Alice Lisle was the daughter and heiress of Sir White Bechenshaw of
Moyles Court, Ellingham, Hants, the scene of the principal facts
referred to in this trial. The house is still standing. In 1630 she
became the second wife of John Lisle; he was called to the bar, and
became a bencher of the Middle Temple. He sat in the Long Parliament for
Winchester, was one of the managers of Charles I.'s trial, and is said
to have drawn up the form of the sentence. He became President of the
High Court of Justice in 1654, sat in the Parliament of that year, and
was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Exchequer. He appears to
have been a consistent follower of Cromwell, and became a member of his
House of Lords in 1657. He left England on the Restoration and fled to
Lausanne, where he was murdered by an Irish Royalist in 1664. He
sentenced John Penruddock, the father of the Colonel Penruddock of this
trial, to death in 1655 for his participation in an unsuccessful rising
against the Commonwealth in Wiltshire.
Alice Lisle, commonly called Lady Lisle, was tried for high treason at
Winchester on 27th August 1685, before Lord Chief-Justice Jeffreys,[53]
during his notorious 'Bloody Assize.' The charge against her was that
knowing one George Hicks, a popular dissenting minister, to have been in
Monmouth's army at Sedgemoor she entertained and concealed him in her
house at Moyles Court. To convict her it was necessary to prove that
Hicks had been in Monmouth's army, that she knew it, and that she
entertained and concealed him. The prosecution was conducted by
Pollexfen,[54] Mundy, and Corriton, as far at least as it was not
conducted by Jeffreys. Lady Lisle, according to the custom of the time,
was not allowed counsel, though no doubt she had opportunities for
receiving legal advice during the course of the trial. Hicks was
afterwards tried, and hanged at Glastonbury.[55]
The first three witnesses were Pope, Fitzherbert, and Taylor, who were
visited by Hicks and Monmouth's chaplain, apparently for more or less
charitable purposes, when they were prisoners to Monmouth's Army in Sir
Thomas Bridge's stables at Keynsham. Two of them also spoke to having
seen him actually in Monmouth's Army.
_James Dunne_ was then sworn.
POLLEXFEN--If your lordship please to observe, the times will
fall out to be very material in this case: the battle at
Kings-Edgemore was the sixth of July; three or four days
afterwards was the taking of Monmouth, and my lord Grey at
Ringwood; upon the 26th of July, ten or twelve days after the
taking of Monmouth, was this message sent by Dunne to Mrs.
Lisle: so we call Dunne to prove what message he carried upon
the 26th, and what answer was returned; he will tell you that
Tuesday was the time appointed for them to come, in the night,
and all the other circumstances. But withal, I must acquaint
your lordship, that this fellow, Dunne, is a very unwilling
witness; and therefore with submission to your lordship, we do
humbly desire your lordship would please to examine him a little
the more strictly.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--You say well: Hark you, friend, I would take
notice of something to you, by the way, and you would do well to
mind what I say to you. According as the counsel that are here
for the King seem to insinuate, you were employed as a messenger
between these persons, one whereof has already been proved a
notorious rebel, and the other is the prisoner at the bar, and
your errand was to procure a reception at her house for him.
DUNNE--My lord, I did so.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Very well. Now mark what I say to you,
friend: I would not by any means in the world endeavour to
fright you into anything, or any ways tempt you to tell an
untruth, but provoke you to tell the truth, and nothing but the
truth, that is the business we come about here. Know, friend,
there is no religion that any man can pretend to, can give a
countenance to lying, or can dispense with telling the truth:
Thou hast a precious immortal soul, and there is nothing in the
world equal to it in value: There is no relation to thy
mistress, if she be so; no relation to thy friend; nay, to thy
father or thy child; nay, not all the temporal relations in the
world can be equal to thy precious immortal soul. Consider that
the Great God of Heaven and Earth, before whose tribunal thou,
and we, and all persons are to stand at the last day, will call
thee to an account for the rescinding his truth, and take
vengeance of thee for every falshood thou tellest. I charge thee
therefore, as thou wilt answer it to the Great God, the judge
of all the earth, that thou do not dare to waver one tittle from
the truth, upon any account or pretence whatsoever: For though
it were to save thy life, yet the value of thy precious and
immortal soul is much greater, than that thou shouldst forfeit
it for the saving of any the most precious outward blessing thou
dost enjoy; for that God of Heaven may justly strike thee into
eternal flames, and make thee drop into the bottomless lake of
fire and brimstone, if thou offer to deviate the least from the
truth, and nothing but the truth. According to the command of
that oath that thou hast taken, tell us who employed you, when
you were employed, and where? Who caused you to go on this
message, and what the message was? For I tell thee God is not to
be mocked, and thou canst not deceive him, though thou mayst us.
