<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2014-10-08</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Corrected markup.</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B43810">
<STC T="W">R936A</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">690986717</BIBNO>
<VID>211667</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<P>REMARKS ON THE TRYAL OF Mr. <HI>Ireland,</HI> Mr. <HI>Pickering,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Grove,</HI> Which was Lately Published by Authority.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PSAL. 42.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Iudica me Deus, &amp; di&s;cerne Cau&s;am meam de <HI>Gente</HI> non Sanct&acirc;: Ab homine <HI>Iniquo</HI> &amp; <HI>Dolo&s;o</HI> erue me.</P>
<P>Let my Cau&s;e be tried by Thee, O Lord, and not by an Un&s;anctified Country [or <HI>Corrupted Iury:</HI>] That &s;o thou may&s;t Deliver me from the Unju&s;t <HI>[Iudge]</HI> and Deceitful <HI>[Witne&s;s.]</HI></P></Q>
<P>Printed in the Year, 1679.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="interpretation">
<PB REF="3" MS="y">
<HEAD>Boet. de Con&s;ol. Phil. lib. 1.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Quid igitur? no&s;traen&egrave; artes it&agrave; meruerunt? an illos Accu&s;atores ju&s;tos fecit praemi&s;&s;a Damnatio? It&aacute;ne fortunam nihil puduit, &s;i min&ugrave;s accu&s;atae Innocentiae, &agrave;t Accu&s;an|tium Vilitatis?</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>What? are both the <HI>Merits</HI> of the Accu&s;ed, and the <HI>Crimes</HI> of the Accu&s;ers &s;o &s;oon forgotten? And though you blush not to Arraign the Innocent, are you not, at lea&s;t, ashamed of the Infamy and Ba&s;ene&s;s of tho&s;e Wit|ne&s;&s;es by whom you do it?</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Fraus aperta patui&s;&s;et, &s;i nobis ip&s;orum Confe&s;sione Delatorum, quod in omnibus nego|tiis maximas vires habet, uti licui&s;&s;et.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>The Cheat would have ea&s;ily been di&s;covered, had it been lawful for us to alledge in our behalf the Confe&s;&s;ions of the very Informers them&s;elves; which in all ca&s;es have ever been reputed of the greate&s;t moment.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Non it&agrave; &s;en&s;us no&s;tros maeror hebetavit, ut impios &s;celerata contr&agrave; virtutem querar mo|litos, s&egrave;d, quae &s;peraverint, effeci&s;&s;e vehement&egrave;r admiror.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Grief hath not yet &s;o far &s;tupified or darkened my Under&s;tanding, as to make me complain, that Wicked Men should have Wicked De&s;igns again&s;t the Vertuous: But I extremely admire, that [in a Civiliz'd Nati|on] &s;uch Attempts as the&s;e should &s;ucceed according to their wishes.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Qui n&uacute;nc populi rumores, qu&agrave;m di&s;&s;onae multiplice&s;&abque; &s;ententiae, piget remini&s;ci. Hoc tant&ugrave;m dixerim, ultimam e&s;&s;e Fortunae adver&s;ae &s;arcinam, quod c&uacute;m mi&s;eris aliquod crimen affingitur, quae perferunt, merui&s;&s;e creduntur.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>It will be tedious to declare, what variety of Reports there is among&s;t the People, and how many different and di&s;agreeing Opinions are daily ven|ted: Let me only &s;ay, that when the imputation of any Crime is laid on the Innocent, this is the la&s;t and heavie&s;t burthen of their misfortune, <HI>viz.</HI> that what ever Evils are inflicted on them, they are thought to de|&s;erve.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Videre videor nefarias &s;celeratorum officinas gaudio laetiti&acirc;&abque; fluitantes; perditi&s;simum quemqu&egrave; novis Delationum fraudibus imminentem; jacere Bonos, no&s;tri di&s;criminis terrore pro&s;tratos; Flagitio&s;um quem&abque; ad audendum quidem facinus</HI> Impunitate, <HI>ad efficiendum ver&ograve;</HI> Praemiis <HI>incitari; In&s;ontes aut&egrave;m non mod&ograve; &s;ecuritate, ver&ugrave;m ips&acirc; eti&agrave;m defen&s;ione privatos.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Methinks, I &s;ee Villains triumphing, their abominable Trade flourishing, their Mints and Forges &s;ucce&s;sful, and their Shops and <HI>VVarehou&s;es of Ini|quity</HI> well &s;tored. Every Ignominious and Forlorn Caitiff is bu&s;ied in finding out New Cheats and Fresh Perjuries: Our Sufferings Di&s;may the Good [and interrupt their Pious Actions.] But Rogues are encou|raged by <HI>Impunity</HI> to dare, and by <HI>Rewards</HI> to perform their Villanies. And the Innocent are not only deprived of Security, but even [through clo&s;e Impri&s;onments and other Arts of their Adver&s;aries] of all freedom and opportunity of making their Defence.</ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="3">
<HEAD>To my Dear Countrymen, and Fellow Subjects, the Commons of <HI>ENGLAND.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Dear Countrymen,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IT was long &s;ince, that I took this little Task in hand, but having &s;pent &s;ome few hours on it, the Ab&s;urdities which occurred in the &s;ubject of the&s;e Remarks &s;eemed to me &s;o evident, the Partialities &s;o palpable, and finally, the whole Piece of Inju&s;tice &s;o mon&s;trous and amazing, that, for my part, I quietly laid down the Pen, concluding with my &s;elf, that the Text would &s;peak much plainer than any Comment; and that it would be little le&s;s than to affront mankind, &s;hould I shew &s;o mean an opinion of the lowe&s;t Humane Vnder&s;tanding, as to imagine that it &s;tood in need of my Illu&s;trations for the di&s;cerning things &s;o extremely manife&s;t. I could not find in my heart to enter upon formal Di&s;cour&s;es, that I might convince a rea&s;onable Creature, That one and one made <HI>two,</HI> and two and two <HI>four:</HI> That it was very improbable that a man should have run away with one of the Kings Great Ships under his Cloak: That One could not well be at <HI>York</HI> and <HI>London</HI> at the &s;ame time: That it was hardly credible that men in their right &s;en&s;es would Murther their be&s;t Friends, and &s;pare their greate&s;t Enemies: That when Witne&s;&s;es contradict them&s;elves, both &s;ides of the contradiction could not be true: That (let my Lord Chief Iu&s;tice &s;ay what he plea&s;es) men ought not to have the more cre|dit for having been great Rogues, notorious Lyars, and often guilty of Perjury: And briefly, that there is no &s;uch Vertue in the Kings Pardon (witne&s;s the Act of <HI>Oblivion</HI>) as to change arrant Knaves into Hone&s;t Men. What is it to explain &s;uch things as the&s;e, but to hold a Candle to the Sun, and to tell the Readers that you &s;uppo&s;e they have forfeited their Patent of Rea&s;on, and lo&s;t the di&s;tinctive Sign between them and Bea&s;ts? I hoped therefore, that this Tryal would have condemned it &s;elf, and that you, my dear Countrymen, would, on maturer thoughts, as far as in you lay, have revoked the Verdict, which that Mi&s;taken or Malicious part of you, the Iury, &s;o unrea&s;onably delivered: And that likewi&s;e, on account of the Common &s;afety, you would long ago have unanimou&s;ly Petitioned, that Sir <HI>W. Scroggs</HI> might be (if not punished with proportion to his Cruelty, yet at lea&s;t) &s;ent back to his antient Trade, as apparently the more &s;uitable to his Inclination and unalterable Genius. And on the other &s;ide, when in&s;tead of this I found the unju&s;t Sentence generally ap|plauded, the Blood of Innocents more and more thir&s;ted after, and the Lives of Hone&s;t Men wre&s;ted out of tho&s;e Hands, which in this Conjuncture would never have endeavoured their Protection, but on the a&s;&s;urance of their being wholly guiltle&s;s: When, I &s;ay, this Hellish Phantome of a Pretended <HI>Plot</HI> gained new forces every day, and either &s;uppre&s;&s;ed, or outfac'd the cleare&s;t Evidences to the contrary: When Laurels were provided for the shamele&s;s Forehead of our <HI>Lord Chief Ju&s;tice,</HI> Statues Erected to <HI>Oats</HI> and <HI>Bedlow,</HI>
<PB REF="4">a Crew of Infamous Wretches adored, and our poor Nation ready to fall into the Old Egyptian Idolatry of Worshiping <HI>Serpents</HI> and <HI>Crocodiles.</HI> Though all this (as you will perceive) happened quite otherwi&s;e, than my imaginations had per&s;waded me to hope, yet it altered not my purpo&s;e of &s;ilence, but the two different extremes (as it often comes to pa&s;s in natural cau&s;es) produced in me the &s;ame effect. At fir&s;t I laid a&s;ide my Endeavours, be|cau&s;e I thought them needle&s;s; and now they appeared to me altogether as fruitle&s;s and ineffectual. I then &s;uppo&s;ed that the Di&s;temper would have been healed of its own accord; and now I judged, that it was beyond my indu&s;try and skill to cure it. But after &s;ome time looking through the va&s;t wood of the Common People, I di&s;covered many who meant well amid&s;t &s;o much ill as they &s;aid and did, whom the frequent Proclamations and Votes of Par|liament falling on an entailed prejudice, together with the horrid &s;pectacles of &s;o many Bar|barous Impri&s;onments, and mo&s;t Bloody Executions, had wrought into the firm belief of a <HI>Popish Con&s;piracy.</HI> Shall we (&s;aid they) imagin that Per&s;ons of the greate&s;t VVi&s;dom and Honour of the Nation can either mi&s;take, or act unworthily? Is it po&s;sible that our Iudges, our Lawyers, and our Iuries should be &s;o prodigal of Innocent Blood, as &s;ome would have us think, &s;ince the least drop thereof mu&s;t co&s;t them &s;o dear? I perceived likewi&s;e, that the too great Mode&s;ty, and (perhaps, imprudent) Caution, wherewith Catholicks for|bore in any loud manner to vindicate them&s;elves, were no &s;mall increa&s;e to this Error, incli|ning men to believe, that, becau&s;e they heard little from us, we had little to &s;ay in our behalf, and con&s;equently rather exa&s;perating than moderating our mi&s;taken Per&s;ecutors. Now, though I could not wholly excu&s;e the ignorance which I have here de&s;cribed, being the effect of unju&s;t prepo&s;&s;e&s;sions, or it may be, the punishment of other &s;ins; there being nothing more ordinary with God Almighty, than to cha&s;tize an unlawful De&s;ire in the will by an unu&s;ual Blindne&s;s in the under&s;tanding; <HI>Spargit Deus</HI> [&s;ays St. <HI>Augu&s;tine] poenales coecitates &s;uper illicitas cupiditates;</HI> However it &s;eemed to me that there was &s;ome compa&s;sion to be had of a Mi&s;take, and &s;ome difference to be made between tho&s;e who were thus erroneou&s;ly Cruel, and tho&s;e who out of pure Malice or Diabolical De&s;igns, began and carried on this mo&s;t Inhumane and Tragical Impo&s;ture: And therefore for their &s;akes who are mi&s;led, and on that &s;core le&s;s guilty and more curable than the re&s;t, I have thought fit to finish and publish the following Remarks; pretending not &s;o much to explain the <HI>&s;ub|ject matter</HI> of them more clearly than it is in it &s;elf (which, as I have already hinted, were almo&s;t impo&s;sible) as to point out tho&s;e things to my Readers, which I de&s;ire them to con&s;ider. I declare then, that this &s;mall Piece and Product of a few hours (for what need was there of many for the remarking things &s;o palpable and obvious?) is directed only to that part of the Nation, which laboureth under a fallacy: For, to tho&s;e others, who are not ignorant of their Inju&s;tice, and who have either acted contrary to their knowledge, or (which is as bad) concealed it in prejudice of the Innocent, I shall only &s;ay, That there is an Undeceivable and mo&s;t Righteous God, who is to judge them; That there is an Hell, which (unle&s;s they repent) will &s;natch them from their &s;tately Hou&s;es, and fine Apart|ments; and that tho&s;e Devils, who now tempt them, will then rack and torture them to all eternity. But that they may not plea&s;e them&s;elves with the vain fancy of a <HI>long</HI> and
<PB REF="4"><HI>ea&s;ie</HI> life in the mean time, let them reflect how clo&s;ely the Divine Vengeance (which is &s;aid to have leaden feet in other occa&s;ions) pur&s;ues the <HI>shedding of Innocent Blood,</HI> which mo&s;t commonly is &s;carce &s;ooner dry, than revenged. How quick were tho&s;e Calami|ties which followed that Blood, which neverthele&s;s was shed for the Benefit and Salvation of the VVorld? To bring the examples that are in confirmation of this truth, were to num|ber the Sands of the Shore; and therefore I shall only ask, what became of tho&s;e Bishops, who (laying a proportionable Foundation of the en&s;uing Mi&s;eries) made way for the late Lord of <HI>Strafford</HI>'s Death? VVas their <HI>erroneous Divinity,</HI> peradventure, le&s;s effe|ctual in moving the King of Heaven to Decree their own De&s;truction, than it had been in prevailing with their earthly Sovereign, to con&s;ent to that of the Earl? And if you will not charge your Memories &s;o far, be plea&s;ed only to con&s;ider, what hath even now began to be inflicted on &s;ome of your <HI>Fellow-Contrivers,</HI> who are already falling into tho&s;e Pits, which they had prepared for others. He that &s;lays with the Sword shall perish by the Sword, and have the &s;ame immature and ha&s;ty Fate which he procureth to another: And He that Murthers with the Sword of Iu&s;tice, provoketh the &s;ame Iustice more imme|diately; and it is not to be admired if his punishment be not only the more &s;evere, but the more &s;peedy al&s;o. This being all I have to &s;ay to the&s;e Gentlemen and their <HI>Turk<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">sh</HI> Po|licy, which cau&s;eth them to fill up Motes, and make Bridges with Mens Bodies, that they may pa&s;s on to their no le&s;s unchri&s;tian De&s;igns, I return to you, <HI>my dear Country-men,</HI> who have been deceived by them, and think you do God good &s;ervice, whil&s;t you are doing their work, who are &s;et on by the Devil. It is you, of whom I beg to open your eyes. It is to you, that I appeal in behalf of your <HI>Innocent</HI> Neighbours and Fel|low Subjects. It is you, whom I be&s;eech to afford me a little of your Con&s;ideration, and a few of your &s;econd Thoughts. It is a &s;mall reque&s;t which I make unto you, and what I hope from you will not &s;eem much, when I affirm it to be only this, <HI>viz.</HI> That you would give no farther credit to this <HI>Bloody Cheat,</HI> than tho&s;e do, on who&s;e Per&s;wa&s;ion and Authority you have hitherto believed it. And therefore give me leave, (though it may increa&s;e this Epi&s;tle beyond the length that were fit) to lay before you one In&s;tance, out of an innumerable heap, whereby it may appear, how little your Superiours them&s;elves be|lieve that which they impo&s;e on you. VVe are ju&s;t now told in one of the <HI>News-Manu&s;cripts</HI> from <HI>Whitehall</HI> of the <HI>6th.</HI> in&s;tant, <HI>&s;til. vet. That,</HI> on the <HI>2d. my Lord</HI> Brudenel, <HI>having embraced the</HI> Prote&s;tant Religion, <HI>was with great kind|ne&s;s and re&s;pect, fully di&s;charged by His Maje&s;ties Court of</HI> Kings-Bench. I remember that this Lord was (not long &s;ince) accu&s;ed by <HI>Bedlow</HI> of the <HI>Dreadful Con|&s;piracy,</HI> and had therein (as you all know) none of the lea&s;t shares, or meane&s;t Po&s;ts a&s;signed unto him. How then is he &s;o &s;oon cleared? VVhat force hath his <HI>turning Prote&s;tant</HI> to ju&s;tifie him to the world, or to manifest his Innocence? And if his Lord|ships Integrity appear, how comes <HI>Bedlow</HI>'s Perjury to be yet in the dark, who hath &s;worn him a Traytor? You will perhaps an&s;wer me, that the King may pardon whom he plea&s;eth; and that on his Lordships change of Religion, there being great hopes of his amendment in manners, his Maje&s;ty could not be blamed for admitting him again into his
<PB REF="5">Favour. But this is to mi&s;take the Ca&s;e; He is not forgiven, but legally, and without the intervention of His Maje&s;ties Pardon publickly acquitted. And if &s;o, how can any one think that the&s;e men believe the <HI>Trea&s;on,</HI> when in this manner they di&s;mi&s;s the preten|ded <HI>Traytor.</HI> Nay, to think thus, were at the &s;ame time to &s;uppo&s;e them unju&s;t, and to have betrayed the Security of the Commonwealth, by winking at the highe&s;t Enormi|ties, and relea&s;ing the mo&s;t dangerous Offenders. But that your Satisfaction may be yet greater, Let me grant you, that there are &s;uch powerful Charms in <HI>Prote&s;tancy,</HI> as can di&s;pel and annihilate the blacke&s;t Crimes, provided that you al&s;o &s;uffer me to put you in mind, that our Nobleman hath ever &s;ince his Change openly di&s;owned This <HI>Con|&s;piracy,</HI> denying flatly all tho&s;e Trea&s;ons which <HI>Bedlow</HI> had as flatly &s;worn again&s;t him. And yet he is not only received into our good Opinions, but embraced with the greate&s;t Te&s;timonies of our Affection. VVhence is all this kindne&s;s, if the Credit of the Plot &s;ub&s;ist? Is it not evident that either my Lord <HI>Brudenel</HI> (denying what is objected again&s;t him) mu&s;t be thought an Hypocritical and Vn&s;incere Prote&s;tant, and &s;o not to de&s;erve this favour and re&s;pect; or el&s;e it mu&s;t be concluded, that <HI>Bedlow</HI> is a Perjur'd Villain, his Story a meer Fiction and Chymera, and his Te&s;timony good for nothing but to de&s;troy <HI>ob&s;ti|nate</HI> Papi&s;ts? You may &s;ee (my dear Countrymen) clearly enough in this &s;ingle in&s;tance, that our Superiours (whatever they pretend to the contrary) entertain not the lea&s;t belief of this <HI>Renowned PLOT.</HI> But that you likewi&s;e may perceive, on what ju&s;t grounds they forbear the crediting it them&s;elves, and how unjustly they abu&s;e you into &s;o fal&s;e an Apprehen&s;ion, I de&s;ire you to peru&s;e, with &s;ome little attention, the en&s;uing Remarks; not that they are all which occurred out of this Tryal it &s;elf, or the thou&s;andth part of what is and might be collected el&s;ewhere to undeceive you, but that I think them entire|ly &s;ufficient; And leaving you to judge, I remain,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your a&s;&s;ured Friend, <HI>T. A.</HI></SIGNED> <DATELINE>Paris, <DATE><HI>June 10./20. 1679.</HI></DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="remarks">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>REMARKS On the TRYAL of Mr. <HI>Ireland,</HI> Mr. <HI>Pickering,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Grove,</HI> Which was lately Published by Authority.</HEAD>
<P>MAny of the fir&s;t Pages are taken up with an exact Regi&s;try of the Forms of Law,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 1. <HI>&amp; &s;eq.</HI></NOTE> which (though it may &s;eem a tedious impertinence to others, yet) for my part, I much commend in the Publisher, this being the only piece of Ju&s;tice, which we have in the whole Proce&s;s, and &s;erves not only to increa&s;e the Vo|lume, and con&s;equently the Price, but al&s;o &s;omewhat to di&s;gui&s;e the following Oppre&s;&s;ion and Tyranny; inclining the Reader to believe at fir&s;t, as well that in this Relation nothing was left out of what pa&s;&s;ed at the Tryal, as that what&s;oever pa&s;&s;ed there, &s;werved not a tittle from the &s;tricte&s;t and mo&s;t preci&s;e Equity. But how well the&s;e two la&s;t points were performed, you shall hear anon.</P>
<P>Sir <HI>Samuel Baldwyn</HI> reckoneth the Pri&s;oners at the Bar to be three Je&s;uites, one Prie&s;t, and one Lay-man.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 11.</NOTE> It is a wonder that the Informers being Fellow-Con&s;pirators, and of &s;o long Acquaintance, should not have known their pretended Brethren better, it being very publick among&s;t Catholicks and many others, that the per&s;on (<HI>viz.</HI> Mr. <HI>Pickering</HI>) whom they took for a Prie&s;t, was none.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="6">
<P> Proving that Je&s;uites came from <HI>Spain</HI> about the Gun-Powder Trea&s;on,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 12.</NOTE> &s;ays he, <HI>This is evident by the Act of Parlia|ment,</HI> &amp;c. One would think who takes the opinion of my Lord Chief Ju&s;tice, and the re&s;t of the Bench, that no Record (and in this ca&s;e the Act of Parliament mu&s;t be looked on no otherwi&s;e) could be any evidence, &s;ince <HI>Page</HI> 35. Mr. <HI>Fenwick</HI> offering to produce an Authentick Writing from the whole Colledge of St. <HI>Omers,</HI> atte&s;ted by the Magi&s;trates of the Town in his behalf, it was told him, that &s;uch a Te&s;timony &s;ignified nothing. But I mu&s;t confe&s;s, that it is a &s;trong prejudice with me again&s;t the Credit of Acts of Parliament, to have &s;een, that Both Hou&s;es on the &s;ingle Te&s;timony of one infa|mous Villain, without hearing what could be an&s;wered, or what Witne&s;&s;es could be brought by the Accu&s;ed, pro|ceeded to Vote, That <HI>there had been, and was a mo&s;t Hellish Plot again&s;t his Maje&s;ty,</HI> contrived and carried on by men of the greate&s;t Worth, and mo&s;t un&s;potted Reputation. This, I &s;ay, will hinder me for ever from putting Acts of Par|liament among&s;t the Articles of my Creed.</P>
<P>He tells you,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 14.</NOTE> That on the 24th. of <HI>April,</HI> between 40. and 50. Je&s;uites met at the White-hor&s;e Tavern in the <HI>Strand.</HI> Methinks the Vintner and Drawers might have been good Witne&s;&s;es, and ought to have been called for by &s;uch as had any &s;incere de&s;ire of finding out the Truth. It being plain, according to this Story, that the Vintner and his Servants were no Confidents of the&s;e Je&s;uites; &s;ince, for fear of being di&s;covered or &s;u&s;pected, they met not all together, but a few at a time, each parcel going off before another came in. You may imagine that four or five came at a time, &s;o that there might be about ten Companies in all: The&s;e (you mu&s;t &s;uppo&s;e) were ad|verti&s;ed to be very punctual to their re&s;pective hours, or rather minutes: They mu&s;t likewi&s;e have come pretty fa&s;t one after another, and di&s;patched their Wine and Con|&s;ultation
<PB N="3" REF="6">apace, or el&s;e very probably there would not have been time for all of them in one Forenoon, con&s;ider|ing what was to be done afterwards, as you shall know pre|&s;ently. At this Tavern they find orders to remove them|&s;elves and their Debate in &s;everal Companies, to &s;everal parts of the Town. Where was the punctuality of hours for meeting at the Tavern, and the joyning of the &s;mal|ler Companies contrived? Were they all together when that was done? If &s;o; why did they not con&s;ult then, ra|ther than hazard the Inconveniencies of another Meet|ing? If not; why at tho&s;e places where the re&s;pective le&s;&s;er Companies met (if not before) were they not dire|cted to the &s;everal Chambers, where the Con&s;ults were to be accomplished, rather than, foolishly to repair to the <HI>White-hor&s;e</HI> at certain and different hours, for no other end, but that there they might receive new Orders for their going to the Chambers? Indeed Sir <HI>Samuel,</HI> this Travelling had been fitter for the Fir&s;t of <HI>April,</HI> than for the Twenty fourth. He &s;ays, They met not all together for fear of Di&s;covery: And certainly, were it not for that, it had been mo&s;t convenient for their Con&s;ult, that they should have been together; and I &s;ee no rea&s;on, why they might not as well have met together to Con|&s;ult, as they did the very &s;ame day about noon to hear Ma&s;s and receive the Sacrament at Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI>'s Cham|ber, according to Mr. <HI>Oates, Page</HI> 27.</P>
