APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 393

April 29, 1679. Dover. Francis Bastwick to Henry Coventry.

This day I received advice of one Col. Scott coming from Folkestone to take horse here for London, and on his arrival I seized him and sent for the Comm. of the passage. His examination I send you enclosed, upon which we found cause to commit him (which was accordingly done by the deputy mayor) into safe custody until we had further orders from one of his Majesty’s principal secretaries what to do with him. He owns himself to be the same person we have had orders for several months past to seize at his landing. Col. Strode, deputy formerly, had an order to seize Col. Scott as I remember from Mr. Secretary Coventry, but I am not certain but Col. Strode or his deputy are at present in the place.

I am your most humble servant Fran. Bastwick. I desire your speedy answer when you have acquainted my L^d. Sunderland. Col. Scott has been found in many contrary tales, and went at his landing by the name of John Johnson.

Coventry Papers xi. 396

From the examination of Colonel Scott at Dover, April 29, 1679. That he is a pensioner to the prince of Condi, and hath formerly commanded the prince of Condi’s regiment of horse in the French service. And that the said prince of Condi sent him over in September last in order for the surveying of several parcels of lands and woods in Burgandie and Picardie was the occasion of his going over.

That the occasion of his return is to see his native country, and his profession is a soldier. The said Colonel offered to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and the test.

Coventry Papers xi. 397

Undated. Paper headed: An account of what the Earl of Barkeshire desired Colonel John Scot to communicate to His Ma^ty. with what passed before the discourse. (Endorsed by Coventry in the same words.)

The Earl of Barkeshire, that had lain long of a languishing sickness in Paris, was pleased to let me know he desired to advise with me about a physician. This was in March last. I told his lordship I was acquainted with an able man of our own nation, and one of the college of physicians in London, but I was of opinion his Lordship’s Roman Catholic friends would not approve of him because he was not only a strict protestant, but one that did publicly defend the doctrine of the church of England, and as publicly declare the English Roman Catholics were prosecuted on just grounds. His Lordship said that mattered not, he should not dispute that point with him, nor did he value any man the worse for differing from him in judgment, and that he was not so strait-laced as others of his opinion, and did commit himself to the charge of the said Doctor Budgeon; but it did prove too late, for this gentleman soon told his Lordship what condition he was in, and he came to my lodgings and signified to me his Lordship’s great desire to speak with me, telling me his Lordship in all human probability could not live long; and I waited upon his Lordship the morning following, and he having commanded his servants out of the chamber, and to suffer nobody to come in till he called, spake to me as I remember these very words:—

Colonel Scot, you are my friend; I must commit a secret to you; there has been a foolish and an ill design carried on in England: I don’t tell you the Roman Catholic religion is a foolish business, for it is the faith I will die in, but ’tis the giddy madness of some of that religion I blame. I knew nothing on’t till my Lord Arundel, Mr. Coleman, and others told me the business could not miscarry, and that I should be looked upon as an ill man if I came not in in time, and truly I believed them. I was none of the contrivers, I was not consulted with till towards the latter end of the day, nor did I ever hear anything mentioned about killing the king; if I had, I would have discovered it, and so indeed I ought to have done what I did know, as well for the personal obligations I had to his Majesty as that which my allegiance obliges me to, and every man too; for my Lord Bellasis is an ill man; he and others were accustomed to speak ill of the king, indeed very irreverently.

Then I asked his Lordship who those others were; but he answered, prithee, good Colonel, ask me no questions; if I had known of approaching dangers to the king, I should have told him. He then fetched a great sigh and wept, but presently said, Friend, I see things will go as you will; for God’s sake promise me you will find some way to tell the king every word I say, and that though some passages in letters of mine may look a little oddly, I would have run any hazard rather than have suffered any injury to have been done to his Majesty’s person: ’tis true I would have been glad to have seen all England Catholic, but not by the way of some ill men. My Lord Stafford was all along a moving agent, and was here in France about the business; the man of himself is not very malicious. My Lord Powis his covetousness drew him in further than he would have gone. I believe and hope there will hardly be found matter against them to take away their lives, but pray the king from a poor dying man not to have to do with any of those four Lords I have named, for they love not his person.

My Lord Peeter has always had a great love and reverence for the king’s person; ’tis true this last wife of his is foolishly governed by priests and influences him; but he was ever averse to all things of intrigue in this matter. I need not desire you to be secret, your own safety will oblige you. My Lord Cardigan and others being at the door and calling to this Lord, the servants were ordered to let them in, and before them he said, pray don’t forget the hundredth we spake of, nor the business at Rohan. I was there once more with the Doctor, but he grew exceeding deaf; he said only then to me: Colonel, don’t forget what I said to you for God’s sake. This is the very manner he spake it.

John Scot.

Coventry Papers xi. 171

December 23, 1676. Hague. A letter, unsigned. Note by Coventry at head—To one Johnson: at foot—shewed his Maj. 23rd of Dec. 76.

In my last I made some observations to you of the working of the old spirit in the Popish party: at this time will now only add that the same seemeth not to be restrained to England.... The popish humour beginneth to spread itself over the English regiments, especially the regiment lately Col. Tanwicke. One Wisely is made Col., being Lieut. Col. before. Archer the major is made Lieut. Col., both Irish Papists, and the rest of the officers are generally papists and mad Irish, and for aught we know for the most part recommended by the Duke of York. Now albeit this be true that this congregating of Papists together in a body be in the dominion of another state, yet it is true they are subjects of England and in regard to the ... circumstances of England in my poor opinion worthy the public notice.

Coventry Papers xi. 506

Undated. Letter without address or signature; deciphered from numbers written in very light ink in place of all important words, so that all those in the decipher stand between the lines.

Col. Scot doth send his letters by way of Mons. Gourville, in whose chamber he writes them, so that I see little hopes of doing what you know, though the undertaker doth still insist for the contrary. I am ready for the journey, hoping Mr. Secretary will be so just as to spare naming me till that service is done, for I should be sorry to trust any other who I do know to have contrived my being disliked in this court. A lady of quality, my good friend, returned yesterday from Bretagne and assures a great arming upon those coasts and an army of forty thousand men ready to ship at Nantes, Brest, etc., whenever commanded to sea, to save (as they report) the K. of England from destruction. The lady, if there were no disguise in the outward state of things in England (which many do think there is), might I think be brought to use her knowledge for his Majesty’s service, but my hands are tied, and you know how things stand with you.

Coventry Papers xi. 313

May 21 1678. St. Malo. Thomas Kelly to Mr. William Talbot in Corn Market, Dublin.

I pray you to pay to Mr. John Plunket the sum of 89 pounds sterling by the review of this letter; in doing so you will satisfy your creditor. Made the 21st of May at St. Malo, 1678.

Thomas Kelly.

[The above is in plain dark ink. What follows is light and indistinct; the characters were evidently written in milk or lemon-juice, and made visible by being held to the fire.]

When I came from Paris to St. Germaine where I stayed some time and among other speeches I heard in dophin [sic] Chamber from some which were there that if the English should make war against them they should easily excite a rebellion both in Scotland and Ireland, and sending by some Marshal of France 10 men of war with all things necessary for to make up 2000 soldiers in Ireland and that, by the help of some skillful Irishmen, and under their conduct all the Irish should be, they may easily overcome all Ireland. This was the discourse of those gentlemen in Dorphin [sic] Chamber, but whether it comes to effect or not I cannot tell.... [Goes on to give particulars of the numbers and strength of the French navy on the north coast.]

Coventry Papers xi, 310

July 6, 1678. Kimper. David Neal to John Plunket at sign of the Ship in the Corn Market in Dublin.

[Of the same character as the last. The letter, in black ink, is frivolous. Interlined in light writing as follows.]

I have been over all places where I was bound, but the fairest places is Brest, and afterwards Havre and St. Malos for merchants. The names of them that are capable to serve I did send long since. All other places are nothing after these places neither is there any man of war in them other places unless they should stay for a day or two expecting to convoy others.... [Gives other particulars of ships and a list of names of captains of French men of war. Concludes—]

If you please I intend to go home since the time is past whenever I was engaged, neither will my friends have me to apply myself to it. Your resolution hereupon I will willingly see as soon as possible, for I have not much money to stay long in ... country as dear as this is.

