One day I met him accidentally in Holbourn, and desired to spcak a word with him; he said, he knew my business, but he was in. haste, and could not stay. Then I told him I had earnest business with him, and must speak with him: He told me, he suspected I had some design to arrest him, and would not be persuaded to stay. Then I pressed him, that if he would go and drink a cup of ale with me, he should come to no danger concerning any arrest at all; and if he then would give me any satisfaction, I would not prosecute the law against him. The court demanded of him, what he meant by satisfaction? Mr. Swinnerton answered, only to know what he could say to excuse himself. The court said, why, would you believe him before your wife? Mr. Swinnerton answered, my meaning was, if he could satisfy me, that my wife was consenting to it, I had rather wave the prosecution, than bring my wife and myself upon the stage; and this was my intent, and no other.

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Then the court asked Sir Mosely, how Mr. Swinnerton's wife came to be so with her cloaths torn, and ruffled in this manner, none but he and she being in the room; Sir Edward Mosely answered,she always went very ill-favouredly in her apparel. Then the court asked Mrs. Swinnerton, whether there were any in the room but Sir Edward and herself; she answered, a little before there was my maid, but I had sent her to the baker's house for bread for my children, and in the mean while he lay with me against my will.

Then the court asked the maid what she could say; she said, when I came from the baker's, and entering into the chamber, I found my mistress crying, and wringing her hands, saying she was undone: also, I heard Sir Edward Mosely say, before I went to the baker's, that he would lie with my mistress, though he were sure to be hanged for it; and at all times he was wont to be very uncivil and rude, when he came into the chamber. Once he came into the chamber, when I was there alone; truly, I durst not stay in the chamber, for I always observed he was so leacherously given, that any woman, were she never so mean, would serve his turn. At this time he came into the chamber, a little before I went to the baker's; I observed he would fain have thrown my mistress upon the bed, when I was there; but my mistress would not yield to it, but grew very angry with him, and said he was a rogue, and spit in his face; yet he would not let her alone: Whereupon I told him, if he would not be more civil, I would call my master, and if he came, he would crack his crown for using my mistress so uncivilly. Sir Edward Mosely answered, he cared not a fart for my master, and that, for me, I was a base jade, and that he would make me kiss his, &c. What, said the court? But the maid, having some modesty, could not bring it out. Then said her mistress, he said she should kiss something that was about him. What was that, said the court again? Mr. Swinnerton answered, he said he would make her kiss his arse. Then the court said to the maid, you must not be so nice in speaking the truth, being upon your oath. Mistress Swinnerton said, Then came Mr. James Winstanley, to tamper with me, from Sir Edward Mosely, and told me, if I pleased to accept of a hundred pounds, I should have it, if I would be reconciled to Sir Edward Mosely: Then the maid said, my mistress made this answer, she cared not for money: Mrs. Swinnerton said, it is true, I said

so; and this I said, if Sir Edward Mosely would down upon his knees, and confess that he had wronged me, I would not prosecute him; but, also, I resolved that he should wear a paper upon his breast, or upon his hat, acknowledging the injury he had unto me: if he would do so, I would forgive him. Then, said she, Mr. James Winstanley desired to know where the place was in the room where I was ravished; whereupon I shewed him. Mr. James Winstanley answered, This was such a place for such a business, that, if I had the strongest woman in England, I could ravish her here, whether she would or no.

Then, the prosecutors for the King having ended their evidence, the court asked Sir Edward Mosely, what he could say for himself? He said he had many witnesses, and desired that they might be examined what they could say in his behalf.

Then Mr. Kilvert was called in who appeared. The court said, Mr. Kilvert, though you be not upon oath, you must speak the truth in the fear of God. Mr. Kilvert answered, I know it, my Lord; what I shall say here, I speak it in the presence of God, and I shall speak no more than what is truth. Mistress Swinnerton, seeing of him, said, I hope no body will believe what this knave Kilvert will say, for he is a knave known to all the court, and all that hear him. Then Mr Kilvert went on with his evidence, saying, I thank God this is the second time I ever came in this woman's company; the first time was at the Fleece Tavern in Covent-Garden, where she came to a dinner, to meet with Sir Edward Mosely: As soon as she had sat down at the table, she said, that this room had been a very lucky room to her, for once before in this room, she had received three hundred pounds for the composition of a rape, which she charged a reverend divine withal; I shall not stick to name the man, she said it was Dr. Belcanquell; this doctor I knew to be a reverend man, and, to my knowledge, is long since dead, and in heaven; and for this rape, she said then, she would not take under two thousand pounds for a composition of Sir Edward Mosely, which she said was little enough, he having three thousand pounds a year. Mrs. Swinnerton, hearing of this, clapped her hands at him, and said, he was a knave, and a rascal, and all was false which he said.

