JUST now is come to Hand yours of the 27th past, calling for my Answer to that of the 18th, which I hope is now with you; for I sent it by the last Post, and also a Duplicate thereof, as you desired, under cover to our Friend at Totness. However, lest those should be intercepted, I here give you a Transcript of it, with the addition of some things which since occur, omitting the Minutes which you requested me to hand to you of Gadbury's and Par­tridge's Predictions of this Hellish Plot, having sent you their Almanacks, and also that of Woodward's, by the Exeter Carrier, which I know is a safe way.

Mine told you that on Monday the 24th, the King came to the House of Lords, and in a Speech acquainted both Houses;

Upon this astonishing News the House of Commons (Nemine Contradicente) resolved to address His Majesty to ‘congratulate his happy Deliverance, and to give him their Thanks for imparting the Horrid Design to the House, and to desire His Majesty to take more than ordinary Care of his Royal Person, assuring him that they will stand by, assist, and defend His Majesty with their Lives and Fortunes, against the late King James and all other His Enemies both at Home and Abroad; and that in case His Majesty should come to any violent Death (which God forbid) they would revenge the same upon all his Enemies and their Adherents, &c.’

The House of Lords also unanimously agreed upon an Address to His Majesty, to which they desired the Concurrence of the Commons; who made some Amendments thereunto, to which the Lords agreeing: The same Evening both Houses attended His Majesty therewith. You have here a Copy thereof.

To which His Majesty gave a gracious Answer to the effect following, viz.

The House of Commons also the same day resolved upon the following Association to be signed by their Members.

There is also an A [...]iation agreed upon by the House of Lords, which was carried by a Majo­rity, which will appear to be of a Comfortable Importance.

Their Lordships Association differs so little from that of the Commons, that I do not transcribe it; but shew you how they vary: Instead of the Words [King William is RIGHTFƲL and Lawful King] their Lordships insert,

That His present Majesty King William hath A RIGHT BY LAW to the Crown of this Realm, and that neither the late King James, nor the pretended Prince of Wales, nor any other Person hath any Right whatsoever to the same, &c.

Ninety six of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, have already subscribed their Association, and others, who were at first absent, come in daily; it hath been refused only by 15, whose Names lying in a narrow Compass, I here give you.

• Marquiss of Hallifax.
• Marquiss of Normanby (who when King James Abdicated we knew by the Title of Earl of Mulsgrave.)
• Earls of
  • Nottingham.
  • Chesterfield.
  • Thanet.
  • Winchelsea.
  • Scarsdale.
• Earls of
  • Craven.
  • Feversham.
  • Aylesbury.
• Lord Jeffries.
• Lord Chandois.
• Lord Ferrers.
• Dr. Sprat, Bishop of Rochester.
• Dr. Watson, Bishop of St. Davids.

Their Lordships have also ordered Letters to be sent to these undernamed Peers, who are in the Country, to attend the House; and their subscribing is not doubted.

• The Dukes of
  • Beaufort, and
  • Richmond.
• Earls of
  • Rutland.
  • Derby.
  • Bristol.
• Lord Viscount Weymouth.
• The Lords
  • Fitz-Water.
  • Leigh.
  • Lempster.
  • Osulston.
  • Willoughby.
  • Coventry.
  • Rockingham.

[Page 3] The House of Commons having, as I told you, agreed upon the above-written Association, ordered it to be engrossed, to be Signed by their Members; and near 400 of that August Assembly, which consists of 513, have already (with great Alacrity) subscribed it. But some at present hesitate, some others refuse it, their Names are underwritten.

