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diff --git a/old/40029.txt b/old/40029.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a40dde6..0000000 --- a/old/40029.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14803 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's -Letter, by Henry Hawkes Spink Jr. - -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: The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter - Being a Proof, with Moral Certitude, of the Authorship of - the Document: Together with Some Account of the Whole - Thirteen Gunpowder Conspirators, Including Guy Fawkes - -Author: Henry Hawkes Spink Jr. - -Release Date: June 18, 2012 [EBook #40029] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GUNPOWDER PLOT *** - - - - -Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Henry Gardiner 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) - - - - - - - * * * * * - -Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been replicated -faithfully except as shown in the TRANSCRIBER'S AMENDMENTS near the end of -the text. To preserve the alignment of tables and headers, this etext -presumes a mono-spaced font on the user's device, such as Courier New. -Words in italics are indicated like _this_. Superscripts are indicated -like this: S^{ta} Maria. Numerically-tagged footnotes are in the -FOOTNOTES: section near the end of the text. [oe] represents the oe -ligature. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: PLOWLAND HOUSE, HOLDERNESS, E.R. YORKSHIRE.] - - - - - THE GUNPOWDER PLOT - - AND - - LORD MOUNTEAGLE'S LETTER; - BEING A PROOF, WITH MORAL CERTITUDE, OF - THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE DOCUMENT: - - TOGETHER WITH - - SOME ACCOUNT OF THE WHOLE THIRTEEN - GUNPOWDER CONSPIRATORS, - INCLUDING - GUY FAWKES. - - - BY - - HENRY HAWKES SPINK, JUN. - (_A Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England_). - - - LONDON: - SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD. - - YORK: - JOHN SAMPSON. - - 1902. - [_All rights reserved._] - - - "_Veritas temporis filia._ Truth is the daughter of Time, - especially in this case, wherein, by timely and often - examinations, matters of greatest moment have been found - out."--SIR EDWARD COKE (_the Attorney-General who prosecuted the - eight surviving conspirators_). - - "Suffer no man and no cause to escape the undying penalty which - History has the power to inflict on Wrong."--LORD ACTON. - - "History, it is said, revises the verdicts of contemporaries, - and constitutes an Appeal Court nearest to the ordeal of - heaven."--DR. JAMES MARTINEAU. - - - TO - - THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CHARLES LINDLEY - SECOND VISCOUNT HALIFAX - - OF HICKLETON AND GARROWBY - IN THE COUNTY OF YORK - ONE OF YORKSHIRE'S MOST GIFTED AND DISTINGUISHED SONS - THIS BOOK - WHICH - AMONGST OTHER THINGS - TELLS OF SOME OF THE WORDS AND DEEDS - OF CERTAIN YORKSHIREMEN IN - THE DAYS OF SHAKESPEARE - IS - (BY KIND PERMISSION) - MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED - BY THE AUTHOR. - - - BLAND'S COURT, - CONEY STREET, - YORK. - - TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE - VISCOUNT HALIFAX. - - My Lord, - -The book which your characteristic generosity has permitted me to dedicate -to you wears a two-fold aspect. For it is as to one portion--and -predominantly--an Inquiry taking the form of a discourse with questions -and proofs, propositions and demonstrations. While as to another -portion--but subordinately--it is a History taking the form of a narrative -of events, a relation of mental occurrences, a statement of concrete -facts. Now these twain aspects will be found duly to play their respective -parts in the course of the subsequent pages, in accordance with a selected -order and method. - -With most of the allegations of fact and the inferences therefrom, and -with many of the assumptions and conclusions which this work contains, -your Lordship will agree. From others you will disagree. Whilst in the -case of a third class, it may be that you will deem a suspension of -judgment to be the part which wisdom and justice alike enjoin. - -Speaking for myself, both as a man and as a native of our great County of -Yorkshire--whose sons are at once speculative and practical, imaginative -and concrete--necessity, in the form of an imperative sense of duty, has -been laid upon me, to declare, with unmistakable emphasis and -straightforward directness, what I hold to be the Truth governing the -subject-matter wherewith I have sought to deal. For TRUTH IS THAT WHICH -IS, AND ITS CONTRADICTORY IS ERROR. This line of action I have pursued -with the greater determination, inasmuch as daily observation of external -events--and, if less frequent, still actual reflection thereupon--has -strongly convinced me, even against my will, that much of the "forcible -feebleness" and most of the "stable instability" of modern British -Statesmen and Politicians have their origin and rise in nothing else than -this:--lack of clarity of thought and want of knowledge of those, fixed -fundamental intellectual, moral, and political principles which ought to -be the sure inheritance of the human Race. And pre-eminently of that -portion of the Race which is conscious of a lofty imperial mission. "For -evil is wrought by want of thought as well as by want of heart." - -The ancient Stagyrite ranked Poetry above History, because the former -bequeaths to Man universal principles of action, whereas the latter -bestows upon Man only a relation of individual facts. - -But the History of the Gunpowder Treason Plot rises to a higher unity. -Because for a man to have read and mastered an impartial record of that -deliberate and appalling scheme of "sacrilegious murder," which happily -Destiny first frustrated, and afterwards, through Nemesis, her unerring -executioner, signally avenged in the sight of all men, is to have -witnessed, with the eye of the historic imagination, a drama that is a -poem in action. - -Nay, more; it is to have had a personal, experimental realization, through -the historic feeling, of what is meant, in the realm of Moral actualities, -by the infliction of Retribution, the working out of Expiation, the -regaining of Justness, the restoration of Equality between outraged Right -and outraging Wrong, and the attaining by the tempestuous, passionate -human heart of final tranquillity, rest, and peace. - -For one of the greatest recorded Tragedies in the world is the History of -the Gunpowder Treason Plot, regard being had to the intellectual and moral -ends effected by that history's recital. - -The man who has truly, if indeed but commemoratively, through force of the -medium of language merely, taken his part in this great Action, even at a -distance of well-nigh three hundred years, will have had his soul cleansed -and purified by cleansed and purified pity and terror. Then will he have -had that soul soothed and healed. He will have been first abased and then -exalted. - -For so to act is to weep with a Humanity that weeps. Then with that same -Humanity to join in a triumphant paean of victory that has for its -universal and glorious theme this reality of realities which cannot be -broken, namely, that Universe--whereof Man, though not the measure, -constitutes so large a part--is primevally founded and everlastingly -established in Goodness, Being, and Truth. - -Trusting that your Lordship will crown your gracious kindness by pardoning -the great length of this Introductory Letter, - - I beg to remain, - My dear Lord Halifax, - Yours sincerely and gratefully, - HENRY HAWKES SPINK, JUN. - - _Saturday, 26th October, 1901._ - - * * * * * - -Tragedy primarily implies imitation of Action by action, not by language, -although of course language forms a constituent part. - - See the "_Poetics of Aristotle_," chap. vi. - - -"Although it is by no means proved to be impossible that this nobleman -[Lord Mounteagle] was a guilty confederate in the Plot, the weight of -evidence is at present in his favour. It is, however, a most curious State -mystery: and I am persuaded that, if the truth is ever discovered, it will -not be by State papers, or recorded confessions and examinations. When -such expert artists as Bacon and Cecil framed and propagated a State -fiction in order to cover a State intrigue, they took care to cut off or -divert the channels of history so effectually as to make it hopeless, at -the distance of three centuries to trace the truth by means of documents -which have ever been in their control. If the mystery should hereafter be -unravelled, it will be probably by the discovery of some letters or papers -of a domestic nature, which either slumber in private repositories, or -remain unnoticed in public collections."--_Letter by David Jardine, Editor -of_ "Criminal Trials," _to Sir Henry Ellis, F.R.S._, "Archaeologia," _pp. -94-95. Dated 30th November, 1840._ - - - - - PREFACE. - - -The writer of the following work desires respectfully to put forward a -modest contribution to the solution of one of the greatest problems known -to History. - -The problem referred to arises out of that stupendous and far-reaching -movement against the Government of King James I. known as the Gunpowder -Treason Plot. - -This enterprise of cold-blooded, though grievously provoked, massacre was, -of a truth, "barbarous and savage beyond the examples of all former ages." -But because the movement had a profoundly--in the Aristotelian -sense--political _causa causans_, therefore it is of perennial interest to -governors and governed. - -The _causa causans_, or originating cause, of the Gunpowder Treason Plot, -in its ultimate analysis, will be found to involve that problem of -problems for Princes, Statesmen, and Peoples all the world over:--How to -allow freedom of human action, and yet faithfully to maintain Absolute -Truth concerning the Infinite and the Eternal--or that which is believed -to be Absolute Truth. - -To the intent that the mind of the reader may ever and anon find relief -from the stress and strain occasioned by the dry discussion of Evidence -and the severe reasoning from necessary or probable philosophical -assumptions, the writer has designedly interspersed, both in the Text and -in the Notes, matter of a Biographical and Topographical nature, -especially such as hath relation to the author's honoured native -County--Yorkshire--and his beloved native City--York. - -The writer has thought out his thesis, and has treated the same without -fear or favour--limited and conditioned only by a regard for what he knew -or supposed, and therefore believed, to be the truth governing the -subject-matter under consideration. Nobody can say more, not even the most -advanced or emancipated thinker living.