REFLECTIONS UPON THE Late Horrid Conspiracy Contrived by some of the FRENCH COURT, To murder His MAJESTY in Flanders.   

REFLECTIONS Upon the LATE Horrid Conspiracy Contrived by Some of the FRENCH COURT, TO murder His MAJESTY IN FLANDERS: And for which Monsieur GRANDVALL, one of the Assassinates, was Executed.  
LONDON: Printed for Richard Baldwin, near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane. 1692.   

REFLECTIONS ON THE Grand Conspiracy, &c.  
HERE is a Plot with a Witness! fully inquired into, and Proved, and the traitor punished: Nor has Providence left the least colour for Enemies to cavil about the Truth of a Conspiracy, To Take away His Majesty's Life, when the Conspirator himself has obliged us with an ample Confession of his Crime. It's but seldom, that Designs against the Lives of Princes come to be believed, till the Execution of them puts them beyond doubt; and for the most part, the world is inclinable enough to suspect, That something lies hide under every Discovery that is said to be made of Treason, until the Blow actually given, puts too late a stop to their Incredulity.  
But this French Ass●ssinate, tho he has with a Courage worthy of a better Cause, paid down his own, for a Design to take away one of the most Illustrious Lives upon earth; yet, it seems, he durst not trust the Eternal state of his Soul, to a Jesuitical Equivocation at his Death; but choose rather by a free, open Confession, to disoblige his Masters that set him on to perpetrate the villainy, than to venture so great a Leap in the dark, with a lie in his mouth. If this man had been pardonned on the Scaffold after this Confession made, there want not some of that good nature, as to have stamped the Character of a shame Plot upon the whole Affair, and to have turned it into ridicule, as they do every thing else that reflects upon their Party.  
Good God! What a dismal Character must a certain Great Prince in Europe carry with him to Posterity! And how many indelible Blots must stick to the Escutcheon of his Triumphs! Those Illustrious Villains of Antiquity, that have eternised their Names by turning the world upside down, and who have written their own Epitaphs in Letters of Blood and Horror, they may be reckoned but ill by halves, if compared with their Rivals of this Age. If it be any satisfaction to the miserable Inhabitants of the Shades below, not to have done on earth all the ill they might have done; then sure Attila, and the rest of those barbarous Heroes that over-ran the Roman Empire, may have something to value themselves upon, for not being altogether so cruel as some of their Successors have been.  
The Goths and Vandals broken out of those Bounds that Nature seemed at first to have set them; and carried Fire and Sword to Countries to which they had no imaginable Pretensions: These Scourges of mankind laid in Ashes the superbest Edifices and fruitfullest Territories of the then known world; and this merely to satisfy an unquenchable Thirst after Conquest. In all which, a Neighbouring Nation has imitated them in the Age we live in, and the Copy has at last surpassed the Original. Let us search back into all the Histories that are lest us, of those mighty eruptions of Barbarous Nations, upon the then Civilized Parts of the World, and we shall not find one single Vestige of a Baseness among them, equal to that which is the Subject of this Paper. Where, or whenever was it, that the Goths, Vandals, or Hunns, employed Assassinates to cut off by Steel or poison, any of the Generals that came, or of the Princes that sent them, to oppose the Torrent of their Arms? All the Dangers their Enemies had to encounter with, were the ordinary Chances of War; and it was only in the Field of battle that they ran any Hazard. This new way of making War among Princes, by suborning Ruffians to Assassinate an Enemy in could blood, was reserved to the Age we live in, and to the memorable Reign of Lewis the XIVth. and it has obliged the World with a New Aera of Time, which may be name by those which come after us, The Age wherein Assassinations came first to be in use among Princes.  
They deserved to be reckoned among the unthinking crowd, or were strangely blinded with prejudice, that have not observed a surprising chain of happy Providences, that encircled these Three Nations all along, since the late Revolution; so that our Preservation from time to time, may be esteemed the peculiar Care of Heaven, in spite of our own Follies, and of our Enemies Malice. In every Scene that has opened to us these Four years past, there has been imprinted such unusual Characters of the Divine Care to support this Government, as upon serious reflection, may put both Atheists and Enemies to the blushy. In short; if it were proper here to enlarge upon this subject, it might easily be made appear beyond contradiction, That the best-laid Contrivances of our Enemies abroad, the Intelligences given them by those at home, our own mistakes, the many seeming cros●ness of Winds, Weather, and Tides, with many other odd accidents, have all of them concurred together, one step after another, to our Preservation.  
Our late Victory at Sea, was an astonishing Instance of this: A Victory, the best timed, the nearest to have escaped us, and of the greatest consequences, all things considered, that ever this Nation had; and a Victory, in fine, that at one blow defeated all those vast Designs of our Enemies, that were just upon the breaking in upon us, and secured to us our own country, and the Dominion of the Seas.  
Yet even this mighty Action was attended with such irresistible stroke of the Divine Watchfulness and Care, that every Turning of the Tide, every Change of Wind, and every Storm at Sea for the space of six weeks together, did co-operate to our successses. I shall never forget what the Gentleman that had as well the chief Glory as Command in that Action, was pleased to tell me a few days after it happened; That above Twenty different Accidents, all of them out of the Power of man, or the Sphere of his Designs, did concur to the obtaining that Victory; of which, the want of any one of them had unavoidably lost us the Opportunity. Adding, That every Change of Wind and Tide, from the mouth of the River to the place of battle, seemed as designed by Heaven to concert the meeting of the two Fleets at that very critical moment they happened to meet; and which was yet the more remarkable, If they had not fought that very day, they had not fought at all, the Orders for Monsieur Tourville's returning to breast, coming to him within a few hours after he was engaged.  
But of all the benign Providences that has attended these Nations these Four years past, none carries more remarkable Characters in it, than the reiterated Preservation of His Majesties Person, amid the many open Dangers, and secret practices he has been exposed to. One might think his Enemies had but little reason to put their Invention on the wrack how to carry him off by secret and indirect means, considering how familiar the greater Engines of Death are to him every day; and how unweariedly he courts all Occasions to meet them in the Field. But this illustrious Life is too mighty an Obstacle to the Designs of the French King,( as Monsieur Grandvall expresses it) to allow his Enemies any satisfaction to see it exposed in every rencontre to the fury of Cannon, and armed Battalions, unless to those they add Ignoble Attempts to take it away by the hand of a Ruffi●n. As the French King's sondness of his own Life denies his Enemies the hope that he shall one day descend into battle, and perish,( which was the foretold Fate of a King much of his own stamp) and by so doing, give that Peace to Europe in dying, which he never suffered it to enjoy while alive; So that boundless intrepidity of the King of England which gives us the greatest fears, one would think might give him some hope, since he sees never Prince bids fairer every day for Death or Victory.  
