February the 5th. 1679/80  
I Do appoint Thomas Simmons, and Jacob Samson to Print this my Narrative, and that no other Print the same, nor any part of it.  
Lawr. Mowbray.   

THE NARRATIVE OF Laurence Mowbray Of LEEDS, In the County of YORK, Gent.  
Concerning the Bloody Popish Conspiarcy against the Life of His Sacred Majesty, the Government, and the Protestant Religion.  
Wherein is Contained  
I. His Knowledge of the said Design, from the very first in the year 1676. with the opportunity he had to be acquainted therewith; and the Reasons why he concealed it so long; with the manner of his discovering the said wicked Project to His Majesty, and His most Honourable Privy Council.  
II. How far Sir Thomas Gascoigne, Sir Miles Stapleton, etc. are engaged in the design of Killing the King, and Firing the Cities of London and York, for the more speedy setting uppermost the Popish Religion in England.  
III. An Account of the Assembling of many Popish Priests and Jesuits at Father Rishton's Chamber, at Sir Tho. Gascoigne's House at Barmebow, with their Consultations and Determinations.  
iv A Discovery of the Erecting a Nunnery at Dolebank in Yorkshire, by the Popish Party, especially by Sir Thomas Gascoigne, with an Account of an Estate of ninety pounds per Annum, settled thereupon by him.  
V A Manifestation of the Papists fraudulent conveying of their Estates, himself being privy to some of them.  
VI A probable opinion concerning the Jesuits, the grand Instruments in these Affairs.  
With other Considerable Matters relating to the Plot.  
Together with an Account of the Endeavours that were used to stifle his Evidence, by making an Attempt upon his Life in Leicester-Fields.  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons, at the Prince's Arms, and Jacob Samson, next door to the Wonder-Tavern in Ludgate-Street. MDCLXXX.   


To the Right Honourable Heneage, Lord Finch, Baron of Daventry, Lord High Chancellor of England, and One of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council.  
My LORD,  
I Dare not permit the ensuing Papers to approach your Lordship's presence without an Apology; For had not your Lordship afforded some signal Encouragement to the poor Author, nothing of This had presumed to interrupt your Lordship's great Thoughts and Cares.  
And yet the subject matter herein contained (besides your particular Favours afforded to myself) which I hope (at least in my desires and design) is contributory to the prevention of eminent dangers to King and Kingdom, may plead my excuse, as not unworthy of your Lordship's Consideration, who is so great a Lover of them both, and hath so immediate a concern in their preservation.  
If I had the Pen of a Demosthenes, or a Cicero, or (to sum them up both in one) your own, I might then have adventured to enlarge on the Theme of your Lordship's Merit, which is able to inspirit the most jejune and barren Orator; but in regard it Transcends the small pittance of my disused skill, I shall rather be silent than speak too little of what I am never able to speak enough.  
I have read in our Chronicles concerning Q. Elizabeth, that never any Prince who swayed the English Sceptre had more sapient and vigilant Councillors than Her Majesty. Amongst whom I have heard it reported of Sir Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State in Queen Elizabeth's time, that he was so prudently watchful over the designs of the Popish Emissaries and Priests, that he maintained divers private Agents for that purpose in Rome itself, who did so cunningly and dissemblingly carry the matter, that the Pope himself, in suae infallibilitatis opprobrium, paid Pensions to some of those Setters, who probably pretended to do service on both sides; for no such Key to unlock the Apostolical Chamber, nay, the very Conclave, as a disguised (yet fugitive) Privado. It cannot be denied but those days were very critical, when Parry, Squire, etc. were suborned, and encouraged by the Jesuited party to Murder that Queen; and upon that account extraordinary diligence was required in the Ministers of State, to prevent any inconvenience, which, by the policy of the Romanists might accrue, to their Queen, Lady, and Mistress. And herein she was as happy in her Servants, as they were prosperous in their success, leaving her to expire in a good old age, as a fruit of their vigilance and care, next to God's blessing and protection over her.  
I know our times are as designing as theirs, and the means used to accomplish their purpose of destroying our King and Government, is suitable to what methods were then put in practice, either by Poison, Assassination, or the like. And therefore it is God's goodness to our King and Kingdom, to raise up many Walsinghams', I mean Honourable and Faithful Councillors, who watch night and day for the preservation of His Majesty's person, and the true Protestant Religion amongst us.  
Amongst these, your Lordship is placed in the highest Orb, and that not by a casual frolic (by which yet some are advanced) of blind Favour, but by a just and acknowledged desert, after several remarkable Gradations of Dignities and Offices, which were but praevious to that Eminency wherewith your Lordship now shines.  
It is therefore the happiness of His Majesty to be so served and secured; and not his alone, but all those concerned in the discovery of this wicked and hellish Design, have reason to bless God for the acknowledged protection and encouragement which you are pleased to afford them, and in particular to myself.  
The Tribute I am to pay your Lordship, is only my humble acknowledgement (more I cannot, less I may not); the same, which God is pleased to accept from thankful supplicants.  
I had it first in my thoughts to have made my Epistolary Address to His Majesty himself; and I was encouraged thereunto by some Instances, wherein mean persons have addressed themselves unto great Potentates to forewarn them of their dangers. I shall only cite two Examples, both being of our King's Predecessors; one sitting on the Scotish, another on the English Throne, both which are now happily united in the person of our Royal Sovereign.  
1. When King James the 4th of Scotland was preparing his Army to fight against the English, in the battle of Floddin, being in the midst of his Nobles and Colonels at prayer, a Grave ancient Countryman pressed in through the crowd to the King's Chair, and leaning familiarly thereon, told him, That he and his followers should not prosper in that War, and therefore he wished him to desist, Buchan. Hist. Scot lib. 13. The King not harkening to his counsel, was slain in that Fight, together with the Flower of the Scots Nobility and Gentry: There are enough which will sow Pillows under the elbows of Princes, and flatter them even in their evils; for (as one says) as soon a hot May without Flies, as Courts without Flatterers: But 'twere well if the Chambers of Kings were sometimes open to the persons of Loyal and well-affected Plebeians, who being but standers by (to speak proverbially) yet many times may see more than the Gamesters; and their plain and sober Counsels may be improved for public benefit.  
2. The other instance is mentioned in Roger Hoveden, and quoted by Speed, our own Chroniclers. King Richard the First gave admittance to a poor Hermit coming to him, to reprove him for his evils, to advise him of his danger, and to preach repentance to him; which advice, though at first he seemed to neglect, yet afterwards upon a fit of sickness, he did seriously reflect upon, and in some degree governed himself accordingly; so that Hoveden breaks forth into this pathetical exclamation, How glorious is it for a Prince to begin and end his actions in him, who is beginning without beginning, and who judgeth the ends of the earth? Speed, p. 526. Book 9 Hoveden, fol. 428.  
But to return upon second thoughts; notwithstanding the  encouraging Examples, I judged it fit to interpose a Screen between the Rays of Majesty and my mean self: Some able Patron, my fellow Witnesses, and myself stand in need of, in regard of the many fears and discouragements we lie under from without; and therefore I pitched upon a Maecenas near to our Augustus, that we may have a Friend next the Throne, who, in all just things might take our parts, if false whisper and dilations concerning us, should at any time approach the Royal presence. 'Tis true, for myself, I have not hitherto appeared in any public Trial, as a Witness for His Majesty, that part of my duty and service (if God give life and health to perform it) is yet to come, when public Reason of State (to which all private persons must submit) shall call for, and appoint such Trials: My Informations have been only presented to some of His Majesty's Justices upon Oath, as also to His Majesty himself in Council, which it seems, have appeared so considerable to the adverse party, that one night, as I was walking to my Lodging, I was stabbed, and felled to the ground; upon which the intended Murderer fled, supposing he had done his work; but it pleased God to elude his intention, and to preserve me for his further service, I hope for his glory, and for the good of his Church; the particular manner of that assault is accounted for in the following Informations.  
I should not have instanced in the danger of so mean and worthless a thing as myself, if the greatest Patriots, and some of them, either now, or lately Assessors with your Lordship at the same Royal Board, were not threatened to be served after the same manner; whom as God hath hitherto miraculously preserved, so I hope he will entail the same protection on your Lordship, who doth succeed and inherit their places both in Cares and Counsels, which is the daily prayer of,  
My LORD, Your Honours in all humble and dutiful observance, LAURENCE MOWBRAY.   

To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Clayton, Lord Mayor of the Famous City of London.  
Right Honourable,  
IN brisk and dangerous Onsets, double Armour is of great use, especially to those whose service is in the Front, and who are likely to endure the brunt of the Enemy's assault. I am called forth with the rest of my Fellow-Witnesses, for His Majesty, to stand the charge of the Romish Battalions, who have set themselves in Array against the Protestant Religion, our King, Kingdom, and especially against the City of London, as the strongest Bulwarks of all the Three. No marvel then, if when the City's danger is discovered, I choose also a City-Patron (as another mighty Second, I might say First) to defend a just cause.  
