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
been Twisted towards the Left Side which was One of the Occasions of his Death as This Enformant believes Jo. Cowper Coroner Zac. Skillarn The Enformation of Nicholas Cambridge of St. Giles in the Fields Chirurgeon taken upon Oath the same Day and Year before Me. This Enformant saith the same Jo. Cowper Coroner Nicholas Cambridge Here 's the Iudgment of the Surgeons upon Oath before the Coroner Octob. 18 19. 1678. and their Evidence was much thereabouts afterward at the Tryal of the Pretended Murtherers Feb. 10. 1678 9. But the Fairest way will be to Deliver the Colloquy at Large for so much a concerns This Subject I shall only take Notice of One Artificial Insinuation by the Way We Desire says Mr. Attorney to call the Surgeons that View'd and OPEN'D the Body Mr. Skillarn and Mr. Cambridge Tryal fol. 30. Now this was to possess the Audience with a Full Persuasion of the most Reasonable Thing in the World and that the Body had been Open'd Indeed Whereas there was No Opening of the Body but on the contrary the Thing was Mov'd and Desir'd but the Brothers would not Permit it and Mr. Hobbs as he told me very Frankly with his own Lips was Absolutely for it for says he upon the Opening of the Body you should have known as well what Death he Dy'd as if you had seen it But now to the Evidence Mr. Att. G. Did you observe his Breast how was it Mr. Skillarn His Breast was All beaten with some Obtuse Weapon either with the Feet or Hands or Something Mr. Att. G. Did you observe his Neck Mr. Skillarn Yes It was Distorted Mr. Att. G. How far Mr. Skillarn You might have taken the Chin and have set it upon either Shoulder Mr. Att. G. Did you Observe the Wound Mr. Skillarn Yes I did It went in at one place and Stopt at a Rib the Other Place it was quite through the Body Mr. Att. G. Do you think he was kill'd by That Wound Mr. Skillarn No for then there would have been some Evacuation of Bloud which there was Not And besides his Bosom was open and he had a Flannel Wastcoat and a Shirt on and neither Those nor any of his Clothes were Penetrated Mr. Att. Gen. But are you Sure his Neck had been Broken Mr. Skillarn Yes I am sure Mr. Att. G. Because some have been of Opinion that he Hang'd Himself and his Relations to Save his Estate run him through I would desire to ask the Chirurgeon what he Thinks of it M. Skillarn There was more done to his Neck then an Ordinary Suffocation the Wound went through his very Heart and there would have appear'd some Bloud if it had been done quickly after his Death Mr. Att. G. Did it appear by the View of the Body that he was Strangled or Hang'd Mr. Skillarn He was a Lean Man and his Muscles if he had died of the Wound would have been Turgid And Then again All Strangled People never Swell because there is a Sudden Deprivation of all the Spirits and a hindring of the Circulation of the Bloud Mr. Att. G. How long do you believe he might be dead before you saw him Mr. Skillarn I believe four or five days And they might have kept him a Week and he never Swell'd at All being a Lean Man. And when we Ript him up he began for to Putrify we made two Incisions to give it Vent and the Liquor that was in his Body did a Little Smell The very Lean Flesh was so near turn'd into Putrefaction that it Stuck to the Instrument when we Cut it Mr. Recorder My Lord here is another Chirurgeon Mr. Cambridge Pray Sir are you Sworn Mr. Cambridge Yes I am Mr. Recorder When did you see the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Mr. Cambridge Vpon Friday the very day the Gentleman did I found his Neck Dislocated and his Breast very much Beaten and Bruised And I found Two Punctures under his left Pap the one went against the Rib the other quite through the Body under the Left Pap. Mr. Att. G. Do you believe That Wound was the Occasion of his Death Mr. Cambridge No I believe it was given him after his Death L. C. J. And his Neck was Broke Mr. Cambridge His Neck was Dislocated Sir. The Matter here Under Consideration was the Distortion of his Neck His Bruises No Evacuation of Bloud The Appearance of his Muscles Insomuch that they both Agree that the Wound was given him after his Death And the Bruises are presum'd to have been Occasion'd by the Blows he received from the Murtherers upon Struggling to Defend himself The Reader is here to take Notice that Mr. Skillarne and Cambridge were the Two only Surgeons that were taken in for Assistants to the Coroner But however that there were others Call'd-in who saw him by the By to give Evidence afterward upon a Tryal at Guild-hall Iune 20. 1682. As Mr. Hobbs The Two Mr. Chaces Father and Son Mr. Lazenby Mr. Hobb'es Part was This. L. C. Justice Had you any doubt whether he was Murther'd Mr. Hobbs Indeed my Lord I thought he was Strangled That was my Opinion I can't tell Whether I was Mistaken I said to Dr. Goodal it would be very well if Mr. Godfrey would send for a Surgeon and a Physician from the Court and Others from the City to SATISFY ALL PERSONS Mr. Farwell What Colour was his Face Mr. Hobbs My Lord it was Bloated L. C. J. Did it look as if Violence had been Vs'd to him Mr. Hobbs Ay my Lord and the Bloudy Vessels of his Eyes were so full as if he had been Troubled with Sore Eyes Tryal of Nathaniel Thompson c. fol. 23 24. The Evidence that the Two Mr. Chaces gave upon the Matter here in Question was to This Effect Mr. Chace the Son upon Fryday Morning View'd the Ditch and saw No Bloud in 't He saw the Body in the House Two Wounds A Contusion on the Left Ear. He Believ'd he was Strangled and those Injuries done after he was Dead Mr. Chace the Father saw the Body at the White-House on Fryday a Contusion and Two Wounds And the Next day he saw a Swelling on his Left Ear as if a Knot had been Ty'd fol. 24. Mr. Lazenby took him to be Strangled and gave his Reasons There was Bloud Four Yards from the Ditch that Smelt as Strong as if he had been Dead a Fortnight He Believ'd he was Strangled His Stomach and Breast were much Discolour'd and Black and his Mouth Discolour'd He went up-stairs to Drink a Glass of Beer and was Call'd down again to see Two Great Creases about his Neck being told that young Mr. Chace had Vnbutton'd the Collar So being come down he put the Collar together and Perceived the Collar made a Mark like a Streight Ring upon a Finger the Neck being Swell'd above the Collar and Below by the Strangling with a Chord or Cloth Tryal fol. 25 26. I must observe here by the way now that my
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
in the Case of This Discourse are These First Was Sir E. B. Godfrey Murther'd at Somerset-House according to the Evidence of Bedloe and Prance or was he Not Whoever says or thinks he Was must Remove Forty Contradictions and Impossibilities out of the way before any Man can pretend to Believe it If he was Not there 's the Bloud of Three Innocent Men to Answer for that was Shed upon That Perjury Now if he Was again There 's the King the Queen Consort that then was and now Queen Dowager the Lord Bellassis c. These were All Expresly in 't but then by Complication and Confederacy Whoever was in the Plot was more or less a Friend to the Murther And Bedloe Swears that Every considerable Papist in England was under an Oath of Secrecy to Conceal it But once again now If he was Not Murther'd there as they swore he Was What Reparation for the Honour of so many Illustrious Names as will be deliver'd over to After-Ages in Depositions Iournals and other Records under the Blot of This Infamy To Obviate These Two Questions I have Divided This Tract into Two Parts In the Former the Forgery is layd so Open that I dare Defie the History of the whole World to produce Any One Cause where-ever a False Oath Impos'd an Abuse upon a Court of Iustice which was Afterward so Vnanswerably Disprov'd and by so many several Ways The First Part in short Discharges Somerset-House of the Murther The Question of the Second is Felo de se or Not And if Sir William Iones's Circumstances and Concurrent Testimonies Greens Tryal pag. 72. may but pass for as Good Evidence on the Behalf of Truth as for the Support of an Imposture the Felo de se is much clearer in This Case then the Popish Murther was in the Other I have not pass'd over Any Thing hitherto that I found worth a Notice but in regard that Men that have Least to say are apt to make the Most of a Little and that there are yet remaining Vntouch'd some Popular Stories that have obtained among the Multitude I shall Subjoyn an Appendix upon Those Points to what I have said Already and so Conclude APPENDIX PRANCE's History of the Merry-meeting at the Queen's-Head at Bow where was Lauson Vernatti Girald Dethick and Himself is a Sham of the same Batch with the rest of his Works and the Perjury confess'd Mr. Vernatti has Fairly and Legally Acquitted Himself and Mr. Dethick has been pleas'd to give the Following Account of That Days Meeting Sign'd with his own Hand The Attestation of George Dethick Esq about the Meeting of the Pretended Plotters at Bow. THAT about the Seventh day of November 1678. One Mr. Vernatti sent a Note for me desiring my Company at the Queens Head-Tavern at Bow where accordingly I came and found there Mr. Vernatti Mr. Lewson and One Other Person which since I have been Enformed was Mr. Miles Prance and no body else Except the Master of the House who came to us where we Dined And I do well remember that Prance a little before Dinner had some Discourse with the Drawer for Standing at the Door at which I was somewhat concern'd and being a Stranger to Prance told him we had No Bus'ness that we Cared who knew and that I was well known to the Master of the House upon which I Opened the Door and so it remained all the while we remained there during which time there was not a Paper read or account given of any Matter relating to the Murther of Sir Edmund Godfrey nor so much at his Name Mentioned to the Best of my Remembrance but I do remember there were some Verses Written and Read by Mr. Vernatti but what they were I cannot possibly say Likewise to the Best of my Remembrance I never saw Mr. Miles Prance either before or since That Time. George Dethick There was a Great Talk in Those Days too about one Iennings a Cow-keeper that was Taken up and Charg'd for Advising Bromwel Walters and Rawson that first found the Body to take no further Notice of it but rather let some body else find it out for nothing would come of it but Trouble It appears upon the Depositions of the Three Persons above Named that Iennings did speak VVords to that Effect and Iennings himself owns the speaking of the VVords but Deposeth withal as followeth Edward Iennings Deposeth That he had never seen nor heard of that Body before they told him of it And saith That in the Spring following he was committed to New Prison upon the Oath of his Wife that he brought home a Band and said it was the Band of Sir E. Godfrey He continued a Pris'ner there a Month within Two Days to the best of his Remembrance And saith That the Under-keeper of the said Prison told him that among other Persons that came there to him there was one of the Brothers of the said Sir Edmund Prance and Otes There went a Hot Report of Cattle taken away from him and of the Bus'ness being made up and his Cattle Restor'd again no body knew how I have met with many sober People that laid a great Stress upon This Story but for my own Part I could never find any thing in 't to build upon The Staffordshire Letter of Intelligence about the Death of Sir E. B. Godfrey made a mighty Noise in the Tryal of the Iesuits and of my Lord Stafford Insomuch that Challenges were made to all the Papists in England to wipe off that Evidence and the Weight effectually of the whole Cause was thrown upon that Issue Mr. Evers as Dugdale Swears received a Letter from London at Tixhall upon Monday Octob. 14. 1678. bearing Date Saturday the 12 th with These Words in 't This Night Sir E.B.G. is Dispatch'd Lord Staffords Tryal fol. 22. And this Evidence was Back'd by several other Testimonies 134 135 136 137. of the said Tryal And so likewise in the Tryal of the Five Iesuits Now the Force of the Inference was This The Body was not found till Thursday the 17 th And how should any Man that was not privy to the Murther give such an Account of it upon Saturday the 12 th For they had the News of it in Staffordshire upon the Monday I shall only Refer the Reader to the Sixth Chapter of this Second Part 199. for a Full and Final Answer where he shall find a Report Raised and Industriously spread on the very Saturday Sir Edmund went away upon that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Murther'd by the Papists so that the Saturdays-Post might well carry the News into Staffordshire by Monday There was Notable Clashing I remember about the Credit of the Staffordshire Evidence that was given upon This Point But if the Rumour was so Rife about the Town upon the Saturday 't is All a Case to me whether they had it in Staffordshire or Not for if they had it Not they might have had it which is the same Thing