<P>I believe that our Dramatick Writers would find Bu&s;i|ne&s;s enough for this Forenoon in the&s;e Tran&s;actions. Be|tween 40. and 50. men divide them&s;elves into &s;mall Companies: The Companies &s;ucceed one another at the Tavern: Each of them &s;pends &s;ome time there: They withdraw to &s;ix or &s;even &s;everal parts of the Town: Con|&s;ult of a weighty Affair: One common In&s;trument is drawn up, and carried from Chamber to Chamber to be Signed by all: This every one peru&s;es [<HI>p.</HI> 26.] and then
<PB N="4" REF="7">Signs: In conclu&s;ion they all A&s;&s;emble together, hear Ma&s;s, and take the Sacrament, and an Oath of Secre&s;ie at Mr. <HI>Whirebread</HI>'s. And now, leaving the foregoing Spe|culation to the Poets, I would ask Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> whether the&s;e Gentlemen drank any thing at the Tavern, or not? If they had not called for Wine, the Vintner had not been plea&s;ed: And if they had not drunk what they called for, it had been an excellent Circum&s;tance in Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Tale, and would not have e&s;caped him. Be&s;ides, in &s;uch a ca&s;e it would have been better for them to have met in the Piazza of <HI>Covent-Garden,</HI> or &s;ome other place of the like nature, than in a Tavern. I believe it will &s;eem mo&s;t probable that they drank: And every one knows that there is nothing &s;o Religiou&s;ly ob&s;erved among&s;t Catho|licks as not to eat or drink before the receiving the Sa|crament, the contrary (unle&s;s in ca&s;es of great &s;ickne&s;s and danger of death) being held a Mortal Sin. I doubt not but &s;uch, as would Murther their King, would not &s;tick at any Mortal Sin: But how did they expect to &s;e|cure &s;ecre&s;ie by that act of Religion, when according to their own Principles, that act of Religion was then vio|lated?</P>
<P>You have now beheld the main Body of this Terrible Information: And what think you of it? would not &s;uch a Plot be hi&s;s'd by a Country Village? Would even the Jury-men them&s;elves endure That on the Stage, which &s;eems to them to be &s;o well <HI>De&s;igned</HI> at the Bar? And yet this is that &s;tory, whereof my Lord Chief Ju&s;tice (full and even bur&s;ting with Rhetorick) &s;ays [<HI>p.</HI> 72.] that it is almo&s;t impo&s;&s;ible for any man either to frame the like [if he means &s;o ab&s;urd an one, I agree with him in that] or not to believe when it is told.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Finch</HI> &s;ays,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 16.</NOTE> That the Pri&s;oners were not Indicted for being Prie&s;ts, which he mentioned for their &s;akes, that they might not fancy that they &s;uffered Martyrdom
<PB N="5" REF="7">for their Religion. But yet he adds pre&s;ently, and almo&s;t in the &s;ame breath, That what they were Indicted for, was a great Principle of their Religion. Pray Mr. <HI>Finch,</HI> How shall they forbear to fancy that they die Martyrs, when you tell them that it is a great Principle of their Re|ligion for which they die? O that Men would know them&s;elves to be but Men, and think that &s;ometimes they may be mi&s;taken! And denying Infallibility, in &s;pight of God's promi&s;es, to the Univer&s;al Church in matters of Faith, would not arrogate it to them&s;elves in every kind of thing, maugre that Blindne&s;s and Error, which the &s;ame God a&s;&s;ures us to be un&s;eparable from our Nature!</P>
<P><HI>Oates</HI> &s;ays,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 19.</NOTE> <HI>The Con&s;ult of Ie&s;uites met in &s;everal Chambers at the Tavern</HI> (which like the Incoherence of a &s;ick man's Dream, agrees not with the Idaea which was given us at the opening of the ca&s;e) <HI>and cho&s;e</HI> John Cary <HI>for their Pro|curator at</HI> Rome, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> They were, it &s;eems, in &s;everal Cham|bers to avoid &s;u&s;picion, and yet agreed to one common Re&s;olve. What? did Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> or any other per&s;on carry the Re&s;olve from one Chamber to another? would not that be more Su&s;picious, <HI>viz.</HI> that a Corre&s;pondence should be ob&s;erved between the &s;everal Companies, and yet they should forbear the Meeting together in one Room? If this be not improbable, I know not what is.</P>
<P><HI>Oates</HI> &s;ays, <HI>In&s;tructions from St.</HI> Omers <HI>for Killing the King,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 20.</NOTE> <HI>the Bishop of</HI> Hereford, <HI>and Dr.</HI> Stillingfleet <HI>were Copied out, and di&s;per&s;t abroad by Mr.</HI> Coleman. Are things of this nature di&s;per&s;t abroad, and communicated through the Kingdom in a plain legible hand? Add to this That Letters were &s;ent To and Fro of the Propo&s;al made to Sir <HI>George Wakeman</HI> for poi&s;oning the King, which was likewi&s;e entered in &s;everal Books. Mr. <HI>Finch</HI> &s;ays, <HI>p.</HI> 17. <HI>All that the wit of man could do, the&s;e men had done.</HI> Now, I appeal to the Politici|ans whether the Conduct, which is here mentioned, can de&s;erve &s;uch an <HI>Elogium,</HI> or not?</P>
<PB N="6" REF="8">
<P> You may ob&s;erve, that, when Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> is pre&s;s'd hard in any matter, my Lord Chief Ju&s;tice, or &s;ome of the Judges, or Lawyers, take care immediately to divert the Di&s;|cour&s;e, as <HI>page</HI> 23. when Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> urgeth that an hun|dred and an hundred could witne&s;s that <HI>Oates</HI> was at St. <HI>Omer's</HI> at &s;uch time as he &s;wore he was at <HI>London:</HI> Mr. <HI>White|bread</HI> is told, that he should have another time to &s;peak; and they ha&s;tily turn the minds of the Jury to another matter, by impertinently asking Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> when Mr. <HI>Cary</HI> went for <HI>Rome,</HI> and what was his Errand: Though after|wards he was never pre&s;&s;ed to tell what his Errand was, which was the mo&s;t material part of their que&s;tion. But this &s;erved to alter the cour&s;e and decline the Rock, again&s;t which Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Te&s;timony was in danger of &s;plitting.</P>
<P><HI>Pickering</HI> and <HI>Grove</HI> were certainly two mo&s;t &s;tout Cham|pions,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 23.</NOTE> having re&s;olved (they two alone) to A&s;&s;a&s;&s;inate the King in St. <HI>Iames</HI>'s Park, in the mid&s;t of his Servants, the Sentinels, and Guards. Perhaps (as the mode is now-a-days) it will be an&s;wered, That they cared not though they lo&s;t their lives, after &s;o Meritorious an Action. If &s;o: How came it to pa&s;s, that they had not done it du|ring tho&s;e &s;everal years, wherein <HI>Oates</HI> &s;ays that they fol|lowed the King for that purpo&s;e, &s;ince the common Proverb teacheth us, that <HI>He who de&s;pi&s;eth his own life, is ea&s;ily Ma&s;ter of anothers?</HI> I believe there are few, but will grant me, That, if Papi&s;ts were &s;uch odd kind of men, as neither to &s;cruple the taking away a King's Life, nor to regard the lo&s;s of their own, our Sove|reign (for the&s;e &s;everal years which Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;peaks of) hath been pre&s;erved by a <HI>perpetual</HI> Miracle [which is hard to believe in Ages, wherein the Prote&s;tants a&s;&s;ure us that <HI>Miracles</HI> are cea&s;ed] &s;ince every body knows how many Papi&s;ts (and even of the&s;e Pretended Con&s;pi|rators) have almo&s;t daily been near his Royal Per&s;on,
<PB N="7" REF="8">and what con&s;tant Opportunities they have had of ma|king &s;uch an Attempt, had they ever de&s;igned it. And hereof his Maje&s;ty him&s;elf was &s;o &s;en&s;ible, that notwith|&s;tanding the news which was brought him of this Plot, he conver&s;ed as freely and openly with the Roman Ca|tholicks at <HI>New-Market</HI> and el&s;ewhere, as he had former|ly done: It being likewi&s;e (as we cannot but imagin) very hard for Him to fancy, that Tho&s;e who had lo&s;t and hazarded &s;o much for the Defence of his Life, should, all on the &s;udden, con&s;pire to take it away.</P>
<P>You have here a plea&s;ant pa&s;&s;age of this Tragi-Come|dy.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 24.</NOTE> Mr. <HI>Pickering</HI> for being carele&s;s of the Flint of his Pi|&s;tol, and thereby lo&s;ing an opportunity of shooting the King, receives the cha&s;tizement of 20. or 30. lashes: And Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> gives an account hereof in Letters, which Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;aw. This piece of <HI>Mock-evidence</HI> is grave|ly called for by the King's Councel, and as gravely hear|kened to by the Jury: And is a part of that Tale, which (how ridiculous &s;oever it mu&s;t needs &s;eem to Intelligent and Sober Per&s;ons) hath, I know not by what Charms (in&s;tead of moving laughter) laid us all under the grea|te&s;t Fears and Con&s;ternations imaginable.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> having intelligence before the 3d. of <HI>September</HI> that the Plot was di&s;covered to the King,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 25.</NOTE> and pre&s;uming that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> had done it, who on that day came to his Chamber, He fell upon him, beat, reviled, and turned him out of doors, commanding him to go be|yond-Sea again; and afterwards a&s;&s;aulted his Lodging to have murthered him there. And certainly, had they been &s;uch villanous and crafty Con&s;pirators, as you make them, it had been very rea&s;onable for them to have mur|thered him; And I wonder that they had not done it be|fore, when they had him in their power at Mr. <HI>White|bread</HI>'s. What? would They, who are &s;uppo&s;ed to have murthered Ju&s;tice <HI>Godfrey</HI> (who neither did, nor could
<PB N="8" REF="9">do them any harm; but on the contrary was their &s;pecial Friend) &s;uffer one whom they &s;o violently &s;u&s;pected to have betrayed them, and was &s;o intimately acquainted with all their De&s;igns, to e&s;cape their hands? Or, if they thought fit to let him go, would they not rather &s;peak him fair, than by Reviling and Beating provoke him to di&s;cover them, in ca&s;e he had not yet done it, e&s;pecially when being told of the Di&s;covery, he would mo&s;t pro|bably think of &s;ecuring him&s;elf, and be able to do &s;o, and revenge him&s;elf at the &s;ame time by farther <HI>revealing</HI> their Contrivances? Mr. <HI>Finch,</HI> I mu&s;t needs ask you a &s;econd time, whether the Je&s;uites did here, all that the Wit of man could reach. Either they were per&s;waded that <HI>Oates</HI> had di&s;covered them, And then why did they let him go? or, that he had not, And then why did they beat him? If they were afraid to kill him, They ought much more to fear the Beating, and di&s;mi&s;&s;ing him with &s;uch an Affront. Then his Lodgings were a&s;&s;aulted: What Lodgings? Where were the witne&s;&s;es of this a&s;|&s;ault? His Landlord or Landlady? But in&s;tead of &s;uch que&s;tions as the&s;e, le&s;t the Jury should pau&s;e on &s;o much ab&s;urdity, Mr. Serjeant <HI>Baldwyn</HI> asks, whether it were <HI>Pickering</HI> or <HI>Grove</HI> that had the Flint of his Pi&s;tol loo&s;e: and my Lord Chief Ju&s;tice carries on the Digre&s;&s;ion. What arts and tricks are the&s;e? This Tryal is nothing el&s;e but a <HI>Tryal of skill:</HI> Wherein our Sages have a mind to shew the World, how dexterou&s;ly they can foil Innocence even by tho&s;e Weapons (I mean <HI>the Laws</HI>) which were meant for its defence. How is it po&s;&s;ible for any Fal&s;e Witne&s;s of common &s;en&s;e, nay, even for any Mad-man to be di&s;proved or caught in an ab&s;urdity, when &s;uch care is taken by the very Judges to prevent it? Agree|able hereunto is that great Caution which His Lordship u&s;eth, <HI>p.</HI> 26, 27. and el&s;ewhere, that the Pri&s;oners should
<PB N="9" REF="9">ask the Witne&s;&s;es no Que&s;tions during the cour&s;e of their Evidence, deferring that liberty till afterwards, when mo&s;t probably &s;uch Particulars as from time to time oc|curred to them, will have &s;lipt out of their minds. A ve|ry hard ca&s;e for &s;uch as knew not what would be objected again&s;t them; and therefore were to an&s;were <HI>extempore!</HI> But before I leave this Paragraph, I cannot but offer to your Con&s;ideration, whether it be probable or no, that the Je&s;uites being con&s;cious before the third of <HI>Septem|ber,</HI> that &s;o Horrid a Plot of theirs was detected, should be &s;o &s;tupid, and &s;upinely negligent as not to provide for their &s;ecurity, but tamely &s;uffer them&s;elves on the 29th. of the &s;ame month to be &s;urprized at their u&s;ual and con&s;tant Lodgings, which were known to &s;o many, and to the Informer him&s;elf? I &s;uppo&s;e that they who believe this, will not agree with Mr. <HI>Finch,</HI> that the Je|&s;uites are the wi&s;e&s;t men in the world. But (an&s;wer &s;ome) Had they fled, it had argued Guilt. What then? The Plot was already di&s;covered, and con&s;equently the fear of Di&s;covery was over, and gave place to the fear of lo&s;ing their lives. I would fain know, whether High-way-men, or other Criminals of the like nature, on the knowledge of their being betrayed by &s;ome of their Companions, forbear to flie, and to avoid the pur&s;uit of Ju&s;tice, that (out of great Di&s;cretion!) they may not add to the credit of the Informers. [And this was not the ca&s;e neither, with the Je&s;uites, &s;ince being obnoxious to the Laws on the account of their <HI>Prie&s;thood,</HI> it had been no argument of any other Guilt, for them to have withdrawn them|&s;elves.] It is impo&s;&s;ible for any Rational and Unprejudi|ced per&s;on to imagine, That not only the&s;e Prie&s;ts, but &s;o many Lords, Gentlemen, and others of meaner Qua|lity, as have been &s;ince impri&s;oned on the account of this Plot, would, after the full publication of its Di&s;co|very, be &s;o far from Retiring, that many of them even
<PB N="10" REF="10">put them&s;elves into the Hands of Ju&s;tice on the fir&s;t hint of their being Summoned, had (all this while) &s;o great a Guilt have lain upon their Con&s;ciences. Certainly, the World mu&s;t acknowledge, that This is <HI>new under the Sun,</HI> and the Fir&s;t Con&s;piracy, wherein the Detected Traytors were &s;o little concerned,</P>
<P><HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> What &s;ay you as to the four&s;core pounds?
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid. <HI>P.</HI> 25, <HI>&amp;</HI> 26.</NOTE> <HI>Oates.</HI> That was given to the four Ruffians that were to kill the King at <HI>VVind|&s;or:</HI> Now that Money I &s;aw. <HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> Where did you &s;ee it? <HI>Oates.</HI> At <HI>Harcourt</HI>'s Chamber. <HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> Where is that? <HI>Oates.</HI> In <HI>Duke-&s;treet,</HI> near the Arch. <HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> Who was it given by? <HI>Oates. VVilliam Harcourt. L. Ch. I.</HI> Who was by when the Money was paid? <HI>Oates. Coleman</HI> that is Executed; and, my Lord, there was this Mr. <HI>Fenwick</HI> by&mdash;<HI>Mr. Fenw.</HI> Where? <HI>Oates.</HI> At <HI>Harcourt</HI>'s Chamber.</P>
<P>Now give me leave to Tran&s;cribe al&s;o a piece of Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s Tryal, which you will find in the 24. and 25. Pages thereof.</P>
<P><HI>Oates.</HI> The&s;e four Irish-men were &s;ent that night to <HI>VVind&s;or.</HI> How they went I know not, but the next day there was a provi&s;ion of 80 <HI>l.</HI> ordered to them by the Rector of <HI>London,</HI> which is a Je&s;uite, one <HI>VVilliam Harcourt,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> Did he order the 80 <HI>l.? Oates.</HI> Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI> came to this <HI>Harcourt</HI>'s Hou&s;e, then lying in <HI>Duke-&s;treet,</HI> and <HI>Harcourt</HI> was not within; but he was directed to come to <HI>VVild-Hou&s;e,</HI> and at <HI>VVild-Hou&s;e</HI> he found <HI>Harcourt. L. Ch. I.</HI> How do you know that? <HI>Oates.</HI> He &s;aid, he had been at his Hou&s;e, and [he] was not within; Finding him at <HI>VVild-Hou&s;e,</HI> he asked what care was taken for tho&s;e four Gentlemen that went la&s;t night to <HI>VVind&s;or:</HI> He &s;aid that there was 80 <HI>l.</HI> ordered. <HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> Who &s;aid &s;o? <HI>Oates.</HI> Harcourt. And there was the Me&s;&s;enger that was to carry it. I think the mo&s;t part of this 80 <HI>l.</HI> was in Guinnies: Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI> gave the Me&s;&s;enger a Guinny to be nimble, and expedite his Journey: <HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> How know you they were Guinnies? <HI>Oates.</HI> I &s;aw the Money up|on the Table before <HI>Harcourt,</HI> not in his hand. <HI>L. Ch. I.</HI> Who was to carry it after them, what was his name? <HI>Oates.</HI> I never &s;aw him before, or &s;ince; The Money was upon the Table: When Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI> came in he gave the Me&s;&s;enger a Guinny, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<PB N="11" REF="10">
<P> What think you Gentlemen? Hath not this Tran&s;action (which doubtle&s;s carries horror enough along with it to imprint <HI>&s;oundly</HI> the Circum&s;tances thereof in one's me|mory) in a mo&s;t &s;trange manner shifted the Scene? What at the <HI>King's-Bench</HI> Bar (on the 28. of la&s;t <HI>November</HI>) was &s;aid to have been at <HI>Wild-Hou&s;e,</HI> is now (on the 17. of the &s;ucceeding month, and) at the <HI>Old-Baily,</HI> removed to Mr. <HI>Harcourt</HI>'s Lodgings near the Arch in <HI>Duke-&s;treet.</HI> And after all, is this man's word to be taken before the mo&s;t &s;olemn Prote&s;tations of Hone&s;t and Honorable Per&s;ons, and (which is of more weight to &s;erious Thoughts) even of Dying men? But if the Quality of being the <HI>King's Witne&s;s</HI> carry him beyond the Imputation of this manife&s;t Perjury, and the Ju&s;tice of having his whole Evidence rejected, yet methinks, you should &s;o far conde&s;cend to the Equity of our Plea, as to admit but one &s;ide of his Contradictions (it being impo&s;&s;ible for Both to be true) That &s;o, at lea&s;t, the one Half of Us may e&s;cape with our Lives.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> prote&s;ting very &s;olemnly that <HI>Oates</HI> had not &s;poken <HI>three true words,</HI> the Lord Chief Ju&s;tice an&s;wers,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 28.</NOTE> <HI>But if you have a Religion that can give a Di&s;pen&s;ation for</HI> Oaths, Sacraments, Falshoods, <HI>&amp;c. How can you expect that we should believe you?</HI> And yet, <HI>My Lord,</HI> the only Crime; which your Laws punish in the Generality of Catholicks, if not in All, is the Refu&s;al of <HI>Oaths, Te&s;ts,</HI> and <HI>Sacraments.</HI> The B. Martyr Sir <HI>Thomas More</HI> was never accounted a Fool, or an unskilful Lawyer; and yet He urged as a good Argu|ment of the Con&s;cience, which he made of an Oath, that he was Arraigned for refu&s;ing to take one. You may &s;ee, if you plea&s;e, that in all Ages &s;ince the Pretended Reformation, Catholicks have lo&s;t their Employments, E&s;tates, and Lives, for not complying with your Te&s;ts, Sa|craments, and Oaths: And yet, <HI>&s;ay you,</HI> they Di&s;pen&s;e with all the&s;e Things. How can we expect that our Judge
<PB N="12" REF="11">should defend us again&s;t the manife&s;t Lies and Perjuries of Fal&s;e Witne&s;&s;es, when He him&s;elf is thus become One of their Number, atte&s;ting an Untruth, as Great, and as evi|dently Fal&s;e, as any of Theirs? But, my Lord, before I conclude this Point, let me put you in mind, that this Doctrine of yours doth not only traduce Us, but (what will more concern you) arraign the Prudence and Coun|&s;el of your Parliaments. Do &s;o many Wi&s;e and Worthy Senators &s;pend their Time, and employ their Divinity in Contriving Te&s;ts, that they may purge their own Venera|ble A&s;&s;emblies, His Maje&s;ties Palace, and, in fine, the whole Military and Civil Government of the Nation, from all Mixtures of Popery? And do you tell them, that They take pains to no purpo&s;e, Spin the Sand, and &s;et Cob|webs to catch Lyons, by A&s;&s;erting that their mo&s;t Artifi|cial Oaths and Te&s;ts will &s;ignifie nothing, but quite lo&s;e their Force on the Approach of a Popish Di&s;pen&s;ation? Who might not have &s;een the Folly of This? And yet there are &s;ome who are &s;till &s;o Foolish, as to urge, in an|&s;wer to this la&s;t Argument, That many Papi&s;ts (e&s;pecially Per&s;ons of Quality) are loth to make u&s;e of Di&s;pen&s;ations, out of fear to lo&s;e their Credit; and con&s;equently, that in &s;uch Ca&s;es, the&s;e Oaths may be of &s;ome Efficacy. And hereunto they attribute the late Evacuation of the Hou&s;e of Peers. But, who can tell me, with whom This Credit is in danger of being lo&s;t. Not with the Prote&s;tants: They cannot think wor&s;e of Us than they do already: Nay, on the contrary, when we Conform in Appearance (&s;ince they can judge no farther) to their Rites and Com|munion, They receive Us with great Kindne&s;s and Re|&s;pect, as you may perceive by that In&s;tance, which you read in my Preface: And, indeed, it would be Ridiculous, should they do otherwi&s;e, and &s;eem a &s;trange thing to the World, That Chri&s;tian Religion should neither Send to make Conver&s;ions <HI>abroad,</HI> nor admit of them <HI>at home.</HI>
<PB N="13" REF="11">And now, you will not &s;ay, that we shall forfeit the good e&s;teem of our own Party, by doing that, which (as you af|firm) they all do, and is the general Allowance of our Religion. Where, then, is that Di&s;grace which you &s;peak of, &s;ave only in that Field, which is &s;o fruitful of <HI>vain</HI> and <HI>groundle&s;s</HI> Fancies, I mean, Your own Imagination? I have talked the more again&s;t this Tradition of <HI>Boundle&s;s Di&s;pen&s;ations,</HI> on hopes that even the Prote&s;tants them|&s;elves will thank me for it, there being nothing more evi|dent than that this Opinion &s;erves, not only to hide the Innocence of the Catholicks, but likewi&s;e for an Engine, and Battering Ram to throw down as many of the Others, (whereof &s;ome have already felt its force) as should be thought to &s;tand in the way. For, I be&s;eech you, What Pro|te&s;tant is &s;ecure, should he once be Accu&s;ed of being a Papi&s;t, or Popishly affected? Will the Oaths of Allegi|ance and Supremacy &s;ave him? Will the Receiving the Reformed Communion, Going to Church twice every Sunday, Or Eating Flesh, (or even Being Drunk, with S^r. <HI>W.S.</HI>) on Fridays do him any good? No, He hath a Di&s;pen&s;ation for all the&s;e things; And though he should offer to be Hanged, that he might have the opportunity of Profe&s;&s;ing his Religion <HI>on the Faith,</HI> and <HI>in the Words</HI> of a Dying Man, He mu&s;t not be believed. You &s;ee there|fore, <HI>My Prote&s;tant Friends,</HI> what a Dangerous and De&s;tru|ctive Engine &s;ome men are po&s;&s;e&s;t of in this Opini|on, and how much you your &s;elves are concerned to Wre&s;t it out of their Hands, or, more properly, to Dash it in pieces. What is here &s;aid of the&s;e Di&s;pen&s;ations, hath the &s;ame force again&s;t that other Calumny of Equivoca|tion, Mental Re&s;ervation, and the like.</P>
<P>Mr.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 29.</NOTE> <HI>Whitebread</HI> confe&s;&s;ing that he was <HI>Provincial</HI> of the Je&s;uites: <HI>Why then,</HI> &s;ays my L. Ch. J. <HI>there are more than</HI> three true words, <HI>which</HI> Mr. Oates <HI>hath &s;poken.</HI> A pretty Quirk, when Lives are at &s;take! It is to be &s;uppo&s;ed, that Mr.
