108 Dal Sigr Internuncio, May 24/June 3, 1679. Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Fiandra 66. Add. MSS. 32095: 196. See below in Politics of the Plot.
109 L.J. November 21, 1678. Foley v. 221, 222. Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 483, a version of Du Fiquet’s information in French.
110 7 State Trials 1007.
111 Brusselles Dal. Sigr Internuncio, April 19/29, 1679. Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Fiandra 66.
112 Longleat MSS. St. Omers, August 14, 1678. Sam Morgan to his father, Coventry Papers xi. 204. See Appendix A.
113 Pepys, Memoires relating to the State of the Royal Navy in England 4, 5, 8.
114 Longleat MSS. Letter of December 23, 1676. Coventry Papers xi. 171. See Appendix A.
115 Treby i. 19. September 18/28, 1678.
116 L’Abbate G. B. Lauri a S. Emza, November 22/December 2, 1678. Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Francia 332. See Appendix A.
117 Barillon, October 21/31, 1680. “Il (le Duc d’York) me fit entendre. ...qu’il ne comprenait pas que le Roi son frère voulût mettre tous les Catholiques en désespoir et les persécuter sans aucunes mesures. Il ajouta à cela en termes pleines de colère et ressentiment que si on le poursuit à bout et qu’il se voit en état d’être entièrement ruiné par ses ennemis, il trouvera le moyen de les en faire repentir et se vangera d’eux.... M. le Duc de Bouquinham m’a dit plusieurs fois qu’il avait bu fort souvent avec le Roi de la Grande Bretagne, mais qu’il n’avait jamais vu ce Prince dans une débauche un peu libre qu’il ne temoignât beaucoup d’aigreur et de la haine même contre son frère.”
118 Examinations of Saunders, Coulster, and Towneley, April 28, 1679. House of Lord MSS. 149–152.
119 Macaulay iv. 649–652. Lord Acton, Lectures on Modern History. If Charles’ word when he was sober can be trusted, he believed there was no ground to suspect the duke of any intention against his life. Barillon, November 22/December 2, 1680. “Le Roi de la Grande Bretagne dit encore en jurant avant hier au conseil: Mon frère ne m’a point voulu faire tuer, ny pas un de vous ne le croît.” It was however Charles’ constant policy to uphold the Duke of York. See too Reresby, Memoirs 146.
120 Ralph i. 382.
121 It is a tribute to the liveliness of Oates’ imagination that Pickering, said to be an agent in the Jesuit plot, was a Benedictine lay-brother.
122 Kirkby, Compleat and True Narrative i. Simpson Tonge’s Journal 38; S.P. Dom. Charles II 409.
123 Simpson Tonge’s Journal 39.
124 Kirkby, Compleat and True Narrative 2. Simpson Tonge’s Journal 40, 41. Impartial State of the Case of the Earl of Danby 13, 14.
125 Impartial State of the Case 14, 15.
126 Florus Anglo-Bavaricus 95.
127 Impartial State of the Case 15. Kirkby, Compleat and True Narrative 2. 7 State Trials 96, 328, 345. Simpson Tonge’s Journal 39, 59.
128 Impartial State of the Case 15.
129 Impartial State of the Case 15, 16. Kirkby, Compleat and True Narrative 2, 3. Simpson Tonge’s Journal 64, 65, 124. L’Estrange, Brief Hist. ii. 4–15. Observator ii. 150–153, October 1684. James (Or. Mem.) i. 518, 519. Ralph i. 383, 384. Burnet ii. 158.
130 Simpson Tonge’s Journal 135. Kirkby, Compleat and True Narrative 3. Impartial State of the Case 16. James (Or. Mem.) i. 518. Temple, Works i. 398. Reresby, Memoirs 147. Burnet ii. 158.
131 Simpson Tonge’s Journal 152. 7 State Trials 29, James (Or. Mem.) i. 518–521. Warner MS. history 26. Florus Anglo-Bavaricus 98. Foley v. 16. Burnet ii. 160. North, Examen 58.