The Conduct of the late Cardinal Mazarine deserves admiration in all respects: But the Measures he observed himself, and left to his Master at his death, with reference to the Family of Orange, seems to have proceeded from a wonderful foresight, that nothing then in being could naturally led him to. It was the Young Prince of Orange, now King of England, then under the Lowest Circumstances of his Fortunes, and at a time when nothing could be expected to make them better, but a Miracle; that this great politician employed a vast share of his Thoughts to keep him low, and to strengthen and soment a Faction that had made him so. During the first year of his Ministry, the Family of Orange, it is true, was in a Condition to give jealousy to the Court of France in the person of a brave designing Prince, who was not only in possession of all the Places his Ancestors had enjoyed in a mighty Commonwealth, but was placed near the lustre of a Crown, by marrying a Daughter of England.  
But this Rising-Sun was soon set, and death put a stop to his Hereditary thirst of Glory in the very beginning of his career, leaving a Son yet unborn to wrestle with the unkind Misfortunes of a sinking Family.  
It was then indeed that the House of Nassaw deserved rather the Compassionate Regards of all the Princes of Christendom, than to be the Object of their Envy and Fear. Then it was that a Family which had eternised its Name by raising a great and rich republic out of a small Plank of the Spanish Dominion, and under whom all the Nations of Europe came to learn the Art of War for an hundred years together, did undergo an Eclipse, and such an one, as in the opinion of all the World was to put an end for ever to its wonted lustre.  
He that will but be at the pains to consider the dismal Scene that ushered in the present King of England into the World, with all the mighty Bars that stood in his way to hinder him from ever making a figure in it worthy of his Ancestors; and at the same time will gather together all the rising Changes of Fortune he has since undergone; all the things he has done, is a doing, and like to do; must of necessity conclude, That either Providence has brought about all these Extraordinary Events to no purpose( which methinks is a thought unworthy of the Divine Goodness and Wisdom) or that the Prince, who is become such an astonishing Instance of the Care of Heaven, must be he that shall redeem Europe. He was brought into the World many weeks before his time, and nothing but mourning for the Father was to be seen in the place where the Son first saw light. A full Moon passed over before it could be almost said he lived, and every minute for several Months together was expected by all about him to be his last.  
By his Father's untimely death, and the heat of a prevailing Party in Holland, he came into the World despoiled of all the great Offices and Power his Ancestors had born in that State; and the Royal House of England, whose Blood mixed so near with his own, was likewise sunk with the Monarchy itself. Under these unpromising Circumstances of Fortune, did the Prince of Orange draw his first breath; and the same unlucky Scene that ushered him in, continued to bear him company till the Two and twentieth year of his Age, when Heaven raised him up in a moment, and by such surprising Steps, that after Ages will hardly believe, To put a full stop to a Conquering Enemy that had brought his Country to the brink of Ruin; and at the Age he could scarce writ Man, to deliver that Commonwealth from the jaws of destruction.  
What other astonishing greatness this Prince has risen to since, has already reached the Four parts of the habitable World, and it's in him that in this Juncture all the Designs a-foot, for vindicating the Liberty of Europe, do Center.  
It's hard to say, whether this Greatness of the King's be more pleasing to the rest of Christendom, than it's displeasing to France: This is certain, That they look upon him as the only Obstacle to the Designs of the French King; and that upon his death the Confederacy would break, and the French King would render himself Master; to give it in Monsieur Grandvall's own precise words. This has put the Ministers of France upon a Design that must render their Memory infamous to all Ages, and of which their Master must expect to have a share.  
The Design in short was this. Monsieur de Louvois, the late Chief Minister of the French King, had concerted with colonel Parker and one Dumont, to assassinate His Majesty; but when, and after what manner it was to be done, is not yet made public. Monsieur de Louvois dying, his Son Monsieur Barbesieux succeeds to his place, to his Credit with the King, and to the inglorious Design against the King of England's Life, the plan of which his Father had left him in writing sealed up in his Cabinet. The new Minister, to accomplish a villainy his Father's death had rendered at first abortive, employs in it Monsieur Grandvall, in conjunction with Dumont and Parker; promises by Grandvall to Dumont 20000 liures of Estate, and a Knighthood of St. Lazar; and to Grandvall himself to make him a Duke, and to give him an Estate proportionable in case the blow succeeded; and all four, with Monsieur Paparell, Paymaster General to the French King's Army, and Madam Maintenon, the French King's she Favourite and counselor, do agree together the manner in which the Assassination should be done, viz. That Dumont, after having entred himself into the Confederate Army, should take his opportunity when His Majesty went to visit the grand Guard, or the Lines, to shoot him behind his back, and thereupon make the best of his way to a body of Horse Grandvall and Parker should have in readiness upon a previous intimation to rescue and carry him off. Thus prepared, and thus encouraged, the three Champions of villainy part from Paris, Dumont for the Confederate Army, and Parker and Grandvall to that commanded by Monsieur De Luxemburgh. The two last wait with impatience at the Grand Guard night and day,( to give it in Grandvall's own words, according to the French copy) to hear from Dumont; and doubtless the Court of France waited with the same impatience every moment for the arrival of the Courier with the long-wished for News of the fatal Blow.  
Heaven took care of the preservation of Europe, that did depend so visibly upon one single Life; And whether Dumont's heart failed him, or whatever else was the cause, after some weeks attendance without being able to effectuate his Design, he retires to the Court of Hanover, and thus the Year 1691. passes over without a read Letter in the calendar to denote the murder of a King. This Disappointment had no other influence on the French Court, than to set them on with the more eagerness to prosecute this campaign, 1692. that, in which they had failed the year before. Grandvall and Parker returned to Paris, and are again set on work by Barbesieux and the rest of the Cabal, among whom Monsieur Chandlais, Quarter-master General to the French King, comes now first to appear; and Monsieur Leisdale, formerly employed in the States Service, is acquainted with the Design, and seems to go into it: Grandvall continues to keep Correspondence by Letters with Dumont, and Dumont with him and Barbesieux both, by means of Dumont's Wife at Paris. In the end, the Assassination is again resolved upon, Dumont is to perpetrate it, Monsieur Chandlais is in person to assist Grandvall to rescue Dumont upon his doing it; and in order to the whole, a rendezvous is appointed at Uden between Grandvall, Leisdale and Dumont, whither Dumont was to come from Hanover, and the other two from Paris: Parker at the same time coming for England, and they for Flanders; after all the three having taken leave of an unfortunate Prince at St. germans, where they received from him all the Encouragements that was in his power to promise them in the hearing of the Italian Queen, who perhaps would have Miscarried, if such a Crime, so suitable to her Genius and Country had been carried on without her having a share in it: and who, no doubt, hoped to succeed better in this than she had done in Jones's, whom she had sent over to Ireland two years ago upon the like errand.  
The whole Plan being thus ready for Execution, Heaven once more warded off the Blow by Leifdale and Dumont's Discovery about one and the same time, and by the taking of Grandvall in his way to Uden; and thus the Court of France failed in their inglorious Attempt to take away the Life of a crwoned Head by the Hand of a suborned Ruffian. Upon all which I shall confine my Reflections to a sew Heads, and that with all the respect that may be possibly due to two Persons of the first Rank among men, that have stained the lustre of their Birth with so fo●l an Action.  
