There needs no
Exaggeration
of the Fact, nor Tragical Ex clamations.
Western Martyrology or Blood Assizes
And a little after, Prance being accidentally seiz'd by a Constable
and then in the House of Lords Lobby, was known by Mr.
»>tr (£timunti=25urp (Botiftep.
7
Bedlow, having seen his Face on that Monday Night, when at the same Time they saw the Body ; and who on Examination discoverd also what his Share was in the Murther : And tho' he afterwards denied for Fear of losing his Trade, and such other Motives, as he himself confest, yet in a Quarter of an Hour he returned again to his first Evidence.
But the most difficult Task will be what yet remains — the clearing those Objections, and some of 'em plausible Ones, and which have led away too many well-meaning Men, against the Truth of this recited Evidence as well as some insinuations spred abroad, and made the most of to persuade the World this worthy Gentleman was guilty of his own Death.
But here can't be expected that a private Person, who has not the Advantages of Sir Roger, to have Warrants from Two K's and all Persons and Papers before him relating to that Business, and who had Wit great, and Honesty little enough to pick out, and leave in, what was for his Turn that such an one shou'd be able to go through so many Hundred Pages as his Book consist of, and answer every Particular therein. 'Twill be Satisfaction enough to any rational Man to' touch some of the Plots and Fetches made Use of from one Time to another to- wash the Blackamoor white, and clear the Papists from this Villany To answer the main Objections against the Evidence, and bring some corroborating Circumstances for the Truth on't. And lastly, To shew Sir Edmond could not murther himself irt
that Place and Manner as pretended.
The first of the Methods they used to sham off this Murther.
was by early Reports they spred about, even before his Body was found, That he had kill'd himself. Now this Sir Roger himself can scarce have Brow enough to affirm 'twas done by the Brothers to save the Estate, since 'twas a very odd Way, certainly, to do that, by letting the World openly know that he was a Self- murtherer. That such Reports were spred, we shall by and by prove, and that from Sir Roger's own Book, without the Trouble: of consulting the Paper-Office, —and who got by't, who shou'd
do't, whose Interest was't to do't, but the Papists, altho' the par ticular Authors may be unknown?
Among -the many Evidences of his Death, being known at so many distant Places before 'twas publick here, there are Two
is
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come up exactly to the Matter in Hand. The First — which was recited by the Reverend Dean of Bangor, now Bishop of St. Asaph, in his Funeral Sermon, and which, it seems, he had of One Mr. Angus — who the same day Sir Edmond was found about Five a Clock on Primrose Hill, being in Mr. Chiswelf s Shop in St. PauFs Church-yard about One or Two, there was a person unknown to him past by, and clapping him upon the Shoulder, ask'd him [Lf'he heard the News that Sir E. B. G. was
found dead, with his own Sword run through him. ]
The second is of Mr. Goldsborough, Clerk of the House of Com
mons, who being in a Barber's Shop on Tuesday Morning while he was missing, a person came in open-mouth'd [That SirK. B. G. was found;] and being ask'd where, reply'd, [He had kilTd himself upon Primrose-Hill ;] where upon Thursday following in the Evening the Body was indeed discover'd.
The Second considerable Attempt made the same Way, was by one Magrath no. Irishman, the Famous Celiers, who foretold both the Prince of Wales, and a great many more after him ; the Jesuits in Newgate, and others, who pretended to prove Sir E. B. G. hang'd himself, and his Clerk Moor cut him down — But being examin'd at the Council-Board, it prov'd only a malicious and false Contrivance.
'Twill be very well worth the while to remark that Mrs. Mary Gibbons was one of the Persons deeply engaged in this Design among so much other good Company ; and that Mrs. Mary
Gibbonsis one of the main Evidences Sir Roger makes use of in his Book—Tho' this Sham was then so thin laid, and this Person so well known, that even Farewell and Pain were asham'd to make Use of either in their letters to Prance on this Subject, but protest very Solemnly, That none of those, neither Celiers, the Newgate Priests, nor Mrs. Mary Gibbons, or other Papists, or Popishly affected, knew any thing of the Matter, but were all Strangers to it.
When this Contrivance was found out by all the World to be as very a Sham as Celiers's being with child in Newgate, or some
Body else in another Place, yet was not the infatigable Zeal of that Party discouraged ; but Mr. Farewell, a person intrusted in managing the Estates and Lands of the Jesuits ; and Pain, Brother to the Famous Pain who wrote St. Coleman's Elegy, set
a new Project on Foot to the same Purpose in some Letters sent to Prance, and Printed by N. Thomson; which indeed, if we look closely into 'em, will appear to be Sir Roger in little, there being the self-same Expressions in one as the t'other, and his Mystery seeming to be hardly more than their Letters spread a little thinner. —The Blood gubling out of the Wound—Bedlow's and Prance's East and West Contradictions, — The Wax dropt on his Cloaths after he mas found, and several other Things the self-same in both of 'em. And I remember, at that very Time 'twas shrewdly suspected and rumoured about Town, that the same Person lay behind the Curtain, and thrust their Cats-Feet into the Fire, who has since appeared publickly in Prosecution of the same Cause.
Before their Trial they reckoned their Witnesses by the Hun dred, pretending to make his Self-murther as clear as the Sun. When they came to and had all the fair Play imaginable, Pain's Heart failed him, and he pleaded Guilty. —Farewell made so poor a Defence, and the Matter was so clearly proved against 'em, that Farewell and Thomson were both fined by the Court, and sentenced to stand in the Pillory, with this Inscription over them, [For Libelling the Justice of the Nation,
the World believe that Sir E. B. G. murthered himself] Where how abundantly they were honoured by the Spectators, all who know anything of the Story can't but remember.
Thus lay for some Time, and no Person was so hardy to make any farther Attempts that Way while there was any Possibility of having Justice against 'em But when the Sheriffs, Juries, nay, King and all were changed; when that past which poor Oates and all the World have Cause to remember when, Prance would not unconfess, he knew he must tread the same dolorous Way that Oates had gone before him and had now done all that could be desired then Sir Roger took up the Cudgels, and published his Book, called, [The Mystery of Sir E. B. G's
Death unfolded;] Or, which would have been a fitter Title, [The Second Edition with Additions (^Farewell's and Pain's Letters] The Main of what he advances there, will be answer'd in clear ing, as was proposed, the Objections against the Evidence relating to that Matter.
If the ill Character of the Persons who gave be urged to in
making
it
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:
it
; by
if
it,
validate their Testimony, as this does not reach all of 'em, so it has been often answered — Who but such were fit for such Vil- lanies? If their seeming Disagreement in some Part of their Evidence, what greater Argument that 'twas no Combination ? If Prance retracted —we are told by Sir Roger himself, That he was a white-liver1 d Man, and so might be frighted out of Truth as well as into it. And indeed on that very Reason 'twas long before suspected, that if he should ever be bore hard upon, he would not be able to stand it.
[But the Papists would never kill him, because he had obliged 'em]—As if Gratitude was a Popish Virtue, or Charity, any more than Faith were to be kept with Hereticks : Those that think so let 'em look back, and see if the last Reign be enough to
convince 'em.
It maybe urged on, Here are several Testimonies in the Trial
of the Murtherers, and since, that invalidate the Evidence there given, — Warner and his Wife and Maid about Green — That he was at Home all that Evening when he was accused for commit- ingit. —'Twould be enough to oppose to this, their Confession to Captain Richardson — That they could do him no good. — But besides this, Mr. Justice Dolbin's Observation on the Trial clears it effectually — They swore to the Saturday Fortnight after
Michaelmass-Z><y, which was, says the Justice, the igth of Octob. not the iith, on which the Murther was committed.
If Broadstreet and others testifie they were in the Room where the Body was laid, and Hill's Wife so rubs up her Memory, that after so many Years she remembers what she could not upon his Trial — That she, and he, and their Child lay in the Room all that very Time when the Body was said to be there —'Twould not be a Shift, but an Answer — That they were Papists that swore it, who can swear any Thing. But besides, Broadstreet acknow ledged before the Duke of Monmouth, That Hill was gone from his Lodgings before this Time, as was proved on the Trial- Mrs. Tilden says, There was but One Key to their Door. Mrs. Broadstreet at the same Time, with what she own'd about Hill,
That there were Six or Seven — Contradictions in others, we see, as well as the King's Evidence ; and these being much homer, and more irreconcileable than theirs, must of Necessity destroy the Belief of what else they testifie.
But the Home-thrust is — [The Centinels saw no Sedan carried out—] This the printed Trial easily sets right. The Centinels were Trollop and Wright. Trollop staid till Ten, and saw a Sedan go in, but none out again : Wright till One, but saw none go out. It must be in Trollop's Time, being as Prance says, about Twelve. — The Centinels being then at Burys Lodge smoaking and drinking. Trollop says on the Trial, he was
never at the Lodge, but so does not Wright, as any one may see by consulting he being never asked the Question.
'Twill give a great Light into this Deed of Darkness in the next Place, to consider several circumstantial Evidences, which would, of themselves, go very far to prove that Sir E. B. G. was murthered by the Papists, and that in the very Place and Man ner which has been already described.
The First of these from Sir Edmond's own Mouth, which has been already hinted, but shall here be farther cleared.
'Twas indeed so notorious, that Sir E. B. G. had boding Thoughts, and a Sort of a Prophetical Intimation of his Death, and that by the Papists and discoursed of so publickly and generally, that Sir Roger could not deny all the Matter of Fact, but endeavours to avoid the Force on't when he says, as wit nessed by several — [On my Conscience shall be the First Martyr] This he interprets — doubt shan't live long. ] — Sure,
though he says in one Place, The Man was no Fool, yet he must be supposed to be no better, any more than all the Readers, neither he nor they made any Difference between being hanged and martyred. But the very Reason of this Interpretation was for what Sir R. dearly loved—That he might have Opportunity for a Reflection on the Parliament —He feared, says he, that the
Parliament would call him to Account, and that nothing would satisfie 'em but his Life, for not discovering sooner. — In Oppo sition to this, any impartial Man need but consider what follows. Esquire Robinson, on the Trial of the Murderers, witnesses that he had a Discourse with Sir Edmond a little while before his Death about the Plot then newly talkt on — Says Robinson — wish the Depth of the Matter befound out. — Sir E. answers, am afraid it is not. — Upon my Conscience believe shall be the First Martyr. — He acknowledged he had taken several Examin ations about it, but thought he shou'd have little Thanks for his
I I
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i2 flfllegtem S^artproIog:p.
Pains. The Esq. askt him—Are you afraid? [No, said he, /
do not fear 'em, if they come fairly; and
I
Life tamely7\ Well, Sir Roger, Is all this the Parliament? Was
he afraid the Parliament would send a Party to dog him, and set upon him ? And that he did not fear the Parliament, but if they came fairly, would not part with his Life tamely? —No ; any Man that has but half an Eye, unless that too blinded with Pre judice, may see the Meaning on't; and that he apprehended Danger only from the Papists, against whom he had taken several Examinations.
The next is of John Wilson the Sadler, who swears, Sir Edmond talking with one Mr. Harris, then told this Informant,
[That he was in Danger for what he acted for the Discovering of the late Plot against his Majesty? ] See how ingeniously this is answered — {His Apprehension was from the Parliament, not the Papists; and for Concealing, not Discovering the Plot. ] These very words Sir Roger has in his Book,/. 281. Now whether this is not a direct Statuimus, i. e. Abrogamus, What Sir Edmond calls Discovering, for Sir R. who knows his mind better, now he's
shan't part with my
dead, than he himself did while alive, to tell us he means Con cealing, which is quite contrary — and how fair a Way of Answer 'tis, let any of his best Friends be Judges.
Twould be tedious to bring any more, when this does effec tually, as to his own Judgment. Only 'tis remarkable, that these very Things are sworn upon the Trial by Mr. Oates, —that Sir E. B. G. had told him— [He had received Affronts from great Persons for being so zealous in the Business — That he had been threatned — That he went in fear of his Life from the Popish Party; and that he had been dog'd several Days, —butfeared 'em not if they came fairly to Work. ]
For other Evidences of his Murther by the Papists, that which indeed made the greatest Noise, was, his Death being heard of so far off, and in so many different Places, before 'twas known in London. This, Sir Roger tells us, was on Purpose spred by the
Brothers to throw it on the Papists: But here's this in Opposi tion : Dugdale, against whom he makes no objection, but allows his Evidence, makes Oath in my Lord Stafford's Trial, and other
Places, —That this News was brought to one Ewers, a Priest, in a Letter which he shewed him, dated the very Night 'twas
&tt (£timunfc-Burp (Botifrep.
13
done, — which had these Words in't — [This very Night Sir E. B. G. is dispatch' dP\ Now I'd fain ask — Had these Brothers Correspondence with the Priest? Would they use such a word as that [Dispatched? —] Did they write to Ewers too, and bid him tell Dugdale, That this Sir E. B. G. was a busie Man and fit- to betaken out of the Way? —As Dugdale swears he did. — Could Dugdale conspire with Oates so long before they knew one another, and while he was himself a Prisoner in Stafford shire ? And where all those perjur'd who witness that Mr. Dugdale did report this before it could be known by any but the very Conspirators?
That 'twas done in that very Place, at Somerset-House, Providence has left strange Confirmation.
The First is—Bury the Porter's refusing to admit any Persons into the Gates about that Time, the 12th, l$th, 14th of October. Nay, that he had denied the Prince himself Admittance (Prince
Rupert, I suppose, it must be) and pretended Orders for so doing. But these Orders he never produced. —And more, like a true Papist, denied Matter of Fact when charged with it ; and tho' he had acknowledged to the Council he had never such Orders before, when Sir Thomas Stringer came to witness positively denied it.