But I assure you if I catch you prevaricating in any the least
tittle (and perhaps I know more than you think I do; no, none of
your saints can save your soul, nor shall they save your body
neither) I will be sure to punish every variation from the truth
that you are guilty of.
Now come and tell us, how you came to be employed upon such a
message, what your errand was, and what was the issue and result
of it?
Dunne then proceeds to depose that a man came to his house to desire him
to go with a message to Lady Lisle; he came on a Friday, after the
battle; he was a short black man, and promised a good reward. On
Saturday Dunne went to Moyles Court, and Lady Lisle agreed to receive
Hicks on Tuesday evening. He was pressed as to whether she asked if he
knew Hicks--
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Why dost thou think that she would entertain
any one she had no knowledge of merely upon thy message? Mr.
Dunne! Mr. Dunne! have a care, it may be more is known of this
matter than you think for.[56]
DUNNE--My Lord, I tell you the truth.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Ay, to be sure you do, do not let me take
you prevaricating!
DUNNE--My Lord, I speak nothing but the truth.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Well, I only bid you have a care, truth
never wants a subterfuge, it always loves to appear naked, it
needs no enamel, nor any covering; but lying and snivelling, and
canting, and Hicksing, always appear in masquerade. Come, go on
with your evidence.
Dunne then proceeds--he went home, arriving on Sunday, and gave his
message to the man he first saw, and on Tuesday morning he, and a 'full
fat black man,' and a 'thin black man,' came to his house at seven in
the morning. Starting with two of them whom he had not seen before, but
identified as Hicks and Nelthorp, at eleven, he took them by way of
Deverel, Chilmark and Sutton to Salisbury Plain, where one Barter met
them to guide them on, by Chalk, Rochesborne and Fordingbridge. This way
he alleged, apparently falsely, was a shorter way than he had taken on
Saturday. Near Barton, however, they lost their way, and Dunne was sent
down to the village to a man to tell him that one Hicks desired to speak
to him. Who the man was, he hesitated to say.
DUNNE--His name, my Lord, I cannot rightly tell for the present.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Prithee recollect thyself: indeed thou canst
tell us if thou wilt.
DUNNE--My Lord, I can go to the house again if I were at
liberty.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--I believe it, and so could I; but really
neither you nor I can be spared at present; therefore prithee do
us the kindness now to tell us his name.
DUNNE--My Lord, I think his name was Fane.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Thou sayest right, his name was Fane truly,
thou seest I know something of the matter.[57]
Dunne brought Fane to Hicks, who asked him the way to Mrs. Lisle's.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Now tell us what kind of man that was, that
desired this of Mr. Fane?
DUNNE--My Lord, it was the full fat black man.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Now we have got him out, now we know which
was Hicks, now go on.
On arriving at Mrs. Lisle's, Hicks and Nelthorp entered first in the
dark; Dunne did not see them again till they were taken. Dunne was
received by a young girl he did not know. He had 'a bit of cake and
cheese from my own house, and that I eat': he did not see Mrs. Lisle.
So far, Jeffreys had been conducting an examination-in-chief, or what
served the same purpose. Now the cross-examination begins--Dunne was
forced to take the word of the first man who came to him that he would
be paid. He was a baker, and would not bake on Sundays.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Alack-a-day! thou art precise in that, but
thou canst travel on Sundays to lead rogues into lurking holes
... but I assure thee thy bread is very light weight, it will
scarce pass the balance here.
He left his horse in the stable, the other two left theirs outside the
gate. He knew there were fugitives about the country; he did not ask the
little man with the black beard who Hicks was. Hicks told him he was in
debt. Did not the man who first came tell him Hicks was in debt and
wanted to be concealed? He did. How came Dunne to be so impudent then as
to tell such a lie?
DUNNE--I beg your pardon, my Lord.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--You beg my pardon! That is not because you
told me a lye, but because I found you in a lye. Come Sirrah,
tell me the truth.