I do assume this boldness to myself, upon a double Account:  
I. That Supreme Dignity which your Lordship holds by just Merit, amongst your worthy Citizens, as their chief Magistrate and Head of their Government, for this year, renders you able to protect me.  
II. Your exemplary prudence and care, as well as zeal and activity for the prevention of the Evils which are hereafter discovered, by the vogue of all good men do make you a willing Patron to all those who are Co-operators in that work. And herein your Lordship's solicitude for the good of the public, hath not (as far as I know) been transmitted to the imitation of others in any Print, though indeed it deserves to be writ with a Pen of Iron, and the point of a Diamond, in most durable Characters, for your Honour and Renown.  
I count it therefore a Felicity to me, to have the opportunity of being the first public Admirer and Encomiast of your Lordships known actings against all Popish Conspirators (I mean from the Press); which office, though your own worth doth loudly call for at my hands, yet (as I intimated before) I do undertake the Province much upon the score of my own self-defence, whose danger doth excite me not to be contented with a single Address for protection to the Lord High Chancellor of England, but doth further prompt to accumulate security by the accession of your Lordship's favour, which I do hereby humbly supplicate and entreat. I must needs say, by what I have heard amongst the Romanists in their Cabals, That your City is looked upon by them as the Grand Emporium of Heresy, (as they call it) as well as the Metropolis of England; for you are criminated by them as the highest Countenancers and Encouragers of the most Reformed Protestantism and its Professors; so that, as not long since (as I have heard) this Motto was writ upon one of the Gates of the City of Rome, by a waggish Pen, Hoc est Collegium Jesuitanum; satirically intimating, that in regard the Counsels of the Jesuits did so much prevail there for the present, therefore the whole City was to be looked upon but as one of their Great Colleges; so it is a true and more laudable Character of the City of London, Hoc est Asylum Reformatorum; and this not in Pasquil, Lampoone, or as a brand of Infamy, but as an indelible mark of the Honour and Beneficence of its renowned Inhabitants for ever. For, as it is the Glory of God to be comprehensive of his whole Creation; so, those who are most like him, are larger in their Protections and Reliefs (of such as are sober and quiet in their principles:) than other men.  
I add this last clause, because I know that the censure of the Papists upon your City, is grounded not only upon your Protection of Established Protestancy, according to the Liturgy of the Church of England, but also it hath respect to your countenancing, or at least harbouring many sober and peaceable Dissenters, which the Romanists look upon to be more numerous amongst you, than (proportionably) in any other part of England, and whom, in regard of their awakened principles, they look upon as greater Contrariants than the formal ordinary Protestants. This indeed is the party which they would willingly cajole, at least to silence (if it were possible); and I have heard it resolved in Popish Juncto's, as an Argument fit to induce them to a passive compliance, that the community of Sufferings should be propounded to them. The Laws against Dissenters and Nonconformists being (in some things) as severe as against the Papists. But hitherto they have not been able to obtain their desired end, but have lost all their solicitations in this matter: And I have heard some Papists say, They did despair of ever doing any good that way: For though civil respects may pass as to the common offices of humane Life, between persons of different Religions; yet when principles, in which oppositions have their deepest root, do fight against principles; such parties can never hearty unite. I mention this, that a just regard may be had in all our Governors, towards the peaceable and well-affected of that Class.  
My Lord, I have not, in what I have done, acted out of private malice or revenge against any man's person, but have only been stimulated by the pricks of my own conscience, to prevent those mischiefs which, I knew, were impending upon our King, this City, and the whole Kingdom.  
And herein I confess a prize was put into my hands, to have been the first Discoverer of this Bloody Plot in the year 1676. But I must acknowledge, that through the power of contrary temptations, I did succumb; and yet I was not altogether unjustifiable in my thoughts; in that I undertook a journey to London, from the North, on purpose to make this Discovery, so that my early desires may somewhat atone for my slow and tardy actings; For which, as I have obtained His Majesty's Gracious pardon, so I hope your Lordship will be moderate in your judgement concerning me, seeing the Impediments I was then to wrestle withal, seemed to me Invincible, as hereafter in the following Narrative is declared. And the truth is, I did quiet my conscience at that time by suggesting, that I reserved myself for the disclosing the Conspiracy some other time, when the danger was nearer hand, and the design more ripe for execution; Herein, though I was prevented by others, yet the scheme of my thoughts being thus laid open, will, I hope, alleviate my censure amongst good men. There are some particulars illustrative of what is hereafter declared, which may be spoken to, when I am called upon to appear at any Trial, as an Evidence for His Majesty.  
I shall say no more to your Lordship at this time, but craving pardon for my boldness, and recommending your Lordship with your great charge, the Honourable City of London, to the Divine Protection, I humbly subscribe myself,  
Your Lordships in all just and Christian service, LAURENCE MOWBRAY.   

AN Introductory Preface.  
I Think it not amiss, before I mention my Informations, to give the Reader some account of myself, and the opportunity I have had of being acquainted with this black design, and the methods I took to discover the same after I was convinced of the evil thereof; which last clause I mention, because, being falsely principled by the Romish Priests at first, I thought it a meritorious work.  
The place of my Nativity was Worcestershire; but my Father removing his whole Family into Yorkshire in my Infancy, I there received my Education in my youth, and that in the Protestant Religion as established in the Church of England; I was brought up in a Grammar-School, in order to the University; but other circumstances not concurring, and the times seeming not to look smilingly upon learned men, my friends were diverted from those thoughts, and I was to wait for a more favourable opportunity.  
In this Interval, being about 18 years of Age, I was dealt with by some Papists in the North, to reside awhile in Sir Thomas Gascoignes House; not upon the strict terms of a servant, but as an ingenuous attendant, or rather expectant of a better fortune, till the Clouds blowing over, I might (as my intentions were) transplant myself into the University; and I was inclined to Sir Thomas Gascoignes; rather than to any other Family, because he was represented to me as a sober and temperate person, and a good Example for Youth to imitate.  
I had not been long there, but I was dealt with by Sir THOMAS himself, the Lady TEMPEST, but especially by Father RUSHTON, Confessor to Sir THOMAS, and his whole Family, to turn to their Religion; the Arguments they used, were these, the Truth of their Church, and the certainty of Salvation therein; whereas Protestantism (as they alleged) was but a Novelty risen up of late years; and the Souls of its Professors were in great danger of Eternal Damnation, except they did return to Rome, the Mother-Church; and withal they used many alluring provocations, and flattering promises of great and large preferments, if ever it pleased God, to favour their Endeavours, that the Roman Religion should again be established in this Kingdom, which they told me they were in great hopes of, and that many heads, and hands, were at work in order to the effecting thereof.  
I, being not able to see thorough, those pecious pretences, was ensnared by them, and accordingly, yielding to their insinuations, was admitted into their Church, being thereupon in great favour with them, and daily Assistant to Father Rushton at the Altar.  
And here (to note this by the way) the Zeal of the Papists doth upbraid the coldness and indifferency of many Protestants, who upon the entertainment of Servants and Attendants little heed their Principles in reference to Religion, but suffer them to go on, without any endeavour to rectify their understandings in case any error reside in them; as if it were only lawful for them to use the labour of their Bodies, as they do their Oxen and Horses, without any regard to cultivate their minds: whereas you shall hardly have a Servant admitted into a Popish Family, but they will sift his Religion and Principles; and if he be a Protestant, they will endeavour to reduce him; and they esteem themselves under a Religious Obligation so to do, whose Zeal therein, if it were according to knowledge, might be instructive unto others, who stand upon a truer Foundation, and embrace righter Principles. This by the by.  
Being thus turned Roman Catholic, as I have said, I had opportunity to be admitted to the Privacies of Sir Tho. Gascoigne, Father Rushton, and others, in whose frequent Consultations and Discourses, both amongst themselves, and also with me, I soon found out the Intrigues of their Designs, and my mind was so astonished at the thoughts of the King's Murder, and the Great Alterations, which were designed by them, to be accomplished in this Land, that, I not only returned to the Reformed Religion in my heart, which I formerly revolted from, and since, by God's goodness, have remade public profession of, but I resolved also to repair to London, about the latter end of the year 1676. to make a Discovery of what I knew in those matters. And I had then a fair opportunity to disengage myself from Sir Tho. Gascoigne's Family, in regard the Laws, being strict against Papists, and at that time pressed to be put in execution, Sir Thomas was willing to abridge the number of his Household, lest forfeitures should grow high upon them; taking therefore that occasion, I withdrew from that House, and a while after undertook a Journey to London about May 1677. long before Mr. Oates had made any public Discovery of a Plot, and yet the Priests and Papists in the North, had some jealousy of my constancy in their Religion; and being also conscious to themselves, that I could discover a great part of their guilt, they used many menaces against me, even to my very face, which I eluded, as well as I could.  
