THE Earl of Maclesfeld's Case.  
THE present Earl of Maclesfeld having early grounds not to recall his Lady from that state of Separation, which she chose, by leaving his Father's House in her Husband's absence, without his privity; thought himself the less concerned in her way of living, since she had enough to maintain herself with Credit, her Mother being permitted to receive for her 300 l. a year, which was by the Marriage-Settlement provided for her particular Maintenance and Expenses: Nor would he have required an Account of 200 l. a year more, which the Mother received during the whole time of the Separation; if he had not too just occasion to be provoked at the Daughter's Conduct, which, without the Interposition of the Legislative Power, must fix a lasting Burden and Dishonour upon his Family.  
About a Year and half since, he had certain Information of her being delivered of a Female Child, the Death of which, before he had heard any thing of it, with the belief that this might be a sufficient warning against Liberties which carried such visible Effects with them, withheld him from attempting public Satisfaction. After this there being a Treaty concerning the Arrears of the 200 l. a year due to the Earl, at the Intercession of her Sister, the Lady Brownlow, who undertook that her Mother and she as Executrixes to Sir Richard Mason, would pay him 1000 l. and Indemnify him against his Lady's Debts; and that she would be accountable for her Sister's Conduct, if she might be permitted to live with her; Articles were prepared to this end by their Solicitor, and consented to by the Earl, with some Alterations; but it was particularly provided and agreed, that she should live separate from him, and have the whole 500 l. a Year, which the Earl would have allowed in the Account from the Death of his Father. The Execution of this seemed to be delayed only for the raising 500 l. part of the 1000 l. But the certain Intelligence which the Earl had of her being a Second time with Child during her Elopement, broke off all Treaties of that kind, and obliged him to apply himself to the Sister, the Lady Brownlow, who had undertaken for her Conduct; therefore he thought he had the greater reason to importune the Sister more than once, that she might be produced to such Ladies as ●e she knew not where her Sister was, but begged of him not to expose her; and soon after sent a Letter to one who had been with his Lordship when he made that Demand; which Letter imported the indemnifying him from any Child begotten on her Sister; notwithstanding which, their Agents and Friends industriously spread a Report, That the Earl had been surprised into a private Meeting with his Lady, at which time he got her with Child; and that a Ring and Bracelet which he then parted with, would evidence who was the Father: And yet this Story was not contrived well enough to colour the two base Births.  
The full Discovery of these happened too late within the last Sessions of this Parliament, for the Earl then to bring his Proofs thither.  
Wherefore for perpetuating the Testimony of the Witnesses, and to give full Opportunity to his Lady to offer what she could for the clearing herself, he in 
a 26. Apr. 97. Process returned with Certificate, that she could not be found to be personally served.  April 1697. commenced his Suit in the Spiritual Court for such a Divorce as may be given by that Law; but he was not in the least surprised to find all the confirmation imaginable to his Proofs of her Adultery, by the gross and notorious Delays which she sought, standing out a 
b 14 May 97. Excommunication decreed.  Sentence of Excommunication; besides other Delays which she used. But when she 
c 31 May 97.  appeared to take off her Excommunication, she was more wary than to deny the Charge in the Libel upon Oath, seeming doubtful whether she had not best confess a Child, and lay it upon the Earl, as begotten by him; but that she might govern herself according to what she might after be advised, she only in general 
d 4. June 97.  contested the Suit, and the Earl was admitted to produce his Witnesses, some of which were sworn: But there being others, to whom she had appeared only in disguise, without her true Name, after a full hearing by Doctors on both Sides, the Dean of the Arches 
e 10 June 97.  decreed, That she should be confronted by those Witnesses; but she having a while stood in contempt, 
f 24 June 97.  the 24th of June last, pretended to appeal to the Delegates from this Sentence, as a Grievance; but no Commission of Appeal having been taken out, or due notice given of so much as a Petition for a Commission, the Earl proceeded in the Spiritual Court to have his Witnesses examined, during whose Examination, she a second time petitioned for a Commission, complaining of this as a farther Grievance, and had a fiat for a Commission, which resting without any Inhibition to the Proceed in Doctor's Commons, he went on with his Proofs; 
2. July 97.  the substance of which is as followeth.  
Dinah Alsop, who lived with the Lady as her Maid or Woman, swears, That in April or May 1695. 
