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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of What was the Gunpowder Plot?, by John Gerard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: What was the Gunpowder Plot?
+       The Traditional Story Tested by Original Evidence
+
+Author: John Gerard
+
+Release Date: January 1, 2011 [EBook #34807]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WAS THE GUNPOWDER PLOT? ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Adam Styles and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
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+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: Text in italics is enclosed by underscore
+characters. Where small capitals were used, text has been presented in
+uppercase. Abbreviations use superscript; the caret, ^, is used before
+superscript characters. Where multiple superscript characters are used
+they are enclosed in curly braces, {}. A small number of macron
+diacritical marks are used in the text and appear as an overlined
+letter. These marks are indicated by [=a] where a is the overlined
+character.
+
+This text makes extensive use of archaic spellings in quoted material
+which has not been amended or modernized. Where typographic errors have
+been repaired, they are detailed in further transcribers' notes at the
+end of the text.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE POWDER PLOT]
+
+
+
+
+
+                              WHAT WAS THE
+                             GUNPOWDER PLOT?
+
+                      THE TRADITIONAL STORY TESTED BY
+                             ORIGINAL EVIDENCE
+
+                                   BY
+                            JOHN GERARD, S.J.
+
+                             [Illustration]
+
+                                 LONDON
+                        OSGOOD, McILVAINE & CO.
+                        45, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
+                                  1897
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+THE following study of the Gunpowder Plot has grown out of the
+accidental circumstance that, having undertaken to read a paper before
+the Historical Research Society, at Archbishop's House, Westminster, as
+the day on which it was to be read chanced to be the 5th of November,[1]
+I was asked to take the famous conspiracy for my subject. It was with
+much reluctance that I agreed to do so, believing, as I then did, that
+there was absolutely nothing fresh to say upon this topic, that no
+incident in our annals had been more thoroughly threshed out, and that
+in regard of none, so far, at least, as its broader outlines are
+concerned, was the truth more clearly established.
+
+When, however, I turned to the sources whence our knowledge of the
+transaction is derived, and in particular to the original documents upon
+which it is ultimately based, I was startled to find how grave were the
+doubts and difficulties which suggested themselves at every turn, while,
+though slowly and gradually, yet with ever gathering force, the
+conviction forced itself upon me, that, not merely in its details is the
+traditional story unworthy of credit, but that all the evidence points
+to a conclusion fundamentally at variance with it. Nothing contributed
+so powerfully to this conviction as to find that every fresh line of
+reasoning or channel of information which could be discovered inevitably
+tended, in one way or another, towards the same result. In the following
+pages are presented to the reader the principal arguments which have
+wrought this change of view in my own mind.[2]
+
+I cannot pretend to furnish any full or wholly satisfactory answer to
+the question which stands upon the title-page. The real history of the
+Plot in all its stages we shall, in all probability, never know. If,
+however, we cannot satisfy ourselves of the truth, it will be much to
+ascertain what is false; to convince ourselves that the account of the
+matter officially supplied, and almost universally accepted, is
+obviously untrue, and that the balance of probability lies heavily
+against those who invented it, as having been the real plotters,
+devising and working the scheme for their own ends.
+
+Neither have I any wish to ignore, or to extenuate, the objections which
+militate against such a conclusion, objections arising from
+considerations of a general character, rather than from any positive
+evidence. Why, it may reasonably be asked, if the government of the day
+were ready to go so far as is alleged, did they not go further? Why,
+being supremely anxious to incriminate the priests, did they not
+fabricate unequivocal evidence against them, instead of satisfying
+themselves with what appears to us far from conclusive? Why did they
+encumber their tale with incidents, which, if they did not really occur,
+could serve only to damage it, inasmuch as we, at this distance of
+time, can argue that they are impossible and absurd? How is it,
+moreover, that the absurdity was not patent to contemporaries, and was
+not urged by those who had every reason to mislike and mistrust the
+party in power?
+
+Considerations such as these undoubtedly deserve all attention, and must
+be fully weighed, but while they avail to establish a certain
+presumption in favour of the official story, I cannot but think that the
+sum of probabilities tells strongly the other way. It must be remembered
+that three centuries ago the intrinsic likelihood or unlikelihood of a
+tale did not go for much, and the accounts of plots in particular appear
+to have obtained general credence in proportion as they were incredible,
+as the case of Squires a few years earlier, and of Titus Oates somewhat
+later, sufficiently testify. It is moreover as difficult for us to enter
+into the crooked and complex methods of action which commended
+themselves to the statesmen of the period, as to appreciate the force of
+the cumbrous and abusive harangues which earned for Sir Edward Coke the
+character of an incomparable pleader. On the other hand, it appears
+certain that they who had so long played the game must have understood
+it best, and, whatever else may be said of them, they always contrived
+to win. In regard of Father Garnet, for example, we may think the
+evidence adduced by the prosecution quite insufficient, but none the
+less it in fact availed not only to send him to the gallows, but to
+brand him in popular estimation for generations, and even for centuries,
+as the arch-traitor to whose machinations the whole enterprise was due.
+In the case of some individuals obnoxious to the government, it seems
+evident that downright forgery was actually practised.
+
+The question of Father Garnet's complicity, though usually considered as
+the one point in connection with the Plot requiring to be discussed, is
+not treated in the following pages. It is doubtless true that to prove
+the conspiracy to have been a trick of State, is not the same thing as
+proving that he was not entangled in it; but, at the same time, the
+first point, if it can be established, will deprive the other of almost
+all its interest. Nevertheless, Father Garnet's case will still require
+to be fully treated on its own merits, but this cannot be done within
+the limits of such an inquiry as the present. It is not by confining our
+attention to one isolated incident in his career, nor by discussing once
+again the familiar documents connected therewith, that we can form a
+sound and satisfactory judgment about him. For this purpose, full
+consideration must be given to what has hitherto been almost entirely
+ignored, the nature and character of the man, as exhibited especially
+during the eighteen years of his missionary life in England, during most
+of which period he acted as the superior of his brother Jesuits. There
+exist abundant materials for his biography, in his official and
+confidential correspondence, preserved at Stonyhurst and elsewhere, and
+not till the information thus supplied shall have been duly utilized
+will it be possible to judge whether the part assigned to him by his
+enemies in this wild and wicked design can, even conceivably, represent
+the truth. It may, I trust, be possible at no distant date to attempt
+this work, but it is not possible now, and to introduce this topic into
+our present discussion would only confuse the issue which is before us.
+
+Except in one or two instances, I have judged it advisable, for the sake
+of clearness, to modernize the spelling of documents quoted in the text.
+In the notes they are usually given in their original form.
+
+I have to acknowledge my indebtedness in many particulars to Mr. H.W.
+Brewer, who not only contributes valuable sketches to illustrate the
+narrative, but has furnished many important notes and suggestions, based
+upon his exhaustive knowledge of ancient London. I have to thank the
+Marquis of Salisbury for permission to examine MSS. in the Hatfield
+collection, and his lordship's librarian, Mr. Gunton, for information
+supplied from the same source. Through the courtesy of the Deputy-Keeper
+of the Public Records, every facility has been afforded me for
+consulting the precious documents contained in the "Gunpowder Plot
+Book." The Dean of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, has kindly given me
+access to an important MS. in the College Library; and I have been
+allowed by the Rector of Stonyhurst to retain in my hands Father
+Greenway's MS. history of the Plot during the whole period of my work.
+The proprietors of the _Daily Graphic_ have allowed me to use two
+sketches of the interior of "Guy Faukes' Cellar," and one of his
+lantern, originally prepared by Mr. Brewer for that journal.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] 1894.
+
+[2] Some of these have been partially set forth in a series of six
+articles appearing in _The Month_, December 1894-May, 1895.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  CHAP.                                                             PAGE
+
+  I. THE STATE OF THE QUESTION                                         1
+
+    Disclosure of the Plot--Arrest of Guy Faukes--Flight of his
+    associates--Their abortive insurrection--Their fate--The crime
+    charged on Catholics in general--Garnet and other Jesuits proclaimed
+    as the ringleaders--Capture of Garnet--Efforts to procure evidence
+    against him--His execution--Previous history of the Plot as
+    traditionally narrated; Proceedings and plans of the
+    conspirators--Manner of the discovery.
+
+    Reasons for suspecting the truth of this history--Previous plots
+    originated or manipulated by the government--Suspicious
+    circumstances respecting the Gunpowder Plot in particular--Essential
+    points of the inquiry.
+
+  II. THE PERSONS CONCERNED                                           19
+
+    Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury--His character variously
+    estimated--Discreditable incidents of his career--Contemporary
+    judgments of him--His unpopularity--His political difficulties
+    largely dissipated in consequence of the Plot.
+
+    His hatred of and hostility towards the Catholics--Their numbers and
+    importance--Their hopes from King James, and their
+    disappointment--The probability that some would have recourse to
+    violence--The conspirators known as men likely to seek such a
+    remedy--Their previous history--Difficulties and contradictions in
+    regard of their character.
+
+  III. THE OPINION OF CONTEMPORARIES AND HISTORIANS                   42
+
+    The government at once suspected of having contrived or fomented the
+    Plot--Persistence of these suspicions, to which historians for more
+    than a century bear witness--No fresh information accounts for their
+    disappearance.
+
+  IV. THE TRADITIONAL STORY                                           54
+
+    The old House of Lords and its surroundings--House hired by the
+    conspirators--They attempt to dig a mine beneath the Peers'
+    Chamber--Difficulties and improbabilities of the account--The
+    "Cellar" hired--Its position and character--The gunpowder bought and
+    stored--Further problems concerning it--The conspirators'
+    plans--Contradictions respecting them--Their wild and absurd
+    character--Impossibility of the supposition that the proceedings
+    escaped the notice of the government.
+
+  V. THE GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT                           93
+
+    Evidence that the government were fully aware of what was in
+    progress--Various intelligence supplied to them--Cecil's uneasiness
+    on account of the spread of Catholicity, and the king's
+    communication with the pope--His evident determination to force on
+    James a policy of intolerance--He intimates that a great move is
+    about to be made, and acknowledges to information concerning the
+    conspirators and their schemes--His political methods illustrated.
+
+  VI. THE "DISCOVERY"                                                114
+
+    Importance of the letter received by Lord Monteagle--Extraordinary
+    prominence given to it--Monteagle's character--He receives the
+    letter--Suspicious circumstances connected with its arrival--It is
+    shown to Cecil--Hopeless contradictions of the official narrative as
+    to what followed--Impossibility of ascertaining what actually
+    occurred--The French version of the story--The conduct of the
+    government at variance with their own professions--Their
+    inexplicable delay in making the discovery--They take no precautions
+    against the recurrence of danger--The mystery of the
+    gunpowder--Incredibility of the official narration.
+
+  VII. PERCY, CATESBY, AND TRESHAM                                   147
+
+    Probability that the government had an agent among the
+    conspirators--Suspicious circumstances regarding Percy--His private
+    life--His alleged intercourse with Cecil--His death.
+
+    Catesby and Tresham likewise accused of secret dealings with
+    Cecil--Catesby's falsehood towards his associates and Father
+    Garnet--Tresham's strange conduct after the discovery--His
+    mysterious death.
+
+    Alleged positive evidence against the government.
+
+  VIII. THE GOVERNMENT'S CASE                                        163
+
+    A monopoly secured for the official narrative, which is admittedly
+    untruthful--Suspicions suggested by such a course, especially in
+    such a case--The confessions of Faukes and Winter, on which this
+    narrative is based, deserve no credit--Nor does the evidence of
+    Bates against Greenway--Indications of foul play in regard of Robert
+    Winter--The case of Owen, Baldwin and Cresswell; assertions made
+    respecting them of which no proof can be produced--Efforts to
+    implicate Sir Walter Raleigh and others--Falsification of
+    evidence--The service of forgers employed.
+
+    Catholic writers have drawn their accounts from the sources provided
+    by the government.
+
+  IX. THE SEQUEL                                                     209
+
+    Cecil well informed as to the real nature of the conspiracy, and
+    apprehends no danger from it--At once turns it to account by
+    promoting anti-Catholic legislation--Honour and popularity resulting
+    to him--Ruin of the Earl of Northumberland--Cecil's manifesto--His
+    alleged attempt to start a second plot.
+
+    The popular history of the Plot, and how it was circulated--Singular
+    suitability of the Fifth of November for the "Discovery."
+
+    Summary of the argument.
+
+
+  APPENDIX A. NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS                             235
+
+  APPENDIX B. SIR EVERARD DIGBY'S LETTER TO SALISBURY                245
+
+  APPENDIX C. THE QUESTION OF SUCCESSION                             249
+
+  APPENDIX D. THE SPANISH TREASON                                    251
+
+  APPENDIX E. SITE OF PERCY'S LODGING                                251
+
+  APPENDIX F. ENROLMENT OF CONSPIRATORS                              252
+
+  APPENDIX G. HENRY WRIGHT THE INFORMER                              254
+
+  APPENDIX H. MONTEAGLE'S LETTER TO KING JAMES                       256
+
+  APPENDIX I. EPITAPH ON PETER HEIWOOD                               258
+
+  APPENDIX K. THE USE OF TORTURE                                     259
+
+  APPENDIX L. MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE PLOT                          260
+
+  APPENDIX M. MEMORIAL INSCRIPTIONS IN THE TOWER                     264
+
+  APPENDIX N. GUY FAUKES' PUBLISHED CONFESSION                       268
+
+
+  INDEX                                                              279
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  1. MEDAL COMMEMORATIVE OF THE GUNPOWDER PLOT              _Title-page_
+
+  2. THE GUNPOWDER PLOT. I.                               _Frontispiece_
+
+  3.  "      "      "    II.                                          90
+
+  4.  "      "      "    III.                                        215
+
+  5.  "      "      "    IV.                                         227
+
+  6.  "      "      "    V.                                          229
+
+  7. DISCOVERY OF THE GUNPOWDER PLOT                                 136
+
+  8. MONTEAGLE AND LETTER                                            115
+
+  9. ARREST OF FAUKES                                                125
+
+  10. GUY FAUKES' LANTERN                                            139
+
+  11. GROUP OF CONSPIRATORS                                            3
+
+  12. THOMAS PERCY                                                   149
+
+  13. HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN 1605                                  56-7
+
+  14. GROUND PLAN OF THE SAME                                         59
+
+  15. HOUSE OF LORDS IN 1807                                          61
+
+  16. INTERIOR OF HOUSE OF LORDS, 1755                                97
+
+  17. INTERIOR OF "CELLAR"                                            71
+
+  18. ARCHES FROM "CELLAR"                                            75
+
+  19. VAULT UNDER PAINTED CHAMBER                                     73
+
+  20. CELL ADJOINING PAINTED CHAMBER                                  83
+
+  21. FACSIMILE OF PART OF WINTER'S CONFESSION, NOV. 23              168
+
+  22. SIGNATURES OF FAUKES AND OLDCORNE                              173
+
+  23. FACSIMILE OF PART OF FAUKES' CONFESSION OF NOV. 9              199
+
+
+
+
+    "Quis haec posteris sic narrare poterit, ut facta non ficta esse
+    videantur?"
+
+    "Ages to come will be in doubt whether it were a fact or a fiction."
+
+        _Sir Edw. Coke on the trial of the Conspirators._
+
+
+
+
+WHAT WAS THE GUNPOWDER PLOT?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE STATE OF THE QUESTION.
+
+
+ON the morning of Tuesday, the 5th of November, 1605, which day was
+appointed for the opening of a new Parliamentary session, London rang
+with the news that in the course of the night a diabolical plot had been
+discovered, by which the king and legislature were to have been
+destroyed at a blow. In a chamber beneath the House of Lords had been
+found a great quantity of gunpowder, and with it a man, calling himself
+John Johnson, who, finding that the game was up, fully acknowledged his
+intention to have fired the magazine while the royal speech was being
+delivered, according to custom, overhead, and so to have blown King,
+Lords, and Commons into the air. At the same time, he doggedly refused
+to say who were his accomplices, or whether he had any.
+
+This is the earliest point at which the story of the Gunpowder Plot can
+be taken up with any certainty. Of what followed, at least as to the
+main outlines, we are sufficiently well informed. Johnson, whose true
+name was presently found to be Guy, or Guido, Faukes,[3] proved, it is
+true, a most obstinate and unsatisfactory witness, and obstinately
+refused to give any evidence which might incriminate others. But the
+actions of his confederates quickly supplied the information which he
+withheld. It was known that the "cellar" in which the powder was found,
+as well as a house adjacent, had been hired in the name of one Thomas
+Percy, a Catholic gentleman, perhaps a kinsman, and certainly a
+dependent, of the Earl of Northumberland. It was now discovered that he
+and others of his acquaintance had fled from London on the previous day,
+upon receipt of intelligence that the plot seemed at least to be
+suspected. Not many hours later the fugitives were heard of in
+Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Staffordshire, the native counties of
+several amongst them, attempting to rally others to their desperate
+fortunes, and to levy war against the crown. For this purpose they
+forcibly seized cavalry horses[4] at Warwick, and arms at Whewell
+Grange, a seat of Lord Windsor's. These violent proceedings having
+raised the country behind them, they were pursued by the sheriffs with
+what forces could be got together, and finally brought to bay at
+Holbeche, in Staffordshire, the residence of one Stephen Littleton, a
+Catholic gentleman.
+
+There proved to have been thirteen men in all who had undoubtedly been
+participators in the treason. Of these Faukes, as we have seen, was
+already in the hands of justice. Another, Francis Tresham, had not fled
+with his associates, but remained quietly, and without attempting
+concealment, in London, even going to the council and offering them his
+services; after a week he was taken into custody. The eleven who either
+betook themselves to the country, or were already there, awaiting the
+issue of the enterprise, and prepared to co-operate in the rising which
+was to be its sequel, were Robert Catesby, Thomas Percy, Robert and
+Thomas Winter, John and Christopher Wright, John Grant, Robert Keyes,
+Ambrose Rokewood, Sir Everard Digby, and Thomas Bates. All were
+Catholics, and all, with the exception of Bates, Catesby's servant, were
+"gentlemen of blood and name," some of them, notably Robert Winter,
+Rokewood, Digby, and Tresham, being men of ample fortune.
+
+[Illustration: THE CONSPIRATORS, FROM A PRINT PUBLISHED AT AMSTERDAM.]
+
+On Friday, November 8th, three days after the discovery, Sir Richard
+Walsh, sheriff of Worcestershire, attacked Holbeche. Catesby, Percy, and
+the two Wrights were killed or mortally wounded in the assault. The
+others were taken prisoners on the spot or in its neighbourhood, with
+the exception of Robert Winter, who, accompanied by their host, Stephen
+Littleton, contrived to elude capture for upwards of two months, being
+at last apprehended, in January, at Hagley Hall, Worcestershire. All the
+prisoners were at once taken up to London, and being there confined,
+were frequently and diligently examined by the council, to trace, if
+possible, farther ramifications of the conspiracy, and especially to
+inculpate the Catholic clergy.[5] Torture, it is evident, was employed
+with this object.
+
+Meanwhile, on November 9th, King James addressed to his Parliament a
+speech, wherein he declared that the abominable crime which had been
+intended was the direct result of Catholic principles, Popery being "the
+true mystery of iniquity." In like manner Chichester, the Lord Deputy in
+Ireland, was informed by Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, his Majesty's
+Secretary of State, that the Plot was an "abominable practice of Rome
+and Satan,"[6] while the monarch himself sent word to Sir John Harington
+that "these designs were not formed by a few," that "the whole legion of
+Catholics were consulted," that "the priests were to pacify their
+consciences, and the Pope confirm a general absolution for this glorious
+deed."[7]
+
+Then follows an interval during which we know little of the course of
+events which were proceeding in the seclusion of the council-room and
+torture-chamber; but on December 4th we find Cecil complaining that he
+could obtain little or no evidence against the really important persons:
+"Most of the prisoners," he writes,[8] "have wilfully forsworn that the
+priests knew anything in particular, and obstinately refuse to be
+accusers of them, yea, what torture soever they be put to."
+
+On January 15th, 1605-6, a proclamation was issued declaring that the
+Jesuit fathers, John Gerard, Henry Garnet, and Oswald Greenway, or
+Tesimond, were proved to have been "peculiarly practisers" in the
+treason, and offering a reward for their apprehension. On the 21st of
+the same month Parliament met, having been prorogued immediately after
+the king's speech of November 9th, and four days later an Act was passed
+for the perpetual solemnization of the anniversary of the projected
+crime, the preamble whereof charged its guilt upon "Many malignant and
+devilish papists, jesuits, and seminary priests, much envying the true
+and free possession of the Gospel by the nation, under the greatest,
+most learned, and most religious monarch who had ever occupied the
+throne."[9]
+
+In consequence of this Act, was introduced into the Anglican liturgy the
+celebrated Fifth of November service, in the collect of which the king,
+royal family, nobility, clergy, and commons are spoken of as having
+been "by Popish treachery appointed as sheep to the slaughter, in a most
+barbarous and savage manner, beyond the examples of former ages;" while
+the day itself was marked in the calendar as the "Papists' Conspiracy."
+
+It will thus be seen that the Powder Plot was by this time officially
+stigmatized as the work of the Catholic body in general, and in
+particular of their priests; thus acquiring an importance and a
+significance which could not be attributed to it were it but the wild
+attempt of a few turbulent men. As a natural corollary we find
+Parliament busily engaged upon measures to insure the more effectual
+execution of the penal laws.[10]
+
+On January 27th the surviving conspirators, Robert and Thomas Winter,
+Faukes, Grant, Rokewood, Keyes, Digby, and Bates,[11] were put upon
+their trial. In the indictment preferred against them, it was explicitly
+stated that the Plot was contrived by Garnet, Gerard, Greenway, and
+other Jesuits, to whose traitorous persuasions the prisoners at the bar
+had wickedly yielded. All were found guilty, Digby, Robert Winter,
+Grant, and Bates being executed at the west end of St. Paul's Church, on
+January the 30th, and the rest on the following day in Old Palace Yard.
+
+On the very day upon which the first company suffered, Father Garnet,
+whose hiding-place was known, and who had been closely invested for nine
+days, was captured, in company with another Jesuit, Father Oldcorne. The
+latter, though never charged with knowledge of the plot, was put to
+death for having aided and abetted Garnet in his attempt to escape.
+Garnet himself, being brought to London, was lodged first in the
+Gatehouse and afterwards in the Tower.
+
+As we have seen, he had already been proclaimed as a traitor, and
+"particular practiser" in the conspiracy, and had moreover been
+officially described as the head and front of the treason. Of the latter
+charge, after his capture, nothing was ever heard. Of his participation,
+proofs, it appeared, still remained to be discovered, for on the 3rd of
+March Cecil still spoke of them as in the future.[12] In order to obtain
+the required evidence of his complicity, Garnet was examined
+three-and-twenty times before the council, and, in addition, various
+artifices were practised which need not now be detailed. On the 28th of
+March, 1606, he was brought to trial, and on May 3rd he was hanged at
+St. Paul's. The Gunpowder Conspirators were thenceforth described in
+government publications as "Garnet, a Jesuit, and his confederates."
+
+Such is, in outline, the course of events which followed the discovery
+of November 5th, all circumstances being here omitted which are by
+possibility open to dispute.
+
+It will probably be maintained, as our best and most circumspect
+historians appear to have assumed, that we are in possession of
+information enabling us to construct a similar sketch of what preceded
+and led up to these events,--whatever obscurity there may be regarding
+the complicity of those whose participation would invest the plot with
+the significance which has been attributed to it. If it were indeed but
+the individual design of a small knot of men, acting for themselves and
+of themselves, then, though they were all Catholics, and were actuated
+by a desire to aid the Catholic cause, the crime they intended could not
+justly be charged upon the body of their co-religionists. It would be
+quite otherwise if Catholics in general were shown to have countenanced
+it, or even if such representative men as members of the priesthood were
+found to have approved so abominable a project, or even to have
+consented to it, or knowingly kept silence regarding it. Of the
+complicity of Catholics in general or of their priesthood as a body
+there is no proof whatever, nor has it ever been seriously attempted to
+establish such a charge. As to the three Jesuits already named, who
+alone have been seriously accused, there is no proof, the sufficiency of
+which may not be questioned. But as to the fact that they who originated
+the Plot were Catholics, that they acted simply with the object of
+benefiting their Church, and that the nation most narrowly escaped an
+appalling disaster at their hands, can there be any reasonable doubt? Is
+not the account of their proceedings, to be read in any work on the
+subject, as absolutely certain as anything in our history?
+
+This account is as follows. About a year after the accession of James
+I.,[13] when it began to be evident that the hopes of toleration at his
+hands, which the Catholics had entertained, were to be disappointed,
+Robert Catesby, a man of strong character, and with an extraordinary
+power of influencing others, bethought him in his wrath of this means
+whereby to take summary vengeance at once upon the monarch and the
+legislators, under whose cruelty he himself and his fellows were
+groaning. The plan was proposed to John Wright and Thomas Winter, who
+approved it. Faukes was brought over from the Low Countries, as a man
+likely to be of much service in such an enterprise. Shortly afterwards
+Percy joined them,[14] and somewhat later Keyes and Christopher Wright
+were added to their number.[15] All the associates were required to take
+an oath of secrecy,[16] and to confirm it by receiving Holy
+Communion.[17]
+
+These are the seven "gentlemen of blood and name," as Faukes describes
+them, who had the main hand in the operations which we have to study. At
+a later period six others were associated with them, Robert Winter,
+elder brother of Thomas, and Grant, both gentlemen of property, Bates,
+Catesby's servant, and finally, Rokewood, Digby, and Tresham, all rich
+men, who were brought in chiefly for the sake of their wealth, and were
+enlisted when the preparations for the intended explosion had all been
+completed, in view of the rising which was to follow.[18]
+
+Commencing operations about the middle of December, 1604, these
+confederates first endeavoured to dig a mine under the House of Lords,
+and afterwards hired a large room, described as a cellar, situated
+beneath the Peers' Chamber, and in this stored a quantity of gunpowder,
+which Faukes was to fire by a train, while the King, Lords, and Commons,
+were assembled above.
+
+Their enemies being thus destroyed, they did not contemplate a
+revolution, but were resolved to get possession of one of the king's
+sons, or, failing that, of one of his daughters, whom they would
+proclaim as sovereign, constituting themselves the guardians of the new
+monarch. They also contrived a "hunting match" on Dunsmoor heath, near
+Rugby, which was to be in progress when the news of the catastrophe in
+London should arrive; the sportsmen assembled for which would furnish,
+it was hoped, the nucleus of an army.
+
+Meanwhile, as we are assured--and this is the crucial point of the whole
+story--the government of James I. had no suspicion of what was going on,
+and, lulled in false security, were on the verge of destruction, when a
+lucky circumstance intervened. On October 26th, ten days before the
+meeting of Parliament, a Catholic peer, Lord Monteagle, received an
+anonymous letter, couched in vague and incoherent language, warning him
+to absent himself from the opening ceremony. This document Monteagle at
+once took to the king's prime minister, Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury,
+who promptly divined its meaning and the precise danger indicated,
+although he allowed King James to fancy that he was himself the first to
+interpret it, when it was shown to him five days later.[19] Not for
+four other days were active steps taken, that is, till the early morning
+of the fatal Fifth. Then took place the discovery of which we have
+already heard.
+
+Such is, in brief, the accepted version of the history, and of its
+substantial correctness there is commonly assumed to be no room for
+reasonable doubt. As Mr. Jardine writes,[20] "The outlines of the
+transaction were too notorious to be suppressed or disguised; that a
+design had been formed to blow up the Parliament House, with the King,
+the Royal Family, the Lords and Commons, and that this design was formed
+by Catholic men and for Catholic purposes, could never admit of
+controversy or concealment." In like manner, while acknowledging that in
+approaching the question of Father Garnet's complicity, or that of other
+priests, we find ourselves upon uncertain ground, Mr. Gardiner has no
+hesitation in declaring that "the whole story of the plot, as far as it
+relates to the lay conspirators, rests upon indisputable evidence."[21]
+
+Nevertheless there appear to be considerations, demanding more attention
+than they have hitherto received, which forbid the supposition that, in
+regard of what is most vital, this official story can possibly be true;
+while the extreme care with which it has obviously been elaborated,
+suggests the conclusion that it was intended to disguise facts, to the
+concealment of which the government of the day attached supreme
+importance.
+
+As has been said, the cardinal point of the tale, as commonly told, is
+that the Plot was a secret and dangerous conspiracy, conducted with so
+much craft as to have baffled detection, but for a lucky accident; that
+the vigilance of the authorities was completely at fault; and that they
+found themselves suddenly on the very brink of a terrible catastrophe of
+which they had no suspicion.[22] If, on the contrary, it should appear
+that they had ample information of what was going on, while feigning
+absolute ignorance; that they studiously devised a false account of the
+manner in which it came to their knowledge; and that their whole conduct
+is quite inconsistent with that sense of imminent danger which they so
+loudly professed--the question inevitably suggests itself as to whether
+we can rely upon the authenticity of the opening chapters of a history,
+the conclusion of which has been so dexterously manipulated.
+
+A French writer has observed[23] that the plots undertaken under
+Elizabeth and James I. have this feature in common, that they proved,
+one and all, extremely opportune for those against whom they were
+directed. To this law the Gunpowder Plot was no exception. Whatever be
+the true history of its origin, it certainly placed in the hands of the
+king's chief minister a most effective weapon for the enforcement of his
+favourite policy, and very materially strengthened his own position.
+Without doubt the sensational manner of its "discovery" largely
+contributed to its success in this respect; and if this were ingeniously
+contrived for such a purpose, may it not be that a like ingenuity had
+been employed in providing the material destined to be so artistically
+utilized?
+
+There can be no question as to the wide prevalence of the belief that
+previous plots had owed their origin to the policy of the statesmen who
+finally detected them, a belief witnessed to by Lord Castlemaine,[24]
+who declares that "it was a piece of wit in Queen Elizabeth's days to
+draw men into such devices," and that "making and fomenting plots was
+then in fashion; nor can it be denied that good grounds for such an
+opinion were not lacking". The unfortunate man Squires had been executed
+on the ridiculous charge that he had come over from Spain in order to
+poison the pommel of Queen Elizabeth's saddle. Dr. Parry, we are
+informed by Bishop Goodman, whose verdict is endorsed by Mr. Brewer,[25]
+was put to death by those who knew him to be guiltless in their regard,
+they having themselves employed him in the business for which he
+suffered. Concerning Babington's famous plot, it is absolutely certain
+that, whatever its origin, it was, almost from the first, fully known to
+Walsingham, through whose hands passed the correspondence between the
+conspirators, and who assiduously worked the enterprise, in order to
+turn it to the destruction of the Queen of Scots. As to Lopez, the
+Jewish physician, it is impossible not to concur in the verdict that
+his condemnation was at least as much owing to political intrigue as to
+the weight of evidence.[26] Concerning this period Mr. Brewer says: "The
+Roman Catholics seem to have made just complaints of the subtle and
+unworthy artifices of Leicester and Walsingham, by whom they were
+entrapped into the guilt of high treason. 'And verily,' as [Camden]
+expresses it, there were at this time crafty ways devised to try how men
+stood affected; counterfeit letters were sent in the name of the Queen
+of Scots and left at papists' houses; spies were sent up and down the
+country to note people's dispositions and lay hold of their words; and
+reporters of vain and idle stories were credited and encouraged."[27]
+Under King James,[28] as Bishop Goodman declares, the priest Watson was
+hanged for treason by those who had employed him.[29]
+
+It must farther be observed that the particular Plot which is our
+subject was stamped with certain features more than commonly suspicious.
+Even on the face of things, as will be seen from the summary already
+given, it was steadily utilized from the first for a purpose which it
+could not legitimately be made to serve. That the Catholics of England,
+as a body, had any connection with it there is not, nor ever appeared to
+be, any vestige of a proof; still less that the official superiors of
+the Church, including the Pope himself, were concerned in it. Yet the
+first act of the government was to lay it at the door of all these, thus
+investing it with a character which was, indeed, eminently fitted to
+sustain their own policy, but to which it was no-wise entitled. Even in
+regard of Father Garnet and his fellow Jesuits, whatever judgment may
+now be formed concerning them, it is clear that it was determined to
+connect them with the conspiracy long before any evidence at all was
+forthcoming to sustain the charge. The actual confederates were, in
+fact, treated throughout as in themselves of little or no account, and
+as important only in so far as they might consent to incriminate those
+whom the authorities wished to be incriminated.
+
+The determined manner in which this object was ever kept in view, the
+unscrupulous means constantly employed for its attainment, the vehemence
+with which matters were asserted to have been proved, any proof of which
+was never even seriously attempted--in a word, the elaborate system of
+falsification by which alone the story of the conspiracy was made to
+suit the purpose it so effectually served, can inspire us with no
+confidence that the foundation upon which such a superstructure was
+erected, was itself what it was said to be.
+
+On the other hand, when we examine into the details supplied to us as to
+the progress of the affair, we find that much of what the conspirators
+are said to have done is well-nigh incredible, while it is utterly
+impossible that if they really acted in the manner described, the public
+authorities should not have had full knowledge of their proceedings. We
+also find not only that the same authorities, while feigning ignorance
+of anything of the kind, were perfectly well aware that these very
+conspirators had something in hand, but that long before the
+"discovery," in fact, at the very time when the conspiracy is said to
+have been hatched, their officials were working a Catholic plot, by
+means of secret agents, and even making arrangements as to who were to
+be implicated therein.
+
+These are, in brief, some of the considerations which point to a
+conclusion utterly at variance with the received version of the story,
+the conclusion, namely, that, for purposes of State, the government of
+the day either found means to instigate the conspirators to undertake
+their enterprise, or, at least, being, from an early stage of the
+undertaking, fully aware of what was going on, sedulously nursed the
+insane scheme till the time came to make capital out of it. That the
+conspirators, or the greater number of them, really meant to strike a
+great blow is not to be denied, though it may be less easy to assure
+ourselves as to its precise character; and their guilt will not be
+palliated should it appear that, in projecting an atrocious crime, they
+were unwittingly playing the game of plotters more astute than
+themselves. At the same time, while fully endorsing the sentiment of a
+Catholic writer,[30] that they who suffer themselves to be drawn into a
+plot like fools, deserve to be hanged for it like knaves, it is
+impossible not to agree with another when he writes:[31] "This account
+does not excuse the conspirators, but lays a heavy weight upon the
+devils who tempted them beyond their strength."
+
+The view thus set forth will perhaps be considered unworthy of serious
+discussion, and it must be fully admitted, that there can be no excuse
+for making charges such as it involves, unless solid grounds can be
+alleged for so doing. That any such grounds are to be found historians
+of good repute utterly deny. Mr. Hallam roundly declares:[32] "To deny
+that there was such a plot, or, which is the same thing, to throw the
+whole on the contrivance and management of Cecil, as has sometimes been
+done, argues great effrontery in those who lead, and great stupidity in
+those who follow." Similarly, Mr. Gardiner,[33] while allowing that
+contemporaries accused Cecil of inventing the Plot, is content to
+dismiss such a charge as "absurd."
+
+Whether it be so or not we have now to inquire.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] So he himself always wrote it.
+
+[4] Also described as "Great Horses," or "Horses for the great Saddle."
+
+[5] "The great object of the Government now was to obtain evidence
+against the priests."--GARDINER, _History of England_, i. 267. Ed. 1883.
+
+[6] See his despatch in reply. _Irish State Papers_, vol. 217, 95.
+Cornwallis received Cecil's letter on November 22nd.
+
+[7] See Harington's account of the king's message, _Nugae Antiquae_, i.
+374.
+
+[8] To Favat. (Copy) Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 6178, fol. 625.
+
+[9] Statutes: Anno 3^o Jacobi, c. 1.
+
+[10] This work was taken in hand by the Commons, when, in spite of the
+alarming circumstances of the time, they met on November 5th, and was
+carried on at every subsequent sitting. The Lords also met on the 5th,
+but transacted no business. _Journals of Parliament._
+
+[11] Tresham had died in the Tower, December 22nd. Although he had not
+been tried, his remains were treated as those of a traitor, his head
+being cut off and fixed above the gates of Northampton (_Dom. James I._
+xvii. 62.)
+
+[12] "That which remaineth is but this, to assure you that ere many
+daies you shall hear that Father Garnet ... is layd open for a
+principall conspirator even in the particular Treason of the
+Powder."--_To Sir Henry Bruncard, P.R.O. Ireland_, vol. 218, March
+3rd, 1605-6. Also (Calendar) _Dom. James I._ xix. 10.
+
+[13] In Lent, 1603-4. Easter fell that year on April 8th.
+
+[14] "About the middle of Easter Term."--_Thomas Winter's declaration_,
+of November 23rd, 1605.
+
+[15] "Keyes, about a month before Michaelmas."--_Ibid._ About
+Christopher Wright there is much confusion, Faukes (November 17th, 1605)
+implying that he was introduced before Christmas, and Thomas Winter
+(November 23rd, 1605) that it was about a fortnight after the following
+Candlemas, _i.e._, about the middle of February.
+
+[16] The form of this oath is thus given in the official account: "You
+shall swear by the blessed Trinity, and by the Sacrament you now propose
+to receive, never to disclose directly or indirectly, by word or
+circumstance, the matter that shall be proposed to you to keep secret,
+nor desist from the execution thereof until the rest shall give you
+leave." It is a singular circumstance that the form of this oath, which
+was repeated in official publications, with an emphasis itself
+inexplicable, occurs in only one of the conspirators' confessions, viz.,
+the oft-quoted declaration of T. Winter, November 23rd, 1605. This--as
+we shall see, a most suspicious document--was one of the two selected
+for publication, on which the traditional history of the plot depends.
+Curiously enough, however, the oath, with sundry other matters, was
+omitted from the published version of the confession.
+
+[Published in the "King's Book:" copy, or draft, for publication, in the
+Record Office: original at Hatfield. Copy of original Brit. Mus. Add.
+MSS., 6178, 75.]
+
+[17] T. Winter says: "Having upon a primer given each other the oath of
+secrecy, in a chamber where no other body was, we went after into the
+next room and heard mass, and received the blessed Sacrament upon the
+same."--_Declaration_, November 23rd, 1605.
+
+[18] Digby was enlisted "about Michaelmas, 1605;" Rokewood about a month
+before the 5th of November. Tresham gives October 14th as the date of
+his own initiation. _Examination_, November 13th, 1605.
+
+[19] This is clear from a comparison of Cecil's private letter to
+Cornwallis and others (Winwood, _Memorials_, ii. 170), with the official
+account published in the _Discourse of the manner of the Discovery of
+the Gunpowder Plot_.
+
+[20] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 3.
+
+[21] _History of England_, i. 269 (1883).
+
+[22] "We had all been blowne up at a clapp, if God out of His Mercie and
+just Reuenge against so great an Abomination, had not destined it to be
+discovered, though very miraculously, even some twelve Houres before the
+matter should have been put in execution."--_Cecil to Cornwallis_,
+November 9th, 1605. Winwood, _Memorials_, ii. 170.
+
+[23] M. l'Abbe Destombes, _La persecution en Angleterre sous le regne
+d'Elizabeth_, p. 176.
+
+[24] _Catholique Apology_, third edition, p. 403.
+
+[25] Goodman's _Court of King James_, i. 121.
+
+[26] Mr. Sidney Lee, _Dictionary of National Biography_, _sub nom._
+
+[27] Goodman's _Court of King James_, i. 121. Ed. J.S. Brewer.
+
+[28] _Court of King James_, p. 64.
+
+[29] Of this affair,--the "Bye" and the "Main,"--Goodman says, "[This] I
+did ever think to be an old relic of the treasons in Q. Elizabeth's
+time, and that George Brooks was the contriver thereof, who being
+brother-in-law to the Secretary, and having great wit, small means, and
+a vast expense, did only try men's allegiance, and had an intent to
+betray one another, but were all taken napping and so involved in one
+net. This in effect appears by Brooks' confession; and certainly K.
+James ... had no opinion of that treason, and therefore was pleased to
+pardon all save only Brooks and the priests."--_Court of King James_, i.
+160.
+
+[30] _A plain and rational account of the Catholick Faith_, etc. Rouen,
+1721, p. 200.
+
+[31] Dodd, _Church History of England_, Brussels, 1739, i. 334.
+
+[32] _Constitutional History_, i. 406, note, Seventh Edition. In the
+same note the historian, discussing the case of Father Garnet, speaks of
+"the damning circumstance that he was taken at Hendlip in concealment
+along with the other conspirators." He who wrote thus can have had but a
+slight acquaintance with the details of the history. None of the
+conspirators, except Robert Winter, who was captured at Hagley Hall,
+were taken in concealment, and none at Hendlip, where there is no reason
+to suppose they ever were. Father Garnet was discovered there, nearly
+three months later, in company with another Jesuit, Father Oldcorne, on
+the very day when the conspirators were executed in London, and it was
+never alleged that he had ever, upon any occasion, been seen in company
+with "the other conspirators."
+
+[33] _History_, i. 255, note.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE PERSONS CONCERNED.
+
+
+AT the period with which we have to deal the chief minister of James I.
+was Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury,[34] the political heir of his
+father, William Cecil, Lord Burghley,[35] and of Walsingham, his
+predecessor in the office of secretary. It is clear that he had
+inherited from them ideas of statesmanship of the order then in vogue,
+and from nature, the kind of ability required to put these successfully
+in practice. Sir Robert Naunton thus describes him:[36]
+
+"This great minister of state, and the staff of the Queen's declining
+age, though his little crooked person[37] could not provide any great
+supportation, yet it carried thereon a head and a headpiece of vast
+content, and therein, it seems, nature was so diligent to complete one,
+and the best, part about him, as that to the perfection of his memory
+and intellectuals, she took care also of his senses, and to put him in
+_Lynceos oculos_, or to pleasure him the more, borrowed of Argus, so to
+give him a perfective sight. And for the rest of his sensitive virtues,
+his predecessor had left him a receipt, to smell out what was done in
+the Conclave; and his good old father was so well seen in the
+mathematicks, as that he could tell you throughout Spain, every part,
+every ship, with their burthens, whither bound, what preparation, what
+impediments for diversion of enterprises, counsels, and resolutions."
+The writer then proceeds to give a striking instance to show "how
+docible was this little man."
+
+Of his character, as estimated by competent judges, his contemporaries,
+we have very different accounts. Mr. Gardiner, who may fairly be chosen
+to represent his apologists, speaks thus:[38]
+
+"Although there are circumstances in his life which tell against him, it
+is difficult to read the whole of the letters and documents which have
+come down to us from his pen, without becoming gradually convinced of
+his honesty of intention. It cannot be denied that he was satisfied with
+the ordinary morality of his time, and that he thought it no shame to
+keep a State secret or to discover a plot by means of a falsehood. If he
+grasped at power as one who took pleasure in the exercise of it, he used
+it for what he regarded as the true interests of his king and country.
+Nor are we left to his own acts and words as the only means by which we
+are enabled to form a judgment of his character. Of all the statesmen of
+the day, not one has left a more blameless character than the Earl of
+Dorset. Dorset took the opportunity of leaving upon record in his will,
+which would not be read till he had no longer injury or favour to expect
+in this world, the very high admiration in which his colleague was held
+by him."
+
+This, it must be allowed, is a somewhat facile species of argument.
+Though wills are not formally opened until after the testators' deaths,
+it is not impossible for their contents to be previously communicated to
+others, when there is an object for so doing.[39] But, however this may
+be, it can scarcely be said that the weight of evidence tends in this
+direction. Not to mention the fact that, while enjoying the entire
+confidence of Queen Elizabeth, Cecil was engaged in a secret
+correspondence with King James, which she would have regarded as
+treasonable--and which he so carefully concealed that for a century
+afterwards and more it was not suspected--there remains the other
+indubitable fact, that while similarly trusted by James, and while all
+affairs of State were entirely in his hands, he was in receipt of a
+secret pension from the King of Spain,[40] the very monarch any
+communication with whom he treated as treason on the part of others.[41]
+It is certain that the Earl of Essex, when on his trial, asserted that
+Cecil had declared the Spanish Infanta to be the rightful heir to the
+crown, and though the secretary vehemently denied the imputation, he
+equally repudiated the notion that he favoured the King of Scots.[42] We
+know, moreover, that one who as Spanish Ambassador had dealings with
+him, pronounced him to be a venal traitor, who was ready to sell his
+soul for money,[43] while another intimated[44] that it was in his
+power to have charged him with "unwarrantable practices." Similarly, we
+hear from the French minister of the ingrained habit of falsehood which
+made it impossible for the English secretary to speak the truth even to
+friends;[45] and, from the French Ambassador, of the resolution imputed
+to the same statesman, to remove from his path every rival who seemed
+likely to jeopardize his tenure of power.[46]
+
+What was the opinion of his own countrymen, appeared with startling
+emphasis when, in 1612, the Earl died. On May 22nd we find the Earl of
+Northampton writing to Rochester that the "little man" is dead, "for
+which so many rejoice, and so few even seem to be sorry."[47] Five days
+later, Chamberlain, writing[48] to his friend Dudley Carleton, to
+announce the same event, thus expresses himself: "As the case stands it
+was best that he gave over the world, for they say his friends fell from
+him apace, and some near about him, and however he had fared with his
+health, it is verily thought he would never have been himself again in
+power and credit. I never knew so great a man so soon and so openly
+censured, for men's tongues walk very liberally and freely, but how
+truly I cannot judge." On June 25th he again reports: "The outrageous
+speeches against the deceased Lord continue still, and there be fresh
+libels come out every day, and I doubt his actions will be hardly
+censured in the next parliament, if the King be not the more gracious to
+repress them." Moreover, his funeral was attended by few or none of the
+gentry, and those only were present whose official position compelled
+them. His own opinion Chamberlain expresses in two epigrams and an
+anagram, which, although of small literary merit, contrive clearly to
+express the most undisguised animosity and contempt for the late
+minister.[49]
+
+There is abundant proof that such sentiments were not first entertained
+when he had passed away, though, naturally, they were less openly
+expressed when he was alive and practically all powerful. Cecil seems,
+in fact, to have been throughout his career a lonely man, with no real
+friends and many enemies, desperately fighting for his own hand, and for
+the retention of that power which he prized above all else, aspiring, as
+a contemporary satirist puts it, to be "both shepherd and dog."[50]
+Since the accession of James he had felt his tenure of office to be
+insecure. Goodman tells us[51] that "it is certain the king did not love
+him;" Osborne,[52] "that he had forfeited the love of the people by the
+hate he expressed to their darling Essex, and the desire he had to
+render justice and prerogative arbitrary."[53] Sir Anthony Weldon speaks
+of him[54] as "Sir Robert Cecil, a very wise man, but much hated in
+England by reason of the fresh bleeding of that universally beloved Earl
+of Essex, and for that clouded also in the king's favour." De la
+Boderie, the French Ambassador, tells us[55] that the nobility were
+exceedingly jealous of his dignity and power, and[56] that he in his
+turn was jealous of the growing influence of Prince Henry, the heir
+apparent, who made no secret of his dislike of him. Meanwhile there were
+rivals who, it seemed not improbable, might supplant him. One of these,
+Sir Walter Raleigh, had already been rendered harmless on account of his
+connection with the "Main," the mysterious conspiracy which inaugurated
+the reign of James. There remained the Earl of Northumberland, and it
+may be remarked in passing that one of the effects of the Gunpowder Plot
+was to dispose of him likewise.[57] Even the apologists of the minister
+do not attempt to deny either the fact that he was accustomed to work by
+stratagems and disguises, nor the obloquy that followed on his
+death;[58] while by friends and foes alike he was compared to Ulysses of
+many wiles.[59]
+
+But amongst those whom he had to dread, there can be no doubt that the
+members of the Catholic party appeared to the secretary the most
+formidable. It was known on all hands, nor did he attempt to disguise
+the fact, that he was the irreconcilable opponent of any remission of
+the penal laws enacted for the purpose of stamping out the old
+faith.[60] The work, however, had as yet been very incompletely done. At
+the beginning of the reign of King James, the Catholics formed at least
+a half, probably a majority,[61] of the English people. There were
+amongst them many noblemen, fitted to hold offices of State. Moreover,
+the king, who before his accession had unquestionably assured the
+Catholics at least of toleration,[62] showed at his first coming a
+manifest disposition to relieve them from the grievous persecution under
+which they had groaned so long.[63] He remitted a large part of the
+fines which had so grievously pressed upon all recusants, declaring that
+he would not make merchandise of conscience, nor set a price upon
+faith;[64] he invited to his presence leading Catholics from various
+parts of the country, assuring them, and bidding them assure their
+co-religionists, of his gracious intentions in their regard;[65] titles
+of honour and lucrative employments were bestowed on some of their
+number;[66] one professed Catholic, Henry Howard, presently created Earl
+of Northampton, being enrolled in the Privy Council; and in the first
+speech which he addressed to his Parliament James declared that, as to
+the papists, he had no desire to persecute them, especially those of the
+laity who would be quiet.[67] The immediate effect of this milder
+policy was to afford evidence of the real strength of the Catholics,
+many now openly declaring themselves who had previously conformed to the
+State church. In the diocese of Chester alone the number of Catholics
+was increased by a thousand.[68]
+
+It is scarcely to be wondered at that men who were familiar with the
+political methods of the age should see in all this a motive sufficient
+to explain a great stroke for the destruction of those who appeared to
+be so formidable, devised by such a minister as was then in power, "the
+statesman," writes Lord Castlemaine,[69] "who bore (as everybody knew) a
+particular hatred to all of our profession, and this increased to hear
+his Majesty speak a little in his first speech to the two Houses against
+persecution of papists, whereas there had been nothing within those
+walls but invectives and defamations for above forty years together."
+
+This much is certain, that, whatever its origin, the Gunpowder Plot
+immensely increased Cecil's influence and power, and, for a time, even
+his popularity, assuring the success of that anti-Catholic policy with
+which he was identified.[70]
+
+Of no less importance is it to understand the position of the Catholic
+body, and the character of the particular Catholics who engaged in this
+enterprise. We have seen with what hopes the advent of King James had
+been hailed by those who had suffered so much for his mother's sake, and
+who interpreted in a too sanguine and trustful spirit his own words and
+deeds. Their dream of enjoying even toleration at his hands was soon
+rudely dispelled. After giving them the briefest of respites, the
+monarch, under the influence, as all believed, of his council, and
+especially of his chief minister,[71] suddenly reversed his line of
+action and persecuted his Catholic subjects more cruelly than had his
+predecessor, calling up the arrears of fines which they fancied had been
+altogether remitted, ruining many in the process who had hitherto
+contrived to pay their way,[72] and adding to the sense of injury which
+such a course necessarily provoked by farming out wealthy recusants to
+needy courtiers, "to make their profit of," in particular to the Scots
+who had followed their royal master across the border. Soon it was
+announced that the king would have blood; all priests were ordered to
+leave the realm under pain of death, and the searches for them became
+more frequent and violent than ever. In no long time, as Goodman tells
+us,[73] "a gentlewoman was hanged only for relieving and harbouring a
+priest; a citizen was hanged only for being reconciled to the Church of
+Rome; besides the penal laws were such and so executed that they could
+not subsist." Father Gerard says:[74] "This being known to Catholics, it
+is easy to be seen how first their hopes were turned into fears, and
+then their fears into full knowledge that all the contrary to that they
+had hoped was intended and prepared for them", and, as one of the victims
+of these proceedings wrote, "the times of Elizabeth, although most
+cruel, were the mildest and happiest in comparison with those of King
+James."[75]
+
+In such circumstances, the Catholic body being so numerous as it was, it
+is not to be wondered at that individuals should be found, who, smarting
+under their injuries, and indignant at the bad faith of which they
+considered themselves the dupes, looked to violent remedies for relief,
+and might without difficulty be worked upon to that effect. Their case
+seemed far more hopeless than ever. Queen Elizabeth's quarrel with Rome
+had been in a great degree personal; and moreover, as she had no direct
+heir, it was confidently anticipated that the demise of the crown would
+introduce a new era. King James's proceedings, on the other hand, seemed
+to indicate a deliberate policy which there was no prospect of
+reversing, especially as his eldest son, should he prove true to his
+promise, might be expected to do that zealously, and of himself, which
+his father was held to do under the constraint of others.[76] As Sir
+Everard Digby warned Cecil, in the remarkable letter which he addressed
+to him on the subject:[77] "If your Lordship and the State think fit to
+deal severely with the Catholics, within brief space there will be
+massacres, rebellions, and desperate attempts against the King and the
+State. For it is a general received reason among Catholics, that there
+is not that expecting and suffering course now to be run that was in the
+Queen's time, who was the last of her line, and last in expectance to
+run violent courses against Catholics; for then it was hoped that the
+King that now is, would have been at least free from persecuting, as his
+promise was before his coming into this realm, and as divers his
+promises have been since his coming. All these promises every man sees
+broken."[78]
+
+It must likewise be remembered that if stratagems and "practices" were
+the recognized weapons of ministers, turbulence and arms were, at this
+period, the familiar, and indeed the only, resource of those in
+opposition, nor did any stigma attach to their employment unless taken
+up on the losing side. Not a little of this kind of thing had been done
+on behalf of James himself. As is well known, he succeeded to the throne
+by a title upon which he could not have recovered at law an acre of
+land.[79] Elizabeth had so absolutely forbidden all discussion of the
+question of the succession as to leave it in a state of utter
+confusion.[80] There were more than a dozen possible competitors, and
+amongst these the claim of the King of Scots was technically not the
+strongest, for though nearest in blood his claims had been barred by a
+special Act of Parliament, excluding the Scottish line. As Professor
+Thorold Rogers says, "For a year after his accession James, if Acts of
+Parliament are to go for anything, was not legally King."[81]
+
+Nevertheless the cause of James was vigorously taken up in all
+directions, and promoted by means which might well have been styled
+treason against the authority of Parliament. Thus, old Sir Thomas
+Tresham, father of Francis Tresham, the Gunpowder Conspirator, who had
+been an eminent sufferer for his religion, at considerable personal
+risk, and against much resistance on the part of the local magistrates
+and the populace, publicly proclaimed the new king at Northampton, while
+Francis Tresham himself and his brother Lewis, with Lord Monteagle,
+their brother-in-law, supported the Earl of Southampton in holding the
+Tower of London on his behalf.[82] In London indeed everybody took to
+arms as soon as the queen's illness had been known; watch and ward were
+kept in the City; rich men brought their plate and treasure from the
+country, and placed them where they would be safest,[83] and the
+approaches were guarded. Cecil himself related in open court, in praise
+of the Londoners, how, when he himself, attended by most of the peers
+and privy councillors of the kingdom, wished to enter the City to
+proclaim the new sovereign, they found the gates closed against them
+till they had publicly declared that they were about to proclaim James
+and no one else.[84]
+
+In times when statesmen could approve such methods of political action,
+it was inevitable that violent enterprises should have come to be
+considered the natural resource of those out of power, and it is very
+clear that there were numerous individuals, of whom no one party had the
+monopoly, who were ready at any moment to risk everything for the cause
+they served, and such men, although their proclivities were well known,
+did not suffer much in public esteem.
