language, which was no more than familyduty; and I can produce a witness that women say their prayers publicly in an unknown tongue, and all answer; and by these circumstances I am accused for being a priest.

Baron Street. I find, Mr. Busby, you understand the law. But pray you, is the Sacrament given by women? And is absolution given by women?

Busby. If they understand not the language, they understand not the thing: treason may be spoke in French, and I not know it to be so.

Baron Street. Then it seems no man can prove a priest that does not understand the Latin tongue.

Busby. None of the witnesses has sworn that gave absolution, nor that I said mass, but in an unknown tongue. What they have said are only circumstances, and do not prove the indictment; and what they say I did, are things that are performed by those who are not priests. I offer it again to your lordship's consideration, that I have, not been proved a born subject of the king's. I was deprived of my Habeas Corpus, which was detained in the sheriff's hand, and so lost the benefit of it; (these things are material ;) and have not had time to produce witnesses that I was not born in England, but beyond sea: at London I could have got evidence to prove that; and here has been no proof made of that, but a story told of me when I was a child: I have proved that my name cannot be found in the register at Coddington. For the rest I have not had time; if I had had the benefit of my Habeas Corpus, to have been tried at London, I had friends there that could have proved me born beyond sea: this Dudley that appears an evidence against me, was a servant of Mr. Powtrel's, who was gone away upon disgust; he sent away several loads of goods, and now he comes to swear against me; I am verily confident that he carried away above three horse-load of goods, that he carried privately out of the garden, of plants and such things, and sent them all away.

Mr. Gilbert. My lord, they were his clothes, and other things of his own, which he took with him when he went away.

Baron Street. All this signifies nothing, if it be proved; but bring what witnesses you will to prove it.

Busby. I hope your lordship will consider that I am an alien born, and that by the loss of my Habeas Corpus I had not time to bring my witnesses; and that the prayers I said were only family-duties: I hope that will be considered; and that those people that have sworn I said mass and absolved, do not know what mass is, nor absolution. My lord, here is nothing proved of the indictment against me.

Baron Street. You have said all this six times over, if you have nothing farther to say in your defence, I must sum up the evidence to the jury.

Baron Street. You of the jury, the prisoner bar, George Busby, stands indicted of

treason upon the statute of 27 Eliz. cap. 2, the principal branch whereof is this: And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 'that it shall not be lawful to or for any jesuit, seminary priest, or other such priest, deacon, 'or religious or ecclesiastical person whatsoever, being born within this realm, or any other of her highness's dominions, and here'tofore, since the said feast of the nativity of St. John Baptist, in the first year of her ma'jesty's reign, made, ordained, or professed, or hereafter to be made, ordained, or professed, by any authority or jurisdiction, derived, challenged or pretended from the See of Rome; by or of what name, title or degree soever the same shall be called or known, to come into, be or remain in any part of this realm, or any other her highness's dominions, 'after the end of the same forty days, other than in such special cases, and upon such 'special occasions only, and for such times only, as is expressed in this act: and if he do, that then every such offence shall be taken and adjudged to be high-treason: and every person so offending, shall for his offence be adjudged a traitor, and shall suffer, lose, and forfeit, as in case of high treason.'

This makes every offender against this statute a capital offender, and guilty of hightreason: now whether he is within this law, you are to consider. Mr. Gilbert has told you that he is a reputed priest and jesuit in the neighbourhood, and that as such he had an order from his majesty to apprehend him. He used his endeavours to take him for some time, but could not apprehend him till the 16th of March last, and then he found him; but in such an obscure hole, that no body would hide himself in, but such an extraordinary offender. Innocent people do not obscure themselves in that manner. Joseph Dudley, to prove him a native and not an alien, tells you, that when soldiers in the time of the late wars, came to plunder his father's house, he heard him say, that at two years old he hid himself in the curtains in his mother's chamber for fear of the soldiers. But (says the prisoner) my memory could not serve me at two years old to retain what I did then. But our parent tells us what we did then. If a man be asked, what age are you of? No man can tell but as his parents tell him. My father told me I was six years old, and from thence I remember it. His father and mother were not out of England, as appears, till about 1646, and then the war was ended; and the prisoner confessed himself to be about forty years of age, which shews him born in England. He that but observes his language will find that the tone of the English language remains with him. One born in Wales (though he came young from thence he will have a Welsh tone as long as he lives. The prisoner tells you, that no man has proved his being in orders of the Church of Rome, nor where, when, or by whom made a priest: but if all that were to be proved, it would make the law