132 Barillon, September 30/October 10, 1678. 7 State Trials 656. Foley v. 17, 18, 20, 21. Schwerin, Briefe aus England 330, 334, 342.
133 Barillon, October 3/13, 10/20, 1678. 7 State Trials 29, 30, 33. Impartial State of the Case 17. Add. MSS. 28,042: 32. Notes by Danby for a letter to be sent to a member of the House of Commons. Danby to Lord Hatton, March 29, 1678. Hatton Correspondence i. 184.
134 Il Nuntio di Vienna al Nuntio in Francia. Nimega, October 18/28, 1678. Vat. Arch. Nunt. di Francia, 329.
135 Barillon, October 3/13, 7/17, 10/20, 17/27, 1678. Paolo Sarotti, Ven. arch. October 11/21, 1678. Schwerin, Briefe aus England October 4/14, 1678. Luttrell, Brief Relation i. 1. Halstead, Succinct Genealogies 433. Reresby, Memoirs 145. North, Examen 177. Evelyn, Diary October 1, 1678. Caveat against the Whigs ii. 42. Foley v. 18. Burnet ii. 161, 162.
136 Calamy, Own Life i. 83, 84. Christie, Life of Shaftesbury ii. 309. Burnet ii. 165. North, Examen 206. Luttrell, Brief Relation i. 12, 21. Schwerin, Briefe aus England 336, 351, November 18, 1678.
137 See the prologue to Dryden’s tragi-comedy, The Spanish Friar, produced early in 1681:—
Scott suggests that the allusion is to the murder of Mr. Thynne, but this did not occur till some months after the production of the play. Christie refers it to the assault made upon Dryden himself in Rose Alley in December 1679; but the reference to the plot makes it far more probable that Dryden had in his mind the murder of Godfrey and the sham attempt on Arnold eighteen months later. He would certainly class the two together, for he attributed Godfrey’s death to Oates:—
Absalom and Achitophel, 676, 677.
138 Sir George Sitwell gives a most instructive and entertaining description of these, The First Whig, chap. vi.
139 What Gunpowder Plot was 13.
140 Tuke, Memoirs of Godfrey 1–15. Sidney Lee, Article on Godfrey in Dict. of Nat. Biog. Gentleman’s Magazine, January 1848. Godfrey’s Christian names are variously spelt. I give the most correct form in writing, but in quoting retain that used by the writer or reporter.
141 Tuke, Memoirs 39–51.
142 Sidney Lee, op. cit. Gazette No. 88. Ralph i. 139.
143 Pepys, Diary May 26, 1699. Tuke, Memoirs 36–39. Tuke is mistaken in saying that Godfrey was knighted on this occasion, in recompense for the injury done him. The knighthood was conferred in September 1666.
144 An engraving by F. H. van Hove is inserted in Tuke’s Memoirs.
145 Tuke, Memoirs 19, 20. North, Examen 199.
146 Tuke, Memoirs 52, 53.
147 Kirkby, Compleat and True Narrative 2, 3.
148 Kirkby, Compleat and True Narrative 3. Simpson Tonge’s Journal 126, 135.
149 Tuke, Memoirs 22, 23, 29, Burnet ii. 163. North, Examen 199, 200.
The author of the Annual Letters of the English Province S.J. is probably inaccurate in stating, “He was especially kind to the Roman Catholics, and was moreover a great confidant of the Duke of York” (quoted Foley Records v. 15); but the statement is only an exaggeration of the truth. Warner MS. history 26, “Nec alius in eo magistratu aut Carolo fidelior aut Catholicis, etiam Jesuitis, quorum multos familiarissime noverat, amicior.”
