were manag'd while Sir E. B. Godfrey was missing toward the finding out what was become of him p. 202. VIII When How Where and in what Manner the Body of Sir E. B. Godfrey was found and what pass'd till the Coroners Inquest sat upon the View of it p. 212. IX A Jury Summon'd to sit upon the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and some Difficulty startâ—d about it p. 220. X. The Subject of the Debate and first of the Position of the Body as it lay in the Ditch p. 226. XI The Jury found Sir E. B. Godfrey to be Strangled and Not Kill'd with the Sword. The Surgeons were of the same Opinion and gave their Reasons for it p. 231. XII The Jurors Reasons for the Verdict they gave upon the View of Sir E. B. Godfrey's Body p. 242. XIII The Jury Adjourn'd the Debate for want of Evidence Quaere What Better Evidence they had the Next Day when they came to a Verdict then was produced the Day before p. 251. XIV Bloud or No Bloud was the Main Point in Issue though the Least Part of the Question either at the Inquest or at the Tryals p. 262. XV. The Enformations before the Coroner Examin'd and not onâ— word in them to the Point in Issue p. 274. XVI The Coroners Enformations Further Examin'd and not one Word in them of Bloud the Posture or any thing else material to the Question p. 285. XVII Notes upon the Mysterious Examination of Henry Moor Clark to Sir Edmundbury Godfrey p. 290. XVIII A very pertinent Evidence of Joseph Radcliffe's made worse thâ—n nothing p. 298. XIX The Opening of the Body had certainly Discover'd the Cause of Sir E. B. G's Death and it was Advis'd and Propounded by Doctors Friends and Surgeons but Rejected p. 312. XX. Mrs. Gibbon's Enformation compared with the Coroners Report and the Matter submitted to All Indiferent Men whether the Design throughout was to Discover the Truth or to Stifle it with an Appendix for a Conclusion p. 320. THE MYSTERY OF THE DEATH OF Sir E. B. Godfrey UNFOLDED PART I. CHAP. I. Sir Edmundbury Godfrey did certainly Dye a violent Death and William Bedloe and Miles Prance took upon them to Discover the Murtherers and the Murther THERE never was perhaps such a Mystery made of a Plain Case as we have had in the Bus'ness of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey That is to say Concerning the Manner of his Death The Time The Place The Occasion of it and by what Hands He Fell And All This only for want of Taking right Measures in the Tracing and Timing of Things For Whoever draws Inferences Hand-over-Head from Bold Allegations to Certainty of Fact or from Positive Oaths to the Truth of every Thing that is Sworn without Further Enquiry or Examination will find himself Mightily Mistaken upon the Subject here in Issue To do This as it should be done there must a Regard be had to the Order both of Time and of Connexion the Date the Series and the Succession of Things Apart with the Reasons and Countenances of Affairs as they stand in the Context It will Need but a very short Deduction to bring down the Course of This Story into the Proper Channel by laying open the Naked Fact of Sir E. B. G's Dying a Violent Death By shewing Who they were that took upon them to Detect the Murtherers and to Prove the Murther and how Godfrey's Name came Originally into the Story which as they pretended was the Occasion of his Death This is it that I propose for the Argument of my First Chapter and Thence to Proceed Step by Step and in a Natural Method from one Point to another The First Question will be Whether or No the Murther was Committed in Manner and Form as the Witnesses Swear it was at Somerset-house The Second Point will be This. In Case it shall appear that he was Not Murther'd at Somerset-house or by such Persons or by such Means or upon such a Grudge as Prance and Bedloe swear he was In what Place by what Instruments in what Way and by what Instigation Was he Murthered These Two Considerations shall be laid indifferently before the Reader in a Distribution of this Discourse respectively into Two Parts without Bespeaking One Partial Word or Thought upon the whole Matter As to the Two Witnesses that gave Testimony in This Cause they had no more Skill in the Merits of it then the Next Cast of Parrots in the Price of Almonds But there was an Intrigue of State driven on under the Cover of a Iesuitical Confederacy which render'd it Necessary at That Time to make the Papists as Odious as they could and to lay all Iudgments and Calamities as well Publique as Private at their Door As among others This Unhappy Miscarriage of Sir E. B. Godfrey for One So that we are to Consult the Popish Plot for the Popish Murther The Latter being made so Essential a Part of the Former that there 's No Disbelieving the One without Ridiculing the Other But how These Two came to be Incorporated into One Interest and Design will Deserve a Place by is self Dr. Tong was hardly ever without a Plot in his Head and a Pen in his Hand The One Bred the Maggots and the Other Vented them As his Royal Martyr for Example