of the shire for Monmouth, and the saying of | one in the company, that it was thought Mr. Arnold would stand for it; Mr. Herbert should make answer, I will circumcise the other side of his cheek first; or, he must have the other side of his cheek circumcised first. Upon which the court ordered he should not be discharged, but remain bound upon the former recognizance to appear there next sessions. And the Recorder gave him several sharp reprehensions for his malicious and unmanly words and proceedings: this being the second of the king's witnesses, and a woman that he had barbarously treated; still passionately giving the reason that they were witnesses against his

ing besought his majesty, when Mr. Herbert was in Newgate to have his release. Mr. Arnold replied, that Mr. Herbert had been more ungrateful to his majesty, who had graciously pardoned him greater offences, and lately; for he had spoken worse of his majesty's person and government, than he had done of him, as it had been proved before his majesty, and of which he believed his majesty was well satisfied. The Court told Mr. Herbert, he was a shame to all Englishmen; and bound him by recognizance to appear and answer this offence at the King'sBench bar the first day of the next term.”

'GEO. JEFFREYS.'

Clerk of Assize. THOMAS Thwing, late of Heworth, in the county of York, clerk, and Mary Pressicks, wife of Thomas Pressicks, late of the parish of Barwick in Elmett, gent. stand indicted; for that they, as false traitors against the most illustrious and most excellent prince, king Charles the second, that now is, their natural lord; God before their eyes not having, nor their due allegiance weighing, but by the instigation of the devil being seduced and moved, the cordial love, and true and natural obedience, which true and faithful subjects of our said sovereign lord the king towards his said majesty ought to bear, altogether withdrawing; and imagining, and with all their strengths, intending the peace and common tranquillity of this kingdom of England to disturb, and his said majesty that now is to death and final destruction to bring and put, and the true worship of God in this kingdom of England established and used, to alter to the superstition of the church of Rome, and war against his said majesty in this kingdom of England to move and raise, and the government of this kingdom of England to subvert; the 30th day of May, in the 31st year of his majesty's reign that now is, at the parish of Barwick in Elmett aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, with divers other false traitors to the jurors unknown, did traiterously compass, imagine and intend, and every of them did compass, imagine and intend the death and final destruction of his said majesty, and the ancient government of this realm of England to chauge,

See the Trial of sir Thomas Gascoigne, ante, p. 959.

alter, and utterly subvert, and his said majesty of the crown and rule of this kingdom to depose and wholly to deprive, and the true Protestant religion to extirpate: And to effect and accomplish their said wicked treasons, and traiterous imaginations and purposes afore said, the said Thomas Thwing and Mary Pressicks, and other false traitors to the jurors unknown, the said 30th day of May, in the 31st year abovesaid, with force and arms at the parish of Barwick in Elmett aforesaid, advisedly, devilishly, maliciously, and traiterously did assemble and gather themselves together, and then and there did devilishly, advisedly, maliciously, subtilly, and traiterously consult and agree, and every of them did then and there traiterously consult and agree to bring to death and final destruction our said sovereign lord the king, and to depose and deprive him of his crown and rule aforesaid, and the religion of the church of Rome into this kingdom to introduce and establish and the sooner to fulfill and effect the said wicked treasons and traiterous imaginations and purposes aforesaid, the said Thomas Thwing and Mary Pressicks, and other false traitors to the jurors unknown, did then and there pay and expend, and every of them did then and there pay and expend divers sums of money of divers other traitors to the jurors unknown, to carry on the treasons aforesaid; and then and there the said Thomas Thwing and Mary Pressicks did subscribe, and either of them did subscribe a certain note in writing for the payment of divers sums of money for making a contribution for completing their traiterous purposes aforesaid, against the duty of their allegiance,

:

and against the king's peace, his crown and dignity, and also against the statute in that case made and provided.

To this indictment having pleaded Not Guilty, and put themselves upon their country for trial,

Upon the 29th of July, sir Thomas Da niel, high sheriff of the county, having returned many gentlemen for jurors; the Trial proceeded thus: After the Jury called, Thomas Thwing and Mary Pressicks being brought to the bar,

Clerk of Assize. Thomas Thwing, hold up thy hand. Mary Pressicks, hold up thy hand. Which being done,

Cl. of Assize. This understand ye, that these gentlemen that are now to be sworn, are returned by the sheriff of this county, to pass between our sovereign lord the king and you for your lives: therefore if you will challenge any of them, you are to challenge them as they come to be sworn, and before they be sworn.