Coventry Papers xi. 317

June 17, 1678. Rochford. Walter B—— à Monsieur Patric Roch à la place au blé à Dublin. (Endorsed in Coventry’s hand): Mr. Burke.

[Of the same nature as the last two, and in the same handwriting.] There is nothing here worthy of relation only that all the people of this country is very desirous to have war against you, and specially all the seamen desire no other thing but it.... [Further particulars of French ships, mostly merchant vessels. One passage in the black ink deserves to be noted.] This is the fourth letter which I did write to your honour without receiving any answer.

Coventry Papers xi. 204

April 14, 1678. St. Omers. Sam Morgan to his father. (Copy of same 205.)

(Endorsed in Coventry’s hand.) Send to Doc^t. Lloyd to learn where Morgan the father liveth, and how I may write to him.—Mr. Morgan the father lives at Kilkin in Flintshire near the Bp. of Bangor.

Honoured Father! These are next to my humble duty unto yourself and my mother to acquaint you with my present condition. I am here entered in a College called Flamstead amongst good gentlemen, and am well beloved of them all. The place is very good for meat and drink and other necessaries, but my fear is and am in good measure satisfied that my uncle intends me for a priest. He spoke nothing unto me as yet, but I partly understand that he is of that opinion, which when I considered on is clean against my conscience. I daily see and know what they are, and am utterly dissatisfied with and condemn the principles and practices of their diabolical opinions, for I dare not call it religion. If you would be pleased to call for me home I think I should be very well; for now (I thank God) I got more learning here since I came than I should have gotten anywhere in Wales in 7 or 8 years. I have competent skill in Greek and Latin, and can write a little of both: if you would be pleased to take me home, I should thank my uncle for my learning, and let him take whom he thinks fit for his priest.

I must stay here 18 years yet, and God knows who would be alive then; and for all that, if I were like to be a comfort to my friends, I would stay with all my heart, though I utterly abhor their ways. If you intend to take me home it must be done within this two years at furthest; otherwise it will be too late; and if you be of that resolution put two strokes in the bottom of your letter; be sure you mention it not publicly in my letter, for then the Reader, which is the master of the house, will come to know it; for there is not a letter that comes in or goes out of the house but he has the perusal of it, but now I write this and deliver it privately to an honest man that set out this day hence; so that the master knows nothing of it. No more but that you would use some means to redeem me from this great captivity, who am in extraordinary haste.

Your dutiful son, Sam Morgan.

Joseph Lane.

P.R.O. Roman Transcripts. Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Francia 332

December 2, 1678. L’Abb^e G. B. Lauri à S. EM^za.

Ancor che lo stato presente d’Inghilterra, e la risposta datami la settimania passata dal Sig^r di Pomponne non mi facessero sperare cos’ alcuna di buono intorno all’ assistenza richiesta a favore del Sig^r Duca di Yorch; nondimeno a proporzione della premura di N.S. e dell’ importanza dell’ affare, ne rimovai le instanze al suddetto ministro Martedì passato, nel qual giorno per questi e per altri negozii pendenti mi portai à Varsaglia; egli soggiunsi che il credito talvolta e l’assistenza del Re di Francia avrebbe potuto ristabilire il partito del Sig^r Duca di Yorch e de’ Catholici di quel regno, quando S. M^ta si fosse dichiarata per loro. Rispose tuttevia il Sig^r di Pomponne che tutti i Catholici d’Inghilterra ò erano imprigionati ò erano stati discacciati di Londra. Il med^mo Sig^r Duca di Yorch restava escluso dall’ essercizio delle sue cariche, e tutti indifferemente venivano osservati in maniera che il dichiararsi nello stato presente per loro altre non sarebbe stato che un accrescergli le persecuzioni, e finir di ruinare il partito Catholico di quel regno; per queste ragioni avere stimato S. M^ta che non sia tempo di prestar l’assistenza richiesta, mentre il cambiamento delle cose faceva ogni conoscere che tal consiglio non era pin utile, come ragionevolmente avra per altro potuto stimarsi prima che succedessero le mutazioni accennati. Io dunque essendo cosi cambiate di faccia le cose d’Inghilterra, ed incontrando que le scritte difficoltà, tralascierò di fare altre istanza per quest’ affare finche da V.S., informata che sia delle cose che passano, mi vengano nuovi comandamenti.

APPENDIX B

Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 237

October 28, 1678. Copy of the letter sent to Mr. Sec. Coventry subscribed T. G. Concerning the murder of Sir Edmond Bury Godfrey.

This is to certify you that upon his Majesty’s Declaration I have been both at Whitehall and at your own house these three days together, and never can be admitted to come to the speech of your worship. Whereupon I thought fit to give you an account what it is I can declare, which is as follows:—Being on Tuesday the 15th, of this instant October, in a victualling house in White Friars I chanced to hear two persons a discoursing, the one saying to the other that if he would go down to Billingsgate he would treat him there with wine and oysters, whereupon the other replied and said: “What you are uppish then are you?” Upon which words he swore, God dampe him (sic), he had money enough, and draws a bag out of his pocket and says. There were fifty pounds. Whereupon the other party was very inquisitive to know how he came by it, and did importune him very much, and at the last he told him that if he would swear to be true to him and never discover, he would tell him. Whereupon he did make all the imprecations and vows that could possibly be that he would never discover, whereupon he told him that the last night he with three men did murder Sir Edward Bury Godfrey and he had that £50 for his pains, and said that he believed he could help him to some money if he would go along with him on the morrow night following. Upon these words the other asked him where it was done and who the other three was that was with him, and he told him that he murdered him at Wild House, and the other three that was concerned with him was gentlemen. Two belonged to my Lord Bellasis, and the other to my Lord Petres, but of the Monday before, there was a court held at Wildhouse and there they tried him, and there was a man like a priest who passed sentence of death upon him; and likewise he asked him how he came to be concerned in it, and he told him that there was a broker that lodged in Eagle Court in the Strand that spoke to him of it: so this is all I can testify of, but only that I can give some account in what a barbarous manner they murdered him. This man’s name is Hogshead, he liveth (?) at the Temple and Whitefriars very much. So, Sir, if you please to give orders to your servant, and let me come to the speech of you, I will come and make oath of it, and with this proviso that I may have the liberty to make a fuller discovery of it, I not being anything out of pocket myself; I desire your answer to-morrow morning to be left at the place mentioned in my former letter, and withal desire it may be more private than the last.

Your humble servant to command, T. G.

From the Temple this 28th instant 1678.

Coventry Papers xi. p. 235. Coventry’s answer to this.

October 28, 1678. To his very loving friend T. G. these.

(Note added by Coventry below the address): This letter was sent to the Rainbow Coffee House, but never called for, and was brought back by Col. Vernon.

I have yours, and am abundantly satisfied with it, but know not how to answer it at large. Will you tell me by what name I shall subscribe it to you; whether your own or another it matters not so you are sure to receive it. If you enquire for one Mr. Evans at my house to-morrow or any morning he shall bring you to me, when I will give you my best advice and assistance in what you desire.

I am, Your humble servant, Henry Coventry.

Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 11058: 244

Nov. 7, 1678. Mr. Bedloe’s confession before his Majesty of the murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey.

He saith that the Saturday Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was missing, about two in the afternoon as he (Godfrey) was going home, two or three gentlemen met him and said they could discover some persons near the Strand Bridge that were agitators in the Plot, upon which Sir E. Godfrey showed great readiness, but they desired him to walk into a houseyard till a constable was got ready; but Sir E. Godfrey had scarce made two or three turns but several people rushed out upon him and stopped his mouth; two friars and some of Lord Bellasis’ servants executing the same, and having carried him into an inner chamber demanded of him Mr. Oates his deposition, promising they would save his life if he would render it to them; yet their design was to have taken away his life though he had given them that satisfaction. Sir Edmund Berry told them that the king and council had them, and therefore he could not possibly do what they desired. Upon which expression they began to use him inhumanly and barbarously, kneeling upon his breast till they thought he was dead; but they opened his bosom and found his heart panted; then they took a cravat and tied it hard about his neck, and so ended his life. He says further that he came too late to be assistant in the murder, for he found him strangled and lying dead on the floor, but presently received an account from the actors in what manner it was performed. His corpse was laid at the high altar of the Queen’s chapel, and continued there till they had consulted a way for removing the same secretly from thence.

