me upon the account of my contending earnestly for his Right of presenting to a Living in the Diocess of Chichester to which Living the then Bishop a turbulent man pretended a Right of Collating and in the Year 1676 I was made Chaplain to the said Duke of Norfolk I think the whole Family will bear witness of my Fidelity to him and his Children In the Service of the said Duke I came acquainted with several Priests and being then resolv'd upon a strict enquiry into their designs against us our Religion Laws and Liberties I met with one Berry a Priest that had been a Jesuite but had left that Order thro' some discontent and madness that had seiz'd the poor Wretch I found him a poor zealous man whose Zeal was far beyond his Knowledge but this Berry brought me acquainted with Mr. Langworth a Jesuite and John Keins and Will. Morgan that was then Priest to the Lord Powys both Jesuites who gain'd my Consent to go over to the Church of Rome and truly a few Arguments prevail'd with me because I had a deâ—ire to see what they were doing so that in some measure I might prevent that impending danger that seem'd to threaten England with no less than an â—â—recoverable ruine But this as I said before was my great Evil tho' my design in it was honest just and good and Sir you know that it did turn to a good account and would have turn'd to a better account had not I met with your Opposition who was concern'd in all and your Brother in every part but that of his own Life But in short I was by this Langworth reconcil'd to the Church of Rome he was Father-Confessor to the Lord Peâ—re and his Family Upon my being reconciled I was brought to Richard Strange then Provinciate of the Jesuites who admitted me into the Society and when I was admitted it was resolv'd by the Jesuites that I should pass the time of my Novitiate abroad in dispatching business for the Society which I cheerfully accepted as an advantageous Opportunity of doing that for which I was reconcil'd and admitted into their Order and therefore accordingly they provided for me When I had paid Mr. Luke Roach Commander of a Biscay Merchant bound for Bilboa the said Strange the Provincial gave me One hundred Pistols for my supply in order for my passage into Spain and for my necessary Expences there and order'd me what other Monies I should need I then apply'd my self to a certain Nobleman who was privy to my being reconciled to the Church of Rome and had much pressed me to it in order to see what Work your Rogues were at He paid into my hands â—oo Guineas which I chang'd here in England and receiv'd Bills upon Father Swinaâ— the Procurator-General for the English and Irish Jesuiâ—es who paid me in Dollâ—rs â—o my Hearts content What Letters they sent by me you shall have â—n account of in their proper place And when I had got a competent Knowledge of their Design then on foot which was to murder your Brother because he had so often deceiv'd them for they assur'd me he had been reconcil'd to their Church and that upon his Reconciliation the Society in Spain had contributed 3000 Pistols to his support which was paid in by Father Couâ—tney some time Provinciate of the English Jesuits I saw several Letters written by your Brother to one Father Knot in which the King your Brother testified his Zeal for the Catholick Religion and promis'd to restore it whenever he should come to the enjoyment of his Right in England and till he had an Opportunity to do it they should have all the Connivance in the World and if the Case should go so hard wiâ—h him when he came to the Crown that he could not bring about their desires to make their Religion to be the Religion of the Government yet they should have an Indulgence that should be an Equivalent and however they should not be excluded from Offices and Imployments of Trust and that they had his Heart and Soul In a word I was engag'd with the Jesuites two Years and I found it high time to discover what I had learnt from them and your Servant Coleman who you know was a main Agent in this Hellisâ— Design I had a hopeful Prospect of being countenanc'd by your Brother and you and sometimes the thoughts of the Difficulties I was like to meet withal would make me tremble I apply'd my self to my noble Friend of whose Mony I had spent One thousand Pounds in the Discovery and he bid me be of good courage and I should carry my Point to the confusion of them all I also communicated the business to Dr. â—ongâ—â— and â—e to Mr. Christopher Kirkâ—y and Mr Kirkâ—y communicated the same to the King and intrusted the then Lord â—reasurer 〈◊〉 the discovery 〈…〉 that the Discoverer should keep in wâ—th the Jesuites and observe theâ—â— Motions and from time to time discover wâ—at he had learned from them But Kâ—â—kâ—y could not but see your Brother's coolness in the Affair therefore to justâ—â—e himself on the sixth of September he had my Narrative attested by my Oath before Sir Edmund-Bury Goâ—frâ—y and when you and the whole Court came from Windsor I was before Godfrey the 28th day in the Morning being Saturday and swoâ—â— to a compleat Narrative of the Popish Design and at Night I attended the Privy-Council where I gave an account of so much of the whole Affair as was convenient so the whole Board saw that the Jesuites and Papists who were in strict Alliances with the other Conspirators to root out the Protestant Religion and Government And tho' all the Conspirators of the French Interest were in the Grand Plot yet you know there were some of the Jesuites and Priests and Noblemen and Gentlemen of the Romish Communion in conjunction with your self had no Patience to stay the ordinary course to establish Popery and Arbitrary Power which the other Rogues had resolved upon at White-hall to be done in its due time and to go on gradually being well assur'd of your Game if it was not spoil'd thro' rashness and therefore some of your French Pensioners were not made privy to the Secrets of somâ— of the Priests and Jesuites Councels at St. James's Weld-house and elsewhere for you know
happy days under his Reign quite blotted out the remembrance of the villanous designs that were carried on in the time of your Grandfather and Father for the destruction of the Protestant interest and furthermore like Court-Parasites flattered him and you stiling your Father the Martyr for England's Church and Government The King your Brother being restored he began to be as Arbitrary as either his Father or Grandfather had been before him and the Kingdom lay under a necessity of submitting to him rather than run into a new confusion and disorder or revile the old ones for the misery they brought upon the Nation The memory of these times were so odious to these Flatterers that if the Parliament took notice of any of their Irregularities or mismanagement of the Government they were presently charged with running back to the Parliament that sat down in the year 1640 and they seeing the King restored without any terms thought it was necessary to form a Council consisting of a number of men that were to meet at Somerset-house in order to get something in favour of poor Catholicks and this was to be a standing Council for that purpose To this Council the Jesuits both at home and abroad were to make their application from time to time as occasion should require and they having such an encouragement as this they could not but reasonably expect some great thing from your Brother because of the Oaths and Protestations he had made to them of restoring their Religion or at least to give them all the Indulgence imaginable till he had an opportunity of setting up that Worship of theirs as the publick Worship of the Nation which they thought must of necessity come to pass the one or the other since he was not restrained by any Preliminaries at his admission to the exercise of his Kingly power this fatal mistake of the Parliament was the cause of much joy to the Jesuits for upon this Courtney within a Fortnight after your Brothers coming in was dispatched away to St. Omers to give them an account of what a prospect they now had of advancing the Catholick Cause and what a Council was pitched upon to meet at Somerset-house to manage the Cause of poor Catholicks in order to their ease in respect of Religion and what preferments several of the leading men of that perswasion were like to have at Court So Sir this was the first encouragement your party received through the want of some necessary restrictions to have put upon your Brother in order to have secured the Nation from Popery and Arbitrary power A second encouragement the Popish party had to oblige men to undertake and engage themselves in their villainous designs against the Protestant Religion and Government of this Nation was your Brothers neglecting the old Cavaliers that if they had any Religion it was that of the Church of England These men had been great sufferers not only upon your Father's account but also upon your Brother's to the ruine of themselves and families indeed they thought and that very justly that upon the Restoration they should enjoy Halcyon days But alas through yours and the advice of old Chancellor Clarendon they were in a worse state than they were before for these poor miserable Wretches having Mortgaged their Estates to redeem their Sequestations the remainder paid the Taxes to the King and the interest of the Mortgage notwithstanding all this they are not at all countenanced by the King who one would have thought should have made them his chief favourites if he had retained one dram of gratitude He had favourites it 's true but none of the old Protestant Cavaliers you will say then who were his Favourites you may remember that his Favourites were those of the Popish party in conjunction with a party of men who knew not his Father but humoured him in his sensual pleasures and they were of the Female as well as of the Male Sex who were a sort of Favourites his Father was not acquainted with nor in short do I find that he had ever any regard for his Fathers memory in that he so basely left those who had not only ventured but lost all in his Fathers service and these men having great Antipathy against the Papists for carrying all before them in the Court at Oxford in your Fathers time were much brow-beaten by these Popish Favourites and they being discouraged were in no capacity to contend the point with that villainous party at Court so that they in your Brother's time carried all before them in spite of fate The poor Dissenters they durst not stir the Bishops severely chastizing them for their severe usage of them in the times of the Civil War and the high Church-party run in with this Popish party as men that had deserved well from the King and whose Religion and theirs was of nearer a kin than that of the Dissenters so that your Popish party having such a Reinforcement from high Church-men were considerably strengthened and taking the advantage of your Brother's neglect of the old Cavaliers who hated them they found by this means so much encouragement as to engage a number of men to undertake with them in their cursed designs 3. A third encouragement the Popish party had upon your Restoration was the great ascendency your Mother had over the King your Brother for she being a Daughter of France inclined him to her side so that he no sooner left Brussels but he quitted Spain and embraced the interest of France and an Alliance with that Crown and she living ten years after his Restoration so fixed this as an habit in him that all his life after he could never get rid of it notwithstanding all the provocations of the French King to the contrary who upon the great inclination there was in your Brother and you to him became a mighty protection to the Popish party By the way Sir give me leave to observe to you that it was a most inhumane thing in your Brother and you to quit the Spaniard who entertained you both when the French had in a most barbarous manner and with all the reproach imaginable expelled you both and joyned with the then Lord Protector against you to ruine you and your whole Family again observe how unjust it was considering what protestations and promises both your Brother and you had made to the Crown of Spain of making and keeping a strict alliance offensive and defensive that you might be revenged of the French King for his false dealing with you yet contrary to all your promises and protestations it is remembred what success the French Ambassador had with your Brother in his negotiations for though he did not make any league with the French against the Spaniard yet he and the French King dealt with the Spaniard as if he had been an open enemy nay Sir that he might not fall short of his respects to his Brother of France he most willingly waved a Treaty
