of 'em as is for the Present purpose and Begin with the Former Mary Gibbon Senior Deposeth That she this Enformant being Interrogated about the Occasion the Time and the Subject Matter of the Enformation she Deliver'd to Mr. Cowper one of the Middlesex Coroners concerning Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Answereth as hereafter Follows to the Best of her Knowledge and Memory That upon the next Sunday after the finding of the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey the Coroners Inquest having Already Deliver'd up their Verdict the said Mr. Cowper came to This Enformant at her House in Old Southampton Buildings in the Afternoon and spake to this Enformant to this Effect Mrs. Gibbon I come from My Lord Chancellors to take Your Examination and you are to tell me upon Oath when you saw Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Last and what he Said to You. This Enformant told him that the said Sir Edmund came to her House in a very strange Manner upon Tuesday last was Senight in a Discontented Melancholique Humor as ever This Enformant Observ'd in Any Body He took This Enformant into a Chamber Alone Bolted the Door Asked This Enformant if she heard the News for it was All over the Town that he was to be Hang'd This Enformant being in a Great Trouble and Amazement at This Language and Behaviour said Something to him to This Effect The Lord Bless us Sir What d' ye Mean For What Whereupon the said Sir Edmund told This Enformant that he had Taken Otes and Tong 's Enformations and kept 'em a Month by him without Discovery but that Otes had Forsworn Himself This Enformant Saith in short that she told the said Coroner the Story of Sir Edmunds Distracted Manner of Behaviour in all the Considerable Passages as she had formerly Deliver'd them to Sir Leoline Jenkins And This Enformant being further Interrogated Whether she thought the said Sir Edmund was in Jest or in Earnest Or if there was any thing said of the Papists being in favour And what Questions the Coroner Ask'd her concerning Sir Edmunds Melancholy She this Enformant maketh Answer That she was so far from thinking he Iested that his Way of Behaviour Frighted her as the very Relation of it Frighted the Brothers but the Munday before Whereof This Enformant gave a Particular Account to the said Coroner And that This Enformant remembreth No Discourse at All of the Papists being in favour and Moreover that the said Coroner put No further Questions to This Enformant about Sir Edmunds Melancholy then a Geneâ—al Question In what Humour he was without shewing Any Particular Desire to be Enform'd That Way but Repeating to This Enformant that His Order was to Examine her concerning what Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Said to her the said Coroner Writing all the While that This Enformant was Vnder Examination This Enformant being likewise Asked Whether or No she Sign'd the said Enformation taken by Mr. Cowper She maketh Answer that she remembreth that she was alone in the Parlour with Mr. Cowper and that she had not her Spectales Below her Mother being Just a dying in the same House and she her self in Great Distraction To the Best of her Memory she This Enformant being in Confusion did not Read it but upon the Coroners Reading of it that she Set her Hand to 't This Enformant being also Asked if any Questions were put to her about the Manner of his Death she This Enformant doth not remember any Questions that Pointed That Way But saith That since the Heat and the Talk of this Busness was over This Enformant went one Day with one Mrs. Cross and the Widow of Mr. Green that Suffer'd to the White-house This Enformants Husband being also in the Company to see the Place where Sir Edmunds Body was found and agreed before-hand to Ask the Woman of the House some Questions by the By to find what she thought of the Matter This Enformant said to the Woman of the House in Discourse What! You have had a Justice Murder'd here hard by by the Papists To which the said Woman made Answer to This Effect Do not you Deceive your Self I believe he rather Murder'd Himself How should the Bloud follow the Sword else when it fell upon the Grass And then when he was laid upon My Table The Bloud ran down through the Floor upon the Bottles in the Cellar This Enformant well remembreth that on the Next Day after the Body was brought home a Gentlewoman that is a Near Relation to That Family and Yet Living call'd upon This Enformant to go along with her to see how Sir Edmund had been Murder'd by the Papists And they took This Enformants Daughter Mary along with them the said Gentlewoman saying You may see here by the Wax that he was Murder'd in a House Whereupon This Enformants Daughter with her Thumb Fillip't-it-off and shew'd her that it was only Dirt. Upon Comparing These Two Enformations The Coroners will be found to be only the Shell of the other That is to say a Body may see the same Lines and Traces in 't but it Carries Quite Another Countenance Upon Discourse with her says Mr. Cowper he ask'd c. as if it had been a Question that fell in by the By as who should say Now I think on 't or so Whereas Mrs. Gibbon tells us of his taking her Alone Bolting the Door His being in much Trouble and Disorder and then Asking-her the Question and telling her what an Vproar the Whole Town was in about it which First makes it more then a Iesting Matter as the Coroner Seems to take it and Then shews that the venting of his Mind was the Chief Bus'ness of the Visit. But can Any Man Imagine that Mrs. Gibbon should take the Passion it Self from the Life to be but in jest when the Bare Story of it scar'd the Two Brothers well Nigh out of their Wits Why Mrs. Gibbon must have been the Madder of the Two to tell the Coroner how much she was Amaz'd at the Extravagance and how the Brothers were Transported almost out of Themselves upon the Hearing of it and yet at the same Time that she took all but for Fooling But the Coroners Enformation Takes a Singular Care all this while either to Mince or to Suppress whatever comes in his Way that is not for his Purpose Otes he says had Sworn somewhat More then was True And that therefore the Papists would find so much favour as to have All his Stories taken for Lyes Now This is a Passage that Skews toward the Colouring of the Pretended Plot whereas the Other makes No Bones of Saying that Otes Forswore Himself and Vtterly Denies any Such Mention of the Papists And the Plot would come to Nothing In the Coroners Enformation Sir Godfrey goes his Way Promises to come again and tell her more but that she never Saw him afterward Now the other as it refers to Another Enformation deliver'd to Mr. Secretary Ienkins gives to Vnderstand that he Did come again and
but the World Produce One Colourable Pretence for the refusal of it and I will Allow Bedloes and Prances Depositions to be as Authentique as the Truest of Oracles Where 's the Dishonour the Inconvenience the Trouble the Vnlawfulness Nay or so much as the Least Scruple either in Reputation or in Conscience in Consenting to the Opening of a Dead Body 'T is done in some Cases upon the Account of Decency and respect in Others out of Curiosity and Experiment In some again to find out what Disease the Man Dy'd of and the Bus'ness was Here to have Gather'd from it by what Sort of Violence he came to his Death I have Beat my Head upon 't and when People will be running me down that the Only reason for Refusing the Only Means of knowing Certainly how Sir Edmund came by his Death could be No other then because they would not have it known If I were to Dye I cannot find so much as one Colour of an Answer to 't But I am now Coming to shew that the Thing was Propos'd and Rejected The Opening of the Body was Desir'd by Dr. Lloyd the Present Bishop of St. Asaph and by Dr. Goodall and his Lordship gives This Account of it that The Brothers or One of them would not Hearken to This Proposal He said that None had ever Yet been Open'd of their Family and that it was not Necessary for the Keeping of the Body for so short a Time as they intended to Keep it This Account bears Date April 16. 1686. I shall Second the Enformation Above with some other Testimonies of Undoubted Truth and Weight in further Proof of the same Matter The Enformation of Dr. Charles Goodall of St. Martins in the Fields Taken upon Oath April 9. 