150 Burnet ii. 164. Depositions of Henry Moor, Godfrey’s clerk. L’Estrange, Brief History iii. 203, 204, 208. The depositions collected by L’Estrange in this work must be regarded with suspicion. The statements in many are obviously untrue, and L’Estrange was not above falsifying evidence to suit his purpose. Among other reasons for the use of great caution is the fact that most of the depositions were not taken until eight or nine years after the event. Their exact dates cannot be ascertained, as they are seldom quoted by L’Estrange, and the original documents are missing. They are supposed to have been stolen from the State Paper Office immediately after the Revolution (Sitwell, First Whig ix.). Only after careful scrutiny can these papers be used as evidence. Moor’s evidence was taken for the coroner. He afterwards went to live at Littleport, in Cambridgeshire, and died apparently in 1685 or 1686. Brief Hist. iii., Preface vii. 171.
151 Brief Hist. iii. 204, 205.
152 Brief Hist. iii. 205, 206. Depositions of Pengry and Fall.
153 Brief Hist. ii. chap. vi, 199, iii. 195–201. The evidence that the news of Godfrey’s absence was known before Tuesday, October 15, is not to be relied on. It consists wholly of depositions taken by L’Estrange several years after. Some contain such ridiculous statements as that before 3 P.M. on Saturday, October 12, it was a common report that Godfrey was murdered by the Papists. (Dep. of Wynell, Burdet, Paulden, 195, 196, 200.) At this time even his household could not possibly have known that he would not return. Another declares that on the morning of Sunday “it was in all the people’s mouths in that quarter that he was murdered by the Papists at Somerset House.” (Dep. of Collinson, 200.) At this time it was not known in Hartshorn Lane that Godfrey had not spent the night at his mother’s. In another a false statement can fortunately be detected. Thomas Burdet deposed (196, 197) that Godfrey and Mr. Wynell had an appointment to dine on the Saturday with Colonel Welden, that Godfrey did not keep his appointment, and that the surprise which was caused by this was increased by the immediate report of his murder. As a matter of fact Godfrey had no appointment to dine with Welden, and so could not have caused surprise by not appearing. He had been invited, but could not promise to come. Welden gave evidence before the Lords’ Committee: “He came on Friday night with officers of St. Martin’s, and at going away I asked him to dine with me on Saturday. He said he could not tell whether he should.” (House of Lords MSS. 48.) North’s assertions to the same effect (Examen 201) are equally worthless. Burnet is positive that the news of Godfrey’s absence was not published before Tuesday, October 15. Burnet’s character has been sufficiently rehabilitated by Ranke and Mr. Airy; but I may remark that, as he was opposed to the court, did not believe in Oates’ revelations, and had access to excellent sources of information, his evidence upon the Popish Plot is of remarkable value.
154 Burnet places this tale at a time before the news was public, and says that the suggestion was credited by Godfrey’s brothers. Very likely they may have believed it, but a comparison with Moor’s evidence (see above) makes it probable that this explanation was the first given after his absence was known.
155 Burnet ii. 164. North, Examen 202. Diary of Lord Keeper Guildford, Dalrymple ii. 321.
156 John Verney to Sir Ralph Verney, Verney MSS. 471.
157 Lloyd to L’Estrange, Brief Hist. iii. 87. Burnet ii. 164. North says the body was found upon Wednesday, October 16 (Examen 202), but this is a mistake.
158 “7 guineas, 4 broad pieces, £4 in silver.” The coroner’s evidence.
159 Evidence of the coroner and Rawson before the Lords’ Committee. House of Lords’ MSS. 46, 47. Evidence of Brown, the constable, at the inquest. Brief Hist. iii. 212–215, 222.
160 Deposition of White, coroner of Westminster. Brief Hist. iii. 224.
161 Quoted from the printed copy published by Janeway in 1682. Brief Hist. iii. 232.
162 “The jury’s reasons for the verdict they gave.” Brief Hist. iii. chap. xii.