Cl. of Assize. Sir David Fowles, bart.
Thwing. I challenge him.

And so as they were called challenged these 25 gentlemen following, viz. John Eastoft, William Bethell, Townes Drifeild, Will. Os baldeston, esquires; Marm. Trueman, Robert Bell, Thomas Fletcher, Thomas Wood, Thomas Faireside. Roger Fretwell, Simon Warrener, Edward Carvil, John Coates, Hugh Savil, Nivian Collins, Thomas Green, Nath. Elliotson, Nathan. Harrison, John Tomlinson, Thomas Riccaby, John Ullithorne, Thomas Hincks, William Mastin, George Ellis, Thomas Whaley, Gentlemen.

In the calling of the Jury, after several challenges made and some of the Jury sworn, Thwing spoke thus:

Thaing. My lord, I shall willingly stand to the other jury.

Just. Dolben. What jury?
Thwing. My lady Tempest's jury.*

names of Thomas Thwing, &c. and Mary Pres sicks, &c. Prout in the indictment. Upon this indictment they have been arraigned, and thereunto pleaded Not Guilty; and for their trial have put themselves upon the country, which country you are, &c.

Then Proclamation was made for evidence, and the indictment being opened, and the treasons therein aggravated by the king's council; Mr. Baron Atkyns came into the court to assist in the Trial.

The Witnesses were called; Robert Bolron was first sworn.

Bolron. My lord, in 1674, I came to livé with sir Thomas Gascoigne, and was steward of his coal pits; and in 1675 I turned papist; and about January, 1676, Mr. Thwing, Father Rushton, and several others came to my house at Shippon, and did there examine me how I stood affected to the Roman Catholic religion, and whether I was resolved to venture my life and estate in it, if there were any occasion; to which I agreed, and was resolved to obey my ghostly father in all things.

Mr. Justice Dolben taking notice of a gentleman near the prisoners, demanded, What is

that gentleman? We are all beset; he was one of the jury yesterday. He being removed, Bolron proceeded.

Bolron. Father Rushton my confessor gave me the Oath of Secrecy;* and in 1677, sir T. Gascoigne, sir Miles Stapleton, Mr. Thwing the prisoner, and several other persons, met at Barnbow-hall, sir T. Gascoigne's house; and there they agreed, That in hopes the plot of killing the king would take effect, they would erect a nunnery at Dolebank; but the real intention was to have it at Heworth, within a mile of York, after the king was killed; and to avoid suspicion, my lady Tempest told them she would let them have Broughton for the present. It was there agreed, that the king should be

The Jury being sworn.

Cl. of Assize. Cryer, count these. Sir George Cook, bart. Tho. Worsley, Wm. Caley, Roger Lee, John Dixon, George Wray, Hen. Pinckney, John Blackstone, Will. Hardcastle, Nicholas Stone, Geo. Westorby, Charles Tucker, Gentlemen.

Cryer. Twelve good men and true, stand together and hear your evidence.

Cl. of Assize. Thomas Thwing, hold up thy hand, (which he did) Mary Pressicks, hold up thy hand, (which she did). Gentlemen, you of the jury that are sworn, look upon the prisoners, and hearken to their charge: You shall understand that they stand indicted by the

This lady Tempest was probably the daughter of sir Thomas Gascoigne. See his Case, cante, p. 959. No report of her Trial has been found.

missed this opportunity, they should never have the like again, and the effecting of it would be very beneficial to the church of Rome.

Mr. Baron Atkyns. Repeat it in the same words.

Bolron. He said, if we miss this opportunity of killing the king, we shall never have the like again; and Mr. Thwing was to be the confessor of the nunnery for the present.

Baron Atkyns. Where were these words spoken?

Bolron. In the old dining-room.
Justice Dolben. Who were present?
Bolron. Sir Miles Stapleton, sir T. Gascoigne,

* See the Trial of sir Thomas Gascoigne, ante, p. 969.

Note, That upon sir T. Gascoigne's Trial it appeared in his Almanack, that he had made this Memorial there with his own hand (viz.) "The 15th of April 1676, memorand. acquaint Mr. T. Thwing with the whole design."

Mowbray. I only charged sir T. Gascoigne, esq. Gascoigne, my lady Tempest, sir Miles Stapleton, and Father Rushton in my first; and in my second deposition I accused Mr. Thwing, and that was before justice Warcup.

