Note 150 — Chapter I

Burnet ii. 164. Depositions of Henry Moor, Godfrey’s clerk. L’Estrange, Brief History iii. 203, 204, 208. The depositions collected by L’Estrange in this work must be regarded with suspicion. The statements in many are obviously untrue, and L’Estrange was not above falsifying evidence to suit his purpose. Among other reasons for the use of great caution is the fact that most of the depositions were not taken until eight or nine years after the event. Their exact dates cannot be ascertained, as they are seldom quoted by L’Estrange, and the original documents are missing. They are supposed to have been stolen from the State Paper Office immediately after the Revolution (Sitwell, First Whig ix.). Only after careful scrutiny can these papers be used as evidence. Moor’s evidence was taken for the coroner. He afterwards went to live at Littleport, in Cambridgeshire, and died apparently in 1685 or 1686. Brief Hist. iii., Preface vii. 171.