this 17th day of January 1680. before me Edmond Warcupp Esq one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace in the said County and City Middle Westm. ss THis Informant saith that he waited on Robert Howard of Horecross in the said County of Stafford Esq to the House of the Lord Aston at Tixall in the said County of Stafford on the 12th of September 1678. and then and there saw William late Lord Viscount Stafford talking with Mr. Stephen Dugdale And on the 13th day of the said month of September 1678. this Informant stepping by accident into a Room there called the little Dining-Room or little Parlour some time before Dinner he then and there saw the said William late Viscount Stafford and the said Stephen Dugdale talking and discoursing together in private no other person then being in the said Room besides themselves whereupon this Informant soon withdrew lest he should interrupt their Conference And this Informant is most assured of the Premisses by a certain Memorandum which he then wrote down in his own Pocket Book which at the time of this Information is produced And he likewise saw the said William late Viscount Stafford and the said Stephen Dugdale discoursing together in Tixall Park in the Buck season of the same year 1678. no other Person being with them while the Gentry then Assembled were hunting the Buck in the said Park And this Informant further saith that as he was walking in Tixall Hall about the 18th or 19th day of September 1678. he observed the said William late Lord Viscount Stafford go into a Room called the great Parlour or the Dining-Room which adjoyned to his Lordships Lodging Chamber and immediately the said Stephen Dugdale followed him into the said Room and this Informant saw them two alone discoursing together but how long they continued there or what their Discourse was he knoweth not And by these and other Observations this Informant did believe that the said Stephen Dugdale was in good esteem and in some trust with the said late Viscount Stafford And he further saith that the said Stephen Dugdale was then Steward to the Lord Aston and had great Power and Command in the said Lord Astons Family at Tixall and bought and sold all things relating to the Family or Estate at Tixall and was the Chiefest man in the Lord Astons Family and paid the Wages of Labourers and had a very good Name and Reputation among the Gentry of that Countrey as well Papists as Protestants and was frequently termed Honest Stephen Dugdale And this Informant further saith that he hath observed the said William late Lord Viscount Stafford own the said Stephen Dugdale with respect calling him Mr. Dugdale at Dinners and Suppers before the said Lord Astons face both when they did eat in private and when they did eat in publick with other Gentry and Persons of Quality in the said House to which there was great resort in that year And this Informant likewise observed the said Stephen Dugdale was well respected and very civilly treated by the said William late Lord Viscount Stafford in other Companies and Places where they Occasionally met And further saith not William Skelton Jurat ' die Anno supradict ' coram me Edm. Warcupp Vera Copia Ex ' per me Edmond Warcupp The Information of Walter Collins of the Burrough of Stafford Gent. taken upon Oath the 19th day of January 1680. before Tho. Blacks and Sampson Byrch his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the said Burrough Stafford Burrough ss WHo saith that in or about the year of our Lord Christ 1678. he saw the late Lord Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale walk together in the Court Yard belonging to Tixall Hall between the Gate-house and the said Hall about the space of a quarter of an hour and that no other Person did walk with them or was in hearing of them Wal. Collins Signed in presence of William Southall Jurat ' die Anno predict ' coram Tho. Blake Sam. Byrch Thomas Jordan of Little-Haywood in the County of Stafford Gent. one of the High-Constables for the said County Staff ss SAith that in the Summer time in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred seventy and eight on a Thursday being a Bowling day at Tixall in the said County he this Informant saw the Lord Stafford and the Lord Aston stand together on the side of the Bowling-Green a distance from the rest of the Company there and out of their hearing And while their Lordships stood at that distance this Informant saw Mr. Stephen Dugdale go to their Lordships and stand with them in that place out of hearing of the rest of the Company about a quarter of an hour and their Lordships and Mr. Dugdale did Discourse together all that time as this Informant verily believes this Informant being in their sight all that time but not in their hearing Thomas Jordan 15 die January 1680. Signed then in the presence of Thomas Whitbey Edward Foden The Information of William Suelson of Great-Haywood Nailer taken upon Oath before Sir Bryan Broughton Knight and Barronet Jan. 13. 