Bar, Atkyns. Did Thwing abscond at the first?

Mowbray. He was apprehended at the same time sir Thomas Gascoigne was apprehended, and at his house.

Just. Dolben. Well, what say you to Mary Pressicks?

Mowbray. My lord, I have nothing to say against her.

Just. Dolben. Mr. Thwing, you have heard the evidence, what do you say for yourself?

Thwing. I shall produce witnesses I was never with him at Barmbow: First, I shall shew he never mentioned me when he first mentioned the Plot; and he never said any thing against me, when he accused sir Thomas Gascoigne before Mr. Lowther and Mr. Tindal.

But Mr. Bonithen, of Counsel for the king, offering other witnesses for the king against Mrs. Pressicks, they were called, viz. Mrs. Bolron sen. Mrs. Bolron jun. and John Hutchinson.

Mrs. Bolron sen. sworn.

Just. Dolben. What do you know of Pressicks, the prisoner at the bar?

Mrs. Bolron sen. My lord, she said she knew of the Plot, and that Pickering was to have killed the king.

Mr. Bonithen. Do you mean shoot the king? Mrs. Bolron sen. Yes, I do.

Just. Dolben. Where did she tell you this? Mrs. Bolron sen. At Shippon, my lord. Just. Dolben. At his house?

Mr. Bolron.]

[pointing to

Mrs. Bolron sen. Yes, and she said that she was very sorry that Pickering did not do it, and that he had done it if it had not been for Oates, and Bedloe.

Just. Dolben. Was this the very same time that Mr. Bolron speaks of?

Mrs. Bolron sen. Yes, my lord; and she said there would never be quiet in England until the Roman Catholics had got the upper hand, and there was not a protestant left in England: And she said, The king spent his money amongst his concubines, and his other women, so that he was not worthy to be king, and she hoped an army of catholics would be raised to set up popery.

Just. Dolben. That is, indeed, the principle of the papists, and according to it, within 40 years past they murdered 200,000 innocent protestants in Ireland. Did she say it often?

Mrs. Bolron sen. Yes, several times, more than once or twice.

Mrs. Bolron jun. was then sworn and examined.

Mrs. Bolron jun. I heard her say, There was a conspiracy carrying on about altering the government, and establishing the Roman Catholic religion.

Just. Dolben. Where heard you this? Mrs. Bolron jun. In my husband's house. Bar. Atkyns. And what were her hopes in the conspiracy?

Mrs. Bolron jun. My lord, I cannot tell. Mrs. Pressicks. I ask Mr. Bolron when we had this discourse?

Mr. Bolron. At several times; about Candlemas 1678, and at Easter and Whitsuntide, and several times after the Plot was discovered, we discoursed it several times at the porch at my house.

Just. Dolben. Who was present?

Mr. Bolron. My grandmother.

Just. Dolben. Where was it, old woman, that you heard these words?

Mrs. Bolron sen. At Shippon, in the Hallporch, my lord.

Had

we any discourse

Mrs. Pressicks. about sir Thomas? Mrs. Bolron sen. None.

John Hutchinson was then sworn. Just. Dolben. Do you know any thing concerning Mrs. Pressicks?

Hutchinson. May it please you, my lord, I came to Mr. Bolron's house, and Mrs. Pressicks asked me what news in our country, and what became of the papists? I told her some had given bond, and some were gone to prison: Then she said, We shall never be at peace until we are all of the Roman Catholic religion; for the king is an heretic, and spends more money upon his whores than upon his queen, and we shall never be at quiet until the duke of York is king.

Just. Dolben. What say you to this? You bave seen him?

Mrs. Pressicks. I never saw him but twice there.

Just. Dolben. Where was she when she said this?

Hutchinson. She first talked with me in the kitchen, and at the hall door, as she was just going into the parlour: she told me, that we should never be at quiet until the duke of York was made king.

Just. Dolben. Mr. Bolron, when came she to your house?

Bolron. She came to our house about Christmas, and staid about six months there.

Just. Dolben. Six months in your house! Then you are well enough acquainted with her? Bolron. Yes, my lord.

Just. Dollen. Did you charge Mr. Thwing before the justice?

Bolron. My lord, I gave justice Tindal only a short note, that sir T. Gascoigne promised me 1,000l. to kill the king: But what I had to

say against Thwing, I gave to the king and council.

Thwing. My lord, this is malice to sir T. Gascoigne's family, to which I am related, it is out of revenge.