Ap. or May 95.  she by her Lady's Order brought a strange Gentleman in the Evening to her Bedchamber at her Sister the Lady Brownlow's House in Town, where he continued till 3 the next Morning, the Bedchamber Door being locked after him all that time from whence she let him out by the Back door: that at another time he stayed from Evening till Eleven or Twelve, and that the same Person came to her in the Country, where Mrs. Alsop first knew his Name; That in June, 95. 
June 95.  the Lady declared to Mrs. Alsop, that she had been unfortunate, and was with Child, and went to a Private House in Queenstreet in Piccadilly, from whence she sent Mrs. Alsop for Mrs. Richardson, the Midwife, with whom she discoursed in a Mask: That the Midwife being of opinion she would go a month longer, she returned to her Sister the Lady Brownlow's House in the Country, from whence she came back again to Piccadilly, July 10.95. and was brought to Bed of a Female Child, July 11. at Two in the Morning, 
10. July 95. 11. July 95.  having a Mask on for themost of the time, no other Person being present, but the said Mrs. Alsop, the Midwife, and Mrs. Pheasant, the Nurse; That the Child was christened the same Day by the Name of Ann, as Mrs. Pheasant informed her: That the Lady declared to Mrs. Alsop, That no body but she knew the Name of the Father. That within Six Days after being delivered, she removed to her Sister's House in Town, which occasioned a Swelling in her Leg and Thigh, 
Aug. 95.  for which she went to the Bath at the latter end of August: But before that, Mrs. Alsop from her Lady gave Nurse Pheasant a Guinea to take Care of the Child: And after returning from the Bath, went twice with the Countess of Maclesfeld to Mrs. Stileman's, where the Countess spoke with Mrs. Pheasant. That the Child was carried to a Place near Epping-Forest; and as Mrs. Pheasant said, removed by her to Mrs. Mountaines at Chelsea, whither Mrs. Alsop went twice with the Countess of Maclesfeld to see the Child, and at each Time she gave the Nurse Five Shillings. That Mrs. Alsop finding her Lady a Second Time with Child, refused to live with her, and threatened to discover in what Condition she was: To prevent which, the Lady Maclesfeld gave her Twenty Guineas in hand, and promised her Five Pound a Year to live with her own Sister at Bristol, of which she sent her the first Quarter's Wages.  
Mrs. Richardson the Midwife Swears, That in the Summer 1695, she was fetched to a Private House in Queenstreet in Piccadilly, where a Gentlewoman with Child discoursed her with a Mask on; and that about a Fortnight or Month after, she at the same place delivered the same Gentlewoman, who all the while kept on her Mask, or had her Face so shaded with an Handkerchief, or something else, that she did not see it, and that no Body besides was present, but the Nurse and another Woman who attended on her.  
The Curate of St. James' proves, 
11 July. 95.  That the 11th of July 1695, a Child was Christened by the Name of Anne: which by the Circumstances he suspected to be a Base Child.  
Marry Mountain of Chelsey Swears, That in August 1695, Mrs. Pheasant told her she wanted a Nurse for a Child, 
Aug. 95.  which was then at Walthamstow, that the Names of the Parents were to be kept private; that the Friday following she went to Mrs. Pheasant at Mrs. Stilemans in the Old-Baily, and that she, Mrs. Pheasant, one Mrs. Stacy, and Mrs. Elizabeth Stileman, went together in a Coach to Walthamstow, from whence they fetched the Child, and carried it to her House at Chelsea, where she nursed it about Seven Months: that Mrs. Pheasant frequently saw the Child, and told her the Mother was a Countess, and that the Mother was at the Bath, but enjoined her secrecy: that a Lady, who seemed very fond of the Child, and whom she then believed to be the Mother, came Twice to see it, attended by one Dinah Alsop, whom she knew in a former Service, and as she has been told, Lived with the Countess of Maclesfeld, and each time gave her Five Shillings: That upon her describing to Mrs. Pheasant what sort of Person had been to see the Child, Mrs. Pheasant told her she was the Mother: and that she was sometimes paid for Nursing by Mrs. Pheasant, sometimes by another.  
