The Proofs both Circumstantial and Positive, that the Earl of Essex did not Feloniously Murder Himself, but was Barba­rously Murdered by others.

I. THat he did not Murder Himself you have E­vinced.

• 1. From the Improbabilities that he should do it.
• 2. From the Impossibilities that he could SO do it.

[Page 2]II. That he was Murdered by others, you have made good,

• 1. By Ʋndeniable Circumstances.
• 2. By Positive Proofs Offered.

1. That the E. of E. did not Murder himself as the Inquest declares: Appears,

• 1, From the Improbabilities that he should so do.
  • 1. Because of that excellent Sedate and well-composed Natural temper he was well known to be of, and free from such Melancholy and Frensical Fits, which might encline and expose him to such a Mischief, whatever maliciously and falsly had been said to the contrary.
  • 2. Because of that grace and fear of God, he was so eminently endowed with, which would secure him from such Impiety.
  • 3. Because of that abhorrency by Principle which he was well known to have of such unnatural practises (whereof he could not speak without great emotion of Spirit) whatever the better to colour the Murder, and six it upon him, had been most villanously reported, and spread abroad to the contrary.
  • 4. Because of the careful Provision he made for his own preservation, after he came into the Tower fearing the worst.
    • 1. By sending for his own Silver V [...]ssel to dress his Meat in by his own People,
    • 2. By that store of all sorts of Wine, he had ordered to be [...] in for his own drinking,
    • 3. By the direction he had given to his Servant, to take Notes of my Lord Russel's Tryal, that very day for his own use; all ample indications he de­signed self-preservation, not self-destruction.
  • 5. Because as his Conscience was clear from any Treasonable Guilt, (whatever to the contrary has been most wickedly suggested) so was he free from either legal Witnesses or Conviction, there being no Bill of In­dictment found against him, as against others the day before, which might sufficiently secure him from needless fears, or any such desperate course, tho had his zeal and affection to his King, Country and Religion, (whom he might apprehend to have been in danger) transported him to any irre­gularity, his Fathers, as well as his own extraordinary merits from the Crown, might well be supposed (from so grateful and compassionote a Prince) would plead his Pardon, and free hin from such Desperation.
  • 6. Because of that intire Love and Friendship he bore to his most dear friend; the Lord R. which both in Honour and Conscience, would forbid [Page 3]and deterr from such an Action, which must so necessarily tend to the cer­tain ruine and destruction of his best Friend, and which fell out according­ly from the sinister construction they made thereof.
  • 7. Because of the previous notice given thereof in diverse places, which to be sure he would never have done, had he designed any such thing.
• 2. From the Impossibilities that he could so do as the Inquest declares.
  • 1. Because it was impossible that he at one cut (as the Verdict saith) could cut 4 Inches in depth, and 8 in length, because none can manage his hand to guide a Razor so to do at once, viz. From the left-side of the Neck-boue, to the right.
  • 2. Because it is impossible that with that French Razor, which was but 4 Inches and a half long, and without a Tongue (necessitating to take 2 Inches and a half at least in his Hand) that he could with 2 Inches of such an Instrument cut 4 or 5 Inches in depth and 8 or 9 in length.
  • 3 Because it is impossible in Nature, that when he had cut the left Jugu­lar and Wind-pipe to the Neck-bone (which let out so much of the Blood and Vitals, that he could have either life or strength, to proceed to cut the other also, as all skilful Chyrurgeons and Anatomists can demon­strate.
  • 4. Because it was utterly impossible, that after he had lockt himself in­to the Closet, he could so cut his Throat as it was, and then opon the Closet door, and fling the Bloody Razor out of the Chamber Window, at such a distance from the Closet, and then get the Razor up again, and keep it in his hand (as some) or fling it by him (as others) and all this after he was Dead, for he instantly dyed saith the Inquest, and none but himself in the Room say their Witnesses, therefore it was impossible he could with that Razor so Murder himself. And that the Bloody Razor was flung out of the Chamber Window, is made good by no less then ten Witnesses.

Thus have you some Grounds and Reasons (from the improbability and impossibility of the thing) to clear his Innocency from the Horrid Fact, so impudenty charged upon him, and consequently the guilt of others and which may be sufficient to all wise Men, to detect the Murder, and in­force a review, if no other evidence could be produced: tenfold less, has done it, in other Cases, it being so difficult many times to get light, and trace such Secret hidden works of darkness, as Sir, Fran. Bacon eleganly in Sir Tho. O. case tells us, That wise men must take upon them in these Secret Cases, Solomons Spirit, that when there could be no Witnesses, collected the Act by the affection, viz. VVhen he used the Stratagem about dividing the Child, but this you'll find is not our case, providence having given us a larger provision as you will further hear.

Secondly, That he was Barbarously Murdered by others appears. 1. By the [Page 4]undeniabl Ci [...]umstances, arising

• 1. From the previous Reports.
• 2. From the corrupt and partial proceedings of the Coroner and his Inquest.
• 3. From the Conspirators Villanous ends. And
• 4. From the Wicked Methods used to st [...]fle it.

