3cS HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

c II A p. obvious presumption, that those commit the crimelxvii. who reap advantage by it; and they affirm thatit was Shaftesbury and the heads of the popularparty, who perpetrated that deed , in order tothrow the odium of it on the Papists. If thissupposition be received, it must also be admitted,that the whole plot was the contrivance of thosepoliticians; and that Oates acted altogether undertheir direction. But it appears , that Oates ,dreading probably the opposition of powerfulenemies, had very anxiously acquitted the duke,Dauby, Ormond, and all the ministry; personswho were certainly the most obnoxious to thepopular leaders. Besides , the whole texture ofthe plot contains such low absurdity, that it isimpossible to have been the invention of any manof sense or education. It is true , the moremonstrous and horrible the conspiracy, the betterwas it fitted to terrify, and thence to convince,the populace: But this effect, we may safely say,no one could before-hand have expected; anda fool was in this cafe more likely to succeed thana wise man. Had Shaftesbury laid the plan of apopish conspiracy , he had probably rendered itmoderate, consistent, credible; and on that veryaccount had never met with the prodigious suc-cess, with which Oates’s tremendous fictions wereattended.

IVa must, therefore, be contented to remainfor ever ignorant of the actors in Godfrey’smurder; and only pronounce in general, thatthat event, in all likelihood, had no connexion,