304 HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN

CHAP.

LXVII.

1678 .

17 th Octob.

Godfrey’s

murder.

a massacre could be attempted of the protestants,who surpassed the catholics a hundred fold , andwere invested with the whole authority of thestate: That the king himself was to be assassinated,and even the duke, the only support of theirparty: These were such absurdities as no humantestimony was sufficient to prove ; much less theevidence of one man, who was noted for infamy,and who could not keep himself, every moment,fiom falling into the grossest inconsistences. Didsuch intelligence deserve even so much attentionas to be refuted, it would appear, that Coleman’sletters were sufficient alone to destroy all its credit.For how could so long a train of correspondencebe carried on , by a man so much trusted by theparty; and yet no traces of insurrections, if reallyintended, of fires, massacres, assassinations, inva-sions, be ever discovered in any single passage ofthese letters ? But all such reflections, and manymore, equally obvious, were vainly employedagainst that general prepossession, with whichthe nation was seized. Oates’s plot and Coleman’swere universally confounded together: And theevidence of the latter being unquestionable , thebelief of the former, aided by the passions ofhatred and of terror, took possession of the wholepeople.

There was danger, however, lest time mightopen the eyes of the public ; when the murderof Godfrey completed the general delusion, andrendered the prejudices of the nation absolutelyincurable. This magistrate had been missing some