Mrs. Elizabeth Stileman, 
July and Aug. 95.  Jun. Swears, That Mrs. Pheasant, who lived at her Mother's in the Old-Baily, was Absent for 5 Weeks, about July and August 1695. and informed her, that she had Attended a Lady, who in that July was brought to Bed by Mrs. Richardson (who had Twenty Guineas) of a Female Child in Queenstreet in Piccadilly; that one Dinah was her Maid or Woman, with whom Mrs. Pheasant desired her to speak, if she called in her Absence: and that Dinah Alsop produced as a Witness in the Cause, is the Woman who Once or Twice called there with a Lady in a Mask in the Summer, 1695.  
That she, the said Mrs. Stileman, in Company with Mrs. Mountain a Nurse of Chelsea, Mrs. Stacy, and Mrs. Pheasant, fetched a Child from Nurse at Walthamstow, and carried it to Mrs. Mountaines at Chelsea; this, as Mrs. Pheasant told her, was the Child of which the Lady was Delivered in Queenstreet, and that the Lady was a Countess. That Mrs. Pheasant, by Dinah, received a Guinea from the Lady to look after the Child in her absence at the Bath. And that she, Mrs. Pheasant, Mrs. Mountain, 
March, 95/6.  and another, were at the Child's Funeral at Chelsea, in March, 1695/6.  
Mrs. Stileman, the Mother, agrees in the time of Mrs. Pheasant's absence from her House; Swears, That she declared she had been Waiting on a Countess, that Mrs. Richardson had Delivered her, as ; that Mrs. Pheasant told her, the Countess had no Father Alive, and sometimes Lived with her Mother, sometimes with her Sister; that she went Once or Twice with Mrs. Pheasant to Chelsea to see the Child, which Mrs. Pheasant told her was the Countess' Child whom she nursed in Queenstreet in Piccadilly, but the Child and the Delivery must be kept Private.  
That Dinah Alsop, who as Mrs. Pheasant told her was that Countess' Woman, came often to her House, Once or Twice with a Lady Masked, who, as Mrs. Pheasant said, was the Countess, and brought a Guinea from her when she was going to the Bath.  
Thus it appears, That without Mrs. Pheasant there was full Proof, and an evident concurrence of Circumstances which put it beyond question, That the Countess of Maclesfeld had been Clandestinely Delivered of a Female Child, while she continued Separate from her Husband, and had private Conversation and Opportunities with other Men.  
All the Evidences both of this, and as will afterwards appear, of another Base Birth, Centre in Mrs. Pheasant; as the Principal Party trusted with the Lady's Secrets; she therefore was Cited to give Evidence of what she knew, but was by the Countess of Maclesfeld's Agents, in whose Hands she was, prevailed upon, after service of the Citation, to Absent herself from the usual place of her Abode; and was so backward from coming to give Evidence, that she stood out Sentence of Excommunication: after which the Earl, having just reason to apprehend she would go beyond Sea, obtained a ne exeat Regnum.  
With which she being served in Northamptonshire, whither the Lady's Agents had carried her, chose Voluntarily to Confess what she knew, and upon Examination declared, That in the beginning of July 1695, 
July, 95. 10 July, 95.  she was employed by a certain Person to attend a Gentlewoman at her Lying in; that about the Tenth of July, she, by Order of that Gentlewoman, went for Mrs. Richardson the Midwife, who Delivered the Party of a Female Child about Three the next Morning, at an House in Queenstreet, Piccadilly, where no Body was present besides her, the Midwife, and Mrs. Dinah Alsop; that for the greatest par●●●t the time the Lady was in her Labour, she had her Mask on, which fell off in the extremity of the Pain, when she hid her Head in Mrs. Pheasant's Bosom. That the Child was Christened the same Day, by the Name of Anne; that the Gentlewoman stayed at the House but Six Days after being Delivered; that she had told her this was her First Child, but she had Miscarried once before. She confirms all the other Circumstances about the Nursing of the Child, the Gentlewoman's coming to her Lodgings with Dinah Alsop, and other Matters Sworn in reference to her; and says, that she did suspect the Party so Delivered was the Countess of Maclesfeld, because of the Superscription of a Letter which she had seen, and the Caution given her by a certain Person when she mentioned such her Suspicion.  