1. By the undeniable Circumstances, arising

• 1. From the many previous Reports which they had spread of his Self-Murder (a method the Papists have heretofore taken (but the Policy there­of never yet understood) viz. When they stabb'd H. the IV. of France, Burnt London, Assassinated Sir E. B. G. and Murdered Hawly the Warder) of which diverse undeniable proofs have been and are ready to be produ­ced of such reports, not only in London, but 50, 60, 80, 90, 100 Miles off; in some places a day, in some two days, in others (at a great distance) the very day he was Murdered; and as most Remarkable (as God would have it) all agreeing in the very manner thereof, viz. Cutting his Throat in the Tower. At Andover 60 Miles off, they had the report of his Cutting his Throat in the Tower the 11th of July, which was the first day of his Imprisonment there (for by reason of his late Commitment the Night be­fore, he lay at the French Lord Fevershams in White-Hall) which sufficient­ly discovers what they designed before-hand, for if this Report came from London, it must be before he was a Prisoner, at least in the Tower, and two days before the thing was done.
• 2. From the irregular corrupt partial and unjust Proceedings of the Coronor and his Inquest.
  • 1. That one Farnham, said to be a Deputy Coroner, which the Law knows nothing of; and to be be sure a Legal Coroner he was not, Sir Tho. Stringer the Steward of the Tower being the proper Officer, and accoun­table for that great trust, but this is the Tool who must be brought forth to do the Jobb
  • 2. That none of the Relations were summoned to attend the Inquest, which by known usage ought to have been.
  • 3. That contrary to the known Custome and Usage, not only of our own, but other Nations, as well as the Kings special and express Com­mand, the Body was removed from the place and posture it was said first to be found in, stript, and Cloaths taken away, and Body and Rooms washt from the Blood, to prevent the notoriety of the Fact upon view; and as sayed, by the new Coroners contrivance or consent, (which m [...]kes it the more hainous and suspitious) for had it remained in the place, and posture it was said first to be found in, the print of the Bloody Foot upon the Stockings, the Cravat or Neck-cloath being cut into four pieces in the middle; and the contrary witnesses, who speak both as to place and po­sture, would have clearly discovered the Murder. The Notched Razor and Cut Hand, being most pregnant Circumstances, yet little regarded.
  • 4. That the Jury excepted against the removing of the Body from the [Page 5]posture and place, and demanded a view of the Cloaths which William Fisher did by name, yet was denyed the same by the Coroner, after he had been in the next Room, with some of the Conspirators, who had call'd him out upon that Demand, and who upon his return to the Jury again did de­clare to them (as ignorantly as wickedly) that they were to sit upon the Body, not the Clothes.
  • 5. The partial Examination of Witnesses, that tho there were several in and about the House when the Fact was done, yet only Bomeny and Russel who they might justly suspect to be privy to it, must be the principal Wit­nesses they'll examine in the Case, taking little notice of Peck, Munden, Lloyd, Captain Hawley himself, or the two Women.
  • 6. The little regard had to the notorious contradictions in the Wit­nesses, they did, or might examine; Bomeny telling them, the Razor was given him (wherewith he cut his Throat) the 12 of July, and Russel the 13; Bo­meny that Russel broke open the Door, but Russel that he easily opened it with the Key on the outside; Bomeny that he could only through the chink of the Door, see some Blood and some part of the Razor, but Russel that he could through the same chink see the whole Body; Bomeny and Russel that the whole Body lay in the Closet, and none of it to be seen in the Chamber, but Peck and others, that part of it lay in the Chamber; Bomeny and Russel that they were absent but a quarter of an hour from my Lord, but to others Bomeny owns he was absent from him two or three hours, in so much as he was cold and stiff before he saw him; some that he was found lying, others kneeling.
  • 7. That they unduly suffered themselves to be hurried into a Verdict, by the Message brought them by Capt. Hawley in the K. Name, to hasten the same; as though the death of so great a man, and in that place too, de­served not a serious and due search, especially when they saw such foul play offered them, by removing Body and Cloaths, and denying a view of the Cloaths, and when none of the Relations present, and so few of the Witnesses Examin'd, and those in so much contradiction too.
  • 8. By the unheard of drawing their Verdict, which was done not by the Coroner, nor by the Jury amongst themselves, as it ought to have been, but by one of the Conspirators themselves in the next Room, who sent it to them by Bomeny, and which they signed accordingly.
  • 9. By giving so wicked and false a Verdict upon their Oaths, which was this, viz. That the E. of Essex being the 13 of July alone in his Chamber, did with a Razor Voluntarily and Feloniously cut his Throat, giving unto him­self one mortal Wound, cut from one Jugular to the other, and by the Aspera Arteria, and the Wind-Pipe, to the Vertebraes of the Neck, both the Jugulars being thoroughly divided, of which said Wound the Earl instantly died.

This was the Conspirators Diabolical writing, which they imposed [Page 6]upon the Jury, and they made their Verdict both Coroner and Inquest by Subscribing it.