At Hampton-Court, July 28, 1681.. Upon reading this day at the board the Petition of Stephen Colledge, prisoner in the Tower, praying that in order to the making his defence at his trial, which he hears is to be the middle of the next month, he may be permitted to see his two children, to have the liberty of pen, ink, and paper, and that Mr. Aaron Smith, and

commonly said, these juries would believe every thing one way, and nothing the other. If they had found the bill, so that Colledge had been tried upon it, he would have been certainly saved: but since the witnesses swore that he went to Oxford on that design, he was triable there. North went to Oxford, Colledge being carried thither: and he tried him there. North's behaviour in that whole matter was such, that probably, if he had lived to see an impeaching parliament, he might have felt the ill effects of it. The witnesses swore several treasonable words against Colledge, and that his coming to Oxford was in order to the executing these: so here was an overt-act. Colledge was upon a negative: so he had nothing to say for himself, but to shew how little credit was due to the witnesses. He was condemned, and suffered with great constancy, and with appearance of devotion. He denied all the treasonable matter that had been sworn against him, or that he knew of any plot against the king. He confessed, that a great heat of temper had carried him to many undutiful expressions of the king: but he protested he was in no design against him. And now the court intended to set the witnesses to swear against all the hot party; which was plainly murder in them, who believed them false witnesses, and yet made use of them to destroy others. One pas sage happened at Colledge's trial, which quite sunk Dugdale's credit: it was objected to him by Colledge, to take away his credit, that, when by his lewdness he had got the French pox, he to cover that gave it out that he was poisoned by papists: upon which he, being then in court, protested solemnly that he never had that disease; and said, that if it could be proved by any physician that he ever had it, he was content that all the evidence he had ever given should be discredited for ever. And he was taken at his word: for Lower, who was then the most celebrated physician in London, proved at the council board that he had been under cure in his hands for that disease; which was made out both by his bills, and by the apothecary that served them. So he was never more heard of." 1 Burnet, 504.

"It is certain, that his majesty had taken great offence at the Oxford parliament, for the particular zeal of the people in many of their elections; and for the particular respect paid the members of the city of London, in a great retinue waiting on them, &c. Of this number of attendants was one Stephen Colledge, commonly known by the name of the Protestant Joiner, a busy man, and a great zealot against

Mr. Robert West may come to him; his majesty was pleased to order, that the lieutenant of the said Tower of London do permit the said Stephen Colledge to have pen, ink, and paper, and to see his two children, and the said Mr. Aaron Smith, and Mr. Robert West, and to converse with them as often as he shall desire in presence and hearing of the warder who at tends him.

popery, who went down to Oxford, and there spoke words, and recited rhimes, that were said to reflect upon the king. This mechanic was to be made an example of meddling with politics; so an indictment of high-treason was exhibited against him to the Grand-jury of Middlesex; but the jury returned an ignoramus upon it: for which Mr. Wilmore, the foreman, was, out of all course of law, apprehended, and examined before the council, August 16th, and sent to the Tower; and was afterwards forced to fly beyond the seas. When the design had thus miscarried in London, they laid a new scene against this offender at Oxford, where they hoped to find a more pliable Grand-jury : and to make sure that the bill might not a second time miscarry, the witnesses were sent down post to the assizes, and by secret management were privately shut up with the jury till they had found the bill: which was afterwards complained of, as an intolerable practice. As soon as the bill was found against him, a jailer and a messenger were sent away to hurry him down to his trial, who, by order of the king's counsel, took from him all his instructions for his defence, and carried them to the counsel, for them only to make their use and advantage of them. This way of procedure was thought to be very harsh and illegal; yet the poor man, under these severe circumstances, was not wanting to himself, but stoutly made his defence; and, as sir John Hawles observes upon that trial, the best defence, all circumstances considered, that ever man made for his life. But indeed, it seemed to be a matter resolved upon above, he must die; and so he was, August 18th, found guilty of high-treason, and on the 31st of the same month executed in Castle-yard." 3 Kennet, 499.

"In the interval between the Oxford parlia ment and that Michaelmas 1682, a time of much discovery, there happened two notable cases. One was Stephen Colledge, and the other of one Rous. The first of these was a joiner by trade, but, being a pragmatical man, and a fanatic, was set up as a prime operator in the desperate doings of the party; and, after their way of abusing the word Protestant, (which was first derived from the Lytheran protestation in Germany, and since is used to distinguish all reformed churches) by applying it to every thing they approved, or that run sideling along with the faction, as also the word papist for the contrary, and so, by an art of calling names, finding means for casting no little prejudice upon things, this handycraftsman was made famous by the title of the

