was given to all debaucheries viz. Whoreing Drinking and particularly to Swearing that to be true which was not so in which Depositions he is like himself constantly false for he cannot so much as pretend that ever he saw me in Kent and consequently the Reader cannot but be satissied that he swears rashly and falsely As for the matter of his Depositions which indeed he knows nothing of I refer my self to a worthy Gentleman Collonel Charles Wheeler and his Family with whom I liv'd a year and a half and to Sir Thomas Scot and his Lady with whom and in the Neighbourhood I liv'd the rest of the time during my residence in Kent whether ever they heard me so much as suspected of these crimes I know these worthy persons are such friends to justice as that they will not scruple to give his Doctorship the Lye At our Trial he subpena'd some people out of Kent who were so far from seconding this Villain that they depos'd much to my advantage and I am certain that he cannot produce any who can justly charge me with these vices or that ever I wrong'd or defrauded any person or by false swearing invaded any mans right or good name crimes peculiar to this publick Enemy and who like the Devil endeavours to have all others esteem'd at least if not to be like himself The last Subject of his Depositions against me is a Narration of what befel me in Ireland and in this as in all the rest it 's highly probable that he lies and swears falsly he swears he saw a Letter from the Bishop of Meath which said that I was endited and fin'd 200 lb. for saying that Oates was a perjur'd Rogue and the Jesuites who suffered justly dyed Martyrs and that there was no Popish Plot for the only words of my enditement were Titus Oates was a Rogue and the five Jesuits Martyrs and not one syllable more was alleadged against me so that considering that Reverend Prelate who was a person of great integrity and justice I have much more reason to believe that Titus Oates would conclude as he begun a calumniating lying forsworn wretch than that any thing should be alledged that entrenches upon the veracity and clear reputation of that pious Bishop I have now done with the Doctor 's Depositions in examination of which I have I hope with all plainness confuted the calumnies of Oates's Friends who gave out that the Doctor swore only that he was inform'd of those things he depos'd against me whereas it is clear to any man except an Ignoramus who shuts his eyes and will not see that what he has deliver'd under his own hand and oath is in the most material parts positive and to his own knowledge and I hope I have also with perspicuity enough expos'd him forsworn in most of his Depositions whom in my conscience I believe and know to be so in all and every particular And now at the foot of the account I cannot but prosess my hearty regret that such a monstrous Serpent and venemous Viper whose mouth is as an open Sepulchre and under whose lips is the poyson of Asps should be brought forth and foster'd in this our otherwise happy Island who with bloody Oaths and execrable blasphemies rends the bowels of his mother and labours as much as in him lyes her Destruction It is matter of real grief to me that he should find entertainment in this Nation who has expos'd it to the scorn and derision of them who are round about us The stealing away of the Grand Lowys in the French Farce was but an imperfect representation of the silly senseless credulity with which this swearing lying Rascal has stain'd the English reputation he has sixt a blot upon this generation not to be washt off by all the blood in his veins He has dishonoured the Christian Religion and particularly he has affected the Protestant with ignominy and shame he has blasphem'd God and injur'd man a detestable enemy to both The Reader I suppose considering how I have been damnified and exasperated by the malice of this wicked Fellow will not think it strange if I endeavour'd to do my self right and apply'd my self for satisfaction to the Law which for a while I respited in consideration that Oates at that time was the King's Evidence and had his residence in his Majesties Palace which under the Rose has frequently call'd to my mind one of the Plagues of Egypt which brought forth Frogs even in the King's Chambers and Lice in all their quarters But afterwards when I perceived that he forsook his Majesty and became Witness for the Traitor Colledge and that afterwards he was turn'd out of that Royal Entertainment for his ungrateful demerits and that thence he betook himself to the seditious and disloyal part of the City associating chiefly with those who are suspected of High Treason and Capital Misdemeanours and that he was by them encourag'd for some swearing job no question when time should serve I thought it them seasonable to expose him to which my resolution a strange accident did seem providentially to concur After the arival of the Morocco Ambassadour I had the curiosity with others to go to see these people amongst whom once I had been Captive the Secretary Hamet Lucas upon the first view immediately knew me and seiz'd me crying out That I was his Christian and that he had bought me with his Money and that I had made an escape from him at Salle which unexpected encounter together with his confirmation of my formerly reputed Romantick