who was one of them, in his manuscript history.* With Coleman,
certainly a dangerous intriguer, Godfrey was so familiar that 'it
was the form arranged between them for use when Godfrey was in
company and Coleman wished to see him,' that Coleman should be
announced under the name of Mr. Clarke.**

* Pollock, p. 91, note 1.
**Ibid. p. 151, note 3. Welden's evidence before the Lords'
Committee, House of Lords MSS., p. 48. Mr. Pollock rather
overstates the case. We cannot be certain, from Welden's words,
that Coleman habitually used the name 'Clarke' on such occasions.

It is extraordinary enough to find a rigid British magistrate
engaged in clandestine dealings with an intriguer like Coleman, who,
for the purpose, receives a cant name. If that fact came out in the
inquiry into the plot, Godfrey's doom was dight, the general frenzy
would make men cry for his blood. But yet more extraordinary was
Godfrey's conduct on September 28. No sooner had he Oates's
confession, accusing Coleman, in his hands, than he sent for the
accused. Coleman went to the house of a Mr. (or Colonel) Welden, a
friend of Godfrey's, and to Godfrey it was announced that 'one
Clarke' wished to see him there. 'When they were together at my
house they were reading papers,' said Welden later, in evidence.*
It cannot be doubted that, after studying Oates's deposition,
Godfrey's first care was to give Coleman full warning. James II.
tells us this himself, in his memoirs. 'Coleman being known to
depend on the Duke, Sir Edmund Bury (sic) Godfrey made choice of
him, to send to his Highness an account of Oates's and Tongue's
depositions as soon as he had taken them,' that is, on September
28.** Apparently the Duke had not the precise details of Oates's