His Iesuits Assassins and other Writings of his under the Title of Cases or Narratives which Narratives were Transform'd with One Breath of Otes's into Damnable Conspiracies Now Narrative in those Days was only a Modish Name for a Romantique Forgery This was the Rise of the Doctor 's Popish Plot He took the Idea of it from Habernfeld Sent Otes among the Iesuits for Hints and Materials and so away Trudges he to Valladolid and after that to St. Omers where he stays a while and then comes back again to his Principal Charg'd with Minutes of Names Times Places Customs c. Tong Pounds them into One Confection and according to the Text Exod. Ch. 32. ver 24. There came out this Calf The Project being now form'd and Distributed into Articles Tong presented a Copy of them in a Narrative to his Late Majesty upon the Thirteenth of August 1678. Plying the King with Fresh Informations and further Importunities till toward the End of September following but instead of gaining Credit by the Pretence of Additional Confirmations and Discoveries His Majesty came by Degrees to be Fully possest in the Conclusion That the whole Train of the History was no better then a Down-right Imposture The King's Hardness of Belief was quickly smoak'd by the Plot-master and his Advisers Insomuch that though they could not Totally take the Matter out of His Majesties Hand They did what they could yet by a Side-Wind to Transfer the Cause from the Privy-Council to the Parliament where they made themselves sure before-hand of a Majority to bid it Welcom In Order hereunto Sir E. B. Godfrey was Earnestly pressed and with much Difficulty prevail'd upon Sept. 6. 1678. to
Signification and Import of Words and Actions in the Simplicity of their Meaning Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was too well acquainted with the Dismal State and Effects of his Fathers Melancholy to lay such an Emphasis upon his Own as still to call it Hereditary and at the same time not to have Other Apprehensions about him then the Fear of being Murther'd by the Papists There were No Tongs nor Otes's in his Fathers Days No Whole-sale Narrative men to deal for Treason by the Gross and yet so often as he found himself in any Extraordinary Distress and Anguish of Thought it was still his Fathers Melancholy that he Inherited That Dark Melancholy as he calls it and nothing but the Instance of his Fathers Melancholy would serve him for the Illustration of his Own. This was sure a very Vnhappy President for him to Copy out the Resemblance of his Own Distemper by for I find it Asserted upon Oath by Mrs. Gibbon and No Body knew the Family Better that the Father of This Miserable Gentleman though otherwise a very Good Man was so Overcome with Melancholy that he attempted several Times to kill Himself that she had seen him Bound in his Bed and that in One Fit of Distraction he wounded three of his Children almost mortally with a Cleaver This in Substance is Confirm'd by many Others And I could carry it further but it is a Calamity to be Compassionated and even This alone would have been too much if the Necessity of the Case and of the Argument had not Required it He says He was affraid of his Fathers Melancholy and this is only to shew what kind of Melancholy it was that he was affraid of Harry Moor the Clark speaks of the Father to the same effect To bring my Matters Now a little Nearer If it be True that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Dy'd a violent Death and Certain that He was Kill'd either by Some body else or by Himself If No Animosity Private or Publique appear'd to make it either a Personal Act or the Malice of a Conspiracy Nay and that the Gentleman was Manifestly a Friend to That Party which the Faction would perswade the World he had so much reason to be affraid of it will be as hard to Believe at Last that This Gentleman Dy'd by the Hands of Papists as that he Dy'd the Somerset-House-Way which is as Impossible to be True as that Fire and Water should Ioyn in one and the same Body to Drown and Burn the World Both at Once I shall Leave it now to the Reader to Consider that if he did not Dye by Other Hands he Dy'd by his Own and if there was No Likelyhood at all of his being Cut off by the Papists whether there was any Ground or Not to fear he might be Destroy'd by his Melancholy Or in fine Since of Necessity it must be One of the Two Whether of the Two was yet the more Probable But People are still at a Loss they say how to bring him off from That Ordinary Ejaculation of his that upon all Discourses of his Vneasiness and Trouble of Mind was still the Burthen of the Song Mr. Robinson afterward Sir Thomas gave Evidence as I have Noted at Greens Tryal of a Discourse he had with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and of Sir Edmunds speaking These Words to him Vpon my Conscience I believe I shall be the first Martyr Tryal pa. 14. In short Mr. Wynnel Captain Gibbons his Wife and Daughter Coll. Welden and indeed who Not have heard him speak Many