What a horrid aspect the Crime of an Assassination carries with it among all the Civilized Nations of the World, the common Consent of Mankind puts out of doubt: It may fall out, and indeed but very seldom, and p●rhaps not twice in the Revolution of a great many years, at least in these Climates, and at this distance from the Infallible Chair, that such a base kind of Revenge may come to lodge itself in the breast of some one noted Miscreant, who has thrown off all the common impressions of Humanity, and whose thread of life bespeaks him a Monster in H●man shape, or a Prodigy of Wickedness. None else but such a Creature as this, will be found among the innumerable Ranks of men capable of so black a Crime; and when any such dismal Accident falls out in the World, we look upon it with the same horror and amazement, that we do upon the most frightful excentrical Phoenomena's in Nature: The Perpetrator of this kind of villainy falls not only unlamented, but Death itself, that buries our resentment of most of other Crimes, is not able to protect him from our Execrations even in his Crave. If we look back to the few Attempts of this nature noted down to us in History( and but few they are) we shall find they went no further for the most part than the breast of one single Villain; and if at any time complices were brought in, they were but one or two at most; so rare a thing it is to meet with any numbers of men together of that Diabolical Temper.  
But, good God! how fertile is the Court of France of this monstrous species of man! Instead of one or two persons capable of so foul a Design, they can make up the number of Thirteen, at one dash. A baseness of this nature used in former Ages to lodge only with some of the lower herd of Mankind, who have little else to distinguish them outwardly from Bruits, but the shape: But here we have men of the first Quality among Subjects, of noble B●rth, of a lib●ral Education, and in the greatest Posts in the Government of their Country: M ns●●●r Louvois and Barbesieux first Ministers of State, and the close Confidents of all their Master's Designs and S●crets; Mons●●ur De Luxemburgh, Duke, Peer and Marshall of France, the First Commander of the French King's Armies, and by his Mother, of the Noblest Blood in Christendom that wears not a Crown; Monsieur Rabenack, and Bidall, both employed in the most difficult Embassies; Monsieur Paparell and Chanlais, in the greatest Employments in the Army; and Madam Maintenon, though of no Quality, neither by her own birth, nor by her former Husband, yet of nearest access of all Mortals to the French King's Person. These, and no meaner People, do stoop to so low and ignoble a Plot, when it makes for the Glory, or for the Interest of their Master; And which I would willingly bury in silence, Its not only they, but others of a yet more elevated Rank among men, that have thrown off all sense of Honour and Humanity, to come into it.  
If the assassinating of a private person carries with it such an horrid Idea, How much does that of a Prince, and set on by Princes? The greater the Persons be that either contrive, or against whom the Contrivance is made, still the greater is the villainy; And how far the Ministers of France may alone lye under the weight of so great an Infamy, may be worthy our inquiry.  
1. The French King had all the reason in the World to stand behind the Curtain when such Engines were a playing, and not to appear barefaced on so foul a Stage. If Monsieur Barb●sieux thought it not sit to venture to speak to Dumont himself, for fear his Reputatation might suffer in case the Assassinat were seized( as Grandvall has  told us) how much more reason had his Master to be cautious in so nice a point? There is a common decorum that He has not yet thought fit to throw off, with reference to Enemies of His Majesty's Rank; and he that above all Mortals is most in love with every show of Glory, had been the weakest person alive, if he had neglected all possible Circumspection in this Affair.  
2. But secondly, There was not the least Temptation or necessity for him to appear either to Grandvall, Dumont, or Leifdale,( who were the only persons that have been examined) or indeed to any one of the Conspirators, except Barbesieux. No body in their right-wits will open themselves in so cursed a Design as this was, any further than as absolute necessity obliges them: And here it was enough that Barbesieux, his first Minister, received the Proposals, concerted the Matter, and promised Rewards. There are Cases every day in all the Courts of Europe, wherein Ministers treat with Spies, and such like men; and do both give and promise Rewards to them without their Master's appearing in it: How much rather in any business of so tender a nature, and in a Court where the first Minister is known to be entrusted with the greatest Rewards, and the most uncontrolled Power in disposing of them?  
3. It was sufficient to concert and set a foot the whole Design, that Monsieur Barb●sieux treated immediately with Grandvall, and by him mediately with Dumont. Barbesieux refused to treat personally with Dumont, for fear of his Reputation in case he was seized; that part being committed by him to Grandvall. So that whatever came of Dumont, who was to have the greatest part, if not all the hazard, Barbesieux thought his Honour safe, as never having spoken to him about it, and having Grandvall interposed betwixt them. Was it not as reasonable then, that whoever put Barbesieux upon the Design, and gave him Orders or Leave to prosecute it, should use the same method as to all the rest of the Conspirators, except Barbesieux, as Barbesieux was to do with them all, but Grandvall, To discover himself to none, but to him to whom he must of necessity do it.  
4. Whoever reflects upon the Train of the late Monsieur Louvois Life and Actions, will not be able to trace any Vestage of so much ill nature and baseness, as was necessary to put him originally on so b●ack a Design. He had acquired, during the whole course of his Ministry, the Character of a man of some Honour; and was known to have endeavoured what in him lay, to moderate the violent courses of the Court; and particularly with relation to the Protestants, in which matter he and the late Chancellor his Father, had some Differences that could not be kept secret. So that all the harsh measures that Monsieur Louvois went into, were looked upon as the effect of his Compliance with his Master's Temper and Inclinations, and not of his own Ill Nature. To instance this in one particular; When that unparalleled Edict was in Agitation in the Council, Forbidding all the Protestant Women to be brought to bed by any but Roman-Catholick Midwives, Louvois appeared against it; and nothing could bring him to change his mind, but his Master's rising up with his ye le voux; after which, there was no more debating. Monsieur de Louvois being then a Gentleman of no ill disposition, it's both unjust and unreasonable to think he could be brought into a Conspiracy to Murder a crwoned Head, tho never so much an Enemy to France, out of any other Principle, than that of a desire to please and obey him on whom his Fortune depended; and every body knows that that Favourite saw no body in France greater than himself, except his Master.  
But 5. Can it enter into any reasonable man's thoughts, that Monsieur Barb●sieux could be the original spring of the Motion after his Father's Death? Who knows not that Barbesieux is both a very young Man, and a young Minister, and one that is rather in the Quality of a Clerk or Privado to the French King, than a counselor, tho trusted with his Secrets? And indeed he is the Favourite Minister rather for his Father's sake, who was one of the best Servants ever Prince had, than for any merit he has yet acquired of his own.  
6. It's not to be imagined that either Louvois or Barbesieux durst have ventured on such an action, without an higher command; since whatever should come of it, whether the Blow given, and the Assassinates come off, or taken and put to the Rack, it must have necessary come to be discovered who set them on; and thereby they two must have ventured their Court with the King, if not their Heads; since he would be obliged, for the common rules of Decency used among Princes, to disown both the Action and them. Let us judge then, if men of ordinary sense, or acquaintance with the world, would have embarked themselves in so hazardous a bottom, unless they knew before-hand the Action would be so far relished by the Master, as they might be able to pin upon him th● Care of their Safety after it is done.  
