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CHAP. V.

Was Habernfelds Modell it self, an Historical Truth, or a Fiction?

WHoever looks Narrowly into Habernfelds Plot, and the several Parts of it, will find it to be rather a Lesson, or a Project, then the Iust Account of an Historical Truth. The Bus'ness of Con∣science, Oaths of Secresy, Enformation, and the Circum∣stances of Who, What, Where, When, How, &c. are only matters of Course; for there must be Persons, Things, Places, Time, and Manner Assign'd, even to the most Extravagant Fiction that ever was in Na∣ture. This was the Composition, First, of Habernfelds Discovery, and afterwards of Tong's Counter-part of it: He furnishes Otes with Lights, and Instructi∣ons; Gives the Contrivance the Name of a Conspiracy; Titus Plucks up a Good Heart, and Swears to't, and so there's a New Plot made of an Old one.

It must be Observ'd that This Intelligence of Habernfeld was set afoot, when Charles the First,* 1.1 was at York, in September, 1640. to Advise with his Great Councill of Peers a∣bout the Scottish Rebellion. The Kings Affairs were upon a Pinch, and there never was more need of a Forgery to Cast the Scottish Insurrection upon the Pa∣pists, and to turn the Peoples Hearts, From, and Against his Majesty, then upon that Juncture: Espe∣cially, for a Preparatory to the Work of the Next

Parliament, that was to Meet Novem. 3. following. Upon this Occasion, Sir W. Boswell, (the Kings Mi∣nister at the Hague) wrote to the Arch-Bishop about This Plot. The Letter is Long, and so are the Other Papers upon This Subject: but to satisfy the Readers Curiosity they may be seen at Large in the Pamphlet heretofore mention'd, or in the First Volume of Dr. Nalsons Collections. fol. 467. So that a short Abstract will be enough for my Bus'ness: And I shall begin with Sir W. Boswells First Letter. He sends Enclos'd in this Letter, a Copy of Habernfeld's Enformation concerning the Plot, wherein the Points that I shall Remarque upon, are Principally These.

* 1.2The Discovery was First, made to him at [Second-Hand,] and [in Speech.]

The Matter was soon after put into [Order,] Avow'd by the [Principal Party;] and Deliver'd him in Writing by [Both Together;] Vpon Promise and Oath, to Reveal it only to his Grace, and by him to his Majesty.

Habernfeld remits himself to the Arch-Bishop, with a most Earnest Charge of Silence, and that No Person be By, or within Hearing, at the Communicating of it to his Majesty; and No Mortal else to know of it.

There must be no Asking of Names, nor of Fur∣ther Discoveries, nor Advertisements; nor the Disco∣verer, upon any Terms, to be so much as Pointed-at, for fear of spoiling the Whole Bus'ness: For the [King, Government, and Religion,] are All at Stake, and the Enformer will run Extreme Hazzard of his Person, and Life. No; it must not be so much as Enquir'd How, or by What Means the Discoverer came to Know All This.

As to Sr William Boswells Opinion of the Matter; he

••as these words, [As I May believe These Overtures are Verifyable in the Way they will be laid; and that the Parties will not shrink, &c.] And again [If These Overtures happily sort with his Majesties, and your Graces Mind, &c.]

The Rest is only Praying of Instructions; Propo∣sing a Cypher; and so with a suitable Decency of Respect, in such a Case, he Concludes his Letter. Hague. September. 9. 1640. Sti. Loci.

There was never less perhaps of Surprize, or A∣stonishment (the weight of the matter Consider'd) then was Express'd upon This Occasion: which shews Sufficiently What Opinion the Kings Minister Enter∣tain'd of the Truth of the Story. He was Sworn to Secrecy, Himself; and he Presses it to the Archbishop under the Conscience of That Obligation. The Caution is Habernfelds; Sr William Boswells Confidence goes no farther then I [MAY] Believe. And then [IF] These Overtures happily sort with his Majesties, and your Graces Mind, and shall accordingly prove Effectual in their Operation] &c. Here's [No Contracting of Bow∣els; No Loins trembling with Horror, in the Stile of Habernfeld. p. 4. and yet I persuade my self, that the Kings Resident had as much Tenderness for the Kings Life, as Andreas ab Habernfeld.