<PB N="14" REF="12"><HI>Whitebread</HI> meant, That <HI>Oates</HI> had not &s;poken <HI>Three true words</HI> relating to the <HI>Accu&s;ations</HI> of the Indictment, which were not for Being Provincial of the Je&s;uites, or any other Matter of Religion, as the King's Coun&s;el was careful to declare. But this groundle&s;s Reflection was a little Du&s;t to be thrown into the Eyes of the Jury, which, before we have done, are to be &s;ufficiently Blinded, and therefore you have more of it, [<HI>page</HI> 30.] Where Mr.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 30.</NOTE> <HI>Grove</HI> intimating, That He never &s;aw Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> at his own Lodging: <HI>Why,</HI> &s;ays my L. C. J. <HI>don't you know Mr.</HI> Oates? As if by denying that he had &s;een him at his own Lodging, he had denied to know him. <HI>My Lord</HI> (&s;ays Mr. <HI>Grove</HI>) <HI>I have &s;een him before. Why this 'tis,</HI> replies my L. C. J. <HI>ask a Papi&s;t a Que&s;tion, and you shall have a</HI> Je&s;uitical <HI>An&s;wer.</HI> I appeal to any Rea&s;onable Creature, Whether his Lordships Que&s;tion ari&s;ing from Mr. <HI>Grove</HI>'s fir&s;t A&s;&s;ertion, be not more <HI>awry,</HI> and from the purpo&s;e, than what he now cavils at? Is any thing more ordinary than for one, when asked, whether he knows a man whom he hath &s;een twice or thrice, but is not well acquainted with, to an&s;wer, <HI>I know him by &s;ight,</HI> or, <HI>I have &s;een him,</HI> or, <HI>I am not acquainted with him,</HI> or, the like? Are the&s;e Je&s;ui|tical An&s;wers? Truly, if they are, they are very Ordinary ones, and &s;uch as we Ordinary Folks Speak and Hear eve|ry day. But his Lordships Authority will, perhaps, hin|der the Jury from making this Reflection, who (as it is to be &s;uppo&s;ed) are unwilling enough to trouble them&s;elves with CONSIDERING in behalf of Papi&s;ts. Knowledge of any one, or Acquaintance may be taken in two &s;en&s;es, which occa&s;ions different An&s;wers to the above-mentio|ned Que&s;tion. A Man may know another either &s;o far as to be acquainted with his Manners, as well as his Per&s;on, or el&s;e only &s;o far as barely to di&s;tinguish his Per&s;on (or little be&s;ides) from others. In the Fir&s;t Ca&s;e, We &s;ay, <HI>We know them very well:</HI> and in the Second we an&s;wer, <HI>We
<PB N="15" REF="12">have &s;een them,</HI> &amp;c. It would have been more Ju&s;t, as well as Pertinent, that your Lordship should have reflected on what your Famous Witne&s;s, Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> (who almo&s;t every where An&s;wers a-skew) &s;aid of his Knowledge of Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI> before the Council, and what he &s;aid afterwards thereof before Your Lordship in <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter-Hall.</HI> How he did not <HI>well know</HI> Him at the Council-Board, but was <HI>well acquainted</HI> with Him at the Kings-Bench. It had likewi&s;e been Ju&s;t, that in this Pa&s;&s;age [See Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s Tryal, <HI>p.</HI> 32. and the four following pages] you should have taken no|tice How Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> excu&s;ing him&s;elf on the account of his Bad Sight, that he did not then well know Mr. <HI>Coleman,</HI> &s;aid that he knew him as &s;oon as he heard him &s;peak [&s;up|plying the defect of his Eyes by the acutene&s;s of his Hearing] Whereas Sir <HI>Thomas Doleman</HI> told you, It was af|ter he had heard Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI> &s;peak, that He declared, <HI>He did not well know him.</HI> Had your Lordship attended hereun|to as you ought, Perhaps, you would not have &s;aid to Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> (as you do, <HI>p.</HI> 43.) That nothing appeared to you, which reflected on Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Te&s;timony: But, on the contrary, you would have &s;een good cau&s;e, why Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Ears ought to have been put into as ill a plight, as he &s;aid, his Eyes were in. I &s;ay, &s;uch Solid and Rational Reflections as The&s;e had been Equitable, and become the Place you hold: But, I mu&s;t confe&s;s, I wonder, How any One who would fain be thought a Chri&s;tian, (nay, and Charitable too) could make u&s;e of &s;o many Quibbles, and &s;uch petty Sophi&s;ms, as would be punish'd in a School-boy's Declamation, in &s;o grave and weighty a matter: What, my Lord? are they not Men to be Tried? or perhaps are they &s;o many Bea&s;ts to be Slaughter'd, who&s;e only <HI>Tryal</HI> is whether, or no, they are Fat, and will yield Money at the Shambles?</P>
<P>Mr.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 31, 32.</NOTE> <HI>Grove</HI> having owned that he had &s;een <HI>Oates</HI> twice or thrice; &s;ays Mr. <HI>Oates, I will convince him and the Court, that
<PB N="16" REF="13">he does know me, and is well Acquainted with me:</HI> and &s;o he rec|kons up &s;ome few Places where Mr. <HI>Grove</HI> had &s;een him, and been in his company. Methinks, the greate&s;t proof of Mr. <HI>Grove</HI>'s being well acquainted with Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> and what (if true) had come fir&s;t into his mind, was, that he Lodged at <HI>Grove</HI>'s Hou&s;e: which <HI>Oates</HI> never thinks of here, but a&s;&s;erts on another occa&s;ion, <HI>viz.</HI> when He was urged to Prove his being in <HI>London</HI> at &s;uch time, as, in truth, he was at St. <HI>Omers.</HI> In which point, it &s;eems, He had greater need of this Lie, than at pre&s;ent: and there|fore like a good Con&s;cientious Man, he never made it, till extreme nece&s;&s;ity obliged him thereunto.</P>
<P>L. C. J. <HI>Then Mr.</HI> Oates <HI>was known to you all,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 32.</NOTE> <HI>he was no &s;uch &s;tranger to you, as you would make us believe.</HI> It does not fol|low that he was known to all, though &s;ome confe&s;&s;ed they knew him; neither did they &s;trive to make you believe that he was Unknown to them all: And therefore it was ill done to amu&s;e the Jury with &s;uch a Reproach. But there is a Vein of &s;uch Di&s;ingenuity, which runs through the whole Tryal.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;ays,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>That they</HI> [the&s;e Con&s;pirators] <HI>u&s;ed to turn What was done at the Council, the Parliament, or at the Courts of</HI> We&s;tmin&s;ter-Hall, <HI>&amp;c. into Burle&s;que, tran&s;lated it into French,</HI> &amp;c. Truly Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> if it be &s;o, You are now ve|ry kind to them, and &s;ave the taking that pains with what is done at pre&s;ent in The&s;e Courts, by making it ready Burle&s;que to their hands. Indeed, There is &s;omewhat in this Mon&s;trous and Chimerical Tran&s;action &s;o Ridicu|lous, that 'tis beyond the Humour of the mo&s;t exqui&s;ite Farce to heighten it: And yet at the &s;ame time there is likewi&s;e &s;omewhat &s;o Sad, as the Deepe&s;t Elegy can never &s;ufficiently Lament.</P>
<P>It &s;eems that this <HI>Firing of Hou&s;es</HI> was looked on as a mo&s;t important piece of Service among&s;t them,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> &s;ince three Irish-men had 200 <HI>l.</HI> apiece, (be&s;ides 400 <HI>l.</HI> given to
<PB N="17" REF="13"><HI>Grove</HI>) for the Firing <HI>Southwark,</HI> when four of them were to have but four&s;core pounds for Killing the King. No Man yet hath been able to tell me, why Papi&s;ts should be &s;o zealous to Burn Hou&s;es. Is it that they may be rid of their own (which &s;uffer in the&s;e Conflagrations as well as the re&s;t) and, to imitate the Primitive Chri&s;tians, live in Dens and Caves? But though there is not the lea&s;t Mo|tive for Us to employ our &s;elves in any &s;uch thing, yet there is great rea&s;on Why De&s;igning and Seditious Men should impo&s;e the Belief thereof upon the Common People; there being nothing more Efficacious to alarm and provoke them (as is evident) than &s;uch an Apprehen|&s;ion.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Fenwick</HI> &s;ays,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 33.</NOTE> That the rea&s;on why he lent Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> eight shillings was, becau&s;e he was a Fool. And my L.C.J. is &s;till on the Catch, and Replies, <HI>When you can't evade be|ing proved Knaves by An&s;wering Directly, you will rather &s;uffer your &s;elves to be called Fools.</HI> I am weary of the&s;e Trifles, but they are cruel Trifles. Why was he not able to evade the being proved a Knave by <HI>an&s;wering directly?</HI> Would to God your Lordship were in as little danger thereof. You &s;ee He pre&s;ently tells you, that out of Charity he had at another time Relieved him with five shillings; but becau&s;e his Charity was &s;o very ill be&s;towed, He accounted him&s;elf Unwi&s;e.</P>
<P>Mr.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 35.</NOTE> <HI>Oates</HI> having Sworn That he was pre&s;ent at a Con|&s;ult held here in <HI>London,</HI> the 24th. of <HI>April,</HI> 1678. <HI>&s;til. vet.</HI> Mr. <HI>Fenwick</HI> Affirms, that He <HI>[Oates]</HI> was then at St. <HI>Omers,</HI> and offers to prove it by a Writing under the Seal of the Colledge, Te&s;tified by the whole Colledge, and Signed by the Magi&s;trates of the Town. This is accounted no Evidence: Nay, Mr. Ju&s;tice <HI>Atkins</HI> &s;ays, that &s;uch an one would not be Allowed again&s;t them: Then, I confe&s;s, it is none indeed, &s;ince for Evidence again&s;t Them a great Noi&s;e is made of one &s;ingle Letter, which mentions the
<PB N="18" REF="14">Appointment of a Meeting of <HI>Ie&s;uites</HI> at <HI>London,</HI> becau&s;e it likewi&s;e recommends Secre&s;ie, when every body knows, that their very <HI>being in England</HI> requires as much. But though this Te&s;timony from St. <HI>Omers</HI> con&s;i&s;t of 200. Wit|ne&s;&s;es, Yet they are all Papi&s;ts, and mu&s;t not be believed: And therefore my L. C. J. at the old rate, &s;ays to Mr. <HI>Fenwick, I know not What you cannot get from St.</HI> Omers. In&s;i|nuating hereby, what he plainly A&s;&s;erts el&s;ewhere, <HI>That Catholicks make no Con&s;cience of Oaths,</HI> &amp;c. But (be&s;ides what I have already an&s;wered to this odious Calumny) if This were true, I wonder why the&s;e Pri&s;oners had not been better provided of Witne&s;&s;es; for though the &s;trictne&s;s wherewith they were kept, and the short notice they had of their Tryal (which was only the night before) per|mitted them not to &s;end for Any to St. <HI>Omers,</HI> and <HI>Staf|ford-shire;</HI> yet, methinks, a &s;ufficient Number might ea|&s;ily have been procured, who would have Appeared and Sworn what had been nece&s;&s;ary at an hours warning. Why was not this done? Good God! that &s;uch Obvi|ous Things should not be reflected on! But &s;o irre&s;i&s;tible is the Force of Intere&s;t, Prejudice, and Malice!</P>
<P>VVhen the Te&s;timony of the whole Colledge of St.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>Omers</HI> mu&s;t not be thought &s;ufficient to prove that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> was out of <HI>England</HI> during the above-mentioned time, Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> propo&s;eth mo&s;t Candidly, Humbly, and Rea&s;onably, that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> may be obliged to prove by any two Witne&s;&s;es, that he was then in <HI>London.</HI> I wish that the mo&s;t Prejudiced and Malicious would but pau&s;e here a little, and tell me, whether it be po&s;&s;ible for &s;o con&s;iderable a Man, as Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> pretends him&s;elf, or indeed for any other, to Travel from <HI>Dover</HI> to <HI>London,</HI> Tarry &s;everal days here, and afterwards Return back again by the &s;ame Road to <HI>Dover,</HI> and yet be unable to prove his being then in <HI>England</HI> (which would have been &s;uf|ficient) by two VVitne&s;&s;es? But &s;o it is, that he neither
<PB N="19" REF="14">proves it by two, nor &s;o much as offers to prove it by one. It is enough that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;ays it, for the Philo&s;ophers <HI>Ip&s;e dixit</HI> goes not half &s;o far as his. I could Exclaim (but I find no Exclamations pathetick enough) That any one should thwart his common Sen&s;e and Rea&s;on to Credit one or two Infamous Villains, and not hearken thereun|to for the Belief of &s;o many worthy Gentlemen, and Per&s;ons of unblemished Reputations! But in&s;tead of Wit|ne&s;&s;es, Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> (according to his cu&s;tom) produceth Circum&s;tances, which my L. C. J. likes &s;o well, or &s;o ill, that he calls for more of them, <HI>page</HI> 36.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 36.</NOTE> <HI>Oates</HI> tells you that he came over with &s;uch and &s;uch Per&s;ons, naming &s;uch, as either are not at all, or el&s;e are in Banishment, and cannot be produced. But why does he not call on the Hackney-Coachman, or &s;ome Inn-keeper, Drawer, or Tap&s;ter on the Road, whom he may have &s;een in his Jour|ney, either backward or forward? For, le&s;t you should expect a Witne&s;s from him of his being in <HI>London,</HI> He tells you, that he was ordered to keep very clo&s;e at <HI>Grove</HI>'s, and &s;o not &s;tirring abroad, he might not happen to be taken notice of by any body during his &s;tay there. But This was a Lie, which (as I have already hinted) he was forced to coin for this place. For, you shall have from his own mouth, How <HI>clo&s;e</HI> he kept: He tells, that on the 24th. of <HI>April,</HI> (being part of the time wherein he pre|tends to have lain hid) He went to the White-hor&s;e Ta|vern in the <HI>Strand,</HI> then the Con&s;ult held there Adjour|ning to five or &s;ix Chambers in &s;everal parts of the Town, he carried the Re&s;olve of the Con&s;ult to all tho&s;e Cham|bers to be Signed, and afterwards returned to Mr. <HI>White|bread</HI>'s: And all this Walking up and down was in one Forenoon. He tells you likewi&s;e [in Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s Tryal, <HI>page</HI> 27.] that within a day (he thinks) after the Con&s;ult, he went to Mr. <HI>Langhorn</HI>'s Chamber in the <HI>Temple,</HI> and [<HI>ibid. p.</HI> 29] that then he went thither many times in one
<PB N="20" REF="15">Forenoon: And [<HI>ibid. p.</HI> 21.] he tells you, that about the &s;ame time he was at <HI>Wildhou&s;e</HI> and heard the Re&s;olve of the Con&s;ult Communicated to Mr. <HI>Coleman,</HI> and <HI>[ibid.]</HI> that not long after a Letter was &s;ent him, when (he thinks) he was gone a few miles out of Town, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Is This <HI>Keep|ing very clo&s;e?</HI> If you will not take the Te&s;timony of the whole Colledge of St. <HI>Omers,</HI> the whole Town of <HI>Ha&s;tings</HI> (the one a <HI>Catholick,</HI> the other a <HI>Prote&s;tant</HI> Society) nor of great numbers of <HI>Stafford-shire</HI> Gentlemen, both Catho|licks and Prote&s;tants, again&s;t the unshaken Credit of Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> Be plea&s;ed, at lea&s;t, to admit of Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> again&s;t him&s;elf. You cannot now deny, but that we have as Credible a Witne&s;s, and (as good a Prote&s;tant) on our &s;ide, as you produce again&s;t us: But &s;uch is our unparal|lel'd Misfortune, that the Contradiction mu&s;t not be con&s;idered to Save us, but both &s;ides thereof mu&s;t &s;eve|rally be believ'd to Condemn us! I cannot leave this point without averring once more, that it is morally impo&s;&s;i|ble for a man to gad about the Town and Country, as <HI>Oates</HI> profe&s;&s;eth to have done, and yet not be able to pro|duce one Man, Woman, or Child, who ever &s;aw him, or name any &s;uch that could be produced. Moreover, it would have been a mo&s;t ab&s;urd thing, and not the effect of that Subtilty which you &s;eem to fear in the Je&s;uites, for their Provincial &s;o unrea&s;onably to have pre&s;umed, that <HI>Oates</HI> could not bring two Witne&s;&s;es of his being in <HI>England</HI> at that time, had not, his Ab&s;ence then, been mo&s;t cer|tainly known unto him: &s;ince, if <HI>Oates</HI> had then &s;uffici|ently proved his being there (as how could the Provincial hope otherwi&s;e, in ca&s;e it were true?) their Cau&s;e had been lo&s;t, every one clearly Convinced of their Guilt, and fi|nally a Plot Di&s;covered. How is it po&s;&s;ible for any one not to be undeceived here? But <HI>Impii impi&egrave; agent, nequ&egrave; Intelligent,</HI> Wicked Men will do wickedly, and will not Under&s;tand.</P>
<PB N="21" REF="15">
<P> <HI>Oates</HI> affirming that in the above&s;aid Months of <HI>April</HI> and <HI>May</HI> he lodged at Mr. <HI>Grove</HI>'s,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> proves it no otherwi&s;e than by &s;aying, that a Flaxen-hair'd Gentleman, and one <HI>Strange</HI> lay there at the &s;ame time. Had the Pri&s;oners of|fered no other Evidence for them&s;elves, but Circum&s;tan|ces, of their own bare a&s;&s;ertion, and incapable of being farther proved, would you have forborn to laugh at them? If Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> to prove his having been in the Country should have told you likewi&s;e of a Flaxen-hair'd Gentleman whom he met there, or, to ingratiate him|&s;elf the more, should have &s;poken of a certain Country|man, whom he &s;aw near &s;ome Market-Town, on Hor&s;e-back between two Panniers full of Quarters of Beef and Mutton, who very much re&s;embled my L. C. J. in the Face, and was then taken by him for one of his Lord|ships Relations. Would you have declared (as you do in favour of Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Story) that it was impo&s;&s;ible for a Tale &s;o well Circum&s;tanced to be fal&s;e? I believe you would not, and con&s;equently that <HI>You do not as you would be done by.</HI> Mr. <HI>Grove</HI> denying that Mr. <HI>Strange</HI> lay in his Hou&s;e at that time, my L. C. J. asked <HI>how he could make that appear?</HI> He replyed, <HI>By all the Hou&s;e.</HI> One would think that here my L. C. J. should have called for Mr. <HI>Grove</HI>'s Family, and examined them in &s;o material a point. But his Lordships bu&s;ine&s;s, is not to find out the Truth, and therefore, (as if he had a&s;&s;ented to what Mr. <HI>Grove</HI> had &s;aid, that the thing might be urged no further) he turns off, and demands, whether they had any more Que&s;tions to ask Mr. <HI>Oates.</HI> And This is another In&s;tance of his Lordships Skill.</P>
<P>Becau&s;e Mr.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 37. <HI>&amp; &s;eq.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bedlow</HI> entertains you with a confu&s;ed and frivolous Story of his Travels into <HI>Flanders, France,</HI> and <HI>Spain,</HI> it would not have been ami&s;s, to have in&s;erted here a more perfect Journal of his Tran&s;|actions in the&s;e Parts, than that which he is plea&s;ed to give you, had not this been done already, and Published from mo&s;t Authentick Records in &s;everal other Papers, and were it not mo&s;t ea&s;ie for you
<PB N="22" REF="16">to inform your &s;elves from your own Merchants and Travellers, What Foot&s;teps Both He, and his <HI>Lieutenant-Swearer (viz.</HI> His Bro|ther) have left behind them among&s;t Foreigners: It being one Hap|pine&s;s (amid&s;t &s;o many Misfortunes) of poor English Catholicks, that the Prime Di&s;coverers of this Pretended Trea&s;on are &s;o well known Abroad, as entirely to &s;atisfie the&s;e Countries, (wherein Ne|ce&s;&s;ity has forced us to &s;eek a Refuge) How Prodigious that Inju&s;tice is which hath been shewn towards us, and con&s;equently what Pro|portion of their Pitty is due unto our Mi&s;ery; &s;ince otherwi&s;e it had been difficult for them to think &s;o meanly of any Nation under Hea|ven, as not rather to believe Us Faulty, than to admit that Humane Creatures were capable of &s;uch Inhumane and Savage Proceedings. However, let me give you one In&s;tance of this Fellows Brazen Im|pudence, who [<HI>p.</HI> 39.] is not ashamed to mention <HI>Zamora</HI> in <HI>Spain,</HI> &s;aying, That he overtook an Irish Father there, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> That being the very place, where he him&s;elf was overtaken and Arre&s;ted by Offi|cers of Ju&s;tice, who pur&s;ued him from <HI>Bilbao,</HI> for having Cheated &s;ome English Merchants there (<HI>viz.</HI> Mr. <HI>Frankland,</HI> Mr. <HI>Steel,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Richards</HI>) of 300. Spanish Pi&s;tols. <HI>Bedlow</HI> was then in Company with his Younger Brother, who pa&s;&s;ed for a Lord <HI>Gerard,</HI> and He him&s;elf, under the name of <HI>VVilliams,</HI> for his <HI>Fictitious Lordships</HI> Tu|tor. They were both put in Pri&s;on (and in Irons) at <HI>Zamora,</HI> and from thence Removed to the like Apartment in <HI>Valladolid,</HI> till at length at the Interce&s;&s;ion of the Offended Merchants them&s;elves (who were willing to hinder as much of the Infamy of their own Nation as they could) they were Relea&s;ed, and made ha&s;te into <HI>England.</HI> But perhaps you like Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Te&s;timony better: and therefore you shall have it concerning the&s;e Two Brothers [the <HI>Tutor</HI> and <HI>Pupil</HI>] in the Extract of a Letter which He wrote from <HI>Valladolid</HI> on the 4th. of <HI>September,</HI> 1677. to Father <HI>Sweetman</HI> at <HI>Madrid.</HI> Which I here &s;ubjoyn, not &s;o much for Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI>'s &s;ake, as that you may di&s;cern &s;omewhat of Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Spirit, and How Great a &s;hare he <HI>Naturally</HI> hath of this WITNESSING Faculty. The Extract is as followeth.</P>
<P>Reverend Father,&mdash;<HI>I cannot but give you to under&s;tand, that it may chance that there may come a Per&s;on, that pretends him&s;elf to be the Lord</HI> Gerard, <HI>to</HI> Madrid; <HI>Accompanied with a pretended Tutor and a Foot-boy, together with Mr.</HI> Madan <HI>our Country-man, and a Spanish Mule-Man. The &s;aid Lord</HI> Gerard <HI>is a Murtherer</HI> to my own knowledge, <HI>for in the Pre|cinct of</HI> Whitehal <HI>he by the &s;trength of his Arm wrang off a Boys neck, of</HI> which I was an Eye-Witne&s;s,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">&rindx;</NOTE> <HI>and fled for the &s;ame into the North of</HI>
<PB N="23" REF="16">England, <HI>where it is &s;aid,</HI> and not without proof, <HI>that many Robberies were by him committed, with his Company, and now he is fled the Kingdom of</HI> England, <HI>for he &s;tands Out-lawed for Life, for Non-appearance to his Maje&s;ties Proclamation. He Arrived at</HI> Bilbao <HI>&s;ome days &s;ince, where he was well Treated by the Merchants; and to recompence their Civility, he gave one of them a Shirk for</HI> 300. Doblones. <HI>He, as I am informed, Robbed a poor Prie&s;t of four</HI> Ryals Vellon <HI>in his way from</HI> Bilbao <HI>to</HI> Burgos, <HI>and beat him becau&s;e he had no more Money; and that very day he met with a poor Mendicant Fryer, who had his VVallet with Victuals for the Convent, and in a mad humor took it away from him. I dare not a&s;&s;ert this for truth, but I a&s;&s;ure your Reverence I believe it; and to tell you a wor&s;e &s;tory than this, he &s;ent his Tutor to &s;ee if there were any English in</HI> Valladolid, <HI>and to that end the &s;aid pretended Tutor repaired to our Colledge, and there he found none but my poor &s;elf: and becau&s;e he was my Country-man, I had an Inclination to be civil to him, and therefore I invited him to my Chamber, and left him there till I had provided &s;omething for him to eat and drink; and whil&s;t I was gone he robbed me of ten Pieces of Eight; and that which grie|veth me mo&s;t, he took an English Book which did belong to the Colledge, which was worth about two or three shillings: But for God's &s;ake &s;ay no|thing of the Book, or of my Lo&s;s to Father Rector of our Colledge. I am content to &s;it down with the lo&s;s, though I confe&s;s he hath not left me two shillings in the world. I give you the intimation of the&s;e things that you may not &s;u&s;tain any dishonour by shewing the &s;aid pretended Lord</HI> Gerard <HI>or his Tutor, &s;o called, any countenance: it will be a ba&s;e dishonour to our Country-men if &s;uch Per&s;ons be &s;uffered to Rogue about the Country,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Not to trouble you with Ob&s;ervations on what he &s;ays <HI>[mutato nomine]</HI> of Mr. <HI>Bedlow,</HI> I believe you know How late at night that Action (which he mentions) of <HI>Killing the Boy</HI> happened, and how Improbable it is, that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> should have been an <HI>Eye-VVitne&s;s</HI> thereof, or having been &s;o, that he should not, at this time, inform him&s;elf, Whether this were the &s;ame <HI>Gerard</HI> whom he pretends to have &s;een, or not: And you will perceive by this and other pa&s;&s;a|ges of the Letter, the &s;trange Inclination and &s;uperabundant Fan|cy, which our Informer hath ever had towards his LYING TRADE, &s;ince &s;o lightly, (to no purpo&s;e, and without theen|couragement of &s;ix Dishes of Meat <HI>per</HI> Meal) he &s;lips into it, as if it were impo&s;&s;ible for him to let any Truth e&s;cape his Narratives without a con&s;iderable mixture of Falshood and Invention.</P>