163 Evidence of Collins, Mason, and Radcliffe. Brief Hist. iii. 252, 300. Some not very good evidence was collected several years afterwards as to Godfrey’s movements later in the day. It cannot be considered trustworthy. 8 State Trials 1387, 1392, 1393. Brief Hist. iii. 174, 175.
164 The coroner’s evidence before the Lords’ committee; “There was nothing in the field on Tuesday.” House of Lords MSS. 47. Evidence of Mrs. Blith and her man at the inquest. Brief Hist. iii. 244.
165 Deposition of Robert Forset. 8 State Trials 1394, 1395.
166 Sir George Sitwell says: “The bruises or discolourations upon his chest might well have been produced by those who knelt upon it in stripping off the clothes” (First Whig 41). Bruises however cannot be made to appear upon a corpse beyond the time of three and a half hours after death (Professor H. A. Husband in the Student’s Handbook of Forensic Medicine), nor is there any evidence that the body was so treated. Marks which look like bruises may be caused after death by the process of hypostasis or suggillation, the gravitation of the blood to the lowest point in the dead body. But if the marks on Godfrey’s body had been thus caused, the face and neck would have shown pronounced signs of discolouration, since the head was lower than any other point in the body. It had moreover been in that position for at most only twenty-four hours, so that the blood would not have gravitated to the chest immediately after death at all.
167 L’Estrange afterwards persuaded the surgeon Lazinby to say that the mark was caused by the pressure of the collar. Brief Hist. iii. 259. But his evidence in court was, on the contrary, that it was caused “by the strangling with a cord or cloth.” 8 State Trials 1384.
168 The evidence as to the exact condition of the neck, varies slightly, but the doctors, and indeed all who saw the body, were agreed that it was broken.
169 Evidence of the surgeons Cambridge and Skillard at the trial of Green, Berry, and Hill. 7 State Trials 185, 186. Evidence of the coroner before the Lords’ committee. House of Lords MSS. 46. Evidence of Hobbs and Lazinby, surgeons, and the two Chaces, apothecaries, at the trial of Thompson, Pain, and Farwell. 8 State Trials 1381–1384.
170 Evidence of Brown, Skillard, and Cambridge at the trial of Green and others. 7 State Trials 184, 185, 186. Evidence of Hazard, Batson, Fisher, Rawson, Mrs. Rawson, Hobbs, Lazinby, the Chaces, at the trial of Thompson and others. 8 State Trials 1379–1384. Depositions of Skillard, Rawson, and others. Brief Hist. iii. 265–271. Some of the witnesses in their depositions before L’Estrange spoke of the presence of a greater quantity of blood than they had previously remembered. Obviously their earlier impressions are the more trustworthy. Even at the later date the quantity to which they swore was not considerable.
171 Brief Hist. iii. 271. He does not attempt however to give any evidence for his statement.
172 Brief Hist. iii. 230.
173 Mr. W. M. Fletcher, M.B., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, has kindly furnished me with his opinion on this point. He says: “A sword transfixing the living body and at the same time driven through the cavity of the heart would cause violent hæmorrhage from one or other of the external wounds, except only under a set of circumstances which could be present only by the rarest chance; the hæmorrhage, that is to say, could be restrained only by an accidental block produced not only at one but at two points on either side of the heart cavity, where the torn tissues might happen so to fit outwards upon and closely against the undisturbed sword as to form a kind of valve. Such an accidental valve formation, occurring at two separate points on each side of the pent-up blood, is improbable enough, but could not be imagined as a prevention of hæmorrhage if the sword were bent, twisted, or withdrawn after the infliction of the wound.”
174 7 State Trials 295. Information of Mrs. Warrier. Brief Hist. iii. 142. Burnet ii. 164. Evidence of the coroner before the Lords’ committee. House of Lords MSS. 46. L’Estrange produces two depositions to the effect that the ground was quite dry and not muddy, and in doing so contradicts the argument upon which he lays stress in arguing against Prance’s story (see below) that if the body had been brought to Primrose Hill upon a horse, the feet and legs must have been covered with mud. Brief Hist. iii. 261, and see 8 State Trials 1370 for the same point in Thompson’s libel.
