to be well followed and closely observ'd because so much depends on it for if we should miss to kill him at Windsor or you miss in your way we will do it at New-Market This impudent and Notorious addition for if there were any Hint of such a design in Bedlow's before recited Evidence it was you see only in doubtful words or as a thing told Bedlo by Hartcourt I say this impudent and Notorious addition amaz'd the C. Justice and most of the Auditory but when Sir George saw that some seem'd in earnest to allow it and consider'd the Fate of all that had been yet tryed he turn'd himself to his Fellow-Prisoners and with a Disdainfull smile said There is my business done But resolving nevertheless not to die a mute he and they fell to their Defence the main of which is as follows First Sir George proved by the present Mayor of Bath his Apothecary who had read and his Son did the like the Letter of Directions for Mr. Ashby That there was not the least mention of the King or Queen besides the Baths called by their names That he had the Physical part still by him having torn it off the bottom of the said Letter and that Milk was ridiculous and never prescribed by any Physitian Oates being thus pinch'd would fain have the Milk to be Mr. Ashby's direction in Town before his going to the Bath and that there were then two Letters To this Sir George reply'd that it was Non sense to think he should write two Letters of Directions for the same man at the same place and that Mr. Ashby went to the Bath presently after the writing of them so that what he had order'd was for him there which he prov'd by young Madam Heningham and his man Hunt for he attested that his Master coming in late and weary and understanding by him that Mr. Ashby was going next day to the Bath the said Sir George made the Witness write his directions Mrs. Heningham being also all the while present who averr'd the same and that he carried them that very night to Mr. Ashby nor was there any mention of Milk only Mr. Ashby told him the said Hunt that a friend had advised him to drink it Besides Sir George told the Court that Oates at his first examination before the King and Council declar'd he never saw him and consequently could not see him write that he charg'd him there so slightly that the Board thought it not fit so much as to Commit him That he had his Liberty 24 days after his being accus'd before the Council That when Oates had accus'd him a new at the Common's Bar the Lords as appear's by the Journal examin'd Oates about this very pretended Letter and when the Chancellor askt him if he knew Sir George his hand he answered NO and that he only knew it was his Letter by being subscrib'd George Wakeman which is Reader directly contrary to his present charge Then Sir Philip Lloyd being called by Sir George he said That on the 31 of September Oates declared in Council that Fenwick writ to St Omers that Sir George had undertaken to poyson the King for 15000 l. of which 5000 l. was paid by Coleman That Sir George deny'd the thing and demanded Reparation that the Board not likeing his Carriage the Chancellor askt Oates if he knew any thing personally more than by Hear say desiring a sufficient ground for a Commitment That he lifting up his hands answer'd NO God forbid I should say any thing against Sir George for I know nothing more against him and the said Sir Philip for the Truth of what he attested appeal'd to the whole Board To this killing stroak and unquestionable evidence for every body knew Sir Philip durst not for his head have asserted a false thing since the Council before whom Oates had depos'd would have certainly question'd him I say to this killing stroak Oates had no other answer but his former to Coleman that he was weak by his two nights fatigue and that he was not COMPOS MENTIS Whereupon the C. Justice replyed That it requir'd not much strength to say he saw a Letter under Sir George's hand which was a plain and full answer also to Sir Tho. Doleman who witness'd That Oates was in a very weak and feeble condition at the Council for can any body Reader life up his hands and cry God forbid I should say more than I know and yet be so feeble as not to be able to say I know he has written Treason in a Letter Now when Oates saw this foolish Excuse would not do he openly cry'd It was such a Council as would commit no body which was not only a most Rascally Reflection and for it the Court reprehended him but a most Notorious lye since they secur'd every body whom he personally accus'd I say this was not only a Reflection and a Lie but enough to perjure him also for if he thought that this partial Councel would not secure Sir George then he has forsworn himself by saying that the remisness of his Accusation proceeded from forgetfulness and Lassitude After this Sir George desir'd that the Record of the House of Lords might be read but the Court refus'd it and then Mr. Corker began his plea. He told the Court That it was swearing with probable Circumstances that must render a man Guilty and not a ridiculous Charge by Scandalous men for otherwise no-innocent person could ever escape an Oates or a Bedlow That the Record or Lords Journal