Two more very remarkable Affidavits there are, which give mighty Strength to all the former One of Spence (Captain Spence he called in some Copies) and the other of John
Okeley. Spence was a tall, black Man, much like Sir E. B. G. , as was witnessed by those who knew him to all which Sir R. only answers,— He has been told otherwise. This Spence passing by the same Water-Gate at Somerset-House about Seven at Night, Two Days before Sir Edmond's Murther, was drag^d in thither, being seized by Five or Six Men—but one of 'em, when
in, cry'd out— This is not he— on which they immediately let him go. — Here's a plain Evidence of their Intentions, and a Confirmation of what Bedlow, Oates, and
they had him
Prance sware of Sir E's being dog'd so long before. —All that's answered to't —That there was a Suit of Law depending between this Spence and Mr. Broadstreet — and therefore forsooth, he must forswear himself, and wilfully damn his Soul only for a circumstantial Evidence and Reflection on Hill himself Three
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flfllegtem S^artprologp.
or Four Years after he was hang'd, and so on his Master, Dr. Godden, and thence again on Mrs. Broadstreet ; and all this when it had no Influence at all on the Suit of Law, or them who sued him. — But enough of this. — Let's now take Notice of the next. —'Tis one John Okeley, who that very night, Octob. 12. going by Somerset- House, at the Water-Gate, about Nine a Clock, saw there Sir E. B. G. whom he knew very well, living in the same Lane with him —he past close by him, pulled off his Hat to him, as Sir E. B. G. did to him again ;—when past him, he turned about, and looked on him. —And this he told to several Persons, which witness the same. To this, the main of what Sir R. objects —'Twas dark, and how should he know
him Certainly, any one that knows London, cannot be igno rant that we have Lights in the Streets at Nine at Night And 'twas morally impossible, that one who knew him so welL who looked upon him, who put off his Hat to him, as he to him again, and who after all this look'd back upon him—that such a one should be mistaken in the Person.
The last Thing to be proved —That Sir E. B. G. did not, and could not murder himself in that Place, as is pretended by his Enemies. He was first missing on Saturday, and therefore according to their Account, his Body must have been in the Place where 'twas found till that Thursday Night. But had been there on Tuesday or Wednesday, the Pack of Hounds which hunted there, both of those Days, must have found him. Sir Roger tells us,—They might have been on the other side of the Ditch, or beat the Place carelessly without finding it. But Mr. Faucet's Deposition — That he beat that very Place —
which sure he was capable of knowing, having been himself there to see after the body was found. He repeats and. says Twice, —'Twas in that very Place, And Harwood says as much, who hunted the Day after. —One Circumstance there is, which makes this Evidence yet more conclusive. 'Twas deposed in the Trial of Farewell, and several other Places, that the Body stunk extreamly when 'twas found, which was but the next Day after. Now Id ask any unprejudic'd Man, Whether 'twas so much as possible that this very Place should be beat Two Days after one another, and the Hounds not scent the Body, even
tho' the Hunters might perhaps oversee
it ?
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15
But besides this, there was yet a narrower Search made on another Occasion in that same Field. The Story is told in a Paper, calPd, An Account of the Murther, published by Thompson himself, who, with G. Larkin, another Printer, was present, and avouch'd the Matter of Fact on their own Knowledge. 'Tis this,- — That while the Body lay at the White-House, and the Jury were about one of the Jurymen themselves declared, —
That a Servant ofhis Mother, a Butcher, and two Boys, made a very strict and narrow Search in all Tarts of the Groundfor a Calf that was lost there, and this both on Monday and Tues day — and at that Time there lay no dead Body, Belt, Gloves, or any thing else there. — But were all these too on the wrong Side of the Hedge Or where did they look for this Calf, in the middle of the Field, or in the Ditches and Hedges, where 'twas impossible they could have mist of the Body, had been there
There's one great Objection which Sir Roger makes very much of in this matter—tho' not quite so strong now, as 'twas some, Years since and that —There was no Popish Plot at all, therefore no Popish Murther, —which he expresses in his own peculiar Merry-Andrew Way — They hang both upon the same String, and whoever overthrows the one, trips up the Heels of the other. Nor indeed he singular in his Opinion, as to a great Part of —for my Lord Chief Justice Pemberton says, on the Trial of Farewell, think, 'twas, —If they could have made out that he had killed himself, all of them would have
cried out, the Popish Plot was a Sham raised the Protestants against the Papist, and all the Plot must have gonefor nothing. — But now to retort the Objection — If there was a Popish Plot, 'tis a terrible Argument that there was too a Popish Murther. - But that there was one, we must be forced to believe, till we find these Things, among many others, answered.
1. Coleman's Letters — and that Expression — The Extirpation of this Northern Heresie.
2. The Letter produced in Harcourt's Trial, wherein the very Consult of April 24 mention'd, —and A Design then on Foot among 'em, which they were to manage with all imaginable Secrecy.
3. The positive Oaths of so many Men. Some of 'em of a
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16 'flEtje afllestern S^artprologp.
fair Character and blameless Conversation ; others no more able to invent such a Plot, than their Enemies to disprove it.
4. The Endeavours of the Papists to assassinate, disgrace, buy off, or any Way divert the Evidence against 'em ; which they were not such Fools to do for nothing.
5. The Behavior of the Witnesses ever since. One of 'em testifying at his Death, after the Sacrament : Another by his Life, their Malice reaching to his Barbarous Murther. A third with his Blood, and so much as wou'd have perhaps cost any two or three other Men their Lives, to the Truth of their Depositions.
And lastly, What Transactions we have felt and seen since King James came to his Throne, till his Departure, are no great evidence that all that Plot was a Forgery.
From these Things 'tis plain there was a Popish Plot : From these, and what went before, that this was a Popish Murther.
There needs no Exaggeration of the Fact, nor Tragical Ex clamations. 'Twas as foul as Hell could make and perhaps we have not yet seen the full Revenge that Heaven intends for those who were concerned in tho' 'tis after so long a Time miraculously begun, and will in due Time be accomplished.
Two Anagrams there were made on this Brave Gentleman, which, for the peculiar Luckiness of 'em, may not be ungrate
ful to the Reader, to have 'em inserted.
SIR EDMUND-BURY GODFREY. A nag.
FIND MURDER'D BY ROGUES. Another.
BY ROME'S RUDE FINGER DIE!
Having thus vindicated the Memory of this great Person, without any mean Expectation, either of Applause or Reward, who was the First Martyr for our Holy Protestant Religion we shall address what has been written on this Subject, not only to Posterity, as Sir Roger very wisely does, where he shall never
;
I
it
it ;
it,
Eternal Shame, shall this Inscription wear,
" The Devil's an Ass, for Jesuits on this Spot
arnolti.
17
hear his Fault, but to all the sober, unprejudic'd Men of the present Age, and so dismiss and go on to the Rest for whom he only made Way, after we have presented you with one of the last Pieces of Wit the Age has yielded on Sir Edmond's Death. "Tis Part of that ingenious Poem call'd Bacchanalia, or The Drunken Club.
Well, Primrose! May our Godfrey's Name on thee Like Hyacinth inscribed be
On thee his Memory flourish still,
Sweet as thy Flower, and lasting as thy Hill. Whilst blushing Somerset, to her
" Broke both the Neck of Godfrey, and the Plot.
MR. ARNOLD.
UT though the Providence of God was pleas'd, no doubt for wise Reasons, to suffer this last worthy Person to fall a Victim to the Malice and Cruelty of our Popish Enemies tho' there was perhaps a
sad Necessity —that this One Man shou'd die, to alarm a stupid Nation, and rouze 'em from that careless believing Temper which since that has gone] so far towards their Ruin and tho' 'twas to cost England more and nobler Blood, before its entire Deliverance yet the Government of the World
not so absolutely given up to the Disposal of him who called the Prince of as that in every Attempt, Villany should be
Sort of
and Vertue miserable. However kindly 'twas meant, the Stroak here was not home enough, and Mr. Arnold proved only a Confessor, tho' they intended him a Martyr. One would have thought their ill_Success in taking off one Justice of Peace, should have cooled [their Fury a little and hinder'd 'em from venturing upon another. — But this 'tis when Men list themselves of Religion where they must be given up
triumphant,
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18 Cfje aSlesftern S^artprologp
to Salleys and Transports of a blind Zeal and refuse the Conduct either of their Senses or Reason.
Mr. Arnold had been a vigorous Prosecutor of the Priests and Jesuits which sculkt about in his own Country of Wales. This was a Crime not to forgiven, nor any ways altoned for, by less than his Destruction. In Order to which he was assaulted by several Villains, fit for such a Business, in a little dark Lane near the Temple, as he was passing through it pretty late in the Evening ; and had no doubt dispatched him ; and either found some Way to make the World believe he had done it himself, as they would have done in the former Instance, or started some other Sham to have remov'd the Odium from their own Party. But the Gentleman, having had Apprehension of some such Accident, made better Use of it than Sir Edmond before him ; and having luckily a Suit of private Armour on, received several Stabs the Villains gave him, upon that, and so saved his Life. But they finding their Attempts that Way unsuccessful, were
resolved to take another Course with him, and having got him down, with some desperate Weapon or other fit for the Purpose, made several Trials to cut his Throat, and gave him some dangerous Wounds about that Part ; which while he was strugling with them to preserve, a Boy providentially goes by with a Light, which their Deeds of Darkness not being able to endure, they all ran away, and left Mr. Arnold weltering in his Blood, who yet, by God's Providence, recovered again, and lived to see Justice done to one of the Villains that used him in that barbarous manner : His Name was Giles, and was discovered by a Wound in his Leg, which one of his Accomplices ran through in the Scuffle, as he was making a Stab at Mr. Arnold. He was tried for the Action, found guilty of and sentenced
to stand in the Pillory for the same, which was accordingly executed, with a liberal Contribution over and above from the enraged Rabble, who sufficiently made up for the Gentleness of his Sentence, though as severe one as our mild Laws could inflict upon such Offenders.
a
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MR. COLLEDGE.
O Body can doubt but that 'twas now very much the Interest of the Papists to get off, if possible, that foul Imputation of a Plot which stuck so deep upon 'em ; which had been confirmed by Sir
Edmond's Murther, Coleman's never to be forgotten Letters, Arnold's Assassination, and a great deal of Collateral Evidence, which fell in unexpectedly, many of those who gave it being utterly unacquainted with the first Discoverers. After several unfortunate Attempts they had made to this Purpose ; after the Living had perjured themselves, and the Dying done worse, to support their desperate Cause ; after Attempts to blast and mine some of the Evidence, and buy off others of 'em, in both which, publick Justice took Notice of, and punish'd 'em : Being of a Religion that sticks at no Villany to serve an Interest, and certainly the most indefatigable and firm People in the World, when they set about any Design, especially where Diana is concerned, not being yet discouraged, they resolved to venture upon one Project more, which proved but too successful, to the
Loss of the Bravest and Best Blood in the Kingdom ; and that was to brand all those who were the steddiest Patriots, and so their greatest Enemies, of what Rank soever they were, with the odious Character ofPersons disaffected to the Government, or, in the old Language, Enemies to Cassar: They pretended to persuade the World, that after all this great Noise of a Popish Plot, 'twas only a Presbyterian one lay at the Bottom : This they had endeavoured in the Meal-Tub Intrigue, the Names of most of the worthy Persons in England being cull'd out to be sworn into it: But this miscarrying (like the Mother on'tr Mrs. Celliers Miscarriage in Newgate) they had by this time taken Breath, formed new Designs, and procured, new Witnesses, which might do Business more effectually, and, tho' they could not write nor spell their Names, and so were not very well skilled in Book-learning, yet at Buke blawing they were admirable ; by which character you may easily guess they were Irishmen. Nor did they want Fools to believe, any more than Knaves to manage this Design ; by their continued unwearied C2
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contrivances a great many easie, and some well-meaning People having by this Time been wrought upon to believe almost as implicitly as they themselves, whatever the Priests would have 'em. One Thing, whatever happened, they were pretty sure of, That whether this Plot were believed or no, they should carry on their Intrigue by it: If 'twas, they had what they wished: If it should be discovered, 'twould yet confound and amuse Peoples Minds, and make 'em so sick of Plot upon Plot, that it might make 'em almost stagger in their Belief of the other. They had besides all this, a strong Party at Court to favour their Enter-
prizes. The King was the Duke's, and the Duke—all the World know whose. 'Twas necessary to flesh their Blood-hounds by Degrees, to bring People on by little and little, to attempt some of inferior Rank for a Beginning, and not split the Cause for want of good Management. And who so fit as poor Colledge to be the First Victim of their Perjury and Malice ? By whose Death, besides being rid of a troublesome Fellow, and breaking the Ice to make Room for those to follow ; they might also expect this advantage, That the middle sort of People would be discouraged in their just Hatred of Popery and Papists, and Prosecution of the Laws against them.
'Twas by such Methods as these that Mr. Colledge did signalize himself in the World. Being a Man of Courage, Industry, and Sharpness, he made it much of his Business to serve his Country as far as possible, in searching after Priests and Jesuits, and hunting those Vermin out of their lurking Holes, in which he was very serviceable and successful ; and for which, no doubt, they did not fail to remember him. The first Time we meet with him in public, think, in Stafford's Trial, where he's brought in for Mr. Dugdale, as a Collateral Evidence. But by that Time the Wind was a little upon turning, and the Tide
of popular Aversion not being so strong against Popery, being by the Cunning of our common Enemy diverted into little Streams, and private Factions and Arbitrary Power driving on, as the best Way to prosecute the Designs of Rome; to which the City of London in a particular manner made a vigorous Re sistance; which displeasing the grand Agitators, no Wonder they endeavoured, as much as possible, to do a Mischief; their Kindness to having been sufficiently experienced in 66.