<P>The Original Letter is kept in Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s own hand (which is the &s;ame wherein one of tho&s;e five <HI>Forged Letters</HI> &s;ent to Mr. <HI>Bed|dingfield</HI>
<PB N="24" REF="17">at <HI>VVind&s;or,</HI> was written) and is capable of being produced, with many others of the like nature, whenever the Rea&s;onablene&s;s and Impartiality of our Judges shall admit the validity of any Evi|dence in our behalf. Whereas your Oracle, Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> was never able to shew &s;o much as one, of all tho&s;e Trea&s;onable Letters, or Commi&s;&s;ions which he pretends to have received, peru&s;ed, and car|ried &s;o frequently up and down among&s;t us.</P>
<P>By this Letter it is likewi&s;e evident, as it is by &s;everal others in the &s;ame hand, that though <HI>Bedlow</HI> and <HI>Oates</HI> pretend never to have &s;een one another before this DISCOVERY, that they might not be thought to have contrived their <HI>Depo&s;itions</HI> together, yet (to return his Lordships Reproach) <HI>They were no &s;uch &s;trangers to one another, as they would make us believe.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Bedlow</HI> &s;eems here not to have been acquainted with any De&s;ign of <HI>Killing the King,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 41.</NOTE> till <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> 1677. And yet <HI>page</HI> 39. He told you that long before he under&s;tood &s;uch a De&s;ign, by Letters, which he delivered to certain Bene|dictin Monks at <HI>Cambray.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Bedlow.</HI> About the latter end of <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> or the beginning of <HI>Sep|tember,</HI> (but I believe it was the latter end of <HI>Augu&s;t</HI>) I came to <HI>Har|court</HI>'s Chamber, <HI>&amp;c. L. C. I.</HI> What-part of <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> was it? <HI>Bedlow.</HI> The latter end. <HI>L. C. I.</HI> Do you &s;ay it po&s;itively that it was the lat|ter end of <HI>Augu&s;t? Bedlow.</HI> My Lord, it was in <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> I do not &s;wear po&s;itively to a day.</P>
<P>Had not <HI>Bedlow</HI> time enough to have recollected him|&s;elf better, that he might not have thus &s;tammer'd in his Evidence? Fir&s;t, it is either in <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> or <HI>September,</HI> Then po&s;itively it is in the latter end of <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> and being asked whether it were in the latter end of <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> as he had po|&s;itively &s;aid, or not? He boggles once more, and (&s;o fearful is a guilty Con&s;cience!) returns no direct an&s;wer. Why does not your Lordship take notice of this notori|ous Shifting? Does it not &s;eem as if this were the fir&s;t time that he ever told the &s;tory? You are mighty sharp|&s;ighted on the other &s;ide, and ob&s;erve indirect An&s;wers, where no body el&s;e can di&s;cover them. Are you not a|fraid of the Woe pronounced by our Lord and Supreme
<PB N="25" REF="17">Judge again&s;t tho&s;e, who perceive the <HI>Mote</HI> in the eyes of their Brethren, and are not able to di&s;cern the <HI>Beam</HI> in their own? Your Lordships Crime is yet wor&s;e, &s;ince what you reprehend in your Neighbour, is meerly the Product of your own fancy, and not any fault of his.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> &s;ays,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 43.</NOTE> <HI>That he was le&s;s acquainted with Mr.</HI> White|bread <HI>than with any of the Society,</HI> and that he could not charge him to have been of the Plot. It mu&s;t needs &s;eem &s;trange, that the Provincial and Chief of the Con&s;pirators should not acquaint him&s;elf with &s;o principal an Agent in the De&s;ign.</P>
<P>Here I cannot but acquaint the Reader, that on peru&s;al of Mr. <HI>Reading</HI>'s Tryal (which was long after I had made the foregoing Ob|&s;ervation) it was not a little plea&s;ing to me, to find that my Remarks were &s;o far from being <HI>Malicious</HI> or <HI>Far-fetch'd,</HI> That Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> him|&s;elf had ju&s;tified this La&s;t (which, you will &s;ay, is none of the mo&s;t Material or mo&s;t <HI>justifiable</HI> among&s;t them) by concluding, that it would be a le&s;s prejudice to his Evidence to acknowledge Perjury, than to &s;uffer it to he under the Ab&s;urdity of his <HI>Di&s;owning an inti|mate acquaintance with Mr.</HI> Whitebread, <HI>and Mr.</HI> Fenwick: And therefore He tells you [in that Tryal, <HI>page</HI> 16. and 17.] That Mr. <HI>Reading</HI> had made him Ea&s;ie [which is a new expre&s;&s;ion of <HI>Being For&s;worn</HI>] towards tho&s;e two Gentlemen. <HI>For,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>I could be no &s;uch &s;tranger to</HI> Whitebread <HI>and</HI> Fenwick, <HI>being &s;o much concerned, as I was, in their Affairs. It was impo&s;sible that I should be &s;o much a &s;tranger to them, as I &s;aid,</HI> [and, <HI>Good Sir,</HI> upon your Oath too] <HI>that I was.</HI> There can be no better proof that one's Cen&s;ure hath neither been Rash, nor Unju&s;t, than that Tho&s;e, who are Cen&s;ured, should own their Failings; &s;ee|ing that Men are hardly induced to Condemn any thing in them|&s;elves, whil&s;t they think it capable of &s;o much as a tolerable defence. Wherefore I hope that this <HI>Remark</HI> of mine hath received from Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> him&s;elf, the greate&s;t Approbation that could be given it. And if &s;o, I cannot de&s;pair of the re&s;t, which, for the mo&s;t part, are ra|ther le&s;s liable to any exception, than otherwi&s;e. And, now, be|cau&s;e Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> hath done me &s;o much right in this particular, I can do no le&s;s in Ju&s;tice and Gratitude than acknowledge to the World, that He hath fully clear'd him&s;elf of this <HI>Ab&s;urdity.</HI> But alas! <HI>(Incidit in &s;cyllam, qui vult vitare Charybdim)</HI> he hath fallen hereby upon an evident and mo&s;t undeniable <HI>Perjury;</HI> and how he will di&s;|entangle
<PB N="26" REF="18">him&s;elf there, 'tis pa&s;t my skill to shew, and mu&s;t be Judge <HI>Scroggs</HI>'s task to effect. I am not ignorant that, [in the Tryal of <HI>Hill, Green,</HI> and <HI>Bury</HI>] when it was alledged that Mr. <HI>Prance</HI> the Prime Witne&s;s had Retracted in his Maje&s;ties pre&s;ence, what before he had Sworn to, and con&s;equently owned a Perjury, His Lordship urgeth, that Mr. <HI>Prance</HI> made not this Denial upon Oath, and &s;o was not For&s;worn, nor had the Credit of his Te&s;timony impaired: But Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> having on his Oath, (and under an Obligation of declaring the whole Truth) averred that he could object nothing of the&s;e Trea|&s;ons again&s;t Mr. <HI>VVhitebread</HI> and Mr. <HI>Fenwick,</HI> and now Swearing that he then knew enough again&s;t them to have taken away their Lives, His Lordships Plea will be ineffectual here, and do more Harm than Good, &s;ince it &s;eems to admit, That, had <HI>Prance</HI>'s Denial been likewi&s;e upon Oath, the Objection had been &s;olid again&s;t him. And therefore I know not, how he will come off at this time. Indeed, my Lord, His Maje&s;tes Witne&s;&s;es deal too &s;everely with you, and are meer Egyptian Task-Ma&s;ters, cau&s;ing you to <HI>make Brick without Straw,</HI> and obliging you to defend them when you have not the lea&s;t Argument or shadow of Rea&s;on to do it with. I &s;ee but one way of attempting it at pre&s;ent: You remember that in excu&s;e of Mr. <HI>Prance</HI>'s Retraction, you were plea&s;ed to allow a very weak Rea&s;on, <HI>viz.</HI> That He (being a Gold&s;mith) was fearful of lo&s;ing that Trade, which he had among&s;t the Catholicks, and therefore loth to di&s;ob|lige them, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Whereas being in &s;uch danger of lo&s;ing his Life, it was to be pre&s;umed, that he would little think of pre&s;erving his Trade: Or if his Avarice (in &s;pight of the very fears of Death) should have driven him into &s;uch thoughts as Tho&s;e, it was not to be imagined that at this time of day the Catholicks would appear to him &s;uch Advantagious Cu&s;tomers, Or looking after Gain, that he should be &s;o Dull, as not to &s;ee, that WITNESSING was now (beyond Di&s;|pute) the Be&s;t TRADE of the Nation. Now, I &s;ay that, your Lordship admitting this weak and frivolous Pretence in behalf of Mr. <HI>Prance</HI>'s Contradiction, Methinks, you should content your &s;elf with that <HI>&s;tronger Motive</HI> which Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> offereth in favour of his Perjury. And yet, if you do &s;o, and allow that People may for|&s;wear them&s;elves, as oft as they plea&s;e, provided they shew you rea&s;on for it (as I am &s;ure our pre&s;ent Witne&s;&s;es, who get &s;o much by it, are well able to do) It will be &s;aid, that the &s;ame Objection which you make again&s;t the Papi&s;ts, is capable of being brought again&s;t your own <HI>Ianizaries,</HI> viz, <HI>That they will &s;wear any thing for the
<PB N="27" REF="18">Good of their Cau&s;e.</HI> And if on the bare pre&s;umption thereof, you re|ject the Te&s;timony of the Former, with what face is it, that, where it is manife&s;t, you admit the Evidence of the Latter? In fine, This is a &s;curvy Bu&s;ine&s;s, and I am afraid that (do what you can) it will &s;tick upon you. But though I am quite weary of Thinking on &s;o nau&s;eous a Subject, I cannot but &s;tay to tell you, That having peru&s;ed over Mr. <HI>Reading</HI>'s Tryal, and &s;eeing Applau&s;e given to One, who in open Court had confe&s;&s;ed and committed a Perjury, and the Pillory ap|pointed to Another for taking pains to hinder it, I began to fancy my &s;elf in &s;ome &s;trange <HI>Vtopia,</HI> or amid&s;t the extravagant Frolicks of &s;ome <HI>Saturnalia</HI> or Mi&s;-rule, where <HI>Servants governed their Ma&s;ters, School-boys whipped their Teachers, Souldiers were rewarded for Flying from their Colours, and &s;everely punished for obeying their Commanders,</HI> and, final|ly, where the Common Order and Antient Method of the World were wholly inverted. I was afraid that Robbery on the High-way would pa&s;s for apiece of Service to the State, and that our Hone&s;t Country-men, who keep <HI>Watch</HI> and <HI>Ward,</HI> would be hanged for en|deavouring to prevent it. Indeed, I could not &s;ay, That the Magi|&s;trates <HI>bare the Sword in vain,</HI> but I was forced to add, That it was for the <HI>punishment of VVell doers,</HI> and <HI>Prai&s;e of tho&s;e who did ill,</HI> and therein contradict the Scripture as flatly and peremptorily as one of the 39. Articles doth that Ver&s;e in St. <HI>Iames,</HI> which a&s;&s;ures us, That <HI>Man is not ju&s;tified by Faith only.</HI> And the&s;e are two In&s;tances, whereby you may perceive, How great and nice that Exactne&s;s is, wherewith our Go|&s;pel-Reformers ob&s;erve the Rules of Holy Writ, not only in order to their Belief, but Practice al&s;o.</P>
<P>Here you may ob&s;erve, that twice,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 44.</NOTE> when Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> offered to prove, <HI>that he was ab&s;ent from</HI> London <HI>all</HI> Augu&s;t 78. which would have invalidated <HI>Bedlow</HI>'s Te&s;timony, my L. Ch. J. (as he u&s;eth to do in &s;uch occa&s;ions) diverts the Di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P><HI>Bedlow</HI> affirming that he had &s;een Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> often,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ibid, &amp; P.</HI> 45.</NOTE> and been &s;everal times in his Company, Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> de&s;ires him to produce any one Witne&s;s of any &s;uch thing. Which the L. C. J. accounts a di&s;ingenuous Objection, <HI>For,</HI> &s;ays he, Bedlow <HI>doth not come prepared to produce Witne&s;&s;es: And if he should, he mu&s;t produce &s;uch Company, as you</HI> [meaning Mr. <HI>Ireland] keep, Prie&s;ts and Ie&s;uites, and of your own Religion; and
<PB N="28" REF="19">we can hardly expect they should make any True An&s;wers.</HI> Though <HI>Bedlow</HI> came not prepared to produce Witne&s;&s;es, yet he might have named &s;ome who were capable of being pro|duced; neither is it nece&s;&s;ary, that two Con&s;pirators who are often together, should never be &s;een in compa|ny but by their Fellow-Con&s;pirators, and con&s;equently there might have been &s;ome <HI>Witne&s;&s;es</HI> hereof, from whom your Lordship might have expected <HI>True An&s;wers.</HI> Nay, they might have been &s;een together by &s;ome of this very Religion, who were hone&s;t Gentlemen (&s;ince, according to His Lordship and Mr. Recorder, there are &s;uch among&s;t them) and not engaged in the Plot. I only urge this to shew that the L. C. J. calls the &s;aid Objection of Mr. <HI>Ire|land Di&s;ingenuous</HI> without any rea&s;on, and only to blind the Jury; and therefore that the <HI>Di&s;ingenuity</HI> lieth at his own Dore.</P>
<P>Mr.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 45.</NOTE> <HI>Ireland</HI> is made to &s;ay that <HI>he never &s;aw</HI> Bedlow <HI>in certain Com|pany above once or twice:</HI> Whereas I am a&s;&s;ured from very good hands, that Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> &s;aid not any &s;uch thing, but con&s;tantly denied that he ever &s;aw him before, as is &s;et down in the foregoing pages. He had been but a weak Sophi&s;t indeed, to Confe&s;s, what he was then actu|ally Denying; neither would the Judge, who every where is &s;o quick-&s;ighted and vigilant an Ob&s;erver of the Pri&s;oners Failings, have &s;uffered &s;o Palpable and Material an one to e&s;cape without Re|mark or Comment: as neverthele&s;s it doth in this Printed Account. I know not whether this Falshood be to be attributed to Malice or Error: but I have rea&s;ons to charge it on the former; This not being the only Thing of this nature, which the pre&s;ent Publication is guilty of, as shall be shewn hereafter.</P>
<P>You may ob&s;erve,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 46. <HI>and el&s;e|where.</HI></NOTE> that Ma&s;ter <HI>Oates</HI> talks of a great many plain Trea&s;onable Letters &s;ent up and down. Why does he not name the Me&s;&s;engers? Cer|tainly &s;uch things (unle&s;s in a <HI>&s;ecure</HI> Cypher, which like|wi&s;e would have bred &s;u&s;picion) would not have been tru&s;ted to the Common Po&s;ts. It is &s;trange that tho&s;e Let|ter-Carriers were &s;o little known to one another. <HI>Oates</HI> and <HI>Bedlow</HI> give account of none but of them&s;elves, and
<PB N="29" REF="19">&s;peak not of many Letters carried by them; And they two pretend to have had no acquaintance together.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Bedlow allows but</HI> One <HI>man to the Killing of the</HI> Duke <HI>of</HI> Ormond,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>But his Brother</HI> Oates <HI>commits the Charge to</HI> four <HI>Ie|&s;uites, and for greater &s;ecurity adds a</HI> fifth. This Di&s;cord is harmonious enough from In&s;truments in the Ears of a Mu&s;ician, but ought not to have been &s;o from Witne&s;&s;es in the Ears of a Judge.</P>
<P>I thought a little while ago (as you will have percei|ved) that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> meant that the&s;e Trea&s;onable Let|ters,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 47.</NOTE> which pa&s;&s;ed up and down &s;o frequently, were &s;ent by &s;pecial Me&s;&s;engers. But now I &s;ee that the good Fa|thers (how cautiou&s;ly, I leave you to Judge) were loth to be at &s;uch an expence, And Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> being on his Journey to <HI>London,</HI> &s;ends thither his Con&s;ent to the De&s;ign of <HI>Killing the Duke of</HI> Ormond in a Letter by the <HI>Ordinary Po&s;t,</HI> as you gather from what is &s;aid here [<HI>viz.</HI> that it had the Po&s;t-Mark thereon] <HI>which Letter,</HI> &s;ays <HI>Oates, was entered in their Books.</HI> Pray Mr. <HI>Finch,</HI> (I cannot forbear the turning to you on &s;uch occa&s;ions) tell me, are the&s;e men the greate&s;t Politicians in the world? Had they done <HI>All the Wit of man could do?</HI> And was there need of &s;uch an Extraordinary Providence, as you &s;peak of, for their detection, when they intru&s;ted the Common Po&s;ts with their Highe&s;t Secrets?</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;ays,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> that Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> being the Superiour of the Je&s;uites, kept a Book, wherein all their Re&s;oluti|ons were entred, and which was never opened but at the Con&s;ult. He told you a little before of a Letter &s;een by him&s;elf to be entred in this Book the latter end of <HI>Au|gu&s;t:</HI> He informed you of no Con&s;ult then. Be&s;ides, the Letter was from the Superiour, and, as is to be &s;uppo&s;ed, entred in his Ab&s;ence. And con&s;equently this Book was not always kept by the Superiour, and al&s;o was &s;ome|times opened when there was no Con&s;ult. So that my
<PB N="30" REF="20">Lord Chief Ju&s;tice needed not with &s;o much plea&s;ant|ne&s;s to have asked for Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI>'s Book, <HI>that</HI> Oates <HI>might be caught in &s;ome Trip,</HI> had his Lordship attended as he ought, to what he then heard from this worthy Depo|nent. His Lordship (I confe&s;s) is every where Facetious, but it is with more Malice and Cruelty, than Rea&s;on, Ju&s;tice, or even (what he is &s;o fond of) Wit. And here you mu&s;t give me leave to take notice, with what egre|gious Partiality Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> is asked to produce a Book, which he denied to have; and Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> is never urged to shew any one of tho&s;e many Patents and Trea&s;onable Letters, which he pretends to have received from &s;everal of the&s;e Con&s;pirators, no, not &s;o much as that Patent from the General of the Je&s;uites, whereby he was Au|thorized to be of their Con&s;ult in <HI>England:</HI> Which he neither offers to produce, as mo&s;t probably he would do, if it were in his po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, nor tells what is become of it, as doubtle&s;s he would, in ca&s;e it had been taken from him, lo&s;t, or otherwi&s;e di&s;po&s;ed of.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> told you of one Book, and that never opened but at a Con&s;ult, and kept by the Provincial [who, as is known, is the Superiour of all the English Je&s;uites. I mention this, becau&s;e <HI>Bedlow</HI> &s;eems to &s;peak of &s;everal di&s;tinct Con&s;ults.] But Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> tells you of many Books, and kept by Many, and that Mr. <HI>Langhorn</HI> (a Lay-man) Regi&s;tred them all into One, who was &s;o far from being pre&s;ent at the Con|&s;ults, that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> tells you (in Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s Tryal) that Mr. <HI>Langhorn</HI> was beholding to him for the know|ledge of what was done in that famous Con&s;ult of the 24th. of <HI>April:</HI> So that what Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> tells you was <HI>one Book,</HI> kept by the Superiour of the Je&s;uites, and opened only at the Con&s;ults, Mr. <HI>Bedlow</HI> affirms to be <HI>many Books,</HI> frequently in the hands of a Lay-per&s;on (the Chief of them, <HI>viz.</HI> the general Regi&s;ter, as is to be &s;uppo&s;ed, being always kept by him) and opened by one who was
<PB N="31" REF="20">no Member of the Con&s;ults, nor pre&s;ent at them. Such is the admirable Concurrence of the&s;e two Te&s;timonies, which hath been &s;o much bragged of. It has been al|ledged in my hearing (and that by &s;ome Men who in other matters &s;eem not to have lo&s;t their Rea&s;on) as an evident Mark of the truth of this Story, that after Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>'s Depo&s;itions had for a long time been made Pub|lick through the Nation, there should appear a Man who was able to &s;ay part of them by heart, and concurr with him in &s;ome particulars. This certainly was no hard thing to be contrived: But &s;uch, it &s;eems, through the goodne&s;s of Divine Providence, is the Fate of Fal&s;e Witne&s;&s;es, that mo&s;t commonly their Te&s;timonies di&s;agree. This was the ca&s;e of tho&s;e who appeared again&s;t our B. Sa|viour, and now, you &s;ee, it is of the&s;e who are produced again&s;t his Servants, who though they had (as every body knows) &s;o great an opportunity of Complotting their Af|fair together, as without doubt they did, yet after all (that Judge <HI>Scroggs</HI> may be left inexcu&s;able) they mo&s;t evident|ly Di&s;agree. But his Lordship is sharp-&s;ighted only in one of his eyes: He is &s;o fully convinced with this Evidence, that he Exclaims, <HI>page</HI> 48. <HI>If an hundred Witne&s;&s;es Swear it,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 48.</NOTE> <HI>they will deny it.</HI> Should a poor Country Jury-man have happened to ob&s;erve the above-mentioned Di&s;agree|ment in the Witne&s;&s;es, I believe at this Exclamation he would have retracted his Opinion, and &s;ubmitting to his Lordships better Judgment, have thought him&s;elf Mi&s;ta|ken. I &s;ay this, That my L. C. J. may not think to wash his hands of this Murther, by laying it on the Jury, &s;ince his whole bu&s;ine&s;s in this Tryal is to corrupt their Judg|ments. It is much to be feared that the Nation endea|vour to pacifie their Con&s;ciences by laying this Blood on the Law, and on the Judge; The Judge (when Wine will not do it) quiets him&s;elf by laying it on the Jury; And the Jury either lay it on the Witne&s;&s;es, or return it
<PB N="32" REF="21">back to the Judge. But it is as much to be feared, that there are few of all the&s;e, who are not Spotted with it. For, had not the Jury been Bya&s;&s;ed for Credible Per&s;ons, Infamous Villains had not pa&s;&s;ed for Credible Per&s;ons, when Witne&s;&s;es of good Reputation were rejected, Con|tradictions had not been taken for &s;olid Evidence, nor a mo&s;t incoherent, ridiculous Story for a probable Truth: Again, had not the Judge been un&s;incere, and repre&s;en|ted things by fal&s;e Lights and Glo&s;&s;es, the Jury had not been Corrupted: and la&s;tly, had not the Nation cried <HI>Crucifie, Crucifie,</HI> the Judge had not been afraid to be Ho|ne&s;t. You &s;ee therefore how many have united them&s;elves to <HI>Oates</HI> and <HI>Bedlow,</HI> and are Partakers of their Guilt, and con&s;equently how General that Punishment is, which (unle&s;s we prevent it by timely Pennance) we have all rea&s;on to fear from the ju&s;t and certain Vengeance of Al|mighty God.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Iames Bedlow</HI> &s;eems to know none of the&s;e Con&s;pi|rators,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ibid. P.</HI> 48.</NOTE> neither doth he tell you the name of any one Prie&s;t or Je&s;uite: And yet he Swears boldly that <HI>&s;everal Prie&s;ts and Ie&s;uites came to his Brother.</HI> Why doth he not &s;ay, or why is he not asked, how he came to know that they were Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uites, and &s;eem not &s;o much as to know their names; it not being enough for the Warrant|ing his Oath that his Brother should have told him they were &s;uch? He &s;ays, that he has fetch'd many &s;core of Pounds from the&s;e Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uites (who&s;e names he knows not) which (&s;ays he, <HI>p.</HI> 49.) <HI>I proved by the Gold|&s;miths who paid it.</HI> Why are not the&s;e Gold&s;miths produ|ced? and why does he add pre&s;ently that he actually re|ceived the Money from the Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uites? And why was he not examined to &s;uch Interrogatories as the&s;e? But Mr. <HI>Finch</HI> very much to the purpo&s;e, asks him for whom he received the Money. Which Que&s;tion was not, as it should have been, in order to the Di&s;covery of
<PB N="33" REF="21">Falshood, but by preventing other Queries to conceal it. Which (as I am weary now with ob&s;erving) is every where practi&s;ed through the whole Tryal.</P>
<P>L. Ch. J. <HI>to</HI> James Bedlow. <HI>Do you know Ireland?</HI> J. Bedlow.
