30 Car.II. ledged that he had wrought in his Trade for 4D.1678. Grove, Pickering, and Ireland; and wifhed he might be damned if he knew any thing either of the Plot, or the Murder: Whereupon he was fent to Newgate, loaden with heavy Irons, and put into the Condemned Hole; where he lay all Night. Early the next Morning an unknown Perfon came in, and having laid down a Paper on a Form by him, retired; and immediately came in another Man with a Candle, whereby he read the Paper, which contained the following Minutes; So many Popish Lords, mentioned by Name Fifty thousand Men to be raisedout Officers appointed quainted with the Defign Commiffions given An Abstract of Bedloe's Evidence alfo was contained in the fame Paper; and concluded with these Words, You had better confefs than be hanged. Prance, being overcome with Cold, and the Stench of the Place he was in, and looking upon his Death to be determined if he did not comply with this Intimation, defired to be carried to my Lord Shaftsbury; and accordingly being brought before that Lord, and two or three more, he was strictly examined upon the Articles contained in the Paper: It was alfo fuggefted to him, that there were great Perfons concerned in the Plot, and they expected he fhould difcover them; Shaftsbury mentioned the Queen and the Duke of York in particular, and bid the Prifoner not spare even the King himSelf; as Prance afterwards depofed: They gave him to understand alfo, that his Evidence must agree with Bedloe's, and particu larly in that Circumftance of the Body's being laid under the Altar. Prance then pretended to make fome Discoveries, and proVOL. XXIII. mifed Ε A.D.167 mifed more; whereupon a Paper was brought him to fign, as containing his Examination; after which he was remanded to Newgate. 31 Car.II. Prance having promifed to make further Discoveries, if he might have the King's Pardon, the Lords procured a Pardon for him; and a Committee from each Houfe was ordered to take his further Examination in Newgate, and not fuffer any other Perfons to be prefent at it: Here the Prifoner made a Confeffion fo much to their Satisfaction, that it was thought fit he fhould repeat and confirm it before the King and Council: And accordingly at that Board he charged five Perfons with being prefent at Godfrey's Murder; viz. the Fathers Girald and Kelly, two Irish Priests, Robert Green, Cushion-Bearer to the Queen's Chapel, Lawrence Hill, Servant to Dr. Godden, Treafurer of her Chapel, and Henry Berry, Porter to Somerset-House; and being very particular as to the Time, Place, and other Circumftances, the King ordered the Duke of Monmouth, the Lord Oory, and Mr. Vice-Chamberlain, to go to SomersetHoufe, and take Prance's Examination upon the Spot; which was done accordingly : But he appeared fo doubtful as to the principal Room he had mentioned, and fome other Circumftances, that the Lord Oory declared, It was all a Cheat. The Council fitting again in the Afternoon, Prance was confronted with Green, Berry, and Hill, three of the Perfons he had accufed; who denied every Tittle of the Charge, while Prance ftill continued to maintain it; after which they were all remanded to Prifon. On the 29th of December, Prance was ordered to be brought before the Council again; but before 31 Car.II. before he appeared at the Board, he defired A.D.1673 to speak with the King in private; and thereupon Richardson, the Keeper of Newgate, was ordered to carry his Prifoner to Mr. Chiffinch's Lodgings in Whitehall, whither his Majesty came, and took Prance into a private Room; where he had not been long with the King, but his Majesty opened the Door, and ordered Chiffinch and the Jaylor to come in; which they did, and found Prance upon his Knees; and the King bidding him fpeak out, Prance declared, That the Men he had fworn againft Prance rewere all innocent; and that all he had fworn tracts his against them was falfe: Whereupon the King before the faid, Upon your Salvation is it fo? And he re- King and plied, Upon my Salvation the whole Accufation is Council. jalfe: And being carried before the Council, he confirmed what he had faid to the King; adding, he only knew the Men he had fworn against; that he never faw Bedloe before he was