7. Tho all I have said to this purpose carried no weight with it; yet the Great Monarch will not be believed, not to have been very deeply engaged in a business of so vast a concern, when it's found, that not only his First minister of State, but the Chief Commander of his Armies are in it. In the common opinion of the world, founded upon custom, Whatever a First Minister does in matters that concern the State, especially of so tender a nature as the Design in question is, he is presumed to do it by Consent, at least if not by the positive Command of his Master. This obtains every where, but more especially in the Court of France, where the pmmier Minister does transact the greatest Affairs himself, and does writ the King's Name to Orders of the greatest Consequence, both to Generals at Sea and Land, without the King's own Hand. So that an Order under the Minister's Hand, carries with it a natural supposition that he has consulted the King before he Signs it; and thence it is, that it receives as punctual Obedience as if the King had Signed it himself. But notwithstanding this, the Power of the pmmier Minister has its own boun●s, that every man in the Government knows how far it goes. And none employed in this Conspiracy could be so silly, as to believe Barbesieux had power of himself to promise Grandvall to make him a Duke, or to give him an Estate proportionable. Rewards and Honours of so high a nature, are only in the King's own breast to give; and except the King knew of it, we must suppose that Barbesieux and Grandvall were not only Knaves, but Fools, the one to promise, and the other to expect them.  
8 There is another Reflection to this purpose, which I am willing to mention with all the tenderness due to a crwoned Head. The French King has acquired to himself by a great many actions, the unlucky Character of a Prince that makes no difficulty to step over all Laws Divine or Human, when it makes for his Glory or Interest. His behaviour towards his Protestant Subjects, in spite of Fundamental Laws, and solemn reiterated Oaths to the contrary; his Swearing to so many Treaties of Peace with his Neighbouring Princes and States, and breaking them almost as soon as sworn; or rather, his swearing them with a design to be the better able to break them, do bear so ill a, face, as may make all the Nations about conclude, That a Design which should oblige the Confederate Princes to recall each of them their Troops out of Flanders, and by which Flanders being left without Soldiers, the French King might make himself Master of it, and the late King James be restored,( to give it in Monsieur Grandvall's own words), carried with it such forcible Temptations as was not in his power to resist.  
9. Madam Maintenon's part in this off ir, affords a shrewd suspicion against her great Benefactor. This Woman, from being the Wife of a poor, deformed, Barlesque Poet, has risen to one of the First Places of Confidence about the French King. If there were any such thing in nature as Charms or Filtres to incite Love, it's to the secret force of them, that thousands in France would be apt to impute this unaccountable Friendship and Intimacy betwixt Scarron's Widow, and Le vis the XIVth. It were hard to assign any other cause that should oblige the Proudest Monarch upon earth to lay aside all his Glory and Pomp, to lock up himself above four hours every day in the closest Conversation with a Creature, that is now Mistress of no other Charms but that of Wit. No mortal has more frequent or nearer opportunities to know his Genius and Temper; and every body will allow her more sense than to embark in so nice a business, without she knew before-hand, that it would please him; nor is it to be dreamed that she has so little Zeal to preserve herself in his favour, as to venture upon that which she might easily think would oblige the French King, if he himself were innocent, to sacrifice her to his Honour. And indeed, not only she, but the rest must be accounted downright Fools, if they had ventured upon this Conspiracy, without a natural foresight, that unless they had their Master's Approbation, they might come to run the fate of the Amalekite that brought to David the Head of his mortal Enemy.  
And this leads me to one Reflection more, that must certainly cast the scale, in the opinion of all unbiased people, and which I doubt not, but at this very day, is the determining Point that all Europe has in their view with respect to this Affair. Here, we see, are concerned two persons of the nearest access to the French King, and in his closest Confidence, Monsieur Barbesieux, and Madam Maintenon; here is concerned his greatest General, on whom he has laid the weight of his Fortune in this War, the Duke of Luxemburgh; and here are other two persons of considerable figure in his Army, Paparell and Chanlais; and to bring up the rear, here are two persons employed in his Embassies abroad, Bedall and Rabenack: It's in the face of the Sun, and to the Conviction of all Christendom, that all these persons are proved to have managed a Conspiracy to murder the King of England: Now if the French King knows himself to have had no Influence on this Affair, we are certainly to expect that by this time they are in the last Disgrace with their Master; and that for tainting his Service with so black a Crime, contrary to the Law of Nations, and all rules usual among Princes, they are, at least, for ever banished France. There is no other means left now but this, to persuade the world of the French King's Innocence: But if at any time hereafter, we find that all these Persons, or any of them, are continued in their wonted Favour and Employments, then all the Nations of Christendom will take leave to conclude, That these Conspirators did no more but Comply with the Commands of one they durst not Disobey. And that herein there is no hardship put upon the French King, I appeal to all the Princes of Europe, Whether or not, in case any of their Ministers were found to Conspire the Murder of another Prince, tho never so much their Enemy, they would not inflict at least that Punishment which we may well make the Test of the French King's Innocency in this Plot of the Marquis of Barbesieux.  
To sum up this Enquiry, it's worth observing, That in the Printed Account there are a great many things relating to this Conspiracy omitted, which his Majesty, for some Reasons of State, or perhaps out of a Principle of inimitable Generosity, has thought fit not to make public: For in the French Copy it's said, with respect to the Circumstances of that design, On n' en mettra pour taunt queen trees peu jey; Of which we shall mention but a very few here. This Intimation is given us when it comes to mention Leefdale's Deposition; and it is not to be doubted, but this Gentleman being hearty resolved all along to discover the villainy, he would omit no occasion to pump out all that possibly he could learn, relating thereto, in his Conversation with the Conspirators. So that whatever Provocations and Personal Injuries the French King has done His Majestly, it seems a Greatness of Mind forbids Him to expose His Enemy all he can.  
Leaving the French King to wash off from himself, the best way he can, the Blot that must stick to his Memory in this Horrid Attempt, I can't omit to add to this, some remarkable Passages, never hitherto made public; by which the world may see the Temper of our King, and the Unjustness and Ingratitude of some of his Enemies.  
