that William Morgan and Father Lovel were returned out of Ireland that they had given them an account that the Irish was ready to rise at ten days warning with Twenty thousand Foot and Five thousand Horse and would let the French King into that Kingdom if he should come with an Army to land there and that Father Lovel did give an account that Fifteen thousand Foot would rise in the North of Ireland and that the people were patient but very resolute and that the Duke of Ormond now Lievt is in great perplexity to see the Catholick Religion thrive so well in Ireland and that there are persons that have Secretly taken Commissions from the General of the Society of Jesus by virtue of a Breviate from the Pope Dated October 1673. and that they are resolved to cutt the Protestants Throats once again when they rise and in the said Letter the Provincial Summoned a General Council to be holden in London and therefore commanded the Fathers on the other side of the water to be present in which Letter the Deponent did see himself to be Summoned to assist at the Consultation as a messenger from Fathers to Fathers this Letter the Deponent saw in the Moneth of April 28. That in order to this Command on April the 24. 1678. Father Warren Rector of Liege Sir Thomas Preston Barronet Father March Rector of Ghent and Father Williams Rector of Watton and Master of the Novices Sir Jo. Warner Barronet Richard Ashby being sick of the Gout would not go but out of the Seminary of St. Omers went Sir Robert Brett Barronet Father Poole Edward Nevil there were in all with the Deponent about nine or ten who met in London about Consultation with Thomas Whitebread Father Hartcourt Senior and Junior John Fenwick Father Longworth William Morgan John Keines Father Lovel Father Ireland John Blundel Richard Strange Father Micho Father Gray and others to the number of fifty Jesuits met at the White horse Tavern in the Strand where they plotted their designes for the Society and ordered Father John Gray who was always there to go Procurator for Rome all which consultations they held in May 1678. The Deponent was present to attend the consultory and did their concerns from Company to Company some met at Mr. Saunders house in Wildstreet others at Mr. Fenwicks at Mr. Ayres house in Drury Lain others at Mr. Ireland's in Russel-street near Covent-Garden and other places all which though in several Companies did contrive the death of the King in order to which Papers were sent from Company to Company which the Deponent did carry containing their opinion of the business and the manner how it was to be done and within three or four days after the Deponent went to St. Omers with the Fathers who came from the other side of the water 29. Item that on the 10. of June Stilo Novo came Tho. White Provincial of St. Omers and in order to visit his Colledges in Flanders and Germany and in his Chamber of the tenth day when the Deponent with Richard Ashbey were present he told the said Ashbey and the Deponent that he hoped to see the Fool at Whitehall laid fast enough and that the Society need not fear for he that is the King is grown and would hear no complaint against them and if the Duke should see his face in the least manner to follow his Brothers foot steps his pasport was made to lay him asleep 30. Item that the said Thomas Whitebread on the Thirteenth of June did tell the Rector of St. Omers that there was a Minister of the Church of England that had Scandalously and basely put out the Jesuits Morals in England and had indevoured villanously to render them odious to the people and asked the said Rector whether the Deponent might possibly know him and the Rector not knowing called the Deponent who heard these words as he stood at the door wherein being entred the Provincial asked the Deponent if he knew him that was the Author of the Jesuits Morals his Person but not his Name The said Thomas Whitebread demanded then whether the Deponent would undertake to Poyson or Assassmate the said Author which the Deponent undertook to do and to have 500 l. reward promised him by the Provincial and appointed to return to England and the Deponent doth further testify that at the same time the said Provincial did in his Chamber say that he and the Society in London would procure Dr. Stillingfleet to be knockt in the head and also Poole the Author of Synopsis criticorum for writing something against them 31. Item That Richard Ashbey Rector of St. Omers being ill that evening with the Gout and Stone viz the 15. of June he desired the company of the Deponent and did tell him that Father Warren now Rector of the Jesuits Colledge in Leige did when he was Procurator at Paris Reconcile the late Lord Chancelor Hide to the Church of Rome upon his Death-bed which words were occasioned by the Deponents taking notice that the late Dutches of York the Lord Chancelors Daughter dyed a Papist and the Deponent when he heard the said Ashbey speak these words replyed that he never had heard any thing of the return of the Lord