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>No.</HI> L. Ch. J. <HI>Do you know Pickering or Grove?</HI> J. Bedlow. <HI>I have heard of them.</HI> One would think by this way of An&s;wering that he had never heard of Mr. <HI>Ireland.</HI> And yet, <HI>page</HI> 50. he &s;ays, that he had heard his Brother talk of him.</P>
<P>His Lordship does well to tell Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> that he would not have Cunnning nor Art enough to deceive the Jury,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 51.</NOTE> having re&s;erved that part for him&s;elf: whereunto this very Expre&s;&s;ion is directed, as likewi&s;e is that pretence of Caution and Con&s;cience, <HI>page</HI> 52.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 52.</NOTE> where his Lordship &s;ays, <HI>He cannot under&s;tand how the Letter from Mr.</HI> Peters to <HI>Mr.</HI> Ton&s;tal <HI>could affect Mr.</HI> Whitebread, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> For, almo&s;t in the &s;ame breath he is not afraid to tell the Jury, That <HI>in this Letter there is a Di&s;cour&s;e of a</HI> De&s;ign <HI>and</HI> PLOT. There is, indeed, mention of a De&s;ign; but, I hope, every <HI>De|&s;ign</HI> is not a <HI>Plot,</HI> at lea&s;t, &s;uch as his Lordship means. If his Lordship should have a <HI>De&s;ign</HI> to do Ju&s;tice, I hope, no man would accu&s;e him for a Con&s;pirator: Though, I mu&s;t confe&s;s, in this Conjuncture he had been in evi|dent danger thereof. Every one knows (who knows any thing of the Je&s;uites) that their Con&s;titutions oblige them to hold Congregations every three years in their re&s;pective Provinces, and every one knows that the De|&s;ign of holding one of the&s;e Congregations in <HI>London</HI> is &s;uch, as they have all rea&s;on to keep Private, though the matter thereof be ever &s;o innocent; &s;ince, (as I have &s;aid already) their very Re&s;idence in <HI>England</HI> is Trea&s;on by the Law. I need to &s;ay no more of this Letter, there being lately made publick a Particular Paper, which gives a full and &s;atisfactory account thereof.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;ince the finding the above-mentioned Letter, and in this Tryal expre&s;ly nominates the day of this Meeting of Je&s;uites: But in Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s he expre&s;&s;eth the time no otherwi&s;e than by
<PB N="34" REF="22">&s;aying more generally that <HI>it was the latter end of</HI> April, old &s;tile and <HI>May,</HI> new &s;tile: which was all the knowledge thereof he had gotten at St. <HI>Omers,</HI> where he then was.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> affirms that he was out of Town during &s;uch time as the Witne&s;&s;es accu&s;ed him to have commit|ted Trea&s;on in it,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 56. <HI>&amp; &s;eq.</HI></NOTE> and nameth &s;everal per&s;ons of good Quality and Reputation, who could atte&s;t the &s;ame, <HI>viz.</HI> Sir <HI>Iohn Southcot</HI> and his Lady, my Lord <HI>A&s;ton,</HI> &amp;c. Decla|ring, that having been kept &s;o &s;trictly in Pri&s;on, and not been allowed the Liberty of writing any Letter, he had not been able to de&s;ire their Evidence in his behalf. This was an Affirmation, which, if it were fal&s;e, Publick Au|thority might ea&s;ily have di&s;proved, by &s;ending for tho&s;e Worthy Per&s;ons whom he mentioned, and this (as there is no unbya&s;s'd Man but will grant me) had infallibly been done by &s;uch, as were cordially de&s;irous of finding out the Truth. His Si&s;ter had procured one of Sir <HI>Iohn South|cot</HI>'s Servants, whom she ha&s;tily &s;ent for over night, (the Me&s;&s;enger Riding all Night who went for him) not pre|&s;uming at &s;o un&s;ea&s;onable an Hour, to de&s;ire the Appea|rance of Sir <HI>Iohn</HI> him&s;elf and his Lady, and imagining that the Te&s;timony of his Servant would have been &s;ufficient. Which, indeed, was &s;o extremely Particular and Punctu|al, that if my L. Ch. J. had been but half &s;o kind to Circum&s;tances produced in favour of the Pri&s;oners, as he was to tho&s;e again&s;t them, he would have acknow|ledged him&s;elf Convinced of the Truth of this Evidence. This Witne&s;s declared expre&s;ly, that he met with Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> at the Bull-Inn at St. <HI>Albans,</HI> on Monday the 5th. of <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> and went from thence with him to <HI>Tixhal,</HI> thence to <HI>Nantwich,</HI> and thence to <HI>We&s;t-Che&s;ter,</HI> conti|nuing with him till the 16th of the &s;ame <HI>Augu&s;t.</HI> He was yet more Particular, at the time of Tryal, than it hath been thought fit to expo&s;e in Print. The L. Ch. J. asked him, <HI>What Road they went to Tixhal.</HI> He readily an&s;wered,
<PB N="35" REF="22"><HI>The great Road: Down to</HI> Northampton, <HI>thence to</HI> Coventry, <HI>and thence to</HI> Tixhal. His Lordship asked him, <HI>How he could recollect him&s;elf &s;o, as to remember the days of the month.</HI> He re|plied, That <HI>nothing down the Expences of his Ma&s;ters Hor&s;es in his Table-Book, he could tell exactly as well the &s;everal Places they were at, as the particular Days of the Month.</HI> But, it &s;eems the&s;e Circum&s;tances were too Good to be Published; As an|other was too Bad, <HI>viz.</HI> His Lordships Asking the &s;aid Wit|ne&s;s, <HI>Whether he lay with Mr.</HI> Ireland <HI>at nights, and</HI> not do|ing &s;o, <HI>how he could be a&s;&s;ured that he went not to</HI> London <HI>in the Night, and returned to St.</HI> Albans <HI>before Morning.</HI> How great is that Partiality, which thus Bends a &s;tately Judge, and makes him overshoot him&s;elf, even to the extreme&s;t and mo&s;t ridiculous Folly! But to return to the con&s;ide|ration of this Te&s;timony: You &s;ee it fortified by all man|ner of Circum&s;tance, whereof each Branch was capable of being examined by the Credit of mo&s;t worthy Per|&s;ons, and &s;uch as might ea&s;ily have been called for, be|&s;ides the &s;everal Inn-keepers, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Which quality (as I have ob&s;erved already) is always wanitng to the Te&s;timo|nies of <HI>Oates</HI> and <HI>Bedlow:</HI> They name Per&s;ons, indeed, as privy to what they &s;ay, but they are Such, as you cannot find, and perhaps are not in the World. Your Lordship was very zealous in pondering the Circum&s;tances alledged by <HI>Sarah Paine,</HI> who only pretended, <HI>alone</HI> and <HI>pa&s;sing by,</HI> to have &s;een Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> in the Street, and might very po&s;&s;ibly be mi&s;taken as well in the Per&s;on, as the Time, it often happening in great Towns that one man is taken for an|other. And why do you not ponder the pregnant Cir|cum&s;tances of this mo&s;t convincing Evidence? I a&s;&s;ure you, this Que&s;tion will be asked you in another place, and therefore you had be&s;t to provide an An&s;wer.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> and the Re&s;t offering to Con&s;ideration,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 63, 64.</NOTE> That no Opportunity had been allowed them of &s;ending for &s;uch Witne&s;&s;es as could have atte&s;ted their Innocence,
<PB N="36" REF="23">de&s;ire a little time in order thereunto. But my L. Ch. J. tells them, That the Jury cannot Fa&s;t &s;o long, [<HI>He might have &s;aid, that the</HI> Blood-Thir&s;ty <HI>Rabble could not do it neither,</HI>] being neither to Eat nor Drink till they bring in their Verdict. I mu&s;t confe&s;s that I am no Lawyer, and there|fore cannot tell how con&s;i&s;tent their Reque&s;t was with the cour&s;e of Tryals: But it &s;eems rea&s;onable to me, That if there were a way of &s;u&s;pending the Tryal after the Impannelling the Jury, Pleading, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> in re&s;pect of Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> and Mr. <HI>Fenwick, [one of the Arts of &s;eeming Con&s;cionable men]</HI> there might be al&s;o a Means of &s;u&s;pend|ing it in favour of Mr. <HI>Ireland.</HI> But if not: This (at lea&s;t) might after the Tryal have been communicated to His Maje&s;ty (according to the u&s;ual Method of Hone&s;t Jud|ges) that the Witne&s;&s;es alledged might be &s;ent for, and Examined, that his Maje&s;ty might &s;ee, not only what Clemency was due to the Pri&s;oners, but likewi&s;e how far <HI>Oates</HI> and <HI>Bedlow</HI> were to be Credited for the future. What your Lordship did in this particular, I cannot tell; But we have had little rea&s;on from your Deportment &s;ince, to imagine that you did &s;o. Nay, if my Informations de|ceive me not, you were as Indu&s;trious in procuring their Execution, as you had been to Condemn them.</P>
<P>Your Lordship is very <HI>brief</HI> and <HI>ha&s;ty</HI> in repeating the Evidence for the Pri&s;oners,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ib.</HI> 64.</NOTE> when &s;peaking of Sir <HI>Iohn Southcot</HI>'s Servant, you only mention <HI>his meeting with Mr.</HI> Ireland <HI>on the</HI> 5th. <HI>of</HI> Augu&s;t, &s;aying nothing of <HI>his being with him for &s;everal days after.</HI> You are guilty of &s;o many Omi&s;&s;ions of this kind, that I am inclined to think them rather Malicious than Ca&s;ual. Your Lordship is likewi&s;e very ingenious in Comparing and Weighing the Te&s;timo|nies on each &s;ide, and to &s;uch a degree, that what we want in Ju&s;tice is made up to us by Art. You conclude, that the number of Witne&s;&s;es was Equal, and yet (Can|vas it which way you plea&s;e) the Reader will find in the
<PB N="37" REF="23">Tryal, whereunto I refer, That there were more Wit|ne&s;&s;es (and I am &s;ure far better) for Mr. <HI>Ireland,</HI> than again&s;t him: which perhaps made you &s;ay, that <HI>he was better pre|pared than he &s;eemed to be,</HI> that is, <HI>than you had made him &s;eem to be,</HI> or el&s;e, <HI>than you hoped he would have been, knowing how little Means he had of Providing him&s;elf.</HI> But if you mean, (as I &s;uppo&s;e you would have the World to under&s;tand) that <HI>he was as well Prepared, as he could have been, though ever &s;o much time had been allowed him,</HI> you are much to blame; for, you cannot but imagine, that He would have been able to produce in his behalf the Evidence of all tho&s;e worthy Gentlemen, whom he mentioned: &s;ince if he had failed therein, it had redounded to his utter Confu&s;ion, and fortified the Credit of the PLOT beyond Exception: Which would have been of &s;uch high Importance, that for this Rea&s;on alone (were there none el&s;e) tho&s;e Wit|ne&s;&s;es ought in all Prudence and Hone&s;ty to have been called for.</P>
<P>Sir <HI>Denny Ashburnham</HI> (though fearful and unwilling enough to <HI>&s;trive again&s;t the Stream</HI>) Declares,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 65.</NOTE> That had this Di&s;covery been Vouched only by the &s;ingle Te&s;timo|ny of Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> he should have doubted of it. What is this, but in other terms to &s;ay, <HI>that Mr.</HI> Oates <HI>was not of &s;uch</HI> Credit <HI>as is</HI> nece&s;&s;ary <HI>for a Witne&s;s?</HI> Which being &s;o, I &s;ee no rea&s;on why his Te&s;timony should weigh in the Bal|lance: If the Evidence be full without him, what need is there of him? If not, how can He add any Credit, who has wholly lo&s;t it? It is al&s;o certain, that the Te&s;ti|mony of a &s;candalous Per&s;on rather Diminisheth, than Increa&s;eth the Credibility of an Accu&s;ation. The &s;ame Sir <HI>Denny</HI> &s;peaks of a Letter &s;ent to him from the Town of <HI>Ha&s;tings,</HI> with the Copy of an Indictment again&s;t Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> for Perjury, which he had put into Mr. Attorney's hands. Which, my Lord (Good Man!) &s;ays, mu&s;t not be read again&s;t the Pri&s;oners, <HI>no, not for a World!</HI> Why will
<PB N="38" REF="24">your Lordship &s;uppre&s;s the King's Evidence? Or rather, How could it contain any thing again&s;t the Pri&s;oners? Oh, yes: Certainly and without Je&s;ting, it would have been the mo&s;t material Point again&s;t them, &s;ince it would have appeared thereby that &s;ome of them had once or twice admitted a mo&s;t infamous Ra&s;cal into their Com|pany. But why is it not read in behalf of tho&s;e poor Pri|&s;oners, whom your Lordship &s;eems to have &s;o much Compa&s;&s;ion for? Is it nothing in your Lordships Eyes, that the main Witne&s;s again&s;t them was a Perjur'd Vil|lain? If that were &s;o, Sir <HI>Tho. More,</HI> who had &s;tudied longer, and was &s;urely not le&s;s Learned than your Lord|ship, lay under a gro&s;s Mi&s;take, when he thought it Ad|vantagious to his Cau&s;e, that the Witne&s;s again&s;t him had no good Reputation, but was of <HI>light Behaviour,</HI> a <HI>Game&s;ter,</HI> &amp;c. Which is much le&s;s, than what can be proved again&s;t Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> and yet was alledged by that great Man in his Defence. Neither was he blamed (as is the Cu&s;tom now-a-days) for a&s;per&s;ing the King's Witne&s;s: And we cannot &s;uppo&s;e that &s;o Learned a Man could err in this Point, by acting any thing again&s;t the Law, or that his &s;evere Judges would have permitted him to do it. But your Lord|ship thinks it not to the purpo&s;e that the&s;e Papers should be read, and therefore they are shuffled away; and this is one part of that fair Play, which, as Advocate for the Pri&s;oners, you &s;o often promi&s;e them.</P>
<P>Ch. J. <HI>Scroggs</HI> tells you,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 67.</NOTE> that <HI>during the late Troubles, the Papi&s;ts &s;ided with the King, not for his Maje&s;ties Service, but for their own shelter.</HI> What! Would they not have been Acce|pted by the other Party? If &s;o; Then, I hope, you will acknowledge, that they are not the mo&s;t Approved <HI>King-Killers</HI> in the World, and that it is no certain Sign, that tho&s;e, who Malign and Per&s;ecute Catholicks, have an unque&s;tionable Loyalty for their Prince.</P>
<PB N="39" REF="24">
<P> Methinks,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> the very Name of the <HI>Pendrels</HI> and <HI>Giffords</HI> should even melt the hearts of the English Subjects. <HI>But, alas! Mr.</HI> Ireland, <HI>You are much Mi&s;taken: What you Alledge in your behalf, is the main Article again&s;t you.</HI> They Pretend that we are Enemies to Kings, but we are truly Hated for be|ing their mo&s;t ob&s;tinate Defenders. Should we agree in this one Thing with the re&s;t of the Di&s;&s;enters, tho&s;e <HI>tender-Con&s;cienced</HI> men would not <HI>&s;cruple</HI> to own us for their Bre|thren, and in&s;tantly prote&s;t that we differ'd from 'em in no <HI>Fundamental</HI> Point. The Phari&s;ees (from whom a late Eng|lish Poet not unfitly derives our Modern Zealots) accu&s;ed the Saviour of the World, that he &s;tirred up Sedition a|gain&s;t <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> and had re&s;olved to <HI>Depo&s;e</HI> him, U&s;urp his Authority, and wholly <HI>Subvert and Change the Government.</HI> But (under tho&s;e &s;pecious Pretences) the <HI>true</HI> rea&s;on why they hated him was, that he was not &s;uch a MESSIAS, as according to their fond expectations would help them to throw off <HI>Cae&s;ar</HI>'s Yoak, and make them &s;uch a GLO|RIOUS and REDOUBTED <HI>Commonwealth,</HI> as, now of a long time, they had Fancied, and promi&s;ed them&s;elves. Let therefore the World ob&s;erve in the&s;e Tran&s;actions, as well who tho&s;e are, that imitate the <HI>Iews</HI> in their <HI>Accu|&s;ations</HI> and Indictments, as who (on the contrary) follow Chri&s;t in the nature of their Sufferings.</P>
<P>My L. C. J. <HI>corrects Mr.</HI> Pickering <HI>for Falling off from his</HI> Father's <HI>Vertue, Who, as he had told my Lord,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>was Slain in his late Maje&s;ties Service.</HI> They &s;ay, 'tis ill when the Corrector is Guilty him&s;elf of that which he blames in another. His Lordship is very &s;ecure in this Point, being &s;o far from Degenerating from his Father's Vertue, that he is rather much improved, &s;ince by &s;ome Vocation of Sa|tan (who in many things Mimicks the Deity) from a <HI>Butcher of Bea&s;ts,</HI> He is become a mo&s;t Renowned <HI>Butcher of Men.</HI> I cannot Omit here, what few Hone&s;t Men have Omitted in their common Di&s;cour&s;e, That, whereas, a
<PB N="40" REF="25">Butcher is hindred by the Law from being one of the Twelve in a Jury, it &s;eemeth unrea&s;onable that a But|cher's Son, one who in his Youth helped his Father in his Trade, and received all tho&s;e Impre&s;&s;ions of Cruelty du|ring his tender years, and con&s;equently (nay, perhaps, in a more eminent Degree) hath all tho&s;e <HI>Qualities</HI> of But|chers, for which they are excluded from being concer|ned with the Lives of Men, should neverthele&s;s be much more than a Jury-man, <HI>viz.</HI> a Judge, and That, in <HI>Cau&s;es of Life and Death.</HI> Which, truly, I take not for an Idle Spe|culation, but for a very Solid one, and, at lea&s;t, grounded on the Rea&s;on of the above-mentioned Law. And per|haps SCROGGS is as great an In&s;tance of the Wi&s;dom of this Sanction, as any Age hath ever yet produced, and ought to breed in us no &s;mall Veneration for the Prudence and Dictates of our Ance&s;tors. But &s;uch is the hard Fate of the&s;e Innocent Lambs, That the Witne&s;s a|gain&s;t them is one who&s;e Youth pa&s;&s;ed in Lying and Per|jury, (as you may learn from Sir <HI>D. Ashburnham,</HI> and the Town of <HI>Ha&s;tings</HI>) and their Judge is one who&s;e <HI>tender Age</HI> (if he had any &s;uch) was &s;ea&s;oned in Cruelty and Slaugh|ter. Behold two fit In&s;truments for &s;uch an Abominable Tran&s;action! I hope that my Lord <HI>Scroggs</HI> will not be an|gry at his being Compared with <HI>Oates;</HI> for, if <HI>Oates</HI>'s Cre|dit be not good enough to keep Company with his Lord|ships, neither was it &s;ufficient to have taken away the Lives of Men.</P>
<P>Mr. Serjeant <HI>Baldwyn</HI> leaves the <HI>Summing up the Evidence</HI> to the L.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 68.</NOTE> Ch. J. not only becau&s;e he ob&s;erves with how much Art his Lordship doth it, but al&s;o (as I am apt to believe) &s;omewhat the more to ea&s;e his own Con&s;cience, and dip him&s;elf in this Blood as little as he can.</P>
<P>In the Judge's <HI>Summing up the Evidence,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ibid.</HI> 68. <HI>&amp; &s;eq.</HI></NOTE> I ob&s;erve, Fir&s;t, that he every where &s;uppo&s;es the Matter of Fact, which, as I conceive, he ought not to have done, but plainly
<PB N="41" REF="25">Stating the Ca&s;e (and doing nothing beyond his Task, which was only to Sum up the Evidence) to have left the Deci&s;ion to the Jury. Next, that having partially, <HI>viz.</HI> after his fashion, Summed up the Evidence (where|of I omit here the Particularities, having &s;poken of mo&s;t of them el&s;ewhere) he falleth to Rail on the Catholick Religion, Inveighing, Raving, and often Contradicting him&s;elf, for three pages together. He tells you that <HI>We Di&s;pen&s;e with any Oaths, Te&s;ts,</HI> &amp;c. and yet he knows (as I have de&s;ired you to con&s;ider already) that we lo&s;e our E&s;tates, Liberties, and Lives for refu&s;ing Oaths and Te&s;ts, and who&s;oever does otherwi&s;e, when occa&s;ion requires, is Excommunicated and ca&s;t off from our Body; &s;o far is he from being Di&s;pen&s;ed with. He tells you that <HI>&s;ome of this</HI> Communion <HI>may be</HI> Saved, and that, <HI>there are many</HI> Hone&s;t <HI>Gentlemen of it,</HI> and yet that <HI>it is a</HI> Religion <HI>which unhinges all</HI> Piety <HI>and</HI> Morality. Can you expect that this Judge should Ob&s;erve and Cen&s;ure the Contradictions of his Witne&s;&s;es, when they are &s;o frequent in him&s;elf? He declares, as if he al&s;o had been privy to the Con&s;piracy, that <HI>the Ie&s;uites do not tell the Hone&s;t Gentlemen of their Party the expre&s;s De&s;ign they have of</HI> Killing the King, <HI>but they in&s;i|nuate to them, that</HI> He is but one Man, <HI>and if He should Die, it were fit they were in a Readine&s;s,</HI> &amp;c. Hold, my Lord! Sure, you forget your &s;elf: You are now to Sum up the <HI>Evidence,</HI> and the Witne&s;&s;es have Sworn no &s;uch thing as you are talking of. But perhaps your Lordship (as I hin|ted ju&s;t now) is one of the Plot, and puts in for the 200 <HI>l.</HI> with this new Di&s;covery. Mr. <HI>Finch</HI> is careful in the be|ginning that the Pri&s;oners should not be Tried on the &s;core of their Religion, or for being Prie&s;ts, <HI>le&s;t,</HI> as he &s;ays, <HI>they should hold them&s;elves Martyrs.</HI> Why then is the longe&s;t and mo&s;t material part of your Lordships Charge again&s;t them &s;pent in venomous Harangue again&s;t their Principles? Moreover, is not this to &s;uffer for their Re|ligion,
<PB N="42" REF="26">when common Credence is denied them on that account, as your Lordship, <HI>page</HI> 74. &s;ays, it ought to be, and we find to our co&s;t? But (to do my L. C. J. more Right than we have from him) I cannot ab&s;olutely &s;ay, that this Oration of his Lordship is &s;uch, as that I never met the like, though within the narrow &s;phere of my own Reading; For, methinks, even among&s;t the lowe&s;t Rudiments, and fir&s;t In&s;tructions of our Childhood (<HI>viz.</HI> in <HI>Ae&s;op</HI>'s Fables) we have one that very much re&s;embleth it. The Wolf accu&s;eth the Lamb, that drinking at the &s;ame River he trou|bled and &s;oiled the Water wherewith his Grim Worship was to quench his thir&s;t. The Lamb an&s;wered, That drinking much lower in the Stream than the Wolf, the Water, indeed, which the Wolf touched came down to him, but what he medled with could not a&s;|cend to the Wolf. One, who heard this, would think, that the Lamb was now in a pretty &s;afe condition, having made &s;o rea&s;onable a Defence. But, alas! Silly Lamb, thou mighte&s;t have &s;pared thy Irrefragable Argument. The Wolf's Bu&s;ine&s;s is not to punish thee for any Crime of thine; but to devour thee for the &s;atisfaction of his own Appetite: It is not to TRY whether thou art Guilty, or no; but to Condemn thee right or wrong. And therefore having little or nothing to &s;ay again&s;t the Defence which thou ha&s;t made, He tells thee, That thou art of a perver&s;e and bloody Generation, that the Sheep have always Per&s;ecuted and De&s;troyed the Innocent Wolves, and that for this alone thou oughte&s;t to &s;uffer. And though This be as fal&s;e as that <HI>the VVater ran up again&s;t its Stream,</HI> yet what Remedy? He is a Wolf, and Thou art a Lamb: He is a powerful Judge on the Bench, and Thou art a poor Shackled Pri&s;oner at the Bar. The Application is ea&s;ie: Our Judge, indeed, accu&s;eth us of a greater Crime, but his Witne&s;&s;es are &s;o infamous, and their Story &s;o improbable, ab&s;urd, unnatural and contradictory, that he is forced to follow his Brother Wolf's precedent, and, flying off from the pre&s;ent feigned Trea&s;on, to calumniate our Principles, and to charge our whole Flock with Cruelty; Declaring that we are tho&s;e, who Murther Kings, Spoil Churches, and Subvert the Old E&s;tablished Religion; That we make no Con&s;cience of Oaths, but Swear any thing that is for our turn; That we Banish, Impri&s;on, and Hang the harmle&s;s Prote&s;tants, and exce&s;&s;ively afflict tho&s;e Meek Sons of the mo&s;t Moderate Church of the World; And, in a word, that we are meer Infidels and Butchers. Who doth not &s;ee that here the Wolf is not content only to cloath him&s;elf in the Sheeps skin, but
