London in the Jacobite times, Volume IDoran, Dr. (John)
History
London in the Jacobite times, Volume I
Doran, Dr. (John)
London (England) -- History -- 18th century
Patten sketches the incidents of the Rev. Mr. Paul’s first appearance
on the scene. It occurred at Lancaster. Forster, the commander, was at
dinner with Patten in the Recorder of Lancaster’s house. ‘He (Paul)
entered the room in a blue coat, with a long wig and a sword, and Mr.
John Cotton of Cambridgeshire with him. They let him (Forster) know who
they were, and in a flourishing way, made a tender of their services
for the cause, which Mr. Forster accepting, they withdrew. Then Mr.
Forster told Mr. Patten, that the taller of the two gentlemen was a
clergyman and was of St. John’s College in Cambridge, and that he
(Paul) had given him a perfect account of General Carpenter’s marches,
and that he was then at Barnard’s Castle, in the bishoprick of Durham,
that his men and horses were soon fatigued, and the like, all which,’
adds the turncoat Patten, ‘was true enough, though their being so
fatigued did not hinder their march after us.’
The Reverend Mr. Paul, undoubtedly, acted both as spy and messenger.
Before the surrender at Preston, Paul rode away, charged, ‘as he then
said,’ to use Patten’s significant words, ‘with letters, to a noble
lord in Staffordshire and some friends in Leicestershire.’ Paul had a
narrow escape on the road, but it did not lead him to ultimate safety.
He met General Wills, at the head of his troops. By the former, he was
stopped and questioned, but the general, not suspecting that Paul was
one of the rebels, ‘he himself also putting on a contrary face,’ Wills
let him go.
[Sidenote: _A CRY FOR LIFE._]
Mr. Paul had no desire to die a martyr for the Jacobite cause. After
his condemnation, he addressed himself to the great object of saving
his life. He wrote to bishops, archbishops, and ministers. To the Lord
Primate he said he had pleaded _guilty_ only on the advice of his
lawyers, as the surest way to obtain mercy. The Government wished him
to make a clean breast of it, and tell all he knew and all he did after
running away from Preston. But, he observed, ‘what confession the
Court would have from me, I can’t tell. I am sure your Grace would not
have me, for the world, speak more than I know.’ He denied having been
guilty of promoting rebellion, after he left the rebels ‘as fast as I
could.’ He prayed earnestly that his life might be spared, and that
if he were not allowed to spend the remainder of it in England, the
Government might be pleased to send him to the Plantations or anywhere
rather than Tyburn! He protested that since he was in Newgate he had
not prayed for the Pretender, by any name or title; and he humbly
desired his Grace would take him from ‘this nasty prison.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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