175 8 State Trials 1359–1389.
176 Barillon, October 21/31, 1678. “Ce Godefroy s’est trouvé mort à trois milles d’ici sans qu’on sache qui l’a tué. Le Roi d’Angleterre et M. le Duc d’York m’ont dit que c’était une espèce de fanatique et qu’ils croyent qu’il s’était tué lui-même.”
177 Burnet ii. 165. Blencowe’s Sidney lxii. Lady Sunderland to John Evelyn, December 25, 1678.
178 See the letter subscribed T. G. to Secretary Coventry and Coventry’s reply. Longleat MSS. See Appendix B.
179 John Verney to Sir Ralph Verney, Verney MSS. 471. This did not take place till November, but it may be noted at this point.
180 Barillon, January 16/26, 1679. Despatches of Giacomo Ronchi, secret agent of the Duke of Modena in London, January 20, 1679. Campana de Cavelli i. 239. Memoirs of Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury i. 29.
181 Lansd. MSS. 1235: 76. North, Examen 202, 204, 205. North alone relates the incident of the pulpit. As Ranke observes, he has never been contradicted, so that the story may be accepted. Burnet ii. 165. Ralph i. 392. Echard 950. Oldmixon 620.
182 Parl. Hist. iv. 1022. L.J. xiii. 299. House of Lords MSS. i.
183 Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 232. The information of October 27 is practically the same as that given below from the Lords’ Journals.
184 Examination of Charles Atkins, Esq. 6 State Trials 1479. L.J. November 12, 1678.
185 Evidence of C. Atkins before the Lords’ Committee. 6 State Trials 1474.
186 6 State Trials 1473–1492.
187 6 State Trials 1484, 1491.
188 There is unfortunately a gap from October 28 to December 11 in the minutes of the committee of inquiry of the House of Lords, so that it is impossible to check Atkins’ statements exactly.
189 See 6 State Trials 1476, 1481.
190 Ibid. 1474.
191 Ibid. 1481.
192 See the conversations between Charles and Samuel Atkins on the stairs of the committee room, November 6, and in Newgate, November 8. Ibid. 1480, 1484. North, Examen 243–247.
193 S.P. Dom. Charles II 407; i. 285. Bedloe to Williamson, October 31, 1678; ii. 23. Williamson to Bedloe, November 5. Brief Hist. iii. 7. Coventry to Bedloe, November 2.
194 See Appendix B.
195 Whence Lingard derives the words I cannot discover, xiii. 98. Brief Hist. iii. 16. Ralph i. 393. Burnet ii. 168. Burnet, who relates that Charles told him the same thing of Bedloe, must have misunderstood the king’s words, unless, which is quite possible, Charles deceived him intentionally.
196 Add. MSS. 11,058: 244. See Appendix B.
197 S.P. Dom. Charles II 407: ii. 29. See Appendix B.
198 Deposition of November 8 before the Lords’ committee. 6 State Trials 1487.
199 Ibid. 1489.
200 Ibid. 1484.
201 7 State Trials 347, 349. Exam. of November 7. S.P. Dom. Charles II 407. See Appendix B. Care, History of the Plot 127.
202 Warner MS. history 36. Exam, of Mary Bedloe (see below). Burnet ii. 168. Florus Anglo-Bavaricus 127, Lettre écrite de Mons à un ami à Paris, 1679. L.J. xiii. 392. Reresby, Memoirs 149.
203 L.J. xiii. 343, November 12.
204 Deposition of Alice Tainton, alias Bedloe, taken this 14th day of November 1678, before the Rt. Rev. father in God William Lord Bishop of Landaffe, one of his Majesty’s justices of the peace in the county of Monmouth. Deposition of Mary Bedloe of Chepstow of same date before the Bishop of Landaffe. Deposition of Gregory Appleby, December 2, 1678 before the Bishop of Landaffe. Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 287, 307.
