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former, it was otherwise with the papers of Coleman, CHAP. the son of a clergyman in Suffolk, who had embraced A.D. 1678 the Catholic faith, and was appointed secretary to the duchess of York. The man was vain of his abilities, expensive in his habits, and solicitous to acquire the reputation of a person of consequence. To extricate himself from his pecuniary embarrassments, he sought to procure money from Louis XIV., in 1675, by offering his services in favour of the Catholic religion to Father La Chaise, the confessor of that monarch; 17 and in (1667, by another offer to Father St. Germain to prevent a rupture between the two crowns, which he represented as a natural consequence of the marriage of the Princess Mary. In both these attempts he failed; but he was more successful with the bankers, whose money had been shut up in the exchequer, from whom he drew three thousand five hundred pounds under pretence of procuring for them some parliamentary security; with three successive ambassadors from France, whom he supplied at a stipulated price with daily information of the proceedings in parliament; and in particular during the last session with Barillon, from whom he procured two thousand five hundred pounds for the purpose of strengthening the French interest in the two houses. Though James frequently reprimanded him for his busy intriguing disposition, he persisted in his course; his table was frequented by many of the Whig members while the parliament was sitting; and "the fanatics" at a distance received from him weekly "news-letters," reflecting so severely on the ambition of Louis, and the measures of the English government, that Charles ordered the duke to dismiss him from the service of the duchess. Luzancy had for

V.

CHAP. merly accused him before the council; but he faced A.D. 1678. and silenced the informer; and it was perhaps this success which induced him also to despise the deposition of Oates. But on the seizure of his papers he asked the advice of the duke of York, who replied, that if he had written anything illegal, or even suspicious, he had better conceal himself; otherwise, his spontaneous appearance before the council would be taken as a proof of his innocence. He chose the latter, and became the first victim sacrificed to the perjuries of the informer and the prejudices of the nation.1

The fact was that, among several loose papers in a neglected drawer, had been found copies of Coleman's foreign correspondence in the years 1675 and 1676. There was in it much to prove the restless and intriguing spirit of the man; but that which chiefly attracted the notice of the council was a proposal from him to La Chaise that Louis should furnish Coleman and his friends with the sum of twenty thousand pounds, to be employed by them for certain purposes equally conducive to the interest of France and of the Catholic church. There was indeed no visible connection between this proposal and the plot brought forward by Oates; for the purposes specified in the letter were the restoration of the duke to his place of lord high admiral, and the establishment of liberty of conscience. But this was accompanied with expressions calculated to awaken suspicion. "Success," he maintained, “would give the greatest blow to the Pro"testant religion that it had received since its birth."

1 For this account of Coleman, see James (Memoirs), i. 533; C. Journ. 1678, Oct. 31, Nov. 7; Dalrymple, ii. 199, 201, 314; Macpher. i. 82; Brief Hist. i. 144; Burnet, ii. 94.

THE KING GOES TO NEWMARKET.

359

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"They had a mighty work on their hands, no CHAP. "less than the conversion of three kingdoms, and by A.D. 1678. "that perhaps the utter subduing of a pestilent heresy,

which had so long domineered over great part of the northern world." To a cool and dispassionate inquirer, acquainted with the state of parties at the time, this language would have appeared a mere rhetorical flourish, employed by the intriguer to interest in favour of his project the zeal of the old priest whom he addressed; but jealousy had been provoked by the disclosures of Oates; more, it was suspected, might lurk under the words than immediately struck the eye; the great work mentioned by Coleman might be the commencement of the conspiracy which had been denounced; the two ends of the chain were already in sight, and it was possible that the discovery of more of the correspondence might supply the links by which they were connected. Under this impression Coleman was committed to prison, where he found for his companions in captivity most of the individuals named in the deposition of the informer.1

It was obviously the interest of the king to bring the inquiry to a speedy termination, that of his minister to protract it till the meeting of parliament; because, if it were then pending, it would infallibly be taken up by the country party. Charles foresaw that they would employ it as an additional weapon of offence against his brother, while Danby hoped to convert it into a shield of defence for himself against the impeachment with which he was threatened. At the beginning of October, when the king was accustomed to spend a fortnight at Newmarket, the 1 C. Journ. Oct. 31.

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Oct. 2.

CHAP. dukes of York and Lauderdale conjured him to reA.D. 1678 main at Whitehall, and to prefer his duty to his pleasures; but the opposite advice of the lord treasurer was most palatable to the indolent monarch; and he departed with the court to Newmarket, leaving strict orders with Danby to prosecute the investigation with the utmost expedition-orders which that minister was careful to disobey.1

Hitherto nothing had transpired to connect the informers with any party in the state; but subsequent events induced many to look upon them as mere puppets, whose motions were regulated by the invisible hand of some master artist. That artist was supposed to be the earl of Shaftesbury; of whom, whether he were or were not the real parent of the imposture, this at least is certain, that he took it under his protection from its birth, and nursed it with solicitude till it arrived at maturity. In conjunction with his political associates, he watched the progress of the alarm excited by the frequent meetings of the council, and the numerous arrests of the supposed conspirators; converted with consummate art every succeeding event into a confirmation of the plot, and gradually contrived, by inflaming the passions, to assume the most extraordinary control over the judgment, of the people.

It chanced that, during the absence of the court, Godfrey, before whom Oates had made his affidavit,

1 James (Memoirs), i. 545, 546. Temple, ii. 478. "He fan "cyed by the helpe of his pretended conspiracie, and crying out against popery, he should pass for a pillar of the church, and "ward the blow which he foresaw was falling on his shoulders; but "my Lord Shaftesbury, who soon found out his drift, sayd, let the "treasurer cry as lowd as he pleases against popery, and think to "put himself at the head of the plot, I will cry a note lowder, and "soone take his place; which he failed not to make good."-James (Memoirs), i. 546.

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was missing from his family. From his father, who CHAP. died by his own hands, Godfrey had inherited a melan- A.D. 1678. choly temperament; and after the apprehension of his friend Coleman, was observed to labour under great depression of spirits. On the 12th of October, having Oct. 12. settled his accounts, and burnt a large mass of papers, he left his home at an early hour, and was met in different parts of the town during the day, walking with a hurried pace, and apparently inattentive to all that was passing around him.' That very evering it was rumoured that he had been murdered by the papists; and five days later his dead body was discovered among Oct. 17. some stunted bushes in a dry ditch on Primrose Hill. It rested on the knees, breast, and left side of the face; a short sword had been thrust with such violence through the heart, that the point protruded a few inches beyond the back; his cane was fixed upright on the bank, his gloves lay near it on the grass, and his rings remained on his fingers, his money in his purse. The extraction of the sword was followed by a copious discharge of blood from the wound; and, when the body was undressed, a deep purple crease appeared round the neck. In these circumstances the question to be determined was, whether Godfrey had fallen by his own hand, in which case the tightness of the collar would satisfactorily account for the discoloration of the neck, or had been first strangled, and afterwards stabbed by the murderers, to induce a belief that he was the author of his own death. After an inquiry of two Oct. 19. days before the coroner, the latter opinion was adopted by the jury, but chiefly on the authority of two sur

2

1 See the affidavits in Brief History, iii. 176-183, 299-310. 2 Ibid. 97-99, 212, 226, 264–271. Compare these with State Trials, vii. 184.