" On examination, they were
proved to be most flagrant forgeries. Written in a feigned hand,
and signed by different names, they were evidently the production
of one man; the same want of punctuation, style of expression,
and peculiarities of spelling being notable in all. The Duke of
York, foreseeing malice was meant by them, forcibly persuaded the
king to place the epistles before the privy council.
Accordingly, they were handed to Sir William Jones, attorney
general, and Sir Robert Southwell, who stated, upon comparing
them with Dr. Tonge's narrative, they were convinced both were
written by the same hand.
Meanwhile, Tonge and Oates, aware of the coldness and doubt with
which his majesty had received the "Narrative of the Horrid
Plot," and ignorant of the fact he had placed the letters before
his privy council, resolved to make their story public to the
world. It therefore happened on the 6th of September they
presented themselves before Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, a justice of
the peace, in the parish of St. Martin's, who, not without
considerable persuasion, consented to receive a sworn testimony
from Titus Oates regarding the truth of his narrative, which had
now grown from forty-three to eighty-one articles. This action
prevented further secrecy concerning the so-called plot.
A few days later the court returned to town for the winter, when
the Duke of York besought the privy council to investigate the
strange charges made in the declaration.
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