THAT your as industriously as maliciously embrace every Oc­casion of venting your Selves to the Disparagement of our Present happy Settlement, is undeniably evident to all Men, and hath in no particular been more manifest than in your cherishing and fomenting the loud Clamour under which the Govern­ment has of late labour'd upon the account of the diminishing and adul­terating our Coin.

The Consideration hereof led me to reflect upon what I remember I had read in Dr. Oates's Narrative of the Popish Plot; and turning to it, I there find good Ground to charge to the Account of your Party, a­mongst other the manifold Evils under which the Nation groans, that which is now so sensibly felt, and highly complained of: He there told you what now to our Cost we find fulfilled, that one Branch of that Horrid Plot was to adulterate our Money and Plate; and that to that end the Conspirators had Bankers, Brokers, Merchants, Goldsmiths, and other Tra­ders, whom they stock'd and set up with Money of the Jesuits Society. The Jesuits then boasted that they were promised to have the Management of the Mint, and that thereby they should be made the Judges of good and bad Money, and manage the same to the best Advantage for their Cause.

The Case standing thus, Gentlemen, why will you be so vile as to criminate the Government for the Mischief which you have brought upon your Countrey? Will you persist to out-face the Sun, and term that a Sham-Plot which has ever since been cultivated and carried on? Consider, I beseech you, in how many Instances what was laid down in that Narrative has been verified. He there told you, that King Charles the Second was to be removed by Dagger, Pistol or Poison; and, that that was effected by the last, is as little to be doubted, as [Page 4]it may now be called into question, whether the Coin be adul­terated.

He told you, that your Adored Duke was a Papist; but your Stupidity or Impudence was such, that you denied it to the day that he stept into the Throne: Nay, not only so, but some of you in a Pack'd Jury brought in that Prince Not Guilty; and gave him the modest Dama­ges of 100000 l. in an Action against the Doctor for declaring that great Truth, then so highly necessary to be known.

Nay further, he not only told, but foretold the Misery and inex­pressible Calamity which like a Torrent was, with that unhappy King, breaking in upon these poor Nations, and ready to bear down our Religion, Laws and Liberties. But this also was turn'd into Ridicule by that eminent Guide of the inferiour Clergy, you I mean Sir Roger, that Beautefeu of an Observator.

Wherefore I shall upon this Occasion take the Liberty to aggravate the Guilt of the unpardonable Infidelity of your Malignant Faction, in the Points before touch'd upon; and that not by urging against you, that what was then declared, has since come to pass, but by evincing that at that very day there was laid before you irrefragable Evidence of the Truth of that happy Discovery: And this I partly collect from Mr. Coleman's never to be forgotten Letters, which were never denied or so much as doubted; of which, to refresh your Memories, take here a few Heads.

For my part (says he) I can scarce believe my self awake, or the thing real, when I think on a Prince, in such an Age as we live in, converted to such a degree of Zeal and Piety, as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of — the Conversion of our Poor Kingdom, which hath been a long time oppressed and miserably harassed with Heresy and Schism, &c.

Now as to the Duke's being then link'd with that bloody Tyrant the French King, read Coleman again. — Knowing the Interest of our King, [ Charles the 2d.] and in a more particular manner of my more immediate Master the Duke, and his most Christian Majesty to be so INSEPARABLY UNITED, that it was IMPOSSIBLE TO DIVIDE THEM, without destroying them all.

His Majesty [the French King] was pleased to give order, to signify to his R. H. MY MASTER, that his Majesty was fully satisfied of his R. H's good Intentions towards him; and that HE ESTEEMED BOTH THEIR INTE­RESTS BUT AS ONE and the same, [The Rooting out the Northern He­resy, and enslaving Mankind;] That my Lord Arlington and the PAR­LIAMENT were both to be look'd upon as very unuseful to their In­terests.

—Father Ferrier— begg'd his R. H. to propose to his most Christian Majesty what he thought necessary for his own Concern, and THE ADVAN­TAGE OF RELIGION, and his Majesty would certainly do all he could to ad­vance both, or either of them.

— I communicated it to his R. H. [says Coleman] to which his R. H. commanded me to answer, as I did on the 29th of the same Month, that his R. H. was very sensible of his most Christian Majesty's Friendship, and that he would labour to cultivate it with all the good Offices he was capable of doing his Majesty, [the French King]; that he was fully convinced their Interests were both one; that my Lord Arlington and the Parliament were not only unuseful, but very dangerous both to England and France; that therefore it was necessary they should do all they could to dissolve it. I did communicate this Design of mine to Monsieur Ravigni, who agreed with me, that it would be the greatest Advantage imaginable to his Master, to have the D's Power and Credit so far advanced. — IF WE CAN ADVANCE THE DUKE'S INTEREST ONE STEP FORWARD, WE SHALL PUT HIM OUT OF THE REACH OF CHANCE FOR EVER:— Then would Catholicks be at rest, and his most Christi­an Majesty's Interest secured with us in England, [mark that] beyond all Apprehensions whatsoever.— Our prevaling in these things would give the greatest Blow to the PROTESTANT RELIGION here, that ever it received from its Birth—.

— If the Duke should once get above them, ☞ (after the Tricks they have play'd with him) they are not sure he will totally forget the Ʋsage he has had at their Hands—.

— We have (proceeds Coleman) here a MIGHTY WORK upon our Hands, no less than THE CONVERSION of three Kingdoms, and by that per­haps the utter subduing of a PESTILENT HERESY, which hath domineered over great part of the Northern World a long time. There were never such Hopes of Success since the Death of our Queen Mary, as now in our Days, when God has given us a Prince who is become (may I say to a Miracle) zea­lous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work. ☞ — That which we rely upon most, next to God Almighty's Providence, and the Favour of my Master the Duke, is THE MIGHTY MIND of his most Christian Majesty.—I must confess, I think his Christian Majesty's TEMPORAL IN­TEREST is so much attracted to that of his R. H. (which can never be consi­derable but upon the Growth and Advancement of the CATHOLICK RELIGION) that his Ministers cannot give him better Advice, &c.