Peace with Holland that I urg'd all the Arguments I could which to me were Demonstrations to convince your Court of that Mischief and press'd all I could to perswade his most Christian Majesty to use his uâ—most endeavour to prevent that Session of our Parliament and proposed Expedients how to do it But I 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 of the contrary and lookt upon what I offered as a very zealous mistake that I was forced to give over arguing though not believing as I did but conâ—idently appealed to time and Success to prove who took their measures rightest When it happened what I foresaw came to pass the good Father was a little suprized to see all the great men mistaken and a little one in the right and was pleased by Sir William Throckmorton to desire the continuance of my correspondence which I was mighty willing to comply with knowing the Interest of our King and in a more particular manner of my more immediate Master the Duke and his most Christian Majesty to be so inseparably united that in was impossible to divide them without destroying them all Vpon this I shewed that our Parliament in the circumstances it was managed by the timerous Councels of our Ministers who then governed would never be useful either to England France or Catholick Religion but that we should as certainly be forced from our Neutrality at their next meeting as we had been from our Active Alliance with France the last Year That a Peace in the Circumstances we were in was much more to be desired than the continuance of the War and that the Dissolution of our Parliament would certainly procure a Peace for that the Confederates did more depend upon the power they had in our Parliament then upon any thing else in the World and were more encouraged from them to the continâ—ing of the War so that if they were Dissolved their measures would be all broken and they consequently in a manner necessitated to a Peace The good Father minding this Discourse somewhat more then the Court of France thought fit to do my former urg'd it so home to the King that his Majesty was pleased to give him Orders to signify to his R H my Master that his Majesty was fully jaâ—isfyed of his R. H's good intention towards him and that he esteemed both their interests but as one and the same that my Lord Arliâ—gton and the Parliament were both to be lookt upon as very unuseful to their interest That if his R H. would endeavour to dissolve this Parliament his most Christian Majesty would assist him with his Power and Purse to have a new one as should be for their purpose This and a great many more expressions of kindness and confidence Father Ferryer was pleased to communicate to Sir William Throckmorton and Commanded them to send them to his R H. and withal to beg his R. H. to propose to his most Christian Majesty what he thought necessary for his own concern and the advantage of Religion and his Majesty would certainly do all he could to advance both or either of them This Sir William Thorckmorton sent to me by an Express who left Paris the 2d of June 1674. Stilo novo I no sooner had it but I communicated it to his R. H. To which his R H. commanded me to answer as I did on the 29th of the same month That his R. H. was very sensible of his most Christian Majesties friendship and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing foâ— his Majesty that he was fully convinced that their Interests were both one that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were not only unuseful but very dangerous both to England and France That therefore it was necessary that they should do all they could to Dissolve is And that his R. H's opinion was that if his most Christian Majesty would Write his thoughts freely to the King of England upon this Subject and make the same proffer to his Majesty of his Purse to Dissolve this Parliament which he had made to his R. H. to call another he did believe it very possible for him to succeed with the assistance we should be able to give him here and that if this Parliament were Dissolved there would be no great difficulty of getting a new one which would be more useful The Constitution of our Parliaments being sucâ— that a new one can never hart the Crown nor an old one do it good His R. H. being pleased to own these propositions which were but only general I thought it reasonable to be more particular and come closer to the point we might go the faster about the work and come to some issue before the time was too far spent I laid this for my Maxim the Dissolution of our Parliament will certainly preâ—ure a Peace which proposition was granted by every Body I Conversed withal even with Monsieur Rouvigny himself with whom I took liberty of discoâ—rsing so far but durst not say any thing of the Inteligence I had with Father Ferryer Next that a Sum of Money certain would certainly procure a Dissolution this some doubted but I am sure I never did for I knew perfectly well that the King had frequent Disputes with himself at that time whether he should dissolve or continue them and he several times declared that the Arguments were so strong on both sides that he could not tell to which to incline but was carried at last to the continuance of them by this one Argument If I try them once more they may possibly give me Money If they do I have gain'd my point If they do not I can dissolve them then and be where I am now so that I have a possibility at least of getting Money for their Continuance against nothing on the other side But if we could have turned this Argument and said Sir their Dissolution will certainly procure you Money when you have only a bare possibility of getting any by their Continuance and have shewn how far that bare possibility was from being a foundation to build any reasonable hope upon which I am sure his Majesty was sensible of and how much 300000 l. sterl certain which was the Sum we propos'd was better than a bare possibility without any reason to hope that that could ever be compassed of having half so much more which was the most he design'd to ask upon such vile dishonourable terms and a thousand other hazards which he had great reason to be afraid of If I say we had had power to have argued this I am most confidently assured we could have compassed it for Logick in our Court built upon Money has more powerful Charms then any other sort of
able to work their Wills Such Discourses as these kept the Confederates and our Male Contents in heart and made them weather on the War in spight of all our Prorogations Therefore I press'd as I have said a Dissolution until February last when our Circumstances were so totally Changed that we were forced to change our Councels too and be as much for the Parliaments Sitting as we were before against it Our Change was thus Before that time the Lord Arlington was the only Minister in Credit who thought himself out of all danger of the Parliament he having been Accused before them and Justified and therefore was Zealous for their sitting and to increase his Reputation with them and to become a perfect Favourite he sets himself all he could to Persecute the Catholic Religion and to oppose the French To shew his Zeal against the first he revived some old dormant Orders for prohibiting Roman Catholics to appear before the King and put them in Execution at his first coming into his Office of Lord Chamberlain And to make sure work with the second as he thought prevailed with the King to give him and the Earl of Ossory who marryed two Sisters of Myne Heere Odyke 's leave to go over into Holland with the said Heere to make a Visit as they pretended to their Relations But indeed and in truth to propose the Lady Mary Eldest Daughter of his R H. as a Match for the Prince of Orange not only without the consent but against the good Liking of his R. H. in so much that the Lord Arlingtons Creatures were forced to excuse him with a Distinction that the said Lady was not to be looked upon as the Dukes Daughter but as the Kings and a Child of the State was and so the Duke's consent not much to be Considered in the disposal of her but only the Interest of State By this he intended to render himself the Darling of Parliament and Protestants who look'd upon themselves as secured in their Religion by such an Alliance and designed further to draw us into a Close Conjunction with Holland and the Enemies of France The Lord Arlington set forth upon this Errand the Tenth of November 1674. and returned not till the Sixth of January following During his Absence the L. Treasurer L. Keeper and the Duke of Lauderdale who were the only Ministers of any considerable Credit with the King and who all pretended to be entirely Vnited to the Duke declaimed Loundly and with great Violence against the said Lord and his Actions in Holland and did hope in his absence to have totally Supplanted him and to have routed him out of the Kings Favour and after that thought they might easily enough have dealt with the Parliament But none of them had Courage enough to speak against the Parliament till they could get rid of him for fear they should not succeed and that the Parliament would Sit in spight of them and come to hear that they had used their endeavours against it which would have been so Vnpardonable a Crime with our Omniporent Parliament that no Power could have been able to have Saved them from Punishment But they finding at his Return that they could not prevail against him by such Means and Arts as they had then tryed resolved upon New Councels which were to out-run him in his own Course which accordingly they underâ—oâ—k and became as fierce Apostles and as zealous for Protestant Religion and against Popery as ever my Lord Arlington had been before them and in pursuance theâ—eof perswaded the King â—o issue out those severe Orders and Proclamations against Catholics which came out in February last by which they did as much as in them lay to extripate all Catholics and Catholic Religion out of the Kingdom which Councels