Chancellor answer was made that the said Ashbey was certain that the Lord Chancellor was reconciled by the said Warren 32. That the 23 of June Stilo Novo in the afternoon the Deponent had express order presently to repair to Callis and then take the Packet Boat and so away for England to attend the motions of the Fathers in London till he had orders from the Provincial to the contrary and gave the Deponent four pounds for his Charges and promised him 80 l. for service already done for the Society in Spain and elsewhere and the Deponent saith that night he parted for Callis where he met four Jesuits bound for London on Fryday they all took Boat on Saturday they arrived at Dover where they met John Fenwick who had brought Students to Dover to transport them to St. Omers The Deponent saith further that the four Jesuits John Fenwick who went at Dover by the name of Mr. Tompson and himself took Coach and that at Burton six miles this side Canterbury the Coach was stopt and a Box was seized of the said John Fenwicks by the Searchers of the place and when by them opened in it they found Beads Pictures Images and other Agnus Dei which were to be given by Bundles the Catechise to Children to encourage them to come to Catechising School and to be Catechised by him according there was a direction to him fixed on the Box to the Honorable Richard Blundel Esquire in London which Box so seized by the said Searchers and they had searched the Pockets of the said Fenwick they had found such Letters about him as he confessed to the Deponent might have cost him his Life they calling said he the concern in hand but the said Letters
by Leshee the French Kings Confessor as the said Blundel told the Deponent at the same time Wapping and the Ships in the River were to be burned and in Case the Wind blew up the River the Fire to begin at a Place near Bugbies-hole and is to be carryed on by Four men they have made sure of Wapping Middle-stairs and then Four or Five more to carry it up higher The Deponent himself with Seven more were ordered to ply about the Hermitage and his business was to encourage the Seven committed to his Care and for his reward One thousand pound was promised besides Eighty pound for former service but the Deponent saith in that Paper was contained if the Wind stood contrary they should change the Fire at the same time others were to have the charge of Tooly-street Barnaby and Thomas the Apostles on the other side the Water committed to them and the Fire is to begin on Redriff side when it begins at Wapping or presently after And this is to be done when the Tides are low that the Ships get not off from the Keys in order to the Deponents managing that part of the Fire committed to his own care at the Hermitage he was ordered to remove his Lodging into Wapping as soon as Orders should be given him and should have a Priest come to him and say Mass in his Chamber for good success to the design but the Deponent saith he did not know he was to be an Agent in the business till he saw the Paper was signed by Thomas White Provincial in the name of the whole Society 72. Item That the Deponent saith that the Pope hath Issued a Bull a Coppy of which Mr. Blundel shewed this Deponent on the 30. of August and as near as he remembers bares Date November or December last in which the Pope was pleased to Order and dispose of the Bishopricks in England and other Dignities of the same as followeth ARCH-BISHOPS Canterbury Cardinal Howard with an Addition of Forty thousand Crowns per annum for maintaining of a Legatine Power and Authority Yorke Perrot superior to the secular Priests who hath Power of Probate of Wills Licences for Marriages and all Episcopal Jurisdiction except Ordination and Confirmation BISHOPS London Corker President of the Benedictines Winchester White Provincial of the Jesuits Durham Strange Late Provincial of the Jesuits Salisbury Doctor Godden Norwich Napper a Franciscan Fryer Ely Vincent Provincial of the Dominicans Exeter Wolfe one of the Sherbon Peterborow Gifford a Dominican Lincoln Sir John Warner Barronet a Jesuit Chichester Morgan a Jesuit Bath and Wells Doctor Armstrong a Franciscan Fryer Carlile Wilmot a secular Priest alias Quartermain Chester Thimbleby a secular new Cannon of Cambray Hereford Sir Thomas Preston Jesuit Bristoll Mounson a Dominican Oxford Williams Rector of Watton and Master of the Novices he is to have the Denary of Chichester and is to have Precedence over Professors in Divinity and peruse their Lectures ere they read them in Publick St. Davids a secular Priest Benson St. Asaph Jones a secular Bangor Joseph Davis Kinmash a Dominican ABBOTS Of Westminster Doctor Sheldon a Benedictine Monk Of Sion house Skinner a Benedictine Of Canterbury Bettum a Sorbonist Of St. Pauls Leyborn a Secular and Secretary to the Cardinal Of Windsor Howard with Twelve Benedictine Cannons Of Chichester Morgan a secular Winchester Doctor Watkinson President of the English Colledge at Lisbourn many Dignities of the Church not here named are to be supplied by the Spaniards and other Forreigners because they have not Clergy enough to be Professors nor are there any Prebendaries or other Places undisposed and in the same Bull it was ordered that the Jesuits read Philosophy and Divinity in all great Towns and Places where they had Colledges but not give Degrees and whilst English Jesuits are imployed in Instructing in Humanity and Philosophy and others in reading Divinity Preaching and Catechizing they should be supplyed by Spanish Jesuits and other Forreigners to assist at the Altar and in the care of the Colledges 73. Item That the Deponent saw the Second of September a Pacquet out of Scotland directed to John Groves Dated August the 20. 