Now Gentlemen; might not a Man have concluded, that what you then read, and find here repeated, ought to have weaned your Party, at least such of you as pretended to be of the Church of England, (for I well remember you scoffed at the Name of Protestant) from your ido­lized [Page 6] Popish Successor? What I could no King please such Churchmen as you, but such AZEALOT as would not regard any thing in the World, in comparison of overturning our Religion? Could no one content you, but a Prince, whose Interest was avowed to be inseparably united to that of the Grand Tyrant of the Earth? Who declared himself fully convinc'd that PARLIAMENTS were not only ƲNƲSEFƲL, but very DANGE­ROƲS to the JOINT INTEREST both of England and France? None but him by whom the French King's Interest was to be secured in England? None but him who undertook to give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Re­ligion here, that it ever received from its Birth? None but him, who should he once get above us (after the Tricks we had then plaid him) [by the way he remembers we have plaid him a worse since] WOƲLD NOT TO­TALLY FORGET the Ʋsage he has had at our Hands? Finally, could nothing please you but a King, whose MIGHTY WORK (as you were forewarned) was to be no less than the Destruction of the Nations, under the Notion of converting them, and who was utterly to subdue our Religi­on, as a PESTILENT HERESY? One, of whom our inhumane Enemies promised themselves greater Hopes than ever they had since the Death of cruel Queen Mary? A Prince whom they boasted was become (to a Miracle) zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so glorious a Work, as that of razing the Foundations of the Church of England?

Could I now believe that I discourse to rational Creatures, and not to Brutes void of all Understanding, I should hope to make you blush at your past Frenzies, if not perswade you to cease doting on your old Bondage, and hankering after the Flesh-Pots of Egypt, to give over your Murmuring, and no longer to foment Jealousies between the King and his People, no longer to be throwing in Sparks of Dis­content, and endeavouring to blow them up into Flames of Mutinies and Rebellions. Allow me to remember you (in the Words of a loyal and learned Person) that God has given our King a People, who, tho they may sometimes be practised upon to run into Ʋproars, yet Loyalty is so inlaid in their Tempers, and annealed to their Souls, that the secret Enemies of our King and Peace could never yet make their Earnings out of them; nay, that God has converted our Danger into our Security, that he has made the People, not the Terror of the Government, but of its Enemies: That some ill Men have an ill and envious Eye upon the Throne, but they fear the Peo­ple. Mr. Alsop's Thanksgiving-Sermon at Westminster, 8 Sept. 1695.

Run not then I caution you headlong to Destruction, but be ad­vised to consider what you are doing; why will you be helping for­ward your Countries Ruine, by labouring to subject it to that mighty Nimrod, the securing whose Interest in England was the wicked Design [Page 7]so long since on foot? 'Tis evident to all the World, that you, under the Name of TORIES (in which you gloried) brought Church and State to the very Door of Destruction, gave us the dismal: Prospect of Slavery in our Persons, Consciences and Estates; and by your Pro­curement we beheld every thing that was dear and valuable to us up­on the Brink of Subjection to a foreign Power: and all by pleading for and adhering to your darling Popish Successor. Nay 'tis beyond Con­tradiction clear, that you were blinded, deluded and beguiled, in that Point, by the subtile Jesuits, those Firebrands of all Europe.

Now seeing it has pleased God to bless us with the grateful Surprize of a Deliverance from such great Evils, will you be perswaded to be­come a loyal quiet People, disposed to Obedience? To inforce this up­on you, as 'tis your Interest as well as Duty, I shall recount to you, what was in vain laid before you when you first ran a madding after Po­pery and Slavery. A sincere Lover of his Country then argued with you to this Effect:

You were then truly told, that those who were for the Duke of York 's Interest were most certainly for these three Interests, viz. 1. For the Popish Interest. 2. For the French Interest. 3. For Tyranny or Arbitrary Go­vernment, term it as you will; and by Consequence against these other three things. 1. Against the Interest of the Church of England, and the Protestant Religion. 2. Against the Interest of England, your native Country. 3. Against the Interest of Parliaments, and so against your own Freedoms as you were Englishmen.

You were then exhorted seriously to consider these things, your Re­ligion, your Lives, your Liberties, your Estates, your All being deeply concerned therein.

1. You were rightly admonished, that if you stood for the Duke's In­terest, you did undoubtedly so far stand for that of the Pope; and would thereby give the greatest Blow to the Church of England, it ever had since it was a Church.

The Matter was thus expostulated with you; Can you once imagine that by bringing in a Popish Successor, you will not inevitably set up Popery? Will such a King, think you, have so great a Love for another Reli­gion as his own, or for those of another Profession, (whom he esteems Hereticks) as for those of his own? Nay then, will it not naturally follow, that he will advance the one, and discountenance and depress the other? Will it not be the only way to get into Office or Prefer­ment to turn Papist? What will the Effect of this be, in a little time, think you? Will it not be a great weakning to the Church of England, to have her Members allured and seduced from her, and turn'd and [Page 8]kept out of Places of Trust, Profit and Honour, whilst her Enemies are placed in them? Consider further, whether in endeavouring to make a Papist Head of the Church of England, you do not labour to make her a Monster; for if our Head reckon us his Body rotten Hereticks, where's our Body? Where will our Church be? What Agreement between the Head and the Body? Will it not inevitably run into Con­fusion? Shall we have a Father of our Church, who by his own Faith stands obliged to destroy her, and is bound by the Romish Principles to deal with her as a Harlot? Consider now, are you willing to send your selves, Wives, Children, Fathers and Mothers, to be burnt at the Stake for Hereticks? Will you yet persist to endeavour to put your Religion once more into the Hazard of a wicked Queen Mary 's Persecution?

2. In being for the Succession of the D. of York, you are undoubtedly for the French Interest, and so consequently against the Interest of England, your native Country. That he did ever espouse that Tyrant's Interest, is evidently discovered, and by a Copy of a Letter which was taken amongst his Secretary Coleman's Papers, will be yet further evinced, tho indeed it was not made out that it was drawn by the Duke's Di­rection, nor could it be expected that Coleman should accuse his Ma­ster, who flatter'd him to the last Moment of his Life with the vain Hope of a Pardon. That Letter was entituled; The Copy of the Letter to Monsieur Le Chese, the French King's Confessor, which Mr. Coleman confessed he himself wrote, and counterfeited in the Duke's Name; it runs to this Effect:

Review this, I intreat you, and deny it if you can, that these Kings were early of one Piece. The French King wrote himself to the Duke, yet we are to believe it if we will, that Coleman counterfeited this An­swer, and his Royal Highness had not the good Breeding to acknowledg the Receipt of the Letter of so generous a Confederate, who offered the Ʋse of his Purse against the Designs of THEIR ENEMIES. We here find the Enemies of the one declared Enemies of the other, and the Parliament in the Interest of neither. Their joint and utmost Credits are to be made use of to prevent the Success of the WICKED DESIGNS of the Parliament, against the French King and the Duke [which was to exclude them both;] the one by the Help of the others Purse, is to be enabled to per­swade to the dissolving the Parliament, and to make void the Designs to advance THE INTEREST OF THE PRINCE OF ORANGE and the HOLLANDERS, and to lessen that of the French King [which Designs were only an ho­nest Purpose to set Bounds to that impetuous Torrent, which then highly threatned to overwhelm this Part of the World]. To remark no further, the French Aid is here craved to prevent THE ROGUISH DE­SIGNS of an English Parliament against the then LEAGUE WITH FRANCE. ☞ To proceed now to the third Head, from which we have digressed.