About Ten years ago he received a Letter from an unknown hand, who yet gave himself a Name, in which he offered to deliver Europe from all her Fears, by destroying the French King; he desired only a safe Refuge in Holland, and a small Subsistence, much less than he should leave behind him in France: He desired an Answer might be writ to him, and left with the Post-master's Wife at Paris. And about a week after, he writ a second to the same purpose. The first Letter came to the then Prince of Orange at night, at Loo, and Monsieur Dykvelt happened to be with him; so he shewed him the Letter, and desired him to go to the Hague immediately, and deliver that Letter to Monsieur D' Avaux, who was then the French Ambassador to the States: Monsieur Dykvelt made such hast, that he was with Monsieur D' Avaux next morning, and gave him the Letter( and the second was likewise sent to him): He received it with great acknowledgements of the princes Generosity, and sent the Letter to Paris. The Post-master's Wife being examined, said, That one had come several times to call for a Letter; but he not coming again, she was ordered to go about Paris, and see if she could know him again: One was taken up, who she believed was the person, and was put in the bastille; he happened to be a Protestant, which no doubt made the Court of France to like the Discovery the better: But when some of the Parliament came to examine him, and to Confront him with the woman, she, when she viewed him nearly, and heard him speak, owned that she was mistaken, and that he was not the man; so after a little while, he was dismissed, and came into Holland upon the general Persecution of the Protestants. By these Circumstances it appears, That the Court of France believed that this was a Real Design, and no Contrivance thrown out to try the princes Temper. But another Instantce shewed, that the King looks on Propositions of this kind, with so much horror, that he thought that which on all other occasions was the most Sacred with him, I mean His Word, did not bind in this. A few days after the King came to the Crown, an unknown person writ to the L. B. of S. That he had a Proposition of great Consequence to make to the King, if he should have his Promise, That he might do it safely. This the King allowed the Bishop to do; so he writ to him by the name and method that he had given: When he came to him, he  told how long he had lived and served in Versailles, and how well he knew all the method of that Court; and at last he came to offer to kill the French King: At this the Bishop started up immediately, and said, He thought the King was too well-known, for any to dare to come with such a Proposition; he hoped he himself had been also so well known, that none should have made it by him; he was sorry that a Promise was given of Safety; but he bid the Rogue be gone immediately. When he gave an account of this, next day, the King thought he had carried the matter of the Promise too far; for no Promise was to be understood to relate to such Crimes; and therefore he wished that the Bishop had seized on him; and ordered him to be sure to do it, if ever he could set eye on him again. But since this is so noble a Head, and so suitable to the Courage, as well as to the other great and truly Royal Qualities of our Glorious King, I will give some more Instances, which show how little he deserved of the Late King, that he should encourage so black an Action. When he came first into England, he understood as he came along, that some began to talk of proceeding against King James's Person, and he desired him that acquainted him with this, to find out who they were that held such discourse, for he would suffer none of them to stay about him. And it appeared very evidently at Windsor, how firm he was to this Resolution; for when he had the late King in his hands, and that many advised him to keep him safe at least, till Ireland were reduced, if not to the end of the War; some proposing his own Town of Breda as a fit place: He said, Those Advices might be perhaps both wise and safe, but he could not follow them; for whatever he might do in the way of War, he could not bring himself to do any thing personally against him; and he not only gave the Guards that waited on him, public Orders, but Secret Directions to leave him at full liberty, as appeared by the Event. Another Instance will show, not only how far the King is from the possibility of hearkening to all black Propositions, but even to Indirect ones, when the Persons of Princes may be endangered by them. When the late King was in Ireland, a Proposition was made by one that had served him, and loved him, that he thought might put an end to the War. He sent it to the King by the B. of S. it was this: He moved, That a Third Rate Ship well manned, and well commanded, might be sent to St. George's Channel; and that when they should come near Dublin, they should have Orders to declare for the late King; and sand him a Message about it, which he who made the motion, and that was to go along in the Ship, said he would be one of those that should carry it. He did not doubt but that upon the Invitation, King James would presently come aboard, and then they should sail away with him; but he added two things, the one was, That they should have Orders not to bring him to England, or to make him a Prisoner, but to carry him either to some part of Spain or Italy, and there to set him ashore; the other was, That he should have Ten thousand Guineas consigned in the Ship to be given to him in the place where they should land him, that so he might not be in too naked a condition. When the King, heard all this, he said it looked plausible, and he verily believed it would take; but without taking time to think on it, he said he would not meddle with it. He hated Tricks, and would be in none: Besides, the late King, if he came aboard, would bring some of his Guards with him, who without doubt would offer at some resistance, when they saw themselves catched; upon that a disorder might arise, and some of the Sea-men might perhaps knock King James in the head; therefore he would go on in a fair open way, and trust to the Providence of God, while he maintained his Integrity. These Instances will show in how different a mould the King was cast, from those who can either contrive or encourage the detestable Practise that is now by the good Providence of God discovered.  
But to the Conspiracy itself. How far it went before Monsieur de Louvois's death, we know no more by the printed Account, than that it was concerted, and that Dumont was to be employed in it. But there are undoubted grounds to believe it has been of an old date, and that more were concerned in it than Monsieur de Louvois and Dumont. That there was one Jones employed to murder the King, both here, before His Majesty went to Ireland, and when he was there, the intercepted Letter of Tyrconnell to the late Queen, and a Journal of other Letters found at Dublin in a certain Closet, leaves us no ground to doubt. The most material steps that were made in it after Barbesieux came to the Ministry, the printed Relation is pretty clear and exact.  
In the whole management of this Affair, the French Court has shewed with a deep cunning the blackest Treachery against a Prince whom their King pretends to protect.  
The first and inmost wheel of this motion is not to be seen. The next is Barbesieux, and he appears not to Dumont, who is to give the blow, and to run the most apparent hazard of being seized, and brought to a Confession; but treats only with Grandvall, who is to share the least in the Danger, and is in less probability to be seized, and he alone is to treat with Dumont. Again, Barbesieux pretends to inform Grandvall of a personal Injury done him by the King, no less than the ordering his Father to be poisoned, for which he said he might now be revenged; and even to this he uses only the soft word, he suspects it. The reason of his pretending this, is only to cover the horror of the Design as to himself, with the notion of a personal Revenge for the murder of his Father; and uses no harsher word, than that he suspects it, to the end, that Grandvall might not lay so much stress upon that story, as to lessen the true motives he was to act upon, which Grandvall tells us himself, was, because His Majesty was looked upon as the only Obstacle to the French King's Designs. As for the ridiculous Story itself, it were an officious piece of folly for any one to take further notice of it; The monopoly of poisoning is to be left to the French Court, that deserves it best, for the great improvements they have made of late years in that Art.  
The French Court's management with regard to the Assassinate Dumont, is a continued thread of Craft, and the poor Wretch is cheated in the whole tract of it; he is to kill the King, and thereby run an almost inevitable hazard of being either killed on the place, or taken and hanged. But since no body will venture on such an Action without some hopes of getting off, they feed him with a fine project of having 1500 Horse the first year under the Command of Grandvall and Parker: and 3000 the next under Monsieur Chanlais himself to resque and bring him off. This is all stuff, and in the opinion of every body that understands any thing of War, was next to an impossibility: And it is strange that he could not see through it; but it seems the impression of 20000 liures of Estate, and a Knighthood of St. Lazar, had intoxicated him so, as to shut up all the other Avenues of his Soul. The French Court made their account, that Dumont must be sacrificed, which is one of the reasons that Barbesieux uses so much caution with him; and Grandvall tells Leefdale plainly, That it little concerned them whether Dumont was taken or not. But this is not all; the miserable Creature is to be shammed out of his life, what way soever the matter went. Upon his succeeding in the Attempt, he must either happen to be seized, or to escape; if seized, he is sure to be hanged; if he escapes, and comes back for his Reward, it's not to be doubted but he was to be hanged likewise, and that merely to blind the World with a notion of the French King's abhorrence of the Act; Dumont having nothing to show for his Warrant, and Grandvall being the only person that had treated with him, and that was in no capacity to keep him harmless. It's true, We find that by means of his Wife, Dumont had sent several Letters to Barbesieux; but Barbesieux was better advised than to writ him Answers himself, that being left to Grandvall to do: So that all along Barbesieux is safe for any thing that Dumont can say of his personal treating with him; and thus there is no imaginable way left for the Assassinate to escape the Gallows, whatever comes on it: for either he must be hanged, if taken by the Confederates; or if he escape their hands, he must be sacrificed to a piece of Pageantry of the French Court.  