1686. SAITH That at the Time when the Dead Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey lay Expos'd at his House in Harts-horn Lane This Enformant having seen the said Body had some Discourse about it to the Best of his Remembrance with Mr. Thomas Hobbs who did both Agree in Opinion that it would be a Great Satisfaction to the World to have the Body Open'd And This Enformant did think it so Necessary to be done that he Requested the Dean of Bangor to use his Interest with the Brothers or One of them to Consent to the Opening of the Body that it might be Inspected by Physicians and Surgeons The said Dean very much Approving of the Proposal And telling This Enformant afterward that he had Earnestly Press'd the Matter to One of the Brothers if not Both Who as the Dean told This Enformant did not think fit to have it done This Enformant being Induc'd to a More then Ordinary Earnestness of Desire to have the Body open'd upon This Consideration that it was the Way to prevent Clamour and to give some Reasonable Satisfaction whether he Dy'd of the Wound or of Suffocation The Enformation of Mr. Thomas Hobbs of the Parish of St. Clements Danes Surgeon Taken upon Oath April 8th 1686. SAITH That This Enformant being Interrogated Whether or No he knew of any Proposal made for the Opening of the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey While the said Body lay at the House of the Late Sir Edmund He This Enformant maketh Answer That to the Best of This Enformants Memory He Himself upon Discourse with Dr. Goodall about the Death of the said Sir Edmund This Enformant spake to Dr. Goodall He This Enformant having newly seen the Body to This Effect This Bus'ness of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey makes a Great deal of Noise And I think it would do well for General satisfaction if a Physician and Surgeon from the Court and some Eminent Physician and Surgeon from the City should Ioyn in the Opening and Inspecting the Body By which means they might have known how he came by his Death To which Dr. Goodall agreed as a very Reasonable Thing and said he would propound it And the said Doctor told This Enformant afterward that he had Propounded it as This Enformant remembers to Dr. Lloyd Dr. Goodall telling This Enformant also that the said Dr. Lloyd had Propounded it to the Brothers whose Answer was to This Purpose That the Coroners Inquest had found it Murther and they would not Trouble Themselves any further All which This Enformant Delivers to the Best of his Knowledge and Memory There was a Time when the stabbing Question was Ay but who Murther'd Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Now What if a Man should Answer it with a Another Question Ay but who were They that might have known and Would not how he came by his Death Nay the very Sword it self would have told Tales if the Question had but been put to 't but I look upon That Omission as a Thing not Thought of I have Caused several Sword-Cutlers and Men of Skill and Experience in their Bus'ness to be Consulted about This Point and not with any Leading Questions Neither but Barely and Simply What Colour will the Warm Bloud of a Man leave upon the Blade of a Sword and how shall a Body know it from any Other sort of Rust To which I have received This Account We the Subscribers hereof do Affirm and Declare and are ready to Attest upon Oath that according to our Observation the Blade of a Sword that has been Thrust into the Body of a Living Man is of a Different Colour from a Blade that is Canker'd with rust upon Water or any Ordinary Wetting of it and that if the Sword be Wiped upon the Drawing of it out of the Body It will have a kind of a Dark Lead Colour but Otherwise it will Look like a redder kind of Rust. John Hill. Joseph Smith Rich. Hayes We 'le See now as Briefly as we can how far the Observation of Several of the Iurors Themselves agrees with This Judgment of the Sword-Cutlers John Cowsey Deposeth That upon an Exact view of the Sword This Enformant Observed That Part of the Blade which was in the Body to be Discolour'd as if it had been Stain'd with Bloud and Water Thomas Woollams Deposeth That he took Particular Notice of the Sword which was said upon Oath to be taken out of the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that he Observed the Colour of That Part which had been in the Body to be Darker then the rest Simon Standever Deposeth That he Observed the Colour of the Sword as it lay before the Jury and found that That Part of the Sword that was in the Body was quite of Another Colour then the rest that was out of the Body Thomas Mason Deposeth That he Observed the Sword as it was shewed to the Iury to be of a kind of Lead Colour so far as it was in the Body and Distinguishable from the Other Parts of the Sword. John Hartwell Deposeth That he Observ'd the Sword to be of a kind of a Blackish Blew or Lead Colour so far as it was in the Body and of a Colour Distinguishable from other Parts of the Sword. We
great Work having been promis'd so many Thousands c. Harcourt thereupon went and took a Paper out of his Cabinet which for a While he held in his Hand telling him he had been at Whitehall to Fetch That Paper and thereupon read it to him and it was a Bill for 2000 l. written by the Queens Order c. He also further saith that when Harcourt shewed the said Bill for 2000 l. to Sir Geo. Wakeman in the Deponents Presence Sir Geo. asked Harcourt Who the Deponent was to which Harcourt reply'd 'T is one whom we have Entrusted not in so Great a Work as Yours but in a Work next to That by which he supposes was meant the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Council Chamber June 24. 1679. Harcourt owning also to Bedloe that the Great Work was to Poyson the King. He says Moreover that at a Meeting where several of them were together he heard them Express great Dissatisfaction that there had been so many Opportunities lost of Killing the King whilst he was at Windsor and therefore to repair the same there went Eight of them after the King to Newmarket taking Horse from Harcourt 's Lodging at Four in the Afternoon whereof Grove and Pickering were Two. But not to be Endless I find a Charge of betwixt Thirty and Forty Conspirators by Name in his Enformations before the Lords Beside Generalities and Societies He gives an Account of Commissions in Coleman 's Tryal p. 41. Pritchard told him that Grove and Pickering were to Kill the King. Irelands Tryal pag. 40. Four Ruffians sent to Windsor Ibid. And they Missing Conyers was taken in Ibid. He tells also of 30000 Masses for the One and 1500 l. for the Other P. 43. And that Ireland Whitebread and Fenwick were at the Consult Ib. He saw the Mony for the Ruffians Five Jesuits Tryals p. 32. Pickering was Disciplin'd for missing Opportunities fol. 33. Wakeman to have 15000 l. Ibid. Ireland Propos'd the Murther at Newmarket Ib. Finally There 's little more in Bedloe's Plot-Evidence then an Amusement of Words Names Places and other Circumstances of Things to Jingle with Otes's Narrative and to make out the Miraculous Harmony as they call it of the Kings Witnesses He tells a Tale of Father Le Chaise the French King's Confessor Secretary Coleman Harcourt Ireland Stapilton Pickering Grove Conyers Whitebread Father Warner Sir Iohn Warner Sir Geo. Wakeman Duke-street Somerset-House Windsor St. Omers Watton Valladolid St. Iago Ruffians Commissions Poysoning Groves 1500 l. Pickerings 30000 Masses c. And no more Agreement at last upon the whole matter then if the Four and Twenty Letters had been thrown in at Hap-Hazzard And Prances Manage was the very same with Bedloes too only the Other got the start of him in Time and had the honour of standing Otes's second when the Plot it self must have sunk without That Supporter for Bedloe was a Mortal Evidence against Coleman Ireland c. The Five Iesuits Langhorn Green Berry and Hill c. Whereas Prance never open'd his Mouth in a Criminal Cause 'till the Business of Godfrey though they made a shift with him afterward for a kind of Bungling Evidence against Fenwick And then he came by Degrees to have some Insight into the Plot too and to hear of Fifty Thousand Men to be Rais'd Sir George Wakeman's Tryal p. 19. What Lords to Command the Army and what Commissions p. 20. And in a Word Who and Who were to kill the King and How it was to be done As to Other Particular Charges I refer my self to his Narratives CHAP. IV. Notes upon the Transition of Bedloe's and Prance's Evidence from the Proof of the Murther to the Witnessing of the Plot. THE Reader must not Imagine when he finds the Argument of This Chapter to be Notes upon Bedloe's and Prance's Evidence c. that it is my Purpose to Pick a Gotham-Quarrell with every Blunder and Soloecism in such a Chance-Medley of Enformations or to Enter into a Captious Scrutiny upon the whole affair for my business is not to Expose simple Oversights Inadvertencies or Mistakes No Nor in this Place so much as to Cavill at the Credit and Authority of the Witnesses Or to Bear too hard upon the Vnlikelyhood of Things Affirm'd or Deny'd but to lay open the Matter Nakedly as it is represented and leave the Reader to the Liberty of his own Comment The Depositions here in Question were sworn either before the Councill the Lords Committees at the Bar of the Lords House or given in Evidence at the Tryalls of the Pretended Criminals Now to be Fair they must hold such a Congruity One part to Another and every Part to the Whole as in a Charitable Construction to be found All of a Piece without any Considerable Variation of the Story either in Superfluity or Defect which is No more then according to the very letter of the Oath to Deliver the Truth the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth and the Matter still to be the same in what Diversity of Phrase or Expression soever 'T is very remarkable the Progress of Bedloe's openings or Illumination into the Mystery of This Plot. Upon the 7 th of November 1678. he had not so much as the least Kenning of it The 8 th Sprung