ternoon, Fitzharris writ the substance of what he had declared under his own hand, which occasioned my going to Windsor a second time, to deliver that paper to the king; in the close of that writing, Fitzharris begged mercy of the king, but withal said, while he was writing, that he did not do it with hopes of having his petition granted, for he was sure, he said, the king would not forgive him, yet he would not omit to ask pardon. His majesty rejected the petition; and so I returned June the 23d, and let Fitzharris know what I had done in this matter. When he understood the king's answer to his petition, he said, he hoped God would forgive him; God's will be done, he was not afraid to die. Then we discoursed of things of another nature, and such as concerned his soul, and we went to prayers; and from day to day, I was with him twice or thrice in a day, sometimes an hour and sometimes two at a time, and some days, I scarce went from him, from morning until night. In his repentance he was free and open hearted to tell me the sins of his constitution, and such as by his nature he was most prone to; he shed an abundance of tears daily; and in his devotions he was very earnest; he made often confessions of his sins to God, and was continually turning the penitential Psalms into confessions. There was one thing undone, and which, I desired by all means, he would do, and that was to receive the sacrament; I frequently minded him of it, and he would say, there was nothing he desired more, but he must dispose of the business of his family first; and ever when I put him in mind of receiving, he made me this answer; and his wife not coming to him, but once (and then she staid not long, and in company of the warders) until the night before he was executed, he did not receive at all; on the morning of his execution, he said, he hoped God would accept the will for the deed, for his desire all along was to receive. -; One day as we were sitting and talking together of the matters contained in his confession (for he talked daily of them) he desired me to give him a piece of paper, on which he writ this passage. That captain Cheek told him before Dr. Burnet, that he would appear a witness against him, on the behalf of that he told him in the boat, that he could say nothing against as to the tibel, but could sufficiently in other matters; I cannot, says he, charge my memory, that I said such a thing; but suppose I did, I did not design to impart my mind to him, neither did I understand the libel and the heads gave me, to be the same thing. the Upon Friday, June 24, he was saying, how queen, R. H. and the earl of Danby were the persons chiefly aimed at; and, said he, Mr. -told me, that prince Don Mario Pluti, 'a prisoner in the Fleet, would appear a witness against the duke. And Fitzharris said, that to is knowledge Heyns was tampered with to come in against the queen, the duke, and the earl of Danby. And he told me, how a con siderable person of his acquaintance, whose name he mentioned, said to him, I prithee Fitzharris find me out men that will swear the murder of Godfrey against the duke; and, said he, to comply with his humour, I answered, there are men if there were money; the person replied, find me the men, and the money shall not be wanting. And at another time, the same person declared to Fitzharris, in the presence of two other persons, that he would not stay a day longer in England, than he could fire a pistol at the duke, if he were sure the duke were to come to the crown. This Fitzharris told me the same day June 24. He told me morcover, that a Paper of instructions was put into his pocket in Westminster-hall, wherein he was-bid to speak boldly and not to spare the greatest (meaning the king) if he were present; and if he did not speak against the queen, R. H. the lord Powis and his lady, lord Arundel, lord Bellasis, lord Peters, lord Danby and the lord Peterborough, all his friends would forsake him: This paper, he said, was under-writ by his wife, with these words: My dear, these instructions come from your solicitor: and, he said, he believed, they are written with his hand. Upon Sunday, June 26, in the evening, Mrs. Fitzharris and her maid came to see him, and I was with him at the same time; when I asked Mrs. Fitzharris where that paper of instructions was? And she told me, she knew where the paper was, and could produce it; I desired her to take care the paper were not lost, but might be forthcoming when there might be occasion for it. Upon Monday, June 27th, he told me, that while his wife was with him overnight, she had whispered him, how a certain person (whose name he gave me) had been with her, from a great lord (whose name also he mentioned) to desire her, to persuade him, to say nothing when he came to die, and they did not value what he had said to me elsewhere; and if she could persuade him not to declare any thing against them when he came to be executed, they (the party) had promised to continue their allowance to her of three guineas a week, and to make her the same present of three hundred guineas (that was the sum he mentioned to me) on the day of his execution, which should have been made him on the day of his trial, had he been acquitted. Mr. Fitzharris desired me to acquaint Mr. Secretary Jenkins with this, which I did, and to move Mr. Secretary, that the place of execution might be appointed somewhere near the Tower, for he was loth to be put into the hands of the sheriffs, and said, he feared, they would endeavour to make him unsay all that he had said to me; but he would never do it, yet he did not