+
+The Gunpowder Conspirators were eminently men of this stamp, and
+notoriously so. So well was their character known, that when, in 1596,
+eight years before the commencement of the Plot, Queen Elizabeth had
+been unwell, the Lords of the Council, as a precautionary measure
+arrested some of the principal amongst them, Catesby, the two Wrights,
+Tresham, and others, as being persons who would certainly give trouble
+should a chance occur.[85] Since that time they had not improved their
+record. All those above-named, as well as Thomas Winter, Christopher
+Wright, Percy, Grant, and perhaps others, had been engaged in the
+ill-starred rebellion of Essex, on which occasion Catesby was wounded,
+and both he and Tresham came remarkably near being hanged.[86] They had
+likewise been variously implicated in all the seditious attempts which
+had since been made--Catesby and Tresham being named by Sir Edward Coke
+as being engaged with Watson in the "Bye." Thomas Winter, Christopher
+Wright, and Faukes, had, if we may believe the same authority, been sent
+to Spain on treasonable embassies.[87] Grant made himself very
+conspicuous by frequently resisting the officers of the law when they
+appeared to search his house.[88] John Wright and Percy had, at least
+till a very recent period, been notorious bravoes, who made a point of
+picking a quarrel with any man who was reported to be a good swordsman,
+they being both expert with the weapon.[89]
+
+It is evident that men of this stamp were not unlikely to prove restive
+under such treatment as was meted out to the Catholics, from which
+moreover, as gentlemen, they themselves suffered in a special degree.
+Lord Castlemaine remarks that loose people may usually be drawn into a
+plot when statesmen lay gins, and that it was no hard thing for a
+Secretary of State, should he desire any such thing, to know of
+turbulent and ambitious spirits to be his unconscious instruments,[90]
+and it is obvious that no great perspicacity would have been required to
+fix upon those who had given such evidence of their disposition as had
+these men.
+
+It must, at the same time, be confessed that the character of the
+plotters is one of the most perplexing features of the Plot. The crime
+contemplated was without parallel in its brutal and senseless atrocity.
+There had, it is true, been powder-plots before, notably that which had
+effected the destruction of the king's own father, Lord Darnley, a fact
+undoubtedly calculated to make much impression upon the timorous mind
+of James. But what marked off our Gunpowder Plot from all others, was
+the wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter in which it must have
+resulted, and the absence of any possibility that the cause could be
+benefited which the conspirators had at heart. It was at once reprobated
+and denounced by the Catholics of England, and by the friends and near
+relatives of the conspirators themselves.[91] It might be supposed that
+those who undertook such an enterprise were criminals of the deepest
+dye, and ruffians of a more than usually repulsive type. In spite,
+however, of the turbulent element in their character of which we have
+seen something, such a judgment would, in the opinion of historians, be
+altogether erroneous. Far from their being utterly unredeemed villains,
+it appears, in fact, that apart from the one monstrous transgression
+which has made them infamous, they should be distinguished in the annals
+of crime as the least disreputable gang of conspirators who ever plotted
+a treason. On this point we have ample evidence from those who are by no
+means their friends. "Atrocious as their whole undertaking was," writes
+Mr. Gardiner,[92] "great as must have been the moral obliquity of their
+minds before they could have conceived such a project, there was at
+least nothing mean or selfish about them. They boldly risked their lives
+for what they honestly believed to be the cause of God and of their
+country. Theirs was a crime which it would never have entered into the
+heart of any man to commit who was not raised above the low aims of the
+ordinary criminal." Similarly Mr. Jardine, a still less friendly
+witness, tells us[93] that "several at least of the conspirators were
+men of mild and amiable manners, averse to tumults and bloodshed, and
+dwelling quietly amidst the humanities of domestic life," a description
+which he applies especially to Rokewood and Digby; while of Guy Faukes
+himself he says[94] that, according to the accounts which we hear of
+him, he is not to be regarded as a mercenary ruffian, ready for hire to
+do any deed of blood; but as a zealot, misled by misguided fanaticism,
+who was, however, by no means destitute either of piety or of humanity.
+Moreover, as Mr. Jardine farther remarks, the conspirators as a body
+were of the class which we should least expect to find engaged in
+desperate enterprises, being, as Sir E. Coke described them, "gentlemen
+of good houses, of excellent parts, and of very competent fortunes and
+estates," none of them, except perhaps Catesby, being in pecuniary
+difficulties, while several--notably Robert Winter, Rokewood, Digby,
+Tresham, and Grant--were men of large possessions. It has also been
+observed by a recent biographer of Sir Everard Digby,[95] that, for the
+furtherance of their projects after the explosion, the confederates were
+able to provide a sum equal at least to L75,000 of our money--a
+sufficient proof of their worldly position.
+
+That men of such a class should so lightly and easily have adopted a
+scheme so desperate and atrocious as that of "murdering a kingdom in its
+representatives," is undoubtedly not the least incomprehensible feature
+of this strange story. At the same time it must not be forgotten that
+there is another, and a very different account of these men, which comes
+to us on the authority of a Catholic priest living in England at the
+time,[96] who speaks of the conspirators as follows:
+
+"They were a few wicked and desperate wretches, whom many Protestants
+termed Papists, although the priests and the true Catholics knew them
+not to be such.... They were never frequenters of Catholic Sacraments
+with any priest, as I could ever learn; and, as all the Protestant
+Courts will witness, not one of them was a convicted or known Catholic
+or Recusant."[97]
+
+Similarly Cornwallis, writing from Madrid,[98] reported that the king
+and Estate of Spain were "much grieved that they being atheists and
+devils in their inward parts, should paint their outside with
+Catholicism."
+
+In view of evidence so contradictory, it is difficult, if not
+impossible, to form a confident judgment as to the real character of
+those whose history we are attempting to trace; but, leaving aside what
+is matter of doubt, the undisputed facts of their previous career
+appear to show unmistakably that they were just the men who would be
+ready to look to violence for a remedy of existing evils, and to whom it
+would not be difficult to suggest its adoption.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[34] When James came to the throne Cecil was but a knight. He was
+created Baron Cecil of Essendon, May 13th, 1603; Viscount Cranborne,
+August 20th, 1604; Earl of Salisbury, May 4th, 1605.
+
+[35] Robert, as the second son, did not succeed to his father's title,
+which devolved upon Thomas, the eldest, who was created Earl of Exeter
+on the same day on which Robert became Earl of Salisbury.
+
+[36] _Fragmenta Regalia_, 37. Ed. 1642.
+
+[37] He was but little above five feet in height, and, in the phrase of
+the time, a "Crouchback." King James, who was not a man of much delicacy
+in such matters, was fond of giving him nicknames in consequence. Cecil
+wrote to Sir Thomas Lake, October 24th, 1605: "I see nothing y^t I can
+doe, can procure me so much favor, as to be sure one whole day what
+title I shall have another. For from Essenden to Cranborne, from
+Cranborne to Salisbury, from Salisbury to Beagle, from Beagle to Thom
+Derry, from Thom Derry to Parret which I hate most, I have been so
+walked, as I think by y^t I come to Theobalds, I shall be called Tare or
+Sophie." (R.O. _Dom. James I._ xv. 105.)
+
+[38] _History_, i. 92.
+
+[39] In the same document James I. is spoken of as "the most judycious,
+learned, and rareste kinge, that ever this worlde produced." (R.O.
+_Dom. James I._ xxviii. 29.)
+
+[40] Digby to the King, S. P., _Spain_, Aug. 8. Gardiner, _History_, ii.
+216.
+
+[41] At the trial of Essex, Cecil exclaimed, "I pray God to consume me
+where I stand, if I hate not the Spaniard as much as any man living."
+(Bruce, _Introduction to Secret Correspondence of Sir R. Cecil_,
+xxxiii.)
+
+Of the Spanish pension Mr. Gardiner, after endeavouring to show that
+originally Cecil's acceptance of it may have been comparatively
+innocent, thus continues (_History of England_, i. 216): "But it is
+plain that, even if this is the explanation of his original intentions,
+such a comparatively innocent connection with Spain soon extended itself
+to something worse, and that he consented to furnish the ambassadors,
+from time to time, with information on the policy and intentions of the
+English Government.... Of the persistence with which he exacted payment
+there can be no doubt whatever. Five years later, when the opposition
+between the two governments became more decided, he asked for an
+increase of his payments, and demanded that they should be made in large
+sums as each piece of information was given."
+
+At the same time it appears highly probable that he was similarly in the
+pay of France. _Ibid._
+
+[42] Queen Elizabeth regarded as treasonable any discussion of the
+question of the succession.
+
+[43] Gardiner, i. 215.
+
+[44] _Chamberlain to Carleton_, July 9th, 1612, R.O.
+
+[45] "Tout ce que vous a dit le Comte de Salisbury touchant le mariage
+d'Espagne est rempli de deguisements et artifices a son accoutumee....
+Toutefois, je ne veux pas jurer qu'ils negocient plus sincerement et de
+meilleur foi avec lesdites Espagnols qu'avec nous. Ils corromproient par
+trop leur naturel, s'ils le faisoient, pour des gens qui ne leur
+scauroient guere de gre."--Le Fevre de la Boderie, _Ambassade_, i. 170.
+
+[46] (Of the Earl of Northumberland.) "On tient le Comte de Salisbury
+pour principal auteur de sa persecution, comme celui qui veut ne laisser
+personne en pied qui puisse lui faire tete." De la Boderie. _Ibid._ 178.
+
+[47] R.O. _Dom. James I._ lxix. 56.
+
+[48] _Ibid._, May 27, 1612. Bishop Goodman, no enemy of Cecil, is
+inclined to believe that at the time of the secretary's death there was
+a warrant out for his arrest. _Court of King James_, i. 45.
+
+[49] The first of these epigrams, in Latin, concludes thus:
+
+    Sero, Recurve, moreris sed serio;
+    Sero, jaces (bis mortuus) sed serio:
+    Sero saluti publicae, serio tuae.
+
+The second is in English:
+
+    Whiles two RR's, both crouchbacks, stood at the helm,
+    The one spilt the blood royall, the other the realm.
+
+A marginal note explains that these were, "Richard Duke of Gloster, and
+Robert Earl of Salisburie;" the anagram, of which title is "A silie
+burs." He also styles the late minister a monkey (_cercopithecus_) and
+hobgoblin (_empusa_).
+
+[50] Osborne, _Traditional Memoirs_, p. 236 (ed. 1811).
+
+[51] _Court of King James_, i. 44.
+
+[52] _Traditional Memoirs_, 181.
+
+[53] This feeling was expressed in lampoons quoted by Osborne, e.g.:
+
+    "Here lies Hobinall, our pastor while here,
+    That once in a quarter our fleeces did sheare.
+    For oblation to Pan his custom was thus,
+    He first gave a trifle, then offer'd up us:
+    And through his false worship such power he did gaine,
+    As kept him o' th' mountain, and us on the plaine."
+
+Again, he is described as
+
+    "Little bossive Robin that was so great,
+    Who seemed as sent from ugly fate,
+    To spoyle the prince, and rob the state,
+    Owning a mind of dismall endes,
+    As trappes for foes, and tricks for friends."
+
+    (_Ibid._ 236.)
+
+Oldmixon (_History of Queen Elizabeth_, p. 620) says of the Earl of
+Essex, "'Twas not likely that Cecil, whose Soul was of a narrow Size,
+and had no Room for enlarged Sentiments of Ambition, Glory, and Public
+Spirit, should cease to undermine a Hero, in comparison with whom he was
+both in Body and Mind a Piece of Deformity, if there's nothing beautiful
+in Craft."
+
+[54] _Court and Character of King James_, Sec. 10.
+
+[55] _Ambassade_, i. 58.
+
+[56] _Ibid._ 401.
+
+[57] Against Northumberland nothing was proved (_vide_ de la Boderie,
+_Ambassade_, i. 178), except that he had admitted Thomas Percy amongst
+the royal pensioners without exacting the usual oath. He in vain
+demanded an open trial, but was prosecuted in the Star Chamber, and
+there sentenced to a fine of L30,000 (equal to at least ten times that
+sum in our money), and to be imprisoned for life.
+
+Mr. Gardiner considers that, in regard both of Raleigh and of
+Northumberland, Cecil acted with great moderation. It must, however, be
+remembered that in his secret correspondence with King James, before the
+death of the queen, he had strenuously endeavoured to poison the mind of
+that monarch against these his rivals. Thus he wrote, December 4th, 1601
+(as usual through Lord Henry Howard): "You must remember that I gave you
+notice of the diabolical triplicity, that is, Cobham, Raleigh, and
+Northumberland, that met every day at Durham-house, where Raleigh lies,
+in consultation, which awaked all the best wits of the town ... to watch
+what chickens they could hatch out of these cockatrice eggs that were
+daily and nightly sitten on." (_Secret Correspondence of Sir Robert
+Cecil with James VI., King of Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1766, p. 29.) Coming
+after this, the speedy ruin of all these men appears highly suspicious.
+
+[58] Sir Walter Cope in his _Apology_ (Gutch, _Collectanea Curiosa_, i.
+No. 10) says: "When living, the world observed with all admiration and
+applause; no sooner dead, but it seeketh finally to suppress his
+excellent parts, and load his memory with all imputations of
+corruption."
+
+Among such charges are enumerated "His Falsehood in Friendship.--That he
+often made his friends fair promises, and underhand laid rubs to hinder
+their preferment.--The secret passage of things I know not.... Great
+Counsellors have their private and their publique ends...." etc.
+
+[59] Lord Castlemaine after mentioning the chief features of the
+Gunpowder Plot, goes on: "But let it not displease you, if we ask
+whether Ulysses be no better known?" (_Catholique Apology_, p. 30.)
+
+Francis Herring in his Latin poem, _Pietas Pontificia_ (published 1606),
+speaking of Monteagle (called "Morleius," from his father's title), who
+took the celebrated letter to Cecil, writes thus:
+
+    "Morleius Regis de consultoribus unum,
+    (Quem norat veteri nil quicquam cedere Ulyssi,
+    Juditio pollentem acri, ingenioque sagaci)
+    Seligit, atque illi Rem totam ex ordine pandit."
+
+[60] This is so evident that it appears unnecessary to occupy space with
+proofs in detail. De la Boderie remarks (_Ambassade_, i. 71) on the
+extraordinary rancour of the minister against Catholics, and especially
+against Jesuits, and that "he wishes to destroy them everywhere." Of
+this a remarkable confirmation is afforded by the instructions given to
+Sir Thomas Parry when he was sent as ambassador, "Leiger," to Paris, in
+1603, at the head of which stood these extraordinary articles:
+
+1. "To intimate to the French king the jealousy conceived in England
+upon the revocation of the Jesuits, against former edicts.
+
+2. "To inform the French king that the English were disgusted at the
+maintenance allowed to the French king's prelates and clergy, to priests
+and Jesuits that passed out of his dominions into England, Scotland, and
+Ireland, to do bad offices." (P.R.O. _France_, bundle 132, f. 314.)
+
+[61] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 5. Strype says of the time of
+Elizabeth: "The faction of the Catholics in England is great, and able,
+if the kingdom were divided into three parts, to make two of them."
+(_Annals_, iii. 313, quoted by Butler, _Historical Memoirs_, ii. 177.)
+
+At the execution of Father Oldcorne, 1606, a proof was given of their
+numbers which is said to have alarmed the king greatly. The Father
+having from the scaffold invited all Catholics to pray with him, almost
+all present uncovered.
+
+[62] Of this there can be no doubt, in spite of James's subsequent
+denial. Father Garnet wrote to Parsons (April 16th, 1603): "There hath
+happened a great alteration by the death of the Queen. Great fears were,
+but all are turned into greatest security, and a golden time we have of
+unexpected freedom abroade.... The Catholicks have great cause to hope
+for great respect, in that the nobility all almost labour for it, and
+have good promise thereof from his Majesty." (Stonyhurst MSS. _Anglia_,
+iii. 32.)
+
+Goodman says: "And certainly they [the Catholics] had very great
+promises from him." (_Court of King James_, i. 86.)
+
+[63] "The Penal Laws, a code as savage as any that can be conceived
+since the foundation of the world."--Lord Chief Justice Coleridge. (_To
+Lord Mayor Knill_, Nov. 9, 1892.)
+
+[64] Gardiner, i. 100.
+
+[65] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, 18.
+
+[66] _Ibid._ 20.
+
+[67] Gardiner, i. 166.
+
+[68] Green, _History of the English People_, iii. 62. Mr. Green adds:
+"Rumours of Catholic conversions spread a panic which showed itself in
+an Act of the Parliament of 1604 confirming the statutes of Elizabeth;
+and to this James gave his assent. He promised, indeed, that the statute
+should remain inoperative." In May, 1604, the Catholics boasted that
+they had been joined by 10,000 converts. (Gardiner, _Hist_. i. 202.)
+
+[69] _Catholique Apology_, 404.
+
+[70] Salisbury, in reward of his services on this occasion, received the
+Garter, May 20th, 1606, and was honoured on the occasion with an almost
+regal triumph.
+
+Of the proceedings subsequent to the Plot we are told: "In passing these
+laws for the security of the Protestant Religion, the Earl of Salisbury
+exerted himself with distinguished zeal and vigour, which gained him
+great love and honour from the kingdom, as appeared in some measure, in
+the universal attendance on him at his installation with the Order of
+the Garter, on the 20th of May, 1606, at Windsor." (Birch, _Historical
+View_, p. 256.)
+
+[71] This belief is so notorious that one instance must suffice as
+evidence for it. A paper of informations addressed to Cecil himself,
+April, 1604, declares that the Catholics hoped to see a good day yet,
+and that "his Majesty would suffer a kinde of Tolleracyon, for his
+inclynacyon is good, howsoever the Councell set out his speeches."
+(S.P.O. _Dom. James I._ vii. 86.)
+
+[72] Mr. Gardiner (_Hist._ i. 229, note) says that arrears were never
+demanded in the case of the fine of L20 per lunar month for
+non-attendance at the parish church. Father Gerard, however, a
+contemporary witness, distinctly states that they were. (_Narrative of
+the Gunpowder Plot_, ed. Morris, p. 62.)
+
+[73] _Court of King James_, i. 100.
+
+[74] _Narrative_, p. 46.
+
+[75] Stonyhurst MSS., _Anglia_, iii. 103.
+
+[76] Of the Prince of Wales it was prophesied:
+
+    "The eighth Henry did pull down Monks and their cells,
+    The ninth will pull down Bishops and their bells."
+
+[77] Concerning this letter see Appendix B, _Digby's Letter to
+Salisbury_.
+
+[78] R.O. _Dom. James I._ xvii. 10.
+
+[79] Hallam, _Constitutional Hist._ i. 392 (3rd ed.).
+
+[80] See Appendix C, _The Question of Succession_.
+
+[81] _Agriculture and Prices_, v. 5.
+
+[82] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 17.
+
+[83] Gardiner, _Hist._ i. 84.
+
+[84] Trial of Father Garnet (Cobbett's _State Trials_, ii. 243).
+
+[85] Camden, the historian, to Sir R. Cotton, March 15th, 1596. (Birch,
+_Original Letters_, 2nd series, iii. p. 179.) Various writers
+erroneously suppose this transaction to have occurred in March, 1603, on
+occasion of Elizabeth's last illness. The correct date, 1596, given by
+Sir Henry Ellis, is supplied by a statement contained in the letter,
+that this was her Majesty's "climacterick year," that is, her
+sixty-third, this number, as the multiple of the potent factors seven
+and nine, being held of prime importance in human life. Elizabeth was
+born in 1533.
+
+From Garnet's examination of March 14th, 1605-6 (_Dom. James I._ xix.
+44), we learn that Catesby was at large at the time of the queen's
+demise.
+
+For Cecil's description of the men, see Winwood's _Memorials_, ii. 172.
+
+[86] Catesby purchased his life for a fine of 4,000 marks, and Tresham
+of 3,000. Mr. Jessopp says that the former sum is equivalent at least to
+L30,000 at the present day. (_Dict. Nat. Biog., Catesby_.)
+
+[87] But see Appendix D, _The Spanish Treason_.
+
+[88] Father Gerard says of him that "he paid them [the pursuivants] so
+well for their labour not with crowns of gold, but with cracked crowns
+sometimes, and with dry blows instead of drink and other good cheer,
+that they durst not visit him any more unless they brought store of help
+with them." (_Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_, p. 86.)
+
+[89] _Ibid._, p. 57.
+
+[90] _Catholique Apology_, p. 403.
+
+[91] _E.g._, by Mr. Talbot of Grafton, father-in-law of Robert Winter,
+who drove their envoys away with threats and reproaches (Jardine,
+_Gunpowder Plot_, p. 112), and by Sir Robert Digby, of Coleshill, cousin
+to Sir Everard, who assisted in taking prisoners. (R.O. _Gunpowder Plot
+Book_, 42.)
+
+[92] _History_, i. 263.
+
+[93] _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 151.
+
+[94] _Ibid._, p. 38.
+
+[95] _Life of a Conspirator, by one of his Descendants_, p. 150.
+
+[96] _English Protestants' Plea and Petition for English Priests and
+Papists._ The author of this book (published 1621) describes himself as
+a priest who has been for many years on the English mission. His title
+indicates that he draws his arguments from Protestant sources.
+
+[97] P. 56.
+
+[98] November 25th, 1605, _Stowe MSS._ 168, 61.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE OPINION OF CONTEMPORARIES AND HISTORIANS.
+
+
+WE have now for so long a period been accustomed to accept the official
+story regarding the Gunpowder Plot, that most readers will be surprised
+to hear that at the time of its occurrence, and for more than a century
+afterwards, there were, to say the least, many intelligent men who took
+for granted that in some way or other the actual conspirators were but
+the dupes and instruments of more crafty men than themselves, and in
+their mad enterprise unwittingly played the game of ministers of State.
+
+From the beginning the government itself anticipated this, as is
+evidenced by the careful and elaborate account of the whole
+affair drawn up on the 7th of November, 1605--two days after the
+"discovery"--seemingly for the benefit of the Privy Council.[99] This
+important document, which is in the handwriting of Levinus Munck,
+Cecil's secretary, with numerous and significant emendations from the
+hand of Cecil himself, speaks, amongst other things, of the need of
+circumspection, "considering how apt the world is nowadays to think all
+providence and intelligences to be but practices." The result did not
+falsify the expectation. Within five weeks we find a letter written from
+London to a correspondent abroad,[100] wherein it is said: "Those that
+have practical experience of the way in which things are done, hold it
+as certain that there has been foul play, and that some of the Council
+secretly spun the web to entangle these poor gentlemen, as did Secretary
+Walsingham in other cases," and it is clear that the writer has but
+recorded an opinion widely prevalent. To this the government again bear
+witness, for they found it advisable to issue an official version of the
+history, in the _True and Perfect Relation_, and the _Discourse of the
+Manner of the Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot_, the appearance of which
+was justified expressly on the ground that "there do pass from hand to
+hand divers uncertain, untrue, and incoherent reports and relations,"
+and that it is very important "for men to understand the birth and
+growth of the said abominable and detestable conspiracy." The accounts
+published with this object are, by the common consent of historians,
+flagrantly untruthful and untrustworthy.[101] We likewise find
+Secretary Cecil writing to instruct Sir E. Coke, the Attorney-General,
+as to his conduct of the case against the conspirators, in view of the
+"lewd" reports current in regard of the manner in which it had been
+discovered.[102] The same minister, in the curious political manifesto
+which he issued in connection with the affair,[103] again bears witness
+to the same effect, when he declares that the papists, after the manner
+of Nero, were throwing the blame of their crime upon others.
+
+Clearly, however, it was not to the papists alone that such an
+explanation commended itself. The Puritan Osborne[104] speaks of the
+manner in which the "discovery" was managed as "a neat device of the
+Treasurer's, he being very plentiful in such plots." Goodman, Anglican
+Bishop of Gloucester, another contemporary, is even more explicit. After
+describing the indignation of the Catholics when they found themselves
+deceived in their hopes at the hands of James, he goes on: "The great
+statesman had intelligence of all this, and because he would show his
+service to the State, he would first contrive and then discover a
+treason, and the more odious and hateful the treason were, his service
+would be the greater and the more acceptable."[105] Another notable
+witness is quoted by the Jesuit Father Martin Grene, in a letter to his
+brother Christopher, January 1st, 1665-6:[106] "I have heard strange
+things, which, if ever I can make out, will be very pertinent: for
+certain, the late Bishop of Armagh, Usher, was divers times heard to
+say, that if papists knew what he knew, the blame of the Gunpowder
+Treason would not lie on them." In like manner we find it frequently
+asserted on the authority of Lord Cobham and others,[107] that King
+James himself, when he had time to realize the truth of the matter, was
+in the habit of speaking of the Fifth of November as "Cecil's holiday."
+
+Such a belief must have been widely entertained, otherwise it could not
+have been handed on, as it was, for generations. It is not too much to
+say that historians for almost a century and a half, if they did not
+themselves favour the theory of the government's complicity, at least
+bore witness how widely that idea prevailed. Thus, to confine ourselves
+at present to Protestant writers, Sanderson,[108] acknowledging that the
+secretary was accused of having manipulated the transaction, says no
+word to indicate that he repudiates such a charge. Welwood[109] is of
+opinion that Cecil was aware of the Plot long before the "discovery,"
+and that the famous letter to Monteagle was "a contrivance of his own."
+Oldmixon writes[110] "notwithstanding the general joy, ... there were
+some who insinuated that the Plot was of the King's own making, or that
+he was privy to it from first to last." Carte[111] does not believe that
+James knew anything of it, but considers it "not improbable" that Cecil
+was better informed. Burnet[112] complains of the impudence of the
+papists of his day, who denied the conspiracy, and pretended it was an
+artifice of the minister's "to engage some desperate men into a plot,
+which he managed so that he could discover it when he pleased."
+Fuller[113] bears witness to the general belief, but considers it
+inconsistent with the well-known piety of King James. Bishop Kennet, in
+his Fifth of November sermon at St. Paul's, in 1715, talks in a similar
+strain. So extreme, indeed, does the incredulity and uncertainty appear
+to have been, that the Puritan Prynne[114] is inclined to suspect
+Bancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, of having been engaged in the
+conspiracy; while one of the furious zealots who followed the lead of
+Titus Oates, mournfully testified that there were those in his day who
+looked upon the Powder Treason "as upon a romantic story, or a politic
+invention, or a State trick," giving no more credence to it than to the
+histories of the "Grand Cyrus, or Guy of Warwick, or Amadis de
+Gaul,"--or, as we should now say, Jack the Giant Killer.
+
+The general scope and drift of such suspicions are well indicated by
+Bevil Higgons, "This impious design," he writes[115] of the Plot, "gave
+the greatest blow to the Catholic interest in England, by rendering that
+religion so odious to the people. The common opinion concerning the
+discovery of the Plot, by a letter to the Lord Mounteagle, has not been
+universally allowed to be the real truth of the matter, for some have
+affirmed that this design was first hammered in the forge of Cecil, who
+intended to have produced this plot in the time of Queen Elizabeth, but
+prevented by her death he resumed his project in this reign, with a
+design to have so enraged the nation as to have expelled all Roman
+Catholics, and confiscated their estates. To this end, by his secret
+emissaries, he enticed some hot-headed men of that persuasion, who,
+ignorant whence the design first came, heartily engaged in this
+execrable Powder Treason.... Though this account should not be true," he
+continues, "it is certain that the Court of England had notice of this
+Plot from France and Italy long before the pretended discovery; upon
+which Cecil ... framed that letter to the Lord Mounteagle, with a design
+to make the discovery seem the more miraculous, and at the same time
+magnify the judgment of the king, who by his deep penetration was to
+have the honour of unravelling so ambiguous and dark a riddle."
+
+It may be added that amongst modern historians who have given special
+attention to this period, several, though repudiating the notion that
+Cecil originated the Plot, are strongly of opinion that as to the
+important episode of the "discovery," the traditional story is a
+fabrication. Thus, Mr. Brewer[116] declares it to be quite certain that
+Cecil had previous knowledge of the design, and that the "discovery" was
+a fraud. Lodge[117] is of the same opinion, and so is the author of the
+_Annals of England_.[118] Jardine[119] inclines to the belief that the
+government contrived the letter to Monteagle in order to conceal the
+means by which their information had in reality been obtained. Mr.
+Gardiner, though dismissing the idea as "absurd," acknowledges that his
+contemporaries accused Cecil of inventing the whole Plot.[120]
+
+So much for the testimony of Protestants. As for those who had to suffer
+in consequence of the affair, there is no need to multiply testimonies.
+Lord Castlemaine tells us[121] that "the Catholics of England, who knew
+Cecil's ways of acting and their own innocence, suspected him from the
+beginning, as hundreds still alive can testify." Father Henry More,
+S.J., a contemporary, speaks to the same effect.[122] Father John
+Gerard, who was not only a contemporary, but one of those accused of
+complicity, intimates[123] his utter disbelief of the official narrative
+concerning the discovery, and his conviction that those who had the
+scanning of the redoubtable letter were "well able in shorter time and
+with fewer doubts to decipher a darker riddle and find out a greater
+secret than that matter was." One Floyde, a spy, testified in 1615[124]
+to having frequently heard various Jesuits say, that the government were
+aware of the Plot several months before they thought fit to "discover"
+it.
+
+The Catholic view is expressed with much point and force by an anonymous
+writer of the eighteenth century:[125] "I shall touch briefly upon a few
+particulars relating to this Plot, for the happy discovery whereof an
+anniversary holiday has now been kept for above a hundred years. Is it
+out of pure gratitude to God the nation is so particularly devout on
+this occasion? If so, it is highly commendable: for we ought to thank
+God for all things, and therefore I cannot deny but there is all the
+reason in the world to give him solemn thanks, for that the king and
+Parliament never were in any danger of being hurt by the Powder Plot....
+I am far from denying the Gunpowder Plot. Nay, I believe as firmly that
+Catesby, with twelve more popish associates, had a design to blow up K.
+James, as I believe that the father of that same king was effectually
+blown up by the Earls of Murray, Morton, Bothwell, and others of the
+Reformed Church of Scotland. However ... I humbly conceive I may say the
+king and Parliament were in no danger of being hurt by it, and my reason
+is because they had not less a man than the prime minister of state for
+their tutelar angel; a person deeply read in politics; who had inherited
+the double spirit of his predecessor Walsingham, knew all his tricks of
+legerdemain, and could as seasonably discover plots as contrive them....
+This much at least is certain, that the letter written to my Lord
+Mounteagle, by which the Plot was discovered, had not a fool, but a very
+wise sophister for its author: for it was so craftily worded, that
+though it was mysterious enough on the one hand to prevent a full
+evidence that it was written on purpose to discover the Plot, yet it was
+clear enough on the other to be understood with the help of a little
+consideration, as the event soon showed. Indeed, when it was brought to
+Secretary Cecil, he, poor gentleman, had not penetration enough to
+understand the meaning of it, and said it was certainly written by a
+madman. But there, I fear, he wronged himself. For the secretary was no
+madman. On the contrary, he had too much wit to explain it himself, and
+was too refined a politician to let slip so favourable an occasion of
+making his court to the king, who was to have the compliment made him of
+being the only Solomon wise enough to unfold this dark mystery. Which
+while his Majesty was doing with a great deal of ease, the secretary was
+all the while at his elbow admiring and applauding his wonderful
+sagacity.... So that, in all probability, the same man was the chief
+underhand contriver and discoverer of the Plot; and the greatest part of
+the bubbles concerned in it were trapanned into it by one who took sure
+care that none but themselves should be hurt by it.... But be that as it
+will, there is no doubt but that they who suffer themselves to be drawn
+into a plot like fools, deserve to be hanged for it like knaves."
+
+The opinion of Dodd, the historian, has already been indicated, which in
+another place he thus emphasizes and explains:[126] "Some persons in
+chief power suspecting the king would be very indulgent to Catholics,
+several stratagems were made use of to exasperate him against them, and
+cherishing the Gunpowder Plot is thought to be a masterpiece in this
+way."[127]
+
+It would not be difficult to continue similar citations, but enough has
+now been said to show that it is nothing new to charge the chief
+minister of James I. with having fostered the conspiracy for his own
+purposes, or even to have actually set it a-going. It appears perfectly
+clear that from the first there were not a few, and those not Catholics
+only, who entertained such a belief, and that the facts of the case are
+inadequately represented by historians, who imply, like Mr. Jardine,
+that such a theory was first broached long afterwards, and adopted by
+Catholics alone.[128]
+
+It is moreover apparent that if in recent times historians have
+forgotten that such a view was ever held, or consider it too
+preposterous for serious discussion, this is not because fuller
+knowledge of the details of the conspiracy have discredited it. The
+official version of the story has remained in possession of the field,
+and it has gradually been assumed that this must substantially be true.
+In consequence, as it seems, writers of history, approaching the subject
+with this conviction, have failed to remark many points suggested even
+by the documentary evidence at our disposal, and still more emphatically
+by the recorded facts, which cannot but throw grave doubt upon almost
+every particular of the traditional account, while making it impossible
+to believe that, as to what is most essential, the Plot was in reality
+what has for so long been supposed. That long before the "discovery" the
+Plot must have been, and in fact was, known to the government; that this
+knowledge was artfully dissimulated, in order to make political capital
+out of it; that for the same purpose the sensational circumstances of
+its discovery were deliberately arranged; and that there are grave
+reasons for suspecting the beginnings of the desperate enterprise, as
+well as its catastrophe, to have been dexterously manipulated for State
+purposes;--such are the conclusions, the evidence for which will now be
+considered.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[99] _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 129. Printed in _Archaeologia_, xii. 202*.
+
+[100] R.O. _Roman Transcripts_ (Bliss), No. 86, December 10th, 1605
+(Italian).
+
+[101] Mr. Jardine writes (_Criminal Trials_, ii. p. 235), "_The True and
+Perfect Relation_ ... is certainly not deserving of the character which
+its title imports. It is not _true_, because many occurrences on the
+trial are wilfully misrepresented; and it is not _perfect_, because the
+whole evidence, and many facts and circumstances which must have
+happened, are omitted, and incidents are inserted which could not by
+possibility have taken place on the occasion. It is obviously a false
+and imperfect relation of the proceedings; a tale artfully garbled and
+misrepresented, like many others of the same age, to serve a State
+purpose, and intended and calculated to mislead the judgment of the
+world upon the facts of the case." Of the _Discourse_ he speaks in
+similar terms. (_Ibid._, p. 4.)
+
+[102] R.O. _Dom. James I._ xix. 94. Printed by Jardine, _Criminal
+Trials_, ii. 120 (note).
+
+[103] _Answere to certaine Scandalous Papers, scattered abroad under
+colour of a Catholic Admonition._ (Published in January, 1605-6.)
+
+[104] _Traditional Memoirs_, 36. Of this writer Lord Castlemaine says,
+"He was born before this plot, and was also an inquisitive man, a
+frequenter of company, of a noted wit, of an excellent family, and as
+Protestant a one as any in the whole nation."
+
+[105] _Court of King James_ (1839), i. 102.
+
+[106] Stonyhurst MSS., _Anglia_, v. 67.
+
+[107] _E.g._, in the _Advocate of Conscience Liberty_ (1673), p. 225.
+
+[108] _History of Mary Queen of Scots and James I._, p. 334. Bishop
+Kennet, in his Fifth of November Sermon, 1715, boldly declares that
+Sanderson speaks not of Cecil the statesman, but of Cecil "a busy Romish
+priest" (and, he might have added, a paid government spy). The assertion
+is utterly and obviously false.
+
+[109] _Memoirs_, p. 22.
+
+[110] _History of England, Royal House of Stuart_, p. 27.
+
+[111] _General History of England_, iii. 757.
+
+[112] _History of His Own Times_, i. 11.
+
+[113] _Church History_, Book X. Sec. 39.
+
+[114] _Antipathie of the English Lordly Prelacie, to the regall
+Monarchie and Civill Unity_, p. 151.
+
+[115] _A Short View of the English History_, p. 296.
+
+[116] Note to _Fuller's Church History_, x. Sec. 39, and to the _Student's
+Hume_.
+
+[117] _Illustrations_, iii. 172.
+
+[118] Parker and Co. This author says of Cecil and his rival Raleigh,
+"Both were unprincipled men, but Cecil was probably the worst. He is
+suspected not only of having contrived the strange plot in which Raleigh
+was involved, but of being privy to the proceedings of Catesby and his
+associates, though he suffered them to remain unmolested, in order to
+secure the forfeiture of their estates" (p. 338).
+
+[119] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 68.
+
+[120] _History of England_, i. 254, note.
+
+[121] _Catholique Apology_, p. 412.
+
+[122] _Hist. Prov. Angl. S.J._, p. 310.
+
+[123] _Condition of Catholics under James I._, p. 100.
+
+[124] R.O. _Dom. James I._, lxxxi. 70, August 29th, 1615.
+
+[125] _A Plain and Rational Account of the Catholick Faith_, Rouen,
+1721, p. 197.
+
+[126] _Certamen utriusque Ecclesiae_, James I.
+
+[127] The author of the _English Protestants' Plea_ (1621) says: "Old
+stratagems and tragedies of Queene Elizabeth's time must needs be
+renewed and playde againe, to bring not only the Catholikes of England,
+but their holy religion into obloquy" (p. 56).
+
+Peter Talbot, Bishop of Dublin, in the _Polititian's Catechisme_ (1658)
+writes: "That Cecil was the contriver, or at least the fomenter of [the
+Plot,] was testified by one of his own domestick Gentlemen, who
+advertised a certain Catholike, by name Master Buck, two months before,
+of a wicked designe his Master had against Catholikes" (p. 94).
+
+[128] A writer, signing himself "Architect," in an article describing
+the old palace of Westminster (_Gentleman's Magazine_, July, 1800, p.
+627), having occasion to mention the Gunpowder Plot, observes: "This
+Plot is now pretty well understood not to have been hatched by the
+Papists, but by an inveterate foe of the Catholicks of that day, the
+famous minister of James.... All well-informed persons at present laugh
+at the whole of this business."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE TRADITIONAL STORY.
+
+
+THE history of the Gunpowder Plot prior to its discovery, as related
+with much circumstantiality by the government of the day, has, in all
+essential particulars, been accepted without demur by the great majority
+of modern writers. We have already seen that those who lived nearer to
+the period in question were less easily convinced; it remains to show
+that the internal evidence of the story itself is incompatible with its
+truthfulness.
+
+The point upon which everything turns is the secret, and therefore
+dangerous, character of the conspiracy, which, as we are told,
+completely eluded the vigilance of the authorities, and was on the very
+verge of success before even a breath of suspicion was aroused, being
+balked only by a lucky accident occurring at the eleventh hour, in a
+manner fitly described as miraculous.
+
+On the other hand, however, many plain and obvious considerations
+combine to show that such an account cannot be true. It is not easy to
+believe that much which is said to have been done by the conspirators
+ever occurred at all. It is clear that, if such things did occur, they
+can by no possibility have escaped observation. There is evidence that
+the government knew of the Plot long before they suddenly "discovered"
+it. Finally, the story of the said "discovery," and the manner in which
+it took place, is plainly not only untrue, but devised to conceal the
+truth; while the elaborate care expended upon it sufficiently indicates
+how important it was held that the truth should be concealed.
+
+There are, moreover, arguments, which appear to deserve consideration,
+suggesting the conclusion that the Plot was actually set on foot by the
+secret instigation of those who designed to make it serve their ends, as
+in fact it did. For our purpose, however, it is not necessary to insist
+greatly upon these. It will be enough to show that, whatever its origin,
+the conspiracy was, and must have been, known to those in power, who,
+playing with their infatuated dupes, allowed them to go on with their
+mad scheme, till the moment came to strike with full effect; thus
+impressing the nation with a profound sense of its marvellous
+deliverance, and winning its confidence for those to whose vigilance and
+sagacity alone that deliverance appeared due.
+
+That we may rightly follow the details of the story told to us, we must
+in the first place understand the topography of the scene of operations,
+which, with the aid of the illustrations given, will not be difficult.
+
+[Illustration: HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.]
+
+[Illustration: INDEX. PARLIAMENT HOUSES IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.
+
+A. The House of Lords.
+
+B. Chamber under the House of Lords, called "Guy Faukes' Cellar."
+
+C. The Prince's Chamber.
+
+D. The Painted Chamber.
+
+E. The "White Hall" or Court of Requests.
+
+F. The House of Commons (formerly St. Stephen's Chapel).
+
+G. Westminster Hall.
+
+H. St. Stephen's Cloisters, converted into houses for the Tellers of the
+Exchequer.
+
+I. Garden of the Old Palace (afterwards called "Cotton Garden").
+
+J. House built on the site of the Chapel of "Our Lady of the Pew"
+(called later "Cotton House").
+
+K K K. Houses built upon ruins of the walls of the Old Palace.
+
+L. Vault under the Painted Chamber.
+
+M. Yard or Court into which a doorway opened from Guy Faukes' Cellar.
+
+N. Passage leading from the same Yard or Court into Parliament Place.
+
+O. Parliament Place.
+
+P. Parliament Stairs (formerly called "The Queen's Bridge").
+
+Q Q. The River Thames.
+
+R. Old Palace Yard.
+
+S. Westminster Abbey.
+
+T. St. Margaret's Church.
+
+U V W. Buildings of the Old Palace, called "Heaven" (or "Paradise"),
+"Hell," and "Purgatory."
+
+X. New Palace Yard.
+
+Y. Bell Tower of St. Stephen's.
+
+Z. The Speaker's Garden.]
+
+The old House of Lords[129] was a chamber occupying the first floor of
+a building which stood about fifty yards from the left bank of the
+Thames, to which it was parallel, the stream at this point running
+almost due north. Beneath the Peers' Chamber, on the ground floor, was a
+large room, which plays an important part in our history. This had
+originally served as the palace kitchen,[130] and though commonly
+described as a "cellar" or a "vault" was in reality neither, for it
+stood on the level of the ground outside, and had a flat ceiling, formed
+by the beams which supported the flooring of the Lords' apartment
+above.[131] It ran beneath the said Peers' Chamber from end to end, and
+measured 77 feet in length, by 24 feet 4 inches in width.
+
+At either end, the building abutted upon another running transversely to
+it; that on the north being the "Painted Chamber," probably erected by
+Edward the Confessor, and that on the south the "Prince's Chamber,"
+assigned by its architectural features to the reign of Henry III. The
+former served as a place of conference for Lords and Commons,[132] the
+latter as the robing-room of the Lords. The royal throne stood at the
+south end of the House, near the Prince's Chamber.
+
+[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF THE SCENE OF ACTION.]
+
+Originally the Parliament Chamber and the "cellar" beneath it were
+lighted by large windows on both sides; subsequently, houses raised
+against it blocked these up, and the Lords were supplied with light by
+dormers constructed in the roof. The walls of their apartment were then
+hung with tapestry, representing the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
+Although precise information on the point is not easy to obtain, it
+would appear that this did not occur till a period later than that with
+which we are concerned.[133]
+
+Such was the position to be attacked. As a first step, the conspirators
+resolved to hire a house in the immediate neighbourhood, to serve them
+as a base of operations. Thomas Percy was selected to appear as the
+principal in this part of the business, for, being one of the king's
+pensioners, he had frequently to be in attendance at Court, and might
+naturally wish to have a lodging close at hand. The house chosen was
+one, or rather a part of one,[134] standing near the Prince's Chamber,
+and on the side towards the river.[135]
+
+In treating for the lease of this tenement Percy seems to have conducted
+himself in a manner altogether different from what we might have
+expected of one whose object required him, above all, to avoid
+attracting notice. He appears, in fact, to have made the greatest
+possible ado about the business. The apartments were already let to one
+Ferrers, who was unwilling to give them up, and Percy eventually
+succeeded in his purpose, after not only "long suit by himself," but
+also "great intreaty of Mr. Carleton, Mr. Epsley, and other gentlemen
+belonging to the Earl of Northumberland."[136] These gentlemen were
+never said to have been privy to the Conspiracy, and one of them, the
+well-known Dudley Carleton, afterwards Viscount Dorchester, was not only
+at this time secretary to Sir Thomas Parry, the Ambassador in France,
+but was "patronised" by Cecil himself.[137]
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD HOUSE OF LORDS, FROM THE EAST OR RIVER SIDE,
+SHOWING THE GARDEN.]
+
+Neither does the house appear to have been well suited to serve the
+purposes for which it was taken. Speed tells us,[138] and he is
+confirmed by Bishop Barlow of Lincoln,[139] that it was let out to
+tenants only when Parliament was not assembled, and during a session
+formed part of the premises at the disposal of the Lords, whom it served
+as a withdrawing room. As the Plot was, of necessity, to take effect
+during a session,[140] when the place would thus be in other hands, it
+is very hard to understand how it was intended that the final and all
+important operation should be conducted.
+
+The bargain for the house was concluded May 24th, 1604,[141] but the
+proposed operations were delayed till a much later date, by a
+circumstance which clearly shows the public nature of the premises, and
+that the lease obtained conferred no exclusive right of occupation. The
+question of a union with Scotland, for which King James was very
+anxious, was at the time being agitated, and commissioners having been
+appointed to discuss it, this very house was placed at their disposal
+for their meetings. Consequently the summer and autumn passed without
+any farther steps being taken by the conspirators.
+
+At last, in December, they were free to take in hand the extraordinary
+scheme they had matured. This was, starting from a cellar of Percy's
+house,[142] to dig thence an underground mine to the foundations of the
+Parliament House, and through them; and then to construct within,
+beneath the Peers' Chamber itself, a "concavity" large enough to contain
+the amount of powder requisite for their purpose. On December 11th,
+1604, they commenced operations,[143] and in a fortnight, that is by
+Christmas, they had tunnelled from their starting-point to the wall they
+had to breach; and that this first operation was of no small magnitude,
+especially for men who had never before handled pick or shovel,[144] is
+shown by the fact that what they contrived to do in so short a time was
+quoted as evidence of the extraordinary zeal they displayed in their
+nefarious enterprise.[145] Having rested a little, for the Christmas
+holidays, they began upon the wall, which presented an unexpected
+obstacle. They found that it was not only "very hard to beat through,"
+but, moreover, nine feet thick, though since, as we shall see, they
+never penetrated to the other side, it is not clear how they were able
+to measure it.[146] Up to this point but five persons had engaged in the
+work, Catesby, Percy, Thomas Winter, John Wright, and Faukes. In
+consequence however of the difficulties now experienced, Keyes was
+called in to their aid. He had already been initiated in the Plot, and
+appointed to take charge of the powder, which was being accumulated and
+stored in a house hired for the purpose across the Thames, at Lambeth.
+It was therefore necessary to bring over the powder with him, which
+amounted at this time to twenty barrels, and was placed either in
+Percy's lodging itself, or in an outhouse belonging to it. About the
+same time Christopher Wright was also initiated and took his share of
+the labour.[147]
+
+The gang thus composed laboured upon the wall from the beginning of
+January, 1604-5, to the middle of March,[148] by which time they had
+succeeded in getting only half way through. While the others worked,
+Faukes stood on sentry to warn them of any danger.
+
+Meanwhile, it must be asked how proceedings so remarkable could have
+escaped the notice, not only of the government, but of the entire
+neighbourhood. This, it must be remembered, was most populous. There
+were people living in the very building, a part of which sheltered the
+conspirators. Around, were thickly clustered the dwellings of the keeper
+of the Wardrobe, auditors and tellers of the Exchequer, and other such
+officials.[149] There were tradespeople and workmen constantly employed
+close to the spot where the work was going on; while the public
+character of the place makes it impossible to suppose that tenants such
+as Percy and his friends, who were little better than lodgers, could
+claim the exclusive use of anything beyond the rooms they rented--even
+when allowed the use of these--or could shut against the neighbours and
+visitors in general the precincts of so much frequented a spot.
+
+How, then, did they dispose of the mass of soil dug out in making a
+tunnel through which barrels and hogsheads were to be conveyed? No man
+who has had practical experience of the unexpected quantity of earth
+which comes out of the most insignificant excavation, will be likely to
+rest satisfied with the explanation officially given, that it was
+sufficiently concealed by being hidden beneath the turf in the little
+garden adjoining.[150] What, moreover, was done with the great stones
+that came out of the foundations? Of these there must have been on hand
+at least some sixty cubic feet, probably much more, and they, at any
+rate, can scarcely have been stowed away beneath the turf.
+
+What, above all, of the noise made during the space of a couple of
+months, in assaulting a wall "very hard to beat through"? It is a matter
+of common observation how sound travels in the ground, and every stroke
+of the pick upon the stone must have been distinctly heard for more than
+a hundred yards all around, constituting a public nuisance. Meanwhile,
+not only were there people living close by on every side, but men were
+constantly at work right over the heads of the diggers, and only a few
+feet from them: yet we are required to believe that neither these nor
+any others had any notion that anything unusual was going on.
+
+Neither is it easy to understand how these amateurs contrived to do so
+much without a catastrophe. To make a tunnel through soft earth is a
+very delicate operation, replete with unlooked-for difficulties. To
+shore up the roof and sides there must, moreover, have been required a
+large quantity of the "framed timber" of which Speed tells us, and the
+provision and importation of this must have been almost as hard to keep
+dark as the exportation of the earth and stones. A still more critical
+operation is that of meddling with the foundations of a
+house--especially of an old and heavy structure--which a professional
+craftsman would not venture upon except with extreme care, and the
+employment of many precautions of which these light-hearted adventurers
+knew nothing. Yet, recklessly breaking their way out of one building,
+and to a large extent into another, they appear to have occasioned
+neither crack nor settlement in either.
+
+We are by no means at the end of our difficulties. According to the tale
+told by Faukes,[151] all the seven miners "lay in Percy's house," never
+showing themselves while the work was in progress. This circumstance, to
+say nothing of the storage of powder barrels and timber, seems to imply
+that the premises were spacious and commodious. We learn, however, on
+the unimpeachable evidence of Mrs. Whynniard's servant,[152] that the
+house afforded accommodation only for one person at a time, so that when
+Percy came there to spend the night, Faukes, who passed for his man, had
+to lodge out. This suggests another question. Percy's pretext for laying
+in so much fuel was that he meant to bring up his wife to live there.
+But how could this be under such conditions?
+
+Still more serious is another problem. When the mining operations were
+commenced, in December, 1604, Parliament was appointed to meet on the
+7th of February following, by which time, as is evident, the
+preparations of the conspirators could not have been completed. While
+they were working, however, news came that the session was to be
+postponed till October. This information the conspirators appear to
+have received quite casually before Christmas, for it is said that on
+the strength of it, they thought they could afford to take a
+holiday.[153] Early in January they were again at work,[154] and they
+continued their operations thenceforth, without any circumstance
+intervening to interrupt or alarm them, of which we hear anything either
+from themselves or from subsequent writers. Nevertheless, it is quite
+certain that the Lords actually met on February 7th--that is while the
+mining operations were going on--and not only went through the ceremony
+of prorogation, but transacted some little business besides, Lord Denny
+being introduced and his writ of summons read.[155] It is equally
+incomprehensible that the miners should have known nothing of so
+startling an occurrence, or that knowing of it they should never have
+made the slightest mention thereof. It is even more difficult to explain
+how the Peers thus assembled, and their attendants, could have failed to
+remark the mine, then actually open, in premises belonging to
+themselves, or any suspicious features of earth, stones, timber, or
+barrels.
