Selected quad for the lemma: majesty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
majesty_n	house_n	parliament_n	speaker_n	3,357	5	10.8139	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54302	The Rye-house travestie, or, A true account and declaration of the horrid and execrable conspiracy against His Majesty King William and the government collected out of original papers and unquestionable records, whereby the whole narration has undeniable clearness and strength / in a letter to the Right Reverend Father in God, Dr. Thomas Sprat ... from his Lordship's most humble servant, Thomas Percival.	Percival, Thomas, fl. 1696-1697.; Sprat, Thomas, 1635-1713.	1696 (1696)	Wing P1454A; ESTC R20526	37,925	84

Wherefore of the Debate and Resolutions of the French King and the late King Iames in France it was thought expedient for the farthering of their Design that a small select Number of the most eminent Heads of the Party in and about London should be united into a close Cabal or secret Council who might have their frequent Assemblies and be ready on all Occasions to guide and direct the motions of the lower Agents The Persons who undertook this Universal Care and Inspection were the Duke of Berwick sent from France for that purpose Sir William Parkyns Sir Iohn Friend Sir George Barclay Sir Iohn Fenwick Mr. Charnock Mr. Porter and some others were admitted as occasion serv'd on some particular Debates After their Arrival from France they had several Meetings in Ianuary particularly at the Globe-Tavern in Hatton-Garden and at the Sun-Tavern in the Strand where some General Heads were propounded of things to be resolv'd on in their more mature Thoughts as where the Insurrection should first be made in City or Country or both at once what Countries were most disposed for Action What Places would be most proper for their Rendezvouses What Arms were necessary how to be provided where to be laid in so as to administer no Ground of Jealousy And how and by what means a Disturbance might be made in Scotland at the same time The last was look'd upon as a Principal Point and therefore the managment of that Affair was left to the French King who had appointed a Considerable Body of Men to disturb the Peace and Tranquility of that Kingdom And who deliver'd this as his Opinion That the Plot was so close and deeply laid it was past the Power of Men and Devils to hinder the Fatal Blow The late King Iames that nothing should be wanting on his part deputed some of his Confidents hither to attend the Issue of their Debates to represent their Proposals and to assist in the Assassination The first Day appointed for the accomplishing this wicked Design was the 15 th of February which being over and they by the Singular Mercy of God disappointed yet so great was their Thirst after Royal Blood that they did resolve to go on and execute it And the next Saturday which was the 22 d of February was pitch'd upon for the time of Execution and accordingly on Friday the 21 st of February the day before they met at the Nags-Head in Covent-Garden where they had some discourse among them that they were in doubt because of the first Disappointment whether there had not been some Discovery but that Doubt was soon over for it was said it could not be so for then they should not have been there together That seemed probable and the Disppointment was imputed to some Accident which gave them new Assurance to go on and they resolv'd to go on and do the Business they had formerly resolv'd on the next day which was Saturday Thus on the 14 th of February was the whole Conspiracy going on in a full Carreer when Mr. Prendergast made his Discovery But finding that His Majesty and His Ministers were exceeding diffident of his single Intelligence in a business of so vast a Moment therefore whilst he was considering which way he might best strengthen his Evidence Mr. De la Rue on Friday Night the 21 st of February was introduc'd to His Majesty by the Earl of Portland who discover'd to him the Hellish Designs of his Implacable Enemies Upon Saturday the 22 d of February in the Morning which was the 2 d time appointed for the Execution of this Bloody Design they Met together at Porter's Lodging and resolved to go on with it and put it in Execution where they had Notice from Chambers that the King did go a Hunting that Day and there was great Joy among them all thinking themselves sure and so they ordered all things to be got ready From thence they went to the Blew-posts in Spring-Garden where News was brought about one a Clock That the King did not go Abroad for the Guards were all come back in great haste their Horses being all in a Foam and the King's