care, he said, to be tempted to it by them. Upon Wednesday, June 29, be desired me to let him write a letter to his wife, which he would leave with me, seeing he did not expect to see her any more; so I furnished him with a sheet of paper, and he writ a long letter of directions to his wife, how he would have her dispose of herself and her children; the letter begins thus: My dear, having no hopes to see you, which you may be sure makes my condition distracted enough, I submit to God's will, he knows what is best, and so forth. About the middle of the letter, he writes: I thought you might have obtained that my body might not have been broken, but now I have no hopes thereof. And in a Postscript, he tells her, that the doctor, meaning myself, and Walmesley, one of his warders, were to go with him to execution; and he desires her, not to let his poor dear mother know that he came to such an infamous end; and he begs his father's and his mother's blessing. This letter, I desired Mrs. Fitzharris, that I might keep it to compare hands with his confession, if there should be occasion. Upon the same day, June 29, and not before, he writ his last confession, in the form and words in which it is published; and that is the true, whole, and only confession, written with his own hand, that he left with me at his death. When he had writ it, I found he had omitted several things which he had before declared unto me; I would not prompt him, nor would I ask him to alter, or put in a word into the whole confession; he would often say to me, his confession would injure his poor wife and children; her allowance, he said, would be withdrawn, and she would lose those who were now her best friends. suddenly answer it to God, that you tell me whether the matters in your confession be true, or whether you have invented them with a design to save your life; if they be things which you have thought of merely to save your life; instead of calling in witnesses to the truth of your confession, I desire they may be called in to hear you retract it, and do you declare before them, that what you have said to me, and with which I have acquainted the king, were things invented to save your life; but if they be true, then let the witnesses hear you own the truth of them. He was a little concerned that I should question the truth of what he had declared, and said, Sure you do not take me for so great a villain, that I would tell lies just as I am going out of the world. I must confess, nature doth incline me to wish I might have lived, yet whether I were to live or die it is all one; my confession is true in the words of a dying man; and this I protest in the presence of Almighty God, falling upon his knees. Then I called in the three witnesses, which attest his confession; and he protested and declared before them, That be had made his confession freely, without any promise made, or hopes given him to save his life; he also signed his confession and delivered it to me as his act, in the presence of the said witnesses, as appears by their oath since made before the lieutenant of the Tower. Memorandum, that the 11th day of July, in the three and thirtieth year of the reign of ' our sovereign lord king Charles the 2nd, &c. 1681. James Walmesley, and Edward Pattle two of the yeoman warders of his majesty's "Tower of London, and Mary the wife of the said James Walmesley, came before me Tho'mas Clreek, esq. Lieutenant of the said Tower of London, and one of his majesty's The same day, in the evening, he sent for me, almost as soon as I was gone from him, and when I came to him, his business was to tell me, he heard there was a new prisoner come into the Tower, whose name was Rouse; he said, he did not know the man, but his wife had sometimes spoke of him, that she had re-justices of the peace of the county of Middleceived money of him, both for her own, and for Heyns's use. Upon Thursday, June 30, I was with him most part of the day, which we spent in prayers, and discourse concerning another and an eternal state; in the evening his wife and his maid came to him from Hampton Court, and told him how unsuccessful they had been in all their endeavours to save his life; the ill news made him weep at the first hearing, but he soon cleared up again, and said, God's will be done. July 1. The day of his execution, I was with him early, and we went to prayers, and he prayed earnestly, and wept extremely, and earnestly desired me to give him the absolution of the Church of England, which I did; and afterwards we talked together, of the manner of his death; I encouraged him to go to his execution, both like a man, and a good Christian. Between the hours of seven and eight in the morning, I proposed to him the signing his Confession, and said, Mr. Fitzharris, we are about to call in witnesses to your confession; *before we do it, I do charge you, as you must sex, and made voluntary oath, as followeth, 'viz. That Edward Fitzharris, esq. late pri'soner in the said Tower, on Friday the first of July instant, between the hours of seven and eight in the morning, did in the presence of 'these deponents make this protestation following. I Edward Fitzharris do declare and 'protest unto James Walmesley, Edward Pattle, and Mrs. Mary, that I have made this my 'confession (holding it in his hand) unto Dr. Hawkins freely and of my own voluntary 'accord, without any promise made or hopes 'given me by him from the king, of saving my life by this confession. And then he signed 'his confession, and delivered it to the said Dr. 