Cook threw the Bloud out at the Kitchin-Window Jurat die Anno supradict The Mark of John T Taylour The Enformation of Mr. Iames Cook of the Savoy c. SAITH That Mr. Lambe came to This Enformant upon Munday Morning the 30th of January Last past and let him Bloud And that This Enformant seeing the Bloud yet standing in the Porringer on the Day following One ask'd This Enformant what he meant to do with the Bloud to let it stand so long And so he took it and threw it out at the Window into the Thames And This Enformant heard that Bloud was seen upon the Wall and at the Bottom where it fell but This Enformant did not see it And This Enformant seeing People about the Bloud under the Window and Reflecting upon the Limbs that were there found bad the Cook not Wash the Porringer for People might possibly come to search about it Jurat die Anno supradict James Cooke Midd. Westm. ss The Enformation of Peter Bayly of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields Taken upon Oath Ian. 9. 168 7 8. THIS Enformant saith that upon Monday the 30th of January 168 7 8. About one of the Clock he was in the Kitchin belonging to the Schools in the Savoy where he saw two Porringers of Bloud which he was told was the Bloud of Mr. Cook and of John Taylor And that he this Enformant saw the Cook throw out the Bloud of the said John Taylor as he was told it was out of the Kitchen Window Jurat ' die Anno Supradict Peter Bayly The Enformation of Ignatius Walters of the Savoy taken upon Oath Feb. 29. 168 7 8. SAITH that on Sunday Jan. 29. 168 7 8. This Enformant held the Porringer to Mr. Hall in the Great Room up One pair of Stairs while Mr. Lambe let him Bloud And saith That on Tuesday Morning next following he saw Mr. Allen throw out Mr. Hall's Bloud and Mr. Cook throw his Own out at the Kitchen-Window And that on the Monday above this Enformant saw John Taylor let Bloud and this Enformant threw it out of the Aforesaid Window the same Afternoon And this Enformant saith That a little of the Bloud stuck upon the Wall toward the Thames which was not brushed off till the Thursday following Jurat ' die Anno supradict Ignatius Walters There never were Two Shams better Match'd and the World could never have Furnished me with a more Auspicious Entrance into my Story of Godfrey then this of Aubry For Dennis Aubry is the Name of this Murther'd Person I speak as to the Emprovement of a Prodigious Mischief out of a False and a Scandalous Foundation Only for the Honour of This Latter the Other was much the Grosser Imposture of the Two as will more and more appear upon a thorough Perusal and Consideration of this Ensuing Treatise As to the Method and Disposition of the Matter in hand I have Divided the Whole into Two Parts and Each Part into Chapters with Contents to them that will do the Office of a Table And I have further for the Stopping of All Mouths Deposited the Originals in the Paper-Office to the End that whoever Doubts whether they are Authentique or not needs go no further for satisfaction then to the Bundle it self as it remains there under the Title of Enformations concerning the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK 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 p. 1. II. Why and How the Pretended Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was made a Branch of the Pretended Plot Exhibited by Dr. Tong and Titus Otes p. 8. III. Bedloe and Prance swore to the Plot as well as to the Murther p. 15. IV. Notes upon the Transition of Bedloe's and Prance's Evidence from the Proof of the Murther to the Witnessing of the Plot p. 22. V. Notes upon certain Omissions Enlargements Disagreements and Contradictions in the Evidence of Bedloe and Prance concerning the Plot together with the True Reasons thereof p. 28. VI. An Abstract of the Evidence that Bedloe gave concerning the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey First before the Lords House the Lords Committees and the King and Council 2ly Vpon the Tryals of Green Berry and Hill in the Court of Kings-Bench with Notes upon the Whole p. 42. VII How Prance came to be Taken-up How he was Manag'd With the Sum of his Evidence about Sir Edmundbury Godfrey and a General Reflexion upon the Whole p. 51. VIII The Secret History of Prance's Condition from December 29. 1678. to January 11. 1679. and the secret Manage of him in the Prison p. 64. IX Prance's Ill Vsage with a Brief Account of Himself How he came to Depart from his Evidence The Bishop of St. Asaphs Commission to Examine him and several Passages clear'd in the Proceeding p. 74. X. Why this History was not published sooner Their Ways of suppressing the Truth as in the Case of Brumwel Walters Gibbon Coral c. and of Encouraging False Witnesses p. 92. XI Notes upon Bedloe's and Prance's Evidence compared one with Another p. 110. XII Some General Touches upon the Character of Bedloe and Prance and their Credit in other Cases as well as This not forgetting Titus Otes p. 116. XIII The Relation of Godfrey's Murther as it stands in the Narratives and Tryals is one of the most Unlikely Stories to be True that ever was made Publique and Believed p. 132. XIV The Extreme Difficulty of Reconciling the History of the Murther at Somerset-house to the Matters of Fact as they appear'd in the Ditch at Primrose-hill and upon the Verdict The Reasons of that Difficulty and how it might have been in some measure prevented p. 153. XV. Supposing the Murther of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey to have been a Branch of the Popish Plot as it was commonly reputed If there was No such Plot there was No such Murther p. 159 PART II. THE Vindication of Green Berry and Hill upon the Ground of Sir William Jones's Law and Equity p. 163. II. What Humour was Sir Edmundbury Godfrey observed to be in upon the Morning and Day when he left his House p. 170. III. What Notice was taken of Sir E. B's Melancholy before he went away from his House and what Opinion or Apprehension had People concerning it p. 176. 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 p. 181. V. What did Sir Edmundbury Godfreys 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 p. 188. VI. What Endeavours were used to lay the Death of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey upon the Papists p. 199. VII How Matters
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
towards the Court the Chamber belonging to some of the Servants of Sir John Arundel where it remain'd until Nine or Ten of the Clock on Wednesday-Night and then thinking it fit to remove it to the Little Room where first it Lay this Examinant happened to come as they were lifting it up the said Eight Steps whereupon Hill and Berry fled as supposing him to be some Stranger but Gerald Green and the Irishman stood still and so he helped them to Lift up the Body into the former Closet and There it continued till after Twelve of the Clock the same Wednesday Night Hill and Berry came to them when their Fright was over and Hill having got a Sedan and placing it in the long dark Entry at the Foot of the said Eight Stairs they put the Body thereinto The Examinate Prance and Gerald first took up the Chair and convey'd it through the Upper-Court Berry the Porter open'd half the Gate and let them out and they rested not till they came to Covent Garden where Green and another Irish-man took their Turns and so carry'd the Sedan and Body in it as far as the New Grecian Church in the So-ho and there Hill met them with a Horse whereupon they took out the Body and forcing open the Legs they set it upon the Horse Hill Riding behind to keep the Body up while Green Gerald and the Irish-man went to accompany him Berry the Porter did not depart from the Gate and the Examinate Prance fearing to be missing return'd home when the Body was set on Horseback and the Sedan which was left in one of the New Unfinished Houses they took it up and brought it home as they came back He further saith That the Body lay in Somerset-House about Six or Seven Days before it was Carry'd out but he is not certain in the Number of the Days He was very Positive as to the Place where the Murther was Committed and the Manner of it as also for the Room where the Body was first laid but being desired to conduct us to the Room next the Garden he led us to the Corner of the Piazza on the Left hand and so down a Pair of Stairs and so far seem'd to be assured he had been Led and did think that he pass'd through the Great Court Below But when from Thence we went up and down into several Rooms he seem'd very Doubtful and could not ascertain the Places saying He had never been there but that Once when Hill convey'd him thither with a Dark Lanthorn but that it was some Chamber towards the Garden In the House where the Body was first layd we found a Woman whose Deposition we have taken She was House-keeper to Dr. Godwin and the said Hill had been a Servant to the said Doctor in this House for above Seven Years and continued to live there since the Doctor 's Departure until Michaelmas Last but that he hath been there Three several Times since and she also knew the Examinate and call'd him by his Name All which is humbly submitted to your Majesty 24. Decemb. 1678. Monmouth Ossory Vpon reading which Report it appear'd that the Particulars were very Consonant to what he had spoken at the Board in the Morning before his going at which time being also further asked Why he gave so different a Relation to the Commitee of the Lords from what he now so freely Confess'd He made Answer He was in much Confusion before the Committee being not sure of his Pardon but now being Sure of it and also upon his Oath he did Speak the whole Truth according to his Knowledge And being then further Asked Why he came not in upon the Proclamation and the Reward thereof He said He was affraid to Trust thereunto And being further Asked What Reward he had receiv'd from those that Employ'd him He said He had yet received no Reward nor had he sought for any but only the Promise of Gerald that there should be a Reward by the Lord Bellassis He said that he wrought in the way of his Trade to the Queens Chappel and was a Roman Catholick but that about Eight Weeks ago he had taken the Oathes Being Asked Whether there were no Guards in the usual places at the time of Carrying on this Work He saith He did not take Notice of any And being asked Whether he saw Bedloe when he was Carry'd to see the Body when it lay in the Back-Chamber near the Garden He Answered He could not tell whether Bedloe was There or No but doth remember that Gerald and Green were then Present He adds that Hill Green and Gerald told him that they had at Primrose-hill Thrust Sir Edmund's Sword through his Body till it came an Inch out of his Back and that he strugled very much at the time they strangled him but that Green punched him with his knees upon his Body to hasten his Death The Council sate again in the Afternoon and Prance was Confronted with Green Hill and Berry who Deny'd every Syllable of the Charge and Prance stood as stoutly to every Point of the Accusation On the Following 25 26 27 28 December there pass'd little more then the same thing over again from some Members of Both Houses who were often with him in Newgate and still telling him when his Evidence did not agree with Bedloe's that he was a Rogue and had a Mind to spoil All with Menares if he did not Confess Upon Sunday the 29 th he was Examin'd before the King in Council And Denying All he was asked what Inducement he had to the story Why he swore against Those Persons Who put him upon 't He said No Body Prompted him He only knew the Men that he swore against He never saw Bedloe before he was taken up He knew Nothing of the Plot nor of the Murther All he had Sworn was False He never was Guilty of any Man's Bloud and could not Rest for the Story he had told But Wren ought him Mony and Threatned him because he Press'd him for 't and so Hair'd him into 't Some there were that Call'd him a Thousand Villains and Apostates and Threatned to shew him the Wrack but he was in the Conclusion Remanded to Newgate It should have been Premis'd that the Keeper being Order'd to Attend the Council with his Pris'ner Prance made it his request that he might Wait upon his Majesty before he Carry'd him to the Council Captain Richardson Enform'd the King of his Earnest desire and he was Order'd to Carry Prance to Mr. Chiffinch's Lodgings which accordingly he did and stayd there together with him 'till his Majesty came into the next Chamber and Beckon'd Prance to come to him and the Door was shut after him He had been a very short time there When his Majesty Open'd the Door Prance being then upon his knees and bad Mr. Chiffinch and Captain Richardson to take Notice of what Prance sayd VVho being call'd upon to speak what he had to say Declar'd
