Cl. of the Cr. Make an O Yes.

Crier. O Yes! if any one can inform our sovereign lord the king, the king's serjeant at law, the king's attorney-general, or this inquest now to be taken of the felony and murder whereof Robert Green, Henry Berry, and Lawrence Hill, the prisoners at the bar, stand indicted, let them come forth and they shall be beard, for now the prisoners stand at the bar upon their delivery. And all others that are bound by recognizance to give evidence against the prisoners at the bar, let them come forth and give their evidence, or else they forfeit their recognizance.

Cl. of the Cr. Robert Green, hold up thy hand; Henry Berry, hold up thy hand: Lawrence Hill, hold up thy hand. Which they severally did.

Those good men that you shall bear called, and personally appear, are to pass between our sovereign lord the king and you, upon trial of your several lives and deaths: if therefore you, or any of you, will challenge them, or any of them, your time is to speak unto them when they come to the book to be sworn, and before they are sworn. Crier, make an O Yes.

Crier. O Yes; you good men that are impannelled to enquire between our sovereign lord the king and Robert Green, Henry Berry, and Lawrence Hill,the prisoners at the bar, answer to your names, and save your issues.

Cl. of the Cr. Sir William Roberts. Crier. Vous avez, Sir William Roberts. Cl. of the Cr. Sir William Roberts to the book.

Crier. Sir William Roberts, look upon the Prisoners: you prisoners look upon the jury. You shall well and truly try, and true deliverence make, between our sovereign lord the king and the prisoners at the bar, whom you shall have in charge, and a true verdict give according to your evidence. So help you God.

And the same oath was administered to the rest, and their names were as follow: Sir William Roberts, bart. Sir Richard Fisher, bart. Sir Michael Heneage, kt. Sir Thomas Bridges, kt. William Averry, Charles Humphrevile, John Bathurst, Richard Gowre, Thomas Henslowe, John Sharpe, John Haynes, and Walter Moyle, esquires.

CL. of the Cr. Crier, count these. Sir William Roberts.

Crier. One, &c.

Cl. of the Cr. Walter Moyle.

Crier. Twelve good men and true, stand together, and hear your evidence. Gentlemen, are you all sworn? and you that are not swom, pray withdraw.

The standing-place for the jury being so thronged, that those who were sworn had not room to stand together, the Clerk of the Crown was ordered to make proclamation thus:

Cl. of the Cr. Crier, make Proclamation. Crier. O Yes! my lords the king's justices do straitly charge and command all persons

VOL. VII.

that are not of the jury, to withdraw forthwith, upon pain of 100l. a man.

Cl. of the Cr. Robert Green, hold up thy hand; Henry Berry, hold up thy hand; Lawrence Hill, hold up thy hand. Which they severally did.

Gentlemen, you that are sworn, look upon the prisoners, and hearken to their charge: You shall understand, that they stand indicted by the names of Robert Green, late of the parish of St. Mary le Strand in the county of Middlesex, labourer; Henry Berry late of the same parish and county, labourer; and Lawrence Hill, late of the same parish and county, labourer; for that they, together with, &c. (as before) against the peace of our sovereign lord the king, his crown and dignity. Upon this indictment they have been arraigned, they have thereunto severally pleaded Not Guilty, and for their trials have severally put themselves upon God and their country, which country you are. Your charge is to enquire, whether the prisoners at the bar, Robert Green, Henry Berry, and Lawrence Hill, or any of them, are guilty of the felony and murder whereof they stand indicted, or not guilty; and for them which you shall find guilty, you shall enquire what goods or chattels, lands or tenements, they had at the time of the felony committed, or at any time since. If you find them, or any of them, not guilty, you shall enquire, whether they, or any of them, that you find so not guilty, fled for the same; if you find that they or any of them fled for the same, you shall enquire of their goods and chattels, as if you had found them guilty: but if you find them, nor any of them, not guilty, nor that they did fly for it, say so, and no more, and hear your evidence. Crier, make proclamation.

Crier. OYes! If any one will give evidence on behalf of our sovereign lord the king, against Robert Green, Henry Berry, and Lawrence Hill, the prisoners at the bar, let them come forth, and they shall be heard.