1680. WHo saith that about Michaelmas was two years he saw the Lord Stafford walking alone with Mr. Stephen Dugdale upon Tixall Bowling-Alley And this Informant saith that he knew the Lord Stafford as well as the one hand from the other for he hath often seen him at Tixall William Suelson Jurat ' coram me B. Broughton The Information of Richard Parkin of Shutburrough in the County of Stafford taken upon Oath in Stafford before James Lewes of the Burrough of Stafford and Thomas Blake and Sampson Byrch Justices of the said Burrough Staff ss WHo upon his Oath saith that in the Summer time in the year of our Lord Christ 1677. he saw William late Viscount Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale together by themselves and none else with them in the Court at Tixall betwixt Tixall Hall and the Stables there And also that he this Informant saw the said Lord Stafford and the said Mr. Dugdale together and none else with them upon a Hempland belonging to Walter Eld of Tixall Rich. Parkin his A Mark Signed in the presence of William Southall 15. Jan. 1680. Jurat ' coram James Lewes Tho. Blake Samp. Byrch Vera Copia The Information of Tho. Creswell of Little-Haywood Cordwayner Januar. 11. 1680. Staff WHo saith that in the Summer time in the year of our Lord 1676. he was at Tixall to ride Horses and about a month before Michaelmas the Lord Stafford took him to be his Page with whom he lived a year and a quarter within that time my Lord Stafford was three or four times at Tixall and staied sometimes two or three nights together and three or four mornings he hath sent this Informant to see for Stephen Dugdale and bid him come to him for to speak with him And this Informant saith that he hath seen him at the least three times go into the Parlour to my
Lord Stafford and his Gentleman and as soon as Mr. Dugdale came in his Gentleman came out and he remained single with the Lord Stafford and at several other places he hath seen my Lord Stafford with Mr. Stephen Dugdale The Information of Sampson Rawlins of Tixall in the County of Stafford Taylor Staff WHo informeth that in the latter end of Summer in the year of our Lord 1678. the Lord Stafford being then at Tixall he this Informant saw the said Lord Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale walk together in Tixall Hall and after some time they had been together walking themselves the said Mr. Dugdale went and fetcht the Lord Aston to the said Lord Stafford The Informations above written were taken upon Oath the 11th of January 1680. before Henry Vernon Esq one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Stafford in the presence of me William Southall The Information of Thomas Robinson of Ingestry in the County of Stafford Husbandman taken upon Oath the two and twentieth day of January in the year 1680. before James Lewes Mayor of the Burrough of Stafford and Sampson Byrch Justice of Peace for the said Burrough Staff ss THis Informant saith that in the month of September 1678. he this Informant being then at Tixall Hall he saw William late Viscount Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale come together and none else with them out of a Garden belonging to Tixall Hall and afterwards they both walked together themselves in the Walks nigh to the said Garden but what Discourse they had this Informant knows not And at another time after the time aforesaid the said late Viscount Stafford came to Tixall Hall on Horseback and the said Mr. Dugdale meeting his Lordship and after he had saluted him and shewed his obedience to his Lordship they both did walk themselves together into Tixall Hall and none else with them Thomas Robinson his Mark. Jur ' apud Stafford vicesimo secundo die Januarii Anno Regni Caroli secundi nunc Ang. xxxii coram nobis James Lewes Mayor Sampson Byrch The Information of Ann Hinckley Wife of Samuel Hinckley of Penckrich in the County of Stafford Cordwayner taken upon Oath the ninth day of Febr. 1680. before Richard Congreve Esq one of his Majesties Justices of Peace for the County aforesaid VVHo saith that in or about the month of August one thousand six hundred seventy and eight this Informant went with her Husband to Tixall in the said County to speak with Mr. Stephen Dugdale and coming to one Elds House in Tixall her Husband desired her to go into Tixall Hall to look for the said Mr. Dugdale and when she came into the said Hall she saw the said Mr. Dugdale with an ancient Gentleman in the said Hall standing both together and talking and after some time this Informant asked one Joseph Tarbox who stood with this Informant who that Gentleman was who told her it