and Many a Time to the same Effect Now 't is a Strange Thing if he reckon'd himself in Danger from the Papists that he should never so much as Mention This but to Otes Whose very Oath in the Affirmative Blasts the Credit of the thing he Swore to Especially as it was Hook'd in to serve the Turn of his Plot. A man might very well Content himself after what is said Allready upon the Ambiguity of This Expression and the Weakness of laying more Weight upon 't then 't would bear to Pass over the Question without any more ado But yet though it may seem a Thing Wholly Frivolous to Reason upon there is somewhat in it however upon the Point of Curiosity that may Deserve a Place in This Account of Things though but for Common Satisfaction Upon taking Tongs and Otes'es Depositions upon Sept. 28. 1678. though very Unwillingly as appears over and over Already Sir Godfrey reflected upon it that he had made No Formal Discovery of the Pretended Treason and finding now that the Bus'ness was come to be Publique the Matter being then brought before the Councel he came to be Every day more and more Sensible of the Danger of the Misprision and not without Several Hints by the By that he was like to be call'd to an Account for 't There being near a Month Past from his First Enformation Sept. 6. without any Regular or Effectual Notification of the Matter And he was the More Frighten'd upon it for the Disservice that he did to the Design of making a Plot on 't for he never Believ'd one Word of the Story and told All People as much where he thought he might Safely Declare Himself So that the Martyrdom he fear'd was the being made a Sacrifice to the Faction He was Sufficiently Sensible how Greedily the Multitude swallow'd This Bait of a Plot what Labour was us'd to make a Parliament Cause on 't And how Heartily Dispos'd the Majority even of That Parliament were to Entertain All Colourable Suggestions under so Popular a Pretence It must be added now that This Terrible Parliament it Self was to meet upon the 21 th of That October So that Sir Edmund had but a Matter of Three Weeks Time to Consider on 't There was an Vnlucky Circumstance More too in the Kings going to New-market upon the Second of That October When the Faction had Effectually the Shuffling Cutting and Dealing of their own Game and All things working toward a Common Ruine There never was a Concurrence of more Critical and Mortal Accidents toward the Ruine of One Poor Iustice of Peace then met upon This Single Occasion Adding to All the Rest an Hereditary and an Inseparable Melancholy to Work upon a Melancholy that he Complain'd of long before These Depositions came into the World as is Set forth already in the Depositions of Mr. Church But upon the Whole Matter however the Last day of his Life was the 12 th of October The 15 th Day from the bringing of the Plot before the King and Council and the 9th from the Meeting of the Parliament This was the Pinch of his Condition His Case lay Open to the Worst of Constructions and he was Morally Sure that his Enemies would make the most of any Advantage against him The Man was No Fool and his Head as well as his Humour lay for Practice and Bus'ness And who knows if he had Liv'd 'till the Meeting of the Parliament Whether he should
the Plot-Masters had not been Conscious and thoroughly Satisfy'd that the Five Letters were a Downright Cheat they would Undoubtedly have Serv'd them up in Evidence but the Forgery was so Gross that the very Producing of them would have broke the Neck of the Whole Design for the Practice lay as Open as the Sun and out of the Power Reach nay and Possibility of any False Oath to Cover it The Party I say would have Insisted upon 'em if they Durst So that they Suppress'd them Wilfully and upon Prepense Purpose and Deliberation and whenever any man living shall furnish but the Least Shadow of any other Reason for the Suppressing of them then an Inhumane Thirst of Bloud or a Manifest Partiality to one of the most Impious Practices that ever was under the Cope of Heaven I will Submit to have Here lies a fool and a Knave Written upon my Grave-Stone These Letters says Sir William Iones in his Report if they can be so Prov'd as to be Believ'd to be the Hands of the Several Persons by whom they are said to be Written do â—ully make out the Guilt of the Writers Sir W. Iones in his Report upon These Letters with the Rest of the Evidence does yet Want a Second Testimony to Back Otes'es If he had given Credit to these Letters the Proof would have been Full. If he had but Doubted the Forgery he would have made some Essay upon Proving the Hand But out of all Dispute it is that he Desponded of them at First Sight and so they were let fall never to Rise again In One Syllable more now to Expound my self upon This Matter I speak only of those that Officially had the whole Affair under that Care and Consideration without Expecting that Other men should Divine upon Things that they were Strangers to and that lay out of their Province Here is