Escape and that he was not poison'd nor knock'd in the head by me as Oates by malicious swearing insinuated seem'd an occasion which providence offer'd into my hands to vindicate my own reputation and to prosecute this false Swearer which I did by arresting him THE TRIAL BETWIXT TITUS OATES And ME. IDeclar'd against him for saying that I was a Popish Priest and had been circumcised as a Mahumetan to which the Doctor pleaded not guilty upon which we joyn'd issue having June the 30th appointed for a day of Trial. The words were plainly prov'd by the Honourable Ralph Grey Esquire and Mr. William Durham a Clergy-man before whom he had spoke them after which my Council were proceeding to aggravate the charge by proof that he had not only said these words in several companies and more especially before his Majesty as Captain George Collingwood was there in Court ready to attest though not call'd upon that he heard Titus Oates depose in his Majesties presence that I was a Jesuit and was sent over from Ireland under the masque of a Clergy-man of the Church of England to be a spy as also that he had maliciously swore to the truth of those calumnies and slandering expressions against me but the Council of the Defendant conceded that the words were prov'd sufficiently begg'd leave to offer something in mitigation of Dammages viz. some proof that Titus if he did speak such words
Oathes with a suitable Lye he stiles himself Titus Oates Sacra Theologiae Professor which rendred into true English is Titus Oates a damn'd Liar for Titus Oates Doctor in Divinity is a contradiction to truth He has impos'd upon the nation asserting upon the word of a Priest that he commenc'd Doctor at Salamanca whereas he has made it highly probable that he never was there and besides by declaring that he never received Clerical Orders from the Church of Rome he has given all understanding men a better proof than his Oath that he could never be a Doctor no person being qualified for that degree in that University who is not a Romish Priest It is very unlikely that he should obtain the highest honour of Academical preferment in a forreign University who never deserv'd the Grace of the lowest degree in the University of Cambridge amongst his own Countreymen The Doctors of Salamanca are much fam'd for their acuteness and exact knowledg in Scholastick Divinity which this blockhead understands as much as he does Greek or the Chinese Languages which his Mother never taught him and therefore he is a stranger to I have heard of Angelicus Doctor and Seraphicus Doctor but I never heard of Doctor Diabolicus until Titus Oates and the hellish Popish Plot appear'd together a Damnable Doctor created at the Amsterdam-Coffee-house or B l's Club in the Devils name and so let him pass Having by this prefatory address of a palpable Lye bespoke the Readers belief to what follows he begins and swears four abominable rappers in a breath he swears I beat my Tutor that I robb'd a study of Books and offer'd to sell the Books to him that during his knowledg of me which by his own acknowledgment was only for the space of a year I was maintain'd by some Doctors of the University and yet during that time I was not maintain'd by them for they withdrew the maintenance by reason of my whoring drinking c. and lastly he swears that I went a Deer-stealing These are four scandalous crimes by which he begins and assaults my Reputation but because he knew the charge lay obnoxious to be disprov'd and the falsity thereof might easily be made appear by the testimony of the whole Colledge therefore he has recourse to the usual shelter of his lies viz. I confess'd these things to him And now he thinks he has entrench'd himself secure against the most powerful attacks of the plainest truth It was to this refuge that this impudent forger of falshoods betook himself when at my Lord Castlemain's Trial he was charg'd by that noble Person with a manifest Lye in asserting that he was divorc'd he brought himself off with a retreat to the old sconce I am sure says he My Lord told me he was divorc'd But I hope the Reader will be so just as to qualify this sort of argument which if admitted without consideration is as apt to destroy the innocent as condemn the guilty the quality both of the Oath and the Swearer ought to be examined otherwise the most innocent person is expos'd to the malice of every confident Villain Now the Doctor has sworn against me crimes committed in Cajus Colledge in Cambridge which the Colledge never so much as heard me suspected of and moreover some persons of known integrity and veracity who were well acquainted with me and during all the time of my residence in Cambridge knew me intimately have thought themselves oblig'd to do me justice and have upon Oath in the Court of Delegates declar'd that they had all reason to believe me abus'd by malicious slander seeing if there had been any ground for such aspersions they must of necessity have been made acquainted with it as who were my fellow-Collegiates and had the opportunity of a converse four times as long as Oates can pretend to My Tutor did likewise declare and offer'd to make Oath that he never knew me in the least guilty of any such undutiful carriage as to beat him or any fellow in the Colledge he moreover did attest and offer'd to procure the