Mr. Serjeant Stringer. May it please your lordship, and you gentlemen of this jury, the prisoners at the bar, Robert Green, Henry Berry, and Lawrence Hill, stand indicted, for that they, with one Girald a priest, one Kelly, and one Vernatt, did the twelfth of October last, at the parish of St. Mary le Strand in this county, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, assault the person of sir Edmundbury Godfrey, kt. and that the pri soner, Robert Green, did put about the neck of the said Sir Edmundbury a twisted handkerchief, and did with that twisted handkerchief so choke and strangle the said Sir Edmundbury, that he immediately died; and that the other prisoners, Henry Berry and Law

rence

Hill, with the other persons, Girald, Kelly, and Vernatt, were aiding and assisting the said Robert Green to murder the said Sir Edmundbury; and so the prisoners at the bar, with the said other persons, the said Sir Edmundbury Godfrey did kill and murder, M

against the king's peace, his crown and dignity. To this they have pleaded Not Guilty, and for their trial have put themselves upon their country, which country you are. If we prove them or any of them guilty, you are to find it so.

Attorney General (Sir William Jones). May it please your lordship, and you gentlemen of this jury, the prisoners who stand now at the bar are indicted for murder. Murder, as it is the first, so it is the greatest crime that is prohibited in the Second Table. It is a crime of so deep a stain, that nothing can❘ wash it away but the blood of the offender, and unless that be done, the land in which it is shed will continue polluted. My lord, as murder is always a very great crime, so the murder which is now to be tried before your lordship is, it inay be, the most heinous and most barbarous that ever was committed. The murder was committed upon a gentleman, and upon a magistrate, and I wish he had not therefore been murdered, because he was a Protestant magistrate. My lord, I will not spend much of your time in making my observations before hand, because I must in this case crave leave to do it in the conclusion of the evidence. For I, that have made a strict examination into this matter, do find, that I shall better spend my time in making observations, and shewing how the witnesses do agree, after the evidence given, than before. Therefore, my lord, I shall at present only make a short narrative of the fact, to shew you the course of our evidence, that it may be the better understood and remembered by the jury. My lord, upon the discovery of the late horrid plot

Lord Chief Justice (Sir William Scroggs.) And present Plot too, Mr. Attorney: but pray go on.

Att. Gen. If your lordship please, you may call it so, for it is to be feared they have not yet given it over: but upon the discovery of that Plot (call it late or present) sir Edmundbury Godfrey (whom I suppose the jury all knew, and every man that lived thereabouts must needs remember to have been a very useful and active justice of the peace) had taken several examinations about this matter, and perhaps some more than now are extant; (but we have proof he had some) and was very industrious in finding out the principal actors in this plot, among whom, some priests and Jesuits foreseeing their own danger, and likewise the overthrow of a design which they had been so long in contriving, they had several consultations how to prevent the discovery. And as they are men who never stick at blood, but rather account it meritorious to shed it, though never so unjustly; when their interest may be profited by it, they did resolve to secure themselves and their design by taking away the life of this gentleman. In order thereunto they had several meetings, and the place of their meeting, you will find by the evidence, to be at the Plow-alehouse, and there they did

consult how to take away the life of sir E. Godfrey. And they made several attempts to do it: one while they dogged him into the fields, another while they sent people to spy when he came abroad, that they might follow him into some dark alley, or other obscure or unfrequented place, and there dispatch him; and at last, after many attempts, they succeeded in that wicked one, when the murder was committed.

My lord, there are contained in this indictment six offenders, all principals; three of them, I think, are priests, or at least two of them are so; that is, Father Girald an Irishman, Father Kelly likewise of the same nation, and one Vernatt, whether a priest or layman I know not. These priests (as they are always the first that contrive mischief, so they are always the first that fly punishment) have taken care for themselves, and run away, and left their blind followers, the prisoners at the bar, whom they had drawn into this bloody act,

alone to answer for it.

The day when this murder was committed was Saturday the 12th of October last; and I must desire your lordship to take notice of the day, for upon that much of the evidence will depend. And we shall prove, that as they did before send several times to sir E. Godfrey's house to get intelligence of his going abroad, so this very day in the morning, Hill, one of the prisoners at the bar, came to his house upon pretence of business with him; and, as we guess, and have reason to believe, to learn whither he went that day: Green (another of the prisoners) had been there before on the same errand. And so much we shall prove to you by the people of the house. Sir E. Godfrey happened about noon, or some time in the afternoon of the same day (as we have it by the confession of one of the parties,) to be at an house near St. Clement's church, where these murderers had notice he was, and had prepared a trap for him as he came back. They had appointed men to watch him, and give them notice when he did come back; and whatever his business was at the house that he was in (for it cannot yet be known) he staid there till about seven or eight o'clock at night: and your lordship knows that at that time of the year it is then dark. He coming from about St. Clement's church towards his own house near Charing Cross, notice was given to the murderers of his approach near to Somerset-house. And thus they had laid their bloody contrivance: some of them were appointed to meet him at the back-gate of Somerset-house, and to inform him that there was a quarrel in the yard, and he being a man always careful to keep the peace and punish them that broke it, they thought it a very apt means to train him into the yard. And when he came near the back-gate they did accordingly acquaint him that two of the queen's servants were fighting in the yard, and that they needed his presence to part and quiet them. He, at first, thought it might be but