But here's the Train of my Pa∣rallel still,* 1.3 even through This Let∣ter it felf. Otes'es pretended Disco∣very was [by a Second ••and] by Tong; And at First, in [Spe••ch] too; which was the Case of Tong again to Mr Kirkby. It was likewise [Order'd] by Tong, and [soon after A∣vow'd by the Principal,] (which was Otes) and [De∣liver'd in Writing, also, by Both Together.] And so was Otes'es True Narrative]. [Vpon Promise and Oath of Secrecy:] which Agrees with Young Tong's Paper

of Ian. 5. 1681. [When my Father and Otes came to Fox-Hall (says he) Mr Kirkby was taken in as an As∣sistant, after he had been Sworn to Secrecy:] And This is Effectually, Confirm'd again by Mr Kirkby's Own Narrative, which says that Tong Earnestly re∣quested him not to Acquaint any Other Person with it then the King.] Nay Habernfeld takes upon him, in some sort, to Tutor his Majesty, by Prescribing to him the very Measures of Faith, Iustice, and Prudence, that he was to Walk by. He must not Shew, nor Trust, nor be Over-heard, nor Ask Questions; but lay it home to the King, as he will Answer it to God in a Case of Conscience, &c. So that not only Tongs Model, but Otes'es Sawcyness was Copy'd, after the President of Habernfeld. Upon the Whole Matter, here are so many Amusements, Generalities, and Re∣strictions, and the Danger Spun out so far at length, that Charles the First might have been Murder'd Fifty times over, in the very Time of Habernfeld's telling his Tale; And Charles the Second, in the Parallel, ran the very same Risque in the Discovery of Otes.

Upon the Receit of Habernfelds from Sr William Boswell,* 1.4 his Grace of Canterbury Dispatch'd an Express away immediately to the King, and received his own Letter again with his Majesties Directions in the Margent. The Marginals are only Assurance of Secrecy; Notes of Respect; and Directi∣ons What to do, without laying any Stress upon the Danger of the Conspiracy. The Only Passages in the Archbishops Letter, for my present purpose, are These Following.

[The Danger it seems is Imminent, and laid by God knows whom,* 1.5 but to be Executed by them that are near a∣bout you.

Now may it please your Majesty, This Enformation is either True, or there is some Mistake in it. If it be True, the Persons that make the Discovery will deserve Thanks, and Reward. If there should be Any Mistake in it, your Majesty can lose nothing but a little Silence.

The Bus'ness (If it be) is Extreme Foul; The Disco∣very thus by God's Providence offer'd, seems Fair. I do hereby humbly beg it upon my Knees of your Majesty, that you would Conceal This Bus'ness from Every Creature, and His Name that Sends This to me.

Sr, For Gods sake, and your Own Safety, Secrecy in This Bus'ness: And I beseech you send me back This Let∣ter, and All that comes with it, speedily, and Secretly, and trust not your Own Pockets with them. I shall not Eat, nor Sleep in Quiet, 'till I receive them.

Once again, Secrec••, for Gods sake and your Own.

So far am I now from▪ finding the King, and the Archbishop so [Fully Satisfy'd] of the Reality of this Plot, (as Mr. Prynne affirms they were) that the Matter seems to Me to be left rather in Ballance, with an [If it be True;] And [the Bus'ness, If it be, is Extreme Foul:] Beside that the Expression of [By no body knows whom,] seems to Intimate from That Generality, that the Enformation is either Fruitless, or False: For it Insinuates a Treachery in some about the King; It Labours to make his Majesty Ielous of his Servants, without giving him any Means to A∣void the Danger. The Main Stress of the Letter lies upon the Point of [Secrecy,] wherein the Arch∣bishop did but Comply with the Injunctions that were laid upon him; nor is there any thing more sayd in This Case upon the Hazzard of the Kings Person, then by that Dutyfull, Wise, Zelous, and Faithfull Prelate, would have been said, upon the Odds of Ten Thousand Worlds to a Nut-shell, against the Truth of the Enformation▪ And Those Words

[Sr, For Gods sake, and your Own Safety, [Secrecy] in This Bus'ness,] Amount to no more then such a Caution as would have been given against the most Vnlikely of Possibilities.

