Whitebread, provincial of the Jesuits, Fenwick, Gavan, Turner, and Harcourt, all of them of the same order, were first brought to their trial.

Besides Oates and Bedloe, Dugdale, a new witness, appeared against the prisoners.

This man had been steward to Lord Aston, and, though poor, possessed a character somewhat more reputable than the other two: but his account of the intended massacres and assassinations was equally monstrous and incredible.

He even asserted, that two hundred thousand Papists in England were ready to take arms.

The prisoners proved by sixteen witnesses from St.Omers, students, and most of them young men of family, that Oates was in that seminary at the time when he swore that he was in London: but as they were Catholics and disciples of the Jesuits, their Testimony, both with the judges and jury, was totally disregarded.