So that there 's No Great Wonder in 't if People were Wary of Medling when they were only to be Vndone for their Pains But This was not a Thing to be expected so long as the Kingdom lay Trembling and Groaning under the Awe and Tyranny of the Plot-Faction and therefore it was but Reasonable to Wait till Honest Men might come once again to have a Clear Stage and Fair Iudges As to the Second Objection of the Season being Past and Consequently the Vse and Service of such an Enformation I have This to say for my self that if the Sacredness of Truth be at All Times and upon All Occasions within the Compass of Discretion and Good Manners to be Preserv'd Nay to carry it yet Higher and Higher If the Setting of all Christendom right upon a Subject wherein they have been abus'd by Thousands of False and Scandalous Papers and Reports to the Dishonour of the King the Royal Family This Imperial Government and the English Nation If the doing of All This I say be a Thing Necessary to be done to the Highest Degree of a Moral Necessity I can then Justifie my self to be at This Instant in the Exercise of a Needful as well as a Warrantable Duty But now the Objection of Why so Late seems to look Two Ways First for Instance as who should say 'T is Pity 't was done no sooner Implying a Thing fit to be done And this same Why so late Another way Taken may Import quite Another Meaning as who should say again He durst not meddle with it while People were Living and Matters fresh in their Memories Now this Suggestion is so far from Reflecting a Prejudice upon the Testimony of the Kings Witnesses or the Reputation of That Cause so far I say from a Disadvantage on That side and an Advantage on the Other that I shall Allow the Testimony of the Kings Witnesses to be of the same force Now that it was Before and pay the same Deference to the Proofs of the Dead Witnesses on That side that I do to the Living So that Their Cause is just in the same State Now that it was Before Whereas the Delay on the Other Hand has made it Infinitely Harder to Detect the Sham at This Distance then it was so long ago For there are I know not how many Stabbing Witnesses Dead since who Durst not open their Mouths when the Prosecution was afoot that would have Spoken to the Practices of Prance and Bedloe the Discoveries they made in their Froliques The Privacies of That Interval betwixt Sir Edmunds Departure from his House and the finding of his Body And All These are Lost Now to My Purpose Any further then as to the Hearsay of what they spake upon Knowledge And yet in Despite of Calumny Oblivion nay of Death it Self the Light of the Noon-Day-Sun shall not be more Vniversally Acknowledged by All Men that have Eyes in their Heads then the Clearness of the Matter here in Question to All Those that are not Sworn Enemies to Plain-Dealing and Common Sense I shall only give some few Instances when I come to That Topique out of a great Many and lay No more stress upon them then in Equity the Presumption will bear To come Now to the Methods that were Us'd for the Frighting the Baffling or the Suppressing of Fair Witnesses and for the Suborning the Engaging the Protecting and Countenancing of Profligate Mercenaries that will swear any Thing This Practice in the First place Answers the Question Why so Late And it comes Next to be Consider'd What it was How it was Manag'd and what Effects it Produc'd There is but Soul Body Reputation Life Limb Liberty and Estate the Comfort of Friends Relations and Humane Society that a Man has to Consider in This World and every Man as he Likes when he comes to the Touch upon This Point Here was the Body of a Magistrate found Dead in a Ditch in such Manner and with such Circumstances as has been said Over and Over already Now it was Highly Expedient at That Time to make a Popish Assassination of it and so to Close-Draw it into the same Piece with the Popish Plot. During the Innocency of the First Heat there was a Warm Application made to his Late Majesty for the Promise of a Reward upon the Discovery to the Discoverers of it There was as it happen'd the Snare of a Dilemma upon the King. Cover'd Under This Proposition A Refusal would have been Interpreted a Popish Inclination in favour of the Plot and had Infallibly been made use of as a Mighty Stumbling-block In Case of Yielding it was Constructively but so much Mony offer'd to any Man that Right or Wrong would swear Himself into a Discovery But there was However a Proclamation Emitted a Reward of Five Hundred Pound Promis'd and William Bedloe or Beddoe was the First that Leapt at the Bait. The Wheel was now in Motion Here 's a second Witness to the Plot and a single Evidence to the Murther But the Plot by Good Manage was so Artificially Link'd to the Murther that Both Works were put in a Way to go-on Together In one Word they were to make their Market among an Abandon'd sort of People that had Neither Honour nor Conscience and the Profligate and the Fearful were the Men for their Turns so many as would be wrought upon by Mony Liberty Protection Indemnity or Popular Applause to act against All Principles of Faith Truth and Conscience were Instruments for their Purpose And This was it which they call'd the Providence of Raising so many Witnesses out of Dungeons and Alms-Baskets for the Preservation of our Sovereign and our Religion And at the same Time there were Catch-Poles Pursevants Iayles Pillories and Gibbits at hand for the doing of any Man's Bus'ness that oppos'd These Violences either by Word or Deed and Preserv'd a good Conscience to the Contempt of All Bodily or Worldly Interests This was the General Course and Biass of their Proceedings and I think a Man may safely say This of them They were so Merciful in their Wrath so Placable or in other words they had so much Wit in their Anger as in a Political Construction to make Every Man whose Life they took away a kind of Felo de se by Chusing rather to Dye Innocent then to Live Guilty and to run All Honest Hazards Themselves rather then to accuse others Wrongfully But the Particular Master-stroke was This. The Guilty accus'd the Innocent and they were Immediately Taken-up upon 't and in This Condition there was but Two Oaths and Those Two Oaths Concerted in Two Minutes betwixt Any Man's Neck and the Gallows Now in This Pinch the Pris'ner had no other Choice before him then either by a False Oath to Hang Other People or by a True one to Hang Himself This has been the Case of Many and Many an Innocent Person since the Broaching of Otes's Pretended Discovery and it has been a Wonderful Mercy
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
Prevented AFter so many Several Tales and Those Several Tales so many Several Ways Told too of one and the same Thing After the Saying and Swearing of That same Same Thing to be done in so many Several Places Shapes and Manners At so many Several Times By so many Several Methods and Persons upon such and such Several Reasons and to so many Several Ends It can be no Longer a Question I say upon the Whole Matter After These Diversities Disagreements and Contradictions Whether the Point in Issue be True or False For Truth is Simple Vniform Consistent with it self and in Every Line and Article of it Still and Ever the same This is the very Case betwixt the History of the Somerset-House-Murther upon Saturday and That of the Dead Body that was found the Thursday following They are without more ado so Vnlike so Forreign Nay so Contrary One to Another in many Passages even of the Greatest Weight that they Agree only in the Name of the Iustice Insomuch that Supposing Two Sir Edmund Godfreys the Relation might very well Pass for an Account of Two several Persons Now since it is a Thing Utterly Impossible to Vnite These Variations and Oppositions in the same Point and to make good Evidence to the VVorld of Those Allegations that are Never to be Reconcil'd I am in This Chapter to Ask Bedloes and Prances Pardon for having made such Fools of a Couple of the Kings Witnesses in some Half a dozen Chapters before as if it had been VVholly Their Faultâ— that Things and Things Cotton'd No better together when in very Deed Their Present Circumstances and the Parts they had in the Plot Duly Consider'd they were at That Time Under a Moral Necessity either of laying themselves open or of doing Things not to be Done So that for want of Well-grounded Presumptions and Authentique Proofs to move mens Vnderstandings they were fain to Content Themselves with Dazling the Peoples Eyes and Boyling up their Passions by the most Popular and Plausible Arts the Matter would bear Where the Sham was not strong enough to stand upon its own Legs the Security of his Majesties Person and the Protestant Religion the Honour of so many Parliaments the Wisdom of the Nation and the Credit of the Kings Witnesses were All Call'd in to the Vpholding of it and the Restless Alarms of Popish Fires Massacres and Faggots were like so many Rods in Piss for Those Infidels that had not the Grace to give Credit to a Forgery so Necessary to be Believ'd VVhen I speak of the Difficulty of Reconciling the History to the Fiction in This Present Instance I do not Mean that the making a Plausible Imposture of it was a Thing Vtterly Impossible if it had been Attended in Time though I am very well aware too that Falsity can Never Pass for Truth but for want of Means and Industry to find out where the Inconciliable Difference Lyes But the Difficulties to be Treated of in This Place are of Another Quality and not so much arising from the Contradictions in the Nature of True and False as Peculiar to the State of Things in That Iuncture and to the Matter in Hand The Body was found out of Town yonder in a Ditch and the Murther was laid at Somerset-House The Death of Sir Edmund was made a Murther Nay and a Popish Murther as is formerly Observ'd even while he was Yet Alive Now this could be no other then an Ominous Foreboding upon a Desperate Melancholy which he had then upon him For there was No Talk of any Apprehension he had of the Papists 'till the very day that he left his House We shall speak in Another Place to the Bus'ness of his Saying that he should be the first Martyr or the first Man that should suffer The Faction had no sooner made a Popish Murther of this Disaster but it dropt Naturally into the Common Receptacle of All Rogueries the Pretended Popish Plot. This Occasion lay so fair for the Hand of the Republican Conspirators who under Another Pretext were at that time Designing upon the King the Royal Line and the Monarchy it self that having drawn his Royal Highness the Queen Consort and Almost the Late Blessed King Himself into the Confederacy they thought they could not do better then to make her Majesties Palace the Scene of the Villany This was the Ground-work of the Mock-Tragedy that Our Knights of the Post Bedloe and Prance Nay Otes came in for a Snack too afterward Play'd their Parts in upon That Stage In one Syllable the Plot-Cabal Lodg'd it there and Bedloe took them at their Word and Swore to 't there by which Vnlucky Blunder the Project was as good as Curs'd in the Cradle for when it was once Lodg'd within Those Walls there was no removing of it at least without taking the House for Company The Story 't is true went off well enough at Volley for a good while and pass'd Current among the People upon Content without either Weighing or Computing it But when they came once to Confront Matters and to Adjust Things to Things they found themselves Horribly out in their Measures and that they might as well pretend to bring Heaven and Hell together as to Tally the Two Stories of Somerset-house and Primrose-Hill There was the Hat the Gloves the Stick the Sword the Ditch the Posture the Two Wounds the Bruises the Fly-blows the Bloud the Linnen Cloth the Looseness of his Neck and the Circles about it c. Now All these Cases and Accidents were to be Obviated and Provided for in the Counter-part As in some sort they were too There was a Twisted Hankercher and a Crevat to Answer the Linnen Cloth Green to Wring his Neck about Hill and the rest to Punch him to Encounter the Bruises Tryal fol. 17. Hill Kelly and Gerald to run him through with his own Sword throw him into a Ditch and lay his Gloves and other Things upon the Bank Tryal fol. 20. to make the Tale Square with the Original To say nothing of the Risque of Discovery upon the Place or upon the Way and the Vanity of so much as Hoping to Prevail upon any Man in his Right Wits either to Vndertake or Believe so Ridiculous an Adventure Upon the whole Matter If People had but taken Half the Pains to Detect and to Crush this Imposture that they did to Countenance and Conceal it the Cheat could never have stood a Six Minutes Close Examination For the Witnâ—sses Launch'd out into such a Variety of Circumstances and Matters that it was wholly Impossible for them so to Concert their Lessons as not to lye open to a Hundred Surprizes It was a kind of Fantastical if not an Vnaccountable Resolution taken to send the Body away to Primrose-hill and just to such a Ditch there A Place that 't is odds none of the Assassins ever so much as heard of Before and to give such Orders as they pretend they did about the Disposing of things
Dark too to Place every Thing in a Posture so Proper and so Congruous to the Occasion No Painter could have Design'd so Natural a Resolution as This Chance-Cast of Prances dropt into They Threw him into a Ditch says Prance and Layd his Gloves and Other Things upon the Bank Tryal fol. 20. So that there was more Care taken it seems of his Trinkets then of his Body And it was not All Neither that Every Line and Point in the Composition of That Figure seem'd to speak as Plainly as the Voice of Nature it self could have done that he dy'd upon That Spot But the Whole World could not have put his Head Neck Body and Limbs into That Position if Death had Not Left him just in That Manner and in That Place where afterward they Found him The Witnesses will have it that the Murtherers Convey'd the Body from Somerset-house to the Ditch and There left him as is said Already with his Mony in his Pocket that it might be thought that he Kill'd Himself Now if the Whole Pretence of the Somerset-house Murther was an Imposture as Truth it self is not more Certain it is by their own Argument a very Reasonable Thing to Believe upon This appearance of Matters that he did Kill Himself Unless they can Produce some Colour at leaâ—t that some body else Kill'd him for Never was a Thing better Prov'd by Secondary Circumstances then That he Threw Himself upon his Own Sword. And no Man can Doubt it that Considers the Contradictions of the Evidence the Distance betwixt Somerset-house and Primrose-hill The Bearers that Carry'd him Their Accoutrements The Watches and the Almost Impassable Difficulties in the Way The Chairing of him One Half of his Iourney and the Horsing of him Tother To say Nothing of a Thousand Fopperies more to come that were Utterly as Incredible as any of the Rest. The First Question Naturally in All These Cases is the Condition and the Posture of the Body And so What Evidence of any Weapon Instrument or Accident by which the Person might come or be brought to his end And whether by Himself or by Another Hand After These Enquiries the Circumstances to be Well-weighed and all such Witnesses call'd in to give Evidence as were either of his Relations or Familiar Acquaintances or otherwise suppos'd or Presum'd to be most Privy to his Affairs either in General or with a Regard to the Particular that is here in Question It is a very Great Light as I was a saying that may be taken from such a Description of the State and Appearance of the Body as the Iury had before them There are some Mortal Hurts or Wounds that a Body can not be suppos'd to have given Himself There are some Others of so special an Application and Direction that One can hardly believe them to have been given by Another Hand