some ordinary idle scuffle, and was not willing | to go down; but being very much importuned by them, down he went, through the backgate into the yard, where were indeed two men scuffling together, but counterfeitly; the one was Berry, the prisoner here; the other was Kelly, the priest that is run away. And when sir E. Godfrey was come, and within their reach, then, as it was before contrived, the fray of itself ended, and Berry goes to the lower water-gate, and Mr. Praunce (who was in that foul fact, but hath since repented, and hath made this discovery) to the upper-gate, to keep back any casual passengers for a little while, till such time as the murder was over. My lord, things being thus prepared, whilst sir E. Godfrey stood still, or was returning, having no more to do there, after the scuffle was thus appeased, Green, one of the prisoners, coming behind him, puts a cravat, or a twisted linen cloth (which he had ready for the purpose) about his neck. And he, Hill, and those holy fathers Girald and Kelly (with great veneration be it spoken, for men of their order to stain their hands with the blood of an innocent gentleman, and that in so treacherous a manner,) all set upon him, and very manfally, being four upon one, and he altogether surprized, threw him down aud strangled him. And this was done (as it is easy to imagine) without much noise; so that I doubt not but many that were near the place might be ignorant of it, and did not hear it.

the

dead, and that he saw him by the help of a dark lanthorn, of which, and other circunstances, I shall have occasion to make use hereafter..

My lord, after he had lain in Somersethouse some days, they thought it was high time to remove him, or rather to expose hum: for having now killed him, they did endeavour to kill his reputation, and lay the blame of this foul murder upon this innocent gentleman, as if he had killed himself: and on Wednesday night, which by computation was the 16th of October, they carried him out of Somersetbouse in this manner: Hill having late in the night procured a sedan, they made a shift, by bending the body to a fit posture, to crowd him into it; and Berry, one of the murderers, and porter of Somerset-house, was of all men most proper to help them out with privacy; and therefore it was agreed between thein, that whenever a man should come before and make an hem, it should be a sign to Berry to open the gate. And, my lord, having put him into the sedan, Mr. Prauuce and Girald first carried him out in it to Covent Garden, and there they rested (being something wearied with their burden) and two more supplied their rooms, and carried him to Long-acre. Then Girald and Praunce took him up again, and carried him to the Grecian church near Soho: and when they had him there, they got an horse ready and mounted him upon it, and Hill was set behind him to hold him up; by which means they carried him to the place where he was found; and there, to accomplish the last part of their design, which was to murder his reputation, after they had killed his body, they took his own sword and run him through, and left him in such a manner, as that (according to the weakness of their understanding) the world should conclude he had killed himself. In that condition was the gentleman found. I have but little more at present to trouble you with, and that shall be to shew you what the murderers did after they had committed this fact. They gave an account of it the next morning to Mr. Praunce, who went no further than the sedan went, which was to the Grecian church: and the priests were so far from any remorse, and had so little humanity, (I believe there is none can think they had much of divinity) that they did in a paper, set down a narrative of this heroic act: and I doubt not, but by this time it is sent to Rome, where it finds as great approbation, snd causes as great joy, as their other acts of a like nature have heretofore done. Some days after the fact was done, and, to their everlasting honour, thus by themselves recorded, some of these priests had a meeting at the Queen's-head at Bów, and there was the paper produced and read; at which they were very merry, and were so loud, that some of the house overheard them; and do yet remember that they read, and were merry at, a paper which concerned sir E. Godfrey.

My lord, though the thing was done with a great zeal, and a very good will to dispatch him, yet it so happened, that when Mr. Praunce came back from keeping sentinel at gate, there was some life left in sir E. Godfrey; he did stir his feet, and thereby they perceived that he was not quite dead. But to make thorough work with him, Green (who begun, and was to give an accomplishinent to this bloody fact) takes hold of his head and twists his neck round, and stamps upon his breast, the marks of which outrageous cruelty did plainly appear in his body after it was

found.

My lord, after they had thus killed him, Girald the priest thought he was not yet dead enough, and was very willing to run him through with sir Edmundbury's own sword; but that was not liked by the rest, lest it might be discovered by a great effusion of blood in that place; and so they forbore it for that time. Having thus dispatched him, they removed him to the chamber of Hill, where they kept hin some time, and after that to another chamber. I will not be particular herein, because the witness will give the best account of it. But after some time, (I desire it may be observed, it was on Monday night, two nights after the fact was committed) they brought him into another room and laid him there, with a cloke thrown over him. And I mention this last so particularly, because he then happened to be seen by another witness present, who concurs as to his lying there

here

My lord, this will be the course of our evidence; and though your lordship and the jury

against the king's peace, his crown and dignity. To this they have pleaded Not Guilty, and for their trial have put themselves upon their country, which country you are. If we prove them or any of them guilty, you are to find it so.