was the Lord Stafford And she saw at that time the said Lord Stafford pull a Paper out of his Pocket and gave it to the said Mr. Dugdale to read and after Mr. Dugdale had looked on the said Paper he gave it again to the said Lord Stafford And she further saith that she continued in sight of the said Lord Stafford and Mr. Dugdale above the space of half an hour and during that time there was no person with them And she further saith that afterwards Mr. Dugdale came to this Informant and bid her go to one Dorothy Aldridges in Tixall aforesaid and he would come to her which she did taking her Husband with her and being there with Mr. Dugdale he the said Mr. Dugdale after some Discourse told this Informant that he must go again to the said Lord Stafford for he had earnest business with him And further saith that both in the said Hall and the said Aldridges House she heard Mr. Dugdale say that the Person he was talking with was the Lord Stafford Anne Hinkley A her Mark. She is a Papist Die Anno predict ' Jurat ' coram me Rich. Congreve The Information of John Boulton of the Burrough of Stafford Sadler taken upon Oath at Stafford aforesaid before Tho. Blake and Sampson Byrch his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the said Burrough on the 19th day of January 1680. Stafford Burrough ss VVHo saith that in the Summer time about the year of our Lord Christ 1678. he saw the Lord Stafford on a Bowling-day on the Bowling-Green at Tixall amongst many Gentlemen and saw Mr. Stephen Dugdale come to the said Green and saw the Lord Stafford go from the other Gentlemen and meet the said Mr. Dugdale and ask him where he had been Mr. Dugdale answered he had been at Haywood and had got some Betts about a Race after which this Informant saw the said Lord Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale withdraw themselves at a further distance from the said Company and there continued without any other Company than themselves for the space of almost a quarter of an hour John Boulton Signed in the presence of William Southall Jurat ' die Anno predict ' coram Tho. Blake Sam. Byrch The Information of Semer Ansell of Shutburrough in the County of Stafford Skinner taken upon Oath in the Burrough of Stafford the two and twentieth day of January 1680. before James Lewes Esq Mayor of the Burrough of Stafford and Sampson Byrch one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace of the said Burrough Staff ss VVHo saith in the Summer time in the year of our Lord 1678. he saw William late Lord alias Viscount Stafford and Mr. Stephen Dugdale talking together at a place called Ruffecroft-Gate in Tixall and no other Person with them and they both continued together themselves there above a quarter of an hour in the sight of this Informant who staied to speak with the said Mr. Dugdale and within few days after he this Informant saw the said late Lord Stafford and Mr. Dugdale together themselves and none else with them in the place called the Hall in Tixall for the space of above half an hour and afterwards both of them went together into the great Parlour into Tixall Hall Semer Ansell Jur ' apud Stafford xxxii die Januarii Anno Regni Caroli secundi nunc Ang. xxxii coram nobis James Lewes Sampson Byrch Now though these be but a few of the many Depositions which we could have produced to this purpose yet they are enough to detect the Imposture and Perjury of the late Viscount Stafford and to convince the World what little Credit is to be given to a Papist in the solemnest appeals which he makes to God and that in those very Circumstances when the worst of men are usually found to be candid and ingenuous For whereas Mr. Dugdale hath been represented as an infamous Person and one that neither my Lord Aston nor any other Gentlemen put the least confidence in or esteemed worthy of common Respect it is made fully evident by
Instance or two and those very remarkable by which it will appear that this is allowed by the Ghostly Fathers and practised by the Members of the Papal Communion the first then shall be that which Robert Perkins gave an Information of upon Oath and which Sir Robert Atkins one of the Judges at Stafford Assizes 1679. took as followeth This Informant saith That about seven or eight years since Mr. Arthur Fox then Servant to the present Lord Aston came to him and to another of his friends and told them that there was a Bastard-child laid to his charge by one of his Lords Tenants Daughters and did acknowledge to them that he did several times Lye with her and that by the best computation of time he could make he had just grounds to believe she had done him no wrong in this her charge and that he verily believed himself to be the Father of the Child and therefore came to them as his particular friends for their Advice in the case how to