I found him worthy But upon inquiry I received from all Hands so very ill a Character both of this Young and his Wife that I resolv'd to give him no Answer at all and I have never heard any thing more of him to this Day But now I beseech your Lordships to give me leave to speak to this Person my self And they intimating I should do as I thought best I said to him I Conjure you in the Presence of these Noble Lords and especially of the Great LORD of Heaven and Earth that you will declare the Truth of what I am going to ask you When you came to my House at Bromley upon a Fast-Day it was I think the first Fast of this Year Did not you desire to speak with me as having a Letter for me When I came to you into my Hall Did not you first kneel down and ask me Blessing Did you not then deliver me a Letter affirming it was from a Country-Minister a Doctor of Divinity Did not you tell me You were his Servant or Bayliff And that your Master had sent you on purpose many Miles to receive an Answer your self to that Letter from my own Hand Blackhead I never brought a Letter to the Bishop of Rochester from a Country Minister I know no such Doctor of Divinity Nor ever was Servant to any I only brought a Letter to the Bishop from Mr. Young Bishop of R. My Lords What I say is most certainly true This Man had never any other Business with me but in relation to that Letter pretended by him for now I find it was but a pretence to be written to me by an Eminent Country Divine in Buckinghamshire a Person of a Considerable Estate as he told me My Lords I cannot yet call to Mind the Doctor 's Name But the Business of the Letter I am in great part Master of and it was to this purpose That there was a Person naming him who had apply'd to him to be his Curate but that he had Reason to suspect he had Counterfeited my Hand and Seal for Holy Orders Therefore he desired me to send him Word under my own Hand by the Bearer his Man Whether I had Ordain'd such a One in such or such Years That if I had he would Encourage and Entertain hâ—m if not he would take care he should be punish'd for his Forgery Now My Lords upon the receipt of so Friendly a Letter by this very Messenger I bid him stay a little and I would give his Master Satisfaction out of my Books Whether I had Ordain'd any Man of that Name which I thought I had not Accordingly my Secretary and I did severally turn over all my Papers relating to such Affairs as carefully as we could and finding no such Mans Name in them in which we could not be easily deceiv'd because I keep Methodically as no doubt every Bishop does all Recommendations Subscriptions Testimonials and Titles of those I admit into Orders I wrote the supposed Author of the Letter as civil an Answer as his seemed to deserve That I was extreamly pleased and thankful that a meer Stranger to me should be so careful of my Reputation That my Secretary and I had diligently examin'd all the Books where such Things are Recorded And I could assure him I never had Ordain'd any such Person either Priest or Deacon within the space limited in his Letter or at any other time That I should look upon it as a signal Service done to the Church in general and a special Favour to me in particular if he would as he promised cause the Counterfeit to be apprehended so that the Course of Law might pass upon him This Letter my Lords all Written with my own Hand I delivered to the Person here present And he went away with it asking me Blessing again upon his Knees and promising I should speedily be made acquainted with the Success Earl of Devonshire I pray My Lord how was the Letter Superscrib'd you sent back by this Man Bishop of R. My Lord It was to the same Person with the same Superscription as he Subscrib'd himself and directed to the same Place where he said he was Minister tho' the Name of Place or Minister I cannot yet recover But let that Letter of mine be produced and it will put an end to this whole Controversie Blackhead The Letter I receiv'd from the Bishop was Superscrib'd to Mr. Young and to no other Bishop of R. My Lords This is a Horrid Falshood I well remember now this Fellow was at my House a second time some Weeks after the first When he came I was in the Garden with some Gentlemen my Neighbours where first asking me Blessing he told me His Master the Doctor had taken up the Person who had Forg'd my Orders That the Man stood upon his Vindication but that his Master was bringing hint up to London and then I should hear farther from him Adding That his Master was a Man of such a Spirit and such a plentiful Estate that whenever he suspected a Man to be a Rogue or a Cheat he would spare no Pains to discover him nor think any cost too much