'Hawkins, as his own act. And more say nots 'THO. CHEEK.' • Memorandum, That the day and year 'first above written, the said James 'Walmesley, Edward Pattle, and Mary Walmesley took the afore'said oath, in the presence of us, 'T. HAWLEY, O. REYNOLDS.' When he had made this Declaration and signed his Confession before these witnesses, he called for a glass of wine, and drank one glass to me and to the witnesses, and said, I thank | had in the close of his speech, referred the peo you for all your kindness; I have nothing more to do, but to die. About half an hour after came his wife and his maid, and he told them he had signed his confession, and that I would give them a copy of it, if they desired it. His wife answered, My dear, what shouldest thou trouble thyself about confessions, thou art basely betrayed; thy life is taken away; I have done all that I could to save thy life, but to no purpose.' Something after nine o'clock, he was guarded out of the Tower, and delivered to the sheriffs of London and Middlesex at the bars on Towerbill. I accompanied him thither, and offered to go with him on the sledge; he said, it was enough that I would meet him at the place of execution, which I did; and when he called for me, I stepped on the sledge to him, and said a prayer for him; then we went up into the cart together, where he kneeled down, and desired me to give him the absolution of the church of England. Then the sheriffs spoke to him to declare his mind before he died; He answered, that what he had to say, he had left with me: They pressed him again to speak there at his death, for they knew not, they said, what he had left with me. Then he began to say how he had been employed to find out libels against the king, and was at a stand, and referred the sheriffs for the rest, to what he had left with me. This moved the sheriffs a third time to desire him to speak; Mr. Fitzharris asked me whether I had his short speech about me? I produced the speech and he read it, and gave it to me again; The sheriffs said the speech was theirs, it belonged to them; I answered, Mr. Fitzharrris had given it to me; and he seconded me, and said, he had given his speech to me, and they might have a copy of it; which they had before I came away. And because Fitzharris ple to something more which he had left with me; the sheriffs were earnest to know what it was and where? I told them, they were papers which probably were not in my power to produce. I had them not about me, but they should be delivered to whom they did properly belong; and for that Fitzharris had mentioned his Confession left with me; and I having notice before of the design to stifle his confession by his not owning it at his death, desired him to declare whether all that he had left with me were true? The sheriffs seemed to be much concerned, that I should put this question to Fitzharris, and said, I had nothing to do to put questions there, nor should I. I urged again, shall I not bid the dying speak the truth? Mr. Fitzharris turned to me and said, Yes, it is true. Then I took him by the hand and recommended his soul to God, and so took my leave of him; I went down from the cart and stood close by it: When Mr. Bethel said, Mr. Fitzharis you declared when you were in Newgate, that you knew more of the Popish-Plot than any man, you ought to say what you know before you die. He referred the sheriff to what he had left with me. Then Mr. Cornish spoke to him and said, Mr. Fitzharris, if you know any thing that may save innocent blood, you ought to declare it. He referred Mr. Cornish likewise to what he had left with me. Then Dr. Martin asked him if he died a Protestant, and bid him declare his religion. He referred the doctor also to what he had left with me. He asked whether his body were to be broken. Mr. Cornish read the warrant. Mr. Fitzharris desired me to take care of his body; I answered the employment was very unbecoming me, there were others appointed to do it. He prayed to continue their kindness to his poor wife and children; his last words were, I desire your prayers for an happy passage. TRUTH VINDICATED: or a Detection of the Aspersions and Scandals cast upon Sir Robert Clayton and Sir George Treby, Justices: and Slingsby Bethell and Henry Cornish, esqrs. Sheriffs of the City of London, in a Paper published in the Name of Dr. Francis Hawkins, Minister of the Tower, intituled The Con'fession of Edward Fitzharris, esq.' &c. The Copy of which Paper is herewith printed for the Reader's clearer Judgment in the Case. London: Printed for Rich. Baldwin, 1681. OUT of a just care that the Protestant Religion and interest may not suffer, nor our own reputations be blasted by the most odious scandals causelessly cast upon us in the execution of our several offices, we are constrained to make known unto the world the abominable falsehoods and fictions of that pretended Confession But having heard that some have been deof Fitzharris, published by Dr. Francis Haw-ceived by that paper, and induced to believe kins, minister of the Tower. that it was written by Fitzharris, bone fide, from some compunction of conscience or sense of obligation to reveal the truth at his death, we hold it our duty to discover the Popish practice and contrivance in the forming and publishing that pretended Confession. cover the Popish treasons, without an impudent direct forswearing the particulars that have been evidently proved, and a design by equivocations and sly insinuations mixed with downright falshoods and fictions, to persuade the world that there are amongst the Protestants abominable practices of subornation of perjuries against the Papists, wicked conspiracies