were in my poor Opinion so Detestable being lâ—velled as they must needs be so directly against the Duke by People which he had Advanced and who had professed so much Duty and Service to him that we were put upon new Thoughts how to save his R. H. now from the Deceits and Snares of those Men upon whom we formerly depended We saw well enough that their design was to make themselves as grateful as they could to the Parliament if it must Sit they thinking nothing so acceptable to them as the persecution of Popery and yet they were so obnoxious to the Parliaments displeasure in general that they would have been glad of any Expedient to have kept it off though they durst not engage against it openly themselves but thought this Device of theirs might serve for their purposes hoping the Duke would be so alarm'd at their proceedings and by his being left by every body that he would be much more afraid of the Parliament than ever and would use his utmost power to prevent its Sitting Which they doubted not but he would endeavour and they were ready enough to work underhand too for him for their own sakes not his in order thereunto but durst not appear openly and to encourage the Duke the more to endeavour the Dissolution of the Parliament their Creatures used to say up and down That this Rigour against the Catholics was in favour of the Duke and to make a Dissolution of the Parliament more easy which they knew he coveted by obviating one great Objection which was commonly made against it which was That if the Parliament should be Dissolved it would be said That it was done in favour of Popery which Clamour they had prevented beforehand by the Severity they had used against it As soon as we saw these Tricks put upon us we plainly saw what men we had to deal withalâ— and what we â—ad to trust to if we were wholly at their mercy but yet durst not seem so dissatisfied as we really were but rather magnified the Contrivance as a Device of great Cunning and Skill all this we did purely to hold them in a belief that we would endeavour to Dissolve the Parliament and that they might rely upon his R. H. for that which we knew they long'd for and were afraid they might do some othâ—r way if they discovered that we were resolved we would not At length when we saw the Sessions secured we declared that we were for the Parliaments meeting as indeed we were from the Moment we saw our selves â—andâ—ed by all the Kings Ministers at such a rate that we had Reason to believe they would Sacrifice France Religion and his R. H. too to their own Interest if occasion served and that theâ— were lead to believe that that was the only way they had to save themselves at that time For we saw no Expedient fiâ— to stop them in their Carrier of persecution and those other destructive Councils but the Parliament which had set it self a long time to dislike every thing the Ministers had done and had appeared violently against Popery whilest the Court seemed to favour it and therefore we were Confident that the Ministers
left Prance to the caâ—e of the Constable of Covent Garden who brought him â—o the Lobby of the House of Lords where Bedlow was who when he saw Prance â—â—ough he had never seen him but in Sommerset-House when Bedlow was admitted to the sight of the dead Body he commanded some of his Guards to seize Prance for that he was One of those he saw at Sommerset-House where the Body of Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey lay and by the same token he had then a black Peruke but when in the said Lobby none hereupon search was made and the Peruke was found now by the way 't is convenient to make you a remark or two that may give you some Comfort in this hour of your distress First Observe the Strangness of the Discovery of Prance by Bedlow who had never seen Prance but once before and that by Candle Light and in a Peruke should upon the first sight of him again known him without a Peruke the other Remark I make is the Clearness of Sir Edmund Godfrey's being Murdered and the murdered Body being at Sommerset-House upon Munday Night after the Murder on the Saturday Night before and from hence it was that Prance became an Evidence in this discovery 7. I have to present to you the Evidence of Henry Berry who was One of your murdering Crew and he gave in this Testimony before the then Marquiss of Winchester now Duke of Bolton wherein he said that he had orders to tell all Persons of Quality that the Queen was Private and that they were not to come in and it seems the Queen was private for two days nay so Private that the Prince when he came to make that good Lady a Visit he was not admitted to come in and being refused he returned back again Now it seems Sir he never had any such Orders before what was the Reason why the Queen was to be Private Truly there was good Reason for it for the thing of its own Nature required Privacy and it may be her sacred Body might also be much wearied with the Sunday Nights Couâ—ant over the dead Body and so could not be at Liberty to receive Visits and truly it was not fit that a Person of her Quality should be disturbed in the doing such a charitable Work as that was which was performed on the Sunday Night but it may be you and your Crew at St. Germains do not like to have that gracious Lady reflected on in such a way why I pray you so Angry Why so much out of Humouâ— Either Berry had Orders or he had none if he had Orders why was the Queen to be more private at that time than another unless some such secret peice of Service as this was to be done which every Body was not to know or if he had none then he made use of the Queens Name to obtain such a Privacy and truly you ought neither to blame him nor the Queen for it was both their parts to come off as clear as they could or how could you have been brought off with honour but as a specimen of this Privacy my Lady Sanderson the Mother of the Maids and the Protestant Maids of Honour could not be Admitted no not to perform their Place and Duty to their sacred Mistriss whilst this fit of devotion lasted it being a work claimed by your Church as its inherent Right nay that good Queen sent her Gentleman Usher-Slaughter to walk in the Court that Night not to gaze upon the Stars I suppose but to observe how the Squares went but the Puppy went too far and asked the Captain of the Guards whether he did not hear a busle but the Captain not understanding the business said he thought once he did hear a busle but according to his Place and Duty he had not sence enough to take notice and the very Night the dead Body was brought to the back Stairs the Queen was graciously pleased to Sup with a Person of Quality that Night upon the whole Sir what think you of the business I think it a strang sort of Privacy and very unusual and those that did sometimes â— think thought very strangly of it since those three days of her said Privacy very few or none but Papists were admitted to it 8. I must mention another strong presumptive Testimony And that is the going of Hill to Sir Edmund Godfrey's House which Hill would have denyed but Sir Edmunds Maid Swore it expresly upon him the said Hill who said she first came to him and went up Stairs and then came back again and that she found him still there and this the Maid Swore positively that she knew him again at his Tryal by his Face and by the Cloaths that he then had which were the same Cloaths that he had on at his Tryal and that this was the Man that was with her Master and this Mr. Hill could not disprove and so it was a vile presumption of his guilt for Sir what had he to do there at Sir Edmund Buries House he would have done well to have told the World but that he could not and therefore he faintly denyed the matter which was proved by the said Maid Servant but the Maid proved that Point upon him as well as Prance the maid's Name was Elizabeth â—urtis and had no hand in her Masters Murder 9. I have one pregnant Testimony more of this villainous Murder and then I shall have done There was a Gentleman whose Name was Spence that did much resemble this worthy Magistrate and about a day or two before this horrible Murder was Committed had an occasion to pass by Sommerset House by the Water-gate late in the Night this Gentleman was seized and drawn in to that Place by a parcel of Villains whose Faces he knew not and when they had viewed him they said it is not he let him go the Gentleman wondred at the thing not knowing the meaning of it at all let the thing pass taking them for a parcel of rude drunken Fellows but when Justice Godfreys body was found murthered he then began to recollect with himself the Usage he had met withal and went and gave in Information of the Matter and those that saw him never found any resemble the said Godfrey more than he I have seen the Gentleman and have startled at him for neither of Sir Edmunds Brothers that did survive him was more like him as I then thought let the World say what they will this I am sure had this Witness been produced it would have gone a great way to have proved the Design that was in hand the mighty Work that mighty Charity that your party intended for that Gentleman and that the Charity might not be Public that their left Hand might not know what their right Hand did it was to be done with all manner of Privacy no Visits to be receiv'd at Sommerset-House whilest this Royal Work of Charity was on foot What say you Sir to all this how
was impossible that Godfrey had murdered himself because his Neck was broke before his Sword was run through his Body nay your good Brother the King saw you so earnest that he was ashamed at your Zeal which made the Prince swear to the D. of Buckingham that you carryed your self with that heat that a small Evidence would make him if you were brought to a Tryal to find you guilty of the said Murder Sir your behaviour in that particular was so nauseous your actions so plain and yet so pernicious that I stand amazed that your hand stopt there in short Sir the Sence I have of your guilt in that base Murder hath hardened my Heart against you and your villainous party for the many Insolencies that they at that time did offer and the secret Murders they Committed and were by you countenanced that all Men cryed shame and stood more amazed that you were not called to an Account for that Murder than they did at the impudence of the Murder it Self though God he knows that that Murther was of it self astonishing enough but to conclude this Head I pray take two things along with you which I shall leave you as my Legacy 1. What greater Satisfaction can the World have of your Guilt in this Affair if the Sons of Men will but give themselves a little time to consider these Circumstances that I have laid before you had I been so unfortunate as to have been privy to the Murder I would have been no more affraid to have charged you with it than your murdering Crew was to strangle that innocent Magistrate you will do well now to acquit your self of it if you can 't is true you are now out of the reach of the Law and since it is so I pray God keep you so during your Life but this I will tell you that these Circumstances entitle you to the Guilt of that Fact and whilst this Gentleman's Blood lies upon you I cannot forbear observing to you that in what you did to him you gave the world a Specimen of what you would have done to others and made many Men believe That