The three remaining prisoners proceeded to make their defence. Beyond repeated assertions of their innocence this amounted, as far as Pickering and Grove were concerned, to little. Ireland made a better effort. Oates had sworn that he was in London in August of the year 1678 and present at a treasonable meeting in Harcourt’s rooms.[633] The prisoner now called evidence to contradict this. His mother and his sister testified that he had left town on August 3 and did not return until the middle of September. Sir John Southcot’s coachman swore that he had been at various places in Staffordshire and on the way thither, in company with his master, from August 5 until the third week in that month, and another witness gave evidence that he had seen Ireland at Wolverhampton shortly after St. Bartholomew’s day, and again on the 7th and the 9th of September.[634] To rebut this the prosecution called a woman who belonged to the household of Lord Arlington. She had once been in the service of Grove, the prisoner, and had at that time seen Ireland constantly and waited upon him with letters from her master. She now swore positively that she had seen him in London at the time when the king went to Windsor in August. By the evidence of Sir Thomas Dolman this was calculated to be the 13th of the month.[635] Oates again took the opportunity to swear that Ireland was in town on the 1st or 2nd of September. It was an unfortunate interruption, for it formed the perjury assigned in the indictment upon which he was convicted at his second trial six years afterwards.[636] Only one more witness was produced. Sir Denny Ashburnham, member of Parliament for the borough of Hastings, was called by Ireland to testify to Oates’ character. Instead however of damaging the informer’s credit, he came forward to say that, although he might have had little respect for Oates’ veracity in the days of his youth, the manifold circumstances by which his testimony was now supported had entirely convinced him of the truth of his statements; “and,” said he, “I do think truly that nothing can be said against Mr. Oates to take off his credibility”;[637] which was of small value from the point of view of the defence.