Coming to London, under the discouragement of many circumstances, as my being of small acquaintance at London, etc. and therefore not capable of making any creditable applications to the Court; moreover highly threatened by the Papish Party, both in the Country, and in London, besides juding it ridiculous in me, standing alone, to appear against so great a Body of Opponents (for I then knew of no other evidence, but myself) I was so far intimidated and disheartened in my undertaking, as to return to Yorkshire again reintecta, and without making any Discovery at all; but still under great inquietude, and dissatisfaction, because I could not ease my mind, in making the Discovery I intended.  
Arriving again in the Country, the pricks of my conscience did follow me thither, insomuch that I could have no rest, till I had wrote up a Letter to a Great Person at Whitehall, acquainting him, (as from an unknown hand) with the designed Murder of His Majesty, and the Great Danger the Kingdom was in, by those underhand machinations; the Copy of which Letter, in regard it was the Embryo of my Discovery, I have here annexed.  
My Lord,  
How long I have concealed the intended and immediate malice of some disloyal and traitorous persons (from whose merciless and bloody Design God bless our Sovereign Lord the King. It is now full time, I think, to declare, (though not in hopes of reward) but as a true and loyal Subject to my King) the wicked and desperate Design of some Papist Conspirators, etc. That by an immediate insurrection to proceed with Fire and Sword until they have altered the Government, or settled the Crown (God bless King Charles the Second) upon the head of some other, so by consequence the death of the King is conspired, and sought for: This Conspiracy, my Lord, is of no little standing, but, to my knowledge, contrived almost this three years ago, and now come to the height of a desperate resolution: My heart is loyal and true to the King, but I must confess that through the persuasion and urging of Father Rishton, etc. I have myself subscribed to this wicked Design, and now am forced, as well through Loyalty to my King, as to clear my stained conscience from that foul Design, it to reveal; and will endeavour hereafter to discover and procure a List of these Conspirators, which I have seen and subscribed to. But I am certain of the  persons (with many others) are subscribed in the List, and great Promoters of this Act; and are still providing both Force and Arms for their carrying on their Design. My Lord, I most humbly beg your Lordship's pardon for this my boldness, entreating your Lordship, as a true Royalist, to communicate these Lines to whom your Lordship thinks most convenient. At present, my Lord, I dare not subscribe my name, for several reasons, but at any time upon protection from these Papists, (being at present within their claws) I shall acknowledge the hand and mark subscribed, as to proceed from  
My Lord, Your Lordship's most faithful and obedient Servant, and to the King a Loyal and faithful Subject. York Jan. 1. 77/ 8.  
These persons names who have subscribed that at present I remember, were— Inglesby, Sir Tho. Gascoigne, Tho. Gascoigne Esq Sir Miles Stapleton Baronet, etc.  
But the said Letter being sent by me, by the Common Post, and from one unknown, I did therefore doubt whether it might come to the hands of that Nobleman to whom it was directed, or if it did, how it would be resented in regard of the extraordinary Novelty of the thing; wherefore I did not think myself to have sufficiently discharged my conscience, in such a Crisis of danger merely upon the sending of that Letter, without seconding the Contents thereof by farther Applications; therefore afterwards being encouraged by the appearance of others in this case, I did resort to some Magistrates in Yorkshire, viz. Justice Tyndall, and Justice Lowther, before whom I being examined upon Oath, made a short Scheme of the said Design, as by the Copy of the Examination before them, hereunto annexed may appear.  
The Information of Laurence Mowbray of Leeds, taken before us upon Oath this sixteenth day of August. 1679.  
THE Informant saith, that in the year 1675. to the best of his knowledge, he being at Sir Tho. Gascoignes, he the said Sir Tho. ordered the Informant to draw a Conveyance of his whole Estate to Sir Will. Inglesby, which Conveyance the Informant saith, he drew by the form of a Conveyance of Trust made from Sir Miles Stapleton, of his whole Estate to Sir John Dawney. The Informant further saith, that though he was not witness to the aforesaid Conveyance of Sir Tho. Gascoigne, yet he heard from Sir Tho. Gascoigne that there was a Defeasance to the said Deed of Trust, and from Rob. Bolron, and Mathias Hickeringill, that they were witnesses to the said Deed of Trust. And further, he speaketh not to the Deed of Trust. The Informant further deposeth, that in the year 1676. to the best of his remembrance, about Michaelmas Sir Tho. Gascoigne, Tho. Gascoigne Esq the Lady Tempest, and William Rishton Priest, etc. being together in Barmebow Dining-room, he the Informant heard them hold several discourses concerning a Design of killing the King, firing the Cities of London and York; the Lady Tempest seemed to say jestingly, if the Design did not take, they would all be poor Gentlemen; Tho. Gascoigne her Brother answered her, if it did not take effect, she would partake of their sufferings, being also concerned in it; they all concluded it would be a meritorious undertaking, and for the glory of the Church, and they would venture their Estates in it: The Informant further saith, there was then in the House one Doctor Stapleton a Priest, who coming from another room, and finding the Informant at the door, went in, and desired them in a low voice to forbear their Discourse, for there was one at the door; Whereupon the Lady Tempest called in the Informant, and sent him down to entertain some strangers below. The Informant further deposeth, that he had heard several Discourses from Sir Tho. Gascoigne, and William Rishton of a Religious House or Nunnery was to be established at Dolebank, and Sir Thomas would settle ninety pound per annum for their maintenance  
Taken before us 

Brad. tindal.  
Will. Lowther junior.    
This Examination being transmitted by the said Justices to the Council, I soon after, viz. August 31. 1679. wrote a Letter to Sir John Nicholas, one of the Secretaries to His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council, (then in waiting) acquainting him, amongst other things, that there were divers circumstances, relating to this discovery, very material, which were not inserted in my Information made before the said Justices, but should be declared by me, when ever the Honourable Council would be pleased to command a full account from me.  
In Answer to which Letter, I received the following, dated and subscribed as followeth.  
Council-Chamber in Whitehall, Sept. 5. 1679. SIR,  
Whereas by your Letter of the 31th of August last, directed to Sir John Nicholas, which hath this day been read to the Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy-Council, you make mention, that there are divers circumstances very material, relating to the Information you have given, that are not therein inserted; and that you are willing, when ever the Council pleases, to give a full account thereof. I am, by their Lordship's command, to pray and require you to make your repair hither by the 29th day of this instant September, that you may be ready to give their Lordships such farther Information as you have to acquaint them with, on the First of October next. Their Lordships have promised, that care shall be taken for the defraying of the charges of your Journey, which being all I have in command to signify to you, I remain,  
SIR, Your very humble Servant, THOMAS DOLMAN.  
This noble Invitation and Summons was sent unto me by a Messenger on purpose, superscribed, To Mr. Laurence Mowbray, at his House in Yorkshire.  
According to the tenor thereof, I did, as in Duty bound, repair to London, and by Order, gave in a larger Information upon Oath before Edmund Warcup, Esq one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, for the County of Middlesex and City of Westminster, a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed.  
[Middlesex and Westminster] The Information of Laurence Mowbray, of Leeds, in the County of York, Gent. taken upon Oath the Second day of October, 1679. before me Edmund Warcup, Esq one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace in the said County and City.  
THis Informant saith, That when he was examined before Mr. tindal and Mr. Lowther, two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace in Yorkshire, in August last passed, he did not discover the whole of what he knew, in Relation to the late horrid Conspiracy, in regard he had some doubts of his safety in that County amongst those Papists, whom he was to detect, and who threatened such as they feared would discover the said Designs; and for that this Informant conceived the danger he had run by concealment: But now this Informant will tell his knowledge of the Plot, beseeching His Majesty's gracious Pardon. This Informant being now sent for up, by Order of His Majesty's most honourable Privy-Council, conceiveth himself under their protection, hopes they will intercede for his Pardon to His Majesty; and on that confidence saith, That in the year 1674. he came to Sir Thomas Gascoign's, and was with him in his Chamber till January, 1676. and in that time he observed Mr. Thomas Addison, than Priest to Mrs. Killingbeck, and Mr. Fincham, Priest to Sir John Savill, Mr. Thomas Twhing, Senior, Mr. Thomas Twhing, Junior, two Romish Priests, Mr. Lodge, Dr. Stapleton (Brother to Sir Miles Stapleton) one Robert Killingbeck, and divers other Romish Priests, several times to invite, and privately to confer with Mr. William Rishton, Sir Thomas Gascoign's Priest; and this Informant being desired to assist, and be as obliging as he could to the said Rishton, and to attend him at the Altar at Mass, became in great favour with him, and was permitted to continue in the said Mr. Rishton's Chamber when the Priests were in private with him: And he very often heard them discourse of a Design, laid for the setting the Popish Religion uppermost in England, and how likely the same was to succeed, in regard most of the considerable Papists had undertaken to act for it: And that if the said Design was not to be compassed by fair and lawful means, than it was to be done by Fire and Sword; and particularly they declared, That London and York were to be fired, and then the same course was to be taken in other places: And that being begun, the same Design was to be prosecuted with the Sword also, and that force was to be made use of, for destroying the Heretics and Opposers of this Design. And they several times farther said, That the King, when he was in his Exile, had promised to Establish their Religion, if ever he were restored; but that hitherto he had not performed that promise, and therefore he was adjudged a Heretic, and was to be killed, if he did not suddenly Establish the Catholic Religion, which they now dispaired that he would do.  