to get him punish'd These my Lords I well remember were the Knaves very Words And I hope your Lordships will likewise deal with him in the same manner I took this second Message still more kindly and order'd my Servants to entertain the Messenger very civilly Blackhead I brought no such Message All my Business with the Bishop was from Mr. Young which I suppose was of another Nature Bishop of R. What I say is so true that I am confident several of my Servants do remember the Particulars For this Man stuck not to Declare his Business before them all very much Magnifying his Master and his House-keeping and Vapouring what an Example he would make of the Counterfeit Priest without putting me to any Trouble or Expence Earl of Devonshire Has your Lordship none of those Servants near at hand Bishop of R. My Lord some of them are in Town and one my Secretary Mr. Moore by an accidental good Fortune came hither with me He was without when I was called in I doubt not but he will satisfie your Lordships what was this Man's Errand to me He is a young Man of Great Honesty and I believe would not tell a Lye to save my Life I am sure I would not have him Whilst they were calling in Mr. Moore I added My Lords I appeal to the Great God of Heaven to judge between me and this Wretch touching the Truth or Falshood of what we say and to deal with us both accordingly at the last Day of Judgment And I dare also appeal to your Lordships to judge between us by what appears to you For did you ever see greater Villany and Consciousness of Guilt in any Man's Countenance than in his By this time Mr. Moore being come in I said Moore Apply your self to My Lord Nottingham I charge you Do
Imprimatur Octob. 19. 1692. Edmund Bohun A RELATION Of the Late Wicked Contrivance Of STEPHEN BLACKHEAD and ROBERT YOUNG against the Lives of several Persons by Forging an Association under their Hands Written by the Bishop of Rochester In Two Parts The First Part being a Relation of what passed at the Three Examinations of the said Bishop by a Committee of Lords of the Privy-Council The Second being an ACCOUNT of the Two above-mentioned Authors of the Forgery In the SAVOY Printed by EDWARD IONES MDCXCII A RELATION of the late Wicked Contrivance of Stephen Blackhead and Robert Young against the Lives of several Persons by Forging an Association under their Hands c. I Think it becomes me as a Duty which I owe to my Country and to the Character I have the undeserved Honor to bear in the Church to give the World some Account how my Innocency was clear'd from the late Wicked Contrivance against me In hopes that this Example of a false Plot so manifestly detected may be in some sort beneficial to the whole Nation on the like Occasions for the future However that the Enemies of the Church may have no Reason to cast any Blemish upon it from the least Suspicion of my Guilt And that this faithful Memorial may remain as a poor Monument of my own Gratitude to Almighty GOD to whose immediate Protection I cannot but attribute this extraordinary Preservation Perhaps my Reader at first view will look on this Relation as too much loaded with small Particularities such as he may judge scarce worth my remembring or his knowing But he will pardon me if I presume that nothing in this whole Affair ought to appear little or inconsiderable to me at least who was so nearly concern'd in the event of it I have therefore made no scruple to discharge my weak Memory of all it could retain of this Matter Nor have I willingly omitted any Thing though never so minute which I thought might serve â— to fix this wonderful Mercy of GOD the more on my own Mind or dâ—d any way conduce to the saving of divers other innocent Persons Lives as well as mine I cannot indeed Promise that I shall accurately repeat every Word or Expression that fell from all the Parties here mentioned Or that I shall put all down in the very same Order as it was spoken having not had the Opportunity to take Notes of every thing as it pass'd But this I will say if I shall not be able to relate all the Truth yet I will omit nothing that is Material I will as carefully as if I were upon my Oath give in all the Truth I can remember and nothing but the Truth What I Write I intend shall consist of Two Parts The First To be a Narrative of the plain Matter of Fact from my first being taken into Custody May the 7th to the time of my last Dismission Iune the 13th The Second To contain some Account of the Two Perjur'd Wretches that were pleas'd for what Reasons they know best to bring me into this Danger For the Truth of the Substance of what I shall recollect on the first Head I am bold to appeal to the Memories of those Honourable LORDS