as much said as is Needfull upon the Subject Matter of These Two Chapters That is to say concerning Sir William Iones'es Opinion both of the Plot and the Plot-makers from the Stating of the Evidence in October 1678. to the Death of my Lord Stafford in December 1680. And there is as much done as is Needfull too Since That Time to the Proving of the Whole History of That Pretended Popish Conspiracy that Cost so many Innocent Lives and wrought so much Mischief both to King and People to have been only a Scandalous Imposture Bolster'd-up with Perjury and Subornation But How That Sham came to be Started What it Was and Who was the Founder of it is to be the Subject of the Next Chapter CHAP. III. The Pretended Popish Conspiracy was a New Plot made of an Old One and Dr. Tong not Otes was the Founder and Contriver of it IT Fell-out that some short Time after the Broaching of the Pretended Popish Plot One Boulter a Bookseller brought me Tong 's Royal Martyr for a License I could not Pass it and the Bookseller went Mumbling away with a kind of Menace betwixt his Teeth for the Refusal Upon This I went and told Tong at Whitehall that I could not give it an Imprimatur and so Pointed him out over and above Certain Scandalous Reflexions and Historical Mistakes to some Unlucky Hints in the Preface that People I said would be apt to take Offence at You tell the World said I that you have with Great Care Drawn-up the History of the Old Popish Plot meaning the Bus'ness of Andreas ab Habernfeld and that shewing it to Dr. Otes who very much Approv'd of the Draught You did as Good as tell him Titus it were worth the while to know if This Plot does not go on still Wherefore do you go and put your self among the Jesuites and see whether it does or No. You say further that Dr Otes Did go among them pretending to be One of them and that when he came back he told you that the Bus'ness went-on and that it was no New Plot but the Old One Continued Well says Dr. Tong All This is True and where 's the Offence So I up and told him that it might be look'd upon as a Strange Councell either to Give or to Take The Advice Given said I is This Titus do you go over and pretend to be a Papist Take All their Oaths and Tests Ioyn with them in an Idolatrous Worship for so Tong Reputed it and Swear your self to the Devil through Thick and Thin only to see whether it be Cross or Pile This seems to Me to be the Advice Given and the Following of This Advice upon Fore-thought and Consideration may be taken for as Extraordinary a Resolution The Doctors Answer was to This Purpose God Allmighty will do his Work by his Own Way and Method This Account was Printed in 1681. in The Shammer Shamm'd p. 8. together with several Letters and Papers of Young Tong 's Confirming every Particular and though they were Publish'd in the very Heat of the Republican Conspiracy and my Name at Length to the Edition there was not One Syllable Objected to the Truth of it There was as little said too in Exception to an Advertisement of May. 15. 1682. Obs. 138. Vol. 1. Wherein was Notify'd that Simpson Tong Endeavour'd to Destroy the Credit of Otes and of his Evidence and that if any Man would Prosecute him I my self would find Materials to Proceed upon Thâ—re are Five or Six Passages in the Matter above that upon the Tacking of them together will Naturally leade us into the Train of the Story that I am now upon First It was an Odd kind of Bus'ness Tong 's Stumbling upon the Old Popish Plot of Habernfeld which was only the finding out of a Modell to make Another Plot by 2 ly What did he shew the Draught of it to Otes for but to set him his Lesson 3 ly There 's Otes'es Approbation of it As who should say I 'm of your Mind whatever it is 4 ly Tong 's sending Otes away among the Iesuits to see if the Old Plot of allmost Forty Year standing went on still or Not. Now This was not so much to Tell him what he was to Look for as what he was to Find 5 ly Consider Otes'es Adventure upon That Errand The Blockhead went first for Spain and after a while came back again not One jot the Wiser Tong finding that he was not Thoroughly possest of the Hint was forc'd to be a little Plainer with him and not only Advis'd him to go Over-Sea again but gave him the very Reason and his Business i. e. If he could but get the Names of the Jesuits Learn their Ways and make Acquaintance among them the People might be Easily stirr'd up to Fear Popery and it would be the Making of him for ever Now This Making of him Tong call'd putting him in a way This shall be Expounded by and by 6 ly 'T is Remarkable how Otes Edify'd upon the Second Handling by the Discovery he made to Tong at his Next