Where did Dunne sleep? in a chamber to which the girl showed him, he
saw no one else; he put up his horse himself and fed him on hay which
was in the rack; the stable-door was latched; he pulled up the latch. He
knew his way to the stable, because he had been there before--even
though it was dark. Carpenter the bailiff gave his horse hay and brought
a light to the stable after he had gone there. Besides Carpenter and the
girl he saw no one. He did not drink in the house; he had last drunk at
Barton.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Now prithee tell me truly, where came
Carpenter unto you? I must know the truth of that; I would not
terrify thee to make thee say anything but the truth, but assure
thyself I never met with a lying, sneaking, canting fellow, but
I always treasured up vengeance for him; and therefore look to
it, that thou dost not prevaricate with me, for be sure thou
wilt come by the worst of it in the end.
DUNNE--My Lord, I will tell the truth as near as I can.
Carpenter met him in the court when he was with Hicks and Nelthorp; no
one else was there; Carpenter opened the stable-door.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Why thou vile wretch, didst thou not tell me
just now that thou pluckedst up the latch? Dost thou take the
God of Heaven not to be a God of truth, and that He is not a
witness of all thou sayest? Dost thou think because thou
prevaricatest with the court here thou canst do so with the God
above who knows thy thoughts? And it is infinite mercy, that,
for these falsehoods of thine, he does not immediately strike
thee into hell! Jesus God!... Did you not tell me that you
opened the latch yourself and that you saw nobody else but a
girl? How durst you offer to tell such horrid lies in the
presence of God and of a court of Justice? Answer me one
question more. Did he pull down the hay or you?
Dunne did not pull down any hay; Carpenter took him into the house and
to his room; but no one asked him to eat or drink; he did not know what
became of the others' horses.
JEFFREYS--Did you tell Carpenter that the horses were there?
DUNNE--I did not tell him any such thing.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Thou art a strange, prevaricating,
shuffling, sniveling lying rascal.
_Barter_ was then called and sworn.
Having been duly threatened he deposed that Dunne came to his house on
Saturday; he guided Dunne to Moyles Court; Dunne gave Carpenter a
letter. Carpenter would not meddle with it; Dunne went in to my lady. He
went into the kitchen where my lady came in, and she asked if he could
make bricks; she went up to Dunne 'laughing with him and looked at me.'
He asked Dunne what she laughed at. Dunne said she asked if he knew
anything of 'the concern,' and he, Dunne, answered no, and that this
was what she laughed at. He was thereupon disturbed, and consulted
Colonel Penruddock. It was agreed between them that he should guide
Dunne and his friends across Salisbury Plain and that the Colonel should
intercept them there; this plan, however, failed, and he left them when
they insisted on going 'a private way over the fording bridge towards
Moyles Court,' sending word, however, to Colonel Penruddock that they
were at the house.
Dunne told him that the men he was to guide had 'half a score of
thousands of pounds a year a piece.' 'He' (Dunne) 'told me he had a very
fine booty for his part, and that he should never want money again, that
I should be very well paid, and he gave me half-a-crown.'
Dunne is recalled, and denies that he gave Carpenter a letter or spoke
to Barter of the wealth of the men he was to guide.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Then one thing more, Did you not tell him
that you told my lady when she asked whether he was acquainted
with this concern, that he knew nothing of the business?
DUNNE--My lord, I did tell him so.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Did you so? Then you and I must have a
little further discourse: Come now and tell us what business was
that? and tell it us so, that a man may understand and believe
that thou dost speak truth.
DUNNE--Does your lordship ask what that business was?
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Yes, it is a plain question; what was that
business that my lady asked thee, whether the other man knew;
and then you answered her, that he did know nothing of it? (Then
he paused awhile.)
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Remember, friend, thou art upon thy oath;
and remember, withall that it is not thy life, but thy soul that
is now in danger; therefore I require from thee a plain answer
to a very plain question: what was that business my lady
enquired after, whether the other fellow knew, and thou toldest
her, he did not? [Dunne made no answer, but stood musing
awhile.]
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--He is studying and musing how he shall
prevaricate; but thou hadst better tell the truth, friend;
remember what thou hast said already; thou hast said that thou
didst tell that man, that the lady asked you, whether he knew
anything of the business, and thou toldest her, he did not? Now
I would know what that business was. [Still he made no answer,
but seemed to muse.]
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Look thee, if thou canst not comprehend what
I mean, I will repeat it to thee again; for thou shalt see what
countryman I am,[58] by my telling my story over twice;
therefore I ask thee once again. Thou sayedst thy lady asked
thee, whether he knew of the business: and thou toldest her he
did not. Now let us know what that business was?
DUNNE--I cannot mind it, my lord, what it was.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--But mind me, prithee: Thou didst tell that
honest man there, that my lady Lisle asked thee, whether he
knew anything of the business, and thou saidest no. What was
that business?
DUNNE--That business that Barter did not know of?