3. It was urged upon you, that if you were for a Popish King, then by Consequence you were for Arbitrary Government, and against Parliaments. Is it not notoriously known, that the Duke bears an implacable Hatred [Page 10]to Parliaments, and that none more than he ever set himself against them? If then he should succeed his Brother, [or as the Case at present stands, should ever return] adieu to Parliaments: You are then at best to expect French Slavery; and were you to enjoy it alone, I am almost provok'd to wish you were now in the possession of it.

You were thus told what would be the Manner of the King that you would have reign over you, and what reason you would find to cry out in that day because of your King. Now instead of following the Text, and saying, the Lord will not hear you in that day; I do here observe, that all the good People of these Nations are laid under the highest Obligations to praise the Almighty for having heard their Cry, in the day of their Distress because of your King; and to give us such a Prince as we groaned for, such a Prince as we wanted, such a Prince whose Interest leads him to espouse the Cause and Interest of the Land, which he saw to be visibly betrayed; and which our Enemies would at once have ravished from us, had not Providence over-ruled them.

Finding now that I have insensibly launch'd out into this wide Ocean of the Popish Plot, I shall take leave to discourse a little further upon that Subject, purposing to present my Reader with a concise Abridgment of the History of that transcendent Villany; and shall in this place very briefly touch some Points relating to it, and to the first Discoverer; because my old Friends the Tories did, and do im­pudently deny the Thing, or at least extenuate it, and falsly suggest that very few were concern'd in it; that it was nothing so bad as the World took it to be, and that, notwithstanding the Votes of divers Parliaments that there was a Plot to murder the King, alter the Go­vernment, and subvert the Established Religion.

I have met with Insinuations, which at first view seem plausible, they will have Dr. Oates's Information to be Fictitious; alledging that it is improbable he should come in so short a time to a distinct know­ledg of so many Particulars; or if he had heard or seen them, that he should remember them; and that if he went among them, with an intent to discover them, why did he not do it sooner? These, when well weighed, will, I am satisfied, be found very frivolous.

When he was first admitted among the Jesuits, they made him a Messenger for their Society; which exactly fell in with his Design to detect their Villanies: They sent him with Letters into Spain; those he opened, and thereby began to smell something of their Hellish De­signs. After this he was taken into their Consult, and so had the liberty to see and hear what was then acting, and to enquire how past Intrigues had been carried on. Thus he came to understand that the City of [Page 11]London was fired by the Jesuits, how that Plot was laid, and who were the Actors in it.

He kept short Notes of all things that occurred from the time he was admitted into their Society, with intent to produce them when they might be of use, which enabled him to give so exact an Account of all Occurrences: These were confirm'd by other Circumstances, and collateral Evidence; so that in some hundreds of Particulars no one thing has interfer'd with another, nor with those Papers which have been found elsewhere, or with those Informations which have been given in by others. For instance; He informs that Coleman was a principal Agent in this Conspiracy, Letters found inform the same: He informs that he deli­vered Commissions received from Langhorne, Letters intercepted make mention of Commissions sent, which they hope were delivered. In short, it was impossible that a Man should contrive such a Thing, attended with so many hundreds of Circumstances, and comparing them with so many Papers, Informations, and Examinations of so many other Men, but they would interfere with one another if false; therefore, it may justly be concluded the whole is true, till something be found to the contrary: and then it follows, that here was a most bloody, de­villish, and hellish Design, which hath been in some measure carrying on to this day.

I must here take the liberty to digress a little, and lay before you what Observation the Lord-Chief-Justice Scroggs made upon Dr. Oates his Evidence of this Plot, as you may read in the Trial of Ireland, Pickering, and Grove, ( pag. 72.) When the Matter (says he) is so accompanied with so many other Circumstances, ☞ which are ma­terial Things, and cannot be evaded or denied, it is almost impos­sible for any Man to make such a Story, or not to believe it after it is told. I know not whether they can frame such a one, I am sure never a Protestant ever did, and I believe never would invent such a one to take away their Lives.

Now as to the time of this Discovery; if on the first Intimation of the Design he had made a Discovery of it, it is more than probable he had been rejected, because he could not make out the Particulars as at length he did, and yet found no small difficulty to be received. Further; He was not at his own Command when he was engaged in their Society; had he moved any way without, or contrary to their Order, he had presently been suspected, and might easily have been detected. But being sent from St. Omers into England, he laid hold of that Opportunity, and shewed his real Intention to preserve the King's Life, and his Native Countrey from this accursed Conspiracy.

Will you please now to allow me to lay before you the Opinion of the said Lord-Chief-Justice Scoggs as to this Ridiculed Plot, as he deli­vered it in the before-mentioned Trial of Ireland, Pickering and Grove:

Now I am to observe to you, that the Jury having brought in these Criminals guilty of the Treason for which they stood indicted, the same Lord-Chief-Justice, whom Blessed Memory promoted, did ex­press himself in these words: ‘You have done Gentlemen like very good Subjects and very good Christians; that is to say, like very good Protestants, and now much good may their thirty thousand Mas­ses do them.’

Hear now the Opinion of your old and most endeared Friend Jef­fries to this Point, at the time when he, as Recorder of London, pass'd Sentence of Death upon Langhorne and the five Jesuits; his words were these:

— Nor is there the least room for the most scrupulous Man to doubt of the Credibility of the Witnesses, that have been examined against you: And sure I am, you have been fully heard, and stand fairly convicted of those Crimes you have been indicted for.

Hearken once more, and understand what the same Recorder Jef­feries declared upon the Jury's giving their Verdict upon the five Je­suits; it was this:

Ʋpon a long Evidence, a full discussing the Objections made against it, and a patient hearing of the Defence they made, they are found Guilty: And I do think that every Honest Man will say, that they are unexceptionably found so; and that 'tis a just Verdict you have given.

Bear with me now before I conclude, that I am your Remembrancer, that in hope of stifling this Plot, the Bloody Conspirators barbarously murdered a Worthy Magistrate Sir Edmundbury Godfrey; who upon the 27th of Sept. 1678. took Dr. Oates's Information upon Oath, and these inhumane Villains allowed him not to survive it above 14 days; and I shall lay before you Scroggs's Declaration concerning it, as made in the Trial of the five Jesuits.