+
+The difficulties presented by the stubborn nature of the foundation-wall
+proved well-nigh insuperable, but, as is observed by Father
+Greenway,[156] one still more grave awaited the diggers had they
+succeeded in making their way through. The "concavity" to be excavated
+within, to contain the large number of powder barrels required for their
+purpose, would have involved engineering work of the most hazardous
+kind, and heavily laden as the floor above proved to be, it must,
+according to all rules of calculation, have collapsed, when thus
+undermined. But at this juncture, when the wall had been half pierced, a
+circumstance occurred, not less extraordinary than others we have
+considered, to change the whole plan of operations.
+
+All this time, ridiculous as is the supposition, the conspirators appear
+to have been ignorant of the existence of the "cellar," and to have
+fancied that they were working their way immediately beneath the Chamber
+of the Peers.[157] If such a circumstance be incredible, the
+consequences must be borne by the narrative of which it forms an
+essential feature. That it is incredible can hardly be questioned. The
+so-called "cellar," as we have seen, was a large and conspicuous room
+above ground. There are reasons for believing that it served habitually
+as a passage between the different parts of the palace. It appears
+certain that some of the conspirators, Percy in particular, as being one
+of his Majesty's pensioners, must have frequently been in the House of
+Lords itself, and therefore have known where it was; and clearly men of
+their position were able to attend there when they chose.[158]
+
+The manner in which they came at last to discover the "cellar" is thus
+related by Mr. Jardine:[159] "One morning, while working upon the wall,
+they suddenly heard a rushing noise in a cellar, nearly above their
+heads. At first they imagined that they had been discovered; but Fawkes
+being despatched to reconnoitre, found that one Bright, to whom the
+cellar belonged, was selling off his coals[160] in order to remove, and
+that the noise proceeded from this cause. Fawkes carefully surveyed the
+place, which proved to be a large vault, situated immediately below the
+House of Lords, and extremely convenient for the purpose they had in
+view.... Finding that the cellar would shortly become vacant, the
+conspirators agreed that it should be hired in Percy's name, under the
+pretext that he wanted it for his own coals and wood. This was
+accordingly done, and immediate possession was obtained."[161]
+
+[Illustration: CELLAR UNDER HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+It is obvious that Mr. Bright's men must on this, as presumably upon
+many previous occasions, have been at work among the coals, while the
+miners were hammering at the foundations beneath them, and yet have been
+as little aware of what was going on as were the others of the existence
+of the "cellar." It must, farther, be noted that the hiring of this
+receptacle was, in fact, by no means so easy a matter as the accounts
+ordinarily given would lead us to suppose. Faukes, in the narrative on
+which the whole history of this episode has been based, is made to say
+that he found that the coals were a-selling, and the cellar was to be
+let, whereupon Percy went and hired it. Mrs. Whynniard, however, tells
+us that the cellar was not to let, and that Bright had not the disposal
+of the lease, but one Skinner, and that Percy "laboured very earnestly"
+before he succeeded in obtaining it.
+
+[Illustration: VAULT, EAST END OF PAINTED CHAMBER, ERRONEOUSLY STYLED
+"GUY FAUKES' CELLAR."]
+
+But, whatever the circumstances and manner of the transaction, it
+appears that at Lady-day, 1605, this chamber came into the hands of
+those who were to make it so famous; whereupon, we are told, they
+resolved to abandon the mine, and use this ready-made cavity for their
+purposes. To it, accordingly, they transferred their powder, the
+barrels, by subsequent additions, being increased to thirty-six, and the
+amount to nine or ten thousand pounds.[162] The casks were covered with
+firewood, 500 faggots and 3,000 billets being brought in by hired
+porters and piled up by Faukes, to whose charge, in his assumed
+character of Percy's servant, the cellar was committed. It is stated in
+Winter's long declaration on this subject,[163] that the barrels were
+thus completely hidden, "because we might have the house free, to suffer
+anyone to enter that would," and we find it mentioned by various writers
+subsequently, that free ingress was actually allowed to the public. Thus
+we read[164] of "the deep cunning [of the conspirators] in throwing
+open the vault, as if there had been nothing to conceal;" while another
+writer[165] tells us, "The place was hired by Percy; 36 barrels of
+gunpowder were lodged in it; the whole covered up with billets and
+faggots; the doors of the cellar boldly flung open, and everybody
+admitted, as though it contained nothing dangerous." On the top of the
+barrels were likewise placed "great bars of iron and massy stones," in
+order "to make the breach the greater."
+
+[Illustration: ARCHES FROM THE "CELLAR" UNDER THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+We may here pause to review the extraordinary story to which we have
+been listening. A group of men, known for as dangerous characters as any
+in England, men, in Cecil's own words,[166] "spent in their fortunes,"
+"hunger-starved for innovations," "turbulent spirits," and "fit for all
+alterations," take a house within the precincts of a royal palace, and
+close to the Upper House of Parliament, dig a mine, hammer away for over
+two months at the wall, acquire and bring in four tons of gunpowder,
+storing it in a large and conspicuous chamber immediately beneath that
+of the Peers, and covering it with an amount of fuel sufficient for a
+royal establishment--and meanwhile those responsible for the government
+of the country have not even the faintest suspicion of any possible
+danger. "Never," it is said,[167] "was treason more secret, or ruin more
+apparently inevitable," while the Secretary of State himself
+declared[168] that such ruin was averted only by the direct
+interposition of Heaven, in a manner nothing short of miraculous.
+
+It must be remembered that the government thus credited with childlike
+and culpable simplicity, was probably the most suspicious and
+inquisitive that ever held power in this country, for its tenure whereof
+it trusted mainly to the elaborate efficiency of its intelligence
+department. Of a former secretary, Walsingham, Parsons wrote that he
+"spent infinite upon spyery,"[169] and there can be no doubt that his
+successor, now in office, had studied his methods to good purpose. "He,"
+according to a panegyrist,[170] "was his craft's master in foreign
+intelligence and for domestic affairs," who could tell at any moment
+what ships there were in every port of Spain, their burdens, their
+equipment, and their destination. We are told[171] that he could
+discover the most secret business transacted in the Papal Court before
+it was known to the Catholics in England. He could intercept letters
+written from Paris to Brussels, or from Rome to Naples.[172] What was
+his activity at home is sufficiently evidenced by the reports furnished
+by his numerous agents concerning everything done throughout the
+country, in particular by Recusants; whereof we shall see more, in
+connection with this particular affair. That those so remarkably
+wide-awake in regard of all else should have been blind and deaf to what
+was passing at their own doors appears altogether incredible.
+
+More especially do difficulties connect themselves with the gunpowder
+itself. Of this, according to the lowest figure given us, there were
+over four tons.[173] How, we may ask, could half a dozen men, "notorious
+Recusants," and bearing, moreover, such a character as we have heard,
+without attracting any notice, and no question being asked, possess
+themselves of such a quantity of so dangerous a material?[174] How large
+was the amount may be estimated from the fact that it was more than a
+quarter of what, in 1607, was delivered from the royal store, for all
+purposes, and was equal to what was thought sufficient for Dover Castle,
+while there was no more in the four fortresses of Arcliffe, Walmer,
+Deal, and Camber together.[175]
+
+The twenty barrels first procured were first, as we have seen, stored
+beyond the Thames, at Lambeth, whence they had to be ferried across the
+river, hauled up the much frequented Parliament Stairs, carried down
+Parliament Place, as busy a quarter as any in the city of Westminster,
+and into the building adjoining the Parliament House, or the "cellar"
+beneath the same. All this, we are to suppose, without attracting
+attention or remark.[176]
+
+The conspirators, while making these material preparations, were
+likewise busy in settling their plan of action when the intended blow
+should have been struck. It was by no means their intention to attempt a
+revolution. Their quarrel was purely personal with King James, his
+Council, and his Parliament, and, these being removed, they desired to
+continue the succession in its legitimate course, and to seat on the
+throne the nearest heir who might be available for the purpose; placing
+the new sovereign, however, under such tutelage as should insure the
+inauguration of a right course of policy. The details of the scheme were
+of as lunatic a character as the rest of the business. The confederates
+would have wished to possess themselves of Prince Henry, the king's
+eldest son; but as he would probably accompany his father to the
+opening of Parliament, and so perish, their desire was to get hold of
+his brother, the Duke of York, afterwards Charles I., then but five
+years old. It was, however, possible that he too might go to Parliament,
+and otherwise it might not improbably be impossible to get possession of
+him: in which case they were prepared to be satisfied with the Princess
+Elizabeth,[177] or even with her infant sister Mary, for whom, as being
+English born, a special claim might be urged.
+
+Such was the project in general. When we come to details, we are
+confronted, as might be anticipated, with statements impossible to
+reconcile. We are told,[178] that Percy undertook to seize and carry off
+Duke Charles; and again,[179] that, despairing of being able to lay
+hands upon him, they resolved "to serve themselves with the Lady
+Elizabeth," and that Percy was one of those who made arrangements for
+seizing her;[180] and again, that having learnt that Prince Henry was
+not to go to the House, they determined to surprise him, "and leave the
+young Duke alone;"[181] and once more, that they never entered into any
+consultation or formed any project whatever as to the succession.[182]
+
+Still more serious are the contradictions on another point. We are told,
+on the one hand, that a proclamation was drawn up for the inauguration
+of the new sovereign--whoever this was[183]--and, on the other, that the
+associates were resolved not to avow the explosion to be their work
+until they should see how the country took it, or till they had gathered
+a sufficient force,[184] and accordingly that they had no more than a
+project of a proclamation to be issued in due season. But, again, it is
+said[185] that Catesby on his way out of town, after the event, was to
+proclaim the new monarch at Charing Cross, though it is equally hard to
+understand, either how he was to know which of the plans had succeeded,
+and who that monarch was to be,--whether a king or a queen,--or what
+effect such proclamation by an obscure individual like himself was
+expected to produce; or how this, or indeed any item in the programme
+was compatible with the incognito of the actors in the great tragedy.
+
+Amid this hopeless tangle one point alone is perfectly clear. Whatever
+was the scheme, it was absolutely insane, and could by no possibility
+have succeeded. As Mr. Gardiner says:[186] "With the advantage of having
+an infant sovereign in their hands, with a little money and a few
+horses, these sanguine dreamers fancied that they would have the whole
+of England at their feet."
+
+Such is in outline the authorized version of the history concerning what
+Father John Gerard styles "this preposterous Plot of Powder;" and
+preposterous it undoubtedly appears to be in more senses than he
+intended. It is, in the first place, almost impossible to believe that
+the important and dramatic episode of the mine ever, in fact, occurred.
+We have seen something of the difficulties against accepting this part
+of the story, which the circumstantial evidence suggests. When, on the
+other hand, we ask upon what testimony it rests, it is a surprise to
+find that for so prominent and striking an incident we are wholly
+dependent upon two documents, published by the government, a confession
+of Thomas Winter and another of Faukes, both of which present features
+rendering them in the highest degree suspicious. Amongst the many
+confessions and declarations made by the conspirators in general, and
+these individuals in particular, these two alone describe the mining
+operations.[187]
+
+[Illustration: CELL IN STAIRCASE TURRET, S.E. CORNER, PAINTED CHAMBER,
+OFTEN CALLED "GUY FAUKES' CELL."]
+
+On the other hand, it is somewhat startling to find no less a person
+than the Earl of Salisbury himself ignorant or oblivious of so
+remarkable a circumstance. In Thomas Winter's lodging was found the
+agreement between Percy and Ferrers for the lease of the house, which
+was taken, as has been said, in May, 1604. This is still preserved, and
+has been endorsed by Cecil, "The bargaine between Percy and Ferrers for
+the bloody sellar...." But this contract had nothing to do with the
+"bloody sellar," which was not rented till ten months later. Again,
+writing November 9th, 1605, to Cornwallis and Edmondes, Cecil says:
+"This Percy had about a year and a half ago hired a part of Vyniard's
+house in the old Palace, from whence he had access into this vault to
+lay his wood and coal, and as it seemeth now [had] taken this place of
+purpose to work some mischief in a fit time." When this was written the
+premises had been for four days in the hands of the government. It is
+clearly impossible that the remains of the mine, had they existed,
+should not have been found, and equally so that Cecil should not have
+alluded to the overwhelming evidence they afforded as to the intention
+of Percy and his associates to "work some mischief," but should, again,
+have connected the tenancy of the house only with the "cellar."
+
+It will, moreover, be found by investigators that when exceptional
+stress is laid on any point by Sir E. Coke, the Attorney General, a
+_prima facie_ case against the genuine nature of the evidence in regard
+of that point is thereby established. In his speech on the trial of the
+conspirators we find him declaring that, "If the cellar had not been
+hired, the mine work could hardly, or not at all, have been discovered,
+for the mine was neither found nor suspected until the danger was past,
+and the capital offenders apprehended, and by themselves, upon
+examination, confessed." That is to say, the government could not,
+though provided with information that there was a powder-mine under the
+Parliament House, have discovered this extraordinary piece of
+engineering; and moreover, after its abandonment, the traces of the
+excavation were so artfully hidden as to elude observation till the
+prisoners drew attention to them. Such assertions cannot possibly be
+true; but they might serve to meet the objection that no one had seen
+the mine.
+
+We likewise find that in his examination of November 5th, Faukes is made
+to say: "He confesseth that about Christmas last [1604], he brought in
+the nighttime Gunpowder _to the cellar under the upper house of
+Parliament_," that is some three months before the cellar was hired.
+Moreover, the words italicised have been added as an interlineation,
+apparently by Cecil himself. Evidently when this was done the mine was
+still undiscovered.
+
+Yet more remarkable is the fact that it would appear to have remained
+undiscovered ever afterwards, and that no marks seem to have been left
+upon the wall which had been so roughly handled. It is certainly
+impossible to find any record that such traces were observed when the
+building was demolished, though they could scarcely have failed to
+attract attention and interest. On this subject we have the important
+evidence of Mr. William Capon, who carefully examined every detail
+connected with the old palace, and evidently had the opportunity of
+studying the foundations of the House of Lords when, in 1823, that
+building was removed.[188] He does, indeed, mention what he conceives
+to be the traces of the conspirators' work, of which he gives the
+following description:
+
+"Adjoining the south end of the Cellar, or more properly the ancient
+Kitchen, to the west, was a small room separated only by a stone
+doorway, with a pointed head, and with very substantial masonry joined
+to the older walls.... At the North side [of this] there had been an
+opening, a doorway of very solid thick stonemasonry, through which was a
+way seemingly forced through by great violence.... In 1799 it was
+asserted that this was always understood to have been the place where
+the conspirators broke into the vault which adjoined that called Guy
+Vaux's cellar."[189]
+
+But against such a supposition there are three fatal objections. (1)
+This places the conspirators on the wrong side of the house, for they
+most certainly worked from the east, or river side, not from the
+west.[190] (2) It makes the mine above ground instead of below. (3) The
+conspirators never broke into the cellar at all, but hired it in the
+ordinary way of business.
+
+Such considerations as the above may well make us sceptical in regard to
+the mine, and if this element of the story, upon which so much stress
+has always been laid, prove to be untrustworthy, it must needs follow
+that grave suspicion will be cast upon the rest.
+
+There are, likewise, various problems in connection with the "cellar,"
+especially as concerns the means of ingress to it, and its consequent
+privacy or publicity.
+
+(_a_) Faukes says (November 6th, 1605) that about the middle of Lent of
+that year Percy caused "a new dore" to be made into it, "that he might
+have a neerer way out of his own house into the cellar."
+
+This seems to imply that Percy took the cellar for his firewood when
+there was no convenient communication between it and his house. Moreover
+it is not very easy to understand how a tenant under such conditions as
+his was allowed at discretion to knock doors through the walls of a
+royal palace. Neither did the landlady say anything of this door-making,
+when detailing what she knew about Percy's proceedings.
+
+(_b_) In some notes by Sir E. Coke,[191] it is said: "The powder was
+first brought into Percy's house, and lay there in a low room new built,
+and could not have been conveyed into the cellar by the old door but
+that all the street must have seen it; and therefore he caused a new
+door out of his house into the cellar to be made, where before there had
+been a grate of iron."
+
+This, it must be confessed, looks very like an afterthought to explain
+away a difficulty, but failing to do so. When the door is said to have
+been made, the powder was already on the premises, having been brought
+there in sight of the whole street and the river. It could hardly, in so
+small a tenement, escape the observation of the workmen,[192] while the
+operations of these latter in breaking through the wall would have
+served yet farther to attract the attention of the neighbourhood.
+
+(_c_) We are told by Faukes and others, that either he or Percy always
+kept the key, and that marks were made to indicate whether anyone had
+entered the place in their absence.
+
+(_d_) On the other hand, to say nothing of Winter's declaration that the
+confederates so arranged as to leave the cellar free for all to enter
+who would, Lord Salisbury informed Sir Thomas Parry[193] that the
+captors of Faukes entered through "another door," which clearly did not
+require to be opened by him; while as to the ordinary door, whichever
+this was, the "King's Book" itself plainly intimates, in the account of
+the chamberlain's visit, that Whynniard, the landlord, was able to open
+it when he chose.
+
+The "other door" spoken of by Cecil, a most important feature of the
+chamber, is nowhere else mentioned.[194]
+
+It appears certain that the conspirators really had a plot in hand, that
+they fancied themselves to be about to strike a great blow, and that by
+means of gunpowder; but what was the precise nature of their plans and
+preparations it is not so easy to determine. Farther discussion of these
+particulars must be deferred to a later chapter. Meanwhile, according to
+the accepted history, when they had stored their powder there was
+nothing more to do but to await the assembling of the intended
+victims. Parliament stood prorogued till October 3rd, and was afterwards
+further adjourned till the fateful 5th of November. That they might not
+excite suspicion, the confederates separated, most of them retiring to
+their country seats, and Faukes going over to Flanders.[195] In his
+absence Percy kept the key of the cellar, and, according to Faukes,[196]
+laid in more powder and wood while he himself was absent.
+
+[Illustration: THE POWDER PLOT. II.]
+
+It is not easy to understand what became of the cellar during this long
+interval, and apparently it was left in great measure, with its
+compromising contents, to take care of itself, for Percy, amongst other
+places, went with Catesby to Bath to take the waters.[197] If the
+premises were of so public a nature as the testimony of Winter and
+others would imply, it appears impossible that they should have remained
+all this time sealed up, or that these astute and crafty plotters should
+with a light heart have ignored the probability that they would be
+visited and inspected. As Father Greenway observes,[198] it can hardly
+be supposed that the landlord[199] had not a duplicate key, while Cecil
+himself, in his letter to Sir Thomas Parry, plainly indicates that
+access to the cellar could freely be procured independently of the
+conspirators. We can only say that the conduct of the confederates in
+this particular appears to have been quite in keeping with their method
+of conspiring secretly as we have already seen it, and undoubtedly one
+more difficulty is thus opposed to the supposition that their enterprise
+was chiefly dangerous on account of the clandestine and dexterous manner
+in which it was conducted.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[129] The name "old House of Lords" is somewhat ambiguous, being
+variously applicable to three different buildings:
+
+(i.) That here described, which continued to be used till the Irish
+Union, A.D. 1800.
+
+(ii.) The "Court of Requests," or "White Hall," used from 1800 till the
+fire of 1834.
+
+(iii.) The "Painted Chamber," which, having been repaired after the said
+fire, became the place of assembly for the Lords, as did the Court of
+Requests for the Commons.
+
+The original House of Lords was demolished in 1823 by Sir John Soane,
+who on its site erected his Royal Gallery. (See Brayley and Britton,
+_History of the Palace of Westminster_.)
+
+[130] The authority for this is the Earl of Northampton, who at Father
+Garnet's trial mentioned that it was so stated in ancient records.
+Remains of a buttery hatch in the south wall confirmed his assertion.
+
+The foundations of the building were believed to date from the time of
+Edward the Confessor, and the style of architecture of the
+superstructure assigned it to the early part of the thirteenth century,
+as likewise the "Prince's Chamber."
+
+[131] Brayley and Britton, _History of the Palace of Westminster_, p.
+421; J. T. Smith, _Antiquities of Westminster_, p. 39 (where
+illustrations will be found); _Gentleman's Magazine_, July, 1800, p.
+626.
+
+[132] It was here that the death warrant of Charles I. was signed.
+
+[133] An old print (which states that it is taken from "a painted print
+in the Cottonian library,") representing the two Houses assembled in
+presence of Queen Elizabeth, has windows on both sides. The same plate,
+with the figure of the sovereign alone changed, was made to do duty
+likewise for a Parliament of James I. By Hollar's time (1640-77) the
+windows had been blocked up and the tapestry hung.
+
+[134] Cecil wrote to Cornwallis, Edmondes, and others, November 9th,
+1605, "This Piercey had a bout a year and a half a goe hyred a parte of
+Vyniards house in the old Palace," which appears to be Mr. Hepworth
+Dixon's sole authority for styling the tenement "Vinegar House."
+
+[135] See Appendix E, _Site of Percy's house_.
+
+[136] Evidence of Mrs. Whynniard, November 7th, 1605. Epsley is
+evidently the same person as Hoppisley, who was examined on the 23rd of
+the same month.
+
+[137] Birch, _Historical View_, p. 227.
+
+[138] _Historie_, p. 1231.
+
+[139] _Gunpowder Treason, Harleian Miscellany_, iii. 121.
+
+[140] At his first examination, November 5th 1605, Faukes declared that
+he had not been sure the king would come to the Parliament House on that
+day, and that his purpose was to have blown it up whenever his Majesty
+was there.
+
+[141] The agreement between Percy and Ferrers is in the Record Office
+(_Gunpowder Plot Book_, 1.) and is endorsed by Cecil, "The bargaine ...
+for the bloody sellar." Upon this there will be more to remark later.
+
+[142] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 42.
+
+[143] The 11th of December, O. S., was at that period the shortest day,
+which circumstance suggested to Sir E. Coke, on the trial of the
+conspirators, one of his characteristic facetiae; he bade his hearers
+note "That it was in the entring of the Sun into the Tropick of
+Capricorn, when they began their Mine; noting that by Mining they should
+descend, and by Hanging, ascend."
+
+[144] "Gentlemen not accustomed to labour or to be pioneers."--Goodman,
+_Court of King James_, p. 103.
+
+[145] "The Moles that first underwent these underminings were all
+grounded Schollers of the Romish Schoole, and such earnest Labourers in
+their Vault of Villany, that by Christmas Eve they had brought the worke
+under an entry, unto the Wall of the Parliament House, underpropping
+still as they went the Earth with their framed Timber."--Speed,
+_Historie_, p. 1232 (pub. 1611).
+
+[146] In Barlow's _Gunpowder Treason_ these foundations are stated to
+have been three ells thick, _i.e._, eleven and a quarter feet. _Harleian
+Miscellany_, iii. 122.
+
+[147] See Appendix F, _The enrolment of the Conspirators_, for the
+discrepancies as to dates. T. Winter (November 23rd, 1605) says that the
+powder was laid "in Mr. Percy's house;" Faukes, "in a low Room new
+builded."
+
+[148] There is, as usual, hopeless contradiction between the two
+witnesses upon whom, as will be seen, we wholly depend for this portion
+of the story. Faukes (November 17th, 1605) makes the mining operations
+terminate at Candlemas. T. Winter (November 23rd) says that they went on
+to "near Easter" (March 31st). The date of hiring the "cellar," was
+about Lady Day (March 25th).
+
+[149] The buildings of the dissolved College of St. Stephen, comprising
+those around the House of Lords, were granted by Edward VI. to Sir Ralph
+Lane. They reverted to the crown under Elizabeth, and were appropriated
+as residences for the auditors and tellers of the Exchequer. The
+locality became so populous that in 1606 it was forbidden to erect more
+houses.
+
+[150] Jardine, _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 48.
+
+[151] November 17th, 1605.
+
+[152] November 7th, 1605.
+
+[153] Winter says: "... We heard that the Parliament should be anew
+adjourned until after Michaelmas; upon which tidings we broke off both
+discourse and working until after Christmas" (November 23rd, 1605).
+
+Lingard writes, "When a fortnight had thus been devoted to uninterrupted
+labour, Faukes informed his associates that the Parliament was prorogued
+from the 7th of February to the 3rd of October. They immediately
+separated to spend the Christmas holidays at their respective
+homes."--_History_, vii. 47 (ed. 1883).
+
+[154] Faukes, as has been said, makes the work upon the wall terminate
+at Candlemas. Winter (_ut sup._) says that they brought over the powder
+at Candlemas, that is, after they had been some time engaged upon the
+wall, and found the need of the assistance of Keyes.
+
+[155] _Lord's Journals_ "A^o 1604(5) 2 Jac.--Memorandum quod hodierno
+die, septimo die Februarii, A^o Regis nri Jacobi, _viz._ Angliae (etc.)
+2^{ndo}, & Scotiae 38^o, in quem diem prorogatum fuerat hoc praesens
+parliamentum, convenere Proceres tam Spirituales quam Temporales, quorum
+nomina subscribuntur."
+
+Then follow twenty-nine names, including the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+Lords Ellesmere (_Chancellor_), Dorset (_Treasurer_), Nottingham
+(_Admiral_), Suffolk (_Chamberlain_), Northumberland, Cranborne (Cecil),
+Northampton, etc. It is noted "Lords Montagu, Petre, and Gerard [all
+three Catholics] were present, though they were none of the
+Commissioners."
+
+[156] _Narrative_ (Stonyhurst MSS.), fol. 44 b.
+
+[157] This absurd supposition is obviously implied by Faukes (November
+17th, 1605), and T. Winter (November 23rd), in the only two accounts
+furnished by any of the conspirators wherein the episode of the mine is
+mentioned. In Barlow's _Gunpowder Treason_ (_Harleian Miscellany_, iii.
+123) it is expressly stated that the confederates "came to the knowledge
+of the vault" only on the occasion now detailed. Tierney says (Dodd's
+_Church History_, iv. 45, note): "At this moment an accidental noise ...
+first acquainted them with the existence of the cellar."
+
+[158] On the 3rd of October following, Thomas Winter was sent to be
+present at the ceremony of prorogation, and to watch the demeanour of
+the assembled peers.
+
+[159] _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 55. This account is based almost entirely on
+that of Faukes, November 17th, 1605.
+
+[160] In his Italian version of Father Gerard's history, Father Greenway
+interpolates the following note: "Questi non erano carboni di legno, ma
+una sorte di pietra negra, la quale come carbone abrugia et fa un fuogo
+bellissimo et ottimo" (fol. 44 b).
+
+[161]
+    "These Pioneers through Piercies chamber brought
+    Th' exhausted earth, great baskets full of clay;
+    Thereby t' have made a mighty concave vau't,
+    And of the house the ground worke tooke away:
+      But then at last an obstacle they finde,
+      Which to remove proud Piercy casts in 's mind.
+    A thick stone wall their passage then did let;
+    Whereby they cou'd not finish their intent.
+    Then forthwith Piercy did a sellar get,
+    Under that sacred house for yearly rent:
+      Feigning to fill 't with Char coal, Wood, & Beere,
+      From all suspect themselves to cloake & cleere."
+
+    JOHN VICARS, _Mischeefes Mysterie_.
+
+This remarkable poem, published 1617, is a much expanded translation of
+_Pietas Pontificia_ (in Latin hexameter verse) by Francis Herring, which
+appeared in 1606.
+
+[162] On this point we are furnished with more than the usual amount of
+variety as to details. Cecil, writing to the ambassadors (Cornwallis,
+Edmondes, etc.), says there were "two hodgsheads and some 30 small
+barrels." The King's _Discourse_ mentions 36 barrels. Barclay
+(_Conspiratio Anglicana_) says there were over 9,000 lb. of powder, in
+32 barrels, and that one of extra size had been placed under the throne,
+for treason could not without dread assail Majesty even when unarmed.
+The indictment of the conspirators named 30 barrels and 4 hogsheads. Sir
+E. Coke always said 36 barrels. Barlow's _Gunpowder Treason_ makes the
+extraordinary statement, frequently reproduced, that "to the 20 Barrels
+of Powder laid in at first, they added in July 20 more, and at last made
+up the number Thirty-six." Faukes (November 5th) said that of the powder
+"some was put in hoggesheads, some in Barrels, and some in firkins."
+Faukes also says that the powder was conveyed to the place in hampers.
+John Chamberlain, writing to Dudley Carleton, November 7th, 1605, says
+it was carried in satchels. Barlow (_ut sup._) quotes the amount as
+9,000 or 10,000 lb.
+
+[163] November 23rd, 1605.
+
+[164] _The Gunpowder Plot_, by L., 1805. It seems highly probable that
+the "cellar" was used as a public passage.
+
+[165] Hugh F. Martyndale, _A Familiar Analysis of the Calendar of the
+Church of England_ (November 5th). London, Effingham Wilson.
+
+[166] _Letter to Cornwallis and Edmondes_, November 9th, 1605.
+
+[167] H. F. Martyndale, _ut sup._
+
+[168] Letter to the Ambassadors, _ut sup._
+
+[169] _An Advertisement written to a Secretarie_, etc. (1592), p. 13.
+
+[170] Sir R. Naunton, _Fragmenta Regalia (Harleian Miscellany_, ii.
+106).
+
+[171] Blount to Parsons (Stonyhurst MSS.), _Anglia_, vi. 64.
+
+[172] Such letters are found amongst the State Papers.
+
+[173] The amount, it would seem, cannot have been less than this. A
+barrel of gunpowder, containing four firkins, weighed 400 lb., and had
+the casks in the cellar all been barrels, in the strict sense of the
+word, the amount would therefore have exceeded six tons. Some of these
+casks, we are told, were small, but some were hogsheads. The twenty
+barrels first laid in are described as "whole barrels." (Faukes, January
+20th, 1605-6.)
+
+[174] An interesting illustration of this point is furnished by a
+strange piece of evidence furnished by W. Andrew, servant to Sir E.
+Digby. Sir Everard's office was to organize the rising in the Midlands,
+after the catastrophe, but he apparently forgot to supply himself with
+powder till the very eve of the appointed day. Andrew averred that on
+the night of November 4th, his master secretly asked him to procure some
+powder in the neighbouring town, whereupon he asked, "How much? A pound,
+or half a pound?" Sir Everard said 200 or 300 lb. Deponent purchased one
+pound. (Tanner MSS. lxxv. f. 205 b.)
+
+One Matthew Batty mentioned Lord Monteagle as having bought gunpowder.
+(_Ibid._ v. 40.)
+
+In the same collection is a copy of some notes by Sir E. Coke (f. 185
+b), in which the price of the powder discovered is put down as L200,
+_i.e._ some L2,000 of our money.
+
+[175] Gunpowder was measured by the _last_ = 2,400 lb. (Tomline's _Law
+Dictionary_.) In 1607 there were delivered out of the store 14 lasts and
+some cwts. In 1608 the amount in various strong places is entered as:
+"_Dover Castle_, 4 lasts; _Arcliffe Bullwark_, 1 last; _Walmer_, 1 last,
+8 cwt.; _Deal Castle_, 1 last; _Sandown Castle_, 2 lasts, etc.;
+_Sandgate_, 1 last; _Camber_, 1 last."
+
+[176] The position and character of the "cellar" admit of no doubt, as
+appears from the testimony of Smith's _Antiquities of Westminster_,
+Brayley and Britton's _Ancient Palace of Westminster_, and Capon's notes
+on the same, _Vetusta Monumenta_, v. They are, however, inconsistent
+with some circumstances alleged by the government. Thus, Sir Everard
+Digby's complicity with "the worst part" of the treason, which on
+several occasions he denied, is held to be established by a confession
+of Faukes, which cannot now be found among the State Papers, but which
+is mentioned in Sir E. Coke's speech upon Digby's arraignment, and is
+printed in Barlow's _Gunpowder Treason_, p. 68. In Sir E. Coke's version
+it runs thus: "Fawkes, then present at the bar, had confessed, that some
+time before that session, the said Fawkes being with Digby at his house
+in the country, about which time there had fallen much wet, Digby taking
+Fawkes aside after supper, told him he was much afraid that the powder
+in the cellar was grown damp, and that some new must be provided, lest
+that should not take fire."
+
+Seeing, however, that the powder stood above ground, within a most
+substantial building, and could be reached by the rain only if this
+should first flood the Chamber of the Peers, it does not seem as if the
+idea of such a danger should have suggested itself.
+
+Another interesting point in connection with the "cellar" is that the
+House of Lords having subsequently been removed to the Court of
+Requests, and afterwards to the Painted Chamber, "Guy Faukes' Cellar" on
+each occasion accompanied the migration. From Leigh's _New Picture of
+London_ we find that in 1824-5, when the Court of Requests was in use,
+and the old cellar had completely disappeared, Guy's Cellar was still
+shown; while a plate given in Knight's _Old England_, and elsewhere,
+represents a vault under the Painted Chamber, not used as the House of
+Lords till after 1832. Such a cellar seems to have been considered a
+necessary appurtenance of the House.
+
+[177] Afterwards the Electress Palatine.
+
+[178] Gardiner, _Hist._ i. 245; Lingard, vii. 59; T. Winter, November
+23rd, 1605.
+
+[179] Faukes, November 17th, 1605.
+
+[180] Harry Morgan, _Examination_ (R.O.), November 12th, 1605.
+
+[181] T. Winter, November 23rd and 25th, 1605. As the information about
+Prince Henry was alleged to have been communicated by Lord Monteagle,
+the passage has been mutilated in the published version to conceal this
+circumstance.
+
+[182] Faukes, November 5th, 1605.
+
+[183] Sir E. Digby, Barlow's _Gunpowder Treason_, App. 249.
+
+[184] Faukes, November 17th, 1605.
+
+[185] Digby, _ut sup._
+
+[186] _History_, i. 239.
+
+[187] There is also an allusion to the same in the confession of Keyes,
+November 30th, 1605; but this document also is of a highly suspicious
+character. Of the seven miners, none but these three were taken alive;
+Catesby, Percy, and the two Wrights being killed in the field. Strangely
+enough, though Keyes may be cited as a witness on this subject, on which
+his evidence is of such singular importance, the government, for some
+purpose of its own, tampered with the confession of Faukes wherein he is
+mentioned as one of the excavators, substituting Robert Winter's name
+for his, and placing Keyes amongst those "that wrought not in the myne."
+See Jardine's remarks on this point, _Criminal Trials_, ii. 6.
+
+[188] His detailed notes and plans are given in _Vetusta Monumenta_,
+vol. v.
+
+[189] Page 4.
+
+[190] See Appendix E, _Site of Percy's house_.
+
+[191] Tanner MSS. lxxv. Sec. 185, b.
+
+[192] Faukes, November 6th, uses the same expression, "a low room new
+builded," which seems to imply that this receptacle had been constructed
+since Percy came into possession of the house.
+
+[193] November 6th, 1605. More will be seen of the important document
+containing this information.
+
+[194] According to Smith's plan (_sup._ p. 59) there were four entrances
+to the cellar, none of which can have been Percy's "new dore."
+
+[195] We are told that Faukes was selected to take charge of the house,
+and perform other duties which would bring him into notice, because
+being unknown in London he was not likely to excite remark. In his
+declaration, November 8th, however, he gives as his reason for going
+abroad, "lest, being a dangerous man, he should be known and suspected."
+It is obvious that in the meantime the cellar must either have been left
+in charge of others better known, and therefore more likely to excite
+suspicion, or have been left unprotected.
+
+[196] November 17th, 1605.
+
+[197] Thomas Winter, November 23rd, 1605.
+
+[198] F. 66.
+
+[199] This, as we have heard, was Mr. Whynniard, who unfortunately died
+very suddenly on the morning of November 5th, on hearing of the
+"discovery," evidence of great importance as to the hiring of the house
+and "cellar" being thus lost. "As for the keeper of the parliament
+house," says Goodman, "who let out the lodgings to Percy, it is said
+that as soon as ever he heard of the news what Percy intended, he
+instantly fell into a fright and died; so that it could not be certainly
+known who procured him the house, or by whose means."--_Court of King
+James_, i. 107.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE GOVERNMENT INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT.
+
+
+HAVING followed the history of the plotters and their doings, to the
+point when everything was ready for action, we have now to inquire what,
+in the meantime, those were about for whose destruction such notable
+preparations were making, and whether in truth they were, as we are
+assured, wrapped in a sense of false security, and altogether
+unconscious of the signs and tokens that should have awakened their
+suspicion and alarm.
+
+When, by the aid of such evidence as remains to us, we turn to examine
+the facts of the case, we discover in them, it must be confessed, no
+symptoms whatever of supineness or lethargy. It appears, on the
+contrary, that throughout the period when the government are supposed to
+have been living in a fool's paradise, and tranquilly assuming that all
+was well, they were in reality busily at work through their emissaries
+and informers, prying into all the doings of the recusant Catholics,
+receiving frequent intimation of all that was undertaken, or even
+projected, and, apparently, regulating the main features of a
+treasonable conspiracy, which can have been no other than the Powder
+Plot itself, determining, in particular, what individuals should be
+implicated therein.
+
+In April, 1604, at the very time when we hear of the Plot as being
+hatched, a letter was addressed to Sir Thomas Challoner, an official
+frequently mixed up with business of this kind, by one Henry
+Wright,[200] reporting the proceedings of a subordinate agent, by name
+Davies, whom he styles a "discoverer,"[201] then engaged in working a
+Catholic treason, with the special object of incriminating priests.
+Davies has offered to "set," or mark down,[202] over threescore of
+these, but Wright has told him that so many are not required, and that
+he will satisfy his employers if he implicate twenty, provided they be
+"most principal Jesuits and seminary priests," and therewithal has given
+him thirteen or fourteen names that will serve the required purpose.
+Davies replies, "that by God's grace he will absolutely do it ere
+long."[203]
+
+That the treason in question was none other than the Gunpowder Plot
+there can be no question, unless indeed we are to say that the
+authorities were engaged in fabricating a bogus conspiracy for which
+there was no foundation whatever in fact. It was not the way of
+statesmen of the period, when on the track of sedition, to relinquish
+the pursuit till they had sifted it to the bottom, and at this juncture,
+especially, every shred of evidence regarding Catholics and their
+conduct was threshed out to the uttermost. In consequence, we are able
+to say with certainty, that besides the enterprise of Catesby and his
+associates, there was no other conspiracy of any kind on foot. We have,
+moreover, already seen that the very same point thus by anticipation
+represented as all important, is that which after the "discovery" every
+nerve was strained to establish, namely, the complicity of the Catholic
+clergy. If we had no more than this internal evidence, it would
+abundantly suffice to assure us that the conspiracy thus sedulously
+watched was the same as that miraculously "discovered" a year and a half
+later.
+
+But we are not left to such inferences alone. In March, 1606, we find
+Wright applying to the minister for a reward on account of his services
+"in discovering villainous practices," thus indicating that by this time
+those which he had been tracking had been brought to light. More
+explicit still is a memorial presented to the king, at a later date, on
+his behalf. This is entitled--"Touching Wright and his services
+performed _in the damnable plot of the Powder treason_." King James is
+reminded that Chief Justice Popham and Sir Thomas Challoner had a hand
+in the discovery of the Powder, and this by means of information
+supplied by Wright, "for two years space almost" before his Majesty
+interpreted the famous letter to Lord Monteagle, "like an angel of God."
+This information Popham and Challoner had from time to time communicated
+to his Majesty, "whose hand Wright hath in testimony of his services in
+the matter."[204]
+
+In the same month of April, 1604, was supplied another piece of
+information, singularly interesting and important,[205] in which were
+detailed the particulars of a design amongst the Catholics at home and
+abroad. Much, in fact the bulk, of the information given, is seen, in
+the light of our present knowledge, to be purely fictitious, affording a
+good example of the "sophistications" which, as Cecil himself
+complained, his agents were wont to mingle with their intelligence. The
+design in question was represented as being of the most serious and
+secret nature, the papists thinking that it "must now be so handled and
+carried as the great cause may lose no reputation, or if any suspicion
+should grow in the state, or any come in question therefore, the main
+point might never come to light;" the said "main point" being of course
+the complicity of the Catholic clergy.
+
+What invests this document with singular importance is the fact that we
+hear of it again. In April, 1606, it was quoted for the benefit of
+Parliament by the Attorney General, Sir E. Coke, and explicitly as
+having reference to the Gunpowder Plot, forming part of the evidence
+adduced by him to secure the attainder of persons accused of being
+partakers in that treason.[206] It thus affords a proof, on the
+authority of the government itself, that eighteen months before the
+conspiracy was "discovered," intelligence regarding it had been received
+and was being attended to.
+
+[Illustration: A VIEW OF THE HOUSE OF PEERS, 1755.]
+
+This is, however, by no means the only information of which we find
+traces. Amongst the Cecil papers at Hatfield is a letter dated December
+20th, 1605, addressed to the Earl of Salisbury by one Thomas Coe, who
+claims to have previously forwarded to his Majesty "the primary
+intelligence of these late dangerous treasons," upon which communication
+the historian Lodge observes,[207] "It should seem then that the famous
+letter transmitted to James by Lord Monteagle, for the right
+construction of which that Prince's penetration hath been so highly
+extolled by some historians, was not the only previous intelligence
+communicated to him of the Gunpowder Treason."
+
+Meanwhile the officers of the government, in all parts, appear to have
+been no less alert than was their wont. On the 9th of January, 1604-5,
+for instance, Sir Thomas Parry writes from Paris,[208] inclosing a note
+from an informer at Dieppe, concerning an English Catholic returning
+from Italy and Spain with letters for Fathers Garnet and Oldcorne, and a
+cipher of three lines for a lawyer at Douay, and although the messenger
+has contrived to give him the slip, he is able to send particulars
+concerning his personal appearance, and the locality in London where he
+is likely to be found. On the 25th of the same month, Cecil replies to
+Parry[209] concerning priests and their doings, and makes the valuable
+admission that their proceedings are always known to him by means of
+false brethren, though, he adds, these informers always add to their
+intelligence "sophistications" of their own, a fact which must not be
+lost sight of in studying the reports of such folk. We hear
+particularly of informations supplied by the priests Bagshawe and Cecil,
+by Captain Turner, Charles Paget, and sundry others.
+
+At the beginning of October, 1605, we make the acquaintance of another
+notable informer. On the first of the month, William Willaston, then
+engaged on a commission in France in connection with a proposed
+commercial treaty, writes to Cecil from Paris[210] concerning a Catholic
+design attributed chiefly to priests and Jesuits, who have assurance
+that their friends in England, who are many and of good sort, intend "to
+kindle a fire in many corners of our land, and a rebellion in Ireland,"
+and that these matters be almost grown to a head, "some of their fingers
+itching to be set to work." Willaston adds, "there is a particular
+irreconcilable desperate malice against your Honour's person, which is
+principally the cause I make bold to write unto your Lordship. You have
+yet the papists in your hands, and are masters; if you let them increase
+and grow so insolent, assuredly it will come to pass as to the King of
+Israel, who having overthrown Benhadab ..." and so on.
+
+On October 14th, Willaston again writes from Rouen[211] "about some
+matters pretended by our Romish Catholics." The party, he says, "who"
+has given light into this business "is one George Southwaick, well-known
+to many of your Lordship's followers." This Southwaick, he holds to be
+"very honest;" he is going to England with sundry priests and others,
+and upon landing will at once communicate with the authorities and have
+his comrades arrested. "Southwaick himself," adds Willaston, "must be
+taken as well as the others, for he desireth not to be known to have
+given any information against the rest. If it please your Lordship to
+take order for his imprisonment apart, that conference privately may be
+had with him, until such time as shall be thought fit to deliver him, he
+can give you good directions for many matters, and may stand your honour
+in stead for such purposes."
+
+There follows a notable suggestion: "If your Lordship would be pleased
+to set some man to win the Nuncio of the Pope his secretary in Paris,
+you should receive very direct and sound instructions from him." The
+writer goes on to speak of an intended rebellion in England, and the
+kindling of a fire there, and dutifully concludes, "God grant they touch
+not the person of the King nor of his children."
+
+On the 27th of October, nine days before the "discovery," Southwaick
+himself, now in England, writes to Cecil,[212] urging that the impending
+arrest of priests and others should be deferred, and that for better
+management of "the business, and for the better and more substantial
+manifestation thereof," he ventures to suggest that "more scope of time
+would make the service of more worth." Moreover, he gives warning of
+preparations for trouble in the shires, in connection with "their plot,"
+and finally promises, "your Honour shall not only have knowledge of all
+such as are any way intercepted in the same, but also knowledge of the
+end of their whole purpose, and withal be certain of their meeting here
+in London, where I do not doubt to apprehend forty priests, with many
+great of name, at mass, in good speed of their great intent."
+
+On the morning of the 5th of November itself, evidently before receiving
+news that the final blow had been struck, Southwaick writes to Levinus
+Munck, Cecil's private secretary.[213] He excuses himself for recent
+silence on the ground that he could not without prejudice to "the
+business" have communicated with his employers. "The parties," he
+declares, "have had, ever since I saw you, such obscure meetings, such
+mutable purposes, such uncertain resolutions, as hath made me ride both
+day and night, as well in foul weather as fair, omitting no
+opportunities, lest I should not effect what I have by the weight of my
+credit and the engagement of my duty and reputation propounded to my
+honourable Lord." He farther begs that nothing may be done that might
+disclose his true character to his intended victims, and concludes by
+declaring that, if he be not much mistaken, he is about "a singular
+service."
+
+If such letters proved nothing more, they would abundantly serve to
+discredit the idea that a government which conducted its operations in
+such a fashion could be hoodwinked by such clumsy contrivances as those
+of the cellar and the mine.
+
+Five days later,[214] Southwaick again writes to Munck, inclosing a note
+of the priests who have had meetings in Paris, or have been written to
+in England. The Ambassador (in Paris) will, he says, bear witness that,
+although unable to particularize, he had given notice two months since
+that there was a plot brewing. He adds a significant hint, the like of
+which we have already seen: "Should I chance to be apprehended, I will
+rest myself upon my honourable Lord."[215]
+
+Meanwhile the English ambassadors abroad were no less active and
+vigilant than the informers at home, and while clearly aware that there
+was some danger on foot, never doubted that the king's government would
+not be caught napping.
+
+On the 9th of October, Sir Thomas Edmondes wrote to Cecil from
+Brussels[216] to warn him of suspicious symptoms in the Low Countries;
+and on the following day Cecil wrote to Edmondes[217] expressing
+apprehensions of trouble from the Jesuits abroad. On the same day,
+October 10th, Sir Thomas Parry wrote from Paris to the secretary,[218]
+of a petition which the Catholics were preparing against the meeting of
+Parliament, "and some further designs upon refusal;" and in another
+letter informed Edmondes:[219] "somewhat is at present in hand amongst
+these desperate hypocrites, which I trust God shall divert, by the
+vigilant care of his Majesty's faithful servants and friends abroad, and
+prudence of his council at home."
+
+That such confidence was not misplaced is shown by Cecil's assurance to
+Sir Thomas Parry,[220] mentioned above, that the proceedings of the
+priests were never unknown to Government.
+
+Amongst the papers at Hatfield is a curious note, anonymous and
+undated, giving information of a plot involving murder and treason,
+which, like the letter to Monteagle, simulates rather too obviously the
+workmanship of an illiterate person, and artfully insinuates that the
+design in question is undertaken in the name of religion, and chiefly
+favoured by the priests.[221]
+
+Another remarkable document is preserved in the same collection. This is
+a letter written to Sir Everard Digby, June 11th, 1605, and treating of
+an otter hunt to be undertaken when the hay shall be cut. It has,
+however, been endorsed by Salisbury, "Letter written to Sir Everard
+Digby--Powder Treason."[222] Not only is it hard to see how the terms
+of the document lend themselves to such an interpretation, but the date
+at which it was written was fully three months prior to Digby's
+initiation in the conspiracy. The idea is certainly suggested that, far
+from being passive and indolent, the authorities were sedulously seeking
+pretexts to entangle as many as possible of those "great of name,"
+concerning whom we have already heard from one of their informers. This
+much, at any rate, seems clear. Those at the centre of this complex web
+of espionage, to whom were addressed all these informations and
+admonitions, cannot have been, as they protested somewhat overmuch, in a
+state of careless inactivity, depending for security only upon the
+protection of the Almighty, "who," as the secretary afterwards piously
+declared, "blessed us in our slumber [and] will not forsake us now that
+we are awake."[223]
+
+The slumber would at least appear not to have been dreamless. On the one
+hand, the secretary was evidently much exercised by a threatened
+_rapprochement_ between his royal master and Pope Clement VIII., who,
+through a Scotch Catholic gentleman, Sir James Lindsay, had sent a
+friendly message to King James, which had elicited a courteous and
+almost cordial reply.[224] The significance of this Cecil strenuously
+endeavoured, in a letter to the Duke of Lenox,[225] to explain away, and
+in February, 1604-5, we find him assuring the Archbishop of York with an
+earnestness somewhat suspicious,[226] "I love not to procure or yield
+any toleration; a matter which I well know no creature living durst
+propound to our religious Sovereign." For himself, he thus declares: "I
+will be much less than I am, or rather nothing at all, before I shall
+become an instrument of such a miserable change." Nevertheless, on the
+17th of April following, he was fain to acknowledge, in writing to
+Parry,[227] that the news of Pope Clement's death had much eased him in
+his mind.
+
+It would, however, appear that the spectre of possible toleration still
+haunted him, and that he felt it necessary to commit the king to a
+course of severity. In a minute of September 12th, 1605, addressed to
+the same ambassador, which has been corrected and amended with an amount
+of care sufficiently testifying to the importance of the subject,[228]
+after speaking of "the plots and business of the priests," and the
+tendency of Englishmen going abroad "in this time of peace" to become
+Catholics, he thus continues: "Only this is it wherein my own heart
+receiveth comfort, that we live under a most religious and understanding
+Prince, who sticketh not to publish, as well in his own particular, as
+in the form of his government, how contrary that religion is to his
+resolution, and how far he will be from ever gracing [it]." He goes on
+to declare that nothing will so avail to make his Majesty withdraw his
+countenance from any man as such "falling away."
+
+About the same time as this was written, we are told by a writer, almost
+a contemporary,[229] that a dependent of Cecil's warned a Catholic
+gentleman, by name Buck, of a "wicked design" which his master had in
+hand against the papists.
+
+On the 17th of October, more than a week before the first hint of danger
+is said to have been breathed, we find the minister writing to Sir
+Thomas Edmondes, at Brussels,[230] in terms which certainly appear to
+couple together the growing danger of conversions to Catholicism, of
+which we have heard above, and the remedy soon to be supplied by the new
+policy which the discovery of the Plot so effectively established. He
+speaks of the "insolencies" of the priests and Jesuits, who are doing
+much injury by infecting with their poison "every youth that cometh
+amongst them;" ominously adding, "which liberty must, for one cause or
+another, be retrenched."
+
+There can be no doubt that the issue of the Gunpowder Plot was eminently
+calculated to work such an effect; and even more would seem to have
+been anticipated from it than was actually realized, for the secretary,
+we are told, promised King James that in consequence of it not a single
+Jesuit should remain in England.
+
+In the accounts supplied to us as to the manner of the "discovery," we
+obtain much interesting information from the utterances of the
+government itself. In studying these we cannot fail to notice an evident
+effort to reconcile two conflicting interests. On the one hand, that the
+king and the nation should be properly impressed with a sense of their
+marvellous deliverance, it was essential to represent the catastrophe as
+having been imminent, which could not be unless the preparations for it
+had been altogether unsuspected; and it was likewise desirable to
+magnify the divine sagacity of the monarch, which had been the
+instrument of Providence to avert a disaster otherwise inevitable. On
+the other hand, however, it should not be made to appear that those to
+whose keeping the public safety was intrusted had shown themselves
+culpably negligent or incompetent; and it had therefore to be insinuated
+that, after all, they were not without "sufficient advertisement" of
+danger, and even of danger specifically connected with the actual
+conspirators, and directed against the Parliament. But, again, lest such
+information should appear suspiciously accurate, the actual plotters had
+to be merged in a larger body of their co-religionists, and their design
+to be represented in vague and general terms. At the time, no doubt,
+this was effective enough. Now however that we know, by the light of
+subsequent investigations, who exactly were engaged, and what was in
+hand, it is possible to estimate these declarations at their true
+value.[231]
+
+Except with the aid of such an explanation as this, it seems impossible
+to understand the endless inconsistencies and contradictions of the
+official narrative. This we have in four forms, all coming to us on the
+highest authority, but addressed to different audiences, and hopelessly
+at variance upon almost every point. One is that given to the world as
+the "King's Book,"[232] containing, as Mr. Jardine tells us, the version
+which it was desired that the general public should accept. A second was
+furnished by Cecil himself to the ambassadors at Madrid and Brussels,
+and the Lord Deputy in Ireland,[233] and a third to the ambassador at
+Paris.[234] We have likewise the minute of November 7th, already
+mentioned as perhaps intended for the information of the Privy Council,
+which, although it has seemingly served as the basis of the story told
+in the "King's Book," contradicts that story in various not unimportant
+particulars.
