Oaths
cannot confound my sight."
This asseveration he repeated during the trial, at which he proffered
his own testimony in favour of the plaintiff; and indeed it was evident
from the first, however much he might seek to disguise it, that he was
strongly biassed towards the Countess. Not content, however, with the
discovery he had made at Wimbledon, James had secretly despatched a
serjeant-at-arms to Rome, where Lord Roos had taken up his residence
after leaving England, and obtained from him and from his confidential
servant Diego, a statement incriminating Lady Lake, and denouncing the
confession as a wicked forgery. Luke Hatton, moreover, who had gone
over, as already intimated, to the side of the Countess, and who took
care to hide his own complicity in the dark affair, and to give a very
different colour to his conduct from what really belonged to it--Luke
Hatton, we say, became a most important witness against the Lakes, and
it was said to be owing to his crafty insinuations that the King
conceived the idea of visiting Wimbledon as before-mentioned.
Notwithstanding all this, there were many irreconcileable
contradictions, and the notoriously bad character of Lord Roos, his
cruel treatment of his wife, and his passionate devotion to the
Countess, led many to suspect that, after all, he and Lady Exeter were
the guilty parties they were represented. Moreover, by such as had any
knowledge of the man, Luke Hatton was not esteemed a credible witness;
and it was generally thought that his testimony ought not to be received
by the King, or accepted only with the greatest caution.
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