prevent the noise and scandal and great charge that was like to ensue hereupon and desired them to treat with the Young Womans Father and Mother about it and to offer them a certain sum of money to free him from all future charge from or by reason of this business In pursuance of this request this Informant and his friend addressed themselves to the Young Woman and to her Father and Mother The Young Woman with the greatest Asseverations and Protestations did affirm that she had never Layn with any man whatever but the said Mr. Fox and that he was the real Father of the Child Then they came to a Treaty with her Father about ascertaining the charge and agreed that Mr. Fox should pay thirty pounds to be for ever discharged from the said Child part of which sum was accordingly paid When they returned to Mr. Fox and had acquainted him with what agreement they had made for him with the Father and Mother of the Young Woman he seemed exceeding well satisfied therewith and returned them many thanks owning himself very much obliged to them both for their great care and pains in transacting this Affair for him and bringing it to an Issue so much to his content Mr. Evers the Priest belonging to the Lord Astons house was abroad whilst this business was in agitation but returning in few days before all the said thirty pound was paid was informed by Mr. Fox himself what agreement was made for him by this Informant and his friend as aforesaid Mr. Evers having thus understood the whole case told Mr. Fox that what he had done was not sufficient to take off the scandal from their Church for to his knowledge this story was much talkt of abroad and that with very severe reflections upon the Roman Catholicks in general and therefore as his Ghostly Father he would advise him what was to be done in order to the taking off so great a scandal from their Church and added that he had consulted Mr. Peters another Priest about it and that they were come to a resolve what method should be used and therefore required him to prepare himself for Confession Accordingly Mr. Fox came to Confession to the said Mr. Evers and owned the whole matter as aforesaid then Mr. Evers told him again he continuing upon his knees that the scandal which was hereby brought to their Church was very great and therefore for the taking it off and preventing further scandal for the future to their Church to my Lord Aston or to himself Mr. Peters and he had agreed upon this course viz. that he should go immediately to his Lord Aston and on his knees before his Lord and Lady with solemn Oaths and Asseverations deny that ever he had any thing to do with the said Young Woman in that nature and that he was altogether innocent of the Crime laid to his charge and that after this he should go up to the Chappel where the Congregation was met and there in like manner deny it with the like Asseverations and to confirm them in the belief of it he should then before them receive the Sacrament When Mr. Evers had finished these Instructions he gave him Absolution before he rose from his knees telling him That if he observed these Instructions he was absolved from the said Crime and therefore innocent of it altogether and might so declare himself as aforesaid All which Instructions in every particular the said Mr. Fox punctually observed His friend aforesaid being in the Chappel when he disowned the Fact with solemn Oaths and received the Sacrament upon it Here we have not only an instance what little credit is to be given to the Oaths and Asseverations of Papists but how they prostitute what themselves account most sacred namely Confession Absolution and the Sacrament of the Eucharist to their base and secular ends And if the preserving the Reputation of one Fellow or the avoiding the Censures which might be reflected upon the Papal Religion because of sin of one of the Members of their Communion which the Doctrine of their Church pronounceth at worst to be but venial could be esteemed motives and inducements weighty enough and sufficient for the Authorizing of Perjury and the prophaning the Institutions of their Religion can we then judge it strange or ought we to entertain it with any surprise that for the saving not only the honour of their Church but the Estates and Lives of so many of their Faction in England from the Just Imputations and deserved Punishments which so horrid a Treason as that now charged upon them must both render their Religion and Party obnoxious unto they should not only allow but oblige their Votaries to use the like Imprecations and Oaths towards the wheedling the unthinking and credulous sort of Protestants into a belief of their Innocency The second Instance I shall give of the Freedom they assume unto themselves of abusing the Faith of Mankind by Oaths and how for they are from