many, and their testimony various; but we shall call our witnesses, and let them tell it you themselves.

Mr. Ward. Call Dr. Oates, Mr. Bedlow, Mr. Dugdale, Mr. Jennison, and Mr. Praunce, (who were all sworn, and Mr. Dugdale set up.)

Sir Robert Sawyer. Gentlemen, we call first Mr. Dugdale to give you a general account of the plot, not so much for the proof of the things here charged particularly on the prisoners, as the general design.

Mr. Ward. Pray, Sir, speak your knowledge of what you know concerning the plot in general.

Dugdale. I have for these seven years known something of it, but nothing particularly till within these two years. About two years since it was communicated to me by Mr. Ewers, Mr. Gavan, Mr. Peters, Mr. Lewson, and some other priests, which I cannot now remember their names, and they did persuade me to be of the management of the business, for the carrying on of the design, for the introducing their religion, and for the killing of the king and the duke of Monmouth; both those two things were communicated to me, upon my oath, by Mr. Gavan, Mr. Ewers, Mr. Peters, Mr. Lowson, and my lord Stafford.

Mr. Justice Atkins. What, Mr. Gavan that was executed, do you mean?

Dugdale. Yes, he was the man, I have had several packets of letters which concerned the plot: all the letters that came from Mr. Harcourt, or from any others concerning the plot, were directed to me: I have had sometimes eight, sometimes nine, sometimes more letters at a time, but I never saw any, almost, but they all tended to the carrying on of this design.

L. C. J. (Sir W. Scroggs) Did they shew you these letters, or did you open them?

Dugdale. I did open several of them, a great many, and some of them that I could not handsomely seal up again, I kept.

L. C. J. They did not know you opened

them?

Dugdale. No, they did not all the time.

Sir R. Sawyer. Was there an army to be raised?

Dugdale. Yes, there was an army spoken of to be raised.

Sir R. Sawyer. By whom?

Dugdale. There was money ready in July last, for I saw acquittances that came from St. Omers that the money was paid. But then there was caution given to be sure not to make any rumour of arms or any thing, till the king was dispatched.

L. C. J. Did they write that in a letter? Dugdale. They writ that in a letter directed to me.

L. C. J. To you?
Dugdale.

Yes, to me.

L. C.J. Who writ that letter?

Dugdale. My lord, truly I cannot be certain at present who it was; but upon recollection I can, may be, remember who it was: but it contained that there should be caution given to all, to be sure that none should mention arms, or any thing, till the king was dispatched.

Sir R. Sawyer. From whence did that letter come?

Dugdale. From Mr. Harcourt, I am certain, and in Mr. Grove's packet; but I am not certain of the person that writ the letter, but I can recollect hercafter, perhaps, who it Did it come from beyond sea, or

was.

L. C. J. London? Dugdale. It came from London, but I suppose it came thither from beyond sea.

I. C. J. The letter came to you, you say; was it dated from any place, and what?

Dugdale. I am not certain whether it was; there was several letters that came from all parts, some from St. Omers, some from Paris, some from Rome.

Sir R. Sawyer. Pray what do you know of any correspondence that was between your principal agents in Staffordshire, and those conspirators here at London?

Dugdale. Yes, there was a correspondence between them.

L. C. J. Between whom? Name them. Dugdale. Betwixt Mr. Ewers, Mr. Gavan, and Mr. Vavasor, these were in Staffordshire; and betwixt Mr. Ireland, Mr. Harcourt, Mr. Fenwick and Mr. Grove, these I know. L. C. J. Where were these last?

Dugdale. In London these persons were, they did write constantly three times a week letters into Staffordshire about this business.

L. C. J. But pray was there any thing mentioned in any of these letters concerning

Dugdale. Yes, there was.

L. C. J. Was there any thing plain of that in those letters?

Dugdale. There was in one from Mr. Whitebread.

L. C. J. What did that letter say? Dugdale. There was one from him that did give a caution to Mr. Ewers, that he should be

sure to choose no persons but such as were stout and hardy, or to that effect.