And this Informant further saith, That Mr. William Rishton did one day acquaint Mr. Addison, that he had according to agreement given the Sacrament of secrecy to Sir Thomas Gascoign, and Thomas Gascoign, Esq to Mr. Stephen Tempest, and to the Lady Tempest, and others, in Sir Thomas Gascoign's Chapel, and had thereupon communicated to them the whole Design; and that they had severally engaged to be secret, faithful, and active, to their utmost powers, in carrying on the said Design; and would thereto contribute as far as their Estates would permit. And required an account of the said Addison, and of as many other Priests (besides those aforenamed) as came to him, how far they had proceeded therein, who answered the said Rishton, That they, in the several Families and places they were interested in, had given the like Sacrament of secrecy to their several Friends; and had thereupon acquainted them with the Design, and the ways and means intended to carry it on; and that their Friends approved thereof, and promised to contribute their utmost Interest, Power, and Estates, for advancement of Catholic Religion.  
And this Informant farther saith, That by persuasion of the said William Rishton, who was his Confessor, he likewise received from his hand the Sacrament of secrecy. And this Informant very well remembreth, that about Michaelmas, 1676. there was an Assembly of many of the Priest's afore-named, and others, whose Names this Informant cannot remember, at Mr. Rishton's Chamber, where they did all agree, and declare, that the King should be killed, for that the Pope had Excommunicated him; and it was not lawful only, but meritorious to destroy and kill any Heretic whatsoever, and that when the King was killed, Fire and Sword was to be employed against all such as should oppose the advancement of the Catholic Religion in England, and that all or most of the Catholics had engaged themselves in the said undertaking.  
After which discourse, the said Mr. Rishton told the said Priests, he had a List of many Papists who were engaged in the Design, and did produce a List of Names, containing about 4 or 5 hundred, to the best of this Informant's Observation, all whom, he said, were engaged in the Design; many of which Names he read unto them, and amongst them, this Informant very well remembreth he read the Names of Sir Thomas Gascoign, Thomas Gascoign, Esq Mr. Middleton, Sir Miles Stapleton, Mr. Sherburn, Richard Townley, and Francis Townley, the Lady Tempest, Mr. Stephen Tempest, Sir Francis Hungate, Sir John Savill, Sir Walter Vavosor, and his eldest Son Dr. Peter Vavosor, Edward and Thomas Killingbeck, Barney, Robert Doleman, Marwood, Thomas Priscick, and many others, (whose Names this Informant now remembreth not) were contained in the said List.  
And the Informant farther saith, That Sir Thomas Gascoign did often bid this Informant to write Superscriptions to several Letters, some whereof were directed to Mr. William Harcourt, others to Mr. Corker, others to Mr. Cornwallis in London; and some of the said Letters to Mr. Cornwallis, were directed to him by the Name of Pracid; other Letters by like order this Informant directed to Mrs. Lassells, Mrs. Twhing, and Mrs. Beckwith, who were to be Governesses, or to have other Offices in the Nunnery erected at Dolbank, to which the said Sir Thomas Gascoign contributed 90 l. per Annum, and made a settlement of an Estate at Mauston, the Tenant's name whereof was Alvery Lofthouse.  
And this Informant farther saith, That he often heard the said Priests in Mr. Rishton's Chamber say, That they had Commission from the Pope to prosecute the said Design by all likely ways, and that all the Jesuits were particularly engaged in the said Design, and were to be the managers thereof: And that the Priests through England were to assist therein, and engage all the Families therein, where they had any Interest. And they did also tell one another, that sums of Money was collected for buying of Arms for carrying on the Design; and that several of their Friends had paid in't their shares for that purpose. And they sometimes said, That they had Orders from the Pope to be as brief in their prosecution as possibly they could, that they might proceed to Execution: And that they did communicate their several Letters from their Friends beyond Sea, to the persons whom they had persuaded into this Work. And they also affirmed, That the Pope would in a little time determine a settlement of both Ecclesiastical and Civil Preferments, upon the Actors and Contributors of this meritorious Design (as they termed it). And that the Pope had Excommunicated the King, and all other Heretics, in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and had granted a Plenary Indulgence of ten thousand years to those who should act, either Personally, or in Estate, to kill the King, or any other Heretic, for promotion of their Religion, besides a Pardon, and other gratifications.  
And this Informant farther saith, That by the command of Sir Thomas Gascoign, he went to Robert Bolron, to direct him to go to Father Rushton, to reconcile him to the Catholic Church, which was performed accordingly.  
And he farther saith, That the Paper now produced, dated the First of January, 1677/8. hereunto annexed, is all of this Informant's hand writing, and is a Copy of a Letter which he directed to a Person of Quality at Whitehall, and that he sent the said Letter by the Post from Leeds to London on the First of January, on which day this Informant wrote the said Copy hereunto annexed.  
Jurat die & anno superdict. Coram me Edmund Warcup.  
Afterwards His Majesty having received Informations of several persons in the Counties of York, Northumberland, Lancashire, and Bishoppric of Durham, who were suspected to be Papists, or favourers of Popery, or who could give Information touching the Plot against His Majesty, was pleased to employ myself, and Robert Bolron, Gentleman, to repair into those parts, and to execute that Commission which is contained in the following Order of Council.  
Whereas Information hath been given to His Majesty in Council upon Oath, That the several persons in the List annexed mentioned, are suspected to be favourers of Papists, and to harbour and lodge Popish Priests and Jesuits, and to have in their keeping Writings and Papers, relating either to the horrid Plot against the Life of His Sacred Majesty, and his Government, or to Collusive conveyances of Lands to superstitious uses; His Majesty was thereupon pleased to command, and accordingly We do hereby Will and Require all and every of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace, to whom the Bearers hereof; Laurence Mowbray and Robert Bolron, or either of them, shall make Application, to receive in due form of Law, the Informations they shall exhibit against all, or any of the said persons in the List mentioned, or any others, which the said Laurence Mowbray and Robert Bolron shall justly suspect to be concerned in the aforesaid Practices, and thereupon to proceed according to Law, for the more speedy and effectual discovery of the Offenders, and bringing them to condign Punishment. And the said Justices of Peace are hereby further required, to issue out their Warrants (if they see occasion) for searching the respective Houses of the several persons in the said List mentioned, or any other suspected Houses, as well for Popish Priests and Jesuits, as for Papers, Letters, Crucifixes, Agnus Dei's, Popish Books and Vestments, and other superstitious Trinkers; and to proceed according to Law against such Popish Priests and Jesuits, as shall be apprehended: And also to dispose of such Papers, Letters, Crucifixes, Agnus Dei's, Popish Books and Vestments, and other superstitious Trinkets as shall be found in the said search, as the Law directs; except such Papers or Writings as relate to the said Plot, which are to be safely conveyed unto us with all speed: And of what the said Justices of the Peace, or any of them, shall do in pursuance of this His Majesty's Pleasure, they are to return unto us from time to time an exact account. For all which, this shall be unto them, and every of them, a sufficient Warrant.  
Dated at the Council-Chamber in Whitehall the 17th day of October, 1679. 

Anglesey,  
Lauderdale,  
Henry Coventry,  
Bridgewater,  
Fra. North.  
Sunderland,  
J. Ernle,  
John Nicholas.    
According to which Order, Mr. Bolron, and myself, with the assistance of some of His Majesty's Messengers, repaired into the Northern Parts, where in obedience to the said Commission, and in pursuance thereof, I made the two following Informations.  
[Civitas Ebor.]  