the Tuesday and his leading her to Church after the Corps and Declares That he went with the Godfreys to her House on the Sunday He acknowledges his telling Mrs. Pamphlin on Sunday Morning that Sir Edmund was gone Abroad Two Hours before she enquired for him and for the Reason of it he gives the Command of Secrecy Enjoyn'd him by Mr. Godfrey In short the Great Secrecy that he was all along obliged to by the Godfreys for which we could not get any Reason from him when we told him how much it had been the Interest of his Masters Brothers and all his Friends if they had suspected he had been Murther'd by any Person to have made the same Publique and obtained my L. C. Justice's Warrant to have searched all Places that they had suspected for him together with the Evasive Answers he gave us shews a Practice c. Dr. Nalson Writes thus He is a Cunning old Fellow as ever I saw and what you have is Extorted from him by a Thousand Cross Questions for we were upon him Five or Six Hours It is the Greatest Riddle as I told him that as he Averrs only He Himself and the Two Godfreys should know of Sir E. G's Absenting till the Tuesday and yet the Saturday Post sent it all over England that the Papists had Murther'd him or at least that there was such a Fear This Cavil about the Saturdays Post I have cleared over and over where the Subject led me to That Point And so I have the Other Pretence of the Worlds taking no Notice of Sir E's Absenting Himself till Tuesday for they went from place to place Enquiring after him to my Lady Prats to Captain Gibbons they told Parsons and Mason as much before and most of the Enformations Dated from the very day of his Absenting himself it being All over the Town upon the Sunday What was become of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey He went out Yesterday Morning and did not come home Last Night The First Thing Necessary was to Learn out the Truth of the Fact and the Next Thing in question was the Practice of the Instruments and Managers of These Plot-Matters and Principally how they dealt with their Pris'ners by the Force of Money Cruelty False-Witnesses Sham-Accusations Menaces Flatteries the Fear of Death or the Hope of Life And in fine by All the ways Imaginable of Hitting the Blind side of the Men they had to do withal 'T is no News at This time of Day what Arts Sollicitations were us'd to Carry people off and on according to the Biass of Those Times when the True Interpretation of Confess the Truth or you shall certainly be Hang'd was Forswear yourself and be Damn'd Now the Stories of This way of Tampering were so Rife while This Bus'ness of the Plot was in Agitation that His Majesty was pleas'd to Grant Another Order of Enquiry into any thing of This Kind that pass'd in the Prisons which I did accordingly And the Order runs in the Terms Following Whitehall Octob. 6. 1684. WHereas his Majesty hath lately received several Enformations concerning the Manage of Edward Fits-Harris and Miles Prance and several other Persons while they were Prisoners in Newgate the Gate-House and Elsewhere It is his Majesties Pleasure that you make a particular Enquiry by the Means of Captain Richardson Mr. Church and others into the Matters aforesaid concerning the Practices of Those that came to them and had to do with them by any unlawful and Unwarrantable Ways And you aro likewise hereby Authorized and Empower'd to assure the said Keepers or Others by them Employed of his Majesties particular Grace and Favour even in case of their own Failings or Misdemeanours upon a full and a clear Declaration of the Truth in or concerning this Affair And hereof you are forthwith to make a Report To Roger L'Estrange Esq It was a Great Advance that was made into the Cause of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and the Proceedings against Otes were by This time brought to the very Day of Issue when God Almighty took to Himself our Late Gracious and Blessed Soveraign which put a short Stop to the Prosecution both of the One and of the Other But however the Prosecution was Reviv'd and upon the 8th and 9th Days of May 1685. Otes was Convict at the Kings-Bench-Bar upon Two Indictments for Wilful Malicious and Corrupt Perjury and Miles Prance was also Convict of Perjury in the Case of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and Mr. Vernatti May 4. 1686. So that now there was a Fair Place left for a General Review But I was Concern'd however to secure my self under the Warrant and Protection of a Further Authority for a Continuation of the Scrutiny which his PRESENT Majesty was Graciously pleased to Grant me in the Form following JAMES R. IT is Our Royal Will Pleasure and Command that immediately upon Sight hereof you make a strict and diligent Enquiry into such Matters and Things as you shall reasonably conceive may give some Light concerning the Death of the Late Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that you forthwith send for such Persons of Probity and good Repute as you shall know hear or understand to have been privy to any Circumstances relating to the said End And that you Examine every such Person upon Oath touching the same more especially the Keeper of Newgate and such of his Officers and People as had the Care of Miles Prance while he was there a Prisoner And likewise one Boyce a Glass-Eye-Maker and such