[A] - -[Footnote A: _Cf._, "_The Ethic of Free-thought_," by Professor Karl -Pearson. (Adam and Charles Black, 1901.)] - -If it be demanded of the author why a member of the lower branch of the -legal profession hath essayed the unveiling of a mystery that has baffled -the learning and ingenuity of men from the days of King James I.--the -British Solomon--down to the days of Dr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner, the -renowned historian of the early English Stuarts, the author's answer and -plea must be--for it can only be--that by the decrees of Fate, _his_ eyes -first saw the light of the sun in a County whose history is an epitome of -the history of the English people; and in a City which is an England in -miniature. - -In conclusion, the writer would be fain to be pardoned in saying that he -has not had the advantage of frequenting any British or Foreign -University, or other seat of learning--all the education that he can make -his humble boast of having been received in Yorkshire Protestant Schools. - -The writer's guide, during the past eighteen months, wherein he hath -"voyaged through strange seas of thought alone,"[A] has been "the high -white star of Truth. THERE he has gazed, and THERE aspired."[B] - -_Saturday, 26th October, 1901._ - -[Footnote A: Wordsworth.] - -[Footnote B: Matthew Arnold.] - - - - - TABLE OF CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - INTRODUCTORY LETTER TO THE VISCOUNT HALIFAX vii - - PREFACE xiii - - PRELUDE xxxv - - Three movements against Government of James I. in the year of the - Gunpowder Treason Plot (1605) distinct though connected--(1) - General wave of insurrectionary feeling on part of Papists by - reason of penal laws of Queen Elizabeth--(2) Gunpowder Plot - devised by Robert Catesby--(3) Rebellion in Midlands under - leadership of Sir Everard Digby--Earl of Salisbury, his spies - and decoys, may have fomented first movement but not others-- - Certainly not projectors of Gunpowder Plot--Traditional story - accepted in main outlines. - - CHAPTER I. 1 - - Reasons given why subordinate conspirator, Francis Tresham, cannot - have "discovered" Plot--True principles laid down to guide mind - of Inquirer into _personnel_ of (1) Revealing Conspirator, (2) - Penman of Letter. - - CHAPTER II. 4 - - A "division of labour" in beneficent work of "discovering" Plot-- - Why?--Probabilities of case suggest at least three persons - engaged in "swinging round on its axis diabolical Plot"--Whom - Revealing conspirator would employ--Persons most likely. - - CHAPTER III. 6 - - Who was Lord Mounteagle?--Ancestry--Father: Lord Morley--Title, - Mounteagle, derived through mother, Honourable Elizabeth - Stanley, heiress of William Stanley third Lord Mounteagle-- - Mother akin to Howards through Leybournes of Westmoreland. - - CHAPTER IV. 9 - - Lord Mounteagle receives Letter 26th October, 1605, between "six - and seven of the clock," at Hoxton, near London--Opened by - Mounteagle--Read by a member of his household, Thomas Ward--Full - text of Letter given--27th October, Ward tells Thomas Winter, a - conspirator, that Letter had been received by Mounteagle--Had - been taken to Robert Cecil first Earl of Salisbury, Principal - Secretary of State--28th October, Winter repairs to White Webbs - by Enfield Chase, ten miles north of Westminster--Informs - Catesby that "game was up"--Catesby says "would see further as - yet"--Guy Fawkes sent from White Webbs to view cellar under - House of Lords--Finds all marks undisturbed--Thirty-six barrels - of gunpowder, wood, and coal all ready for fatal Fifth--Fawkes - returns at night safely--Thomas Winter meets (or is met by) - subordinate conspirator, Christopher Wright--Fawkes captured - early on Tuesday, November 5th--Christopher Wright announces to - Thomas Winter Fawkes' capture. - - CHAPTER V. 14 - - In reign of Queen Elizabeth and early part of James I., "the - castellated castles, moated halls, and gabled manor-houses" of - old England "the sheltering, romantic roof-trees of those who - clung" to the ancient Faith--Why?--Henry VIII.'s religious - "change" and that of his progeny, King Edward VI. and Queen - Elizabeth, unlikely to be acceptable "all on a sudden" to bulk - of English people--Why?--Penal Legislation against Papists on - part of Government--Jesuits in England, 1580--Campion and - Parsons--Three Classes of English Jesuits--Mystics, _or_ - Politicians--Mystics _and_ Politicians--The thirteen Gunpowder - plotters well-disposed towards Jesuits--But plotters only - Politicians. - - CHAPTER VI. 19 - - Sir William Catesby (father of the arch-conspirator Robert - Catesby) and Sir Thomas Tresham (father of Francis Tresham), - fine old English gentlemen--Types of best class of Elizabethan - Catholic gentry--Both persecuted by Government--Sir Thomas - Tresham for more than twenty years pays for Fines equal in our - money to L2,080 a year, as a "popish recusant"--Sir Thomas - suffers imprisonment for at least twenty-one years after being - Star-Chambered--Such transactions account for phenomenon of - Gunpowder Treason Plot. - - CHAPTER VII. 21 - - All thirteen plotters "gentlemen of name and blood" (save Thomas - Bates, a respectable serving-man of Catesby)--Names of plotters - as follow:--Robert Catesby (Ashby St. Legers, Northamptonshire)-- - Thomas Winter (Huddington, near Droitwich, Worcestershire)-- - Thomas Percy (Beverley, E.R. Yorkshire)--John Wright (Plowland, - Holderness, E.R. Yorkshire)--Guy (or Guido) Fawkes (York)-- - Robert Keyes (Drayton, Northamptonshire)--Christopher Wright - (Plowland, Holderness, E.R. Yorkshire)--Robert Winter, - (Huddington, near Droitwich, Worcestershire)--Ambrose Rookwood - (Coldham, Stanningfield, Suffolk)--John Grant (Norbrook, - Warwickshire)--Sir Everard Digby (Gothurst, near Newport - Pagnell, Buckinghamshire)--Francis Tresham (Rushton, - Northamptonshire)--Four out of conspirators natives of - Yorkshire: Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and - Guy (or Guido) Fawkes--Five others indirectly connected with it: - Thomas Winter, Robert Winter, John Grant, Robert Keyes, and - Ambrose Rookwood--Thomas Winter and Robert Winter, grandsons of - distinguished Knight, Sir William Ingleby, of Ripley Castle, - near Knaresbrough and Bilton-cum-Harrogate, Nidderdale, - Yorkshire--John Grant's wife, Dorothy Grant, a grand-daughter of - said Knight--Robert Keyes, a grandson of Key (or Kay), Esquire, - of Woodsome, Almondbury, near Huddersfield. - - CHAPTER VIII. (same continued) 26 - - CHAPTER IX. 32 - - Jesuit Father Edward Oldcorne a native of York--Oswald Tesimond - most probably a native of York likewise--Before going to Rheims - and Rome Oldcorne studied medicine. - - CHAPTER X. 35 - - Further analysis of problem as to what conspirator would be likely - to "discover" Plot--A subordinate plotter--Introduced late into - Plot--One with good moral training at home in childhood--One - with trustworthy friend to act as Penman of warning Letter--One - with trustworthy friend who could act as Go-between with - Government--Christopher Wright, Edward Oldcorne, Thomas Ward. - - CHAPTER XI. 37 - - Fawkes, in Confession, dated 17th November, 1605, says mine from - Percy's house, adjoining Parliament House, begun 11th December, - 1604, by five principal conspirators--Christopher Wright sworn - in to help in mining work "soon after"--Text of conspirators' - secret oath. - - CHAPTER XII. 40 - - Christopher Wright's family further described--Father: Robert - Wright, Esquire, of Plowland, Holderness--Mother: Ursula - Rudston, of Rudstons, Lords of Hayton, near Pocklington--Mother - akin to Mallories, of Studley Royal, near Ripon--Wrights akin to - Wards, of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale, near Ripon, likewise-- - Christopher Wright's wife, Margaret Wright, possibly _nee_ - Margaret Ward, of the Wards, of Mulwith. - - CHAPTER XIII. 45 - - Edward Oldcorne described--A native of St. Sampson's Parish, York-- - A student of medicine--Goes to Rheims and Rome for higher - studies--Ordained Priest--Joins Society of Jesus--In 1588 lands - in England--Stationed by Father Henry Garnet, chief of Jesuits - in England, at Hindlip Hall, four miles from Worcester--Hindlip - Hall home of Thomas Abington, Esquire, and the Honourable Mary - (Parker) Abington, daughter of the Lord Morley and sister to the - Lord Mounteagle--Oldcorne's extraordinary influence in - Worcestershire--Styled "the Apostle of Worcestershire"--A man of - mental equipoise. - - CHAPTER XIV. 48 - - "The Letter" critically examined. - - CHAPTER XV. 54 - - Further critical examination of "the Letter." - - CHAPTER XVI. 56 - - Mounteagle "knew there was a Letter to come to him before it - came"--Who was his "Secretary," Thomas Ward?--Almost certainly - brother-in-law to Christopher Wright--Proofs of this assertion-- - Entry of marriage in St. Michael-le-Belfrey's Church, York, of a - "Thomas Warde of Mulwaith, in the p'ishe of Rippon, and M'rgery - Slater, 29th May, 1579"--Entry of burial of "Marjory wife of - Thomas Warde of Mulwith," in Register at Ripon Minster, about - eleven years after, 20th May, 1590. - - CHAPTER XVII. 59 - - Entry of christening of Edward, son of Christopher Wright, of - Bondgate, Ripon, in Ripon Minster Registers, 6th October, 1589-- - Of Eliza, daughter of Christopher Wright, of Newbie, 23rd July, - 1594--Of Francis, son of Christopher Wright, of Newbie, 12th - July, 1596--Of Marmaduke, son of Christopher Wright, of Skelton, - 3rd February, 1601--Thomas Warde, of "Mulwaith," in 1579--Thomas - Warde, of "Mulwith," in 1590--Inference of propinquity between - Christopher Wright and Thomas Warde, at least between years 1589 - and 1590 inclusive--Thomas Warde probably in diplomatic service - of Queen Elizabeth, under Sir Francis Walsingham--Probably sent - on mission to Low Countries in 1585. - - CHAPTER XVIII. 