But the French Court, though they were resolved to sacrifice Dumont, they take all care possible he shall not fail in the Attempt: As they put him on the Action itself with the hopes of great Rewards, and of being rescued and brought off, so they put him on to do it in the manner that was least likely to miss: They tell him a false story of the King's wearing a Coat of Mail; or rather, a waistcoat of Mail under his clothes, as it's in the French Copy; and Barb●sieux is the person that invents this, and commands Grandvall to tell it to Damont: The reason of this story is, That Dumont might not betake himself to the poniard, which they foresaw would be more difficult, as requiring nearer Access to His Majesties Person, and likewise was not so certainly mortal; but to let him see the necessity of using Fire-Arms, that kill at a greater distance, and surer. When in the mean time the French Court could not but know, That His Majesty does so far neglect all such pre-cautions as a Coat of Mail, that the Prayers of those about him could never prevail with him to part with, or so much as to cover his Blew Ribbon or Star in Action. There is yet another Artifice used with Dumont, to make sure of him. It was reasonable to suppose from his abandoning the Design the year before, and his retiring, to the Court of hanover, that he might entertain some scruples about the feasibleness of his being rescued by persons of no greater Figure or Command, than Grandvall or Parker: Therefore it is agreed upon, that one in a greater Post, and who is known in France to excel in the Art of Taking up Ground for a Camp, or laying an Ambuscade, should now Command the Party that was to rescue him; and that instead of 1500 Horse, headed by Grandvall and Parker the year 1691, there should be 3000 employed to that purpose the year 1692, under the Command of Monsieur Chanlais.  
But the carriage of the French Court in this Affair, towards the late King James, is a master-piece of Craft and Treachery. Here it is, that it were almost to be wished, that there were a Curtain drawn over that part of the Stage, where this Unfortunate Prince comes to act so unnatural and so affrightful a part. That any one that ever filled the English Throne, should be capable of so Un-princely a Revenge as Murder, is a very mortifying Reflection, and leads us naturally to look back to some shrowdly-suspected Events that have fallen out in England of late years, which for some Reasons are not now insisted on.  
As in most of the Transactions of this princes Reign, he was imposed upon by the French King's Designs, and gave himself up to the Measures given him from France, which proved his Ruin; so now, when under their Protection, they bring him in to cover and own a Transaction so base and horrid, that the French King had not the face to appear in it himself. They so ordered the matter, that Grandvall, Parker, and Leefdale, should wait upon King James, and receive his Approbation of the thing, with Promises of Encouragement; and this is not done till the whole Design had been fully concerned before-hand. It was fit the Murder of the King should pass in the world as a Personal Revenge of King James, and that the French Court should lay it upon the Quarrel betwixt those two Princes, tho at the same time they had the chief hand in the Contrivance of it, were to reward the Instruments employed in it, and were to reap the greatest Advantages by it. Whether that Unfortunate Prince was sensible of this Trick put upon him, or whether his eager desire to see the King taken off, gave him no leisure for Reflection, it's hard to determine: This is clear, That he thought himself no ways obliged to use the precautions that even Barbesieux had done; since that after his speaking to Grandvall, according to the words in the printed account, he was pleased to entertain Parker, Leefdale, and him, all together on the same subject; for in the French Copy it's said, Qu' alors il a a●ssi p●rlè av●c le did Parker & Leefdale, de cette affair: At the same time H●( meaning King James, and not the Prisoner Grandvall, as in the English Translation) spoken likewise to Parker and Leefdale about that Affair.  
The Treachery of the French Court towards King James in this business is deep and black: All the world lays his Ruin at the French King's door; and it's to the Measures he gave, him, that he owes the loss of Three Crowns: The least amends could be made him for all this, was an Honourable Retreat in France; yet that this is granted him only on the account of their own Interest, appears in a great many Instances, and particularly in the part they bring him in to act in this Conspiracy. If there had been true Friendship and Kindness meant him, they would never have put upon him a necessity of making himself known in so foul a Design to Three persons all at once; but they would have at least allowed him the pre-cautions that Barbesieux, if not the very same that one of his own rank thought themselves obliged to observe.  
But this is not all: In bringing King James to own this business, the French Court did him the last offices of an Enemy. Instead of promoting his Re-accession to the Throne, they did more at one dash to shut it for ever against him, than all that his Enemies could have thought of. With what horror must the English Nation have been struck, to see a Prince that had recovered them from the brink of Destruction, and exposed his Person so often for their sake; to see him, I say, murdered by the bloody hand of a Ruffian! And with what execrations and cries for Vengeance, against both Actors and Contrivers of such a villainy! Could the French ever imagine, that the way for King James to regain the hearts of the Three Kingdoms, that he had lost by his endeavouring the Subversion of their Laws and Liberties, was to hire Three Parricides to murder the only Person that had secured these to them?  
If the sight of Caesar's Bloody Shirt had so wonderful an Influence on the Roman people, that Brutus and Cassias, his Murderers, whom the very day before they had honoured with the glorious names of Liberatores Patriae, The Saviours of their country, were thereupon forced to fly Rome, and seek Sanctuary elsewhere from their Rage; what just Resentments would not the dismal news of our British Caesar's Murder, and the sight of a Queen, and such a Queen, in Tears, have kindled in every English breast, against the Perpetrators, Contrivers, and Abettors of so horrid and cursed a Crime?  
The case indeed is vastly different betwixt the Roman Caesar and ours: The Ancient Frame and Constitution of Rome was subverted by the one; and the restoring to England its first and best Constitution of Government, is who●ly owing to the other. Let us judge then, if the Murder of Julius Caesar was so much resented by the Romans, that nothing but the Blood of Brutus and Cassius, two men, otherwise Excellent, and once their Darlings, could appease their Wrath, and all this, because, tho Caesar had enslaved Rome, yet he was Brave and Virtuous? How much more deeply resented wou●d the Murder of a King have been, who instead of enslaving his own country, had saved both It and Ours; and whose Bravery and Virtue is equally the Admiration and Envy of his Enemies; and this procured by a Prince whom we had but too many Reasons before not to love or wish for?  