L. C. J. To do what?
Dugdale. To kill the king.

L. C. J. Was that expressed in the letter?
Dugdale. Yes, my lord, it was.

L. C. J. And did they write that they should choose hardy persons to kill the king? Was that the subject of it? Dugdale. Yes, my lord, it was. L. C. J. Did it come by the common post? Dugdale. Yes, my lord; it did; but they bad devised it so, that there was care taken they should not be discovered, they would set but two letters of their names to them, and they were directed all to me, so that I was to bear all the danger.

Sir R. Sawyer. How was the direction? Was it directed plainly to you on the out-side? Dugdale. Yes, it was; and if it were discovered, I was sworn by Mr. Ewers to deny it, and then they could not be discovered.

Just. Atkins. Did they give you any oath to that purpose?

Dugdale. Yes, I was sworn ten times at least to secrecy, and promised it on the Sacra

L. C. J. Tell us again who they were that did solicit you?

Dugdale. Mr. Ewers, Mr. Gavan, Mr. Peters, Mr. Lewson, and my lord Stafford. Just. Atkins. My lord Stafford you say? Dugdale. Yes, I said so before, my lord. L. C. J. They engaged you in the business in general, you say, and you were to have directions about it at London, that is that you say? Dugdale. Yes, my lord, Mr. Ireland was to take care of me there.

Sir R. Sawyer. Pray, Sir, had you discourse of the several ways, what ways were to be taken?

Dugdale. I had no particular way mentioned, but I was told that it was easy to be done by shooting or stabbing.

L. C. J. Did you ever come to London upon

that errand?

Dugdale. No, never.

L. C. J. When they had engaged you to do the thing, why did not they send you about it? Dugdale. I was not to come till October. L. C. J. When was it that you were engaged first?

Dugdale. I had particular intimation of the matter of the Plot about two years before, but I was not to come up till October.

L. C. J. Which October?

Dugdale. Last October.

L. C. J. Why, you were engaged a great while before, how chanced you were not to come up till October?

Dugdale. I was engaged a year and a half before, but it was not positively then said to me, that I was to be instrumental in killing the king, till that time, which was about July, when my lord Stafford came down, and I was to come up in October.

L. C. J. I thought you had said that you were engaged in it a year and half before. Dugdale. That was only in the Plot in general.

L. C. J. Was there no time appointed for the killing the king then? When was it that you were first engaged to be an instrument to take away the king's life?

Dugdale. Two years ago I was spoke to about the Plot, but I was not particularly assigned till the last summer, and then I was appointed to come to London in October.

L. C. J. What said they then to you?

Dugdale. My lord Stafford did offer me 5007. he told me I should have that for a reward at present, and if things did go on, I should have a better reward when the thing was accomplished, but this was for my present encouragement.

L. C. J. When were you to have the money?
Dugdale. When I came to London.

L. C. J. And why did not you come to London then?

Dugdale. I was to come to London, and the Plot was broke out and discovered first.

Mr. Ward. Pray, do you know of any letters about the death of sir Edmundbury Godfrey?

Dugdale. Yes, there was a letter came down to my lord Aston's, it was directed to Mr. Ewers, and it contained in it, This very night sir Edmundbury Godfrey is dispatched : those were the words of the letter.

L. C. J. What night was that?

Dugdale. I have well remembered it since, and it was Saturday night, which was about the 12th of October, or thereabouts, as I remember: it had those words, This very night sir Edmundbury Godfrey is dispatched; and it went on with more things relating to the Plot, which I cannot particularly now remember; and I catched Mr. Ewers at the reading of it, and said I to him, Do you think this is the way to have the Design succeed? if this do not overthrow the Plot, I will be hanged.' 'Not so,' said he, be patient, and do not mistrust it, he was a man that was used to punish debauched persons, and it will rather reflect upon them than us.'

L. C. J. Did that letter come to your hands? Dugdale. Yes, it did, but it was writ to Mr. Ewers.

Just. Atkins. What day did it come to you? Dugdale. Upon Monday morning. Just. Atkins. When was it writ? Dugdale. It was writ the Saturday night before.

L. C. J. Did Mr. Ewers shew it you? or did you break open the letter?

Dugdale. Mr. Ewers shewed it me for an encouragement, that one of our enemies was taken out of the way.