Testimony of the whole Colledge that I never was charg'd nor suspected of Robbing a study and whereas this impudent false-witness did aver to a person of Honour that I robb'd my Tutor's study that he himself never had his study robb'd either by me or any other As for Oates's other charge that during his knowledge of me I was maintain'd by some Doctors and that for my whoreing drinking and riotous living they withdrew the maintenance The whole Colledge can attest that I resided in the Colledge till after I was Batchelour of Arts and I desy the Doctor to produce one Cambridge Dun who could charge me with the least Debt when I left the University and how then I should be addicted to such expensive vices especially seeing the Doctor has been pleased to allow me but a very small competency to maintain them is matter of enquiry But his last charge is the most wild and extravagant of all viz. Deer-stealing I solemnly profess I never saw a Deer during my being a member of Cajus Colledge I never saw any Park neither knew I where there was any neither did I know or hear of any who were addicted to that sport in the University and for the truth of what I assert here I refer my self to the arbitration of that Society of which I had the honour to be a Member and to all persons in the University acquainted with me or my conversation who can be suppos'd to be the only competent Judges or Witnesses in this affair And now how shall I ferret him out of his last hole namely his plea that I confessed my self guilty of these crimes to him there is no way of demonstrating the falsity of this but however I have as great probabilities thereof to offer as the matter will allow and I hope the Reader will not expect more As 1st it is highly improbable that Titus Oates should contract a greater acquaintance with me in one year than any of the Colledge could do in four 2ly That I should defame my self or unbosome my self to him who was of the meanest repute in the Colledge who was inferior to me both in years and in standing in the University and who besides was as to his quality only a poor Sizer the Son of a Weaver and as to his parts the most ignorant illiterate Dunce uncapable of improvement from whose converse there was not the least prospect of advantage And then in the third place notwithstanding his precise memory which has registred more Letters than ever Langhorn writ notwithstanding he can remember the particular hand-writings of a thousand men only by seeing them put Pen to Paper yea notwithstanding he swears he is very well acquainted with my character fifteen years ago which is more then I am my self and that we were such intimate Comerades that I trusted him with all my secrets yet he unhappily cannot call to
mind who was my Tutor yea he cannot tell whether I was his Fellow-Pupil for Mr. John Ellis was his Tutor which is a pretty fair indication that his memory is not so excellent as his Lying for if it was defective where he had such convenient helps it affords reason to suspect it too bad to remember where he could have but mean and imperfect assistances I have been thus prolix in vindicating the reputation of my younger years from this Calumniator's aspersions not that I arrogate any supererogating observation of the Statutes of our Colledg for I am sufficiently sensible of the loss of these opportunities which I might have improv'd to very happy advantages under the excellent discipline of that learned Society which I ought never to mention but with all resentments of Gratitude and Honour but that I might shew unto the world how consistent with his principles this forsworn Villain has been in every particular against me charging me only with those things which are false and of which the severest Censor of manners in Cajus Colledge must pronounce me innocent and that Titus Oates must have been a perfect Stranger both to my converse and humour The Bloud-thirsty Murderer makes his next attempt to take away my life he swears he saw a Letter subscribed by my hand in the year 1670 directed to the Rector of S. Omers wherein I gave him an account that I had receiv'd Priests Orders and had sung high Mass in the English Colledge at Rome this Letter he swears he saw in the year 1677. If the Valiant Captain were alive now to second the Learned Doctor and swear that he saw Langhorn register this Letter there needs no more to hang me Good God! how unsearchable are thy judgments and thy ways past finding out who thus permittest the blood-thirsty and deceitful man to go on still in his wickedness and to prosper in his Villanies in respect of which Cain the Murderer was innocent and a Saint If the Schoolmen and Doctors of Salamanca have given a true notion of the Sin against the holy Ghost then I do affirm that there is no hopes of pardon for that damn'd Reprobate a sham-brother of theirs Doctor Titus Oates who sins wilfully in despite of his conscience and swears and lyes against his knowledg outbraving Hell-fire and daring the vengeance of God for I desire the Reader to take notice that I invoke this vengeance of the Almighty to seize me immediately if ever I received any Orders from the See or Church of Rome or if ever I received any Ecclesiastical Ordination except of Deacon An. 1671 from the hands of Bishop Laney of Ely and of Priest An. 1672 from Bishop Henchman