<PB N="43" REF="26">endeavours to ca&s;t his own ugly Hide on the Sheep; And that it were mo&s;t ea&s;ie for us to tell, at who&s;e dore King-Killing, Sacriledge, and Perjury do really Lie, as al&s;o who they are, that innovate and change Religion, and Murther tho&s;e who joyn not with them, and la&s;tly, where the True Butcher is, and this as well Metaphorically as Lite|rally? But in &s;o doing we should talk to as little purpo&s;e before our Inexorable Judge in this Court of Judicature, as heretofore the Lambs bleated to him at the Shambles. But before I hold my peace in this matter, I mu&s;t de&s;ire you to con&s;ider with what Equity and Rea&s;on it is, that my L. C. J. who refu&s;eth to hear the Letter from <HI>Ha&s;tings,</HI> and Record from St. <HI>Omers,</HI> in favour of the Pri&s;oners, doth at the &s;ame time Influence the Jury towards the taking away their Lives, by Fathering evil Doctrines on them, not only without Wit|ne&s;&s;es, or any Authentick Record under Oath, but even without quoting the Decrees of any General Council, or Pope, or &s;o much as the Te&s;timony of one private Catholick Author to confirm what he &s;ays: And this, when he is &s;o very Ignorant and little ver&s;ed in our Principles and Practices, that he is unacquainted with the mo&s;t Pub|lick and Ordinary ones among&s;t us; Witne&s;s his Fancy that <HI>Catholicks were obliged to Fa&s;t on Saturday-nights</HI> [in the Tryal of <HI>Hill,</HI> &amp;c.] with &s;everal other Pa&s;&s;ages in all the late Tryals. I &s;ay, with what Con&s;ci|ence doth he in his Charge to the Jury lay mo&s;t grievous Imputations on the Pri&s;oners without any Proof, and yet reject &s;uch well-groun|ded Te&s;timonies, as I have mentioned, in their behalf?</P>
<P>The L. C. J. &s;peaking of the Witne&s;&s;es produced by Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> to prove his ab&s;ence from <HI>London</HI> at &s;uch time as <HI>Oates</HI> and <HI>Bedlow</HI> accu&s;e him of committing Trea&s;on there,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 71.</NOTE> &s;ays thus to the Jury. <HI>But if it should be a</HI> Mi&s;take <HI>only in point of</HI> Time, <HI>it de&s;troys not the</HI> Evidence, <HI>unle&s;s you think it nece&s;&s;a|ry to the &s;ub&s;tance of the thing. If you charge one in the Month of</HI> Augu&s;t <HI>to have done &s;uch a Fact, if he deny that he was at that place at that time, and proves it by Witne&s;&s;es, it may go to</HI> Inva|lidate <HI>the</HI> Credibility <HI>of a man's Te&s;timony, but it does not</HI> In|validate <HI>the</HI> Truth <HI>of the thing it &s;elf, which may be true in</HI> Sub|&s;tance, <HI>though the</HI> Circum&s;tance <HI>of time differ, and the Que|&s;tion is, Whether the thing be true?</HI> And, I pray my Lord, how shall that Que&s;tion be decided, but by the <HI>Credibility</HI> of the Witne&s;&s;es? And when That is <HI>Invalidated,</HI> through their
<PB N="44" REF="27">manife&s;t failing in Circum&s;tances, what becomes of the Que&s;tion? And now it is another Que&s;tion, Whether Rage, or (contrary to what <HI>Fe&s;tus</HI> apprehended in St. <HI>Paul</HI>) too little Learning has made you mad? And I know not (ex|cu&s;e this little piece of ju&s;t Indignation) whether your <HI>Cruelty</HI> or <HI>Irrationality</HI> gives you the greate&s;t re&s;emblance to Savage Bea&s;ts. I &s;ee it had gone hard with <HI>Su&s;annah,</HI> had your Lordship been her Judge, neither would the Di&s;agreement of the Witne&s;&s;es touching the Trees, under which they pretended the Crime to have been committed, have re&s;cued her Innocence; for, your Lordship would have Rea&s;oned, as you do here, and have told her flatly, that Circum&s;tances were <HI>light</HI> and <HI>frivolous</HI> things, and not to be heeded by the <HI>Gravity</HI> of a Judge; unle&s;s perhaps being likewi&s;e a <HI>Knight,</HI> you would have thought your &s;elf obliged to more kindne&s;s for a <HI>di&s;tre&s;&s;ed</HI> Lady: Although (if Witne&s;&s;es of better Reputation than Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;peak truth) I have cau&s;e to imagin, that her con&s;tant and firm Cha&s;tity would have recommended her as little to your Fa|vour, as Loyalty doth the Papi&s;ts. Which notice I add to that which I have already given, that our Chri&s;tian Neighbours may the better under&s;tand into what Hands we are fallen, and that our Deluded Adver&s;aries may not take all for Go&s;pel, which &s;uch a Black Evange|li&s;t Preacheth to the Rabble. Are not <HI>Circum&s;tances</HI> a Part of the Ac|cu&s;ation? And is it not expre&s;s'd in your own Indictments, That your Pri&s;oners committed their Crimes <HI>on &s;uch Days,</HI> and at <HI>&s;uch Places?</HI> Now, &s;uppo&s;e, they should have acted tho&s;e Crimes <HI>on other Days,</HI> and <HI>at other Places:</HI> What then? They are only accu&s;ed for what They did at tho&s;e <HI>Times</HI> and <HI>Places</HI> which you &s;pecifie, and not for what They may have done <HI>el&s;ewhere,</HI> and <HI>at another time.</HI> Suppo&s;e that <HI>Lex Talionis</HI> were in force and fashion among&s;t us, and your Lordship should be Indicted <HI>for Murthering</HI> Ju&s;tice Godfrey <HI>on the</HI> 12th. <HI>of</HI> October, 1678. <HI>in the</HI> E. of D's <HI>Cellar,</HI> What cour&s;e would you take, and how would you Defend your &s;elf without Recurring to the&s;e pitiful Shifts (as you account them) <HI>viz.</HI> the Circum&s;tances of <HI>Time</HI> and <HI>Place?</HI> How is it po&s;&s;ible that &s;uch obvious things as the&s;e should e&s;cape your Reflection, or that Malice should &s;ink &s;o deep into your Soul, as not only to choke all Humanity, but al&s;o to quench the very la&s;t &s;park of Rea&s;on in you? <HI>Hear another Corollary of your Lordship's Argumentation.</HI> Suppo&s;e, That I should Accu&s;e you of the above&s;aid Heinous Crime, and (being not &s;o well accompli|shed,
<PB N="45" REF="27">or &s;o good a Traveller as Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>) should neither Swear the Fact my &s;elf, nor produce any other Witne&s;s thereof, this Want of Evidence would not <HI>Invalidate the Truth of the thing it &s;elf,</HI> which might be <HI>true,</HI> though it could not be proved: and the Que&s;tion would be, <HI>Whether the thing were true? Erg&ograve;,</HI> The Jury ought to find you Guilty. How you would like this way of Arguing, (though it be <HI>your own</HI>) in <HI>your own</HI> Ca&s;e, it is hard to tell: But in the mean time the World &s;ees that your Logick is as bad as your Ju&s;tice, and your Syl|logi&s;ms as <HI>fal&s;e</HI> as your Witne&s;&s;es. It will not be ami&s;s to take notice here, of what is now in many Mouths, which, I fear, con&s;ult their Rea&s;on very little in what they &s;ay, <HI>viz. that it does not nece&s;&s;arily Fol|low, that whatever is Declared to us by Rogues, is Fal&s;e.</HI> I confe&s;s it. But much le&s;s does it Follow, that it is True, or that on their Te&s;timony alone it ought to be Believed. I am both weary and ashamed of Tri|fling thus; but &s;uch is the mi&s;ery of our Ca&s;e, that we are forced to prove, that <HI>the Sun Shines at Noon-day,</HI> and that <HI>in Arithmetick</HI> two <HI>and</HI> two <HI>make not</HI> five, <HI>but</HI> four. <HI>Good People,</HI> The &s;ame way of Ar|guing, if it were of any worth, would cancel the Credit even of Credible Witne&s;&s;es: There being no Nece&s;&s;ity in Nature that Men of good Reputation and E&s;teem should always &s;peak Truth. You perceive then, what weak <HI>Arguments</HI> are &s;trong enough again&s;t Pa|pi&s;ts, and con&s;equently that Judge <HI>Scroggs</HI> had good cau&s;e, as well to &s;ay that an English Cobler was able to Baffle the Wi&s;e&s;t of their Prie&s;ts, as al&s;o to employ no better Philo&s;ophy again&s;t them, than what he might have obtained without for&s;aking the Shambles.</P>
<P>His Lordship having tired his Lungs with Calumnies,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 76.</NOTE> and Invectives again&s;t Religion, <HI>I return,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>to the Matter of Fact, which is proved by two Witne&s;&s;es, and the con|current Te&s;timonies of the Letter and the Maid.</HI> The Letter which your Lordship pretended at fir&s;t to Boggle at, as nothing to the purpo&s;e, is now (I &s;uppo&s;e for want of better Evi|dence) thought very Material. But why doth not your Lordship <HI>Return</HI> likewi&s;e to lay before the Jury, What was Alledged in behalf of the Pri&s;oners. You hope, that your Long, Impertinent Harangue has put that out of their Heads, and you think it not <HI>convenient</HI> to trouble them with it, now they are ju&s;t going to Con&s;ider of their Verdict. You cannot take leave of us without one of your Old In|ferences,
<PB N="46" REF="28">and &s;uch as we had from you in Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s Tryal. <HI>The matter is plain,</HI> &s;ay you, <HI>that there was an Intention of bringing in Popery by a</HI> Cruel <HI>and</HI> Bloody <HI>Way; for,</HI> [mark the rea&s;on] <HI>I believe, They could never have</HI> prayed <HI>us into their Religion.</HI> A mo&s;t convincing Argument, and re&s;erved for the End of the Declamation! Becau&s;e his Lordship fan|cies that Catholicks could never <HI>Pray</HI> him and his Bre|thren into their Religion, therefore they had an intenti|on of introducing it by a <HI>Bloody</HI> Way. What if his Lordship Believes, that it is impo&s;&s;ible for them to Convert <HI>England</HI> by their Prayers? doth it follow, that <HI>indeed</HI> it is &s;o? And if they are not able to effect any &s;uch thing by their Pray|ers, (which notwith&s;tanding mo&s;t commonly is hoped for by &s;uch, as truly think them&s;elves in the right) doth it follow, that they know the Inefficacy of their Devoti|ons, lo&s;e tho&s;e Hopes, and, la&s;tly, intend the&s;e <HI>Bloody</HI> Means? And mu&s;t poor Men be hanged, becau&s;e his Lordship <HI>Fancies</HI> otherwi&s;e than they do? Next to this admirable piece of Logick, there follows another of tho&s;e pretty Quirks, wherewith this <HI>Wanton-Cruel</HI> Judge (like a Cat with a Mou&s;e) &s;ports him&s;elf with the Lives of Men. He leaves it to the Jury to con&s;ider, <HI>Whether Mr.</HI> Oates <HI>be not rather</HI> Ju&s;tified <HI>by the Te&s;timony offered again&s;t him, than</HI> Di&s;credited. This likewi&s;e is an excellent Sentence for a young Rhetorician. It &s;eems then, that it was happy for Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> (and his <HI>Clo&s;e Confinement</HI> was a very great Kind|ne&s;s) that no more of his Witne&s;&s;es were &s;ent for, &s;ince, in&s;tead of making for him, they would, by making his Accu&s;ers to appear <HI>greater Villains,</HI> have &s;trengthened their Credit. I exclaim not, becau&s;e, I hope, the Reader will &s;ave me that labour, by doing it him&s;elf. But, after all, It is a Comfort, that the Papi&s;ts are not yet <HI>Rogues</HI> enough with his Lordship, to be <HI>Believed.</HI> Pray, my Lord, what way is there of Defending Innocence? What way is there of taking off the Credit of Fal&s;e Oaths? If there be none, why had you not told your
<PB N="47" REF="28">Pri&s;oners &s;o at fir&s;t? What needed the tedious Formality of a Pro|ce&s;s, and that Good Will wherewith your Lordship pretends to hearken to their Defence? And if there be Any, what Other is it, &s;ave only by proving the Witne&s;&s;es not only to have been Infamous and Perjur'd heretofore, but al&s;o to have <HI>Sworn Fal&s;e</HI> in their pre&s;ent Depo&s;itions? Both which were proved here, but, in your Lord|ships opinion, to no other purpo&s;e, &s;ave only to Corroborate the Ac|cu&s;ation, and Weaken the Defence of the Pri&s;oners. I know, you &s;ay, that <HI>when any Enormous Crimes are di&s;covered to us by &s;ome of the Complices, there are no other Witne&s;&s;es to be expected, but &s;uch as have been Rogues.</HI> And shall it then be in a <HI>Rogue's</HI> power, by pretending him&s;elf a <HI>Complice</HI> in &s;ome &s;uch thing, to take away the Lives of as many <HI>Hone&s;t Men</HI> as he plea&s;eth? mu&s;t he not be obliged to produce at lea&s;t &s;ome Marks of the Certainty of what he &s;ays, which independently of his own bare A&s;&s;ertion are manife&s;t to us? This being a Circum&s;tance which True and Real Di&s;coveries &s;eldom want. And truly, if no &s;uch thing be required from the&s;e pretended Di&s;coverers, the Commonwealth is in a &s;ad Condition, &s;ince every uncon&s;cionable Villain hath far more power over its Members, than the Sovereign Prince. Suppo&s;e that two notorious Robbers, on promi&s;e as well of Pardon for the Detection of their Complices, as of the E&s;tates and Goods of &s;uch as they should Convict, should Accu&s;e &s;ome rich and well-known Ci|tizens of <HI>London,</HI> men of very good Name, and never ob&s;erved to keep ill hours, or do any thing el&s;e, which might render them &s;u&s;pe|cted of &s;uch a Guilt, and that no &s;toln Goods were found, or appea|red to have been in their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, nor any other Evidence was pro|duced again&s;t them, &s;ave only the <HI>A&s;&s;ertion</HI> of the&s;e two Infamous Men, <HI>of &s;everal Robberies committed by them at &s;uch and &s;uch times:</HI> This I pre&s;ume, would not be &s;ufficient to condemn the Citizens, unle&s;s they should happen to be Papi&s;ts. Nay, put this al&s;o into the Ca&s;e, that the Citizens should prove, that they actually were at their own Hou|&s;es in good and Vertuous Company at tho&s;e times, wherein their Ac|cu&s;ers affirm them to have been engaged in Felonies abroad. Would not this &s;erve their turn neither, becau&s;e (according to his Lordships Doctrine) <HI>the Thing might be true in</HI> Sub&s;tance, <HI>though the</HI> Circum&s;tance <HI>of time differed?</HI> If matters go thus, Robbers may take a wi&s;er and ea&s;ier Cour&s;e of getting Money, than by venturing their Necks and taking pains for it on the High-way. And the Offer of 200 <HI>l.</HI> apiece will not fail of Rai&s;ing a large Company for Captain <HI>Oates.</HI> Good God! that the Laws In&s;tituted by the Wi&s;dom of our Ance&s;tors to
<PB N="48" REF="29">be the Terror of Evil-Doers, should now (through the Corruption of our Age) become not only their Support, but the very In&s;tru|ments of their Mi&s;chief! But this Argument, <HI>viz. That Mr.</HI> Oates <HI>ha|ving been &s;o great and notorious a Villain, is therefore the more Credible VVit|ne&s;s of this pretended Villany,</HI> is extremely Fallacious on another &s;core; For, who doth not know, That for &s;uch Trea&s;ons, wherein &s;o much Secre&s;ie and Tru&s;t is requi&s;ite, and which (as you &s;ay) proceed from a Principle of Religion, Scandalous, Extravagant, and <HI>openly</HI> Debau|ched Per&s;ons are never cho&s;en, but, on the contrary, &s;uch as are Bi|gotted, Super&s;titious, or, at lea&s;t, Hypocritical?</P>
<P>Immediately before the <HI>Grave</HI> but <HI>Malicious</HI> words&mdash;<HI>Let Prudence and Con&s;cience direct your Verdict,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>and you will be too hard for their Art and Cunning,</HI>&mdash;preceded this worthy Sentence, <HI>And now, Gentlemen, to your hands we commit the&s;e Murtherers, and if you do not find them Guilty, you are all Murtherers.</HI> Which be|ing left out of the Printed Tryal, is here &s;upplied, it be|ing great pitty that &s;o memorable a Pa&s;&s;age should be for|gotten, which may &s;erve for a la&s;ting Monument of his Lordships Ju&s;tice, and hereafter be in&s;cribed on his Tomb-&s;tone, with an&mdash;<HI>Hic jacet Author i&s;tius Sententiae.</HI> This was that Blow, with which his Lordship, like an expert man in his Trade, knockt them All in the Head, leaving only to the Jury to let out their Blood. From the Cry where of I be&s;eech our Lord to deliver our poor Nation, though, I fear, there are many in it, whom I cannot excu&s;e with a&mdash;<HI>Ne&s;ciunt, quid Fecerunt.</HI></P>
<P>The Jury after a short Rece&s;s (the Judge having done their Bu&s;ine&s;s to their hands) found the Pri&s;oners Guilty:
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> And his Lordship tells them, that <HI>they have done like very good Subjects, and very good Chri&s;tians,</HI> but (Correcting him|&s;elf) adds, <HI>that is to &s;ay, like very good Prote&s;tants.</HI> And herein I joyn i&s;&s;ue with his Lordship; for, Thus the Prote&s;tants Began, witne&s;s the Tryals of Sir <HI>Tho. More,</HI> Bishop <HI>Fisher,</HI> &amp;c. in <HI>King Henry the Eighth's</HI> time, Thus they Continued in the days of <HI>Queen Elizabeth,</HI> and the &s;ucceeding Ages, And thus, I believe, they will End. And his Lordship does al|&s;o
<PB N="49" REF="29">like a <HI>good Prote&s;tant,</HI> and a <HI>good Per&s;ecutor,</HI> for, having Condemned them <HI>&V;nju&s;tly,</HI> he In&s;ults over them <HI>Barba|rou&s;ly,</HI> Crying out&mdash;<HI>And now much Good may their</HI> Thirty Thou&s;and Ma&s;&s;es <HI>do them.</HI> Methinks, though his Breed|ing had been always among&s;t the Bea&s;ts, (nay among&s;t <HI>Savage ones</HI>) he might yet have learnt more Humanity; &s;ince the Poets tell us, that the Fierce&s;t Bea&s;ts Scorn to <HI>Trample</HI> on tho&s;e which they have <HI>thrown down. Praetereunt</HI> Subject a <HI>Ferae, &s;atis e&s;t</HI> Pro&s;tra&s;&s;e, &amp;c. Are you not afraid of being one of tho&s;e who are to Cry out another day, <HI>Hi &s;unt quos aliquando habuimus in deri&s;um, &amp;c. The&s;e are They whom heretofore We De&s;pi&s;ed and had in Deri&s;ion,</HI> &amp;c. Methinks, you provide apace for that <HI>lamentable</HI> Harangue.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> being asked, <HI>VVhat he had to &s;ay,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 78.</NOTE> <HI>why Iudgment should not be pronounced again&s;t him,</HI> an&s;wered, that no Time had been al|lowed him for the Bringing in of His Witne&s;&s;es, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Mr. Recor|der replies, that <HI>he had not Objected This before the Iury gave their Verdict.</HI> Now, I appeal to any one, who hath peru&s;ed this Tryal, whether Mr. Recorder's <HI>Memory</HI> be not as Bad as the L. C. J's. <HI>Iu&s;tice,</HI> and con&s;equently whether their Titles do not very ill Agree to them Both. It being evident, that Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> had often made the above|mentioned Objection, and long before the Jury either had given their Verdict, or withdrew to Con&s;ult thereof.</P>
<P>Mr. Recorder makes a very grave and &s;erious Speech,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 79. <HI>&amp; &s;eq.</HI></NOTE> &s;eeming to be in earne&s;t, and fully per&s;waded that the Pri&s;oners were Guilty, which is another Argument with the foregoing Ob&s;ervation (if you will not charge it on Defect of Memory) that he gave but &s;mall at|tention to the Tryal, and <HI>pinn'd his Credit on his Brother</HI> Scroggs<HI>'s Sleeve,</HI> and perhaps &s;lept <HI>in his own:</HI> &s;ince likewi&s;e you have another In&s;tance of this Slumber in <HI>his upbraiding Mr.</HI> Ireland [p. 80.] <HI>with &s;ending Beyond-Seas to his Fellow-Ie&s;uites, that they should Preach again&s;t Oaths of</HI> Allegiance <HI>and</HI> Supremacy; which if you turn to the 18th. page, you will find to be Mr. <HI>VVhitebread</HI>'s &s;uppo&s;ed Crime, and was never Objected to Mr. <HI>Ireland.</HI></P>
<P><HI>You dare</HI> (&s;ays the Recorder) <HI>Con&s;pire to Murther the King: Nay,</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 81.</NOTE> <HI>not only &s;o, but you dare make your Con&s;ults thereof publick.</HI> Sir, This indeed, is very Bold and Daring: But is it al&s;o as Prudent? Mr. <HI>Finch</HI> &s;ays (as I have told you often) That in this Plot, the Je&s;uites had done <HI>all that
<PB N="50" REF="30">the VVit of Man could do,</HI> &amp;c. And doth &s;uch a Management, as you here de&s;cribe, &s;eem &s;o Subtile to your Worship? And yet, methinks (with Mr. Recorders leave) They have kept the&s;e Con&s;ults very <HI>Private,</HI> &s;ince after all the Art that hath been u&s;ed to di&s;cover them, there hath not yet appeared the lea&s;t Probability of any &s;uch thing.</P>
<P>Mr. Recorder is much troubled,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> that Mr. <HI>Grove</HI> &s;hould not think &s;mooth Bullets bad enough for his wicked Enterprize, and there|fore should re&s;olve to Chew them with his Venomous Teeth. But, truly Sir, his Teeth mu&s;t be <HI>&s;trong</HI> as well as <HI>venomous</HI> (unle&s;s their <HI>Venome</HI> have the quality of <HI>Aqua fortis</HI>) or el&s;e they are like to make but &s;mall Impre&s;&s;ions on Silver-bullets, as the&s;e are &s;aid to be.</P>
<P>Mr. Recorder declares,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 82.</NOTE> that <HI>they have had the full Benefit of the</HI> Laws E&s;tablished <HI>in</HI> England, <HI>and</HI> tho&s;e <HI>the</HI> Be&s;t <HI>of Laws.</HI> If this be true, I shall put into my Litanies, <HI>From the</HI> Be&s;t of Laws, <HI>Good Lord deliver us.</HI> I will tell you what kind of Law there is at <HI>Paris.</HI> Not many years &s;ince, A French Baron, maliciou&s;ly Contriving the De&s;truction of a Gentleman his Acquaintance, Accu&s;ed him of cer|tain Trea&s;onable Words, and brought Two Witne&s;&s;es thereof, whom he had procured to be pre&s;ent, whil&s;t He and the Gentleman <HI>Di&s;cour&s;ed</HI> together, though on no <HI>&s;uch Subject</HI> as was pretended. On this Information, not only the Accu&s;ed Gentleman, but al&s;o the Two Witne&s;&s;es were Clapt up, and Separated from one another; and (if my Memory fail me not) the Baron him&s;elf was Confi|ned. And, in conclu&s;ion, through the Care of the Judges, and the Strictne&s;s and Hone&s;t Art, wherewith the Wit|ne&s;&s;es were Examined, the Forgery was happily Dete|cted, the Innocent Gentleman Acquitted, the Baron and Witne&s;&s;es (who then owned their Villany) Confounded and Punished. And this under a Prince, who (you know) is as Severe a Cha&s;tizer of the Guilt of Trea&s;on as Any under Heaven. Now let us behold your Tran&s;action. You, indeed, Impri&s;on the Accu&s;ed, and are Strict enough in Cutting off all Corre&s;pondence from them; but, as for the Accu&s;ers and Witne&s;&s;es, you &s;uffer them to Herd to|gether,
<PB N="51" REF="30">as much as they plea&s;e, to contrive, adju&s;t, and shape their Depo&s;itions to the be&s;t Advantage, and are &s;o far from Endeavouring by <HI>Separate</HI> and <HI>Cro&s;s-Examinations</HI> to find out the Truth, that your whole Bu&s;ine&s;s is to Excu&s;e and Palliate &s;uch Contradictions, as (notwith&s;tanding the Liberty which you give them, and Care which they take, do yet) mo&s;t frequently &s;lip from them, and would (were it not for your Fallacies) mo&s;t Apparently Invali|date their Evidence. And therefore if you will have me to joyn with you in Calling our English Laws the <HI>Be&s;t</HI> in the World, you mu&s;t (at lea&s;t) give leave to &s;ay, that our Lawyers (the Interpreters, and Managers of them) are the <HI>Wor&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>He brags, that the&s;e Pri&s;oners were not &s;ecretly de&s;troy|ed, but had the Formality and Ju&s;tice of an Arraign|ment, were permitted to make their Defence, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> I ask, whether the Formality of the late King's Tryal Added to, or Diminished the Heinou&s;ne&s;s of the Murther? Which, being in ha&s;te, I leave Mr. Recorder to An&s;wer. And in the mean time, let me tell you, that your <HI>Tryals</HI> are more Unju&s;t than <HI>Private Murthers,</HI> de&s;troying not only the Per|&s;on, but al&s;o his Credit and Good Name: And where they do not &s;o (<HI>viz.</HI> among&s;t Hone&s;t and Under&s;tanding Men) they Defame the Nation.</P>