+
+We shall afterwards have to examine in some detail the divergencies of
+these several narratives: at present we are concerned only with the
+intimation which they afford of a previous knowledge of the Plot on the
+part of the government. In the "King's Book"--which was not only to be
+disseminated broadcast at home, but to be translated and spread abroad,
+and, moreover, to be suited to the taste of its supposed author--the
+preternatural acuteness of the monarch is extolled in terms of most
+preposterous flattery, and his secretary is represented as altogether
+incredulous of danger, and unwilling to be convinced even by his royal
+master's wonderful interpretation of the mysterious warning.
+Nevertheless, not only is mention parenthetically introduced of the
+minister's "customable and watchful care of the king and State, boiling
+within him," of his laying up these things in his heart, "like the
+Blessed Virgin Mary," and being unable to rest till he had followed the
+matter farther,--but it is dexterously intimated that, for all his
+hardness of belief, he was sufficiently well informed before the warning
+came to hand, and that "this accident did put him in mind of divers
+advertisements he had received from beyond the seas, wherewith he had
+acquainted as well the king himself, as divers of his Privy Councillors,
+concerning some business the Papists were in, both at home and abroad,
+making combination amongst them for some combination against this
+Parliament time," their object being to approach the king with a
+petition for toleration, "which should be delivered in some such order,
+and so well backed, as the king should be loth to refuse their
+requests; like the sturdy beggars craving alms with one open hand, but
+carrying a stone in the other, in case of refusal."
+
+As prepared for the Privy Council, the account, though substantially the
+same, was somewhat more explicit. The secretary was fully aware, so the
+Lords were told, "that some practices might be doubted," and he "had,
+any time these three months, acquainted the King, and some of his
+Majesty's inward Counsellors, that the priests and laymen abroad and at
+home were full of the papists of this kingdom, seeking still to lay some
+_plot_ for procuring at this Parliament exercise of their religion."
+
+In his letter to the ambassadors Cecil was able to speak more plainly,
+for this document was not to meet the eye of James. Accordingly, he not
+only acknowledges that on seeing the Monteagle letter he at once divined
+the truth, and understood all about the powder, and moreover reverses
+the parts played by his Majesty and himself--making the former
+incredulous in spite of what he himself could urge in support of his
+opinion--but he goes on to give his previous information a far more
+definite complexion: "Not but that I had sufficient advertisement that
+most of these that now are fled [_i.e._ the conspirators]--being all
+notorious Recusants--with many others of that kind, had a practice in
+hand for some stir this Parliament." He, moreover, describes the
+plotters, in terms already cited, as "gentlemen spent in their fortunes
+and fit for all alterations."
+
+In view of all this it is quite impossible to believe the account given
+of themselves by those who were responsible for the public safety, and
+to suppose that they were not only so neglectful of their duty, but so
+incredibly foolish, and so unlike themselves, as to permit a gross and
+palpable peril to approach unnoticed. If, on the other hand, as appears
+to be certain, the information with which they were supplied were
+copious and minute, erring by excess far more than by defect, if,
+instead of lethargy and carelessness, we find in their conduct, at every
+stage of the proceedings, evidence of the extremest vigilance and of
+constant activity, and if they held it of prime importance to disguise
+the facts, and were willing to incur the charge of having been asleep at
+their posts, rather than let it be thought that they knew what they did,
+it can scarcely be doubted that the history of the Gunpowder Plot given
+to the world was in its essential features what they wished it to
+be.[235]
+
+A practical illustration of the methods freely employed by statesmen of
+the period will serve to throw fuller light upon this portion of our
+inquiry. In the service of the government was one Thomas Phelippes,[236]
+by trade a "decipherer," who was employed to "make English" of
+intercepted letters written in cipher. His services had been largely
+used in connection with Mary, Queen of Scots, some of whose letters he
+thus interpreted, having it in his power, as Mr. Tytler remarks, to
+garble or falsify them at pleasure.[237] Moreover, to serve the purposes
+of his masters, as he himself acknowledges,[238] he had upon occasion
+forged one side of a correspondence, in order to induce the person
+addressed to commit himself in reply.[239] At the time of the Gunpowder
+Plot, however, Phelippes had himself fallen under suspicion, on account
+of a correspondence with Hugh Owen, of whom we shall hear elsewhere.
+Accordingly, an attempt was made to hoist him with his own petard, and
+another agent, named Barnes, was employed by Cecil to write a letter, as
+coming from Phelippes (who was then in England) and carry it to Owen in
+Flanders in order to draw him out. At Dover, however, Barnes was
+arrested, being mistaken for another man for whom a watch was being
+kept. Thereupon, his papers being seized and sent to the Earl of
+Northampton, who appears not to have been in the secret of this matter,
+Cecil was obliged to arrest Phelippes at once, as though the letter were
+genuine, instead of waiting, as he had intended, in order to worm out
+more.
+
+The story of this complex and crooked business is frankly told by Cecil
+himself in a letter to Edmondes, English ambassador at Brussels, which,
+after the above abstract, will be sufficiently intelligible.[240]
+
+"As for Barnes, he is now returning again into Flanders, with many vows
+and promises to continue to do good service. As he was at Dover with my
+pass, carrying a letter from Philipps to Owen (of Barnes own
+handwriting, wherewith I was before acquainted), he was suddenly stayed
+by order from the Lord Warden, upon suspicion that he was one Acton, a
+traitor of the late conspiracy.... Whereupon, his papers and letters
+being sent to my Lord of Northampton, I thought fit not to defer any
+longer the calling of Philipps into question; which till then I had
+forborne, hoping by Barnes his means to have discovered some further
+matter than before I could do."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[200] He appears to have been no relation of John and Christopher
+Wright, the conspirators.
+
+[201] Davies was employed in other affairs of a similar nature. See
+_Dom. James I._, xix. 83, I (P.R.O.).
+
+[202] Cf. a "setter dog."
+
+[203] See the full text of Wright's letter, Appendix G.
+
+[204] See the text of the memorial, Appendix G.
+
+[205] Copy in the P.R.O. _Dom. James I._ vii. 86, and xx. 52. The
+informer's name is given in the latter, viz., Ralph Ratcliffe.
+
+[206] It was likewise cited in the interrogatories prepared for the
+Jesuit Thomas Strange (Brit. Mus. _MSS. Add._ 6178, 74) in November,
+1605, and in this case also as treating of the Gunpowder Plot and no
+other.
+
+[207] _Illustrations_, iii. 301.
+
+[208] P.R.O. _France_, b. 132.
+
+[209] _Ibid._
+
+[210] P.R.O. _France_, bundle 132.
+
+[211] _Ibid._ f. 273 b.
+
+[212] Hatfield MSS. 112, n. 141.
+
+[213] P.R.O. _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 16.
+
+[214] November 10th, 1605, _Dom. James I._ xvi. 44.
+
+[215] At a later period (July 20th, 1606) we find that Southwaick ("or
+Southwell") had lost favour and was warned by Salisbury to leave the
+country. "I hold him," says the Earl, "to be a very impostor." (_To
+Edmondes_, Phillipps MS. f. 165.)
+
+[216] Stowe MSS., 168, 39.
+
+[217] _Ibid._ 40.
+
+[218] _Ibid._ 42.
+
+[219] Birch, _Historical View_, p. 234.
+
+[220] P.R.O. _France_, bundle 132, January 25th, 1604-5.
+
+[221] "Who so evar finds this box of letars let him carry hit to the
+Kings magesty: my mastar litel thinks I knows of this, but yn ridinge
+wth him that browt the letar to my mastar to a Katholyk gentlemans hows
+anward of his way ynto lin konsher [Lincolnshire], he told me al his
+purpos, and what he ment to do; and he beinge a prest absolved me and
+mad me swar nevar to revel hit to ane man. I confes myself a Katholyk,
+and do hate the protystans relygon with my hart, and yit I detest to
+consent ethar to murdar or treson. I have blotyd out sartyn nams in the
+letars becas I wold not have ethar my mastar or ane of his frends trobyl
+aboute this; for by his menes I was mad a goud Katholyk, and I wod to
+God the King war a good Katholyk: that is all the harm I wish him; and
+let him tak hed what petysons or suplycasons he take of ane man; and I
+hop this box will be found by som that will giv hit to the King, hit may
+do him good one day. I men not to com to my mastar any moe, but wil
+return unto my contry from whens I cam. As for my nam and contry I
+consel that; and God make the King a goud Katholyk; and let Ser Robart
+Sesil and my lord Cohef Gustyse lok to them selvse." (Printed in
+Appendix to _Third Report of Historical MSS. Commission_, p. 148.)
+
+[222] It is signed "G.D.," and was possibly written by a relation of Sir
+Everard's.
+
+[223] To Sir H. Bruncard, March 3rd, 1605-6. P.R.O. _Ireland_, vol.
+218.
+
+[224] "Instructions to my trusty servant Sir James Lindsay, for answer
+to the lettre and Commission brought by him from the Pope unto me."
+A^o 1604. (P.R.O. _France_, b. 132.)
+
+In these notes the king explains that the things of greatest import
+cannot be written, but have been imparted "by tongue" to the envoy, to
+be delivered to his holiness. Moreover he thus charges Lindsay: "You
+shall assure him that I shall never be forgetful of the continual proof
+I have had of his courtesy and long inclination towards me, and
+especially by this his so courteous and unexpected message, which I
+shall be careful to requite thankfully by all civil courtesies that
+shall be in my power, the particulars whereof I remit likewise to your
+declaration." Besides this, he protests that he will ever inviolably
+observe two points: first, never to dissemble what he thinks, especially
+in matters of conscience; secondly, never to reject reason when he hears
+it urged on the other side.
+
+[225] P.R.O. _France_, b. 132.
+
+[226] Lodge, _Illustrations_, iii. 262.
+
+[227] P.R.O. _France_, b. 132.
+
+[228] _Ibid._
+
+[229] _The Politician's Catechism_, 1658.
+
+[230] Birch, _Historical View_, p. 234.
+
+[231] "If the Priestes and Catholickes, so many thousands in England
+would have entertayned it, no man can be so malicious and simple to
+thinke but there would have been a greater assembly than fourscore [in
+the Midlands] to take such an action in hand, and the Council could not
+be so winking eyed, but they would have found forth some one or other
+culpable, which they could never do, though some of them, most powerable
+in it, tendered and racked forth their hatred against us to the
+uttermost limites they could extend." _English Protestants' plea_, p.
+60.
+
+[232] _Discourse of the manner of the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot._
+Printed in the Collected Works of King James, by Bishop Mountague, by
+Bishop Barlow, in _Gunpowder Treason_, and in Cobbett's _State Trials_,
+as an appendix to that of the conspirators.
+
+[233] _I.e._, Cornwallis, Edmondes, and Chichester. The despatch to
+Cornwallis is printed in Winwood's _Memorials_, ii. 170.
+
+[234] Sir Thoms Parry, P.R.O. _France_, bundle 132.
+
+[235] Mr. Hepworth Dixon observes (_Her Majesty's Tower_, i. 352,
+seventh edition) that a man must have been in no common measure ignorant
+of Cecil and Northampton who could dream that such a design could escape
+the greatest masters of intrigue alive, and that abundant evidence makes
+it clear that the Council were informed of the Plot in almost every
+stage, and that their agents dogged the footsteps of those whom they
+suspected, taking note of all their proceedings. "It was no part of
+Cecil's policy," adds Mr. Dixon, "to step in before the dramatic time."
+
+[236] Often called Phelipps, or Philipps.
+
+[237] _History of Scotland_, iii. 376, note (ed. Eadie). It was on one
+of these letters which had been in the hands of Phelippes that Mary was
+convicted.
+
+[238] _Dom. James I._ xx. 51. April, 1606.
+
+[239] In the fragment cited above, Phelippes says that Queen Elizabeth
+and the Earl of Essex largely availed themselves of this device of his,
+and that "My Lord of Salisbury had himself made some use of it in the
+Queen's time."
+
+[240] February 12th, 1605-6. (Stowe MSS. 168.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE "DISCOVERY."
+
+
+WHEN the conspirators first undertook their enterprise, Parliament was
+appointed to meet on February 7th, 1604-5, but, as has been seen, it was
+subsequently prorogued till October 3rd, and then again till Tuesday,
+November 5th. On occasion of the October prorogation, the confederates
+employed Thomas Winter to attend the ceremony in order to learn from the
+demeanour of the assembled Peers whether any suspicion of their design
+had suggested this unexpected adjournment. He returned to report that no
+symptom could be discerned of alarm or uneasiness, and that the presence
+of the volcano underfoot was evidently unsuspected. Thus reassured, his
+associates awaited with confidence the advent of the fatal Fifth.
+
+In the interval occurred the event which forms the official link
+connecting the secret and the public history of the Plot, namely, the
+receipt of the letter of warning by Lord Monteagle. That the document is
+of supreme importance in our history cannot be denied, for the
+government account clearly stands or falls with the assertion that this
+was in reality the means whereby the impending catastrophe was averted.
+That it was so, the official story proclaimed from the first with a
+vehemence in itself suspicious, and the famous letter was exhibited to
+the world with a persistence and solicitude not easy to explain; being
+printed in the "King's Book," and in every other account of the affair;
+while transcribed copies were sent to the ambassadors at foreign courts
+and other public personages.[241] Had a warning really been given, in
+such a case, to save the life of a kinsman or friend, the circumstance,
+however fortunate, would scarcely have been wonderful, nor can we think
+that the document would thus have been multiplied for inspection. If, on
+the other hand, it had been carefully contrived for its purpose, it
+would not be unnatural for those who knew where the weak point lay, to
+wish the world to be convinced that there really had been a letter. It
+is, moreover, not easy to understand the importance attributed to
+Monteagle's service in connection with it. To have handed to the
+authorities such a message, evidently of an alarming nature, though he
+himself did not professedly understand it, does not appear to have
+entitled him to the extraordinary consideration which he in fact
+received. The Attorney General was specially instructed, at the trial,
+to extol his lordship's conduct.[242] Wherever, in the confession of the
+conspirators, his name was mentioned, it was erased, or pasted over with
+paper, or the whole passage was omitted before publication of the
+document. All this is easy to understand if he were the instrument
+employed for a critical and delicate transaction, depending for success
+upon his discretion and reticence. On any other supposition it seems
+inexplicable.
+
+[Illustration: MONTEAGLE AND LETTER.
+
+    The gallant _Eagle_, soaring vp on high:
+    Beares in his beake, _Treasons_ discouery.
+    MOVNT, noble EAGLE, with thy happy prey,
+    And thy rich _Prize_ to th' _King_ with speed conuay.]
+
+Moreover, Monteagle's services received most substantial acknowledgment
+in the form of a grant of L700 a year,[243] equivalent, at least, to
+ten times that amount in money of the present day.[244] There still
+exists[245] the draft preamble of the grant making this award, which has
+been altered and emended with an amount of care which sufficiently
+testifies to the importance of the matter. In this it is said of the
+letter that by the knowledge thereof "we had the first _and only_ means
+to discover that most wicked and barbarous plot"--the words italicised
+being added as an interlineation by Cecil himself. Nevertheless, it
+appears certain that this is not, and cannot be, the truth; indeed,
+historians of all shades equally discountenance the idea. Mr.
+Jardine[246] considers it "hardly credible that the letter was really
+the means by which the plot was discovered," and inclines to the
+belief[247] that the whole story concerning it "was merely a device of
+the government ... to conceal the means by which their information had
+been derived." Similarly Mr. J.S. Brewer[248] holds it as certain that
+this part, at least, of the story is a fiction designed to conceal the
+truth. Mr. Gardiner, who is less inclined than others to give up the
+received story, thinks that, to say the least of it, it is highly
+probable that Monteagle expected the letter before it came.[249]
+
+For a right understanding of the point it is necessary to consider the
+character of the man who plays so important a part in this episode. Lord
+Monteagle, the eldest son of Lord Morley, ennobled under a title derived
+through his mother, was, in Mr. Jardine's opinion,[250] "a person
+precisely adapted for an instrument on such an occasion;" and the
+description appears even more applicable than was intended. He had been
+implicated in all the doings of the turbulent section of the English
+Catholics[251] for several years, having taken part in the rising of
+Essex, and in the Spanish negotiations, whatever they were, conducted
+through the instrumentality of Thomas Winter. With Catesby, and others
+of the conspirators, he was on terms of the closest and most intimate
+friendship, and Tresham was his brother-in-law. A letter of his to
+Catesby is still preserved, which, in the opinion of some, affords
+evidence of his having been actually engaged in the Powder Plot
+itself;[252] and Mr. Jardine, though dissenting from the view that the
+letter proves so much, judges it not at all impossible or improbable
+that he was in fact privy to the conspiracy. It is likewise certain that
+up to the last moment Monteagle was on familiar terms with the plotters,
+to whom, a few days before the final catastrophe, he imparted an
+important piece of information.[253]
+
+At the same time it is evident that Monteagle was in high favour at
+Court, as is sufficiently evidenced by the fact that he was appointed to
+be one of the commissioners for the prorogation of October 3rd, a most
+unusual distinction for one in his position, as also by the pains taken
+by the government on behalf of his brother, who had shortly before got
+himself into trouble in France.[254] A still more remarkable
+circumstance has been strangely overlooked by historians.[255] Monteagle
+always passed for a Catholic, turbulent indeed and prone to violence,
+but attached, even fanatically, to his creed, like his friend Catesby
+and the rest. There remains, however, an undated letter of his to the
+king,[256] in which he expresses his determination to become a
+Protestant; and while in fulsome language extolling his Majesty's zeal
+for his spiritual welfare, speaks with bitterness and contempt of the
+faith which, nevertheless, he continued to profess to the end of his
+life, and that without exciting suspicion of his deceit among the
+Catholics. Not only must this shake our confidence in the genuine
+nature of any transaction in which such a man played a prominent part,
+it must likewise suggest a doubt whether others may not in like manner
+have passed themselves off for what they were not, without arousing
+suspicion.
+
+The precise facts as to the actual receipt of the famous letter are
+involved, like every other particular of this history, in the obscurity
+begotten of contradictory evidence. In the published account,[257] it is
+stated with great precision that it was received by Monteagle on
+Saturday, October 26th, being but ten days before the Parliament. In his
+letter to the ambassadors abroad,[258] Cecil dates its receipt "about
+eight days before the Parliament should have begun." In the account
+furnished for the benefit of the King of France,[259] the same authority
+declares that it came to hand "some four or five days before." A doubt
+is thus unquestionably suggested as to whether the circumstances of its
+coming to Monteagle's hands are those traditionally described: for our
+present purpose, however, it will perhaps be sufficient to follow the
+story as formally told by authority in the king's own book.
+
+On Saturday, October 26th, ten days before the assembly of Parliament,
+Monteagle suddenly, and without previous notice, ordered a supper to be
+prepared at his house at Hoxton "where he had not supped or lain of a
+twelvemonth and more before that time."[260] While he was at table one
+of his pages brought him a letter which had been given to him by a man
+in the street, whose features he could not distinguish, with injunctions
+to place it in his master's own hands. It is undoubtedly a singular
+circumstance, which did not escape notice at the time, that the bearer
+of this missive should have thus been able to find Monteagle at a spot
+which he was not accustomed to frequent, and the obvious inference was
+drawn, that the arrival of the letter was expected. On this point,
+indeed, there is somewhat more than inference to go upon, for in
+Fulman's MS. collection at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, among some
+interesting notes concerning the Plot, of which we shall see more,
+occurs the statement that "the Lord Monteagle knew there was a letter to
+be sent to him before it came."[261]
+
+Monteagle opened the letter, and, glancing at it, perceived that it bore
+neither date nor signature, whereupon he handed it to a gentleman of his
+household, named Ward, to read aloud, an apparently unnatural and
+imprudent proceeding not easy to explain, but, at least, inconsistent
+with the conduct of one receiving an obviously important communication
+in such mysterious circumstances. The famous epistle must be given in
+its native form.
+
+    _My lord out of the love i beare to some of youere frends i have a
+    caer of youer preseruacion therfor i would advyse yowe as yowe
+    tender youer lyf to devys some excuse to shift of youer attendance
+    at this parleament for god and man hath concurred to punishe the
+    wickednes of this tyme and think not slightlye of this advertisment
+    but retyre youre self into youre contri wheare yowe may expect the
+    event in safti for thowghe theare be no apparence of anni stir yet i
+    saye they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament and yet
+    they shall not seie who hurts them this cowncel is not to be
+    contemned because it maye do yowe good and can do yowe no harme for
+    the dangere is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter and i
+    hope god will give yowe the grace to mak good use of it to whose
+    holy proteccion i comend yowe_
+
+    (Addressed) _to the ryht honorable the lord mo[=u]teagle_
+
+Monteagle, though he saw little or nothing in this strange effusion,
+resolved at once to communicate with the king's ministers, his Majesty
+being at the time engaged at Royston in his favourite pastime of the
+chase, and accordingly proceeding at once to town, he placed the
+mysterious document in the hands of the Earl of Salisbury.[262]
+
+As to what thereafter followed and the manner in which from this clue
+the discovery was actually accomplished, it is impossible to say more
+than this, that the accounts handed down cannot by any possibility be
+true, inasmuch as on every single point they are utterly and hopelessly
+at variance. We can do no more than set down the particulars as supplied
+to us on the very highest authority.
+
+
+A.--_The account published in the "King's Book."_
+
+1. The letter was received ten days before the meeting of Parliament,
+_i.e._, on October 26th.
+
+2. The Earl of Salisbury judged it to be the effusion of a lunatic, but
+thought it well, nevertheless, to communicate it to the king.
+
+3. This was done five days afterwards, November 1st, when, in spite of
+his minister's incredulity, James insisted that the letter could intend
+nothing but the blowing up of the Parliament with gunpowder, and that a
+search must be made, which, however, should be postponed till the last
+moment.
+
+4. Accordingly, on the afternoon of Monday, November 4th, the Lord
+Chamberlain going on a tour of inspection, visited the "cellar" and
+found there "great store of billets, faggots, and coals," and moreover,
+"casting his eye aside, perceived a fellow standing in a corner ...
+Guido Fawkes the owner of that hand which should have acted that
+monstrous tragedy." Coming back, the chamberlain reported that the
+provision of fuel appeared extraordinary, and that as to the man, "he
+looked like a very tall and desperate fellow."
+
+5. Thereupon the king insisted that a thorough scrutiny must be made,
+and that "those billets and coals should be searched to the bottom, it
+being most suspicious that they were laid there only for covering of the
+powder." For this purpose Sir Thomas Knyvet, a magistrate, was
+despatched with a suitable retinue.
+
+6. Before his entrance to the house, Knyvet found Faukes "standing
+without the doors, his boots and clothes on," and straightway
+apprehended him. Then, going into the cellar, he removed the firewood
+and at once discovered the barrels.
+
+
+B.--_The Account sent by Salisbury to the Ambassadors abroad, and the
+Deputy in Ireland, November 9th, 1605._
+
+1. The letter was received about _eight_ days before the Parliament.
+
+2. Upon perusal thereof, Salisbury and Suffolk, the chamberlain, "both
+conceived that it could not be more proper than the time of Parliament,
+nor by any other way to be attempted than with powder, while the King
+was sitting in that Assembly." With this interpretation other Lords of
+the Council agreed; but they thought it well not to impart the matter to
+the king till three or four days before the session.
+
+3. His Majesty was "hard of belief" that any such thing was intended,
+but his advisers overruled him and insisted on a search, not however
+till the last moment.
+
+[Illustration: ARREST OF GUY FAUKES.]
+
+4. About 3 o'clock on the afternoon of Monday, November 4th, the Lord
+Chamberlain, Suffolk, visited the cellar, and found in it only firewood
+and not Faukes.
+
+5. The lords however insisting, in spite of the king, that the matter
+should be probed to the bottom, Knyvet was despatched with orders to
+"_remove all the wood, and so to see the plain ground underneath_."
+
+6. Knyvet, about midnight, "going unlooked for into the vault, found
+that fellow Johnson [_i.e._, Faukes] _newly come out of the vault_," and
+seized him. Then, having removed the wood, he perceived the barrels.
+
+
+C.--_The Account furnished by Salisbury for the information of the King
+of France, November 6th, 1605. (Original draft, in the P.R.O.)_
+
+1. The letter was received _some four or five days_ before the
+Parliament.
+
+2. This being shown to the king and the lords, "their lordships found
+not good ... to give much credit to it, nor yet so to contemn it as to
+do nothing at all."
+
+3. It was accordingly determined, the night before, "to make search
+about that place and to appoint a watch in the old Palace, to observe
+what persons might resort thereabouts."
+
+4. Sir T. Knyvet, being appointed to the charge thereof, _going by
+chance, about midnight, into the vault, by another door, found Faukes
+within_. Thereupon he caused some few faggots to be removed, and so
+discovered some of the barrels, "_merely, as it were, by God's
+direction, having no other cause but a general jealousy_."[263]
+
+Never, assuredly, was a true story so hard to tell. Contradictions like
+these, upon every single point of the narrative, are just such as are
+wont to betray the author of a fiction when compelled to be
+circumstantial.
+
+To say nothing of the curious discrepancies as to the date of the
+warning, it is clearly impossible to determine the locality of Guy's
+arrest. The account officially published in the "King's Book" says that
+this took place in the street. The letter to the ambassadors assigns it
+to the cellar and afterwards to the street; that to Parry, to the cellar
+only. Faukes himself, in his confession of November 5th, says that he
+was apprehended neither in the street nor in the cellar, but in his own
+room in the adjoining house. Chamberlain writes to Carleton, November
+7th, that it was in the cellar. Howes, in his continuation of Stowe's
+_Annals_, describes two arrests of Faukes, one in the street, the other
+upstairs in his own chamber. This point, though seemingly somewhat
+trivial, has been invested with much importance. According to the
+time-honoured story, the baffled desperado roundly declared that had he
+been within reach of the powder when his captors appeared, he would
+have applied a match and involved them in his own destruction. This
+circumstance is strongly insisted on not only in the "King's Book," but
+also in his Majesty's speech to Parliament on November 9th, which
+declared, "and in that also was there a wonderful providence of God,
+that when the party himself was taken he was but new come out of his
+house from working, having his fire-work for kindling ready in his
+pocket, wherewith, as he confesseth, if he been taken immediately
+before, he was resolved to have blown up himself with his takers." We
+learn, however, from Cecil's earliest version of the history, that
+Faukes was apprehended in the very situation most suitable for such a
+purpose, "in the place itself, as he was busy to prepare his things for
+execution," while Chamberlain adds that he was actually engaged in
+"making his trains."
+
+Far more serious, to say nothing of the episode of the chamberlain's
+visit, are the divergencies of the several versions as to the very
+substance of the story. We are told that King James was the first to
+understand and interpret the letter which had baffled the sagacity of
+his Privy Council; that the Lords of the Council had fully interpreted
+it several days before the king saw it; that the said lords would not
+credit the king's interpretation; that the king would not believe their
+interpretation; and that neither the one nor the other ever interpreted
+it at all; that his Majesty insisted on a search being made in spite of
+the reluctance of his ministers; that they insisted on the search in
+spite of the reluctance of their royal master; and that no such search
+was ever proposed by either; that Knyvet was despatched expressly to
+look for gunpowder, with instructions to rummage the firewood to the
+bottom, leaving no cover in which a barrel might lie hid; and that
+having no instructions to do anything of the kind, nor any reason to
+suspect the existence of any barrels, he discovered them only by a piece
+of luck, so purely fortuitous as to be clearly providential. On this
+last point especially the contradictions are absolutely irreconcilable.
+
+It is abundantly evident that those who with elaborate care produced
+these various versions were not supremely solicitous about the truth of
+the matter, and varied the tale according to the requirements of
+circumstances. As Mr. Jardine acknowledges,[264] the great object of the
+official accounts was to obtain credence for what the government wished
+to be believed, or, as Father Gerard puts it,[265] these accounts were
+composed "with desire that men should all conceive this to be the manner
+how the treason came to light." If from time to time the details were
+altogether transformed, it was clearly not through any abstract love of
+historical accuracy, but rather that there were difficulties to meet and
+doubts to satisfy, which had to be dealt with in order to produce the
+desired effect.
+
+That, from the beginning, there was whispered disbelief, which it was
+held all-important to silence, is sufficiently attested by Cecil
+himself, when, on the very morrow of the discovery, he sent to Parry his
+first draft of the history. "Thus much," he wrote, "I have thought
+necessary to impart unto you in haste, to the end that you may deliver
+as much to the French king, for prevention of false bruits, which I
+know, as the nature of fame is, will be _increased_,[266] perverted, and
+disguised according to the disposition of men."
+
+It does not appear why the appearance of erroneous versions of so
+striking an event should have been thus confidently anticipated if the
+facts were undeniably established; while, on the other hand, it is not a
+little remarkable that the narrative thus expressly designed to
+establish the truth, should have been forthwith abandoned and
+contradicted by its author in every single particular.
+
+Important information upon the same point is furnished by Cecil in
+another letter, written in the following January.[267] He undertakes to
+explain to his correspondent how it came to pass that a circumstance of
+supreme importance, of which the government were fully cognizant,[268]
+was not mentioned in the official account. This he does as follows: "And
+although in his Majesty's book there is not any mention made of them
+[the Jesuits], and of many things else which came to the knowledge of
+the State, yet is it but a frivolous inference that thereby [they] seek
+to serve their turn, considering the purpose of his Majesty was not to
+deliver unto the world all that was confessed concerning this action,
+_but so much only of the manner and form of it, and the means of the
+discovery_, as might make it apparent, both how wickedly it was
+conceived by those devilish instruments, and _how graciously it pleased
+God to deal with us in such an extraordinary discovery thereof_."
+
+Turning to the details of the story which survive the struggle for
+existence in the conflict of testimony, if any can be said to do so,
+there is abundant matter deserving attention, albeit we may at once
+dismiss the time-honoured legend concerning the sagacity of the British
+Solomon, and his marvellous interpretation of the riddling phrases which
+baffled the perspicacity of all besides himself.[269]
+
+More important is Cecil's admission that the presence of the powder
+under the Parliament House was at least suspected for several days
+before anything was done to interfere with the proceedings of those who
+had put it there. The reasons alleged for so extraordinary a course are
+manifestly absurd. It was resolved, he told the ambassadors, "that, till
+the night before, nothing should be done to interrupt any purpose of
+theirs that had any such devilish practice, but rather to suffer them to
+go on to the end of their day." In like manner he informed the Privy
+Council[270] that it was determined to make no earlier search, that
+"such as had such practice in hand might not be scared before they had
+let the matter run on to a full ripeness for discovery." It certainly
+appears that, at least, it would have been well before the eleventh hour
+to institute observations as to who might be coming and going about the
+cellar. On the other hand, can it be imagined that any minister in his
+right senses would have allowed the existence of a danger so appalling
+to continue so long, and have suffered a desperado like Faukes to have
+gone on knocking about with his flint and steel and lantern in a powder
+magazine beneath the House of Parliament? Accidents are proverbially
+always possible, and in the circumstances described to us there would
+have been much more than a mere possibility, for the action said to have
+been taken by the authorities, in sending the chamberlain to "peruse"
+the vault, seems to have been expressly intended to give the alarm; and
+had the conspirators been scared it would evidently have been their
+safest plan to have precipitated the catastrophe, that in the confusion
+it would cause they might escape. How terrible such a catastrophe would
+have been is indicated by Father Greenway:[271] "Over and above the
+grievous loss involved in the destruction of these ancient and noble
+buildings, of the archives and national records, the king himself might
+have been in peril, and other royal edifices, though situate at a
+distance, and undoubtedly many would have perished who had come up to
+attend the Parliament." Moreover, the loss of life in so thickly
+populated a spot must have been frightful, and especially amongst the
+official classes.
+
+Father Greenway expresses his utter disbelief in the incident of the
+chamberlain's visit:[272] "To speak my own mind," he writes, "I do not
+see in this portion of the story any sort of probability." He adds
+another remark of great importance. If the Lord Chamberlain,--and, we
+may add, Sir T. Knyvet,--could get into the cellar without the
+assistance of Faukes, to say nothing of the "other door" which makes its
+appearance in Cecil's first version, there is an end of the secret and
+hidden nature of the place, and some one else must have had a key. How,
+then, about the months during which the powder had been lying in it;
+during much of which time it had been, apparently, left to take care of
+itself? Did no man ever enter and inspect it before?
+
+But questions far more fundamental inevitably suggest themselves. If,
+during ten, or even during five days, a minister so astute and vigilant
+was willing to risk the danger of an explosion, it certainly does not
+appear that he was much afraid of the powder, or thought there was any
+harm in it. We have already remarked on the strangeness of the
+circumstance that the plotters were able so easily to procure it. It may
+be observed that they appear themselves to have been disappointed with
+its quality, for we are told[273] that late in the summer they added to
+their store "as suspecting the former to be dank." Still more
+remarkable, however, was the conduct of the government. Immediately upon
+the "discovery" they instituted the most minute and searching inquiries
+as to every other particular connected with the conspirators. We find
+copious evidence taken about their haunts, their lodgings, and their
+associates: of the boatmen who conveyed them hither and thither, the
+porters who carried billets, and the carpenters who worked for them:
+inquiries were diligently instituted as to where were purchased the iron
+bars laid on top of the barrels, which appear to have been considered
+especially dangerous; we hear of sword-hilts engraved for some of the
+company, of three beaver hats bought by another, and of the sixpence
+given to the boy who brought them home. But concerning the gunpowder no
+question appears ever to have been asked, whence it came, or who
+furnished it. Yet this would appear to be a point at least as important
+as the rest, and if it was left in absolute obscurity, the inference is
+undoubtedly suggested that it was not wished to have questions raised.
+It may be added that no mention is discoverable of the augmentation of
+the royal stores by so notable a contribution as this would have
+furnished.
+
+Neither can it escape observation that whereas the powder was discovered
+only on the morning[274] of November 5th, the peers met as usual in
+their chamber that very day.[275] It cannot be supposed either that four
+tons of powder could have been so soon removed, or that the most
+valuable persons in the State would have been suffered to expose
+themselves to the risk of assembling in so perilous a situation.[276]
+
+However this may be, from the moment of the "discovery" the discovered
+gunpowder disappears from history.[277]
+
+[Illustration: DISCOVERY OF GUNPOWDER PLOT, AND COINS OF JAMES I.
+
+_Coins_ in King James I. Reign; _with the Discovery of the_ Gun Powder
+Plot.]
+
+There is another point which must be noticed. It might naturally be
+supposed that after so narrow an escape, and in accordance with their
+loud protestations of alarm at the proximity of a shocking calamity from
+which they had been so providentially delivered, the official
+authorities would have carefully guarded against the possibility of the
+like happening again. Their acts, however, were quite inconsistent with
+their words, for they did nothing of the kind. For more than seventy
+years afterwards the famous "cellar" continued to be leased in the same
+easy-going fashion to any who chose to hire it, and continued to be the
+receptacle of all manner of rubbish and lumber, eminently suited to
+mask another battery. Not till the days of the mendacious Titus Oates,
+and under the influence of the panic he had engendered, did the Peers
+bethink themselves that a project such as that of Guy Faukes might
+really be a danger, and command that the "cellar" should be
+searched.[278] This was done, in November, 1678, by no less personages
+than Sir Christopher Wren and Sir Jonas Moore, who reported that the
+vaults and cellars under and near the House of Lords were in such a
+condition that there could be no assurance of safety. It was accordingly
+ordered that they should be cleared of all timber, firewood, coals, and
+other materials, and that passages should be made through them all, to
+the end that they might easily be examined. At this time, and not
+before, was instituted the traditional searching of the cellars on the
+eve of Parliament.[279]
+
+What then, it will be asked, really did occur? What was done by the
+conspirators? and what by those who discovered them?
+
+Truth to tell, it is difficult, or rather impossible, to answer such
+questions. That there was a plot of some kind cannot, of course, be
+doubted; that it was of such a nature as we have been accustomed to
+believe, can be affirmed only if we are willing to ignore difficulties
+which are by no means slight. There is, doubtless, a mass of evidence in
+support of the traditional story upon these points, but while its value
+has yet to be discussed, there are other considerations, hitherto
+overlooked, which are in conflict with it.
+
+Something has been said of the amazing contradictions which a very
+slight examination of the official story reveals at every turn, and much
+more might be added under the same head.[280]
+
+[Illustration: "GUY FAUKES' LANTERN."]
+
+On the other hand it is clear that even as to the material facts there
+was not at the time that unanimity which might have been expected. We
+have seen how anxious was the Secretary of State that the French court
+should at once be rightly informed as to all particulars. We learn,
+however, from Mr. Dudley Carleton, then attached to the embassy at
+Paris,[281] that in spite of Cecil's promptitude he was anticipated by a
+version of the affair sent over from the French embassy in London,
+giving an utterly different complexion to it. According to this, the
+design had been, "That the council being set, and some lords besides in
+the chamber, a barrel of gunpowder should be fired underneath them, and
+the greater part, if not all, blown up." According to this informant,
+therefore, it was not the Parliament House but the Council Chamber which
+was to have been assailed, there is no mention of the king, and we have
+one barrel of powder instead of thirty-six. It is not easy to understand
+how in such a matter a mistake like this could have been made, for it is
+the inevitable tendency of men to begin by exaggerating, and not by
+minimizing, a sudden and startling peril.[282]
+
+Moreover, even this modest version of the affair was not suffered to
+pass unchallenged. Three days later Carleton again wrote:[283] "The fire
+which was said to have burnt our king and council, and hath been so hot
+these two days past in every man's mouth, proves but _ignis fatuus_, or
+a flash of some foolish fellow's brain to abuse the world; for it is now
+as confidently reported there was no such matter, nor anything near it
+more than a barrel of powder found near the court."
+
+It must here be observed that the scepticism thus early manifested
+appears never to have been exorcised from the minds of French writers,
+many of whom, of all shades of thought, continue, down to our day, to
+assume that the real plotters were the king's government.[284]
+
+Neither can we overlook sundry difficulties, again suggested by the
+facts of the case, which make it hard to understand how the plans of the
+plotters can in reality have been as they are represented.
+
+We have already observed on the nature of the house occupied in Percy's
+name. If this were, as Speed tells us, and as there is no reason to
+doubt, at the service of the Peers during a session, for a
+withdrawing-room, and if the session was to begin on November 5th, how
+could Faukes hope not only to remain in possession, but to carry on his
+strange proceedings unobserved, amid the crowd of lacqueys and officials
+with whom the opening of Parliament by the Sovereign must needs have
+flooded the premises? How was he, unobserved, to get into the fatal
+"cellar"?
+
+This difficulty is emphasized by another. We learn, on the unimpeachable
+testimony of Mrs. Whynniard, the landlady, that Faukes not only paid the
+last instalment of rent on Sunday, November 3rd, but on the following
+day, the day immediately preceding the intended explosion, had
+carpenters and other workfolk in the house "for mending and repairing
+thereof."[285] To say nothing of the wonderful honesty of paying rent
+under the circumstances, what was the sense of putting a house in repair
+upon Monday, which on Tuesday was to be blown to atoms? And how could
+the practised eyes of such workmen fail to detect some trace of the
+extraordinary and unskilled operations of which the house is said to
+have been the theatre? If, indeed, the truth is that on the Tuesday the
+premises were to be handed over for official use, it is easy to
+understand why it was thought necessary to set them in order, but on no
+other supposition does this appear comprehensible.
+
+Problems, not easy to solve, connect themselves, likewise, with the
+actual execution of the conspirators' plan. If it would have been hard
+for Guy Faukes to get into the "cellar," how was he ever to get out of
+it again? We are so accustomed to the idea of darkness and obscurity in
+connection with him and his business, as perhaps to forget that his
+project was to have been executed in the very middle of the day, about
+noon or shortly afterwards. The king was to come in state with retinue
+and guards, and attended by a large concourse of spectators, who, as is
+usual on such occasions, would throng every nook and corner whence could
+be obtained a glimpse of the building in which the royal speech was
+being delivered.[286] It cannot be doubted, in particular, that the open
+spaces adjacent to the House itself would be strictly guarded, and the
+populace not suffered to approach too near the sacred precincts, more
+especially when, as we have seen, so many suspicions were abroad of
+danger to his sacred Majesty, and to the Parliament.
+
+On a sudden a door immediately beneath the spot where the flower of the
+nation were assembled, would be unlocked and opened, and there would
+issue there-from a man, "looking like a very tall and desperate fellow,"
+booted and spurred and equipped for travel. He was to have but a quarter
+of an hour to save himself from the ruin he had prepared.[287] What
+possible chance was there that he would have been allowed to pass?
+
+As to his further plans, we have the most extravagant and contradictory
+accounts, some obviously fabulous.[288] According to the least
+incredible, a vessel was lying below London Bridge ready at once to
+proceed to sea and carry him to Flanders; while a boat, awaiting him at
+the Parliament stairs, was to convey him to the ship.[289] If this were
+so, it is not clear why he equipped himself with his spurs, which,
+however, are authenticated by as good evidence as any other feature of
+the story. It would also appear that, here again, the plan proposed was
+altogether impracticable, for at the time of his projected flight the
+tide would have been flowing,[290] and it is well known that to attempt
+to pass Old London Bridge against it would have been like trying to row
+up a waterfall. Neither does it seem probable that the vessel would have
+been able to get out of the Thames for several hours, before which time
+all egress would doubtless have been stopped.
+
+Such considerations must at least avail to make us pause before we can
+unhesitatingly accept the traditional history, even in those broad
+outlines which appear to be best established. The main point is,
+however, independent of their truth. Though all be as has been affirmed
+concerning the "cellar" and its contents, and the plan of operations
+agreed upon by the traitors, the question remains as to the real nature
+of the "discovery." We have seen, on the one hand, that the official
+narrative bristles with contradictions, and, whatever be the truth, with
+falsehoods. On the other hand, the said narrative was avowedly prepared
+with the object of obtaining credence for the picturesque but
+unveracious assertion that the plotters' design was detected "very
+miraculously, even some twelve hours before the matter should have been
+put in execution." On the Earl of Salisbury's own admission, it had been
+divined almost as many days previously, and it was laid open at the last
+moment only because he deliberately chose to wait till the last moment
+before doing anything. No doubt a dramatic feature was thus added to the
+business, and one eminently calculated to impress the public mind: but
+they who insist so loudly on the miraculousness of an event which they
+alone have invested with the character of a miracle, must be content to
+have it believed that they knew still more than in an unguarded moment
+they acknowledged, and arranged other things concerning the Plot than
+its ultimate disclosure.[291]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[241] Copies were sent by Cecil to Cornwallis at Madrid, Parry at Paris,
+Edmondes at Brussels, and Chichester at Dublin. Also by Chamberlain to
+Dudley Carleton.
+
+[242] "Lastly, and this you must not omit, you must deliver, in
+commendation of my Lord Mounteagle, words to show how sincerely he
+dealt, and how fortunately it proved that he was the instrument of so
+great a blessing, ... because it is so lewdly given out that he was once
+of this plot of powder, and afterwards betrayed it all to me."--Cecil to
+Coke. (Draft in the R.O., printed by Jardine, _Criminal Trials_, ii.
+120.)
+
+[243] L500 as an annuity for life, and L200 per annum to him and his
+heirs for ever in fee farm rents.
+
+[244] See Thorold Rogers, _Agriculture and Prices_, v. 631, and Jessopp,
+_One Generation of a Norfolk House_, p. 285.
+
+[245] R.O. _Dom. James I._ xx. 56.
+
+[246] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 65.
+
+[247] _Ibid._ 68.
+
+[248] Note on Fuller's _Church History_, x. Sec. 39, and _on The Student's
+Hume_.
+
+[249] _History_, i. 251.
+
+[250] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 69.
+
+[251] On March 13th, 1600-1, Monteagle wrote to Cecil from the Tower,
+"My conscience tells me that I am no way gilty of these Imputations, and
+that mearely the blindness of Ignorance lead me into these infamous
+errors." (Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 6177).
+
+[252] The letter is printed in _Archaeologia_, xxviii. 422, by Mr. Bruce,
+who argues from it Monteagle's complicity with the Plot. Mr. Jardine's
+reply is found _ibid._ xxix. 80.
+
+[253] According to T. Winter's famous declaration, Monteagle, within ten
+days before the meeting of Parliament, told Catesby and the others that
+the Prince of Wales was not going to attend the opening ceremony,
+wherefore they resolved to "leave the Duke alone," and make arrangements
+to secure the elder brother.
+
+The original of Winter's declaration, dated November 25th, which is at
+Hatfield, contains these and other particulars, which are altogether
+omitted in a "copy" of the same in the Record Office, dated, remarkably
+enough, on November the 23rd. It is from the latter that the version in
+the "King's Book" was printed.
+
+[254] De Beaumont to Villeroy, September 17th, 1605.
+
+[255] Mr. Gardiner alludes to it, _History_, i. 254 (note), but
+apparently attaches no importance to it.
+
+[256] Brit. Museum, Add. MSS. 19402 fol. 143. See the letter in full,
+Appendix H.
+
+[257] _Discourse of the Manner of the Discovery_ (the "King's Book").
+
+[258] Winwood, _Memorials_, ii. 170, etc. (November 9th). In the entry
+book of the Earl of Salisbury's letters (Phillipps' MSS. 6297, f. 39)
+this is described as "being the same that was sent to all his Majestie's
+Embassadors and Ministers abroade." To Parry, however, quite a different
+account was furnished.
+
+[259] Cecil to Sir T. Parry, P.R.O. _France_, bundle 132 (November
+6th).
+
+[260] Gerard, _Narrative_, p. 101.
+
+[261] Vol. ii. 15. The partisans of the government at the time appear to
+have solved the difficulty by invoking the direct guidance of Heaven:
+
+    "For thus the Lord in's all-protecting grace,
+    Ten days before the Parliament began,
+    Ordained that one of that most trayterous race
+    Did meet the Lord Mounteagles Serving-man,
+      Who about Seven a clocke at night was sent
+      Upon some errand, and as thus he went,
+    Crossing the street a fellow to him came,
+    A man to him unknowen, of personage tall,
+    In's hand a Letter, and he gave the same
+    Unto this Serving-man, and therewithall
+      Did strictly charge him to take speciall heede
+      To give it into's Masters hand with speede."
+
+    _Mischeefes Mystery_ (1617).
+
+[262] Here again evidence was found of the direct guidance of Heaven:
+
+    "And thus with loyall heart away he goes,
+    Thereto resolved whatever should betide,
+    To th' Court he went this matter to disclose,
+    To th' Earle of Salsb'ryes chamber soone he hide,
+      Whither heavens finger doubtless him directed,
+      As the best meanes to have this fact detected."
+
+    _Mischeefes Mystery._
+
+[263] In the account forwarded to the ambassadors, there is a curious
+contradiction. In the general sketch of the discovery with which it
+opens, it is said that Faukes was captured "in the place itself," with
+his lantern, "making his preparations." Afterwards, in the detailed
+narrative of the proceedings, that he was taken outside. The fact is,
+that the first portion of this letter is taken bodily from that of
+November 6th to Parry, wherein the arrest of Faukes in the vault was a
+principal point. Between the 6th and the 9th this part of the story had
+been altered, but it does not seem to have been noticed that a remnant
+of the earlier version still existed in the introductory portion.
+
+It will be remarked that the account of November 6th makes no mention of
+the visit of the chamberlain to the vault, nor that of November 9th to
+the presence of Faukes at the time of this visit. The minute of November
+7th says that Faukes admitted the chamberlain to the vault.
+
+[264] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 3-5.
+
+[265] _Narrative_, p. 100.
+
+[266] This word is cancelled in the original draft.
+
+[267] To Sir T. Edmondes, January 22nd, 1605-6.--Stowe MSS., 168, 73, f.
+301.
+
+[268] _Viz._, the complicity of the Jesuits, "not only as being casually
+acquainted with the Plot," but as having been "principall comforters, to
+instruct the consciences of some of these wicked Traytors, in the
+lawfulnesse of the Act and meritoriousnesse of the same."
+
+On this it is enough to remark that when Father Garnet, the chief of the
+said Jesuits, came afterwards to be tried, no attempt whatever was made
+to prove any such thing. Cecil therefore wrote thus, and made so grave
+an assertion, without having any evidence in his hands to justify it.
+
+[269] That King James alone solved the enigma was put forth as an
+article of faith. In the preamble to the Act for the solemnization of
+the 5th of November, Parliament declared that the treason "would have
+turned to utter ruin of this whole kingdom, had it not pleased Almighty
+God, by inspiring the king's most excellent Majesty with a divine
+Spirit, to discover some dark phrases of a letter...." In like manner,
+the monarch himself, in his speech to the Houses, of November 9th,
+informed them: "I did upon the instant interpret and apprehend some dark
+phrases therein, contrary to the ordinary grammar construction of them,
+and in another sort, than I am sure any divine or lawyer in any
+university would have taken them."
+
+This "dark phrase" was the sentence--"For the danger is past as soon as
+you have burnt the letter," which the royal sage interpreted to mean "as
+quickly," and that by these words "should be closely understood the
+suddenty and quickness of the danger, which should be as quickly
+performed and at an end as that paper should be of blazing up in the
+fire."
+
+Of this famous interpretation Mr. Gardiner says that it is "certainly
+absurd;" while Mr. Jardine is of opinion that the words in question
+"must appear to every common understanding mere nonsense."
+
+When it was proposed in the House of Commons (January 31st, 1605-6,) to
+pass a vote of thanks to Lord Monteagle for his share in the
+"discovery," one Mr. Fuller objected that this would be to detract from
+the honour of his Majesty, for "the true discoverer was the king."
+
+The reader will perhaps be reminded of Sir Walter Scott's inimitable
+picture of the king's satisfaction in this notable achievement.
+
+"Do I not ken the smell of pouther, think ye? Who else nosed out the
+Fifth of November, save our royal selves? Cecil, and Suffolk, and all of
+them, were at fault, like sae mony mongrel tikes, when I puzzled it out;
+and trow ye that I cannot smell pouther? Why, 'sblood, man, Joannes
+Barclaius thought my ingine was in some manner inspiration, and terms
+his history of the plot, _Series patefacti divinitus parricidii_; and
+Spondanus, in like manner, saith of us, _Divinitus evasit_."--_Fortunes of
+Nigel_, c. xxvii.
+
+[270] _Relation_ ..., November 7th, 1605 (P.R.O.).
+
+[271] _Narrative_, f. 68 b.--Stonyhurst MSS.
+
+[272] F. 66. It will be remembered that this episode is not mentioned by
+Cecil in his version of November 6th. Bishop Goodman's opinion is that
+this and other points of the story were contrived for stage effect: "The
+King must have the honour to interpret that it was by gunpowder; and the
+very night before the parliament began it was to be discovered, to make
+the matter the more odious, and the deliverance the more miraculous. No
+less than the lord chamberlain must search for it and discover it, and
+Faux with his dark lantern must be apprehended." (_Court of King James_,
+p. 105.)
+
+[273] T. Winter, November 23rd, 1605.
+
+[274] There is, of course, abundant contradiction upon this point, as
+all others, but the balance of evidence appears to point to 2 a.m. or
+thereabouts.
+
+[275] The customary hour for the meeting of the Houses was 9 a.m., or
+even earlier. (_Journals of Parliament._)
+
+[276] The list of those present is given in the _Lords' Journals_; it is
+headed by the Lord Chancellor (Ellesmere), and includes the Archbishop
+of Canterbury, fourteen bishops, and thirty-one peers, of whom Lord
+Monteagle was one. In 1598, as Mr. Atkinson tells us in his preface to
+the lately published volume of the _Calendar of Irish State Papers_, the
+cellars of the Dublin Law Courts were used as a powder magazine. The
+English Privy Council, startled to hear of this remarkable arrangement,
+pointed out that it might probably further diminish the number of loyal
+subjects in that kingdom, but were quaintly reassured by the Irish Lords
+Justices, who explained that, in view of the troublous state of the
+times, the sittings of the courts had been discontinued, and were not
+likely to be resumed for the present.
+
+[277] The only allusion to it I have been able to find occurs in the
+_Politician's Catechism_ (1658), p. 95: "Yet the barells, wherein the
+powder was, are kept as reliques, and were often shown to the king and
+his posterity, that they might not entertain the least thought of
+clemency towards the Catholique Religion. There is not an ignorant
+Minister or Tub-preacher, who doth not (when all other matter fails)
+remit his auditors to the Gunpowder Treason, and describe those tubs
+very pathetically, the only reliques thought fit by them to be kept in
+memory."
+
+[278] _Journals of the House of Lords_, November 1st and 2nd, 1678.
+
+[279] _Ibid._, November 2nd, 1678.