Thanks to Heaven the Fatal Design has miscarried! but still the Guilt and Infamy remains: And we are either the most insensible, or the maddest people that ever was, if this one action of the late King's, tho there were no more, don't stamp upon us an indelible impression of that dreadful condition we should fall into, if ever through the Anger of heaven, or by our own Follies, we should come again under the Power of a Prince of this Temper, and capable of such Actions.  
But how little regard the Conspirators had to King James's Rewards or Interest, and for whose sake, and upon whose Promises of recompense it was they acted, appears evidently by their own Confession: It was 20000 liures of Estate, and a Knighthood of St. Lazar, that Dumont, and it was a duchy that Grandvall expected; and none of all these in England, but in France, and promised them by French Ministers. As their Rewards were to be in France, so the Motives which wrought upon them, were those which regard the French King and his Greatness; and for the Restoration of King James, that came in only by the by, and in consequence of the other. So then, tho the late King was as forward as any of the rest to come into the Conspiracy, yet it was upon the French King's Credit, and for his Interest alone, that both Grandvall and Dumont were persuaded to engage in the business.  
What further remains necessary to be taken notice of, with respect to this Conspiracy, shall be done in as few words as possible.  
We find that upon the Rumour spread of some Disorders in Scotland which would oblige His Majesty to across the Seas again, Grandvall's patience was almost at an end, which puts him upon hastening Leefdale with this expression, Dear friend, we are like to lose our Fortune; I beg of you that we may go away immediately. He had swallowed a duchy already in his thoughts, and was impatient till he was put in possession of it, by succeeding in his Errand to Flanders; But his going into the Jesuits college at Brussels on the road, to beg That God would bless their Undertaking, was, after all, a clear Demonstration, that one principal Motive that had been suggested to him to Murder the King, was the account of Religion: For when was it heard, That an Assassinate, set on by a more Personal Revenge or Interest, had the Impudence to beg the Assistance of God Almighty to an Undertaking of that kind? This is a convincing Argument, that he thought God's Glory was concerned in an Attempt to take off a heretic Prince that stood in the way of his Master's Designs. We know how far of late years the Court-Divines of France have carried their Casuistical Doctrine, to patronise the very worst of Actions, where they tend to the Glory or Interest of the French King. In several of their Printed Theses they have positively asserted, That an Action in itself morally ill, becomes good, if the Intention be to serve the King, or extirpate heresy. No wonder then, that a person of Grandvall's Temper, and embarked in such an Affair, should embrace a Notion of Divinity that might set his Conscience at ease in what then he was going about.  
In the printed Account we find Monsieur Maurau, Envoy from Poland to the States, is mentioned, as one that kept a close Correspondence with Bedell, and by his means with the Court of France; and are  told, that by the help of these two, the French Court managed their choicest Correspondence in Holland. It may not be altogether improper to give some hint what this Maurau is, and from thence we may observe the subtle management of the French Ministers.  
This is a Man of extraordinary Parts, and an unbounded Ambition. He was formerly one of the Three extraordinary Provincial Treasurers of War in France, which place he kept about eight years together. In the year 1682.( if I mistake not) he was arrrested, together with Arnauld and Talon, his two colleagues, Pour avoir devertii une grande somme des aeniers du roy. In plain English, For having robbed the King of a vast sum of Money: All three were carried to Amiens in order to be tried for their Lives before Monsieur d' Bretuell the Intendant; but before they were brought to their trial, Arnauld prevented his Judges, by killing himself in Prison; the other two were found guilty, but at the Solicitation of Monsieur Louvois, whose Creatures they had been, they were only sentenced to be banished for ever the Kingdom of France, and to have all their Estates confiscated. Whereupon they retired into Holland, where some time thereafter, by the means of Monsieur Bethune, the Favourite of the Queen of Poland, Maurau was made Envoy from that Crown to the States. Now, who could have imagined that a Man thus Banished, Ruined, and Affronted in France, should become one of the two Persons, that the French Court employed to manage their choicest Correspondence in Holland? This seemed yet the more improbable, because Maurau was noted for exclaiming in all Companies, and on all Occasions against the French King and his Actions; insomuch, that it was wondered at by every body, how a Man employed in an embassy from a Neutral Crown, came to show so openly his inveterate hatred against France, without the least reserve of good manners.  
It appears now, that all was but a shame to carry on with less suspicion his adjectives with the Ministers of France. And in gaining a Man that they had so sensibly disobliged, and who of all others was in least hazard of being suspected by the States, the French have given us a remarkable instance, both of their cunning, and of the Means and Power they have to corrupt Men into their Interest.  
It may perhaps be expected that a Character should be here given of the rest of the Conspirators; but the Conspiracy itself lays it sufficiently open, what sort of Men they must needs be that could enter into it. Only this may be further said of them in short; Monsieur Bedall is the Son of a Merchant in Paris, who has since been enabled in Sweden, under the Title of Baron of Alsfield. He has all his life-time been but little obliged to famed, and ever passed for a Man capable of any sort of villainy, that might serve to make his Court, or raise his Fortune.  
Monsieur Paparell was born and educated a Protestant, and changed his Religion to ingratiate himself with the Court, being looked upon as guilty of a great many gross Immoralities in his Life, and one that adores no other Divinity than that of Lewis the Great.  
Monsieur Chanlais has ever till now appeared a Man of more Honour than most of the Court of France are; he passes for a Man of Intriegue and Parts, and was thought a fit Person to be employed the last year to manage an Accommodation betwixt the French King and the Duke of Savoy: But it seems he has at length sacrificed his Reputation and Virtue to an irregular Ambition, and a desire to please his Master.  
As to our English Champion, Parker, his Character is well-known here, and is very apparent by the villainous Part he has acted in this Conspiracy. But there is one thing relating to this Man's share of the Plot, that must not be passed over in silence, and which brings us to look back to the time in which this villainy was to be executed.  
It was thought strange, that the French were no earlier in the Field this Spring, considering that their greatest advantange lies in being able to draw their Forces out of their Winter Quarters sooner than the Confederates, for the most part, can do. But they were resolved this year to play all their Engines at once, The French King was to be in Flanders, Namur was to be besieged, King James was to Land in England, and His Majesty was to be Murdered, all about the same time. To nothing else, but the concerting all th●se Designs together, can the delay of the French King's Journey to Flanders, from day to day, for more than six Weeks together be attributed.  
But there is this yet to be further remarked, That at the same time that Grandvall and Leefdale take journey from Paris to Flanders, Parker comes over to England. We have all reason to remember the great hopes our malcontents expressed here at that time, and how sure they seemed to be of some new Revolution. It's true, these people are easily buoyed up upon the least appearances; and every small Accident that seems to favour their Cause, raises their hopes beyond all bounds. But about that time, so much joy and assurance was visible in their very Countenances, as seemed to proceed from a fixed certainty they had, of some mighty Success which they hoped for in their Affairs, that we could not possibly dive into. It's true, the French King was in Flanders, and King James was waiting the first opportunity of Wind and Tide to waft over his Army into England; But even all this could scarce make up more than a Probability, much less a Certainty of Success. His Majesty was already on the other side, and his Army was drawing together from all Quarters to oppose the French. Our Fleet was at Sea, and a far braver one it was, than the French could possibly sand out against us. Whence then could all this Confidence proceed? There must certainly be some other thing in it than we were then ware of.  
