[Page 2] AFter the Commission read, and the Juries Impannelled, and their appearances Recorded, Six Prisoners were Ar­raigned, viz. Thomas White alias Whitebread, apprehended on the first discovery of the Plot, a little Lean very old man in mean Gray Cloaths, who was Provincial of the English Je­suits, and should have been, (had their Cursed Design hit) Bishop of Canterbury; William Har­court taken not above five Weeks ago near Long-Acre, an Ancient Tall man in Black Ha­bit with a Perriwig; a person though no good Orator, very Politick, and often mentioned in Coleman's Tryal and Letters as a grand Instru­ment of mischeif; John Fenwick a middle-Aged man, some what Gentilely Dressed in a lightish Wig, and Gray Campaine Coat; John Gavern alias Gawen a Short well-set man in Gray Cloaths, and looking very plain and ordinary as a Country-man, but in truth a person of Ex­quisite parts and Oratory, who mannaged al­most the whole Defence on the behalf of his Fellow Prisoners with a great deal of Briskness, Subtilty and fine Language; Anthony Turner a person in Mean Habit, short Perriwig; one [Page 3] that said little for himself; and James Corker, who presenting a Petition, alledging that he had not his Witnesses ready, was put off as to his Tryal till the next day; so that the Court at present proceeded only with the five first named.

Their Tryal was very tedious, lasting from before nine a Clock in the Morning, to seven or Eight in the Evening; the particulars where­of we do not here pretend fully and exactly to relate, as well because 'tis not to be done in a single Sheet, as especially for that we are as­sured there will shortly by the special care of Authority be a compleat and punctual Account published, to which we refer the more Curi­ous Reader, only designing here to give a brief but true Narrative of the most observable points for the present satisfaction of the com­mon people, that they may know what Justice was done them, and what in general was proved upon them.

They were all five Charged in one Indict­ment specially drawn for High Treason, and aggravated with all the most Horrid Circum­stances immaginable. First, that they Conspired to Kill and Destroy His Sacred Majesty, and this declared in a threefold Overt act, by Hire­ing [Page 4] Grove and Pickering (the first for fifteen hundred Pounds, the second for thirty thou­sand Masses to Shoot or Stab him, by Hiring four Irish Ruffians to Murther His Majesty at Windsor; by bribing Wakeman for fifteen thou­sand Pounds to Poyson him. Secondly, To Subvert the Government, Extirpate the Pro­testant Religion, and Introduce Popery, &c. Their Jury were very Substantial Gentlemen, and they made Peremptory Challenges to all that had been on the Tryals of Coleman, or any others concerned in this Plot.

Old Father Whitebread and Fenwick on their Arraignment insisted that they had formerly been brought to Tryal, and ought not to be twice put in Jeopardy of their Lives for the same Fact: But this vain pretence was refuted, by shewing that though they were once called to the Bar, yet the Jury was never Charged with them, and consequently they were never in any such Jeopardy; and besides here was much new Matter in their Indictment, nor had they any Record to shew that they vvere so for­merly Arraigned; vvith vvhich seeming to be satisfied, they (vvith the rest) pleaded not Guilty.

[Page 5] As to their Traiterous Design of Murthering the King, it was proved upon four of them: that at a general Consult of Jesuits 24th. April 1678. they signed a Resolution to that pur­pose; that Grove and Pickering were enter­tained to Kill the King, and what reward they were to have. That four Irish men were to do the same Villanous Act at Windsor, and that Fourscore Pounds were alotted them for that service, and some small Addition made by Coleman for Expedition. That Whitebread and Harcourt were particularly and principally concerned in these Transactions, with several other Intrigues too tedious here to be specified.

It was further proved that Gavern had been appointed to mannage Affairs in and about Staffordshire, and one of the Evidences (who had not before appeared against others, nor was Acquainted formerly with Dr. Oates or Mr. Bedloe, so that his Testimony was wholly new, which he very Modestly and Judiciously de­livered) Proved that the said Prisoner had held Consultations in the Countrey for Mur­thering the King, and Subverting the Govern­ment, &c. which was likewise confirmed by another; so that upon the whole matter there [Page 6] were four Witnesses against one of the Pri­soners, three against another, and against all of them two each Crime, being all of the same nature and Horrid Intention of destroying the King, and Subverting the Government.