There are Two Letters more of Sr William Boswells to the Arch-Bishop, of Later Date, which have little more in them then Secrecy, and Circumspection, o∣ver and over again; and the Discoverers Oath Offer'd [to what he hath already Declar'd, or shall hereafter De∣clare in the Bus'ness.] [His Name must be still Conceal'd, though he thinks his Majesty, by the Character he gives of Himself, will easily Imagine who he is, having been known so Generally through Court, and City for Three or Four Year in the Quality, and Employment he Acknow∣ledgeth by his Declaration Himself to have held.

As to Habernfelds Readyness to Swear;* 1.6 That has been Otes'es Part too; and for his [Secrecy, and Cir∣cumspection,] Tong and Otes have kept themselves upon the Same Guard. Habernfeld was afraid of be∣ing Discover'd; while Tong and Otes Refine upon his Fears▪ and Demonstrate the Ill Consequences of Blab∣bing; As in the Case of his being Can'd, and Buffeted by Whitebread, and almost Murder'd in Cock-Pit-Al∣ley by a Drunken Fellow that took him for a Bawd; which Affront, Otes Files to the Popish Account; for Stratford, he says, (the Drunken Fellows Name) was Employ'd by the Jesuits to do him a Mischief. Narrative Article 80.] I am to Mark once again, that after All Habernfelds Importunities to be kept Private, he Dis∣covers Himself: which is but Tong and Otes, all a∣long still.

Upon Dr. Tongs First Appearance before the King and Council,* 1.7 Sept. 28. 1678. he was desired (as I have

the Story under his own Hand) to give some Character of Mr Otes's Person: [In that, he referr'd himself to his Majesty, & the Bord, to whom Mr Otes was Well known, he said, by Several Affairs, which he had Manag'd before them with Uarious Success, as he had heard; and particularly in an Affair of the Navy, wherein he was Employ'd under Sir Richard Ruth's Command.] His Majesty thereupon (says Dr. Tong's Paper) call'd him to Mind, and said he knew him.] Here's the Paral∣lel of Otes'es Incognito too: And what was Otes'es Bus'ness before the King and Councel at last, but briefly This.

One Parker of Hastings in 1675.* 1.8 upon very Good Reasons, kept Otes out of the Pulpit; Otes, in Requital, Swore Sodomy upon him: Parker thereupon was Clapt-up, Indicted, Try'd, and Acquitted, upon Manifest Proof of the Impossiblity of Otes'es Accusation to be True: for, by Good Luck, Parker Prov'd himself to have been at a Publique Meeting, at the time laid in the Indictment. While Parker was in Prison, Otes Accus'd This Parkers Father, for very Scandalous Words against some of the Lords of the Councel; The Matter was brought to a Hearing; Parker Discharg'd, and the Whole Bus'ness found to be a False and Ma∣licious Prosecution. This was the Affair that made Otes Known to the King, and Councell: And then for his Employment under Sr. Richard Ruth; If his Coat had not Pleaded for his Neck, he might have Stretch'd, for Buggery, while he was under his Command; And never any Creature certainly was Valu'd upon his being known to a Privy Councel, by Lewder Tokens. But now to the Story of Habernfeld again.

The Intelligence began Sep. 6. 1640. and from thence,* 1.9 to the following October. 15. it was Every day less Heeded then Other: Insomuch, that Sr. William Boswells Two Last Letters, had little more in them then a Ministerial Respect to his Majesties Order and Command; and There it was, (for ought I could ever hear to the Contrary) that the Discovery Sunk too, without any further Tydings of the Sentence, or of the Ambushes in Habernfelds De∣claration. Neither do I find, after all his Instances for Concealment, and his Promises of Discovery, so much as One Proveable Point in the Whole Relation; but it runs alltogether upon Generalities, and Political Re∣flexions, and from thence it was, that Tong drew the Lines of Otes'es Narrative. Any man that has Eyes in his Head may see, that the Plot of 1678. was taken out of That of 1640. And truly I look upon Ha∣bernfelds Plot to have been as much a Sham in the Ori∣ginal, as Tong's was in the Copy. It was Started in 1640. when the Scotts were up to the Ears in the Rebellion. The Peoples Heads were set upon Plots at That Time, and the Faction had need of them; for they had no better way in the World to Palliate the Treason, then to make the Papists the Authors of it; and by a kind of Revulsion, to draw the Ill Humour from the Puritans to the Roman Catholiques: Beside, the Dilemma they put upon the King, either to be Ruin'd, by the Envy of Ioyning Interests with the Pa∣pists, or by the want of Those Hands which might have Contributed to his Preservation. The Discoverer pretends himself a Convert too, in Abhorrence of the Malicious Practices of the Bloudy Romanists. So that he Dates his Conversion from before the Scottish Tumults, which began in 1637. and brings in his Discovery, betwixt Two and Three Year after. So that either the

Story was a Cheat, or the Penitent was a Cheat; and it is just as Broad as 'tis Long, as to the Kings Inte∣rest, whether of the Two.