others as you shall have cause to believe may be able to give any Material Enformation thereupon You are hereby Required and Authorized to proceed upon the Matters aforesaid without any Delay and to give us a particular Account of the whole Affair And for so doing this shall be your Warrant Given at our Court at Whitehall the 19th Day of February 1685 6. in the Second year of our Reign By His Majesties Command Sunderland P. To our Trusty and well-beloved Sir Roger L'Estrange Knight Over and above These Authorities I had likewise the View of the Parliament-Iournals the Councel-Papers and All Publique Depositions that might be helpful to me upon This Subject and Occasion to say nothing of all the Printed Tryals and Narratives that are Extant So that in short there wanted only True Copies of the Enformations before the Coroner to put me in possession of the whole Matter to which End I was further Enabled by This Following Order Robert Earl of Sunderland Baron Spencer of Wormleighton President of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council and Principal Secretary of State c. WHereas upon or about the 18th Day of October 1678. You by Your Precept summon'd a Iury to Enquire how Sir Edmundbury Godfrey late of the County of Middlesex Deceased came by his Death And whereas you did Execute the said Inquisition and several Witnesses were Produced and Examined before you on the Behalf of the King whose Enformations upon Oath in Writing are in your Custody or
the Lord Shaftsbury of it when he came to Newgate but that his Lordship appeared so Hasty that he would not let him speak Their Lordships presently Signed a Warrant for the Apprehending of These Men and Appointed Sir Robert Southwell to go in the Afternoon to acquaint the Earl of Shaftsbury therewith The Persons Accus'd were Humphry Adamson George Bradshaw Benedict Prosser and Christopher Maddison Mr. Boyce further Enform'd their Lordships on the day above that being This morning in Newgate with hopes to have found Prance in the same Temper he found him so sullen that he would not speak a Word to him but laying down his Face upon his Arms Cryed out and often Repeated I have Committed No Murther Captain Richardson being Examin'd what might be the Cause of This Fright from whence All These Changes seem to Arise says that he cannot Imagine unless it were that when once he brought him down several People came to Enquire of him when the Men meaning the Three Condemn'd would be Executed wherein he might perhaps think himself Concern'd That Prance had once told him of a Whisper through the Key-hole which he Believed not but supposes Another thing might be True which is said by him that Moore and Messenger being here Attending when he was brought did Beckon to him which made him alter his Mind Their Lordships thought fit to Move his Majesty for a Warrant of Pardon which is accordingly obtained and Mr. Dean is to shew it unto him in order to settle his Doubts and if he appears to Embrace it and Deserve it then that his Irons be knockt off and He remov'd into Better Quarters and a Letter to This Effect to Captain Richardson which appears in the beginning of This Days Entry and as well the Dean as Mr. Boyce are to Aâ—quaint their Lordships on Munday how This Bus'ness proceeds Vpon Monday the 10th the Dean of Bangor is call'd in and says that he gave on Saturday-night to Mr. Secretary Coventry such Enformation in Writing as he had from Miles Prance which being call'd for to be Read was for some Reasons of Secrecy Excus'd as Discovering New Persons Not yet apprehended That when the Dean went to him on Saturday he found him almost Dead and without a Pulse but at last when his Irons were off and he Carry'd into a Warm Room he began to Hearken to his Pardon and did Revive Promising that he would Declare all he knew but first desiring to have his Pardon Completed and after Insisting hereupon that Then he should speak out William Boyce says he found him in a very good Temper but very Jelous and Desirous about his Pardon And then he open'd and told him of Dangerous Words spoken by Bradshaw and Guzzeen of Mr. Messenger's being set on by the Popish Lords to Kill the King Vernatti Concern'd in the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey c. â—e had now sworn Himself out of the Condemn'd Hole 〈◊〉 out of a starving Condition upon the Boards into a Warm Room Variety of Dishes a Convenient Lodging and his Friend Boyce at his Elbow with the Liberty of Invention Pen Ink and Paper toward the Compiling of his Narratives It is a Bold Adventure for One Man to Undertake for Another Man's Conscience but it is yet a Bolder Under so many Signs and Indications of Remorse as Prance Express'd in the Prison for so many Days together to Pronounce That Appearance of Penitence to be Hypocrisy and to Interpret That steadyness in favour of a Lye rather then of a Truth He Deny'd Every Syllable of the Accusation upon his First Charge He shrunk after That under the Fear of Death from the 22. of