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Yes, that is the business; be ingenuous,
tell the truth: Oh! how hard the truth is to come out of a lying
Presbyterian knave. Prithee, friend, consider the oath that thou
hast taken, and that thou art in the presence of a God that
cannot endure a lie, nor whose holiness will not admit him to
dispense with a lie; consider that that God is an infinite being
of purity, holiness and truth; and it would be inconsistent with
his being to dispense with the least untruth; and thou hast
called him to witness, that thou wouldest testify the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I charge thee,
therefore, as thou wilt answer it to that God of truth, and that
thou mayest be called to do, for aught I know, the very next
minute, and there thou wilt not be able to palliate the truth;
what was that business you and my lady spoke of?--[Then he
paused for half a quarter of an hour, and at last said--]
DUNNE--I cannot give an account of it, my lord.
Jeffreys continued for a long time to use and repeat every possible kind
of threat without being able to draw anything from Dunne; at last
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Why, prithee, dost thou think thou dost thy
lady a kindness by this way of proceeding? Sure thou canst not
think so; for such a sort of carriage were enough to convict
her, if there were nothing else.
DUNNE--Truly, my lord, I do think not to do her any kindness at
all.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Then prithee, let me persuade thee to have
some kindness for thyself; look to thy own soul that is in great
peril of everlasting ruin and destruction by these means; dost
thou call this religion? It is a prodigious piece of religion!
Come pray tell me what business it was that you talked of? You
should not have asked me a question so often, but I would have
given you a plain answer, though I were under the obligation of
an oath as you are.
DUNNE--My lord, pray ask the question again once more and I will
tell you.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--I will so, and I will ask it you with all
the calmness, and seriousness, and candour, that I can; if I
know my own heart, it is not in my nature to desire the hurt of
anybody, much less to delight in their eternal perdition; no, it
is out of tender compassion to you, that I use all these words:
I would have thee to have some regard to thy precious and
immortal soul, which is more valuable than the whole world;
reflect upon that scripture again which I mentioned before,
which must be true because it is the words of him that is truth
itself: what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul? If that soul of thine be taken away, what is the body fit
for, but, like a putrid carcase, to be thrust into and covered
with the dust with which it was made: therefore I ask you, with
a great desire that thou mayest free thyself from so great a
load of falshood and perjury, tell me what the business was you
told the prisoner the other man Barter did not know.
DUNNE--My lord, I told her, he knew nothing of our coming there.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Nay, nay, that can never be it, for he came
along with thee.
DUNNE--He did not know anything of my coming there till I met
him on the way.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Prithee, mind my question; sure enough thou
hadst told him whither thou wert going, or else he could not
have been thy guide; so he must needs know of thy coming there:
but what was the business thou told'st her, he did not know?
DUNNE--She asked me whether I did not know that Hicks was a
Nonconformist?
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Did my lady Lisle ask you that question?
DUNNE--Yes, my lord, I told her I did not.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--But that is not my question; what was that
business that he did not know?
DUNNE--It was the same thing; whether Mr. Hicks was a
nonconformist.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--That cannot be all; there must be something
more in it.
DUNNE--Yes, my lord, it is all; I know nothing more.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--What did she say to you when you told her,
he did not know it?
DUNNE--She did not say anything, my lord.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Why, dost thou think, that after all this
pains, that I have been at to get an answer to my question, that
thou canst banter me with such sham stuff as this? Hold the
candle to his face that we may see his brazen face.
DUNNE--My lord, I tell you the truth.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Did she ask thee whether that man knew
anything of a question she had asked thee, and that was only of
being a nonconformist?
DUNNE--Yes my lord, that was all.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--That is all nonsense; dost thou imagine that
any man hereabouts is so weak as to believe thee?
DUNNE--My lord, I am so baulked, I do not know what I say
myself.
Pollexfen here recalled Barter, who said that Dunne had told him that he
had concealed the two men in his house for ten days, that it was the
best job he had ever had in his life, and that he should never lack
money again. All this Dunne denied having said; Barter, however, swore
that he repeated it to Colonel Penruddock.
_Colonel Penruddock_, being called and sworn, deposed that Barter came
to his house on Monday morning and said he had been with Dunne upon a
journey to Lady Lisle's house to get entertainment for some people. They
were going to meet him on Tuesday between nine and eleven on Salisbury
Plain, and Colonel Penruddock could take them there. He sent a servant
to take them there, who missed them; and accordingly went with soldiers
to Lady Lisle's house the next day, searched it, found Hicks and Dunne
in the Malt House, the latter having 'covered himself up with some sort
of stuff there,' and Nelthorp 'in a hole by the chimney.'
