“7. Or if before this boy knocked, ’tis a wonder that upon that knocking he did not immediately cry out for succour, hearing people within distance of relieving him. “8. If he was stunded when they left him, how could he take notice of what they said, and that they went laughing and triumphing away? Beside the danger of being heard into Sir Timothy Baldwin’s house, on the one side, and Mrs. Camden’s on the other, that looked just on to the place. “9. If he could not be heard to cry out because he was muffled, how should he hear what the ruffians said? For they durst not speak so loud as he might cry; neither with a cloak over him could they well come at his throat. “10. If they meant to kill him, they might have stabbed the knife into his throat; as well as have cut him; or having him down they might well have thrust him into his belly when they found the sword would not enter his bodice. “11. There was no blood seen upon the ground neither where he lay, or thereabouts.” The balance of probability seems to be undoubtedly that no attempt whatever was made on Arnold’s life, and that he deliberately engaged in a worse than dishonest scheme to inflame popular prejudice against the Catholics. This result supports the evidence received from other quarters. The opinion at court and of the king himself was that the attack on Arnold was a part of the Whig political machinery. Barillon, writing on April 26/May 6, 1680, says:—“Ce prince (Charles II) n’est sans inquiétude, il voit bien par ce qu’il s’est fait sur le prétendu assassinat de Arnold que ses ennemis ne se rebuttent pas et qu’ils veulent de temps à temps faire renaître quelque occasion d’animer le peuple contre les Catholiques.”