Harcourt. Or sir Edmundbury Godfrey's death.

Sher. How. Did not you write that letter concerning the dispatch of sir Edmundbury Godfrey?

Harcourt.

No sir; these are the words of a dying man, I would not do it for a thousand worlds,

Sher. How. How have you lived? Harcourt. I have lived like a man of repute all my life, and never was before the face of a judge till trial: no man can accuse me. I have from my youth been bred up in the education of my duty towards God and man.

my t

Harcourt, And I do utterly abhor and detest that abominable false doctrine laid to our charge, that we can have licenses to commit perjury, or any sin to advantage our cause, being expressly against the doctrine of St. Paul, saying, non sunt facienda mala, ut eveniant bona; evil is not to be done, that good may come thereof. And therefore we hold it in all cases unlawful to kill or murder any person whatsoever, much more our lawful king now reigning; whose person and temporal domi→ nions we are ready to defend with our lives and fortunes, against any opponent whatsoever, none excepted. I forgive all that have contrived my death, and humbly beg pardon of Almighty God for them. And I ask pardon of all the world. I pray God bless his majesty, and grant him a prosperous reign. The like I wish to his royal consort, the best of queens. I humbly beg the prayers of all those who are in the communion of the Roman church, if any such be present,

Mr. Turner's Speech.

Being now, good people, very near my end, and summoned by a violent death to appear before God's tribunal, there to render an account of all my thoughts, words, and actions, before a just judge, I conceive I am bound in conscience to do myself that justice, as to declare upon oath my innocence from the horrid crime of treason, with which I am falsely accused and I esteem it a duty I owe to christian charity, to publish to the world before my death, all that I know in this point, concerning those catholics I have conversed with since the first noise of the plot, desiring from the bottom of my heart that the whole truth may appear, that innocence may be cleared, to the greater glory of God, and the peace and welfare of the king and country. As to myself, I call God to witness, that I was never in my whole life present at any consult or meeting of the jesuits, where any oath of secrecy was taken, or the sacrament, as a bond of secrecy, either by me, or any one of them, to conceal any plot against his sacred majesty; nor was I ever present at any meeting or consult of theirs, where any proposal was made, or resolve taken or signed, either by me or any of them, for taking away the life of our dread sovereign; an impiety of such a nature, that had I been present at such a meeting, I should have been bound by the laws of God, and by the principles of my religion (and by God's grace would have acted accordingly) to have discovered such a devilish treason to the civil magistrate, to the end they might have been brought to condign punishment. I was so far, good people, from being in September last at a consult of the Jesuits at Tixall, in Mr. Ewer's chamber, that I vow to God, as I hope for salvation, I never was so much as once that year at Tixall, my lord Aston's bouse. It is true, I was at the congregation

of Jesuits held on the 24th of April was twelve-month; but in that meeting, as I hope to be saved, we meddled not with state affairs, but only treated about the concerns of our province, which is usually done by us, without offence to temporal princes, every third year all the world over. Sheriff How. You do only justify yourselves here. We will not believe a word that you say. Spend your time in prayer, and we will not think our time too long.

I am, good people, as free from the treason I am accused of as the child that is unborn, and being innocent I never accused myself in confession of any thing that I am charged with. Certainly, if I had been conscious to myself of any guilt in this kind, I should not so frankly and freely, as I did, of my own accord, have presented myself before the king's most honourable privy council. As for those catholics which

I have conversed with since the noise of the plot, I protest before God, in the words of a dying man, that I never heard any one of them, either priest or layman, express to me the least knowledge of any plot, that was then on foot amongst the catholics, against the king's most excellent majesty, for the advancing the catholic religion. I die a Roman catholic, and humbly beg the prayers of such, for my happy passage into a better life. I have been of that religion above thirty years, and now give God Almighty infinite thanks for calling me by his holy grace to the knowledge of this truth, notwithstanding the prejudice of my former education. God of his infinite goodness bless the king, and all the royal family; and grant his majesty a prosperous reign here, and a crown of glory hereafter. God in his mercy forgive all those which have falsely accused me, or have had any hand in my death: I forgive them from the bottom of my heart, as I hope myself for forgiveness at the hands of God.

Mr. Turner's Prayer.

O God, who hast created me to a supernatural end, to serve thee in this life by grace, and enjoy thee in the next by glory; be pleased to grant by the merits of thy bitter death and passion, that after this wretched life shall be ended, I may not fail of a full enjoyment of thee my last end and sovereign good. I humbly beg pardon for all the sins which I have committed against thy divine majesty, since the first instant I came to the use of reason to this very time. I am heartily sorry from the very bottom of my heart, for having offended thee, so good, so powerful, so wise, and so just a God, and purpose by the help of thy grace, never more to offend thee my good God, whom I love above all things.

