All these unhappy men went to
execution, protesting their innocence; a circumstance which made no
impression on the spectators.
* December 3.
* Sir William Scroggs.
{1679.} The opinion, that the Jesuits allowed of lies and mental
reservations for promoting a good cause, was at this time so universally
received, that no credit was given to testimony delivered either by
that order, or by any of their disciples. It was forgotten, that all the
conspirators engaged in the gunpowder treason, and Garnet, the Jesuit
among the rest, had freely on the scaffold made confession of their
guilt.
Though Bedloe had given information of Godfrey's murder, he still
remained a single evidence against the persons accused; and all the
allurements of profit and honor had not hitherto tempted any one to
confirm the testimony of that informer. At last, means were found to
complete the legal evidence. One Prance, a silversmith and a Catholic,
had been accused by Bedloe of being an accomplice in the murder; and
upon his denial, had been thrown into prison, loaded with heavy irons
and confined to the condemned hole, a place cold, dark, and full of
nastiness. Such rigors were supposed to be exercised by orders from the
secret committee of lords, particularly Shaftesbury and Buckingham; who,
in examining the prisoners, usually employed (as it is said, and indeed
sufficiently proved) threatenings and promises, rigor and indulgence,
and every art, under pretence of extorting the truth from them.
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