And it is not All neither, that the Manage of it was Cold, and Dilatory; The Progress Slow, and the Enformation Extremely Short, and Trivial; but the Narrative it self is Inconsistent, One Part of it with Another, and as Coursly Contriv'd, as it is Incongru∣ously put together.

Cardinal Richelieu, he says, was the First Mover of the Scottish Troubles, and yet Lowden was Commit∣ted to the Tower for Signing an Address for Relief, and Protection, to That very Cardinal. So that the Scots rather dealt with the French, then the French with Them; And how Great-Good-Will soever the Cardinal might have for our Divisio••s, we do not reade of any Visible Succours yet they received from That Quarter.

If the Five Members were Papists, Well and Good; for [their Treating with Forreign Power to Assist them, was One Article of their Charge. Exact Coll. p. 544.] And then the Great Act of Indemnity, upon the Late Kings Restauration, is a Thousand Proofs against them; for they had the Wit to carry the Retrospect of That Pardon up to 1637. That is to say, to the Opening of the Scotch Tumults; which was a matter of Three Year beyond the Date of the English Rebellion: and shews what sort of Papists they were, that Mov'd the Scottish Broils. There never was perhaps such a Jumble of Nonsence put upon a Nation, for Politiques, as in These Two Pretended Plots, the King was at the same time to be Murder'd by the Protestants, as a Papist, and by the Papists, as a Puritan; and his Ro∣man Catholique Subjects in Flesh and Bloud, to have their Brains beat out in his Defence, by Another Army of Papists in the Air, that sought his Confusion.

The Papists, it seems, Dis-affected the People; In∣structed the Faction, Manag'd the Rebellion; Laid Am∣bushes (says Habernfeld, and Otes after him) for the King: Pass'd Sentence upon him, and in the End, were Sequester'd, Plunder'd, Iayl'd, Hang'd-up, or Cut to pieces, by the Puritans for their Pains.

But to draw to an End, Dr Heylin in his Cyprianus Anglicus, and the Author of the Popes Nuncio, are both Agreed upon't, that the Commission of Cuneus respected only to the Queen, and her De∣votion. It appears likewise, that there were some Overtures toward a Better Vnderstanding betwixt the Members of the Two Churches, by Certain Abatements and Approches, on the One side, and on the Other; but not One Syllable of a Plot upon his Majesties Person, 'till This Bohemians Revelation. The Publisher of Whitlocks Memorials, makes no more of Habern∣felds Long Letter, then [a Fancy which Prynne hath Published in Print, upon Trust, (as he useth to do) as well as Others. fol. 31.]

It is further to be Consider'd, that for This Plot, (such as it was) the King knew of it, and never Minded it further; Though Prynne makes it the Root of all our Following Calamities; and Tong brings it down to Otes'es Discovery, and the Lord knows how long after: So that Charles the First, Fought, and Acted against himself, all the while, and came to be Murder'd in the Conclusion, by the One side because he Would Not be a Papist, and by the Other, because he Was One. Just as Tong brought the Late King into Otes'es Plot, against his Own Life, Crown, and Dignity.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The First Open∣ing of Habern∣felds Plot.
• * 1.2

  An Abstract of Sir W. Boswells First Letter.
• * 1.3

  The Parallel of Tongs Plot, and Habernfelds goes on still.
• * 1.4

  The Arch-Bishop writes Immedi∣ately to the King.
• * 1.5

  An Abstract of his Graces Letter.
• * 1.6

  The ••arallel goes on.
• * 1.7

  Otes known to his Majesty by a Certain Token.
• * 1.8

  The Token i•• self.
• * 1.9

  Habernfelds Plot had Less Credit every day then Other.