of London according to the rites of the Church of England now by Law established Moreover if ever I wrote any such Letter as Oates swears I did to the Rector of St. Omers or any other person or if ever Oates saw any such Letter writ by me And that I may satisfy the Reader as far as I can in the proof of a Negative I declare my name was never known to be Elliot beyond Sea as hundreds can attest and besides to shew that that Rogue 's wickedness is more my concern than the danger of my life I will put it to the venture and gage my life against his if the law will permit that he knows not my hand-writing from any other which he never saw If I had received Orders from the See of Rome I needed not to be Reordained our Church holding the Romish Ordination to be valid But because his chief aim in his Depositions was to invalidate my Testimony he is not content to have made me a Priest but he boldly calls God to witness that I am a Renegado and a Mahumetan swearing I that I was carried a Slave into Barbary 2ly that there as it was generally and credibly reported I was circumcis'd 3ly that I confess'd I gave poyson to my Patron 4ly that after that I returned to Rome 5ly that I made a Recantation there 6ly that he saw this Recantation under my own hand being well acquainted with my character In every of which particulars I do affirm and engage my self to prove Titus Oates to have sworn falsely and I challenge all his friends to undertake his defence from the imputation of having sworn in some of these instances maliciously and contrary to his knowledge and in some others to put the best construction rashly and in all falsely As to the first Oates never saw me in Barbary therefore he swore beyond the sphere of his knowledge and howsoever it be materially true yet it is formally false in him who swears at random and calls God to witness his certainty of the truth in a matter which he cannot know whether it be true or false yea which he has more reason to believe to be false than true according to his own Oath as afterwards it follows in the Depositions that after I came to England and when I lived in Kent An. 1673 I was much given to swearing that to be true which was not so then thus I argue ad hominem all the intelligence that Oates had of my having been in Barbary and a Slave there proceeded from my own information to several persons before it came to his hands and therefore seeing I was the sole author of the Narrative of my Captivity Oates had more reason to believe it false than otherwise And besides the account of my escape appear'd so Romantick that a great many persons who heard it thought themselves oblig'd upon good prudential considerations to suspend their judgments and to doubt whether ever I was in Barbary or not so that Oates by swearing positively that I was carried a Slave into Barbary has sworn to the truth of that which he could not be certain of and which he had much more reason to believe to be false 2. As to the second particular that there viz. in Barbary it was generally and credibly reported that I was circumcis'd this Oath is also rash and therefore false and is liable to be prov'd so by the same means as the former because Oates never was at Salle the place of my Captivity and consequently could not certainly know what was generally and credibly reported there Moreover whereas he swears it was generally and credibly reported it seems very probable that if he swears true and does not contradict his conscience he could produce some of those persons whom he knows to be credible but I challenge him and all mankind to produce one person who ever attested or reported that I was circumcis'd until about three years agoe Titus Oates brought this Lye and a great many others into the world Seeing then he cannot produce one of those many witnesses whose credit he much relies upon its probable he swears maliciously as well as falsely but however it is certain he swears at least rashly to a thing which he did not know and therefore falsely 3.
He swears I confess'd I gave Poyson to my Patron this I deny and Oates is forsworn in saying so for I could not confess to Oates because I never saw him since I was at Cambridge which was before I rtavail'd And if he only heard so from others therefore Oates has sworn rashly to the truth of a matter which is false and of whose truth he had no means of being certain 4. He swears that after I had been in Barbary I return'd to Rome this is false and the Doctor in this is also forsworn for I have never been in Italy nor within two hundred Leagues of any part of Italy since I was in Barbary and the truth of this and the moral impossibility of the contrary will be attested by persons of worth and unexceptionable credit and veracity for in the year 1670 Doctor Zachary Cradock now Provost of Eaten who was then Minister to the English Merchants at Lisbon and Mr. Bulteel a worthy Merchant who then resided at Lisbon with others do remember me and saw me at Lisbon in the month of June before I embarkt in that Vessel in which I was taken and they can attest that I return'd back to Lisbon in September after I had made an escape Sir Martin Westcomb Consul of Cadiz is able to attest that in the beginning of September 1670 I arriv'd at Cadis from Mamora the place whither I escapt from Salle in a Spanish Barca-longa