He further saith that two guineas were the reward promised among the undertakers, and on Wednesday following the corpse was conveyed in a sedan to Lord Bellasis’ house, and from thence carried in a coach to the place where it was found. He also acquainted the Lords that he had several things to communicate to them which related to the Plot, and that he was able to confirm several passages which Mr. Oates had discovered concerning the plot, but he desired leave to give his testimony in writing, that so he might make no other discovery than what he could be able to testify.

Actors: Mr. Eveley, Mr. Leferry, Jesuits; Penchard and Atkins, laymen; the keeper of the Queen’s chapel and a vally de chambre to the Lord Bellasis.

P.R.O. S.P. Dom. Charles II 407: ii. 29. Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 272–274.

7th Nov. 1678. Before his Majesty.

Mr. Bedloe informs,

A contrivance between Charles Wintour and the governour of Chepstow Castle, and Mr. Charles Milbourn and Mr. Vaughan of Cont ... and his son, to be in arms when my Lord Powis would in Cardiganshire, to give up the castle to Mr. Charles Wintour and army of 20^m men.

Mr. Thimbleby in Lincoln: under Lord Bellasis was to have 20^m men. 20^m religious men were to meet at S^t. Jago to come over into Wales from the Groin, and meet Lord Powis and the aforesaid gentlemen in arms.

20^m out of Flanders to meet Lord Bellasis and Mr. Thimbleby: to land at Burlington Bay. Has known this by being four years among them.

Qu. What proofs.

Resp. Has lived among the Jesuits four years, and had all he had from them, etc.

Has been in Spain. Employed from five Jesuits to Sir W. Godolphin, Stapleton, Latham, Le Fere, Cave and Sheldon.

Cave and Le Fere sent him to Doway last summer 12 months. 20 months since, and thence by Paris, etc., to Madrid.

Le Fere told him of this design.

Lodges where Captain Atkins lodges, where Walsh the priest lodges, near Wild House.

Mr. Selvyns at the back door of the Palgrave’s Head will show where Captain Atkins lodges, and consequently where Le Fere.

Le Fere is an Englishman, calls himself a Frenchman. The passage of the 20^m men from Flanders was to be from Newport.

As to Sir Edmond Godfrey; was promised 2000 guineas to be in it by Le Fere, my Lord Bellasis’ gentleman, and the youngest of the waiters in the Queene’s chapel, in a purple gown and to make the people orderly. They did not tell him at first who was to be killed nor till he was killed.

They murdered him in Somerset House in the corner room, the left hand as you come in, near Madame Macdonnel’s lodgings, and near the room where the duke of Albemarle lay in state.

Stifled him with a pillow, then he struggling they tied a cravat about his neck and so strangled him.

Le Fere told him so, having sent for him by a footman in a blue livery to Somerset House in the walk under the dial. ’Twas done in hopes the examinations he had taken would never come to light.

Obj. The King. The parties were still alive to give the informations.

Resp. In hopes the second informations taken from the parties would not have agreed with the first, and so the thing would have been disproved and made it not be believed. For this reason the Lord Bellasis advised it. Coleman and my Lord Bellasis advised to destroy him.

The informant was born at Chepstow, bred up an indifferent scholar. His friends all protestant since the world began. Went into the Prince of Orange’s army, where finding the religious houses kind and obliging, he hearkened to their arguments, etc., and so was persuaded.

Was never an officer in the Prince of Orange’s army. Was designed to be lieutenant to Vaudepert, a captain. Employed some time to make levies in England from Holland, etc.

My Lord Bellasis’ gentleman is he that waits on him in his chamber, and none other dresses him but he. Middle stature. Little whiskers like a Frenchman.

The Trappan. They persuaded Godfrey that if he would go a little way into the Strand they would make out a great discovery to him. He called a constable and appointed him to meet him at Strand bridge with power, in the interim of which they persuaded him, Godfrey, to walk into Somerset House, where walking with two of them, the Lord Bellasis’ gentleman and a certain Jesuit whom he knows not, others came and with gloves stopped his mouth and hurried him into the room.

The Informant escaped yesterday fortnight by the coach from the Talbot in the Strand to Bristol. Coming to Bristol sent for his mother, and upon her blessing she charged him to discover whatever he knew. Will take his oath and the Sacrament of all this. Has had racks of all this for a year in his conscience. Would have gotten from them three months ago when the king was at Windsor, they about the time whispering something, but not so as to let him know it.

Conyers is a Jesuit, and Pridgeot, and Lewis. Sir John Warner was in the Plot. Le Fere, Keimes, Welsh, Lewis, Pridgeot.

Keimes is in the north of Scotland or beyond the sea. Went two months ago into the north; was with Le Fere the night before. He went to Ernham to Mr. Thimbleby and so northwards.

Mr. Welsh, the chapel-keeper, Le Fere, my Lord Bellasis’ servant, strangled him.

The Chapel keeper carried him off. They carried him off in a chair about Piccadilly and so on to the fields.

He did not see him after he was dead.

Le Fere sent to him by a foot-boy immediately afterwards to tell him of it.

Wintour told him two years ago that if he would keep private so great a design, he should be governour to Chepstow Castle, etc. My Lord of Worcester has kept a very ingenious gunsmith, one David Winkett, in his house for many years to make arms. Mr. Charles Price, steward to my Lord of Worcester, took them off from time to time and disposed of them to my Lord Powis. Mr. Christall, my Lord Powis’ servant, told him my lord had the finest arms of that man’s making, etc. Mr. Jones, a sugar baker on College Hill, can tell where his the informant’s brother is. His brother was with him in Spain, and wondered how he could live as he did.

Le Fere. Lord Bellasis’ gentleman. The usher of the Queen’s chapel, etc.

Lords Journals xiii. 343

Bedloe’s statement at the bar of the House of Lords. Die Veneris 8 die Novembris.

The Lord Treasurer reported by his Majesty’s directions, “That yesterday one William Bedlowe was examined at Whitehall concerning the discovery of the murder of Sir Edmond Bury Godfrey, and that his Majesty had given order he should be brought to give this house an account thereof.”

Who being brought to the Bar and had his oath given him, made a large narrative to this effect.

“That he was born in Monmouthshire and was of the Church of England till within these two years, that by Persuasion and Promises from the Jesuits he was drawn over to them: that he is not in orders. He knows that Sir E. B. Godfrey was murdered in Somerset House, on the Saturday, by Charles Walsh and—Le Fere Jesuits, and two laymen, one a gentleman that waits on the Lord Bellasis, the other an underwaiter in the Queen’s Chapel. That he saw the body of Sir E. B. Godfrey, after he was murdered, before he was carried out, and Le Fere told him ‘He was stifled between two pillows,’ and he was offered 2000 guineas to be one of the three to carry out the body, which was kept either in the room or the next where the D. of Albemarle lay in state: That the Chairmen who carried out the body on Monday night at nine of the clock are retainers to Somerset House; but he knows them not.”

He saith “That Walsh and Le Fere and Pritchard told him ‘that the Lord Bellasis employed them in this business.’”

He said further “That Walsh and Le Fere informed him ‘That the Lord Bellasis had a commission to command Forces in the North, the Earl of Powis in S. Wales, and the Lord Arundell of Warder had a commission from the Pope to grant commissions to whom he pleased’: That Coleman had been a great agitator in the design against the King; And that he, asking the Jesuits ‘Why they had not formerly told him what they had designed concerning the king’s death?’ they answered him ‘That none but whom the Lord Bellasis gave directions for were to know of it.’ He desired he might have time to put the whole narrative into writing (which he had begun).

“And being asked if he knew Titus Oates, he denied it.”

P.R.O. S.P. Dom. Charles II 408: ii. 47

Prance’s examination before the Council. The notes are in Sir Joseph Williamson’s handwriting. Dec. 24, 78. Prance called in, etc.