against the king, queen and duke of York, and vile designs against the Lords of the council. We doubt not but time will discover how, and by whom this pretended Confession was modelled and put together, and how long it was upon the anvil to fashion it, and how the miserable man was prevailed upon to give a seeming consent to it, against the dictates of his conscience, with hopes to save his life by serving such designs, though he was seemingly to renounce those hopes, to make himself the better to be believed." The poor deluded, timorous wretch consenting perhaps to the wickedness, whilst he was persuaded it should save him from the gallows, though he was conscious to himself, that the matters pretended to be confessed were a parcel of falsehoods invented to serve base designs; the whole paper having no face or appearance of a dying criminal's open-hearted confession of his sins, nor any expressions of remorse of conscience for them. No more notice is taken of any of those (too well known) debaucheries and wickedness of his life, than if he had lived like a saint or angel, no acknowledgment or mention is made of those odious repeated perjuries to the secretaries of state, to sir Robert Clayton, &c. and to the judges of For the present, let it suffice that we anatothe King's-Bench, of which he must have mize this Mock Confession, and shew its shameknown himself to be guilty, if he had thought | ful falshood out of its own matter and form. this pretended Confession to be true. There is It is to be observed, how he begins his Connothing in it that looks plain, clear and natural, fession; not like a man that had before conas seriously intended to discharge his consci- fessed upon his oath many Popish treasons and ence, and satisfy the world about the matters designs against the Protestants, their religion formerly sworn by him, and published by au- and lives; and from whom (being now atthority. If any such purpose had been really tainted of treason) was to be expected a clear in his heart, like a true penitent sinner, he account of all the Popish intrigues he knew: must naturally have descended to the particu- but without apology or preamble, he tells the lars of what he had sworn, and have declared to world, believe it who can, "That the treason the world, whether his ghostly father, Gough, of the libel whereof he was convicted, came did really tell him in the year 1672 (as he had from a Protestant, viz. the lord Howard; and deposed) of the Papists designs to bring the that he was no further concerned in it, than as duke of York to be king, to restore popery, he was employed to give the king notice of and of killing the king to make way for it." such libels, which he was wont to do by Mrs. He could not but have confirmed or denied the Wall, the lady Portsmouth's woman." truth of his oath, That his other ghostly father Parry, (the Portuguese embassador's confessor) told him in 1678, "That a council of Roman Catholics had resolved, that seeing the king failed in the expectations they had from him, he should be destroyed, and that the business was near, and he should soon see it done." If bis conscience had been to be unburdened in this confession, he could not have forborn to say clearly, that he deposed truly or falsly, "That the marquis Montecuculi in 1679, swere him first to secrecy, and then offered him 10,000l. to kill the king either in his own person, or by any other." And if this pretended Confession were conscientiously taken by Dr. Hawkins, as from a penitent sinner whom he absolved from his sins (as he says) he could not be so negligent or ignorant in his priestly office, or so false to the king and the religion he professes, as not to exhort the sinner when he seemed to retract what he had sworn before, to confess the truth in matters of such concern to the life of the king, and the being of the Protestant religion, and the public justice of the kingdom, knowing that his Confession about those things had been published to the whole world. But this Paper shews itself, when duly examined, to be à studied artificial contrivance to But the conscience of this poor wretch could not but witness within him, that he had often protested before God, that the lord Howard knew nothing of the libel, and that he had bitterly complained sometime to sheriff Cornish, and sometime to sheriff Bethel in Newgate, that he was pressed with the powerful argument of saving his life, to accuse my lord Howard and my lord of Shaftesbury of the libel; and that he was so importuned thereunto, that he was forced to down of his knees, and beg that he might not be further pressed therein, the lord Howard being innocent of it, and the lord Shaftesbury being such a stranger to bim, as he had scarce ever spoke to him: adding with great asseverations, that if it were to save his life, he could not be guilty of so base a villany; but would rather die than accuse the innocent. What large offers were also made to some of his friends, to persuade him to accuse the lord Howard, may hereafter be proved. He also knew (as many thousands do) that the evidence given at the King'sbench, upon his trial, was full and clear, That he provided and furnished all the matter of the libel, and dictated other parts of it, and that it was drawn into form at his request, and for him. And himself confessed he shewed the papers of the libel to the lord Arran. But per haps the miserable man was deluded to think his life might be saved, by accusing the Protestants, and excusing himself as a spy upon them. Therefore he next proceeds (in his sham Confession) to a Protestant