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Dunne, how came you to hide yourself in the
malt-house?
DUNNE--When I heard the stir and bustle, I went through the
chamber where I lay, and came into that room where I was taken.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--When thou heardst a stir and a bustle, why
wert thou afraid of anything?
DUNNE--My lord, I was frightened at the noise.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Prithee, what needst thou be afraid for,
thou didst not know Hicks nor Nelthorp? and my lady only asked
thee whether Hicks were a Nonconformist parson. Thou art a very
innocent soul, and surely need'st no occasion to be afraid.
Colonel Penruddock did not remember Barter telling him what he said he
did, but Barter said he apprehended the two men to be rebels, and 'that
Dunne told him as much.'
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--What do you say to that, Dunne? It seems you
told Barter that you apprehended them to be rebels?
DUNNE--I apprehend them for rebels, my Lord?
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--No, no, you did not apprehend them for
rebels, but you hid them for rebels. But did you say to Barter
that you took them to be rebels?
DUNNE--I take them to be rebels!
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--You blockhead, I ask you, did you tell him
so?
DUNNE--I tell Barter so?
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Ay, is not that a plain question?
DUNNE--I am quite cluttered out of my senses; I do not know that
I say (A candle being still held nearer his nose).
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--But to tell the truth would rob thee of none
of thy senses, if ever thou hadst any; but it should seem that
neither thou, nor thy mistress the prisoner had any, for she
knew nothing of it neither, though she had sent for them
thither.
Colonel Penruddock continuing, said he had some difficulty in getting
admittance to Lady Lisle's house; he did not see her till after he had
brought out Hicks and Dunne; she denied that anybody else was there, but
he searched and found Nelthorp.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--But she denied it [Nelthorp's being there]
first it seems?
LISLE--My lord, I hope I shall not be condemned without being
heard.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--No, God forbid, Mrs. Lisle. That was a sort
of practice in your husband's time, you know very well what I
mean; but God be thanked it is not so now; the king's courts of
law never condemn without hearing.
_Downing_ being called and sworn, deposed to finding Dunne and Hicks in
the Malt-house, the former in a little hole 'where he had taken some
stuff or other to cover him.'
_Mrs. Carpenter_, the bailiff's wife, spoke to serving the men who came
on Tuesday with supper in the chamber where they lay, and to Mrs.
Lisle's presence there. _Carpenter_ spoke to Dunne's first arrival, when
he asked for entertainment for Hicks and another whom he did not know.
After the Carpenters had finished it appeared that Dunne had given way.
MR. RUMSEY--Now, my lord, Dunne says he will tell all, whether
it makes for him or against him.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Let him but tell the truth, and I shall be
satisfied.
DUNNE--Sure my lord, I never entertained these men a night in my
house in my life; but this Hicks sent that man to me to go to my
lady Lisle's, to know whether she would please to entertain him;
and when I came my lady asked me whether he had been in the army
or no? I told her I could not tell, I did not know that he was.
She then asked me if he had nobody else with him? I told her I
believed there was. This is the very truth of it, my lord. I
asked her might the men be entertained? She said they might. So
when we came to my lady Lisle's on the Tuesday night, somebody
took the two horses, I cannot tell who if I were to die; the two
went in; and after I had set up my horse, I went in along with
Carpenter up into the chamber to my lady, and to this Hicks and
Nelthorp; and when I came there, I heard my lady bid them
welcome to her house; and Mr. Carpenter or the maid, I cannot
tell which, brought in the supper, and set it on the table.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--And didst thou eat or drink with them in the
room or not?
DUNNE--My lord, I will tell everything that I know; I confess I
did both eat and drink there in the room.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--I pity thee with all my soul and pray to God
Almighty for thee, to forgive thee, and to the Blessed Jesus to
mediate for thee; and I pray for thee with as much earnestness,
as I would for my own soul; and I beg of thee once more, as thou
regardest thy own eternal welfare, to tell all the truth.
DUNNE--My lord, I did never know these men were in the army when
I carried the message to my lady Lisle's, nor never did
entertain them in my house in my life time, so much as one
night.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Prithee, I do not ask thee what thou didst
not, but what thou didst?
DUNNE--My lord, I will tell all I know.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--What discourse had you that night at the
table in the room?
DUNNE--I cannot tell what discourse truly, my lord, there was.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Was there nothing of coming beyond seas, who
came from thence, and how they came? Come I would have it rather
the effect of thy own ingenuity, than lead thee by any questions
I can propound; come tell us what was the discourse?