1678. in which the Fathers from thence met at Edenborough did tell the Fathers here that they had not much to write but that Eighty thousand Catholicks in that Kingdom were ready to Rise and assist when the business should grow hot and would joyn with the disaffected Scots when required by the Scotch Jesuits and in the said Letter it was mentioned that one Westby was destroyed by one that was Servant to one Lovel a Jesuit for endeavouring to detect the Rebellion with its Authors and Contrivers to the Council of Scotland 74. Item That the Deponent saw on the â— 12 September Letters of the Fourth Stilo Novo from St. Omers written and subscribbed by Thomas Whitebread Provincial in which was given to Blundel to whom the Letter was directed that Twelve Scotch Jesuits were sent into Scotland by Order from the General of the Society and have One thousand pound given them by Leshee the French Kings Confessor to keep up the Commotion in Scotland that the French King may Land an Army in that Kingdom and that the said Jesuits had Orders to carry themselves like Non-Conformist Ministers amongst the Presbyterian Scots 75. Item That the Third of September this Deponent saw a Letter from St. Omers from the Provincial but it was Dated the First of September by which the Deponent did perceive that though the Letter was Dated from thence it came not from thence because it was Old Stile and thereby did believe the Provincial was in England Fifteenth a Letter directed to Blundel was specified that the Provincial was informed of some discoveries made at which he was somewhat surprised and upon second thoughts Ordered the said Blundel to desist the business in hand but to write to Benningfield not to take notice what Keines said it being but a conceit of his own and the said Blundel did on the Third of September write to Benningfield and did advertise him of the Provincials thoughts concerning what had past about that concern and in the Letter of the Provincial to Blundel it was ordered that thanks should be given to Doctor Fogarly for his Care in the business of 48. the King and for his forwardness to assist those in Ireland and Ordered Letters to be sent thither with all speed and give them his thanks and tell him he would not cease to pray for their good success 76. Item That the Provincial came to London on the Third day at Night and the Deponent went to his Lodging and was ordered to wait upon him next Morning 77. Item That the Deponent went on the Fourth in the Morning according to the aforesaid Orders and when the Provincial saw the Deponent he asked him with what face he could look on him since that he the Deponent had plaid him such a treacherous trick and strook
in which it was ordered that if the said Father Confessor should not be ready to comply with the said Stapleton that Messengers should be forthwith sent to Father Sinman at Madrid to inform His Majesty of Spain of the said concern and to make the same relation of the business to the Arch-Bishop of Tuam in the Kingdom of Ireland now at the Court of Madrid That he the said Arch-Bishop and the said Sinman might jointly give an account to the King of Spain of the motion made or to be made to the said Father Confessor to the Duke De Villa Hermosa and also to advise the Spanish King to Seize the Estates of the English Merchants in several Factories in this Kingdom For that they have endeavoured to Transport them to England which would tend highly to the prejudice of Spain and for the Confirmation whereof they procured Letters from one Fausica sometimes an Agent in London to attest the same To which the said Fausica willingly condescended and sent his Letters to St. Omers to be sent to the Court of Spain that the Fathers might give their approbation which Letter was long and large with attestations therein made against the Merchants residents in their several Factories concerning the matter of Faith before mentioned and also other Letters to Daniel Armstrong at Valladolidd and John Armstrong at Madrid which they were ordered to Confirm this affirmation made or to be made by the Fathers in England and of the English Seminaries at St. Omers Or if the said Stapleton together with that of Fausica the above mentioned Spanish Agent now lives at Bruges in Flanders All which Letters bore Date the First Second of January 