Then the court said to her, Mrs. Swinnerton, you should carry yourself soberly and moderately, otherwise you will disparage all your witnesses. Then the court asked her whether she did meet at this tavern, (having affirmed before, that she never was in Sir Edward Mosely's company, but in her own chamber) whereupon she staggered at it a little, and loth to confess it; at last she answered, True, she was there, but this rascal Kilvert had bewitched her to come thither. Mr. Kilvert said further, after she had sat a while at the table, she takes her stool, and removes it to sit next to Sir Edward Mosely, and there falls a hugging and embracing him; whereupon, said he, Surely, Lady, whereas you say Sir Edward hath ravished you, I do believe, rather, you have ravished him, otherwise you would not make so much of him: So Mr. Kilvert made an end of his evidence.

Then Mr. Wood, another witness, said he met her at Islington, in Sir Edward Mosely's company, and there she confessed to him, that Sir Edward Mosely had many times left the key of his chamber with her, to

go to him when she pleased; and she said she had often made use of it. Then, said this witness, after I had seriously looked upon her, and seeing of her a woman of that strength of body, I said I wondered Sir Edward Mosely should ravish her: She said, Do you wonder at that, why? Do you take me behind the bed there, there being a bed in the room, and see whether you may not do it.

Another witness said, that she had confessed to him, that Sir Edward Mosely once lay with her, with her consent: afterwards she asked him, Now what will you give my maid, you must give her something; hè answered, I will give her forty shillings; whereupon she said, forty shillings! that is base, you cannot give her less than ten pounds and a silk petticoat; but, when he went forth of doors, she said he gave her nothing but a groat, and so basely went his way.

Another witness said, he heard her say (that it being generally known that Sir Edward Mosely had ravished her) she was like to lose many of her best customers in town.

Another witness said, he heard Swinnerton say, that, if she would not take her oath that she was ravished by him, she should be no wife of his. Afterwards Mr. James Winstanley was called into the court; he said, it is true, she took me, and shewed me the place where she was ravished. He wondering how Sir Edward, being but a little man, and she such a lusty woman, should be ravished by him! Why, said she, should you wonder at that? Then she put her leg between my legs, and put her other leg, setting her foot against the wall, saying now, in this posture, as you see me here, I myself could ravish any woman whatsoever.

Another witness said, the night before she went to prefer the bill of indictment against Sir Edward Mosely, she confessed she had like to have been distracted, and run mad, for fear the grand jury should find the bill.

Two other witnesses affirmed, upon their credit, whereas it was said by Mr. Swinnerton, and his wife, that Sir Edward Mosely fled from his chamber immediately after the act was done, they said they had daily recourse to his chamber, and walked to and fro with him, sometimes in Gray's-Inn Walks, sometimes to Westminster, and to other places in the town, for six weeks together, after this pretended rape, and many times they saw Mrs. Swinnerton stand at her own door, looking upon him as he passed by (which was but six steps from Sir Edward's chamber-door) and never questioned about it; but oftentimes, they said, seeing her stand watching there, they feared she would go up to him, and tempt him to wickedness.

Then, evidence being given on both sides, the jury went from the bar, and returned, and gave their verdict, that Sir Edward Mosely was not guilty. Then the court said, Sir Edward Mosely, take heed what company you keep hereafter: Let this be a warning to you: You see in what danger you bring yourself to, in keeping ill company.

Imprimatur, Gilbert Mabbot,
February 8, 1647.

THE

LIFE

OF

SIR THOMAS BODLEY,*

The honourable founder of the Publick Library in the University of Oxford.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

Oxford, printed by Henry Hall, Printer to the University, 1647. Quarto, containing sixteen pages.

TO THE READER.