On a certain Monday—with a twisted handkerchief—in the corner near the stables. Carried him into a house in the dark entry, leading up out of the lower court into the upper. Left at that house where Hill lived then, two days, in the dark entry—by the water-gate. There Hill and Gerald and the cushion-man (Green) carried him away. About ten Hill told this informant to go to the other side of the house. Green told him that he thought he had broke his neck before he was carried into Hill’s house. After that, 4 days after. Hill carried him and shewed him the place where he lay with a dark lanthorn about 9 o’clock—and Hill brought him back to his house. Green and Gerald were there—and not having conveniency for keeping him in his own house, conveyed him into another house on the other side.—Hill procured a sedan, and had him carried in a sedan from Hill’s out at the end gate of the upper court. This was Wednesday night.—Was carried as far as the Greyhound in the Soho. He was one that carried him. Green and Gerald and Irishman who lay over the stables in certain lodgings that Green has there.—From Hill’s house first he was carried somewhere to the other side of the house, towards the garden, and Hill met them about the new church with a horse, and he was set upon that horse and carried away, and the sedan was left in one of the new houses when they came back. He came back to his house, and Hill went with the body. Green, Gerald, and the Irishman went also with the body.—Gerald said to him that my Lord Bellasis engaged them to the thing, and said there would be a reward, not yet. Does not know my Lord Bellasis.—Killed him because he loved not the Queen or her servants, therefore Green and Hill, etc.—One Owen in Bloomsbury was in the shop where he changed £100.—Two or three went to his house to ask after him, the maid answered he was not within, etc. They found him out and dogged him, till he came over against the water-gate, came from St. Clement’s, about 9 o’clock, etc. Hill, etc., dogged him. He was not there.—Two feigned a quarrel in the gate, and he was called in to appease the quarrel.—He knew Gerald a year and a half. Hill upon five years. Green about a year, etc.—Hill was without and prayed Godfrey to walk in to quiet the quarrel. He walks within the gate (?) and the upper Court.—Knows not if any guard at the gate. Knows not if any company. About 9 at night—He was strangled in the upper court on the stable side in a corner that is railed (?). He struggled. Carried in at the water-gate.—He had the £100 in gold from Owens in Bloomsbury. Being to go out of town as a papist he got this informant to get it for him. It was nothing to this ... [a line very indistinct]. He stood at the water-gate while he was strangled. Bury the porter stood the other way, he watched also there.—Hill dwells in Stanhope Street, keeps a victualling house.

As to the Plot. Was in Ireland’s chamber. Groves, Fenwick were there. Ireland said there would be 50^m men in arms. So Fenwick. Two or three days after Groves came to his house to buy two swords.—Said my Lords Powis, Bellasis, Peters, Arundell should become councillors.—That Bellasis, Powis, Arundell were to govern the army.... [Some words indistinct].

One Le Fere came to his shop to ask for a silver sword hilt. Knows not who he is more than that he is.—Knows not Walsh, Pritchard, nor Le Fere not by the names.—50^m men.—They hoped Cath. Rel. would be established in a little time, etc.—Heard nothing of the killing of the King, etc.—Godfrey was kept from the time of his being killed in a sitting posture, etc.—One Mr. Moore, servant to the D. of Norfolk, being on a great horse, etc., would we had 10^m of them, etc.—His ill-will to Godfrey (that the Queen could not protect her servants)—Knows nothing of the plot nor of any person in it.—That one—a Messenger belonging to Lord Arundell said—He hoped the R. C. Rel. would before long flourish in England.

Has declared everything he knows, everything, etc.—Green, Hill, etc., said Godfrey had used some Irishman ill—Owen knows nothing of all this that he learns (?).—Saw Ireland last at Will’s coffee house in Covent Garden and Dr. Southwell were drinking with him in his own house the night before Pickering was taken, etc.

APPENDIX C

Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 148

Lord Windsor to Henry Coventry. July 8, 1676.

I was yesterday at the trial of Studesbury of Broadly at Worcester assizes, where Judge Atkyns sat upon the bench. The treason was fully proved against him according to that information I did send you. The judge took occasion by advice of those justices which were upon the bench to make the trial long, the better to discover whether he were distracted or not: upon the whole examination and by the answers he made to the many questions that were asked him, it was the opinion of all that sat upon the bench (which were many) that he was very sensible and in no way mad, but in justifying Venner’s action and holding the worst of the fanatic opinions, and often using their ranting way of talking; he said he held a halberd at the trial of the late King, and repeated some of his words with Bradshaw’s answers to them, and said the putting of Venner and his associates to death was murder. The chief witness against him (besides his own confession) was one Harrington, an anabaptist mentioned in the first examination, which Harrington being asked if he did judge Studesbury mad upon the first discourse he had with him (which held near an hour) when he would have advised him to take arms against the King, he declared he found nothing of that mind in him, but thought he designed to ensnare him; yet notwithstanding all this the jury found him a madman. Upon that the judge told them that he and all that sat with him were of a contrary opinion and desired them to withdraw and consider better of’t, which they did do and came in again of the same opinion, one of them saying that if he were not mad he would not have said what he did.

Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 28042: 19

Memorandum by the Marquis of Danby. (Endorsed) Mem^d. (7–8/9.)

To put forth a declaration. To examine the present state of the revenue: to consider about stop of payment and when: what is yet to come in upon the accounts and at what times: To know what is due to the ships abroad: at what times those ships are expected: in what state the victualling is. In what hands the militia; the justices of the peace: the judges. When the dissolution ought to be: what preparation for a new Parliament and when: About the sheriffs: the next Lord Mayor: the Cinque Ports: the Port towns by the commissioners of the customs, of treasury, of Navy: who have a particular interest in Borrows. To consider what grateful things may be done in this interval of Parliament: what should be said in the declaration upon the dissolution: for these q^e Sir R. W. (Weston) and let the journals of the Commons be searched for their proceedings in this last session: To consider wherein they have exceeded all the due limits of their own power as in imprisonment of men who are not their members, etc., and meddling with the King’s prerogatives and private accounts, etc.: To keep Lord Roberts by some encouragement: About another Attorney-General, viz.: Sir R. W. (Weston) (which is of main importance): what change of Councillors. In what condition all the garrisons are as to their fortifications: what number of forces and where placed after the disbanding: to inquire into the riots at the last elections. How conventicles should be inquired after, and what penal laws should be put in execution: who to be in the Treasury and in the treasury of the Navy: what can be done for the suppressing of seditious prints and papers: About directing somebody to write both about the present state of things to give the world a better impression of them than they are now possessed with and to give constant weekly accounts of what is done at any time which may be for the satisfaction of men’s minds. Q. Whether the Plot not triable out of Parliament. Q. About securing the arms of all who have been officers in the late Rebellion. To take their names and abodes in all counties. Q; how for to take notice of them and dissenters from the Church how busy they have appeared of late and what reasonable cause of danger to the government from them. Parliament to be called to some other place: the King to reside out of London: Tower to be well secured: L^d Ossory sent to the Navy: that to be officered so as to have influence upon their men: To have a control to know justly when the army is all disbanded and whether there be any remains. About the Tower in case of insurrection: To take some course about the reasons of the Commons which are printed, (?) to suppress them and to have something writ to satisfy the people.

Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 32095; 196

(Paper endorsed) Popish Plot. This paper was presented to the King by the D. of York, Oct. 20^th 1679.

That in or about May or June last Col. Fitzpatrick delivered to the Pope’s internuncio at Brussels a letter or paper subscribed by four R. C. bishops, two of which were Plunket archbp. of Armagh, and Tyrel bp. of Clogher, recommending the said Fitzpatrick for the only person fit to be entrusted general of an army for establishing the R. C. religion in Ireland under the French sovereignty, which paper after coming to the internuncio’s hands was seen by several clergy and laymen, known to Father Daly, procurator, F. O’Neill, commissary. F. Macshone, guardian of the Irish Franciscans, and F. Macmahone alias Matthews, Prior of the Dominicans in Lovain, among whom ’tis also said that Fitzpatrick carried such another instrument into France, where he first arrived from Ireland and whence he went into Flanders, where he resolved to settle at Brussels. But he was forced to remove thence by his R.H. commands, which he obeyed not without much regret and murmuring.

P.R.O. Roman Transcripts. Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Fiandra 66

Di Brusselles dal Sig^r Internuncio, May 24/June 3, 1679.

