Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A60690
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A true account of several passages relating to the execution of Sir John Johnston by William Smythies ...
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Smythies, William, d. 1715.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing S4377; ESTC R19904
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3,897
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4
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A True Account of several Passages relating to the Execution of Sir John Johnston By William Smythies Curate of St. Giles's Cripple-gate I Had forborn this Publication notwithstanding many importunities if a Printed Paper had not come abroad which gave a very imperfect and in some things a very false Account concerning Sir John Johnston with which there was an aspersion that I was the Pen man of it I have been likewise informed That the Ministers who Visited him in the Prison are accus'd of being too credulous and easy to be impos'd upon And I am sure there is great Wrong done to an Apothecary in Newgate-Street I have therefore resolved to a give very just Account of Matter of Fact and no more On Thursday the 10th Instant Sir John Johnston sent an importunate Request to Dr. W. beseeching him tho' a stranger to grant his Assistance to a dying Man to which the Dr. readily complied And after he had twice given him the Blessed Sacrament and heard the most Solemn repeated Protestations of his Innocency desired Dr. F. to meet him the next day in the Prison and to bring some other Ministers with him which occasioned my Attendance When we came to him the Doctors adjur'd him by all that was Sacred and Terrible with such Expressions as might have made even an innocent man to tremble to speak nothing but the Truth assuring him withal that there was very little hope of his obtaining favour considering that many Great Men believed him Guilty of that for which he was Condemned and many other enormous Crimes He then gave us an Account concerning the taking away of the Young Heiress the Substance of which is contained in this following Letter which he wrote with his own hand a little after he had received the Sacrament the third or fourth time and when he was going to his Execution SIR I Think it is not amiss as a dying Man to give you a short Account of all my Innocency and all the Reason I know they have for bringing me to this untimely End On Fryday Morning being the Day she was taken away about Ten of the Clock Captain Campbell and Mr. Montgomery came to my Lodging with a Haunch of Venison I asked them what they were going to do with that Mr. Montgomery told me it was to Treat Madam Biarly and the rest of the Young Ladies and that he would have Captain Campbell Marryed to one of them this night and asked me if I would go and be a Witness to it I told him It must be by Consent or else I would have nothing to do with it He told me That if he did not procure her Consent he would not meddle with it and so we parted he desiring me to come and meet him at six of the Clock at a Coffee house near his Lodging which I did and met Capt. Campbell there and some time afterwards Mr. Montgomery came and call'd us to the door and told us The Business was done About Eight of the Clock Madam Biarly's Coach came by and they went all away Capt. Campbell called a Coaâ—h and six Horses and bid us go in and ordered the Coachman to drive after her Coach and stop in Great Queen street When she was put into the Coach as I am a Dying Man and now Receiving the Sacrament I could perceive no Discomposure in her at all for after some Time spent by Mr. Campbell in his Amours She began to talk of my Lord Argyle and told us That she had seen some of his Children at Ham and that he was Marryed to the Datchess of Lauderdales Daughter and asked him if he were the Second Brother Vpon some Discourse which I do not well remember she gave him her Hand that she would Marry him This good Humour continued still with her so that when the Parson desired her to say the Words after him she spake with so audible a Voice that the whole People in the Room distinctly heard her louder than the Minister After the Ceremâ—ny was over it was observed Her Wedding-Ring was too big her Husband told her he would have it changed to morrow She said No it is not Lucky to change a Wedding-Ring At Supper there was nothing to be observed but an equal Satisfaction betwixt both When it was ask't her Whether she inclined to go to Bed she freely Consented Next Morning when we came and asked them how they Rested she in particular Answered me very well About Ten of the Clock Mr. Montgomery asked her If she would go to Mr. Pontac's to Dinner she said With all her heart Where we went and stayed till Four in the Afternoon and the House full of People Then we went to our Lodgings and played at Cards till half an Hour after Nine then she went to Bed with all the seeming Pleasantness imaginable This is the Truth and no more as I am a Dying Man neither truly was it ever my Intention or Design to be a Witness of any thing that would look like a Force neither indeed was there any Occasion for it she being so very frank and Free of her self to the Marriage I have forgot to tell you That I desired her in the Coach not to be afraid of any thing for I told her there should be nothing of Force imposed upon her She told me that she was not at all afraid of that She wrote likewise to her Aunt freely a Letter desiring she might not be troubled for her for she was very well with her Husband Captain Campbell As for her Husband desiring her to go before my Lord Mayor I know nothing of that I find in the Printed Session Paper they do us a great deal of Injury in saying That she was forced to bed upon Promises and several other things Truly I never heard of any such thing till I read it in that Paper neither do I believe it The Truth of what is contained in this Letter he solemnly protested upon his frequent Receiving the Sacrament and likewise at the time of the Execution He told us that he had not been concerned in the carrying away the Young Gentlewoman if he had not understood by Mr. Montgomery that she was willing to be taken from her Aunt and would make no Noise or Disturbance when it was done He had a Paper containing the Substance of this Letter ready at his Tryal but was advised for very obvious Reasons not to make use of it That which follows is a Letter to his Kinsman occasion'd by an Information secretly given to him that his Blood would be revenged upon his Prosecutors Dear Sir BEing now on my Last Preparation for Another World I esteem my self obliged to Communicate to you my last Desires with Relation to This. I thank God I not only freely forgive all who have been Accessary to my Death but desire by this my Final Request to my Friends whom I shall leave behind to forgive them all And therefore must beg you in my Name to