There was likewise a Letter produced, and proved by a very worthy Gentleman to have been taken amongst Harcourts Papers, that purported to be a Summons to a Jesuit to ap­pear at the said Consult or Congregation of that Society, on the 24th of April; in which were Directions to this effect, That they should not come up before the day, nor appear much abroad in Town, for fear of a discovery of the Design, which its own nature required Secrecy: This Letter the said Harcourt owned to have been written by a Friend of his, but would have avoided the true meaning thereof with a forc'd Interpretation, that such Design in­tended nothing but chusing an Officer of their Brotherhood: But the words could not with any tolerable sense be capable of such Con­struction: And therefore after all the fair Glosses they had put upon it, the same was referred to the consideration of the Jury.

The Prisoners made a great deal of stir, and [Page 7] had procured divers persons from St. Omers, all Roman Catho­licks, and most of them young Popish Students there, to invalidate the Evidence of one of the Principal Evidences; But as they did not well agree in their Tale, but appeared to have been brought hither meerly to serve the Prisoners, so the same was utterly confuted by Corrobarating Evidence for the King. For whereas those young Sophisters (ready enough to assert any thing that their Superiours would suggest or have them to do) maintained that Mr. Oates was at St Omers all along throughout April and May 1678. and so could not be at the Consult on the 24th. of April. He on the other side produced several Substantial Credible Witnesses that saw him then in and about London, and particularly one Gentleman Swore, that on the first Monday in that May he Dined with him: Nay one that was himself a Papist, and supposed a Priest, Swore that he then saw him at Arundel House: Nor were they more lucky in several other of their Allegations, which occasioned sometimes great Shouts from the people, to see how industriously, and yet how vainly they went about to Justify themselves with pretences equal­ly foolish and false.

Never had Malefactors a more fair and equal Tryal, nor any Court of Justice more patience to hear and examine all that the Prisoners could alleadge for themselves; nor was the method of proceeding less mild and and gentle. For whereas they might all have been dealt withall, and justly Condemned for Treason as Priests, that was not insisted on, so moderate are Protestants against punishing any meerly for being Priests, though that be most reason­ably made Capital by our Laws; no cause have they therefore, or any of their Faction be­yond [Page 8] the Seas, to complain of harsh usage or Clamour about Persecution: It was not for their Religion they were tryed, but for their abominable Treasons which were most evi­dently made out against them.

So that after a full hearing of all the Witnesses they could produce, (though all Romanists, who yet were Impartially heard and received) and whatever they had to say for themselves (which rather consisted in flourishes and little Captious Tricks of Subtilty, than any solid Defence to the matters they stood Charged with,) they were all most justly, and to the great satis­faction of all unprejudiced Auditors, Convicted of the High Treason they were Indicted for.

The next day came on Mr. Langborn the Counsellor, who should have been Advocate-General to the Popish-Army: It was proved that the Commissions were lodg'd in his hands, and seve­ral other horrid things that he was concern'd in; and particu­larly, that he was so cursedly zealous, That when he was told Sir George Wakeman would not accept 10000 l. to poison the King, but expected more: he said, He was a pitiful narrow-Soul'd Fellow, that would insist on Money for a Work that was so ad­vantageous to the Cause; That any good Catholick ought to do it gratis. He brought a Regiment of young Seminaries from St. Omers. to prove Mr. Oates to have been there at the time he mentioned the Transactions to have been at London, but as they appear'd to come over only to help him and the rest out in this pinch, so what they alledged was sufficiently disproved by the Oaths of divers Persons of worth and credit. Whereupon after a long hearing of all his Pretensions, he was convict: And the other five being brought down, they all received Sentence toge­ther to be Drawn, Hang'd, and Quarter'd. And then the Court Adjourned till after the Term.