DUNNE--I do not remember all the discourse.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Prithee let me ask thee one question, and
answer me it fairly; didst thou hear Nelthorp's name named in
the room?
DUNNE--My lord, I cannot tell whether he were called Nelthorp,
but it was either Crofts or Nelthorp, I am sure one of them.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Prithee, be ingenious, and let us have the
truth on it.
DUNNE--My lord, I am ingenious and will be so.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--I will assure you Nelthorp told me all the
story before I came out of town.[59]
DUNNE--I think, my lord, he was called Nelthorp in the room, and
there was some discourse about him.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Ay, there was unquestionably, and I know
thou wert by, and that made me the more concerned to press upon
thee the danger of forswearing thyself.
DUNNE--My lady asked Hicks who that gentleman was, and he said
it was Nelthorp, as I remember.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Very well, and upon that discourse with
Nelthorp, which I had in town, did I give particular direction,
that the outlawry of Nelthorp should be brought down hither, for
he told me particularly of all the passages and discourses of
his being beyond sea: I would not mention any such thing as any
piece of evidence to influence this case, but I could not but
tremble to think, after what I knew, that any one should dare so
much to prevaricate with God and man, as to tell such horrid
lyes in the face of a Court.
DUNNE--What does your lordship ask me?
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Come I will ask thee a plain question; was
there no discourse there about the battle, and of their being in
the army?
DUNNE--There was some such discourse, my lord.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Ay, prithee now tell us what that discourse
was.
DUNNE--My lord, I will tell you, when I have recollected it, if
you will give me time till to-morrow morning.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Nay, but we cannot stay so long, our
business must be dispatched now; but I would have all people
consider, what a reason there is, that they should be pressed to
join with me in hearty prayers to Almighty God, that this sin of
lying and perjury may never be laid at thy door. What say'st
thou? Prithee, tell us what the discourse was?
DUNNE--My lord, they did talk of fighting, but I cannot exactly
tell what the discourse was.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--And thou saidst thou didst eat and drink
with them in the same room?
DUNNE--I did so, my lord, I confess it.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--And it was not a little girl that lighted
thee to bed, or conducted thee in?
DUNNE--It was not a little girl.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Who was it then?
DUNNE--It was Mr. Carpenter, my lord.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--And why didst thou tell us so many lyes
then? Jesu God! that we should live to see any such creatures
among mankind, nay, and among us too, to the shame and reproach
be it spoken of our nation and religion: is this that that is
called the Protestant religion, a thing so much boasted of, and
pretended to? we have heard a great deal of clamour against
Popery and dispensations; what dispensations, pray, does the
Protestant religion give for such practices as these? I pity
thee with all my soul, and pray for thee, but it cannot but make
all mankind to tremble, and be filled with horror, that such a
wretched creature should live upon the earth: Prithee be free,
and tell us what discourse there was.
DUNNE--My lord, they did talk of fighting but I cannot remember
what it was.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Did you lie with them?
DUNNE--No, my lord, I did not.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE--Well I see thou wilt answer nothing
ingenuously, therefore I will trouble myself no more with thee:
go on with your evidence, gentlemen.
MR. JENNINGS--My lord, we have done, we have no more witnesses.
_Mrs. Lisle_ is then called upon for her defence, and proceeds to say
that had she been tried in London Lady Abergavenny and other persons of
quality could have testified with what detestation she had spoken of the
rebellion, and that she had been in London till Monmouth was beheaded.
She had denied Nelthorp's being in the house because of her fear of the
soldiers,
who were very rude and violent and could not be restrained by
their officers from robbery and plundering my house. And I
beseech your lordship to make that construction of it; and I
humbly beg of your lordship not to harbour an ill opinion of me,
because of those false reports that go about of me relating to
my carriage towards the old king, that I was any ways consenting
to the death of King Charles I., for, my lord, that is as false
as God is true; my lord, I was not out of my chambers all the
day in which that king was beheaded, and I believe I shed more
tears for him than any woman then living did; and this the late
Countess of Monmouth, and my lady Marlborough, and my lord
chancellor Hyde, if they were alive, and twenty persons of the
most eminent quality could hear witness for me.
She did not know Nelthorp, and only took Hicks because he was a
nonconformist minister, and there being warrants out against all such,
she was willing to shelter him from them.
She then called _Creed_, who said that he heard Nelthorp say that Lady
Lisle did not know of his coming, and did not know his name, and that he
did not tell his name till he was taken.
