stapeley

Updated: July 2, 2026

pretence that to plead was to betray the liberties of Englishmen, stood mute; and his silence, according to a recent act, was taken for a confession of guilt. Mordaunt was more fortunate. Stapeley, who, to save his own life, swore against him, proved an unwilling witness; and Mallory, who was to have supported the evidence of Stapeley, had four days before been bribed to abscond.

Hilaire Belloc - The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans: to the Accession of King George the Fifth: Volume 8