This is but the Substance of the Proof of the Countess' having had a Daughter: It is no less clear that this was not sufficient Warning to her, but she ventured for a Son to Inherit the Earl's Estate and Honour, though not of his Getting; and accordingly had one.  
Dinah Alsop, who lived with her as her Maid or Woman, swears, That she was a Second Time with Child; and though as much Care was used to conceal this as the former, it came to open Light, and gave Occasion for the more particular enquiring into the First.  
This was not so concealed, but Notice came to the Earl of her being with Child. About the latter end of November, 1696. he sent one into the Country, to endeavour to see in what Condition the Countess was: He not finding her at her Mother's, went to her Sister's, 
Nou. 96.  the Lady Brownlow, who seemed much surprised, and trembled at a Letter only importing an Enquiry after the Lady Maclesfeld; but declared she did not know where her Sister was, but should be in London next Morning.  
Soon after her coming to Town, the Earl twice applied himself to her, as before observed; and having no Satisfaction from the Sister, but rather a Confirmation of what he believed; made all the Enquiry he could, to find where the Countess was, but heard nothing till after her having a Second Child, of which as it will appear, she was delivered in January, 1696/7. 
Jan. 96/7.  by the Name of Madam Smith, in Fox-Court in Holborn.  
Mr. Burbridge, Assistant to Dr. Manningham's Curate for St. Andrews Holborn, and John Smith, the Sexton, swear, That on the 18th of January, a Child was Christened in Fox-Court: 
18. Jan. 96/7.  The Clerk proves, That the Child was Entered by the Name of Richard, the Son of John Smith; and by the Privacy, he supposed the Child to be a By-blow or Bastard.  
Marry Pegler swears, That on a Tuesday, after the 16th of January, from the House of Mrs. Pheasant (who went by the Name of Lee in Fox-Court) she took a Male-Child, whose Mother was called Madam Smith. But it will appear, That as Mrs. Pheasant was the Person who went by the Name of Lee, Madam Smith was the Countess of Maclesfeld.  
Mrs. Wright a Midwife, swears, That about Two Months before January, Mrs. Pheasant desired her to Deliver a Gentlewoman privately married; and told her it was agreed upon she should take an House by the Name of Lee, and the Gentlewoman was to be as her Lodger. That about Three or Four Days before the 〈…〉 Holborn: That about Six in the Morning she delivered a Gentlewoman of a Male-Child; Mrs. Pheasant, one Mrs. Mathews, and one Sarah a Servant, being present. That she did not see the Party's Face, nor did in Three Visits after; and remembers, by recollecting Circumstances, That Sarah Redhead was the Servant present at the Delivery.  
Sarah Redhead confirms what is sworn by Mrs. Wright; and adds, That the Gentlewoman so delivered, went by the Name of Madam Smith: That the Lady was delivered on a Saturday, and the Monday following the Child was Christened by the Name of Richard, there being then in the House a certain Gentleman, the Minister, Clerk, and a Gentleman who often used to come at Night, and stay till Twelve with the Gentlewoman who was brought to Bed; says, she is well assured she should know the Gentlewoman, if she saw her again; and makes a particular Description of her Person: and that Mrs. Pheasant used to whisper a Crony of hers, That the Gentlewoman was a Person of Quality, and the Child, if a Boy would be a Great Heir.  
Mrs. Stileman the Elder swears, That in October 1696. a Lady in a Mask came to Mrs. Pheasant, 
Octob. 96.  at her House in the Old-Baily, which Mrs. Pheasant declared was the same she saw delivered in Queenstreet, Piccadilly: That the Lady declared she was with Child again, giving her Ten Shillings, and ordered her to take a Private House for her; that she was a Person of Worth: That on the 23d of October, she the said Mrs. Stileman, at Mrs. Pheasant's desire, took a House in Fox-Court, and received a Quarter's Rent beforehand of her. That in January 1696/7. 