a Pretty light to 't The 12 th He was as good as Master of the Secret. The 18 19 and the 27 th he saw further into 't The 24. Iune following Where his Majestie 's Life was concern'd he must and would speak Truth he says Although it was against HIS OWN DEAR MOTHER and so Charg'd the Queen And as he went further On he saw Things Clearer and Clearer and More and More still though all his Swearing hitherto amounted Only to the keeping of his Faculty in Ure and his Conscience in Breath But when he came to Sharps afterward upon Life and Death there was No avoiding of his Point for he had still some New way of Attaque or Other that never was heard of before and against which there was No Place for either Prevention or Defence He swore then to the Pris'ner rather then to the Crime for there Needed No more then the Clapping of any Man's Name to This or That Article or Accusation to the doing of his Business Though his Depositions upon the Lords Iournal and Those in the Printed Tryalls are in Many Cases Flat East and West One to the Other But to proceed now from Reasoning upon Matters to the Fact it self His First appearance upon Oath was as is already set forth on the 7 th of November 1678. before his Majesty and his Two Secretaries at which time he spake singly to the Murther Disclaiming to any Knowledge at all of the Plot. By the Next day he was brought to Understand that though it was the Murther that made the Noise in the Proclamation he would yet find the Discovery of the Plot to be the Nearest way to the Five-hundred-Pound that was Promis'd in 't so that
on the 8 th he gave the Lords Committees a General Touch of the Popish Lords Commissions Armies to be rais'd of Coleman's being a Great Agitator in the Design against the King The Iesuits in the Conspiracy c. Desiring Time to put the Whole Narrative in Writing which he had Begun Now to Explain the Amusement of This Wild and Uncertain Generality the Revelation was but of One Days standing and they had not as yet Time enough to Concert the Particulars so that the Bare Naming of the Lords and their Commissions The very Hinting of Armies to be Rais'd and the simple Mention of Coleman for an Agitator was as much as Bedloe durst venture Upon without further Lights and Instructions Coleman's Accusation was then upon the Anvil and the Plot the Ground-Work of the Whole Transaction but there was No want of Heart and good Will All this While to the Emproving of This Occasion and his desire of Time to put the Whole Narrative in Writing carry'd the very same Countenance as if he should have said Pray My Lords spare us but Three or Four Days to Confer with the Managers of the Intrigue and let us alone for a Damnable Hellish Popish Plot ready Cut and Dry'd and a Second Witness to support it This is so fair and Reasonable a Gloss upon the Text That the Lords Committees were not without some Jelousies of it even in the very First Instance as appears upon the same Journal by their asking Bedloe Whether he knew Otes or not And why should Bedloe then Deny the knowledge of him if he had not been Conscious that the Owning of an Acquaintance with him would have made the Evidence smell too Rank of a Confederacy But to Touch This Matter to the Quick It will appear by and By upon the Comparing of Notes and Resemblances that Bedloe and Prance were Initiated into This Mystery by the same Lesson of Instructions only with This Difference in the Motives to what they did that the One Forswore himself for Fear and the Other for Mony. Bedloe as I have sayd gave Evidence to the Murther upon the 7 th of November 1678. Prance was Committed on Saturday the 21. of December following for Assisting in the Murther of Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey He was Examin'd the same Night and stood stiff in 't that he knew Nothing either of the Death of Godfrey or of the Popish Plot and Bedloe was as Positive upon the First Examination that He knew Nothing of the Plot neither Now the Plot was a Thing so Necessary that the Five-hundred-Pound-Murther would not have been worth Fifty Farthings without it and though the Bait was thrown out for the Discoverers of the Murther the Anglers were yet secur'd before-hand that upon a sound Bite they should draw up a Discoverer of the Plot for the Matter being Equally Both ways a Perjury the One they knew as I have noted before would be as Cheap as the other They had both of them however only One Night and no more to Sleep upon 't And it was Impossible in that Pinch of Time to bring their Matters to Agree in Every Point like a Pair of Tallyes And therefore Bedloe was fain to Content himself at Present with a Tale of a Cock and a Bull Just as the Journal sets it forth without any Pregnancy of Likelyhoods or Particularity of Circumstances to give it Credit Now Prance was upon his Peril to speak out at Four-and-Twenty-hours-warning too for on the same Day that he was taken up and Examin'd Damning himself to the Pit of Hell if he knew any thing either of the Death or of the Plot he was Committed to the Condemn'd Hole in Newgate Loaden with Heavy Irons And for That Night left to Chew upon 't whether he would venture his Soul or his Carcass which was the very Choice Before him In This Condition he lay both of Body and of Mind till Early next Morning being Sunday when Up comes a Person to him Wholly Unknown Layes down a Paper upon a Form just by him and so goes his way Soon after This Comes Another with a Candle sets it down and Leaves him By the light of that Candle Prance read the Paper Wherein he found the Substance of These Following Minutes So many Popish Lords mentioned by Nameâ— Fifty Thousand Men to be Rais'd Commissions given out Officers Appointed Ireland was acquainted with the Design And Bedloes Evidence against Godfrey was Summ'd-up and Abstracted in it too There were Suggestions in 't that Prance must undoubtedly be Privy to the Plot with Words to This Purpose You had better Confess then be Hang'd Prance fancy'd This presently to be a Contrivance of Shaftsburyes and Design'd for Hints of what he was to Swear to Novv These vvere the very Points also of Bedloe's Depositions And as Bedloe vvas to second Otes in the One So Prance was to second Bedloe in the Other Prance Ponder'd for some hours upon the Heads of his Paper and the Circumstances of his Condition and what with the Noisomness of the Place the Cold of the Season the Weight of his Chains the Sense of his Misery Want of Health and the Dread of Death upon the laying of things together he took the right Quene and desired the Master of the Prison to Carry him to my Lord Shaftsburys under Pretence of Matters of Great Moment to Communicate to his Lordship Captain Richardson gave his Lordship an Account of it and Thereupon received An Order for Bringing of Miles Prance to Shaftsbury-House to be farther Examin'd He vvas Carry'd thither betwixt Five and Six the same Evening and there Continued till about Eleven that Night So soon as he came thither he was Call'd into a Low Parlour where was Shaftsbury and Three more And there Examin'd strictly upon the Points of the Paper and Threatned with Hanging if he did not Confess Upon these Menaces Prance Yielded and so fram'd a Pretended Discovery in Part with a Promise to speak out more at Large if he might have his Pardon VVhereupon there was a Paper drawn up vvhich Prance Sign'd and he vvas then return'd to the Place from vvhence he came By this time they had secured Three Strings to their Bovv and it is vvorthy of a Note that Bedloe and Prance like a Couple of School-Boys of the same Form had in Effect the very same Lesson given them and the very same Allovvance of Time to get it by Heart in But to come now to the Matter Bedloe was upon his Oath as I have said Already to Deliver the Truth the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth And the Lords Committees did over and above Conjure William Bedloe to speak Nothing but Truth And he did in the Presence of God as he should Answer it at the Day of Iudgement assure All to be True he had Depos'd Lords Journal Nov. 12. â—678 It was upon the same Terms too and Under the same Conditions that he gave his Evidence upon all Tryals of the Pris'ners
