Hill now declared that in the middle of October he had been busy making arrangements for the move; on the day of Godfrey’s disappearance he was still occupied with his landlord in drawing up terms of agreement, and the agreement was not concluded until the Wednesday following.[225] In addition to his evidence about Godfrey’s murder, Prance made a statement concerning the plot. Fenwick, Ireland, and Grove, he said, had told him that “Lord Petre, Lord Bellasis, the Earl of Powis, and Lord Arundell were to command the army.” As more decisive evidence had already been given against all these, his information was of little consequence. He also desired to be set at liberty, that he might be able to discover some persons connected with the plot whose names were unknown to him. The request was naturally refused, but Prance was removed from the dungeon and Hill was confined there in his place.[226] Within forty-eight hours from this time Prance had recanted his whole story. On the evening of Sunday, December 29, Captain Richardson, the keeper of Newgate, received an order of council to bring Prance before the Lords’ committee for examination. Prance was in a state of great agitation and begged to be taken to see the king. Charles received him in the presence of Richardson and Chiffinch, his confidential valet. Prance fell upon his knees and declared that the whole of his evidence had been false, that he was innocent of the murder, and the men whom he had accused as far as he knew were innocent too. The next day he was taken before the council and persisted that he knew no more of Godfrey’s murder than was known to the world. He was asked if any one had been tampering with him and answered, No. Hardly had he been taken back to Newgate when he begged Captain Richardson to return to the king and say that all his evidence had been true, and his recantation false.[227] From this he again departed and reaffirmed his recantation. He was heavily ironed and a second time imprisoned in the condemned hole. Here he remained until January 11, 1679, when to complete the cycle of his contradictions he once more retracted his recantation and declared that the whole of his original confession was true.