Plot, viz. "That the lord Howard told him of a design to seize upon the king's person, to carry him into the city, and there detain him till he had condescended to their desires; and that himself and Heyns were privy to the design." Here is a wonderful tale of a Protestant Plot between two Irish papists and a Protestant Jord; one English sheep in conjunction with two Irish wolves, to hunt and pursue the same prey, and this is told, to be believed and swallowed like the articles of the Popish faith, without chewing or asking question about the particulars, or the probability or possibility of the thing. Doubtless, if those words have any sense in them, viz. by detaining the king until he hath condescended to their desires," it must be meant, until he hath passed acts of parliament, or laws suitable to the Protestant desires. Surely the inventer of this, never considered that such a design was of a thing impossible, unless the parliament did concur and act in such a treason, and prepare and frame their desires into bills for that purpose; and unless the government, and also the force of the city did join with the parliament to detain the king in custody for the same ends; and doubtless it was an absolute impossibility to know the mind and sense of a parliament before it had a being; and another, to understand the resolutions of the vast body of the city in a matter never propounded to any of their assemblies. Yet this sham Confession hath the confidence to say, that Heynes and Fitzharris were privy to this design, and had several meetings with the lord Howard, and particularizeth the revocation of the act for the settlement of Ireland, as one of the acts that was to be passed in the execution of this design. the birth of the mountains; and for that reason, we think it needless to relate the fre quent protestations made by Fitzharris, that he knew nothing of any design of the lord Howard against the king or government: this very Confession itself, when examined, being the clearest evidence of its own wickedness and folly.. Now this Mock Confession having told this vain story of a design against the king by the Protestants, he applies himself in the next page, by false insinuations, to persuade the world, in effect, that there was no Popish Plot, and that the Protestant officers and magistrates have wickedly endeavoured to suborn him, to make a Confession that might confirm a Popish Plot. He declares, that in Newgate, the sheriffs Bethell and Cornish, came to him with a token from the lord Howard, which he knew to be true, and told him nothing would save his life, but discovering the Popish Plot, and gave him great encouragements from the lord Howard, that if he would declare that he believed so much of the Plot as amounted to the introducing the Roman Catholics, or if he would find out any that would criminate the queen, royal highness, or make so much as a plausible story to confirm the Plot, that the parliament would restore him to his father's estate, with the profits thereof since his majesty's restoration. We have no way left us in nature to evince the falshood of this whole story, but by circumstances, or the testimony of such as were present when the sheriffs were severally with him, or their own averments upon oath, which they are ready to give, that all those particu. lars are false and groundless inventions. It is so far from the least appearance of truth, that the sheriffs went to him with a token from the lord Howard, that they will severally depose, that they never saw or heard from the lord Howard in any kind, whilst Fitzharris was Yet there is nothing of circumstance, or in Newgate; and capt. Richardson and the particular, pretendedly discovered to induce the keepers can witness that they never came toweakest of men to believe it. If this counter-gether to Fitzharris, or discoursed him togefeit confessor were privy to such a design, and met to consult it, he must certainly have known what forces were thought of to master the King's Guards, and who was to command them, and out of what ground they were to spring up in a night, like mushrooms, and which of those newborn regiments were to carry the king prisoner to London; he must have also heard who were to prepare and prevail with the members of parliament to pursue this design. Fitzharris and Heynes, two Irish papists, and neither of quality, parts, estates, or interests, were doubtless well chosen instruments, to apply to the members of parliament, to revoke the settlement of Ireland, and were likely to be admitted into secrecy with them about this design and treason. We ask pardon that we cannot speak more gravely of this matter, this feigned discovery of a Protestant Plot being more ridiculous than ther, or were in Newgate at the same time whilst he was there, save only that sheriff Bethell on the 10th of March was coming out from Fitzharris, when sir Robert Clayton and sir George Treby, with sheriff Cornish were coming in to examine him; but sheriff Bethell made then no stay, but left them forthwith; nor did he ever see Fitzharris in his life, until Wednesday the 9th of March last, which was four days after he had made his first confession of the Popish treasons to the secretaries of state, the same in substance with that, printed by order of the Commons in parliament; and sheriff Bethell had not then come to Fitzharris, if he had not sent to him the day before to desire to speak with him. Sheriff Cornish likewise never saw Fitzbarris, until Sunday the 6th of March, which was after the Secretaries of State's first examination of him, and he then discoursed him |