the Nights he lay abroad in were within the First Week of October And he finally Avers That if it had not been for the Dread of Death and Misery that was with so much Restless Importunity Press'd upon him And the Flattering Promises of the Great Advantage it would be to him to Persist in his Evidence of the Murther he verily Believes he should rather have Dy'd then have Hazarded his Damnation by Another Perjury And it was not All yet Neither that the Scum of the Rabble pass'd Muster for Competent Witnesses against Men of Honour in Matters of State That the most Abandon'd Miscreants even of that Scum were Allow'd to give Evidence as Men of Probity that Every Thing was Screw'd in favour of the Guilty and to the Destruction of the Innocent That the Pris'ners and their Witnesses were rather brought to the Stake then to a Tryal and Put by the Violences of the Rout into an Incapacity of Defending either Themselves or their Friends c. This was not All I say without making a False Witness of the very Press too Is it so upon your Salvation Says the Late King to Prance speaking of the Evidence against Green Berry and Hill Upon my Salvation says Prance It is All False Now This Passage was given in Evidence by Mr. Chiffinch at Green's Tryal and Left-out in the Print Did not Mr. Langhorn upon his Tryal Move the Court that some of the Jury might be sent to the Temple upon a View of his Study and Chamber and offer to put his Life upon That Issue if they should find it but so much as Possible for Bedloes Oath to be True in Swearing that out of the Chamber he saw Langhorn taking Duplicates of Letters in his Study Now there 's Nothing of This Neither in the Printed Tryal The Tryal of Nat. Thompson c. is Printed Double One by Simmons and the Other by Mason In Masons Tryal Fisher that help'd to Strip the Body gives This Evidence We could not Bend his Arms when we came to his Shirt So we Tore it Open fol. 6. Now This Stiffness of his Arms would hardly Agree with the Condition of a Dead Body to be put into a Chair So that in Simmon's Tryal fol. 22. they have very Discreetly told the Rest of the Story without That Circumstance But to come now to a Conclusion as to the Matter of Writing This History No Sooner What should any Man put Pen to Paper for in an Age when there was No place No Security for Truth No Refuge for Innocence and No Protection for Common Iustice The Noise of the People was Call'd the Voice of the People and Popular Tumults pass'd for the Wisdom of the Nation when Impostors were Consulted as Oracles and when All sorts of Men were Practic'd and wrought upon by All Sorts of Means to Blind their Vnderstandings or to Corrupt their Morals There was Mony for the Covetous Preferment for the Ambitious The Impunity of an Vnaccountable License for Malice or Revenge In Short Cases in Those Days were Carry'd by Huzzahs instead of Votes and Bear-Garden-Law was All many an Honest Man had to Trust to for the Liberty of the Subject CHAP. XI Notes upon Bedloes and Prances Evidence Compar'd One with Another WE are now Entring upon a Subject to Confound a Man as well where to Begin as where to End and there 's No Accommodating the Matter but by Covering the Depositions on Both Sides with One Great Plot. Here 's a Horrible Out-Cry of a Barbarous Murther A Popish Murther A Plot-Murther The Murther of a Magistrate The Murther of a Protestant Magistrate and in fine The Murther of a Magistrate in Revenge for his Endeavouring to Prevent the Murthering of a King the Burning of his Towns and the Massacring of his People Here 's the Scale of the Case and who but Bedloe and Prance the Devotes upon This Occasion for the Saving of their Prince and Country The Noise of This Murther and the Fame of the Discoverers has fill'd All Mouths and Places Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Churches and Pulpits have been Dedicated to their Honour And if Altars had not been Popish and if the same Whimsey had gone on Still we might have come in Time to a St. Titus a St. William a St. Miles Nay and a St. Eustace Comins too Orate pro nobis But for Temporal Preferments however there was Care taken that they should not want either Mediations or Effects We have Spoken Already of the Two Supporters of This Quarter-Part of the Plot and respectively of their Depositions apart but we are now going to see how they look upon One Another Together And whether 't was the Spirit of Revelation that Guided the Kings Witnesses or the Spirit of Delusion that wrought upon the Believers of them That is to say upon Those Believers of them that had the Whole Cause under Their Eye and Command and Duly Consider'd the Proportion of the several Parts and Coherence of the Intrigue It seems a Wonderful Thing that Bedloe and Prance that were Two of the Main Wheels of This Motion should hold No Communication at all One with Another Prance does not so much as Mention Bedloe nor Bedloe Prance either before the Lords or upon the Tryals Previously that is to the Murther save only Once and That by Implication too When the very Name of Prance was Thrown into Bedloes Mouth by a Leading Question Tryal fol. 33. And it was not the Two Witnesses only that were Strangers to One Another but the Principal Agitators Themselves were Few of them Acquainted The Instruments Several and they took Several Walks too at the same Time for the doing of the same Bus'ness and without holding any visible Correspondence As if Divers Men had Stumbled or rather Pitch'd by Impulse upon the same Thoughts without Knowing One Anothers Minds Bedloe Swears before the Lords that he Knows that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murther'd in Somerset-House on the Saturday by Walsh Le Phaire Two Lay-men a Gentleman that Waits on my Lord Bellassis and an Under-waiter in the Queens Chappel He Swears that he Knows what afterwards he Delivers but upon Hear-say Now Prance tells us upon the Tryal that He Himself Green Berry Hill and Gerald were the Five Murtherers fol. 18. without so much as One Word of Bedloes Confederates Prance was Entic'd in he says by Gerald and Kelley fol. 14. But it was Le Phaire Pritchard Keines and several Other Priests that Treated with Bedloe about the Murther Tryal fol. 28. And then Vpon the Lords Journal Nov. 12. 1678. He Speaks as if it were only Le Phaire and Walsh that offer'd him 4000 l. to Help forward with it But it was Gerald and Vernatti that spake of a Great Reward to Prance Tryal fol. 22. Prance says that it was He Himself Green Hill Gerald and Kelley that put the Body into the Sedan and Help'd it away out of the House All set our Hands to 't he says Tryal fo 19
Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Murther Why Truly if there were no more in 't then a bare Curiosity the very Memorial would be worth the Ink and Paper that 's bestowed upon 't Beside that in This Place it falls in most Naturally with my Purpose and Text First as it is Another Branch of Roguery apart from the Plot and shews them to be Pick-pockets as well as Knights of the Post which may serve to Illustrate what Credit is to be given them in Other Cases 2 ly It gives any Man to understand that at a Time when such Fellows and such Nonsensical Impostures could keep a Government in Awe it was not for any Private Man with a Single Voice and Reason to oppose an Epidemical Madness for the Reck'ning carry'd Fraud and Insolence in the Face on 't and the Witnesses knew before-hand that it would be no more Believ'd by Others then They Believ'd it Themselves But they Push'd on the Affront never the Less and though I never heard of a Tally struck upon that Account it was yet a kind of Victory to come off Gratis But Thirdly The Timing of it was the Great Point of All for the whole Nation was then at Gaze upon the Tryals of the Pretended Murthers of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and most People were of Opinion that the Suppos'd Popish Plot was to Stand or Fall upon That Issue But for my own Part I was never of that Persuasion If the Verdict went against the Pris'ners it was Reasonable Enough to expect that it would make a Horrible Noise Especially considering the Pompous Solemnities that had Prepar'd Men Already for Wild and Dangerous Impressions And then on the other hand if they had been Acquitted it was but Arraigning the Bench the Iury and the Witnesses as they did in other Cases Afterwards to make All whole again This does not Hinder but that Otes and Bedloe did very Prudently strike while the Iron was hot for the Tryal bears Date the 10 th of February 1678 9. the Day of the Conviction of the Three Pris'ners And these Two Blades put in their Bills the very same Week with the Tryals Otes on the 11 th and Bedloe his on the 15 th And if ever such a Reck'ning was to pass Muster That Nicking Minute was the Time for 't As to Prance's Character All that I shall say of it is This that he had a good Will to be Honest but not the Heart to go thorough with it and that he took more Care of his Carcase at First then he did afterward of his Conscience I shall do him This Common right yet to say that he had not the Brand upon him of an infamous Course of Life to Blast his Evidence as his Fellow-Witnesses had And This may serve in some sort to Colour the Easiness of Those that gave Credit to him In one VVord more If the Murther and the Plot were the only Two Points in Dispute upon the Credit of his Testimony his Iustice and Faith in other Cases might Induce a Charitable Softness toward the Believing of him in This But from his Swearing False in Every Thing Else as That 's the Case to Infer that in One Single Point or Two he swears True would be a very Perverse way of Reasoning To shorten the Bus'ness now I have a Letter of Prance's upon This Subject and I cannot better Dispose of it then in This Place And there can hardly be a Better Testimony then that of an Ill Man who without either Hope or Fear of being the Better or the Worse for 't bears Witness against Himself SIR HEaring that you are about to Publish something concerning the Death of Sir Edmunbury Godfrey I think it my Duty to take Shame upon me and to make a Publique Declaration to the World of my Confession and Repentance of the Heinous Sins that I have