the defects of his policy, which
parliament intended to denounce, urged his majesty to lay the matter
before his privy council. This advice the king refused to accept,
saying, "he should alarm all England, and put thoughts of killing
him into people's heads, who had no such ideas before." Somewhat
disappointed, the lord treasurer returned once more to Wimbledon, the
king remaining at Windsor, and no further news of the plot disturbed the
even tenour of their lives for three days.

At the end of that time Dr. Tonge, now conscious of the false steps
he had taken, conceived a fresh scheme by which his story might obtain
credence, and he gain wealth and fame. Accordingly he wrote to Danby,
informing him a packet of letters, written by the Jesuits and concerning
the plot, would, on a certain date, be sent to Mr. Bedingfield, chaplain
to the Duchess of York. Such information was most acceptable to Danby
at the moment; he at once started for Windsor, and laid this fresh
information before the king. To his lordship's intense surprise, his
majesty handed him the letters. These, five in number, containing
treasonable expressions and references to the plot, had been some hours
before handed by Mr. Bedingfield to the Duke of York, saying, he "feared
some ill was intended him by the same packet, because the letters
therein seemed to be of a dangerous nature, and that he was sure they
were not the handwriting of the persons whose names were subscribed
to the letters." 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 ju