+
+[280] I have already remarked upon Faukes' statement that he was
+arrested in quite a different place from any mentioned in the government
+accounts. It should be added, that as to the person who arrested him,
+there is a somewhat similar discrepancy of evidence. The honour is
+universally assigned by the official accounts to Sir T. Knyvet, who in
+the following year was created a peer, which shows that he undoubtedly
+rendered some valuable service on the occasion. An epitaph, however, in
+St. Anne's Church, Aldersgate (printed in Maitland's _History of
+London_, p. 1065, 3rd ed.), declares that it was Peter Heiwood, of
+Heywood, Lancashire, "who apprehended Guy Faux, with his dark Lanthorn;
+and for his zealous Prosecution of Papists, as Justice of Peace, was
+stabbed, in Westminster Hall, by John James, a Dominican Friar, A.D.
+1640." No trace of this assassination can be found, nor does the name of
+John James occur in the Dominican records. It is, however, a curious
+coincidence that the "Guy Faukes' Lantern," exhibited in the Ashmolean
+Museum at Oxford, bears the inscription: "_Laterna ilia ipsa qua usus
+est, et cum qua deprehensus Guido Faux in crypta subterranea, ubi domo_
+[sic] _Parliamenti difflandae operam dabat. Ex dono Robti. Heywood nuper
+Academiae Procuratoris, Ap. 4^o, 1641._" See the epitaph in full,
+Appendix I.
+
+[281] To J. Chamberlain, 10th-20th November, 1605. P.R.O. _France_, b.
+132, f. 335 b.
+
+[282] The Council appears at this time to have met in the Painted
+Chamber, and, without at all wishing to lay too much stress upon this
+point, I cannot but remark that the supposition that this was the
+original scene assigned to the operations of Faukes would solve various
+difficulties:
+
+1. Beneath the Painted Chamber was a vaulted cellar, answering to the
+description we have so frequently heard, whereas under the House of
+Lords was neither a cellar nor a vault.
+
+2. This crypt beneath the Painted Chamber has been constantly shown as
+"Guy Faukes' Cellar."
+
+3. In prints of the period, Faukes is usually represented as going to
+blow up this chamber, never the House of Lords.
+
+[283] To Chamberlain, November 13th (O.S.), 1605. P.R.O.
+
+[284] Thus M. Bouillet, in the latest edition of his _Dictionnaire
+d'histoire et geographie_, speaks as follows: "Le ministre cupide et
+orgueilleux, Cecil, semble avoir ete l'ame du complot, et l'avoir
+decouvert lui meme au moment propice, apres avoir presente a l'esprit
+faible de Jacques I. les dangers auxquels il etait en but de la part des
+Catholiques."
+
+Gazeau and Prampain (_Hist. Mod._, tome i.) speak of the conspiracy as
+"cette plaisanterie;" and say of the conspirators, "Dans une cave, ils
+avaient depose 36 barils contenant (ou soi-disant tels) de la poudre."
+
+[285] P.R.O. _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 39 (November 7).
+
+[286] In Herring's _Pietas Pontificia_ (1606) the king is described as
+coming to the House:
+
+    "Magna cum Pompa, stipatorumque Caterva,
+    Palmatisque, Togis, Gemmis, auroque refulgent:
+    Ingens fit Populi concursus, compita complens,
+    Turbis se adglomerant densis, spectantque Triumphum."
+
+[287] Faukes himself says--examination of November 16th--that the
+touchwood would have burnt a quarter of an hour.
+
+[288] See Appendix K, _Myths of the Powder Plot_.
+
+[289] In connection with this appears an interesting example of the
+natural philosophy of the time, it being said that Faukes selected this
+mode of escape, hoping that water, being a non-conductor, would save him
+from the effects of the explosion.
+
+[290] I am informed on high authority that on the day in question it was
+high water at London Bridge between five and six p.m. In his _Memorials
+of the Tower of London_ (p. 136) Lord de Ros says that the vessel
+destined to convey him to Flanders was to be in waiting for Faukes at
+the river side close by, and that in it he was to drop down the river
+with the ebb tide. It would, of course, have been impossible for any
+sea-going craft to make its way up to Westminster; nor would the ebb
+tide run to order.
+
+[291] It is frequently said that the testimony of Bishop Goodman, who
+has been so often cited, is discredited by the fact that he probably
+died a Catholic, for he was attended on his death-bed by the Dominican
+Father, Francis a S. Clara (Christopher Davenport), chaplain to Queen
+Henrietta Maria, a learned man who indulged in the dream of corporate
+reunion between England and Rome, maintaining that the Anglican articles
+were in accordance with Catholic doctrine.
+
+In his will Goodman professed that as he lived, so he died, most
+constant in all the articles of the Christian Faith, and in all the
+doctrine of God's holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, "whereof," he
+says, "I do acknowledge the Church of Rome to be the Mother Church. And
+I do verily believe that no other church hath any salvation in it, but
+only so far as it concurs with the faith of the Church of Rome." On
+this, Mr. Brewer, his editor, observes that a sound Protestant might
+profess as much, the question being what meaning is to be given to the
+terms employed. Moreover, the same writer continues, Goodman cannot have
+imagined that his life had been a constant profession of Roman doctrine,
+inasmuch as he advanced steadily from one preferment to another in the
+Church of England, and strongly maintaining her doctrines formally
+denounced those of Rome. What is certain, however, is this, that in the
+very work from which his evidence is quoted he speaks in such a manner
+as to show that whatever were his religious opinions, he was a firm
+believer in the Royal Supremacy and a lover of King James, whom he thus
+describes: "Truly I did never know any man of so great an apprehension,
+of so great love and affection,--a man so truly just, so free from all
+cruelty and pride, such a lover of the church, and one that had done so
+much good for the church." (_Court of King James_, i. 91.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+PERCY, CATESBY, AND TRESHAM.
+
+
+ON occasion of a notorious trial in the Star Chamber, in the year
+1604,[292] Bancroft, the Archbishop of Canterbury, made the significant
+observation[293] that nothing was to be discovered concerning the
+Catholics "but by putting some Judas amongst them." That amongst the
+Powder Plot conspirators there was some one who played such a part, who
+perhaps even acted as a decoy-duck to lure the others to destruction,
+has always been suspected, but with sundry differences of opinion as to
+which of the band it was. Francis Tresham has most commonly been
+supposed at least to have sent the warning letter to Monteagle, which
+proved fatal to himself and his comrades: some writers have conjectured
+that he did a good deal more.[294] Monteagle himself, as we have seen,
+has been supposed by others to have been in the Plot and to have
+betrayed it. It would appear, however, that neither of these has so
+strong a claim to this equivocal distinction as one whose name has been
+scarcely mentioned hitherto in such a connection.
+
+The part played in the conspiracy by Thomas Percy is undoubtedly very
+singular, and the more so when we learn something of the history and
+character of the man. Till within some three years previously[295] he
+had been a Protestant, and, moreover, unusually wild and dissolute.
+After his conversion, he acquired the character of a zealous, if
+turbulent, Catholic, and is so described, not only by Father Gerard and
+Father Greenway, but by himself. In a letter written so late as November
+2nd, 1605,[296] he represents that he has to leave Yorkshire, being
+threatened by the Archbishop with arrest, "as the chief pillar of
+papistry in that county."
+
+It unfortunately appears that all the time this zealous convert was a
+bigamist, having one wife living in the capital and another in the
+provinces. When his name was published in connection with the Plot, the
+magistrates of London arrested the one, and those of Warwickshire the
+other, alike reporting to the secretary what they had done, as may be
+seen in the State Paper Office.[297]
+
+Gravely suspicious as such a fact must appear in connection with one
+professing exceptional religious fervour, it by no means stands alone.
+Father Greenway, in describing the character of Percy,[298] dwells much
+on his sensitiveness to the suspicion of having played false to his
+fellow Catholics in his dealings with King James in Scotland, coupled
+with protestations of his determination to do something to show that he
+as well as they had been deceived by that monarch. We find evidence that
+as a fact some Catholics distrusted him, as in the examination of one
+Cary, who, being interrogated concerning the Powder Plot, protested that
+"Percy was no Papist but a Puritan."[299] There is likewise in the
+king's own book a strange and obscure reference to Percy as the possible
+author of the letter to Monteagle, one of the chief grounds for
+suspecting him being "his backwardness in religion." It would moreover
+appear that he was not a man who always impressed those favourably who
+had to do with him, for Chamberlain reminds his friend Carleton that the
+latter had ever considered him "a subtle, flattering, dangerous
+knave."[300]
+
+[Illustration: THOMAS PERCY.]
+
+We have seen something of the extraordinary manner in which Percy
+transacted the business of hiring the house and "cellar," wholly unlike
+what we should expect from one whose main object was to escape
+observation, and that he brought to bear the influence of sundry
+Protestant gentlemen, amongst them Dudley Carleton himself,[301] in
+order to obtain the desired lease. We know, moreover, that various
+unfortunate accidents prevented the history of these negotiations from
+ever being fully told.
+
+Yet more remarkable is a piece of information supplied by Bishop
+Goodman, his authority being the eminent lawyer Sir Francis Moore, who,
+says he, "is beyond all exception."[302] Moore, having occasion during
+the period when the Plot was in progress to be out on business late at
+night, and going homeward to the Middle Temple at two in the morning,
+"several times he met Mr. Percy coming out of the great statesman's
+house, and wondered what his business should be there." Such wonder was
+certainly not unnatural, and must be shared by us. That a man who was
+ostensibly the life and soul of a conspiracy directed against the king's
+chief minister, even more than against the sovereign himself, should
+resort for conference with his intended victim at an hour when he was
+most likely to escape observation, is assuredly not the least
+extraordinary feature in this strange and tangled tale.
+
+Not less suspicious is another circumstance. Immediately before the
+fatal Fifth of November, Percy had been away in the north, and he
+returned to London only on the evening of Saturday, the 2nd. Of this
+return, Cecil, writing a week later,[303] made a great mystery, as
+though the traitor's movements had been of a most stealthy and secret
+character, and declared that the fact had been discovered from Faukes
+only with infinite difficulty, and after many denials. It happens,
+however, that amongst the State Papers is preserved a pass dated October
+25th, issued by the Commissioners of the North, for Thomas Percy,
+posting to Court upon the king's especial service, and charging all
+mayors, sheriffs, and postmasters to provide him with three good horses
+all along the road.[304] It is manifestly absurd to speak of secrecy or
+stealth in connection with such a journey, or to pretend that the Chief
+Secretary of State could have any difficulty in tracing the movements of
+a man who travelled in this fashion; and protestations of ignorance
+serve only to show that to seem ignorant was thought desirable.
+
+Considerations like these, it will hardly be denied, countenance the
+notion that Percy was, in King James's own phrase, a tame duck employed
+to catch wild ones. Against such a supposition, however, a grave
+objection at once presents itself. Percy was amongst the very first
+victims of the enterprise, being one of the four who were killed at
+Holbeche when the conspirators were brought to bay.
+
+This, unquestionably, must at first sight appear to be fatal to the
+theory of his complicity, and the importance of such a fact should not
+be extenuated. At the same time, on further scrutiny, the argument which
+it supplies loses much of its force.
+
+It must, in the first place, be remembered, that according to the belief
+then current, it was no uncommon thing, as Lord Castlemaine expresses
+it[305] the game being secured, to hang the spaniel which caught it,
+that its master's art might not appear, and, to cite no other instance,
+we have the example of Dr. Parry, who, as Mr. Brewer acknowledges,[306]
+was involved in the ruin of those whom he had been engaged to lure to
+destruction.
+
+There are, moreover, various remarkable circumstances in regard to the
+case of Percy in particular. It was observed at the time as strange and
+suspicious that any of the rebels should have been slain at all, for
+they were almost defenceless, having no fire-arms; they did not succeed
+in killing a single one of their assailants, and might all have been
+captured without difficulty. Nevertheless, the attacking party were not
+only allowed to shoot, but selected just the wrong men as their mark,
+precisely those who, being chiefly implicated in the beginnings of the
+Plot, could have afforded the most valuable information,[307] for
+besides Percy, were shot down Catesby and the two Wrights,[308] all
+deeply implicated from the first. So unaccountable did such a course
+appear as at once to suggest sinister interpretations--especially as
+regarded the case of Percy and Catesby, who were always held to be the
+ringleaders of the band. As Goodman tells us,[309] "Some will not stick
+to report that the great statesman sending to apprehend these traitors
+gave special charge and direction for Percy and Catesby, 'Let me never
+see them alive;' who it may be would have revealed some evil counsel
+given." A similar suspicion seems to be insinuated by Sir Edward Hoby,
+writing to Edmondes, the Ambassador at Brussels[310]: "Percy is dead:
+who it is thought by some particular men could have said more than any
+other."
+
+More suspicious still appears the fact that the king's government
+thought it necessary to explain how it had come to pass that Percy was
+not secured alive, and to protest that they had been anxious above all
+for his capture, but had been frustrated by the inconsiderate zeal of
+their subordinates. In the "King's Book" we read as follows: "Although
+divers of the King's Proclamations were posted down after those Traitors
+with all speed possible, declaring the odiousness of that bloody
+attempt, and the necessity to have Percy preserved alive, if it had been
+possible, ... yet the far distance of the way (which was above an
+hundred miles), together with the extreme deepness thereof, joined also
+with the shortness of the day, was the cause that the hearty and loving
+affection of the King's good subjects in those parts prevented the speed
+of his Proclamations."
+
+Such an explanation cannot be deemed satisfactory. The distance to be
+covered was about 112 miles, and there were three days to do it, for not
+till November 8th were the fugitives surrounded. They in their flight
+had the same difficulties to contend with, as are here enumerated, yet
+they accomplished their journey in a single day, and they had not, like
+the king's couriers, fresh horses ready for them at every post.
+
+But we have positive evidence upon this point. Father Greenway, who was
+at the time in the Midlands, close to the scene of action, incidentally
+mentions, without any reference to our present question,[311] that while
+the rebels were in the field, messengers came post haste continually,
+one after the other, from the capital, all bearing proclamations
+mentioning Percy by name.
+
+It must also be observed that though the couriers, we are told, could
+not in three days get from London to Holbeche to hinder Percy's death,
+they contrived to ride in one from Holbeche to London with news that he
+was dead.[312]
+
+Another circumstance not easy to explain is, that the man who killed
+Percy and Catesby,[313] John Streete by name, received for his service
+the handsome pension of two shillings a day for life, equal at least to
+a pound of our present money.[314] This is certainly a large reward for
+having done the very thing that the government most desired to avoid,
+and for an action, moreover, involving no sort of personal risk, killing
+two practically unarmed men from behind a tree.[315] If, however, he had
+silenced a dangerous witness, it is easy to understand the munificence
+of his recompense.
+
+Against Catesby, likewise, there are serious indictments, and it seems
+impossible to believe him to have been, as commonly represented, a man,
+however blinded by fanaticism, yet honest in his bad enterprise, who
+would not stoop to fraud or untruth. It is abundantly evident that on
+many occasions he deliberately deceived his associates, and those whom
+he called his spiritual guides, making promises which he did not mean to
+keep, and giving assurances which he knew to be false.[316] It will be
+sufficient to quote one or two examples quite sufficient to stamp him as
+a man utterly unscrupulous about the means employed to gain his ends.
+
+On the 5th of November, when, after the failure of the enterprise, he
+arrived at Dunchurch, in Warwickshire, Catesby, in order to induce Sir
+Everard Digby to commit himself to the hopeless campaign now to be
+undertaken, assured him,[317] that though the powder was discovered, yet
+the king and Salisbury were killed; all were in "a pother;" the
+Catholics were sure to rise in a body, one family alone, the Littletons,
+would bring in one thousand men the next day; and so on,--all this
+being absolutely untrue. That he had previously employed similar means
+on a large scale to inveigle his friends into his atrocious and
+senseless scheme, there is much evidence, strongest of all that of
+Father Garnet;[318] "I doubt not that Mr. Catesby hath feigned many such
+things for to induce others."
+
+Worst of all, we learn from another intercepted letter of Garnet's,
+Catesby had for his own purposes circulated an atrocious slander against
+Garnet himself, although passing as his devoted disciple and friend:
+"Master Catesby," he wrote,[319] "did me much wrong, and hath confessed
+that he told them he asked me a question in Q. Elizabeth's time of the
+powder action,[320] and that I said it was lawful. All which is most
+untrue. He did it to draw in others."
+
+In view of this, and much else of a similar kind, it is difficult to
+read Father Gerard's _Narrative_, and more particularly Father
+Greenway's additions thereto, without a growing feeling that if Catesby
+sought counsel it was with no intention of being guided by it, and that
+his sole desire was to get hold of something which might serve his own
+purposes.
+
+We have already seen that a great deal of mystery attaches to Francis
+Tresham, who is generally supposed to have written the letter to
+Monteagle, and was clearly suspected by some of having done a great deal
+more; for the author of the _Politician's Catechism_ speaks of him as
+having access to Cecil's house even at midnight, along with another
+whose name is not given, these two being therefore supposed to have been
+the secretary's instruments in all this business. What is certain is,
+that Tresham did not fly like the rest when the "discovery" had taken
+place, not only remaining in London, and showing himself openly in the
+streets, but actually presenting himself to the council, and offering
+them his services. Moreover, though his name was known to the
+government, at least on November 7th, as one of the accomplices, it was
+for several days omitted from their published proclamations, and not
+till the 12th was he taken into custody. Being confined in the Tower, he
+was shortly attacked by a painful malady, and on December 23rd he died,
+as was officially announced, of a "strangury," as Salisbury assures
+Cornwallis "by a natural sickness, such as he hath been a long time
+subject to."[321] Throughout his sickness he himself and his friends
+loudly declared that should he survive it "they feared not the course of
+justice."[322] Such confidence, as Mr. Jardine remarks, could be
+grounded only on his possession of knowledge which the authorities would
+not venture to reveal, and it is not surprising that his death should
+have been attributed, by the enemies of the government, to poison. It is
+no doubt an argument against such a supposition that during his illness
+Tresham was allowed to be attended by his wife and a confidential
+servant. On the other hand, not only does Bishop Goodman inform us[323]
+that "Butler, the great physician of Cambridge," declared him to have
+been poisoned; but the author of _Mischeefes Mystery_, a violent
+government partisan, contradicts the notion of a natural death, by
+asserting that "Tresham murthered himself in the Tower."
+
+It thus appears, once again, that the more its details are scrutinized,
+the less does the traditional history of the Plot commend itself to our
+acceptance. It is hard to believe that within the ranks of the
+conspirators themselves, there was no treachery, no one who, lending
+himself to work the ruin of his associates, unwittingly wrought his own.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The evidence hitherto considered may fitly conclude with the testimony
+of a witness living near the time in question, who had evidently been at
+pains to make inquiries amongst those most likely to give information.
+This is an anonymous correspondent of Anthony a Wood, whose notes are
+preserved in Fulman's collection in the library of Corpus Christi
+College, Oxford. These remarkable notes have been seen by Fulman, who
+inserted in the margin various questions and objections, to which the
+writer always supplied precise and definite replies. In the following
+version this supplementary information is incorporated in the body of
+his statement, being distinguished by italics. The writer, who explains
+that his full materials are in the country, speaks thus:[324]
+
+"I should be glad to understand what your friend driveth at about the
+Fifth of November. It was, without all peradventure, a State Plot. I
+have collected many pregnant circumstances concerning it.
+
+"'Tis certain that the last Earl of Salisbury[325] confessed to William
+Lenthal[326] it was his father's contrivance, which Lenthal soon after
+told one Mr. Webb (_John Webb, Esq._), a person of quality, and his
+kinsman, yet alive.
+
+"Sir Henry Wotton says 'twas usual with Cecil to create plots, that he
+might have the honour of the discovery, or to such effect.
+
+"The Lord Mounteagle knew there was a letter to be sent to him before it
+came. (_Known by Edmund Church, Esq., his confidant._)
+
+"Sir Everard Digby's sons were both knighted soon after, and Sir Kenelm
+would often say it was a State design, to disengage the king of his
+promise to the Pope and the King of Spain, to indulge the Catholics if
+ever he came to be king here; and somewhat to his purpose was found in
+the Lord Wimbledon's papers after his death.[327]
+
+"Mr. Vowell, who was executed in the Rump time, did also affirm it
+so.[328]
+
+"Catesby's man (_George Bartlet_),[329] on his death-bed, confessed his
+master went to Salisbury House several nights before the discovery, and
+was always brought privately in at a back door."
+
+Then, in answer to an objection of Fulman's, is added: "Catesby, 'tis
+like, did not mean to betray his friends or his own life--he was drawn
+in and made believe strange things. All good men condemn him and the
+rest as most desperate wretches; yet most believed the original
+contrivance of the Plot was not theirs."
+
+Whatever else may be thought of the above statements, they at least
+serve to contradict Mr. Jardine's assertion,[330] that the notion of
+Cecil's complicity,--which he terms a strange suggestion, scarce worthy
+of notice,--was first heard of long after the transaction, and was
+adopted exclusively by Catholics. Clearly it was not unknown to
+Protestants who were contemporaries, or personally acquainted with
+contemporaries, of the event. Yet the document here cited was known to
+Mr. Jardine, who mentions one of its statements, that relating to Lord
+Monteagle, but says nothing of its more serious allegations.
+
+It must also be remarked that we find some traces in the evidence which
+remains of certain mysterious conspirators of great importance,
+concerning whom no investigation whatever appears to have been made,
+they being at once permitted to drop into the profoundest obscurity, in
+a manner quite contrary to the habitual practice of the authorities.
+
+One such instance is afforded by the testimony of a mariner, Henry
+Paris, of Barking,[331] that Guy Faukes, _alias_ Johnson, hired a boat
+of him, "wherein was carried over to Gravelines a man supposed of great
+import: he went disguised, and would not suffer any one man to go with
+him but this Vaux, nor to return with him. This Paris did attend for him
+back at Gravelines six weeks. If cause require there are several proofs
+of this matter." None of these, however, seem to have been sought.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[292] That of Mr. Pound.
+
+[293] Jardine, _Criminal Trials_, ii. 38, n.
+
+[294] _E.g._, the author of the _Politician's Catechism_.
+
+[295] "About the time of my Lord Essex his enterprise he became
+Catholic" (_i.e._ 1601). Father Gerard, _Narrative_, p. 58.
+
+[296] P.R.O. _Gunpowder Plot Book_, n. 4.
+
+[297] Justice Grange, of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, to Salisbury, November
+5th, 1605. Justices of Warwickshire, to the same, November 12th.
+
+[298] MS., f. 31-32.
+
+[299] Tanner MSS., _ut sup._, f. 167.
+
+[300] P.R.O. _Dom. James I._, November 7th, 1605.
+
+[301] The case of Carleton is not without mystery. At the time of the
+discovery he was at Paris, as secretary to the English ambassador, but
+about the middle of the month was ordered home in hot haste and placed
+"in restraint." On February 28th, 1605-6, he wrote to his friend
+Chamberlain that he was airing himself on the Chilterns to get rid of
+the scent of powder, asking his correspondent to consult a patron as to
+his best means of promotion (_Dom. James I._ xviii. 125). Far from being
+injured by any suspicion that he might seem to have incurred, he
+subsequently rose rapidly in favour, was intrusted with most important
+diplomatic missions, and was finally created Viscount Dorchester.
+
+[302] _Court of King James_, i. 105.
+
+[303] To the ambassadors, November 9th.
+
+[304] _Dom. James I._ xv. 106.
+
+[305] _Catholique Apology_, p. 415.
+
+[306] Goodman's _Court of King James_, i. 121, note.
+
+[307] See Goodman's remarks on this subject (_Court of King James_, i.
+106). The author of the _Politician's Catechism_ writes: "It is very
+certaine that Percy and Catesby might have been taken alive, when they
+were killed, but Cecil knew full well that these two unfortunate
+Gentlemen would have related the story lesse to his owne advantage, than
+himself caused it to be published: therefore they were dispatched when
+they might have been made prisoners, having no other weapons, offensive
+or defensive, but their swords."
+
+[308] About the death of the Wrights there are extraordinary
+contradictions. In the "original" of his famous confession T. Winter
+says: "The next shot was the elder Wright, stone dead; after him the
+younger Mr. Wright." In _Mischeefes Mystery_ we read that Percy and
+Catesby were killed "with a gunne," the two Wrights "with Halberts." The
+day after the attack, November 9th, Sir Edward Leigh wrote to the
+Council, that the Wrights were not slain, as reputed, but wounded. Not
+till the 13th was their death certified by Sir Richard Walsh.
+
+[309] _Court of King James_, i. 106.
+
+[310] Nichols, _Progresses of King James I._, i. 588.
+
+[311] MS., f. 70, b.
+
+[312] Cecil writing to the ambassadors, November 9th, mentions in a
+postscript the fate of the rebels.
+
+[313] They were slain by two balls from the same musket.
+
+[314] Warrant, P.R.O.
+
+[315] Father Gerard mentions this circumstance (_Narrative_, p. 110).
+
+[316] This point is well developed in the recent _Life of a
+Conspirator_, pp. 120-126.
+
+[317] _Dom. James I._ xvi. 97.
+
+[318] _Dom. James I._, March 4th, 1605-6.
+
+[319] _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 242.
+
+[320] The strange story of a powder-plot under Elizabeth is variously
+told. According to one of the mysterious confessions attributed to
+Faukes, which have disappeared from the State Papers, Owen told him in
+Flanders that one Thomas Morgan had proposed to blow up her majesty
+(Abbot, _Antilogia_, 137). The _Memorial to Protestants_ by Bishop
+Kennet (1713) says that the man's name was Moody, who wanted the French
+ambassador to subsidise him. The idea was to place a 20 lb. bag of
+powder under the queen's bed, and explode it in the middle of the night,
+but how this was to be managed is not explained.
+
+[321] Winwood, _Memorials_, ii. 189.
+
+[322] Wood to Salisbury, December 23rd, 1605.
+
+[323] _Court of King James_, i. 107.
+
+[324] _Collection_, vol. ii. 15.
+
+[325] William, second earl (born 1591, died 1668), son of the minister
+of James I.
+
+[326] Speaker of the Long Parliament.
+
+[327] Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimbledon, third son of Thomas, first Earl
+of Exeter (the elder brother of Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury),
+died 1638.
+
+[328] Peter Vowell, a Protestant, executed with Colonel John Gerard for
+an alleged plot against Cromwell, July 10th, 1654.
+
+[329] "George Bartlett, Mr. Catesby's servant," appears amongst the
+suspected persons whose names were sent up to Cecil by the justices of
+Warwickshire, November 12th, 1605. (_Gunpowder Plot Book_, 134.)
+
+[330] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 188.
+
+[331] _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 130.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE GOVERNMENT'S CASE.
+
+
+WE have hitherto confined our attention to sources of information other
+than those with which the authors of the official narrative have
+supplied us, and upon which they based the same. It remains to inquire
+how far the evidence presented by them can avail to substantiate the
+traditional history, and to rebut the various arguments against its
+authenticity which have been adduced.
+
+For brevity and clearness' sake it will be advisable to divide this
+investigation under several heads.
+
+
+i. _The Trial of the Conspirators._
+
+On the threshold of our inquiry we are met by a most singular and
+startling fact. As to what passed on the trial of the conspirators, what
+evidence was produced against them, how it was supported,--nay, even how
+the tale of their enterprise was told--we have no information upon which
+any reliance can be placed. One version alone has come down to us of the
+proceedings upon this occasion--that published "by authority"--and of
+this we can be sure only that it is utterly untrustworthy. It was issued
+under the title of the _True and Perfect Relation_, but, as Mr. Jardine
+has already told us, is certainly not deserving of the character which
+its title imports. "It is not true, because many occurrences on the
+trial are wilfully misrepresented; and it is not _perfect_, because the
+whole evidence, and many facts and circumstances which must have
+happened, are omitted, and incidents are inserted which could not by
+possibility have taken place on the occasion. It is obviously a false
+and imperfect relation of the proceedings; a tale artfully garbled and
+misrepresented ... to serve a State purpose, and intended and calculated
+to mislead the judgment of the world upon the facts of the case."[332]
+Again the same author remarks,[333] "that every line of the published
+trial was rigidly weighed and considered, not with reference to its
+accuracy, but its effect on the minds of those who might read it, is
+manifest."
+
+Moreover, the narrative thus obviously dishonest, was admittedly issued
+in contradiction of divers others already passing "from hand to hand,"
+which were at variance with itself in points of importance, and which it
+stigmatized as "uncertain, untrue, and incoherent;" it justified its
+appearance on the ground that it was supremely important for the public
+to be rightly informed in such a case:[334] and so successful were the
+efforts made to secure for it a monopoly, that no single document has
+come down to us by which its statements might be checked. In
+consequence, to quote Mr. Jardine once more,[335] there is no trial
+since the time of Henry VIII. in regard of which we are so ignorant as
+to what actually occurred.[336]
+
+The employment of methods such as these would in any circumstances
+forfeit all credit on behalf of the story thus presented. In the present
+instance the presumption raised against it is even stronger than it
+would commonly be. If the Gunpowder Plot were in reality what was
+represented, why was it deemed necessary, in Cecil's own phrase, to
+pervert and disguise its history in order to produce the desired effect?
+A project so singular and diabolical in its atrocity, prepared for on so
+large a scale, and so nearly successful, should, it would appear, have
+needed no fictitious adjuncts to enhance its enormity; and for the
+conviction of miscreants caught red-handed in such an enterprise no
+evidence should have been so effectual as that furnished by the facts of
+the case, which of their nature should have been patent and
+unquestionable. When we find, on the contrary, a web of falsehood and
+mystery woven with elaborate care over the whole history of the
+transaction, it is not unnatural to infer that to have told the simple
+truth would not have suited the purpose of those who had the telling of
+the tale; and it is obviously necessary that the evidence whereby their
+story was supported should be rigorously sifted.
+
+What has been said, though in great measure true of the trial of Father
+Garnet, at the end of March, is especially applicable to that of the
+conspirators, two months earlier, for in regard of this we have
+absolutely no information beyond that officially supplied. The execution
+of Faukes and his companions following close upon their
+arraignment,[337] all that had been elicited, or was said to have been
+elicited, at their trial, became henceforth evidence which could not be
+contradicted, the prosecution thus having a free hand in dealing with
+their subsequent victim.[338] In view of this circumstance it has been
+noted as remarkable that whereas the conspirators had been kept alive
+and untried for nearly three months, they were thus summarily dealt with
+at the moment when it was known that the capture of Father Garnet was
+imminent, and, as a matter of fact, he was taken on the very day on
+which the first company were executed.[339] It would appear that
+nothing should have seemed more desirable than to confront the Jesuit
+superior with those whom he was declared to have instigated to their
+crime, instead of putting them out of the way at the very moment when
+there was a prospect of doing so.
+
+
+ii. _The Fundamental Evidence._
+
+Amongst all the confessions and "voluntary declarations" extracted from
+the conspirators, there are two of exceptional importance, as having
+furnished the basis of the story told by the government, and ever since
+generally accepted. These are a long declaration made by Thomas Winter,
+and another by Guy Faukes, which alone were made public, being printed
+in the "King's Book," and from which are gathered the essential
+particulars of the story as we are accustomed to hear it.
+
+Of Winter's declaration, which is in the form of a letter to the Lords
+Commissioners, there is found in the State Paper Office only a copy,
+bearing date November 23rd, 1605, in the handwriting of Levinus Munck,
+Cecil's private secretary. This copy has been shown to the King, who in
+a marginal note objects to a certain "uncleare phrase," which has
+accordingly been altered in accordance with the royal criticism: and
+from it has evidently been taken the printed version, which agrees with
+it in every respect, including the above-mentioned emendation of the
+phraseology.
+
+[Illustration: FROM WINTER'S CONFESSION, NOVEMBER 23.]
+
+It must strike the reader as remarkable that, whereas, as has been said,
+the body of the letter is in the handwriting of the secretary, Munck,
+the names of the witnesses who attest it[340] are added in that of his
+master, Cecil himself.
+
+The "original" document, in Winter's own hand, is at Hatfield, and
+agrees in general so exactly with the copy, as to demonstrate the
+identity of their origin.[341] But while, as we have seen, the "copy" is
+dated November 23rd, the "original" is dated on the 25th.[342] On a
+circumstance so singular, light is possibly thrown by a letter from
+Waad, the Lieutenant of the Tower, to Cecil, on the 21st of the same
+month.[343] "Thomas Winter," he wrote, "doth find his hand so strong, as
+after dinner he will settle himself to write that he hath verbally
+declared to your Lordship, adding what he shall remember." The inference
+is certainly suggested that torture had been used until the prisoner's
+spirit was sufficiently broken to be ready to tell the story required of
+him, and that the details were furnished by those who demanded it. It
+must, moreover, be remarked that although Winter's "original"
+declaration is witnessed only by Sir E. Coke, the Attorney General, it
+appears in print attested by all those whom Cecil had selected for the
+purpose two days before the declaration was made.[344] It may be said
+that the inference drawn above is violent and unfair, and, perhaps, were
+there no other case to go upon but that of Winter, so grave a charge as
+it implies should not be made. There remains, however, the companion
+case of Faukes, which is yet more extraordinary.
+
+His declaration first makes its appearance as "The examination of Guy
+Fawkes, taken the 8th of November."[345] The document thus described is
+manifestly a draft, and not a copy of a deposition actually taken. It is
+unsigned: the list of witnesses is in the same handwriting as the rest,
+and in no instance is a witness indicated by such a title as he would
+employ for his signature.[346] Throughout this paper Faukes is made to
+speak in the third person, and the names of accomplices to whom he
+refers are not given.
+
+What, however, is most remarkable is the frank manner in which this
+document is treated as a draft. Several passages are cancelled and
+others substituted, sometimes in quite a contrary sense, so that the
+same deponent cannot possibly have made the statements contained in both
+versions. Other paragraphs are "ticked off," as the event proves, for
+omission.
+
+Nine days later, November 17th,[347] Faukes was induced to put his name
+to the substance of the matter contained in the draft.[348] The document
+is headed "The declaration[349] of Guy Fawkes, prisoner in the Tower of
+London." Faukes speaks throughout in the first person, and supplies the
+names previously omitted.[350] Most noteworthy is the manner in which
+this version is adapted to the emendations of the draft. The passages
+ticked off have disappeared entirely, amongst them the remarkable
+statements that "they [the confederates] meant also to have sent for the
+prisoners in the Tower, of whom particularly they had some
+consultation,"--that "they had consultation for the taking of the Lady
+Mary [the infant daughter of King James] into their possession"--and
+that "provision was made by some of the conspiracy of armour of proof
+this last summer, for this action." Where an alteration has been made in
+the draft, great skill is shown in combining what is important in both
+versions.[351]
+
+As to the means which were employed to compel Faukes to sign the
+declaration there can be no doubt; his signature bearing evidence that
+he had been tortured with extreme severity. The witnesses are but two,
+Coke, the Attorney General, and Waad, the Lieutenant of the Tower. When,
+however, the document came to be printed, as in the other case, a fuller
+list was appended, but not exactly that previously indicated, for to
+Faukes were assigned the same witnesses as to Winter, including the
+Earls of Worcester and Dunbar over and above his own list.[352]
+
+[Illustration: SIGNATURES OF FAUKES AND OLDCORNE.[353]]
+
+The printed version exhibits other points of interest. There was in the
+Archduke's service, in Flanders, an English soldier, Hugh Owen,[354]
+whom the government were for some reason, excessively desirous to
+incriminate, and get into their hands. For this purpose, a passage was
+artfully interpolated in the statement of Faukes, whereof no trace is
+found in the original. In the "King's Book," the passage in question
+stands thus, the words italicised being those fraudulently introduced:
+
+"About Easter, the parliament being prorogued till October next, we
+dispersed ourselves, and I retired into the Low-countries, _by advice
+and direction of the rest; as well to acquaint Owen with the particulars
+of the plot, as also_, lest, by my longer stay, I might have grown
+suspicious." But of Owen we shall see more in particular. It must not be
+forgotten that on several other days besides those named above, Faukes
+made declarations, still extant, viz., November 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, and
+16th, and January 9th and 20th. The most important items of information
+furnished by that selected for publication were not even hinted at in
+any of these.
+
+Farther light appears to be thrown on the manner in which this important
+declaration was prepared by another document found amongst the State
+Papers. This is an "interrogatory" drawn up by Sir E. Coke on November
+8th, the very day of the "draft," expressly for the benefit of
+Faukes.[355] That the "draft" was composed from this appears to be shown
+by a curious piece of evidence. We have already noticed the strange
+phraseology of one of the passages attributed to Faukes: "He confesseth
+that the same day that this detestable act should have been performed
+the same day should other of their confederacy have surprised the person
+of the Lady Elizabeth," etc. Precisely the same repetition occurs in
+the sixth of Mr. Attorney's suggested questions. "_Item_, was it not
+agreed that the same day that the act should have been done, the same
+day or soon after the person of the Lady Elizabeth should have been
+surprised," etc.?
+
+Moreover, it is apparent that this interrogatory is not founded on
+information already obtained, but is, in fact, what is known as a
+"fishing" document, intended to elicit evidence of some kind. In the
+first place, some of its suggestions are mutually incompatible. Thus in
+another place it implies that not Elizabeth but her infant sister Mary
+was the choice of the queen-makers:--"Who should have been protector of
+the Lady Mary, who, being born in England, they meant to prefer to the
+crown. With whom should she have married?" (She was then seven months
+old.) Again it asks: "What should have become of the Prince?" as though
+he might after all be the sovereign intended.
+
+Besides this, many points are raised which are evidently purely
+imaginary, inasmuch as no more was ever heard of them though if
+substantiated, they would have been supremely important.[356]
+
+The above details will not appear superfluous if the importance of these
+documents be fully understood. It is upon these narratives, stamped with
+features so incompatible with their trustworthiness, that we entirely
+depend for much of prime importance in the history of the conspiracy, in
+particular for the notable episode of the mine, which they alone relate,
+and which is not even mentioned, either in the other numerous
+confessions of Faukes and Winter themselves, or by any of the other
+confederates. Save for an incidental remark of Keyes, that he helped to
+work in the mine, we hear nothing else of it; while not only is this
+confession quite as strange a document as the two others, but, to
+complicate the matter still more, Keyes is expressly described by
+Cecil[357] himself as one of those that "wrought not in the mine."
+
+It is hard to understand how so remarkable an operation should have been
+totally ignored in all the other confessions and declarations, numerous
+and various as they are; while, on the other hand, should this striking
+feature of the Plot prove to be a fabrication, what is there of which to
+be certain?
+
+
+iii. _The Confession of Thomas Bates (December 4th, 1605)._
+
+There is another piece of evidence to which exceptional prominence has
+been given, the confession of Thomas Bates, Catesby's servant, dated
+December 4th, 1605. This is the only one of the conspirators'
+confessions specifically mentioned in the government account of their
+trial, and it is mentioned twice over--a circumstance not unsuspicious
+in view of the nature of that account as already described.[358]
+
+It is not necessary at present to enter upon the large question of the
+attitude of the Jesuits towards the Plot, nor to discuss their guilt or
+innocence. This is, however, beyond dispute, that the government were
+above all things anxious to prove them guilty,[359] and no document ever
+produced was so effective for this purpose as the said confession, for,
+if it were true, there could be no question as to the guilt of one
+Jesuit, at least, Father Greenway _alias_ Tesimond. The substance of
+Bates' declaration was as follows:
+
+That being introduced and sworn into the conspiracy by his master,
+Catesby, he was then told that, as a pledge of fidelity, he must receive
+the sacrament upon his oath, and accordingly he went to confession to
+Greenway, the Jesuit.
+
+_That in his confession he fully informed Greenway of the design, and
+that Greenway bade him obey his master, because it was for a good cause,
+and be secret, and mention the matter to no other priest._
+
+That he was absolved by Greenway, and afterwards received Holy
+Communion.
+
+It will be observed that the second paragraph, here italicized, is of
+supreme importance. We have evidence that although the conspirators,
+during the course of their operations, frequented the sacraments, they
+expressly avoided all mention of their design to their confessors,
+Catesby having required this of them, assuring them that he had fully
+satisfied himself that the project, far from being sinful, was
+meritorious, but that the priests were likely to give trouble.[360] We
+are even told by some authors that Catesby exacted of his confederates
+an oath of secrecy in this regard. It is clear that his authority must
+have had special weight with his own servant, who was, moreover,
+devotedly attached to his master, as he proved in the crisis of his
+fate. We might, therefore, naturally be prepared to learn that Bates,
+though confessing to Greenway, never acquainted him with the Plot; and,
+that in fact he never did so, there is some interesting evidence.
+
+It cannot escape observation as a suspicious circumstance that this
+most important confession, upon which so much stress was laid, exists
+amongst the State Papers only in a copy.[361] Moreover, this copy has
+been treated as though it were an original, being officially endorsed,
+and it has on some occasion been used in Court.[362] If, however, this
+version were not genuine, but prepared for a purpose, it is clear that
+it could not have been produced while Bates was alive to contradict it,
+and there appears to be no doubt that it was not heard of till after his
+death.
+
+This appears, in the first place, from a manuscript account of the
+Plot,[363] written between the trial of the conspirators and that of
+Father Garnet, that is, within two months of the former. The author sets
+himself expressly to prove that the priests must have been cognizant of
+the design, for, he argues, Catholics, when they have anything of the
+kind in hand, always consult their confessors about it, and it cannot be
+supposed that on this occasion only did they omit to do so. In support
+of his assertion, he quotes the instances of Parry, Babington, and
+Squires, but says nothing of Bates. He mentions Greenway as undoubtedly
+one of the guilty priests, but only because "his Majesty's proclamation
+so speaks it." Had the confession of Bates, as we have it, been so
+prominently adduced at the trial, as the official narrative represents,
+it is quite impossible that such a writer should have been content with
+these feeble inferences.
+
+Still more explicit is the evidence furnished by another MS. containing
+a report of Father Garnet's trial.[364] In this the confession of Bates
+is cited, but precisely without the significant passage of which we have
+spoken, as follows: "Catesby afterwards discovered the project unto him;
+shortly after which discovery, Bates went to Mass to Tesimond
+[Greenway], and there was confessed and had absolution."
+
+Here, again, it is impossible to suppose that the all-important point
+was the one omitted. It is clear, however, that the mention of a
+confession made to Greenway would _prima facie_ afford a presumption
+that this particular matter had been confessed, thus furnishing a
+foundation whereon to build; and, knowing as we do how evidence was
+manipulated, it is quite conceivable that the copy now extant
+incorporates the improved version thus suggested.
+
+Such an explanation was unmistakably insinuated by Father Garnet, when,
+on his trial, this evidence was urged against him; for he significantly
+replied that "Bates was a dead man."[365] Greenway himself afterwards,
+when beyond danger, denied on his salvation that Bates had ever on any
+occasion mentioned to him any word concerning the Plot. It is still more
+singular that Bates himself appears to have known nothing of his own
+declaration. He had apparently said, in some examination of which no
+record remains, that he thought Greenway "knew of the business." This
+statement he afterwards retracted as having been elicited by a vain
+hope of pardon, in a letter which is given in full by Father
+Gerard,[366] and of which Cecil himself made mention at Garnet's
+trial.[367] But of the far more serious accusation we are considering he
+said never a word.
+
+There is, however, evidence still more notable. On the same day,
+December 4th, on which Bates made his declaration, Cecil wrote a most
+important letter to one Favat,[368] who had been commissioned by King
+James to urge the necessity of obtaining evidence without delay against
+the priests. This document is valuable as furnishing explicit testimony
+that torture was employed with this object. "Most of the prisoners,"
+says the secretary, "have wilfully forsworn that the priests knew
+anything in particular, and obstinately refuse to be accusers of them,
+yea, what torture soever they be put to."
+
+He goes on, however, to assure his Majesty that the desired object is
+now in sight, particularly referring to a confession which can be none
+other than that of Bates, but likewise cannot be that afterwards given
+to the world; for it is spoken of as affording promise, but not yet
+satisfactory in its performance.
+
+"You may tell his Majesty that if he please to read privately what this
+day we have drawn from a voluntary and penitent examination, the point I
+am persuaded (but I am no undertaker) shall be so well cleared, if he
+forbear to speak much of this but few days, as we shall see all fall out
+to the end whereat his Majesty shooteth."
+
+It seems clear, therefore, that the famous declaration of Bates, like
+those of Faukes and Winter, tends to discredit the story which in
+particulars so important rests upon such evidence.
+
+It may be farther observed that if the confession of Bates, as
+officially preserved, were of any worth, it would have helped to raise
+other issues of supreme importance. Thus its concluding paragraph runs
+as follows:
+
+"He confesseth that he heard his master, Thomas Winter, and Guy Fawkes
+say (presently upon the coming over of Fawkes) that they should have the
+sum of five-and-twenty thousand pounds out of Spain."
+
+This clearly means that the King of Spain was privy to the design, for a
+sum equivalent to a quarter of a million of our money could not have
+been furnished by private persons. The government, however, constantly
+assured the English ambassadors abroad of the great satisfaction with
+which they found that no suspicion whatever rested upon any foreign
+prince.
+
+
+iv. _Robert Winter._
+
+There are various traces of foul play in regard of this conspirator in
+particular, which serve to shake our confidence as to the treatment of
+all. Robert Winter was the eldest brother of Thomas, and held the family
+property, which was considerable. Whether this motive, as Mr. Jardine
+suggests, or some other, prompted the step, certain it is that the
+government in their published history falsified the documents in order
+to incriminate him more deeply. Faukes, in the confession of Nov. 17th,
+mentioned Robert Keyes as amongst the first seven of the conspirators
+who worked in the mine, and Robert Winter as one of the five introduced
+at a later period. The names of these two were deliberately interchanged
+in the published version, Robert Winter appearing as a worker in the
+mine, and Keyes, who was an obscure man of no substance, among the
+gentlemen of property whose resources were to have supported the
+subsequent rebellion. Moreover, in the account of the same confession
+sent to Edmondes by Cecil three days before Faukes signed it (_i.e._,
+Nov. 14th), the same transposition occurs, Keyes being explicitly
+described as one of those "who wrought not in the mine," although, as we
+have seen, he is one of the three who alone make any mention of it.
+
+Still more singular is another circumstance. About November 28th, Sir
+Edward Coke, the attorney-general, drew up certain farther notes of
+questions to be put to various prisoners.[369] Amongst these we read:
+"Winter to be examined of his brother. For no man else can accuse him."
+But a fortnight or so before this time the Secretary of State had
+officially informed the ambassador in the Low Countries that Robert
+Winter was one of those deepest in the treason, and, to say nothing of
+other evidence, a proclamation for his apprehension had been issued on
+November 18th. Yet Coke's interrogatory seems to imply that nothing had
+yet been established against him, and that he was not known to the
+general body of the traitors as a fellow-conspirator.
+
+
+v. _Captain Hugh Owen, Father William Baldwin, and others._
+
+We have seen something of the extreme anxiety evinced by the English
+government to incriminate a certain Hugh Owen, a Welsh soldier of
+fortune serving in Flanders under the archduke.[370] With him were
+joined Father Baldwin, the Jesuit, and Sir William Stanley, who, like
+Owen, was in the archduke's service. The measures taken in regard of
+them are exceedingly instructive if we would understand upon what sort
+of evidence the guilt of obnoxious individuals was proclaimed as
+incontrovertible.
+
+No time was lost in commencing operations. On November 14th, three days
+before Faukes signed the celebrated declaration which we have examined,
+and in which Owen was not mentioned, the Earl of Salisbury wrote to
+Edmondes, ambassador at Brussels,[371] that Faukes had now directly
+accused Owen, whose extradition must therefore be demanded. In proof of
+this assertion he inclosed a copy of the declaration, in which, however,
+curiously enough, no mention of Owen's name occurs.[372]
+
+Edmondes on his side was equally prompt. He at once laid the matter
+before the archduke and his ministers, and on November 19th was able to
+write to Salisbury that Owen and his secretary were apprehended and
+their papers and ciphers seized, and that, "If there shall fall out
+matter to charge Owen with partaking in the treason, the archduke will
+not refuse the king to yield him to be answerable to justice,"[373]
+though venturing to hope that he would be able to clear himself of so
+terrible an accusation.
+
+On "the last of November" the subject was pursued in an epistle from the
+King himself to the "Archdukes,"[374] in which the undoubted guilt of
+both Owen and Baldwin was roundly affirmed.[375]
+
+On December 2nd, 1605, Salisbury wrote to Edmondes:[376] "I do warrant
+you to deliver upon the forfeiture of my judgment in your opinion that
+it shall appear as evident as the sun in the clearest day, that Baldwin
+by means of Owen, and Owen directly by himself, have been particular
+conspirators."
+
+In spite of this, the authorities in Flanders asked for proofs of the
+guilt of those whom they were asked to give up. Wherefore Edmondes wrote
+(December 27th) to secure the co-operation of Cornwallis, his
+fellow-ambassador, at Madrid. After declaring that Owen and Baldwin were
+now found to have been "principal dealers in the late execrable
+treason," with remarkable _naivete_ he thus continues:[377]
+
+"I will not conceal from your lordship that they have been here so
+unrespective as to desire for their better satisfaction to have a copy
+of the information against the said persons to be sent over hither;
+which I fear will be very displeasing to his Majesty to understand."
+
+In January (1605-6), Salisbury sending, in the King's name, instructions
+to Sir E. Coke as to the trial of the conspirators, concluded with this
+admonition:[378] "You must remember to lay Owen as foul in this as you
+can," which certainly does not suggest that the case against him was
+overwhelmingly strong.
+
+After the execution of the traitors, an Act of Attainder passed by
+Parliament included Owen amongst them.[379]
+
+The archdukes remaining unconvinced, another and very notable argument
+was brought into play. On February 12th, 1605-6, Salisbury wrote to
+Edmondes:[380]
+
+"As for the particular depositions against Owen and Baldwin, which the
+archdukes desire to have a sight of, you may let them know that it is a
+matter which can make but little to the purpose, considering that his
+Majesty already upon his royal word hath certified the archdukes of
+their guilt."
+
+As to Owen's own papers which had been seized, the archduke assured the
+English ambassador,[381] "that if there had been anything to have been
+discovered out of the said papers touching the late treason (as he was
+well assured of the contrary), he would not have failed to have imparted
+the same to his Majesty."
+
+At a later date the Spanish minister De Grenada wrote from
+Valladolid[382] that men could not be delivered up on mere suspicion,
+which might prove groundless, but that the archduke had received orders
+to sift the matter to the bottom, in order that justice might be done
+"very fully."
+
+About the same time President Richardot informed Edmondes[383] that Owen
+strenuously denied the charges against him, "and that there is the more
+probability of his innocency for that his papers having been carefully
+visited, there doth not appear anything in them to charge him concerning
+the said matter."
+
+On April 21st Salisbury informed Edmondes of a conference on the subject
+between the king and the archduke's ambassador.[384] The latter declared
+that his master was ready to prosecute the accused in his own courts if
+evidence was furnished him, but in reply King James explained that this
+was impossible, and that he "was loth to send any papers or accusations
+over, not knowing how they might be framed or construed there by the
+formalities of their laws." He added that it was useless now to talk of
+evidence, "seeing the wretch is already condemned by the public sentence
+of the whole Parliament, which sentence the archdukes might see if they
+would." The ambassador thereupon asked to have a copy, but was curtly
+told that it would presently be printed, when he could buy one for
+twelve pence and send it to his masters, but that the king was not
+disposed to make a present of it.
+
+In these circumstances the archdukes determined to detain Owen no
+longer, and he was presently discharged. The news of this proceeding
+produced a remarkable change in the tone of his accusers. On June 18th,
+the secretary wrote to Edmondes[385] that Owen's enlargement "seemed to
+give too much credit to his innocency;" moreover, that "though his
+Majesty showed no great disposition (for many considerations specified
+unto you) to send over the papers and accusations against him, ... yet
+this proceeded not out of any conscience of the invalidity of the
+proofs, but rather in respect that his process being made here, and the
+caitiff condemned by the public sentence of the Parliament, it would
+have come all to one issue, seeing they have proceeded when his Majesty
+left it to themselves to do as they thought fit."
+
+To reinforce this lucid explanation Salisbury sent six days later what
+had before been refused, an abstract of "confessions against Owen," and
+a corrected copy of the Act of Attainder. These documents deserve some
+consideration.
+
+We have seen how much stress was laid upon the action of Parliament in
+regard of Owen, although the Act of Attainder which it passed affords no
+information whatever to assist our judgment of his case. In moving for
+this attainder, Sir E. Coke appeared at the bar of the House of Commons
+(April 29th, 1606) to exhibit the evidence on which the charge rested.
+His notes of this evidence, which are extant,[386] clearly show that the
+government possessed no proofs at all beyond surmise and inference.[387]
+Three testimonies were cited which were quite inconsistent and mutually
+destructive: (1) An extract from a confession of Guy Faukes, January
+20th, 1605-6, declaring that he had himself initiated Owen in the Plot
+in May, 1605. (2) An information of one Ralph Ratcliffe, to the effect
+that Owen and Baldwin were busy with the Plot in April, 1604. (3) T.