The Information of Laurence Mowbray, taken upon Oath the 27th day of October, 1679.  
who saith and deposeth,  
THat about Michaelmas, Anno 1676. there was an Assembly of several Priests or Jesuits at the House of Sir Thomas Gascoign, at Barmbow, in the County of York; and that the said Assembly did then generally conclude and agree, That the King (meaning the King of England) was to be killed, for that he was a Heretic, and Excommunicated by the Pope, and that it was not only lawful, but meritorious to kill the said King, or any other Heretic; and that they likewise said, That all, or most of the Catholics in England, were engaged in the same Design. After which discourse, one William Rushton, Priest to Sir Thomas Gascoign, produced a List of Names, which he did declare were engaged in, and contributaries to the said Design. And farther deposeth, That the said William Rushton read over many of the Names of the said List in the hearing of this Informant, amongst which he mentioned Robert Dolman, Esq And this Informant farther deposeth, That Dr. Peter Vavosor's Name was in the List aforesaid.  
Capt. & jurat coram Richard Shaw, Major & als. Lawrence Mowbray.  
[County of York and Lancaster.]  
The Information of Laurence Mowbray, taken upon Oath the Second of November, 1679. before us Henry Marsden, and John Ashton, Esquires; two of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the said Counties.  
AT an Assembly of divers Popish Priests at Sir Thomas Gascoign's, at Barmbow, was produced a List of Names, who were concerned and Contributors to a Design of killing the King, and Establishing the Roman Catholics in England; and amongst many others, there was the Names of Mr. Sherburn of Stonyhurst, Walmesley of Dungney; Richard Townley and Francis Townley, of Townley, Mr. Stephen Tempest of Braughton, Richard York, and divers others, which this Informant doth not at present remember.  
Lawrence Mowbray.  
The rest of our time was spent in executing other parts of the said Commission, His Majesty's Officers of Justice assisting us in all places whither we came, and accordingly several Popish Trinkets, Books, and Vestments, were taken by us, and disposed as the Law directs: And the effect of our Journey having been presented to His Majesty at our return, was graciously accepted, and entertained, both by himself, and by the whole Council; upon confidence of whole favour, I count it my Honour, as well as Duty, to stand ready to observe His Majesty's farther Directions in any thing, which may hereafter conduce to the preservation of His Person, and the Establishment of the true Protestant Religion amongst us.  
Mention having been made by me, of an Assault made upon me, the manner of it, as it was by His Majesty's Command given in to him by Council, is as followeth:  
Upon October 14. 1679. I being to attend upon the Right Honourable the Lords, Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, at the Treasury-Chamber at Whitehall, departed from thence about Six or Seven a Clock at night, and going over Leicester-Fields towards my Lodgings, at the Kings-Arms in St. Martin's Lane, but intending in the way to call upon Mr. Bolron, at the Bear and Ragged-Staff in Leicester-Fields, I was overtaken about the middle of the Fields by a person unknown, whom I heard follow me very fast; I supposed his speed was to get out of the Rain; but as he came up to me, being on my left hand, he with a Dagger, or such like Instrument, stabbed me upon my left breast, the thrust entering my Coat and Waistcoat, and lighting upon the Whale-bone of my Bodice, which, unknown to the bloody Assailant, I did wear for my convenience, it prevented his design; notwithstanding by continuing his thrust, I fell down to the ground, being slippery by reason of the Rain; the party than ran away, supposing that I had been slain: But still I not daring to speak or call out, lest he should renew his attempt while he was near; but presently after his departure, I called a Linkboy, who was at the other side of the Fields, who lighted me to my Lodgings another way.  
Lawrence Mowbray.   

The Conclusion.  
BEcause the Jesuits are justly looked upon as having a Grand influence on the forementioned designs, I shall close this discourse with a Scholastical velitation, which, I hope, will not be unacceptable to the learned; for it is worthy of a Pen far superior to mine: The question I would discuss, is this,  
Whether that Order of men, in this our Age, may be supposed to be at their vertical, or highest Exaltation? Whether they stand at a stay, or verge towards their declension?  
I Take the more boldness to propound such a question, because a secular Priest hath led me the way: for Watson in his first quodlibet, hath these two queries.  
1. Whether the Jesuits, having gone astray from their first institution, there be any likelihood of their continuance? or if not, of their downfall; and he inclines, perhaps prophetically, to this latter. Artic. 9  
2. Whether any danger to God's Church to err, and utterly to be Overthrown by the Jesuits ruin, (if it happen) or no danger at all? which he resolves in the Negative. Artic. 10.  
I Know the Jesuits are much for Probable opinions; wherefore in consideration of their Rise, Progress, and the Ways, and Methods they have taken to advance themselves, together with their immoral and unlawful practices; I shall propound the reasons, why some men suppose, that they are at their height, or rather declining.  
Arg. 2. Their Original is affirmed by some of their own Church to be by surprise, and imposition upon the See of Rome. For upon the first coming of Ignatius, and his Partners to Rome in the time of Paul the third, the Rules of their order being presented to him, he committed them to three Cardinals to examine, who thought good to refuse them, because their Obedience to their General, was seemingly Superior to their Subjection to the Pope; for Maffaus, speaking of their General, says, without controversy one must be chosen, to whom all must be obedient, as if it were to Christ, to his word they must swear, and esteem his beck, and his will, as an Oracle of God, Lib. 2. vit. Ignat. Cap. 9 I pray what greater obedience could the Pope himself claim? hereupon being repulsed, they reform their Rule, and made their Obedience to the Pope, and their General both alike; for these be the words of Ribadeneira, who also afterward wrote the life of Ignatius. Lib. 2. Cap. 7. The order of these Clarks must be, that by their institution, they be ready to obey the Pope at a beck, and live by such a line, as he shall well consider, and determine off. Upon the insertion of which passage, the Pope, having (as he thought) secured his own Authority, lent a more favourable ear to them, and confirmed their Order; yet with some jealousy, and with many scruples of Conscience, as some of their own Authors speak; for at first, he allowed them not to exceed the number of Sixty, and therefore well may their Constitutions begin with this little Congregation, etc.  
To improve this Argument, if there be a worm in the Root, the verdure of any plant will in time decay. An Error committed in the first concoction, is never remedied in the second, as Physicians say, no marvel then, if homebred-jealousies do increase upon this Body of Men, now grown numorous, if not formidable to the Pope himself; ab origine fuit Sic; and therefore notwithstanding their pretended submission and vow to the Papal Chair; when the Pope Crosses their purposes, as Xistus quintus did, he incurred their great displeasure and hatred, to the shortening (as some think) of his life. After whose death, they most Maliciously depraved him, and preached against him openly in Spain: yea one of their Faction proceeded publicly to maintain, that Homo non Christianus possit esse Romanus Pontifex, which Tenet amongst them argued bitter spite, and unchristian disdain against their acknowledged Head, Watson quodl. pag. 100  
It is the worst thing in the world to serve a jealous Master; for at one time, or other, his dissatisfaction (though covered for a season) will appear to the disgrace, if not ruin, of his servant: Let the Provincial of the English Jesuits, in the room of Mr. Whitebread, apply this to himself, and his Order, they are not quite secure on the otherside the water. Besides, Beneficia cóusque grata, dum exsolvi possunt, as the Historian speaketh. The extraordinary Merit, which the Jesuits pretent to, from his Holiness, as voting themselves to be the Chief, if not only supporters of the Papal Chair, is but an upbraiding of him, who sits therein; especially in doubtful and suspicious times, great deserts in some Circumstances render a man as obnoxious, as the highest guilt; some give an instance in Marshal Byron of France, in the days of their Henry the fourth; in the Duke of Buckingham, in Richard the third's time, and in the Old Earl of Essex, in Queen Elizabeth's days here in England. All which (say they) were depressed, and broken under the weight of their merits to their respective Princes.  
If benefits procure such requitals, what shall injuries do? For the Author of the Jesuits Catechism, Chap. 25. Book. 3. says, That the notorious interprize, or usurpation of the General of the Jesuits over the Holy See, is such, that there is no new Sect, which in time may be more prejudicial to it than this.  
Arg. 2. It is ominous and fatal to break a settled Constitution, on which an Order of Religion is grounded; for the Original Sanction is as the sacred Bond or tye, which keeps that Order together. I will not trace the Conversation of the Jesuit, throughout all his Vows; but certainly in that of Poverty, and of not intermeddling in secular Affairs, they have much deviated from their Primitive Institution, and consequently have made forfeiture of their Interest in the Privileges of that Sodality.  
It is observed, That the eldest Children of Parents are more strictly educated, than those, which are born in their riper years; because then the severity of their Discipline melts into Lenity; and their Love, not guided by Reason, turns to fondness. The like probably may be affirmed of the first Institutors of this Order, who perhaps were strict to their Rules; but the declining therefrom of their posterity, argues an old and doting Age, in the Masters of that Family. Now that those two Constitutions of theirs, have been sufficiently broken, small skill in History, or in Conversation will demonstrate.  