In Ibernia, dove il numero de’ Cattolici è molto maggiore che quello de’ Protestanti, ha gran seguito e autorità il Colonello Fitzpatrice, onde il Duca d’Jorch a mostrato haverlo veduto malvolontieri venire à Brusselles, per dubbio che il Parlamento pigliando gelosia del ricorso di lui à S. A. Reale prenda motivo di maggiormente inasprirsi contro la medesima, contro di essa, e contro il Duca d’Ormond. N’è perciò egli partito per Olanda à titolo di veder quel paese, ma precedentemente ha tenuta una segreta conferenza col Sig^r Duca d’Jorch, dopo la quale mi ha lasciato intendere soffrirsi troppo patientemente da S. A. Reale l’audacia de’ Parlamentarii, e doversi di gia pensare almeno à modi di respingerla quando la temerità loro e la debolezza del Rè d’Inghilterra passasse à porre in esecutione il projetto della sua diseredatione. Toccante l’Ibernia ha detto chiaramente essere insofferibile il giogo sotto l’oppressione del quale gemono quei Cattolici, e ha aggiunto che apprendendosi per massima naturale il difendersi in qualsivoglia maniera, non dubita egli che non fussero per commoversi tutti concordemente, non solo se il Sig^r Duca d’Jorch ma se qualunque barbaro Principe con qualque denaro, e con assistenza di pochi vascelli si accostasse alle spiaggie dell’ Isola, e portasse armi e munitioni da guerra à quelli habitanti.

APPENDIX D

“The trial of John Giles at the Old Bailey, for assaulting and attempting to murder John Arnold, Esq.,” is a case which presents some difficulty.770

Arnold’s character for activity against the Roman Catholics has already been mentioned. The way in which this trial is regarded materially affects the answer to the question whether or no he exceeded the legitimate bounds of his magisterial duty. If Giles was rightly convicted, the excess was not great; if wrongly and the attempt on Arnold’s life was a sham, not only did Arnold lend himself to a criminal and most disreputable intrigue, but all his other actions must be more severely judged. The case was as follows. Arnold had accused Mr. Herbert, a Roman Catholic gentleman of Staffordshire, of speaking seditious words against the king and government.771 They were both ordered to appear before the privy council on April 16, 1680.772 On the day before that date it was alleged that Giles, who was a friend of Herbert,773 attempted to murder Captain Arnold. For this Giles was tried on July 7, before Jeffreys, the Recorder of London, and convicted after what seemed to be a singularly fair trial. The case for the prosecution was that, as Arnold was going between ten and eleven o’clock on the night of April 15 to see his solicitor, he was assaulted in Bell-yard, Fleet Street, by the accused and one or two other persons, and but for the appearance of the neighbours would have been murdered. Giles had spoken disrespectfully of the Plot and the Protestant religion, had been seen to dip handkerchiefs in the blood of the Jesuit Lewis who was executed the year before at Usk,774 and was supposed to have attacked Arnold in revenge for the part he had played in the capture of Evans. Arnold himself gave evidence of the fact. He swore that he had been dogged by two or three men into Bell-yard. One of these went by him and then stood still while the magistrate passed. By the light of a candle which a woman was holding at the door of a neighbouring house Arnold saw the man whom he afterwards recognised to be the prisoner. As he crossed a lane which ran into the yard, a cloak was thrown over his head and he was knocked down into the gutter, though not before he had time to draw his sword. As he lay on the ground the men stabbed at him with their swords. He was cut in the face, the arm, and the stomach, but the men were unable to pierce the bodice of whalebone which he wore under his coat. One of them cried, “Damme, he has armour on; cut his throat.” A light in Sir Timothy Baldwin’s house, hard by, and a boy coming into the yard with a link disturbed the murderers and they made off. As the cloak was pulled from his head, Arnold again recognised the prisoner by the light of the link. The men swaggered away and one turned back to call, “Now, you dog, pray for, or pray again for the soul of Captain Evans.”775

The evidence called to support and to oppose this was very contradictory. It was sworn that, talking about the affray at a tavern next day, Giles said, “God damn him, God rot him, he had armour on”; but the witness admitted that he might have said, “God rot him, he had armour on, they say.”776 The prisoner declared that he merely told it as a common piece of news that Arnold would have been killed had he not worn armour, and called a witness who affirmed that this was so, that Giles had called the attempt “a cruel assassination” of which he was sorry to hear, and had made use of no oaths at all.777 Evidence was given for the crown that Giles had hurried through Usk on May 5, saying that he was afraid of being arrested for the assault on Arnold, and at a cutler’s shop where he went to have a sword mended said he had been fighting “with damned Arnold.”778 This was contradicted by the Mayor of Monmouth, who proved that Giles had not hurried through Usk, but stayed there several hours; and by the cutler’s apprentice, who proved that when the prisoner was asked, “How came your sword broke? Have you been fighting with the devil?” so far from speaking the words alleged, he had answered, “No, for I never met with Arnold.”779 A great deal of evidence was given concerning the prisoner’s movements on the night of April 15. He had passed the evening in company at various taverns, and had finally gone to sleep at the King’s Arms in St. Martin’s Lane; but as the witnesses arrived at the times o’clock to which they deposed by guess-work alone, their evidence was naturally contradictory; and it seems now quite impossible to know certainly whether Giles was, as the prosecution contended, seen last at ten o’clock and did not go to bed till one in the morning, or, as the witnesses for the defence stated, had been in company till the hour of eleven or twelve.780 According to the evidence therefore, which Jeffreys summed up at length and with moderation,781 it was open to the jury to find either for or against the prisoner, and after deliberating for half an hour they returned a verdict of guilty. Giles was sentenced to the fine of £500 and to be pilloried three times. On July 26 he was pilloried in Lincoln’s Inn Fields and was pelted so severely that his life was in danger; and when the remainder of the sentence was carried out in Holborn and the Strand, he had to be protected from the mob by a guard of constables and watchmen.782

The real case against Arnold and in favour of the prisoner did not come into court. Sir Leoline Jenkins, secretary of state, employed an agent to draw up a report on the subject. The report was confined entirely to the assault itself and did not discuss the movements of either Arnold or Giles before or afterwards. It is notable that Arnold himself was the only witness as to the manner of the attack and the incidents connected with it, and that the important part of his evidence was wholly uncorroborated. Although he wished to deny the fact, he was well acquainted with Giles, who had been his chief constable, and probably knew enough of his movements to lay a false charge against him without running too great a risk of detection.783 Jenkins’ information throws a curious light upon his evidence. It does not afford proof that Arnold lent himself to a bogus attempt on his life, but it raises strong suspicion that this was the case. There was no motive for the reporter not to tell the truth in points of fact. His deductions are lucid and apparently sound. The government probably refrained from bringing forward the new material owing to the intense opposition which the effort to obtain Giles’ acquittal would have raised. I quote the most important portion of the minute at length from the S.P. Dom. Charles II 414: 245. The paper is undated, but from internal evidence is seen to have been composed before the trial. It is without title, but is endorsed by Jenkins: “Mr. Arnold and about his being assassinated.”784

“1. Mr. Arnold was found near two at night April 15th, 1680 sitting in the dirt, wounded, leaning his head against the wall, some four yards within Jackanapes Lane, and immediately upon crying out, Murther.

“2. Quaere:—the manner of the assault. When and where he received his wounds; whether before his crying out or just at the time: what words passed on the one side and on the other, and concerning their going away laughing and triumphing.

“3. He was struck down, muffled in a cloak, and they stamped upon his breast; and yet he was found with a white hat on his head, no dirt upon it, and his clothes only dirty where he sat; though the land was fouler at that time than ordinary.

“4. Two pricks in his arm, the one so just against the other, that it seemed to be one wound; and yet hard to imagine how it should pass, for the bone.

“5. Upon his crying out, a woman held a candle from a window just over him, and two of the neighbours’ servants went immediately to him; but neither could see nor hear of anybody near him.

“6. If wounded before he cried out, ’tis a wonder that one of these boys should not hear either the blows or the scuffle; especially standing within 6 or 7 yards of him in the street, and having a duskish view of his body so long before he cried out, till upon his knocking at the door of the Sugar-loaf for drink, a servant of the house came downstairs, took his errand, went down for drink and came up again, in the meantime.