of the Council by whom I was thrice Examin'd And touching the second I have by me so many Original Papers or Copies of unquestionable Authority which I am ready to shew any Worthy Persons who shall desire the Satisfaction as are abundantly sufficient to justifie all that I shall think fit for me to say against Blackhead and Young especially against Young It was on Saturday the seventh of May of this present Year 1692 in the Evening as I was walking in the Orchard at Bromeley Meditating on something I design'd to Preach the next Day that I saw a Coach and four Horses stop at the outer Gate out of which two Persons alighted Immediately I went towards them believing they were some of my Friends coming to give me a Visit. By that time I was got to the Gate they were enter'd into the Hall But seeing me hastning to them they turn'd and met me about the middle of the Court The Chief of them perceiving me to look wistly on them as being altogether Strangers to me said My Lord Perhaps you do not know me My Name is Dyve I am Clerk of the Council and here is one of the King's Messengers I am sorry I am sent on this Errand But I am come to Arrest you upon suspicion of High Treason Sir said I I suppose you have a Warrant for so doing I pray let me see it He shew'd it me I read it and the first Name Highted on being the Earl of Nottingham's I said Sir I believe this is my Lord Nottingham's own Hand and I submit What are your Orders how to dispose of me My Lord said he I must first search your Person and demand the Keys you have about you My Keys I presently gave him He search'd my Pockets and found no Papers but some poor Notes of a Sermon and a Letter from Mr. B. Fairfax about ordinary Business Now says he My Lord I must require to see the Rooms to which these Keys belong and all the Places in the House where you have any Papers or Books I straight conducted him up Stairs into my Study This Sir said I is the only Chamber where I keep all the Books and Papers I have in the House They began to Search and with great readiness turn'd over every thing in the Room and Closets and Presses shaking every Book by the Cover opening every part of a Chest of Drawers where were many Papers particularly some Bundles of Sermons which I told them were my proper Tools And that all that knew me could Vouch for me it was not my Custom to have any Treason in them They read several of the Text and left them where they found them But in one corner of a Press which was half open they met with a great number of Letters fil'd up I assur'd them they were only Matters of usual Friendly Correspondence and most of them were of last Years date Mr. Dyve looking on some of them found them to be so and said If he had time to view them all he might perhaps see reason to leave them behind But being expressly Commanded to bring all Letters he must carry them with him I left him to do as he pleased so they seal'd them up Then they went into my Bedchamber and the Closets adjoining doing as they had done in my Study feeling about the Bed and Hangings and knocking the Wainscot in several places to see if there were any private Hole or Secret Conveyance After that they came down Stairs and search'd the Parlour and Drawing-Room on that side of the House with the like exactness In all these Rooms I observed they very carefully pryed into every part of the Chimneys the Messenger putting his Hand into every Flower-Pot Which I then somewhat smiled at But
not for any Consideration of me speak any Thing which you cannot justifie for Truth Earl of N. Mr. Moore Do you know that Person there Pointing to Blackhead Mr. Moore My Lord I do know him so far that I have seen him once or twice at my Lords House at Bromley Earl of N. What Business had he at Bromley Mr. M. The first Time he brought a Letter to my Lord. Earl of N. From whom Mr. M. My Lord It was from a Country Minister in Buckinghamshire a Doctor of Divinity as he wrote himself his Name was Hooke Bishop of R. My Lords I now very well remember that was the Name Hooke or something very near it There may be the Difference of a Letter I will not stand upon that or can it be expected I or my Servant should be positive as to every Letter of a Name in so sudden a Question Earl of N. Mr. Moore What was the Business of that Letter Mr. M. My Lord it was concerning one that offered himself to be the Doctor 's Curate whom he suspected to have Counterfeited my Lord's Letters of Orders The Doctor desired my Lord to look into his Books whether he had Ordain'd any such Person My Lord and I did thereupon search all the Places where the Memorials of such Affairs are kept and we found no such Name and so my Lord himself wrote back to the