Jan. 96/7.  she went often to that House to one Sarah Redhead; and that Mrs. Pheasant told her, The Lady who had been delivered in Queenstreet, was brought to Bed there on Saturday the 16th of January. 
16. Jan. 96/7.  She swears, Mrs. Pheasant told her, that Bitch Dinah, who used to come with the Lady in the Mask, had betrayed her; that otherwise she should have had 100 l. and 10 l. a Year during Life.  
Mrs. Stileman, Junior, swears, she was informed by Mrs. Pheasant, That the Lady who was delivered in Fox-Court by Mrs. Wright, was the same whom she had attended at her Lying-in at Queenstreet, and whose Child was buried at Chelsea. That about the beginning of April, 
April, 97.  1697. while Mrs. Pheasant lived at her Mother's, there came thither the Lord Maclesfeld, Lady Charlotte Orby, Lady Gerard, and Mrs. Dinah, whom she knew to be the same who used to come to Mrs. Pheasant with the Masked Lady; upon which about Four or Five the next Morning Mrs. Pheasant went from her Lodgings without giving any Notice.  
Mrs. Pheasant swears, That about a Fortnight after Michaelmas, 1696. the Gentlewoman who had been delivered of a Female Child in Queenstreet, came to her at Mrs. Stilemen in the Old-Baily, and told her she was again with Child, and asked her to leave her Business, to be with her. That a Fortnight after, a House was taken for her by the Name of Lee, in Fox-Court. That about the 6th or 7th of November, the Gentlewoman came and Lodged there: That she saw the Lady who then went by the Name of Smith, brought to Bed the 16th of January, 
6. or 7. Nou. 1697. 16. Jan. 96/7.  of a Male-Child; that there were present Mrs. Wright a Midwife, a Nurse of her Acquaintance, and Sarah Redhead: That the Monday following, the Child was Christened by the Name of Richard. That about Three Weeks after, she went back to Mrs. Stileman's, where they told her the Earl of Maclesfeld had been to inquire for her; that being surprised at it, she went back to the Gentlewoman at Fox-Court, whom she informed of that Matter; upon which she burst out in these Words, I am that Unfortunate Woman the Lady Maclesfeld. And the same Day the Lady being in great Concern, removed from her Lodgings in Fox-Court, for fear she should be found by the Lord Maclesfeld: With whom she said she had not lived for Ten Years; but said she was advised by her Friends, if she were found, to give out, That the Lord Maclesfeld met with her, and carried her to a Tavern, where he lay with her, and had a Child by her.  
Tho the Lady Maclesfeld had pretended to Appeal so long since, as the 24th of June last, yet her whole business being to keep off a Sentence; when Publication had passed, and Sentence upon the Proofs must needs have been given within a Fortnight; then, and not before, she waved her Appeal, and pretended to go on with the Cause, foreseeing that if she should have brought the pretended Grievance before the Delegates, the absolute Necessity she was in of seeking Delays would have appeared to several of the House of Lords, as well as others.  
The first thing she did upon the waving her Appeal, was to cross-examine those Witnesses whom she knew to be privy to the Principal Facts. As to the Circumstances of them, she was too cautious to repeat the Enquiry; her chief business was to hunt out some Imputation of Bribery; 
6. Nou. 97.  but their Answers to all the Interrogatives are so clear and remote from the least Suspicion of this, that she cannot by them gain the least shadow of a Pretence to cover her Actions.  
