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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: persuasions to own themselves guilty, could not fail in producing
some effect upon the public mind; and towards the middle of the
year 1679 the first signs of reaction became visible, when three
Benedictine monks and the queen's physician were tried for
conspiracy "to poison the king, subvert the government, and
introduce popery." During the examination, Evelyn tells us, "the
bench was crowded with the judges, lord mayor, justices, and
innumerable spectators." After a tedious trial of nine hours,
the jury brought the prisoners in not guilty, "without," says
Evelyn, "sufficient disadvantage and reflection on witnesses,
especially on Oates and Bedlow."
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