Now it is very Remarkable that This Consideration for ought that I have been hitherto able to Learn was never Yet brought upon the Carpet either before the Coroner or in Truth at the King's Bench Bar at the Tryal of the Pretended Murtherers But in Both Places they leapt over the Preliminaries in the Ditch saving only the Two Negatives that there was No Bloud found there nor any Dint of the Pummel of the Sword. Pray says Mr. Recorder to the Constable in what Posture did You find Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Mr. Brown I found him my Lord in a Ditch with his Sword thorough him and the end of it was Two handfuls out of his back Green's Tryal pa. 35. Now This was a very short Answer to a Home Question And Nothing at all to the Posture but only to the Weapon and the Wound If Brown had come up to the Interrogatory He should have said that he lay Greveling Upon That Sword and he should have given the Court an Account of Twenty Other What 's and How 's Beside but the Posture and all that belonged to 't was Blown off presently and the Eyes and the Thoughts of the People Carry'd away to the Question of Bloud or No Bloud in the Ditch And to the Gold and Silver that was Left in his Pocket to Persuade the World that he Kild Himself and that the Killers of him made more Conscience of Picking a Pocket then of Committing a Murther Nay Brown has worded his Deposition in the Next Page as if he were Delivering a Verdict rather then an Evidence where he Determines the Point in saying That They had run it into another Place but that happen'd to be against a Rib But we shall let That pass for a Slip too as we did the Former After This They call'd in Two Surgeons to their Aid but they were upon a View of the Body still as it lay upon the Table not as 't was found in the Ditch and therefore to say no more of it they were extremely short in Passing over the Bus'ness of the Ditch which in Effect was the Best Guide they had to the Truth of the Matter and the most Convincing Part of their Evidence The Other Scruples were at the Fairest but Dubious and Confounded with Incoherences and Vnlikelyhoods in abundance whereas the Position of the Body and the Parts of it in the Ditch was so certain an Indication of his Dying by his Own Sword that they might have Counterfeited Nature in any thing else as well as in That Figure Beside that the Wound could very hardly have been Given him by Another Hand for it pass'd from under the Left Pap through the Blade or some Bony Part of his Left Shoulder Insomuch that in Brown's own Words It was somewhat hard in the Drawing and Crash'd upon the Bone in the Plucking of it forth See Chap. 8. There lyes One Objection in the Way and it is Easily Answered The Pummel of the Sword as Brown says Did not touch the Bottom of the Ditch but Imputes it to the Crooked Posture of his Body and the Thickness of the Bushes upon the Place Now if the Pummel of the Sword was Pitched upon the Side of the Ditch it could not be expected that it should still Rest there after the doing of the Execution for what with the Preponderating Weight of his Body and the Strugling of Nature upon the Last Convulsion it must of Necessity remove And then his Body being Otherwise Supported by his Knees at the Bottom of the Ditch and the Weight of it bearing upon his Left Arm lying Doubled under his Head the Pummel of the Sword could not well touch the Bottom of the Ditch But Mr. Skillarne one of the Surgeons that Assisted upon the View of the Body Speaks most Expresly to this Part of the Question Zachariah Skillarne Deposeth That he this Enformant taking a strict View of the Ditch where Sir Edmund 's Body was found he observed an Impression upon the Side of of the Ditch about a Foot above the Bottom of it according to the Best Iudgment this Enformant is able to make of it which
he took to be the Dint of the Pummel of the Sword. This is a Great Deal more then Needed for the Killing of a Dead Cause But the Plain Short of the Matter in fine is neither Better nor Worse then This. If the Question of the Ditch has been Omitted as a Point forgotten 't is such Another Slip as the Point that the Atheistical Penitent forgot in his Confession which was That he did not Believe in God for it was the Key of the Whole Work. If it was pass'd over as a Thing not Worth the minding it was a Case of Bloud and might have born the Charge of Interrogatory and Debate Especially when so many Lives Depended upon the Consequence of a Right or a Mistaken Sentence But if it was neither of These Two it was a Matter at That Time perhaps too Hot to be Handled and 't is a Dangerous Thing for People to be Over-Inquisitive into the Truth of a Matter that is Design'd for an Imposture We shall pass now from what they Did Not to what they Did and so to the Next Chapter CHAP. XI The Iury 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 UPON the Evidence and View of the Body of Sir E. B. Godfrey at the White-House it appeared upon the Main that it was found at such a Time and Place and with his own Sword thorough it They observ'd the Limberness of the Neck and the Two Circles about it His Brest very much Discolour'd as if it had been Beaten or Bruis'd Two Wounds under his Left Pap One stopt at a Rib the Other quite thorough the Body They laid Great Weight upon it that there was No Bloud found in the Ditch and upon the main Issue Whether he Dy'd by the Wound or by Suffocation or whether by his own Hand or by some Other Bodies After a Long Debate and a Great Deal of Iangling in Due Course and Form The Coroner and his Inquest took the Surgeons Advice along with them and in the Conclusion came to This Result That certain Persons to the Iurors unknown a Certain Piece of Linnen Cloth of No Value about the Neck of Sir Edmundbury Godftey Then and There Feloniously Wilfully and of their Malice before thought did Tye and Fasten and therewith the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Feloniously Wilfully and of their Malice before thought did Suffocate and Strangle of which said Suffocaeion and Strangling He the said Sir Edmâ—ndbury Godfrey Then and There Instantly Dy'd This is according to a Printed Copy of the Verdict published by Ianeway in 1682. on the Behalf of the Prosecutors of Mr. Pain and Mr. Farwell for Publishing certain Letters upon This Subject directed to Miles Prance I never heard the Truth of the Copy Question'd Beside that when the Bus'ness was fresh the Story was in every Bodies Mouth that he was strangled with a Linnen Cloth and no other way of Suffocation so much as mentioned And That was the True Reason of Bedloe's Stifling him with a Pillow to Answer the Suffocation and of Prance's doing it with a Twisted Handkecther to Answer the Linnen Cloth which Bedloe afterward very Discreetly turn'd into a Crevat By the Token It was so streight that he could not get his Finger in Now the Inquisition taken by the Coroner of Middlesex upon the View of the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey according to a True Copy of it out of the Crown Office which was Sworn and read in Court upon the Tryal of the Gentlemen before mentioned says that he was Strangled with a Cord fol. 8. by Persons Vnknown But Right or Wrong it must be Strangling at Last for there was no way but That to bring him off from Killing Himself which would have spoiled more Plots then One though it was a Huge way about for People to Choak him at Somerset-House and then carry him Two Mile out of Town at Midnight to run his Sword through him at Primrose-Hill for a Pretence When there were so many convenient Boughs and Beams to have done his Work Better Cheap nearer Home The Trussing of him up to one of the Timbers in the New Vnfinished House where Prance swears he left the Chair when they put him a Horseback would have born a much better Countenance of his Killing Himself then the Leaving of his Body in a Ditch with the Marks of Two Several Deaths upon it at Once When I say of Two Several Deaths which Implies the Swallowing of Things Inconsistent I reflect no Reproach either upon the Surgeons or upon the Iurors for the Former Iudg'd according to Common Appearances and the Latter were only over-rul'd by the Opinions of Men that spake in their own Profession I do not say yet that there was not a Secret Practice and Manage that ran through this whole Affair from one End to the Other but Time and Consideration upon the Opening of the Fact will better Discover that Mystery The Root in short of this Whole Miscarriage was the removing of the Body Of which we have spoken sufficiently in the Last Foregoing Chapter But now to the Merits of the Cause The Surgeons were of Opinion upon the View of the Body at the White House and in Truth for want of a View of it in the Ditch that Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Strangled and Not Kill'd by the Sword. The Iurors were Guided by the Surgeons and accordingly they Agreed upon a Verdict It will be well in This Place to consider the Matter of Fact as it lay before them their Iudgments upon it and the Inducements that mov'd them to Agree upon the above-mentioned Verdict This will be best done out of their Own Mouths And to take the Matter in Order We 'll see first what they Deliver'd at the Coroners Inquest 2 ly The Evidence they gave at the Tryals of Green Berry and Hill. And 3 ly The Short of what was Deliver'd at the Tryal of Mr. Pain and Mr. Farwel I call it a Tryal with a Respect to the Sacredness of the Seat of Iustice though the Formalities of the Court were Interrupted and the Dignity of the Tribunal Affronted with such Clamours and Insults from the Rabble that a Man might Honestly enough at a Distance have taken it for a Bair-Bating The Enformation of Zacharias Skillarne of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields Chirurgion taken upon Oath 18th Day of October 1678. before Me. HE saith That he being sent for as a Chirurgeon to search the Body of Sir Edmund Godfrey did in the Presence of the Coroner and Jury Search the same and finds that he was strangled And that he hath received some Violent Blow upon the top of his Breast and this Enformant verily believes that the said Sir Edmund did Not Dye of the Wound through his Body Zacharias Skillarn Chirurgeon being further Examined saith That when he Searched Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's Body he found that his Neck had
Citations are from a Tryal Printed by the Lord Chief Iustice Pemberton's Order There was Another Pretended Account of the same Tryal Published without Order and said to be Printed for William Mason Wherein by way of Abstract the Evidence against the Pris'ners is strain'd and Falsified and being much Harder upon them then That in the Authentique Tryal 't is to be presum'd that for the Honour of the Court Nothing was Omitted that might give Reputation to the Iustice of the Proceeding I must take Notice again that there 's an Appendix of Affidavits and Observations Annexed to the Licens'd Tryal in the Course of Signature and Folio to support the Credit of Prance's Evidence which looks as if the Whole had been Printed by the same Authority Whereas my Lord Chief Justice only Licens'd the Tryal These surreptitious Pieces are of No Weight and it is but reason to Reject what is Spurious on the one side as it is Fair to Allow the Vttermost Force of All that has been or can be said on the Other There was a Great stir made about Fly-blows or No Fly-blows and whether his eyes were shut or Open. But I shall Touch upon Those Points as they fall in My Way without laying more stress upon the Matter then 't is VVorth To do Right to All People and to All Things and to All Purposes I must Recommend here one Note to the Reader upon the Testimonies Deliver'd and as they are here represented by the Gentlemen above Named They do Not speak to the Whole History of the Bus'ness according to the Literal strictness of the Oath or Duty of an Evidence so as to Expatiate upon All the Minutes of their Knowledge or Thoughts as to the Thing in Question but according to the Equity and the Intent of Publique Iustice For the Court puts the Questions and it is their Part Truly to Answer them without running into Matters Forreign to the Interrogatory They Believ'd upon what they had in Sight that he was strangled and so That was a safe and Convenient Question and the Signs of it about his Neck were emprov'd in favour of That Opinion if he had Dy'd of the Wound they say there would have been a Great Evacuation of Bloud and so the Question upon That Point was in a Manner Restrain'd to the Ditch only some superficial Enquiries about the Dreining of it at the White-house into the Celler and the like As if the Evacuation of a Gallon of Bloud in Another Place were not as Competent a Ground to Conclude upon as One Drop of Bloud in the Ditch But if These Gentlemen had had the Body before them in the Ditch as they had it in the House they would never have troubled themselves with his Neck his Bruises or his Circles having so Demonstrative a Certainty of the True Cause of his Death before them For there was not any Part about him Not so much as a Finger that they would not have read the Workings of Nature in There would have been No Doubt in fine Whether he Dy'd by a Sword or by a Crevat but Who Kill'd him might perchance have Yielded Matter for Another Question if they could have thought it Possible for Mortal Hands to have Drawn so Accurate and Natural a Counterfeit of a Man that had Kill'd Himself To Conclude the Surgeons were Consulted in their Faculty upon what Appear'd to Them without any Obligation upon them to Pronounce upon a Fact that was Wholly out of their Ken As if a Man should ask the Iudgment of the College of Physicians concerning such or such a Disease They may be Great Philosophers and Doctors and yet Mistake the Distemper and much more lyable were These Gentlemen to a Mistake upon the Iudgment of This Iustice's Death In one Word more This Evidence