CHARLES n.

r

Ivey, Sanson, Dennis, Bourke, two Macnamaras, chap.and some others. These men were immediately lxix.sent over to England; and though they possessedneither character sufficient to gain belief even fortruth , nor sense to invent a credible falshood,they were caressed, rewarded , supported, andrecommended by the earl of Shaftesbury. OliverPlunket, the titular primate of Ireland, a man ofpeaceable dispositions, was condemned and exe-cuted upon such testimony. And the Oxfordparliament entered so far into the matter as toVote, that they were entirely satisfied in thereality of the horrid and damnable Irish plot. Butsuch decisions, though at first regarded as infal-lible, had now lost much of their authority; andthe public still remained somewhat indifferent andincredulous.

After the dissolution of the parliament, andthe subsequent victory of the royalists, Shaftes-bury’s evidences, with Turberville, Smith, andothers, addressed themselves to the ministers, andgave information of high treason against theirformer patron. It is sufficiently scandalous , thatintelligence, conveyed by such men, should havebeen attended to; but there is some reason tothink, that the court agents, nay the ministers,nay the king himself ', went farther, and wereactive in endeavouring, though in vain, to findmore reputable persons to support the blastedcredit of the Irish witnesses. Shaftesbury was

* See captain 'Wilkinson’s narrative.

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