• Berks Sends 9. Members:
  • WIlliam Jennyngs
  • Simon Harcourt.
• Bucks. 14.
  • Alexander Denton
  • Mountague Drake
  • Sir James Etheridge.
• Cornwall. 44.
  • Henry Lord Hyde
  • John Manley
  • Daniel Eliot
  • Henry Fleming
  • Francis Buller
  • John Tredenham
  • Seymour Tredenham
  • Sir William Coryton
  • John Mountstevens
  • Bernard Granvile
  • Charles Lord Cheney
  • * Francis Gwyn.
• Cheshire. 4.
  • Sir Thomas Grosvenor.
• Derbyshire. 4.
  • Sir Gilbert Clarke.
• Devon. 26.
  • Francis Courteney
  • * Sir Edward Seymour
  • John Granville.
• Dorsetshire. 20.
  • * Thomas Strangways
  • Thomas Freke
  • * Richard Fownes.
• Chor. 30.
  • * Robert Byerly
  • Sir Mannaduke Wivill
  • Sir Michael Wentworth.
• Essex. 8.
  • Sir Eliab Harvey.
• Glocester. 8.
  • Robert Payne
  • William Frye
  • Richard How
  • John How.
• Herefordshire. 8.
  • Robert Price.
• Huntington. 4.
  • Anthony Hammond.
• Kent. 18.
  • * Sir John Banks.
• Lancashire. 14.
  • Leigh Banks
  • Thomas Brotherton
  • Sir Roger Bradshaw
  • Peter Shakerley.
• Lincolnshire. 12.
  • George Lord Castleton
  • Sir John Bolles.
• Norfolk. 12.
  • Sir John Wodehouse.
• Northampton. 9.
  • Thomas Cartwright
  • * Gilbert Dolben.
• Northumbecland. 8.
  • * William Foster.
• Oxford. 9.
  • * Mountague Lord Norris
  • * Sir Robert Jenkinson
  • Heneage Finch
  • Sir Edward Norris
  • Thomas Rowney
  • James Bertie
  • Sir Robert Dashwood.
• Salop. 12.
  • * Edward Kynaston
  • John Kynaston
  • * Andrew Newport
  • * George Weld.
• Somerset. 18.
  • Sir John Trevillian
  • * Edward Berkley
  • * John Sandford
  • Sir Charles Carterett
  • Sir John Smith.
• Southampton 26.
  • Henry Holmes
  • * Thomas Done
• Staffordshire. 10.
  • * Robert Burdett
  • Sir John Leveson Gower
  • * John Grey
  • * Sir Henry Gough.
• Surrey. 14.
  • John Parsons.
• Sussex. 28.
  • * Sir William Morley
  • John Lewknor
  • Sir Thomas Dyke
  • William Stringer.
• Warwickshire. 6.
  • William Bromley
  • Andrew Archer
  • George Bohun
  • * Lord Digby
  • Francis Grevill.
• Westmoreland. 4.
  • Sir William Twisden
  • * Sir Christopher Musgrave.
• Wiltshire. 34.
  • Robert Bertie
  • William Harvey
  • Henry Pynnill
  • Thomas Bennet
  • William Daniel.
• Worcestershire. 9.
  • Samuel Swift
  • * Henry Parker.
• Wales. 24.
  • * Edward Jones
  • Jeffery Jefferies
  • * Sir Richard Middleton
  • * Edward Brereton
  • Sir John Conway
  • * Thomas Mansel,

In all but 93 Dissenters.

Pardon me, Sir, that I forgot to insert the name of Wi: Williams, who you may remember Spew'd Sir Robert Peyton out of the House of Commons, for corresponding with the late King when Duke of York. And who told King Charles II. That the Commons were not given to Change; but it is now evident that some of their Quondam Speakers are.

On Tuesday the House ordered that their absent Members, as they come to the House, do come up to the Table, and sign the Association; or, in their Places, declare their Refusal so to do: and

On Thursday it was ordered that the Association, and the Subscriptions thereunto, be entred upon the Journal of the House; and Resolved that it be presented to His Majesty, by the Speaker, and the whole House, before the end of the Session.

It was also, the same day, ordered that such Members who have not already, shall by Monday Fortnight Sign the Association, or declare their Refusal; and I do on as good Ground, as Gadbury foretold the Plot, predict that the Body of Refusers in this Honourable House will scarce, at the summing up, amount to the number of one hundred.

Permit me now (Dear Sir) to Recreate my self a little in remarking on what I have laid before you.

[Page 4] As the Doubting Lords are but few; so of the twenty six Members of your Large and Rich County of Devon, you find but three Dissenters: and but one (I include not their Bishop) of the eighteen in the Spacious County of Kent. No more than one out of twelve in another of the largest Counties of England, I mean Norfolk. To augment their Number, Essex (another of our greatest Counties) furnishes one out of eight. Cheshire one out of their four. Derbyshire one out of four also; and Herefordshire such another one out of eight. The Diminutive, but Opulent, County of Huntington, has lent them another out of four: and that Honest County of Surrey one out of fourteen, but I assure you it is a very Sorry One.