and that I brought a Letter from the Governour of Mamora to the Duke of Vergauas Governour of Cadis and that after a fortnights stay there he procur'd me passage in a Dutch man of war for Lisbon from Lisbon I return'd home in another Dutch man of war in which I embarkt about the middle of October and was carried to the Texel and so to Amsterdam in November about the beginning I refer my self to the testimony of Dr. Marshal Master of Lincoln Colledge in Oxford then Minister to the English at Dort who was pleas'd to assist my necessitous condition and Sir John Chichely then Envoy to the Governour of the Spanish Netherlands who remembers me and his servants with whom Sir John was pleas'd to grant me passage from Brussels to Ostend whence having been stopt there a fortnight by bad weather I return'd home and landed at London about the latter end of November 1670. There are several persons of Quality and worth who remember me and upon Oath can attest my residence ever since November 1670 so that it is morally impossible that ever I should have been at Rome since I was in Barbary and besides the business in which he engages me at Rome which he swears in the next place requires a time for its performance which it is impossible for any considering Reader to allow 5. He swears I made a Recantation at Rome this he swears positively and I swear he lyes abominably and this the Intelligent Reader may be easily convinc'd of by this short demonstration Every one who renounces the Christian and embraces the Mahumetan faith is immediately circumcis'd that being the essential form of iniitation into that Religion and an infallible character of all its Proselytes if therefore I am not circumcis'd then it is impossible that I could have been a Professor of Mahomets Law and consequently it is as impossible that I should have recanted it at Rome But I am not circumcis'd neither as a Proselyte nor otherwise which this Rogue 's unparallell'd impudence and villany has oblig'd me to prove by a demonstration not altogether so consistent I confess with the gravity of my Profession yet such as I have no great reason to be asham'd of since providence has made it instrumental for discovery of the truth and preservation of my own life and rescuing my fame from the imputation of a far greater moral turpitude than any natural I thank God I am guilty of Titus Oates is therefore palpably forsworn and to the shame and confusion of himself and all who dare stand up for him I can demonstrate it But further yet there are collateral arguments to convince the Reader of the falshood of this his Oath If I recanted my Apostacy from the Christian Religion how came I to escape the Inquisition at Rome which is a harder escape than from Salle and this the Doctor would be sure of if he were there There are none whether the Doctor know it or no who turn from the Romish Religion to the Protestant or as they term it Heretical who are received into the bosome of the Church of Rome upon a bare Recantation they are besides to endure a purgatory in the Inquisition much more if they revolt and apostatize totally from Christianity and most especially if they were Priests as the Doctor swore I was The Doctor therefore by being silent as to this particular how I got clear of the Inquisition which must have been very remarkable has given one main argument that I never deserv'd it and therefore that I never recanted and therefore that he is a malicious lying Rogue 6. He swears he saw this Recantation subscribed with my own hand and that he is well acquainted with my character every syllable whereof is false and he maliciously contradicts the truth swearing contrary to his conscience for he must certainly know that he never saw that which never was And besides if I had made such a Recantation it would have been very notorious and the News of the Prints at that time and for a further conviction I desire the Reader once more to take notice that hundreds can attest that my name was never known to be Elliot beyond Sea and Oates is ignorant by what name I went and how then he should know my hand or what I was is next to an impossibility In these six foregoing particulars the Doctor is manifestly forsworn and has shewn only the pregnancy of a wicked invention without any judgment by improving an innocent if not commendable passage of my life to a crime that is Capital and making me to deserve imprisonment and Death amongst Christians because I made a laudable attempt to escape from a Moorish Bondage and Captivity It is lamentable that amongst Christians in England I should meet with a faith worse than Punick and that Haggi Hamet Lucas a barbarous Moor should outvye a Doctor of Salamanca in Christianity But blessed be my good God who hath delivered me from the paw of the Lion and the Bear and I trust will likewise deliver me from this Vncircumcised Philistine he whose eminent providence has appear'd in my deliverance from the Monsters of Africa from the house of Bondage and slavery to cruel Masters will likewise vindicate my Innocence from the false swearing of this Monster of men who by wicked blasphemies defies the Armies of the Living God He proceeds on in his wicked lying and false sweating as if it were religion with him never to speak truth swearing positively that An 1673 when I liv'd in Kent I