On the 12th of November, 
12. Nou. 97.  and not before, she upon Oath pretends to offer Matter to clear herself; the foundation of her Justification she lays in alleging, That the late Earl of Maclesfeld turned her out of Doors; but besides that this is manifestly false; were it true, every body will certainly do so much Justice to his Memory, to believe that one of his Humanity, and good Breeding, would not have turned her out of Doors, in the Absence of his son, without very just Cause. She admits that the present Earl and she have not cohabited together for several Years, but will have it, That she was and is a Person of a Virtuous and Sober Life and Conversation, and for such she was, and is accounted, reputed, and taken to be. Whether such is her Reputation, the Earl appeals to the World: but notwithstanding her Injuring his Father's Memory, as well as Himself and Family, he cannot but pity her, for endeavouring to justify herself by manifest Perjury: As to the Obligation which she pretends to have laid upon him by petitioning for his Life, he cannot think (though he should believe a thing of Course and Form had the Effect she vainly imagines) that therefore he ought to sacrifice the Interest of his Family to her Adulteries: However, this Pretence is wholly groundless; for there are several of the House of Lords, to whose Interposition he gratefully acknowledges that he owes his Life.  
But to her great Misfortune, Mrs. Pheasant, with whom she had lived with so much Reserve, as never to trust her with the great Secret, of her being the Lady Maclesfeld, till her sudden fear surprised her into it, together with Nurse Mountain, who nursed the first Child, and Sarah Redhead, who attended her when by the Name of Madam Smith, she was Delivered of the second; all saw her at Doctor's Commons when she brought in her Allegations: and at the very first sight knew, with full certainty, that she was the Person concerning whom they had in Court, she was seen to cover her Face for some time with her Fan, till advised by one of her own Council to remove it. After all, to this very day, she has pleaded nothing to the Facts of which she had been accused in the Earl's Allegation above Seven Months since, nor has pleaded any Matter contrary, any otherwise, than as she swears herself to have lived a virtuous Life: nor would her Proctor declare when he would be ready, as if they wanted time to suborn Witnesses to defeat the Proofs.  
This being his Lordship's Case, as it stood in Doctor's Commons, besides several other Particulars of an extraordinary nature which he has in proof; the delays being so manifest, and as he can prove, designed only to keep the Matter from coming into Parliament; and such opportunity having been given for her to clear her Innocence if she could, and no one step taken towards it; he cannot but hope the House, of which he has the Honour to be a Member, will look upon the Matter to be sufficiently ripe for that Remedy which nothing but a Parliament can give: All the Relief by a Sentence in Doctor's Commons, after the most artificial and dangerous Delays, being no more than that State of Separation in which they have already long lived. But it is evident, That the Divine Law admits of Second Marriages in such Cases as his, and that there have been Acts of Parliament for them, as well as for Bastardising Spurious Issue. And it may further be considered, That those Canons which have prohibited Second Marriages in like Cases, were so manifestly an effect of the Popish Doctrine of the Sacrament of Marriage, and of the Avarice of the Court of Rome, to get Money for dispensing with them; that in the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws, prepared and intended in the time of Edw. 6. in pursuance of an Act of Parliament of Hen. 8. there was express Liberty given by those Canons to marry again; which by virtue of that Act of Parliament, would have become a General Law, or at least have occasioned one. 
Tit. de nuptiis & divortiis, cap. 5.  But whatever Objection may be against such a General Law, from the Temptation it may give ill People to sack groundless Dissolutions of Marriages; yet upon extraordinary Cases, such as this is; such Relief has been granted; and where it has been denied, either there has not been Satisfaction in the Evidence of the Fact, or the Parties have cohabited, or after the Grounds of Dissatisfaction have been reconciled: but if in such a concurrence of Circumstances, as in the Earl's Case, he must still be thought to have a Wife, and the Children she has had, must be looked upon as his, from the Common Presumption, till contrary Proof, in that they were born within the Four Seas; Besides that it cannot but be too great an Encouragement to Women to make an ill Use of a Separate Maintenance, which is provided for in most Settlements; it would be a most unreasonable Hardship upon the Earl of Maclesfeld, that the standing Law, which is designed to do every man Right, should by the Rigour of the Letter be to him the Cause of the greatest Wrong; and that for his Wife's Fault he should be deprived of the common Privilege of every Freeman in the World, to have an Heir of his own Body to inherit what he possesses either of Honour or Estate: Or that his only Brother should lose his Claim to both, and have his Birthright sacrificed to the Lady Maclesfeld's Lose Life.