205 L.J. November 24, 28; xiii. 389, 391.
206 6 State Trials 1489, 1490. Sitwell, First Whig 51. North, Examen 248.
207 6 State Trials 1490, 1491. For Staley’s case see below in Trials for Treason. North, Examen 249.
208 Evidence of Captain Vittells and his men before the Lords’ committee. House of Lords MSS. 49, 50, 51. Evidence of Vittells and Tribbett at Atkins’ trial. 7 State Trials 248.
209 6 State Trials 1491, 1492.
210 7 State Trials 238–240.
211 Bedloe’s evidence. Ibid. 242, 243.
212 Ibid. 241, 245.
213 Ibid. 246–249.
214 Ibid. 249. North, Examen 250, 251. North’s account is as usual highly coloured, and contains at least one untrue statement.
215 Bedloe’s deposition before the Lords’ committee. L.J. November 12, xiii. 350, 351.
216 7 State Trials 237.
217 See below in Trials for Treason.
218 Burnet ii. 191. 7 State Trials 183. True Narrative and Discovery 20. Brief Hist. iii. 52, 53, 65. L’Estrange alone gives the words. The fact that Prance was questioned about the periwig makes it probable that they are more or less correct. L’Estrange also says that the meeting was prearranged by Bedloe and Sir William Waller. Reasons for disbelieving this will appear later.
219 House of Lords MSS. 51.
220 L.J. xiii. 431. Blencowe’s Sidney lxii. Lady Sunderland to John Evelyn, December 25, 1678.
221 C.J. ix. 563. L’Estrange comments on this: “It makes a man tremble to think what a jail delivery of discoverers this temptation might have produced” (Brief Hist. iii. 55). Surely it is more natural to suppose that the information was directed not to the common malefactors, but to those already imprisoned in Newgate on account of the plot. If an examination of Prance was taken by the Commons’ committee, it was never reported to the House. On December 30, 1678 Parliament was prorogued, and on January 24, 1679 dissolved. The new parliament did not meet till March 6, when the trial for Godfrey’s murder had already taken place, and Green, Berry, and Hill had been hanged.
222 L.J. xiii. 436.
223 The deposition begins, “That it was either at the latter end or the beginning of the week that Sir E. Godfrey,” and so on. The rest of the examination is only intelligible on the ground that Saturday was the day of the murder. Prance’s reasons for prevaricating in this statement will be the subject of discussion below.
224 L.J. xiii. 437, 438. 7 State Trials 191, 192. Evidence of Sir Robert Southwell, clerk to the privy council. There exists among the state papers the notes taken by Sir Joseph Williamson, secretary of state, of Prance’s first examination before the council. They only differ from the account in the Lords’ Journals in that they begin “On a certain Monday.” The paper is worth studying for the wonderful vividness in which Williamson’s disjointed sentences bring the scene to the mind. See Appendix B.
225 L.J. xiii. 439.
226 House of Lords MSS. 52.
227 Warner MS. history 37. S.P. Dom. Charles II 407: ii. 17. Note of the proceedings at the council on December 30. 7 State Trials 177, 210. Evidence of Richardson and Chiffinch. James (Or. Mem.) i. 535. Burnet ii. 193. Brief Hist. iii. 61, 62, 65. L’Estrange says that the king saw Prance alone on the evening of December 29, and called in Richardson and Chiffinch afterwards. This is contradicted by Richardson and Burnet. It would moreover have been a piece of imprudence unlike Charles’ caution; and as none of the Whig writers, who would have given much to obtain such a handle against the king, mention a private interview, the story is probably without truth. The events which passed between Prance’s first confession and his final adherence to it will be discussed below.