Just. Dolben. It was a family-quarrel then? Thwing. Yes, my lord, this I can prove by several witnesses.

Just. Dolben. Call your witnesses then.
Thwing. Nathaniel Wilson.

Just. Dolben. Mr. Babington, why don't you appear? We know well enough that you are solicitor in the cause; call your witnesses.

Then Nathaniel Wilson was examined. Just. Dolben. Come, what is it you have to say?

Wilson. I went to Bolron to look on a cow that he had gifted for his cousin Bargues, and desired to have the cow away, but he would not let me have her without paying for her gift; so I tendered him his money, and we went to talk in the house, and Bolron sent for a groat's worth of ale, and asked me if I could tell any thing or father Rushton, and I told him I could not; and he bid me keep his secrets, and he would give me more than I could addle, (that is, carn) in seven years: And he said, unless he could shed the blood of some of them, he should get nothing.

Just. Dolben. When was this?

Wilson, This was about next Michaelmas a twelve-month.

Just. Dolben. This is quite other than you told yesterday.

[Wilson was a witness the day before for the lady Tempest.]

Wilson. I had not time.

Thwing. I desire to know, whether Bolron named me to Mr. Lowther as a plotter.

Then Mr. Lowther was called.

Mr. Lowther. I do not remember that Mr. Bolron named Mr. Thwing to me when he was before me.

Just. Dolben. When did he come to make the discovery to you? Give an account of it? Lowther. I think it was the, 24th or 25th of June 1679, that he came to me; and he told me he had some secrets to impart to me: And he began to tell me a story of the Jesuits and priests, what they designed against the government, because the king did not keep his word with them when he was beyond sea: And then I called for my man and a bible to take his exmination, and said Pray, friend, be very careful what you do, for here your own concern is at stake, as well as the lives and fortunes of the gentlemen you speak against; and upon that he began to be very fearful and timorous, and looked pale: Whereupon I asked him, what that fear was for? It is, said he, because I have concealed it so long; and if that were upon you, it may be you would be as fearful as I am. Then I was going to take his information, and be said, I have done it before to Mr. Tindal. Why came you to me, then? said I. He said,

VOL. VI.

Mr. Tindal desired it: Well, said I, Mr. Ting dal and I are to meet to-morrow, and we will do it jointly.

Just. Delben. Did he say he told you all he knew?

Lowther. He did not name Thwing, but said he would recollect more, and would go to London and give it in to the king and council: And then I said, why may not we take it here as well as trouble them at London?

Just. Dolben. It may be, he thought it better

to do it there.

Mrs. Pressicks. Ile did not accuse me before Mr. Lowther.

Bolron. Yes, my lord, I did, and had a warraut to take her.

Lowther. She was taken the same day sir T. Gascoigne was taken.

Just. Dolben. We will be just between you. Then the prisoners called Obadiah Moor. Just. Dolben. Come, tell your knowledge in this business.

Moor. I say, that Mr. Bolron said, that sir T. Gascoigne was not concerned in the Plot, nor none of his family; and that he believed there was no Plot.

Just. Dolben. When was this?

Moor. This was about Candlemas was twelve months.

Just. Dolben. He was then a papist: But did he not tell you otherwise afterwards?

Moor. In August after he told me he had but equivocated with me in what he said before, and that there was a real Plot; and if he had sworn a thousand lies, he could have been forgiven them.

Then Stephen Thompson was called and exmined,

Thompson. Mr. Bolron was servant to sir T. Gascoigne, and being in his debt, sir Thomas did arrest him, and he agreed with sir Thomas to give him 601. and got me to be bound with him: And when the Plot came out, I thought Bolron being his servant, might know whether sir Thomas had any hand in it; and if so, that we were in no danger of being sued; and I enquired of Bolron, and he said, Sir Thomas was as sinless of it as the child that was unborn.' And on Holy Thursday I went to him, and got him out on the backside to sir Tho mas's, and all along he told me, if he sued him he would do him a greater mischief: And I pleaded earnestly with sir Thomas not to sue the bond, and he said he would have his money, but would stay a fortnight; and I prevailed with him to give three weeks time, that Bolron might go to sell his house at Newcastle, and in that time he went to London and accused him of treason: And as to Mrs. Pressicks, I asked his grandmother what she could say against her, and she said, Alas, alas, I can say nothing to it, but Bolron said she must say so and so.

Just. Dolben. What mean you, friend, by so and so.

Thompson. It was about sir Edmundbury 4 F