was Effectually but the Repeating of a Lesson and the saying of the same Things over again which they had Declar'd before They were in Truth Leading Questions that Required Following Answers and as it happen'd there was not One Interrogatory that came near the Quick. I will add one Word more and so make an end of This Chapter I am my self Perswaded that there were such Signs of Suffocation as if his Body had been found Hung up in a Room with a Sword thorough it and an Effusion of Bloud upon the Floor too supposing the Wound before he was quite Dead one might have at least divided the Death betwixt the Sword and the Halter But upon the finding of a Sword through a Body in a Ditch and in such a Position too and No visible or Hardly Imaginable Hanging in the Case to Conclude that he was strangled and that the Sword had No Part in his Death was a Thing that Most Infallibly These Gentlemen would never have Agreed to at least 'till they had satisfy'd themselves that there was No Possibility of any Other Cause for Those Signs of Suffocation and 'till they had fully Consider'd whether there Might not be something of Equivalence to such a Suffocation in the Circumstances of the State and Condition wherein they found him CHAP. XII The Iuror's Reasons for the Verdict they gave upon the View of Sir E. B. Godfrey's Body THomas Harris Deposeth That He this Enformant some few Days after Sir Edmundbury Godfrey went Last from his House heard that he was Missing And saith That the said Sir Edmund's Body being found Dead in a Ditch at or near Prim-rose-Hill He this Enformant was Summon'd upon the Coroners Inquest to attend at the White-House near the said Primrose-Hill where there were Two Persons suppos'd to be Surgeons to View and to Probe the Body The One's Name was Cambridge The Other this Enformant doth not know The said Surgeons upon Examining the Body found Two Wounds which they said they Believ'd were given after the Body was Dead And observing a Streak about his Neck they said they Believed he was First Suffocated and some time afterward run Through And this Enformant did not take Notice of any other Surgeons there then Those Aforesaid The matter was there Debated by the Jurors who were not as yet satisfied how he should come to his End There being Evidence of the Place and the Manner of finding him but None of the Particular Manner of his Death So that the Jury Adjourn'd till they should have a Further Summons Vpon Saturday the Day following the Jury met again at the Rose and Crown in St. Giles's in the Fields where they came after a Long Debate to a Verdict Agreeing that the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was Strangled by Persons Unknown c. And being further asked How it came to pass that this Enformant and the Jury not being satisfied in the Manner of the said Sir Edmund's Death by any Proofs at the White-House they came Now to be better Satisfy'd therein at the Rose and Crown then they were Before To which this Enformant maketh Answer That an Oyl-man and Some Others made Oath That they saw him in
the Strand about Twelve or One upon the Day that he was First Missing And being further Asked How they came to find him Strangled with a Linnen Cloth when there was No Linnen Cloth found and not rather Kill'd with his own Sword which was found through him This Enformant Answereth That the Surgeons told them That if he had been run through first there could never have been a Suffocation Afterwards Iohn Cowsey Deposeth That there were Two Surgeons call'd to View and Examine the Body who gave their Opinions upon Oath to the best of this Enformants Memory that he was Suffocated which they Gather'd from a Circle about his Neck and the setling of the Bloud about his Breast They did not come to a Verdict at That Meeting But the Coroner told them that for several Reasons they should at present Adjourn After the Adjournment abovesaid the Jury met at the Rose and Crown in St. Giles's in the Fields the next Day where they stay'd till very Late That Night before they gave up their Verdict And this Enformant being Interrogated if they found a Linnen Cloth about him This Enformant Answereth That he neither saw nor heard of any And this Enformant being Interrogated if there was any Proof made to the Jury of the Body being found Dead with a Sword through it This Enformant maketh Answer That it was Prov'd upon Oath And This Enformant being further Interrogated how they came to find him Strangled with a Linnen Cloth when no Linnen Cloth there appear'd and why they did not find him to Dye of his Wounds when 't was Prov'd upon Oath that the Body was found with a Sword through it He this Enformant maketh Answer That by the Opinion of the Surgeons and the Appearance of the Body they Iudg'd that he was Strangled And touching the Wound given by the Sword this Enformant Iudged that the Wound could not be his Death because he saw No Bloud follow Ioseph Girle Deposeth That being Summoned c. One Mrs. Blith amd her Man of St. Giles's made Oath They or One of them had been upon Wednesday up and down thereabouts where the Body was found looking for a Calf newly fall'n And that at that time they did not see any Dead Body This being Wednesday when Sir E. B. Godfrey was Missing And saith That the Jurors complain'd much of waiting so long and Desir'd to be Dismissed but the Coroner John Cowper urged the staying of it out till they should see what Evidence would come in Thomas Woollams Deposeth That he was Summoned c. And that there were Two Surgeons with the Jury upon the View of the Body Who upon Examination of the Circumstances Declar'd upon their Oaths That they Believed the Body was Suffocated Giving these Reasons for it that there was a Circle about the Neck The Bloud was Setled within the Skin and his Neck seemed to be Wrenched They did not come to a Verdict at That Sitting but put it off to another Sitting Simon Standever Deposeth that he being Summoned c. and the Jury Sworn they went All or the greater Part of them and this Enformant one of the Number to View the Place where the Body was found and so Return'd to Sit upon the Body There were Two Persons one Cambridge a Surgeon and Another Person Vnknown to this Enformant who they said was a Surgeon also to View and to Examine the said Body who Delivered their Opinion upon their Oaths That they Believed that the said Sir Edmund did Not Dye of the Wound by the Sword but that he was Strangled For his Breast was Black and Bruised And there was a List about his Neck His Neck Limber and his Chin turn'd upon his Left Shoulder to the best of This Enformants Memory That by This Opinion of the Surgeons and their declaring that he did not Dye by the Wound of the Sword This Enformant and others of the Jury as he Believes were Persuaded to be of the same Opinion That he did not Dye of the Wound of the Sword. And This Enformant saith That they did not come to a Verdict at the White-House But there being a great Crowd of People and No Evidence as yet appearing as this Enformant Remembers but the Two Surgeons and Mr. Collins who said that he saw him on the Day that he was First Missing about Nine or Ten a Clock in the Morning near a Barn of the said Mr. Collins's hard by Marybone Church the Jury was coming at that time to a Verdict That the Day following in the Afternoon the said Jury met at the Rose and Crown in St. Giles's in the Fields where they sate from the Afternoon till past Midnight before they gave up their Verdict This Enformant being Interrogated what Evidence they had at the Rose and Crown more then they had before at the White-House to make them think that the Sword was not the Cause of his Death This Enformant Answereth That a Shop-keeper with his Wife and some body else gave Enformation upon Oath That they had seen the said Sir Edmund at the Door of the said Shop-keeper about Twelve a Clock at Noon the First Day that Sir Edmund was Missing by which it appear'd that the said Sir Edmund was back again in London after Mr. Collins had seen him about Marybone Anthony Fryer Deposeth being Summoned c. That there were Two Persons said to be Surgeons that had the View of and the Probing of the Body The Name of the One was Nicholas Cambridge but the Name of the Other this Enformant doth not Remember And that upon the Probing of the said Body they gave their Opinion that the Wounds were made after he was Dead which to This Enformants Remembrance Mov'd This Enformant and Others to be of the same Opinion too And this Enformant saith That the Surgeons aforesaid were with the Jury again at the Rose and Crown to the best of his Knowledge And that the said Surgeons Declar'd they Believ'd he was Strangled with a Napkin or Some such Thing which this Enformant saith was the Only Reason together with the Circle about his Neck that Induc'd This Enformant to be of That Opinion Robert Trotton being Summoned c. Deposeth That being ask'd upon what Evidence they found the said Sir Edmund to be Strangled with a Linnen Cloth the Body being found with a Sword through it and no Linnen Cloth appearing This Enformant maketh Answer That He and the Jury could not tell what to Think on 't it was so Ticklish a Bus'ness But the Two Surgeons One Nicholas Cambridge and Another saying that it was done by some Linnen Cloth Sway'd the Jury to find it so And that This Enformant verily Believeth that if the said Surgeons had not given their Opinions that he was kill'd by a Linnen Cloth the Jury would have given up the Verdict that it was done with his own Sword. And further That this Enformant doth not Remember any more Surgeons upon the View of the Body with the
Jurors then the Two before spoken of And he Remembreth that the said Surgeons were with the Iury both at the White-House and at the Rose and Crown And that the Iurors were strongly of Opinion that the said Sir Edmund was Kill'd with the Sword that was found in his Body 'till the Earnestness of the Surgeons Prevail'd upon them to give their Verdict Another way Iohn Davis Deposeth That this Enformant was Summon'd to appear upon the Coroners Inquest at the White-House near Primrose-Hill And there to sit upon the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey which was found Dead near that Place And This Enformant went thither accordingly where He this Enformant saw the said Body lying upon the Table And likewise saw Two Persons there which he took to be Surgeons And saith That the said Iurors were discoursing how the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey came by his End And that This Enformant did not understand by any thing he heard there nor did he ever understand how the said Sir Edmund came by his Death And that the said Iury was Adjourn'd from the White-House and likewise that the Coroner there Declar'd that the said Body might be bury'd And this Enformant remembreth that the said Iury sat again at the Rose and Crown in St. Giles's in the Fields And that there they sat Late in the Night 'till they deliver'd up their Verdict And saith That this Enformant by all that Pass'd There could not understand how the said Sir Edmund came by his Death Neither did he find by any of his Fellow-Iurors how he came by his Death And This Enformant Remembreth that in Discoursing upon the said Body Some were of Opinion that he Murther'd Himself Others that it was done by the Hands of some Other Person or Persons Philip Wyanes Deposeth being Summon'd c. That there was One Cambridge a Surgeon there and Another Person who they say was a Profess'd Surgeon whom This Enformant did not know which Two Surgeons did upon their Oaths take a View of and Examine the Body Lancing the Breast and the Neck Declaring their Opinions upon the View and Examination of the said Body That it was Impossible for the said Sir Edmund to do That of Himself but that it was done by other Hands And that he Dy'd by Suffocating by something that was Broad the Circle it Self being very Broad The Crowd of People being very Great and the Jurors desirous to get what Enformation they could they were Adjourn'd for that Time without coming to a Verdict The Iury met Next at the Rose and Crown at St. Giles's in the Fields Where they sat from the Afternoon 'till about Midnight before they gave up their Verdict The Two Surgeons before Spoken of Continuing in the same Opinion that they were before And This Enformant being Interrogated what Objections were Mov'd upon the Debate before they came to a Verdict Maketh Answer That some said perhaps he might Murther Himself some that perhaps the Sword might Kill him Others that he was Strangled But they All Agreed at last in the same Verdict Thomas Mason Deposeth being Summon'd That there was one Cambridge a Surgeon to view the Body And Likewise Another Person Vnknown to this Enformant who they said was a Surgeon which said Surgeons gave their Opinion that the Sword was not the Death of him But that he was Strangled That there was a Debate upon the Matter But the Press being Troublesome and the Persons that found the Body not Present the Iury brake up from the White-House That on the Next day being Saturday the Iury Met at the Rose and Crown in St. Giles's in the Fields about Five in the Afternoon And that they sat ' til Four in the Morning before they Agreed upon the Verdict And moreover This Enformant saith That the said Radcliffe and his Wife Swore they saw him about One a Clock on the aforesaid Saturday when Sir Edmund was first Missing and Ask'd him to Dine with them Thomas Hartwell Deposeth being Summon'd c. That the Neck of the said Body being so Limber that it would not lye Upright upon the Table This Enformant Believeth to the Best of his Memory that there were Surgeons sent for And that there came two Persons One Cambridge whom This Enformant knew to be a Surgeon and the Other This Enformant did not know The said Surgeons feeling and viewing the Body about the Neck and finding the Neck to be Limber and a Green List round it They the said Surgeons gave their