Lady Lisle then concluded her defence by fresh protestations of her
loyalty to the King.
But though I could not fight for him myself, my son did, he was
actually in arms on the King's side in this business. I
instructed him always in loyalty, and sent him thither; it was I
that bred him up to fight for the King.
_Jeffreys_ begins his summing up by reminding the jury of the terms of
their oath and reminding them of their duty--
That not any thing can move you either to compassion of the
prisoner on the one hand, or her allegations and protestations
of innocence; nor, on the other hand, to be influenced by
anything that comes from the court, or is insinuated by the
learned counsel at the bar, but that you will entirely consider
what evidence has been given to you, and being guided by that
evidence alone, you that are judges of the fact will let us know
the truth of that fact, by a sincere and upright verdict.
He goes on to dwell on the wickedness of Monmouth's rebellion, and the
mercy of God as shown in the restoration of Charles II. and
the best of religions, the true Protestant reformed religion,
the religion established by law, which now is, and I hope will
ever remain established among us, as now professed and
practised in the Church of England.
After dwelling on this and on the blessing of having asked so steadfast
a supporter of the Church of England as James II., he proceeds to
discuss the actual facts of the case.
This person, Mrs. Lisle, the prisoner at the bar, she is accused
for receiving and harbouring this person: and gentlemen, I must
tell you for law, of which we are the judges, and not you, That
if any person be in actual rebellion against the King and
another person (who really and actually was not in rebellion)
does receive, harbour, comfort and conceal him that was such, a
receiver is as much a traitor as he who indeed bore arms: We are
bound by our oaths and consciences, to deliver and declare to
you what is law; and you are bound by your oaths and consciences
to deliver and declare to us, by your verdict, the truth of the
fact.
Gentlemen, that he [Hicks] was there in rebellion, is undeniably
and unquestionably proved: That there are sufficient testimonies
to satisfy you that this woman did receive and harbour him, is
that which is left to your consideration; and, for that the
proofs lie thus: And truly I am sorry to have occasion for
repeating the circumstances of the proof; I mean the great art
that has been used to conceal it; how difficult a thing it was
to come at it; what time has been spent in endeavouring to find
out truth in a fellow, that in defiance of all admonition,
threats and persuasion, would prevaricate and shuffle to conceal
that truth; nay lie, and forswear himself to contradict it. But
out of pure Christian charity, as I told him, so I tell you I
do heartily pray, and all good Christians I hope will join with
me in it, to the God of infinite mercy that He would have mercy
upon his soul, upon which he hath contracted so great a guilt by
the impudence of his behaviour and pertinacious obstinacy in
those falsehoods which he hath made use of in this case.
Gentlemen, I would willingly forget all his prevarications, but
I must take notice of them in short, to come to the truth. First
he says, he came upon an errand from a man, he knows not whom,
to my Lady Lisle's house; and thither he is brought by one
Barter; and when he comes there he tells her, he comes in the
name of one Hicks, who desired to be entertained there. Then she
asks the question, whether Hicks had been in the army; and he
told her he did not know; and he swears now he did not: But at
last it came out that it was to entertain Hicks and another
person; but it should seem that other persons were not named;
and Barter tells you that Hicks and another person (who
afterwards proved to be Nelthorp) are promised to be
entertained, and ordered to come in the evening. But not to go
backward and forward, as he has done in his evidence, denying
what he afterwards acknowledged that he saw anybody besides a
little girl; that he pulled down the hay out of the rack for his
horse; that he eat anything but cake and cheese that he brought
with him from home; that he was ever made to drink, or to eat or
drink in the house, or ever meddled or made with any body in the
house. At last we are told that Carpenter met with him; and came
out with a lanthorn and candle, took care of his horse, carried
him into the room where Hicks and Nelthorp were, and the
prisoner at the bar, Mrs. Lisle; there they all supped together;
there they fell into discourse; there Nelthorp's name was named,
and they talked of being in the army, and of the fight; and so
it is all come out, and makes a full and positive evidence.
But then suppose there was no more than the other evidence, and
that the fellow remain in an hardhearted obstinacy, then you are
to consider the circumstances even from his first evidence, that
this was after the rebellion was all over; for it seems during
the rebellion she was in London, and it was notoriously known
that the King's forces were in pursuit of the rebels, and this
without any positive proof would be in itself a sufficient
testimony to convice any considerate person, that she was to
conceal those she ought not to conceal; because she directed the
particular time wherein they should come, and that was at night;
and no prudent person would receive strangers in the night, and
give such directions in such a season without some extraordinary
ground for it. When they came there, she provided a supper for
them; and you see what care is taken, that the woman only is
permitted to bring that supper to the door, and the husband must
set it on the table; nobody is permitted to attend there but he.
