But then suppose there was no more than the other evidence, and that the fellow remain in an hardhearted obstinacy, then you are to consider the circumstances even from his first evidence, that this was after the rebellion was all over; for it seems during the rebellion she was in London, and it was notoriously known that the King's forces were in pursuit of the rebels, and this without any positive proof would be in itself a sufficient testimony to convice any considerate person, that she was to conceal those she ought not to conceal; because she directed the particular time wherein they should come, and that was at night; and no prudent person would receive strangers in the night, and give such directions in such a season without some extraordinary ground for it. When they came there, she provided a supper for them; and you see what care is taken, that the woman only is permitted to bring that supper to the door, and the husband must set it on the table; nobody is permitted to attend there but he. Works of darkness always desire to be in the dark; works of rebellion and such like, are never done in the light.
But then comes that honest fellow Barter (I call him so because he appears so to be, and he ought to be remembered with a great remark for his honesty), he tells you, he conducted him to the house, and what discourse passed there in his hearing. The prisoner asked him what countryman he was, and whether he was a brick-maker, and promised him so many acres of land in Carolina. The fellow upon observation and consideration, found himself under a great load, could not eat or sleep quietly, as men that have honest minds are uneasy under such things; falshood and treason, and hypocrisy are a heavy load; and blessed be God, things were by this means discovered: for he goes and tells Col. Penruddock; and withal Dunne swears to Barter, it was the bravest job he had ever had in his life; whereas in the beginning of his story, he would have told you a strange story of a black beard and I do not know what, and that he got not one groat by it; that he gave the man 2s. 6d. out of his own pocket, and was so industrious as when he knew the way no farther, that he would hire one himself to shew him the way, and all for nothing but only for the kindness he had for a black beard.
Besides, gentlemen, I am sorry to remember something that dropped even from the gentlewoman herself; she pretends to religion and loyalty very much, how greatly she wept at the death of King Charles the Martyr, and owns her great obligations to the late King, and his royal brother; that she had not had a being, nor any thing to maintain it for twenty years last past but from their bounty, and yet no sooner is one in the grave, but she forgets all gratitude and entertains those that were rebels against his royal successor; I will not say what hand her husband had in the death of that blessed martyr, she has enough to answer for of her own guilt; and I must confess it ought not one way or other to make any ingredient into this case what she was in former times, and I told a relation of hers, a Mr. Tipping by name, that came to me, last night, to desire that she might not lie under some imputations that were gone abroad of her that she rejoiced at the death of King Charles I., nor that any false report of that nature might influence the Court or jury against her, that it should not;—be the thing true or false, it is of no weight one way or other in the trial of this case, nor is she to be accountable for it.
But I must remember you of one particular, that is plain upon this evidence, and is of very great moment in this case; that after all these private messages and directions given to come by night, and the kind reception they met with when they came, and after all this care to lodge them and feed them, when Col. Penruddock, after the discovery made by Barter, came to search her house, then she had nobody in it truly, which is an aggravation of the offence testified by col. Penruddock himself, whose father likewise was a martyr, and died for his fidelity to the crown; and who was the judge of that father we all very well know.[60]
God Almighty is a just God, and it may be worth considering (especially by her) how God has been pleased to make use of him as the instrument in this business; and she would do likewise well to consider the finger of God in working upon the heart of that man Barter, who was employed in all this affair, and that all the truth has been told by Nelthorp,[61] that blackest of villains Nelthorp, that would have murdered the King and his royal brother; that he was one of those barbarous, malicious assassinates in that black conspiracy, and outlawed, should be harboured, by one that pretends a love for the royal family, and entertained and discoursed with at night about being in the army; yet that he and that other villain Hicks, who pretends to religion, and to be a preacher of the gospel, but is found in rebellion, and in the company of traitors, should be denied the next morning.
I hope they themselves are all by this time satisfied truth will come out, and I hope you will not be deceived by any specious pretences. Our forefathers have been deluded, but the deception I hope is now at an end. And I must needs say if all these witnesses that have freely discovered their knowledge, joined to that truth which is at length drawn from that Dunne, be worthy of any credit, it is as plain a proof as can be given, and as evident as the sun at noon day.
Gentlemen, upon your consciences be it; the preservation of the government, the life of the King, the safety and honour of our religion, and the discharge of our consciences as loyal men, good Christians, and faithful subjects, are at stake; neither her age or her sex are to move you who have nothing else to consider but the evidence of the fact you are to try. I charge you therefore, as you will answer it at the bar of the last judgment, where you and we must all appear, deliver your verdict according to conscience and truth.
With that Great God the impartial judge there is no such thing as respect of persons, and in our discharge of our duty in courts of justice, he has enjoined us his creatures, that we must have no such thing as a friend in the administration of justice, all our friendship must be to truth, and our care to preserve that inviolate.
Lisle—My lord, if your lordship please——
Lord Chief-Justice—Mistress, you have had your turn, you cannot now be heard any more after the jury is charged.