63 - - Proof that William Ward, a son of Marmaduke Ward, of Newby, had an - uncle who lived at Court--Inference that this was Thomas Ward, - member of household of Lord Mounteagle. - - CHAPTER XIX. 68 - - Inference drawn that Christopher Wright, Thomas Warde, and Lord - Mounteagle were personally acquainted. - - CHAPTER XX. 70 - - Marmaduke Ward at Lapworth, in Warwickshire--Arrested by - Government--Released--Inference that he had a powerful friend at - Court. - - CHAPTER XXI. 74 - - Suggested proof of how Mounteagle came to be associated with - Thomas Ward--Biographical and Topographical evidence adduced in - support. - - CHAPTER XXII. (same continued) 76 - - CHAPTER XXIII. (same further continued) 81 - - CHAPTER XXIV. 85 - - Letter conveyed to Hoxton on Saturday evening, 26th October, 1605, - between six and seven of the clock, in pursuance of - pre-arrangement--Suggested that pre-arrangement was made by - Thomas Ward. - - CHAPTER XXV. 87 - - Thomas Ward sees Thomas Winter, one of the chief conspirators-- - Suggested inference that Christopher Wright had bidden Thomas - Ward so to do--In order to compass flight of rest of - conspirators. - - CHAPTER XXVI. 90 - - Thomas Winter interviews Francis Tresham, one of subordinate - conspirators, on Saturday night, 2nd November, one week after - delivery of Letter to Lord Mounteagle. - - CHAPTER XXVII. 92 - - Tresham tells Winter that Government knew of existence of _the - mine_--How had Government such knowledge?--Suggested - concatenation of evidence that Christopher Wright told fact to - Thomas Ward (or Warde); Ward to Lord Mounteagle; Mounteagle to - Francis Tresham; Tresham to Thomas Winter. - - CHAPTER XXVIII. 94 - - Earl of Suffolk (Lord Chamberlain) accompanied by Lord Mounteagle - visits cellar under House of Lords, where thirty-six barrels of - gunpowder are stored--They light upon Guy (or Guido) Fawkes. - - CHAPTER XXIX. 96 - - Quotation from "_King's Book_"--Version of Gunpowder Plot put - forth by "lawful authority"--Showing procedure of Earl of - Suffolk and Lord Mounteagle on search of cellar under House of - Lords, Monday, 4th November--Thirty-six barrels of gunpowder - stored ready for firing by Fawkes on fatal Fifth. - - CHAPTER XXX. 99 - - Quotation from the "_Hatfield MSS._," giving account of meeting at - Fremland, Essex, in July, 1605--Present thereat (amongst others) - Lord Mounteagle, his brother-in-law Francis Tresham, and Father - Henry Garnet, then Superior of English Jesuits--Account of Sir - Edmund Baynham--Despatched in September on double mission to - Pope of Rome--Baynham described--A Gloucestershire Roman - Catholic gentleman--Belike of the swashbuckler type. - - CHAPTER XXXI. 102 - - Christopher Wright. - - CHAPTER XXXII. 104 - - Marmaduke Ward, of Newbie (or Newby), near Ripon, comes up to - Lapworth, in Warwickshire--Lapworth, the birthplace of - arch-conspirator Robert Catesby--One of the large Catesby - Warwickshire possessions--In May, 1605, Lapworth let by Catesby - to John Wright--Marmaduke Ward, brother-in-law to John Wright - and Christopher Wright, arrives at Lapworth about 24th October, - 1605--Suggestion that Marmaduke Ward was sent for by Thomas - Ward--In order, haply, to prevail upon brothers Wright to - abandon scheme of insurrectionary stir in Midlands. - - CHAPTER XXXIII. 107 - - What _objections_ against hypothesis that Christopher Wright was - Revealing conspirator?--What _objections_ against hypothesis - that Father Edward Oldcorne was Penman of Letter?--Evidence of - one William Handy, serving-man to Sir Everard Digby, Knt., - quoted, weighed, and disposed of. - - CHAPTER XXXIV. 110 - - Evidence of a certain Dr. Williams, of reign of Charles II., - author of pamphlet purporting to be History of the Gunpowder - Treason Plot, quoted. - - CHAPTER XXXV. 112 - - Probable untrustworthiness of Dr. Williams' reported statement - manifested by convincing argument--Singular story that Letter - was penned by the Honourable Anne Vaux, one of the daughters of - William Lord Vaux of Harrowden--Story told, examined, and - disposed of. - - CHAPTER XXXVI. 116 - - Dr. Williams' reported statement a faint adumbration of truth-- - Why?--Because Williams' report tends to corroborate evidence - that Letter _emanated_ from Hindlip Hall--Suggestion made as to - whence and how Williams' report had its origin--The Lady of - Hindlip may have _guessed truth_, through her womanly - perspicacity. - - CHAPTER XXXVII. 120 - - Evidence, deductions, and suggestions finally considered tending - to show that Christopher Wright _after_ delivery of Letter - exhibited _consciousness_ of having revealed Plot. - - CHAPTER XXXVIII. 124 - - Old Dutch print, published immediately after detection of Plot - (reprinted in "_Connoisseur_" for November, 1901), shows - Christopher Wright in act of engaging in earnest discourse with - arch-conspirator Robert Catesby--Slightly tends to confirm - tradition that (1) Christopher Wright first ascertained that - Plot was discovered, and that (2) Christopher Wright counselled - that "each conspirator should betake himself to flight in a - different direction from any of his companions." - - CHAPTER XXXIX. 126 - - Evidence of William Kyddall--Kyddall accompanies Christopher - Wright from Lapworth (twenty miles from Hindlip Hall) to London, - on Monday, 28th October--Arrive in London, on Wednesday, 30th-- - Evidence of Mistress Dorathie Robinson, Christopher Wright's - London landlady, as to padlocked hampers, evidently containing - fresh gunpowder. - - CHAPTER XL. 131 - - Conspirators are "shriven" and "houselled" at Huddington by Jesuit - Father Nicholas Hart--Ambrose Rookwood--Rookwood "absolved" by - the Jesuit priest "without remark"--Reason why suggested. - - CHAPTER XLI. (same continued) 134 - - CHAPTER XLII. 136 - - Robert Cecil first Earl of Salisbury, Principal Secretary of - State, instructs Sir Edward Coke, Attorney-General, _to disclaim - that any of these wrote Letter_--Reason why suggested. - - CHAPTER XLIII. 140 - - Archbishop Usher reported divers times to have said "that if - Papists knew what he knew, the blame of the Gunpowder Treason - would not lie on them"--Suggested explanation of the oracular - words--Second Earl of Salisbury reported to have confessed that - the Gunpowder Plot was "his father's contrivance"--Suggested - explanation of this strange report. - - CHAPTER XLIV. 144 - - Critical examination of the Letter renewed--Writer must have - regarded Plot as a scheme defecated of criminous quality--Reason - why. - - CHAPTER XLV. 148 - - Coughton Hall (now Coughton Court), in Warwickshire, ancestral - home of grand old English Roman Catholic family of Throckmorton-- - Father Henry Garnet, Superior of English Jesuits, harboured here - from 29th October, 1605, to 16th December, 1605--Father Oswald - Tesimond at Coughton on Wednesday, 6th November--Bates sent with - letters from Catesby and Sir Everard Digby to Father Garnet and - Lady Digby--Bates despatched from Norbrook, in Warwickshire-- - Arrives at Coughton--Fathers Garnet and Tesimond have conference - for half-an-hour--Garnet gives leave to Tesimond to proceed to - Huddington, in Worcestershire--Whither conspirators and rebels - were come, early on Wednesday, 6th November--Tesimond arrives at - Huddington--Psycho-electrical will force of Catesby works on - mind of Tesimond--Tesimond inspired with rebellious ardour - against Government--Dashes on to Hindlip, within five miles of - Huddington. - - CHAPTER XLVI. 152 - - Tesimond arrives at Hindlip--Urges the Master of Hindlip and - Father Oldcorne to join rebels--Master of Hindlip and Father - Oldcorne decline--Anger kindled in breast of Tesimond--Rides off - towards Lancashire in hope of rousing to arms dwellers in that - Catholic county. - - CHAPTER XLVII. 154 - - Who and what was Father Henry Garnet?--A native of Nottingham - (1555)--A scholar of Winchester School--Joins Jesuit Novitiate - in Rome (1575)--Problem of Garnet's moral and legal guilt (or - otherwise) impartially discussed. - - CHAPTER XLVIII. (same continued) 157 - - CHAPTER XLIX. 160 - - At the end of August, 1605, Garnet leaves London for Gothurst-- - Famous pilgrimage to St. Winifred's Well, Flintshire, North - Wales, about 5th September, made from Gothurst--Lady Digby, - Ambrose Rookwood and his wife, the Honourable Anne Vaux, and - upwards of thirty others, join the pilgrim-band--Father Garnet - and Father Percy, chaplain to Sir Everard Digby, lead the - cavalcade--Away about a fortnight. - - CHAPTER L. 165 - - Pilgrims return from St. Winifred's Well to Gothurst--A fortnight - before Michaelmas (11th October, old style)--Father Garnet at - Great Harrowden, Northamptonshire,--Ancestral home of Edward - Lord Vaux of Harrowden. - - CHAPTER LI. 167 - - 4th October, 1605, Father Garnet at Great Harrowden--Pens a long - letter to Father Parsons in Rome. - - CHAPTER LII. 169 - - 21st October, Father Garnet at Gothurst (most probably)--Pens a - short _post scriptum_ to letter of 4th October--Blots out three - lines of letter--Assigns as cause therefor "FOR REASON OF A - FRIEND'S STAY IN THE WAY"--_Who was this friend?