<P>He &s;ays that Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> had a kind Si&s;ter,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 83.</NOTE> who took care to bring his Witne&s;&s;es. But what &s;ignified this, without a kind or a ju&s;t Judge to prefer the Evidence of Worthy and Unblamable Per&s;ons before that of notorious Rogues and Villains?</P>
<P>After the Tryal they give you an Account of the Exe|cution of two of the&s;e Pri&s;oners, but (as they have done hitherto, in all Narratives of this kind) Conceal the Pro|te&s;tations, which the Dying Men made of their Inno|cence, and thereby Di&s;cover their own Malice and depra|ved Mind, which endeavours all manner of ways to keep the Knowledge of the Truth from the World.</P>
<PB N="52" REF="31">
<P> Having finished the Task, which is promi&s;ed in my <HI>Title-Page,</HI> per|haps, it will not be ami&s;s to put my Readers in mind of that con&s;ide|rable length of Time, which pa&s;&s;ed between the Condemnation of the&s;e Pri&s;oners, and their Execution; and give the World &s;ome ac|count of tho&s;e Cau&s;es, which moved his Maje&s;ty, for more than a whole Month (and amid&s;t the Tumultuous, and Old-Fashion'd Cries for <HI>unju&s;t</HI> JUSTICE) to with-hold his Royal Con&s;ent to the Death of Such, as now in the General E&s;teem were thought Unwor|thy of the lea&s;t Shadow of Mercy, who&s;e Principal malicious De&s;ign was Believed to have had no le&s;s an Aim than again&s;t his own mo&s;t Sacred Life, and who neither asked Pardon, nor &s;o much as acknow|ledged any Guilt. Not to mention &s;uch Particulars, as had given His Maje&s;ty &s;ufficient Rea&s;on not only to Su&s;pect, but al&s;o to Conclude the Infidelity of the&s;e two Informers, <HI>Oates</HI> and <HI>Bedlow:</HI> [I mean their Wicked and Indigent Lives, the va&s;t Improbabilities, and gro&s;s Contradictions in their Swearing, which this day Accu&s;ed, and to morrow Acquitted the &s;ame Per&s;ons, and <HI>vice-vers&acirc;;</HI> Now they tell you, that <HI>they never &s;aw the face of the Pri&s;oner,</HI> and anon, that <HI>they have eaten a Bushel of Salt Together,</HI> with &s;everal other things of the &s;ame co|lour; whereof His Maje&s;ty had the <HI>fir&s;t</HI> and <HI>be&s;t</HI> Knowledge.] I shall only &s;peak of &s;uch Informations and Addre&s;&s;es, as during that time were made unto Him in behalf of the Pri&s;oners. It was Alled|ged by &s;everal Petitions delivered into his Royal Hands, that from the 3d. of <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> to the 14th. of <HI>September,</HI> 1678. Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> was con&s;tantly in the Country (and for the mo&s;t part) in <HI>Staffordshire</HI> and thereabouts, whereas he had been Condemned on the Suppo&s;ition of having within that time committed Trea&s;on at <HI>London.</HI> In con|firmation whereof &s;everal Letters were written, and shewn to His Maje&s;ty, and That, not only from Catholicks, but al&s;o from Prote|&s;tants, and Tho&s;e, Per&s;ons of Quality, <HI>viz.</HI> Ju&s;tices of the Peace and Parliament-Men: And Multitudes of Witne&s;&s;es were offered to be produced when&s;oever His Maje&s;ty should think fit to vouch|&s;afe them an Hearing. But that you may di&s;cern whence tho&s;e Let|ters came, and who tho&s;e Witne&s;&s;es would have been, I will here &s;ubjoyn the Account of that Journey of Mr. <HI>Ireland,</HI> which after his Sentence was written by him&s;elf, and &s;ent to his Maje&s;ty.</P>
<P>The Account (Copied from his own Hand) is as followeth, And the Per&s;ons &s;et down in <HI>Capital Letters</HI> are (as I am told) Pro|te&s;tants.</P>
<PB N="53" REF="31">
<LETTER LANG="eng">
<P><HI>WHEREAS Mr.</HI> Oates <HI>on</HI> Monday <HI>the la&s;t of</HI> September, 78. <HI>produced a Letter, and took his Oath that I VVrit it from St.</HI> Omers, <HI>about the middle of</HI> Augu&s;t <HI>before, and the other VVitne&s;s in Court that he &s;aw me in Mr.</HI> Harcourt<HI>'s Chamber in</HI> Duke&s;treet, <HI>about the latter end of the &s;ame</HI> Augu&s;t. <HI>I &s;ay, that ha|ving bought a Hor&s;e of one Mr.</HI> Thomas Eccle&s;ton, <HI>out of</HI> Lancashire, <HI>&s;tanding at the Red Lion in</HI> Drury-lane, <HI>on Saturday the</HI> 3d. <HI>of</HI> Augu&s;t, 1678. <HI>about two of the Clock in the Afternoon; having paid</HI> Richard <HI>the Ho&s;tler for the &s;tanding of my Hor&s;e, in pre&s;ence of Mr.</HI> Perkin&s;on, <HI>Ma&s;ter of the Inn, (as I took him to be) and Mr.</HI> Fenwick; <HI>I took Hor&s;e, and that Night came to</HI> Standen <HI>beyond</HI> Ware. Sunday <HI>the</HI> 4th. <HI>I Dined with Sir</HI> Edward Southcot, <HI>Mr.</HI> Francis Gage, <HI>Mr.</HI> Par&s;ons, <HI>Mr.</HI> Hinde <HI>the PARSON of the Town, and other Chief Inhabitants, invited by my Lord</HI> A&s;ton. Monday <HI>the</HI> 5th. <HI>I went with my Lord, Sir</HI> Edw. South|cot, <HI>Mr.</HI> Gage, <HI>and Servants, to St.</HI> Albans, <HI>and joyned Sir</HI> John Southcot, <HI>his Lady, Children, and Servants, at the Bull, as I take it.</HI> Tue&s;day <HI>the</HI> 6th. <HI>we Lodged at the George in</HI> Northampton. Wedne&s;day <HI>the</HI> 7th. <HI>at the Bull, as I take it, at</HI> Coventry. Thur&s;day <HI>the</HI> 8th. <HI>we came to</HI> Tixhal, <HI>&s;taid there the</HI> 9th. 10th. 11th. 12th. Tue&s;day <HI>the</HI> 13th. <HI>leaving my Hor&s;e to have his Back Cu|red by the Smith, I Borrowed another, and went with Sir</HI> John Southcot, <HI>Sir</HI> Edw. <HI>Mr.</HI> Francis A&s;ton, <HI>Children and Servants,</HI> Item, <HI>my Old Lady</HI> A&s;ton <HI>to</HI> Nant|wich, <HI>and Lodged at the Lamb, as I take it.</HI> Wedne&s;day <HI>the</HI> 14th. <HI>I Lodged at the Star in</HI> Holywel. Thur&s;day <HI>the</HI> 15th <HI>came back over the Sand, and Lodged at</HI> Che&s;ter, <HI>at the Greyhound, as I take it.</HI> Friday <HI>the</HI> 16th. <HI>came back to</HI> Tix|hal. Saturday <HI>the</HI> 17th. <HI>went upon my own Hor&s;e to</HI> Wolverhampton <HI>to &s;ee two Aunts, &s;taid there the</HI> 18th. 19th. 20th. 21&s;t. 22d. 23d. 24th. 25th. <HI>in that time among others I &s;aw Mr.</HI> Pur&s;al, <HI>Son to Mr.</HI> Pur&s;al, <HI>come from</HI> London <HI>to &s;ee his Father and Friends.</HI> Item, <HI>Mr.</HI> Charles Gifford <HI>came to &s;ee his Brother</HI> Tho|mas <HI>where I Lodg'd, with my Aunt</HI> Harewel: <HI>Once I Din'd at Mr.</HI> Winfords, <HI>where was his Neece, Sir</HI> John Winford's DAUGHTER. <HI>After Dinner came two of E&s;q</HI> Lu&s;ons DAUGHTERS, <HI>and others, to play at Cards.</HI> Friday <HI>the</HI> 23d. <HI>I went with Mr.</HI> Winford<HI>'s Daughter and Neece,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>to</HI> Litchfield, <HI>Din'd at the George, and were she wed the Minster by Mr.</HI> SHIRLY Schoolma&s;ter <HI>of the Place, and his</HI> WIFE, <HI>their Kindred, and returned to</HI> Wolverhampton. Monday <HI>the</HI> 26th. <HI>I went back to</HI> Tixhal. Tue&s;day <HI>the</HI> 27th. <HI>I was at the Hor&s;e-Race at</HI> Edginhil, <HI>where Sir</HI> H. Goff <HI>di&s;tanc'd Mr.</HI> Chetwins. Wedne&s;|day <HI>the</HI> 28th. <HI>I Din'd at</HI> Bellamour, <HI>Invited by Mr.</HI> Walter A&s;ton, <HI>with others.</HI> Thur&s;day <HI>the</HI> 29th. <HI>at</HI> Tixhal <HI>Bowling-Green I &s;aw Mr.</HI> CHETWIN, <HI>&s;poke particularly with Sir</HI> Thomas WHITGRAVE, <HI>Mr.</HI> John Powtrel <HI>and his Brother</HI> William of We&s;thalam, <HI>in</HI> Darby-shire, <HI>Mr.</HI> Walter <HI>and Mr.</HI> John A&s;ton, <HI>Mr.</HI> Fowler <HI>and his Sons,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>and that Night went Home With Mr.</HI> Heve|ningham, <HI>and Sir</HI> James Simons <HI>his Son-in-law to</HI> A&s;ton, <HI>and part of the way
<PB N="54" REF="32">with Mr.</HI> Dracot, <HI>and one Mr.</HI> Collier. Friday <HI>the</HI> 30th. <HI>&s;tayed there.</HI> Sa|turday <HI>the</HI> 31&s;t. <HI>I went home with Mr.</HI> Kichard Gerard <HI>of</HI> Hilder&s;ton. Sunday <HI>the</HI> 1&s;t. <HI>&s;tayed there.</HI> Monday <HI>the</HI> 2d. <HI>with him I Din'd at one Mr.</HI> Crompton<HI>'s, with Mr.</HI> Bidle, <HI>my Lady</HI> Gorings <HI>Son-in-law, and through</HI> Staf|ford <HI>and</HI> Pancridge <HI>came that Night to</HI> Bo&s;cobel. Tue&s;day <HI>the</HI> 3d. <HI>of</HI> Sep|tember, <HI>&s;tayed there.</HI> Wedne&s;day <HI>the</HI> 4th. <HI>came again to</HI> Wolverhampton <HI>to my Aunt at Mr.</HI> Tho. Giffords, <HI>&s;tayed there the</HI> 5th. <HI>and</HI> 6th. Saturday <HI>I went back to</HI> Tixhal. Sunday <HI>the</HI> 8th. <HI>&s;tayed there.</HI> Monday <HI>the</HI> 9th. <HI>with Sir</HI> John Southcot, <HI>Sir</HI> Edward, <HI>my Lady, Children and Servants, I came to the Bull, as I take it, at</HI> Coventry. Tue&s;day <HI>the</HI> 10th. <HI>We Lodged at the Alter-Stone in</HI> Banbury. Wedne&s;day <HI>the</HI> 11th. <HI>I met</HI> Robert Hill, <HI>Mr.</HI> Benja|min Hinton's <HI>Man upon the Road, and &s;poke to him: Baited at</HI> Alisbury, <HI>and Lodged about</HI> 11. <HI>Miles beyond. I have forgot the Town and Inn.</HI> Thur&s;day <HI>the</HI> 12th. <HI>We Baited at</HI> King&s;ton, <HI>and came home to</HI> Me&s;tham. Friday <HI>the</HI> 13th. <HI>I &s;tayed there, and &s;old my Hor&s;e for</HI> 7 <HI>l. to young Mr.</HI> John Southcot. Saturday <HI>the</HI> 14th. <HI>I came upon him with</HI> William, <HI>Sir</HI> John's <HI>Man, to lead him back, &s;et up in</HI> Southwark, <HI>and came over to</HI> Somer&s;et-Hou&s;e-Stairs, <HI>to my Lodging at the White-Hart with the &s;aid</HI> William. <HI>This</HI> 23. <HI>of</HI> December, 1678.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>W. Ireland.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</LETTER>
<P>Had Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> given us &s;o good a Journal (and capable of &s;uch Atte|&s;tations) of tho&s;e few days which he pretends to have &s;pent in <HI>England</HI> about the 24th. of <HI>April,</HI> 78. we should not have &s;crupled the Believing him. Indeed it is not a little to be admired (and mu&s;t be the effect of a Regu|lar and well-ordered Life) that Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> should Recollect him&s;elf &s;o far, as to be able to give &s;o punctual and exact an Account of that Jour|ney: But it would be much more wonderful, that any one, &s;eeing what Witne&s;&s;es there are to each &s;tep thereof, should prefer the Bare A&s;&s;ertion and Ab&s;urd Tale of two Infamous Rogues before it. And therefore how can it &s;eem &s;trange, that his Maje&s;ty should mo&s;t unwillingly con&s;ent to the Shedding that Blood, which he had &s;o much rea&s;on to believe Innocent? And (laying apart the Motives of <HI>Preci&s;e Iu&s;tice</HI>) If we con&s;ider &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages of This Journal, and &s;uch a Sence as the mention thereof mu&s;t needs Create within His Maje&s;ties Royal Brea&s;t (I mean, That of Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI>'s being at <HI>Bo&s;cobel,</HI> and, mo&s;t probably, Delighting him&s;elf with the &s;ight of the Sacred TREE, wherein his near Relations had been the Happy In&s;truments of Sa|ving that Prince, again&s;t whom he was now fal&s;ly Accu&s;ed to have at the &s;ame time [<HI>viz.</HI> whil&s;t he was actually at <HI>Bo&s;cobel</HI>] Con&s;pired at <HI>London</HI>) With what Backwardne&s;s, With what Reluctancy, With what Force and Grief of
<PB N="55" REF="32">Heart shall we imagin, that our mo&s;t Gracious Sovereign gave way to the Death of this Man? I doubt not, but it was Such, as that we may &s;afely &s;ay, that it was impo&s;&s;ible for him to afford a greater Demon&s;tration, or invent a plainer Evidence of the Extreme De&s;ire he hath, of Plea&s;ing his People.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="appendix">
<HEAD>APPENDIX.</HEAD>
<P>THE Pre&s;s being at work on the la&s;t Sheets of the foregoing Piece, two Fresh Narratives (<HI>viz.</HI> The Tryals of the Five Je&s;uites, and of Mr. <HI>Langhorn</HI>) came to my hands: Wherein Partiality and Inju&s;tice are heightned to &s;uch a Degree, that, should I have a mind to lengthen my Remarks with &s;uch matter as the&s;e two mo&s;t Fertile Fields afford me, it would be impo&s;&s;i|ble for me to rai&s;e my Expre&s;&s;ions, Exclamations, and other nece&s;&s;ary parts of Writing to &s;uch a pitch, as were needful to make them hold proportion with my Subject, and by an&s;werable Increa&s;es to corre&s;pond with my former Di&s;cour&s;e. I thought, That, when I began this Work, Oppre&s;&s;ion and Tyranny were arrived at their utmo&s;t &s;tature, but it appeareth to me now, That, what I took to be Manhood (if I may &s;o &s;peak) and Full Growth, was only the Youth or Infancy of a Giant. And if the Task &s;eemed then to exceed my Forces, with what hopes can I undertake it now, or How can I better expre&s;s the Sence, which I have thereof, than by borrowing the High Notion of a great Poet, and Crying out <HI>Mon&s;trum! Horrendum! Informe! Ingens!</HI>&mdash;and &s;o fall into a mo&s;t profound and unalterable &s;ilence? However, I mu&s;t pick out a few Points, not the mo&s;t ob&s;ervable, but &s;uch as bear &s;ome Relation to the Preceding Remarks.</P>
<P>My L. C. J. <HI>North</HI> &s;ays [in the 5th. Page of the Tryal of Mr. <HI>Whitebread, &amp;c.</HI>] that <HI>The Charge of the Iury</HI> [concerning the Deliverance of the Pri&s;on|ers] <HI>is not full, till the Court give them a Charge at la&s;t.</HI> And concludes, that <HI>till the</HI> Charge <HI>of the</HI> Jury <HI>be in that manner</HI> Full, <HI>any Tryal may be &s;u&s;pended, &s;o as to be brought on a &s;econd time.</HI> If this be true, then (what I have ob&s;erved in the 36th. page of the&s;e Remarks) the Pretence which Judge <HI>Scroggs</HI> made u&s;e of, to deny a farther time to Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> for the Bringing in his Witne&s;|&s;es, by &s;aying, that <HI>The Iury were neither to Eat nor Drink, till they brought in their Verdict,</HI> was mo&s;t uncharitable and feigned; &s;ince, when Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI> de&s;ired this, the Jury had not had their Charge at la&s;t, and con&s;equently (according to this Opinion) the Tryal might have been put off till another time, without any nece&s;&s;ity, that tho&s;e Twelve Gentlemen should have Star|ved, or the Pri&s;oners been Acquitted. I &s;ee the Lawyers deal with the Statutes,
<PB N="56" REF="33">as the Mini&s;ters do with the Scriptures, and force them to &s;erve their <HI>turn,</HI> what&s;oever it be.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t confe&s;s, that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> and his Comerades take care, that we may not be Cloy'd with the &s;ame old Stuff over again; but that we may have &s;ome Variety for our Money. And therefore in every one of the&s;e Tryals we have their Evidence in a new shape. In Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s <HI>Tryal,</HI> Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> &s;ees 80 <HI>l.</HI> at <HI>Wild-hou&s;e,</HI> and a Me&s;&s;enger ready to carry it, whom he never &s;aw before nor &s;ince, and at the &s;ame time and place he &s;ees Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI> give the Me&s;&s;en|ger a Guinny, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> In Mr. <HI>Ireland</HI>'s <HI>Tryal,</HI> He &s;ees this Money paid in Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s pre&s;ence at Mr. <HI>Harcourt</HI>'s Lodging near the Arch in <HI>Duke-&s;treet.</HI> And in Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI>'s <HI>Tryal,</HI> He goes from <HI>Wild-hou&s;e</HI> with that Me&s;&s;enger, (whom, as he &s;aid, he never &s;aw, &s;ince he &s;aw him at the &s;aid <HI>Wild-hou&s;e</HI>) to Mr. <HI>Harcourt</HI>'s Lodgings in <HI>Duke-&s;treet,</HI> &amp;c. And <HI>(in the &s;ame Tryal) Bedlow</HI> tells you that this Money which lay upon the Table and was paid to the Me&s;&s;enger (according to Mr. <HI>Oates</HI>) in Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s pre&s;ence, was after Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s departure taken out of a Drawer, and given to the Me&s;&s;enger, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> In Mr. <HI>Coleman</HI>'s Tryal [p. 29.] Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> Swears that the la&s;t time that ever he &s;aw Mr. <HI>Langhorn</HI> was within a day or two after the Con&s;ult in <HI>April,</HI> and in Mr. <HI>Langhorn</HI>'s [p. 13, 14.] that he heard con&s;iderable Trea&s;ons from him the <HI>Iuly</HI> or <HI>Augu&s;t</HI> following, and [p. 18.] that in tho&s;e two Months he had con|ver&s;ed with him once or twice, and [a little after] twice or thrice. I mu&s;t confe&s;s, that were it not out of Re&s;pect, and for fear of <HI>A&s;per&s;ing the King's Witne&s;s,</HI> I should &s;ay down-right, that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> was For&s;worn in one of the&s;e places. Although, on the other &s;ide, I can hardly imagin, that it is a nece&s;&s;ary part of my Allegiance to <HI>Believe Contradictions:</HI> Which in my Opinion, is as difficult, as to number tho&s;e which occur in the&s;e Tryals.</P>
<P>And now, le&s;t you should not re&s;t &s;atisfied with what I have &s;aid in Vindica|tion of that Letter which &s;ummoned one of the Je&s;uites to their Congregation at <HI>London,</HI> &amp;c. you shall hear what Judge <HI>Scroggs</HI> &s;ays of it in the 40th. p. of Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI>'s Tryal, where (&s;peaking of the mention <HI>there</HI> of a De&s;ign requi|ring Secre&s;ie, which he would have to be an intention to <HI>Kill the King</HI>) after having in&s;ulted over the Prie&s;ts, as over &s;o many Ignorant and Illogical Heads, he hath the&s;e words.&mdash;<HI>Does any man write</HI> plainer <HI>than this, when they write of a thing that is of &s;uch a nature? Is not the</HI> Danger too great <HI>to hazard that Fact, which they call the nature of the thing,</HI> to intru&s;t it in a Letter?&mdash;<HI>And if you con|&s;ider the</HI> per&s;on <HI>that VVrites: a</HI> Je&s;uite, <HI>or a</HI> Prie&s;t: <HI>Are</HI> Prie&s;ts <HI>ever</HI> plain? <HI>And will you expect</HI> plainne&s;s <HI>here,</HI> when in things of ten thou&s;and times le&s;s mo|ment they don't write plainer? <HI>Is it not known that you have not a</HI> Pro&s;elyte, <HI>that you do not keep under Obligations as</HI> clo&s;e <HI>as your Confe&s;sions are? Have you not taken here, as it is Sworn, a Sacrament of Secre&s;ie? Is there a VVoman that you Con|vert but in the</HI> Dark? <HI>or a</HI> Papi&s;t <HI>made out of a Prie&s;t's</HI> hole? <HI>Are not all your
<PB N="57" REF="33">Deeds under ground? And do you work with any</HI> Light, <HI>but that of a Dark-Lant-horn?</HI> In which words his Lordship, as if, really, he had Commi&s;erated that Poor Defence which he Upbraids, hath, in my mind, made a very good one him&s;elf for his Pri&s;oners, and &s;o, at length (though perhaps unwittingly) is become their Advocate. For, if it be certain, That Prie&s;ts are never plain, that in matters of ten thou&s;and times le&s;s moment [than what is here &s;poken of] they do not write plainer, That the <HI>making a Papist,</HI> or <HI>Pro&s;elyte,</HI> and even the <HI>Conver&s;ion of a VVoman,</HI> are things <HI>which</HI> (in their opinion) <HI>require Secre&s;ie,</HI> and are kept in the <HI>Dark;</HI> I think it follows with much ea&s;ine&s;s; fir&s;t, That <HI>&agrave; Fortiori</HI> the De&s;ign of Holding a Congregation in <HI>London</HI> (and of Meeting 50. of them in a Body together, whereof any One publickly known would be an Eye-&s;ore) mu&s;t needs appear of <HI>&s;uch a nature</HI> to the&s;e Cautious men, as that they would think them&s;elves concerned to keep it ex|tremely Private, being (as is obvious to the meane&s;t Apprehen&s;ion) of far greater moment than the <HI>Conver&s;ion of a VVoman,</HI> or the like; And &s;econdly, That it is Incredible that the&s;e Men should Write, and &s;end by the Common Po&s;t, &s;uch plain Trea&s;onable Letters as <HI>Oates</HI> and his Brethren te&s;tifie, and particularly Mr. <HI>Dugdale,</HI> who [in Mr. <HI>VVhitebread's</HI> Tryal, p. 29.] &s;ays, that he intercepted a Letter from Mr. <HI>VVhitebread</HI> to Mr. <HI>Ewers,</HI> wherein Mr. <HI>Ewers</HI> was advi&s;ed in Expre&s;s words to &s;eek out Couragious and &s;tout per|&s;ons <HI>for the Killing the King:</HI> And this he &s;wears was &s;ent by the ordinary Po&s;t, though his Lordship had before &s;ufficiently prompted him to more Probabi|lity, by &s;aying, That <HI>it was much that Mr.</HI> Whitebread <HI>should write &s;uch words in a Letter,</HI> but the unskilful <HI>Knight of the Po&s;t</HI> had not wit enough on this hint from his Patron to provide a &s;pecial Me&s;&s;enger for his Letter, whereby much of the Ab&s;urdity would have been avoided. I &s;ay, if it be true, as Judge <HI>Scroggs</HI> &s;ays, that no man writes plain, when he writes things of this nature, and that Prie&s;ts are not plain in matters of ten thou&s;and times le&s;s moment, How could it be believed, that the &s;ame Prie&s;ts should &s;o frequently put into their Letters &s;uch things in plain terms, as no other man in the world would do; and not only &s;o, but al&s;o &s;end them by the ordinary Po&s;ts? <HI>Ex ore tuo te judico.</HI> You &s;ee, my Lord, that you are Confuted out of your own Mouth. and Con&s;equently, that it is not the Logick which you have learnt, but the Bench which you &s;it on, that renders you Unconquerable. <HI>Non tu, s&egrave;d locus.</HI></P>
<P>It is no wonder to me, that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> from the depth of Poverty should on the &s;udden become a Banker, and have it within his power to lay out &s;ix or &s;even hundred pounds for the &s;ervice of the Publick, &s;ince his Soul is worth much more than that comes to; and, let the price thereof be what it will, he has certainly too hard a Bargain in parting with it: But, I mu&s;t confe&s;s, it would have puzzled me to find out, How Mr. <HI>Oates,</HI> who&s;e Table is &s;o well prepared for him, who&s;e Raiment the Gravity of his Calling permits not to
<PB N="58" REF="34">be expenceful, and, la&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ly, who&s;e Obligations are <HI>Tho&s;e,</HI> of the <HI>Prodigal Re|turned,</HI> should have had the occa&s;ion of Disbur&s;ing &s;o much Money (in the Execution of his Office) were it not evident how many Journey-men he has been forced to hire for the proof (not to mention any other particular) of his being at <HI>London</HI> in <HI>April,</HI> 78. whereas when Mr. <HI>Whitebread</HI> was on his fir&s;t Tryal, and afterwards at a Committee, he was not able to name &s;o much as one, who had &s;een him there at that time. Now, the&s;e things cannot be done without Money, and therefore the Publick mu&s;t allow it, on the pa&s;&s;ing his Accounts.</P>