“7. Or if before this boy knocked, ’tis a wonder that upon that knocking he did not immediately cry out for succour, hearing people within distance of relieving him.

“8. If he was stunded when they left him, how could he take notice of what they said, and that they went laughing and triumphing away? Beside the danger of being heard into Sir Timothy Baldwin’s house, on the one side, and Mrs. Camden’s on the other, that looked just on to the place.

“9. If he could not be heard to cry out because he was muffled, how should he hear what the ruffians said? For they durst not speak so loud as he might cry; neither with a cloak over him could they well come at his throat.

“10. If they meant to kill him, they might have stabbed the knife into his throat; as well as have cut him; or having him down they might well have thrust him into his belly when they found the sword would not enter his bodice.

“11. There was no blood seen upon the ground neither where he lay, or thereabouts.”

The balance of probability seems to be undoubtedly that no attempt whatever was made on Arnold’s life, and that he deliberately engaged in a worse than dishonest scheme to inflame popular prejudice against the Catholics.

This result supports the evidence received from other quarters. The opinion at court and of the king himself was that the attack on Arnold was a part of the Whig political machinery. Barillon, writing on April 26/May 6, 1680, says:—“Ce prince (Charles II) n’est sans inquiétude, il voit bien par ce qu’il s’est fait sur le prétendu assassinat de Arnold que ses ennemis ne se rebuttent pas et qu’ils veulent de temps à temps faire renaître quelque occasion d’animer le peuple contre les Catholiques.”

In his manuscript history of the Plot (118) Warner gives the following account of the affair: “Supra dictum nihil magis commovisse plebem quam Godefridae eirenarchae caedes. Tentandam alterius caedem visum, eundem ad finem et aptus visus Arnoldus personam in ista tragicomica fabula sustineret, et Londini ... qui tum versabatur. Omnibus ad eam exhibendam paratis, designata hora ix vespertina, nocte illumi. Cum ergo biberet cum sociis in taberna publica, monitus a famulo instare tempus, quod ad causidicum condixerat, se statim inde proripit et conjicit in obscurissimam [sic] angiportum, destinatam scenam. Illic magnis clamoribus civium opem implorat; a papistis sibi structas insidias, sicarios ibi expectasse, jugulum haurire voluisse, sed errante ictu mentum vulnerasse; eos fuga elapsos, ubi cives convenire vidissent; eorum neminem sibi notum sed unum in tibia laesum; hunc ex vulnere, reliquos ejus indicio comprehendi posse. Hoc xix Aprilis contigit. Hinc tragice debacchant in Catholicos factiosi, Oate praeeunte: legum beneficio juste privari qui leges susque deque haberent; gladio utendum in publicos sicarios, internecione delendos, ut ne catulus quidem reliquatur; averruncandam semel pestem omnium vitae imminentem. Inventae una nocte omnes Catholicorum domus cruce cretacea signatae, percussoribus indiciae, ubi hospitarentur. Nihil deesse visum quam qui signum daret: hoc saluti fuit Catholicis sub cruce militantibus, cruce signatis. Brevi motus ipsi subsiderunt, dum constitit leniter tantum perstrictam cutem; nec constare a se, an ab alio id factum; nemo vero Catholicus erat, in quem facinoris invidia derivaretur. Testati chirurgi neminem in tota civitate vulnus in tibia habere. Unus tandem inventus in familia Powisii qui attritam lapsu tibiam oleo lenibat. Hic tentatae caedis arcessitur coram consilio regio inde ad Arnoldum deducitur. Sed cum hic eum non accusaret, et ipse probaret se navem conscendisse Brillae xix Aprilis (id est, eodem die quo tentatum facinus) et tantum tertio post die Londinum appulisse, et ipse demissus est, et Arnoldi fictae querimoniae cum risu transmissae.”

Strangely enough, Warner seems to have known nothing about the arrest and trial of Giles. Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, judging from the report of the trial, regards the attempt to murder Arnold as an act of revenge for the magistrate’s energy against the Roman Catholics, and quotes it in support of Macaulay’s suggestion that Sir Edmund Godfrey was murdered by some Catholic zealot for a similar motive.785 In the face of the probability that no real attack was made on Arnold, this support falls to the ground. It is far more likely that the rumours at court that Oates had murdered Godfrey to gain credit for the plot suggested to Arnold or his wire-pullers the method of continuing the credit of the Whig party by the shameful means of a bogus attempt on his own life.

APPENDIX E

Penal Laws in Force against Roman Catholics, 1678

1. 1 Eliz. cap. 1 (Act of Supremacy), 1559.

No foreign potentate shall exercise ecclesiastical power in the Queen’s dominions.

All the Queen’s servants, all temporal and eccles. officers, all with degrees in the universities shall take the oath of supremacy.

None shall maintain the jurisdiction of any foreign potentate in the Queen’s dominions under penalty of fine and imprisonment for the first offence, for the second of Præmunire (i.e. to be put out of the King’s protection and forfeit all goods and chattels to the crown), for the third of high treason.

2. 5 Eliz. cap. 1, 1562.

None shall maintain the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome within the Queen’s dominions under penalty of Præmunire.

Two judges of assize or justices of the peace in sessions have power to hear and determine this offence.

All members of Parliament, schoolmasters, attorneys, officers of the courts, etc., shall take the oath of supremacy on penalty of Præmunire for the first and high treason for the second offence of refusal.

3. 13 Eliz. cap. 1, 1571.

All obtaining or putting in use any Bull of absolution or reconciliation from the church of Rome shall be guilty of high treason, their concealers of misprision of treason, their comforters of Præmunire. All bringing into the Queen’s dominions crosses, beads, etc., shall be guilty of Præmunire.

4. 23 Eliz. cap. 1, 1581.

All persons pretending to have power to absolve the Queen’s subjects from their natural obedience and converting them to the church of Rome shall be guilty of high treason, and their aiders and maintainers of misprision of treason. None shall say mass under penalty of two hundred marks’ fine and a year’s imprisonment, or hear mass under penalty of one hundred marks’ fine and a year’s imprisonment.

Every person above sixteen years of age who forbears to attend church regularly (according to the Act of Uniformity 1 Eliz. c. 2 § 3) shall forfeit to the Queen the sum of £20 monthly.

5. 27 Eliz. cap. 2, 1584.

All Jesuits, seminary priests, or priests in orders from the see of Rome, being born within the Queen’s dominions and returning into or remaining in them, shall be guilty of high treason.

All others educated in Roman Catholic seminaries and not yet having received orders shall be guilty of high treason, unless they return within six months after proclamation made in London and take the oath of supremacy. Penalty for concealing a priest or Jesuit for more than twelve days, fine and imprisonment during pleasure.

6. 29 Eliz. cap. 9, 1587.

All Popish recusants shall, on conviction, pay into the exchequer twenty pounds a month: in default, two-thirds of their goods and two-thirds of their lands shall be forfeited to the Queen.

7. 35 Eliz. cap. 2, 1592.

All Popish recusants above sixteen years of age shall, on conviction, repair to their usual dwellings and not remove thence more than five miles, on pain of forfeiting all goods, lands, and annuities.

A Popish recusant, not having land worth twenty marks and goods worth forty pounds yearly, and not complying with this, shall abjure the kingdom, or not abjuring the kingdom, shall be adjudged a felon.

A Jesuit or priest refusing to answer shall be committed to prison until he do answer.

All married women shall be bound by this act, save only in the case of abjuration.

8. 1 Jac. I, cap. 4, 1603.

All statutes of Queen Elizabeth confirmed and appointed to be put in execution. The heir of a Popish ancestor, not conforming before the age of sixteen years, shall suffer the penalties of the above statutes and forfeit two-thirds of his land to the King to answer the arrears of twenty pounds a month, according to the act of 23 Eliz. cap. 1.

None shall send a child beyond seas to be instructed in the Roman Catholic religion, on pain of the fine of one hundred pounds.

9. 3 Jac. I, cap. 4, 1606.

The recusant that conforms shall receive the sacrament within one year of his conforming and once in every year, on pain to forfeit for the first offence twenty pounds, for the second forty, and so on. In forementioned cases the King may at will refuse the twenty pounds a month from a Popish recusant and take the two-thirds of his lands, saving only the recusant’s mansion-house.