_ - - CHAPTER LIII. (Chapters XLV. and XLVI. with more particularity) 172 - - Sir Everard Digby rents Coughton, near Alcester, Warwickshire--Sir - Everard to be in command of Midland Rising against Government-- - Many Catholic gentlemen from Midland counties expected to rebel - by reason of galling anti-Catholic persecution--Sir Everard - Digby, on Sunday, 3rd November, rides to Dunchurch, near Rugby, - in Warwickshire--Robert Winter, of Huddington, joined by Stephen - Littleton, of Holbeach, Staffordshire, also by latter's cousin, - Humphrey Littleton--Tuesday, November 5th, Cousins Littleton, - Sir Robert Digby (Coleshill), younger Acton (Ribbesford), and - many others, join "hunting match" on Dunsmore Heath--Some of - these gentlemen with leader, Sir Everard Digby, await arrival of - Catesby and the rest of conspirators in an Inn at Dunchurch--At - six of the clock in evening of Tuesday, fatal Fifth, in wild - headlong flight from London, Catesby, Percy, two Wrights, and - Ambrose Rookwood rush into ancient mansion-house of Catesbies - at Ashby St. Legers, Northamptonshire--Announce capture of - Fawkes--Hold short council of war--Snatch up weapons of warfare-- - North-westwards that November night--Arrive at Dunchurch Inn-- - Digby told of capture of Fawkes--Many Catholic gentlemen return - to their homes--Plotters and rebel-allies plunge into the - darkness--Make for "Shakespeare's country"--Arrive at Warwick by - three of the clock on Wednesday morning--From stables near - Warwick Castle take fresh horses, leaving their own steeds in - exchange therefor--Dash on towards John Grant's "moated grange," - Norbrook, Snitterfield (where Shakespeare's mother held - property)--At Norbrook "take bite and sup"--Rest their fatigued - limbs awhile--On saddle-back once more--This time bound for - Huddington, near Droitwich, Worcestershire, the seat of Robert - Winter--Arrive there probably about twelve o'clock noon of - Wednesday (some authorities say two o'clock in the afternoon)-- - Tesimond comes from Coughton to Huddington--Catesby hails - Tesimond with joy--Tesimond proceeds to Hindlip Hall--On - Thursday morning, at about three of the clock, all company at - Huddington "assist" at Mass offered by Father Nicholas Hart, a - Jesuit from Great Harrowden--Whole company "shriven and - houselled"--Before daybreak all on march again north-westwards-- - Halt at Whewell Grange, seat of the Lord Windsor--There help - themselves to large store of arms and armour--Plotters and - rebels then numbered about sixty all told--Cross the River - Stour, in flood--A cart of gunpowder rendered "dank" in - crossing--Proceed to Holbeach House, in Staffordshire-- - Mansion-house of Stephen Littleton, Esquire, a Roman Catholic - gentleman of ancient lineage. - - CHAPTER LIV. 177 - - High Sheriffs of Warwickshire and Worcestershire with _posse - comitatus_ in pursuit--Plotters and rebels arrive at Holbeach - (near Stourbridge) at ten of the clock on Thursday night--Early - Friday morning explosion of drying gunpowder at Holbeach-- - Catesby, Rookwood, and Grant burnt--Catesby unnerved-- - Arch-conspirator and others betake themselves to prayers-- - "Litanies and such like"--Make an hour's "meditation"--About - eleven of the clock on Friday, 8th November, Sheriff of - Worcestershire and "hue and cry" surround Holbeach--Siege laid - thereto--Thomas Winter disabled by an arrow from crossbow-- - Catesby and Percy, standing sword in hand, shot by one musket-- - Catesby expires--John Wright wounded unto death--Christopher - Wright mortally wounded--Percy grievously wounded--Dies a day or - two afterwards--Ambrose Rookwood wounded--Sir Everard Digby - apprehended--Rest taken prisoners, except Stephen Littleton and - Robert Winter, who escape. - - CHAPTER LV. 181 - - Father Henry Garnet changes his mind--Does not go up to London-- - But from Gothurst, in Buckinghamshire, goes down to Coughton, in - Warwickshire, on the 29th October--All Saints' Day (November - 1st) at Coughton Hall (now Coughton Court)--Mass "offered" by - Father Garnet. - - CHAPTER LVI. 185 - - Stephen Littleton, the Master of Holbeach, and Robert Winter, the - Master of Huddington, harboured at Rowley Regis, in - Staffordshire, by a tenant of Humphrey Littleton, Esquire, of - Hagley, Worcestershire, a cousin to Stephen Littleton--Humphrey - Littleton harbours the two fugitives from justice at Hagley - House, home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. John Littleton--Both - fugitives betrayed by man-cook at Hagley--Delivered over to the - officers of the law and conveyed to the Tower of London. - - CHAPTER LVII. 188 - - Humphrey Littleton consults Father Edward Oldcorne, the Jesuit, - respecting the moral rightness or wrongness of the Gunpowder - Plot--Father Oldcorne's Reply to Littleton _in extenso_. - - CHAPTER LVIII. 190 - - Reply analyzed--Divisible into two distinct parts--First part: - gives an answer sounding in abstract truth alone, in other - words, leaves Littleton in abstracto--Second part: disclaims - knowledge of _end_ plotters had in view and _means_ they had - recourse to. - - CHAPTER LIX. 193 - - Metaphysical Argument grounded on Oldcorne's Reply to Humphrey - Littleton--Argument seeks to demonstrate that from tenour and - purport of Oldcorne's Reply, the Jesuit must have had a special - interior knowledge of the Plot. - - CHAPTER LX. (same continued) 195 - - CHAPTER LXI. (same continued) 198 - - CHAPTER LXII. (same continued) 200 - - CHAPTER LXIII. (same continued) 201 - - CHAPTER LXIV. (same continued) 204 - - CHAPTER LXV. (same continued) 208 - - CHAPTER LXVI. (same continued) 210 - - CHAPTER LXVII. (same continued) 212 - - CHAPTER LXVIII. (same continued) 215 - - CHAPTER LXIX. (same continued) 220 - - CHAPTER LXX. 222 - - Fathers Garnet and Oldcorne captured at Hindlip Hall the last week - of January, 1605-6--Conveyed to the Tower of London--Father - Oldcorne "racked five times, and once with the greatest severity - for several hours"--On 7th April, 1606, at Redhill, near - Worcester, Father Edward Oldcorne, Priest and Jesuit, hanged, - drawn, and quartered as a traitor--Brother Ralph Ashley, his - servant, hanged at the same time and place. - - CHAPTER LXXI. 224 - - True inferences to be drawn from Father Oldcorne's "last dying - speech and confession." - - CHAPTER LXXII. 227 - - Edward Oldcorne--Ralph Ashley. - - CHAPTER LXXIII. 229 - - Thomas Ward. - - RECAPITULATION OF PROOFS, ARGUMENTS, AND CONCLUSIONS. 233 - - SUPPLEMENTA. - - SUPPLEMENTUM I. 239 - Guy Fawkes. - - SUPPLEMENTUM II. 260 - Letter of Lord Bishop of Worcester (Dr. Bilson), to Sir Robert - Cecil, as to Diocese of Worcester. - - SUPPLEMENTUM III. 264 - Thomas Ward (or Warde). - - SUPPLEMENTUM IV. 271 - Mulwith, near Ripon. - - SUPPLEMENTUM V. 279 - Plowland, Holderness. - - SUPPLEMENTUM VI. 287 - Equivocation. Letter of the Rev. George Canning, S.J., Professor - of Ethics, St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst. - - APPENDICES. - - APPENDIX A 295 - Circumstantial Evidence defined. (a) Evidence generally: (by Mr. - Frank Pick, York). - - APPENDIX B 299 - Discrepancy as to date when immaterial (per Lord Chief Justice - Scroggs, _temp_. Charles II.). - - APPENDIX C 300 - List of those apprehended for Plot in Warwickshire, &c. (a) List - of those frequenting Clopton (or Clapton) Hall, - Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. - - APPENDIX D 304 - Richard Browne (servant to Christopher Wright), his evidence. - - APPENDIX E 306 - William Grantham (servant to Hewett, Hatter), his evidence. - - APPENDIX F 307 - Robert Rookes (servant to Ambrose Rookwood), his evidence. - - APPENDIX G 308 - John Cradock (Cutler), his evidence. - - APPENDIX H 310 - Lord Chief Justice Popham's statement as to Christopher Wright. - - APPENDIX I 312 - Sir Richard Verney, Knt., John Ferrers, William Combe, Bart. - Hales (Warwickshire Justices): Joint Statement to Earl of - Salisbury, as to Mrs. John Grant and Mrs. Thomas Percy. - - APPENDIX J 313 - Paris (boatman), his evidence, as to taking Guy Fawkes to - Gravelines, France, during "vacation," 1605. - - APPENDIX K 314 - Miss Emma M. Walford, her opinion as to resemblance between - Edward Oldcorne's original Declaration of 12th March, 1605-6, - and original Letter to Lord Mounteagle (both in Record Office, - Chancery Lane, London, W.C.). - - APPENDIX L 315 - Professor Bertram C. A. Windle, M.D., F.R.S., his opinion as to - distances between certain localities in Warwickshire, - Worcestershire, Northamptonshire, and Buckinghamshire. - - APPENDIX M 318 - Letter of Lieut.-Colonel Carmichael as to same. - - APPENDIX N 319 - Order of Queen Elizabeth in Council, dated 31st December, 1582, - addressed to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of York. - - NOTE (as to authenticity of Thomas Winter's Confession) 323 - - NOTES (1-180) 327 - - FINIS 411 - - - - - ERRATA. - - -The author regrets to have to request his indulgent readers to be kind -enough to make the following corrections [Transcriber's Note: These have -been applied.]:-- - - Page 19, line 14 from top.--Put ) after word "conspirators," _not_ - after word "_Tresham_." - - Page 77, line 9 from top.--Read: and "great great grandfather of - Philip Howard Earl of Arundel," _instead of - "great-grandfather."_ - - Page 79, in note, line 5 from top.--Read: "ninth Earl of - Carlisle," _instead of "seventh Earl of Carlisle."_ - - Page 87, in note, line 8 from bottom.--Read: "Burns & Oates." - - Page 117, line 5 from top.--Read: "William Abington," _instead of - "Thomas Abington."_ - - Page 122, in note, line 2 from top.--Read: "Duke of Beaufort," - _instead of "Duke of St. Albans."_ - - Page 140, line 4 from top.--Read: "incarcerated," _instead of - "inccarerated."_ - - Page 285, in note, line 2 from top.--Read: "kinswoman," _instead - of "kinsman."_ - - Page 321, line 16 from top.--Read: "Deprave," _instead of - "depeave."_ - - - - - PRELUDE. - - -In order that the problem of the Gunpowder Plot may be understood, it is -necessary for the reader to bear in mind that there were three -movements--distinct though connected--against the Government on the part -of the oppressed Roman Catholic recusants in the year 1605. The first of -these movements was a general wave of insurrectionary feeling, of which -there is evidence in Yorkshire as far back as 1596; in Lancashire about -1600; and in Herefordshire, at a later date, much more markedly. Then -there was the Gunpowder Plot itself. And, lastly, there was the rebellion -that was planned to take place in the Midlands, which, to a very limited -extent, did take place, and in the course of which four of the -conspirators were slain. That Salisbury's spies and decoys--who were, like -Walsingham's, usually not Protestants but "bad Catholics"--had something -to do with stirring up the general revolutionary feeling is more than -probable; but that either he or they planned, either jointly or severally, -the particular enterprise known as the Gunpowder Treason Plot--which was -as insane as it was infamous--I do not for a moment believe. - -All students of English History, however, are greatly indebted to the Rev. -John Gerard, S.J., for his three recent critical works on this subject; -but still that the main outlines of the Plot are as they have come down to -us by tradition, to my mind, Dr. Samuel Rawson Gardiner abundantly proves -in his book in reply to the Rev. John Gerard. - -The names of the works to which I refer are:--"_What was the Gunpowder -Plot?