‘ While this Gentleman's Blood (said he) lies upon you, it must be yet further told you, that in what you did do, you have given a Speci­men of what you would do: We have a Testimony that for promo­ting your Cause you would not stick at the Blood of Protestants; you began with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, but who knows where you would have made an end? It was this one Man you killed in his Per­son, but in Effigie the whole Nation. It was in one Man's Blood your Hands are embrewed, but your Souls were dipt in the Blood of us all; this was a Handsel only of what was to follow: and so long as we are convinced you killed him, we cannot but believe you would also [Page 14]have killed the King: We cannot but believe you would make all of us away that stand in the way of your Religion. A Religion, which, according to what it is, you would bring in upon us by a Conversion of us with Blood, and by a Baptism with Fire: God keep our Land from the one, and our City from the other.’

To return; (says Scroggs) ‘ ☞ The Letter that is found in Harcourt 's Pa­pers does further confirm Mr. Oates in all the great and considerable Matters that he says; that there was a Plot, that that Plot was called by the name of a Design, which was to be kept close and se­cret; and this is an Evidence that cannot lie.’

But after all, I know you of the Jacobite Party will upbraid me, that notwithstanding such strong Confirmation of all that the Doctor had witnessed, and that by Evidence which could not lie, it is well known he was afterwards convicted of Perjury: So he was, and I care not if I digress a little to remind you of the manner of doing it.

As an Introduction to it the virulent Pen of that Man of effronted Impudence, L'Estrange I mean, is employed to vilify nor only the Evidence, but Parliaments; nay, the Protestant Religion it self: Addresses of Thanks for the Violation of our Rights, in the Dissolution of Parliaments, were made and most graciously received, the Presen­ters of them being usually honoured with Knighthood, and rewarded with Preferment to Places of Trust and Profit. I have the Name of one of you at my Tongue's end, but at this time for his Brother's sake I'll spare him.

By these and such like Arts, it became the common Cry of a profli­gate Party in every Corner of England, Popery is better than Presbytery; at least the Papists and Dissenters are equally dangerous, if not all one: 'Tis therefore more than time that a Colledge be hang'd against a Pickering. The Nation was almost put besides it self, by the doleful Cry of Blood, Blood, Associations, Conspiracies, Rebellion, Treason, and what not, that was frightful and terrible.

Rome it self could not possibly have ordered Matters better for the Service of Holy Church: The Protestant Religion is now mock'd, Parlia­ments derided, the Witnesses of the Plot vilified, and the Belief of any other than a Presbyterian Plot vanishes.

This Proceeding gave new Life and Heart to the Popish Conspira­tors, and struck no small damp upon their Prosecutors. Of the Wit­nesses some were bought off, and others terrified from their Testimo­ny: But Dr. Oates being no way shaken, but bearing with undaunted Courage and Constancy, innumerable Reproaches and Slanders from the Pulpit and Press, nay and from the Stage also; Hell it self seemed [Page 15]to be engaged to discredit, and batter down the Belief of his Evi­dence. Knox and Lane, to blast his Reputation, were imployed to accuse him of an unusual but most heinous Wickedness; that Plot not obtaining, and Matters being prepared for placing unmasked Popery upon the Throne, he was condemned in 100000 l. for affirming the Duke of York to be a Papist, and thereupon secured against the desired Season for the Conspirators taking their full Revenge upon him.

The Way being thus prepared for the execution of their Design upon him, on the 8th of May 1685. he was brought to Trial in the Court of King's Bench, upon an Indictment for evidencing that there was a treasonable Consult at the White-horse-Tavern in the Strand the 24th of April, 1678. at which Whitebread, Fenwick and Ireland were present; and that they there came to a Resolution to murder the King, and that the Defendant carried the Resolution from Chamber to Chamber, to be signed by the Jesuits; whereas in Truth he was not present, nor carried any such Reso­lution to be signed, and so committed wilful Perjury.

I shall here lay down a summary Account of the Proceedings in this Trial; and if the Reader be curious to have farther Information therein, I refer him to a more ample Relation thereof in the Tract called A Display of Tyranny, (the first Part) printed in 1689.

• Lord Chief Justice Jefferies,
• Mr. Justice Wythens,
• Mr. Justice Holloway, and
• Mr. Justice Walcot.

The Fame of the first will be ever remembred. The second was advanced to a Seat upon the Bench for promoting and presenting an Address, expressing an Abhorrence to petition for the Calling and Sit­ting of Parliaments.

Holloway had been very instrumental in the Murder of brave Stephen Colledge, which entitled him to this Promotion. And,

Walcot was a mean Wretch, and by consequence a fit Tool to serve the Purposes of that Juncture.

• Sir William Dodson,
• Sir Edmond Wiseman,
• Richard Aley,
• Thomas Fowle,
• Thomas Blackmore,
• Peter Pickering,
• Robert Bedingfield,
• Thomas Rawlinson,
• Roger Reeves,
• Ambrose Isted,
• Henry Collyer, and
• Richard Howard.

Every Man then of your own Gang, I assure you.

• Attorney General Sawyer,
• Solicitor General Finch,
• Recorder of London,
• Mr. North,
• Mr. Jones, and
• Mr. Hanses.

The last of whom was, Sir Roger, your Assistant in your malici­ous Scriblings, and your Brother-Burgess in K. James's Parliament for Winchester.

They produced for Witnesses about 20 Jesuits and Students of St. Omers, who all testified that the Defendant came to St. Omers in De­cember, 1677. and went not from thence until June, 1678.

I shall here observe how these Jesuited Sparks were caressed and che­rished, both by the Court and Counsel. Their Evidence was received without the least Interruption, not one cross, thwarting, or doubting Question being put to any one of them: Nay, there was not found so much Temper as to permit the Defendant to propose his Questions to them; which made him with undaunted Courage cry out, That his Defence was under a very great Prejudice, and that there was a Turn to be served, and therefore he was not admitted to ask the Wit­nesses Questions; and said, I do verily believe, that at this rate, it is more safe for Papists to be Traitors, than for any Protestant to discover a Po­pish Plot.

It seems also worth the noting, that to insinuate that Oates's Evi­dence was not always true and credited, the King's Counsel produced the Earl of Castlemain and Sir George Wakeman, who declared that what he swore against them at their Trials was false.

Here Jeffries observing the Doctor's Undauntedness, said, I won­der to see any one that has the Face of a Man, carry it at this rate, when he hears such Evidence brought against him.

To which the Doctor replied, I wonder Mr. Attorney will offer to bring this Evidence: Jeffries (whose Character with K. Charles the Second was, that he had the Impudence of ten Carted Whores) in a raving Fit retorted, Such Impudence was never seen in any Christian Nation, you are a Shame to Mankind! To which the Doctor's Reply was, No my Lord, I am neither a Shame to my self, nor to Mankind: What I have sworn is true, and I will seal it with my Blood, if occasion be: Ah, Ah, my Lord, I know why all this is, and so may the World; but THIS WILL NOT DO THE WORK, to make the Plot to be disbelieved; things are not to be done by great Noises, I will stand by the Truth.

