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] general of the army; lord Peters, lieutenant-general; lord Staffrord, paymaster. All inferior offices, and all the dignities of the church were filled up, and many of them with Spaniards and other foreigners. That the Jesuits were dispersed all over Ireland, organising insurrections and massacres; Scotland under the guise of covenanters; Holland raising a French party against the prince of Orange, and in England preparing for the murder of the king, and of the duke, too, if he did not consent to the scheme. That they had no lack of money. They had one hundred thousand pounds in the bank, had sixty thousand pounds in yearly rents, had received from La Chaise, the confessor of the French king, a donation of ten thousand pounds, and a promise from De Corduba, the provincial of New Castile, of as much more. That in March last a man named Honest William and Pickering, a lay brother, had been commissioned to shoot the king at Windsor, and had been severely punished for the failure of the attempt. That on the 24th of April a grand consultation had been held by Jesuits from all parts, at the White Horse Tavern in the Strand, to decide on the most effectual mode of killing the king; that three sets of assassins were engaged—the two already mentioned two Benedictine monks, Coniers and Anderton, and four Irishmen of unknown name. That ten thousand pounds had been offered to Wakeman, the queen's physician, to poison the king, but he had refused under fifteen thousand pounds, which was agreed to, and five thousand pounds had been paid down. He had often seen Wakeman since amongst the Jesuits. The Irish assassins were to receive twenty guineas each for stabbing the king; Honest William was to receive fifteen hundred pounds, and Pickering thirty thousand masses, valued at the same sum. They were to shoot the king with silver bullets. A wager, he said, was said that the king should eat no more Christmas pies, and that if he would not become R. C. (Roman catholic, or Rex Catholicus he should no longer be C. R. That Oates averred he had gone to the Jesuits at Valladolid, thence with letters from them to Burgos, thence to Madrid, back to England, thence had gone to St. Omer, and back to England with fresh instructions. They made him cognisant of their plans for the murder, and he saw on their papers all the names signed. That since his return he had discovered that they set fire to London in 1666, and had used seven hundred fire-balls, familiarly called Tewkesbury mustard pills, as containing a notable biting sauce. That their success encouraged them to set fire to Southwark in 1676, by which they had gained two thousand pounds above their expenses, as they had, by carrying off diamonds in the London fire, made fourteen thousand pounds. They had now a plan to set fire to Wapping, Westminster, and the ships in the river. That there were twenty thousand catholics in London, who had engaged to rise in twenty-four horn's or less, and could easily cut the throats of one hundred thousand protestants. In Scotland eight thousand catholics had agreed to take arms; a general massacre of protestants was planned in Ireland; Ormond was to be murdered; forty thousand black bills were provided for the Irish massacre, and Coleman had sent thither two hundred thousand pounds. Poole, the author of the "Synopsis," Dr. Stillingfleet, and De Brunt were also to be put to death.

The recital of this astounding story was listened to with amazement and incredulity. The listeners looked at one another in wonder, at the audacity of the man who could relate such horrible and improbable designs, and expect to be believed, after the account which he gave of the mode by which he professed to obtain his information. This was that he had feigned a conversion to discover the designs of the Jesuits; had been duly admitted to the priesthood and to their monasteries, and finally intrusted with the conveyance of their diabolical messages. The duke of York declared the whole to be a most impudent imposture, but others thought no man in his senses would come forward with such a startling tale, and implicate so many pensions of consideration without some grounds. Where, they demanded, were his proofs? Where, those papers which had been confided to him, which would be evidence against the traitors? Oates confessed that he had no such papers, but that he would undertake to procure abundance if he were furnished with warrants and officers to arrest the persons whom he had accused, and seize their papers. This was accorded, and the next day the inquiry went on. It was objected to the letters seized at Windsor, that they were written in feigned hands, and were full of orthographical errors; Dates replied that that was the art of the Jesuits, who gave such documents a suspicious look, that if discovered they might pretend that they were forged. But Charles, who became even more persuaded that the thing was got lip, asked Dates what sort of a man Don John was, as he professed to have been introduced to him at Madrid. Dates replied at once that he was tall, dark, and thin. The king turned to the duke and smiled, for they both were well acquainted with Don John's person, which had more of the Austrian than the Spaniard, and was fair, stout, and short. "And where did you see La Chaise," added Charles, "pay down the ten thousand pounds from the French king?" "At the house of the Jesuits," replied Dates, unhesitatingly, "close to the Louvre." "Man!" exclaimed Charles, who knew Paris better than Dates, "the Jesuits have no house within a mile of the Louvre."

These palpable blunders confirmed Charles in his opinion, and seemed to annihilate the veracity of Oates. The king, certain of the whole affair proving a sheer invention, went away to Newmarket, and left the duke and Danby to finish the inquiry. But they who had set Dates to work knew more than he did, and presently such confirmation was given to Oates's assertions, as astonished every one. At first, the clue appeared broken. On examining the papers of Harcourt, the provincial of the Jesuits, nothing bearing the slightest indications of a plot could be discovered; but not so with the papers of Coleman. This man was the son of a clergyman in Suffolk, who had turned catholic, and was not only appointed secretary to the duchess of York, but after her death was much in the confidence of James. Coleman was undoubtedly a great dabbler in conspiracy. He had maintained a correspondence with father La Chaise, the confessor of Louis XIV., with the pope's nuncio at Brussels, and other catholics, for the re-establishment of the catholic religion in England, and he made himself a centre of intelligence to the catholics at home and abroad. He lived in great style, and his table was frequented by the whig