+Winter's testimony--from his famous confession of November 23rd, or
+25th, 1605--that in the spring of 1604 Owen had assisted him to secure
+the services of Faukes.
+
+In Salisbury's letter to Edmondes, the first and the last of these alone
+were cited,[388] probably because it had by this time been perceived
+that Ratcliffe's evidence flatly contradicted that of Faukes.
+
+Winter's confession has already been discussed, and moreover affords no
+proof that Owen was acquainted with the purpose for which the services
+of Faukes were required. There remains the very circumstantial story of
+Faukes himself, which belongs to a curious and interesting class of
+documents, containing matter of the highest importance, whereof no
+trace, not even a copy, is to be found amongst the State Papers. These
+comprise various confessions of Faukes, dated November 19th, 25th, and
+30th, 1605, and January 20th, 1605-6, all dealing with information of a
+sensational nature, concerning which we learn nothing from the eleven
+depositions of the same conspirator preserved in the Record Office.[389]
+For our knowledge of these mysterious documents we have to depend on
+transcripts of portions of them among the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian
+Library, on fragmentary Latin versions in the _Antilogia_ of Bishop
+Abbot, and on the extract cited from the last amongst them by Sir Edward
+Coke, which exactly agrees with that sent by Salisbury to Edmondes, as
+above mentioned.
+
+It cannot escape notice that although these versions all profess to be
+taken from the originals under Faukes' hand, they are so utterly
+different as to preclude the belief that they have been copied from the
+same documents.[390]
+
+It must farther be observed that we hear nothing of important matters
+contained in these confessions till the supposed author and his
+confederates were all dead, whereas these are such as would certainly
+have been produced on their trial had this been possible.[391] Some of
+the evidence thus afforded is, in fact, too good, for the Government's
+purpose, to be true, for if authentic, it would have secured results
+which, though much desired, were never obtained. In particular it would
+have established beyond question the guilt of the Jesuits abroad, and
+especially of Father Baldwin.[392] It is this Father, however, whose
+case conclusively proves the utter worthlessness of the evidence. Having
+been proclaimed and branded by the English government as a convicted
+traitor, he, five years later, fell into their hands, being delivered
+up, in 1610, by their ally the Elector Palatine. He was at once thrown
+into the Tower, where he was frequently and rigorously examined, it is
+said even on the rack.[393] After a confinement of eight years he was
+discharged "with honour," his innocence being attested by the respect
+with which he was treated by men of all parties.[394] In view of this
+unquestionable acquittal the famous proofs of his criminality, though
+certified on the royal word of King James himself, forfeit all claim to
+consideration.
+
+A word may be added concerning Father Cresswell, an English Jesuit
+residing in Spain. He, too, was assumed to have been deeply implicated
+in this and other treasons. In November, 1605, Cecil included his name
+in a list of traitors against whom proofs were to be procured.[395] It
+was even asserted that at the time of the intended explosion he came
+over to England "to bear his part with the rest of his Society in a
+victorial song of thanksgiving."[396] He was, moreover, loudly denounced
+as the principal agent in the notorious Spanish Treason.
+
+After all this it is somewhat surprising to find Sir Charles Cornwallis,
+the English Ambassador, while the excitement of the Powder Plot was at
+its height, testifying in the most cordial terms to his esteem for the
+said Cresswell. The latter having been called to Rome by his superiors,
+Cornwallis (December 23rd, N.S. 1605,) addressed to him the following
+letter.[397]
+
+    "Sir, although in matter of religion well you know that there are
+    many discords between us, yet sure in your duty and loyalty to my
+    King and Country I find in you so good a concordance I cannot but
+    much reverence and love you, and wish you all the happiness that a
+    man of your sort upon the earth can desire.
+
+    "Much am I (I assure you) grieved at your departure, and the more
+    that I was put in so good hope that your journey should have been
+    stayed. The time of the year unpleasant to travel in, your body, as
+    I think, not much accustomed to journeys of so great length, and the
+    great good you did here to your poor countrymen (which now they
+    want) are great motives to make your friends to wish your will in
+    that voyage had been broken.
+
+    "If it be not, I shall not believe in words, for many here do
+    greatly desire you for causes spiritual, and some for temporal. In
+    the latter number am I, who, not affecting your spiritualities (for
+    that these in you abound to superfluity), do much reverence and
+    respect your temporal abilities, as wherein I acknowledge much
+    wisdom, temper, and sincerity. So no friends you have shall ever
+    more desire good unto you than myself. And therefore I wish I were
+    able to make so good demonstration as willingly I would that I ever
+    will here and in all places in this world rest
+
+    "Your very assured loving friend,
+
+    "CH. CO."
+
+About the same time, in an undated letter to Lord Salisbury,[398]
+Cornwallis again expresses his regret on account of the removal of
+Cresswell from Spain.
+
+
+vi. _Other Documents._
+
+It is impossible to analyze in detail the evidence supplied by the
+several conspirators after their capture, or to examine the endless
+inconsistencies and contradictions with which it abounds. One or two
+points must, however, be indicated.
+
+1. As we have seen, it is clear that at the beginning an effort was made
+to invest the Plot with a far wider political significance than was
+afterwards attempted, and to introduce elements which were soon quietly
+laid aside. In the interrogatories prepared by Sir E. Coke and Chief
+Justice Popham, we find it suggested that the death of the Earl of
+Salisbury was a main feature of the scheme, "absolutely agreed upon"
+among the conspirators. Also that the titular Earl of Westmoreland, the
+titular Lord Dacre, the Earl of Northumberland, Sir Walter Raleigh, and
+others were mixed up in the business.
+
+Nor were such endeavours altogether fruitless, for, supposing the
+testimony extorted from the prisoners to be worthy of credit,
+information was obtained altogether changing the character and
+complexion of the design. This was, however, presently buried in
+oblivion and treated as of no moment whatever.
+
+Thus in Sir Everard Digby's declaration of Nov. 23rd,[399] we find him
+testifying that the Earls of Westmoreland and Derby,[400] were to have
+been sent to raise forces in the north. Faukes, in the famous confession
+which we have so fully discussed, was made to say "They meant also to
+have sent for the prisoners in the Tower to have come to them, of whom
+particularly they had some consultation," and although this important
+clause was omitted from the finished version finally adopted, it appears
+in that of Nov. 14th, sent by Cecil to the ambassador at Brussels.
+Again, in his examination of November 9th, famous for the ghastly
+evidence of torture afforded by his signature, we find Faukes declaring,
+"He confesseth also that there was speech amongst them to draw Sir
+Walter Rawley to take part with them, being one that might stand them in
+good stead, _as others in like sort were named_."[401]
+
+With regard to Raleigh it must be remembered that he was in a very
+special manner obnoxious to Salisbury, who, however, was at great pains
+to disguise his hostility. On occasion of Sir Walter's trial, in 1603,
+he vehemently protested that it was a great grief to him to have to
+pronounce against one whom he had hitherto loved.[402] But two years
+earlier, in his secret correspondence with James, he had not only
+described Raleigh to the future king as one of the diabolical
+triplicity hatching cockatrice eggs, but had solemnly protested that if
+he feigned friendship for such a wretch, it was only with the purpose of
+drawing him on to discover his real nature.[403]
+
+2. Even more worthy of notice is the shameless manner in which evidence
+was falsified. That produced in court consisted entirely of the written
+depositions of the prisoners themselves, and of those who had been
+similarly examined. It was, however, carefully manipulated before it was
+read; all that told in favour of those whose conviction was desired
+being omitted, and only so much retained as would tell against them. On
+this subject Mr. Jardine well remarks:[404] "This mode of dealing with
+the admissions of an accused person is pure and unmixed injustice; it is
+in truth a forgery of evidence; for when a qualified statement is made,
+the suppression of the qualification is no less a forgery than if the
+whole statement had been fabricated."
+
+It will be sufficient to cite one notorious and compendious example.
+In regard of the oath of secrecy taken by the conspirators, Faukes (Nov.
+9th, 1605) and Thomas Winter (Jan. 9th, 1605-6) related how they
+administered it to one another, "in a chamber," to quote Winter, "where
+no other body was," and afterwards proceeded to another chamber where
+they heard Mass and received Communion at the hands of Father
+Gerard.[405] Both witnesses, however, emphatically declared that the
+Father knew nothing of the oath that had been taken, or of the purpose
+of the associates.
+
+[Illustration: FROM FAUKES' CONFESSION OF NOVEMBER 9, 1605.]
+
+Such testimony in favour of one whom they were anxious above all things
+to incriminate, the government would not allow to appear. Accordingly,
+Sir E. Coke, preparing the documents to be used in court as evidence,
+marked off the exculpatory passages, with directions that they were not
+to be read.[406] Having thus suppressed the passage which declared that
+the Jesuit was unaware of the conspirators' purpose, and of their oath,
+Coke went on to inform the jury, in his speech, "This oath was by Gerard
+the Jesuit given to Catesby, Percy, Christopher Wright, and Thomas
+Winter, and by Greenwell [Greenway] the Jesuit to Bates at another time,
+and so to the rest."[407]
+
+3. Neither must it be forgotten that even apart from these manifest
+instances of tampering, the confessions themselves, obtained in such
+circumstances, are open to much suspicion. In an intercepted letter to
+Father Baldwin, of whom we have heard, Father Schondonck, another
+Jesuit, then rector of St. Omers, speaks thus:[408] "I much rejoice
+that, as I hear, there is no confession produced, by which, either in
+court or at the place of execution, any of our society is accused of so
+abominable a crime. This I consider a point of prime importance. _Of
+secret confessions, or those extorted by violence or torture, less
+account must be made; for we have many examples whereby the dishonesty
+of our enemies in such matters has been fully displayed._"
+
+Father John Gerard in his Autobiography[409] relates an experience of
+his own which illustrates the methods employed to procure evidence such
+as was required. When, in Queen Elizabeth's time, he had himself been
+taken and thrown into prison, the notorious Topcliffe, the
+priest-hunter, endeavoured to force him into an acknowledgment of
+various matters of a treasonable character. Father Gerard undertook to
+write what he had to say on the subject, and proceeded to set down an
+explicit denial of what his questioner suggested. What followed he thus
+relates.[410]
+
+"While I was writing this, the old man waxed wroth. He shook with
+passion, and would fain have snatched the paper from me."
+
+"'If you don't want me to write the truth,' said I, 'I'll not write at
+all.'"
+
+"'Nay,' quoth he, 'write so and so, and I'll copy out what you have
+written.'"
+
+"'I shall write what I please,' I answered, 'and not what _you_ please.
+Show what I have written to the Council, for I shall add nothing but my
+name.'"
+
+"_Then I signed so near the writing, that nothing could be put in
+between._ The hot-tempered man, seeing himself disappointed, broke out
+into threats and blasphemies: 'I'll get you into my power, and hang you
+in the air, and show you no mercy: and then I shall see what God will
+rescue you out of my hands.'"
+
+It was not by Catholics alone that allegations of this sort were
+advanced. Sir Anthony Weldon tells us[411] that on the trial of Raleigh
+and Cobham, the latter protested that he had never made the declaration
+attributed to him incriminating Raleigh. "That villain Wade,"[412] said
+he, "did often solicit me, and, not prevailing, got me, by a trick, to
+write my name on a piece of white paper, which I, thinking nothing, did;
+so that if any charge came under my hand, it was forged by that villain
+Wade, by writing something above my hand, without my consent or
+knowledge."
+
+Moreover, there exists undoubted evidence that the king's chief minister
+availed himself upon occasion of the services of such as could
+counterfeit handwriting and forge evidence against suspected persons.
+One Arthur Gregory[413] appears to have been thus employed, and he
+subsequently wrote to Salisbury reminding him of what he had done.[414]
+After acknowledging that he owes his life to the secretary who knows how
+to appreciate "an honest desire in respect of his Majesty's public
+service," Gregory thus continues:
+
+"Your Lordship hath had a present trial of that which none but myself
+hath done before, _to write in another man's hand_, and, discovering the
+secret writing being in blank, to abuse a most cunning villain in his
+own subtlety, leaving the same at last in blank again, wherein although
+there be difficulty their answers show they have no suspicion."
+
+This the calendarer of State Papers believes to refer to the case of
+Father Garnet, and it is certain from Gregory's own letter that at one
+time he held a post in the Tower. Is it not possible that an explanation
+may here be found of the strange circumstance, that perhaps the most
+important of Father Garnet's examinations[415] bears an endorsement,
+"This was forbydden by the King to be given in evidence"?
+
+Gregory's letter, of which we have been speaking, has appended to it an
+instructive postscript:
+
+"Mr. Lieutenant expecteth something to be written in the blank leaf of a
+Latin Bible, which is pasted in already for the purpose. I will attend
+it, and whatsoever else cometh."[416]
+
+
+vii. _Catholic Testimony._
+
+It will not improbably be urged that the government history is confirmed
+in all essential particulars by authorities to whom no exception can be
+taken, namely, contemporary Catholic writers, and especially the Jesuits
+Gerard and Greenway, whose narratives of the conspiracy corroborate
+every detail concerning which doubts have been insinuated.
+
+This argument is undoubtedly deserving of all consideration, but upon
+examination appears to lose much of its force. If the narratives in
+question agree with that furnished by the government, it is because they
+are based almost entirely upon it, and upon those published confessions
+of Winter and Faukes with which we are familiar.
+
+On this point Father Gerard is very explicit:[417] "Out of [Mr. Thomas
+Winter's] examination, with the others that were made in the time of
+their imprisonment, I must gather and set down all that is to be said or
+collected of their purposes and proceedings in this heady enterprize.
+For that, as I have said, they kept it so wholly secret from all men,
+that until their flight and apprehension it was not known to any that
+such a matter was in hand, and then there could none have access to them
+to learn the particulars. But we must be contented with that which some
+of those that lived to be examined, did therein deliver. Only for that
+some of their servants that were up in arms with them in the country did
+afterwards escape, somewhat might be learned by them of their carriage
+in their last extremities, and some such words as they then uttered,
+whereby their mind in the whole matter is something the more opened."
+
+Elsewhere he writes, exhibiting more confidence in government documents
+than we can feel:[418]
+
+"[The prisoners'] examinations did all agree in all material points, and
+therefore two only were published in print, containing the substance of
+the rest. And indeed [this is] the sum of that which I have been able to
+say in this narration touching either their first intentions or the
+names or number of the conspirators, or concerning the course they took
+to keep the matter so absolutely secret, or, finally, touching the
+manner of their beginning and proceeding in the whole matter; for
+that--as I noted before--it being kept a vowed secret in the heads and
+hearts of so few, and those also afterwards apprehended before they
+could have means to declare the particulars in any private manner,
+therefore no more can be known of the matter or manner of this tragedy
+than is found or gathered out of their examinations."
+
+As for Greenway, it should not be forgotten that for the most part he
+confined himself to translating Gerard's narrative from English into
+Italian, though he supplemented it occasionally with items furnished by
+his own experience as to the character and general conduct of the
+conspirators on previous occasions, or during their last desperate
+rally. Of this he was able to speak with more authority, as he not only
+chanced to be in the immediate neighbourhood, but actually visited them
+at Huddington House (the seat of Robert Winter) on November 6th, being
+summoned thither by Catesby through his servant Bates.[419] Greenway,
+like Gerard, constantly refers to the published confessions of Winter
+and Faukes as the sources of his information.
+
+It may here be observed that the practical identity of the narratives
+of these two fathers was unknown to Mr. Jardine, who having seen only
+that of Father Greenway, and believing it to be an original work,
+founded upon this erroneous assumption an argument which loses its force
+when we learn the real author to have been Gerard. Mr. Jardine maintains
+that the narrator must, from internal evidence, have been an active and
+zealous member of the conspiracy, "approving, promoting and encouraging
+it with the utmost enthusiasm."[420] It so happens, however, that the
+real author, Father Gerard, is just the one of the incriminated Jesuits
+whose innocence is held by historians certainly not partial to his
+Order, to be beyond question. Mr. Gardiner considers[421] that there is
+"strong reason" to believe him not to have been acquainted with the
+Plot. Dr. Jessopp is still more emphatic, and declares[422] that it is
+impossible for any candid reader of all the evidence to doubt that
+Gerard must be exonerated.
+
+What has been said of Gerard and Greenway may serve also for Father
+Garnet, who in his various examinations and other utterances assumes the
+truth of the government story, for neither had he materials to go upon
+except those officially supplied.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is obvious that the conclusion to be drawn from the above
+considerations is chiefly negative. That the conspirators embarked on a
+plot against the state, is, of course unquestionable. What was the
+precise nature of that plot is by no means clear, and still less what
+were the exact circumstances of its initiation and its collapse. This
+only appears to be certain, that things did not happen as they were
+officially related, while the elaborate care expended on the
+falsification of the story seems to indicate that the true version would
+not have served the purposes to which that story was actually put.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[332] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 235. Mr. Jardine is here speaking expressly
+of the trial of Father Garnet, as reported in the book, but evidently
+intends his observations to extend to that of the conspirators as well.
+
+[333] _Ibid._ 105.
+
+[334] _True and Perfect Relation_, Introduction.
+
+[335] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 113.
+
+[336] The contemporary, Hawarde (_Les Reportes del Cases in Camera
+Stellata_) gives a report of the trial of the conspirators, under the
+curious title "_Al le arraignemente del Traitors por le grande treason
+of blowinge up the Parliamente Howse_," which, although evidently based
+upon the official account, differs in two remarkable particulars. In the
+first place it gives a different list of the commissioners by whom the
+trial was conducted, omitting Justice Warburton, and including instead,
+Lord Chief Baron Flemming, Justices Yelverton and Williams, and Baron
+Saville. Moreover, Hawarde says that the king and queen "were both there
+in pryvate," an important circumstance, of which the _True and Perfect
+Relation_ says nothing.
+
+[337] Viz., on January 30th and 31st: not January 31st and February 1st,
+as Mr. Gardiner has it.
+
+[338] Father Garnet clearly believed that this advantage was used
+unscrupulously against him, for when certain evidence attributed to
+Bates was cited, he replied that "Bates was a dead man," and would
+testify otherwise if he were alive. (Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 21203.
+_Foley's Records_, iv. p. 188.)
+
+[339] It is frequently said that the search at Hendlip was undertaken
+not for Garnet but for Oldcorne, whose presence there was known by the
+confession of Humphrey Littleton. But this confession was made several
+days after the search had been begun, and the directions for it given by
+Cecil to the sheriff, Sir H. Bromley, clearly indicate that he had in
+view some capture of prime importance. (See Gardiner's _History_, i.
+271, and Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 6178, f. 693.)
+
+[340] Viz.: Nottingham, Suffolk, Worcester, Devonshire, Northampton,
+Salisbury, Marr, Dunbar, Popham, Coke, and Waad.
+
+[341] In the "original," however, there are some passages which do not
+appear in the copy, notably one in which Lord Monteagle is mentioned. It
+appears, therefore, that the "copy" is not the first version produced,
+but has been edited from another still earlier.
+
+[342] That this is not a slip of the pen is evidenced by the fact that
+Winter first wrote 23, and then corrected it to 25.
+
+[343] Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 6178, 84.
+
+[344] The document is headed in the printed version: "Thomas Winter's
+Confession, taken the Twenty-third of November, 1605, in the Presence of
+the Counsellors, whose Names are underwritten."
+
+[345] _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 49.
+
+[346] The list stands thus: "L. Admyrall--L. Chamberlayn--Erle of
+Devonshire--Erle of Northampton--Erle of Salisbury--Erle of Marr--L.
+Cheif Justice--attended by Mr. Attorney Generall."
+
+The Lord Admiral was the Earl of Nottingham, better known as Lord Howard
+of Effingham, the commander-in-chief against the Spanish Armada. There
+appears to be no foundation for the supposition that he was a Catholic.
+Northampton (Henry Howard) was a professing Catholic. The chamberlain
+was the Earl of Suffolk, the Chief Justice, Popham.
+
+[347] The _Calendar of State Papers_ assigns this document, like the
+other, to the 8th, a mistake not easy to understand, for not only is the
+date clearly written, but the printed version in the "King's Book" gives
+it correctly.
+
+[348] _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 101.
+
+[349] This was originally written "deposition;" the title is altered in
+Coke's hand, who also added the words, "taken the 17 of Nov. 1605:
+acknowledged before the Lords Commissioners."
+
+[350] Thus the _examination_ of November 8th begins as follows: "He
+confesseth that a Practise in generall was first broken unto him,
+agaynst his Majesty, for the Catholique cause, and not invented, or
+propounded by himself: and this was first propounded unto him, about
+Easter last was twelvemonth, beyond the seas, in the Low Countreyes, by
+an English Lay-man, and that English man came over with him in his
+company, into England, and they tow and three more were the first five,
+mencioned in the former examination," etc.
+
+The _declaration_ of November 17th opens: "I confesse that a practise in
+general was first broken unto me against his Majesty, for releife of the
+Catholique cause, and not invented or propounded by myself. And this was
+first propounded unto me about Easter last was twelvemonth, beyond the
+Seas, in the Low Countries of the Archdukes obeysance, by Thomas Winter,
+who came thereupon with me into England, and there wee imparted our
+purpose to three other Englishmen more, namely Rob^t Catesby, Tho^s
+Percy, and John Wright, who all five consulting together," etc. See both
+documents in full, Appendix N.
+
+[351] Thus, in the confession of November 8th, we read as follows: "He
+confesseth, that it was resolved amonge them, that the same day that
+this detestable act should have been performed, the same day [_sic_]
+should other of their confederacye have surprised the person of the Lady
+Elizabeth and presently have proclaimed her queen [to which purpose a
+Proclamation was drawne, as well to avow and justifye the Action, as to
+have protested against the Union, and in noe sort to have meddled with
+Religion therein. And would have protested all soe against all
+strangers,] and this Proclamation should have been made in the name of
+the Lady Elizabeth."
+
+The portion within brackets is cancelled, and the following substituted:
+"He confesseth that if their purpose had taken effect, untill they had
+power enough, they would not have avowed the deed to be theirs; but if
+their power ... had been sufficient, they thereafter would have taken it
+upon them."
+
+The corresponding portion of the declaration of November 17th runs thus:
+"It was further resolved amongst us, that the same day that this action
+should have been performed, some other of our confederates should have
+surprised the person of the L. Elizabeth, the King's eldest daughter,
+... and presently proclaimed her for Queene, having a _project_ of a
+Proclamation ready for the purpose, wherein we made no mention of
+altering of Religion, nor would have avowed the deed to be ours, untill
+we should have had power enough to make our partie good, and then we
+would have avowed both."
+
+[352] The printed version of Fauke's declaration is headed: "The true
+Copy of the Deposition of Guido Fawkes, taken in the Presence of the
+Counsellors, whose Names are under written."
+
+[353] See Appendix K., _The Use of Torture_.
+
+[354] In the _Calendar of State Papers_ he is continually styled "Father
+Owen," or "Owen the Jesuit," without warrant in the original documents.
+That he was a soldier and not a priest there is no doubt.
+
+[355] _Dom. James I._ xvi. 38.
+
+[356] E.g. _Item._ Where you have confessed that it was discoursed
+between you that the prisoners in the Tower should have had intelligence
+after the act done, declare the particularity of that discourse, and
+whether some prisoners in the Tower should not have been called to
+office or place, or have been employed, etc.
+
+_Item._ Where you have confessed that the L. Elizabeth should have
+succeeded, and that she should have been brought up as a Catholic, and
+married to an English Catholic. (1) Who should have had the government
+of her? (2) Who was nominated to be the fittest to have married her?
+
+_Item._ Was it not resolved amongst you that after the act done you
+would have taken the Tower, or any other place of strength, and meant
+you not to have taken the spoil of London, and whom should you have
+instantly proclaimed?
+
+_Item._ By what priests or Jesuits were you resolved that it was godly
+and lawful to execute the act?
+
+_Item._ Whether was it not resolved that if it were discovered Catesby
+and others should have killed the king coming from Royston?
+
+_Item._ Were not Edw. Neville, calling himself Earl of Westmorland, Mr.
+Dacre, calling himself Lord Dacre, or any of the Nobility, privy to it?
+How many of the Nobility have you known at Mass? What persons in the
+Tower were named to be partakers with you?
+
+[357] To Edmondes, November 14th, 1605. (Stowe MSS.)
+
+[358] _Viz., The True and Perfect Relation._ The confession of Bates is
+mentioned but not textually quoted. It is in the "King's Book" that the
+confessions of Winter and Faukes are given.
+
+[359] "The great object of the government now was to obtain evidence
+against the priests."--Gardiner, _History of England_, i. 267.
+
+[360] See Rokewood's examination, December 2nd, 1605. (_Gunpowder Plot
+Book_, 136.) In the confession of Keyes, November 30th, 1605 (_Gunpowder
+Plot Book_, 126) we read: "He sayth that the reason that he revealed not
+the project to his ghostly father was for that Catesby told him that he
+had good warrant and authoritie that it might safely and with good
+conscience be done," etc.
+
+[361] _Gunpowder Plot Book_, 145.
+
+[362] This is shown by a mark (Sec.) in the margin opposite the important
+passage, attention being called to this by the same mark, and the name
+"Greenway" in the endorsement.
+
+[363] Brit. Mus., Harleian 360, f. 96.
+
+[364] Brit. Mus., Harleian 360, f. 109, etc. The reporter had clearly
+been present.
+
+[365] Brit. Mus., MSS. Add. 21, 203; Plut. ciii. F. Printed by Foley,
+_Records_, iv. 164 _seq._
+
+[366] _Narrative_, p. 210.
+
+[367] Plut. ciii. F. Sec. 39.
+
+[368] Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 6178, Sec. 625.
+
+[369] _Dom. James I._ xvi. 116.
+
+[370] In the _Calendar of State Papers_, Mrs. Everett Green, as has been
+said, quite gratuitously and without warrant from the original
+documents, uniformly describes him as "Father Owen," or "Owen the
+Jesuit." Mr. Gardiner (_Hist._ i. 242) has been led into the same error.
+
+It is not impossible that Owen had some knowledge of the conspiracy,
+though the course adopted by his enemies seems to afford strong
+presumption to the contrary. It must, moreover, be remembered that, as
+Father Gerard tells us, he and others similarly accused, vehemently
+protested against the imputation, while in his case in particular we
+have some evidence to the same effect. Thomas Phelippes, the
+"Decipherer," of whom we have already heard, was on terms of close
+intimacy with Owen, and in December, 1605, wrote to him about the Plot
+in terms which certainly appear to imply a strong conviction that his
+friend had nothing to do with it.
+
+"There hath been and yet is still great paynes taken to search to the
+bottom of the late damnable conspiracy. The Parliamente hit seemes shall
+not be troubled with any extraordinarie course for their exemplarye
+punishment, as was supposed upon the Kinges speeche, but onlye with
+their attaynder, the more is the pitye I saye."--_Dom. James I._ xvii.
+62.
+
+[371] Stowe MSS. 168, 54.
+
+[372] This version of the deposition is interesting as being a form
+intermediate between the draft of November 8th and the finished document
+of November 17th. The passages cancelled in the former are simply
+omitted without any attempt to complete the sense of the passages in
+which they occurred. Those "ticked off" are retained.
+
+[373] Stowe MSS. 168, 58.
+
+[374] _I.e._, the Archduke Albert, and his consort the Infanta, daughter
+of Philip II., who, as governors of the Low Countries, were usually so
+designated.
+
+[375] "Nous avons bien voulu aussy par ces presentes, nous mesmes vous
+asseurer que ce qu'il [Edmondes] vous en a desja declare, est fonde sur
+tout verite; et vous dire en oultre, que ces meschantes Creatures d'Owen
+et Baldouin, gens de mesme farine, ont eu aussi leur part en particulier
+a ceste malheureuse conspiration de Pouldre."--_Phillipps' MS._ 6297, f.
+129.
+
+[376] Stowe, 168, 65.
+
+[377] Winwood, ii. 183.
+
+[378] _Dom. James I._ xix. 94.
+
+[379] 3^o _Jac. I._ c. 3. On the 21st of June following, Salisbury
+forwarded to Edmondes a fresh copy of this Act, "because in the former
+there was a great error committed in the printing." (Phillipps, f. 157.)
+It would be highly interesting to know what the first version was. In
+that now extant it is only said regarding Owen, that inasmuch as he
+obstinately keeps beyond the seas, he cannot be arraigned, nor can
+evidence and proofs be produced against him. (_Statutes at large._)
+
+[380] Stowe, 168, 76; Phillipps, f. 141.
+
+[381] Edmondes to Salisbury, January 23rd, 1605(6). P.R.O., Flanders,
+38.
+
+[382] April 19th, 1606, _ibid._
+
+[383] Edmondes to Salisbury, April 5th, 1606, _ibid._
+
+[384] Phillipps, f. 150.
+
+[385] Phillipps, f. 152.
+
+[386] _Dom. James I._ xx. 52.
+
+[387] This is obvious from a marginal note in Coke's own hand, arguing
+that Owen must be guilty in this instance, as he has been guilty on
+former occasions, and "Qui semel malus est semper praesumitur esse malus
+in eodem genere mali."
+
+[388] It will be noticed that the confession of Faukes cited against
+Owen is dated two months after he had first been declared to be proved
+guilty by Faukes' testimony.
+
+[389] These are dated November 5th, 6th [bis], 7th, 8th [the "draft"],
+9th, 16th, 17th, January 9th, 20th, 26th.
+
+[390] Thus, to confine ourselves to the confession of January 20th, with
+which we are particularly concerned, we have the following variations:
+
+_Tanner transcript._ "At my going over M^r Catesby charged me two things
+more: the one to desire of Baldwin & M^r Owen to deal with the Marquis
+[Spinola] to send over the regiment of which he [Catesby] expected to
+have been Lieutenant Colonel under Sir Charles [Percy].... He wished me
+secondly to be earnest with Baldwin to deal with the Marquis to give the
+said M^r Catesby order for a Company of Horse, thinking by that means to
+have opportunity to buy Horses and Arms without suspition."
+
+According to _Abbot_, Faukes was to give instructions that when the time
+of Parliament approached, Sir Wm. Stanley was on some pretext to lead
+the English forces in the archduke's service towards the sea, and with
+them any others he could manage to influence. He also mentions the
+conspiracy of Morgan, as spoken of by Coke.
+
+In addition to all this, Abbot cites from the same confession the
+following extraordinary particulars (p. 160): Faukes, when he came to
+London, with T. Winter, went to Percy's house and found there Catesby
+and Father Gerard. They talked over matters, and agreed that nothing was
+to be hoped from foreign aid, nor from a general rising of Catholics,
+and that the only plan was to strike at the king's person: whereupon
+Catesby, Percy, John Wright, Winter, and himself, were sworn in by
+Gerard.
+
+[This is in absolute contradiction to Winter's evidence (November 23rd)
+that Percy was initiated in the middle of the Easter term, the other
+four having agreed on the scheme at the beginning of the same term; and
+to that of Faukes himself (November 17th) that he and Winter first
+resolved on a plot for the benefit of the Catholic cause, and afterwards
+imparted their idea to Catesby, Wright, and Percy.]
+
+_Sir E. Coke's Version._ "After the powder treason was resolved upon by
+Catesbye, Thomas Winter, the Wrightes, my self, and others, and
+preparation made by us for the execution of it, by their advise and
+direction I went into fflanders and had leave given unto me to discover
+our project in every particular to Hughe Owen and others, but with
+condicion that they should sweare first to secrecie as we our selves had
+done. When I arryved in fflanders I found M^r Owen at Bruxelles to whom
+after I had given the oathe of secrecye I discovered the whole busines,
+howe we had layed 20 whole barrells of powder in the celler under the
+parliament howse, and howe we ment to give it fire the first day of the
+parliament when the King, the prince, the duke, the Lords spirituall and
+temporall, and all the knights, citizens, and burgesses of parliament
+should be there assembled. And that we meant to take the Ladye Elizabeth
+and proclaime hir for we thought most like that the prince and duke
+would be there with the king. M^r Owen liked the plott very well, and
+said that Thomas Morgan had once propounded the very same in quene
+Elizabeth's time, and willed me that by ani meanes we should not make
+any mencion of religion at the first, and assured me that so soone as he
+should have certaine newes that this exploit had taken effect that he
+would give us what assistance he could and that he would procure that
+Sir W^m Stanley should have leave to come with those English men which
+be there and what other forces he could procure."
+
+The confession of Faukes in the Record Office, dated the same, January
+20th, is thus summarized in the _Calendar of State Papers_ (_Dom. James
+I._ xviii. 28): "Talked with Catesby about noblemen being absent from
+the meeting of Parliament; he said Lord Mordaunt would not be there,
+because he did not like to absent himself from the sermons, as the king
+did not know he was a Catholic; and that Lord Stourton would not come to
+town till the Friday after the opening."
+
+[391] The powder design of Morgan is an instance in point. The Thomas
+Morgan in question was doubtless the same as the partisan of Mary Queen
+of Scots.
+
+[392] _E.g._: "Winter came over to Owen, by him and the Fathers to be
+informed of a fit and resolute man for the execution of the enterprise.
+This examinate (being by the Fathers and Owen recommended to be used and
+trusted in any action for the Catholicks) came into England with
+Winter."--Faukes, November 19th, 1605 (Tanner MSS.).
+
+Abbot, whose whole object is to incriminate the Jesuits, does not
+mention this remarkable statement.
+
+Again we read, November 30th (_ibid._): "Father Baldwin told this
+examinate that about 2,000 horses would be provided by the Catholicks of
+England to join with the Spanish forces ... and willed this examinate to
+intimate so much to Father Creswell, which this examinate did."
+
+[393] Oliver, _Collectanea_, sub nom.; Foley, _Records_, iv. 120, note.
+
+[394] Foley, _Records_, iii. 509; _English Protestants' Plea_, p. 59.
+
+[395] _Dom. James I._ xvi. 115.
+
+[396] _England's Warning Peece_, by T. S. [Thomas Spencer], P.73.
+
+[397] Cotton MSS. _Vespasian C._, ix. f. 259.
+
+[398] Winwood, _Memorials_, ii. 178.
+
+[399] _Dom. James I._ xvi. 104.
+
+[400] William Stanley.
+
+[401] The last words are added in another hand.
+
+[402] "I am in great dispute with myself to speak in the case of this
+gentleman. A former dearness between me and him tied so firm a knot of
+my conceit of his virtues, now broken by discovery of his imperfections,
+that I protest, did I serve a king that I knew would be displeased with
+me for speaking, in this case I would speak, whatever came of it; but
+seeing he is compacted of piety and justice, and one that will not
+mislike of any man for speaking a truth, I will answer," etc.--_State
+Trials._
+
+[403] "For this do I profess in the presence of Him that knoweth and
+searcheth all men's harts, that if I did not some tyme cast a stone into
+the mouth of these gaping crabbs, when they are in their prodigall
+humour of discourses, they wold not stick to confess dayly how contrary
+it is to their nature to be under your soverainty; though they confess
+(Ralegh especially) that (_rebus sic stantibus_) naturall pollicy
+forceth them to keep on foot such a trade against the great day of mart.
+In all which light and soddain humours of his, though I do no way check
+him, because he shall not think I reject his freedome or his affection
+... yet under pretext of extraordinary care of his well doing, I have
+seemed to dissuade him from ingaging himself so farr," etc.--_Hatfield
+MSS._, cxxxv. f. 65.
+
+[404] _Criminal Trials_, ii. 358.
+
+[405] Father Gerard (_Narrative_, p. 201) denies in the most emphatic
+terms that he was the priest who said mass on this occasion. The point
+is fully discussed by the late Father Morris, S. J., in his Life of
+Father Gerard, pp. 437-438.
+
+[406] The accompanying facsimile of this portion of Faukes' confession
+exhibits the marks made by Coke, and his added direction in the margin,
+_hucusque_ ("thus far"). In the original his additions are in red ink.
+
+[407] It is singular that he should not mention Faukes himself as one of
+those who received the oath from Gerard. There is no mention in any
+document of Greenway as giving the oath to Bates, or anyone else.
+
+The facsimile of Faukes' signature, appended to his confession of
+November 9th, though affording unmistakable evidence of torture, gives
+no idea of the original, wherein the letters are so faintly traced as to
+be scarcely visible. It is evident that the writer had been so severely
+racked as to have no strength left in his hands to press the pen upon
+the paper. He must have fainted when he had written his Christian name,
+two dashes alone representing the other.
+
+This signature, with other of the more sensational documents connected
+with the Plot, is exhibited in the newly established museum at the
+Record Office.
+
+[408] _Dom. James I._ xviii. 97, February 27th, 1606, N. S. (Latin).
+
+[409] _Narratio de rebus a se in Anglia gestis_ (Stonyhurst MSS.).
+Published in Father G. R. Kingdon's translation under the title of
+_During the Persecution_.
+
+[410] _During the Persecution_, p. 83.
+
+[411] _Court and Character of King James_, p. 350 (ed. 1811).
+
+[412] Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, to whose charge the
+Powder Plot conspirators were committed, was afterwards dismissed from
+his office on a charge of embezzling the jewels of the Lady Arabella
+Stuart.
+
+[413] Presumably the same Arthur Gregory who at an earlier period had
+counterfeited the seals of Mary Queen of Scots' correspondence.
+
+[414] _Dom. James I._ xxiv. 38.
+
+[415] March 3rd, 1605-6 (Hatfield MSS.).
+
+[416] Eudaemon Joannes cites the renegade Alabaster as testifying to
+having seen a letter seemingly of his own to Garnet, which he had never
+written. (_Answer to Casaubon_, p. 159.)
+
+[417] _Narrative_, p. 54.
+
+[418] _Ibid._ p. 113.
+
+[419] Though we have not now to consider the question of Father
+Greenway's connection with the conspirators, it may not be out of place
+to cite his own account of this visit (_Narrative_, Stonyhurst MSS., f.
+86 b):
+
+"Father Oswald [Greenway] went to assist these gentlemen with the
+Sacraments of the Church, understanding their danger and their need, and
+this with evident danger to his own person and life: and all those
+gentlemen could have borne witness that he publicly told them how he
+grieved not so much because of their wretched and shameful plight, and
+the extremity of their peril, as that by their headlong course they had
+given the heretics occasion to slander the whole body of Catholics in
+the kingdom, and that he flatly refused to stay in their company, lest
+the heretics should be able to calumniate himself and the other Fathers
+of the Society."
+
+[420] In this, as in some other respects, Mr. Jardine shows himself
+rather an advocate than an impartial historian. He holds that the
+complicity of the writer of the _Narrative_ with the plotters is proved
+by the intimate knowledge he displays concerning them, "their general
+conduct--their superstitious fears--their dreams--'their thick coming
+fancies'--in the progress of the work of destruction." (_Criminal
+Trials_, ii. xi.)
+
+There is here an evident allusion to the silly story of the "bell in the
+wall" (related by Greenway and not by Gerard), to which Mr. Jardine
+gives extraordinary prominence. He does not, however, inform us that
+Greenway relates this (_Narrative_, f. 58 b) and some similar matters,
+on the authority of "an acquaintance to whom Catesby told it shortly
+before his death," and that he leaves it to the judgment of his readers.
+
+Greenway's frequent and earnest protestations of innocence Mr. Jardine
+summarily dismisses with the observation that they are "entitled to no
+credit whatever" (p. xii).
+
+[421] _History_, i. 243.
+
+[422] _Dictionary of National Biography_ (Digby, Sir E.).
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE SEQUEL.
+
+
+AS we have already seen, the Gunpowder Plot formed no exception to the
+general law observable in conspiracies of its period, proving extremely
+advantageous to those against whom it was principally directed. No
+single individual was injured by it except those concerned in it, or
+accused of being so concerned. On the other hand, it marked an epoch in
+public policy, and irrevocably committed the king and the nation to a
+line of action towards Catholics, which up to that time they had hoped,
+and their enemies had feared, would not be permanently pursued.
+
+"The political consequences of this transaction," says Mr. Jardine,[423]
+"are extremely important and interesting. It fixed the timid and
+wavering mind of the king in his adherence to the Protestant party, in
+opposition to the Roman Catholics; and the universal horror, which was
+naturally excited not only in England but throughout Europe by so
+barbarous an attempt, was artfully converted into an engine for the
+suppression of the Roman Catholic Church: so that the ministers of James
+I., having procured the reluctant acquiescence of the king, and the
+cordial assent of public opinion, were enabled to continue in full force
+the severe laws previously passed against Papists, and to enact others
+of no less rigour and injustice."
+
+Such was the effect in fact produced, and the calm deliberation
+displayed in dealing with the crisis appears to indicate that no
+misgivings were entertained as to the chance of anything but advantage
+resulting from it. We have already seen with what strange equanimity the
+presence of the powder beneath the Parliament House was treated. Not
+less serene was the attitude of the minister chiefly responsible for the
+safety of the State in face of the grave dangers still declared to be
+threatening, even after the "discovery." Preparations, it was officially
+announced, had been made for an extensive rising of the Catholics, and
+this had still to be reckoned with. As the king himself informed Sir
+John Harington, the design was not formed by a few, the "whole legion of
+Catholics" were implicated: the priests had been active in preaching the
+holy war, and the Pope himself had employed his authority on behalf of
+the cause.[424]
+
+Moreover, the conspirators, except Faukes, escaped from London, and
+hurried to the intended scene of action, where, though no man
+voluntarily joined them, they were able at first to collect a certain
+force of their own retainers and domestics, and began to traverse the
+shires in which their influence was greatest, committing acts of plunder
+and violence, and calling on all men to join them for God and the
+country. For a couple of days the local magistrates did not feel strong
+enough to cope with them, and forwarded to the capital reports capable,
+it might be supposed, of alarming those who were bewildered by so
+totally unexpected an assault, for which the evidence in hand showed
+preparations of no ordinary magnitude to have been made. The numbers of
+the insurgents, it was said, were constantly increasing; only a feeble
+force could be brought against them; they were seizing horses and
+ammunition, and all this in "a very Catholic country."
+
+In his famous speech to Parliament, delivered on November 9th, the king
+dwelt feelingly on the danger of the land, left exposed to the traitors,
+in the absence of the members of the legislature, its natural guardians.
+"These rebels," he declared,[425] "that now wander through the country
+could never have gotten so fit a time of safety in their passage, or
+whatsoever unlawful actions, as now; when the country, by the aforesaid
+occasions, is, in a manner, left desolate and waste unto them."[426]
+
+Meanwhile, however, the secretary remained imperturbably tranquil as
+before, and so well aware of the true state of the case that he could
+afford to make merry over the madcap adventurers. On the same 9th of
+November he wrote to the ambassadors: "It is also thought fit that some
+martial men should presently repair down to those countries where the
+Robin Hoods are assembled, to encourage the good and to terrify the bad.
+In which service the Earl of Devonshire is used, a commission going
+forth for him as general: although I am easily persuaded that this
+Faggot will be burnt to ashes before he shall be twenty miles on his
+way."
+
+His prescience was not at fault, for before despatching the letter the
+minister was able to announce the utter collapse of the foolish and
+unsupported enterprise.
+
+No time was lost in turning the defeated conspiracy to practical
+account. On the very 5th of November[427] itself the Commons proceeded,
+before all other business, to the first reading of a bill for the better
+execution of penal statutes against Recusants. On the following day this
+was read a second time. The house next met on the 9th, to hear the
+king's speech, and was then prorogued to January 21st following. On that
+day, the foremost article on the programme was the first reading of a
+bill (whether the same or another) for the better execution of penal
+statutes; another was likewise proposed for prevention of the danger of
+papistical practices; and a committee was appointed "to consider of some
+course for the timely and severe proceeding against Jesuits, Seminaries,
+and other popish agents and practisers, and for the prevention and
+suppression of their plots and practices."[428] On the 22nd there was a
+motion directed against the seminaries beyond the seas, and the bill for
+better execution of penal statutes was read a second time. On the 23rd
+the bill for a public thanksgiving was read twice, being finally passed
+on the 25th. Its preamble runs thus: "Forasmuch as ... no nation of the
+earth hath been blessed with greater benefits than this kingdom now
+enjoyeth, having the true and free profession of the gospel under our
+most gracious sovereign lord King James, the most great, learned, and
+religious king that ever reigned therein ... the which many malignant
+and devilish papists, Jesuits, and seminary priests, much envying and
+fearing, conspired most horribly ..." and so forth.
+
+Thus did the Commons set to work, and the other House, though they
+declined to sanction all that was proposed in the way of exceptional
+severity towards the actual conspirators, were no wise lacking in zeal
+against the Catholic body.
+
+The course of legislation that ensued is thus described by Birch:[429]
+
+"The discovery of the Plot occasioned the Parliament to enjoin the oath
+of allegiance to the king, and to enact several laws against Popery, and
+especially against the Jesuits and Priests who, as the Earl of Salisbury
+observed,[430] sought to bring all things into confusion.... In passing
+these laws for the security of the Protestant religion, the Earl of
+Salisbury exerted himself with distinguished zeal and vigour, which
+gained him great love and honour from the kingdom, as appeared, in some
+measure, in the unusual attendance upon him at his installation into the
+Order of the Garter, on the 20th of May, 1606,[431] at Windsor."
+
+It is, indeed, abundantly clear that beyond all others this statesman
+benefited by the Plot, in consequence of which he obtained, at least for
+a time, a high degree of both power and popularity. His installation at
+Windsor, above mentioned, was an almost regal triumph. Baker notes[432]
+that he was attended on the occasion "beyond ordinary promotion." Howes
+writes[433] that he "set forward from his house in the Strand, being
+almost as honourably accompanied, and with as great a train of lords,
+knights, gentlemen, and officers of the Court, with others besides his
+peculiar servants, very richly attired and bravely mounted, as was the
+King when he rid in state through London."
+
+Neither were there wanting to the secretary other advantages which, if
+less showy, were not less substantial. It will be remembered how, in
+his secret correspondence with the King of Scots before the death of
+Elizabeth, Cecil had constantly endeavoured to turn the mind of his
+future sovereign against the Earl of Northumberland, whom he declared to
+be associated with Raleigh and Cobham in a "diabolical triplicity," and
+to be "a sworn enemy of King James."[434] These efforts had not been
+altogether successful, and though Cobham and Raleigh had been
+effectually disposed of in connection with the conspiracy known as the
+"Main," Northumberland was still powerful, and was thought by many to be
+Cecil's most formidable rival. As one result of the Gunpowder Plot, he
+now disappeared for ever from public life.
+
+[Illustration: THE POWDER PLOT. III.]
+
+When we remember the terms in which the secretary had previously
+described him, as well as the result about to ensue, it is not a little
+startling to remark with what emphasis it was protested, in season and
+out, that a ruling principle of the government's action was to do
+nothing which might even seem to cast a slur upon the earl's character,
+while at the same time the very point is artfully insinuated which was
+to be turned against him.[435] Thus in the "King's Book," in explanation
+of the curious roundabout courses adopted in connection with the
+"discovery," we are told that a far-fetched excuse was devised for the
+search determined upon, lest it might "lay an ill-favoured imputation
+upon the Earl of Northumberland, one of his Majesty's greatest subjects
+and counsellors; this Thomas Percy being his kinsman and most confident
+familiar." So again Cecil wrote to the ambassadors: "It hath been
+thought meet in policy of State (all circumstances considered) to commit
+the Earl of Northumberland to the Archbishop of Canterbury, there to be
+honourably used, until things be more quiet. Whereof if you shall hear
+any judgment made, as if his Majesty or his council could harbour a
+thought of such a savage practice to be lodged in such a nobleman's
+breast, you shall do well to suppress it as a malicious discourse and
+invention, this being only done to satisfy the world that nothing be
+undone which belongs to policy of State, when the whole monarchy was
+proscribed to dissolution; and being no more than himself discreetly
+approved when he received the sentence of the council for his
+restraint."
+
+Yet what was the issue? A series of charges were brought against
+Northumberland, all of which broke down except that of having, as
+Captain of the Royal Pensioners, admitted Percy amongst them without
+exacting the usual oath. He in vain demanded an open trial, and was
+brought before the Star Chamber, by which, after he had been assailed by
+Coke in the same violent strain previously employed against Raleigh, he
+was sentenced to forfeit all offices which he held under the Crown, to
+be imprisoned during the king's pleasure, and to pay a fine of L30,000,
+equal to at least ten times that sum at the present day.
+
+As if this were not enough, fresh proceedings were taken against him six
+years later, when he was again subjected to examination, and again, says
+Lingard,[436] foiled the ingenuity or malice of his persecutor.
+
+It seems, therefore, by no means extraordinary that men, as we have
+heard from the French ambassador, should have commonly attributed the
+earl's ruin to the resolution of his great rival to remove from his own
+path every obstacle likely to be dangerous, or that Cecil should himself
+bear witness,[437] in 1611, to the "bruites" touching Northumberland
+which were afloat, and should be anxious, as "knowing how various a
+discourse a subject of this nature doth beget," to "prevent any
+erroneous impression by a brief narrative of the true motive and
+progress of the business."
+
+As to Northumberland's own sentiments, he, we are told by Osborne,[438]
+declared that the blood of Percy would refuse to mix with that of Cecil
+if they were poured together in the same basin.
+
+It is, moreover, evident not only that the great statesman, to use
+Bishop Goodman's term, actually profited largely by the powder business,
+but that from the first he saw in it a means for materially
+strengthening his position; an opportunity which he lost no time in
+turning to account by making it appear that in such a crisis he was
+absolutely necessary to the State. This is shown by the remarkable
+manifesto which he promptly issued, a document which appears to have
+been almost forgotten, though well deserving attention.
+
+A characteristic feature of the traitorous proceedings of the period was
+the inveterate habit of conspirators to drop compromising documents in
+the street, or to throw them into yards and windows. In the court of
+Salisbury House was found, in November, 1605, a threatening letter, more
+than usually extraordinary. It purported to come from five Catholics,
+who began by unreservedly condemning the Gunpowder Plot as a work
+abhorred by their co-religionists as much as by any Protestants. Since,
+however, his lordship, beyond all others, seemed disposed to take
+advantage of so foul a scandal, in order to root out all memory of the
+Catholic religion, they proceeded to warn him that they had themselves
+vowed his death, and in such fashion that their success was certain.
+None of the accomplices knew who the others were, but it was settled who
+should first make the attempt, and who, in order, afterwards. Moreover,
+death had no terrors for any of them, two being stricken with mortal
+sickness, which must soon be fatal; while the other three were in such
+mental affliction as not to care what became of them.
+
+As a reply to this strange effusion Cecil published a tract,[439]
+obviously intended as a companion to the famous "King's Book," in which
+with elaborate modesty he owned to the impeachment of being more zealous
+than others in the good cause, and protested his resolution, at whatever
+peril to himself, to continue his services to his king and country. The
+sum and substance of this curious apology is as follows.
+
+Having resolved to recall his thoughts from the earthly theatre to
+higher things, which statesmen are supposed overmuch to neglect, he had
+felt he could choose no better theme for his meditations than the
+"King's Book," wherein so many lively images of God's great favour and
+providence are represented, every line discovering where Apelles' hand
+hath been; so that all may see there needs now no Elisha to tell the
+King of Israel what the Aramites do in their privatest councils.
+
+While in this most serious and silent meditation, divided between
+rapture at God's infinite mercy and justice, and thought of his own
+happiness to live under a king pleasing to God for his zealous
+endeavours to cleanse the vessels of his kingdom from the dregs and lees
+of the Romish grape,--and while his heart was not a little cheered to
+observe any note of his own name in the royal register, for one that had
+been of any little use in this so fortunate discovery,--as the poor day
+labourer who taketh contentment when he passeth that glorious
+architecture, to the building whereof he can remember to have carried
+some few sticks and stones,--while thus blissfully engaged, he is
+grieved to find himself singled out from the honourable body of the
+council,--why, he knows not, for with it he would be content to be
+identified--as the author of the policy which is being adopted; and,
+conscious that in his humble person the Body of Authority is assailed,
+he thinks it well, for once, to make a reply.
+
+Having recited the threatening letter in full, he presently continues:
+
+"Though I participate not in the follies of that fly who thought herself
+to raise the dust because she sat on the chariot-wheel, yet I am so far
+from disavowing my honest ambition of my master's favour, as I am
+desirous that the world should hold me, not so much his creature, by the
+undeserved honours I hold from his grace and power, as my desire to be
+the shadow of his mind, and to frame my judgment, knowledge, and
+affections according to his. Towards whose Royal Person I shall glory
+more to be always found an honest and humble subject, than I should to
+command absolutely in any other calling."
+
+Of those who threaten him he says very little, assuming, however, as
+self-evident, that they are set on by some priest, who, after the manner
+of his tribe, doth "carry the unlearned Catholics, like hawks hooded,
+into those dangerous positions."