<P>I hope (my Dear Countrymen) that you perceive at length, how ea&s;ie it is for you, by the help of a little &s;erious Reflection, to get from under tho&s;e Mi&s;takes, which the Craft of Evil Men hath ca&s;t upon you; and though the late frequent Tryals and Condemnations have abu&s;ed you into a ground|le&s;s (but mo&s;t pernicious) Jealou&s;ie, if you once patiently Con&s;ider them, you will find that the&s;e Scorpions (which have Stung and Poi&s;oned the Na|tion) afford &s;uch an Oyl, as can expel their own Venome, and will re&s;tore your Judgments to a &s;ound and due Temper, whereby it be no hard task to Di&s;cern plainly, that it was not Danger or the Nece&s;&s;ity <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">of Affairs, but the Cruel Ambition of &s;ome among&s;t you (who care not on whom they tread, that they may arrive at their De&s;igns) which hath, not only marked you out for God Almighty's Vengeance with &s;tains of Inno|cent Blood, but al&s;o di&s;turbed your Temporal Quiet, involved you in &s;o much Expence (as well by keeping up the Train-Bands, as otherwi&s;e) inter|rupted your Trade, And, by this means, impoverished Many of your Fami|lies, And &s;till Threatens the Ruine of many more. Nay (if it be not &s;peedily prevented) it is hardly credible, that this Mi&s;chief should ever end, but in the De&s;truction of the whole Nation it &s;elf. And though (for the Rea&s;ons al|ready given) I shall forbear to carry on my <HI>Remarks</HI> through the new Mat|ter which now offereth it &s;elf, yet it will be the more Ea&s;ie for you, from what I have &s;aid on the fore-mentioned Tryal (as from a Grammar or Paradigm) to direct your Con&s;ideration to tho&s;e things, which are mo&s;t notoriou&s;ly ob|&s;ervable in the others. For, What is it that is contained in the&s;e late Try|als, &s;ave only That Mon&s;ter of Inju&s;tice (which I have there de&s;crib'd) grown Bigger, and proportionably increa&s;ed in every Limb? Here is (that I may explain my &s;elf) the Improbability of the Accu&s;ation more apparent by farther Incoherences, and fresh Ab&s;urdities; The Falshood of the Wit|ne&s;&s;es more palpable by multiplied Contradictions, mo&s;t different Editions of the &s;ame Evidence, and (therefore) plainer Perjuries; The Corruption of the Judges more Hideous by rougher Inhumanities, and the uncon&s;cion|able u&s;e of more Tricks and Jugling to &s;upport an open Lye, and baffle as manife&s;t an Innocence; And, finally, the excellent Defence of the Pri&s;on|ers
<PB N="59" REF="34">more brutishly quash'd and rendred ineffectual, as well by the Inar|ticulate noi&s;e of the Crowd, as the Non&s;en&s;ical and Impertinent one of the Bench, Wherein our <HI>Great</HI> and <HI>Small</HI> Murtherers dealt with us, as heretofore the <HI>Maenades</HI> or <HI>Bacchae</HI> did with <HI>Orpheus,</HI> and out-baul'd that Harmony of Truth, which otherwi&s;e, perhaps, would have Charmed, Civilized, and reduced them to Rea&s;on. In a word, Every thing is grown up, and among&s;t others Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> is grown a Doctor, but whether it be by rea&s;on of his Im|provement in the Liberal Art of Swearing, or becau&s;e he out-does Doctor <HI>Stil..</HI> in Confuting Catholick Prie&s;ts, my Intelligence doth not determine. It grieves me to take notice of another Increa&s;e, I mean, of <HI>unrighteous</HI> Judges, who come on as fa&s;t, as if there had i&s;&s;ued out a Proclamation for the En|couragement of Them al&s;o. And I cannot but condole with one of them, from who&s;e nobler Bloud, it was impo&s;&s;ible for me, to expect &s;uch Ba&s;e and Ignoble Deeds. Is it, perhaps, infected by his Sitting on the &s;ame Bench with my L. C. J. <HI>Scroggs?</HI> Or (as I am rather apt to think) hath the pre&s;ent Lightning and Thunder again&s;t Catholicks &s;oured it within his Veins, and made His Lordship perceive, how hard a thing it is to be a Good man in Evil times? However it be, Methinks I &s;ee &s;omwhat in this Nobleman, that (for Judge <HI>Scroggs's</HI> Comfort) mo&s;t eminently verifies the Maxim which teacheth, <HI>That the Be&s;t things, when they are Corrupted, become the Wor&s;t.</HI> This Judge [in the Tryal of the five Je&s;uites p. 18.] on Mr. Gavan's &s;aying, that <HI>he had more Confidence in the Honour of the Bench, than in what&s;oever Mr.</HI> Oates <HI>&s;aid or &s;wore,</HI> Cryes out, <HI>Don't give the King's VVitne&s;&s;es ill words.</HI> It may be, that Mr. Gavan de&s;erved this Reprehen&s;ion for his Mi&s;take: But if &s;o, I am heartily &s;orry, that this Venerable Court of Judicature is &s;uch at pre&s;ent, as that a man can <HI>Confide</HI> no more therein, than in the Te&s;timony of Infamous and Perjur'd Villains, and that Mr. <HI>Oates</HI> is egregiou&s;ly wronged, whenever the <HI>Honour</HI> of the&s;e Judges hath the upper hand of <HI>his Credit. O Tempora! O Mores!</HI> But amid&s;t all the&s;e <HI>Increa&s;es,</HI> there is (I mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e) one <HI>Decrea&s;e</HI> which I have taken notice of. And it is in the Quality of the Jury. At fir&s;t, wee had hardly any thing be&s;ides <HI>Baronets, Knights</HI> and <HI>E&s;quires:</HI> And now (thanks be to God) we have not &s;o much as a Gentleman. Which cau&s;eth me to think, that the Stock of <HI>Iourney-men Butchers</HI> among&s;t the Gentry is already out; and I hope, that e're this there are not many left among&s;t the Hone&s;t Yeomen.</P>
<P>But after all my Di&s;cour&s;es, if they shall tell me (as they did their late Pri|&s;oners) that I ought not to take any advantage of the&s;e Printed Hi&s;tories of the Tryals, though &s;uch as have come out under their own Correction and Authority, I will an&s;wer briefly, that I doubt not, but the world will re&s;t &s;a|tisfied, as well of our Innocence, as of their Partiality and Inju&s;tice, if I make them <HI>both</HI> appear out of the&s;e Publications, which they (whom it &s;o much concerned) have &s;et forth on purpo&s;e to Evince the Contrary, and ju&s;tify their Proceedings.</P>
<PB N="60" REF="35">
<P> And now, becau&s;e in the latter end of my Remarks I ob&s;erved that all Narratives of the&s;e late Transactions had concealed &s;uch &s;olemn and convin|cing Prote&s;tations of Innocence, as the Pretended Criminals made at their departure out of this world (which, it &s;eems, was then thought the mo&s;t convenient means of Hiding the Truth) it may, perhaps, be expected, that I should &s;ay &s;omewhat of a late Publication, which hath been &s;o Candid, as to expo&s;e to the general View the <HI>la&s;t Speeches</HI> of no le&s;&s;e than five Martyrs all at once. What shall we &s;ay? Are our Adver&s;aries grown Ingenuous and Sincere on the &s;uddain? Hath, peradventure, &s;o much Innocent Bloud &s;up|pled, and made them pliant to the rules of Ju&s;tice? No, no, it is too great a Leap from the lowe&s;t Sink of Malice to &s;o high a Pitch of Integrity. They shew, indeed, the&s;e <HI>la&s;t</HI> and <HI>greate&s;t</HI> Evidences of Innocence, but it is under <HI>the Crown of thorns, the</HI> white <HI>and</HI> purple <HI>Robes,</HI> and &s;uch an <HI>Attire of Deri&s;ion,</HI> as Tho&s;e whom they now imitate, heretofore thought fit to put on the Sa|viour of the World, when they expo&s;ed him to the People with an <HI>Ecc&egrave; Ho|mo!</HI> But that it may not fare with you (my Dear Countrymen) as it did with the <HI>Iews,</HI> who were not able to Di&s;cern the King of Heaven and Earth amid&s;t &s;uch clouds of Dirt and Ignominy, as his Ennemies had taken care to inve&s;t him with, I will, at lea&s;t, endeavour by a few lines to draw off tho&s;e Vi|zards, wherwith <HI>the like</HI> Men have laboured to Di&s;gui&s;e this Truth, that (if po&s;&s;ible) it may appear to you in its native Beauty and Lu&s;tre. And in order hereunto, it would not be ami&s;s, that you should take notice, How, and by what means the mo&s;t important Truth, <HI>I mean,</HI> the Chri&s;tian Religion, hath always been Impugned, which (if you have recour&s;e to the be&s;t Hi&s;tories) you will find to have been done (for the mo&s;t part) no otherwi&s;e, than by putting evil and &s;ini&s;ter Interpretations and Glo&s;&s;es on all &s;uch things, as from time to time were offered in its Confirmation, and towards the Gaining it a Belief from Mankind. Thus the Holy Ab&s;tinence and Retirement of <HI>S. Iohn Bapti&s;t,</HI> who is to usher it into the world, are Interpreted Madne&s;s and the Effects of <HI>being po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a Devil;</HI> The more free and &s;ociable Conver&s;ation of our Saviour, who teacheth it, mu&s;t pa&s;s for Drunkenne&s;s and the Love of <HI>ill Company;</HI> Sometimes, indeed, they ask him a Miracle, as if he had not done any, that &s;o they may decieve the People; But where his Miracles are too open to be Denied, their Glo&s;s is at hand, and they tell you, That <HI>it is through the power of Sathan, that he worketh them.</HI> In fine, <HI>Interpretation</HI> is That, which accompanies the Racks and Torments of the Pagan Per&s;ecutors, And is (as the world knows) &s;o &s;trong an Engin in the hands of all Hereticks (who&s;e chief Magazines are filled with nothing el&s;e but Texts of Scripture <HI>ill-interpreted</HI>) and is made u&s;e of by them with &s;o much &s;ucce&s;s again&s;t this <HI>Pillar of Truth,</HI> that many times we could not but fear even the Downfal and total Ruine thereof, were it not for that Promi&s;e, which a&s;&s;ures us, that
<PB N="61" REF="35"><HI>the Powers of Hell shall never prevail again&s;t it.</HI> No wonder then, if it be &s;till Em|ployed, and that you find it through all the&s;e late Tran&s;actions &s;o much in Vogue, and e&s;pecially (that I may come to my pre&s;ent purpo&s;e) in the le&s;&s;en|ing, di&s;crediting and evading &s;o great a Te&s;timony of Truth, as hath been given us in the La&s;t Speeches of the&s;e Glorious Sufferers. At fir&s;t, as you may remember, when the&s;e Trea&s;ons were mo&s;t fully &amp; &s;olemnly denied at the Hour of Death, It was &s;aid (without any imaginable grounds) that <HI>this Denyal was bargained for, and only made on the promi&s;e and expectation of a Pardon.</HI> Next, the Speeches were (as much as could be) Interrupted and Hindred by the Sheriff; And whatever e&s;caped his Authority, was buried, at lea&s;t, in the Silence of the Pre&s;&s;e: But when &s;uch a Torrent of this <HI>La&s;t Eloquence</HI> brake forth in&s;pight of all Dams and oppo&s;ition, and &s;pake loud the Inno|cence of the Catholicks through the Nation, THEN there is no other way of Impugning it, than by the bolde&s;t Glo&s;&s;es and rashe&s;t Interpretations, that either the Brains or Malice of our Adver&s;aries can invent. And ther|fore (not con&s;idering how many flourishing and well-governed Common|wealths and Kingdoms of Chri&s;tianity they Affront at once) they Cry out, That there is no regard to be had even to the <HI>Dying Words</HI> of Papi&s;ts, foras|much as they are never unprovided of Di&s;pen&s;ations, Ab&s;olutions, Equivo|cations, and a thou&s;and &s;uch things as tho&s;e, which enable them in the very face of pre&s;ent Death (who&s;e Remembrance alone, according to the Scrip|ture, is enough to deterr us from Evil) with a clear Con&s;cience, and (the Effect of it) a chearful Countenance, to Mock the God of Heaven and of Truth, by invoking him to the Te&s;timony of mo&s;t Hellish and abominable Lies. I mu&s;t confe&s;s, I always thought that Serenity and Peace of mind (e&s;pecially at the hour of Death) had been the Attendant only of Ju&s;t Actions, and for this rea&s;on that <HI>Balaam</HI> was induced to de&s;ire, that <HI>His Death might be like the Death of the Righteous:</HI> But now I &s;ee, there are &s;ome, who would have us believe, that not only the evil Life, but the Death it &s;elfe of the Wic|ked is &s;o far from being Terrible and full of Remor&s;e, that they can &s;mile on it even amid&s;t their Impieties, and are &s;o far from loathing the foule&s;t Crimes (as Men have hitherto been &s;aid to do at &s;uch a time as this) that they Hug, Embrace, and, as it were, &s;trive to Carry them <HI>along with them</HI> be|fore the Dreadful Tribunal of Almighty God. But He, who can Believe this, mu&s;t at the &s;ame time refu&s;e his Credit to what&s;oever either Philo&s;ophy, Di|vinity, or Common Experience hath taught us hitherto of Human Nature: He mu&s;t acknowledge, That there are Men in the World, Who love what is neither a <HI>real</HI> nor an <HI>apparent</HI> Good; Who Hate both God &amp; Them|&s;elves; And, la&s;tly, who pur&s;ue what is directly Contrary to all <HI>true</HI> and <HI>&s;eeming</HI> Intere&s;t.</P>
<P>In the fir&s;t place, I hope at lea&s;t, that you will now grant me, that, what
<PB N="62" REF="36">your Informers and Judge <HI>Scroggs</HI> him&s;elfe [in Mr. <HI>Ireland's</HI> Tryal p. 74. and el&s;ewhere] with many others have made you believe touching the&s;e Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uites, is evidently fal&s;e, <HI>Viz.</HI> That their <HI>Religion</HI> was nothing el&s;e but their <HI>Intere&s;t,</HI> that they were <HI>Bishopricks, Deaneries</HI> and other <HI>Prefer|ments</HI> which they aimed at in all their Endeavours, and not the Satisfaction of their Con&s;ciences, or any Provi&s;ion for another World. For, can the weake&s;t Brother among&s;t you think, that Men who follow meerly <HI>tem|poral</HI> Conveniences and <HI>earthly</HI> Intere&s;ts, should rather throw away their Lives and Hopes in defence of Falshood, than by owning Truth, lay hold on tho&s;e Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, which (as you &s;ay) were the only things, which they &s;ought by their Impo&s;tures? I &s;ay, it cannot but be imagined that &s;uch, <HI>who&s;e Belly was their God,</HI> would have cho&s;en rather to have Dieted with <HI>Oates</HI> &amp; <HI>Bedlow,</HI> and partaken of their Dainties at the Royal Pallace (though at a greater Expence, than that of <HI>telling Truth</HI>) than to have become them|&s;elves the food of worms within the Grave. It was not <HI>Intere&s;t</HI> then, but Con&s;cience and &s;ome Fundamental Point of their Religion, which obliged them to refu&s;e &s;o many Offers of Pardon and Preferment, as were made to them (and amid&s;t the Threats of Death were the &s;tronge&s;t Argument to Nature) for the Extorting the Confe&s;&s;ion you de&s;ired. In&s;omuch as that every one of your Rulers might have &s;aid to each of their Pri&s;oners (as <HI>Ba|lak</HI> did to <HI>Balaam) Decreveram quid&egrave;m magnific&egrave; honorare te, &s;ed Dominus privavit te Honore di&s;po&s;ito. I purpo&s;ed, indeed, to have Honoured thee in an high degree, but it is</HI> thy God, <HI>who hath ob&s;tructed my De&s;ign, and deprived thee of tho&s;e great Dignities, which I intended to have conferred upon thee.</HI> And if this be &s;o, How is it po&s;&s;ible that any one should bewitch the Faculties of your &s;ouls &s;o far, as to make you fancy, that this Religion (not to &s;ay, <HI>Any Religion</HI>) which your greate&s;t Doctors hold a <HI>Safe way to Salvation,</HI> from which your Bishops take &s;o much pains to de|rive their Succe&s;&s;ion and Order, and which they acknowledge to be the Do|ctrine of what hath been and continues &s;till, at lea&s;t, a Member of that Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t, the <HI>Holy Catholick Church,</HI> can either <HI>require</HI> or <HI>allow</HI> its Profe&s;&s;ors to commit the blacke&s;t Trea&s;ons, and to employ their la&s;t Breath in the dreadfulle&s;t Bla&s;phemies, and mo&s;t exqui&s;ite and elaborate Perjuries? Can (I &s;ay) a Religion, which leads to Heaven, propo&s;e a path &s;o crooked, foul &amp; dark, that even tho&s;e who go to Hell are affraid to tread therein? But if Pa&s;&s;ion &amp; Prejudice have &s;o far intrenched on the Prerogative of your <HI>Spe|cies,</HI> as that you cannot now hearken to the ea&s;y and convincing Inferences of your <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> Be plea&s;ed (for once) to believe your <HI>Sen&s;es.</HI> Behold your Pri&s;ons full of Catholicks, Many great hou&s;es emptied of their Lords, The Hou&s;e of Peers con&s;iderably maimed, The Roads beaten by Multitudes travelling into Banishment, and (looking a little back) men turned out of their Employments, two Thirds of their E&s;tates, and, many times, out of
<PB N="63" REF="36">Life it &s;elfe. Ask the rea&s;on of all this Bu&s;tle, Confu&s;ion and Slaughter: And your Neighbours, your Hi&s;tories and your Laws will an&s;wer you, that <HI>it is, becau&s;e the</HI> Catholicks <HI>will not take the</HI> Oath <HI>of Supremacy, will not</HI> deny an Article <HI>of their Belief, and cannot &s;wear</HI> That <HI>to be</HI> True, <HI>which they think in their Con&s;ciences to be</HI> Fal&s;e: And when you hear this, I hope, you will not &s;ay (let Shamele&s;s Scriblers publish what they plea&s;e) that Catholicks can <HI>Ly</HI> or <HI>Swear fal&s;e</HI> under the Protection of any <HI>Di&s;pen&s;ation</HI> or <HI>Equivocation</HI> what|&s;oever; for, by what wile can this Chymera get into your heads, <HI>that men should neither</HI> Dare <HI>nor</HI> Forbear <HI>to Ly to &s;ave their Lives?</HI> or, that they should &s;wear fal&s;e to <HI>Damn their Souls,</HI> and not do it to <HI>pre&s;erve their E&s;tates?</HI> But af|ter all this, and what I have &s;aid el&s;ewhere, had the Crimes, objected to the&s;e men, been proved again&s;t them, by per&s;ons of an un&s;u&s;pected Fidelity, or any tolerable Reputation, there had yet been &s;ome Colour for that Incredu|lity towards <HI>Dying Speeches,</HI> which they would create in you; But when the Witne&s;&s;es of this pretended Guilt are &s;o Infamous, their Information &s;o ab|&s;urd and contradictory, and the Proofs again&s;t them &s;o &s;trong and &s;ub&s;tantial, and when (on the other &s;ide) the Worth and Loyalty of the Accu&s;ed are &s;o Known and Con&s;picuous, their <HI>forbearance to Fly</HI> giving an evident mark of their Innocence, and the &s;tricte&s;t &s;earches not affording the lea&s;t &s;ign of their Trea&s;on, if you cannot prefer the <HI>la&s;t VVords</HI> and <HI>&s;olemn Protestations</HI> of &s;ober and mode&s;t Chri&s;tians, who, during the cour&s;e of their Lives, made the highe&s;t &s;cruple (as you have &s;een by experience) of a <HI>fal&s;e Oath,</HI> and now at their Deaths can get nothing by <HI>one,</HI> but a deeper place in Hell, before the Atte&s;tations of &s;uch Wretches, who never &s;tuck at Perjurie or the vile&s;t Wickedne&s;&s;e to accomplish their ends, in who&s;e mouths even a <HI>true Report</HI> would have lo&s;t its credit, and who at pre&s;ent have &s;o much advantage from their Inventions, that with much more truth they may be &s;aid to have <HI>di&s;cove|red</HI> an Indian Mine, than any Plot again&s;t his Maje&s;ty, If &s;uch a Pro&s;pect as this do not undeceive you, What shall I &s;ay, &s;ave only that it will be a Madne&s;s for me to &s;ay any thing more? For, if in &s;uch a ca&s;e, and amid&s;t &s;uch Circum&s;tances you Believe not the Prote&s;tations of DYING men, I think, I may well Conclude (in &s;ome of <HI>Abraham's</HI> words to <HI>Dives</HI>) that <HI>neither will</HI> you <HI>be per&s;waded, though one</HI> even <HI>ROSE FROM THE DEAD</HI> to con|vince you. <HI>And, therefore, that it will be a more prudent Charity, to change my</HI> Di&s;cour&s;es to you <HI>into</HI> Prayers and Tears for you, <HI>that God would by Turning your Hearts, Avert tho&s;e &s;evere Iudgments, whereof &s;uch Incorrigible Ob&s;tinacy and Blindne&s;&s;e have ever been the con&s;tant &amp; certain Harbingers.</HI></P>
<FLOATEXT LANG="lat" TYPE="law">
<PB N="64" REF="37">
<HEAD>3. Reg. c. 21. v. 9.10.11.12.13.</HEAD>
<P><HI>PRaedicate</HI> Jejunium, <HI>&amp; &s;edere facite</HI> Naboth <HI>inter Primos Populi. Et &s;ubmit|tite</HI> Duos viros, filios Belial, <HI>contr&agrave; eum, &amp;</HI> fal&s;um Te&s;timonium <HI>dicant.</HI> Benedixit <HI>Naboth</HI> Deum &amp; Regem. <HI>Et educite eum &amp; lapidate, &s;icqu&egrave; Moriatur. Fecerunt erg&ograve;</HI> Cives ejus, Majores natu <HI>&amp;</HI> Optimates.... <HI>&s;icut praeceperat eis</HI> Jeza|bel. <HI>Praedicaverunt</HI> Jejunium, <HI>&amp; &s;edere fecerunt Naboth inter Primos Populi. Et ad|ductis duobus viris,</HI> filiis Diaboli, <HI>fecerunt eos &s;edere contra eum. At illi, &s;cilicet</HI> vi|ri Diabolici, <HI>dixerunt contr&agrave; eum te&s;timonium coram multitudine.</HI> Benedixit <HI>Naboth</HI> Deum &amp; Regem. <HI>Quamobr&egrave;m eduxerunt eum extr&agrave; Civitatem, &amp; lapidibus interfe|cerunt.</HI></P>
</FLOATEXT>
<P>Proclaim a <HI>Fa&s;t,</HI> and place <HI>Naboth</HI> among&s;t the Cheif of the People. And &s;et <HI>two men, &s;ons of Belial,</HI> again&s;t him, and let them bear <HI>fal&s;e Witne&s;&s;e</HI> [&s;aying] <HI>Naboth hath Cur&s;ed God &amp; the King.</HI> Then lead him out, and &s;tone him till he dies. And <HI>his Citizens, the Elders</HI> and <HI>Magi&s;trates</HI> did.... as <HI>Iezabel</HI> had commanded. They proclaimed a <HI>Fa&s;t,</HI> and placed <HI>Naboth</HI> among&s;t the Chief of the People. And having procured two men, <HI>&s;ons of the Devil,</HI> they &s;et them again&s;t him. And they, viz. <HI>The&s;e Diabolical men,</HI> bare witne&s;&s;e [&s;aying] <HI>Naboth hath Cur&s;ed God and the King.</HI> VVher|fore they drew him without the City, and &s;toned him to death.</P>
<P><HI>Dear Reader,</HI> I purpo&s;ed to have left the foregoing Quotation of the Scrip|ture (as is u&s;ually done) to thy own Reflection, but my <HI>Remarking Humour</HI> is now grown &s;o habitual to me, that I cannot lay down the pen, till I ob|&s;erve to thee, not only that there are, and have been &s;uch things in the world as <HI>fal&s;e VVitne&s;&s;es,</HI> which our Countrymen &s;eem to have forgotten, but al&s;o that the <HI>Holy Gho&s;t</HI> (whom, <HI>I think,</HI> we may &s;afely follow) is plea&s;ed to Call the&s;e per&s;ons, who <HI>&s;wore fal&s;ly</HI> again&s;t <HI>Naboth, &s;ons of Belial, &s;ons of the Devil,</HI> and <HI>Diabolical,</HI> or Devilish <HI>men,</HI> though they were the <HI>King's VVitne&s;|&s;es,</HI> and (according to our modern Doctrine) ought not to be <HI>a&s;per&s;ed,</HI> And likewi&s;e that it is no infallible proof, that men are Traytors, though on the alarm of their &s;uppo&s;ed Trea&s;on &s;olemn <HI>Fa&s;ts</HI> are <HI>Proclaimed,</HI> publick and (in appearance) <HI>fair</HI> Tryals Had before the Magi&s;trates, Elders &amp; <HI>chief Citizens,</HI> great concerns for <HI>Religion</HI> pretended (the&s;e <HI>Naboths</HI> being &s;aid to have cur|&s;ed <HI>God,</HI> as well as the <HI>King</HI>) the Pri&s;oners condemned with Acclamations, and, finally, Executed according to their &s;entence. Nay, on the contrary, you may &s;ee by this Example, How po&s;&s;ible it is that under all the&s;e &s;pecious
<PB N="65" REF="37">Arraignments, Pleadings, Accu&s;ations and Defences, together with the <HI>learned Gravity</HI> of Judges, and the <HI>Rural plainne&s;s</HI> and <HI>&s;eeming Hone&s;ty</HI> of Jury|men may Lurk the mo&s;t mon&s;trous <HI>Inju&s;tice,</HI> that was ever yet in&s;pired by that Prince of <HI>darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> with whom it is no new thing to put on (as his occa|&s;ions require) many <HI>fair</HI> colours, &amp; <HI>transform him&s;elf into an Angel of light.</HI> But the en&s;uing part of this Story, and what became of <HI>Iezabel</HI> and <HI>Ahab,</HI> the one who contrived, and the other who approved of the <HI>Shedding of this Innocent Bloud,</HI> I recommend to the &s;erious Con&s;ideration of all my Readers, and e&s;pecially of &s;uch, as being under the like <HI>guilty Circum&s;tances,</HI> have great cau&s;e to apprehend the like Events, from the mo&s;t impartial hand of the &s;ame Providence.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>Errata &s;ic corrige.</HEAD>
<P><HI>P.</HI> 13. <HI>lin.</HI> 20. <HI>after</HI> No, <HI>in&s;ert</HI> (though they contradict here, what, you &s;ee, they Act towards Declared Papi&s;ts)</P>
<P>P. 21. lin. 20. <HI>Mr. Strange r. Mr. Oates.</HI> Which mi&s;take (though not Material to the &s;ence) was occa|&s;ioned by the errour or ob&s;curity of the Printed Tryal.</P>
<P><HI>P.</HI> 58. lin. 17. <HI>read</HI> wherby it will be....</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