Opinions that the said Body was Strangled This Enformant further saith That upon the Surgeons Declaring Themselves in Manner as Aforesaid He This Enformant was Induc'd to be of That Opinion But the Crowd being very Great and the Iury desiring to be better Enform'd they Rose without Coming to a Verdict And this Enformant saith That the Iuries next Meeting was at the Rose and Crown in St. Giles'es in the Fields where they had a Long Debate before they gave up their Verdict This Enformant remembreth that there was Sometime or other a Dispute betwixt the Two Coroners but doth not remember upon what Point nor the Circumstances of the Dispute Neither can he be Positive that it was about the Body that was there in Question And saith That the Surgeons gave for the Reason of their Opinions that the Neck was Limber and Broken And a Circle of Bloud Settled about the Neck And That This Enformant Believeth that the Jury relyed upon the Surgeons Opinion believing that they Understood the Matter better then the Jurors The Surgeons also saying That they Believed he was Strangled with a Cloth the Circle would not have been so Broad else I am Now to Observe upon This Evidence First That the Verdict was not Carry'd so Clear as the World has been made to Believe For after so many Hours Sitting at the White-House upon the Friday they were forc'd to Adjourn the Debate to the Rose and Crown in St. Giles's and to make Another Days Work on 't Nay and it was far into Sunday Morning too before they Agreed their Verdict It must not be pass'd over in the Second Place What was the True Reason of their putting it off Harris said the Jury were not satisfied and so Adjourn'd Cowsey says they could not agree That Point and the Coroner Adjourn'd for several Reasons Best known to Himself Wyanes says they Adjourn'd for Better Enformation And so says Hartwell But they Adjourn'd in fine for want of Full Enformation They came next day together again according to that Adjournment and sat out the Debate 'till it came to a Verdict which presumes that they had now gotten the Better Enformation which they wanted before And what That Enformation was is the Thing next to be Consider'd CHAP. XIII The Iury Adjourn'd the Debate for want of Evidence Quere what Better Evidence they had the Next Day when they came to a Verdict than was Produc'd the Day before THE Question in Debate is shortly This By What
Death or by What Hand Sir E. B. Godfrey Dy'd The Iury were Divided the First Day for want of Competent Enformation and their Coming to a Resolution the day following Supposes an Additional or a Supplemental Evidence which must be either in Proof of Fact or upon the Force of Fair Inference or Pregnant Presumption so that in a Train of Thought it comes Naturally now to be Enquir'd into what New Inducements or Enformations they received the Second day toward the Presumption of his being Strangled over and above what they had the Day before The Business of the Wounds given after he was Dead the Streak or Circle about his Neck the Setling of his Bloud about the Breast the Wrenching and the Limberness of his Neck No Evacuation of Bloud These were the Circumstances as Appears by the Iurors Themselves that the Surgeons Declar'd to be the Reasons why they Concluded him to be Strangled And it must be with a Napkin or some Linnen Cloth they said to Answer the Breadth of the List about his Neck Now if the Jurors had All This before them on the Friday And that Neither the Opinion of the Surgeons nor the View of the Body nor Both Together could Prevail upon the Iury That Day to find him Strangled the Same Reasons over again Unless otherwise and better Supported cannot be Decently Vnderstood to have had more Power upon their Minds and Vnderstanding upon the Saturday then they had on Friday So that the Iurors are Now to tell us what Wonderful Revelation they had the Day Following to Clear This Mystery Only a Word or Two Previous to That Point William Collins and Thomas Mason Both Jury-Men saw Sir Edmund That Saturday Morning The Former about Nine of the Clock talking with a Milk-woman near Paddington The Other coming from Paddington-Ward toward London about Eleven That Morning We shall now see what it was that Sway'd the Verdict They were mov'd to the Verdict says Mr. Harris by an Oylman and Others that saw him at Twelve They sat Long says Mr. Standever and an Oylman and his Wife shew'd he was come back again Mr. Mason says the same Thing too Now the Question was upon the Evidence before the Jury whether he was Strangled or Kill'd with a Sword. They could not it seems agree upon the Matter 'till they found that Mr. Radcliffe and Others had Seen him about One of the Clock in the Strand near Charing-Cross That day that Collins had Seen him near Paddington in the Morning and from hence they draw a Conclusion he was Strangled And why might they not as reasonably have Inferr'd from the Proof of his Coming back again that he Dy'd by the Sword as by the Linnen Cloth Beside that it was in Every bodies Mouth before ever they came to a Verdict that Several People had seen him in his way toward Paddington back again But we shall have a Better Occasion to look into This Particular when we come to Discourse of the Witnesses that were made use of and of Those that were Not and into the Merits of That Evidence In the Mean While the Iurors were in Effect Totally led by the Surgeons The Surgeons told us so says Mr. Harris The Surgeons Iudg'd him strangled says Mr. Cowsey And so says Mr. Woollams The Opinion of the Surgeons sway'd the Iury says Mr. Standever The Surgeons Opinion mov'd Mr. Fryer Mr. Trotton and effectually All the Rest. But All This had no Effect upon the Iury the First day Nay the Iurors says Mr. Trotton were strongly of opinion that he was kill'd with the Sword 'till the Earnestness of the Surgeons prevail'd with them to give their Verdict Another way Mr. Davies Declares that Neither He nor Any of his Fellow-Iurors were satisfy'd in the Bus'ness But some would have it that he Kill'd Himself Others that he was Murther'd by some body else So much for the Point of the Surgeons leading the Iury and it remains now to Examine the Weight of Those Reasons that Wrought upon the Surgeons which I shall Handle with All due respects to their Abilities to their Integrity and to their Profession Let me be Understood here to Comprehend All Those Persons of Name and of Mark that have Deliver'd their thoughts upon This Subject occasionally and by the By as well as Those Gentlemen that Assisted more Immediately to the Attending of This Office. To say the Plain Truth of the Matter the Surgeons had but half a sight of the Case and Consequently could make but half a Iudgment upon the Thing in Question Nothing is more Ordinary then for Learned and Practical Physicians upon a Consult to say If I had known or seen This or That Accident I should have taken it to have been such or such a Disease and most Undoubtedly as I have Hinted already they would have made quite Another Iudgment upon the Body in the Ditch then they did upon the Table But to give as much as can be Granted or I might have said as much as can be Demanded in the then Present state of Things The very Conjecture or Probability of a Suffocation was as much almost as the Matter would bear And it had need of being very well seconded even to Warrant the Sentence of a Bare Likelyhood As for Instance now There is Great Weight laid upon the Limberness the Twisting or the Wrenching of the Neck as some of the Iurors have worded it or the Dislocating of it according to the Surgeons They All spoke of Greens Twisting his Neck says Prance Tryal fol. 17. And from hence they Infer that he was strangled Now the Fallacy of This Inference lyes so open that Every Nurse and Searcher here about the Town is Infinitely better able to speak to 't upon Experience then the Whole Council of Surgeons Hall can pretend to if they take upon them to speak only by Book Robert White Deposeth that being desired to speak his Observations upon Dead Bodies Concerning the Limberness of their Necks as if their Necks were Broken and whether or No he hath taken Notice of such a Limberness of the Neck in Ordinary Cases He This Enformant maketh Answer That he hath seen several Bodies which upon the First Apprehension seemed to have their Necks Broken and Dislocated but that upon Examination of Evidence He This Enformant hath found the Necks of several Bodies to be very Loose and Limber that have been Destroy'd by Wounds in Other Places Mary Smith and Sarah Moreton Searchers of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields Ioyntly Depose that These Enformants being asked whether in their Observation of Bodies that Dye a Natural Death they These Enformants find the Necks of such Bodies as aforesaid either Stiff or Limber They make Answer that they find the Necks of such Bodies both Ways some Stiff and some Limber And that they these Enformants in token of the Truth of This their Observation do Ioyntly affirm That it is a Common saying among the Generality of People That
if the Neck of the Corps be Loose some others will shortly Dye out of the Family And further the Enformants being asked in what Manner they find the Loosness of the Neck in Those Bodies where the Neck is Limber as aforesaid They make Answer That they find the Necks some Limberer then Others and very often that the Chin will be turn'd from shoulder to shoulder and that it will Waggle to and fro And These Enformants Ioyntly say that when they have come to search Bodies that have been a Day Dead or so And that they have found the Head Leaning upon the shoulder or Body in an Ill Posture It is a hard thing to put it in Order But when they come soon after the Body is Dead it is much Easier to put it in Order And they say Joyntly likewise that they find such Bodies as aforesaid some Limber and some Stiff but as they Believe Ten Bodies Stiff for One Limber And they say Ioyntly that they have seen a Corps whereof the Neck was Broken and that the Chin was turn'd directly behind upon the Back Alice Weeks and Elizabeth Belcher Searchers of the Parish of St. Giles's in the Fields Ioyntly Depose that being asked whether in their Observation of Bodies that Dye a Natural Death They These Enformants find the Necks of such Bodies as aforesaid either Stiff or Limber They make Answer that they find the Necks of such Bodies Both VVays some stiff and some limber And that they these Enformants in token of the Truth of this their Observation do Ioyntly Affirm that it is a Common saying among the Generality of People that if the Neck of the Corps be Loose some others will shortly Dye out of the Family And further These Enformants being Asked in what Manner they find the Loosness of the Neck in Those Bodies Where the Neck is Limber as aforesaid They make answer That they find the Necks some Limberer then others and very often that the Chin will be turn'd from Shoulder to Shoulder and that it will Waggle to and Fro. And These Enformants Ioyntly say that when they have come to search Bodies that have been a Day Dead or so And that they have found the Head Leaning upon the Shoulder or the Body in an Ill Posture it is a hard thing to put it in Order But when they come soon after the Body is Dead it is much Easier to put it in Order And they say Ioyntly likewise that they find such Bodies as aforesaid some Limber and some Stiff but as they believe Ten Bodies Stiff for one Limber Alice Weeks Deposeth apart that going to search the Body of a Child she found the Neck of it Broken and that the Chin of the said Child was Turn'd quite round to the Back This Account of the Searchers agrees exactly as well in the Negative as in the Affirmative with the Story of Sir Godfrey's Body All People agree that they Could and did Turn the Chin from Shoulder to Shoulder but there 's Not a Word of turning it about to the Back which the Searchers observ'd might have been done if the Neck was Broken and Vndoubtedly they that turn'd it to the Shoulder if it had not stop'd There would have gone further in it But then the Streaks the Lists and the Creases about the Neck as they call them were look'd upon as strong Presumptions that he Dy'd by Suffocation not so much as Accidents simply Arising from the Choking of him as the Impression that the straining of the Rope or Linnen Cloth with which he was strangled had Left behind it upon the Part. I had a Fair Occasion of some Discourse upon This Point with Mr. Hobbs who had not seen the Body it seems either in the Ditch or at the White-House but only after the Removal of it to Hartshorn-Lane He told me that upon the View of the Body he thought it to be Strangled My Answer I remember was This in Effect that I my self was Partly of That Opinion for considering the Depth the Straitness and the Stiffness of his Collar and the Pressing of his Throat upon it which of Necessity must bear hard in That Position of his Body The very Force and Oppression of the Posture he was found in would have been Sufficient in a very short time to have Choaked him even without his Wounds but the Suffocation then follow'd the Sword not the Sword the Suffocation and the One Produced the Accidents of the Other The Gentleman for the Purpose fell upon his Sword The Stab was Mortal but the Fall yet cast the Body into such a Disposition of the Several Parts of it that it Superinduc'd the Signs of Strangling over and above the Deadly Effect of the Wound So that it stands with very good Reason that he might be Really Kill'd with the Sword and yet at the same time appear to be Choak'd And under favour the Scene of the Ditch duly consider'd the Presumptions were Twenty times more and stronger for the Former then for the Latter Mr. Hobbs was pleas'd to Agree in Opinion that such a Collar and such Circumstances might well be the Cause of such an Appearance But we 'le see now what Mr. Skillarne and Mr. Lasinby say to the Matter Zachariah Skillarne Deposes That upon the Friday Morning Early being the Next Day to the Evening whereon the Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was found This Enformant heard a Rumour of the finding of the said Body and the Place where 't was found And that soon afterward on the same Morning he This Enformant by a Message from the Two Brothers of the said Sir Edmund was given to understand that they Desired his Company to go along with them to View the Body And He This Enformant went accordingly in a Coach with the Brothers aforesaid as near as they could come to the White-House And there they Alighted This Enformant with One of the Brothers going a-foot to the Place where they were told the said Body was Found This Enformant observed the Limbs of the Body to be Loose and No Stiffness upon them Having also observed that the Bodies of Persons that are Hang'd or Strangled are always Limber Whereas Bodies that Dye a Natural Death are always Stiff except in Apoplexies There was also one Mr. Cambridge upon the View of the said Body who Agreed in Opinion with this Enformant This Enformant being asked what Induc'd him to Believe that the said Body was Strangled He This Enformant gave these following Reasons The Person Living being a Man of a Pale Countenance His Cheeks Flaccid His Lips Thin His Nose Sharp and his Eyes Hollow The said Sir Edmund being Dead his Lips and Cheeks were Turgid and Tumefy'd His Nose bigger and Red His Eyes Prominent and a Circle about his Neck Richard Lasinby Surgeon Deposeth That this Enformant went with some Company out of Curiosity to see the Dead Body of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey at the White-House near Primrose-Hill where it lay upon the Table