Works of darkness always desire to be in the dark; works of
rebellion and such like, are never done in the light.
But then comes that honest fellow Barter (I call him so because
he appears so to be, and he ought to be remembered with a great
remark for his honesty), he tells you, he conducted him to the
house, and what discourse passed there in his hearing. The
prisoner asked him what countryman he was, and whether he was a
brick-maker, and promised him so many acres of land in
Carolina. The fellow upon observation and consideration, found
himself under a great load, could not eat or sleep quietly, as
men that have honest minds are uneasy under such things;
falshood and treason, and hypocrisy are a heavy load; and
blessed be God, things were by this means discovered: for he
goes and tells Col. Penruddock; and withal Dunne swears to
Barter, it was the bravest job he had ever had in his life;
whereas in the beginning of his story, he would have told you a
strange story of a black beard and I do not know what, and that
he got not one groat by it; that he gave the man 2s. 6d. out of
his own pocket, and was so industrious as when he knew the way
no farther, that he would hire one himself to shew him the way,
and all for nothing but only for the kindness he had for a black
beard.
Besides, gentlemen, I am sorry to remember something that
dropped even from the gentlewoman herself; she pretends to
religion and loyalty very much, how greatly she wept at the
death of King Charles the Martyr, and owns her great obligations
to the late King, and his royal brother; that she had not had a
being, nor any thing to maintain it for twenty years last past
but from their bounty, and yet no sooner is one in the grave,
but she forgets all gratitude and entertains those that were
rebels against his royal successor; I will not say what hand her
husband had in the death of that blessed martyr, she has enough
to answer for of her own guilt; and I must confess it ought not
one way or other to make any ingredient into this case what she
was in former times, and I told a relation of hers, a Mr.
Tipping by name, that came to me, last night, to desire that she
might not lie under some imputations that were gone abroad of
her that she rejoiced at the death of King Charles I., nor that
any false report of that nature might influence the Court or
jury against her, that it should not;--be the thing true or
false, it is of no weight one way or other in the trial of this
case, nor is she to be accountable for it.
But I must remember you of one particular, that is plain upon
this evidence, and is of very great moment in this case; that
after all these private messages and directions given to come by
night, and the kind reception they met with when they came, and
after all this care to lodge them and feed them, when Col.
Penruddock, after the discovery made by Barter, came to search
her house, then she had nobody in it truly, which is an
aggravation of the offence testified by col. Penruddock himself,
whose father likewise was a martyr, and died for his fidelity to
the crown; and who was the judge of that father we all very well
know.[60]
God Almighty is a just God, and it may be worth considering
(especially by her) how God has been pleased to make use of him
as the instrument in this business; and she would do likewise
well to consider the finger of God in working upon the heart of
that man Barter, who was employed in all this affair, and that
all the truth has been told by Nelthorp,[61] that blackest of
villains Nelthorp, that would have murdered the King and his
royal brother; that he was one of those barbarous, malicious
assassinates in that black conspiracy, and outlawed, should be
harboured, by one that pretends a love for the royal family,
and entertained and discoursed with at night about being in the
army; yet that he and that other villain Hicks, who pretends to
religion, and to be a preacher of the gospel, but is found in
rebellion, and in the company of traitors, should be denied the
next morning.
I hope they themselves are all by this time satisfied truth will
come out, and I hope you will not be deceived by any specious
pretences. Our forefathers have been deluded, but the deception
I hope is now at an end. And I must needs say if all these
witnesses that have freely discovered their knowledge, joined to
that truth which is at length drawn from that Dunne, be worthy
of any credit, it is as plain a proof as can be given, and as
evident as the sun at noon day.
Gentlemen, upon your consciences be it; the preservation of the
government, the life of the King, the safety and honour of our
religion, and the discharge of our consciences as loyal men,
good Christians, and faithful subjects, are at stake; neither
her age or her sex are to move you who have nothing else to
consider but the evidence of the fact you are to try. I charge
you therefore, as you will answer it at the bar of the last
judgment, where you and we must all appear, deliver your verdict
according to conscience and truth.
With that Great God the impartial judge there is no such thing
as respect of persons, and in our discharge of our duty in
courts of justice, he has enjoined us his creatures, that we
must have no such thing as a friend in the administration of
justice, all our friendship must be to truth, and our care to
preserve that inviolate.