[280] At Lord Stafford’s trial in 1680 Dugdale, the informer, declared that Godfrey had been murdered by the Duke of York’s orders because Coleman had made disclosures to him. He did not however suggest what the nature of those disclosures was. A theory not unlike that set out in the text was therefore in the air at the time. As almost every conceivable hypothesis to account for the murder was being discussed, this is not surprising; but there was this difference, that then Dugdale had no good reason to offer in favour of the truth of what he said. He was at the time of the murder in communication with various Jesuits in Staffordshire: but it is most unlikely that, even if they knew anything about it, they would have told him. If he had known anything, it would probably have been that the Jesuit congregation was held at St. James’; and he was certainly ignorant of this. Burnet tells, on the authority of the Earl of Essex, that the king prevailed on Dugdale to stifle this part of his information because it pressed on the Duke of York; but, as Essex, or Burnet, taking the tale from him, was mistaken as to the date when Dugdale first told the story, and as Dugdale could beyond doubt have had a better price for his information from Shaftesbury than from Charles for the suppression of it, this cannot be believed without corroboration, which is not forthcoming. Burnet ii. 190, 191. 7 State Trials, 1316, 1319. And see below in Trials for Treason.
[281] See below (in materials for the history of the Popish Plot), Foley’s note on Warner’s MS. history.
[282] Slip appended to examination of November 7. Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 276.
[283] 7 State Trials 168. Burnet ii. 163.
[284] James (Or. Mem.) i. 527, 528. Burnet ii. 174. House of Lords MSS. 52. 7 State Trials 154. L.J. xiii. 353.
[285] 7 State Trials 172, 192.
[286] Burnet ii. 164, 165. L’Estrange produced some bad evidence, which he does not even seem to have believed himself, to the effect that these stains were of mud, and not wax. Brief Hist. iii. 326, 336. Sir George Sitwell says: “The drops of wax ... may have been spilt the evening before, when Sir Edmund, for some mysterious reason, was engaged in burning a quantity of his private papers” (First Whig 41). But the evidence for this is wholly valueless, being told on hearsay from a bad witness by a worse. Brief Hist. iii. 179.
[287] Evidence of the coroner before the Lords’ committee, House of Lords MSS. 46.
[288] Examination of Charles Atkins, October 27, 1678. Slip appended to the examination in Coventry’s hand. “Mr. Charles Atkins lodgeth at the Golden Key in High Holborn, over against the Fountain Tavern.” Longleat MSS. Coventry Papers xi. 234. Examination of Bedloe of November 7. “Lodges where Captain Atkins lodges, where Walsh the priest lodges, near Wild House.” S.P. Dom. Charles II 407: ii. 29. Longleat MSS. ibid. 272–274; ibid. 278, on a slip appended to the examination, “Le Fevre: about fifty years of age, with a flaxen periwig, a handsome man. He lodges where Captain Atkins lodges, near Wild House.”
[289] L.J. xiii. 353. Evidence of Diana Salvin, Elizabeth Salvin, John Saunders, Alexander Oldis.