You find not one of the sixteen Members for the Cinque Ports in this Non-Association; and the twelve Counties of Wales have of their twenty four Members but eight Refusers, of whom one is now His Majesties Counsel, and was of King James's Counsel against the Bishops. In­deed they have a Recusant Bishop to head them, of King James's own making; but unless I mis­remember he was not one of the seven golden Candlesticks.

You want (Sir) in the above-written List eleven of our English Counties, which are these,

• Bedfordshire Sends 4 Members.
• Cambridgshire. 6.
• Cumberland. 6.
• Durham. 4.
• Hertfordshire. 6.
• Leicestershire. 4.
• London, Middlesex and Westminster. 8.
• Monmouthshire. 3.
• Nottinghamshire. 8.
• Rutland. 2.
• Suffolk. 16.

Of which Number, being 67, I tell you for their Honour, there is not one Recusant.

I farther observe to you, that in the seven old Associated Counties, viz. Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, Huntington, Bedford and Hertford, there are but 3 Recusants; and you will find above 4 times that Number of Associating Lords there. In London and the contiguous Counties, viz. Middlesex, Bucks, Berks, Wiltshire, Hantshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Lincoln, and Northampton, which make another 11 Counties, and send no less than 172 Members; you will find, upon re­view of the foregoing List, that there had been but 19 Refusers, had not Mr. Done and Mr. Parsons added two to their Number.

Now to detain you no longer in discoursing of the House of Commons; let this assure you that the City of London had like to have been as unanimous as the first 11 Counties. A Common Council was this last Week summoned, where the foregoing Association being proposed it was agreed unto and signed by every Member present (that whole Body consisting of 234), one only excepted; whose name may not be forgot, it is Lawrence Cole, a Man of little Note before he was one of honest Mr. Bateman's Jury.

I hope Sir, this pleasant Scheme of the Kingdom, and its Affairs, will in some measure re­lieve you from the Panick fear into which you say Gadbury and Partridge had put you. Now for the Service of the Government, you have my free consent to shew this to your Honest Neighbours (especially to our Friends of Exeter and Totness.) Nay to any Man, for, tho as you know I pay a Deference to Sir E. Seymour, and a far greater to the Nations Representatives, I am confident I shall not in this Juncture incur their displeasure by naming a squeamish Conscienced Gentleman, who (after 7 years Apprenticestip) will not go the Length to avow K. William's Right to the Crown.

When a Town is on Fire, the blowing up a House is surely justifiable. Our Neighbour Nation once upon a time told a bigger Man than Sir E. S. that a King for some Crimes might Forefault; and had Sir E. been thrown out of the House last Week, I should not have laid it to Heart.

I have long agoe resolved to run a Muck against all the Enemies of this Government, and know by Consequence that I am to expect no Quarter when it is overturned, which makes me now as fearless of being called to a Reckoning, as I am of this Plot; but should that betide me, I wish it may be before the present Commissioners for Accounts.

I have Sir, been so prolix that I cannot now enter into the particulars of this Diabolical Conspiracy, but for your Comfort it is happily discovered, and most miraculously disappointed. Admiral Russell now blocks up the French Fleet about Calais, and I hope to tell you by the next that he has destroyed them.

The Tower of London was to have been delivered up to the French Cut-Throats, and they say by Major Hawley an Officer there; it is certain he is secured. Take Heart my Friend, for our Enemies will not easily get possession of the Powder there, and I am confident all the Salt-Petre in Devon­shire, (should 200 Tuns be discovered in any Vault there) will not supply enough to blow up this Government. For my part come what will, I resolve never to be bribed into the Jacobite Party; no, tho I should be tempted with the value of such a Cargo, which Sir E. S. well knows is not less worth than 12000 l.

You must not expect a License to this, for Sir Roger L'Estrange had last Night the Mishap to be committed Close Prisoner to Newgate.

P. S. Sir, I esteem my self obliged to beg pardon, that I have here repeated the Name of Worthy Mr. Cartwright of Northampton-shire [...] yesterday, upon second Thoughts, signed the Association; and I question not but the rest will fellow the good Example he has set them.