committed against God and my Offences against his Sacred Majesty my most Gracious Mistress the Queen Dowager the Noblemen Gentry and All others that I have wickedly and wrongfully Accus'd about the Death of That Gentleman I cannot hope or expect that any thing I say should find Credit in the World but it will be some Ease to my Conscience if I may obtain the favour of a Place for this Declaration any where among your Papers if you shall commit any upon This Subject to the Press From the time of taking off my Irons and changing my Lodging which was upon my Yielding Basely to Forswear my self against those Innocent Persons Green Berry and Hill that Dy'd upon my Wicked Evidence Mr. Boyce was the Man that Acted for me and writ many Things which I Copy'd after him I found by his Discourse that he had been several Times with my Lord Shaftsbury and with Bedloe and he told me that I would be certainly Hang'd if I did not agree with Bedloe's Evidence and own the Periwig the Men would not be Hang'd I would not yield to 't so he yielded to mine and the Periwig was spoke no more on and bidding me consider what a Condition I should be in if any of them should confess first He got me out of Newgate some few Days after the Tryal of Green c. But before any of them were Executed Mr. Boyce told me how much some of Sir Edmund's Relations were troubled that I was out so soon for fear I should deny all again and so Mr. Boyce took me to his own House and watched me and went with me â—heresoever I went till the Innocent men were Executed I would fain have had Berry sav'd but Mr. Boyce said he was Guilty of the Murther and could not be sav'd and that if the King had a mind to pardon him he might do it without my Troubling my self It was purely the fear of Death and the Misery of my Condition that wrought upon me to For swear my self without any thought of reward although I was told several Times that Great Things would be done for me My Lord Shaftsbury told me my Trade should be Better then ever it was and bought some Plate of me Himself part whereof was for Otes This brings to my Mind that in the Time while I Deny'd the Murther or any Knowledge of it I was taken out of Newgate and carry'd to Two Eminent Lawyers where I was Vpbraided for departing from my Evidence One of them wondring much what should make me do it and speaking to me to this Effect You were affraid perhaps of Losing your Trade that lay mostly among the Papists or else perchance you did not think your self sure of your Pardon c. which Words were spoken in such a way that I took them for Hints to me what Excuse I might make upon going off again and as I am a Christian This was it that first put That Excuse into my Head. My Lord Shaftsbury gave me Two Guinnea's once to help off a Man that I had Sworn against for Dangerovus Words against the King. I received Thirty Pounds by his Majesties Order
Himself of his Melancholy before he went away 4 ly What did Sir E. B. Godfrey's Friends Relations Servants and Acquaintance think was become of him from the time of his going away to the Time when the Body was found CHAP. II. What Humour was Sir E. B. Godfrey Observ'd to be in upon the Morning and Day when he last Left his House SIR E. B. Godfrey went away from his House in Harts-horn-Lane upon Saturday Morning the 12 th of October 1678. People are Divided about the Hour but most Agree that it was Early Now from the Time of his Departure we shall Date the Entrance into our Discourse upon This Subject and begin with the Evidence of his Clark Henry Moor as to Some Passages of That Morning Henry Moor Deposeth That he was Sole Clerk to Sir Edmundbury Godfrey for a year and half before his Death and that after the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey had taken the several Depositions of Tong and Otes he This Deponent Observ'd him to be Vnder Great Discontent and in Disorder many times and wished they had never come to him And further This Deponent saith That between the Hours of Nine and Ten in the Morning on the same Saturday that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey in the year One Thousand Six Hundred Seventy and Eight Left his House He This Deponent was in the Parlour with him and he bid this Enformant help him on with a New Chamblet Coat which he did but presently after Order'd him to help him on with an Old Chamblet Coat which he told this Deponent would Serve that Day well enough and Immediately after his said Coat was put on he went out of the Room and was going abroad and at the Gate going out of the Yard into the Lane he Suddenly Stopt and turn'd Himself toward this Deponent and Looked Seriously upon him as if he would have said something to this Deponent and in That Posture he Stood a small Time but Immediately went his Way Not Speaking to this Deponent and after That time He this Deponent never saw him Alive There will need no Hand in the Margent here to bespeak a Note upon the Disorder This Unhappy Gentleman was in upon his Last Farewel to his House and Family But I could wish the Clerk had been Call'd upon who is since Dead to Explain himself upon the Last Words of This Paragraph where he says that After that Time he never saw his Master Alive And why not as well that he never saw him after till he saw the Body at the White-house or in Hartshorn-Lane when it was brought home as that afterward he never saw him ALIVE The Stress lyes upon the Word ALIVE for Moor acknowledged upon the Examination above that he had been to look for his Master about Primrose-Hill upon the Enformation of one Parsons a Coach-maker who told him that upon Saturday Morning Sir Edmund Asked him the way thither Moor Declaring further That he was looking for him within a little from the Place where the Body was found Now Considering the Distraction that Moor and the Rest of the Family were in upon his First going away and taking Moor's Expression along with it that he had been Looking for him about Those Fields It must be Naturally Vnderstood that he looked for him in Ditches and Retired Places unless he should think to find him a Grazing among the Cows or the Sheep a Day Two or Three after he was Missing So that in All Likelyhood Moor found the Body in the very Ditch and Covers the Concealment under the Disguise of Not having seen him Alive I lay no Stress upon This but it may or it may not be and no great matter which There are Two Enformations of Mr. Cooper and Mrs. Leeson that speak to his Ill Humour of That Morning Richard Cooper Deposeth That He this Enformant well remembreth Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that he met him in St. Martins Lane going toward Newstreet betwixt That and the Crown and Scepter and that This Enformant saluted him by his Name and the Said Sir Edmund returning the Civility to this Enformant saying Good Morrow Mr. Cooper This Enformant's Sister being in Company with him and one James Lowen Keeper of Hatfield Park This was about Eight a Clock in the Morning but this Enformant cannot Positively speak to the Certain Day only he saith that he this Enformanâ— did hear the day following that the said Sir Edmund was Missing and did not come-in All Night And saith That to the best of this Enformants Memory the said Sir Edmund was in Black Cloths Stockings and Hat and that he walked with his Cane Dangling before him and that the said Sir Edmund having been formerly us'd to speak Freely and Pleasantly to this Enformant upon all Occasions this Enformant's Sister took notice of his Change of Humour and that he spake Melancholy and Discontented Mary Leeson Deposeth That about Eight a Clock in the Morning to the best of this Enformants Memory when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was first missing from his House as this Enformant heard it reported This Enformant being in Company with Mr. Richard Cooper and one Lowen met the said Sir Edmund in St. Martins Lane He going up toward New-street and this Enformant going toward the Strand This Enformant telling the said Mr. Cooper There comes Justice Godfrey The said Mr. Cooper Answering So he does and Mr. Cooper when he came up to him saluting him saying Good Morrow Sir Edmund the said Sir Edmund replying in a Grave Formal Way Good Morrow Mr. Cooper which gave this Enformant Occasion to say The Justice is Melancholy Mr. Cooper replying No He is Studying Mr. Ioseph Radcliffe speaks to the Same Point also and his Wife agrees with him in the same Thought upon the Humour they observ'd him to be in about One of the Clock the same Saturday See the Enformation at Lage cap. 18. I have Three Other Depositions that speak to the same Day and to the same Purpose and with them I shall Conclude This Chapter Thomas Snell Deposeth That He this Enformant had no Personal Knowledge of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey but that Living in Holborn over against Turn-Style he hath seen a Person often passing by his House into the Red-Lyon-Fields and hath been told Several Times but by whom this Enformant doth not remember that the said Person was Sir Edmundbury Godfrey He saith further That upon the Day as he Remembreth and Believeth whereon Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was first missing he saw about Noon as he remembreth the same Person as he verily bâ—lieveth which he had formerly been told was Sir Edmundbury Godfrey pass by the House of This Enformant into Red-Lyon-Fields And further That hearing afterward that the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was found This Enformant Reflected upon the Person that he had seen as above-said and upon the Melancholique Appearance of him as he pass'd by This Enformants House at the Time aforesaid Thomas Grundy Deposeth That He This Enformant walking out towards Hampstead