taken up; that he knew nothing of the Plot, or the Murther, and could not reft for the Story he had told; that Wren owed him Money, and threatened him because he dunned him for it, and fo hared him into it. Evidence Prance being brought before the King and Council again next Day, perfifted in it, That he knew nothing of the Plot or Murder; and declared that he had no other Hints to frame that Story by, than he took from the Paper of Inftructions that was laid by him in the Condemned Hole in Newgate: Whereupon he was fent to Prifon again, put into He is torthe Condemned Hole, loaded with Irons, and tured, to ufed in that barbarous Manner, that he roar- return to ed and cried out perpetually, as one upon his former the Rack: Whereupon his Tormentors gave out he was mad. The poor Man endured E 2 thefe make him Evidence. 31 Car.II. AD.167 thefe Tortures, however, for nine or ten Days; but not being able to hold out longer, he promifed, if they would eafe him of his Pain, to return to his former Evidence : Whereupon his Irons were knocked off, and he was carried from the loathfome Dungeon he was in to a good Room and Bed, and accommodated with good Provifions, and whatever elfe he defired; and here he compleated his written Narrative of the Murder with which he had charged Green, Bury, Hill, The Long Parlia ment, that fat 18 &c. In the mean time the King, obferving the Power of the Faction in Parliament, and the Encouragement they gave to the Plot-DifcoYears, dif- verers, in order to diftrefs his Affairs, and folved. oblige him to exclude the Duke of York from the Succeffion, as well as the Inclination they had fhewn to expofe his Administration, by bringing the Earl of Danby to his Trial; thought fit to diffolve this Long Parliament on the 25th of January, after it had fat near eighteeen Years; but declared at the fame time, That he would caufe Writs to be iffued for the affembling another Parliament on the 6th of March; which was done accordingly: And while the People were bufy in electing The Trials their Reprefentatives in the Country, Green, of Green, Bury, and Hill, the fuppofed Murderers of Bury, and Hill for Juftice Godfrey, were brought to their Trials. Godfrey's at the King's-Bench Bar; where Oates was Murder. produced as an Evidence against them, and Oates's depofed, That upon the 6th of September last Evidence. he gave in feveral Depofitions upon Oath, containing a Narrative of the Plot, before Juftice Godfrey; and having taken two or three Copies, he went before Godfrey again on the 28th of September, and fwore all the 31 Car.II. Copies he had made; and after this he went 4.D.167 with his Narrative before the Council; That Gedfrey told him, that fome great Perfons thought he had been too zealous in this Bufinefs, and others that he had been too remifs; and that he was threatened on both fides, and went in Fear of his Life from the Popish Party, and obferved he had been dogged for feveral Days; but he should not fear them, if they came fairly. Prothonotary Robinson depofed to the fame Effect; adding, That Godfrey faid, upon his Confcience he should be the first Martyr. Evidence. Prance depofed, That two Priefts engaged Prance's him to be concerned in the Murder of Godfrey, and told him it was no Sin, for he was a bufy Man, and would do a great deal of Mischief; that they fent to Godfrey's Houfe to know when he went out, and had dogged him feveral times; and particularly on the Saturday Morning he was miffing they watched him into St. Clement's, and about Eight or Nine O'Clock in the Evening Hill gave them Notice to be ready, for Godfrey was coming by the WaterGate at Somerset-Houfe; that Hill went to him, and told him there were two Men quarrelling, and defired him to come down and part them; which, with much Perfuafion, he confented to do; and being come down as far as the Bottom of the Rails, Green twisted his Handkerchief, and put it about Godfrey's Neck, and threw him behind the Rails, and there choaked him: About a Quarter of an Hour after, Prance obferved that he was not dead; and Green wrung his Neck quite round, and punched him with his Knee. Prance depofed alfo, That he ftood at the Water-Gate when it was done, and Berry watched the Stairs; that |