Doctor by this very Man that stands here Earl of N. Mr. Moore Will you take your Oath of all this Mr. M. I am ready to take my Oath of it if you please to give it me Earl of N. What say you Blackhead You see here is a young Man the Bishop's Secretary comes in by chance and confirms punctually what the Bishop had said before concerning your Message to his Lord And he offers to take his Oath of it If you did bring a Letter from one Doctor Hooke Why do you not confess it It can do you no hurt Blackhead I know of no such Divine as Doctor Hooke nor any Thing concerning one that Counterfeited the Bishops Orders The Letter I brought was from Mr. Young Mr. M. My Lord This Fellow cannot but know that what he says is shamefully false I assure you I have the Original Letter at home to produce And doubt not but divers of my Lords Servants remember him and his Business as well as I do For he was a second Time at Bromley some Weeks after Earl of N. What was his Business then Mr. M. He said He came to acquaint my Lord That his Master Doctor Hooke had seized on the Person who had forg'd his Orders My Lord ask'd him Whether he had also seiz'd the False Instrument And if he had desired it might be transmitted to him This Man answered He believed his Master had got it That he was coming up to London and bringing the Cheat with him and had been there sooner had he not sprain'd or hurt his Leg But when he was come the Doctor would give my Lord Notice or himself wait upon him My Lord was much pleased with this second Message and gave Orders to have the Bringer of it well used He was so and freely discoursed with the Butler and the other Servants touching his Business there So that I am verily perswaded several of them remember all these Circumstances of it and perhaps more than I do Upon this Blackhead being again urg'd by the Lords with so plain a Testimony perfectly agreeing with what I had said and he still persevering obstinately to deny every part of it I and Mr. Moore were ordered to withdraw Blackhead staying behind As I was going out I said My Lords I cannot comprehend to what purpose this Fellow persists in this Lye I am sure he can never prove that I have injured the Government in Word or Deed or Writing Then I could not but again observe to the Lords what visible Marks of Falshood and Treachery there were in Blackhead's Face For indeed all the while he look'd as if he would have sunk into the Ground Tho' as I was told afterwards before I came into the Room he had appear'd very brisk and bold and full of Talk But upon my first coming in his Complexion which was naturally very sallow turn'd much paler and darker and he was almost Speechless saying nothing to any purpose more than what he thought was necessary to keep him firm to the main Lye That he had brought me a Letter from one Young and no other But after my being withdrawn about half an Hour I was called in again and Blackhead sent forth Earl of N. Now my Lord the Business is out the Fellow has confess'd he brought the Letter to you Written not in the Name of Young but as from one Doctor Hookes Hookes was the Name not Hooke your Lordship was in the right in saying you would not stand upon a Letter Bishop of R. My Lords I could not trust my Memory so far as to a Letter But one Thing I was sure of That was the only Letter this Rascal ever brought me and it was not from any whose Name was Young Earl of N. Well that Business is over he has confess'd it and now my Lord Pray take a Chair and sit down Earl of Devonshire Pray my Lord sit down Bishop of R. No my Lords I desire you to excuse me Earl of N. My Lord we have some few Questions to ask you and therefore pray repose your self Bishop of R. If you please to permit me I had rather answer what your Lordships have farther to say standing thus as I am at the Table Earl of N. Then my Lord we shall ask you Have you ever written to the Earl of Marleborough within these Three Months Bishop of R. I think I may safely affirm I never writ to my Lord Marleborough in my Life But I am certain and upon the Faith of a Bishop I declare I have not written one Word to him these Three Months Earl of N. Have you received any Letter from my Lord Marleborough within these three Months Bishop of R. I protest solemnly I have not received any Earl of N. Have you received any Written or Printed Papers from my Lord Marleborough within that space of Time Bishop of R. As in the Presence of God I declare I have not My Lords I have had some Acquaintance with my Lord Marleborough both in King Iames's Court and in the Parliaments since but I cannot call to mind that ever I wrote to him or he to me Earl of N. Then I think my Lords we have nothing more to do but to wish my Lord Bishop a good Iourney to Bromley With that they all rose up and saluted me testifying their great Satisfaction that I had so well cleared my self confounded my Adversary More especially Two Noble Lords of the Company to whom I said I would now particularly Appeal gave me an Ample Testimony of their belief of my Innocency in this Accusation and of my Dutiful Disposition