_" the Rev. J. Gerard, S.J. (Osgood, McIlvaine & Co.); "_The -Gunpowder Plot and Plotters_" (Harper Bros.); "_Thomas Winter's Confession -and the Gunpowder Plot_" (Harper Bros.); and "_What Gunpowder Plot was_," -S. R. Gardiner, D.C.L., LL.D. (Longmans). - -The Articles in "_The Dictionary of National Biography_" dealing with the -chief actors in this notable tragedy are all worthy of careful perusal. - -"_The History of the Jesuits in England, 1580-1773_," by the Rev. Ethelred -L. Taunton, with twelve illustrations (Methuen & Co., 1901), contains a -chapter on the Gunpowder Plot; and the Plot is referred to in Major Hume's -recent work, entitled, "_Treason and Plot_" (Nisbet, 1901). - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - -One of the unsolved problems of English History is the question: "Who -wrote the Letter to the Lord Mounteagle?" surely, one of the most -momentous documents ever penned by the hand of man, which discovered the -Gunpowder Treason, and so saved a King of England, Wales, Scotland, and -Ireland--to say nothing of France--his Royal Consort, his Counsellors, and -Senators, from a bloody, cruel, and untimely death. - -In every conspiracy there is a knave or a fool, and sometimes, happily, "a -repentant sinner." - -Now it is well known that the contrivers of the Gunpowder Treason -themselves suspected Francis Tresham--a subordinate conspirator and -brother-in-law to Lord Mounteagle--and many historians have rashly jumped -to the conclusion that, therefore, Tresham must have been the author. - -But, when charged at Barnet by Catesby and Thomas Winter, two of his -infuriated fellow-plotters, with having sent the Letter, Tresham so -stoutly and energetically denied the charge that his denial saved him from -the point of their poniards. - -Moreover, the suspected man when a prisoner in the Tower of London, and -even when in the act of throwing himself on the King's mercy, never gave -the faintest hint that the Letter was attributable to him. But, on the -contrary, actually stated first that he had _intended_ to reveal the -treason, and secondly that he _had been guilty_ of concealment. - -Now, as a rule, "all that a man hath will he give for his life." Therefore -it is impossible, in the face of this direct testimony of Tresham, to -maintain that to him the discovery of the Plot is due: and the force of -the argument grounded on Tresham's being the brother-in-law to Mounteagle, -and that the accused man showed an evident desire that the Plot should be -postponed, if not altogether abandoned, melts away like snow before the -sun.[1][2][A] - -[Footnote A: See Notes at End of Text, indicated by figures in [ ].] - -To whatever decision the Historical Inquirer into this hitherto -inscrutable mystery is destined to come after reviewing and weighing the -Evidence now available--which to-day is more abundant from a variety of -accidental circumstances, than when Lingard and Mackintosh, and even -Gardiner and Green, wrote their histories--it is manifest that the -Inquirer's decision in the matter cannot be as certain as a mathematical -conclusion. But, it may be morally certain, because of the many degrees of -probability that the information now ready to our hand will inevitably -give that are favourable to the conclusion which the following pages will -seek, by the evidence of facts, to sustain. And, as the ancient historian -tersely says: "_Ubi res adsunt, quid opus est verbis?_"--"Where facts are -at hand, what need is there for words?" - -The Evidence to be relied on is mainly the evidence known as -Circumstantial,[B] and consists of two classes of acts. One of these -classes leads up to the performance of the transaction--namely, in the one -case, the dictating of the Letter by the primary Author; in the other -case, the penning of the Document by the secondary Scribe. Whilst the -other class of acts tends to demonstrate that the Author of the Letter -and the Penman respectively were conscious, _subsequent_ to the commission -of the transaction--in the former case, of having incurred the -responsibility of being the originating Cause of the Document; in the -latter case, of being the Agent for its physical production. - -[Footnote B: As to the nature of Circumstantial Evidence--see Appendix.] - -Before we begin to collect our Evidence, and, _a fortiori_, before we -begin to consider the inferences from the same, we ought to bear in mind -certain fixities of thought, or, in other words, certain self-evident -fundamentals which are grounded in logic and daily experience. These -fixities of thought or self-evident fundamentals will be points from which -the reason of the Historical Inquirer can take swing. And not only so; -but--like the cords of the rocket life-saving apparatus of the eager -mariner--they will be lines of attachment and rules of thought, whereby -first to secure to ourselves the available Evidence; and secondly, to -prove to the intellect the truth of a theory which, if allowed, shall -redound, in respect of courage and integrity, to the praise and honour of -Man. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - -Now, to my mind, it is a proposition so plain as not to require arguing, -that there must have been at least _two_ persons engaged in the two-fold -transaction of dictating the Letter and of being the penman of the same. -For although it is, of course, physically possible that the work may have -been accomplished by one and the same person, yet that there was a -division of labour in the two-fold transaction is infinitely the more -likely supposal: because of the terrible risk to the revealing conspirator -of his handwriting being detected by the Government authorities, and, -through them, by his co-partners in guilt, should he have rashly -adventured to be his own scribe; and this though he feigned his penmanship -never so cunningly. - -Now if such were the case, it follows that there must have been some -second person--some entirely trustworthy friend--in the conspirator's -confidence. Nay, if the exigencies of the nature and posture of affairs -demanded it, a third person, or even a fourth, might have been also taken -into confidence. But only if absolutely necessary. For the risk of -detection would be proportioned to the number of persons in the -secret:--it being a rule of common prudence in such cases that confidences -must not be unnecessarily multiplied. - -Therefore it follows that, supposing there was a second person in the -confidence of the "discovering" or revealing conspirator to pen the -Letter; and supposing there was a third person in the confidence of that -conspirator, with or without the knowledge and consent of the second -person, to act as a go-between, an "_interpres_," between the conspirator -and Lord Mounteagle, these two persons must have been very trustworthy -persons indeed. - -Now a man trusts his fellow-man in proportion as he has had knowledge of -him either directly or indirectly; directly by personal contact, -indirectly through the recommendation of some competent authority. - -_Experientia docet._ Experience teaches. A man has knowledge of his -fellow-man as the resultant of the experience gained from relationship of -some kind or another. And relationship is created by kinship, friendship, -or business--intending the word "business" to embrace activity resulting -from thought, word, and deed extending to the widest range of human -interests conceivable. Relationship creates bonds, ties, obligations -between the several persons united by it. - -Hence, the practical conclusion is to be drawn that if "the discovering" -or disclosing Gunpowder conspirator, with a view to revealing the intended -massacre, had recourse to one or more confidants, they must have been one -or more person or persons who were united to him by kinship, friendship, -or business, in the sense predicated, possibly in all three, and that they -must have been persons bound to him by bonds, which if "light as air were -strong as iron." - -Let us now turn to the Evidence to-day available bearing upon the -momentous document under consideration. We will begin by saying a few -words respecting the Lord Mounteagle, whose name, at least, the Gunpowder -Treason will have for ever enshrined in the remembrance of the British -people. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - -William Parker,[3] the son and heir of Lord Morley, whose barony had been -created by King Edward I. in 1299, was called to the House of Lords as the -fourth Baron Mounteagle, in right of his mother the Honourable Elizabeth -Stanley, the only child and heiress of the third Baron Mounteagle, whose -wife was a Leybourne of Westmoreland. - -At the time of the Plot (1605) the fourth Lord Mounteagle was thirty years -of age. His principal country residence appears to have been at Great -Hallingbury, near Bishop Stortford, in the County of Essex. His chief -town-house seems to have been in the Strand. He married before he was -eighteen years of age, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Tresham of -Rushton, Northamptonshire, a high-minded, scholarly Roman Catholic -gentleman of great wealth, who had been knighted at Kenilworth by Queen -Elizabeth in 1577. - -Mounteagle was connected through his mother alone, to say nothing of his -father, with some of the noblest families in the land. Besides the then -well-nigh princely Lancashire House, the Stanleys Earls of Derby, to whom -he was related in both the paternal and maternal lines, through his mother -Elizabeth Stanley, Mounteagle was related, as cousin once removed, to -those twain gracious, beautiful souls, Anne Dacres Countess of Arundel and -Surrey, widow of the sainted Philip Howard Earl of Arundel and Surrey, and -to her sister the Lady Elizabeth Howard, wife of "Belted Will Howard"[4] -of Naworth Castle, the ancient home of the Lords Dacres of Gilsland, near -Carlisle, commonly called the Lords Dacres of the North, in -contradistinction to the Lords Dacres of the South, of Hurstmonceaux -Castle in the County of Sussex. - -Mounteagle was, therefore, through his mother, a near kinsman to the -remarkable Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel, who