1. Their Wealth amassed, and that wrongfully too, as some of their own say, is a sufficient Argument how well their Vow of Poverty is observed; for as the Prefacer to the Moral. Practise of the Jesuits, speaks, There is not any Artifice, Injustice, or Violence they employ not to enrich themselves, by the spoils of all sorts of persons, Secular and Religious; Sovereign and private. And while after, Nothing escapes the claws of their Avarice.  
2. All England knows, as well as other Countries, how far they have complied with that Rule of their own making, That none of them should immix themselves with the Secular business of Princes: for who greater Intermeddlers in State matters, than they? Hinc illae lachrymae.  
Arg. 3. The Practices and Methods, which the Jesuits have committed and used both here and in other Countries, have been the overthrow of other Religious of their own Church, and how then can they themselves expect better Quarter? It is clearly proved against them here in England, that they have endeavoured to destroy His majesty's person by a violent death: Now there was formerly an order of the Humiliati in the Roman Church, and they had divers Convents spread over Italy; they were to spend their time in strict Exercises of Piety, and of selfe-abasements, (as the Jesuits pretend,) whence they had their Name. But, instead thereof, growing lose and wanton, and swerving from their first Austerity, Cardinal Borrhomeo, a grave Prelate, undertook to be their Protector and Reformer both, who entering upon his Office of Reformation, did so curb their licentious Wickednesses, that some of them conspired to take away his life, which accordingly was attempted by them, whiles he was at his Prayers, by the discharge of a Pistol; (was not the like Method of Assassination designed against our King?) which by God's providence did pierce his garments, and not wound his Body, to the hazard of his life. This Fact did so enrage Pope Pius the fifth then sitting, that he sent out a Bull for the utter extirpation of that whole Order, notwithstanding the King of Spain's Intercession to the contrary, Anno 1577. which Bull is recited verbatim in Toscanus his Book entitled, Summa constitutionum & rerum in Ecclesiâ Romana gestarum à Gregorio Nono usque ad Sixtum Quintum.  
If an Attempt upon a single Cardinal can work the dissolution of an whole Order, what shall those many Attempts upon several Princes do, some having been actually murdered, others designed to the slaughter by the Council and Contrivances of the Jesuits; certainly their Case equals, if not exceeds that of the Humiliati: Wherefore let them look to themselves; for when Christian Princes are incensed, the storm must light somewhere, and why not on the most guilty? Neither can the Pope himself, in such Circumstances, secure their Interest (no more than Paul the Fifth could prevail upon the Venetian, to hinder their Non-exclusion from that City.) For to save himself and his Conclave, he will doubtless sacrifice any particular Order of Religious whatsoever.  
I know the Jesuit doth labour to elude that Instance, by alleging the disparity of Cases.  
1. Say they, 'twas not one, or two single persons that conspired against Cardinal Barrhomeo, but the whole Order of the Humiliati in general, and therefore the Gild being diffused over all the whole Sodalty, was justly suppressed.  
Answ. They prevaricate in this Allegation; for there were several Convents of that Order spread over Italy, who cannot be presumed so much as to have known any thing of that particular Fact, till after the Notoriety thereof by the Event: So that it was the Attempt only of a few particular Members, which redounded to the prejudice and overthrow of their whole Body; for when the minds of Rulers are exasperated against any Society of men, for the Enormities of some few of their number, than that saying of Tacitus takes place, Habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum, quod in singulos utilitate publicâ rependitur. Yet I am apt to think, that if the whole Body of the Jesuits could be put to the Test, there are very few of them, of any consideration, which did not know and approve the late Bloody Designs against England, though few of the Actors therein, in comparison, have been called forth to suffer.  
2. It was the viciousness of their lives, say they, which was the cause of their dissolution, and not their Attempt against the Cardinal.  
Answ. The Bull itself speaks to the contrary, where, although the looseness of their lives be instanced in, yet all is summed up into that Bloody Undertaking against their Patron, grounded on their Impenitency and Hatred of the Instrument of their Reformation. I judge, that the Jesuits are as much concerned, to be reproved, regulated, and reform by Princes, or Prelates, as any of the Humiliati, unless perhaps they disguise themselves more, and work more under ground in their Contrivances.  
Arg. 4. In Scripture Decision, Pride goeth before Destruction, and a haughty look before a fall. This Increpation will much concern that Order of men, if we may believe many Writers of their own Church: For who more aspiring? Who more supercilious, than they? Who greater undervaluers and underminers of others, even of their own Religion. Neither are these faults objected to them by the Envy of a Contrariant, but they are alleged by Members of the Roman Communion; if it were fit for me to enlarge the number of Quotations, I could cite many Authors to this purpose; but I shall content myself with one or two Instances. 1. In the year 1640. they printed a Book in Flanders, entitled, The Image of the first Age, of the Society of Jesus, wherein they represent all the differing Events, happening to their Society, since their establishment in 1540 which they pursue with so much Affectation, Vanity, and Pride, that as the Prefacer to the Moral Practice of the Jesuits doth speak. We cannot open the Book without abhorring the Impudence of these Fathers, in turning all things to their advantage, and labouring to draw glory from that, which ought rather to humble and confound them.  
2. There is a Book written Originally in the Spanish Tongue, by a Bishop of that Nation, which contains an Apology for other Orders of Religion against the Jesuits, addressed to Pope Innocent the Tenth, and printed at Conimbre, in the year 1654. called, The Theatre of Jesuitism; which, if it were commonly to be had, it would so display the Haughtiness, Avarice, and other Enormities of that Order, that the time of their expiration, without Repentance, may be judged to be near at hand especially considering,  
Arg. 5. The high disgust they have raised against themselves amongst most of their other ecclesiastics, which is a great Prognostic of their fall. I have given an hint of this before; it is not to be questioned, but that other Religious Orders of the Roman Church, were in being long before the Jesuits were thought of, neither are they now so fond of them, but they can as easily part with their Society; for no man in his right wits would court that which is a prejudice and inconvenience to himself; yea that, which would labour to supplant and ruin him? This is the present case, the Seculars have been put to defend themselves against the Jesuits, and to evince their own usefulness in the Church; that was the design of Watson's Quodlibets, and also of the aforementioned Book, called the Theatre of Jesuitism; certainly than they looked on the Jesuits as their Supplanters and Underminers, so that unless they are willing to court their own diminution, yea, total Abolishment, they cannot have much respect for that Order: I say, total Abolishment, because Parsons, the Jesuit, in a Book published heretofore, entitled, The Reformation of England, concludes with this saying, That if England ever return to the Romish Religion, all Ecclesiastical Estates must be put in common, and the care of them committed to seven Sages of the Society of Jesus, to distribute them as they shall think fit, and that no Friar of any other Order, must be permitted to pass into England, and the Pope himself, for five years at least, must not present to any Benefice, but refer himself wholly to those seven persons of that Company.  
If that Project of his aspiring mind had taken place, then farewell all Seculars in England, yea, and all other Orders of Regulars too, unless such as would have turned Pensioners to the Jesuits, and have truckled under them.  
To close this Argument, he that shall consider what is said in the beginning of the Preface to the Book called, The Moral Practice of the Jesuits, in these words, There's do doubt, but all who love the purity of the Moral Doctrine of Christ are very sensible of the corruption the Jesuits labour to introduce thereunto, by the Opinions they have invented; but it may be said, That nothing is more dreadful in the Conduct of these Fathers, than to see them pursue those corrupt Maxims in their practice, and that of the many things they allow in others contrary to the Law of God and the principles of the Gospel, there is not any they commit not themselves to satisfy their Avarice, or to promote the Grandeur and Glory of their Society. And a while after; All the Catholic Universities, particularly those of Cracovie, Lovanie, and Milan, those of Spain and France, the Bishops, the Clergy, all the Orders of Religion, and the Courts of Parliament almost every where, opposed their Establishment, as contrary to the good of the Church and the security of States.  
I say, he that shall consider these passages, will conclude that Order not to be very acceptable to that Church, of which they are Members; and consequently that other Orders would be glad to rid their hands of them, if they knew how: These Reflections, made upon the Jesuits, have reached the hearts of some of their own Members; for though in that Book, which I mentioned before, called, The Image of the first Age, etc. they crown themselves with many glorious Epithets, discovering a self-esteem, even to the Nauseation of the sober; yet Mariana, the Spanish Jesuit, (he, who is most criminated for his King-killing Doctrines,) hath written an express Treatise of the faults and defects of their Society, which (he says) was so much changed, that if Ignatius himself came again into the World, he would not know it. And in ch. 14. he says, That their Conduct is in some things capable to precipitate the Society into the Abyss of destruction.  
Hence also it was, that Mutius Vitteleschi, their sixth General, reflecting upon that Criminal facility, wherewith those of his Congregation embraced all the new Opinions, that tended (as his Phrase is) to corrupt and ruin the Piety of the Faithful, says in a Letter addressed to the Superiors of all their Houses, That there was reason to fear, the latitude and liberty of Opinion of some of the Society, especially in the matter of Manners, would not only utterly ruin the Company, but cause very great mischiefs in the whole Church of God.  