Coaehes to the Mews-Gate They at first receiv'd the News with various Apprehensions and Motions of Mind looking on one another with much Astonishment and Confusion and immediately parted in great Disorder being fully assur'd the thing had taken Air and was discovered His Majesty with inexpressible Surprize found by undoubted Evidence that many of his mis-guided Subjects had deeply engaged themselves to imbrue their Hands in His Royal Blood went on Monday the 24 th of February to the House of Lords and in His Speech accquainted both Houses That he was come on an extraordinary Occasion which might have proved fatal if it had not been disappointed by the singular Mercy and Goodness of God That he had received several concurring Informations of a Design to assassinate him and that our Enemies were very forward in their Preparations for a sudden Invasion of the Kingdom That His Majesty had not been wanting to give the necessary Orders for the Fleet and that he hoped there was a Strength of Ships and in such a Readiness as would be sufficient to disappoint the Intentions of our Enemies That he had dispatched Orders for bringing Home such a Number of our Troops a might secure us from any Attempt and exhorted them to do every thing which they should judg proper for our Common Safety c. Upon this astonishing News the House of Commons Nemine Contradicente resolved to address His Majesty to congratulate his happy Deliverance and to give him their Thanks for imparting the Horrid Design to the House and to desire His Majesty to take more than ordinary Care of his Royal Person assuring him that they will stand by assist and defend His Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes against the late King Iames and all other His Enemies both at Home and Abroad and that in case His Majesty should come to any violent Death which God forbid they would revenge the same upon all his Enemies an their Adherents c. The House of Lords also unanimously agreed upon an Address to His Majesty to which they desired the Concurrence of the Commons who made some Amendments thereunto to which the Lords agreeing The same Evening both Houses attended His Majesty therewith You have here a Copy thereof WE your Majesty's most Loyal and Dutiful Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled having taken into our serious Consideration what your Majesty hath been pleased to Communicate to us this day think it our Duty in the first place to give Your Majesty most Humble Thanks for having acquainted Your Parliament with the great Danger Your Sacred Person hath been so nearly expos'd to and the Design of an Invasion from our Enemies Abroad We heartily Congratulate Your Majesty's Happy Preservation and thankfully acknowledg the signal

Providence of God in it and at the same time Declare our Detestation and Abhorrence of so Villainous and Barbarons a Design And since the Safety and Welfare of Your Majesty's Dominions do so intirely depend upon Your Life We most Humbly Beseech Your Majesty to take more than Ordinary Care of Your Royal Person And we take this Occasion to Assure Your Majesty of our utmost Assistance to Defend Your Person and Support Your Government against the late King James and all other Your Enemies both at Home and Abroad hereby Declaring to all all the VVorld That in case Your Majesty shall come to any Violent Death which God forbid we will Revenge the same upon all your Enemies and their Adherents And as an In●nce of our Zeal for Your Majesty's Service we will give all possible Dispatch to the Publick Business And we make it our Desire to Your Majesty to Seize and Secure all Persons Horses and Arms that Your Majesty may think fit to Apprehend upon this Occasion To which His Majesty gave a gracious Answer to the effect following viz. My Lords and Gentlemen I Thank you heartily for this kind Address On my Part you may be assured that I will do all that is within my Power for the Conservation of this Kingdom to which I have so many Obligations I will readily adventure my Life for the Preservation of it and recommend my self to the Continuance of your Loyalty and good Affections The House of Commons also the same Day resolved upon the following Association to be signed by their Members Whereas there has been a Horrid and Detestable Conspiracy Formed and Carried on by Papists and other Wicked and Traiterous Persons for Assassinating His Majesty's Royal Person in Order to Incourage an Invasion from France to Subvert our Religion Laws and Liberty We whose Names are hereunto Subscribed do Heartily Sincerely and Solemnly Profess Testify and Declare That His Present Majesty King William is Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms And we do Mutually Promise and Engage to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our Power in the Support and Defence of His Majesty's most Sacred Person and Government against the late King James and all his Adherents And in case His Majesty come to any Violent or Vntimely Death which God forbid We do hereby further Freely and Vnanimously Oblige our Selves to Vnite Associate and Stand by each other in Revenging the same upon his Enemies and their Adherents and in Supporting and Defending the Succession of the Crown according to an Act made in the First Year of the Reign of King William and Queen Mary Intituled An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown There was also an Association agreed upon by the House of Lords which was carried by a Majority which appears to be of a Comfortable Importance Their Lordships Association differs so little from that of the Commons that I do not transcribe it but shew you how they vary Instead of the Words King William is RIGHTFVL and Lawful King their Lordships insert That His Present Majesty King William hath A RIGHT BY LAW to the Crown of this Realm and that neither the late King James nor the pretended Prince of Wales nor any other Person hath any Right whatsoever to the same c. Ninety six of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal that was then present subscribed their Association and others who were at first absent come in daily it hath been refused only by 15. The House of Commons having as I told you agreed upon the above-written Association ordered it to be engrossed to be Signed by their Members and near 400 of that August Assembly which consists of 513 have already with great Alacrity subscribed it On Tuesday the House ordered that their absent Members as they come to the House do come up to the Table and sign the Association or in their Places declare their Refusal so to do and On Thursday it was ordered that the Association and the Subscriptions thereunto be entred upon the Journal of the House and Resolved that it should be presented to His Majesty by the Speaker and the whole House before the end of that Session It was also the same day ordered that such Members who had not already should by Monday Fortnight Sign the Association or declare their Refusal Now a day or two before the Conspirators final Seperation the King and his Council began to be convinc'd of the truth of Prendergast and Dela Rue's Evidence by a full knowledg of the Witnesses Characters and by the firmness and constancy of their Testimony besides many other concurring Circumstances Wherefore His Majesty ordered Warrants should be Issued out against the Persons accused whereof some absconded others were taken of these last divers confirm'd what Prendergast and De la Rue had sworn and Named others as Partakers in the Treason Whereupon more and more appearing every day to have been engaged Proclamations were Published in England and Scotland for their Speedy Apprehension By this means through the Providence of God so many of them were either Seized or Delivered themselves up as have irrefragably confirmed every part of the foregoing Account What became of the several Conspirators will appear by the Following List. The Duke of Berwick presently fled beyond the Seas from the Coast of Sussex Capt. Porter Mr. Prendergast and Mr. Keyes was taken at Letherhead in Surrey and were brought up to Town the last mention'd received the deserved Reward of his horrid Ingratitude and Treasons the two former largly confessed Capt. Harris surrender'd himself to Mr. Secretary Trumbull and largly confess'd Capt. Bois was taken and freely Confess'd Mr. ●ela Rue came in and Confess'd what was done and said at the Trayterous Meetings at Capt. Poter's Lodging c. Sir Iohn Friend fled frōm his own House to hide himself at Quaker's in Stratton Ground where he was Taken Arraign'd Condemned and Executed Sir VVilliam Parkyns was Taken at Mr. Castlemain's Chamber in the Temple he was likewise Arraign'd Condemn'd and Executed he confest enough to shew his Crime but not his Repentance Mr. Bryerly taken and Confess'd Peter Cook Gent. taken March 17 th and committed to Newgate Arraign'd and Condemn'd but not as yet Executed Christopher Knightly was taken disguised in Womens Clothes Arraign'd and Condemn'd but as yet not Executed Sir Roger L'Estrange was taken up and dismist upon Bail Edward King was taken Arraign'd Condemned and Executed Capt. Stow taken the 6 th of March in a Spunging-House near Smithfield he having caused himself to be Arrested upon a Sham-Action of 300 l. under the Name of Smith Mr. Blair was taken examin'd and confess'd Mr. Robert Ferguson was seiz'd in Gray's Inn-lane hid under a Bed Lowick was seiz'd in Alley in Golden-lane very much disguis'd Arraign'd Condemned and Executed Sir Iohn Fenwick with-drew upon notice there was a Proclamation out against him was taken with one