shows that Oates acknowledg'd he had nothing to say against any man but those already accused and that his name was not there That when Oates came to seize on Mr. Pickering He the Officers ask't who was in the House and when the Names of Mr. Pickering Mr. Corker Mr. Marshal were mention'd they said they had nothing to do with any body but Mr. Pickering as Ellen Rigby the House-Maid attested which plainly mproves that had Mr. Corker and Mr. Marsh been Traytors to Oates his knowledge they would have been apprehended also That the said Mr. Corker was not President of the Benedictines as Oates had depos'd and this he proved by three to wit Madam Sheldon Mrs Broad-head and the said Ellen Rigby who declared that Mr. Stapleton was in that Office and had been so for many years Besides this El. Righby who had also with others attended the Court the two former Tryals witnest That Oates last Summer came to their House a begging to Pickerings and that Pickering bad her not let him come in any more which shew'd to all the Court what a Plotter Oates was being forc'd to beg even in the very heat of the Plot and contemn'd also by his pretended Partisans Mr. Marsh added also and had the Messenger in Court That he sent for Witnesses out of the Countrey against his
Oates presently affirm'd That He was bound on pain of Damnation not to disobey his superior and if he choose him or others to a place they must take it upon them and yet every body knows that knows any thing that nothing is more frequent than for a Jesuit in these Cases to reply as they term it to the General and consequently to free himself even after Nomination After this the Prisoners call'd for Witnesses to prove Mr. Ireland's Absence out of London from the 3d. of August to the 14th of September contrary to the Positive Oath both of Oats and Bedlow which several of the Judges were against because that Business had received Tryal Others urg'd That the Jury was not to take notice of any thing done at a former Tryal unless it were then spoken of which seemed hard and strange to many because in reason the Accused were to lay hold of all Matters that could lessen the Credit of their Accusers and more especially of things relating to the Plot. But the Court even according to their own Rules were at last forc'd to grant them their Demand because Oates did in this very Tryal say That Ireland was in Town between the 8th and 12th of August and that Mr. Fenwick was with him Then the Witnesses to wit Sir John Southcot my Lady their Son and Daughter were called whereupon Sir Edward Southcot the Son affirm'd that he was told That Mr. Ireland came to his Uncles my Lord Astons in Hartford-shire on the 3 d. of August at Night but he saw him not there till early on the 4 th and that he went with him and his Family to Tixhal my Lord 's usual Residence in Stafford-shire continuing every Day with them till the sixteenth My Lady Southcot who was my Lord Aston's Sister said That he was with her from the fifth to the sixteenth Sir John the Father said to the same purpose to wit that he met Mr. Ireland at St. Albans on the fifth and that he was in their Company for Twelve Dayes after To them succeeded Mrs. Harwel the Mother Mrs. Harwel the Daughter and their Maid as also Sir John Winford's Ncece four Giffords of the Chillington-Family Mr. Biddulph of Biddulph and two of the Perdrels of Boscobel Son and Daughter to him who had there saved the King in his Escape from Worcester These proved Mr. Ireland's being at Wolverhampton from the 17 th to the 26 th when he returned to my Lord 's at Tixhal And five of them to wit Mr. Biddulph two of the Giffords and the two Pendrels attested that they saw him on the 2 d. of September some at Boscobel and others hard by which 2 d. of September was the very Day or the Day after that Oates positively swore Mr. Ireland gave him Twenty Shillings in London But Oates fore-seeing this Evidence did notwithstanding the Fact was in Print and that he had made Oath of it in that very Court even in the Hearing of several of the Judges and two of the Prisoners at the Bar insiâ—â— now That it was the Day to the best of his Remembrance but whether it was the 1 st 2 d. 7 th 8 th or 9 th of September he would not positively say Whereupon Mr. Gifford who had bin a summon'd Witness in Ireland's Tryal stood up and affirm'd That when Oates after much pressing would not be positive as to the Dayes in August he came at last to a Circumstance and aver'd That on the 1 st or 2d of September Ireland gave him in London Twenty Shillings The said Mr. Gifford also and his Wife when the Court objected whether it were the same Ireland that Dyed that was in Staffordshire declared That they had seen him in the Country and afterwards Tryed and Executed This Evidence being full and clear and the Witnesses that appeared Persons of great Quality nay there were twice as many more in the Countrey that could not come by reason of their Domestick Affairs Oates had nothing to ballance it but the Testimony of Sarah Paine the Servant-Maid which he had produc'd formerly in Ireland's Tryal about his being in Town on the 12 th of August as I said And here 't is to be Remember'd that there