He observed in his Defence, that the Indictment against him was six Years after the pretended Perjury; That most of the Witnesses who now gave Evidence against him, were those who were brought to confront him at the Trial of the five Jesuits; and tho there were some fresh Witnesses, the Evidence of all of them was the same as then, but their Testimony rejected, as it was at Langborne's Trial; and that the Jury upon convicting the Jesuits were told by the Court, that their Verdict was unexceptionable; and this by Jeffries himself. And,

Then he produced four or five Witnesses who clearly proved his be­ing in London as he had sworn, at the time of the White-horse-Consult, in April, 1678.

After this he offered Objections to the Validity of the Evidence against him: As,

1. That a Papist, in a Cause of Religion, is not to be received and be­lieved as a good Witness.

Here Wythens interposed, saying, Is not a Papist as good a Witness as a Dissenter?

Which was answered by citing Bulstrode's Reports, Part 2. 155. A Popish Recusant is not to be admitted a Witness between Party and Party: which was also my Lord Coke's Opinion.

Wythens replied, May a Presbyterian be a good Witness, Mr. Oates? And Holloway (who had assisted the Blood-hounds to murder Colledge) said, Or would Colledge have been a good Witness, Mr. Oates?

Most certainly by the Rules of Law, the Testimonies of these Per­sons ought not to have been offered in this Case, to delude the People; and the Civil Law so fully concurs with our Common Law in rejecting Enemies to be Witnesses, in the Cause of their Enemy, that it denies Credit to what they may testify in the Cause of their Enemy, with their dying Breath, after they have received the Eucharist. This is the general Con­clusion of the Doctors of the Civil Law: Inimicus, etiamsi in Articulo Mortis constitutus, & accipisset Eucharistiam, repellitur à Testimonio Causa sui Inimici.

He then urged the Judgments of Papists in Case of Conscience, whereby they maintain the vilest Wickedness to be lawful for the Church's Service. And they acknowledg, they have Dispensations to swear Lies for promoting the Catholick Cause.

Then he concluded to this effect: ‘My Lord, this I say, The Evi­dence for which I am indicted is the same which I delivered six Years ago, where there were 16 Witnesses against me, but what Credit did they receive? I do avow the Truth of the Popish Plot, and will stand to it whilst I live: Was ever Man dealt with as I am, or had such Evi­dence offered against him? My Lord, this I am sure of, if I had been a Witness against those who suffered in the late Fanatick Plot (as 'twas called) I had never been called in question, if my Evidence had been false: but 'tis apparent the Papists have now a Turn to serve, and these St. Omers Youths are brought to falsify my Evidence, and to bring off the Lords who stand impeached of High Treason for the Popish Conspiracy. My Lord, 'tis not me they indict, but the whole Prote­stant Interest is aimed at in this Prosecution: For my own part I care not what becomes of me, the Truth will one time or another appear.’

Upon the Day following, ( May 9. 1685.) the Doctor was tried up­on an Indictment for another supposed Perjury; but that Prosecution be­ing of the Complection with what is here presented, I trouble not the Reader with it farther than to lay before him the Names of the Jury.

• Sir Thomas Vernon,
• Nicholas Charleton,
• Thomas Langham,
• Thomas Hartop,
• Francis Griffith,
• John Kent,
• George Toriano,
• Henry Loades,
• John Midgley,
• John Pelling,
• Thomas Short, and
• George Peck.
• All Men of the same Kidney still.

The Juries having, according as directed by that Man of Blood Jeff­ries, brought the Doctor in guilty of both the Perjuries, comes the Ab­horrer of Parliaments, the tender-hearted, good natur'd Protestant Judg Wythens, to pronounce the Sentence; previous to it he tells the Defendant, that no Christian's Heart can think of the Innocent Blood which was shed by his Oath, without bleeding: That every knowing Man believed, and every honest Man grieved for it. He proceeds, God be thanked, our Eyes are now open.

The Judgment, besides Imprisonment, Fine, &c. was, that on Wed­nesday next he be whipt from Aldgate to Newgate, and upon Friday from Newgate to Tyburn.

This (says Wythens) I pronounce to be the Judgment of the Court upon you; and I must tell you plainly, If it had been in my Power to have carried it farther, I should not have been unwilling to have given Judgment of Death upon you.

This cruel Sentence was executed with all the Circumstances of Barbarity; so that tho (which Wythens lamented) the Law did not allow them to condemn him directly to Death, they might well ex­pect that the Execution of this Sentence would have destroyed him, as in all Probability it had, if a very honest and able Chyrurgion, Mr. James Wass, had not (with the Hazard of his own Life) under­taken the Cure of him, and under God preserved him; I say he car­ried that Cure through with the Hazard of his Life, and that gratis, tho he was wholly a Stranger to the Doctor; for there was another skilful Chyrurgion, and very honest Man, Mr. Charles Bateman, who had promised to undertake it, but at that very Instant was clapp'd into Newgate, and soon after murdered.

He suffered some thousands of Stripes, to his unspeakable Tor­ture, and was ten Weeks under Mr. Wass's Hands. Their Malice and Cruelty did not cease here, but because (through the Mercy of God supporting him, and the extraordinary Care and Skill of his judicious Chyrurgion) he was like to outlive that barbarous Usage, some of them, whilst he was weak in Bed, got into his Chamber, and at­tempted to pull off the Plaisters from his Back, threatning to destroy him. And,

That nothing might be wanting to compleat his Misery and Ru­ine, they procured him to be loaded with Irons of excessive Weight for a whole Year without Intermission, and that when his Legs were swollen with the Gout; and to be shut up in the Hole or Dungeon of the Prison, whereby he became impaired in his Limbs, and contract­ed Convulsion-Fits, to the Hazard of his Life.

To conclude now, see here the Sense of the House of Commons upon this wicked Prosecution, and cursed Sentence, as it appears by the following Vote.

THO I accost you in this familiar Way, and use a friendly Ap­pellation, here's no Plot upon you; no not so much as a De­sign to draw you in to read this Pamphlet. Nay should I perceive you so much as start at the very Title, I should esteem you yet more kind if you throw it away; for if you read on, and are then found to snarl at me, we may have the ill Luck to sall together by the Ears, and it ever was my Choice to live in a whole Skin.