Just. Wyndham. Did you report it to any body?

Dugdale. Yes, to the parson of the town, and a relation of my lord Aston's.

L. C. J. What was his name? Dugdale. One Mr. Sandwich and Mr. Philips; said I, Do you not hear of a knight, a justice of Westminster, that is killed?' 'No,' said they, we hear nothing of it' but it seems Mr. Sandwich went to dinner toand there he did report it.

L. C. J. Why did they look upon sir E. Godfrey as such an enemy to them?

Dugdale. They had intrusted him before, but he began to be strict with Dr. Oates, searching and prying into all the whole concern, as Mr. Ewers told me (for I knew no more than he informed me of) so they thought good to take him off.

Sir R. Sawyer. Gentlemen, will you ask him any questions?

Corker. I would have been glad to have heard what he said, but I could not hear the tenth part.

Sir R. Sawyer. Gentlemen, there is nothing that does particularly reflect upon you at the bar, but is only to prove the general design of the Plot.

Sir George Wakeman. It is the worst made out that ever I think was trial.

Dugdale. If there be any more questions, that your lordship or the Court will be pleased to ask me, I will be sure to answer them.

L. C. J. I will tell you the effect of what he says, and that is this; he speaks in general, that there was a Plot to bring in Popery, and in order to that, the best way was to kill the king; and to that purpose, there were several letters sent weekly into Staffordshire, and very often directed by the cover to him, wherein were seven or eight several letters, as from Ireland, and Harcourt, and Grove, to people that were in Staffordshire; that is, to Ewers, and Lewson, and Vavasor; and many times they did write concerning the going on with this Plot of killing the king, that they must use great secrecy in it, and makes mention what officers they should have for an army to support that matter, when they had done; they engaged him particularly first, about two years ago, to be one in it, but more precisely in June or July last was twelve month, and he should have gone, he says, in October after, up to London, in order to it; and there he should have directions

| from Ireland, how he should manage himself. And he gives you an account, that my lord Stafford promised him he should have 500l. as part of his reward, and when the work was done, he should be better gratified; and he says, he did intend to have gone up in October to this purpose, but the Plot broke out, and he was prevented.

Sir R. Sawyer. Pray, Mr. Dugdale, you have been formerly examined, did you hear any thing of a massacre? or of any particular persons to be murdered, besides the king and duke of Monmouth?

Dugdale. I do not remember any in particular, but they two; but in general, all protestants they intended to cut off. Mr. Ward. All protestants? Dugdale. Yes.

Just. Atkins. Pray, Sir, what did induce them to have so much confidence in you? Had you any such zeal for their religion?

Dugdale. Yes, insomuch that they thought I was a priest in the country.

Just. Atkins. Had you been free of your parse? did you give them any money?

Dugdale. Yes, I gave them for this, and for the praying for my soul, the sum of 400l. which was secured upon a deed of land; and I promised them another 100l. when they made moan for the want of money; and when Mr. Peters said if they did not make more haste with their contributions, they should be at a great loss: And Mr. Gavan promised me, I should be canonized for a saint.

L. C. J. When had you given the 4001.

Dugdale. I had given it them in money, it was upon a deed of land, which was conveyed to Mr. Gerrard, and was to be sold for the rais-` ing of that money.

Corker. Mr. Dugdale, you make mention of a certain letter sent from London here, from Mr. Harcourt; but not Mr. Harcourt's letter, in which letter you say it was mentioned that the king should be killed, and that an army should be raised, and some such matters of grand design. Sir, don't you know from whom thas letter came, I ask you?

Dugdale. I cannot directly at present call to mind the person's name, I may by and by, perhaps.

Corker. Then, my lord, I appeal to the court and beg the judgment of the court, whether a letter of that vast concernment about killing the king, the destruction of the nation, and the raising of an army, should be sent from a man that he himself does not, nor can tell his name, nor the place this letter came from. That a man should be so mad to send by the common post a letter of such vast concern, and yet neither the party to whom, nor the party from whom it came, be remembered.

Dugdale. I can give you satisfaction, as to some letters I have received, and I can tell you in particular from whence they came. Öne came from Paris to St. Omers, and so from St. Omers to London, and from thence by a spe pecial messenger to Tixall in Staffordshire;

and my lord Aston and Mr. Ewers read it one night in my sight, in the parlour.