The impressions, which the matter of the former Arguments, or at least some equivalent considerations, have made upon the two last mentioned Members of their Society (who doubtless had some more Partisans amongst them, of the same sentiment) is no good Omen of their long continuance: For as in an Army, if the Gross thereof be routed, yet a particular Regiment or Brigade, if standing close and compact together, are with difficulty broken though charged in Front, Flank and Rear, but when once an Entrance is made in any part thereof, than all further resistance is of no avail for their safety; so it hath been hitherto the great advantage of the Jesuit, that he continues, in great part, entire, since his first erection, and hath not admitted of those breaches, sub-divisions and reforms, which other Orders have, for the Benedictines have been reform into Cluniacks, Cistertians, etc. to their diminution and loss; such sub-alter●… purgations do carry more than a Tacit intimation of ill humours, errors and defects, which the Body of the Jesuitical Order by no means will admit; 'tis true, Sabellicus, tells us, That about the year 1366. there was an Order of Religious at Sienna in Italy, called Jesuati, but the Historian destribes these to have been a fort of Lay Hermits, which wrought for their living, and not being in Ecclesiastical Orders, did celebrate no Mass, but spending their time in Prayer, and often repeating the Name of Jesus, had thence their denomination; I do not find any continuance of this Order, though probably the Ignatian Jesuit might from them borrow his Title, with some small variation, but their appearance in the World was many years before the Ignatian Order, as now established, did peep abroad; so this doth not affect the Loyalists.  
Of late years indeed, there hath been a design to supersete a Female English Order, under the Name of Jesuitesses; and as the first Preacher of the actual Resurrection of Christ, was a Mary, so (they say) that the first of the Jesuitesses had the same Name; but upon serious consideration of their graver ecclesiastics, the Itineraries of the Men, and the Lady Errantries of the Women, compared together, being likely to have more of the Romance th●n the Evangely therein, I do not find it did succeed. So that the present Order of Ignatius remains entire without any succeeding alteration, as to their Rules and Government, more than what was allowed unto them by the Gr●●ts of Paul the third, and Julius the third their Establishers; and indeed there was Liberty enough granted them by those two Bulls; for thereby they had power to alter their Constitutions, as they pleased, so that Pope Paul the third might seem to evacuate his own Grant, and instead of prescribing Rules to them for their Government, by the latitude allowed they might change and cast of his, and so govern themselves as they pleased, for the words in the Bull, Englished, are, That they may make particular Ordinances, which they shall judge fit for the Society, to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the profit of their Neighbours; And such as are already made, or shall be made hereafter, they may change, alter or abolish according to the variety of place, time, and occasion, and instead of them, make new. The which so changed, revoked, or new made, we will that they be confirmed by the foresaid Authority of the Apostolic See, And by the same Authority of our special Grace and Favour we confirm them. Well then, the Jesuit in respect of his Order remains unbroken, let us now see, how he carries himself within doors, if no errors or miscarriages there, then surely there appear no symptoms of his Declension.  
Arg. 6. But if the contrary be manifest, than it may serve as a sixth Argument, That their Order, unless reform, is not long-lived.  
Let us hear then what opinion Melchior Canus, Bishop of the Canaries, had of this Order; when he heard of the first appearance of the Jesuits in Spain, he believed that the end of the World did draw nigh, and that Antichrist would forthwith appear, for that his Forerunners and Emissaries (so he called the Ignatians) began to walk abroad;  
But if he be excepted against by them, as a partial Author, because a Dominican, let us call in their own Mariana again, for he tells us in his forecited fourteenth Chapter, That if any one have but boldness enough, what fault so ever he be guilty of, he remains in the Society, if he have but the wit to frame an excuse, or any pretence for what he hath committed; I pass by (saith he) gross Crimes, a great number whereof is winked at under colour of want of sufficient proof, or fear to have them noised, and so become public; for our Government seems to aim at nothing else, but covering of Faults, like them that rake the Ashes uppermost, as if the Fire, that lies under, would not sooner or later send forth some smoke, etc. And a while after, A Provincial or Rector shall turn all upside down, violate the Rules and Constitutions of the Order, squander away the Estate belonging to their Houses, or give them to his Kindred, without any punishment after several years' miscarriage, but the rendering his condition better than ever by discharging him of his Office; does any man know a Superior chastised for such excesses, as these? And afterwards, amongst us the Good are afflicted, yea put to Death, and the Wicked upheld, because they are feared.  
Thus we see, by the judgement of one of their own, Evils and Miscarriages do abound amongst them. The impression then being made upon their Body, they may well fear a Total rout. And indeed the rest of the Fraternity, are so incensed against this Spaniard, for exposing them so much, that they more freely except against (and seem to condemn) the King-killing Doctrines in him, then in any other Jesuit; Yea Mr. Gavan, lately executed, in his dying Speech did (though mistakingly) impute that Doctrine unto him alone, of all their Sodality: The Core of the Matter lay in Mariana's free increpation of their other Evils, which gave them occasion to recriminate his opinion in that wherein they might most plausibly except against him; and this may probably be the reason, why (as I said before) the Jesuits turned Advocates for the Order of the Humiliati; and would cast the intended murder of Cardinal Borrhomeo, only upon two or three of them, because that Cardinal was no Friend of theirs, and against whom they had a picque, because he had banished their Order out of Milan, where he was Archbishop, and preferred Seculars in their rooms.  
Let us hear what Watson says in this matter, This good Cardinal (says he) speaking of Cardinal Borromeus, whose rare Virtues all Europe talked of, observing well the pride of the Jesuits, their practices for enriching, advancing, and bringing of themselves to be admired of all men, Lucifer like, and their Coney-catching devices for the alluring of the fresh-wits, Chrildrens of most towardness, and those of rarest aspects, and great of hopes, having intelligence how they held the like course and state, under colour of teaching and bringing up of Youth, in the Duchy of Milan, he thought them no fit men to remain within his Jurisdiction; whereupon he banished them out of all those places, esteeming it far more necessary to have such apt men, and those of the finest wits, quickest spirits, and likelist to prove great Clerks, to become secular Priests, as those appointed by institution divine to take upon them the care of Souls; This he prudently conceited was more convenient, and the bounden duty of them, that were indifferent what state of Life they took them unto in the Church of God, rather to have them Secular Priests, than intruded into any other Order of Religion or Monastical Life whatsoever, which intermeddleth not ex professo with any such Charge, but live after the prescript Rules of their Orders, private to themselves, as their Vow and Profession bind all them to. Thus he, and the same Watson, makes it one Article in his fifth Quodlibet, Whether the Jesuits, or the Seminary Seculars, be fit for Government in the English Colleges beyond the Seas, and whether of the two is more necessary, either respecting God's Church, or the Weal of our Country (England) to have the bringing up of English Youths there? Which question he resolves on the part of the Seculars.  
And indeed, the Education of Youth is one of the prime Artifices of the Jesuit, whereby he labours to advance himself, and depretiate other Orders of Religion. For this young Fry is, as it were, the Nursery of their Society, which they study earnestly to maintain. And indeed, in the Admission and Institution of youths into their Colleges, they use a great deal of exactness and care; for the Rectors usually inform themselves of the Parentage, of the Estate, or hope and prospect thereof; of the natural Complexions, Dispositions, and Genius, of their promptness of wit, of the proficiency in Learning, in their Novitiates and Scholars; all which they enter in their Adversaria, or Leiger-Books, (like good Accomptants) in distinct Columns; and they make this use of these particular Inquiries, that they may apply suitable Baits to engage their Novices to the love of their Rules and Order, beyond any other sort of Religions; so that if any should admire how so many able and learned men, and such great Writers (as Alegambe hath reckoned them up in his Book called Bibliotheca Societatis) should as it were dote upon this Order, and esteem it their privilege and honour to be cooptated or admitted thereunto. It doth much abate our wonder, when we consider the Philtre of Education, and the principles infused into them at their first admission, with the charming and ingratiating Allurements, used to them afterwards, especially if noble, rich, and wealthy: It is reported of the Irish, that when they grow up, they love their Nurses, and Foster-fathers', better than their own natural Parents,— a Teneris assuescere multum est, says the Poet, herein the Jesuit resembles them, continuing to be so highly affected with his Gremial and Nutritious Order.  
Those who do more strictly Anatomize this Order of Men, do divide them principally into three Ranks; the knowledge of the division will not be unuseful to Protestants.  