the Earl of Essex came to his end by that way of Charity so that we have had great Testimony that for promoting your Cause you would not stick at the Protestants Blood you began with that honest Gentleman and you did not end in the Earl of Essex you killed Godfrey in his Person but the whole Nation in him was murdered in â—ffigie your hands were imbrued in his Blood but your black Hell-born Soul was dipt in the Blood of us all and since we are convinced that you murdered him and Essex I cannot but be convinced that you poysoned your Brother and had you had but time you would have made all away that stood in the way of your damn'd Religion you would have converted us with Blood and baptized us with Fire your nature and actions testifyed the one and London in a dreadful manner felt the other 2. Let me observe to you the Folly of your murdering this Magistrate certainly Sir it was one of the greatest pieces of Folly that you and your Party could be guilty of for what could be your end in it did you think that if Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey could not escape your murdering Crew that we could not find one in his room yes Sir to your great comfort there was a Gentleman that succeeded him that Harazed your Rogues to as good purpose as a Mans heart and soul could wish and if a Man could but have seen into your cursed Soul we might have found that you had the same Grace and Favours for and intended the same act of Charity to him as you did to Justice Godfrey but he escaped your Blessing and is yet alive to give you an Account of his Stewardship in Print if he pleases and of some of your Royal Misdemeanors into the bargain I pray Sir how do you And how do you like your self by this time how will you come of Therefore to conclude all Is there not here a monstrous Evidence of your whole Popish Plot For in truth we cannot prove it better than by such Practices as these that this Man was killed why either he knew or had discovered to him something that you and your Villains would not have him tell or you did it in defiance of Justice and in Terror to all them that then durst execute it upon them which I say is a great Evidence in its self I leave it with you after you have mumbled over your Mattins you may consider it whilst you have opportunity and leisure 9. I shall in proof of your Popish Plot offer to your consideration the Oral Testimony that was given so that you may see that we were not overhasty in our Proceedings upon those Malefactors that were charged to be in that villainous Conspiracy therefore I will give you their Names in order as follows 1. You have Richard Gastrel of the Grange in Gloucestershire I pray look upon him and see how you like him well sit down and hear what he saith to you in an Examination taken before the Lord Bishop of London a zealous Protestant I assure you and a Justice of the Peace so that you may see we had more good Justices besides Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey and this Richard Gastrel's Information was as follows THIS Deponent saith That in the year 1675 he travelled to Râ—me and being there he was by many arts and perswasions inveighled into the Romish Religion after which he was entertained by Cardinal Barbarini as one of his Gentlemen where after he had continued about five Months he was pervailed withal by several English there and by the said Cardinal to put himself into the English Seminary where after he had continued about two years and a half he returned home but whilst he continued in the said Colledge viz. in Lent last he discâ—ursed with Gerrard Ireland and William Dormour Priests now in England the said Iâ—eland told him that the Catholicks of England had expected long enough from his Majesty withâ—ut Effect and that it was in vain to expect any longer That the King had been much obliged to the Catholics and that he had now forgot their Kindness That he did no Good in England nor did deserve to be King but was a shame to all Princes and that it was no Sin to Kill him to which one Sergeant a Schollar replied Why The said Ireland answered bâ—cause it would be for the Good of the whole Church if the King were Dead the Catholic Religion would soon be brought into England And discoursing further of their going into England the said Ireland and Dormour said they hoped each of them to get a good fat Parsonage there this Dâ—ponent further saith That having an Audience of the Pope in the company of â—our Priests and another secular Gentleman all Students of the same Colledge the Pope understanding they were going for England and
Deponent saying your Brother the said Messenger replied we are off that thing now therefore he desired me me not to speak of it to any body afterwards the said Butler came to this Deponent 's Shop and told the Deponent that he had received great Anger in that he had told the Deponent of what Messenger was to Attempt This Deponent further saith that some what above half a year since he heard Mr. Walliston Paston say that young Sir Henry Beddingfield of Oxburrough Hall in Norfolk was to have a Commission form my Lord Arundel for a Troop of Horse in the Army to be raised by the Papists Also about the time that the four Lords that were in the Tower that is the Duke of Buckingham my Lord Shaftsbury the Lord Wharton and the Lord Salisbury that one Mr. Knightly came to me and greatly rejoycing at their Imprisonment said that now is the time for promoting the Catholic Religion because of the difference that was amongst the Lords and that if the Duke of York did but follow the business closely which the Catholics had ground to believe he would they did not doubt but that it would be settled in that juncture of time Your Friend Mr. Prance gave in another Information on the 22. of March which is as follows IN the Month of August 1678 I having occasion to write to a Friend in the Country but could not tell well how to send I went to Mr. Pastons who lodged at one Bambers a Taylor in Duke-street who gave me an Account where to send to him and we immediately fell into Discourse concerning the present posture of Affairs and he bid me not to fear for we should suddenly have better times for in the first place he said that the King was a great Heretick and that the Lord Bellasis and Lord Arundel and Lord Powis and the Lord Petre would have a very good Army for the Deposing of the King and the suppression of the Hereticks and then the Catholick Religion should be established and flourish in this Nation he also said that the above named Lords had given out Commissions already to some Gentlemen in the Country whom he named to me who were Mr. Talbot of Longford and Sir Henry Beddingfield of Oxborow Hall in Norfolk and one Mr. Stone who lives within four or five miles of Kingston upon Thames Also about two years ago one Townley of Townley in Lancashire came up to London with his two Sons whom he was carrying over to Doway he also brought along with him his two Brothers to keep him Company they took Lodgings at Ayries house in Drury-Lane where Fenwick lodged and in a short time two of them went over to Doway with the two Lads and left the other here who in the absence of his Brothers declared very often to my Wifes Brother and to Adamson that when his Brothers came back again from Doway they expected Commissions from the above named Lords for the raising of Men for the Carrying on the Catholick Cause this my Brother and Adamson often told me at Pettleyes in Veres-street where we had a Club very often of none but Papists Now Sir we have given you an account of what Mr. Prance swore before the Parliament concerning the Popish Plot in which you may see your self engaged for you had a business upon your hands and that business was to be followed closely and then the Catholick Religion would flourish and you know to what a degree of Zeal and Piety you were converted as not to regard any thing in the world in comparison of God Almighty's Glory and the Salvation of your own and the conversion of this poor Kingdom which hath been a long time oppressed and miserably harassed with Heresie and Schism nay your Zeal was such That Coleman could sâ—arce believe himself awake when he thought on it I will now put you in mind of what he discovered upon Oath concerning the said Popish Plot at the Tryals of several of your Villains I begin with the Tryals of the five Jesuites where the said Prance did with all chearfulness declare That Harcourt the Jesuit and one of your Councellors at St. Jameses told Prance that there was a design of killing the King and St. Ireland Fenwick and Grove who was one of your Popish Messengers and Firers of the Borough of Southwark told him of 50000 Men that were to be raised for the carrying on of the Catholick Cause and to settle the Catholick Religion which Affair was to be managed by the Five Lords that were for that Conspiracy committed to the Tower who as well as Whitebread were to grant Commissions for Officers nay had actually granted several and to incourage this Prance who though he had but a little Sense yet he had so much as to dread a Civil War told him that he need not fear he should have Church Work enough It will not be unnecessary to make some Observations upon Mr. Prance his Testimony before we come to another and in it here are five or six things worthy of your Consideration 1. Here is expresly sworn That Popery was to be introduced which you know is High Treason your Priests all expected to see the Romish Religion setled and that then all things would do well and your Priests should have fat Parsonages and then all things would go right 2. This Religion was to be brought in by an Army you know that your Dragooning Apostles here might have planted Religion in as an effectual way as they ruin'd the poor Protestants in France 3. Here is the King your Brother declared an Heretick and therefore by your Popish Army to be deposed and by Messenger to be destroyed 4. Here is your selâ— having a work in hand which you were to follow closely 5. Here are your Popish Party all engaged and you at the Head of them 6. Here is all the Incouragement in the World to prevent them from fainting in the Cause for fear of a Civil War they should have Trade enough what can be plainer let all the World judge 4. A Fourth Witness that proved the Popish Plot was the Testimony of Mr. Robert Jenison the manner of his coming in was thus upon the 15th of June 1679 Mr. Chetwind of Westminster who had some Discourse with one Mr. Griffith a Gentleman of Grays Inn about the five Jesuites that had been condemned on the day before and their attempt â—o prove William Ireland alias Ironmonger executed some time before for High Treason to have been in Staffordshire and on his Journey thither from the fifth of August 1678 till the seventh of September following and not to have been within that time in London as I had with others sworn him to have been there between the eight and the twelfth of August and to be returned again thither on the beginning of September whereupon Mr. Griffith told Mr. Chetwynd that Sir Michael Wharton of Beverley in the County of York then a Member of Parliament told him