by a transient View I could carry away in my Memory That We whose Names were surbsribed should solemnly promise in the Presence of GOD to Contribute our utmost Assistance towards King JAMES ' s Recovery of His Kingdoms That to this end We would have ready to meet Him at His Landing Thirty Thousand Men well Arm'd That we would seize upon the Person of the Princess of Orange Dead or Alive And take Care that some strong Garison should be forthwith deliver'd into His Hands And furnish Him with a Considerable Sum of Money for the support of His Army or to this sense March 20. 9â— And the Forged Subscriptions were as I remember after this manner Marleborourgh Salisbury W. Cant. Tho. Roffen Cornbury Iohn Wilcoxe Basil Firebrace Now upon the first sight of this Paper I presently said I protest my Lords I am very much amazed to see my Hand so well Counterfeited All the difference is they have done me the favour to write it finer that I can Otherwise I acknowledge it is so like that I verily believe I my self had I seen it in another place should have been apt to doubt whether it were of my Writing or no. I am confident it might upon the first Blush deceive the best Friends I have But my Lords here is another innocent Person 's Name whose Hand I know very well And I dare venture to say it is even better forg'd than mine I mean Archbishop Sancroft's Lord Godolphin My Lords I am very well acquainted with Archbishop Sancroft's Hand And really it is here most exactly counterfeited Moreover my Lord Godolphin my Lord Sydney and others said That the Earl of Marlborough's Hand had been so well feigned in a Letter pretended to be written to Young himself that it was very difficult for his most intimate Friends to observe any Distinction And in that Letter the Bishop of Rochester was said to have the Paper in his keeping which appears now to have been meant of the False Association's being in my Custody Nay my Lord Sydney assur'd me these very Impostors had brought him a Letter supposed also to be Written by me to Young which being but of ordinary Matters he thought not worth the keeping but he well remembred the Subscription of my Name was very like this in the Association as well indeed it might By this time Young being come into the Room my Lord Nottingham spoke to him Young Look upon that Letter shewing him his own to me under the Name of Doctor Hookes Do you know that Hand Young No I don't know it Earl of N. Did not you send that Letter to the Bishop of Rochester by Blackhead Young No I know no Hookes I never writ to the Bishop of Rochester but in my own Name with my own Hand Earl of N. What say you Blackhead Blackhead I did receive that very Letter from Mr. Young 's own Hand and deliver'd it to the Bishop of Rochester with nine Earl of N. Taking up the Association and shewing it to Young Did not you give this Paper to Blackhead and order him to put it into a Chimney in the Bishop of Rochester's House and into a Flower-Pot if there were any Young No I never desir'd him to carry it thither or to put it into a Flower-Pot Earl of N. What say you Blackhead Blackhead Mr. Young did give me that Paper and directed me to leave it in the Bishop's House and if I could to put it in a Flower-Pot in some Room which I did in the Parlour Young There is no such matter I absolutely deny it Upon this the Earl of Nottingham the Lord Sydney and some others of the Counsellors ask'd Young Why then did you give us such express Directions to send and search the Flower-Pots among other Places in the Bishop's House Young I said nothing of Flower-Pots I bid you take care that the Bishop's Person should be exactly search'd because when he went abroad he carried the Association about him when he was at home he put it in some private place for fear of surprize Perhaps I might say in the Chimney The Lords replyed Nay we all well remember you particularly mentioned the Flower-Pots Earl of N. Young When you perceived that the Persons sent to seize on the Bishop had missed the Association did not you then desire Blackhead to go a third time to the Bishop's House and to take it out of the Pot where he had laid it Young No I know nothing of it Earl of N. What say you Blackhead Blackhead At Mr. Young ' s request I went to the Bishop's House a third time it was upon a Sunday I privately