were two Mrs. Giffords Witnesses in this Affair which confounds the Reader at the first sight when he peruses the Printed Tryal for the Short-hand-Writer makes little Distinction between those Gentlewomen and therefore sometimes the same Person seems as it were to answer Negatively and Positively to the same Question Besides the said Writer is not alwayes Exact when the Witnesses are many who speaks so that he sayes sometimes John a Nikes spoke when 't was in truth John a Stiles The Prisoners then having cleverly proved this Point strike at all that Oates had ever said for having in Mr. Ireland's Tryal often said That he was here at the Consult of April 1678. he endeavor'd as a greater Satisfaction to the Court to further prove it by these Circumstances viz. That he came over with Fa. Williams Pa Nevil Fa. Pool Sir Thomas Preston Sir John Warner Hildesley a young Scholar and others So that Mr. Fenwick demanding now Whether he did not own his coming over with the said Hildesley Oates would have avoyded it by Bidding him ask Questions of what he said to Day but Mr. Fenwick insisting upon this as necessary and threatning Oates That he had Witnesses to prove his Asserting his thus Coming from beyond Sea Oates at last owned it whereupon Mr. Hildesley who is a Gentleman's Son of Quality appear'd and deny'd it protesting that he left him at St. Omers behind which Oates granted but would have it that he met him at Calis the next Day and to confirm this alledged that Hildesley lost his Mony there that Fa. Williams did relieve him and that he went not streight to London with them Hildesley readily confest the loss of his Mony c. saying He knew how Oates understood this to wit by a Gentleman that having met Hildesley came to St. Omexs with whom Oates was very familiar on the 2 d of May as several Witnesses present would prove Then were called in Nineteen Witnesses from beyond Sea Fourteen of which were from St. Omers and among them Sir James Dâ—rington's Son Sir Philip Palmer's Son Sir R. Dalison's Son and Sir Richard Colester's Son Son-in-Law to Colonel Charles Gifford who was so instrumental in saving of the King after Worcester but Dalison not hearing when the rest were called appeared not and so could not be a Witness till next Day The Substance of the St. Omarian Evidence was this Some remember'd by very good Circumstances Oates at St. Omers at and after Hildersley's Departure which was on the 24 th of April New stile Others of Burnaby's coming to them on the First of May who was the Person you must know Reader that could tell Hildesley's Adventures by meeting him on the Way
serve thee in this life by Grace and injoy thee in the next by Glory be pleased to grant by the merits of thy bitter Death and Passion that after this wretched life shall be ended I may not fail of a full injoyment of thee my last end and soverain good I humbly beg pardon for all the sins which I have committed against thy Divine Majesty since the first Instant I came to the use of Reason to this very time I am heartily sorry from the very bottom of my heart for having offended thee so good so powerful so wise and so just a God and purpose by the help of thy Grace never more to offend thee my good God whom I love above all things O sweet Jesus who hast suffer'd a most painful and ignominious Death upon the Cross for our Salvation apply I beseech thee unto me the merits of thy Sacred Passion and sanctify unto me these sufferings of mine which I humbly accept of for thy sake in union of the sufferings of thy sacred Majesty and in punishment and satisfaction of my sins O My dear Saviour and Redeemer I return thee immortal thanks for all thou hast pleased to do for me in the whole course of my life and now in the hour of my Death with a firm belief of all things thou hast revealed and a stedfast hope of obtaining everlasting bliss I chearfully cast my self into the Arms of thy Mercy whose Arms were stretched upon the Cross for my Redemption Sweet Jesus receive my Spirit Mr. Gavan's Speach DEarly beloved Countrey-men I am come to the last Scene of Mortality to the hour of my Death an hour which is the Horizon between Time and Eternity an hour which must either make me a Star to shine for ever in heaven above or a Firebrand to burn everlastingly amongst the damned Souls in Hell below an hour in which if I deal sincerely and with a hearty sorrow acknowledge my Crimes I may hope for mercy but if I falsely deny them I must expect nothing but Eternal Damnation and therefore what I shall say in this great Hour I hope you will believe And now in this hour I do solemnly swear protest and vow by all that is Sacred in Heaven and on Earth and as I hope to see the Face of God in Glory that I am as innocent as the Child unborn of those Treasonable Crimes which Mr. Oates and Mr. Dugdale have Sworn against me in my Trial and for which Sentence of Death was pronounced against me the day after my Trial. And that you may be assured that what I say is true I do in like manner protest vow and swear as I hope to see the Face of God in Glory that I do not in what I say unto you make use of any Equivocation or mental Reservation or material Prolation or