+
+But, as for himself, let the world understand that he is not the man to
+neglect his duty on account of the personal danger it entails. "Far I
+hope it shall be from me, who know so well in whose HOLY BOOK my days
+are numbered, once to entertain a thought to purchase a span of time, at
+so dear a rate, as for the fear of any mortal power, in my poor talent,
+_Aut Deo, aut Patriae, aut Patri patriae deesse_."[440]
+
+In spite of the singular ability of this manifesto, the art of the
+writer is undoubtedly somewhat too conspicuous to permit us to accept it
+as the kind of document which would be produced by one who felt himself
+confronted by a serious peril. An interesting and most pertinent
+commentary is supplied by a contemporary Jesuit, Giles Schondonck,
+Rector of St. Omers College, in a letter to Father Baldwin, the same of
+whom we have already heard in connection with the Plot.[441]
+
+Schondonck has, he says, read and re-read Cecil's book, which Baldwin
+had lent him. If his opinion be required, he finds in it many flowers of
+wit and eloquence, and it is a composition well adapted for its object;
+but the original letter which has evoked this brilliant rejoinder is a
+manifest fraud, not emanating from any Catholic, but devised by the
+enemies of the Church for her injury. The writers plainly contradict
+themselves. They begin by denouncing the Powder Plot as impious and
+abominable, and they do so most righteously, and they declare its
+authors to have been turbulent spirits and not religious, in which also
+they are right. But they go on to approve the design of murdering Cecil.
+What sense is there in this? If the one design be impious and
+detestable, with what colour or conscience can the other be approved?
+There is no difference of principle, though in the one case many were to
+be murdered, in the other but a single man. No one having in him any
+spark of religion could defend either project, much less approve it.
+Moreover, much that is set down is simply ridiculous. Men in the last
+extremity of sickness, or broken down by sorrow, are not of the stuff
+whereof those are made by whom desperate deeds are done.
+
+From another Jesuit we obtain instructive information which at least
+serves to show what was the opinion of Catholics as to the way in which
+things were being managed. This is conveyed in a letter addressed
+December 1st, 1606, to the famous Father Parsons by Father Richard
+Blount, Father Garnet's successor as superior of the English
+mission.[442] It must be remembered that this was not meant for the
+public eye, and in fact was never published. It cannot have been
+intended to obtain credence for a particular version of history, and it
+was written to him who, of all men, was behind the scenes so far as the
+English Jesuits were concerned. Much of it is in cipher which,
+fortunately, has been interpreted for us by the recipient.
+
+Blount begins with a piece of intelligence which is startling enough.
+Amongst the lords of the council none was a more zealous enemy of Popery
+than the chamberlain, the Earl of Suffolk,[443] who was more than once
+on the commission for expelling priests and Jesuits, and had in
+particular been so energetic in the matter of the Powder Plot that
+Salisbury modestly confessed that in regard of the "discovery" he had
+himself been "much less forward."[444] Now, however, we are told, only a
+twelvemonth later, that this nobleman and his wife are ready for a
+sufficient fee to procure "some kind of peace" for the Catholics. The
+needful sum may probably be raised through the Spanish Ambassador, but
+the issue is doubtful "because Salisbury will resist."--"Yet such is the
+want of money with the chamberlain at this time--whose expenses are
+infinite--that either Salisbury must supply, or else he must needs break
+with him."[445]
+
+After some particulars concerning the jealousy against the Scots, and
+the matter of the union (which "sticketh much in the Parliament's
+teeth") Blount goes on to relate how Cecil has been attempting to float
+a second Powder Plot--the scene being this time the king's court itself.
+He has had another letter brought in, to set it going, and had seemingly
+calculated on capturing the writer himself and some of his brethren in
+connection with it. In this, however, he has been foiled, and the matter
+appears to have been dropped. In Blount's own words:[446]
+
+"Now these last days we expected some new stratagem, because Salisbury
+pretended a letter to be brought to his lordship found by chance in St.
+Clement's Churchyard, written in ciphers, wherein were many persons
+named, and a question asked, whether there were any concavity under the
+stage in the court. But belike the device failed, and so we hear no
+words of it. About this time this house was ransacked, where by chance
+Blount came late the night before, finding four more, Talbot, N. Smith,
+Wright, Arnold; being all besieged from morning to night. If things had
+fallen out as was expected, then that letter would have haply been
+spoken of, whereas now it is very secret, and only served to pick a
+thanks of King James, with whom Salisbury keepeth his credit by such
+tricks, as upon whose vigilancy his majesty's life dependeth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One other feature of the after history demands consideration. As Fuller
+tells us,[447] "a learned author, making mention of this treason,
+breaketh forth into the following rapture:
+
+    'Excidat illa dies aevo, ne postera credant
+    Saecula; nos certe taceamus, et obruta multa
+    Nocte tegi propriae patiamur crimina gentis.'
+
+    'Oh, let that day be quite dashed out of time,
+      And not believ'd by the next generation;
+    In night of silence we'll conceal the crime,
+      Thereby to save the credit of the nation.'"
+
+"A wish," he adds, "which in my opinion, hath more of poetry than of
+piety therein, and from which I must be forced to dissent." Assuredly
+if it were judged that silence and oblivion should be the lot of the
+conspiracy, no stranger means were ever adopted to secure the desired
+object. A public thanksgiving was appointed to be held every year, on
+the anniversary of the "discovery;" a special service for that day was
+inserted in the Anglican liturgy, and Gunpowder Plot Sermons kept the
+memory of the Treason green in the mind not of one but of many
+generations.
+
+Moreover, the country was flooded with literature on the subject, in
+prose and rhyme, and the example of Milton is sufficient to show how
+favourite a topic it was with youthful poets essaying to try their
+wings.[448]
+
+In regard of the history, one line was consistently adopted. The Church
+of England in its calendar marked November 5th, as the _Papists'
+Conspiracy_, and in the collect appointed for the day the king and
+estates of the realm were described as being "by Popish treachery
+appointed as sheep to the slaughter, in a most barbarous and savage
+manner, beyond the examples of former ages." Similarly, preachers and
+writers alike concurred in saying little or nothing about the actual
+conspirators, but much about the iniquity of Rome; the official
+character of the Plot, and its sanction, even its first suggestion, by
+the highest authorities of the Church, being the chief feature of the
+tale hammered year after year into the ears of the English people. The
+details of history supplied are frequently pure and unmixed fables.[449]
+
+[Illustration: THE POWDER PLOT. IV.]
+
+Nor was the pencil less active than the pen in popularizing the same
+belief. Great was the ingenuity spent in devising and producing pictures
+which should impress on the minds of the most illiterate a holy horror
+of the Church which had doomed the nation to destruction. One of the
+most elaborate of these was headed by an inscription which admirably
+summarizes the moral of the tale.
+
+THE POWDER TREASON.--Propounded by _Satan_: Approved by _Antichrist_
+[_i.e._ the Pope]: Enterprised by _Papists_: Practized by _Traitors_:
+Revealed by an _Eagle_ [Monteagle]: Expounded by an _Oracle_ [King
+James]: Founded in _Hell_: Confounded in _Heaven_.
+
+Accordingly we find representations of Lucifer, the Pope, the King of
+Spain, the General of the Jesuits, and other such worthies, conspiring
+in the background while the redoubtable Guy walks arm in arm with a
+demon to fire the mine, the latter grasping a papal Bull (unknown to the
+Bullarium), expedited to promote the project: or again, Faukes and
+Catesby stand secretly conspiring in the middle of the street, while
+Father Garnet, in full Jesuit habit (or what is meant for such) exhorts
+them to go on: or a priest gives the conspirators "the sacrament of
+secrecy;" or representative Romish dignitaries blow threats and curses
+against England and her Parliament House,--or the Jesuits are buried in
+Hell in recompense of their perfidy.
+
+It cannot, however, escape remark that while the limners have been
+conscientiously careful in respect of these details, they have one and
+all discarded accuracy in regard of another matter in which we might
+naturally have expected it. In no single instance is Guy Faukes
+represented as about to blow up the right house. Sometimes it is the
+House of Commons that he is going to destroy, more frequently the
+Painted Chamber, often a nondescript building corresponding to nothing
+in particular,--but in no single instance is it the House of Lords.
+
+[Illustration: THE POWDER PLOT. V.]
+
+The most extraordinary instance of so strange a vagary is afforded by a
+plate produced immediately after the occurrence it commemorates, in the
+year 1605 itself.[450] In this, Faukes with his inseparable lantern, but
+without the usual spurs, is seen advancing to the door of the "cellar,"
+which stands conspicuous above ground. Aloft is seen the crescent moon,
+represented in exactly the right phase for the date of the
+discovery.[451] The accuracy exhibited as to this singular detail makes
+it more than ever extraordinary that the building to which he directs
+his steps is unquestionably St. Stephen's Chapel--The House of Commons.
+
+One point of the history, in itself apparently insignificant, was at the
+time invested with such extravagant importance, as to suggest a question
+in its regard, namely the day itself whereon the marvellous deliverance
+took place. A curious combination of circumstances alone assigned it to
+the notorious Fifth of November. Parliament, as we have seen, was
+originally appointed to meet on the 3rd of October, but was suddenly
+adjourned for about a month, and so little reason did there seem to be
+for the prorogation[452] as to fill the conspirators with alarm lest
+some suspicion of their design had prompted it; wherefore they sent
+Thomas Winter to attend the prorogation ceremony, and observe the
+demeanour of those who took part in it. Afterwards, though the discovery
+might have easily been made any time during the preceding week, nothing
+practical was done till the fateful day itself had actually begun, when,
+as the acute Lingard has not failed to observe, a remarkable change at
+once came over the conduct of the authorities, who discarding the
+aimless and dilatory manner of proceeding which had hitherto
+characterized them, went straight to the point with a promptitude and
+directness leaving nothing to be desired.
+
+Whatever were their motive in all this, the action of the government
+undoubtedly brought it about that the great blow should be struck on a
+day which not a little enhanced the evidence for the providential
+character of the whole affair. Tuesday was King James' lucky day, more
+especially when it happened to be the 5th of the month, for on Tuesday,
+August the 5th, 1600, he had escaped the mysterious treason of the
+Gowries.
+
+This coincidence evidently created a profound impression. "Curious folks
+observe," wrote Chamberlain to Carleton,[453] "that this deliverance
+happened on the fifth of November, answerable to the fifth of August,
+both Tuesdays; and this plot to be executed by Johnson [the assumed name
+of Faukes], and that at Johnstown [_i.e._, Perth]." On the 27th of
+November, Lake suggested to the Archbishop of Canterbury,[454] that as
+a perpetual memorial of this so providential circumstance, the
+anniversary sermon should always be delivered upon a Tuesday. Two days
+later, the Archbishop wrote to his suffragans,[455] reminding them how
+on a Tuesday his majesty had escaped the Gowries, and now, on another
+Tuesday, a peril still more terrible, which must have ruined the whole
+nation, had not the Holy Ghost illumined the king's heart with a divine
+spirit. In remembrance of which singular instance of God's governance,
+there was to be an annual celebration.[456]
+
+Most important of all, King James himself much appreciated the
+significance of this token of divine protection, and not only impressed
+this upon his Parliament, but proroguing it forthwith till after
+Christmas, selected the same propitious day of the week for its next
+meeting, as a safeguard against possible danger. "Since it has pleased
+God," said his majesty,[457] "to grant me two such notable deliveries
+upon one day of the week, which was Tuesday, and likewise one day of the
+month, which was the fifth, thereby to teach me that as it was the same
+devil that still persecuted me, so it was one and the same God that
+still mightily delivered me, I thought it therefore not amiss, that the
+twenty-first day which fell to be upon Tuesday, should be the day of
+meeting of this next session of parliament, hoping and assuring myself,
+that the same God, who hath now granted me and you all so notable and
+gracious a delivery, shall prosper all our affairs at that next session,
+and bring them to an happy conclusion."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Whatever may be thought of this particular element of its history, it is
+perfectly clear that the fashion in which the Plot was habitually set
+before the English people, and which contributed more than anything else
+to work the effect actually produced, was characterized from the first
+by an utter disregard of truth on the part of those whose purposes it so
+opportunely served, and with such lasting results.
+
+
+A SUMMARY.
+
+The evidence available to us appears to establish principally two
+points,--that the true history of the Gunpowder Plot is now known to no
+man, and that the history commonly received is certainly untrue.
+
+It is quite impossible to believe that the government were not aware of
+the Plot long before they announced its discovery.
+
+It is difficult to believe that the proceedings of the conspirators were
+actually such as they are related to have been.
+
+It is unquestionable that the government consistently falsified the
+story and the evidence as presented to the world, and that the points
+upon which they most insisted prove upon examination to be the most
+doubtful.
+
+There are grave reasons for the conclusion that the whole transaction
+was dexterously contrived for the purpose which in fact it opportunely
+served, by those who alone reaped benefit from it, and who showed
+themselves so unscrupulous in the manner of reaping.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[423] _Criminal Trials_, ii. I.
+
+[424] _Nugae Antiquae_, i. 374.
+
+[425] _Harleian Miscellany_, iv. 249.
+
+[426] This terrible state of things was alleged as a principal reason
+for the prorogation of the Parliament for two months and a half. As a
+matter of fact, the rebels had been overthrown and captured the day
+before that on which the king's speech was delivered, and news of that
+event was received that same evening.
+
+[427] _Commons' Journals._
+
+[428] In the preamble of the Act so passed we read: "Forasmuch as it is
+found by daily experience, that many his Majesty's subjects that adhere
+in their hearts to the popish religion, by the infection drawn from
+thence, and by the wicked and devilish counsel of Jesuits, seminaries,
+and other like persons dangerous to the church and state, are so
+perverted in the point of their loyalties and due allegiance unto the
+King's majesty, and the Crown of England, as they are ready to entertain
+and execute any treasonable conspiracies and practices, as evidently
+appears by that more than barbarous and horrible attempt to have blown
+up with gunpowder the King, Queen ..." etc., etc.
+
+[429] _Negotiations_, p. 256.
+
+[430] "Our parliament is prorogued till the 18th of next November. Many
+things have been considerable in it, but especially the zeal of both
+Houses for the preservation of God's true religion, by establishing many
+good laws against Popery and those firebrands, Jesuits, and Priests,
+that seek to bring all things into confusion. His Majesty resolveth once
+more by proclamation to banish them all; and afterwards, if they shall
+not obey, then the laws shall go upon them without any more
+forbearance."--Cecil to Winwood, June 7th, 1606 (Winwood, _Memorials_,
+ii. 219).
+
+[431] In the _Dictionary of National Biography_, and Doyle's _Official
+Baronage_, this installation is erroneously assigned to 1605.
+
+[432] _Chronicle_, p. 408.
+
+[433] Continuation of Stowe's _Annals_, p. 883.
+
+[434] Letter iii.
+
+[435] At Northumberland's trial Lord Salisbury thus expressed
+himself: "I have taken paines in my nowne heart to clear my lord's
+offences, which now have leade me from the contemplation of his
+virtues; for I knowe him vertuous, wyse, valiaunte, and of use and
+ornamente to the state.... The cause of this combustion was the
+papistes seekinge to restore their religion. Non libens dico, sed res
+ipsa loquitur."--Hawarde, _Les Reportes_, etc.
+
+[436] _History_, vii. 84, note. On this subject Mr. Sawyer, the editor
+of Winwood (1715), has the following remark: "We meet with some account
+of his [Northumberland's] offence, though couched in such tender terms,
+that 'tis a little difficult to conceive it deserved so heavy a
+punishment as a fine of L30,000 and perpetual imprisonment."
+(_Memorials_, iii. 287, note.)
+
+[437] To Winwood, _Memorials_, iii. 287.
+
+[438] _Traditional Memoirs_, p. 214.
+
+[439] _An Answere to certaine Scandalous Papers, scattered abroad under
+colour of a Catholicke Admonition._ "Qui facit vivere, docet orare."
+Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the King's most
+Eccellent Majestie. Anno 1606.
+
+This was published in January, 1605-6, on the 28th of which month Sir W.
+Browne, writing from Flushing, mentions that "my lord of Salisbury hath
+lately published a little booke as a kynd of answer to som secrett
+threatning libelling letters cast into his chamber." (Stowe MSS., 168,
+74, f. 308.)
+
+[440] On this subject Cornwallis wrote to Salisbury (Winwood, ii. 193):
+"Many reports are here spread of the Combination against your Lordship,
+and that five English Romanists would resolve your death. It seems that
+since they cannot be allowed _Sacrificium incruentum_, they will now
+altogether put in use their sacrifices of blood. But I hope and suppose
+that their hearts and their hands want much of the vigour that rests in
+their wills and their pens. Your Lordship doth take especial courage in
+this, that they single you out as the chief and principal watch Tower of
+your Country and Commonwealth, and turn the strength of their malice to
+you whom they hold the discoverer of all their unnatural and destructive
+inventions against their prince and country," etc.
+
+[441] P.R.O. _Dom. James I._ xviii. 97, February 27th, N.S., 1606. The
+original, which is in Latin, has been utterly misunderstood by the
+Calendarer of State Papers.
+
+[442] Stonyhurst MSS., _Anglia_, iii. 72.
+
+[443] Thomas Howard, cr. 1603.
+
+[444] To the ambassadors.
+
+[445] Father Blount's account is undoubtedly in keeping with what we
+know of the Earl, and especially of his Countess, who was a sister of
+Sir Thomas Knyvet, the captor of Guy Faukes. Suffolk, in 1614, became
+Lord High Treasurer, but four years afterwards grave irregularities were
+discovered in his office; he was accused of embezzlement and extortion,
+in which work his wife was proved to have been even more active than
+himself. They were sentenced to restore all money wrongfully extorted,
+to a fine of L30,000, and to imprisonment during pleasure.
+
+[446] In this letter all proper names are in cipher, as well as various
+other words.
+
+[447] _Church History_, x. 40.
+
+[448] We have four Latin epigrams of Milton's, _In proditionem
+Bombardicam_, which, though pointless, are bitterly anti-Catholic. A
+longer poem, of 226 lines, _In quintum Novembris_, is still more
+virulent.
+
+It is somewhat remarkable that the universal Shakespeare should make no
+allusion to the Plot, beyond the doubtful reference to equivocation in
+_Macbeth_ (ii. 3). He was at the time of its occurrence in the full flow
+of his dramatic activity.
+
+[449] See Appendix L, _Myths and Legends of the Powder Plot_.
+
+[450] Brit. Mus. Print Room, Crace Collection, portf. xv. 28. This is
+reproduced, as our frontispiece.
+
+[451] There was a new moon at 11.30 p.m. on October 31st.
+
+[452] The reasons assigned in the proclamation for this prorogation are
+plainly insufficient: viz., "That the holding of it [the Parliament] so
+soone is not convenient, as well for that the ordinary course of our
+subjects resorting to the citie for their usuall affaires at the Terme
+is not for the most part till Allhallowtide or thereabouts." Why, then,
+had the meeting been fixed for so unsuitable a date?
+
+[453] November 7th, 1605. (_Dom. James I._)
+
+[454] Tanner MSS. lxxv. 44.
+
+[455] _Ibid._
+
+[456] On his arrival in England, as Osborne tells us (_Memoirs_, p.
+276), King James "brought a new holiday into the Church of England,
+wherein God had publick thanks given him for his majestie's deliverance
+out of the hands of Earle Goury;" but the introduction was not a
+success, Englishmen and Scots alike ridiculing it. Gunpowder Plot Day
+was more fortunate.
+
+[457] _Harleian Miscellany_, iv. 251.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX A.
+
+NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+_Frontispiece. The Powder Plot. I._
+
+FROM the Crace Collection, British Museum, _Portf._ xv. 20. Thus
+described in the catalogue of the collection:
+
+"A small etching of the House of Lords. Guy Fawkes in the foreground.
+W.E. exc. 1605."
+
+This plate is of exceptional interest as having been executed within
+five months of the discovery of the Plot, _i.e._, previously to March
+25th, 1606, the first day of the year, Old Style.
+
+Guy Faukes is represented as approaching the House of Commons (St.
+Stephen's Chapel), not the House of Lords, as the catalogue says.
+
+
+_Title-Page._
+
+Obverse, or reverse, of a medal struck, by order of the Dutch senate, to
+commemorate the double event of the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot and
+the expulsion of the Jesuits from Holland. Drawn from a copy of the
+medal in pewter, by Paul Woodroffe. The design here exhibited is thus
+described in Hawkins and Frank's _Medallic Illustrations_:
+
+"The name of Jehovah, in Hebrew, radiate, within a crown of thorns."
+
+"Legend, chronogrammatic,
+
+    Non DorMItastI AntIstes IaCobI"
+
+[which gives the date 1605]
+
+On its other face the medal bears a snake gliding amid roses and lilies
+[symbolizing Jesuit intrigues in England and France], with the legend
+_Detectus qui latuit. S.C._ [Senatus Consulto]."
+
+This is reproduced on the cover.
+
+
+_Group of Conspirators_ (p. 3).
+
+From a print published at Amsterdam.
+
+Eight conspirators are represented, five being omitted, viz., Grant,
+Keyes, Digby, Rokewood, and Tresham.
+
+Bates, as a servant, wears no hat.
+
+
+_The Houses of Parliament in the time of James I._ (pp. 56-7).
+
+Restored from the best authorities, and drawn for the author by H.W.
+Brewer.
+
+
+_Ground Plan of House of Lords and adjacent Buildings_ (p. 59).
+
+Extracted from the "Foundation plan of the Ancient Palace of
+Westminster; measured, drawn and engraved by J. T. Smith" (_Antiquities
+of Westminster_, p. 125)
+
+
+_The House of Lords in 1807_ (p. 61).
+
+From J.T. Smith's _Antiquities of Westminster_.
+
+This sketch, made from the east, or river, side, was taken during the
+demolition of the buildings erected against the sides of the Parliament
+House. These were put up previously to the time when Hollar made his
+drawing of the interior (temp. Charles II.), which shows the walls hung
+with tapestry, the windows having been blocked up.
+
+According to a writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (No. 70, July,
+1800), who signs himself "Architect," in a print of the time of James I.
+the tapestry is not seen, and the House "appears to have preserved much
+of its original work." The only print answering to this description
+which I have been able to find exhibits the windows, but is of no value
+for historical purposes, as it is a reproduction of one of the time of
+Queen Elizabeth, the figure of the sovereign alone being changed. This
+engraving is said to be "taken from a painted print in the Cottonian
+Library," of which I can find no trace. [B. Mus., K. 24. 19. b.]
+
+To the left of our illustration is seen the gable of the Prince's
+Chamber. The door to the right of this opened into the cellar, and by
+it, according to tradition, Faukes was to have made his exit.
+
+In front of this is seen part of the garden attached to Percy's lodging.
+
+
+_Interior of "Guy Faukes' Cellar"_ (p. 71).
+
+Two views of the interior of the "cellar," drawn by H. W. Brewer, from
+elevations in J.T. Smith's _Antiquities of Westminster_, p. 39.
+
+The remains of a buttery-hatch, at the southern end, testify to the
+ancient use of the chamber as the palace kitchen; of which the Earl of
+Northampton made mention at Father Garnet's trial.
+
+The very ancient doorway in the eastern wall, seen on the left of the
+picture, was of Saxon workmanship, and, like the foundations beneath,
+probably dated from the time of Edward the Confessor, who first erected
+this portion of the palace, most of which had been rebuilt about the
+time of Henry III. By this doorway, according to some accounts, Faukes
+intended to escape after firing the train, though others assign this
+distinction to one near the other end.
+
+These two illustrations were originally prepared for the _Daily Graphic_
+of November 5th, 1894, and it is by the courtesy of the proprietors of
+that journal that they are here reproduced.
+
+
+_Vault under the East End of the Painted Chamber_ (p. 73).
+
+From Brayley and Britton's _Palace of Westminster_, p. 247.
+
+This has been constantly depicted and described as "Guy Faukes' Cellar."
+
+
+_Arches from Guy Faukes' Cellar_ (p. 75).
+
+Drawn for the author by H. W. Brewer.
+
+Sir John Soane, who in 1823 took down the old House of Lords, removed
+the arches from the "cellar" beneath it, to his own house in Lincoln's
+Inn Fields, now the Soane Museum, where they are still to be seen in a
+small court adjoining the building. They do not, however, appear to have
+been set up precisely in their original form, being dwarfed by the
+omission of some stones, presumably that they might occupy less space.
+In our illustration they are represented exactly as they now stand,
+with the modern building behind them. Some incongruous relics of other
+stonework which have been introduced amongst them have, however, been
+omitted.
+
+The architecture of these arches, and of the adjacent Prince's Chamber,
+assigns them to the best period of thirteenth century Gothic.
+
+
+_Cell at S.E. corner of Painted Chamber_ (p. 83).
+
+Often styled "Guy Faukes' Cell."
+
+From Brayley and Britton, _op. cit._, p. 360.
+
+There appears to be no reason for associating this with Faukes.
+
+
+_The Powder Plot. II._ (p. 90).
+
+"Invented by Samuel Ward, Preacher, of Ipswich. Imprinted at Amsterdam,
+1621." [British Museum, _Political and Personal Satires_, i. 41.]
+
+This is the portion to the right of a composition representing on the
+left the Spanish Armada, and in the centre a council table at which are
+gathered the Devil, the Pope, the King of Spain, the General of the
+Jesuits, and others. An eye above is fixed on the cellar. Faukes in this
+case is going to blow up the Painted Chamber.
+
+
+_Interior of the old House of Lords (Scene on occasion of the King's
+Speech, 1755)_ (p. 97).
+
+This plate represents the House in the reign of George II. In the
+century and a half since the time of the Powder Plot it is probable that
+the windows in the side walls had been blocked up, and the tapestry
+hung. The latter represented the defeat of the Armada.
+
+[From Maitland's _London_ (1756), ii. 1340.]
+
+
+_Lord Monteagle and the Letter_ (p. 115).
+
+From _Mischeefes Mystery_.
+
+King James enthroned, with crown and sceptre, upon a dais, at the foot
+of which stands the Earl of Salisbury. An eagle bears a letter in its
+beak, to receive which the king and his minister extend their left
+hands.
+
+The English poem, by John Vicars, embellished with this woodcut, was
+published in 1617, being a much expanded version of one in Latin
+hexameters, entitled _Pietas Pontificia_, by Francis Herring, which
+appeared in 1606.
+
+
+_Arrest of Guy Faukes_ (p. 125).
+
+From _Mischeefes Mystery_.
+
+Guy Faukes booted and spurred, and with his lantern, prepares to open a
+door at the extremity of the Painted Chamber. Sir Thomas Knyvet with his
+retinue approaches unseen. The stars and the beams from the lantern show
+that it is the middle of the night.
+
+
+_Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot_ (p. 136).
+
+From a print in the Guildhall Library.
+
+Catesby, Faukes, and Garnet (the latter in what is apparently meant for
+the Jesuit habit) stand in the middle of the street conspiring
+secretly. Through the open door of the "cellar" the powder barrels are
+seen.
+
+This illustration (without the coins) stands at the head of Book XVIII.
+of M. Rapin de Thoyras' _History of England_, translated by N. Tindal.
+
+
+"_Guy Faukes' Lantern_" (p. 139).
+
+Drawn by H.W. Brewer.
+
+This object, the authenticity of which is not unquestionable, is
+exhibited in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It bears the inscription,
+"Laterna illa ipsa qua usus est, et cum qua deprehensus Guido Faux in
+crypta subterranea ubi domo Parliamenti difflandae operam dabat. Ex dono
+Robti Heywood nuper Academiae Procuratoris, Ap. 4^o, 1641."
+
+It will be remembered that the honour of having arrested Faukes has been
+claimed for one of the name of Heywood.
+
+The history of the famous lantern has not escaped the variations which
+we are accustomed to meet with on other points. Faukes is generally said
+to have been found with it in his hands, and it has consequently become
+an inseparable adjunct in pictures of him. On the other hand, we are
+told, "In a corner, behind the door, was a dark lantern containing a
+light" (Brayley and Britton, _Palace of Westminster_, p. 377).
+
+
+_Thomas Percy_ (p. 149).
+
+From Grainger.
+
+Around the portrait are four small engravings representing:
+
+1. The arrest of Guy Faukes, who is here called "Thomas Ichrup."
+
+2. The presentation of Thomas Ichrup to the King of Jerusalem (_i.e._,
+the British Solomon).
+
+3. The assault and bombardment of the "citadel" to which Percy has fled.
+
+4. Percy killed by an arrow.
+
+
+_Thomas Winter's Confession_ (p. 168).
+
+A portion of the copy of Winter's confession, in the handwriting of
+Levinus Munck, Lord Salisbury's private secretary, and dated November
+23rd. In the margin is a note in the handwriting of King James,
+objecting to a certain "uncleare phrase," which has been altered in
+accordance with the royal wish. In the printed version it appears in the
+amended form.
+
+
+_Signatures exemplifying the Effects of Torture_ (p. 173).
+
+Three signatures of Faukes (November 9th, 1605), and three of Father
+Edward Oldcorne (March 6th, 1605-6), at different stages of the same
+examination.
+
+
+_Guy Faukes' Confession of November 9th, 1605_ (p. 199).
+
+A portion of this confession, in which Faukes speaks of the oath taken
+by the conspirators and of their reception of the sacrament at the hands
+of Father John Gerard, adding, however, that "Gerard was not acquainted
+with their purpose." The last clause has been marked for omission by Sir
+Edward Coke who has written in the margin _hucusq._ ("thus far").
+
+The letter B in the margin is also inserted by Coke, who habitually
+indicated by such letters which portions of the depositions were to be
+read in court and which omitted, all being always suppressed which told
+in any way in favour of the accused.
+
+The document is written by a clerk, and signed by Faukes at the foot of
+each page.
+
+
+_The Powder Plot. III._ (p. 215).
+
+This is taken from a large plate [British Museum, _Political and
+Personal Satires_, i. 67], of which only the lower portion is here
+reproduced. At the top is the inscription:
+
+THE POWDER TREASON, Propounded by Sathan, Approved by Anti-Christ,
+Enterprised by Papists, Practized by Traitors, Reveled by an Eagle,
+Expounded by an Oracle.--Founded in Hell, Confounded in Heaven.
+
+Beneath are many emblematical devices.
+
+In the portion here exhibited, King James is seen on his throne with
+Lords and Commons before him. Under the floor is a diminutive figure of
+Faukes with an ample store of barrels. At the bottom, in the left hand
+corner, some of the conspirators receive the sacrament from Father
+Gerard: on the right they are executed. On a lunette are the thirteen
+conspirators, with the arch-traitor Garnet in the centre, the band being
+described as "The Pope's Saltpeeter Saints." Within the lunette are the
+Jesuits in Hell.
+
+
+_The Powder Plot. IV._ (p. 227).
+
+This is the portion on the left of a composite picture [British Museum,
+_Political and Personal Satires_, 63], on the right being represented
+the catastrophe known as the "Blackfriars Downfall." On Sunday, October
+26th, 1623, many Catholics having assembled in an upper room of the
+French ambassador's house, in Blackfriars, to hear a sermon from the
+Jesuit, Father Drury, the floor collapsed, and many, including the
+preacher, were killed. As October 26th, O.S., corresponded to November
+5th, N.S., it was ingeniously discovered that the accident was meant to
+signalize Gunpowder Plot day, though this fell on November 5th, O.S., or
+November 15th, N.S.
+
+In our illustration the Parliament House is represented by a nondescript
+edifice, the wall of which is partially removed, showing King James and
+some of the Peers. An oven-like vault beneath represents the "cellar,"
+well stored with barrels, which Faukes is preparing to light with a
+torch fanned by a crowned fiend with a pair of bellows. A company of
+halberdiers approaches under the guidance of an angel. In the background
+is a royal funeral procession.
+
+A Latin inscription is attached which runs thus:
+
+    "Anno 1623, Quinto Novembris, eo scripto die quo Angliae
+    Parliamentum, a^o 1605, proditione et insidiis Jesuitarum, pulvere
+    nitreo inflammari et in aethera spargi debuit, Jesuitarum conventus
+    Londini, ... ad missam et conciones audiendas congregatus, fatali
+    providentia, aedium ruina praecipitatus et dissipatus est, oppressis
+    centum et plus totidem vulneratis.
+
+    Loiolides sanctos efflare volebat ad astra;
+      Astra repercutiunt fulmine Loiolidem.
+    Loiolides, sine te penetrabit astra fidelis:
+      Tu fato ad Stygias praecipitaris aquas."
+
+
+_The Powder Plot. V._ (p. 229).
+
+This is an edition of Samuel Ward's print described above, improved and
+embellished by a "Transmariner" in 1689. [British Museum, _Political and
+Personal Satires_, i. 43.]
+
+The tent in which the council table stands is ornamented at the four
+corners with figures of a wolf, a parrot, an owl, and a dragon: a
+cockatrice is on the table; on the top lie a gun, a sword, and a brace
+of pistols. A demon, bearing behind him a Papal Bull, accompanies
+Faukes, beneath whose lantern, as a play on his name, is written _Fax_.
+At the door of the cellar are scorpions and a serpent. On the top of the
+barrels within are seen the "yron barres," placed there to make the
+breach the greater.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX B. (p. 33).
+
+_Sir Everard Digby's letter to Salisbury._
+
+
+IT seems to have been always assumed that this celebrated letter, which
+is undated, was written after the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, and the
+consequent arrest of Sir Everard, and doubtless to some extent internal
+evidence supports this view, as the writer speaks of himself as
+deserving punishment, and of "our offence." It is, moreover, clear that
+the letter, which is undated, cannot have been written before May 4th,
+1605, the date of Cecil's earldom. On the other hand, the whole tone of
+the document appears utterly inconsistent with the supposition that it
+was written by one branded with the stigma of such a crime as the
+Powder Plot. Some of the expressions used, especially in the opening
+sentence, appear, likewise, incompatible with such a supposition, and
+the letter bears the usual form of address for those sent in ordinary
+course of post, "To the Right Hon. the Earl of Salisburie give these";
+it has moreover been sealed with a crest or coat-of-arms; all of which
+is quite unlike a document prepared by a prisoner for those who had him
+under lock and key. It is noteworthy, too, that at the trial, according
+to the testimony of the official account itself, on the very subject of
+the treatment of Catholics, Salisbury acknowledged "that Sir E. Digby
+was his ally."
+
+It seems probable, therefore, that the letter was written before Digby
+had been entangled by Catesby in the conspiracy (_i.e._, between May and
+September, 1605). If so, what was the "offence" of which he speaks? The
+answer to this question would throw an interesting light on this
+perplexed history. The following is Sir Everard's letter:
+
+"Right Honourable, I have better reflected on your late speeches than at
+the present I could do, both for the small stay which I made, and for my
+indisposition that day, not being very well, and though perhaps your
+Lordship may judge me peremptory in meddling, and idle in propounding,
+yet the desire I have to establish the King in safety will not suffer me
+to be silent.
+
+"One part of your Lordship's speech (as I remember) was that the King
+could not get so much from the Pope (even then when his Majesty had done
+nothing against Catholics) as a promise that he would not excommunicate
+him, so long as that mild course was continued, wherefore it gave
+occasion to suspect, that if Catholics were suffered to increase, the
+Pope might afterwards proceed to excommunication, if the King would not
+change his religion. But to take away that doubt, I do assure myself
+that his Holiness may be drawn to manifest so contrary a disposition of
+excommunicating the King, that he will proceed with the same course
+against all such as shall go about to disturb the King's quiet and happy
+reign; and the willingness of Catholics, especially of priests and
+Jesuits, is such as I dare undertake to procure any priest in England
+(though it were the Superior of the Jesuits) to go himself to Rome to
+negotiate this business, and that both he and all other religious men
+(till the Pope's pleasure be known) shall take any spiritual course to
+stop the effect that may proceed from any discontented or despairing
+Catholic.
+
+"And I doubt not but his return would bring both assurance that such
+course should not be taken with the King, and that it should be
+performed against any that should seek to disturb him for religion. If
+this were done, there could then be no cause to fear any Catholic, and
+this may be done only with those proceedings (which as I understood your
+lordship) should be used. If your Lordship apprehend it to be worth the
+doing, I shall be glad to be the instrument, for no hope to put off from
+myself any punishment, but only that I wish safety to the King and ease
+to Catholics. If your Lordship and the State think it fit to deal
+severely with Catholics, within brief there will be massacres,
+rebellions, and desperate attempts against the King and State. For it is
+a general received reason amongst Catholics, that there is not that
+expecting and suffering course now to be run that was in the Queen's
+time, who was the last of her line, and last in expectance to run
+violent courses against Catholics; for then it was hoped that the King
+that now is would have been at least free from persecuting, as his
+promise was before his coming into this realm, and as divers his
+promises have been since his coming, saying that he would take no soul
+money nor blood. Also, as it appeared, was the whole body of the
+Council's pleasure, when they sent for divers of the better sort of
+Catholics (as Sir Thos. Tressam and others) and told them it was the
+King's pleasure to forgive the payment of Catholics, so long as they
+should carry themselves dutifully and well. All these promises every man
+sees broken, and to thrust them further in despair, most Catholics take
+note of a vehement book written by Mr. Attorney, whose drift (as I have
+heard) is to prove that the only being a Catholic is to be a traitor,
+which book coming forth, after the breach of so many promises, and
+before the ending of such a violent parliament, can work no less effect
+in men's minds than a belief that every Catholic will be brought within
+that compass before the King and State have done with them. And I know,
+as the priest himself told me, that if he had not hindered there had
+somewhat been attempted, before our offence, to give ease to Catholics.
+But being so safely prevented, and so necessary to avoid, I doubt not
+but your Lordship and the rest of the Lords will think of a more mild
+and undoubted safe course, in which I will undertake the performance of
+what I have promised and as much as can be expected, and when I have
+done, I shall be as willing to die as I am ready to offer my service,
+and expect not nor desire favour for it, either before the doing it, nor
+in the doing it, nor after it is done, but refer myself to the resolved
+course for me. So, leaving to trouble your Lordship any further, I
+humbly take my leave. Your Lordship's poor bedesman, EV. DIGBY."
+
+_Addressed_ "To the Right Honourable the Earl of Salisburie give these."
+
+_Sealed._ [P.R.O. _Dom. James I._ xvii. 10.]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX C. (p. 34).
+
+_The Question of Succession._
+
+
+FATHER PARSONS' well-known book on this subject, written under the
+pseudonym of Doleman, was denounced by Sir Edward Coke as containing
+innumerable treasons and falsehoods. In fact, as may be seen in the work
+itself, it is an exhaustive and careful statement of the descent of each
+of the possible claimants, and of other considerations which must enter
+into the settlement. Sir Francis Inglefield wrote that it was necessary
+to take some step of this kind, to set men thinking on so important a
+question which would soon have to be decided, for that the anti-Catholic
+party had made it treason to discuss it during the queen's life, with
+intent to foist a successor of their own selection on the nation, when
+the moment should arrive, trusting to the ignorance universally
+prevalent as to the rights of the matter; but that such lack of
+information could not help the people to a sound decision. [Stonyhurst
+MSS., _Anglia_, iii. 32.]
+
+The Spanish sympathies of Parsons and his party were afterwards made
+much of as evidence of their traitorous disposition. On this subject it
+must be noted (1) the Infanta of Spain was amongst those whose claim was
+urged on genealogical grounds; (2) the project was to marry her to an
+English nobleman. As Parsons tells us, when she married and was endowed
+with another estate, English Catholics ceased to think of her. [_Ibid._
+ii. 444.] (3) Father Garnet notes that, "since the old king of Spain
+died [1598], there hath been no pretence ... for the Infanta, or the
+King [of Spain], or any of that family, but for any that should maintain
+Catholic religion, and principally for His Majesty" [James I.]. [_Ibid._
+iii. n. 41.]
+
+A remark of Parsons' on this point, which at the time was considered
+almost blasphemous, will seem now almost a truism, viz., that the title
+of particular succession in kingdoms is founded only upon the positive
+laws of several countries, since neither kingdoms nor monarchies are of
+the essence of human society, and therefore every nation has a right to
+establish its own kings in what manner it likes, and upon what
+conditions. Wherefore, as each of the other great parties in England
+(whom he designates as Protestants and Puritans) will look chiefly to
+its own political interests, and exact from the monarch of its choice
+pledges to secure them, it behoves Catholics, being so large a part of
+the nation, to take their proper share in the settlement, and therefore
+to study betimes the arguments on which the claims of the competitors
+are severally based.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX D. (p. 36).
+
+_The Spanish Treason._
+
+
+THE history of the alleged treasonable negotiations with Spain,
+conducted by various persons whose names were afterwards connected with
+the Gunpowder Plot, appears open to the gravest doubt and suspicion. It
+would be out of place to discuss the question here, but two articles on
+the subject, by the present writer, will be found in the _Month_ for May
+and June, 1896.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX E. (p. 60).
+
+_Site of Percy's lodging_ [_see_ View, p. 56, and Plan, p. 59.]
+
+
+THAT the lodging hired by Percy stood near the south-east corner of the
+old House of Lords (_i.e._ nearer to the river than that building, and
+adjacent to, if not adjoining, the Prince's Chamber) is shown by the
+following arguments.
+
+1. John Shepherd, servant to Whynniard, gave evidence as to having on a
+certain occasion seen from the river "a boat lye cloase to the pale of
+Sir Thomas Parreys garden, and men going to and from the water through
+the back door that leadeth into Mr. Percy his lodging." [_Gunpowder Plot
+Book_, 40, part 2.]
+
+2. Faukes, in his examination of November 5th, 1605, speaks of "the
+windowe in his chamber neere the parliament house towards the water
+side."
+
+3. It is said that when digging their mine the conspirators were
+troubled by the influx of water from the river, which would be
+impossible if they were working at the opposite side of the Parliament
+House.
+
+[It has always been understood that Percy's house stood at the south end
+of the House of Lords, but Smith (_Antiquities of Westminster_, p. 39)
+places it to the south-west instead of the south-east, saying that it
+stood on the site of what was afterwards the Ordnance Office.]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX F. (p. 64).
+
+_Enrolment of Conspirators._
+
+
+The evidence on this point is most contradictory.
+
+1. The Indictment, on the trial of the conspirators, mentions the
+following dates.
+
+_May 20th, 1604._ [Besides Garnet, Greenway, Gerard, "and other
+Jesuits,"] there met together T. Winter, Faukes, Keyes, Bates, Catesby,
+Percy, the two Wrights, and Tresham, by whom the Plot was approved and
+undertaken.
+
+_March 31st, 1605_, R. Winter, Grant, and Rokewood were enlisted.
+
+[No mention is made of Digby, who was separately arraigned, nor in his
+arraignment is any date specified.]
+
+2. According to Faukes' confession of November 17th, 1605, Percy,
+Catesby, T. Winter, J. Wright, and himself were the first associates.
+Soon afterwards C. Wright was added. After Christmas, Keyes was
+initiated and received the oath. At a later period, Digby, Rokewood,
+Tresham, Grant, and R. Winter were brought in. Bates is not mentioned.
+
+[In this document the names of Keyes and R. Winter have been
+interchanged, in Cecil's writing, and thus it was printed: the latter
+being made to appear as an earlier confederate.]
+
+3. According to T. Winter's declaration of November 23rd, 1605, Catesby,
+J. Wright, and himself were the first associates, Percy and Faukes being
+presently added. Keyes was enlisted before Michaelmas, C. Wright after
+Christmas, Digby at a later period, and Tresham "last of all." No others
+are mentioned.
+
+4. Keyes--November 30th, 1605--says that he was inducted a little before
+Midsummer, 1604.
+
+5. R. Winter and Grant (January 17th, 1605-6) fix January, 1604-5, for
+their introduction to the conspiracy, and Bates (December 4th, 1605)
+gives the preceding December for his. Neither date agrees with that of
+the indictment in support of which these confessions were cited.
+
+6. There is, of course, no evidence of any kind to show that Father
+Garnet and the "other Jesuits" ever had any conference with the
+conspirators, nor was such a charge urged on his trial.
+
+7. Sir Everard Digby's case is exceptionally puzzling. All the evidence
+represents him as having been initiated late in September, or early in
+October, 1605. Among the Hatfield MSS., however, there is a letter
+addressed to Sir Everard, by one G. D., and dated June 11th, 1605,
+which treats ostensibly of a hunt for "the otter that infesteth your
+brooks," to be undertaken when the hay has been cut, but has been
+endorsed by Cecil himself, "Letter written to Sir Everard Digby--_Powder
+Treason_;" the minister thus attributing to him a knowledge of the Plot,
+more than three months before it was ever alleged that he heard of it.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX G. (p. 94).
+
+_Henry Wright the Informer._
+
+
+1. _Letter to Sir T. Challoner, April, 1604._ [_Gunpowder Plot Book_, n.
+236.]
+
+Good Sir Thomas, I am as eager for setting of the lodgings as you can
+be, and in truth whereas we desired but twenty, the discoverer had set
+and (if we accept it) can set above three score, but I told him that the
+State would take it for good service if he set twenty of the most
+principal Jesuits and seminary priests, and therewithal I gave him
+thirteen or fourteen names picked out of his own notes, among the which
+five of them were sworn to the secresy. He saith absolutely that by
+God's grace he will do it ere long, but he stayeth some few days
+purposely for the coming to town of Tesmond [Greenway] and Kempe, two
+principals; their lodgings are prepared, and they will be here, as he
+saith for certain, within these two days. For the treason, Davies
+neither hath nor will unfold himself for the discovery of it till he
+hath his pardon for it under seal, as I told you, which is now in great
+forwardness, and ready to be sealed so that you shall know all.... Your
+worship's most devoted,
+
+HEN. WRIGHT.
+
+[A pardon to Joseph Davies for all treasons and other offences appears
+on the Pardon Roll, April 25th, 1605, thus supplying the approximate
+date of the above letter.]
+
+2. _Application to the King._ [_Gunpowder Plot Book_, n. 237.]
+
+"If it may please your Majesty, can you remember that the Lord Chief
+Justice Popham and Sir Thomas Challoner, Kt., had a hand in the
+discovery of the practices of the Jesuits in the powder, and did from
+time reveal the same to your Majesty, for two years' space almost before
+the said treason burst forth by an obscure letter to the Lord
+Mounteagle, which your Majesty, like an angel of God, interpreted,
+touching the blow, then intended to have been given by powder. The man
+that informed Sir Thomas Challoner and the Lord Popham of the said
+Jesuitical practices, their meetings and traitorous designs in that
+matter, whereof from time to time they informed your Majesty, was one
+Wright, who hath your Majesty's hand for his so doing, and never
+received any reward for his pains and charges laid out concerning the
+same. This Wright, if occasion serve, can do more service."
+
+[_Addressed_, "Mr. Secretary Conway."
+
+_Headed_, "Touching Wright and his services performed in the damnable
+plot of the Powder treason."]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX H. (p. 119).
+
+_Lord Monteagle to King James_, (British Museum MSS. Add. 19402, f.
+146.)
+
+
+"MOST gracious Soveraine.--Your maiestyes tender and fatherly love over
+me, In admonishinge me heartofore, to seake resolution In matter of
+religion, geves me both occasion, and Incouragement, as humbly to thanke
+your maiestye for this care of my soules good, so to crave leave of
+gevinge into your maiestyes hand this accompt, that your wisdome, seinge
+the course and end of my proceadinges, might rest assured that by the
+healp of god, I will [live and] dye, In that religion which I have nowe
+resolved to profes.
+
+"It may please your maiestye therfore to knowe, that as I was breed upp
+In the Romish religion and walked in that, because I knew no better, so
+have I not sodainely or lightly made the chaunge, which nowe I desire to
+be seane In, for I speake, Sir, as before him that shall Judg my soule,
+I have by praier, for god his gidance, and with voues to him, to walk in
+that light he should shew me, and by longe carefull and diligent
+readinge, and conference with lerned men, on both sides, and impartiall
+examination of ther profes and argumentes, come to discerne the
+Ignorance I was formerly wrapped In, as I nowe wonder that ether my
+self, or any other of common understandinge, showld bee so blynded, as
+to Imbrace that gods trewth, [_sic_] which I nowe perseyue to be
+grounded uppon so weake foundations. And as I never could digest all
+poyntes therin, wherof not few seamed to bee made for gaine and
+ambition, of the papacye, so nowe I fynde that the hole frame and bodye
+of that religion (wherin they oppose us) difereth from the platforme,
+which god him self hath recorded In the holy scriptures, and hath In
+length of tyme, by the Ignorance and deceiptfulness of men, bene peaced
+together, and is now maintayned by factious obstinacye, and certain
+coulerable pretences, such as the wittes and learninge of men, are able
+to cast uppon any humaine errors, which they list to uphowld. Nether
+have I left any thinge I doubted of untried or unresolued, becawse I did
+Intend and desire to so take up the trewth of god, once discouered to
+me, as neuer to suffer yt to bee questioned any more In my owne
+consienc. And In all this, Sir, I protest to your maiestye, before
+almightye god, I have simply and only propounded to my self the trew
+seruise of god, and saluation of my owne soule, Not gaine, not honor, no
+not that which I doe most highly valew, your maiestyes fauour, or better
+opinion of me. Nether on the other side am I affraide of those censures
+of men whether of the partye I have abandoned, or of others which I
+shall Incur by this alteration, howldinge yt contentment Innough to my
+self, That god hath in mercye enlightened my mynde to see his sacred
+trewth, with desire to serue [the paper here is mutilated].... And rest,
+your maie[styes] most loyall and obedient servant W. Mownteagle."
+
+_Addressed_, "To the Kinge his most excellent Maiestye."
+
+From the absence of any allusion to the Powder Plot and its "discovery,"
+it appears certain that this letter must have been written previously to
+it.
+
+On August 1st, 1609, Sir Wm. Waad wrote to Salisbury that the disorders
+of Lord Monteagle's house were an offence to the country. At this period
+he appears to have been suspected of concealing Catholic students from
+St. Omers. [_Calendar of State Papers._]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I. (p. 140).
+
+_Epitaph in St. Anne's, Aldersgate._ [Maitland, London (1756), p. 1065.]
+
+
+"_Peter Heiwood_, younger son of _Peter Heiwood_, one of the Counsellors
+of _Jamaica_, ... Great Grandson to _Peter Heiwood_ of _Heywood_ in the
+County Palestine of _Lancaster_; who apprehended _Guy Faux_ with his
+dark Lanthorn; and for his zealous prosecution of Papists, as Justice of
+Peace, was stabbed in _Westminster-Hall_ by _John James_, a _Dominican_
+Friar, An. Dom. 1640. Obiit _Novem. 2. 1701_.
+
+    Reader, if not a Papist bred
+    Upon such Ashes gently tread."
+
+It is to be presumed that the person who died in 1701 is not the same
+who was stabbed in 1640, or who discovered Guy Faukes in 1605.
+
+The Dominican records contain no trace of any member of the Order named
+John James, nor does so remarkable an event as the stabbing of a Justice
+of Peace in Westminster Hall appear to be chronicled elsewhere.
+
+Peter Heywood, J.P. for Westminster, was active as a magistrate as late
+as December 15th, 1641. [_Calendar of State Papers._]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX K. (p. 173).
+
+_The Use of Torture._
+
+
+THERE can be no doubt that torture was freely employed to extract
+evidence from the conspirators and others who fell into the hands of the
+government.
+
+The Earl of Salisbury, in his letter to Favat, of December 4th, 1605,
+clearly intimates that this was the case, when he complains "most of the
+prisoners have wilfully forsworn that the priests knew anything in
+particular, and obstinately refuse to be accusers of them, _yea, what
+torture soever they be put to_."
+
+About the middle of November, Lord Dunfermline wrote to Salisbury [_Dom.
+James I._ xvi. 81] recommending that the prisoners should be confined
+apart and in darkness, that they should be examined by torchlight, and
+that the tortures should be slow and at intervals, as being thus most
+effectual.
+
+There is every reason to believe that the Jesuit lay-brother, Nicholas
+Owen, _alias_ Littlejohn, actually died upon the rack. [_Vide_ Father
+Gerard's _Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_, p. 189.]
+
+Finally we have the king's instructions as to Faukes [_Gunpowder Plot
+Book_, No. 17]. "The gentler tortours are to be first usid unto him, _et
+sic per gradus ad ima tenditur_,[458] and so God speede your goode
+worke."[459] Guy's signature of November 9th is sufficient evidence that
+it was none of the "gentler tortours" which he had endured.
+
+In the violently Protestant account of the execution of the
+traitors,[460] we read: "Last of all came the great Devil of all Faukes,
+who should have put fire to the powder. His body being weak with torture
+and sickness, he was scarce able to go up the ladder, but with much ado,
+by the help of the hangman, went high enough to brake his neck with the
+fall."
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX L. (p. 227).
+
+_Myths and Legends of the Powder Plot._
+
+
+AROUND the Gunpowder Plot has gathered a mass of fabulous embellishment
+too curious to be passed over in silence. This has chiefly attached
+itself to Guy Faukes, who, on account of the desperate part allotted to
+him has impressed the public mind far more than any of his associates,
+and has come to be erroneously regarded as the moving spirit of the
+enterprise.
+
+One of the best authenticated facts regarding him is that when
+apprehended he was booted and spurred for a journey, though it is
+usually said that he was to have travelled by water.