That I may so do, I give you not the advantage of saying I was the first Aggressor. I do not, I will not commend the Thing: No, I will not so much as recommend it to your Perusal; I will not so much as tell you what is in it: No, I will not so far gratify you as to declare [Page 22]why I do emit it, further than to say that 'tis my Will and Pleasure so to do. And,

Now, if not invited, not encouraged, you will read on, 'tis at your Pe­ril; if upon those Terms you dare adventure further, you must know that the following Narrative was ushered into the World, under an Address to K. Charles the II. to the Effect following, viz.

Our Royal Patron being thus dismiss'd, we are now got to the Nar­rative it self: of which you (my kind Reader still) may, or may not, as you choose, run over the Heads. They are these,

The general Design in this Plot was the Reformation, that is in their Sense, the Reduction of Great Britain and Ireland by the Sword, to the Romish Religion and Obedience. And,

—Besides the Papal, there was also a French Plot carried on by Sir Ellis Leighton, Mr. COLEMAN and others.

— The King's Person they more especially resolved to remove, and that with all possible speed, by Dagger, Pistol or POISON.

— The Prince of Orange is to be cut off; — He was desi­gned against and condemned by Name; and 12 Missioners sent in­to Holland, had it in charge to put that People in Mutiny against him.

—On the 4th of January, (stilo novo) Letters were sent by Richard Ashby and others, Jesuits of the English Seminary at St. Omers, to the Father Confessor of the Emperor, to advise him that his Majesty of Great Britain had treacherously plotted the Ruine of the Confederates, — and that his Design was not to keep any Alliance with his Imperial Majesty, but only in shew, that he might advance his Nephew THE PRINCE OF ORANGE, and make him absolute; and therefore prayed that the States of Holland might be acquainted with it.

Letters arrived at London, bearing Date Aug. 5. 1678, from Whito, alias Whitebread Provincional, to John Fenvick, from St. O­mers; in which he did inform the Fathers that he had ordered 12 Je­suits to go for Holland, and to inform the Dutch that the Prince of O­range did intend to assume the Crown of a King, and that he resolved to bring them under another Government; which was designed to beget in the Dutch an evil Opinion of the P. of Orange, and to procure a Commotion there against him.

On the 11th of Aug. John Keines, a Jesuit, declared that all means were now used to beget a difference between the Dutch and the P. of Orange; and if that could be effected, there was no question to be made, but that the Protestant Interest would fail in Holland.

On the 12th of Aug. a Pacquet arrived in London, from White, alias Whitebread, the Provincional, and other Jesuits, to John Fenwick, in­timating that the twelve Jesuits were got into Holland, and would use all their Skill and Interest to make a Commotion there; and that APPLE-TREE WILL. (meaning the P. of Orange) SHOƲLD NOT BE GREAT. And that they hoped the Fathers in London would fol­low their Business closely there.

In order to the Reduction of Ireland it was resolved, that the D. of Ormond must be put out of the way, and that then the Prote­stants should be cut off, as in 41; and to that end Arms and Money were sent over, and the Pope contributed 800 Thousand Crowns: and to make all sure, the French were to send Forces over to join 25 thousand Irish.

On the 11th of Aug. John Keines the Jesuit declared, that the Provincional had taken great care of keeping alive the Difference be­tween the disaffected Scots and D. Lauderdale, and that the Affairs in Ireland went on with great Expedition, and that fourty eight would not last long in England, for it was high time to hinder fourty nine from being effected. That Barly-broth should grow dead, and Twelve would be cut off, and that: Mum and Chocolate should be put down, and the Order of Magpyes should be turned into their Primitive Instituti­on and Habit; now the Deponent saith that the Words ( hinder 49 from being effected) is an Expression that is used amongst them, for cutting off the King, that he may not live to be compleat forty nine Years of Age: and by Barley-broth is meant the House of Commons, which shall be turned out and sit no more: and by Mum and Chocolate is meant the Protestant Peers, who, if not destroyed, shall never have any Vote in the House of Peers more after the Death of this King; and by Magpyes they un­derstand the Bishops, whose Habit in Parliament is Black and white, which shall be changed into Purple; and by Twelve is meant the Duke of Monmouth.—Keines on the 12th of August determined to go for Windsor in order to settle some Business there, towards the dispatch­ing 48—and told the Deponent that he might chance to fall short of his return again.

In July 1678. Richard Strange (the last Provincial of the Jesuits) did encourage the Deponent to go on in assisting the Society in carry­ing on the Design; and told the Deponent that they got 14000 l. in the Fire of London in 1666. The Deponent ask'd Strange how they came to effect that great and famous Business? He replyed, that himself and Gray, Pennington and Barton, Jesuits, with some others, together with Keimash, a Dominican Fryar, join'd with one GREEN, and met at one West's House, the Green Dragon at Puddle Dock, and there debated about the manner of firing the City, and where they should begin, and did attempt it in February, 1664/5.—In January 1665/6, they met with this Green again, who closed in with them in the De­sign; and that they might ingratiate themselves with Green, they Man, and fit for their Purpose. And the more to engage him, they pretended to bold many of the Fifth-Monarchy Principles; which when Green perceived, judging them to be real, he brought them acquaint­ed with eight others, who were zealous in the Business. The Jesuits were earnest to have it done in February, but Green prayed them to suspend that Resolution, because the King would not be much in Town, if at all, till the Plague was more abated; who, Green did say [Page 26]must be cut off too, when the People were in a hurry by reason of the Fire; and this Motion well pleased the Jesuits and Dominican, and so it was put off. That in a very little time after, Green and the rest of those Fifth-Monarchy-Men, together with the Jesuits and Dominican, were suspected by West, and forewarned his House. And presently after Green and his eight Acquaintance were clapt up in Prison; and upon their Imprisonment the Jesuits and Dominican got away to St. Omers, and there remained till the May after the Execution of 8 of these Persons, Green dying in Newgate. —That in the beginning of June, being re­turned to London, they began afresh to consult about this Fire, (which was still carried on by the Society in their absence) and they determi­ned to cut off the King in the time of the Fire, that the Number of the Beast might be accomplished. At the uttering of which words, Strange broke out into a great Laughter: But said Strange, to be short, we got 50 or 60 Irish to ply the Work. — We were also in fee with several Frenchmen, who were faithful in the Business. — Strange told the De­ponent that they spent 700 Fire-Balls; and when the Fire-Merchants were at work, then others were employed to plunder what they could. —

They have communicated what Secrets they can have reveal'd to them of the King, which they send over to Le Chese, the French King's Confessor: —This they do by one Smith, who daily lurks about White­hall, and in Parliament-time about Westminster-hall and the Lobby. —And One COLEMAN, formerly Secretary to her Royal Highness, doth assist this Smith with private Intelligence.