out of the Lane into a Little Alley a good Way from thence This Enformant telling his Company thereupon This is Sir Edmundbury Godfrey This looks strangely Pray God Bless him or to that Effect This Enformant being at that Time much Troubled to see him in such a Disorder and the Company at That Time making the same Reflexion upon it Mary Gibbons Iunior Deposeth That Judith Pamphlin who lived in the House with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey told this Enformant that Sir Edmund was the most Melancholique Alter'd Man of Late that could be and how upon the Day before he was Missing he brought down in a Great Discontent as many Papers as she thought would fill her Apron and threw them into the Fire Mrs. Gibbons the Mother saith also That Mrs. Pamphlin told her that Sir Edmund had been so very Discontented and out of his Ordinary Temper of Late that he Quarrel'd with his very Band Saying further That the said Sir Edmund was in so great a Disorder the Friday Night before he went away that he Tumbled over his Drawers and Trunks and burnt as many Papers as her Apron would hold To pass a short Reflexion now upon the Matters above His Disorder at the Vestry was Manifest The Wildness of his Discourse and Actions at Weldens seem'd to Point Directly at what Follow'd His Behaviour in Drury-Lane was as Freakish as any of the Rest and as much Wondred at by Those that were meer Strangers to him It must be Somewhat Extraordinary too the Account that Pamphlin gives of Burning his Papers And it was as Extravagant Perhaps as any thing else his odd manner of coming to my Lady Prats That Day and behaving himself at a rate to put the whole Company in Amazement This was the Action of Friday But now to look further back a little Mr. Thomas Wynell Deposeth That having many Occasions of Bus'ness with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey as well at the Enformants House at Cranbrook in Essex as at the House of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey in Harts-horn-Lane in the Strand He this Enformant took Notice many Times that Sir Edmund was very much Disorder'd and Troubled in his Mind and particularly some Two or Three Days before this last Appointment i. e. of Dining together that Saturday Insomuch that this Enformant did often Reason the Matter with the said Sir Edmund and use all the Means and Arguments he could to remove that Extreme Sadness and Melancholy that he Labour'd Vnder. The said Sir Edmund still persisting in That Disconsolate Temper of Mind and often expressing the Deep Sense he had of the Vnhappiness of his Condition and that he had not Long to Live. Captain Thomas Gibbon Deposeth that about Ten of the Clock in the Morning upon the Thursday before Sir E. B. Godfrey left his House the said Sir Edmund having sent for the Wife of this Enformant who could not at that Time leave her sick Mother He this Enformant went into Harts-horn-Lane to the said Sir Edmund whom he found by his Dress Looks and Actions to be in great Disorder And this Enformant finding his Company Uneasie to the said Sir Edmund soon took his Leave and returning home to his Wife he this Enformant told her his Thoughts of Sir Edmund Expressing Great Trouble for his Condition the said Sir Edmund being This Enformants Particular Friend Mary Gibbons the Daughter of the Captain above-nam'd Deposeth That some Few Days before Sir Edmund was Missing the Father of This Enformant told her that he had been to Visit Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and that he found him in so great Disorder that he was affraid he would make some Attempt upon Himself as his Father had done Mary the Wife of Captain Thomas Gibbons Deposeth as above and tells of a Remarkable Extravagance of Sir Godfrey at her House the Tuesday was Senight before he went away of which we shall speak more particularly in the Last Chapter of This Book CHAP. IV. What Opinion or Apprehension had Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Himself of his Melancholy before he went away And what was it that made him use That Expression so often I shall be the First Martyr Or I shall not Live Long. MAry Gibbon Senior Deposeth That she observed Sir Edmundbury Godfrey very Sad and Pensive some time before his Death and that the said Sir Edmund hath lamented his Condition to this Enformant saying Oh! Cozen I do inherit my Fathers Deep Melancholy I cannot get it off I have taken away a great many Ounces of Bloud but I cannot get the Victory These Words or Words to this effect the said Sir Edmund hath spoken very many times saying I am best Alone I cannot get off This Melancholy and the Like Expressions And says that not long before his Death he being Ill sent for her to make him some Jelly and that a Day or Two after she going to Visit him she found him drinking Whey with Brown Bread in it and then she said to him Sir I make Jelly for you one Day and you Drink Whey another Oh Cozen saith he throwing the Pot one way and the Spoon Another My Fathers Dark Melancholy hath Seized me It is Hereditary and I cannot get it out of me Mary Gibbons the Yonger Deposeth That this Enformant hath heard Sir Edmundbury Godfrey not long before his Death say that He Inherited his Fathers Melancholy and that he had been let Bloud but it did him no Good. William Church of the Inner Temple Gent. Deposeth That this Enformant was very well acquainted with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey for many Years before he Dy'd And that the said Sir Edmund coming often to Richmond had Lodgings there within Four or Five Doors of the House of this Enformant where this Enformant observ'd him to walk much Alone and to Shun the Company of the Gentry thereabouts And this Enformant taking Notice that the said Sir Edmund did usually exercise himself upon the Bowling-Green with Ordinary Company sometimes with Mr. Gofton's Footman at other Times with the Man that helps to Roll and Make the Ground And this Enformant meeting him did ask him the Reason Why he did not afford this Enformant and the Gentry of the Town his Conversation but kept Company with Footmen and Ordinary Fellows which were a Scandal to him To which the said Sir Edmund Reply'd That Company was very Irksom to him That he Bowl'd and Exercis'd with those mean People that he might run up and down and do what he would to divert Melancholy for he was so Overpower'd with Melancholy that his Life was very Uneasie and Burdensom to him The Substance of the Enformation above hath run much in the Mind of this Enformant and he hath upon several Occasions and for several Years past in Publique Places made the same Observations and spoke to the same effect of what he here Delivers These Expressions of the said Sir Edmund to the Best of this Enformants Memory were about a Year before he Dy'd I shall Force Nothing beyond the Genuine
them of his Locking himself up and of his Discourse and how much he was out of Humour Vpon the Hearing whereof Mr. Michael fell to stamping and Crying-out O Lord We are Ruin'd What shall we do The Brother Benjamin lifting up his eyes Wringing his Hands and breaking out into Exclamations What will become of us This Enformant asked them then what the Matter was they said Nothing But they said he was not at Church and so they thought he might have been with Her telling This Enformant also that she should hear More Henry Moor Deposeth That his Master not coming home That Saturday Night he went Early the Next day being Sunday Morning to the House of Mr. Michael Godfrey to acquaint him with his Masters Absence whereupon the said Mr. Godfrey brake out into This Expression God have Mercy upon us I pray God we hear good News of him Let any Man Consider now upon what Apprehension it was that the Brothers should be so Transported upon the Story of This Extravagance of the said Sir Edmund It will not be said I hope that This Wild Behaviour of his was a Symptom of any Danger he lay in from the Papists Mary Gibbon Iunior Deposeth That some Day betwixt Sir Edmund's Leaving his House and the finding of the Body she This Enformant saw the Two Brothers of Sir Edmund come into her Fathers House but she did not hear their Discourse only This Enformants Mother told her afterwards that upon some Discourse with them of the Strange Behaviour of their Brother a Matter of Ten Days before they brake out into Exclamations Crying out they were Ruin'd What should they do VVhat would become of them Mary Gibbon Senior further Deposeth That on Tuesday Morning the Enformant came to the House of Sir Edmund where she found Mrs. Pamphlin Crying and saying We shall never see Sir Edmund More And asking her what was become of