1. There are some Gentlemen, ordinarily of good houses, and fair Estates, who live wholly after a Secular way, as Lay-brethrens of the Society; they are not actually obliged to the observation of the Rules of their Order, but enter into a Vow, to put on the Habit, when it shall please the Father-General to command them; and therefore these are called, Jesuits in voto; of such they make mighty advantage, in order to the setting up of their Monarchy, or rather Pambasileia, or Universal Dominion over all other Orders. For some of this Class are usually maintained in the Palaces of all great Princes, and in the houses of Noble men, who by the Mediation of their Adherents, are many times induced into the Prince's or Noble-man's service, as Counselors, Secretary, or the like; these again persuade that Prince or Great-man respectively to take some actual Jesuit for his Confessor or Chaplain; and by this means the secret Consultations of Princes are discovered, and their Designs prevented; and yet things are so cunningly carried, that no man can fasten on the true Author, but it commonly happens, that the greatest suspicion lies on the most innocent. Thus an Author of their own Church.  
2. The second sort is of those who are actually resident in their Monasteries and Colleges, as Priests, Clerks, or Converts, who of themselves have no power to leave the Order, but at the pleasure of their General and Superiors may be dispensed with; these are mostly busyed in the Exercises of those Colleges to which they relate.  
3. The third rank is of those who are mainly given up to Policy, for the aggrandizing of their Society, and enlarging the Power and Privileges thereof; these are not always chosen out of the most deserving and best learned of their Society, but out of the most confident, bold, or daring, as most likely to serve their end, by insinuating themselves into the Affairs and Councils of Secular Princes, that from thence they may fish out what is contributory to their Designs.  
The first and last sort are those who are chief excepted against, and to whom Claudius Aquaria, one of their own Generals, did formerly impute two great Evils, which he calls Secularity and Aulicism: The occasion was this, Their said General having observed (as well as Mariana) the Defects and Errors in their Government, wrote a Book, printed at Rome, A. D. 1615. wherein he lays open the Diseases of the Society, and his Essays for the healing of them; take his Reproof in his own words. Saecularitas & Aulicismus insinuans in familiaritates & gratiam externorum, morbus est in Societate & intra & extra periculosus, & istis, qui eum patiuntur, & nobis fere nescientibus paulatim subintrat, specie quidem lucrifaciendi Principes, Praelatos, Magnates, conciliandi ad Divinum obsequium hujusmodi homines Societati, juvandi proximos, etc. sed re vera quoerimus interdum nos ipsos, & paulatim ad saecularia deflectimus. Secularity (says he) and Aulicisme insinuating into the acquaintance and favour of those without, is a Disease in the Society, dangerous within and without, to those who undergo and suffer it, and it creeps in upon us almost un-a-wares; the pretence is to gain Princes, Prelates, and Noblemen, to the esteem of the Society, for the Service of God, and the good of our Neighbour, etc. but the truth is, we seek ourselves, and by little and little revolt to a Secular Life.  
The same Author in another Tract, entitled Institutiones pro Superioribus Societatis, published at Rome also the same time, further describes that mischief.  
Est & alia malorum Radix longe periculosissima, eoque periculosior, quo minus vulgo noxia conseri solet, rerum, scilicet, externarum occupatio, in quam superiores ferri, ac variis nominibus supra modum effundi solent. Sunt enim qui naturae quadam propensione ad distractiones proni, non solum oblatas occasiones cupide arripiunt, ut operam suam impendant, sed eas ipsimet ultro quaerunt, & nasci quodammodo ac succrescere faciunt. Alii per speciem proximos lucri faciendi, multis sese visitationibus implicant, iisque non modo non necessariis, sed paerum etiam utilibus, atque in his ita versantur, ut a saecularium moribus parum abscedant. The sense is, That their mixing themselves in secular affairs is a dangerous evil in their Society, of which their superiors are much guilty, some of which being naturally prone to raise distractions, do not only greedily apprehend all occasions offered to promote them, but also do their endeavour to create more opportunities to raise, foment, and Cherish them. Others entangle themselves in many visits (on pretence of gaining their neighbours) needless, and unuseful, and demean themselves so therein, that they little or nothing differ in their manners from Seculars.  
The cure which he prescribes for the healing of this disease, which I wish all of the Society would observe the method of, is, Instruct. 14. Cap. 7. in these words.  
Praecidantur initio istae familiaritates cum Principibus, ante quam adolescant & radices agant, quae societati nostrae, nisi fortiter obsistamus, graviter minitantur, praefertim cum superiores connivent, (i) Let all those familiarities with Princes be discarded at the beginning, before they be settled or take root, which threaten a great mischief to our Society, unless we strongly resist, especially our Superiors winking at it.  
It seems this General was more sober and honest than the rest of his predecessors; or else the censure of their Mariana aforementioned was ill grounded (which we can hardly imagine) for he having in one Chapter laid to the charge of their Society, That in distributing of rewards and punishments, there was more equity amongst Thiefs and Robbers, than amongst them. And moreover that Virtue and Learning in their Sodality were rather an hindrance to preferment than a step thereunto: In his 10th Chap. of the Regiment of the Society, he imputes the cause of these evils to the Ambition, Pride, and Arbitrariness of their Generals. I shall repeat his own words, Pervenimus nunc ad fontem & Originem nostrarum turbarum ac molestiarum, quas in Societate experimur singularis ferus depastus est eam. Monarchia ista, meâ sententiâ, nos humi affligit ac prosternit, non quia sit Monarchia, sed quia non sit bene temperata: Haec enim bellua est, quae quicquid attigit, populatur ac vastat quam nisi vinculis compescamus, non est, quod ullam nobis quietem polliceamur, etc. Et si leges habemus, easque plures numero, quam necesse est, Generalis tamen nihil in Gubernation leges moratur, neque in dandis officiis, neque admittendo socios ad professionem, neque in Constituendis Collegiis, neque innumeris in rebus aliis. Nam si leges sint, ille in omnibus, aut prope in omnibus dispensandi ac legibus quem libeat solvendi auctoritate utitur. (i) We are now come to the Original and Fountain of all the Troubles, which we experiment in our Society, One single Ravager hath eat it quite up. Our Monarchy, in my Opinion doth quite overthrow us, not because it is a Monarchy, but because it is not well tempered. This is the Beast, which wastes whatsoever it lights upon, and unless we fetter and restrain it, we can promise ourselves no rest, etc. It is true, we have Laws, and those more than enough, yet our General regards them not at all, in his Government, neither in bestowing of Offices, nor in admitting Fellows to the Profession, nor in Constituting of Colleges, nor in many other things; for although we have Laws, yet he, almost in all things, useth his Authority to dispense with the Laws, as he pleaseth. And a little after to this effect.  
Thus Our Monarchical General, with a Provincial, and two or three Confidents, to the grief of others more deserving, do govern all things in every Province at their Pleasure.  
To draw towards a Conclusion, 'Tis no acceptable work to me to dive into the evils of men; or to poor so intently on their defects, as to overlook what good may be in them. The worse I wish to all, is Repentance and Amendment of life; Nevertheless, if I should enumerate all the particular Miscarriages, Injuries, Frauds, Impostures, Obscenities, Treasons, and other Villainies imputed to this Order of Men, by Members of their own (Church, many of them circumstantiated as to time, place, and persons) I should swell my Tract a little too much: I know the Jesuits have replied to some of those Accusations, and that, in most things, leanly enough, for when the punctuality of Time and Place is given in Evidence, upon unquestionable credit, 'tis beyond the Effrontery of humane Nature, to expect credit upon a bare denial. He who desires to know more of these Men, Let him read the Provincial's Letters, otherwise called, the Mystery of Jesuitism, with a Second part thereof, called, A further discovery of the Mystery of Jesuitism; Let him also consult those other two Books, one called, The Jesuits Morals, Translated by Dr. Tongue; The other Entitled, The Moral Practice of the Jesuits, composed by the Doctors of the Sorbon; And then no doubt, he will receive ample satisfaction.  
I shall close all with the Abridgement of one pleasant story, taken out of the last mentioned Book. It is this, A Smith at Madrid in Spain, placed his Son amongst the Jesuits there, giving them for his reception, the sum of 2000 Ducats, (for entertainments, you must know, are very dear, so near the Court.) The young man being admitted, was a while after stripped of his habit, and returned home, but the Money refused to be repaid; The Smith sues them at the Law, They by favour obtain sentence against him; The poor man betook himself to his shifts, and resolved, because his Son's habit had cost him so much, he would so order the matter, that it should regain him part of his Money: Whereupon clothing his Son in the Garb of a Jesuit, he made him work daily at his Anvil, the quick-sented Fathers, having notice of it, lest their Cheat should be publicly known amongst the Common people, immediately sent for the Smith, paid him his Money, and redeemed their Habit from a Mock-shew: But if they could have bought silence, as well as the Robe and Hood, This story doubtless had never come to our Ears.   
FINIS.