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and even since. In Order to which the King was pleased, by the Advice of his Ghostly Brother, to alter the common and almost constant Course of Parliaments, and call one at Oxford instead of London. Many of the Members whereof, and es pecially those of London were apprehensive of some Design up
on 'em there, having formerly in the Gun-powder Treason, and ever since, sufficiently found the Love of the Papists to Protes tant Parliaments, and knowing very well what they were to expect from their Kindness, if they should be attempted upon by 'em, and found defenceless. And more Ground of Suspicion they had, because, as Colledge protests in his Speech, there had
been Affidavits judiciously made of a formed Design against 'em, being besides removed away from the City of London, which had always so much of the English Blood in as heartily to love Parliaments, and for that Reason would have ventured all
for their Defence. From these and such like Reasons 'twas, that several of the Parliament Men went accompanied with some of their Friends, well armed and accoutred, to Oxford, of which Number this Mr. Colledge was one, he waiting on my Lord Clare, Paget, and Huntington to Oxford; where the Parliament, fore seeing what has since happened, would have gone on where they left off in former Sessions, which causing great Heats, every Body knows how abruptly they were dissolved not long after their meeting. 'Twas now grown the Entertainment of every Coffee- House, and the Subject of every Buffoon's Pamphlet to expose and vilifie Parliaments as much as possible, and the very Name of was now grown as. odious to some Men, as that of Protes tant. Mr. Colledge had, besides all his other forementioned
Crimes, been, as he declares in his Speech, a great Honourer of that August Assembly, and had been in former Sessions engaged by some of the Honourable Members to search the Places adjoining the Parliament-House, lest there should be a new Gun-powder Treason hatching for 'em from whence, as he says himself, he believes he got that popular Name of Protestant
Joiner.
All these Reasons together were more than enough to get
him taken out of the Way and for the Performance thereof, Heins, Macnamarra, and one or two of the Apostate Evidence of the Popish Plot, informed against him. Nor a Wonder
is it
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it,
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that after so many Attempts, some of those Men should be pre vailed with to prove false ; but rather, that under so many Temp tations any of 'em resisted, or were not sooner Villains. These
Persons swore such Mad Things against him, of taking Whitehall, and pulling the King out of and such other odd wild Stories, that partly from the Improbability of the Matter,
and partly from the ill Character of the Persons who witness'd the Jury here in London refused to find the Bill, but returned
Ignoramus. On which, contrary to all Justice, and President, and Law, and Common Reason, which forbids Man should be twice in Danger of his Life for the same Offence the Business was removed to Oxford, where how little Civility or common
he met with in his Trial, was then notorious to all the World a Person being check'd, for giving him but Assistance
and Notes in the way of his Calling, to make his Defence when his Life was engaged Yet tho' even these Notes were denied him, none that heard the Trial, or so much as read but must
grant, that he made a very extraordinary Defence, and much more than could have been expected from a Man of more Learn
ing. But he might have spared all his Labour the Business was, no Doubt on't, resolved upon before, and he was found Guilty, Sentenc'd, and Executed according to Order. To look back once more, and enquire a little deeper into the very Original of the Matter That there was a Design laid to bring in most of the worthy Patriots of England into a Sham- Plot under
the odious, scare-crow Name of Presbyterians, not only the Meal- tub Attempt, and several others of the same Batch, makes suffi ciently appear but the late Essay of Fitz-Harris above all the rest was enough to satisfie the most prejudiced Persons. He had
. conspired with some others to write a scandalous Libel against the King, which was to be laid on such as they'd call Presbyteri ans, and this to be sent to their Houses, or conveyed into their
Pockets, and there to be seiz'd, and the Persons prosecuted thereupon. This Business the Oxford Parliament had before 'em, and began to smell out who set on Foot and being re solved to find the Bottom on't, lest he should be hanged up on
the sudden to prevent his Confession, (he now beginning to melt a little) as Hubert, who fired London formerly, was, they impeached him, to keep the Examination of that Matter to themselves.
Justice
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23
'Tis to long too run over the Proceedings against him, and the Court-Parties subtle Contrivance, to Hang, Draw, and Quarter him, and so to hinder effectually his telling any more Tales. 'Tis sufficient to observe, that this Design was prosecuted for several Years after, and poor Colledge was to bear the Brunt on't,
as has been already declared.
If we reflect yet further on the manner of his Trial, and not
look on to any others, one would be apt to think 'twas impossible a Man could be destroyed with more Injustice and Barbarity than he was, or that twelve Men who look like Christians, could be found out, who wou'd hang a Man upon such Evidence as was given against him.
When a Criminal shall be kept close Prisoner in the Tower, without having sufficient Means to make his Defence till he come to his Trial : When, as has been said, he shall be rifled of his Notes, by which he could only save his Life, on which he depended, and that just before he came to his Trial ; though assisted therein by that very Council assigned by the Court for him : When he shall in vain demand 'em again, and call Heaven and Earth to witness, that he's meerly cheated of his Life for want of 'em: When all his Redress is such a frivolous Excuse, as not only a Judge, but any honest Man, would be ashamed to make Use of—Nay, such a Sort of a one as is commonly made be/ore the Judges, but seldom by 'em — That 'twas somebody else
did —That the Court, the Chief-Justice, had 'em not, nor did take 'em from him when the very Person stood by who rob'd him of^m and yet he could have no Reparation When the King's Council must whisper the Chief-Justice on the Bench, and the Court must be adjourned, on Purpose to examine those
Minutes which the poor Man had got together to save his Life, and even from them get an Opportunity to take awayi altering the manner of their Prosecution, strengthning and bolstering their Evidence where they found weak and contra dictory When all the Evidence against him, were not only such as an honest London Jury would not believe, though a Country one, directed by the King's Council, could make a shift to do it; but were every one of 'em, who witnessed any Thing material, confounded by such home Evidence, as, any thing in the World could do did certainly invalidate and annul their
it,
;
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Testimonies : when one of them swears horridly, He cared not what he swore, nor whom he swore against, for 'twas his Trade
to get Money by swearing. — That the Parliament were a Com pany of Rogues for not giving the King Money, but he would help him to Money out of the Fanaticks Estates, which is ex plained by what Smith says,—That ifthe Parliament would not give the King Money, but stood on the Bill of Exclusion, 'twas Pretence enough to swear a Design to seize the King at Oxford. When this same Heins very pleasantly says, 'Twos a Judgment
upon the King and the People, and the Irishmens swearing against 'em was justlyfallen on 'em, for outing the Irish of their
Estates. When others of 'em swear, That since the Citizens de serted 'em, they would not starve ; that they would have Colledge's Blood ; That tho' they had gone against their Consciences, 'twas
because they had been persuaded to't and could get no Money else ; and when they had said before they believed Colledge had no more Hand in any Conspiracy against his Majesty, than the child unborn; When they would have hired others to swear more into the same Plot ; when the Bench was so just and kind
Counsel for the Prisoner, as to tell the Jury, the King's Wit nesses were on their Oaths, the Prisoner's not, and so one to be credited before the other ; in which Case 'tis impossible for any Man living to make a Defence against a perjured Villain. Lastly, When the Prisoner himself very weightily objected— That there was no proof of any Persons being concerned with him in the Design of seizing the King ; and 'twas wisely answered, — That he might be so vain as to design it alone—A thousand times more Romantick Improbability, than an Army's lying concealed at Knightsbridge, and of the same Stamp with Drawcansirs killing all on both sides. Taking all these Things together, hardly ever was a Man at this Rate banter'd out of his Life before any Judicature in the World, in any Place or Age that History has left us.
Nor ought the great Service he did to the Nation in general to be ever forgotten ; since notwithstanding ill the Disadvantages he was under, the publick Stream running so violently against him and his Witnesses and the Surprize which such strange Treatment, when he was on his Life, might cast him into, he yet made so strong a Defence, by shewing what Sort of Wit
ColleHge.
25
nesses were brought against him, hindring them ever after from being believed, and thereby certainly saved many anothers Life,
tho' he could not his own.
Nor can the undaunted Courage, and firm Honesty of the
Man be hardly ever enough admired. Since besides what he shewed in his Defence, after he was condemned, as he himself said, as good as without a Trial, he boldly askt, When he was to be executed? Without any the least seeming Concern. And tho' he had Time considerable before his Execution to consider on't, refused to save his Life so meanly as to make other innocent Mens the Price of his own ; without which Design they had hardly been so kind to have given him so long a Reprieve.
As for his Behavior at his Execution : 'Twas such as convinced more than a few of his greatest Enemies, and made 'em entertain a much better Opinion of him than before. From his Last Speech we shall remark several Passages as another Argument for his Innocency. But before we proceed any further in 'em, 'twill be needful to fix one Assertion, which we may presume few modest unprejudiced Persons will deny, and which we shall have Occasion to make further Use of. —'Tis,—That a Protestant, who believes an Heaven and Hell, and is not a Man of no Principles, or Debauched and Atheistical, would go out of the World, into the Presence of that God who must judge him, with a lie in his Mouth. — This none will deny, but
those who have a very great Kindness for the Papists; and yet of all Men in the World such as these must not offer to do —since 'twas the very Argument they made Use of for the Innocence of the Jesuits, and other Traytors. Though on that Side we know there are unanswerable Arguments not to believe them their Religion recommending Perjury, and all Sorts of Villanies to 'em as meritorious when Holy Church concerned. Their Church besides allowing 'em Dispensations before, and Absolution after, and Purgatory at the worst, whence a few Masses would fetch them out again. — Things being thus, what can a Man of Modesty say to Mr. Colledge's Protestations over and over, both in Prison, and at his Death, that he was perfectly innocent of what he died for? did deny it then (says he, that is, before the Council) and do deny it upon my Death never was
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in any manner ofPlot in my Days; nor ifIhad had any such Design as these have sworn against me, I take God to witness, as I am a dying Man, and on the Terms of my Salvation, I know not one Man upon the Face of the Earth which would have stood by me. ] And lower, [/ knew not of any Part of what they swore
against me, till I
Arms we had was for our Defence, in Case the Papists should have made any Attempt by way of Massacre, dr'c. God is my
heard it sworn at the the Bar. ] Again, [All
Witness this is all I know. ] —
And in his solemn Prayer, and
some of his almost very last Words ['Tis thee, O God,
I
of
in. —/ go disown all Dispensations, and will not out
trust
the World with a Lie in my Mouth. ] —IAnd just after to the People,
[From the Sincerity of my Heart,
declare again, that these are the very Sentiments ofmy Soul, as God shall have Mercy upon
me. ]
Now upon the whole, I'd ask any sober Man, what he would
answer to this, and how he can forbear, without the greatest Violation to all Principles of Good Nature and Ingenuity to
pronounce this Person innocent?
Thus died Mr. Colledge, whose Blood, as he himself desired
it might, sufficiently spoke the Justice of his Cause, who seemed in his Speech to have some Prophetick Intimations, that his Blood would not be the last, as indeed it was not, but rather a
Prelude to that which followed, the Edge of the Laws being now turned against all those who dared defend it.
He has one Daughter yet living, whose Gratitude and Generosity to those who were kind to her under the Misfortunes of her Family, is at , present the Wonder and Entertainment of the Court of England, and whose brave Soul speaks her the
true Child of such a Father.
For his Character, How great and undaunted his Courage
was, both his Trial and Death testifie. He was very vigorous and earnest, almost to a Fault, in his Undertakings. But cer tainly there are so few who err on that Hand, that we may with out Flattery account this his warm Zeal for his Country, if it did a little exceed, a happy as well as very pardonable Error.
He was extraordinary Ingenious in his own Trade, and employed amongst great Persons for his Dexterity therein. He had an entire Love for the City of London, and stood up for its Honour
9$t. Collebge. 27
and Priviledges as highly as any Man living. He had a Soul so very great and generous, that many who knew him well, have said, considering his Education, they wondered how he came by it. He was a Man of very good sound Sense, considerably more than those of his Rank generally have, which he had much improved in his latter Time by Conversation with Persons of Honor and Quality. In fine, he lived sufficiently beloved by those who knew, and did not fear him ; and died lamented by his Friends, and admired and esteemed by his very Enemies.
Some Time after his Death his Picture was sold about Town, which, as I remember, very much displeased the Observator. Under it were these Lines engraven,
By Irish Oaths, and wrested Laws I fell,
A Prey to Rome, a Sacrifice to Hell.
My guilty Blood for speedy Vengeance cries ;
Heaven, hear and help, for Earth my Suit denies.
Part of a Poem writ by Mr. Stephen Colledge, a while before he was sent to Oxford, where he suffered Death, Aug. 31. 1681.
What if I am into a Prison cast,
By Hellish Combination am betray'd ?
My Soul is free, although my Body's fast :
Let them repent that have this Evil laid,
And of Eternal Vengeance be afraid ; Though Racks and Gibbets can my Body kill, My God is with me, and I fear no Ill.
What boots the Clamours of the giddy Throng ? What Antidote's against a poisonous Breath ?
What Fence is there against a Lying Tongue, Sharpen'd by Hell to wound a Man to Death ? Snakes, Vipers, Adders do look underneath : Say what you will, or never speak at all,
Our very Prayers such Wretches Treason call.
flfllesftern S^artprologp
But Walls and Bars cannot a Prison make, The Free-born Soul enjoys its Liberty ;
The Clods of Earth it may incaptivate,
Whilst Heavenly Minds are conversant on high, Ranging the Fields of Blest Eternity :
So let this Bird sing sweetly in my Breast,
My Conscience clear, a Rush for all the Rest.
