ery little foundation to support so vast a fabrick, besides downright
swearing and assurance; not a gun, sword, nor dagger, not a flask of
powder or dark lanthorn, to effect this strange villainy, and with the
exception of Coleman's writings, not one slip of an original letter of
commission among those great numbers alledged to uphold the reputation
of the discoveries."

Concerning those through whose malice such disturbance was wrought, and
so much blood shed, a few words may be added. Within twelve months of
Lord Stafford's execution, Shaftesbury was charged with high treason,
but escaping condemnation, fled from further molestation to Holland,
where, after a residence of six weeks, he died. Tonge departed this life
in 1680, unbenefited by the monstrous plot he had so skilfully devised;
and in the same year Bedlow was carried to the grave after an illness of
four days. Oates survived to meet a share of the ignominy and punishment
due to his crimes. After a residence of three years in Whitehall, he was
driven out of the palace on account of "certain misdemeanors laid to his
charge," and deprived of his salary. Two years later, in May, 1683, he
was accused of calling the Duke of York a traitor, and using scandalous
words towards his royal highness. Upon hearing of the case the jury
fined him one hundred thousand pounds. Unable to pay the sum, he was
cast into prison, where he remained six years, until liberated in the
reign of William and Mary, His punishment was not, however, at an
end. At the Michaelmas term of 1684 he was accused of having wilfully
perjured himself at the late trials. As he pleaded not guilty, his case
was appointed to be heard at the King's Bench Court. His trial did not
take place until May, 1685, on which occasion the lord chief justice, in
summing up the evidence, declared, "There does not remain the slightest
doubt that Oates is the blackest and most perjured villain on the face
of the earth."

After a quarter of an hour's absence from court, the jury returned
a verdict of guilty, and sentence was pronounced against him. He was
stripped of his canonical habit; forced to walk through all the courts
of Westminster Hall proclaiming his crimes; to stand an hour on the
pillory opposite Westminster Hall gate on Monday; an hour on the pillory
at the Royal Exchange on Tuesday; and on Wednesday he was tied to a cart
and whipt at the hands of the common hangman from Aldgate to Newgate, in
the presence, s