Note 744 — Chapter XII
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It was deposed by a respectable witness, that Godfrey entertained apprehensions on account of what he had done as to the plot, and had said, "On my conscience, I believe I shall be the first martyr." State Trials, vii. 168. These little additional circumstances, which are suppressed by later historians, who speak of the plot as unfit to impose on any but the most bigoted fanatics, contributed to make up a body of presumptive and positive evidence, from which human relief is rarely withheld.
It is remarkable that the most acute and diligent historian we possess for those times, Ralph, does not in the slightest degree pretend to account for Godfrey's death; though, in his general reflections on the plot (p. 555) he relies too much on the assertions of North and l'Estrange.