reckoning it any crime to forswear themselves for the advantage of the Catholick Cause shall be that of a Souldier lately admitted into one of the Companies of the King's Guards under the Command of a Captain who is well known to be an abhorrer of such practice This Fellow having taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy the only Legal Test whereby the Government hath provided for the distinguishing betwixt Protestants and Papists among persons of that degree and Employ was nevertheless suspected by some of his Companions who knew what Religion he had been of before to be still a Papist and that he had only swallowed those Oaths for ends which he was willing to conceal but which according to the Romish Religion might sanctifie a prophanation of the name of God Accordingly having resolved for their own satisfaction and their better instruction what that vile Religion countenanceth men in to have a watchful and observant Eye over him they were so fortunate as
only Faux declared that he was moved into it only for the sake of Religion and Conscience because he thought the King not to be his lawful Soveraign seeing he was an Heretick But Sir Everard Digby professed upon his Tryal that it was not ambition nor discontent with his Estate nor malice to any in Parliament but zeal for his Religion and the hopes of restoring it in England The fourth and principal thing wherein my Lord Stafford did either mistake himself or greatly prevaricate was in these words That the men concerned in the Powder-Plot did all acknowledge and confess it and begged Pardon of the King and God and all good men for it Nor shall I here insist upon this that I do not see how it was possible for my Lord Stafford to be assured that all the Persons who were in it were known and found out or that he could ever throughly understand whether even those that confessed after their apprehension did not conceal much more than they discovered But I shall confine my self to two things whereof the first is this that the conspirators when under Examination did with Oaths and Asseverations deny what themselves had full knowledge of and whereof the State had sufficient Evidence For Garnet having by the pretended favour of his Keeper an opportunity allowed him to discourse with Hall and being the next day charged by several Lords of the Privy Council with divers things which had passed betwixt them two in that conference he not only denied the whole upon his Soul and the word of a Priest but with so many repeated Protestations and terrible Execrations that my Lord of Salisbury who was then present said it wounded all their Lordships hearts to hear him And yet when confronted by Mr. Fauset who was both a learned person and a Justice of Peace and by Mr. Lockerson one likewise of known Reputation who had overheard all they said having conveniently placed themselves before hand to that purpose and withal understanding that Hall had confessed what they had discoursed he then acknowledged what with so many asseverations he had immediately before denied and begged mercy of the Lords saying he had offended if Equivocation did not help him And that we may not think Equivocations and Perjuries peculiar only to the Jesuits we have an Example of the like carriage in Sir Everard Digby who being upon his first apprehension examined did with most solemn Protestations and all kind of Execrations deny his being privy to the Powder-Plot and yet being afterwards confronted by the Testimony of Faux who had confessed that being at Sir Everards house in the Country some months before the intended Session of Parliament that Sir Everard having taken him aside told him he was afraid the Powder in the Cellar was grown dank and that some new must be provided lest that should not take fire he did thereupon not only acknowledge it notwithstanding all his former Execrations to the contrary but when he came to be indicted he confessed it upon his Arraignment Whence we evidently see that they not only with horrid Oaths and astonishing Asseverations denied what they knew themselves guilty of but that the Confessions they made did not proceed from any tenderness of Conscience or remorse for what they had been engaged in but were extorted from them by the uncontrollableness of the Evidence and by improving the confessions of some of themselves to oblige others to an acknowledgement The second thing I would have observed in the Gun-powder Conspirators is that several of them went out of the world in the same manner that our late Traitors did denying divers things to their last which they knew themselves to be guilty of And of this to avoid prolixity I shall give but two Instances one whereof shall be that of Francis Tresham Esq who not only gave it under his hand but took it upon his Soul and as he hoped for