By W. IV. Ravenhill, Esq. 



265 



have not offended you, theyr verdict reaches to theyre soules as well as my life ; 

 pray let not them goe Blindfold, but let this statute be theyre guide. 



Mr. Attorney — S r . the Jury ought to rest satisfyed w th . what has bin allready 

 said, and soe ought you too. 



Penruddock — S r ., I thank you ; you now tell me what I must trust to.* 



Mr. Attorney then made a large speech in the Face of the Court, wherein he 

 aggravated the offence w th . divers circumstances ; as saying, I had bin Four 

 years in France, & held a correspondency w th . the king my master, of whom I 

 had learned the Popish Religion : That I endeavoured to bring in a debauched, 

 lewd young man, and to engage this Nation in another bloady Warr, and that if 

 I had not bin timely prevented, I had destroyed them (meaninge the Juro rs ), and 

 theyre whole Families. 



I interrupted him, & said Mr. Attorney, you have been hearetofore of counsell 

 for mee ; you then made my case better than indeed it was ; I see you have the 

 faculty to make f it worse to. 



Mr. Attorney — S r ., you interrupt mee, you s d . but now you were a gentleman. 



Penruddock — S r ., I have bin thought worthy hearetofore to sit at y e bench, 

 though I am now at the Barr. 



Mr. Attorney then proceeded in his speech & then called the witnesses. 



Penruddock — S r . you have now put mee in a Beres Scynn, & now 

 you will beate me w th a witness, but I see the Face of a gentleman heere in 

 the Court, I meane Captaine Crooke, whose conscience can tell him ; that I had 

 Articles From him which ought to have kept mee from hence, Captaine Crooke 

 heereupon stood up, and his guiltie conscience, 1 suppose, advised him to sett 

 downe againe, after he had made this speech, that is to say, he open d . his Lipps 

 & spake nothinge. The severall witnesses now come in, M r . Dove the sherife 

 of Wiltshire & others ; my charetie forbids mee to tell you what many of them 

 swore : I shall therefore omit J and only tell you that one of our own party (& 

 indeed I thinke an honest man) being Forced gave his evidence^ I said, My 

 lords, it is a hard case that when you finde you cannot otherwise cleave mee to 

 pieces, that you must look after wedges made of my owne timber. || I urged 

 divers cases to make the business but a Riot,as my IAof Northumberland's^ pre- 



* It was a pity the Attorney-General permitted himself to have this war of words ; which must 

 have somewhat turned the jury against the prosecution. However Penruddock might have himself 

 read the Statute of Ed. III. to the jury aud argued upon it, at some time or other during his trial ; 

 but it would have come with a happier grace from the Attorney-General at this point. We must 

 for ever bear in mind that we are reading only one side of the story. Peniuddock never read the 

 Statute, though he must have had access to seveial books which contained it. 



+ Interpolation — " men believe falsehoods to be truth too — " 



$ The word following "omit" had been itself omitted, on correction a hieroglyphic (probably 

 an abbreviation of " that") is inserted between the lines. 



\ Something is written above which looks to me like "thereupon" 



|| Interpolation— " The virtuous ciier of Blandford being asked what were the woi'ds I used in the 

 proclaiming king Charles at the market? he said, I declared tor Charles the second and settling the 

 true protestant religion : for the liberty of the subject, and privilege of parliaments. 



Then I said to the Attorney-General and the whole Court, you said even now, that I had learned 

 of the king my master, | the popish religion, and endeavoured to bring him in ; and that it was the 

 true protestant and not the popish religion his majesty is of and intends to settle." 



IT In 1403, Henry Percy, son of the Earl of Northumberland rose against King Henry IV. Hit 

 father the Earl collected a largo body of troops and marched foith, as some said to join his son, as 

 others to join the King and bring about a reconciliation. Whilst on his way he was stopped by the 