got into the Parlour and took the Association out of the same Flower-Pot where I had laid it and return'd it back to Mr. Young Young This is a Combination between the Bishop of Rochester and Blackhead to taffle the whole Discovery of the Plot. Which Saying of Young's could not but raise a general Smile among all the Company they lifting up their Hands with great Indignation at his unparallel'd Impudence Bishop of R. I thought my Lords the last Time I was here Blackhead was the most brazen Faced Fellow that ever I saw but now I find this same Young to be a much viler Miscreant than he This is so base a Suggestion against me and so impossible for me to be guilty of and I know your Lordships so little suspect it of me that I need not make any Answer to it in my Defence Lord President Young Thou art the strangest Creature that ever I heard of Dost thou think we could imagine that the Bishop of Rochester would combine with this thy Confederate to have an Association written with his own Hand to it and then laid in his own House in a Flower-Pot there Which if it had been found must have endangered his Life And we see it was the most remarkable good Fortune to him that almost ever hapned to any Man that it was not found there But Young still persisting that he believed I had taken Blackhead off they were both order'd to withdraw And I assure my Reader that during this whole Examination tho' Young's Forgery was so evidently Convicted by the Confession of his own Companion and Instrument yet he behaved himself with a daring unconcernd Confidence with a bold and erect Countenance though it had naturally very much of a Villain in it His whole Carriage indeed was such as became the Discipline he has undergone for these divers Years having so long been almost a constant Inhabitant together with his Wife of many of the common Gaols in England and Ireland as you shall find before I leave them But to make hast to the Conclusion of this Narration the Lord President call'd for the Letter which Young had sent to me under the Name of Hookes When his Lordship had viewed it deliberately he ask'd also for the Association and having compared them for some considerable time he broke forth in these Words Really my Lords it is a very great Providence that this Letter sent by Young under the Name of Hookes to the Bishop of Rochester was preserved by his Servant For this very Letter and the Association were both apparently Written by the same Hand you may perceive there is no manner of Difference in the Writing but only that the Letter is written in a less Hand as Letters are wont to be and the Association in a greater as a Publick Instrument At this the whole Board one after another had a perfect fight of both and all applauded the Happiness of the Discovery For it was as clear as Light to all that were present that the Letters and Words of both were of the very same Form and Figure Particularly my Lord Godolphin farther observed and made it plan to them all That the W in W. Cant. in the Subscription was the very same Letter with the W in Whereas which was the first Word of the Counterfeit Association For my Part I could not forbear Exclaiming Great is Truth and it will prevail After all this I asking the Lords Whether they had any farther Service to command me And they saying No I spoke these few Words My Lords I must always acknowledge That next the Signal Providence of God in so visibly protecting an innocent Man your Lordships fair and honorable Way of Proceeding with me in not shutting me up close in the Tower immediately upon my first Accusation but in openly Confronting me with these Varlets whil'st the Matter was fresh in my Memory and in so strictly and impartially examining them now has been the Principal Occasion that my Innocency has met with a Vindication as publick and unquestionable as I my self could have wished and prayed for But still my good Lords I do again most humbly recommend to your Lordships The Prosecution of this Black Contrivance to the Bottom for the Sake of Truth and Justice and for the Safety of every other honest Man whose Lot this might have been as well as mine I am sure your Lordships all believe that there can be no greater Service to the Government especially at this time than to have such perjured Informers so plainly discovered to be severely punished according to their Demerits And so I took my Leave of their Lordships This is the Substance of what I can remember as far as my Part goes in this Surprizing Adventure As to the Account I promised of my Wicked Accusers my Reader shall have it as fast as my weak Eyes will give me Leave to write it Tho. Roffen Aug. 1. 1692. Bromley The End of the First Part.