And sure of this the World's so well aware. That here 'tis needless more for me to say,
I must conclude, no time have I to spare,
My winged Hours do fly too fast away,
My (Work) Repentance must I not delay,
I'll add my Prayers to God for England's Good ; And if he please will Seal them with my Blood.
ARTHUR EARL OF ESSEX.
HAT Party, and those Persons who were engaged to manage the Designs before-mentioned, were now entered on the most compendious Way of intro ducing what they desired, as well as avoiding what
their own Consciences, and all the World knew they deserved. Having those in their own Hands, who had the Executive Part of the Government in theirs ; and finding, no Doubt, a sort of
malicious Pleasure, as well as Advantage, in destroying People by those Laws which were made to preserve 'em ; a Villany to be compared with nothing but the Treason of that Monster of a Priest, who gave the Emperor Poison in the Blessed Sacra ment : Having wrought up the Nation, and all Parties there in, to a high Ferment, making one Side mad for Slavery, as if they had all been at Constantinople as well as their Sheriff, and learnt the Doctrine of the Bow-string ; some of 'em treated, others cajoled, others frightned, and some few reasoned into the Belief of Absolute Authority in Kings, and Obedience Active as well as what is called Passive, to be paid to all their
28
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29
Commands. Some honest, several learned, more witty Men joining in with all their Power to advance the Transactions at that Time on the Wheel. And on the other Side, exasperating that Party who were more tenacious of their Liberties, as much as possible against the Constitution which they saw so horridly
abused both in Church and State, persuading 'em all the Clergy were for making 'em Slaves, and themselves and the Court great to ride upon 'em ; whereas really it was only a Party, tho' too large, who made more Noise, tho' they had neither more Sense nor Number than those who differed from 'em ; and by this
Means rendring many of the Trading Part of the Nation es pecially, so dissatisfied with 'em, and eager against 'em, that they began to think they had Reason to fear as bad Effects thereof as they had experienced in the last Age, and so sided more closely with that Party whence they expected Protection. When Things were in this Posture, and a great many Persons either taken off from their Natural Love to a lawful Liberty, which is so much of the very Nature of an Englishman; the
Managers of the great Intrigue which was to accomplish our Ruin, resolved after they had begun with Colledge, to rise higher, and fly at a Nobler Game, and take off all those whom they could not win over, or against whom Interest or Revenge had more keenly engaged 'em, and who were most likely to make the most vigorous Opposition against their Attempts. But finding the London Juries unmoveably honest, and no Way to accomplish their Designs on these Persons, while their Witnesses would not be believed, and no Way to get Juries fit for their Turn, but by having Sheriffs of the same
Stamp ; and finding the Party they had gotten, after all their Tricks, which many of those who then knew, are now ashamed of, visibly and fairly out-numbred by those who were not yet ripe for Slavery, they bethought themselves of one Way to rid themselves of that Inconveniency —which was by a Quo War ranto against the City of London, that they might more effectually,
and with less Noise, have what Sheriffs they pleased ; or in Effect, hang whomever they thought their Enemies, and not be forced almost to blush at those visible and sensible Illegalities with which they had forced those Officers upon the City.
This they had accomplished in the Year 1683, when Judgment
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was given against the Charter of London, whose Liberties had been confirmed to 'em by William the Conqueror, and delivered down before from Immemorial Ages, and this by two Judges only in Westminster-Hall, tho' the greatest Cause, one may ven ture to say, that ever was legally tried therein.
Now by this Time they had, after so many former fruitless Endeavours, brought something of a Plot to bear ; and with this Advantage above all their former, that there was really some thing in't, altho', as Bays says in another Case, That Truth, which was notoriously blended with Lies and Perjuries. The Occasion of it we may best meet with in Holloway s most In genuous Acknowment ; [By Arbitrary and Illegal Ways, and Force of Arms, they had got Sheriffs to their Mind,— Witnesses they had before, but wanted Jurors to believe them. Now they
have got Sheriffs, who will find Jurors to believe any Evidence against a Protestant, and so hang up all the King's Friends by Degrees. —None being suffered to come near the King but those who have been declared Enemies to the King and Kingdom, who to save themselves, do endeavour to keep all Things from the King's knowledge, andpersuade him against Parliaments, cW. ]
Thus much for the Occasion. The Design seems to be the same with what was intended at first, by many of those Great and Eminent Persons, both Clergy and Laity, in their late Appearance in Arms ; tho' by the Providence of God, for the Security of the Nation, and Reason of State, it has since been carried farther than theirs was ever to have been. [Seeing fair
Means, says Holloway ', would not do, but all Things on the Pro testants Side misrepresented to the King by such great Criminals, andnone more inFavourthanthose,—TotaketheKingfromhis evil Council, and that (as the late wonderful Turn was transacted, and as 'tis impossible to be otherwise in Business of so large a Concern, by a general Insurrection in several Parts of England at once. ] All those who have had any Share in the present Transactions, which are upon the Matter all the Nation, have shewn themselves plainly of the same Mind with those who were engaged in this, on which the Dispute runs, as to the Reason of the Thing, and the Principles on which they pro ceeded—And their only Difference is ^bout Matter of Fact, Whether Things were then at that Height as to need desperate
Arrtjur
Remedies. If it be objected, That such Attempts are only glossy Pretences, vailed under the specious Name of the Publick Good—The Answer is as ready as the Objection, Is there any Difference between Reason and no Reason, Truth and Falshood? There is a Right, and a Wrong,—and if ever Liberties were in vaded, and the Ends of Government vacated and annulled, never were the Foundations of such a Design plainer than on this Occasion —So that 'twas indeed, what was of a Counter- Plot, rather than a Plot against the Government and Laws of England, and that when no other Remedy could without a
Miracle be expected.
That this was the Heighth and Utmost of the then Design,
and that no brave good Man need to be ashamed on't, think all, or most Men are by this Time pretty well satisfied. But alas This would not serve the Turn of the Managers —Even this might not, or perhaps could not be, as certainly 'twas not, fairly proved against several, who suffered for This was Thing so necessary and defensible, that there was Occasion of laying fouler Colours upon't, to fright and amuse the World, and let 'em stand by patiently, and see their Best and Bravest Patriots sink, with much such Prudence and Wisdom as the sheep in the Fable suffered those bloody Mastiffs to be destroyed, who so often broke the Peace between them and the harmless Wolves and were afterwards in their Turns handsomely worried, and justly eaten up for their Reward. 'Twas convenient to make somewhat more of —There must be an Assassination grafted on this Insurrection or else all would not be worth —an Halter 'Twas the Business and Interest of the Popish Party, to render their Enemies as odious as possible to the People, of whom, for their steddy Zeal and Love to their Religion and Liberties, they had long been the Darlings. To accomplish this, 'twas very necessary to get some Persons to insinuate into their Counsels, to inflame Things higher, to make black and odious Proposals of Assassinations, and Murders, and such bloody Villanies as alarm the good Nature of an Englishman with the very men tioning of 'em. —Which yet some of the honester and wiser looking upon as mad hot Words only, or, any more intended, having in their power to prevent such Wickedness another Way, would not yet turn Informers nor ruin those Persons, who
Carl of €$$tx. • 31
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in all Probability were only Trapans to ruin them. In all the Papers relating to this Matter, we shall find all Discourses of this Nature center'd in West and Runtsey. West was very much for Lopping Business —for killing 'em in their Calling—and was so full and eager for it. Though Walcot, Holloway, and all whoever heard it proposed received it still with the greatest Detestation imaginable, as a most base and bloody Action, which they never would have their own Hands imbrued in, nor their Posterity stained with. That all the great Persons, of Birth and Honour, were absolutely against so foul an Action, and abhorred it from their Souls, we may find, even without the forced Confession of their worst Enemies, by the Lord Russefs Concern when such a Thing was muttered, and the Duke of Monmouth's Answer—Godso—KilltheKing! Iwillnever suffer it. The Account we have of from him who should best know, and that's West, who in his discourse with Holloway on this Occasion, tells him of the New-market and Rye-house Design—That the King and the Duke were to be killed as they came by, for which they had provided Arms for Fifty Men — and were promised Rumbald's House, which lay in the Road. When asked, Who was to act —who were to fire these Arms for Fifty Men, — Pistols, Carbines, and Blunderbusses? He could name but two Men, Rumbald and his Brother who certainly must have been very dexterous to have discharged all those dreadfull Businesses themselves without Assistance, and much such a likely Story as Colledge's being so vain to attempt
seizing the King by himself, without any Assistance.
But even these two Brothers, who very likely were pickt out by the Evidence for the King-killers, merely for their hard
Names, the very Sound of which would be as shrew'd an Argu ment of their Guilt to Women and children, and with as much Justice, as some of the odd Names of the poor People in the
West were made, at least strong Presumption against 'em, and almost as moral as an Innuendo. If even these two were innocent of this horrid Business, who were the only Persons engaged therein, pray, What then becomes of the Assassination? And won't Rumbald's Blunderbuss bear laughing at full as well as Pickering's Carbine or Screw-Gun, and chawed Bullets? But there be any Thing solid in that Observation in Colledge's
if
if
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;
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Case, That a Christian, and a Protestant, won't forswear himself when he is just going out of the World; if this fair Supposition may but be granted me, as I see not how it can be avoided, the Matter will be clear enough ; Rumbald himself in his Speech at his Execution in Scotland, absolutely disclaiming and denying any Hand in any such Design. See his Speech, and Answer to his Indictment —He desired all Present to believe the Words of a dying Man — as for having designed the King's Death, he never directly, nor indirectly, intended such a Villany ; That he abhorred the very Thoughts orit; and that he blessed God he had that Reputation in the World, that he knew none had the Impudence to ask him the Question; and he detested the Thoughts of the Action, and hoped all good People would believe him ? which was the only Way he had to clear himself; and he was sure that this Truth should one Day be manifest to all Men. ] So at his Execution — / think it necessary to cleaI
r my-self of some should have had so horrid an Intention of destroying the King and his Brother. ]
Aspersions laid on my Name; and first, that
Where he repeated what he had said to the Jury on the same
—
of the Times, suffered for the same.
We have been forced to give this fair and impartial Scheme
or Idea of that Design, which was at that Time represented so formidable and dreadful, before we could handsomely proceed to the Death of this Noble Lord, or those others that followed him and that as well from the Order of the History, as for his Vindi cation. And as has been remarked, 'Twas necessary for that
Party who managed our Ruin, that the forementioned Business of the Assassination should be believed, and nothing like a real one actually performed, to gain Credit to a feigned one only pretended For what could be greater Argument than there was some black Wickedness at the Bottom, some Sin of an extraordinary Stain, like the Murder of Princes, bearing too hard D
Subject. The Sum
If any Assassination, must have been from If not by them as has been proved, then not at all. If no Assassination in this Plot, then nothing left of Malignity in but a lawful and laudable Opposition to the Breach and Ruin of our good Laws and Government and even that, as will be proved, not proved against most of those that by the Iniquity
the Rumbalds
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;
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on his Conscience, that could possibly induce so great a Man to so unchristian an Attempt on his own Person? Hence they might, and no doubt did argue — Hence the very Rabble may
easily reason—Certainly there was more in it than only just Con sultations, and necessary Measures taken for the Publick Safety
by the Peers of the Realm — by the King and Kingdom's best Friends, to deliver his Majesty from those Familiars that haunted him. There was more than this, and this Lord was conscious of or else certainly he had never acted what he has. Now this would effectually excite that Aversion which must necessarily follow from all honest Men, to a Party who cou'd be guilty of such horrid Designs. This must of Necessity, as in Effect did, sway much with those Juries who were to sit upon the Lives of any accused or concerned in the same Business, had there not been more weighty Reasons to be produced below, towards the finding 'em guilty. Altho' 'tis certain, by their own
Confession, the best Excuse they could make for innocent Blood particularly iu Russel's Case, was that Confirmation they had to the Evidence sworn against 'em by Essex's Murder. Besides there might be a barbarous kind of a Pleasure, in opening this Plot with a Scene so like that which began the Popish one and that in all Probability, by the same Actors whose Hands were deep in the others.
There was a Gentleman killed, which contributed very much towards the Credit of that Plot, tho' in another Way. Here must be one to undergo the same Fate for the same Reason. And both of 'em too pretendedly to kill themselves. —Just one as much as another.
These Preliminaries being cleared, 'twill be now Time to come to the Person of this Noble Lord, his Family, and former manner of Life.
Every one knows he was of the Illustrious Family of the Capels, whose Father died for a Family, whence he deserved better Treatment for his Sake, and had received had he not fallen in the Hands of Popish Gratitude and Mercy which his Enemies knowing too well, and doubting the Sweetness of Tem per, which all the World ever acknowledged in King Charles the Second, would not give him over to their publick Revenge in all Probability, resolved to take a shorter Course with him.
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He had been some Years before in the highest Place under the King in Ireland, and there behaved himself with that Wisdom and Candor, inseparable from all the Actions of his Life — and lived above Blame, though not above Envy : Being recalled thence unexpectedly, and dealt with not very handsomly ; which yet he bore with a Spirit like a Brave Man, and a
Christian.
My Lord of Essex was a Person, whom, 'twas no Doubt the
highest Interest of the Popish Faction, to have gotten out of the Way, even tho' there had been no such extraordinary Reason as has been mentioned. He had large Interest, a plentiful Es tate, a great deal of Courage, understood the World, and the Principles and Practices of the Papists, as well as any Man, having been of several Secret Committees in the Examination of the Plot, for which very Reason there was as much Necessity
for his dying as Sir E. B. Godfreys. He was, besides all this, they very well knew, of Inflexible Honesty, and so true a Great
ness of Mind, they could no more expect to gain him, than Heaven itself, to be on their Side.