December to the 29. And there as a Man that was not as yet Wholly Abandon'd to Work Wickedness he went off again and from Thence to the Following 11 th of Ianuary he Continu'd Firm notwithstanding All the Temptations of Life Liberty and Ease But the First Proof of his Frailty was an Encouragement to the making of a Further Tryal of it And Effectually Prance's Case was the very same Case with that of Green Berry and Hill as to the Choice they had before them of Living or Dying upon the same Terms Now as to his Playing the Mad-Man the very Fancying of it Under his Circumstances is Certainly One of the most Phantastical Freaks next to the Believing of it that ever was in Nature To take it first in the Reason of the Thing Suppose it a Murther and Himself one of the Murtherers or suppose it Neither One nor the Other He was to Dye in Case of not Confessing whether he were Guilty or Not. Now for him to stand out in the Defence of a Falsity as the Patron of the Murther will have it was the Certain way to Carry him to the Gallows and to the Dâ—â—il Both at once and the owning of a Truth aâ— Tâ—â—y would have it Understood was the Ready Way to the Saving of him both Soul and Body There is a Second Consideration which makes that Conceit of it so Ridiculous that a Man of sense would rather Chuse to wear a Fools-Coat then own himself the Author of it They will have it a Piece of Art in him to make himself appear a Mad-man when on the Contrary it was Manifestly his Interest the Most in the World to be taken for a Sober Man for after the Irresistible Transports and Agitations of a Labouring Conscience Reflecting upon his having call'd God to Witness to a Perjurious Oath against the Life of his Neighbour His Bus'ness was to gain Belief to his Innocence by taking shame upon Himself for the Guiltless Bloud that he had Endanger'd by a False Oath and Retracting as well as by Confessing the Wickedness But on the Other side what end could he have in Making the world Believe that All his Not Guilties and No Murthers were rather the Issue of a Distemper'd Head then of a Troubled Conscience To take the Matter in Order Captain Richardson and his Man Cooper are Witnesses to the Fact here in Question Prance told the same story to the King and Council He said the same Thing also to his Friend Mr. Boyce Who in an Enformation of April 5th 1686. upon This Subject has Expresly These words Here I am in Prison Jan. 10. 1678. And I am like to be Hang'd and I am Falsly accus'd There is Nothing hitherto that looks like the Playing of a Part and it will appear upon further Enquiry that Prance's Body was as much out of Humour for Fooling as his Mind But before I proceed to the Hardness of his Condition and to the Severity of the Vsage it will be but Iustice to Note by the Way that the Plot-Pris'ners were not under the same Methods of Government with Those People that the Law Lodges in the Power and in some sort at the Discretionary Mercy of their Keepers For there 's a Great Difference betwixt Men that were Brought Rogues Into Newgate and Men that were to be
and Actions of the Persons the last Time they saw him CHAP. VI. What Endeavours were Vsed to lay the Death of Sir E. B. Godfrey upon the Papists THey began early to lay the Foundation of this Imposture by dealing it up and down among the People that somewhere or other Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murther'd by the Papists But sometime it was at One House sometime at Another and they were as much Puzled at First with the Shifting of the Story from This Place to That as Bedloe and Prance were afterward with the Removing of the Body but there was no Confidence or Industry wanting however toward Preparing the Multitude to swallow the Cheat As will appear by the Following Enformations Mr. Thomas Wynell Deposeth That enquiring of Mr. Welden for Sir E. B. Godfrey on Saturday early Afternoon when Sir Edmund was first Missing Mr. Welden looking this Enformant in the Face said to him to this effect Ah! Mr. Wynell You will never see him more This Enformant hereupon demanded of him What Ground he had to say so Adding withal to this effect You and I know very well that 't is a common thing for the said Sir Edmund to go out in a Morning so soon as his Justice Bus'ness is over and not come home till Night and no Apprehension all this while of any hurt to befall him Why should you be so suspicious then of any Ill for Two Hours Absence and at this time of the day Vnto which the said Welden made Answer to this Purpose To tell you the Truth says Mr. Welden His Brothers have been with me and are just now gone And they say the Papists have been watching for him a long time and that now they are very confident they have got him to which this Enformant objected to this effect Why should the Papists do Him any Hurt He was never observ'd to be an Enemy to them the said VVelden Persisting in the same Opinion as before This Enformant saith moreover That laying the Circumstances together of the Servants appearing at