any such like way to palliate Truth Neither do I make use of any Dispensations from the Pope or any body else or of any Oath of Secresy or any Absolutions in Confesion or out of Confession to deny the Truth but I speak in the plain sence which the words bear and if I do speak in any other sence to palliate or hide the truth I wish with all my Soul that God may exclude me from his Heavenly Glory and condemn me to the lowest place of Hell Fire and so much to that point And now dear Country-men in the second place I do confess and own to the whole World that I am a Roman Catholick and a Priest and one of that sort of Priests called Jesuits and now because they are so falsly charged for holding King-killing Doctrine I think it my duty to protest to you with my last dying words that neither I in particular nor the Jesuits in general hold any such opinion but utterly abhor and detest it and I assure you that amongst the vast number of Authors which among the Jesuits have Printed Philosophy Divinity Cases or Sermons there is not one to the best of my knowledge that allows of King killing Doctrine or holds this position That it is lawful for a private Person to kill a King although an Heretick although a Pagan although a Tyrant there is I say not one Jesuit that holds this except Mariana the Spanish Jesuit and he defends it not absolutely but only problematically for which his Book was called in and that opinion expunged and censured Aud is it not a sad thing that for the rashness of one single Man whilst the rest cry out against him and hold the contrary that a whole Religious Order should be sentenc'd But I have not time to discuss this point at large and therefore I refer you all to a Royal Author I mean the wise and victorious King Henry the Fourth of France the Royal Grandfather of our present gracious King in a publick Oration which he pronounced in defence of the Jesuits amongst other things declaring that he was very well satisfied with the Jesuits Doctrine concerning Kings as being conformable to the best Doctors in the Church But why do I relate the testimony of one single Prince when the whole Catholick World is the Jesuits Advocate therein Does not Germany France Italy Spain and Flanders trust the Education of their Youth to them in a very great measure Do not they trust their own Souls to be governed by them in the administration of the Sacraments And can you imagin so many great Kings and Princes and so many wise States should do or permit this to be done in their Kingdoms if the Jesuits were men of such damnable principles as they are now taken for in England In the third place dear Countrey-men I do protest that as I never in my life did machine or contrive either the deposition or death of the King so now at my death I do hartily desire of God to grant him a quiet and happy Reign upon Earth and an Everlasting Crown in Heaven For the Judges also and the Jury and all those that were any ways concern'd either in my Tryal Accusation or Condemnation I do humbly beg of God to grant them both Temporal and Eternal happiness And as for Mr. Oates and Mr. Dugdale I call God to witness they by false Oaths have brought me to this untimely end I hartily forgive them because God commands me so to do and I beg God for his infinite Mercy to grant them true Sorrow and Repentance in this World that they may be capable of Eternal happiness in the next And having discharged my Duty towards my self and my own Innocence towards my Order and its Doctrine to my Neighbour and the World I have nothing else to do now my great God but to cast my self into the Arms of your Mercy I believe you are One Divine Essence and Three Divine Persons I believe that you in the Second Person of the Trinity became Man to redeem me and I believe you are an Eternal Rewarder of the Good and an Eternal Chastiser of
was order'd to acquaint Mr. Langhorn in the Temple of the MINUTS past at the said Consult by which he understood of Grove's and Pickerings employment and Reward That Mr. Langhorn with lifted up hands and eyes for the good successe did then sign also the Consult and told him That he had Receiv'd about fifty Commissions from Rome and among others shew'd him the Commissions for my L'd. Arundel Powis Stafford Bellassis and Peters as also Mr. Langhorn's own to be Advocate of the Army which were all Sealed with the Jesuits Cross or Cipher and signed by their General the Seal and Hand being the same as that of the Patent which Oates had then in Court viz. a Pattent constituting F. Stapleton Rector of St Omers and found it seemes among the Jesuits Papers That He the said Oates saw those Commissions in his Study upon his Desk when as Mr. Langhorn appeals in his Memoires to all that great Company which frequented his Chamber whether any of them ever saw a Desk in his Study That Mr. Langhorn gave him several Originals from F. Anderton and La Chaise who did assure them of his Constancy in carrying on the Cause and that the French King would stand by them with Men and Money That Mr. Langhorn being Sollicitor for the Jesuits did Communicate the Design to the Benedictins who promis'd 6000 l. That Mr. Langhorn call'd Sr. George Wakeman