Charges of the Government and that whereas they were asâ—ured by the then Marquis of Huntley that they begun pretty well in Scotland and that if four Hundred Thousand Pound Per annum were setled in England upon the King your Brother and his Heirs for Ever that then your Brother would stand no more in need of this Peevish Parliament and when that he was Dispatcht their would be something for a Successor to come to therefore they prayed you in these Letters that you would Perswade the King your Brother to move in Parliament for an Additionall Revenue for such an Additionall Revenue for him and his Heirs Upon your sight of this Letter you did Prevail with the King to move it in Parliament and what became of the Motion we all well know for though your Pensioners were willing to often to grant the King a sum of Money yet for fear of becoming as useless to themselves as they had been Dangerous to their Countrey they fairely denied him such a Revenue but the Jesuits when they found their Expectation Defeated did Write to these Lords that notwithstanding the unwillingness of the Parliament to settle such a Revenue that they questioned not but to find a Sufficient Revenue for the Successor without the help of a Parliament which Letter you saw and was much pleased that the Jesuits were concerned for the support of the Successor 10. That when your villanous Conspiracy was Discovered the said Lord Arundel of VVardour in your presence did chide Justice Godfrey and told him that he had been to forward in taking my Depositions which did put Godfrey into great feares as he told me but a Week before he was missing and that he told him in your Presence the Day before the King went to New-market that the said Justice Godfrey would finde the Parliament would give him no thanks for his paines LORD POWIS It is time to hasten to this Noble Lord and put you in mind how far he was Ingaged with you in your mighty Work that you had upon your Hand and you must own him as necessary a Traytor as you had in the whole bunch therefore to ingage him to you he had your Countenance and in return of such a favour he was as Obsequious as any of them all Therefore 1. You may remember that at your direction he Intertained in his House one William Morgan one of the Consult held in April 1678 and that this Lord Powis knew him to be such for by his then Secretary which was Mr. Peirson he sent a note to speake with Mr. Morgan in which he said he hoped that they had come to a Resolution in the affair it being four of the Clock in the Afternoon by this Peirson the Lord Powis received his Commission to be Lord High Treasurer of England from Feâ—wick and Ireland and this Peirson delivered to them a Letter from the Lord Powis and 300 l. for the use of the Society in which Letter he said that he would venture his Life and Fortune in the affairs and give me leave to tell you that I saw the Commision before that Ireland and Fenwick had it at Langhorn's Chamber in the Temple 2. That there was a Commission from Rome that the Government of the Nation should be in the Hands of the Lord Powis and the Lord Belasys but the Lord Arundel of Wardour who was alwayes to preside in their councels and by the way of Coleman you were to have an account of their Resolution and by the way I pray observe that Powis and Arundel of Wardour had Negotiated between you and the Pope for Eight Years and that Powis and Belasys was also to Execute all such orders that they received from the Generall of the Jesuits and the French King with which you were also acquainted from time to time by Mr. Coleman and some times by the Father Generall himself and from Lachaise on the behalfe of the French King and from both those that you might not appear least the evil that fell upon Coleman might have been your Portion 3. Further to oblige you the good Lord Powis bred up his Soâ— at the Jesuits Colledge at Paris and in order to his better Reception there you recomended him to the care of Father Lachaise and in his Letter to his Son there was one sent to Father Lachaise in which he and the rest of the Popish Lords engaged with you in the Conspiracy against the Religion and Government earnestly importune the aid and assistance of the French King which Letters bore date about the latter part of December 1677 and in his Letters to the Fathers at St. Omers of the same date in which his Lordship protested his Prudence in the managing the design there on Foot and that he had distributed the 2000 Tickets amongst the Catholick Party in the West that were then Well-wishers which were to be their Protection from the Rage of those who were to come from France to Suppress the Protestant Party and that he had a good Friend that had a great authority in Wales and the bordering Counties that would Joyn in with the Catholick Party and in a Particular manner promised that the Militia in Wales should not be in any posture to give them any Opposition and that he had procured severall to be made Deputy Lieutenants by the favour of his good Friend that had promised to appear for the Catholick Party when the Design should take effect and that it did become them to bear a Signall respect to his Friend which he Named but I will not but your old Friend Mr. Arnold can for a need for he hath been an Excellent Friend of his the cleane contrary way and how the said Lord gave a great Incomium of Sr. Politick Fring Mr. Arnold's Friend for that he had made several worthy Justices in those parts that were hearty Men in the cause what ever the World thought of them 4. That in other Letters of more Ancient Date to the Fathers at St. Omers he the said Lord Powis did write to the Jesuits that he had procured severall forward Fellowes to be turned out of the Commission of the peace Particularly Mr Arnold and Mr. Scudamore and others did but Bark against the Catholicks and you told them that you were pleased that a Lieutenancy through out all England should be constituted of such as should be True Men and further assured them that there was great summs would be Expended as soone as you should receive that summ of 300000 l. from the French King to enable you and these Letters bore date 1675. And another of 1675 And furthermore told the Fathers in that of 1675 that great numbers were dayly converted to the Faith and obedience of the Roman Catholick Church 5. In his Letters of June 1678 he the said Lord Powis acquainted the Fathers that Mr. Coleman was to open in his business and did desire the Fathers to admonish Mr. Coleman to be more close and stick more to
his Cypher and with all acquainted them that Father Lachaise had acquainted him that notwithstanding his Receipt 20000 l. of which he had given no manner of accompt he was still urgent for Money which did cause a suspicion in the French King that Coleman sought rather his own then the French Kings Interest and that Lachaise had written to him that the French King would not be wanting to supply the Nobility of England that were engaged to advance his Interest and design here in England and at the time of the Concell the Lord Powis did Chide Coleman for his being so open in his Correspondence least he Smarted for it without hopes of Reliefe and told him it was a peice of Vâ—â— Glory in him and that he would prejudice himself and Friends of which â—â—iding Coleman told Whitebread and Whitebread in my hearing did tell Mr. Coleman that it was good to be prudent in affaires of such moment as those were 6. In Letters of August 1678 to the Fathers at St. Omers he wrote that he Longed till the Blow was Given I suppose Sir I shall not need to Explain those Expressions to you though your Cattel then did Vindicate your Innocency that when the Worke was done their Mouthes were Stopt and some did observe that after you Usurped the Crown you never could hold up your Head but like Cain carried about you such a guilt of his Blood in your Countenance as made several stand amazed but whether I may make a wrong Judgment or they â—hat did observe you nothing can be more plaine then that your Brother came to an Untimely end and who was called to an account for his or Shorts Murder who to his dying Day did say that he was Poysoned so as Powis longed for the Blow I do not question but that you longed to and if you did you had your longing Gratified And so much for Powis LORD PETRE I could have put you in mind of several other passages relateing to the Lord Powis but they were not very materiall and so I let you pass for the present and come to this noble Lord Petre who was not a man of such Contemptible parts as some men would make him he was much of your own Standard both as to Courage and Cunning and therefore as sit to engage with the Jesuits to destroy your Brother Charles as your self and he might as well serve for a Lieutenant Generall and to as much purpose too under the Banner of the French King as ever you served under the King of Spain the Lord Petre differed onely from you in this Point that where he did Espouse a Cause he never left it as you did the interest of your Master the King of Spain that kept your Brother and you from Starving and for his Recompence your Brother and you Sold him into the Hands of the French King but to the point in Hand 1. This Lord Petre was constituted one of the Lieutenant Generals of your Popish Army the Patent I saw in Mr. Langhorn's Chamber in the Month of May 1678. and in the Month of June the Lord Petre received this Commission and I heard a Priest whose Name was Langworth wish him much Joy of the said Commission and this Langworth was Priest in the House of the Lord Petre and was of the Order of the Jesuits and at the Consult at Wild-house where the grand Consult was held in April 1678. And you planted Langworth in the Lord Petre's House as you had Mr. Morgan in the House of the Lord Powis 2. That the Lord Petre was privy to that Consult for this Langworth gave the Lord Petre an exact Account of the said Consult in my own Hearing and that Coleman had another to shew you and I suppose honest Ned would not be behind hand of letting you know how the World did swing and he swung for it to your great Joy So the Lord Petre had the same Account from his Priest that you had from your Secretary in these Particulars 1. That Cazy was sent from England to Rome and that this Cazy was a substantial Man fit for Business 2. That Pickering and Groves were appointed to kill the King and the said Langworth telling the Reward that Pickering was to have Petre's laught heartily and said That a little ready Mony would not have been amiss And also telling the Reward that Groves was to have said It was too little for such a considerable piece of Service but said If they like it I do But this I say That I know Groves to be a stout Fellow But in the Conclusion of the whole Story the Lord Petre was for poysoning the King as the more safe way 3. That by your Direction the Lord Petre kept several Men in Pay which were to be ready to joyn in with the French when ever they should Land and that Portsmouth and Plimouth were in safe Hands in Men that were the avowed Friends of the French King and your self and Petre did agree with Langworth and the Consul who said That they had expected long enough and could no longer bear his Usage of them for he had put many Things upon them which he had promised to the contrary when he was at Bruxels And the Lord Petre did say That he thought the Fool would have more Wit when he came in 4. That the Lord Petre did say That notwithstanding he had received 10000 l. from you yet he had expended 3000 l. more than ever he had received and that he expected that he should have received more from you for that you had received 300000 l. from the French King twice told and that he could not continue your Men upon Pay without Money and that you had put him off to the Lord Arundel of Wardour who would acquaint him with the Pacquet that Sir Henry Titchburn had brought both from Rome and France But when the Lord Petre discoursed him about them and having received no Directions from the Lord Arundel Petre pressing the Lord Arundel with too much Importunity he huss'd him the Lord Petre and called him Fool and asked him what he would have and this the Lord Petre took as a great Affront and complained of it to your self and all the Answer he received from you was That the Lord Arundel was a great Man and was old and that you could advise the Lord Petre to nothing but Patience and in due time all things would be accommodated to the Lord Petre's Content and withall told the Lord Petre that he must obey the Lord Arundel's Directions the French King putting great Trust in him and the Lord Powis and the Lord Belasys This Discourse was at the Lord Petre's House in Covent Garden and thus far the Lord Petre. LORD BELASYS Thus the World may see what a Creature of yours the Lord Petre was But like to like as the Devil said to the Collier you were not at all unequally yoked and I having refreshed your Memory concerning him let me give