him she said she durst not trust her And further saith That about a Fortnight after the Burial of Sir Edmund's Body Mrs. Pamphlin came to This Enformant saying It is a very sad thing that I should not be examin'd about the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey This Enformant telling her the said Pamphlin If you do know how he came by his Death and do not discover it you will be Damn'd to All Eternity The said Pamphlin replying to this Effect If his Clerk and I were Examin'd upon Oath we could say a Great Deal which I will not do Voluntarily but if I be put to my Oath I will speak what I know The Clerk knows more then you can Imagin This Enformant wrote down some Notes of what Mrs. Pamphlin said which were Deliver'd as this Enformant believeth either to the Lords Committees or to the Earl of Shaftsbury This Enformant well Remembreth that Mr. Pamphlin took Notice to her of Sir Edmund's being much out of Order some Weeks before his Death Captain Thomas Gibbon Deposeth That upon the Munday after Sir Edmundbury Godfrey went away he went to Collonel Weldens and asked him what he thought of Sir Edmund Whose Answer was I Dare not tell you my Thoughts for I have observ'd him to be much out of his Ordinary Temper ever since his Examination of Otes This Enformant telling his Wife what he had heard at his Return This Enformant went the Day Following to Sir Edmund's to know what News where Mrs. Pamphlin said that She could not tell him but bad him go into the Kitchin where the Clerk was and he would tell him more Mary Gibbon Iunior Deposeth That after Sir Edmunds Dead Body was found and that in the Time betwixt the Burial of the said Sir Edmund and the coming in of Bedloe and Prance and before any News of a Discovery how he came by his Death the said Pamphlin came to the House of This Enformants Father and was saying How strange a Thing it was that she should not be examin'd For I was warn'd said she as well as Moor and Curtis and they were examin'd and I was not Pamphlin telling her this Enformant that they were not willing she should appear Meaning as this Enformant understood her the Relations of Sir Edmund but the said Pamphlin told this Enformant that upon a Second Warning they agreed that she should Appear but bad her speak sparingly and telling her that she might safely swear That the Papists had Murther'd him This Enformant was at that Time waiting upon her Grandmother in her Death-Sickness who after the Departure of the said Pamphlin spake to the Enformant to this effect Mrs. Pamphlin has made such a Discourse here that I think you are bound in Conscience to enform a Magistrate of it for I am Confident Sir Edmund kill'd Himself This Enformant Inclining also to have some Justice of the Peace acquainted with it And this Enformant well remembreth that the said Pamphlin asked her If Sir Edmund has Murther'd himself d' ye think he is damn'd which she this Enformant much wondered at there being no occasion given for such a Question So that this Enformant asked the said Pamphlin thereupon Why d' ye say these Things to me You frighten me If you know any thing your self you ought to discover it to the Next Magistrate To which the said Pamphlin made Answer Let Old Moor be examin'd witâ— me and I 'le say what I know for I have no reason to run my self voluntarily into an Inconveniency for you know I have a Dependency upon the Brothers which this Enformant understood to be a Pension and I am loth to Anger them But if I be compell'd I 'le speak what I know This Enformant telling her again That if she knew any thing she might be examin'd in such a manner as it might appear a Force upon her For there was a Severity or a Persecution that lay heavy upon a Suffering People and she did not know what Inconveniences might follow upon it Iudith Pamphlin Deposeth That soon after Sir Eddmundbury Godfrey's withdrawing from his House this Enformant heard the Wife of Sir Edmund's Clark say Oh! That ever it should be said that such a Man as Sir Edmund should Murther Himself This being spoken some Days before the Dead Body was found William Fall Gent. Deposeth That at the Time when Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Missing from his House and to the best of this Enformants Memory before the Dead Body of the said Sir Edmund was found the Two Brothers of the said Sir Edmund Merchants in London came several times to the Lord Chancellor Nottingham's House in Queenstreet to speak with his Lordship And saith further That the Enformant enquiring of his said Brothers what was become of Sir Edmund He this Enformant apprehended by their Discourse that they were in some Apprehension that he had made himself away To say Nothing of Mr. Grundy Mr. Huysman Mr. Birtby and Mr. Snells Reflexions as appears expresly in their Enformations so soon as ever they heard the Body was found upon the Melancholique Walk
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
the right Shoulder The Right Arm stiff-stretch'd upon the Bank the Left arm Doubled under it and the Head leaning upon 't VVould any Man pass the same Iudgment now upon the Death of the same Man under the Appearance of Two so Differing Evidences And yet they are Both upon the Credit of the same Testimony Only the One was Calculated for the Iury and the Other for the Truth of the Fact which Latter Deposition we have had already I do not say Yet that there is any Contradiction in This Diversity but the Evidence is suited to the Question and then there 's a Latitude for Words and Phrases that may seem to speak One Thing and Import Another As his Lying Dead in the Ditch sounds as if he had been kill'd and Thrown there which is only a Cast of the Clerk's skill for the Better Colour of an Ill Bus'ness And what 's his Descanting then upon the Cleanness of his Shoes and the Print of the Pummel of his Sword but the Encroachment of a Witness upon the Office of a Iuror Or effectually VVhat 's the whole Enformation but an Answer to such Leading Questions as make the Depositions look liker an Argument then a Testimony Now Brown Applies his Answers to the respective Interrogatories and if he fell short it was the Examiner's Fault not His. And so for the taking of him up without a Band it was Just as much to the Purpose as if he had Whistled The single Bus'ness of their Enquiry was to Learn what Death the Justice Dy'd and whether strangled or not so that All This was not One Jot to the Point unless they would draw Inferences from the Soles of his Shoes to the Circles about his Neck Now to an Ordinary Bodies Thinking Brown might have been Catechiz'd upon Matters Infinitely more Instructive to the Iurors then any thing that appears hitherto from These Enformations Brown could have told of the Crashing of the Sword through the Bone the Gubbling of the Bloud that came out and the spattering Noise it made upon the Ground at the Drawing of it And This was No more then what was well Enough Known too but for Solemnities sake there must be somewhat upon Record Transmitted to After-Times in Honour of the Cause and for the Perpetual Memory of the Thing In which Case the Bloud the Posture and some other Dangerous Circumstances were found Convenient by the Managers of That season to be better Out then In. The Next Enformation is Harry Moors an Old Servant in the Family the Clark and not a little the Confident of the late Sir Edmundbury Godfrey for he was Inward with him in Most of his Privacies he was the last Man too that saw him at his House the Morning he went away And the Person Principally employ'd by the Brothers to Look and Hearken after him from the first Hour of his Missing to the finding of the Body In One word he was the likeliest Man alive to set them right in their Bus'ness It is to be Noted also that the Brothers were Intimate with the Coroners and Both or One of them from First to last no less Assiduous with the Inquest So that Moor could probably speak to a Thousand Particular Things that no Body else perhaps might take any Notice of Now what ever he knew to be sure the Brothers Knew And what ever They knew as to This Matter it is to be Honestly Presum'd that the Coroner knew Insomuch that they had All the Intelligence among them which the Brothers the Coroner and the Clerk could Contribute Ioyntly or Severally to the bringing of the Point to a Fair Issue VVe shall see now in the Next Chapter what Vse was made of Moors Testimony and how they Squeez'd him upon the Examination to Draw from him the Uttermost of his Knowledge upon Those Necessary Points which they knew he could speak to To Conclude He did Certainly know a Great Deal The Brothers and the Coroner did Both Certainly know that he Did so And it must be then Consider'd that he did Probably know More Yet then they could Certainly Charge upon him and therefore it was Their Part to have him Examin'd to the Probabilities as well as to the Certainties A Plain Blunt Enquiry upon These Heads will do a Great deal toward the satisfying of the VVorld whether the Mighty Clutter that has been made here about sifting and searching was Banter or Earnest CHAP. XVII Notes upon the Mysterious Examination of Henry Moor Clerk to Sir Edmundbury Godfrey HEre was a Iury Summon'd and