finement he cannot be furnished without the help of a solicitor, and he is like to be wholly uncapable of receiving any benefit from the directed for him. He opened it, and found only these words, You are the rogue the Court relies on for drawing the first innocent blood.' | After his lordship was in his chamber and some friends with him, he shewed it to them, saying only, that, 'These men think me so poor spirited, as to be frighted from my duty by such silly 'stuff as this.' It is a thing of course for men, in the circumstances of this criminal, to desire time after time, and to insist upon all dilatories, and to be very querulous, if every thing they ask, be not granted; for they are never in haste; and it is always one request for friends to have access to them. And, in this case, there was enough of all this; for petitions upon petitions had been preferred, praying such kind of indulgences, which were granted, as appears by the petitions and orders printed at the beginning of the trial, to silence the lying spirits of the party, who then (as this author, in this his Complete History, hath) falsely pretended that he had neither time nor means allowed for his reasonable defence. In the list of the prisoner's counsel we find Mr. Smith, that was plot counsel to Oates, and one West, deep in the Rye conspiracy; and these gentlemen, with their assistant, had penned for the prisoner's use, not only captious law questions, but florid speeches and harangues, with the cues where they were to be pricked in, as the course of the trial went on. The contents were recrimination and libe! upon the government, charging popery, French counsels, cutting off protestants, arbitrary power, and the like factious stuff, such as, if not helping the prisoner off, might fill the trial, when printed, with libel upon the government; an art usual with the faction. After the prisoner was come, the Judges, at his desire, allowed free access of his friends to him. But one of the officers observed that one of them put a parcel of papers into his hand; and, upon his information they were sent for and inspected, and found to be, partly concerning his defence, as witnesses names, &c. but abundance of the aforesaid libellous harangues. When the court was set, any one, that knew persons, might be diverted by observing the diligence of the soliciting crew, and how they had posted themselves in the view of the prisoner, and made signals at all turns with winks and lip-bitings. The prisoner was arraigned, and, after much ado, pleaded Not Guilty, and, upon his complaint about his papers, they were distinguished, and all, that were not mere libel, returned to him, and his trial was appointed the next day. It is a pity our author had not copies of these harangues to put in full length into his History, they would have sat very well

there.

"I do not propose to make a report or extract of this trial, to represent the numerous cavils and chicaneries that were used in it, for the whole is in print, and readily had; and let that

privilege allowed by law of peremptory challenge to several jurors, especially in a country where he is absolutely a stranger, unless he suffice. I shall only note a passage or two, as I think singular, and then speak with the author about the honest copy he has made from so just an original. It was Aaron Smith that put the papers into the prisoner's hand, and being questioned about it, lifted up as high as he could stretch, and, said publicly— It is high time to have a care when our lives and estates are beset here.' The chief justice rose up and (calmly) said to the clerk, Record those words.' The consequence of that was a conviction without farther trial; upon which the court might have adjudged a punishment. But Smith was aware of that, and fell to recanting and explaining, which diverted the proceeding; and the judges only took his recognition to attend during the session. This passage of recording the words is not put in the printed trial, because, as I suppose, nothing being done, it went for nothing. Sir George Jefferies, and one of the prisoner's witnesses, had a parree of wit. It was one John Lunn, an old quondam drawer at the St. Dunstan's, aliás, Devil Tavern, and gifted like an army saint. He was once heard praying by the spirit against the cavaliers, and, among other spiritual elegancies, he cried, Scatter'em, good Lord, Scatter'em,' which gained him the nickname of Scatter'em. Sir George Jefferies was somewhat too busy in asking him questions: and, sir George, said he, I never was upon my knees, as you were, before the parliament. Nor 1, said sir George, for much, but you were so when you cried Scatter'em. Oates was also called to witness for the prisoner, against the credit of some of his brother evidences that had testified for the king. He affected to pronounce ore rotundo, the round oaths and ribald stuff that he charged the others to have uttered. And, among other things, he said of one Smith, who was a minister, that he once admonished him of his oath upon the gospel, and his answer was G-d- the gospel; and that vile sentence Oates mouthed out so odiously, as very much offended all, (not so bad as himself) that heard it. And the manner of his behaviour shewed the genius of the man more than any description can do. He did but use the privilege of a theist or free-thinker; of which crew, or worse, he plainly declared himself by this passage, He told of his waiting with some company for dinner in the city, and. said he, to divert ourselves, we entered into a discourse of philosophy; and the questions were concerning the being of a God and the immortality of the soul, whether those could be proved by natural demonstration. And he seemed much gratified in this opportunity of talking profanely in public. But enough of

these base mementos. It is time to come to our author, who pretends to sink deep for the intrigue of this man's case.

"He begins with his character, which after his rule of the times, was meritorious; and his