you a touch of the Lord Belasys who was a Son of the Church to all Intents and Purposes not of the Church of England but of the Church of Rome your own Church and of the same French Interest so that your Expectations of his Truth and Fidelity to your Designs was not without Ground This Lord having signalized himself in your Service especially in this secret Part of it for you must know there is secret Service as well as publick Service that great Men expect from their Admirers and Followers or else that worthy Lady Mrs. Po would have ere this time been very useless in her Generation But to the Point in hand The Lord Belasys was deeply ingaged with you and your Jesuits in the Popish Conspiracy and that did appear to me because that he in Feb. 76. did write Letters to the Fathers at St. Omers in which he gave an Account That Lewis the French King had by Lachaise his Confessor made a Promise of 300000 l. provided that upon the Payment of the Money Hull Portsmouth and Plimouth and the Isle of Wight might be delivered up to him which you know was a Sum that was distinct from that 300000 l. that you received for the raising of your Popish Forces So that if you had complied with your Promise you would have made the French Masters of Four of the most important Places of this Realm This Lord Belasys did farther acquaint the said Fathers That he was recommended to them as a Person â—it to take Arms and did assure them that his own Interest and the Interest of his Family should be at their Devoir and that he would spend the best Bood he had to demonstrate to the World that he had some Religion and that if Things had been in so fair a Posture when he was Governor of Tangier that he would have delivered it up to the French King 2. That the Lord Belasys took a Commission from the See of Rome granted by Johannes Paulus d'Oliva General of the Society by Virtue of a Breve from the Pope which Commission I saw in Mr. Langhorn's Chamber about April or May 1678. and it was to be General of your Popish Army and on the Month of July he was pleased by a Letter to acquaint Fenwick of his receipt of the same and in that Letter he gave the Fathers of the Society fresh Assurances of his answering their Expectations and that you was pleased to express your great Satisfaction that the Lord Belasys was made choice of for that Work And in the said Letter he tells us That you were pleased to assure him that as soon as the Peace was concluded that his most Christian Majesty would bend all his Forces for England and Ireland in order to subdue Heresy and Schism and that the English Forces already raised and the Catholick Forces that would appear upon the Landing of the French Forces would determine the Point in a short time 3. That in the Month of July 1678. your Servant St. Coleman did acquaint the Fathers that were left in London in the Absence of the Provincial Thomas Whitebread who was then beyond the Seas did attend the Lord Belasys from you to acquaint him That you thought it necessary that Money should be sent down into Staffordshire and VVorcestershire and Lancashire c. to draw up the Roman Catholicks to be here in Town with all speed that they might be ready against the Time of the Landing of the French Forces and that the Gentlemen should go to their Catholick Tenants and pay them Money to bear their Charges up to Town that they should receive from the Lord Stafford by direction from my Lord Belasys and you may remember that it was the main End of Stafford's going round the Country that Summer And that I may not overburden your weak Memory I here conclude and so good Night to my Lord Belasys There is another of your Rogues tho' I confess he is not worth naming and that is Baltimore he is an Irish Lord and your Father made his Father Governour of Maryland and as you are at this day King of Noland so he is Governour of Noland That Villain of a Lord received a Commission for a Troop of Horse for he was so mean that nothing could be meaner in the Eyes of your whole party I remember upon discovery of the Popish Plot he fled for the same and was not examined no not so much as at Feversham for he had Ballast enough and so escaped the Catechising Bout you met with all I thinke he lives at present without being remarkable for any thing but Kidnapping my Kinsman to St. Omers who tho' his Father Mr. Rozer desired that he might be bred a Protestant yet he was by him Perverted to the Church of Rome which is high Treason and I hope the Government will reckon with him for it in due time It will not be amiss Sir to refresh your Memory with a small Touch upon your Jesuits and other Assassins which were also heartily engaged with you in this soul Conspiracy against our Religion and Government and the Life of your Brother Come le ts have a little Patience exercised and consider with your self that they were Men that deserved well from you and worthy of your remembring their good Service they did all they could though you left them in a decent way so that they were fairly hanged for their Pains they had taken in your secret Service and since they met with a convenient Reward for their great and mighty Works Come Sir you may see that there were more that were working besides you and Coleman and the French King they were Labourers in your Harvest Field let us see how they carried themselves and indeed upon the consideration of their Behaviours you may make a Review of your own for you had not so much as one ill Quality in you but they made it theirs and they had not one Roguish Design but you were Master of it I will not charge you with lifting up your Eyes and Hands and wishing the Design of your Brothers Murder good Success as Langhorne did but since he ended his days so Strangely and none called to an Account for it no not so much as the Virago that gave him the deadly Dose What can any Man say for you in this Case I must tell you again of Dr. Short had he been suffered to live he could have told a lamentable Story but he was sent to tell his Tale in another World and 't is well known that the Jesuits and you had not Patience to stay the Ordinay course of Establishing Popery and Arbitrary Power and they notwithstanding you were not Wise enough yet they found in respect of your Zeal you were willing to serve their turn and had at last engaged to serve them upon the most Villanous Terms that ever Man could imagine and though you were neither capable of giving or receiving Advice yet you had the Gift to Pick
very Obsequious to the Strumpets that were about him yet do but observe what Credit the Parliament of England gave the Witnesses and that through the Power of Truth and Energy that was in the Testimony they gave 1. Upon the Testimony they received from me when I was a single Testimony upon the first of November 1678 the Lords and Commons past this Vote viz. Resolved Nemine Contradicente That upon the Evidence that hath already appeared to this House that this House is of Opinion that there hath been and still is a Damnable and Hellish Plot Contrived and Carried on by the Popish Recusants for the Assassinating and Murthering the King and for the Subverting the Government and Rooting out and Destroying the King To which Vote the Lords agreed Nemine Contradicente 2. The Lord Chancellour Finch that famous Tool reported upon the 28th of November 1678 the effect of a Conference desired by the Commons that upon hearing of the Testimony of Mr. Bedloe and my self that they were in an Amazment when they considered in what danger the Person of the King your Brother was and his Government whereupon they prepared an Address to be presented to the King your Brother to which they desired the Concurrence of the House of Lords and they had the Concurrence of the House of Lords in the said Address and it was accordingly presented to the said King on the 29th by both Houses so that you and your Villains may see that the Discovery of the Popish Plot was not so small a Matter as you would seem to make of it 3. Observe the Address of Parliament on the 21st of March 1679 in which the Parliament did lay before the King your Brother the great Sence they had of the sad and Calamitous Condition of this Kingdom occasioned chiefly by the Impious and Malicious Conspiracies of the Popish Party who had not only Plotted and intended the Distruction of the King your Brother but the total Subversion of the Government and the true Religion established amongst us and therefore they Prayed that a Day might be set a part for Fasting and Prayer and accordingly a Day was set apart but I suppose though you knew of that Day you nor none of your Villains ever kept it 4. Observe the Vote of the 24th of March 1679 Resolved Nemine Contradicente by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled That they are fully satisfy'd by the Proofs that they have heard that there now is and for divers Years last past hath been a horrid and Treasonable Plot and Conspiracy contrived and carried on by those of the Popish Religion for the Murthering of his Majesties Sacred Person and for the Subverting of the Protestant Religion and the ancient and well established Government of this Kingdom To which Vote Sir give me leave to remind you of the Impeachment of the five Popish Lords upon which Impeachment the Lord Viscount Stafford was tried and found Guilty and suffered the Pains of Death as a Traytor to the King and Kingdom and so fully satisfyed was the Parliament of the Integrity and Truth of the Witnesses that they intended to have proceeded against the rest of the Traytors that none of them could have escaped the Justice of the Nation had not they been dissolved in a most Arbitrary manner 5. Observe the Proceedings of the Parliament against Nathaniel Reading Esq who Corresponded with the Lords in the Tower that stood Impeached for the Popish Plot in their Address to the King your Brother upon the 8th of April 1679 in which they set forth the Inquiry they had made into the Hellish Design that was carried on by the Papists against the Person and Government of the King your Brother