As for the immediate Subject of his Death, the Manner and Circumstances thereof, —It must first be granted, and a very reasonable Demand it that for the present only supposing he was murdered only by the Papists, they would, we may be Sure, make their Business to render the Manner of as dark as
the Hell in which was contrived.
and then in the House of Lords Lobby, was known by Mr.
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7
Bedlow, having seen his Face on that Monday Night, when at the same Time they saw the Body ; and who on Examination discoverd also what his Share was in the Murther : And tho' he afterwards denied for Fear of losing his Trade, and such other Motives, as he himself confest, yet in a Quarter of an Hour he returned again to his first Evidence.
But the most difficult Task will be what yet remains — the clearing those Objections, and some of 'em plausible Ones, and which have led away too many well-meaning Men, against the Truth of this recited Evidence as well as some insinuations spred abroad, and made the most of to persuade the World this worthy Gentleman was guilty of his own Death.
But here can't be expected that a private Person, who has not the Advantages of Sir Roger, to have Warrants from Two K's and all Persons and Papers before him relating to that Business, and who had Wit great, and Honesty little enough to pick out, and leave in, what was for his Turn that such an one shou'd be able to go through so many Hundred Pages as his Book consist of, and answer every Particular therein. 'Twill be Satisfaction enough to any rational Man to' touch some of the Plots and Fetches made Use of from one Time to another to- wash the Blackamoor white, and clear the Papists from this Villany To answer the main Objections against the Evidence, and bring some corroborating Circumstances for the Truth on't. And lastly, To shew Sir Edmond could not murther himself irt
that Place and Manner as pretended.
The first of the Methods they used to sham off this Murther.
was by early Reports they spred about, even before his Body was found, That he had kill'd himself. Now this Sir Roger himself can scarce have Brow enough to affirm 'twas done by the Brothers to save the Estate, since 'twas a very odd Way, certainly, to do that, by letting the World openly know that he was a Self- murtherer. That such Reports were spred, we shall by and by prove, and that from Sir Roger's own Book, without the Trouble: of consulting the Paper-Office, —and who got by't, who shou'd
do't, whose Interest was't to do't, but the Papists, altho' the par ticular Authors may be unknown?
Among -the many Evidences of his Death, being known at so many distant Places before 'twas publick here, there are Two
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come up exactly to the Matter in Hand. The First — which was recited by the Reverend Dean of Bangor, now Bishop of St. Asaph, in his Funeral Sermon, and which, it seems, he had of One Mr. Angus — who the same day Sir Edmond was found about Five a Clock on Primrose Hill, being in Mr. Chiswelf s Shop in St. PauFs Church-yard about One or Two, there was a person unknown to him past by, and clapping him upon the Shoulder, ask'd him [Lf'he heard the News that Sir E. B. G. was
found dead, with his own Sword run through him. ]
The second is of Mr. Goldsborough, Clerk of the House of Com
mons, who being in a Barber's Shop on Tuesday Morning while he was missing, a person came in open-mouth'd [That SirK. B. G. was found;] and being ask'd where, reply'd, [He had kilTd himself upon Primrose-Hill ;] where upon Thursday following in the Evening the Body was indeed discover'd.
The Second considerable Attempt made the same Way, was by one Magrath no. Irishman, the Famous Celiers, who foretold both the Prince of Wales, and a great many more after him ; the Jesuits in Newgate, and others, who pretended to prove Sir E. B. G. hang'd himself, and his Clerk Moor cut him down — But being examin'd at the Council-Board, it prov'd only a malicious and false Contrivance.
'Twill be very well worth the while to remark that Mrs. Mary Gibbons was one of the Persons deeply engaged in this Design among so much other good Company ; and that Mrs. Mary
Gibbonsis one of the main Evidences Sir Roger makes use of in his Book—Tho' this Sham was then so thin laid, and this Person so well known, that even Farewell and Pain were asham'd to make Use of either in their letters to Prance on this Subject, but protest very Solemnly, That none of those, neither Celiers, the Newgate Priests, nor Mrs. Mary Gibbons, or other Papists, or Popishly affected, knew any thing of the Matter, but were all Strangers to it.
When this Contrivance was found out by all the World to be as very a Sham as Celiers's being with child in Newgate, or some
Body else in another Place, yet was not the infatigable Zeal of that Party discouraged ; but Mr. Farewell, a person intrusted in managing the Estates and Lands of the Jesuits ; and Pain, Brother to the Famous Pain who wrote St. Coleman's Elegy, set
a new Project on Foot to the same Purpose in some Letters sent to Prance, and Printed by N. Thomson; which indeed, if we look closely into 'em, will appear to be Sir Roger in little, there being the self-same Expressions in one as the t'other, and his Mystery seeming to be hardly more than their Letters spread a little thinner. —The Blood gubling out of the Wound—Bedlow's and Prance's East and West Contradictions, — The Wax dropt on his Cloaths after he mas found, and several other Things the self-same in both of 'em. And I remember, at that very Time 'twas shrewdly suspected and rumoured about Town, that the same Person lay behind the Curtain, and thrust their Cats-Feet into the Fire, who has since appeared publickly in Prosecution of the same Cause.
Before their Trial they reckoned their Witnesses by the Hun dred, pretending to make his Self-murther as clear as the Sun. When they came to and had all the fair Play imaginable, Pain's Heart failed him, and he pleaded Guilty. —Farewell made so poor a Defence, and the Matter was so clearly proved against 'em, that Farewell and Thomson were both fined by the Court, and sentenced to stand in the Pillory, with this Inscription over them, [For Libelling the Justice of the Nation,
the World believe that Sir E. B. G. murthered himself] Where how abundantly they were honoured by the Spectators, all who know anything of the Story can't but remember.
Thus lay for some Time, and no Person was so hardy to make any farther Attempts that Way while there was any Possibility of having Justice against 'em But when the Sheriffs, Juries, nay, King and all were changed; when that past which poor Oates and all the World have Cause to remember when, Prance would not unconfess, he knew he must tread the same dolorous Way that Oates had gone before him and had now done all that could be desired then Sir Roger took up the Cudgels, and published his Book, called, [The Mystery of Sir E. B. G's
Death unfolded;] Or, which would have been a fitter Title, [The Second Edition with Additions (^Farewell's and Pain's Letters] The Main of what he advances there, will be answer'd in clear ing, as was proposed, the Objections against the Evidence relating to that Matter.
If the ill Character of the Persons who gave be urged to in
making
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validate their Testimony, as this does not reach all of 'em, so it has been often answered — Who but such were fit for such Vil- lanies? If their seeming Disagreement in some Part of their Evidence, what greater Argument that 'twas no Combination ? If Prance retracted —we are told by Sir Roger himself, That he was a white-liver1 d Man, and so might be frighted out of Truth as well as into it. And indeed on that very Reason 'twas long before suspected, that if he should ever be bore hard upon, he would not be able to stand it.
[But the Papists would never kill him, because he had obliged 'em]—As if Gratitude was a Popish Virtue, or Charity, any more than Faith were to be kept with Hereticks : Those that think so let 'em look back, and see if the last Reign be enough to
convince 'em.
It maybe urged on, Here are several Testimonies in the Trial
of the Murtherers, and since, that invalidate the Evidence there given, — Warner and his Wife and Maid about Green — That he was at Home all that Evening when he was accused for commit- ingit. —'Twould be enough to oppose to this, their Confession to Captain Richardson — That they could do him no good. — But besides this, Mr. Justice Dolbin's Observation on the Trial clears it effectually — They swore to the Saturday Fortnight after
Michaelmass-Z><y, which was, says the Justice, the igth of Octob. not the iith, on which the Murther was committed.
If Broadstreet and others testifie they were in the Room where the Body was laid, and Hill's Wife so rubs up her Memory, that after so many Years she remembers what she could not upon his Trial — That she, and he, and their Child lay in the Room all that very Time when the Body was said to be there —'Twould not be a Shift, but an Answer — That they were Papists that swore it, who can swear any Thing. But besides, Broadstreet acknow ledged before the Duke of Monmouth, That Hill was gone from his Lodgings before this Time, as was proved on the Trial- Mrs. Tilden says, There was but One Key to their Door. Mrs. Broadstreet at the same Time, with what she own'd about Hill,
That there were Six or Seven — Contradictions in others, we see, as well as the King's Evidence ; and these being much homer, and more irreconcileable than theirs, must of Necessity destroy the Belief of what else they testifie.
But the Home-thrust is — [The Centinels saw no Sedan carried out—] This the printed Trial easily sets right. The Centinels were Trollop and Wright. Trollop staid till Ten, and saw a Sedan go in, but none out again : Wright till One, but saw none go out. It must be in Trollop's Time, being as Prance says, about Twelve. — The Centinels being then at Burys Lodge smoaking and drinking. Trollop says on the Trial, he was
never at the Lodge, but so does not Wright, as any one may see by consulting he being never asked the Question.
'Twill give a great Light into this Deed of Darkness in the next Place, to consider several circumstantial Evidences, which would, of themselves, go very far to prove that Sir E. B. G. was murthered by the Papists, and that in the very Place and Man ner which has been already described.
The First of these from Sir Edmond's own Mouth, which has been already hinted, but shall here be farther cleared.
'Twas indeed so notorious, that Sir E. B. G. had boding Thoughts, and a Sort of a Prophetical Intimation of his Death, and that by the Papists and discoursed of so publickly and generally, that Sir Roger could not deny all the Matter of Fact, but endeavours to avoid the Force on't when he says, as wit nessed by several — [On my Conscience shall be the First Martyr] This he interprets — doubt shan't live long. ] — Sure,
though he says in one Place, The Man was no Fool, yet he must be supposed to be no better, any more than all the Readers, neither he nor they made any Difference between being hanged and martyred. But the very Reason of this Interpretation was for what Sir R. dearly loved—That he might have Opportunity for a Reflection on the Parliament —He feared, says he, that the
Parliament would call him to Account, and that nothing would satisfie 'em but his Life, for not discovering sooner. — In Oppo sition to this, any impartial Man need but consider what follows. Esquire Robinson, on the Trial of the Murderers, witnesses that he had a Discourse with Sir Edmond a little while before his Death about the Plot then newly talkt on — Says Robinson — wish the Depth of the Matter befound out. — Sir E. answers, am afraid it is not. — Upon my Conscience believe shall be the First Martyr. — He acknowledged he had taken several Examin ations about it, but thought he shou'd have little Thanks for his
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Pains. The Esq. askt him—Are you afraid? [No, said he, /
do not fear 'em, if they come fairly; and
I
Life tamely7\ Well, Sir Roger, Is all this the Parliament? Was
he afraid the Parliament would send a Party to dog him, and set upon him ? And that he did not fear the Parliament, but if they came fairly, would not part with his Life tamely? —No ; any Man that has but half an Eye, unless that too blinded with Pre judice, may see the Meaning on't; and that he apprehended Danger only from the Papists, against whom he had taken several Examinations.
The next is of John Wilson the Sadler, who swears, Sir Edmond talking with one Mr. Harris, then told this Informant,
[That he was in Danger for what he acted for the Discovering of the late Plot against his Majesty? ] See how ingeniously this is answered — {His Apprehension was from the Parliament, not the Papists; and for Concealing, not Discovering the Plot. ] These very words Sir Roger has in his Book,/. 281. Now whether this is not a direct Statuimus, i. e. Abrogamus, What Sir Edmond calls Discovering, for Sir R. who knows his mind better, now he's
shan't part with my
dead, than he himself did while alive, to tell us he means Con cealing, which is quite contrary — and how fair a Way of Answer 'tis, let any of his best Friends be Judges.
Twould be tedious to bring any more, when this does effec tually, as to his own Judgment. Only 'tis remarkable, that these very Things are sworn upon the Trial by Mr. Oates, —that Sir E. B. G. had told him— [He had received Affronts from great Persons for being so zealous in the Business — That he had been threatned — That he went in fear of his Life from the Popish Party; and that he had been dog'd several Days, —butfeared 'em not if they came fairly to Work. ]
For other Evidences of his Murther by the Papists, that which indeed made the greatest Noise, was, his Death being heard of so far off, and in so many different Places, before 'twas known in London. This, Sir Roger tells us, was on Purpose spred by the
Brothers to throw it on the Papists: But here's this in Opposi tion : Dugdale, against whom he makes no objection, but allows his Evidence, makes Oath in my Lord Stafford's Trial, and other
Places, —That this News was brought to one Ewers, a Priest, in a Letter which he shewed him, dated the very Night 'twas
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13
done, — which had these Words in't — [This very Night Sir E. B. G. is dispatch' dP\ Now I'd fain ask — Had these Brothers Correspondence with the Priest? Would they use such a word as that [Dispatched? —] Did they write to Ewers too, and bid him tell Dugdale, That this Sir E. B. G. was a busie Man and fit- to betaken out of the Way? —As Dugdale swears he did. — Could Dugdale conspire with Oates so long before they knew one another, and while he was himself a Prisoner in Stafford shire ? And where all those perjur'd who witness that Mr. Dugdale did report this before it could be known by any but the very Conspirators?
That 'twas done in that very Place, at Somerset-House, Providence has left strange Confirmation.
The First is—Bury the Porter's refusing to admit any Persons into the Gates about that Time, the 12th, l$th, 14th of October. Nay, that he had denied the Prince himself Admittance (Prince
Rupert, I suppose, it must be) and pretended Orders for so doing. But these Orders he never produced. —And more, like a true Papist, denied Matter of Fact when charged with it ; and tho' he had acknowledged to the Council he had never such Orders before, when Sir Thomas Stringer came to witness positively denied it.