THE rye-Rye-house Travestie Or a True Account and Declaration Of the Horrid and Erecrable CONSPIRACY AGAINST His Majesty King WILLIAM and the Government Collected out of Original Papers and unquestionable Records whereby the whole Narration has undeniable Clearness and Strength In a LETTER to the Right Reverend Father in God Dr. Thomas Sprat Lord Bishop of Rochester from his Lordship's most Humble Servant THOMAS PERCIVAL Mutato nomine vestra Narratur Fabula LONDON Printed for A. Bell at the Cross-Keys in the Poultry 1696. A True ACCOVNT of the Horrid and Execrable Conspiracy against His Most Sacred Majesty King WILLIAM III. and the Government In a LETTER To the Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Bishop of ROCHESTER My Lord TO remind the Nation of the Rise Progress and mischievous Designs of our Blood-thirsty Iacobites I think sit to lay open and declare to your Lordship and the World an exact Account of the late accursed Conspiracy which was actually form'd and carried on in France against His Sacred Majesty's Life and against the Peaceable and Flourishing Government of His Majesty's Kingdoms as far forth as hitherto the Particulars of it have come to my knowledg by the Voluntary Confessions and undeniable Convictions of divers of the Principal Conspirators And I shall here faithfully present the Plain matter of Fact whereby I doubt not but wholly to put to silence the Malicious Insinuations of Factious Men who have hitherto had the Artifice to support and encourage their Party by Impudent Slanders and Falshoods against the clearest Light and most evident Proof And I heartily wish that this may tend to confirm the Loyalty and good Affections of His Majesty's Subjects at Home and to establish Abroad the Reputation and Honour of his Royal Justice And moreover which I hope your Lordship and I shall ever regard this publick and lasting Testimony will be given of our sincere thankfulness to Almighty God for that Miraculous Deliverence from a Danger which came so near His Majesty's Sacred Person and was so far spread in the Ruin it threatn'd to all his People It is well known what Mischievous Arts of late Years have been used and what Treasonable Courses taken to whithdraw these Nations from their bounden Duty and Allegiance and to expose His Majesty's most Just and Merciful Goverment to Calumny and Contempt This Rebellious Design has been apparently carried on by Male-contents whose Crimes or Wants whose furious Zeal or unbounded Ambition inclin'd them to wish for a Disturbance of the Peace and Prosperity of these Nations To this wicked purpose many the very same fatal Methods and specious Pretences which had heretofore involved these Kingdoms in Confusion and Blood were again reviv'd and by many of the very same Persons Men of Crafty restless and implacable Spirits Impenitent after the most Gracious Pardons whom long Experience had made skillful in seducing weak and unstable Minds by Counterfeiting the Plausible Names of things in themselves most Excellent but most Dangerous when abused By these wretched Instruments was His Majesty's most Gentle and Benign Government reproch'd Sedition was every where promoted to destroy our present Tranquility Desperate Speeches such as Sir Iohn Knight's of Bristol and others Infamous Libels Traiterous Books swarm'd in all Places and the worst of all unchristian Principles were put in practice From these Preparations to a Rebellion the Party began by degrees to proceed to Action Distinctions of Sides were made Names and Tokens of Seperation were given Illegal Conventicles were maintain'd in Defiance of the Laws of God and Man Tumultuous Feasts and Factious Clubs were set up in City and Country Close and Seditious Meetings haunted Frequent Cabals appointed and by Men of High degree with the lowest Great Stores of Arms provided by private Persons Insolent Progresses made through divers Countries thereby to glory in their Numbers and to carry far and near the the Terrour of their Power and even to Muster their Party for some sudden Blow and General Insurrection All these and many more such Personal Indignities and Publick Assaults on the Government his Majesty long endured with the same Mildness and Clemency wherewith he had already forgiven the highest Crimes against himself His Royal Goodness still patiently expecting and wishing that in time the most obstinate of his misguided Subjects would see their Error and return at length to a sense of the