It falsly saith he was alone in the Chamber, whereas by the flinging out the Bloody Razor, as well as by sufficient Testimony, it will appear that several went up and came out at that time.

It also fasly saith he did give himself with that Razor one mortal wound of such a length, and such a depth, which are utter impossibilities, as before.

3. From the Villanous ends the Conspirators had to effect and carry on here­by, viz.

• 1. To confirm a Protestant Plot, a thing which they had long and of­ten laboured, and as often been disappointed in, and which was so im­proved by the Atturney General, as 1000 Witnesses to make it good, as also by the L. Ch. Justice, as the Finger of God, to convince all the World thereof, the sad consequence whereof hath since been so severely felt.
• 2. Utterly to stifle the Popish Plot, witness the Bayling, the Popish Lords Impeached and committed by Parliament, out of the Tower, and the publick prints to ridicule the same ever since.
• 3. To destroy the L. Russel, and therefore done at the very instant he was to come to his Tryal, and so improved by the Lawyers to the Jury, which some of them have owned did more prevail with them to bring him in Guilty, than any other proof produced against him.
• 4. That they might remove out of the way so great a Champion of the Protestant Cause and Interest, who by his great Imployments and Trusts in this and the other Nation, had gained so perfect knowledge of their Popish horrid Intreagues, the way they have taken of old, both in this and other Nations; and whereof divers Instances might be given, besides that of Sir E. B. Godfry, whose wounds bleed afresh at the mentioning hereof.
• 5. That hereby they might carry on a Hellish design against the King himself, as tho he had been privy hereto, by not only Butchering him in that his Royal Prison and Palace (whereby the Law he becomes pledg for the safety and forth-coming of the Prisoner) and at a time when he was there in Person; where he had not been for divers years before; and as tho he came purposely to order the doing thereof, and to Intitle the Go­vernment to it. Which the Lord Chief-Justice doth so often Inculcate: If he was indeed then Murdered by others from the K. presence there [in Bradons Tryal] As also by that their horrid Presumption, in sending in the K. Name to hasten and hurry the Jury into that corrupt Verdict, and so daringly and contemptuously to remove the Body, contrary to the K. express Command by a Person of Quality.

4. From the Methods which have been used to stiflle the discovery hereof, and to deter men from inquiring into the matter.

• 1. By the Lawyers and Judges, who have declared that whoever went [Page 7]about to prove the E. of E. murdered, did no other than libel the Govern­ment, and bring the Guilt of his Blood upon it.
• 2. By the strict Command given by the Officers of the Guards in the Tower, the day after the Murder, to all the Souldiers, not to speak one word thereof at their Perils.
• 3. By the severe Prosecutions, and Persecutions of those who have ap­peared herein, both as to their Estates, Persons, Lives and Liberties.

  Witness, the turning out of old Edwards from his place in the Custom­house, wherein he had been 29 years, for only bidding his Son upon his Bles­sing speak the truth in the Case; & the many severities to Mr. Bradon for de­claring what others had said about it; & the severe dealing with Mr. Hugh Speak for the same: as also that late cruel usage of that poor Souldier in the Tower, because he would not affirm the E of E. murdered himself; who was first whipped with Cords till the skin was flay'd off. 2. After that Scurged with Rods. And 3. put upon the Wooden-horse with 6 Mus­quets at his Heels, Sword broken and cashierd. But especially, the Des [...]ru­ction of Rob. Meak the Centinel, for telling what he heard and saw that day of the bloody Tragedy: whose Neck was therefore broke, and f [...]ung into the Tower-Ditch; who declared before-hand to his Friends, how his life was threatned for the same. As also H [...]wly the Warder, who was ser­ved in like manner for blabbing; whose murdered Body was about a Month after it was missing, taken up near Rochester, where a great Popish Lord declared several days before he was found, that he had there drowned himself.

• 4. By the endeavours which have been used to prevent, the Review, which by 2 Letters to 2 Noble Men, and the Letters to the Lady E. sent openly by a Messenger to Godman the Bookseller, which he brought to Ju­stice Henton, and he to the Secretary; all of them purporting a d [...]covery upon Indemnity and a Review, but all in vain.

4. By positive Proofs, attesting the Murder, that of Indemnity may be granted as was offered in Sir E. B. G's case; and a fresh Legal Enquiry, as, in Sir. Tho. O. Case, and others, there will then be produced positive Evidence, which will declare who were the Contrivers and Authors, who the Actors and Abetters of this Barbarous, detestable Murder, describe the Instrument with which it was done, and which was made on purpose for the same: The rewards and preferments to the respective Actors therein, with all the material Circum­stances about it. Which Enquiry was successfully made in Sir Tho. O's case, after the Coroners Inquest had found it (as said) a natural Death. And by which after more then two years stisted by a high hand, the then Principal Minister of State and his Associates, with the Lieutenant of the Tower, and others, were searcht into, found Guilty, and many of them Executed for that hor­rid Murder, committed upon that Innocent Gentleman in the Tower.