Two more very remarkable Affidavits there are, which give mighty Strength to all the former One of Spence (Captain Spence he called in some Copies) and the other of John
Okeley. Spence was a tall, black Man, much like Sir E. B. G. , as was witnessed by those who knew him to all which Sir R. only answers,— He has been told otherwise. This Spence passing by the same Water-Gate at Somerset-House about Seven at Night, Two Days before Sir Edmond's Murther, was drag^d in thither, being seized by Five or Six Men—but one of 'em, when
in, cry'd out— This is not he— on which they immediately let him go. — Here's a plain Evidence of their Intentions, and a Confirmation of what Bedlow, Oates, and
they had him
Prance sware of Sir E's being dog'd so long before. —All that's answered to't —That there was a Suit of Law depending between this Spence and Mr. Broadstreet — and therefore forsooth, he must forswear himself, and wilfully damn his Soul only for a circumstantial Evidence and Reflection on Hill himself Three
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or Four Years after he was hang'd, and so on his Master, Dr. Godden, and thence again on Mrs. Broadstreet ; and all this when it had no Influence at all on the Suit of Law, or them who sued him. — But enough of this. — Let's now take Notice of the next. —'Tis one John Okeley, who that very night, Octob. 12. going by Somerset- House, at the Water-Gate, about Nine a Clock, saw there Sir E. B. G. whom he knew very well, living in the same Lane with him —he past close by him, pulled off his Hat to him, as Sir E. B. G. did to him again ;—when past him, he turned about, and looked on him. —And this he told to several Persons, which witness the same. To this, the main of what Sir R. objects —'Twas dark, and how should he know
him Certainly, any one that knows London, cannot be igno rant that we have Lights in the Streets at Nine at Night And 'twas morally impossible, that one who knew him so welL who looked upon him, who put off his Hat to him, as he to him again, and who after all this look'd back upon him—that such a one should be mistaken in the Person.
The last Thing to be proved —That Sir E. B. G. did not, and could not murder himself in that Place, as is pretended by his Enemies. He was first missing on Saturday, and therefore according to their Account, his Body must have been in the Place where 'twas found till that Thursday Night. But had been there on Tuesday or Wednesday, the Pack of Hounds which hunted there, both of those Days, must have found him. Sir Roger tells us,—They might have been on the other side of the Ditch, or beat the Place carelessly without finding it. But Mr. Faucet's Deposition — That he beat that very Place —
which sure he was capable of knowing, having been himself there to see after the body was found. He repeats and. says Twice, —'Twas in that very Place, And Harwood says as much, who hunted the Day after. —One Circumstance there is, which makes this Evidence yet more conclusive. 'Twas deposed in the Trial of Farewell, and several other Places, that the Body stunk extreamly when 'twas found, which was but the next Day after. Now Id ask any unprejudic'd Man, Whether 'twas so much as possible that this very Place should be beat Two Days after one another, and the Hounds not scent the Body, even
tho' the Hunters might perhaps oversee
it ?
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But besides this, there was yet a narrower Search made on another Occasion in that same Field. The Story is told in a Paper, calPd, An Account of the Murther, published by Thompson himself, who, with G. Larkin, another Printer, was present, and avouch'd the Matter of Fact on their own Knowledge. 'Tis this,- — That while the Body lay at the White-House, and the Jury were about one of the Jurymen themselves declared, —
That a Servant ofhis Mother, a Butcher, and two Boys, made a very strict and narrow Search in all Tarts of the Groundfor a Calf that was lost there, and this both on Monday and Tues day — and at that Time there lay no dead Body, Belt, Gloves, or any thing else there. — But were all these too on the wrong Side of the Hedge Or where did they look for this Calf, in the middle of the Field, or in the Ditches and Hedges, where 'twas impossible they could have mist of the Body, had been there
There's one great Objection which Sir Roger makes very much of in this matter—tho' not quite so strong now, as 'twas some, Years since and that —There was no Popish Plot at all, therefore no Popish Murther, —which he expresses in his own peculiar Merry-Andrew Way — They hang both upon the same String, and whoever overthrows the one, trips up the Heels of the other. Nor indeed he singular in his Opinion, as to a great Part of —for my Lord Chief Justice Pemberton says, on the Trial of Farewell, think, 'twas, —If they could have made out that he had killed himself, all of them would have
cried out, the Popish Plot was a Sham raised the Protestants against the Papist, and all the Plot must have gonefor nothing. — But now to retort the Objection — If there was a Popish Plot, 'tis a terrible Argument that there was too a Popish Murther. - But that there was one, we must be forced to believe, till we find these Things, among many others, answered.
1. Coleman's Letters — and that Expression — The Extirpation of this Northern Heresie.
2. The Letter produced in Harcourt's Trial, wherein the very Consult of April 24 mention'd, —and A Design then on Foot among 'em, which they were to manage with all imaginable Secrecy.
3. The positive Oaths of so many Men. Some of 'em of a
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fair Character and blameless Conversation ; others no more able to invent such a Plot, than their Enemies to disprove it.
4. The Endeavours of the Papists to assassinate, disgrace, buy off, or any Way divert the Evidence against 'em ; which they were not such Fools to do for nothing.
5. The Behavior of the Witnesses ever since. One of 'em testifying at his Death, after the Sacrament : Another by his Life, their Malice reaching to his Barbarous Murther. A third with his Blood, and so much as wou'd have perhaps cost any two or three other Men their Lives, to the Truth of their Depositions.
And lastly, What Transactions we have felt and seen since King James came to his Throne, till his Departure, are no great evidence that all that Plot was a Forgery.
From these Things 'tis plain there was a Popish Plot : From these, and what went before, that this was a Popish Murther.
There needs no Exaggeration of the Fact, nor Tragical Ex clamations. 'Twas as foul as Hell could make and perhaps we have not yet seen the full Revenge that Heaven intends for those who were concerned in tho' 'tis after so long a Time miraculously begun, and will in due Time be accomplished.
Two Anagrams there were made on this Brave Gentleman, which, for the peculiar Luckiness of 'em, may not be ungrate
ful to the Reader, to have 'em inserted.
SIR EDMUND-BURY GODFREY. A nag.
FIND MURDER'D BY ROGUES. Another.
BY ROME'S RUDE FINGER DIE!
Having thus vindicated the Memory of this great Person, without any mean Expectation, either of Applause or Reward, who was the First Martyr for our Holy Protestant Religion we shall address what has been written on this Subject, not only to Posterity, as Sir Roger very wisely does, where he shall never
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it,
Eternal Shame, shall this Inscription wear,
" The Devil's an Ass, for Jesuits on this Spot
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hear his Fault, but to all the sober, unprejudic'd Men of the present Age, and so dismiss and go on to the Rest for whom he only made Way, after we have presented you with one of the last Pieces of Wit the Age has yielded on Sir Edmond's Death. "Tis Part of that ingenious Poem call'd Bacchanalia, or The Drunken Club.
Well, Primrose! May our Godfrey's Name on thee Like Hyacinth inscribed be
On thee his Memory flourish still,
Sweet as thy Flower, and lasting as thy Hill. Whilst blushing Somerset, to her
" Broke both the Neck of Godfrey, and the Plot.
MR. ARNOLD.
UT though the Providence of God was pleas'd, no doubt for wise Reasons, to suffer this last worthy Person to fall a Victim to the Malice and Cruelty of our Popish Enemies tho' there was perhaps a
sad Necessity —that this One Man shou'd die, to alarm a stupid Nation, and rouze 'em from that careless believing Temper which since that has gone] so far towards their Ruin and tho' 'twas to cost England more and nobler Blood, before its entire Deliverance yet the Government of the World
not so absolutely given up to the Disposal of him who called the Prince of as that in every Attempt, Villany should be
Sort of
and Vertue miserable. However kindly 'twas meant, the Stroak here was not home enough, and Mr. Arnold proved only a Confessor, tho' they intended him a Martyr. One would have thought their ill_Success in taking off one Justice of Peace, should have cooled [their Fury a little and hinder'd 'em from venturing upon another. — But this 'tis when Men list themselves of Religion where they must be given up
triumphant,
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to Salleys and Transports of a blind Zeal and refuse the Conduct either of their Senses or Reason.
Mr. Arnold had been a vigorous Prosecutor of the Priests and Jesuits which sculkt about in his own Country of Wales. This was a Crime not to forgiven, nor any ways altoned for, by less than his Destruction. In Order to which he was assaulted by several Villains, fit for such a Business, in a little dark Lane near the Temple, as he was passing through it pretty late in the Evening ; and had no doubt dispatched him ; and either found some Way to make the World believe he had done it himself, as they would have done in the former Instance, or started some other Sham to have remov'd the Odium from their own Party. But the Gentleman, having had Apprehension of some such Accident, made better Use of it than Sir Edmond before him ; and having luckily a Suit of private Armour on, received several Stabs the Villains gave him, upon that, and so saved his Life. But they finding their Attempts that Way unsuccessful, were
resolved to take another Course with him, and having got him down, with some desperate Weapon or other fit for the Purpose, made several Trials to cut his Throat, and gave him some dangerous Wounds about that Part ; which while he was strugling with them to preserve, a Boy providentially goes by with a Light, which their Deeds of Darkness not being able to endure, they all ran away, and left Mr. Arnold weltering in his Blood, who yet, by God's Providence, recovered again, and lived to see Justice done to one of the Villains that used him in that barbarous manner : His Name was Giles, and was discovered by a Wound in his Leg, which one of his Accomplices ran through in the Scuffle, as he was making a Stab at Mr. Arnold. He was tried for the Action, found guilty of and sentenced
to stand in the Pillory for the same, which was accordingly executed, with a liberal Contribution over and above from the enraged Rabble, who sufficiently made up for the Gentleness of his Sentence, though as severe one as our mild Laws could inflict upon such Offenders.
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MR. COLLEDGE.
O Body can doubt but that 'twas now very much the Interest of the Papists to get off, if possible, that foul Imputation of a Plot which stuck so deep upon 'em ; which had been confirmed by Sir
Edmond's Murther, Coleman's never to be forgotten Letters, Arnold's Assassination, and a great deal of Collateral Evidence, which fell in unexpectedly, many of those who gave it being utterly unacquainted with the first Discoverers. After several unfortunate Attempts they had made to this Purpose ; after the Living had perjured themselves, and the Dying done worse, to support their desperate Cause ; after Attempts to blast and mine some of the Evidence, and buy off others of 'em, in both which, publick Justice took Notice of, and punish'd 'em : Being of a Religion that sticks at no Villany to serve an Interest, and certainly the most indefatigable and firm People in the World, when they set about any Design, especially where Diana is concerned, not being yet discouraged, they resolved to venture upon one Project more, which proved but too successful, to the
Loss of the Bravest and Best Blood in the Kingdom ; and that was to brand all those who were the steddiest Patriots, and so their greatest Enemies, of what Rank soever they were, with the odious Character ofPersons disaffected to the Government, or, in the old Language, Enemies to Cassar: They pretended to persuade the World, that after all this great Noise of a Popish Plot, 'twas only a Presbyterian one lay at the Bottom : This they had endeavoured in the Meal-Tub Intrigue, the Names of most of the worthy Persons in England being cull'd out to be sworn into it: But this miscarrying (like the Mother on'tr Mrs. Celliers Miscarriage in Newgate) they had by this time taken Breath, formed new Designs, and procured, new Witnesses, which might do Business more effectually, and, tho' they could not write nor spell their Names, and so were not very well skilled in Book-learning, yet at Buke blawing they were admirable ; by which character you may easily guess they were Irishmen. Nor did they want Fools to believe, any more than Knaves to manage this Design ; by their continued unwearied C2
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contrivances a great many easie, and some well-meaning People having by this Time been wrought upon to believe almost as implicitly as they themselves, whatever the Priests would have 'em. One Thing, whatever happened, they were pretty sure of, That whether this Plot were believed or no, they should carry on their Intrigue by it: If 'twas, they had what they wished: If it should be discovered, 'twould yet confound and amuse Peoples Minds, and make 'em so sick of Plot upon Plot, that it might make 'em almost stagger in their Belief of the other. They had besides all this, a strong Party at Court to favour their Enter-
prizes. The King was the Duke's, and the Duke—all the World know whose. 'Twas necessary to flesh their Blood-hounds by Degrees, to bring People on by little and little, to attempt some of inferior Rank for a Beginning, and not split the Cause for want of good Management. And who so fit as poor Colledge to be the First Victim of their Perjury and Malice ? By whose Death, besides being rid of a troublesome Fellow, and breaking the Ice to make Room for those to follow ; they might also expect this advantage, That the middle sort of People would be discouraged in their just Hatred of Popery and Papists, and Prosecution of the Laws against them.
'Twas by such Methods as these that Mr. Colledge did signalize himself in the World. Being a Man of Courage, Industry, and Sharpness, he made it much of his Business to serve his Country as far as possible, in searching after Priests and Jesuits, and hunting those Vermin out of their lurking Holes, in which he was very serviceable and successful ; and for which, no doubt, they did not fail to remember him. The first Time we meet with him in public, think, in Stafford's Trial, where he's brought in for Mr. Dugdale, as a Collateral Evidence. But by that Time the Wind was a little upon turning, and the Tide
of popular Aversion not being so strong against Popery, being by the Cunning of our common Enemy diverted into little Streams, and private Factions and Arbitrary Power driving on, as the best Way to prosecute the Designs of Rome; to which the City of London in a particular manner made a vigorous Re sistance; which displeasing the grand Agitators, no Wonder they endeavoured, as much as possible, to do a Mischief; their Kindness to having been sufficiently experienced in 66.