On the 10th. of. August the Deponent did meet with Groves, who had promised to give him an Account of the Fire of Southwark in 1676: and then told him that he had certain Fireworks made for that purpose; and he, with three Irishmen his Assistants, went to St. Margaret's- Hill, where they found an Oil-Shop, which Groves bragg'd he fir'd. — He said that Dr. Fogarthy procured the Irishmen, for which the Society ( Richard Strange then Provincial) gave them 1000 l. viz. 400. l. to Groves, and 200 l. apiece to the three Irishmen, and that the Society got at least 2000 l. by that Fire: which was also told the Deponent at ano­ther time by Richard Strange.

On the 11th of August the Deponent saw Letters from St. Omers, written by Father IRELAND to John Fenwick; — and Fenwick told the Deponent that if [...] lived till Christmass, he should see a good Change of Things; either that Forty eight [the King] should be taken from the World, or the World (especially the little he was concern'd in) should be taken from him: And ONE THAT WAS A CATHOLICK SHOƲLD PLAY SƲCH A GAME, AS NEVER WAS PLAY'D SINCE THE [Page 27]CONQƲEST; and Fenwick told the Deponent, that this Catholick was the DƲKE OF YORK. —

This Plot was to be effected by these Means (amongst others); — By disclosing the King's Counsels to France, by Coleman, Smith, and others: — By disaffecting his Majesty's Allies, Holland, Spain, the German Emperor and Princes; by false Intelligence, &c. By disturbing Trade. — By firing and plundering our best Cities and Towns: — By horrid, worse than Jewish Interest; Transportation of Trade, People, Stock, and Money; ADƲLTERATING MONEY AND PLATE. To which end they have Bankers, Brokers, Merchants, Goldsmiths and other Traders, whom they stock and set up with Money of their Society; of which they boast to have 100 thousand Pounds Cash, &c.

I descend now to sum up the whole, and descant a little upon some few of the Heads before recounted.

Great Britain and Ireland were to be reduced by the Sword to the Romish Religion and Obedience: In order hereunto, the King was to be removed by Dagger, Pistol, or Poison; and they declared 'twas high time it were effected.

And good reason for it: He had broke his Word with Madam his Sister, in passing the Test-Bill; having promised her at the Interview at Dover, that nothing should be done to the prejudice of the R. Ca­tholicks: And contrary to his Promise to the Papists, they remem­bred his sending the Great E. of Essex into Ireland. They well knew also that he had refused to sign Coleman's Declaration for dissolving the Parliament, (which he had sworn to them to do) and that he had been guilty of that never-to-be-forgiven Sin against their Church, of receiving the Sacrament in the Church of England, and that the same day at Noon on which he had received it in the Morning from Ireland the Jesuit: To add no more, they knew that they had at hand a more daring Prince, who they were assured would stake his Crown for car­rying on their Mighty Work. The Prince of Orange they had resol­ved should by no means become Great, therefore he must be cut off; and in order to effect that mighty, and so highly necessary Work, Missioners are sent into Holland to stir up that People to mutiny against him, upon the wicked Suggestion that he resolved to change their Government, and assume a Crown. The Emperor is instigated to create a Belief in the States General that that Prince designed to make himself Absolute; and they promise themselves, that by a Breach between the Prince and States, the Protestant Interest would without question fail in Hol­land.

Now to reflect a little upon this Matter; Why must this Prince be cut off? Was he not the Duke of York's Sister's Son? 'tis yielded: What then can we expect that that should avail him? No surely; for we see his Uncle was converted to such a degree of Zeal, as not to regard any thing in the World in comparison of the Conversion of Heretical Kingdoms; so his Interests we find were so inseparably uni­ted to that of the French King, that it was impossible to divide them. We are told, that by all means the Most Christian King's Interest in England must be secured; and that for a weighty Reason, viz. Be­cause his and the D. of York 's prevailing, would give the greatest Blow to the Protestant Religion here, that ever it received from its Birth. Then un­doubtedly the Prince of Orange, who at that time stood within a step or two of the Throne, ought in all Policy to be removed.

You cannot forget that they had a mighty Work upon their hands, the Conversion of three Kingdoms, and Subduing the Pestilent Northern Heresy. They never had such hopes of Success as at that time, since the Death of their Queen Mary. The Duke was to a Miracle zealous of being the Author and Instrument of so Glorious a Work; and they told us they relied upon him, and the mighty Mind of the most Christi­an King; and further, his Temporal Interest was acknowledged to be highly attracted to that of the Duke.

'Tis evident they had mighty Work, mighty Hopes, and mighty Minds, employed about it. Is it to be admired then that they resolved to pass a Bill of Exclusion upon our Prince, who, as all the World knew, stood ready with all his Might to baffle these mighty Ʋndertakers?

Nay further, as the French King's Interest was attracted to that of the Duke's, so was the Prince's to that of England, Holland, and the Reformed Churches of Europe; or in their words, to the Support of that Northern Heresy which these mighty Nimrods were to subdue. What signifies a Nephew in such a Case as this?

But stop a little I pray, and take another Reason: His most Christi­an Majesty did most generously offer the Duke the use of his Purse to as­sist against the Designs of both their Enemies; nay, he protested that those that opposed the one, should be look'd upon as Enemies to the other; and withal declared his Opinion, that the Parliament of Eng­land was not in either of their Interests, and the Duke did entirely agree to it, and that they were unuseful to both: so that (in his poor Opi­nion) it was necessary to make use of both their joint and utmost Credits, to prevent the Success of the Parliament's Evil Designs against them both, which of his side he promised really to perform.

Nay, which is more, do not you remember the Duke tells the French King of a very dangerous Plot against them both? My Lord Ar­lington was incessantly at work to advance the Interest of the Prince of O­range and the Hollanders, and to lessen that of the French King; and that he and several others were endeavouring to break the good Intelli­gence between K. Charles the Second, the French King, and the Duke; wherefore his Royal Highness earnestly sollicites the most Christian King to assist with the help of his Purse to prevent such RO­GƲERIES.

You see here is a Triple League against a Triple Confederacy; The King of England, French King, and Duke of York, against the Parlia­ment of England, the States of Holland, and his Royal Highness the Pr. of Orange: The French is to furnish the Sinews of War, Money: The Parliament are declared Enemies; K. Charles indeed standing only as a Cypher, the French King and the Duke put themselves under the most solemn Engagements to perform what was stipulated, and strenuously to assist each other against the Designs of both their Enemies; and seeing there was a desperate Design to advance the Prince, and to lessen the French, the Duke puts in his Memorial to that King, deman­ding his Assistance to prevent such Rogueries.