Duty they owe him by all the strongest Bonds of Nature and Laws Religion and Gratitude that can possibly oblige Subjects towards a Sovereign But when His Majesty was abundantly convinc'd that all those dark Consultations and open Tumults of unruly Men were but so many Infallible Signs and Fore-runners of Rebellion or some extraordinary Commotions then at last in a tender respect to his People's Safety more than to his own was his Majesty constrain'd to awaken his Authority to try what good Effect the Vigour of his Laws would have on those Offenders with whom his repeated Mercy and Indulgence had so little prevailed And such was His Majesty's good Fortune that the disaffected had been found impotent in their repeated Attempts to set up Sheriffs of London and Middlesex to pack Juries to serve their purpose so that whilst his Majesty carefully endeavoured to distribute Impartial Justice to all his Subjects he very happily obtained the same Right himself and the Number of his Enemies was found very inconsiderable in those very places where their Desperate Enterprizes against the Government were likely to be most sudden and pernicious Amongst divers other famous Examples of this Nature was that of Charnock King and Keys for these Criminals were very considerable for their audacious Forwardness in carrying on the execrable Design against His Majesty's Life for which they were brought to a fair and Legal Tryal and His Majesty procured Justice to be done without removing the Process into another County for here the Jacobite Party being no way powerful that old Damnable Opinion and Practice of the Lawfulness of Equivocating and even of Perjury for the Support of their Good Old Cause had not prevailed over the Old and Honest English Principles of Truth and Honour Thus His Majesty's Justice got the better at this time and is in little danger of being defeated in a greater and more important Instance should even any Peer of the Realm not only be reasonably suspected but in the Issue manifestly discovered to have been an Author or Manager of those Traiterous Contrivances against His Majesty's Crown and Life for even such a Person will find he is not under the Protection of Juries of his own Appoinment or Approbation and therefore may not presume that he stands out of the reach of His Majesty's just Indignation for should he be Legally Indicted of Crimes of the Highest Nature on clear and positive Evidence he will undoubtedly be brought to a Lawful Tryal by his Peers and the Indictment not be Stifled by a shamful Ignoramus for at this

Church and State and was actually to engage in putting the Hellish Conspiracy in Exectuion Goodman Harris Knightly Bertram and Bois notorious Papists their Hatred to the Government transported them to be Factious These were all Men of crafty Heads and nimble Tongues restless spreaders of False News bold Talkers in seditious Clubs where according to the Corrupt Fashion of the Times the most Profligate Persons of all Conditions were wont openly to Arraign the Monarchy and Vilifie the Church under the fair Shews of amending both and a tender Concernment for the Publick Good However these five last mentioned did in some measure expiate their Guilt by their Ingenious and Voluntary Confessions Sir George Barclay a Scotch Man and a Leiutenant in the late King's Guards and egregiously disaffected to the present Government and therefore of considerable Interest with the Court of St. Germain's and the French King who are the most professed Enemies of these Kingdoms by whom he was sent into England with about 20 Troopers under the disguise of being turn'd out of Commission to bring to pass his Master 's Devilish Contrivance And he was known to be one of the Chief Actors in the whole Conspiracy Brice Blair a furious Roman Catholick he was fitted for such a Design by his hot and fiery Temper and was a most desperate Enemy to the Government of these Kingdoms But of all the Conspirators the Man to whom belonged the Cheif Place and Precedence in the whole Diabolical Design was Robert Ferguson a Scotch Man he had long brandished his poysonous Tongue and virulent Pen against the Government He is manifestly convicted to have had a hand in the most Scandalous Libels of these Times and was particularly cherished and magnified by the Party for his peculiar Talent in aspersing the Government and reviling His Majesty's Person so that upon all Accounts of his restless Spirit fluent Tongue subtile Brain and Hellish Malice he was perfectly qualified to be the great Incendiary and common Agitator of the whole Conspiracy and it cannot be deny'd but he was the Life and Soul of all especially for the carrying on of the