This. There 's a Body found in a Ditch with a Sword thorough it The Constable removes This Body in the Night to a Neighbour-House An Inquisition Passes upon it And No Light to a Discovery how the Person came to his End but what Arises from the Sight of it upon a Table and from the Imperfect Relation of those that took it out of the Ditch who could say Nothing to it neither but by Guess and Groping for it was so Dark that there was no discerning one Thing from Another The Iurors were now to consider how this Man came by his Death And having nothing else to Work upon as I was saying but the Constable's Report on the bus'ness of the Ditch and what further might be Collected from a View of the Body the Subject Matter of Enquiry was Altogether Surgeons-Work for there were Wounds Bruises Tumours Marks of Strangling and the Appearance of a Broken Neck in the Case Now taking for Granted that Sir Godfrey dy'd a Violent Death it was a Point wholly out of their Cognizance and fitter for a Consult of Doctors than a Pannel of Iurors to determine Two Surgeons were hereupon call'd to their Assistance by whose Opinions they were over-ruled to find him Strangled or by Way of Explanation that he dy'd rather a Dry Death then a Bloudy for That was the Stress of the Question If there was no Flux of Bloud 't is likely he was Strangled If there was Any 't is certain that he Dy'd of his Wounds So that the Verdict was carry'd in favour of a Possibility against a Point-blank Demonstration for Bloud there was in Abundance as is already Prov'd and Over Prov'd in the Last Chapter The Coroner and the Iurors knew there was Bloud Nay and there were Inferences drawn from the Evidences of That Bloud against the finding of him Strangled And Mr. Fryer Deposeth being one of the Inquest that as he believes there was Discourse and Argument among the Jurors to This Effect That there was Bloud came out of the Body which could not have been if the Sword had gone through the Body after it had been Dead This Point stuck the First Day and held 'em tack too the Next 'till Sunday Morning without any New Matter either of Proof or Presumption that look'd toward the Strangling of him though the Adjournment was said to be purely for Further Evidence But in the Conclusion the Limberness of the Neck and the Two Circles Carry'd it against the Sword through the Heart of him Now Those Two Circles were so far One from Another that they were fain to Reconcile the Distance by the Fancy of a Linnen Cloth or something that was Broad to Cover the Interval and to do the Office of a Halter They were in short Mightily at a Loss what to do with These Two Circles for if they would make them Marks of Suffocation they must either Both be so or Neither being Manifestly Effects of one and the same Cause That is to say the Pinching of a Deep Stiff Collar that made Those Streaks with the Two Edges of it as Mr. Lasinby Demonstrates the Thing by bringing the Two Ends of the Collar together and then shewing how exactly the One Answered the Other They found it a Chord however upon the Inquisition and so rendred it Effectually a Rope in Law and a Linnen Cloth in Equity But in the Conclusion there was at last a Verdict obtain'd without Mentioning any Bloud at all for so much as appears at least upon the Coroners Copy of the Enformations which I have received according to Order from the Hand of Mr. Cowper the Coroner for the True Copies of all that were by him taken in Writing upon This Matter And they shall be hereafter Exhibited in their Due Place and Season Having thus far Cleared our Way by a Particular as well as a General Account of Things toward the Forming of a True Iudgment upon the Equity of This Proceeding We are now Entring upon such a Chain of Thoughts as in the very Order of Reasoning will Naturally Lead us to a Full Vnderstanding of the Merits of the Cause The King has lost a Subject and the First Question is What Death did he Dye 2 ly What Means or Evidence toward the Instructing of a Iury upon such an Enquiry Of These Two Points we have said more then Enough perhaps Already 3 ly Whether or no were Those Proofs Sufficient and Emprov'd to the Vtmost according to the Coroners best Skill and Knowledg toward the finding out of the Truth 4 ly Whether or no were there Any Witnesses left Vnsummon'd that in Manifest Probability might have given more Light to the Truth of the Fact then Others that they made use of The Third Point in the Range of This Distribution is to be the First now in the Order of my Discourse There are Two Branches of it The Competency of the Means and the Best Improvement of Those Means towards the Common End. As to the former The Main Question is This Did he Dye of a Wound or was he Strangled And then Was there any Bloud or Not For Bloud or No Bloud was the Certain Indication either of the One or the Other If there was a Considerable Flux of Bloud there could not be a more Demonstrative Proof in the Case for Mr. Skillarne Himself Declares and Deposes upon Oath that There being no greater a Flux of Bloud was the ONLY Reason that Mov'd him to be of Opinion that Sir Edmund was not Kill'd with the Sword But if there was such a Flux of Bloud in sight though he did not take Notice of it in so great a Quantity and that it was not only Prov'd upon Oath but the Iurors Themselves were likewise Ocular Witnesses of it there could not be a more Convincing Evidence in the World then this Discharge of Bloud that the Sword was the Death of him To say Nothing of Twenty other Convincing Circumstances in favour of that Opinion But what signifies Sufficiency of Evidence without the Application of it Or the Flutter that many People make in pretending to Search after a Truth that they would be Loth to find VVhether or no there was any thing of this in the Subject of Their Enquiry will best appear from an Inspection into the Measures and the Methods of their Proceeding That is to say with a respect to the Choice of the Matter The Tendency and the Direction of the Questions and the Biass of the Debate Now there is a Right and a Wrong as well Antecedently to a Conclusion as in the Last Sentence and Result it self There may be Concealing Qualifying Suppressing Disguising Misrepresenting Paradoxing laying more or less Weight upon a thing then belongs to 't c. In all which Cases a False Medium purposely Interpos'd is a Greater Iniquity then a Mistaken Iudgment I was a Speaking of the Enformations taken before Mr. Cowper one of his Majesties Coroners for the County of Middlesex upon the Subject of Sir
Edmundbury Godfrey's Death And it is in Those Papers that we are reasonably to look for the Stress of the Matter in Debate and the Ground of the Final Resolution Nay and the Good Faith of the Very Manage of the Cause will in some Degree appear from the Matter of the Examinations or from the Loose or Strict Sifting of the Witnesses I shall begin with the Enformations of Mr. Skillarne and Mr. Cambridge and so proceed from One to Another with a Note Upon them as I go Saving only that I shall reserve the Depositions of Iohn Brown Henry Moor Ioseph Radcliffe and his Wife with Mary the VVife of Captain Tho. Gibbon to be Treated of in like Manner but in Chapters by Themselves The Enformation of Zacharias Skillarne of the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields Chirurgeon taken upon Oath the 18th Day of October Ann. Dom. 1678. before me Midd. ss HE saith That he being sent for as a Chirurgeon to search the Body of Sir Edmund Godfrey did in the Presence of the Coroner and Iury search the same and finds that he was Strangled And that he hath Received some Violent Blow upon the Top of his Breast And this Enformant verily believes that the said Sir Edmund did Not Dye of the VVound through his Body Jo. Cowper Coroner Zac. Skillarne The Enformation of Nicholas Cambridge of St. Giles in the Fields Chirurgeon taken upon Oath the same Day and Year before me This Enformant saith the same Jo. Cowper Coroner Nicholas Cambridge Zacharias Skillarne Chirurgeon being further Examin'd saith That when he Searched Sir Edmund Godfrey's Body he found that his Neck had been Twisted towards the Left Side which was one of the Occasions of his Death as this Enformant believes Jo. Cowper Coroner Zac. Skillarne I can only Observe over again upon These Depositions what in Effect I have observed before which is that the Single Thing Necessary to be Mention'd for the Full Enformation and Direction of the Iury is left out for There 's not one word of the Bloud And that would have been an Infallible Proof of his Dying by the Sword and Not by Strangling Whereas the Suppressing of That Indubitable Evidence for the Wound turn'd the Verdict Clean Contrary and made him to be Strangled and not to Dye by the Sword. I 'le take Six or Seaven of the rest now in order and then Speak to 'em Altogether Midd. ss John Wilson of St. Martins Sadler being Sworn and Examin'd saith That Sir Edmund Godfrey about a Fortnight last Past was Talking with one Mr. Harris and then told this Enformant that he was in Danger for what he had Acted for the Discovering the late Plot against his Majesty and that he thought that some of the Postmasters were to blame in not Intercepting some Pacquets or Words to the same purpose Jo. Cowper Coroner John. Wilson Thomas Morgan being Sworn and Examined saith That on Thursday last about Twelve of the Clock he was at the Pond near the Ditch where Sir Edmund Godfrey was found Dead and doth believe that if Sir Edmunds Belt Gloves and Cane had layn where they were found this Enformant should have seen them Jo. Cowper Coroner Tho. Morgan The Enformation of William Bromwell John Walters and John Rawson taken upon Oath the same Day and Year THEY say that on Thursday the Seventeenth day of October instant about Five of the Clock they found a Scabbard and a pair of Gloves and a Cane lying upon the Ground and looking farther they found a Person lying in a Ditch And afterwards they were Enform'd that it was Sir Edmund Godfrey and his Sword was thrust through his Body William Bromwell John Walter The Mark of R John Rawson Midd. ss Caleb Wynde and Richard Duke being both Sworn and Examined do say that on Saturday last being the Twelfth of October instant they saw Sir Edmund Godfrey talking with Mr. Radcliff near Mr. Radcliffs about one of the Clock Jo. Cowper Coroner Caleb VVinde Richard Duke Now in One VVord to the Enformations above VVhat 's All This to a Sword or a Rope To a Cravat a Handkercher a Linnen Cloth or what ever else of That kind the Reader pleases The Sadler says right that he was in Danger about Tong 's and Otes's Enformations But his Apprehension as I have said else where was from the Parliament not from the Papists and in Truth for Concealing the Pretended Plot not for Discovering it Unless for doing both the One and the Other in the Wrong Place He has a Touch about the Postmasters and the Pacquets which is only the Hint of a Story that he had gotten by Halves concerning the Windsor-Letters which Imposture was as Yet a Mystery for it was Early days with the Plot when These Matters were a Brewing Morgan Comes Next and Deposes that he was at the Pond c. upon Thursday about Noon and saw No Gloves nor Stick And so 't is Inferr'd that they were not There because Morgan did not see them VVhereas if He was on One Side of the Pond and the Things on the Other the Bushes were so Thick it was Morally Impossible that he should see them Besides that the supposing they were Not there makes the Matter Worse for what becomes of Prance and Bedloes Evidence then that Swear the Body was carry'd thither Before Or to make short on 't What 's All This to the Question of Strangling whether they were There or Not The Oath of Brumwell Walters and Rawson is as Little to the Purpose too as any of the Rest Though I Cannot but take Notice of the Wording of the Last Line on 't i. e. His Sword was Thrust through his Body as who should say He did not do it Himself And so for the Deposition of Wind and Dukes seeing him at Twelve upon Saturday talking with Radcliffe it is Vtterly Forreign to the Business They found that he had been towards Mary-bone And was Now come Back again And What 's his Coming Back again to the finding of him Suffocated And so to Fancy him Strangled in London and his Body Carry'd off and Thrown in a Ditch Two Mile out of Town with his Sword through it what was this Conceit but an Anticipation of the Imposture of Bedloe and Prance that follow'd upon it To Speak Plainly to the Reason of the Thing and to the Likelyhood of the Case Sir Edmund Carry'd out a Foreboding Countenance in the Morning with him ' His Friends and Relations took Notice that for a Fortnight before he went away his Melancholy grew Stronger and Stronger upon him in Proportion to the Nearer and Nearer Approach of the Parliament His Domestiques were Startled at his Behaviour both Over-Night and the Next Morning when he went away His Head ran upon Padington-Woods and Thither he Ask'd the Way and Thither he Went and came Back and out of All Doubt went Again and did the Vnhappy Work in the Afternoon that he went for in the Morning To look back once again