But to return to our Narrative; The House of Commons is no more to sit: No, nor was it advisable they should; they were proclaimed E­nemies to France, and to the Duke. The French King (whose Inte­rest was to be secured in England) was fully convinced that they were not only unuseful, but very dangerous to both their joint Interests, [may they ever continue so;] and it much satisfied the Duke, to see his most Christian Majesty altogether of his Opinion in the Point: Then with what reason could we expect the use of Parliaments would be continued? The Protestant Peers as to be destroyed, or excluded the House; and the Magpy are to be changed for Purple Bishops.

And who at this day has the effronted Forehead to say, that all this was Fiction? Did not they embrew their Hands in the Blood of some of our Nobility? And were not more threatned to that degree, that 8. Years since no true Protestant Lord in England could at any rate have got his Head or his Seat in Parliament ensured to him for one Year? Such was the Case of our Bishops: We beheld some of their Diocesses visited by those of the Purple Dye; and had not Heaven in a miraculous way delivered them, we might not at this day have seen a Black and White One in the Nation.

In order to the Accomplishment of their sanctified Villanies, the Jesuits, with the Assistance of French and Irish Papists, burnt Lon­don [Page 30]and Southwark; and that they might the more securely carry on that Design without being detected, they cunningly draw in a few silly Fifth-Monarchy-Men, and fairly leave them in the lurch, to be hang'd, as they were about April 1666.

When any Popish Plot is near the Point of Execution, they ever will have the Dissenters at hand to account for their Villanies. The burn­ing this Nest of Hereticks had been concerted both at Rome and Paris, and the time for putting it in execution approaching, in April 1666, a Fanatick Plot is brought upon the Stage, and seven or eight were con­demned at the Old-Baily, for plotting to kill the King, and to burn the City on the 3d Day of September following, (the very Day the Papists after­wards did it.) For a more full Account of this, I refer the Reader to the London-Gazette of April 30, 1666. Numb. 48.

Thus when they were cock-sure of cutting off K. Charles the Second before Christmass, 1678. Mr. Claypole (Son-in-Law to Oliver) was made close Prisoner in the Tower, in July, 1678. upon an Accusation of conspiring the Death of the King; and it is very probable, that had not Dr. Oates's Discovery happily interposed, he might have died for it the next Term, and the King been soon sent after him.

Then our Counsels are to be betrayed to France: that Part is committed to Mr. Coleman, the Duke or Dutchess of York 's Secretary; and he is to manage it by a Correspondence with Le Chese, Confessor to the French King. [I cannot with-hold my self, from remarking here, that this Information was given upon Oath on the 27th of September, 1678. be­fore Sir Edmond-Bury Godfrey, and before the King and Council the 28th and 29th of that Month; that hereupon Coleman was taken up on the 29th, and his Papers seized, which happily furnished the World with irrefragable Evidence (had there been no other) of that diabo­lical Intrigue].

In fine, Trade is to be discouraged [that so it was, I know none will deny:] Our Coin was to be adulterated [I shall not surely be called upon to prove that that was done to purpose]: and to crown the day, King Charles was not to be reprieved beyond Christmas, 1678. and then our Popish Successor was to play us such a Game as never was plaid since the Conquest.

[They mistook the time indeed, but the Feat was done, and then the Gamester came upon the Stage to play his Game; but having an unlucky Hand, he quickly plaid himself out, and therefore I shall not further pursue him; I only say to him, as the Welshman did to his Horse, There's a Trick for your Trick, and a Stone in your Foot still.]

Proceed we now to the further Narrative of this hellish Conspiracy, of which it seems requisite to hint these things.

Dr. Oates, after he had endured a long and most cruel Imprison­ment, upon a Judgment for 100000 l. Damages given against him to the Duke of York, for saying the Duke was a Papist; now saw that his irreconcilable Enemy upon the Throne, and that he with his Jesuits and corrupt Judges were resolved to run upon him with all their Rage, as they did in Easter-Term, 1685. ordering him to be tried in the Court of King's-Bench upon two several Indictments, for two pretend­ed Perjuries, in his Evidence concerning the Plot, and that upon the Testimony of those very Popish Witnesses who had confronted him in three several Trials of the Conspirators.

The Case standing thus with him, and remembring that his Life had been several times attempted, was now under an Apprehension that they were bent upon his Destruction, and therefore in the Month of April, 1685. he drew up this ensuing Narrative in the Presence of Sir Robert Thomas Baronet, John Arnold, and John Dutton-Colt Esqs and having signed it with his own Hand, deposited it with a Person of Worth and Quality, with whom I am well assured it has ever since remained, till upon the 21st of January 1695/6. it was put into my Hands.

TO this foregoing Narrative I shall now subjoin Copies of several of Dr. Oates's Letters to King Charles and King James the Second, and to divers of the Ministers of State in that time, and of his Petition to King Charles; and submit it to the Reader's Judg­ment, whether his undaunted, and never to be shaken Stedfastness in adhering to and avowing the Truth of his Discovery, his plain Dealing with those Princes, his gallant Resistance of the highest Temptations, and his just Regard to the Interest and Rights of his Countrey, and to the brave Assetors thereof, all which are before made evident, did not equal the unparallel'd Tortures and heavy Oppression, under which he so long groan'd, and from which he had no prospect, and very little hope of Deliverance.

Now let the Reader reflect upon the two first of these Letters, and wonder if he can, when he finds the Doctor thrown off by King Charles; I do not say when he sees him out of his Favour, for he never had it: but, as it appears by the foregoing Rerlati­on of his Troubles, what he there gained; so, I shall here observe what he lost, and both by his uncorruptible Integrity. This can­not be done but by beginning (where he began) at his first Disco­very: That no way pleased the King, nor could it; for it spoil'd a well-laid Plot, to which he was no Stranger, (save to that part which touch'd his Life); therefore, that he might stand as far as possible out of the reach of Suspicion, he dissembles himself alarm'd, presses the searching the Plot to the bottom, appoints Mock-Fasts, and what not; and as to the Doctor, assigns him an Apartment in Whitehall, allows him daily a Table of six Dishes, Wine, and every thing proportionable, and also 40 s. per Week. This was continued till April 1679, then (besides the 40 s.) his Allowance was changed to 10 l. per Week, which he received till Midsummer 1680, when a stop was put to the Paiment thereof. But in November follow­ing, upon the Address of the House of Lords, the King gave him 200 Guinea's for his Arrears, and ordered him the Allowance of 10 l. per Week, which was constantly paid till the Dissolution of the Ox­ford-Parliament; at which time the King taking a Resolution not to be further troubled with unuseful and dangerous Parliaments, (what­ever [Page 44]ever the fawning Addressers pretended to think) together with the Parliament, threw off the Doctor, and the Popish Plot, and (taking Sir Roger to his aid) made another much more grateful to him; in which, having served the Interest of the French King and his Bro­ther, as long as they had occasion for him, he himself at length was removed as useless.