and upon Examination they found that he the said Reading had used his utmost endeavours to prevent and suppress the Kings Evidence and as much as in him lay to stifle the Discovery of the said Plot and and thereby to render the same Fallacious and of no Reality and by such undue Means to prevent the Malefactors from coming to Justice therefore they prayed that a Commission of Oyer and Termâ—er might be issued forth for the trying of the said Reading for that Offence Reading was tried and was found Guilty and therefore would have you take notice of what was said by the then Lord chief Justice North when he gave Judgment upon the said Reading I will tell you says he your offence is so great and hath such a Relation to that which the whole Nation is concerned in because it was on attempt to baffle the Evidence of that Conspiracy which if it had not been by the mercy of God detected God knows what might have befallen us all by this time and still the Parliament have it under their Consideration how to prevent any farther mischief by it but this Villain of a Cut-throat had the grace to join with your Brother and you to stifle it as I shall shew you in the next Part of this your sweet Picture 6. Observe the Address of the House of Commons upon the 14th of May upon the Assurance that the King your Brother had given the then Parliament of his constant Care to do every thing that might preserve the Protestant Religion and Government they did upon the said Assurances represent to the King your Brother the deep Sense they had of the state of Religion and shewed the King that the Papists by their Designs against his Person and Government which the said Parliament was resolved to defend gave themselves hopes of Success therefore the Parliament were resolved to apply themselves to the making such Laws as might defeat those Popish Adversaries of their Hopes of gaining any Advantage by any Attempt they should at any time Form against the Person of the King your Brother 7. Another Instance of the Credit the Discovery of the Popish Plot had you may see in this Address of the House of Commons to the King your Brother The ADDRESS to his Majesty from the Commons Saturday Nov. 13 th 1680. May it please your most Excellent Majesty WE your Majesty's most loyal and obedient Subjects the Commons in this present Parliament assembled having taken into our most serious Consideration your Majesty's gracious Message brought unto us the Ninth Day of this instant November by Mr. Secretary Jenkins do with all Thankfulness acknowledg your Majesty's Care and Goodness in inviting us to expedite such Matters as are depending before us relating to Popery and the Plot. And we do in all humility represent to your Majesty that we are fully convinced that it is highly incumbent upon us in discharge both of our Duty to your Majesty and of that great Trust reposed in us by those whom we represent to endeavour by the most speedy and effectual Ways the suppression of Popery within this Kingdom and the bringing to publick Justice all such as shall be found guilty of the horrid and damnable Popish
fair Story but upon Inquiry I find the Story as false as any thing can be true for they fled to the King your Father either to be Protected by him or to betray him as old Simkin says he did you but your Fathers Cause was bad enough and if they did go in to serve him it was like to like as the Devil said to the Collier but when they found his Interest sunk they like old Rats left the falling House and Contributed all they could good Men to hasten his blessed Memory out of the World and joined in heartily with those that Accomplished that Work yet your Party were Netled and say that it was impossible the Popish Plot should be true because there were so many Persons of Quality said to be concerned in it that had been most remarkable for their Loyalty to your Family what a mighty wonder is here that Persons of Quality should be engaged in a Plot. I would fain have you and your Ragged Mumping Ministry at St. Germains tell me when there was a Plot carried on without Persons of Quality for Persons of Quality are most capable by their Purses and Interests to head Parties and Factions in a Kingdom I pray when the French King offered to your sweet self the Aid of his Purse and Credit to carry on the mighty work that you had upon your Hands should you have slighted that generous offer of his and rather excepted of the offer of a Broommans Purse and Credit in Kent-street was not the French Kings Purse a longer Purse and his Quality somewhat greater I pray ask my Land-Lady when she hath rubb'd you down and see what an Answer she will give you come Sir methinks you should be able to answer this Question without making one silly Face at the business But if I should ask your Middleton or your Melfort or your Carryl or your Powis they would swear by my Gammer Powis's hump Back That Simnel's Plot and the Plot of Perkin was carried on by Persons of Quality against Henry the Seventh I pray ask your mighty Lewis Whether the Holy League against Henry the Third of France was not carried on by Persons of Quality And why might not your Popish Plot be managed as well by Persons of Quality as well as the Popish Plot against Henry the Third of France But since you are so full of your Wonders I will wonder too and that is That you and your Persons of Quality were not in a most decent manner hang'd the French King's Purse and Credit to the contrary notwithstanding O but they were Men of Vertue and Integrity and unblemished Reputation What their Reputation was I leave to the Nation that knew them and what yours among the rest all Europe knows But this is certain That a certain Popish Lord yet alive carried a Petition to the Lord Protector Cromwel signed by above Five hundred Noble men and Gentlemen in which they promised that great Man that if he would procure them the Toleration of their Religion by a Law they would for his sake cut the Family of the Stuarts off Root and Branch Now if this be Reputation or what Reputation it was for you while you was beyond Sea to be in a Plot against your Brother's Life I leave to betâ—â— Judgments Come my old Friend that you may not lose your Fee I wâ—ll give you the Point That your Popish Noble-men and Gentlemen were men of known Worth and Integrity truly then they were the more likely to be engaged in your Plot For such is the Nature of your Popish Bigottry and such is the infatuated Heat of its Professors and such the dread of their Conscience under the Charms of their Priesthood so pinching and terrible are the Chains of their Oaths such their inbred Enmity to Hereticks that the more Consciencious and Devout they are the more Religiously they believe themselves bound to conceal what-ever Designs are on foot for the Propagation of the Romish Interest and the Extirpation of Hereticks Obj. 6. You and your Party may plead farther and say The World was told of several Commissions granted out by the General of the Jesuites for all Sorts of Offices both Military and Civil but no treasonable Papers nor none of these Commissions could ever be seen Answ You have hit it now I suppose you will be quiet in your Mind and take an Answer that may become you to receive and me to give It was on the Thirteenth of August the Plot was discovered to the King your Brother 1678. and you and your Party had from the Thirteenth of August till the Twenty eigthth of September following to burn and consume all such Papers and Commissions as might affect any one of you and what you burnt of them you know best But Sir when Harcourt's Papers were seized there were no less than Six Commissions ready sealed with Blanks to fill up with what Names they pleased and they were bundled up with this Inscription R. H. and our Master's Blessing in Coleman's Papers above Sixty in Fenwick's Papers Four which were tied up in a Paper and called A Warr for a Buck and Ireland's Papers Two and the Seals that sealed them which were produced in Court Sir William Jones had some of them in keeping but because they were Blanks he made no other use of them than to perswade old Pious that there was a Design against his Life but your Brother had Sir Philip Lloyd that stifled all that he could lay his Hands upon them to oblige you and your everlasting Cut-throats And besides they not being Marked the Messengers that took them would not swear where they found them And this is another Reason why they were not made use of against the Jesuits What a Multitude of Cyphers Coleman Ireland Harcourt and Whitebread had was much Amazing to your Brother not that he was Amazed at their being in the Conspiracy but that they had not upon due Notice given them by your Brother and your self burnt them or otherways made away with them But found they were and between you and Floyd they were stifled in order to weaken the Proof of your Villanous Designs against the Life of your Brother and the Religion Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom You have your full Charge as to this Article of the Popish Plot and you have all that can be said on your behalf and the behalf of your Villanous Popish Party if there can be any more I suppose old Hodg with some of his inferior Bums and Scotch Robin will join their Forces together and muster up a Word of Information in order to your Vindication I pray let them come forth and they shall be heard for I challenge all and every of the Enemies of this Government to give the Lye to any Thing that is here inserted much more might have been said but it would fill a great Volume to tell of all your Villanies relating to this horrid Design of yours and Villains to destroy and
in His Majesty's Cloak Here the King interrupted me and commanded me to take no farther notice of that business and declar'd he knew more than I could tell him in that affair of Killigrew's Man but he harped much upon the great Jealousie that the People had of him and that it was much encreas'd by ill men that did labour to possess the Peoples minds against him and said that unless extraordinary care was taken the Fanatick Party would rebel and inveigh'd very much against the Dissenters and said that he thought himself in as much danger from them as from the Popish Party And many things passed betwixt the King your Brother and my self of this nature and he told me that the Parliament was ready to meet and he did not question but that they would take upon them the examination of the Plot and that if I carried it prudently before them I should never want a Friend of him and whereas I had not acquainted him as yet with the Names of the Great Men concern'd I would then tell him But truly Sir I with all decency to the Publick refus'd to tell your Brother any thing more but told him the Parliament would have the Examination of the Plot and therefore they should have the Names of the great Lords concern'd in it The King parted from me in a heat and the Prince commended me for keeping their Names conceal'd and I suppose according to his usual way he graciously communicated this Discourse to you for the next time you met with me you shew'd all the Lines of your silly Face to be enrag'd against me and gave me some hard words which I did not well hear St. Parliaments day came on and I well remember what a Stiâ— there was at Portsmouth's lodging that morning and that Whore had advised my being close confined but I went