the Door as if all were not well in the House The Discourse of the said VVelden to this Enformant and a Remarkable Sadness which this Enformant observed upon the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Two or Three Days before he this Enformant was struck with an extraordinary Apprehension of some Fatal Disaster upon him This Enformant Finally saith that he hath often Discoursed all the Particulars in This Paper mentioned relating to Sir Edmundbury Godfrey from Time to Time in several Companies Mr. Thomas Burdet Deposeth That this Enformant well remembreth that Sir E. B. Godfrey and Mr. Wynell were by Appointment to Dine together That Saturday when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was said to be first Missing And saith That in an Afternoon about Two or Three of the Clock this Enformant met Mr. VVynell not far from Green-Lane in the Strand who said to this Enformant to this effect What have your People done with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey The Town says you have Murther'd him To which this Enformant Aâ—swered something with Admiration That he knew not what he meant To which Mr. Wynell Replyed That he had been at Sir E. B. Godfrey's House and at Collonel Weldens where they were to have Din'd and that it was a Report that the News of Sir Edmund's being Murther'd by the Papists came from his Brothers This Enformant verily believes that it was upon That Saturday when Sir Edmund was first Missing that This Enformant met Mr. VVynell the said Mr. VVynell speaking of it as a thing newly told him And this Enformant having heard nothing of the said Sir Edmund 's having Absented himself till as above it was told him by Mr. VVynell Richard Adams Deposeth Pursuant to the Discourse above That he met the Earl now Marquis of Powis at the End of Lombard-street with whom the Enformant had some Discourse and seeing one Mr. Harrison Nephew to Sir Edmundbury Godfrey on the other side of the Way He this Enformant begg'd my Lords Pardon to speak a Word to That Gentleman to enquire concerning the Truth of That Report Implying some Preceding Discourse of a Report Whereupon This Enformant pass'd over to Mr. Harrison enquiring of him the Truth of the Report concerning Sir Edmundbury Godfrey 's being murther'd who Replyed to this Enformant That he doubted the Report was too True and that he was Murther'd by the Papists And hereupon this Enformant return'd to the said Earl of Powis and told him what he heard from the said Mr. Harrison Mr. Edward Birtby also Deposeth That upon the Thursday after Sir Edmundbury Godfrey went from his House this Enformant went out of Town toward Leicestershire and came to North-Killworth in the Evening of the Day Following where this Enformant being in Company with one Mr. Belgrave and some others about Nine or Ten at Night while they were there together came a Letter to Mr. Belgrave Dated the Day before to the Best of This Enformants Memory and was brought by the Harborough Post to North Killworth being some Five Mile out of the Post-Road Mr. Belgrave read the Contents of the said Letter to the Company for so much as concern'd an Account of the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey saying Positively to the Best of this Enformants Memory That he was Murther'd by Papists Whereupon this Enformant reflected upon his having seen him in Drury-Lane as aforesaid and brake out into an Exclamation to this effect I pray God he has not Murther'd himself for hâ— looked upon the Friday before as if he were really Distracted This Enformant telling the said Company the Story as it is above Related Whereupon Mr. Belgrave observ'd upon it That if this Enformant had seen him so Lately and heard Nothing of it before he came out of Town he Hoped it was not True. This Enformant saith further That he wondred at the Letters of Thursday 's Post being brought that Night for he never Remembred any Letters of That Post in the Ordinary Course to come to Killworth before Saturday And further saith That this Enformant Travelling Two or Three Hundred Miles up and down the Country before his Return to London found the same Intelligence by the same Post in All Places where he came And saith also That the Letter before spoken of to Mr. Belgrave to the best of this Enformants Memory came from a Brother of the said Mr. Belgrave 's in London who liveth at Present as this Enformant believeth at Husbands Bosworth in Leicester-shire The Reader will observe I presume how quick they were in their Intelligence and what Care was taken to Change the very Course and Method of the Post to spread it so much the sooner Mr. Robert Whitehall Deposeth That upon the Sunday or Monday Next following the Saturday Whereupon Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was First Missing being at Georges Coffee-house in Freemans-yard a Considerable Citizen told him This Enformant upon Discourse that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murther'd by the Papists and that the Report came