a narrow soul'd Phisitian for not being content with 10000. l. That he the said Oates never stir'd out of the Colledge of St. Omer from December till his coming away in April except a Night or two at Watten and when he went to Paris 'T was here some two questions before that Mr. Langhorn began to be Nice about the time of his coming to St. Omers c. whereupon the Court answer'd That all the Defences of the Papists lay in Catches about time a thing which no man living could be positive in which heartned Oates not a little for he being presently askt by Mr. Langhorn when he return'd in April into England he answered about the middle of that moneth and that he stay'd under twenty dayes a Latitude which he would now have fain granted him by reason of his ill success in the former Tryal though the Court never then pretended as you saw to extend it to above eight or ten and because he fear'd Mr. Langhorn he desired the Court to ask the Questions adding that he knew they would be so kind as to ask him such Questions as were reasonable After this Mr. Langhorn demanded whether he came with Hildestey from Dover by Coach or on Horseback to which Oates after much hesitation answer'd That the Question was so sudden that he could not be positive but at last said that as near as he could remember It was by Coach This strange uncertainty amaz'd many but more smild at it considering that in truth he had reason for what he did as not knowing the question was casual but that Mr. Langhorn might have Witnesses ready to prove how Mr. Hildesley made that journey nay he would not tell Mr. Langhorn positively whether he lay at Grove's the first night of his coming to London or no though he 〈◊〉 directly sworn in Irelands Tryal as has bin mention'd before That he was commanded to lie close at that House so that if he had had such Instructions it was impossible for him not to remember whether he broke them or no and more especially at his first Arrival about so dangerous and great an affair Bedlow brought up the Reer and after he had also produc't as Oates had done before a private Patent of the Jesuits found by him in the search of Mr. Arthur's House and which Reader you must know is written forsooth in the same Hand and seal'd with the same Seal as the Commissions were he had seen at Paris I say after this he askt fearing there would be Witnesses to what he said whether a Papist might take Notes The Court at first thought not But when they understood that the Scribe was the Marchioness Dowager of Winchester 't was answer'd That a Womans Notes would signifie no more than her Tongue and then he thus began That Coleman carried him about three Years ago to Mr. Langhorn's Chamber who in his presence register'd several Treasonable Letters for La-Chaise c. some of which had been read in Court at Coleman's Trial That there was no a penny of money receiv'd or paid or the least thing done in relation to the Plot that was not registered by Mr. Langhorn That a year and a half ago he carried a Pacquet from Hartcourt to be registred That he was registred by the name of Captain Williams and not by his own which he wondring at Hartcourt Answer'd That this was but a blind Register and that there should be a new one That one of these Letters was from the Rector of the Irish College at Salamanca who desir'd the Lords and the rest here to be ready for that he had provided at the Groin as Pilgrims several Irish cashier'd Soldiers and Bandits as also a great many Lay-Brothers who landing at Milford should be joyn'd with the Army my Lord Powis was to raise That in May 76. he carried a Letter to Mr. Stapleton the Benedictin to raise money for England That Pritchard told him That Mr. Langhorn had Commissions That Sir H. Tichbourn shew'd him three at Paris sign'd by the General of the Jesuits and seal'd with their Seal like the before-mention'd Patent That he knows only by report of Mr. Langhorn's being privy to Grove's and Pickering's design of Killing the King for having a mind to go to Windasor to see what the Assassines did he askt Hartcourt leave as if he went to a friend at Plimouth who Answer'd He could not be spared till they knew how the Gentlemen had succeeded and that he the said Hartcourt was going to Mr. Langhorns to take the MINVTES which was the contrivance of sending down the Assassines to New-Market That the Letter which he saw Mr. Langhorn Register to the Benedictins beyond Sea was to Sollicit them to get their contributions ready since the Hearts and Arms of the party 〈◊〉 ready here and That in the French Letter to F. La Chaise Registred also by Mr. Langhorn there were invitations to that King to invade us Now upon Mr. Langhorn's saying that he understood only Law-French as an Argument that he could be no Register and upon Bedlow's confessing he never heard him discourse in French Oates to salve the difficulty cry'd out and thereby made not a few laugh That he himself could neither write not read French but he could Translate it And when Bedlow was askt by Mr. Langhorn whether Mr. Coleman's Letter Transcrib'd by him were long like those in the Narrative or no the said Bedlow Answer'd The best part of half a sheet of Paper for