Lives of Twelve Bad Men; Original Studies of Eminent Scoundrels by Various Hands, Ed. by Thomas Seccombe

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1894. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... TITUS GATES. (1649-1705.) What reward shall be given or done unto thee, thou false tongue? E-en mighty and sharp arrows, with hot burning coals. Psalm cxx. 3. I. IT is painful for a native of the county to have to record that Gates was of Norfolk origin. His father, Samuel Gates, in spite of the almost universally current belief that he was a poor ignorant fantastic ribbon.weaver, seems in reality to have been a son of the rector of Marsham, in Norfolk Samuel was born at Marsham on November 18th, 1610, admitted a sizar of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on July 1st, 1627, was created Master of Arts in 1634, and ordained by the Bishop of Norwich on September 24th, 1635. A characteristic of the Oates family was the ease with which its members revolved upon well-oiled pivots. With the advance of the Puritan frenzy Samuel appears to have simultaneously contemplated matrimony and turned Anabaptist. The coincidence must be left for psychology to work out. He seems to have married about 1645, but the mother of Titus still retains her incognito. Dr. Jessopp feels constrained to express a hope that the poor woman died early. This, however, was not the case. During the year 1680, when Titus was at the zenith of his glory, we are assured by Roger North in his Examen that the liar's mother came to him and related to him a dream that had tormented her. The dream, or rather nightmare, was to the effect that she was with child of the devil, and was agonised by the pangs of birth. And, having told her story, the good woman shook her head sadly, and remarked with significance that she did not like the way her son was in. Beside the fact that, as late as 1697, Titus spoke of his aged mother as still existing, this is all we know concerning Mrs. Oates--th...