Salvation within three hours before his Death that he had not seen Garnet the Provincial of the Jesuits in sixteen years before and yet Garnet himself afterwards declared that they had enjoyed frequent conversation with each other within less than the space of three years and that he supposed Mr. Tresham meant to equivocate in denying it Where was now the sense of the Omnisciency of God or the dread of the future Tribunal which the Advocates for the late Traitors derive their Topicks to persuade the world of their Innocency from Alas the reputation and Interest of the Catholick Cause and the Confidence they reposed in Equivocations Dispensations and Absolutions had stifled all such Impressions The other Instance shall be Sir Everard Digby who not only endeavoured to clear all the Jesuits from being any waies concerned in that Treasonable Plot but gloried in the venturing his Salvation and Happiness upon it Whereas they themselves to the eternal reproach of that poor Gentleman's memory confest and acknowledged it And as if this had not been enough to witness his own insincerity and to instruct future Generations what little Faith is to be given to Papists either living or dying he with the same Impudence and to his very last denied that ever Father Wally i. e. Garnet had been at Coughton with him or that he knew Darcy to be the same with Garnet or understood that he was a Priest Whereas it appeared that he was not only very well acquainted with him but even Garnet himself confessed that he had been at his house Let our many pleading Orators for the late Traitors continue now to argue from the Confessions of the Gun-powder Conspirators that they acknowledging their guilt while the others dyed in the denyal of theirs as those were criminal so these must be innocent Whereas we cannot desire a more convincing proof how little the Oaths and Asseverations of Papists in the very circumstances of dying are to be depended upon than the assurance which we have from Authentick Records of the behaviour of those engaged in the Gun-powder Plot whom we have mentioned And that no danger which might arise to particular Romanists may be conceived to have discouraged our late Conspirators I shall subjoyn the case which Catesby propounded namely Whether for the Promotion of the Catholick Cause against Hereticks the necessity of time and occasion so requiring it were lawful among many nocents to take away some innocents To which Father Garnet with the greatest seriousness and utmost fixedness of Judgment answered That if the advantage to the Catholick Party were greater by taking away some Innocents together with many Nocents then doubtless it was lawful to kill and destroy them all So that if we do but apprehend that they were possessed with the least probability of prevailing in the issue the lives of multitudes of their own faction that would have been last in the Interim were to be esteemed a small price for so great a commodity as the re-establishing Popery in
came in whom this Informant took to be one of his Lordships Domesticks and told his Lordship that one Mr. Turbervill would speak with him whereupon this Informant having no other business but visit and respect and believing his Lordship might have some business with that Gentleman offer'd to withdraw but his Lordship would not permit it saying Mr. Turbervill might come another time but before answer was return'd the said Gentleman came into the Room which his Lordship perceiving said Mr. Turbervill you have not so much hast or so much to do but I may see you again to morrow upon which the said Gentleman bow'd his body and retir'd And this Informant further saith that Mr. Edward Turbervill now produc't is very like to the said Gentleman in Stature whom the said Lord Stafford then called Mr. Turbervill but this Informant cannot positively say he is the same man by reason he had so short an Interview and his Hair is shorter than that Gentleman 's was but he believes him to be the same Gentleman he saw in my Lord Staffords Room as aforesaid and this Informant was so much satisfied that Mr. Edward Turbervill is the same Person that he saw in Paris in November 1675. that he offer'd Justice Warcupp a day or two before his Lordships Execution to go with him to the said Lord in the Tower or with any other Person to endeavour to Convince his Lordship that one Turbervill and probably Mr. Edward Turbervill was the same Person he saw at Paris in November 1675. as is aforesaid John Scott Jurat ' die Anno supradict ' cor'me Edmond Warcupp Nor let any object that these Gentlemen are not positive that the Mr. Turbervill who testified against my Lord Stafford is the same person whom they saw in the places forementioned and referred unto seeing all the peculiar and descriptive accidents which they observed in the one are