1678. Stilo Novo and were seen by the Deponent at St. Omers and in the Letters to the Two Fathers Armstrong and Cross in Spaein was contained a special Order that if the fermer could go to Madrid he should send his Attestation to Don John of Austria and to carry on which 200 l. was made over by Father Sinman and the English Fathers 16. That when the Lords came from England about the business before mentioned to St. Omers Edward Nevil and Thomas Farmer did say that they would not let this Black Bastard go so to His Grave in peace meaning the King of England for that he had cheated them so often and that now they resolved to be served so no more That this Deponent standing by said if the Duke prove slippery they both replyed that his Pas-Port was ready when ever he should appear to fail them These words were heard by the Deponent on the Third of January in the Afternoon in the Library of the Jesuits at St. Omers 17. That on the Fourth of January 1678. Stilo Novo Letters were sent from Richard Ashbey Edward Hall Edward Novil Christ Peters William Busby James Junior Thomas Farmer Michael Constable Jesuits of the English Seminary at St. Omers as also from Father Williams Rector of Watton and Master of the Novices there Sir Jo. Warner Barroner alias Clare Franois Samby alias Ditz-Biling to the Father-Confessor of the Emperours Majesty That His Majesty of Great Britain hath treatherously been the ruin of the Confederates especially of the Germain Empire and of his Catholick Princes under him and has under hand stirred up the Hungarian Rebellion against his Imperial Majesty and found them Money to go on in their Rebellion His design being not to keep any Alliance with his Imperial Majesty but only in shew that he might advance the Prince of Orange his Nephew and make him absolute and therefore prayed the States of Holland might have notice of it Which Letter was seen and perused by the Deponent it being writ in the Latine Tongue All which Letters were sent away by a Lay Brother who was a Dutch Man and when these Letters were sending away one of the Lay Brothers whose name was George did say the Prince of Orange was more fit to Roban Orchard than to be a General of an Army 18. That Letters bearing Date the 1. of January Stilo Novo arrived at St. Omers January the 20. from Arch-Bishop Talbot Arch Bishop of Dubline wherein it was expressed that the Fathers of the Society in Ireland were very vigilant to prepare the people to rise for the defence of their liberty and Religion and to recover their estates and if the Parliament that was to fit in England shall joyn with the King in declaring war against France and should put His Majesty to ingage in a War with France that a place in Ireland should be open to receive the French Kings Army when His Most Christian Majesty should think fit to Land one their And in the Letter he advised the Fathers of St. Omers to advertise Father Leshee of the same and other Jesuits that had an interest in the French King and that His Majesty of Great Britain was brought to that pass that if any Male content amongst them should not prove true to their designs His Majesty would never give ear to their information and prayed them to be diligent for now was the time or never Which Letter this Deponent saw and read and in order to the Fathers Compliance with the said Arch-Bishops Letters to Father Leshee to Paris and appointed Edward Nevil and William Busby to carry and deliver them to the said Leshee which Letters were answered with all speed by the aforesaid Messengers Jesuits as above The one of them being Prefect of Studies and the other Procurator for the Seminaries and by them writ Letters to Thomas White Provincial to the Rector of St. Omers viz. Richard Ashbey but of that to the Provincial the Deponent can give no account but of that to Ashbey the Deponent faith there was expressed in it that the General of the Society of the Jesuits would Contribute 500000. Crowns to be paid in June next coming and that his Holiness the Pope would not be wanting to supply them when they had made some progress in that glorious attempt 19. That another Packet arrived at St. Omers directed to Richard Ashbey Rector there the Date whereof is not well remembred by this Deponent but as near as he doth remember it was about the beginning of the Parliament for then came the Kings and Lord Chancellors Speeches and Votes of Parliament which were put into ridiculous Phrases in contempt of the King and both Houses of Parliament and for the Fathers and Scholars to Laugh at and then Translated into French and given to the Governor of St. Omers who sent them to the French King his Master and in the Packet was contained the account of the attempt of one Pickering a Lay Brother that waited on the Jesuites lying at Sommerset-house to Shoot the King as he was Walking in St. James's Park when he was at some distance from his Nobles and Attendants but the Flint of his Pistol being loose he did defer the Action till another opportunity and if he had done it and had