married Aletheia, the only -child and heiress of Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, and god-daughter -of Queen Elizabeth. - -This Earl of Arundel eventually became the well-known patron of the fine -arts. But in the year 1605 the young peer had not yet quite attained his -majority. - -Mounteagle, again, through his mother's relationship with the gifted -Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel just mentioned, would be also connected with -a nobleman who at that epoch was counted a very model of "the pomp, pride, -and circumstance of ancient nobility," with John Lord Lumley[5] of Lumley -Castle in the County Palatine of Durham, whose wife was Jane, daughter of -Henry Fitzalan Earl of Arundel, a nobleman "exceeding magnifical," who -indeed in his day had even cherished aspirations to the hand of the last -representative of the Royal House of Tudor herself. - -Lord Mounteagle consorted much with English Roman Catholics, and, in some -sense, prior to the year 1605, was of that religion himself. He had been -present with his wife's brother Francis Tresham a little after the -Midsummer of 1605 at Fremland in Essex, on the occasion of the celebrated -meeting when Father Henry Garnet, the head of the Jesuits in England, took -occasion to have special warning speech with Catesby respecting a general -question propounded by Catesby to Garnet about a month or six weeks -previously (_i.e._, the beginning of Trinity Term, 1605), and from the -answer to which general question Catesby shamefully drew that particular -conclusion which the promptings of his evil will desired, in order that -the enormity he had purposed might be made acceptable to the wavering -conscience of any dubious fellow-plotter against whose resurgent sense of -right and wrong he thought he might have to strive. - -Lord Mounteagle is a difficult man accurately to reckon up, either -intellectually, morally, or religiously. For he seems in all three aspects -to have been a slightly ambiguous person.[A] Yet certainly he was no mere -titled fool, with a head-piece like a windmill. Far from it: he was -probably a man of sufficient, though not, I think, of the very highest -intelligence, good-natured, easy-going, and of very engaging manners.[B] - -[Footnote A: It is curious and amusing to hear that the following was the -opinion of Robert Catesby concerning the peerage of his day:--"He made -account of the nobility as of atheists, fools, and cowards; and that lusty -bodies would be better for the commonwealth than they."--See "_Keyes' -Examination_," Record Office.] - -[Footnote B: A certain English periodical, a few years ago, spoke -admiringly of Lord Mounteagle's twentieth century connection, the present -Duke of Devonshire, as being one's _beau-ideal_ of the "you-be-damned" -type of Englishman. Probably the same periodical would have found, had it -been in existence in the seventeenth century, a similar contentment in the -contemplation of the fourth Lord Mounteagle.] - -By his contemporaries, it is evident that even prior to 1605 Mounteagle -was made much of and greatly courted. But less, I opine, on account of the -intellectual and moral qualities wherewith he was endowed, than on account -of the exalted station of his kith and kin and the general excellency and -eminency of his own external graces and gifts of fortune. - -So much, then, for the present, concerning the now famous William Parker -fourth Baron Mounteagle, whom History has crowned with a wreath of -immortals. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - -On Saturday, the 26th of October, ten days before the intended meeting of -Parliament,[A] Lord Mounteagle, we are told, unexpectedly and without any -apparent reason or previous notice, directed a supper to be prepared at -his mansion at Hoxton, where he had not been for more than a twelve-month -before that date. - -[Footnote A: Parliament had been prorogued from the 3rd of October to the -5th of November. Lord Mounteagle was one of the Commissioners. - -The "_Confession_" by Thomas Winter, which I regard as genuine, I have -also drawn upon freely in my relation of facts.--See Appendix.] - -It will be well, however, to relate the history of what occurred in the -exact words provided for us in a work published by King James's printer, -and put forth as "the authorised version" of the facts that it recorded. -The work bears the title--"_A Discourse of the late intended Treason_," -anno 1605. "_The Discourse_" says:--"The Lord Mounteagle, sonne and heire -to the Lord Morley, being in his own lodging ready to go to supper at -seven of the clock at night one of his footmen whom he had sent of an -errand over the streete was met by an unknown man of a reasonable tall -personage[6] who delivered him a Letter charging him to put it in my Lord -his Master's hands, which my Lord no sooner received but that having -broken it up and perceiving the same to be of an unknown and somewhat -unlegible hand, and without either date or subscription, did call one of -his men unto him for helping him to read it. But no sooner did he conceive -the strange contents thereof, although he was somewhat perplexed what -construction to make of it ... yet did he as a most dutifull and loyall -subject conclude not to conceal it, whatever might come of it. Whereupon -notwithstanding the latenesse and darknesse of the night in that season of -the year, he presently repaired to his Majesties palace at Whitehall and -there delivered the same to the Earle of Salisbury his majesties -principall secretarie." - -The Letter was as follows:-- - -"My lord out of the loue i beare yowe to some of youere frends i haue a -caer of youer preseruacion therfor i would aduyse yowe as yowe tender -youer lyf to deuys some exscuse to shift of youer attendance at this -parleament for god and man hath concurred to punishe the wickednes of this -tyme and thinke not slightlye of this aduertisment but retyere youre self -into youre contri wheare yowe maye expect the euent in safti for -thowghe[7] theare be no apparance of anni stir yet i saye they shall -receyue a terrible blowe this parleament and yet they shall not sei who -hurts them this councel 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 on the back) to "the ryght honorable the lord mouteagle." - -The full name of the member of Lord Mounteagle's household who read the -Letter to Lord Mounteagle, we learn, was Thomas Ward.[8] - -Ward was acquainted with Thomas Winter, one of the principal Gunpowder -plotters; for Winter himself had formerly been in Mounteagle's service, -and at the time of the Plot was almost certainly on amicable terms with -the young nobleman. - -On the 27th of October, the day following the delivery of the Letter, -_Thomas Ward came to Thomas Winter_ (being Sunday at night) and told him -that a Letter had been given to Lord Mounteagle, which the latter -presently had carried to Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury.--"_Winter's -Confession._" - -Winter, thereupon, the next day, Monday, the 28th October, went to a house -called White Webbs, not far from Lord Salisbury's mansion Theobalds. - -White Webbs was a lone and (then) half-timbered dwelling, "with many trap -doors and passages," surrounded by woods, near Enfield Chase, ten miles -north of Westminster. - -At this secluded spot Thomas Winter had speech with Catesby, the -arch-conspirator, "assuring him withal that the matter was disclosed and -wishing him in anywise to forsake his country."--"_Winter's Confession._" - -Catesby told Winter, "he would see further as yet and resolved to send Mr. -Fawkes to try the uttermost protesting if the part belonged to himself he -would try the same adventure."--"_Winter's Confession._" - -On Wednesday, the 30th October, from White Webbs, "Mr. Fawkes," as Thomas -Winter styles him, went to the cellar under the House of Lords, where -thirty-six barrels of powder, wood, and coal were stored in readiness for -the bloody slaughter purposed for November the Fifth. - -Fawkes returned to White Webbs at night, at which the conspirators "were -very glad." Fawkes had found in the cellar his "private marks" all -undisturbed. - -"The next day after the delivery of the Letter," says Stowe (though as a -fact it was probably five days after the delivery of the momentous -document, namely, on the following Thursday), _this self-same "Thomas -Winter told Christopher Wright"_--a subordinate conspirator,--"that he -(Winter) understood an obscure letter had been delivered to Lord -Mounteagle, who had conveyed it to Salisbury."[9] - -_Hence, most probably, either Thomas Winter went in search of Christopher -Wright to afford him this piece of information; or Wright went in search -of Winter to obtain it._ - -At about five o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, November, the Fifth, -about five hours after Fawkes' apprehension by Sir Thomas Knevet and his -men,[10] the said Christopher Wright went to the chamber of the said -Thomas Winter and told him that a nobleman (_i.e._, the Earl of Worcester, -Master of the Horse) "had called (_i.e._, summoned) the Lord Mounteagle, -saying, 'Rise and come along to Essex House,[11] for I am going to call up -my Lord of Northumberland,' saying withal, 'the matter is -discovered.'"