Twelve or One And Great Vse was made of that Evidence to Induce a Verdict that he was Strangled for they Inferr'd that he was Not Kill'd in the Ditch because he was come back again Now that Inference would have held as good and consequently that Verdict in the Case of Mason who undoubtedly told the Jury the Story of his Coming back again before they Adjourn'd So that they got not one Grain of Intelligence to This Purpose at the Rose and Crown more then they had before at the White-House But to return to the Clerk again Moor took Notice of his Masters Great Discontent and Disorder in his Own VVords after the taking of Otes's Enformations He could not be Ignorant of the Freak of his Burning so many Papers upon Friday Night as he made express remarks upon his Distracted Starts Lookâ— Actions and Gestures That Last Saturday Morning He told Iudith Pamphlin one of the Family that he was affraid he was Murther'd His Wife Exclaiming O that ever it should be said that such a Man as Sir Edmundbury Godfrey Murther'd himself Pamphlin raving at the same rate and telling Captain Gibbon his Lady and his Daughters over and over that Moor knew a great deal and if Moor were examin'd he could say much He Declar'd it himself that he had been to Search for his Master and within a Few Rods too of the Place where the Body was found And he Deliver'd the same thing upon Oath before Two of his Majesties Iustices for the Isle of Ely It cannot be Imagin'd that the Brothers all this while were Strangers to these Circumstances Especially considering the Part they had in the Manage of the whole Transaction Upon the Monday after his going away they went to Mrs. Gibbons to enquire for him and upon her Relation of Sir Edmund's Wild Behaviour the Last time she saw him they both brake out into Violent Exclaymings Lord What will become of us Upon Sunday Morning Early Moor went to the House of Mr. Michael Godfrey and told him that his Master did not come home last Night God have Mercy upon as says the Brother Pray God we hear Good News of him And Enjoyn'd Moor not to tell any Creature of his Absence till he Himself or his Brothers should come to him in the Afternoon They came accordingly and Agreed to enquire every where after him but all under the Seal of Secrecy still And so he was to keep it close 'till Monday Morning and Then till Night and so 'till Tuesday Morning 'till the Brothers should have been with my Lord Chancellor and upon Tuesday Night they Divulg'd it at a Funeral These Repeated Injunctions of Secrecy would puzzle the Mayor of Quinborough and his Brethren to find a current Reason for They do as good as Cry Seek but do not Find And why Again Say nothing till we have been with my Lord Chancellor The Caution in Truth might be Prudential enough in case of his Laying Violent Hands upon himself but supposing him to be Murther'd by a Malicious Practice or by Assassins it would have been a Point of Publique Duty to Honour and Iustice and an Office of Humanity Natural Affection and Respect to the Defunct Immediately to have spread the Story of it as far as the Post and Common Fame could carry it But there 's Another Passage yet behind to the same Point that makes the Bus'ness still more and more Suspicious Mr. Wheeler Deposeth That on Wednesday October 16. 1678. being in Company with one Mr. Parsons Mr. Monk and others he asked Parsons What Discourse he had with Sir Edmundbury Godfrey in St. Martins Lane upon Saturday Last Parsons 'T is no matter Wheeler What a Justice Lost and You the Last Man in his Company and not declare what Discourse you had Parsons Let Mr. Monk tell To which Mr. Monk said What have I to do to tell your Discourse And thereupon this Enformant said to Mr. Parsons If you will not do it here you shall do it somewhere else And then Mr. Parsons said That Sir Edmund asked him three times whereabout Paddington Woods were And that he himself asked Sir Edmund if he were buying a Parcel of Land To which Sir Edmund replyed No. This Enformant asked the said Parsons What other Discourse Pass'd Who Answered him None For Sir Edmund was sparing in his Speech This Enformant putting it further to the said Parsons Why he was so Loth to tell the Discourse Parsons made Answer because Sir Edmund 's Clark Desired him to say Nothing on 't Upon the Whole matter The Brothers Ty'd up Moor to Secrecy and Moor Ty'd up Parsons and there appears No other Reason in Sight either for the one or for the other then a Desire to keep it Private which sounds just as much as an Vnwillingness to have it known what was become of him only the Brothers took care that he should not be Miss'd at Home and the Clark that he should not be found abroad for his Question to Parsons was the only Light they had so Early which way to Enquire after him and Moor took the Hint upon 't After All This said and Prov'd 't is not for Any Man to Doubt either that Moor Knew or was likely to know as much of This Private History as any Man Or of the Brothers knowing as much as Moor Could Tell them And This being taken for Granted a Man Methinks might Fancy such Interrogatories to be put to Moor as might Reasonably open the Way to a Discovery As for Example now Directing the Discourse To the Clerk. Here 's the Body of your Dead Master now upon the Table before us And the Question is How he came by his Death You have been Constantly near about him and in his Business Did You Observe Any Quarrel he had or Any Desperate Discontent upon him and for what Cause or Reason Have You Observ'd him to be more out of Humour of Late then he was formerly And Since what Time and upon what Occasion Your Master went away from his House upon Saturday Morning Last How was he the Day before Did You observe any Bussle of People more then Ordinary about him How did You find him the Morning that he went away Did You Gather Any thing from his Looks VVords or Actions to give you an Ill-Boding of him Mr. Parsons it seems Spake with him in St. Martins-Lane That Saturday Morning and Sir Edmund asked him the way to Paddington-woods And Mr. Parsons told You of it they say VVhâ—n did he tell you This And VVhat Did he tell you of it Did any body Else tell you of it before And VVhat did they tell You And what did You Do upon their Telling it Now we have reason to Believe that he went his Way to the Place that he Enquir'd for because Mr. Collins here one of the Iurors Saw him afterward talking with a Milk-woman thereabouts And here 's Another of the Inquest Mr. Mason that Saw him after This too going Back again And
and in Probability could have said more to the Purpose then All the Rest. We have had Ill Luck hitherto with these Enformations for they run all the same way All Suppressions and Misunderstandings are still in Favour of the same side But it is One Thing not to Emprove the Means of finding a Truth and Another Thing to Stifle or to Oppose Those Means As for Instance now in the Next Chapter CHAP. 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 THE Allyance that was by this time Contracted betwixt the Pretended Murther and the Pretended Plot had made the Credit of the Story so Sacred that there was No Touching of the One without giving a Box o' th' Ear to the Other and consequently no Longer any Way or Hope left of Arriving at the Truth but by breaking in upon Principalities and Powers Under the Awe of This Influence it was that Evidences were Shorten'd or Stretch'd or Smother'd or Baffled in favour of the Imposture and No Relief in the Case but that of a Dutch Appeal from mine Host in the Inn to Mijn Heer upon the Bench where he does Himself Right in the Quality of both a Iudge and a Party in the same Person There will be the less Need of Amplifying in this Place upon Particular Instances of Persons Practices and Methods in Regard that I have already spent one Whole Chapter at Large upon This Subject Part. I. Cap. 10. But there was one Passage upon This Occasion that must not be either Omitted or Forgotten There was one General Rule to Walk by which was to make every Man a Papist that Cross'd the Designs of the Then Prevailing Faction and after the Fastning of That Brand upon him it was but the Lip-Labour of Kissing a Book to Swear him into a Traytor for they Manag'd their Treasons as Dyers do their Colours that first lay on one to make the Stuff take t' other This was the Snare that was set for Mr. Richard Wheeler a Man of Sense Credit and Estate but he was too Nimble for 'em and so they snapt Short. The Relation of it will be best in his own Words Richard Wheeler Deposeth That on Friday Morning October 18. the Day after Sir Edmund's Body was found Mr. Cowper having been as this Enformant heard to see the Body came into the Exchange and told how Sir Edmund was Wheedled out and Murther'd in such a Place For that Mr. Collins the Brewer had met him in Marybone-Fields Hereupon this Enformant Declaring what Cowper had said and What He Himself had Observ'd That upon the Monday Morning this Enformant going to his Shop one Mr. Templer said to this Enformant There are Rods in Piss for you To which this Enformant replyed For what Saying he had done no Man any Wrong The said Mr. Templer replying Sir Edmunds Brothers have been here to enquire what Religion you are of Vpon which this Enformant came into the Exchange and met Mr. Cowper telling him what Mr. Templer had said and saying that he the said Cowper must Clear himself For he this Enformant had Witnesses enough to prove what he had said Whereupon Cowper asked this Enforformant what he should do To which this Enformant asked him Do you know who told you so Cowper said Yes I do Why then said this Enformant I 'le go along with you to him being told it was an Ale-house-Keeper in So-ho So this Enformant and Mr. Cowper went to the said Ale-house-Keeper where this Enformant took Occasion to say that they were going to see the Place where Sir Edmund's Body Lay to which the Ale-house-keeper said That Sir Edmund was wheedled out and Murther'd for Mr. Collins said That he met Sir Edmund that Saturday in Mary-bone Fields Whereupon This Enformant Mr. Cowper and the Ale-house Keeper went All Three to Mr. Collins and found him at Home who told them that he did meet with him as aforesaid Talking with a Milk-woman And that he said Good Morrow Sir Edmund who reply'd Good Morrow Mr. Collins This Enformant then asked Mr. Collins being One of the Coroner's Inquest how he came to Find him Murther'd To which He reply'd that Mr. Radcliffe and his Servant and his next Neighbour's Servant swore him to be at Radcliff's Door at One of the Clock upon the Saturday This Enformant did then ask the said Collins Whether or No he Summon'd the Milk-woman who told him No. How should they find her This Enformant Objecting it to him that for a Crown or such a Matter he might have found her out This was according to the Scheme of the Politiques of That Season Will Wheeler be medling with Our Primrose-hill Matters What Religion is he of This is only Demurring to My Clyents Beard as a Lawyer of Famous Memory has it and not one Hair to the Matter in Question Had they been but Half as Inquisitive after Collin's Milkwoman as they were about Mr. Wheeler's Religion it would have been much more to Common Satisfaction But every thing was Distorted and Emprov'd if it may be said so the Wrong Way The Advice of Surgeons was not only Reasonable but Necessary in a Matter where there fell so many Important Circumstances under their Peculiar Cognizance But the Removal of the Body and the Drawing the Sword out had so Confounded the Signs and Accidents they were to have form'd a Iudgment upon that there was scarce Room for any more then the Bare Conjectural Suspicion of a Possible Strangulation But now as the Surgeons Opinion was taken upon the Main as to the Probable Cause of his Death it would have been Well if Those that had the Care and Power of the Body after the Verdict had found it as reasonable to Comply with the Council and Importunity of Friends as well as of Men of Art toward as Certain a Discovery of the Truth of the Matter as if they had been Eye-Witnesses of the Execution The Opening of the Body is the Expedient that I speak of which as I am Credibly Enform'd was Mov'd and Insisted upon by some of the Inquest upon the Debate however it come to be Carry'd in the Negative There was the King's Life the Peace of his Dominions An Imperial Monarchy The Prerogative of the Royal Family Religion Liberty and Property all in a Great Measure at stake upon the Issue of This Question Now it must be some Consideration of Mighty Weight sure some Greater Good on the One side then the Preservation of All These Sacred Interests was Worth Or some Greater Evil on the other then the Embroyling and Confounding of them All that could with any Colour of Iustice or Reason stand in Competition with the Consequences of Denying This Request We saw how Near the Mistake of This Matter came to the Destroying of Three Kingdoms And All for want of Clearing This One Point And now to Ballance all These Hazards let
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