Corker. Just now he said it was by a special messenger; before he said, the letters came by a common post.

Dugdale. I speak of another letter now, than those I spake of before.

L. C. J. He did, indeed, say before, that there was a letter as you repeat it, that had the importance of killing the king, but he could not particularly charge himself with the person that writ it, but, saith he, I can now remember another letter, that was sent by a special messenger, and he will tell you who that letter was writ by, and who it came from. From whom came it?

Corker. That was only to correct a former lie.

Dugdale. There was J. W. writ to it, and I suppose it was from sir John Warner.

L. C. J. Where was it dated? Whence did it come?

Dugd. There was one from Paris, it was first began at Paris where advice was first to be had, and assistance was promised, how it should be carried on, and they thought it was the best way, after they had killed the king, for the papists to give the first alarm, that it was those still king-killing presbyterians that had done that act, and that then the church of England men would be willinger to join with the papists to cut

them off.

Corker. Was the letter dated from St. Omers? Was St. Omers writ, in the inside, what say you? Speak.

Dugdale. There were three letters, I say, that came in that pacquet from St. Omers; one came from Paris, another from St. Omers, and another from London.

L. C. J. And all these in one cover?
Dugdale. Yes,

Sir G. Wakeman. How could the same cover cover all those letters?

Dugdale. All these letters were covered in Grove's pacquet.

L. C. J. Here is the matter; he supposes there was a letter writ, first at Paris, and that is then sent to St. Omers; and then there was a letter writ there, by sir John Warner, or some of them, and sent to London, perused in England by the lords, and all sent in one cover into Staffordshire.

Corker. Your lordship makes sense of it, but he made none but contradictions, and said be did not know whence it came, nor who writ it. You say, sir, you were one of those to kill the king? pray when were you to kill the king?

Dugdale. In October, I was to have done it, when I came up.

He

Corker. My lord, here is a plot and design driven on several ways, to murder the king. Dr. Oates in his Narrative, as I perceive, gives us a description of several contrivances that were made use of to commit this murder. in all his descriptions, tells us only, as I take it, of three ways of killing the king, the one by Grove and Pickering, another by the ruffians, I know not whom, a third was by poison; now Dr. Oates, in all his relations, makes not any

L. C. J. Who brought that letter? Dugdale. I do not know who brought it from London to Boscobel, but there was a special messenger brought it thence to Tixall, and his name was Carrington.

L. C. J. You say there were several lords set their hands to it; what lords were they? Dugdale. I have formerly mentioned them, there was my lord Stafford, my lord Bellasis, and my lord Arundel.

L. C. J. To what purpose did they set their hands to it?

Dugdale. That they approved it as good advice.

L. C. J. Then, gentlemen, this is that he says, here is a letter that was brought by one Carrington, to my lord Aston's, and the substance of the letter was to justify the killing of the king, by the raising of an army, and that this letter came from St. Omers, and that it had the letters J. W. subscribed to it, which was supposed to be sir John Warner, and that this letter was looked upon by some at London, and that they, as approving of it, set their hands to it as good advice, and then sent it down into the country.

of any other plot or design at London to kill the king; but he says, if Grove and Pickering miscarried, it was to be done by the four ruffians, and they miscarrying, it was to be done by poison, now comes he with a thing that never was thought of before, that Oates never gives any relation of.

L. C. J. What then?

Corker. He, my lord, tells us, that this was to be done in October, when all the other things that were to be done were past; and what, should they design to kill the king in October, when it was to be done before in July or August?

L. C. J. Look you, the first part of your objection, wherein you say he names but three ways of killing the king, what do you infer from that? that because this gentleman says there was a fourth, there was not. Dr. Oates told you as much as he knew of the matter, but he does not undertake to give you an account of all the plot or plotters in this affair. If you make any reasonable objection against Mr. Dugdale's testimony, I will allow it, but these inferences I must not. That this is a strange story of Mr. Dugdale's, because it is not part of Oates's discovery, is that a reasonable objection? But then for the latter part,

* See vol. 6, p. 1428.