--"_Winter's Confession._" - -Of this conspirator, Christopher Wright, it is said,[12] that "he was the -first to ascertain that the Plot was discovered." Probably this refers to -the information he (Christopher Wright) obtained as the upshot of his -interview with Winter on (probably) Thursday, the 31st October. - -Christopher Wright was, likewise, the first to announce the apprehension -of Fawkes on the morning of the 5th of November. - -It is also further said of Christopher Wright by one[13] who wrote during -the last century, that "He advised that each of the conspirators should -betake himself to flight in a different direction from his companions. -Had this been followed several of them would have probably succeeded in -making their escape to the continent. The conspirators, however, adopted -another course, which issued in their discomfiture in Staffordshire, where -Christopher Wright was also killed." - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - -During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and during the earlier part of the -reign of King James I., almost all those castellated castles, moated -halls, and gabled manor-houses which to-day, still standing more or less -perfect, "amidst their tall ancestral trees o'er all the pleasant land," -go to constitute that "old England" which her sons and daughters (and -their brethren and kinsfolk beyond the seas) know and love so well; during -the reign of Elizabeth and during the earlier part of the reign of James -I., these now time-honoured, ivy-clad abodes and dwellings of English men -and English women, over whom the grave has long since closed, but who in -their day and generation were assuredly among the heroic and the supremely -excellent of the earth, were the sheltering, romantic roof-trees of those -who clung tenaciously to the ancient religious Faith of the English race. - -This Faith was indeed that faith which had been taken and embraced by -their "rude forefathers" of long ages ago, in the simple hope and with the -pathetic trust that it might "do them good."[A] And this their hope, they -believed and knew, had been not in vain, neither had been their trust -betrayed. - -[Footnote A: See the beautiful apologue of the Saxon nobleman of Deira, -delivered in the presence of St. Edwin King of Northumbria; given in -Bede's "_Ecclesiastical History_."] - -In the days of the second Henry Tudor--_fons et origo malorum_--the -fountain-head and well-spring of almost all of England's many present-day -religious and social woes--the men and women of England and Wales knew -full well, whether they were of Cymric, Saxon, Scandinavian, or Norman -race (or a mixture of all four), that to that assemblage of ideas and -emotions, laws and rules, habits and customs, which had come to them from -men of foreign blood and alien name, dwelling on the banks of the far-off -"yellow Tiber" and under sunny, blue Italian skies--these men and women, I -repeat, knew full well that to their religious Faith they owed almost -everything that was best and truest and most enduring, either in -themselves or their kith and kin.[A] - -[Footnote A: Yorkshire, being the greatest of English Shires, had among -the inhabitants of its hills and dales and "sounding shores," -representatives of the various races which compose the English nation. In -the West Riding especially, those of the old Cymric or British stock were -to be found. (Indeed, I am told, even now shepherds often count their -sheep by the old British numerals.) This strong remnant of the old British -race in the West Riding probably accounts for the marvellous gift of song -wherewith this division of Yorkshiremen are endowed to this day, just as -are the Welsh. In none other portion of England was there such a wealth of -stately churches and beautiful monasteries as in Yorkshire, the ancient -Deira, whose melodious name once kept ringing in the ears of St. Gregory -the Great, of a truth, the best friend the English people ever had. But -Yorkshire realised that "before all temples" the One above "preferred the -upright heart and pure." Therefore, canonized saints arose from among her -vigorous, keen-minded, yet poetically imaginative sons and daughters. York -became sacred to St. Paulinus and St. William; Ripon to St. Wilfrid, the -Apostle of Sussex; also to St. Willibrord, the Apostle of Holland; -Beverley was hallowed by the presence of St. John of Beverley; Whitby by -the Saxon princess St. Hilda, the friend of Caedmon, the father of English -poetry. The moors of Lastingham were blest by the presence of St. Chad and -St. Cedd; and Knaresbrough by St. Robert, in his leafy stone-cave hard-by -the winding Nidd.] - -Now regard being had to the indisputable fact that for well-nigh a -thousand years England had been known abroad as "the Dowry of Mary and the -Island of Saints," by reason of the signal manifestations she had -displayed in the way of cathedrals and churches, abbeys and priories, -convents and nunneries, hospitals and schools (which arose up and down the -length and breadth of the land to Northward and Southward, to East and -West, thereby, by the aid of art, adding even to England's rare natural -beauty), it was never at all likely that the bulk of the English people -would, all on a sudden, cast off their cherished beliefs and hallowed -affections respecting the deepest central questions of human life.[14] - -Moreover, it may be taken as a general rule, to be remembered and applied -by princes and statesmen, all the world over and for all time, that Man is -a creature "full of religious instincts:"--"too superstitious," should it -be thought more accurate and desirable so to describe this undoubted habit -and bent of the human mind. - -Thence it follows that it is the merest fatuous folly for princes and -statesmen if and when they have got themselves entangled in a false -position, from some external cause or causes having little or no relation -to the Invisible and the Eternal, to bid their subjects and denizens, -"right about turn," at a moment's notice: however "bright and blissful" -such mental evolutions may be deemed to be by those who have unwisely -taken it into their foolish head to issue the irrational command.[A] - -[Footnote A: That able and strong-minded Englishman, Dr. Temple, -Archbishop of Canterbury, said (in 1901) in the House of Lords, during the -debates on that pathetically ridiculous document, the Sovereign's -Declaration against Popery, when speaking on Lord Salisbury's proposed -amended form, that England was resolved "to stand no interference with her -religion from the outside." It is a good thing that the heathen Kings -Ethelbert and Edwin were _less abnormally patriotic_ 1300 years ago. For -the idea of "independence" has to be held subject to the "golden mean" of -"nothing too much." A fetish must not be made of that idea, especially by -a people conscious of lofty imperial destiny. And "unity" must there be -between ideas that are controlling fundamentals--in other words, between -ideas intellectual, moral, and spiritual.] - -Now, in the days of Queen Elizabeth[A] those whom religious loyalty -prompted to worship supremely "the God of their fathers" after a manner -that those eager for change counted "idolatry," were marked by different -mental characteristics. This was so throughout England; but especially was -it so in those five northern counties which comprised what was then by -Catholics proudly styled "the faithful North." - -[Footnote A: The mother of Queen Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, died reconciled -to the Church of Rome. Her daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, was brought -up in the tenets of that Church; but, like one type of the children of the -Renaissance, Elizabeth was unconsciously "a Tribal Deist." Margaret Roper, -the daughter of Sir Thomas More, was equally "cultured," but she accepted -the Catholic tradition in its letter and in its spirit. I may here state -that I have a great intellectual admiration for Queen Elizabeth, whose -virtues were her own, while her faults, to a large extent, were her -monstrous father's and her Privy Counsellors', _who told her not what she -ought to do but what she could do, which no really faithful adviser of a -Sovereign ever does_.] - -Some of these English "leile and feile," that is loyal and faithful, -servants of Rome were, on the subjective side, retained in their -allegiance to the Visible Head of Christendom by bonds formed by mere -natural piety and conservative feeling--dutiful affections of Nature which -are the promise and the pledge of much that is best in the Teutonic race. - -Others were mainly ruled by an overmastering sense of that lofty humility -which foes call pride, but friends dignity. - -Whilst a third class were persuaded, by intense intellectual, moral, and -spiritual conviction that--"in and by the power of divine grace"--come -what might, nothing should separate them from those hereditary beliefs -which were dearer to them far than not merely earthly goods, lands, and -personal liberty, but even than their very life. - -This last-mentioned class, from and after the year 1580, "the year of the -Lord's controversy with Sion," as the old English Catholics regarded it, -who loved to recall that "good time" when Campion and Parsons "poured out -their soul in words," especially Campion, who was remembered in the north -for three generations: this last-mentioned class, I say, were oftentimes, -though certainly not always, found to be greatly attached to the then new -Society of Jesus, which, in England, was in the glow and purity of its -first fervour. - -This last-mentioned class--I mean the Jesuitically-affected class of -English Catholics--were also again sub-divided into three sub-divisions. -One sub-division was composed of Mystics; another of Politicians; and a -third of those who, realising a higher unity, were at once Mystics _and_ -Politicians--or, in other phraseology, _they were Men of Thought and Men -of Action_. - -Now, the Gunpowder conspirators belonged to the last-mentioned class, and -to the second division of that class. That is to say, they were mere -Politicians, speaking broadly and speaking generally. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - - -It hath been truly observed by one of the most knowing and candid of -modern students of Elizabethan biographical literature, that Sir William -Catesby, the father of the arch-gunpowder conspirator, Robert Catesby, in -common with the great majority of the country gentry throughout England, -who were resident upon their own estates, and unconnected with the -oligarchy which ruled in the Queen's name (_i.e._, Queen Elizabeth's) at -Court, threw in his lot with the Catholic party, and suffered in -consequence of his conscientious adherence to the old creed.