+
+There is, however, a strange story, told with much circumstantiality,
+which gives an elaborate but incomprehensible account of a tragic
+underplot in connection with him. This is related at considerable length
+in a Latin hexameter poem, _Venatio Catholica_, published in 1609, in
+the _History of the Popish Sham Plots_, and elsewhere. According to this
+tangled tale the other conspirators wished both to get rid of Faukes,
+when he had served their purpose, and to throw the suspicion of their
+deed upon their enemies, the Puritans. To this end they devised a
+notable scheme. A certain Puritan, named Pickering, a courtier, but a
+godly man, foremost amongst his party, had a fine horse ("Bucephalum
+egregium"). This, Robert Keyes, his brother-in-law, purchased or hired,
+and placed at the service of Faukes for his escape. The steed was to
+await him at a certain spot, but in a wood hard by assassins were to
+lurk, who, when Guy appeared, should murder him, and having secured the
+money with which he was furnished, should leave his mangled corpse
+beside the Bucephalus, known as Mr. Pickering's. Thus Faukes would be
+able to tell no tales, and--though it does not appear why--suspicion
+would be sure to fall on the Puritan, and he would be proclaimed as the
+author of the recent catastrophe.
+
+    "Hoc astu se posse rati convertere in hostes
+    Flagitii infamiam, causamque capessere vulgo
+    Qua Puritanos invisos reddere possent,
+    Ut tantae authores, tam immanis proditionis.
+    Cognito equo, et facta (pro more) indagine caedis,
+    Aulicus hic sceleris tanquam fabricator atrocis
+    Proclamandus erat, Falso (ne vera referre
+    Et socios sceleris funesti prodere possit)
+    Sublato."
+
+Many curious circumstances have likewise been imported into the history,
+and many places connected with it which appear to have no claim whatever
+to such a distinction.
+
+Thus we hear (_England's Warning Peece_) that the Jesuit Cresswell came
+over from Spain for the occasion "to bear his part with the rest of his
+society in a victorial song of thanksgiving." Also that on November 5th,
+a large body of confederates assembled at Hampstead to see the House of
+Parliament go up in the air.
+
+In the _Gentleman's Magazine_, February, 1783, is a remarkable
+description of a summer house, in a garden at Newton Hall, near
+Kettering, Northamptonshire, in which the plotters used to meet and
+conspire, the place then belonging to the Treshams; "and for greater
+security, they placed a conspirator at each window, Guy Faukes, the arch
+villain, standing in the doorway, to prevent anybody overhearing them."
+
+According to a wide-spread belief Guy Faukes was a Spaniard.[461] He has
+also been called a Londoner, and his name being altered to Vaux, has
+been said to have a family connection with Vauxhall. He was in fact a
+Yorkshireman of good family, though belonging to a younger branch of no
+great estate. His father, Edward Faukes, was a notary at York, where he
+held the office of registrar and advocate of the cathedral church. Guy
+himself was an educated man, more than commonly well read. He is always
+described in the process as "Guido Faukes, Gentleman."
+
+Another most extraordinary example of an obvious myth, which was
+nevertheless treated as sober history, is furnished by the absurd
+statement that the astute and wily Jesuits not only contrived the Plot,
+but published its details to the world long before its attempted
+execution, in order to vindicate to themselves the credit of so glorious
+a design. Thus Bishop Kennet, in a fifth of November sermon, preached at
+St. Paul's before the Lord Mayor, in 1715, tells us:[462]
+
+"It was a general surmise at least among the whole Order of Jesuits in
+foreign parts: or else one of them could hardly have stated the case so
+exactly some four or five years before it broke out. Father Del-Rio, in
+a treatise printed An. 1600, put the case, as if he had already looked
+into the Mine and Cellars, and had surveyed the barrels of powder in
+them, and had heard the whole confessions of Faux and Catesby."
+
+This "general surmise" does not appear to have been confined to the
+Jesuits themselves. Another ingenious writer, nearly a century
+earlier,[463] tells a wonderful story concerning the sermon of a
+Dominican, preached in the same year, 1600, wherein it was related how
+there was a special hell, beneath the other, for Jesuits, so thick and
+fast did they arrive as to need extra accommodation. The preacher avowed
+that he had, in his vision of the place, given warning to the demon in
+charge of it, "to search them with speed, for fear that they had
+conveyed hither some gunpowder with them, for they are very skilfull in
+Mine-workes, and in blowing up of whole States and Parliament-houses,
+and if they can blow you all up, then the Spanyards will come and take
+your kingdom from you."
+
+Another notable specimen of the way in which reason and probability were
+cast to the winds is afforded by two letters written from Naples in
+1610, one to King James and the other to Salisbury, by Sir Edwin
+Rich,[464] who announced that Father Greenway--who of all the Jesuits
+was said to be most clearly convicted as a traitor--intended to send to
+the king a present of an embroidered satin doublet and hose, which,
+being craftily poisoned, would be death to him if he put them on.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[458] "And so by degrees to the uttermost."
+
+[459] These instructions furnish an interesting specimen of the king's
+broad Scotch, _e.g._, "Quhat Gentlewomans Letter it was y^t was founde
+upon him, and quhairfor doth she give him an other Name in it y^n he
+giues to himself. If he was ever a papiste; and if so, quho brocht him
+up in it. If otherwayes, hou was he convertid, quhair, quhan, and by
+quhom."
+
+The following passage is very characteristic of the writer:
+
+"Nou last, ye remember of the crewellie villanouse pasquille y^t rayled
+upon me for y^e name of Brittanie. If I remember richt it spake
+something of harvest and prophecyed my destructi[=o] about y^t tyme. Ye
+may think of y^s, for it is lyke to be by y^e Laboure of such a
+desperate fellow as y^s is."
+
+[460] _The Arraignment and execution of the late traitors_, etc., 1606.
+
+[461] See, for instance, _London and the Kingdom_ (mainly from the
+Guildhall Archives), by Reginald R. Sharpe, ii. 13.
+
+[462] P. 9.
+
+[463] Lewis Owen, _Unmasking of all popish Monks_, etc. (1628), p. 49.
+
+[464] _Dom. James I._ lvii. 92-93, October 5th.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX M.
+
+_Sir William Waad's Memorial Inscriptions._
+
+
+IN a room of the Queen's House in the Tower, in which the conspirators
+are supposed to have been examined by the Lords of the Council, Sir
+William Waad has left a series of inscriptions as memorials of the
+events in which he played so large a part. Of these the most noteworthy
+are the following:
+
+I.
+
+    Jacobus Magnus, Magnae Britanniae
+    rex, pietate, justitia, prudentia, doctrina, fortitudine,
+    clementia, ceterisq. virtutibus regiis clariss'; Christianae
+    fidei, salutis publicae, pacis universalis propugnator, fautor
+    auctor acerrimus, augustiss', auspicatiss'.
+    Anna Regina Frederici 2. Danorum Regis invictiss' filia sereniss^a,
+    Henricus princeps, naturae ornamentis, doctrinae praesidiis, gratiae
+    Muneribus, instructiss', nobis et natus et a deo datus,
+    Carolus dux Eboracensis divina ad omnem virtutem indole,[465]
+    Elizabetha utriusq. soror Germana, utroque parente dignissima
+    Hos velut pupillam oculi tenellam
+    providus muni, procul impiorum
+    impetu alarum tuarum intrepidos
+    conde sub umbra.
+
+[This is evidently intended for a Sapphic stanza, but the last two words
+of v. 3 have been transposed, destroying the metre.]
+
+II.
+
+    Robertus Cecil, Comes Sarisburiensis, summus et regis
+    Secretarius, et Angliae thesaurarius, clariss' patris
+    et de repub. meritissimi filius, in paterna munera
+    successor longe dignissimus;
+    Henricus, comes Northamptoniae, quinq. portuum praefectus et
+    privati sigilli custos, disertorum litteratissimus, litteratorum
+    disertissimus;
+    Carolus comes Nottingamiae, magnus Angliae admirallus
+    victoriosus;
+    Thomas Suffolciae comes, regis camerarius splendidissimus,
+    tres viri nobilissimi ex antiqua Howardorum familia, ducumq.
+    Norfolciae prosapia;
+    Edwardus Somersetus, comes Wigorniae, equis regiis praefectus
+    ornatissimus;
+    Carolus Blunt, comes Devoniae, Hyberniae prorex et pacificator,
+    Joannes Areskinus,[466] illustris Marriae comes, praecipuarum in
+    Scotia arcium praefectus;
+    Georgius Humius, Dunbari comes, Scotiae thesaurarius
+    prudentiss'
+    omnes illustriss' ordinis garteri milites;
+    Joannes Popham, miles, justiciarius Angliae capitalis,
+    et justitiae consultissimus:
+
+    Hi omnes illustrissimi viri, quorum nomina ad sempiternam eorum
+    memoriam posteritati consecrandam proxime supra ad lineam posita
+    sunt, ut regi a consiliis, ita ab eo delegati quaesitores, reis
+    singulis incredibili diligentia ac cura saepius appellatis, nec
+    minore solertia et dexteritate pertentatis eorum animis, eos suis
+    ipsorum inter se collatis responsionibus convictos, ad voluntariam
+    confessionem adegerunt: et latentem nefarie conjurationis seriem,
+    remq. omnem ut hactenus gesta et porro per eos gerenda esset, summa
+    fide erutam, aeterna cum laude sua, in lucem produxerunt, adeo ut
+    divina singulari providentia effectum sit, ut tam praesens, tamq.
+    f[oe]da tempestas, a regia majestate, liberisq. regiis, et omni
+    regno depulsa, in ipsos autores eorumq. socios redundarit.
+
+III.
+
+Conjuratorum Nomina, ad perpetuam ipsorum infamiam et tantae diritatis
+detestationem sempiternam.
+
+                                 Thomas Winter     Thomas Percy
+                                 Robert Winter     Robert Catesby
+    _Monachi_  { Henry Garnet    John Winter       John Wright
+    _salutare_ { John Gerrard    Guy Fawkes        Christopher Wright
+    _Jesu_     { Oswald Tesmond  Thomas Bates      Francis Tresham
+    _nom[=e]_  { Ham[=o]         Everard Digby, K. Thomas Abbington
+    _ementiti_ { Baldw[=i]       Am' Rookewood     Edmond Baineham, K.
+                                 John Graunt       William Stanley, K.
+                                 Robert Keyes      Hughe Owen.
+                                 Henry Morg[=a]
+
+IV.
+
+Besides the above there is a prolix description of the Plot, devised
+against the best of sovereigns, "a Jesuitis Romanensibus, perfidiae
+Catholicae et impietatis viperinae autoribus et assertoribus, aliisq.
+ejusdem amentiae scelerisq. patratoribus et sociis susceptae, et in ipso
+pestis derepente inferendae articulo (salutis anno 1605, mensis Novembris
+die quinto), tam praeter spem quam supra fidem mirifice et divinitus
+detectae."
+
+There is, moreover, a sentence in Hebrew, with Waad's cipher beneath,
+and a number of what seem to be meant for verses. The following lines
+are evidently the Lieutenant's description of his own office:
+
+    "Custodis Custos sum, Carcer Carceris, arcis
+      Arx, atque Argu' Argus; sum speculae specula;
+    Sum vinclum in vinclis; compes cum compede, clav[=u]
+      Firmo haerens, teneo tentus, habens habeor.
+    Dum regi regnoq. salus stet firma quieta,
+      Splendida sim Compes Compedis usque licet."
+
+This is considerably more metrical and intelligible than some of the
+rest.
+
+In 1613 Waad was dismissed from his post, one of the charges against him
+being that he had embezzled the jewels of Arabella Stuart.[467]
+
+In Theobald's _Memoirs of Sir Walter Raleigh_ (p. 16), Waad is described
+as "the Lieutenant of the Tower, and Cecil's great Creature."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[464] _Dom. James I._ lvii. 92-93, October 5th.
+
+[465] At the time of the Plot Charles was not quite five years old.
+
+[466] Erskine.
+
+[467] _Dom. James I._ lxxii. 129.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX N.
+
+THE PUBLISHED CONFESSION OF GUY FAUKES. A.
+
+
+_The draft, November 8th, 1605_ (G.P.B. 49).
+
+*** Passages between square brackets have been cancelled. Those marked *
+have been ticked off for omission.
+
+
+_The Confession of Guy Fawkes, taken the 8 of November, 1605._
+
+HE confesseth that a Practise in generall was first broken unto him,
+agaynst his Majesty, for the Catholique cause, and not invented or
+propounded by himself, and this was first propounded unto him about
+Easter last was twelvemonth, beyond the seas in the Low countreyes, by
+an English Lay-man, and that English man came over with him in his
+company into England, and they tow and three more weare the first five
+mencioned in the former examination. And they five resolving to do some
+thinge for the Catholick cause,--a vowe being first taken by all of them
+for secrecye,--one of the other three propounded to perform it with
+Powder, and resolved that the place should be,--where this action should
+be performed and justice done,--in or neere the place of the sitting of
+the Parliament, wherein Religion had been uniustly suppressed. This
+beeinge resolved the manner [of it] was as followeth.
+
+
+THE PUBLISHED CONFESSION OF GUY FAUKES. B.
+
+_As signed by Faukes, November 17th, 1605_ (G.P.B. 101).
+
+*** Square brackets indicate an erasure. Italics an addition or
+substitution.
+
+The [deposition] _declaration_ of Guy Fawkes prisonner in the Tower of
+London _taken the 17 of Nov. 1605, acknowledged before the Lords
+Commissioners._[468]
+
+
+_A._ I confesse that a practise in generall was first broken unto me
+against his Majestie, for releife of the Catholique cause, and not
+invented or propounded by my self.
+
+And this was first propounded unto me about Easter last was twelvemonth,
+beyond the Seas, in the Low countries of the Archdukes obeysance by
+Thomas Wynter, who came thereupon with me into England, and there wee
+imparted our purpose to three other Englishmen more, namely Rob^t
+Catesby, Tho^s Percy, and John Wright, who all five consulting together
+of the meanes how to execute the same, and taking a vowe among our
+selves for secresie Catesby propounded to have it performed by
+Gunpowder, and by making a myne under the upper house of Parliament,
+which place wee made choice of the rather,
+
+
+[_A. The draft._]
+
+First they hyred the Howse at Westminster of one Ferris,[469] and
+havinge the howse they sought to make a myne under the upper howse of
+Parliament, and they begann to make the myne in or about the xi of
+December, and they five first entered into the worke, and soone after
+toke an other unto them, havinge first sworne him and taken the
+Sacrament, for secrecye. And when they came to the wall,--that was about
+three yards thicke,--and found it a matter of great difficultie, they
+tooke to them an other in like manner, with oath and Sacrament as afore
+sayd. All which seaven, were gentlemen of name and bloode, and not any
+man was employed in or about that action,--noe not so much as in
+digginge and myning that was not a gentleman. And having wrought to the
+wall before Christmas, they reasted untill after the holydayes, and the
+day before Christmas,--having a masse of earth that came out of the
+myne,--they carryed it into the Garden of the said Howse, and after
+Christmas they wrought on the wall till Candlemas, and wrought the wall
+half through, and sayeth that all the tyme while the others wrought he
+stood as Sentynell to descrie any man that came neere, and when any man
+came neere to the place, uppon warninge given by him they rested untill
+they had notyce to proceed from hym, and sayeth that they seaven all lay
+in the Howse, and had shott and powder, and they all resolved to dye in
+that place before they yeilded or weare taken.
+
+
+[_B. The Confession as signed._]
+
+because Religion having been unjustly suppressed there, it was fittest
+that Justice and punishment should be executed there.
+
+_B._ This being resolved amongst us, Thomas Percy hired a howse at
+Westminster for that purpose, neare adjoyning the Parl^t howse, and
+there wee beganne to make a myne about the xi of December 1604. The fyve
+that entered into the woorck were Thomas Percye, Robert Catesby, Thomas
+Wynter, John Wright, and my self, and soon after we tooke another unto
+us, Christopher Wright, having sworn him also, and taken the Sacrament
+for secrecie.
+
+_C._ When wee came to the verie foundation of the Wall of the house,
+which was about 3 yeards thick, and found it a matter of great
+difficultie, we took to us another gentleman Robert [Wynter] _Keys_[470]
+in like manner with our oathe and Sacrament as aforesaid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_D._ It was about Christmas when wee brought our myne unto the Wall, and
+about Candlemas we had wrought the Wall half through. And whilst they
+were a working, I stood as sentinell, to descrie any man that came
+neare, whereof I gave them warning, and so they ceased untill I gave
+them notice agayne to proceede. All wee seaven lay in the house, and had
+shott and powder, being resolved to dye in that place before we should
+yeild or be taken.
+
+
+[_A. The draft._]
+
+And as they weare workinge, they heard a rushinge in the cellar which
+grew by _one_[471] Brights selling of his coles whereuppon this
+Examinant, fearinge they had been discovered, went into the cellar and
+viewed the cellar, and perceivinge the commoditye thereof for their
+purposs, and understandinge how it would be letten his maister, M^r
+Percy, hyred the Cellar for a yeare, for 4 pounds rent. And confesseth
+that after Christmas 20^{ty} barrells of Powder weare brought by
+themselves to a Howse which they had on the Banksyde in Hampers, and
+from that Howse removed the powder to the sayd Howse, neere the upper
+Howse of Parliament. And presently upon hyringe the cellar, they
+themselfs removed the powder into the cellar, and couvered the same with
+faggots which they had before layd into the sellar.
+
+After, about Easter, he went into the Low Countryes,--as he before hath
+declared in his former examination,--and that the trew purpos of his
+goinge over was least beinge a dangerous man he should be known and
+suspected, and in the meane tyme he left the key [of the cellar] with
+M^r Percye, whoe in his absence caused more Billetts to be layd into the
+Cellar, as in his former examination he confessed, and retourned about
+the end of August or the beginninge of September, and went agayne to the
+sayd howse, nere to the sayd cellar, and received the key of the cellar
+agayne of one of the five. And then they brought in five or six barrells
+of powder more into the cellar, which all soe they couvered with
+billetts, saving fower little barrells covered with ffaggots, and then
+this examinant went into the Country about the end of September.
+
+
+[_B. The Confession as signed._]
+
+_E._ As they were working upon the wall, they heard a rushing in a
+cellar of removing of coles; whereupon wee feared wee had been
+discovered, and they sent me to go to the cellar, who fynding that the
+coles were a selling, and that the Cellar was to be lett, viewing the
+commoditye thereof for our purpose, Percy went and hired the same for
+yearly Rent.
+
+Wee had before this provyded and brought into the house 20 barrells of
+Powder, which wee removed into the Cellar, and covered the same with
+billets and fagots, which we provided for that purpose.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_F._ About Easter, the Parliament being proroged tyll October next, wee
+dispersed our selfs and I retired into the Low countryes, _by advice and
+direction of the rest, as well to acquaint Owen with the particulars of
+the plot, as also_[472] lest by my longer staye I might have grown
+suspicious, and so have come in question.
+
+In the meane tyme Percy, having the key of the Cellar, layd in more
+powder and wood into it.
+
+I returned about the beginning of September next and then receyving the
+key againe of Percy, we brought in more powder and billets to cover the
+same againe.
+
+
+[_A. The draft._]
+
+* It appeareth the powder was in the cellar, placed as it was found the
+5 of November, when the Lords came to proroge the Parliament, and sayeth
+that he returned agayne to the sayd Howse neare the cellar on Wednesday
+the 30 of October.
+
+[He confesseth he was at the Erle of Montgomeryes marriage, but as he
+sayeth with noe intention of evill, havinge a sword about him, and was
+very neere to his Majesty and the Lords there present.]
+
+Forasmuch as they knew not well how they should come by the person of
+the Duke Charles, beeinge neere London, where they had no forces,--if he
+had not been all soe blowne upp,--He confesseth that it was resolved
+amonge them, that the same day that this detestable act should have been
+performed, the same day should other of their confederacye have
+surprised the person of the Lady Elizabeth, and presently have
+proclaimed her queen [to which purpose a Proclamation was drawne, as
+well to avowe and justify the Action, as to have protested against the
+Union, and in no sort to have meddeled with Religion therein. And would
+have protested all soe agaynst all strangers] and this proclamation
+should have been made in the name of the Lady Elizabeth.
+
+* Beinge demanded why they did not surprise the Kinges person and draw
+him to the effectinge of their purpose, sayeth that soe many must have
+been acquaynted with such an action as it could not have been kept
+secrett.
+
+He confesseth that if their purpose had taken effect untill they had
+power enough they would not have avowed the deed to be theirs; but if
+their power,--for their defence and safetye,--had been sufficient they
+themselfes would have taken it upon them.
+
+
+[_B. The Confession as signed._]
+
+And so [I] went for a tyme into the country, till the 30 of October.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_G._ It was farther resolved amongst us that the same day that this
+action should have been performed some other of our confederates should
+have surprised the person of the Lady Elizabeth the Kings eldest
+daughter, who was kept in Warwickshire at the Lo. Harringtons house, and
+presently have proclaimed her for Queene, having a project of a
+Proclamation ready for the purpose, wherein we made no mention of
+altering of Religion,----
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+---- nor would have avowed the deed to be ours untill we should have had
+power enough to make our partie good, and then we would have avowed
+both.
+
+
+[_A. The draft._]
+
+* They meant all soe to have sent for the Prisoners in the Tower to have
+come to them, of whom particularly they had some consultation.
+
+* He confesseth that the place of Rendez-vous was in Warwickshire, and
+that armour was sent thither, but the particuler thereof he knowes not.
+
+He confesseth that they had consultation for the takinge of the Lady
+Marye into their possession, but knew not how to come by her.
+
+And confesseth that provision was made by some of the conspiracye of
+some armour of proofe this last Summer for this Action.
+
+* He confesseth that the powder was bought of the common Purse of the
+Confederates.
+
+    L. Admyrall         }
+    L. Chamberlayne     }
+    Erle of Devonshire  } attended by M^r
+    Erle of Northampton } Attorney generall.
+    Erle of Salisbury   }
+    Erle of Marr        }
+    L. cheif Justice    }
+
+[_Endorsed_] Examination of Guy Fauks, Nov^r 8th, 1605.
+
+
+[_B. The Confession as signed._]
+
+_H._ Concerning Duke Charles, the Kings second son, we hadd sundrie
+consultations how to sease on his person, but because wee found no
+meanes how to compasse it,--the Duke being kept near London,--where we
+had not forces enough, wee resolved to serve ourselves with the Lady
+Elizabeth.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_J._ The names of other principall persons that were made privie
+afterwards to this horrible conspiracie.
+
+    [_Signed_] GUIDO FAUKES.
+
+    Everard Digby, Knight
+    Ambrose Ruckwood
+    Francis Tresham
+    John Grant
+    Robert [Keys] _Wynter_
+
+    [_Witnessed_] Edw. Coke   W. Waad.
+
+    [_Endorsed_] Fawkes his [deposition] _declaration 17 Nov.
+    1605_.[473]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[468] Alterations and additions (in italics) made by Sir Edward Coke.
+
+[469] This name has seemingly been tampered with.
+
+[470] Changed by Cecil; but on November 14th, writing to Edmondes, he
+included Keyes amongst those that "wrought not in the myne," and R.
+Winter amongst those who did.
+
+[471] Interlined.
+
+[472] The words italicised are added in the published version.
+
+[473] Words in italics added by Coke.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+    Abbot, Robert, Bishop of Salisbury, his version of the missing
+    confessions of Faukes, 192 _seq._
+
+    Acton, Robert, 113.
+
+    Alabaster, Thomas, a priest in government employ, 204 _note_.
+
+    Andrew, William, servant to Sir E. Digby, evidence of, 78 _note_.
+
+    _Annals of England_, cited, 48.
+
+    _Answere to Scandalous papers_ (Cecil's manifesto), 44, 219 _seq._
+
+
+    Babington's Plot, 14.
+
+    Baldwin, Father William, S.J.; allegations against him, 185, 187
+    _seq._; which are not substantiated, 195; correspondence with Father
+    Schondonck, 201, 222.
+
+    Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, 46, 147.
+
+    Barlow, Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln, 62, 70 _note_.
+
+    Barnes, a government agent, 112.
+
+    Bartlett, George, servant to Catesby, his evidence reported, 160.
+
+    Bates, Thomas, servant to Catesby, his introduction to the
+    Conspiracy, 3, 178; his alleged evidence against Greenway, 178-183;
+    trial and execution, 6. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Batty, Matthew, evidence regarding Monteagle, 78 _note_.
+
+    "Blackfriars Downfall," the, 242.
+
+    Blount, Father Richard, S.J., on government intelligence, 77; on
+    Suffolk's proposal of toleration, 224; on Cecil's "new stratagem,"
+    224, 225.
+
+    Brayley and Britton (_Palace of Westminster_), 79 _note_.
+
+    Brewer, Rev. John Sherren, on the fate of Parry, the conspirator,
+    14; on government devices, 15; on Cecil's knowledge of the Plot, 48;
+    on the Monteagle letter, 117.
+
+    Bromley, Sir Henry, Sheriff of Worcestershire, 167 _note_.
+
+    Buck, Mr., alleged warning given to, 51 _note_, 106.
+
+    Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, 46.
+
+    "Bye," the, 15 _note_.
+
+
+    Camden, William, the historian, 36 _note_.
+
+    Capon, William, on the old Palace of Westminster, 79, 86; on traces
+    of the mine, 87.
+
+    Carleton, Dudley, afterwards Viscount Dorchester, patronized by
+    Cecil, 62; assists Percy to hire the house at Westminster, 61;
+    reports the French version of the Plot, 140; and its contradiction,
+    141; his mysterious connection with the Conspiracy, 150 _note_; his
+    opinion of Percy, 150.
+
+    Castlemaine, Earl of (Roger Palmer), on State plots, 14, 48; on
+    Osborne's qualifications as an historian, 44 _note_; on the fate of
+    decoy ducks, 152.
+
+    Carte, Thomas (_General History of England_), 46.
+
+    Carey, ----, evidence regarding Percy, 150.
+
+    Catesby, Robert, a ringleader in the Conspiracy, 9, 64; his
+    character and antecedents, 35 _seq._; persuades his associates not
+    to reveal their project to priests, 179; undertakes to proclaim the
+    new sovereign, 83; his death, 4, 152 _seq._; suspicions concerning
+    him, 156, 160. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Catholics, their numbers, 28; their condition under Elizabeth, 29;
+    their hopes from James, 31, 33, 247, 248; his promises to them, 29;
+    they welcome his accession, _ibid_, 34; temporary relief at his
+    hands, _ibid_; their consequent increase, 28, 30; Cecil's hostility,
+    28, 30, 47, 48, 51, 105; attempt to charge them with the Plot, 4-6,
+    107, 108; legislation against them on account of it, 212 _seq._; its
+    lasting effects in their regard, 209, 225.
+
+    Cecil, Robert, first Earl of Salisbury, his character, 19 _seq._;
+    dignities conferred by James I., 19 _note_; and nicknames, 19
+    _note_; his unpopularity, 21 _seq._; difficulties and dangers of his
+    position, 26 _seq._; in the pay of Spain, 21; and probably of
+    France, 22 _note_; his secret correspondence with King James, 21;
+    his intrigues against Northumberland and Raleigh, 26, 198, 216;
+    hostility to the Catholics, 27, 95, 105; anxiety on account of the
+    king's attitude, 28; and dealings with Pope Clement VIII., 104;
+    endeavours to commit James to a policy of intolerance, 105; his
+    political methods, 44, 111; employs the services of forgers, 112
+    _note_, 203; his knowledge of the Plot, 94 _seq._; alleged secret
+    dealings with Percy, 15; Tresham, 158; and Catesby, 160; contradicts
+    himself concerning the "discovery," 123 _seq._; his inexplicable
+    delay in making it, 132; and conduct afterwards, 137; was not taken
+    by surprise, 210; at once turns the Plot to his advantage, 213; his
+    determination to incriminate priests, 4 _seq._, 130; advantages
+    reaped by him, 30, 213 _seq._; his Manifesto, 218 _seq._; suspected
+    of having originated or manipulated the Conspiracy, 43 _seq._;
+    alleged attempt to float a second Plot, 225.
+
+    Cecil, Thomas, first Earl of Exeter, 19 _note_, 160 _note_.
+
+    Cecil, William, second Earl of Salisbury, his testimony reported,
+    160.
+
+    Cecil, William, a priest in government employ, 45 _note_.
+
+    "Cellar," the, its situation and character, 58, 79 _note_; hired by
+    the conspirators, 69 _seq._; problems concerning it, 87 _seq._; its
+    after history, 137; accompanies the migrations of the House of
+    Lords, 80 _note_.
+
+    Challoner, Sir Thomas, information addressed to, 94, 95.
+
+    Chamberlain, John, M.P., on Cecil's death and character, 23, 24;
+    account of the "discovery," 128; on the King's lucky day, 231; on
+    Percy's character, 150.
+
+    Charles, Duke of York, afterwards Charles I.; plans of the
+    conspirators regarding him, 81 _seq._
+
+    Chichester, Sir Arthur, Deputy in Ireland, 4, 108, 124.
+
+    Coal, Father Greenway's description of, 71 _note_.
+
+    Cobham, eighth Lord (Henry Brooke), his charge of forgery against
+    Waad, 202.
+
+    Cobham, ninth Lord (William Brooke), his evidence reported, 45.
+
+    Coke, Sir Edward, Attorney-General, his falsification of evidence,
+    200; Cecil's instructions to him, 116 _note_; his assertions, 85,
+    88; interrogatories prepared by him, 176; his humour, 63 _note_;
+    proofs against Owen, 190; witnesses Thomas Winter's declaration,
+    169; and that of Faukes, 172; his treatment of Raleigh and
+    Northumberland, 217.
+
+    Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice, on the English penal laws, 29 _note_.
+
+    Conspirators, the, list of, 2, 3; their character and antecedents,
+    35-41; their enrolment, 9, 64, 252; their plans and proceedings,
+    9-11, 60 _seq._; mining operations, 10, 63; incredibility of the
+    story, 65 _seq._, 76 _seq._, 141; they hire the "cellar," 69 _seq._;
+    purchase and store gunpowder, 78; difficulties concerning it, 78,
+    132, 134-137; further designs, 11, 80-82; alarmed by the
+    prorogation, 114, 230; flight and attempted rebellion, 2; their
+    fate, 4-6.
+
+    Cope, Sir Walter, on the character of Cecil, 27 _note_.
+
+    Cornwallis, Sir Charles, English Ambassador in Spain, on the
+    character of the conspirators, 40; letter to Father Cresswell, 195;
+    on the Catholic design to murder Cecil, 221 _note_.
+
+    Cresswell, Father Joseph, S.J., allegations concerning him, 195;
+    Cornwallis' letter to him, _ibid_.
+
+
+    Dacre, Francis, titular Lord, efforts to connect him with the Plot,
+    177.
+
+    Darnley, Henry, Lord, father of James I., the victim of a gunpowder
+    plot, 37, 50.
+
+    Davenport, Father Christopher, O.P. (Francis a S. Clara), 145
+    _note_.
+
+    Davies, Joseph, a government "discoverer," 94.
+
+    De Beaumont, M., French Ambassador, 119 _note_.
+
+    De la Boderie, M., French Ambassador, on Cecil's insecurity, 26; on
+    the ruin of Northumberland, 23.
+
+    Del-Rio, Father Martin, S.J., said to have described the Plot A.D.
+    1600, 263.
+
+    Derby, Earl of (William Stanley), attempt to incriminate him, 198.
+
+    De Ros, Lord, on Faukes' plan of escape, 144 _note_.
+
+    Devonshire, Earl of (Charles Blount), 168 _note_, 170 _note_, 211,
+    266.
+
+    Digby, Sir Everard, joins the Conspiracy, 10, 253; difficulties and
+    contradictions regarding him, 79 _note_, 253; his letter to
+    Salisbury, 33, 245; part assigned to him, 78 _note_; his fate, 6.
+    _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Digby, Sir John, English Ambassador in Spain, 22 _note_.
+
+    Digby, Sir Kenelm, his evidence reported, 160.
+
+    Digby, Sir Robert, 38 _note_.
+
+    Dixon, Hepworth (_Her Majesty's Tower_), on government intelligence,
+    111 _note_.
+
+    Dodd, Rev. Charles, on the origin of the Plot, 18, 51.
+
+    Dorset, Earl of (Thomas Sackville), his esteem for Cecil, 21.
+
+    Dunbar, Earl of (George Hume), 168 _note_, 172, 266.
+
+    Dunfermline, Earl of (Alexander Seaton), on the effective use of
+    torture, 259.
+
+    Dunsmoor Heath, projected hunting match on, 11.
+
+
+    Edmondes, Sir Thomas, English Ambassador at Brussels, account of the
+    "discovery" sent to him, 108, 124; version of Faukes' confession
+    sent to him, 186; proofs against Owen sent to him, 190, 191; his
+    negotiations with the archdukes, 186 _seq._; letters of, 102, 187,
+    188, 189; letters to, 85, 106, 113, 154, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190.
+
+    Elizabeth, Princess, daughter of James I., designs of the
+    conspirators regarding her, 81.
+
+    _England's Warning Peece_, 195, 262.
+
+    _English Protestants' Plea_, 40, 51, 108 _note_, 195 _note_.
+
+    Eudaemon-Joannes, Father Andrew, S.J., 204.
+
+
+    Faukes, Guy or Guido, _alias_ John Johnson, his position and
+    character, 39, 262; his Spanish mission, 36; introduced to the
+    Conspiracy, 9, 64; passes as Percy's servant, 71, 77; keeps guard
+    while the others work, 66; discovers the "cellar," 70; has charge of
+    the premises, 77, 89, 142; visits Flanders, 91, 162; appointed to
+    fire the powder, 1; plans for his escape, 144; arrest, 123-128;
+    published confession, 169 _seq._, 268 _seq._; evidence falsified,
+    200; missing depositions, 191; tortured, 172, 200, 260; trial and
+    execution, 6, 260; fables respecting him, 261. _See also_
+    Conspirators.
+
+    Favat, Mr., Cecil's letter to, 5, 182.
+
+    Ferrers, Henry, sub-lets the house at Westminster to Percy, 61.
+
+    Fifth of November, a propitious day for the "discovery," 231; the
+    day solemnized, 5.
+
+    Floyde, Griffith, a government spy, 49.
+
+    French historians on the Plot, 141 _note_.
+
+    French official accounts of the Plot, 140, 141.
+
+    Fuller, Mr., M.P., 132 _note_.
+
+    Fuller, Thomas (_Church History of Britain_), 46, 225.
+
+    Fulman MSS., 169.
+
+
+    Gardiner, Professor Samuel Rawson, his favourable estimate of
+    Cecil's character, 20; on the Spanish pension, 22 _note_; repudiates
+    imputations against the government, 18; on the conspirators' plans,
+    82; on the Monteagle letter, 117; on the king's interpretation, 132
+    _note_; on the desire to incriminate priests, 4 _note_.
+
+    Garnet, Father Henry, S.J., proclaimed as a principal conspirator,
+    5; his capture, 7, 166; lack of evidence, 7; trial and execution,
+    _ibid_.; his account of the conspirators' proceedings, 208; his
+    evidence against Catesby, 157; on the accession of James, 29 _note_.
+
+    _Gentleman's Magazine_, 52 _note_, 262.
+
+    Gerard, Col. John, 160 _note_.
+
+    Gerard, Father John, S.J., proclaimed as a principal conspirator, 5;
+    exonerated by historians, 237; his history of the Plot, 205; his
+    experiences in the Tower, 202; on the persecution of Catholics, 32;
+    opinion of the "discovery," 49; and of the official narrative, 129;
+    on the death of Percy and Catesby, 156 _note_.
+
+    Goodman, Godfrey, Bishop of Gloucester, on the origin of the
+    Conspiracy, 44; on the king's promises to Catholics, 29 _note_; on
+    the persecution of Catholics, 32; on the "discovery," 134 _note_; on
+    the death of Whynniard, 92 _note_; on Percy's intercourse with
+    Cecil, 151; on the death of Percy and Catesby, 154; his religious
+    views, 145 _note_.
+
+    Gowrie Conspiracy, the, 231, 232.
+
+    "Great Horses," 2 _note_.
+
+    Grange, Justice E., 148 _note_.
+
+    Grant, John, 37. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Green, Mrs. Everett, wrongly describes Owen as a Jesuit, 185 _note_.
+
+    Green, John Richard (_History of the English People_), 30.
+
+    Greenway, _alias_ Tesimond, Father Oswald, S.J., proclaimed as a
+    principal conspirator, 5; Bates' alleged evidence against him,
+    178-183; his history of the Plot, 206; opinion of the official
+    narrative, 134; on the effects of an explosion, 133; on government
+    despatches concerning Percy, 155; his visit to the rebels at
+    Huddington, 206 _note_; fables respecting him, 264.
+
+    Gregory, Arthur, a forger employed by government, 203.
+
+    Grene, Father Martin, S.J., notes on the Plot, 45.
+
+    Gunpowder, amount procured by the conspirators, 78; difficulties
+    concerning it, 132 _seq._
+
+
+    Hagley Hall, R. Winter and S. Littleton captured there, 4.
+
+    Hallam, Henry (_Constitutional History_), repudiates imputations
+    against the government, 18; on Father Garnet's capture, _ibid_.,
+    _note_; on King James's title to the crown, 34.
+
+    Harington, Sir John, 4.
+
+    Hawarde, John (_Les Reportes del Cases in Camera Stellata_), 165
+    _note_.
+
+    Heiwood, or Heywood, Peter, 139 _note_, 258.
+
+    Hendlip House (Thomas Abbington's), the scene of Father Garnet's
+    capture, 18 _note_, 166 _note_.
+
+    Henry, Prince of Wales, anticipations concerning him, 33; the
+    conspirators' plans in his regard, 80, 81, 176.
+
+    Herring, Francis (_Pietas Pontificia_), 27 _note_, 143 _note_.
+
+    Higgons, Bevil (_English History_), 47.
+
+    Hoby, Sir Edward, on the death of Percy, 154.
+
+    Holbeche House (Stephen Littleton's), the conspirators there slain
+    or captured, 2, 4.
+
+    House of Lords, its situation and subsequent migrations, 55 _seq._;
+    never represented in pictures of the Plot, 228.
+
+    House, Percy's, at Westminster, its position, 60, 251; circumstances
+    of the bargain for it, 60; difficulties concerning it, 62, 64, 67,
+    88.
+
+    Howes, Edmund (continuation of Stowe's _Chronicle_), 127.
+
+    Huddington House (Robert Winter's), 206 _note_.
+
+
+    Ichrup, Thomas, name given to Faukes, 149, 244.
+
+    Inglefield, Sir Francis, 249.
+
+
+    James I., King of Great Britain, his claim to the succession, 34;
+    circumstances of his accession, 34, 35; hopes of the Catholics, 28;
+    who support his cause, 34; his policy at first favourable to them,
+    29; soon reversed, 31; his dealings with Pope Clement VIII., 104;
+    his supposed interpretation of the letter, 128, 131; Tuesday his
+    lucky day, 230; his speech to Parliament, 211; accuses Catholics in
+    general and the Pope, 4; suspected of previous knowledge of the
+    Plot, 46; anxiety for evidence against priests, 182; letter to the
+    Archdukes, 187 _note_; alleged subsequent opinion of the Plot, 45;
+    instructions for the torture of Faukes, 259; his Scotch dialect, 260
+    _note_; gives his royal word against Owen and Baldwin, 187; his
+    policy permanently affected, 209.
+
+    James, John, a supposed Dominican, 139 _note_, 258.
+
+    Jardine, David, on the character of the official narrative, 129,
+    163; on the falsification of evidence, 199; on the Monteagle letter,
+    117; on the king's interpretation, 132 _note_; on the established
+    facts of the case, 12; not perfectly impartial, 161, 207; on the
+    results of the Plot, 213.
+
+    Jessopp, Augustus, D.D., on the value of money, 36 _note_, 117
+    _note_; on Father Gerard's innocence, 207.
+
+    Jesuits, efforts to incriminate, 177 _note_; Cecil on their
+    "insolencies," 106.
+
+
+    Kennet, White, Bishop of Peterborough, 45 _note_, 46, 263.
+
+    Keyes, Robert, contradictions respecting him, 84 _note_, 183. _See
+    also_ Conspirators.
+
+    "King's Book," the, its character, 108; Cecil's description of it,
+    219, 220.
+
+    Knyvet, or Knevet, Sir Thomas, leads the party which captures
+    Faukes, 124 _seq._; receives a peerage, 139 _note_; the Countess of
+    Suffolk his sister, 224 _note_.
+
+
+    Lake, Sir Thomas, 19, 232.
+
+    Lenthal, William, Speaker of the Long Parliament, his evidence
+    reported, 160.
+
+    Lindsay, Sir James, conveys messages between King James and Pope
+    Clement VIII., 104.
+
+    Lingard, John, D.D., 68 _note_, 231.
+
+    Littleton, Humphrey, 167 _note_.
+
+    Littleton, Stephen, 2, 4, 156.
+
+    Lodge, Edmund, F.S.A. (_Illustrations of British History_), 98.
+
+    Lopez' Plot, 14.
+
+
+    "Main," the, 15 _note_, 26, 216.
+
+    Mar, Earl of (John Erskine), 168 _note_, 172, 266.
+
+    Mary, Princess, daughter of James I., 81, 176.
+
+    Milton, poems on the Plot, 226.
+
+    Mine, the, story told respecting it, 63 _seq._; difficulties
+    respecting it, 84 _seq._
+
+    _Mischeefe's Mystery_, 72, 115, 121, 123, 153 _note_, 159.
+
+    Money, value of, 36 _note_, 117 _note_; amount raised by
+    conspirators, 39.
+
+    Monteagle, Lord (William Parker), his character and antecedents,
+    118; relations with the king and court, 34, 119; letter to the king,
+    119, 256; connection with the conspirators, 118; communicates the
+    warning letter to Cecil, 120-123, 160; attends parliament on the day
+    of the "discovery," 137 _note_; devices of the government on his
+    behalf, 116; rewards conferred, 116; subsequent conduct, 258.
+
+    Moore, Sir Francis, his evidence reported, 151.
+
+    Moore, Sir Jonas, 138.
+
+    More, Father Henry, S.J., 49.
+
+    Morgan, Harry, 81 _note_.
+
+    Morgan, Thomas, 157 _note_, 193 _note_.
+
+
+    Naunton, Sir Robert, on Cecil's character, 19.
+
+    Northampton, Earl of (Henry Howard), a nominal Catholic promoted by
+    King James, 29; Cecil's agent in his secret correspondence, 26
+    _note_; on Cecil's death, 23; on the history of the "cellar," 58
+    _note_; not admitted to all Cecil's secrets, 112.
+
+    Northumberland, Earl of (Henry Percy), a rival of Cecil's, 26; who
+    secretly traduces him, 26 _note_, 215, 216; the Plot turned to his
+    ruin, 26, 107, 216-218; which is attributed to Cecil, 26 _note_,
+    218, his sentiments in return, 218.
+
+    Nottingham, Earl of, Lord Admiral (Charles Howard), 170 _note_,
+    265.
+
+
+    Oates, Titus, 46, 138.
+
+    Oath taken by the conspirators, 9.
+
+    Oldcorne, _alias_ Hall, Father Edward, S.J., captured along with
+    Garnet, 7; never accused of complicity _ib._; Catholic demonstration
+    at his execution, 28 _note_; tortured, 173.
+
+    Oldmixon (_Royal House of Stuart_), 25 _note_, 46.
+
+    Osborne, Francis, on Cecil's unpopularity, 25; on the "discovery,"
+    44; on the 5th of August celebration, 232 _note_; on Northumberland
+    and Cecil, 218; his qualifications as an historian, 44.
+
+    Owen, Captain Hugh, falsely described as a Jesuit, 173 _note_, 185
+    _note_; particularly obnoxious to the government, 173, 185; evidence
+    fabricated against him, 174; Cecil's instruction respecting him, 116
+    _note_; efforts made to secure him, 185 _seq._; his intercourse with
+    Phelippes, 112, 185 _note_.
+
+    Owen, Lewis, 263.
+
+
+    Paris, Henry, 162.
+
+    Parliament, its successive adjournments, 67, 70 _note_, 91, 114,
+    230; meets on the day of the "discovery," 136; activity against
+    Catholics, 5, 212 _seq._
+
+    Parry, Sir Thomas, English Ambassador at Paris, instructions given
+    to, 28 _note_; intelligence supplied by, 98, 101, 102; account of
+    the discovery furnished to, 126 _seq._
+
+    Parry, Dr. William, his Plot, 14, 153.
+
+    Parsons, Father Robert, S.J., letters to, 29 _note_, 77, 223; his
+    views as to the succession, 249; on Walsingham's "spyery," 77.
+
+    Percy, Sir Charles, 192 _note_.
+
+    Percy, Thomas, one of the first and principal conspirators, 9, 64;
+    his antecedents, 36, 37, 148; house hired by him, 60; and "cellar,"
+    75; strange conduct in both transactions, 88; conduct afterwards,
+    88, 91; undertakes to seize Duke Charles or Princess Elizabeth, 82;
+    his death, 4, 152 _seq_; profession of religious zeal, 148; bigamy,
+    _ibid_; Catholics suspicious of him, 150; alleged secret dealings
+    with Cecil, 151; the case against him, 148-156. _See also_
+    Conspirators.
+
+    Phelippes, Thomas, the "decipherer," employed by the government,
+    111; their devices against him, 112; correspondence with Hugh Owen,
+    185 _note_.
+
+    Pickering, Mr., and his horse, 261. _Plain and Rational Account of
+    the Catholick Faith_, 49.
+
+    Plots under Elizabeth and James I., 14, 15, 153, 157 _note_, 193
+    _note_; their common feature, 13.
+
+    _Polititian's Catechism_, 51 _note_, 106, 137 _note_.
+
+    Pope Clement VIII., interchanges communications with James I., 104.
+
+    Pope Paul V., represented as an accomplice in the Plot, 5, 239.
+
+    Popham, Sir John, Lord Chief Justice, 170 _note_, 197, 266.
+
+
+    Raleigh, Sir Walter, Cecil's enmity towards him, 26 _note_, 48
+    _note_, 198; his ruin, 26, 216; attempt to implicate him in the
+    Powder Plot, 197, 198.
+
+    Ratcliffe, Ralph, a government spy, 95, 96, 191.
+
+    Rich, Sir Edwin, 264.
+
+    Richardot, President, 189.
+
+    Rogers, Professor Thorold, on the value of money, 117 _note_; on
+    James's title to the throne, 34.
+
+    Rokewood, Ambrose, 179 _note_. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+
+    Salisbury, first Earl of. _See_ Cecil, Robert.
+
+    Salisbury, second Earl of. _See_ Cecil, William.
+
+    Sanderson, Sir William, 46.
+
+    Schondonck, Father Giles, S. J., Rector of St. Omers, on the
+    innocence of the Jesuits, 201; on Cecil's manifesto, 222.
+
+    Scott, Sir Walter, 132 _note_.
+
+    Shakespeare, never alludes to the Plot, 226 _note_.
+
+    Sharpe, Dr. R. R., 262 _note_.
+
+    Shepherd, John, evidence of, 251.
+
+    Smith, John Thomas (_Antiquities of Westminster_), 58 _note_, 79
+    _note_, 89 _note_.
+
+    Soane, Sir John, 238.
+
+    Southwaick, or Southwell, a government spy, 99-102.
+
+    Speed, John (_Historie_), 62, 63 _note_.
+
+    Squires, Edward, his plot, 14.
+
+    Stanley, Sir William, 185, 192 _note_.
+
+    Strange, Father Thomas, S. J., 96 _note_.
+
+    Streete, John, pensioned for killing Percy and Catesby, 155.
+
+    Strype, John (_Annals_), 28 _note_.
+
+    Suffolk, Earl of, Lord Chamberlain (Thomas Howard), his venality,
+    224.
+
+
+    Talbot, John, of Grafton, 38 _note_.
+
+    Talbot, Peter, Archbishop of Dublin. _See Polititian's Catechism._
+
+    Theobald, Lewis, 267.
+
+    Topcliffe, Richard, priest-hunter, 202.
+
+    Torture, use of, 4, 5, 172, 173, 201 _note_, 259, 260.
+
+    Tresham, Francis, enlisted in the enterprise, 10, 252 _seq_.; his
+    previous record, 35, 36; his action on behalf of King James, 34;
+    suspected of writing the warning letter, 147, 158; and of collusion
+    with Cecil, _ibid._; his conduct after the "discovery," 3, 158; his
+    death in the Tower, 6 _note_, 158. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Tresham, Sir Thomas, proclaims King James, 34; summoned to Court,
+    248.
+
+    _True and Perfect Relation_, character of the narrative, 43, 163.
+
+    Tytler, Patrick Fraser, 112.
+
+
+    Usher, James, Archbishop of Armagh, his evidence reported, 45.
+
+
+    _Venatio Catholica_, 261.
+
+    _Vetusta Monumenta_, 79, 86.
+
+    Villeroy, M., on Cecil's duplicity, 23.
+
+    "Vinegar House," 60 _note_.
+
+    Vowell, Peter, evidence reported, 160.
+
+
+    Waad, Sir William, lieutenant of the Tower, charged by Cobham with
+    forgery of evidence, 202; dismissed from his post, 203 _note_, 267;
+    his inscriptions in the Tower, 264, 267; letters to Cecil, 168, 258.
+
+    Walsh, Sir Richard, sheriff of Worcestershire, 4, 154 _note_.
+
+    Ward, Samuel, preacher and artist, 239.
+
+    Webb, John, evidence reported, 160.
+
+    Weldon, Sir Anthony, on Cecil's unpopularity, 25.
+
+    Welwood, James (_Memoirs_), 46.
+
+    Westmoreland, titular Earl of (Henry Neville), attempt to implicate
+    him, 197.
+
+    Whynniard, Mr., landlord of Percy's house, 61 _note_, 89; his sudden
+    death, 92 _note_.
+
+    Whynniard, Mrs., evidence of, 61, 67, 72, 88, 142.
+
+    Willaston, William, intelligence supplied by, 99.
+
+    Wimbledon, Viscount (Edward Cecil), his evidence reported, 160.
+
+    Windsor, Lord, his house plundered by the conspirators, 2.
+
+    Winter, Robert, introduced to the conspiracy, 10; captured at
+    Hagley, 4; evidences of foul play in his regard, 183, 184; trial and
+    execution, 6. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Winter, Thomas, one of the first conspirators, 9, 64; character, 35;
+    Spanish mission, 36, 118; brings Faukes from Flanders, 9; attends
+    the prorogation, Oct. 3rd, 74 _note_, 230; captured at Holbeche, 4;
+    his published confession, 167 _seq._; probably tortured, 169; trial
+    and execution, 6. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Wood, Anthony a, notes addressed to, 159.
+
+    Worcester, Earl of (Edward Somerset), 168 _note_, 266.
+
+    Wotton, Sir Henry, 160.
+
+    Wren, Sir Christopher, 138.
+
+    Wright, Christopher, his introduction to the Conspiracy, 9, 64;
+    character, 35, 37; previous employment in Spain, 36; killed at
+    Holbeche, 4, 152. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+    Wright, Henry, his informations, 94, 95, 254.
+
+    Wright, John, one of the first conspirators, 9, 64; character, 35,
+    37; killed at Holbeche, 4, 152. _See also_ Conspirators.
+
+
+CHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
+TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
+
+
+TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES:
+
+p 14: there is no closing quotation mark following the line '"making and
+fomenting plots was then in fashion; nor can it be denied that good
+grounds for such an opinion were not lacking.' The closing mark is
+placed at the end of this sentence, though this may be incorrect.
+
+p 20: continuation of footnote 37 from previous page begins with 'avor';
+this is a typo for 'favor'.
+
+p 24: 'the' repeated in footnote 49, epigram 2; one 'the' removed.
+
+p 32: added a closing quotation mark following 'and prepared for them'.
+
+p 36: added . to end of footnote 87, after 'The Spanish Treason'.
+
+p 49: Inserted , into footnote 124; 'James I., lxxxi.'.
+
+p 120: footnote 257: missing closing bracket; corrected.
+
+p 154: inserted , into footnote 310; 'James I., i. 588'.
+
+p 160: changed ' to " to match quote mark style, footnote 329.
+
+p 194: footnote 396: 'Englands' changed to 'England's'.
+
+p 248: added missing full-stop: 'give ease to Catholics'.
+
+p 255: added opening double-quote marks to the passage entitled
+'Application to the King.'
+
+p 266: the oe ligature was represented as [oe]
+
+p 268, 269: uncommon 'inverted asterism' topographic marks are used to
+signify important notes on conventions used in the text; they have the
+form of three asterixes arranged in a v-shape. For simplicity, they are
+replaced with '***' in this document.
+
+p 281: 'incrediblty' changed to 'incredibility', 'o' changed to 'of'.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's What was the Gunpowder Plot?, by John Gerard
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