WHEN the great restorer of learning, our munificent benefactor, Sir Thomas Bodley, made the happy exchange of the troubles of this life, with the glories of a better: the university, according to the greatness of his merits, and their loss, in solemn grief and sadness, attended at his obsequies. But lest the uncharitable censure of the world should apprehend our thankfulness buried in the same grave with him, and cold as his dead ashes, in that we pay no after tribute to so engaging a desert: We bring to the altar of eternity that part of him which yet, and ever must survive. A monument freed from the laws of time and ruin, supported with the vigour of that name, which hath a seminal strength within itself, to make whole volumes live. But lest the judging and severer eye, viewing the nakedness of this relation, may thence despise the poorness of our endeavour: that I may speak the work above all scorn, above all praise, it was his own. Nor durst we call that draught in question, which felt the hand of so exact a master; but with awe looked on it, as on the fabrick of an ancient temple, where the ruin furthers our devotion, and gaudy ornaments do but prophane the sad religion of the place. It is true, it savours not the language of our age, that hath the art to murder with a smile, and folds a curse within a prayer, but speaks the rhetorick of that better world, where virtue was the garb, and truth the compliment. Those actions are of low and empty worth, that can shine only where the varnish of our words doth gild them over. The true diamond sparkles in its rock, and, in despight of darkness, makes a day. Here then, you shall behøld actions with the same integrity set down, as they were first performed. A history described, as it was lived. A counsellor that admitted still religion to the cabinet, and in his active aims had a design on heaven. A spirit of that height, that

This is the 90th number in the catalogue of pamphlets in the Harleian Library.

happiness, as in a private fortune to outdo the famed magnificence of mighty princes; whilst his single work clouds the proud fame of the Ægyptian Library, and shames the tedious growth of the wealthy Vatican. I know how hard a task it will be to persuade any to copy out from this fair pattern: however, we cannot so far despair of ingenuity, as not to expect, even from the unconcerned disinterested reader, a clear esteem and just resentment of it. If we gain by this, we shall in part rest satisfied, in an age so wholly lost to vice, conceiving it a great degree of virtue to confess the lustre of that good, which our perverse endeavours still avoid.

WAS born at Exeter, in Devonshire, the second of March, 1544, descended both by father and mother of worshipful parentage. By my father's side from an ancient family of Bodley, or Bodleigh of Dunscomb, by Crediton; and by my mother, from Robert Hone, Esq. of Ottery Saint Mary, nine miles from Exeter. My father, in the time of Queen Mary, being noted and known to be an enemy to popery, was so cruelly threatened, and so narrowly observed, by those that maliced his religion, that, for the safeguard of himself, and my mother, who was wholly affected as my father, he knew no way so secure, as to fly into Germany; where, after a while, he found means to call over my mother, with all his children and family, whom he settled, for a time, at Wesell in Cleveland (for there, as then, were many English, which had left their country for their conscience, and with quietness enjoyed their meetings and preachings) and from thence we removed to the town of Franckfort, where was, in like sort, another English congregation. Howbeit, we made no long tarriance in either of those two towns, for that my father had resolved to fix his abode in the city of Geneva, where, as far as I remember, the English church consisted of some hundred persons. I was at that time of twelve years of age, but through my father's cost and care, sufficiently instructed to become an auditor of Chevalerius in Hebrew, of Beroaldus in Greek, of Calvin and Beza in divinity, and of some other professors in that university, (which was newly then erected) besides my domestical teachers, in the house of Philibertus Saracenus, a famous physician in that city, with whom I was boarded; where Robertus Constantinus, that made the Greek Lexicon, read Homer unto me. Thus I remained there two years and more, until such time as our nation was advertised of the death of queen Mary,and succession of Elisabeth,with the change of religion, which caused my father to hasten into England; where he came with my mother, and with all their family, within the first of the queen, and settled their dwelling in the city of London. It was not long after, that I was sent away from thence to the University of Oxford, recommended to the teaching and tuition of Dr. Humfrey, who was shortly after chosen the chief reader in divinity, and president of Magdalen College. There I followed my studies, till I took the degree of batchelor of arts, which was in the year 1563; within which year was also chosen probationer of Merton College, and the next year ensuing admitted Fellow. Afterwards, to wit, in the year 1565, by special persuasion of some of my Fellows, and for my private exercise, I undertook the publick reading of a Greek lecture, in the same college hall, without

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