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and even since. In Order to which the King was pleased, by the Advice of his Ghostly Brother, to alter the common and almost constant Course of Parliaments, and call one at Oxford instead of London. Many of the Members whereof, and es pecially those of London were apprehensive of some Design up
on 'em there, having formerly in the Gun-powder Treason, and ever since, sufficiently found the Love of the Papists to Protes tant Parliaments, and knowing very well what they were to expect from their Kindness, if they should be attempted upon by 'em, and found defenceless. And more Ground of Suspicion they had, because, as Colledge protests in his Speech, there had
been Affidavits judiciously made of a formed Design against 'em, being besides removed away from the City of London, which had always so much of the English Blood in as heartily to love Parliaments, and for that Reason would have ventured all
for their Defence. From these and such like Reasons 'twas, that several of the Parliament Men went accompanied with some of their Friends, well armed and accoutred, to Oxford, of which Number this Mr. Colledge was one, he waiting on my Lord Clare, Paget, and Huntington to Oxford; where the Parliament, fore seeing what has since happened, would have gone on where they left off in former Sessions, which causing great Heats, every Body knows how abruptly they were dissolved not long after their meeting. 'Twas now grown the Entertainment of every Coffee- House, and the Subject of every Buffoon's Pamphlet to expose and vilifie Parliaments as much as possible, and the very Name of was now grown as. odious to some Men, as that of Protes tant. Mr. Colledge had, besides all his other forementioned
Crimes, been, as he declares in his Speech, a great Honourer of that August Assembly, and had been in former Sessions engaged by some of the Honourable Members to search the Places adjoining the Parliament-House, lest there should be a new Gun-powder Treason hatching for 'em from whence, as he says himself, he believes he got that popular Name of Protestant
Joiner.
All these Reasons together were more than enough to get
him taken out of the Way and for the Performance thereof, Heins, Macnamarra, and one or two of the Apostate Evidence of the Popish Plot, informed against him. Nor a Wonder
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that after so many Attempts, some of those Men should be pre vailed with to prove false ; but rather, that under so many Temp tations any of 'em resisted, or were not sooner Villains. These
Persons swore such Mad Things against him, of taking Whitehall, and pulling the King out of and such other odd wild Stories, that partly from the Improbability of the Matter,
and partly from the ill Character of the Persons who witness'd the Jury here in London refused to find the Bill, but returned
Ignoramus. On which, contrary to all Justice, and President, and Law, and Common Reason, which forbids Man should be twice in Danger of his Life for the same Offence the Business was removed to Oxford, where how little Civility or common
he met with in his Trial, was then notorious to all the World a Person being check'd, for giving him but Assistance
and Notes in the way of his Calling, to make his Defence when his Life was engaged Yet tho' even these Notes were denied him, none that heard the Trial, or so much as read but must
grant, that he made a very extraordinary Defence, and much more than could have been expected from a Man of more Learn
ing. But he might have spared all his Labour the Business was, no Doubt on't, resolved upon before, and he was found Guilty, Sentenc'd, and Executed according to Order. To look back once more, and enquire a little deeper into the very Original of the Matter That there was a Design laid to bring in most of the worthy Patriots of England into a Sham- Plot under
the odious, scare-crow Name of Presbyterians, not only the Meal- tub Attempt, and several others of the same Batch, makes suffi ciently appear but the late Essay of Fitz-Harris above all the rest was enough to satisfie the most prejudiced Persons. He had
. conspired with some others to write a scandalous Libel against the King, which was to be laid on such as they'd call Presbyteri ans, and this to be sent to their Houses, or conveyed into their
Pockets, and there to be seiz'd, and the Persons prosecuted thereupon. This Business the Oxford Parliament had before 'em, and began to smell out who set on Foot and being re solved to find the Bottom on't, lest he should be hanged up on
the sudden to prevent his Confession, (he now beginning to melt a little) as Hubert, who fired London formerly, was, they impeached him, to keep the Examination of that Matter to themselves.
Justice
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'Tis to long too run over the Proceedings against him, and the Court-Parties subtle Contrivance, to Hang, Draw, and Quarter him, and so to hinder effectually his telling any more Tales. 'Tis sufficient to observe, that this Design was prosecuted for several Years after, and poor Colledge was to bear the Brunt on't,
as has been already declared.
If we reflect yet further on the manner of his Trial, and not
look on to any others, one would be apt to think 'twas impossible a Man could be destroyed with more Injustice and Barbarity than he was, or that twelve Men who look like Christians, could be found out, who wou'd hang a Man upon such Evidence as was given against him.
When a Criminal shall be kept close Prisoner in the Tower, without having sufficient Means to make his Defence till he come to his Trial : When, as has been said, he shall be rifled of his Notes, by which he could only save his Life, on which he depended, and that just before he came to his Trial ; though assisted therein by that very Council assigned by the Court for him : When he shall in vain demand 'em again, and call Heaven and Earth to witness, that he's meerly cheated of his Life for want of 'em: When all his Redress is such a frivolous Excuse, as not only a Judge, but any honest Man, would be ashamed to make Use of—Nay, such a Sort of a one as is commonly made be/ore the Judges, but seldom by 'em — That 'twas somebody else
did —That the Court, the Chief-Justice, had 'em not, nor did take 'em from him when the very Person stood by who rob'd him of^m and yet he could have no Reparation When the King's Council must whisper the Chief-Justice on the Bench, and the Court must be adjourned, on Purpose to examine those
Minutes which the poor Man had got together to save his Life, and even from them get an Opportunity to take awayi altering the manner of their Prosecution, strengthning and bolstering their Evidence where they found weak and contra dictory When all the Evidence against him, were not only such as an honest London Jury would not believe, though a Country one, directed by the King's Council, could make a shift to do it; but were every one of 'em, who witnessed any Thing material, confounded by such home Evidence, as, any thing in the World could do did certainly invalidate and annul their
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Testimonies : when one of them swears horridly, He cared not what he swore, nor whom he swore against, for 'twas his Trade
to get Money by swearing. — That the Parliament were a Com pany of Rogues for not giving the King Money, but he would help him to Money out of the Fanaticks Estates, which is ex plained by what Smith says,—That ifthe Parliament would not give the King Money, but stood on the Bill of Exclusion, 'twas Pretence enough to swear a Design to seize the King at Oxford. When this same Heins very pleasantly says, 'Twos a Judgment
upon the King and the People, and the Irishmens swearing against 'em was justlyfallen on 'em, for outing the Irish of their
Estates. When others of 'em swear, That since the Citizens de serted 'em, they would not starve ; that they would have Colledge's Blood ; That tho' they had gone against their Consciences, 'twas
because they had been persuaded to't and could get no Money else ; and when they had said before they believed Colledge had no more Hand in any Conspiracy against his Majesty, than the child unborn; When they would have hired others to swear more into the same Plot ; when the Bench was so just and kind
Counsel for the Prisoner, as to tell the Jury, the King's Wit nesses were on their Oaths, the Prisoner's not, and so one to be credited before the other ; in which Case 'tis impossible for any Man living to make a Defence against a perjured Villain. Lastly, When the Prisoner himself very weightily objected— That there was no proof of any Persons being concerned with him in the Design of seizing the King ; and 'twas wisely answered, — That he might be so vain as to design it alone—A thousand times more Romantick Improbability, than an Army's lying concealed at Knightsbridge, and of the same Stamp with Drawcansirs killing all on both sides. Taking all these Things together, hardly ever was a Man at this Rate banter'd out of his Life before any Judicature in the World, in any Place or Age that History has left us.
Nor ought the great Service he did to the Nation in general to be ever forgotten ; since notwithstanding ill the Disadvantages he was under, the publick Stream running so violently against him and his Witnesses and the Surprize which such strange Treatment, when he was on his Life, might cast him into, he yet made so strong a Defence, by shewing what Sort of Wit
ColleHge.
25
nesses were brought against him, hindring them ever after from being believed, and thereby certainly saved many anothers Life,
tho' he could not his own.
Nor can the undaunted Courage, and firm Honesty of the
Man be hardly ever enough admired. Since besides what he shewed in his Defence, after he was condemned, as he himself said, as good as without a Trial, he boldly askt, When he was to be executed? Without any the least seeming Concern. And tho' he had Time considerable before his Execution to consider on't, refused to save his Life so meanly as to make other innocent Mens the Price of his own ; without which Design they had hardly been so kind to have given him so long a Reprieve.
As for his Behavior at his Execution : 'Twas such as convinced more than a few of his greatest Enemies, and made 'em entertain a much better Opinion of him than before. From his Last Speech we shall remark several Passages as another Argument for his Innocency. But before we proceed any further in 'em, 'twill be needful to fix one Assertion, which we may presume few modest unprejudiced Persons will deny, and which we shall have Occasion to make further Use of. —'Tis,—That a Protestant, who believes an Heaven and Hell, and is not a Man of no Principles, or Debauched and Atheistical, would go out of the World, into the Presence of that God who must judge him, with a lie in his Mouth. — This none will deny, but
those who have a very great Kindness for the Papists; and yet of all Men in the World such as these must not offer to do —since 'twas the very Argument they made Use of for the Innocence of the Jesuits, and other Traytors. Though on that Side we know there are unanswerable Arguments not to believe them their Religion recommending Perjury, and all Sorts of Villanies to 'em as meritorious when Holy Church concerned. Their Church besides allowing 'em Dispensations before, and Absolution after, and Purgatory at the worst, whence a few Masses would fetch them out again. — Things being thus, what can a Man of Modesty say to Mr. Colledge's Protestations over and over, both in Prison, and at his Death, that he was perfectly innocent of what he died for? did deny it then (says he, that is, before the Council) and do deny it upon my Death never was
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in any manner ofPlot in my Days; nor ifIhad had any such Design as these have sworn against me, I take God to witness, as I am a dying Man, and on the Terms of my Salvation, I know not one Man upon the Face of the Earth which would have stood by me. ] And lower, [/ knew not of any Part of what they swore
against me, till I
Arms we had was for our Defence, in Case the Papists should have made any Attempt by way of Massacre, dr'c. God is my
heard it sworn at the the Bar. ] Again, [All
Witness this is all I know. ] —
And in his solemn Prayer, and
some of his almost very last Words ['Tis thee, O God,
I
of
in. —/ go disown all Dispensations, and will not out
trust
the World with a Lie in my Mouth. ] —IAnd just after to the People,
[From the Sincerity of my Heart,
declare again, that these are the very Sentiments ofmy Soul, as God shall have Mercy upon
me. ]
Now upon the whole, I'd ask any sober Man, what he would
answer to this, and how he can forbear, without the greatest Violation to all Principles of Good Nature and Ingenuity to
pronounce this Person innocent?
Thus died Mr. Colledge, whose Blood, as he himself desired
it might, sufficiently spoke the Justice of his Cause, who seemed in his Speech to have some Prophetick Intimations, that his Blood would not be the last, as indeed it was not, but rather a
Prelude to that which followed, the Edge of the Laws being now turned against all those who dared defend it.
He has one Daughter yet living, whose Gratitude and Generosity to those who were kind to her under the Misfortunes of her Family, is at , present the Wonder and Entertainment of the Court of England, and whose brave Soul speaks her the
true Child of such a Father.
For his Character, How great and undaunted his Courage
was, both his Trial and Death testifie. He was very vigorous and earnest, almost to a Fault, in his Undertakings. But cer tainly there are so few who err on that Hand, that we may with out Flattery account this his warm Zeal for his Country, if it did a little exceed, a happy as well as very pardonable Error.
He was extraordinary Ingenious in his own Trade, and employed amongst great Persons for his Dexterity therein. He had an entire Love for the City of London, and stood up for its Honour
9$t. Collebge. 27
and Priviledges as highly as any Man living. He had a Soul so very great and generous, that many who knew him well, have said, considering his Education, they wondered how he came by it. He was a Man of very good sound Sense, considerably more than those of his Rank generally have, which he had much improved in his latter Time by Conversation with Persons of Honor and Quality. In fine, he lived sufficiently beloved by those who knew, and did not fear him ; and died lamented by his Friends, and admired and esteemed by his very Enemies.
Some Time after his Death his Picture was sold about Town, which, as I remember, very much displeased the Observator. Under it were these Lines engraven,
By Irish Oaths, and wrested Laws I fell,
A Prey to Rome, a Sacrifice to Hell.
My guilty Blood for speedy Vengeance cries ;
Heaven, hear and help, for Earth my Suit denies.
Part of a Poem writ by Mr. Stephen Colledge, a while before he was sent to Oxford, where he suffered Death, Aug. 31. 1681.
What if I am into a Prison cast,
By Hellish Combination am betray'd ?
My Soul is free, although my Body's fast :
Let them repent that have this Evil laid,
And of Eternal Vengeance be afraid ; Though Racks and Gibbets can my Body kill, My God is with me, and I fear no Ill.
What boots the Clamours of the giddy Throng ? What Antidote's against a poisonous Breath ?
What Fence is there against a Lying Tongue, Sharpen'd by Hell to wound a Man to Death ? Snakes, Vipers, Adders do look underneath : Say what you will, or never speak at all,
Our very Prayers such Wretches Treason call.
flfllesftern S^artprologp
But Walls and Bars cannot a Prison make, The Free-born Soul enjoys its Liberty ;
The Clods of Earth it may incaptivate,
Whilst Heavenly Minds are conversant on high, Ranging the Fields of Blest Eternity :
So let this Bird sing sweetly in my Breast,
My Conscience clear, a Rush for all the Rest.
And sure of this the World's so well aware. That here 'tis needless more for me to say,
I must conclude, no time have I to spare,
My winged Hours do fly too fast away,
My (Work) Repentance must I not delay,
I'll add my Prayers to God for England's Good ; And if he please will Seal them with my Blood.
ARTHUR EARL OF ESSEX.