The Bishop of the diocese or the justices of the peace may tender the oath of allegiance to any persons (except noblemen), being eighteen years of age and being convicted or indicted for recusancy.

Penalty for refusal to take the oath, Præmunire.

To withdraw the King’s subjects from their natural obedience, to reconcile them to the church of Rome, or to move them to promise it, is high treason.

None shall be punished for his wife’s offence.

10. 3 Jac. I, cap. 5, 1606.

Informers discovering any harbouring Popish priests or hearing mass shall have a third of the forfeiture due for the said offences, or if the whole exceeds £150, then £50.

No Popish recusant shall come to court on pain of the fine of a hundred pounds, or to London or within ten miles of it, unless a tradesman, on pain of the same fine, half to the King, half to the informer.

No Popish recusant shall practise law, medicine, or hold office in any court, ship, castle, or fort on pain of the same fine.

None whose wife is such shall hold any office in the commonwealth unless he educates his children as Protestants and takes them to church.

A married woman, being a Popish recusant, must conform a year before her husband’s death, or forfeit two-thirds of her jointure and be incapable of administering her husband’s estate.

Popish recusants must be married in open church by an Anglican minister, and must cause their children to be similarly baptised on pain of the fine of one hundred pounds, to be divided between the King, the prosecutor, and in the latter case the poor of the parish.

Popish recusants must be buried in the Anglican churchyard, on pain of a fine of twenty pounds from the executors.

Popish recusants are disabled from presenting to benefices, and from being executors, administrators, or guardians.

Two justices of the peace have power to search the houses of all Popish recusants, and of all whose wives are such, for Roman Catholic books and relics, to burn and deface them.

By warrant from four justices all arms, gunpowder, and ammunition belonging to Popish recusants may be seized.

11. 7 Jac. I, cap. 6, 1609.

Popish recusants may be required by justices of the peace (or if barons and baronesses by three privy councillors) to take the oath of allegiance. Penalty for refusing, Præmunire and imprisonment until the oath is taken. Those refusing shall be incapable of holding any office and of practising law, medicine, surgery, or any liberal science for gain.

A married woman, being a Popish recusant, and not conforming within three months after conviction, may be imprisoned by warrant of two justices of the peace (or if a baroness, of a privy councillor or bishop) until she conform, unless the husband pay £10 monthly, or forfeit a third of all his lands.

12. 3 Car. I, cap. 2, 1627.

None of the King’s subjects shall go, or send, or cause to be sent any one to be trained beyond seas in the Roman Catholic religion, or pay any money for the maintenance of others for that purpose, on pain of forfeiting all his goods, lands, and chattels, and being disabled from prosecuting any suit at law.

13. 16 Car. II, cap. 4, 1664. (The Conventicle Act, directed against all Nonconformists.)

All meetings, other than those of the family, of more than five persons declared to be unlawful and seditious conventicles.

Penalty for first offence, a fine of £5 or imprisonment for 3 months; for second, a fine of £10 or imprisonment for 6 months; for third, transportation for 7 years, or a fine of £100.

14. 17 Car. II, cap. 2, 1665. (The Five Mile Act, directed against all Nonconformists.)

No person preaching in an unlawful conventicle or meeting to approach within 5 miles of any corporation sending members to Parliament, without having taken an oath “that it is not lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take arms against the King.”

No such person shall teach in any public or private school.

Penalty for not complying, a fine of £40.

15. 25 Car. II, cap. 2, 1673.

All persons holding office, civil or military, or having command, or receiving pay in whatever capacity in the service or household of the King or the Duke of York, shall before a specified date appear in the court of Chancery or King’s Bench or of their respective counties openly to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.

And the said officers shall receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper according to the usage of the church of England on or before August 1, 1673 in some parish church upon some Lord’s Day.

Penalty for refusing to take the oaths, incapacity to hold any office or position of trust either civil or military, and for executing office after refusal, incapacity to prosecute any suit at law and fine of £500.

16. 30 Car. II, cap. 1, 1678.

No peer or member of the House of Commons shall sit or vote until he has taken the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and subscribed to a declaration that the worship of the church of Rome is idolatrous.

Penalty for peers and members offending, disability to hold office and a fine of £500.

Provided that this does not extend to the Duke of York.

MATERIALS FOR THE HISTORY OF THE POPISH PLOT

1. Manuscripts.

Public Record Office.

State Papers Domestic, Charles II 407–416. The state papers of the period have not been calendared and are preserved in loose bundles, some of which are ill arranged. Thus in referring to the S.P. Dom. Charles II 407, I have been compelled to add e.g. i. 285, ii. 23, as there are two sets of papers in the bundle bearing the same numbers.

State Papers, Ireland 339.

Transcripts from Paris: dispatches of the French ambassadors.

Transcripts from the Vatican archives in Rome.

British Museum.

Additional MSS.: 11,058, 17,018, 24,136, 28,042, 28,053, 28,054, 28,093, 34,195.

Harl. MSS.: 3790, 4888, 6284.

Land. MSS.: 1235.

Stowe MSS.: 144, 180, 186, 302.

Longleat.

MSS. belonging to the Marquis of Bath. Coventry Papers xi. xx. lx. By the generous permission of the Marquis of Bath and the courtesy of the authorities at the British Museum I have been enabled to use these important papers (of which an unsatisfactory account will be found in the appendix to the 4th report of the Hist. MSS. Com.) in the Manuscript department of the Museum. I am greatly indebted to Mr. S. Arthur Strong, librarian of the House of Lords, for his kind offices in obtaining access to the papers for me.

I have also to express my thanks to Mr. Warner and Mr. Bickley of the British Museum, and to Mr. Hubert Hall and Mr. Salisbury of the Record Office for much kind help and courtesy shewn to me during my work in their departments. The manuscripts in the Vatican archives of which I have made use were copied for me by Mr. Bliss, who most generously interrupted his other work to make the transcripts.

Cambridge University Library: “Persecutionis Anglicanae et Conjurationis Presbiterianae Historia.” Autore P. Warner, S.J., Regi Jacobo II^do a sacris. 181 pp. fol. Letter-book of John Warner, S.J.

These manuscripts, of which the former is the more important, have, I believe, never been used before. They were seen by Henry Foley, compiler of the Records of the English Province, S.J., but do not appear to have been used by him. A notice of them is so deeply buried in his laborious and unordered work (v. 289) that it has escaped the notice of the author of Warner’s life in the Dictionary of National Biography. Foley left inside the cover of Warner’s History a note, which I quote below. Few are likely to agree with him that it is “probably the best, the fullest, and the most truthful ever recorded.” The account of the Jesuit father is naturally prejudiced in favour of his society and partakes of the nature of a martyrology. There are nevertheless points of considerable interest contained in it. The euphuistic style of Warner’s writing marks him as a man of learning and culture.

Note by Henry Foley. 13 Nov. 1876.

“The original draft of this valuable MS. in the hand of the Rev. Father John Warner, S.J., is in the British Museum, Harlean MSS. 880.

“It is closely written, divided into 8 chapters—f.c. 4^to [sic]. The writing is so bad that it is difficult to make it out.

“Father Warner succeeded Father Thomas Whitbread, who suffered at Tyburn 30 June 1679, as Provincial of the English Province, S.J., and remained in that office for three years.

“In 1686 he was appointed confessor to King James II. He died at the court of St. Germains the 2nd of Nov. 1692, aet. 64. He was a very learned man and wrote several controversial works.

“Henry Foley.

“The history of these terrible times is probably the best, fullest, and most truthful ever recorded. The learned author was upon the spot and had his own personal share in the sufferings.

“The facts recorded are fully borne out by the Litterae Annuae, Prov. Angl. S.J. of the time, and likewise by contemporary writers. Vide Echard, Hist. Engl., etc.

“One new fact is ascertained—that the meeting of the Fathers in London (upon the affairs of their body) was not held, as sworn by Oates and his associates, at the White Horse Tavern, Strand, but at St. James’ Palace, the residence of the Duke of York. The Fathers who were tried and suffered death could have proved this upon the trial, but were silent, preferring death to the danger of compromising the Duke.”