found in the other except that his Hair differs in length and cut which any mans may do in two days time from what it then did Nor are they able to assign any other Gentleman of that Name unto whom we may apply what is here Sworn and Deposed And the modesty with which these Persons do express and deliver themselves instead of detracting from the probability of their Testimony doth greatly add to the weight and moral certainty of what they say If this therefore be true that my Lord Stafford not only frequently saw Mr. Turbervill as his being a kind of Domestick in his House as Mr. Showters Deposition doth imply but that he treated him with that familiarity which Colonel Scotts Information doth import there can then be nothing more evident than that my Lord Stafford was wholly regardless of the truth of what he said and that he died guilty of a high prophanation of the Name of God and in a desperate contempt of all that should be preserved sacred by taking it upon his Salvation that he never spake one word to Mr. Turbervill or to his knowledge ever saw him until his Trial. And if he could assume the impudence to aver that he never saw Mr. Turbervill when the acknowledging of it would of it self have derived no danger upon him we may very reasonably believe that notwithstanding his being never so Criminal he would abjure the Treasons which Mr. Turbervill charged him with it being so much his interest to do so So well assured was Colonel Scott that this very Turbervill who gave Evidence against my Lord Stafford at the Bar is the same Person whom he heard my Lord call by that Name in his Lodgings at Paris that he offered to go with Justice Warcupp to the Tower to convince the said Lord of it and this Mr. Justice Warcupp is not only ready to testifie to any that shall enquire of him but hath been pleased to declare it in the Paper that is here subjoyned I Do humbly certifie that Colonel John Scott did according as he hath Sworn in an Information hereunto prefixed offer me in a Coffee-House commonly called Richard ' s Coffee-House near Temple-Bar a day or two before the Execution of William late Viscount Stafford to go to him in the Tower for the purposes contained in the said Information But I told him I had no access to the said Lord and therefore advised him to wait on the Right Honourable William Lord Howard of Escrick who being the Kinsman of the said late Viscount Stafford might have access to him in the Tower and his Lordship being a great lover of Truth would without doubt upon his the said Colonel Scott ' s application to his Lordship go with him to the Tower before the Death of the said William late Viscount Stafford Witness my hand this 24. of February 1680. Edmond Warcupp § 13. Having laid open the Perjuries as well as the Insincerity of this late Lord in reference to Mr. Dugdale and Mr. Turbervill that which we are next to apply unto is how far his word ought to be relied upon in reference to the Characters which he fastens upon Dr. Oats and how far we are to give credit to him in his renouncing the having seen the Doctor before he appeared at the Bar to testifie against him Various have been the endeavours to stain and eclipse the Reputation of Dr. Oats but all of them have been over-ruled unto and issued in the raising his Honour and Esteem They very well knew that could they but once undermine and supplant the credit of that Person the detracting from the credit of all the other Witnesses would be a province which with some probability of success they might then go about and attempt For as all the rest do but confirm and explain what he at first revealed and detected so were the Papal Party but once able to convince the World that he were an Impostor most men though it would be never so contrary to the Rules of Justice would immediately entertain suspicions of all the rest And if we may believe the Papists in the Account and Reports which they divulge either of the Doctors Intellectuals or Prudentials we can not apprehend that he was able to invent and frame this Plot and consequently that the most which his Parts are adopted unto is only to be a Discoverer of what more Politick heads had contrived and projected And by how much they think to reproach him by detracting from the comprehensiveness of his Understanding or the discretion of his Conduct by so much do they assure all the World that this Conspiracy was not invented or forged by him And though I very much question whether any that reflect upon his Conduct would have comported themselves so well under his Circumstances and Provocations yet his very failours and infirmities are useful to confirm us that he found this Conspiracy laid and formed to his hand and that the meer disclosure and detection of it is all that can be ascribed unto him or that he can be allowed to bear