O sweet Jesus, who hast suffered a most painful and ignominious death upon the cross for our salvation, apply, I beseech thee, unto me the merits of thy sacred passion, and sanctify unto me these sufferings of mine, which I humbly accept of for thy sake, in union of the sufferings of thy sacred majesty, and in punishment and satisfaction of my

sins.

O my dear Saviour and Redeemer, I return thee immortal thanks for all thou hast pleased to do for me in the whole course of my life; and now in the hour of my death, with a firm belief of all things thou hast revealed, and a stedfast hope of obtaining everlasting bliss, I chearfully cast myself into the arms of thy mercy, whose arms were stretched upon the cross for my redemption. Sweet Jesus receive my spirit.

Mr. Gavan's Speech.

Dearly beloved countrymen, I am come to the last scene of morta lity, to the hour of my death; an hour which is the horizon between time and eternity; an hour which must either make me a star to shine for ever in heaven above, or a firebrand to burn everlastingly amongst the damned souls in hell below; an hour in which, if I deal sincerely, and with a hearty sorrow acknowledge my crimes, I may hope for mercy; but if I falsely deny them, I must expect nothing but eternal damnation and therefore, what I shall say in this great hour, I hope you will believe. And now in this hour I do solemnly swear, protest, and vow, by all that is sacred in heaven, and on earth, and as I hope to see the face of God in glory, that I am as innocent as the child unborn, of those treasonable crimes which Mr. Oates and Mr. Dugdale have sworn against me in my trial; and for which, sentence of death was pronounced against me the day after my trial. And that you may be assured that what I say is true, I do in like manner protest, vow, and swear, as I hope to see the face of God in glory, that I do not, in what I say unto you, make use of any equivocation, or mental reservation, or material prolation, or any such like way to palliate truth. Neither do I make use of any dispensations from the pope, or any body else; or of any oath of secrecy, or any absolutions in confession, or out of confession, to deny the truth; but I speak in the plain sense which the words bear; and if I do speak in any other sense, to palliate or hide the truth, I wish with all my soul that God may exclude me from his heavenly glory, and condemn me to the lowest place of hell fire: and so much to that point.

And now, dear countrymen, in the second place, I do confess and own to the whole world, that I am a Roman catholic, and a priest, and one of that sort of priests called jesuits. And now, because they are so falsely charged for holding king-killing doctrine, I think it my duty to protest to you, with my last dying words, that neither I in particular, nor the jesuits in general, hold any such opinion, but utterly abhor and detest it and I assure you, that amongst the vast numbers of authors, which among the jesuits have printed philosophy, divinity, cases, or sermons, there is not one, to the best of my knowledge, that allows of king-killing doctrine, or holds this position, that it is lawful for a private person to kill a king, although an heretic, although a pagan, although a tyrant: there is, I say, not one jesuit that holds this, except Mariana, the Spanish jesuit, and he defends it not absolutely, but only problematically, for which his book was called in, and that opinion expunged and censured. And is it not a sad thing, that for the rashness of one single man, whilst the rest cry out against him, and hold the contrary, that a whole religious order should be sentenced? But I have not time to discuss this point at large, and therefore I refer you all to a royal author, I mean the wise and victorious king Henry the fourth of France, the royal® grandfather of our present gracious king, in a public oration which he pronounced, in defence of the jesuits, amongst other things, declaring, that he was very well satisfied with the jesuits' doctrine concerning kings, as being conformable to the best doctors in the church. But why do I relate the testimony of one single prince, when the whole catholic world is the jesuits' advocate therein? Does not Germany, France, Italy,

Spain, and Flanders, trust the education of their youth to them in a very great measure? Do not they trust their own souls to be governed by them, in the administration of the sacraments? and can you imagine so many great kings and princes, and so many wise states should do, or permit this to be done in their kingdoms, if the jesuits were men of such damnable principles as they are now taken for in England?