Attorney General (Sir William Jones). May it please your lordship, and you gentlemen of this jury, the prisoners who stand now at the bar are indicted for murder. Murder. as it is the first, so it is the greatest crime that is prohibited in the Second Table. It is a crine of so deep a stain, that nothing can wash it away but the blood of the offender, and unless that be done, the land in which it is shed will continue polluted. My lord, as murder is always a very great crime, so the murder which is now to be tried before your lordship is, it inay be, the most heinous and most barbarous that ever was committed. The murder was committed upon a gentleman, and upon a magistrate, and I wish he had not therefore been murdered, because he was a Protestant magistrate. My lord, I will not spend much of your time in making my observations before hand, because I must in this case crave leave to do it in the conclusion of the evidence. For I, that have made a strict examination into this matter, do find, that I shall better spend my time in making observations, and shewing how the witnesses do agree, after the evidence given, than before. Therefore, my lord, I shall at present only make a short narrative of the fact, to shew you the course of our evidence, that it may be the better understood and remembered by the jury. My lord, upon the discovery of the late horrid plot

Lord Chief Justice (Sir William Scroggs.) And present Plot too, Mr. Attorney: but pray go on.

Att. Gen. If your lordship please, you may call it so, for it is to be feared they have not yet given it over: but upon the discovery of that Plot (call it late or present) sir Edmundbury Godfrey (whom I suppose the jury all knew, and every man that lived thereabouts must needs remember to have been a very useful and active justice of the peace) had taken several examinations about this matter, and perhaps some more than now are extant; (but we have proof he had some) and was very industrious in finding out the principal actors in this plot, among whom, some priests and Jesuits foreseeing their own danger, and likewise the overthrow of a design which they had been so long in contriving, they had several consultations how to prevent the discovery. And as they are men who never stick at blood, but rather account it meritorious to shed it, though never so unjustly; when their interest may be profited by it, they did resolve to secure themselves and their design by taking away the life of this gentleman. In order thereunto they had several meetings, and the place of their meeting, you will find by the evidence, to be at the Plow-alehouse, and there they did

consult how to take away the life of sir E. Godfrey. And they made several attempts to do it: one while they dogged him into the fields, another while they sent people to spy when he came abroad, that they might follow him into some dark alley, or other obscure or unfrequented place, and there dispatch him; and at last, after many attempts, they succeeded in that wicked one, when the murder was committed.

My lord, there are contained in this indictment six offenders, all principals; three of them, I think, are priests, or at least two of them are so; that is, Father Girald an Irishman, Father Kelly likewise of the same nation, and one Vernatt, whether a priest or layman I know not. These priests (as they are always the first that contrive mischief, so they are always the first that fly punishment) have taken care for themselves, and run away, and left their blind followers, the prisoners at the bar, whom they had drawn into this bloody act, alone to answer for it.

The day when this murder was committed was Saturday the 12th of October last; and I must desire your lordship to take notice of the day, for upon that much of the evidence will depend. And we shall prove, that as they did before send several times to sir E. Godfrey's house to get intelligence of his going abroad, so this very day in the morning, Hill, one of the prisoners at the bar, came to his house upon pretence of business with him; and, as we guess, and have reason to believe, to learn whither he went that day: Green (another of the prisoners) had been there before on the same errand. And so much we shall prove to you by the people of the house. Sir E. Godfrey happened about noon, or some time in the afternoon of the same day (as we have it by the confession of one of the parties,) to be at an house near St. Clement's church, where these murderers had notice he was, and had prepared a trap for him as he came back. They had appointed men to watch him, and give them notice when he did come back; and whatever his business was at the house that he was in (for it cannot yet be known) he staid there till about seven or eight o'clock at night: and your lordship knows that at that time of the year it is then dark. He coming from about St. Clement's church towards his own house near Charing Cross, notice was given to the murderers of his approach near to Somerset-house. And thus they had laid their bloody contrivance: some of them were appointed to meet him at the back-gate of Somerset-house, and to inform him that there was a quarrel in the yard, and he being a man always careful to keep the peace and punish them that broke it, they thought it a very apt means to train him into the yard. And when he came near the back-gate they did accordingly acquaint him that two of the queen's servants were fighting in the yard, and that they needed his presence to part and quiet them.. He, at first, thought it might be but