to see how the Jade looked that morning and to thank her for the counsel she gave the King but I would not see her and there I was forced to salute her by proxy and gave her two or three of her right Names and eke mine and the Nations Blessing and returning to my Lodgings I met with your good self and I saw much Guilt in your Face and you gave me an ill look or two and so I fairly got rid of the sweet Face of you but this I must have you to remember that the King your Brother would have given me any thing that I could have asked if I would have fained my self sick and not to have appeared in Parliament but that would not take with me for I was resolved not to lose two years Labour to comply with him for I had the publick good upon my Soul and that God knows was my main design The Parliament being met you know that the old Gentleman made a gracious Speech to both Houses and after that he had given some of your Conspirators reasons for the keeping up of his Army he then tells them of the Jesuits Plot but not a word of yours and Coleman and said that he left the Jesuits to the Law and that he would take as much care to prevent all manner of ill Practices of those men and others too who had been tampering in a high degree with Forreigners to introduce Popery by this Sir he brought himself into the Plot and so much shall serve for his Speech After him Roscius enters with his Knaves Face and he acquaints the Parliament with the necessity of the Governments breaking the Law in keeping up the Army and tells them they must be contented with it for this time and not only so but they must pay for it too nay further impudently tells them they could not but be well pleased with it into the bargain I wonder that ever a King would sit on a Throne with Patience to hear the Logger-head make some fulsome nonsensical Speech as that was nay if you had but observed with what a shitten Countenance he brought in a poor mauled damned Plot to beg mony withal and oh with what humble Grimmaces he addressed the House of Commons as if the Villain had lain under the Guilt of a Thousand Burglaries but the House of Commons finding the Note extreamly changed from what it was at their last parting they immediaâ—ely fell upon that part of the King's Speech that related to the Popish Plot and mighty angry they were at the violating the Law and misusing the Mony given for the disbanding of the same Well both Houses set to it with all diligence and looked into the Plot that they might find out all the Authors of the Nations Misery and Ruine and in order to find out the bottom of this Hellish Conspiracy they appointed Committees to inspect and find out and enquire into the Murder of Sir Edmund-Bury Godfrey and Addresses from both Houses were almost every day voted for the banishing of the Papists or to have the Papers relating to the Popish Plot deliver'd to them to examine and to have the Militia of London and Middlesex raised and Pardons for the Witnesses And to all Human Reason you and your Rascally Crew appear'd to be but in a nasty condition And truly the Plot took so much of the Parliaments time that there was scarce leisure to make one motion for a Supply insomuch that Portsmouth and her Servant Nell talked of retrenching their Expences And what was the matter The Whores saw that the Parliament â—ound that all Care was little enough to discover what had been acted by your Villains and to come at the bottom to know who they were and then to take care for further preservation Lord what Change was here the two Houses had no longer hard Thoughts of the Fanaticks but the Papists was their only Trouble Come Sir wipe that sweaty Face of yours and don't cry here 's a word of Comfort for you read on a little Were the Houses of Parliament so diligent Yes they were What then old Rowly was too hard for them for notwithstanding the daily Applications of many worthy persons of both Houses he would not let your Saints lose one Inch of his Affections to them for the Villains were so powerful and prevalent at Court that divers of the chiefest Papers were mislaid and whatever was privately done in either House by their secret Committees for the discovery of the Plot false Brethren got in amongst them and gave Intelligence amongst whom was a squint-ey'd Friend of yours the Rogue is not yet hang'd but the Gallows hath groan'd for him many a Year if you will not believe me you may ask my Lady Jefferies And to give you and your Rogues your due you conceal'd every thing you could get conceal'd such was your diligence but yet as much as you did conceal there was enough left to shew the World that there was a Plot and a villanous one and that you were at the head of it in order to root up the Protestant Religion and destroy the Government which
oblig'd the House to send for the Lord Chief Justice Scroggs privately who sign'd Warrants for the apprehending several Popish Lords and committed them to several Prisons about the Town And another Gentleman being under consideration which at last came to an Accusation and an Impeachment for that it was found out by his Letters the Intrigues he held with your Ally for Mony to procure a Peace and deceive the Parliament which Letters were preserv'd and brought into the House by the procurement of a worthy Gentleman since a Peer of the Realm who had wisely kept them against a rainy day upon which many of the open case-harden'd Rogues began to trudge beyond the Seas and some of your Plotters found it too hot for England to hold them for the Murther of Justice Godfrey stuck upon our Stomachs without the least prospect of being digested and several of his Murtherers did travel for fear of being call'd to an account for that bloody piece of Villany or of being in the Plot to murther the King And to give you your due you did bestir your self and that the Journeys of these your Villains might be more easie you had a couple of good-natur'd Rogues that made no Bones to oblige you with a cast of their Office that these Vermin might not be stopt in their way by which they would have endanger'd themselves and you too and lost their Cause in which they had been true Drudges to your Brother and your self You did also take more than special care for the securing a jolly number of Jesuites who were blest with the same Fortune by the Assistance of your aforesaid Hell hounds to get over the Herring pond I commend the Diligence of the English Gentlemen of the House of Commons but the Sons of Zerviah were too many for them for the Ministry at that time of the day to serve you were willing to help their Brethren in Iniquity and as the Parliament were ready to detect the black piece of Villany you and these Rogues were engag'd in the Court and the Conspirators were as diligent to conceal if not on the contrary far to outdo them in supplanting the Discovery Truly to give the House of Lords their due they acted with as much Prudence as the Commons they appointed a secret Committee consisting of five or six Lords and by this Committee whilst it was a secret one and whilst they kept their Examinations private they did discover your sweet self God bless you and the Queen-Dowager to be in the bottom of the Design And the Duke of Buckingham having for some considerable time had a Scheme of the Conspiracy from my self he well understood how to manage the Discovery to a Hairs breadth and he certainly did it with admirable dexterity and committed all men of whom there was the least suspicion by which method several things were discover'd to that Committee which would otherwise never have come to light and especially about the Murther of Godfrey This Sir struck a mighty Terror into the Hearts of several of your Vermin that made them both fear and tremble and some of them whose Hearts God had touched as you say in your reverend Letter from Rochester began to think of discovering your wicked Designs against the King your Brother and our Religion Laws and Liberties and the Murther of that innocent Magistrate What News next I think it is a Question may be ask'd without your making that sowre Face you will turn my Stomach presently if you do not accept of this Goodwill of mine with a more cheerful Countenance therefore without the Ceremony of making that Fridays Mouth let us go on and let me observe to you that the Nation was in a great confusion and expected nothing less but that you and your Cut-throats would begin your Church-work of converting this Nation by a Baptism of Blood and this great City by a Baptism of Fire and that we might be preserv'd as well from the one as the other the Parliament resolv'd to have the Nation in a posture of defence and to raise the Militia throughout the Kingdom and therefore prepar'd a Bill for that purpose for the Militia to be in Arms for so many days which Bill passed both Houses without difficulty but you and your Hell-born Crew seeing this great Zeal and sweet Harmony between both Houses and that they were resolv'd as well to defend the Nation as to â—ecure us from farther Mischief you by the Advice of your Counsellors who had the Impudence to stay behind made use of this Stratagem to divide your Brother from the Houses and put a stop to the passing the Bill for you were filled with Horror of the Militia's being raised lest your Rogues should be put out of their Traces and be a means to frustrate all your designs After the Parliament was risen you possessed your Brother with the danger of the Bill and whatever he did he should not pass it for it was too great a Trust to be reposed in the People and that it would be of a sad consequence to himself No Sir you were out the true danger would have been yours and not the King 's and your Brother knew it well enough and he therefore was as willing to deny the passing the Bill as you and your Rogues were to have him The Bill being rejected your Brother was troubled at the Parliaments resenting the refusal of the passing so necessary a Bill then he began to wheedle with the Parliament and declar'd that he was ready to assent to any Bill that he should have tender'd to him for the security of the Kingdom by the Militia so that the whole power of calling or not calling continuing or not continuing them together during the time limited was in him and that he might be the sole Judge of the publick Security So we thank'd him for nothing and the business fell Come on then here was by this time a Mess of sad Tydings for here a second Witness appears and brings in a more full Discovery of Godfrey's Murther this Witness was your old Friend Mr. Bedloe who was employ'd or was at least privy to the Intrigue and had been greatly employ'd to carry on the Plot beyond the Seas by the Priests and Jesuites so that now your dear Friend's Testimony was in a most unexpected manner corroborated and confirm'd Upon his coming in you and your Crew were much out of countenance and cast down but it was not for your Party to stand still and therefore to work you go and endeavour to discourage him and cry down his Evidence and to baffle him upon his Knowledge of the Rooms in Somerset-house where the murthered person lay but in good truth it did you no manner of Service for the Parliament was then sitting and the secret Committee of Peers had got his Examination so that by Bedloe's fresh Evidence all but your Conspirators and your self were well pleased And he having been now throughly examin'd both as