A brief history of the times, &c. ...

CHAP. XV.

Supposing the Murther of Sir Edmund-bury God∣frey 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.

THERE was a Time, when a Popish Murther was Trumpt up for the Proof of a Popish Plot; but we are Now as hard put to't for want of a Plot to Prove That Murther, as we were Formerly for want of a Mur∣ther to Prove That Plot: In short, there's no Reconci∣ling Either of them to it self, Apart; or Both, Each to the Other. If there was No Popish Plot, There was Consequently No Popish Murther; at least upon That Bottom: Unless a Man shall suppose a Branch without a Root; or an Effect, without a Cause. If there were No Treasonous Consults, how should there be Murderous Practices Grounded upon Imaginary Councels? The Equi∣ty of Otes's Conviction of Wilful, Malicious, and Cor∣rupt Perjury, at the King's Bench Bar, Westminster, the 8th. of May 1685. upon the Iesuits Tryal in the Bus'∣ness of That Plot, lyes every Jot as strong, in Parity of Reason, and of Iustice, against Prance and Bedloe, for This Pretended Branch of That Pretended Conspiracy. They Hang both upon the same String, and whoever Overthrows the One, Trips up the Heels of the Other. That is to say, where the Matter of Fact is False in the foundation, All Inferences from it must be so like∣wise, in the Superstructure: and whatsoever Bedloe and Prance have Sworn upon a Plot where there was None, is only the Seconding of one Perjury with Another; For the Profligate Improbity of the Witness Blasts the Credit of the Murther, as well as of the Treason. I do not

say but that there might be a Murther, and yet No Conspiracy: Nay, I say there might be a Murther Exe∣cuted by Papists too; and yet That Murther not a Popish Assassinate neither, for I would Distinguish the Wicked Practices of some particulars in All Religions, from the Wicked Principles of a Whole Body of Men, of This, or That Persuasion; so that we have a Great Many Steps to make, before we come to a Resolution upon This Question. We take it for Granted, First, (as we find it upon Record) that Otes's Popish Plot was an Imposture. 2dly, That if there was No Popish Plot, there could be No Popish Branch of it: From whence it will Now Fol∣low, that Prance and Bedloe are Manifestly forsworn in Every Tittle of their Evidence, that either Imputes the Murther to the Conspiracy, or lends a helping hand to the Confirming of the Forgery. They Swore the Mur∣ther into the Plot, for the Sake of the Plot; Not the Plot into the Murther, for the Sake of the Murther. And though Bedloe came in to give Evidence to the Murther, 'twas his Swearing to the Plot, that got him the 500 l. And to make the best on't, his Perjury in the One Case made him Incompetent in the Other.

To Sum up All in a Little, (for I am Now about to Close the First Part of This Discourse) Was God∣frey Murther'd at Somerset-house, according to the Depo∣sitions of Bedloe, and Prance, or was he Not? What Inducement have we to believe it? or what Arguments, or Objections to the Contrary? As to the Credibility of the Fact in Issue; There were so many Contradictions in the Watching, and Dogging of him, in the Manner of Des••roying him; in the Concealing, and Removing of him; in the Means of Carrying him away; and in other Circumstances of Time, and Place, as Never were heard of in This World from the Mouths of Two Credible Witnesses. They Might as well have Sworn to the Con∣veying of him into the Ditch in a Mist, or upon a

Broom-stick, as in a Chair, or on Horse-back. Bedloe swears against Bedloe and Prance; and Prance swears against Prance and Bedloe. They swear One thing be∣fore the Lords Committees, and quite Another thing at the Tryals. Insomuch, that Light and Darkness might as well have been Reconcil'd, as These Testimonies, either severally, or One to Another. In one Word: What shall I need to say more on't, then Effectually is said Already? The Story is Wholly Inconsistent with it self; never any thing more Ridiculously Projected, more scan∣dalously Attested; or, upon Comparing of Evidences, more Impossible to be True. So that here's the First Question of Sir Godfrey's being Murther'd at Somerset-house, Clear'd beyond All Dispute, or Contradiction. And Consequently the End of This My First Part, Answer'd, to All Intents and Purposes. For we are not more Certain of any thing, then we are Morally Sure, that the Pompous History of This Pretended Villany, has been, from End to End of it, a State-Cheat, and No other, then a Palpable Imposture.

But some People will not Content themselves per∣haps, with a Negative upon the Abuse; in satisfying the World that he was Not kill'd in the Place, and Manner, as is laid in the Indictment; Unless they may receive Further Satisfaction, How, Where, and by Whom, he was brought to his End. Now This Case Lyes so much in the Dark, by what Hand soever it was done, that Reasonable Collections, Inferences and Pregnant Presumptions, are All in the very Nature of the Thing, the Matter in Question will bear: But I shall leave the Reader to his own Freedom of Belief, or Iudgment, upon a Fair Report of the Fact, as he shall find it Impartially Deliver'd in the Second Part of This Discourse.