160 CHARGE AGAINST MR. LUMSDEN, &c. 



king hath to his great honour shewed, that were any 

 man, in such a case of blood, as the signet upon his 

 right hand, as the Scripture says, yet would he put 

 him off. 



Now will I come to the particular charge of 

 these gentlemen, whose qualities and persons I re 

 spect and love ; for they are all my particular 

 friends : but now I can only do this duty of a 

 friend to them, to make them know their fault to 

 the full. 



And therefore, first, I will by way of narrative 

 declare to your lordships the fact, with the occasion 

 of it ; then you shall have their confessions read, 

 upon which you are to proceed, together with some 

 collateral testimonies by way of aggravation : and 

 lastly, I will note and observe to your lordships the 

 material points which I do insist upon for their 

 charge, and so leave them to their answer. And 

 this I will do very briefly, for the case is not per 

 plexed. 



That wretched man Weston, who was the actor 

 or mechanical party in this impoisonment, at the first 

 day being indicted by a very substantial jury of se 

 lected citizens, to the number of nineteen, who found 

 f( billa vera,&quot; yet nevertheless at the first stood mute 

 but after some days intermission, it pleased God to 

 cast out the dumb devil, and that he did put himself 

 upon his trial ; and was by a jury also of great 

 value, upon his confession, and other testimonies, 

 found guilty : so as thirty-one sufficient jurors have 

 passed upon him. Whereupon judgment and exe- 