brought together upon the View of a Dead Body Consultations and Debates in Form Surgeons and Witnesses Advis'd withal and Examin'd And All upon a Short Question Whether the Person Dy'd of the Wound or of a Suffocation And whether Felo de se or Not Among other Evidences they Pitched upon Harry Moor for One to give the best Account he could about the Death of his Master Wherein it falls in Course to be consider'd How far Moor was certainly Privy to Matters VVhat Points he could speak to How far the Brothers the Coroner and several of the Iurors Themselves were Enform'd of his Knowledge of Things and how far in fine he was There Interrogated upon Those Special Matters which They Themselves knew Necessary to be Clear'd toward the Discovery of the Truth and which they had Reason to Presume and to Believe that Moor was able to give a very Good Account of I shall be forc'd upon This Occasion to Deliver the Substance over again of some Depositions that I have made use of in Parcels already but to Differing Purposes For the Question in Those Cases was properly the Truth of the Fact whereas we are now upon the Candor and Equity of the Proceeding William Collins one of the Iurors saw Sir Godfrey upon Saturday Morning talking with a Milk-woman near Marybone-Conduit Thomas Mason of Marybone Another of the Iurors on the same Morning met Sir Edmund afterward betwixt Marybonâ—-Pound and Marybone-Street coming back again for London Upon the Monday following Moor walked out in the Morning to look his Master and seeing Mr. Mason by the way near his own House Asked him If he had seen Sir Edmundbury Godfrey in the Fields since Saturday For he had lost his Master and knew not what was become of him Whose Answer was That he had seen him on Saturday Morning as above and not since It is here to be Noted that Moor had heard of his Master on Monday Morning though the Family gave it out That the first Tydings they had of him was from Parsons a Coach-maker at a Funeral on Tuesday Night which Account was That upon Saturday Morning he met Sir Edmund in St. Martins-Lane who asked him the VVay to Padington Woods or thereabouts And the VVhole Story thus far was well known to the Brothers and the Coroners On the same Saturday he went away Mr. Radcliffe had him by the Hand at his own Door in the Strand about
have had Such a Superabundance of more Pregnant and Convincing Arguments and Evidences that I should not so much as have Mention'd This Particular but that there 's somewhat of Curiosity in it as well as of Use. We have now pass'd through the Several Points in order as they were laid down in the Course of our Distribution concerning the Sufficiency of the Proofs Produc'd The Sincerity of making the Best of them in Matters whereof the Examiners had Certain Knowledge the Competency of the Witnesses that were Summon'd and the Best Emprovement also of what they Did say and of what in Likelyhood and Reason they might be able to say More I shall pass now to a Consideration of some Witnesses that were not Summon'd and might have been more Serviceable in Common Probability to the Satisfaction of the Iury upon the Enquiry they had Then before them then any of the rest CHAP. XX. Mrs. Gibbon's Enformation Compared with the Coroners Report and the Matter submitted to All Indifferent Men whether the Design throughout was to Discover the Truth or to Stifle it With an Appendix for a Conclusion HEre 's a Subject a Magistrate a Master a Friend a Relation and an Acquaintance Lost in the Person of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and All these Circumstances are to be Consulted toward the finding out what is become of him Now in Order to such a Discovery a Man Naturally Bethinks himself somewhat to This Purpose What Confidences had he What Haunts What Persons were Most Privy to his Affairs his Ways and Humors What Servants Who saw him when he went away from his House Who saw him Afterward In whose Company was he Last c. There 's Nothing more Familiar or Reasonable then such Enquiries as These provided they be made in the Proper Place and Apply'd to the Right Persons So that the Brothers were well advis'd upon the First Missing of him to go to Coll. Weldens his Common Baiting-Place to hearken after him His Servant Pamphlin goes the Next day to Mrs. Gibbons upon the same Errand and so did the Brothers on the Munday as one of Sir Edmunds Ancient and Particular Friends It is to be taken for Granted that they did not Forget to Examine Sir Edmunds Domestiques What They Knew What they Thought What they Observ'd and it is as Little to be Doubted that the Servants gave them All the Lights they could upon such Questions The reason of the Thing Carry'd them still forward upon the same Train of Likely-hoods to Enquire of Parsons Mason Collins and the Milk-woman to Learn what he said What he Did How he Look'd Which way he Went c. and who knows but Such a Trayle might have brought them to the Ditch where he was found But to the Admiration of All People we do not find that any One of All These Persons Harry Moor only Excepted with his Lac'd Band was Formally and Publickly Examin'd about This Matter Nor so much as one Question put with any sort of Tendency or the Least Appearance of Good-will toward an Effectual Discovery as we have already Set forth in an Orderly Series of Observations upon This Topique And there Needs No Better Proof of This Assertion then the Testimony of the Enformations Themselves I find 't is true an Enformation of Mrs. Gibbons among the Coroners Papers but the Verdict was over before it was Taken It was by Command not by Choice and how it was Manag'd will appear upon a Collation of other Circumstances with the Enformation It was it seems by the Special Order of my Lord Chancellor Nottingham that Mr. Cowper the Coroner took This Enformation of Mrs. Gibbon and his Direction as he told her was to Examine her upon Oath what Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Said to her about a Fortnight before his Death As we shall see by and by This gives to Understand that the Matter in Question was a Thing of very great Importance for his Lordship would never have thought the Cause worth a Review if he had not been told something very Extraordinary concerning That Encounter Now to Expound the Story there was a very remarkable Passage upon a Visit that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey made to Mrs. Gibbons on Tuesday the First of October 1678. And That 's the Busness the Coroner was now to take an Account of But This Enformation has had the Fortune I perceive of the rest of it's Fellows to come into the World Lame and Imperfect to the Degree of Defeating the very Intent of the Examination But briefly Whatever it was the Coroner Undoubtedly Attended my Lord Chancellor with a Copy of the Enformation and an Answerable Report upon the Whole Matter as here under-follows Midd. ss The Enformation of Mary Wife of Thomas Gibbon Esq taken upon Oath before me SHE saith That about a fortnight last past in an Afternoon Sir Edmundbury Godfrey came to her House in Old Southampton Buildings and upon Discourse with her Ask'd her if she did not hear that he was to be Hang'd for not discovering the Plot against his Majesty for that He the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey had taken the Examination of one Otes and one Tong touching the same the 6th day of September and had not Discover'd it to any Person living whereupon this Enformant asked the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey why he had not acquainted the Duke of York or the Lord Chancellor or the Lord Treasurer with the same and Then This Enformant told the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey that she Suppos'd that what he then said was but in Jest touching his being Hang'd Whereupon he reply'd that he had not told Sir William Jones thereof although he had been at the said Sir William Jones his House Several times since and then told this Enformant that the King and Councel knew of the Plot before his Majesty went to Windsor which was about a Month before he took the said Examination Whereupon this Enformant ask'd him if he thought there was Really any Plot intended against his Majesty To which he reply'd that surely there Was but that Otes had Sworn Somewhat more then was True and therefore the Papists would find so much favour as to have All things that Otes had Sworn to be thought Lyes and Then This Deponents Brother Coll Rooke came into the Room and then the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey took his Leave of This Enformant saying that he was to Go to the Lord Chief Iustice about Bus'ness and said that he would Call on This Enformant some other Time and Tell her More and Since That Time she hath not seen Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and farther saith not Jo. Cowper Coroner Mary Gibbon There will be no great need of a Key to uncypher This Mystery if the Reader shall but duly Consider the Matter before him upon Comparing other Enformations of Mrs. Gibbons with This before the Coroner There 's One that Speaks Almost peculiarly to This Subject and Another that 's more General and at Large but I shall take so much