2. Printed Documents and Sources.

Historical Manuscripts Commission: appendices to 1st Report (Lefroy MSS.); 4th Report (Bath MSS.); 7th Report, Part II. (Verney MSS.); 11th Report, Part II. (House of Lords MSS. 1678–1688); 11th Report, Part V. (Dartmouth MSS.); 12th Report, Part VII. (Le Fleming MSS.); 12th Report, Part IX. (Beaufort MSS.); 14th Report, Part VI. (Fitzherbert MSS.); 14th Report, Part IX. (Lindsey MSS.); 15th Report, Part II. (Elliot Hodgkin MSS.); 15th Report, Part V. (Savile Foljambe MSS.).

Ailesbury (Thomas, Earl of): Memoirs. Written by himself. Ed. W. E. Buckley. Roxburgh Club. 1890.

Arnauld (Antoine): Œuvres, 42 tomes. T. xiv. Apologie pour les Catholiques. Paris et Lausanne. 1775–1783.

Avrigny (Hyacinthe Robillard d’), de la campagnie de Jésus: Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire universelle de l’Europe. Paris. 1757.

Anglesey (Earl of): Memoirs. London. 1693.

Bedloe (William): Narrative and Impartial Discovery of the horrid Popish Plot. London. 1679.

Calamy (Edmund): An Historical Account of my own Life. Ed. J. T. Rutt, London. 1829.

Campana de Cavelli (Marquise de): Les Derniers Stuarts à St. Germain en Laye. Paris. 1871.

Clarke (Rev. J. S.): Life of King James the Second. London. 1816.

Dalrymple (Sir John): Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland. Edinburgh. 1771.

Danby (Earl of): Impartial State of the Case of the Earl of Danby. London. 1679.

—— Copies and extracts of some letters written to and from the Earl of Danby (now Duke of Leeds) in the years 1676, 1677, and 1678, with some particular remarks upon them. Published by his Grace’s direction. London. 1710.

—— Memoirs relating to the Impeachment of Thomas, Earl of Danby (now Duke of Leeds) in the year 1678. London. 1710.

Evelyn (John): Memoirs. London. 1827.

Grey (Hon. A.): Debates of the House of Commons. London. 1769.

Florus Anglo-Bavaricus. Liège. 1685.

Groen van Prinsterer: Archives de la Maison d’Orange Nasau. 2nd série. T. v. Utrecht. 1861.

Hale (Sir Matthew): Historia Placitorum Coronae. London. 1736.

Halstead (Robert): Succintes Genealogies. London. 1685.

Hatton Correspondence. Camden Society. Ed. M. Thompson. 1878.

Journals of the House of Lords.

Journals of the House of Commons.

Jurieu (Pierre): La Politique du Clerge de France. 1681.

L’Estrange (Roger): Brief History of the Times. London. 1687, 1688.

Luttrell (Narcissus): Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs. Oxford. 1857.

Kirkby (Christopher): A Complete and True Narrative of the Manner of the Discovery of the Popish Plot to his Majesty. London. 1679.

North (Roger): Examen, London. 1740.

—— Lives of the Norths. Ed. Jessopp. London. 1890.

Oates (Titus): True Narrative of the Horrid Plot and Conspiracy. London. 1679.

Orléans (Pierre Joseph d’): History of the Revolutions in England under the family of the Stuarts. London. 1722.

Palmer (Roger), Earl of Castlemaine [ascribed to; see Wheatley’s note to Pepys’ Diary, Dec. 1, 1666]: The Catholique Apology, with a reply to the answer.... By a person of honour. 3rd Edition, much augmented. 1674.

Parliamentary History iv. London. 1808.

Pomponne (Marquis de): Memoires. Ed. Mavidal. Paris. 1860, 1861.

Prance (Miles): True Narrative and Discovery. London. 1679.

Reresby (Sir John): Memoirs. Ed. Cartwright. London. 1875.

Sidney (Algernon): Letters to the Honourable Henry Savile, ambassador in Paris in the year 1679. London. 1742.

Sidney’s Charles II. Ed. Blencowe. London. 1843.

Smith (William): Intrigues of the Popish Plot. London. 1685.

Schwerin (O. von): Briefe aus England über die Zeit von 1674 bis 1678. Berlin. 1837.

Secret Service Expenses of Charles II and James II. Camden Society. Ed. J. Y. Akerman. 1851.

Somers Tracts vii. viii. London. 1812.

State Trials 6, 7, 8, 10. Cobbett’s Collection. London. 1809.

Treby (Sir George): A collection of letters. London. 1681.

—— The second part of the collection of letters. London. 1681.

Temple (Sir William): Works. Edinburgh. 1754.

Welwood (James): Memoirs. London. 1718.

Wood (Anthony à): Life and Times. Oxford. 1892.

3. Histories and Biographies, etc.

Acton (Lord): The Secret History of Charles II. Home and Foreign Review i. 146.

Airy (Osmund): The English Restoration and Louis XIV. London. 1888.

—— Charles II. London. 1901.

Boero (Giuseppe): Istoria della Conversione alla Chiesa Catholica di Carlo II, Rè d’Inghilterra. Roma. 1863.

Brosch (Moritz): Geschichte von England. Gotha. 1892.

Burnet (Gilbert): History of My Own Time. Ed. Airy. Part I. Oxford. 1897, 1900.

Campbell (Lord): Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England. London. 1856–1857.

—— Lives of the Chief Justices of England. London. 1849–1857.

Carte (Thomas): An History of the Life or James, Duke of Ormond. London. 1736.

Chantelauze (Régis de): Le Père de la Chaize. Paris. 1859.

Christie (W. D.): Life of Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. London. 1871.

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Courtenay (T. P.): Life of Sir William Temple. London. 1836.

Cretineau Joly (J.): Histoire politique, religieuse, et literaire de la compagnie de Jésus. Paris. 1844.

Douglas (R. K.); Article on Titus Oates in Blackwood’s Magazine. February. 1889.

Echard (Laurence): History of England. London. 1707.

Foley (Henry): Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus. London. 1879.

Forneron (H.): Louise de Kéroualle, Duchesse de Portsmouth. Paris. 1886.

Fox (Charles James): History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II. London. 1808.

Foxcroft (H. C.): Life and Letters of Halifax. London. 1898.

Gentleman’s Magazine: January 1866. Article on the conversion of Charles II.

—— July 1848. Notes on Sir E. B. Godfrey.

—— September 1849. Notes on the Popish Plot.

Gneist (Rudolf): History of the English Constitution. Trans. Ashworth. London. 1891.

Hallam (Henry): Constitutional History of England. London. 1884.

Hargrave (Francis): Opinion and Argument in support of Lady A. S. Howard’s right to the new Barony of Stafford. 1807.

Harris (Dr. William): Historical and Critical Account of the Life of Charles II. London. 1814.

Irving (H. B.): Life of Judge Jeffreys. London. 1898.

Jesse (J. H.): The Court of England under the Stuarts. London. 1855.

Kennet (Dr. White): A Complete History of England. London. 1706.

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Lingard (John): History of England. London. 1831.

Macpherson (James): History of Great Britain. London. 1775.

Macaulay (Lord): History of England. London. 1849.

Madden (R. R.): History of the Penal Laws enacted against Roman Catholics. London. 1847.

Oldmixon (John): History of England during the Reigns of the House of Stuart. London. 1730.

Parker (Samuel): History of his Own Time. London. 1727.

Parkinson (Father): The Yorkshire Branch of the Popish Plot. The Month xviii. 393.

Ralph (James): History of England. London. 1736.

Rapin Thoyras (Paul de): Histoire d’Angleterre. La Haye. 1724–1736.

Ranke (L. von): Englische Geschichte. Leipzig. 1877.

Russell (Lord John): Life of William Lord Russell. London. 1853.

Shaw (W. A.): The Beginnings of the National Debt. Owens College, Manchester, Historical Essays. Ed. J. F. Tout and J. Tait. London. 1902.

Sitwell (Sir George Reresby): The First Whig. Privately printed. 1894.

Seccombe (T.): Titus Oates in Twelve Bad Men. London. 1894.

Spillmann (Joseph) S. J.: Die Blutzeugen aus den Tagen der Titus Oates-Verschwörung. Freiburg i. B. 1901.

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