whole Design These Persons appear hitherto to have been the Principal Contrivers or Instruments of the whole Treason in the Kingdom of England and Scotland Divers others there are concerning whom more than conjectural Proofs may be given of their having been engaged in it but I chuse to spare particular Names as far as may stand with the necessary and just Vindication of the Government It may suffice that of these here mentioned the World is abundantly satisfied that the several Shares they undertook in this Conspiracy were very agreeable to their former well-known perverse Principles and declared Disaffections to the Government It is therefore certain that in the Year 1695 a time when the French King's Affairs were reduc'd to the heighth of Desparation this Diabolical Design of Assassinating His Majesty came afresh to be agitated and the whole Factious Interest in and about the Town nay throughout the three Kingdoms prepar'd to employ the main of their Power and Craft for overturning the Government All which time nothing was omitted by the Disloyal Citizens who were no way Numerous and a Multitude of Strangers unduly mingled with them in their Clubs to terrify the Loyal and gain over the timerous Members of the City and a new and Devillish Invention was much in Vogue by which they made the Swearing to the Government to be only an Instrument for the promoting their ungodly Designs All sorts of Arms never before known to be procured in such quantities by private Persons such as Blunderbusses c. were carefully sought after and bought up The most improbable and villainous false Rumors wherewith too many of our Pulpits with equal Industry and Malice design'd to poison our unthinking People filled every Street My Lord for tho I have insensibly slid into a tedious Letter I may not forget to whom I address this I take the freedom to reflect on the Stile of Modern Sermons which my Lord you know are or ought to be serious Things and to be confined to the Rules of strict and sober Truth When the Clergy find or make occasion to discourse of Princes one would think the Subject Matter should teach them Moderation and Temperance Decorum and Decency but I shall evince that some have little regarded Truth or Manners and for the performing it shall not ransack many Sermons but give your Lordship a Taste of the Fraternity's Goodly Method of disparaging and reproaching His Majesty and of their fine knack at Representation and Character and that from your Lordship's next Neighbour and a Prebendary of your Church of VVestminster I mean the Famous Dr. Birch who with his effronted Forehead tho then His Majesty's Chaplain began and that very early to sound the Trumpet to Rebellion and that before the August Assembly of the Nation 's Representatives in his lewd Harangue on the 30 th of Ianuary 1693 for which by surprise Sir T. D. obtain'd an Order of the House of Commons that he and Mr. H. who was soon after expell'd for Bribery should return the Doctor Thanks and desire him to print his Sermon which they accordingly did and so the World became Obliged by these high and extraordinary Flights We quoth His Majesty's Chaplain are still threatned in their Turn either with no Church at all or the worst among Christians Are not our very Blessings turn'd into a Curse Our Boasted Freedom is now only a Liberty to bite and devour one another Our long cry'd up Liberty of Conscience proves one of Impiety Licentiousness and Errour and at best serves for a Step to Dominion more than Devotion Our Laws are indeed open but to the continual Conspiracies of false Witnesses against the Lives and Fortunes of the Innocent Ours proceeds the Doctor is the first State-Schism known in the World We have says he entailed upon us Disputed Titles and for ought yet appears endless Wars We are fallen into those Dregs of Time wherein Hypocrisy and Profaneness seem to divide the World between them and all true and unaffected Piety is out of Countenance wherein all the Sacred Tyes to our King and Country appear as loose as our Manners If then we dare own discouraged Vertue and would stand in the Gap to save the whole from Destruction the true way is not to follow a Multitude to do Evil or to joyn in those Fashionable Flatteries that are ruine to the Embracers My good Lord I appeal to You whether this vile Discourse is not stufft with the most audacious Reproaches of a Crown'd Head that were ever heard among Christians Are such rare Men as this I beseech your Lordship fit to be trusted with our Consciences Now if I have not here set this bold Clergy-man in his true light I hope I shall do it to purpose when I tell yonr Lordship that this very Doctor was seen walking in St.