In the third place, dear countrymen, I do protest, that as I never in my life did machine, or contrive either the deposition or death of the king, so now at my death, I do heartily desire of God to grant him a quiet and happy reign upon earth, and an everlasting crown in heaven. For the judges also, and the jury, and all those that were any ways concerned, either in my trial, accusation, or condemnation, I do humbly beg of God, to grant them both temporal and eternal happiness. And as for Mr. Oates and Mr. Dugdale, I call God to witness, they by false oaths have brought me to this untimely end. I heartily forgive them, because God commands me so to do; and I beg God for his infinite mercy, to grant them true sorrow and repentance in this world, that they may be capable of eternal happiness in the next. And having discharged my duty towards myself, and my own innocence; towards my order, and its doctrine; to my neighbour and the world, I have nothing else to do now, my great God, but to cast myself into the arms of your mercy. I believe you are one divine essence and three divine persons; I believe that you in the second person of the trinity became man to redeem me; and I believe you are an eternal rewarder of the good, and an eternal chastiser of the bad. In fine, I believe all you have revealed for your own infinite veracity; I hope in you above all things, for your infinite fidelity; and I love you above all things, for your infinite beauty and goodness; and I am heartily sorry that ever I offended so great a God with my whole heart: I am contented to undergo an ignominious death for the love of you, my dear Jesu, seeing you have been pleased to undergo an ignominious death for the love of me.

Mr. Fenwick's Speech.

Good people, I suppose you expect I should say something as to the crime I am condemned for, and either acknowledge my guilt, or assert my innocency. I do therefore declare before God and the whole world, and call God to witness that what I say is true, that I am innocent of what is laid to my charge, of plotting the king's death, and endeavouring to subvert the government, and bring in a foreign power, as the child unborn; and that I know nothing of it, but what I have learned from Mr. Oates and his companions, and what comes originally from them.

Sher. How. If you can make a good conclusion to your own life, it will do well; consider if your letters did not agree with the evidence, that's another matter.-Fenwick. I assure you, I do renounce all treason from my very heart. I have always, and ever shall disown the opinion of such devilish practices as these are of king-killing. If I speak not the whole frame of my heart, I wish God may exclude me from his glory.-Sher. How. Those that murdered sir Edmunbury Godfrey, said as you do.-Fenwick. As for sir Edmunbury Godfrey, I protest before God, I know nothing of it; I never saw the man in my life.Sher. How. For my part, I am of opinion you had a hand in it.—Fen

for

wick. Now that I am a dying man, do you think I would go and damn my soul? Sher. How. I wish you all the good I can, but I'll assure I believe never a word you say. you, Fenwick. I pray his majesty every day, and wish him all happiness with all my heart. Also I do with all my soul pardon all my accusers. If the judge or jury did any thing amiss, I pardon them with all my soul, and all persons directly or indirectly. I am very willing and ready to suffer this death. I pray God pardon me my sins, and save my

soul.

And as to what is said and commonly believed of Roman catholics, that they are not to be believed or trusted, because they can have dispensations for lying, perjury, killing kings, and other the most enormous crimes, I do utterly renounce all such pardons, dispensations, and withal declare, that it is a most wicked and malicious calumny cast upon catholics, who do all, with all their hearts and souls, hate and detest all such wicked and damnable practices; and in the words of a dying man, and as I hope for mercy at the hands of God, before whom I must shortly appear and give an account of all my actions, I do declare, that what I have said is true; and I hope christian chafity will not let you think, that by the last act of my life, I would east away my soul, by sealing up my last breath with a damnable lie.

Then they were at their private devotions for about an hour.

When they had ended their prayers, and the ropes were about their necks, there came a horseman in full speed from Whitehall, crying as he rode a pardon, a pardon, and with difficulty he made through the press to the sheriff, who was under the gallows to see execution performed. This pardon expressed, How the king most graciously, and out of his inclination to clemency, had granted them their lives, which by treason they had forfeited, upon condition they would acknowledge the conspiracy, and lay open what they knew thereof. They all thanked his majesty for his inclination of mercy towards them; but as to any conspiracy, they knew of none, much less were guilty of any; and therefore could not accept of any pardon apon those conditions.

It

In fine, after a short recollection, the cart was drawn away, and they were permitted to hang till they were dead; and then were cut down and quartered. Their quarters were given to their friends, by whom they were interred in the church-yard of St. Giles in the Fields. Divers catholics dipped their handkerchiefs in their blood, which, as we are credibly informed, have been instruments of great cures. was very observable, that Sir Thomas Armstrong, who was present at the execution, and expressed a more than ordinary joy on that occasion, was himself five years after, on the self same day, brought to suffer the same death, in the same place. F. Whitebread suffered in the 61st year of his age, and the 44th of his religious profession.

Two other priests of the same society died in prison not long after the beginning of this persecution, viz. father Edward Mico, socius to the provincial, accused and apprehended by Oates, and hurried away to prison, whilst he was labouring under a violent fever. He Vol. II.