Parker's coming over at that time, and his corresponding with his Friends here, carries with it a shrowd suspicion of what we may reasonably judge was the ground of all this Insolence of the Party.— It were folly to imagine he should make public among them, the Design then in agitation to murder the King: It was too great a Secret to be communicated to many. But on the other hand, it's scarce to be thought, but that Parker assured his Friends in general, That there was some great and certain Event ready then to break forth, that would decide the controversy; and he might even venture to open the Secret to some of the first form amongst them.  
It were harsh, and might seem severe to suppose, that our malcontents could be brought in, either to contrive or consent to murder His Majesty in could blood, though 'tis to be feared there may be found among them some more than Parker, capable of so much wickedness: yet it's not to be doubted, but the most part, if not at all of them, would have hearty embraced the advantage of such a Conjuncture as that which must needs have attended the Blow, and then have satisfied their own Consciences and Honour, by putting a distinction betwixt the Treason and the traitor. They might abhor that villainy, and yet strive to reap all the profit they could from it: for it were too severe a trial of their virtue to hope they would have changed Parties upon such an Accident.  
It remains only, that we should take notice of His Majesty's Carriage, as to Grandvall's trial. In Flanders, and all other Countries where Torture is admitted, never any Assassinate escaped it, but he. It is not looked upon as a sufficient ground to excuse a Criminal from it, that he voluntarily confesses his Indictment. On the contrary, if there lye probable grounds of Suspicion of any one as Accessary, that he does not name in his voluntary. Confession, the Criminal is put to the Torture, to answer, Whether that Person suspected, be accessary to the Crime or not. Now in this Case, there were the greatest presumptions that possibly could be, of the French King's being concerned; and doubtless the council of War( as every body else that's not prejudiced) were of that Opinion. Yet all this could not prevail with His Majesty to put this Wretch to the Torture, nor was he put so much as in Irons( the Fate of every ordinary fellow); a Generosity without Example!  
But that Grandvall kept a reserve with respect to the French King, in the whole thread of his Deportment and Confession, is very probable: He saw there was no necessity put upon him to confess more than what Leefdale, Dumont, and D' Amours, either had or could depose against him: He knew they could say nothing of the French King in the Affair, and indeed were acquainted with little more than what he himself thought fit to tell them, having lain under no temptation to name the French King to them, though he had known him to be concerned; it being enough that what was promised them, was in Barbesieux's name. Upon all which Considerations, and that he was to die however, and that without any previous Torture to oblige him to a further Confession, he had been a Mad-man indeed to have needlessly acknowledged any thing that might immediately reflect upon his Master, of whose glory the Action itself, for which he was executed, shows him to have been an Idolater.  
There might likewise be another Motive to induce a Man that knew himself without the compass of a Pardon, to use some Reserve. He left Friends behind him, and particularly the Lady to whom he writ his last Letter, mentioned in his trial, who is thought to have been his Mistress; and it was but reasonable to him to hope he might, by observing so great a respect to the French King at his Death, oblige him to take some care, both of her, and of his other Relations after he was gone. The Letter he wrote to this Lady, carries with it something of Mystery, and would seem to point towards some what of this kind. Sure there was no need for him to desire her to go to the Archbishop of Rheims, to tell him, That it cost him his Life for having obeied the Orders of Monsieur d' Barbesieux: Since his own public Confession  told that, which he might well imagine would be carried to all the Nations of Christendom, and to the Court of France, as soon as to any; therefore it is but reasonable to suppose, that some hidden Intimation was given to the Archbishop of Rheims by this strange kind of Letter, which tho we do not understand, the Archbishop himself, no doubt, does.  
I have done with this Paper, and tremble to think, for I am sure I cannot reckon up, what the Consequences of this Assassination would have been, if the Anger of Heaven had, for the Punishment of our Sins, suffered it to take its effect. They are much more easy to be imagined than expressed. Minds less black than theirs, who contrived it, can hardly conceive what a Scene of Barbarity and Cruelty, of Blood and Horror, must have followed upon it.  
FINIS.   

BOOKS Printed for R. Baldwin.  
THE Speech of the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Warrington, Lord Delamere, to the Grand Jury at Chester, April 13. 1692.  
The Speech of the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Stamford, Lord Gray of Greoby, &c. at the General Quarter-Sessions held for the County of Leicester, at Michaelmas, 1691. His Lordship being made Custos Rotulorum for the said County, by the late Lord Commissioners of the Great Seal.  
State Tracts; being a farther Collection of several Choice Treatises relating to the Government, from the year 1660. to 1689. Now published in a Body, to show the Necessity and clear the Legality of the late Revolution, and our present happy Settlement, under the Auspicious Reign of Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary.  
Saul at Endor: Or the Ghost of the marquis de Louvois consulted by the French King, concerning the present Affairs. Done out of French.  
Europe's Chains broken; or a sure and speedy Project to Rescue Her from the present Usurpations of the Tyrant of France.  
A Faithful Account of the Renewed Persecution of the Churches of Lower Aquitaine in France, in the year 1692. To which is prefixed a Parallel between the Ancient and New Persecutors; or the Portaicture of Lewis XIV. in some of his Cruelties and Barbarities. With some Reflections upon the unreasonable Fondness of a certain Party amongst us, for the French King.  
Bibliotheca Politica; Or a Discourse by way of Dialogue, Whether Absolute Non-Resistance of the Supreme Powers be enjoined by the Doctrine of the Gospel, and was the Ancient Practise of the Primitive Church, and the constant Doctrine of our Reformed Church of England. Collected out of the most approved Authors, both Ancient and Modern. Dialogue the Fourth. Printed for R. Baldwin; where also may be had the First, Second, and Third Dialogues. The Fifth is in the Press and will be Published in a few days.  
Truth brought to Light; or the History of the first 14 years of K. James I. In Four Parts. I. The happy state of England at his Majesty's Entrance; the corruption of it afterwards. With the Rise of Particular Favourites, and the Divisions between this and other States abroad. II. The Divorce betwixt the Lady Frances Howard, and Robert Earl of Essex, before the King's Delegates, authorised under the King's Broad-Seal: As also the Arraignment of Sir Jer. Ellis, Lieutenant of the Tower, &c. about the murder of Sir. Tho. Overbury, with all Proceedings thereupon, and the King's gracious Pardon and Favour to the Countess. III. A Declaration of his Majesty's Revenue since he came to the Crown of England; with the Annual Issues, Gifts, Pensions, and extraordinary Disbursements. IV. The Commissions and Warrants for the burning of two heretics, newly revived, with two Pardons, one for Theophilus Higgons, the other for Sir Eustace Hart.  
The Cabinet opened; or the Secret History of the Amours of Madam de Maintenon, with the French King. Translated from the French Copy.