HAT Party, and those Persons who were engaged to manage the Designs before-mentioned, were now entered on the most compendious Way of intro ducing what they desired, as well as avoiding what
their own Consciences, and all the World knew they deserved. Having those in their own Hands, who had the Executive Part of the Government in theirs ; and finding, no Doubt, a sort of
malicious Pleasure, as well as Advantage, in destroying People by those Laws which were made to preserve 'em ; a Villany to be compared with nothing but the Treason of that Monster of a Priest, who gave the Emperor Poison in the Blessed Sacra ment : Having wrought up the Nation, and all Parties there in, to a high Ferment, making one Side mad for Slavery, as if they had all been at Constantinople as well as their Sheriff, and learnt the Doctrine of the Bow-string ; some of 'em treated, others cajoled, others frightned, and some few reasoned into the Belief of Absolute Authority in Kings, and Obedience Active as well as what is called Passive, to be paid to all their
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Commands. Some honest, several learned, more witty Men joining in with all their Power to advance the Transactions at that Time on the Wheel. And on the other Side, exasperating that Party who were more tenacious of their Liberties, as much as possible against the Constitution which they saw so horridly
abused both in Church and State, persuading 'em all the Clergy were for making 'em Slaves, and themselves and the Court great to ride upon 'em ; whereas really it was only a Party, tho' too large, who made more Noise, tho' they had neither more Sense nor Number than those who differed from 'em ; and by this
Means rendring many of the Trading Part of the Nation es pecially, so dissatisfied with 'em, and eager against 'em, that they began to think they had Reason to fear as bad Effects thereof as they had experienced in the last Age, and so sided more closely with that Party whence they expected Protection. When Things were in this Posture, and a great many Persons either taken off from their Natural Love to a lawful Liberty, which is so much of the very Nature of an Englishman; the
Managers of the great Intrigue which was to accomplish our Ruin, resolved after they had begun with Colledge, to rise higher, and fly at a Nobler Game, and take off all those whom they could not win over, or against whom Interest or Revenge had more keenly engaged 'em, and who were most likely to make the most vigorous Opposition against their Attempts. But finding the London Juries unmoveably honest, and no Way to accomplish their Designs on these Persons, while their Witnesses would not be believed, and no Way to get Juries fit for their Turn, but by having Sheriffs of the same
Stamp ; and finding the Party they had gotten, after all their Tricks, which many of those who then knew, are now ashamed of, visibly and fairly out-numbred by those who were not yet ripe for Slavery, they bethought themselves of one Way to rid themselves of that Inconveniency —which was by a Quo War ranto against the City of London, that they might more effectually,
and with less Noise, have what Sheriffs they pleased ; or in Effect, hang whomever they thought their Enemies, and not be forced almost to blush at those visible and sensible Illegalities with which they had forced those Officers upon the City.
This they had accomplished in the Year 1683, when Judgment
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was given against the Charter of London, whose Liberties had been confirmed to 'em by William the Conqueror, and delivered down before from Immemorial Ages, and this by two Judges only in Westminster-Hall, tho' the greatest Cause, one may ven ture to say, that ever was legally tried therein.
Now by this Time they had, after so many former fruitless Endeavours, brought something of a Plot to bear ; and with this Advantage above all their former, that there was really some thing in't, altho', as Bays says in another Case, That Truth, which was notoriously blended with Lies and Perjuries. The Occasion of it we may best meet with in Holloway s most In genuous Acknowment ; [By Arbitrary and Illegal Ways, and Force of Arms, they had got Sheriffs to their Mind,— Witnesses they had before, but wanted Jurors to believe them. Now they
have got Sheriffs, who will find Jurors to believe any Evidence against a Protestant, and so hang up all the King's Friends by Degrees. —None being suffered to come near the King but those who have been declared Enemies to the King and Kingdom, who to save themselves, do endeavour to keep all Things from the King's knowledge, andpersuade him against Parliaments, cW. ]
Thus much for the Occasion. The Design seems to be the same with what was intended at first, by many of those Great and Eminent Persons, both Clergy and Laity, in their late Appearance in Arms ; tho' by the Providence of God, for the Security of the Nation, and Reason of State, it has since been carried farther than theirs was ever to have been. [Seeing fair
Means, says Holloway ', would not do, but all Things on the Pro testants Side misrepresented to the King by such great Criminals, andnone more inFavourthanthose,—TotaketheKingfromhis evil Council, and that (as the late wonderful Turn was transacted, and as 'tis impossible to be otherwise in Business of so large a Concern, by a general Insurrection in several Parts of England at once. ] All those who have had any Share in the present Transactions, which are upon the Matter all the Nation, have shewn themselves plainly of the same Mind with those who were engaged in this, on which the Dispute runs, as to the Reason of the Thing, and the Principles on which they pro ceeded—And their only Difference is ^bout Matter of Fact, Whether Things were then at that Height as to need desperate
Arrtjur
Remedies. If it be objected, That such Attempts are only glossy Pretences, vailed under the specious Name of the Publick Good—The Answer is as ready as the Objection, Is there any Difference between Reason and no Reason, Truth and Falshood? There is a Right, and a Wrong,—and if ever Liberties were in vaded, and the Ends of Government vacated and annulled, never were the Foundations of such a Design plainer than on this Occasion —So that 'twas indeed, what was of a Counter- Plot, rather than a Plot against the Government and Laws of England, and that when no other Remedy could without a
Miracle be expected.
That this was the Heighth and Utmost of the then Design,
and that no brave good Man need to be ashamed on't, think all, or most Men are by this Time pretty well satisfied. But alas This would not serve the Turn of the Managers —Even this might not, or perhaps could not be, as certainly 'twas not, fairly proved against several, who suffered for This was Thing so necessary and defensible, that there was Occasion of laying fouler Colours upon't, to fright and amuse the World, and let 'em stand by patiently, and see their Best and Bravest Patriots sink, with much such Prudence and Wisdom as the sheep in the Fable suffered those bloody Mastiffs to be destroyed, who so often broke the Peace between them and the harmless Wolves and were afterwards in their Turns handsomely worried, and justly eaten up for their Reward. 'Twas convenient to make somewhat more of —There must be an Assassination grafted on this Insurrection or else all would not be worth —an Halter 'Twas the Business and Interest of the Popish Party, to render their Enemies as odious as possible to the People, of whom, for their steddy Zeal and Love to their Religion and Liberties, they had long been the Darlings. To accomplish this, 'twas very necessary to get some Persons to insinuate into their Counsels, to inflame Things higher, to make black and odious Proposals of Assassinations, and Murders, and such bloody Villanies as alarm the good Nature of an Englishman with the very men tioning of 'em. —Which yet some of the honester and wiser looking upon as mad hot Words only, or, any more intended, having in their power to prevent such Wickedness another Way, would not yet turn Informers nor ruin those Persons, who
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in all Probability were only Trapans to ruin them. In all the Papers relating to this Matter, we shall find all Discourses of this Nature center'd in West and Runtsey. West was very much for Lopping Business —for killing 'em in their Calling—and was so full and eager for it. Though Walcot, Holloway, and all whoever heard it proposed received it still with the greatest Detestation imaginable, as a most base and bloody Action, which they never would have their own Hands imbrued in, nor their Posterity stained with. That all the great Persons, of Birth and Honour, were absolutely against so foul an Action, and abhorred it from their Souls, we may find, even without the forced Confession of their worst Enemies, by the Lord Russefs Concern when such a Thing was muttered, and the Duke of Monmouth's Answer—Godso—KilltheKing! Iwillnever suffer it. The Account we have of from him who should best know, and that's West, who in his discourse with Holloway on this Occasion, tells him of the New-market and Rye-house Design—That the King and the Duke were to be killed as they came by, for which they had provided Arms for Fifty Men — and were promised Rumbald's House, which lay in the Road. When asked, Who was to act —who were to fire these Arms for Fifty Men, — Pistols, Carbines, and Blunderbusses? He could name but two Men, Rumbald and his Brother who certainly must have been very dexterous to have discharged all those dreadfull Businesses themselves without Assistance, and much such a likely Story as Colledge's being so vain to attempt
seizing the King by himself, without any Assistance.
But even these two Brothers, who very likely were pickt out by the Evidence for the King-killers, merely for their hard
Names, the very Sound of which would be as shrew'd an Argu ment of their Guilt to Women and children, and with as much Justice, as some of the odd Names of the poor People in the
West were made, at least strong Presumption against 'em, and almost as moral as an Innuendo. If even these two were innocent of this horrid Business, who were the only Persons engaged therein, pray, What then becomes of the Assassination? And won't Rumbald's Blunderbuss bear laughing at full as well as Pickering's Carbine or Screw-Gun, and chawed Bullets? But there be any Thing solid in that Observation in Colledge's
if
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artljur (£arl of (&$$tx. 33
Case, That a Christian, and a Protestant, won't forswear himself when he is just going out of the World; if this fair Supposition may but be granted me, as I see not how it can be avoided, the Matter will be clear enough ; Rumbald himself in his Speech at his Execution in Scotland, absolutely disclaiming and denying any Hand in any such Design. See his Speech, and Answer to his Indictment —He desired all Present to believe the Words of a dying Man — as for having designed the King's Death, he never directly, nor indirectly, intended such a Villany ; That he abhorred the very Thoughts orit; and that he blessed God he had that Reputation in the World, that he knew none had the Impudence to ask him the Question; and he detested the Thoughts of the Action, and hoped all good People would believe him ? which was the only Way he had to clear himself; and he was sure that this Truth should one Day be manifest to all Men. ] So at his Execution — / think it necessary to cleaI
r my-self of some should have had so horrid an Intention of destroying the King and his Brother. ]
Aspersions laid on my Name; and first, that
Where he repeated what he had said to the Jury on the same
—
of the Times, suffered for the same.
We have been forced to give this fair and impartial Scheme
or Idea of that Design, which was at that Time represented so formidable and dreadful, before we could handsomely proceed to the Death of this Noble Lord, or those others that followed him and that as well from the Order of the History, as for his Vindi cation. And as has been remarked, 'Twas necessary for that
Party who managed our Ruin, that the forementioned Business of the Assassination should be believed, and nothing like a real one actually performed, to gain Credit to a feigned one only pretended For what could be greater Argument than there was some black Wickedness at the Bottom, some Sin of an extraordinary Stain, like the Murder of Princes, bearing too hard D
Subject. The Sum
If any Assassination, must have been from If not by them as has been proved, then not at all. If no Assassination in this Plot, then nothing left of Malignity in but a lawful and laudable Opposition to the Breach and Ruin of our good Laws and Government and even that, as will be proved, not proved against most of those that by the Iniquity
the Rumbalds
:
a
;
;
it is
it,
: is,
34
tlje flfllesftern a-tartprolocyp
on his Conscience, that could possibly induce so great a Man to so unchristian an Attempt on his own Person? Hence they might, and no doubt did argue — Hence the very Rabble may
easily reason—Certainly there was more in it than only just Con sultations, and necessary Measures taken for the Publick Safety
by the Peers of the Realm — by the King and Kingdom's best Friends, to deliver his Majesty from those Familiars that haunted him. There was more than this, and this Lord was conscious of or else certainly he had never acted what he has. Now this would effectually excite that Aversion which must necessarily follow from all honest Men, to a Party who cou'd be guilty of such horrid Designs. This must of Necessity, as in Effect did, sway much with those Juries who were to sit upon the Lives of any accused or concerned in the same Business, had there not been more weighty Reasons to be produced below, towards the finding 'em guilty. Altho' 'tis certain, by their own
Confession, the best Excuse they could make for innocent Blood particularly iu Russel's Case, was that Confirmation they had to the Evidence sworn against 'em by Essex's Murder. Besides there might be a barbarous kind of a Pleasure, in opening this Plot with a Scene so like that which began the Popish one and that in all Probability, by the same Actors whose Hands were deep in the others.
There was a Gentleman killed, which contributed very much towards the Credit of that Plot, tho' in another Way. Here must be one to undergo the same Fate for the same Reason. And both of 'em too pretendedly to kill themselves. —Just one as much as another.
These Preliminaries being cleared, 'twill be now Time to come to the Person of this Noble Lord, his Family, and former manner of Life.
Every one knows he was of the Illustrious Family of the Capels, whose Father died for a Family, whence he deserved better Treatment for his Sake, and had received had he not fallen in the Hands of Popish Gratitude and Mercy which his Enemies knowing too well, and doubting the Sweetness of Tem per, which all the World ever acknowledged in King Charles the Second, would not give him over to their publick Revenge in all Probability, resolved to take a shorter Course with him.
;
it, ;
;
it
it,
Arrljur (Earl of (t$$tx. 35
He had been some Years before in the highest Place under the King in Ireland, and there behaved himself with that Wisdom and Candor, inseparable from all the Actions of his Life — and lived above Blame, though not above Envy : Being recalled thence unexpectedly, and dealt with not very handsomly ; which yet he bore with a Spirit like a Brave Man, and a
Christian.
My Lord of Essex was a Person, whom, 'twas no Doubt the
highest Interest of the Popish Faction, to have gotten out of the Way, even tho' there had been no such extraordinary Reason as has been mentioned. He had large Interest, a plentiful Es tate, a great deal of Courage, understood the World, and the Principles and Practices of the Papists, as well as any Man, having been of several Secret Committees in the Examination of the Plot, for which very Reason there was as much Necessity
for his dying as Sir E. B. Godfreys. He was, besides all this, they very well knew, of Inflexible Honesty, and so true a Great
ness of Mind, they could no more expect to gain him, than Heaven itself, to be on their Side.
As for the immediate Subject of his Death, the Manner and Circumstances thereof, —It must first be granted, and a very reasonable Demand it that for the present only supposing he was murdered only by the Papists, they would, we may be Sure, make their Business to render the Manner of as dark as
the Hell in which was contrived.