[A] - -[Footnote A: Dr. Augustus Jessopp: Article--"Robert Catesby," "_National -Dictionary of Biography_."] - -While Sir Thomas Tresham (the brother-in-law of the last-mentioned Sir -William Catesby and father of Francis Tresham, one of the subordinate -conspirators), was so attached to the ancient faith of the English people -that, we are told, he not only regularly paid--by way of fines--for more -than twenty years, the sum of L260 per annum, about L2,080 a year in our -money, into the Treasury rather than not maintain what (to him) was "a -conscience void of offence," but he also spent at least twenty-one years -of his life in prison, after being Star-Chambered in the year 1581 along -with Lord Vaux of Harrowden and his brother-in-law, Sir William Catesby, -on a charge of harbouring Campion. - -The Fleet prison in London, Banbury Castle and Ely--his "familiar prison," -as Sir Thomas Tresham pleasantly styled the last-named place of -incarceration--were the habitations wherein he was enabled to make it his -boast in a letter to Lord Henry Howard, afterwards the Earl of -Northampton, writ in the year 1603, "that he had now completed his triple -apprenticeship in direst adversity, and that he should be content to serve -a like long apprenticeship to prevent the foregoing of his beloved, -beautiful, and graceful Rachel; for it seemed to him but a few days for -the love he had to her."[A] - -[Footnote A: Quoted from papers found at Rushton in Northamptonshire, the -seat of Sir Thomas Tresham, which he himself designed, being an architect -of some skill.] - -Well may the spiritual descendants to-day of these grand old Elizabethan -Catholics exclaim:--"_Their_ very memory is pure and bright, and our sad -thoughts doth cheer!" - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - -The men known to history as the Gunpowder Plotters were thirteen in -number. - -They were at first Robert Catesby, already mentioned, Thomas Winter, -Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Guy (or Guido) Fawkes. - -Subsequently, there were added to these five--Robert Keyes, Christopher -Wright (a younger brother of John Wright), and lastly Robert Winter (an -elder brother of Thomas Winter),[A] Ambrose Rookwood, John Grant, Sir -Everard Digby, Francis Tresham, and Thomas Bates. - -[Footnote A: Lord Edmund Talbot, brother to the present Duke of Norfolk, -K.G., Hereditary Earl Marshal of England, is allied to Robert Winter, -through the latter's marriage with Gertrude Talbot, the daughter of John -Talbot, Esquire, of Grafton in Worcestershire. The brother of Gertrude -Winter became Earl of Shrewsbury. John Talbot had married a daughter of -Sir William Petre. Lord Edmund Talbot, I believe, now owns Huddington.] - -Of these thirteen conspirators, all, with the exception of Thomas Bates, a -serving-man of Robert Catesby, were, as Fawkes said, "gentlemen of name -and blood." - -Thomas Percy was the eldest of the conspirators and in 1605 was about -forty-five years of age. - -Sir Everard Digby was the youngest, being twenty-four years of age, whilst -the ages of the others ranged betwixt and between.[15] - -Thomas Percy, a native of Beverley, an ancient and historic town in the -East Riding of Yorkshire, was therefore a Yorkshireman by birth. He was -the son of Edward Percy and Elizabeth his wife. Though not the ringleader -of the band of conspirators, Thomas Percy must have cut the greatest -figure in the eyes of the public at large. For he was a "kinsman" of -Henry, ninth Earl of Northumberland, according to the testimony of the -Earl himself,[16] and through this nobleman Thomas Percy had been made -Captain of the Pensioners-in-Ordinary--Gentlemen of Honour--in attendance -at Court. At the time of the Plot, too, Thomas Percy--the Constable of -Alnwick and Warkworth Castles--acted as officer or agent for his noble -kinsman's large northern estates, at Alnwick, Warkworth, Topcliffe, -Spofforth, and elsewhere. - -Robert Catesby, the arch-conspirator, was--as we have seen already--the -son and heir of Sir William Catesby, whose wife was a daughter of Sir -Robert Throckmorton of Coughton in Warwickshire. - -Sir William Catesby was a gentleman of ancient, historic and distinguished -lineage, who had large possessions in Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, and -Warwickshire, yielding him about L3,000 a year, or probably from L24,000 -to L30,000 a year in our money. - -These large estates his ill-fated son Robert Catesby succeeded to in -expectancy in 1598.[17] - -Catesby, the younger, diminished his annual revenue very considerably by -involving himself in the rising of the brilliant Robert Devereux, second -Earl of Essex (1601), who had given to Catesby a promise of toleration for -Catholic recusants, who chafed greatly under a system of -politico-theological persecution, at once galling, cruel and despicable. - -But this promise of toleration was conditioned by the very vital condition -precedent that the insurrectionary movement of the gallant but rash Essex -against the Government of Elizabeth had a successful issue. - -The movement, however, was emphatically not smiled on by Fortune, that -fickle goddess, with the result that Catesby found himself locked up in -prison, and was only ransomed by payment of a sum of L3,000. - -This heavy fine, together with the fact that in the year 1605 his mother, -the Dowager Lady Catesby, was living at Ashby St. Legers in -Northamptonshire, and owned for life all rents of the estates, except -Chastleton near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, seems to have been the -cause that, at the time of the Gunpowder Plot, Catesby had not any very -great amount of ready money in hand. - -Besides this, until some four or five years prior to 1603, the year of the -death of Queen Elizabeth, when he began to practise the religion which in -1580 his father, Sir William Catesby, had embraced or re-embraced, and for -which the latter had suffered imprisonment and heavy fines, Robert Catesby -"was very wild; and as he kept company with the best noblemen of the land, -so he spent much above his rate, and so wasted also good part of his -living." - -"He was of person above two yards[18] high, and though slender, yet as -well proportioned to his height as any man one should see." He was, -moreover, reputed to be "very wise and of great judgment, though his -utterance was not so good. Besides, he was so liberal, and apt to help all -sorts, as it got him much love." - -At the time of the Plot Catesby was about thirty-five years of age. He had -married Catherine Leigh, a daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh, of Stoneleigh, a -Protestant gentleman of wealth and influence in Warwickshire. The Parish -Register of Chastleton has the following entry:--"Robert Catesbie, son of -Robert Catesbie, was baptised the 11th day of November, 1595."[19] He had -only this one surviving child, who is said to have married the only child -of Thomas Percy. - -Catesby had the misfortune to lose his wife by death before the year 1602, -and at the time of the Plot his home seems to have been with his mother, -the Dowager Lady Catesby, at Ashby St. Legers in the County of -Northampton, the family ancestral seat. For in 1602 he had sold his -residence, Chastleton, in Oxfordshire. - -Now, as Robert Catesby, it seems by many circumstances, was the first -inventor and chiefest furtherer of the Plot, it is worth while thus -lingering on a description of what manner of man he was. - -It, however, may be asked how came it to pass that this one person gained -such prodigious ascendency over twelve other persons so as to make them, -in the event, as mischievously, nay fatally, deluded as himself? - -The answer is manifold: for besides the wrongs which these ruthless -plotters sought to avenge, they evidently came under a potent -psychological spell when they came under the influence of this wayward, -yet fascinating, son of the brilliant age of Elizabeth--an age in which -men's intellectual and physical powers too often attained a complete -mastery over their moral powers.[20] - -For a proof of Catesby's immense influence over others, it may be -mentioned that Ambrose Rookwood, one of those whose blood afterwards -stained the scaffold at the early age of twenty-seven for his share in the -wicked scheme, says of Catesby that "he (Rookwood) loved and respected him -as his own life."[21] - -Four things seem to have caused those who came in contact with Robert -Catesby to have been carried captive at his will, if from the first they -were at all well affected towards him--his personal appearance, his -generosity, his zeal, and his skill in the use of arms. - -We are told that Tesimond (alias Greenway), another contemporary of -Catesby, says that "his countenance was exceedingly noble and expressive. -That his conversation and manners were peculiarly attractive and imposing, -and that by the dignity of his character he exercised an irresistible -influence over the minds of those who associated with him."[22] - -His zeal was of that kind which is contagious and kindles responsive fire. - -As for his martial prowess, it was sufficiently attested by his behaviour -at the time of the Essex rising, when Father Gerard, his contemporary, -tells us that "Mr. Catesby did then show such valour and fought so long -and stoutly as divers afterwards of those swordsmen did exceedingly esteem -him and follow him in regard thereof."[23] - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - -Thomas Winter came of a Worcestershire family. His father, George Winter -(or Wintour), had married Jane Ingleby, the daughter of Sir William -Ingleby, a Yorkshire knight of historic name, whose ancestral seat was -Ripley Castle, near Knaresbrough[24] in Nidderdale, one of the most -romantic valleys of Yorkshire. - -Jane Winter's brother, Francis Ingleby,[25] a barrister, and afterwards a -Roman Catholic priest, was hanged, drawn and quartered at York, on the 2nd -of June, 1586, for exercising his priesthood in York and his native -County. - -He was a man of rare parts, and the heroic story of his life and death -must have often thrilled the hearts of his sister's children. - -Would that they had taken him as their model. For of all those many Roman -Catholic Yorkshiremen[A] who, of divers ranks and degrees, in the -sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, preferred "death" to (what to them) -was "dishonour," none has left nobler memories than this self-sacrificing, -exalted soul.[26] - -[Footnote A: At least 49 persons, priests and laymen, suffered death in -York alone for the Pope's religion, between the reigns of Henry VIII. and -Charles II. inclusive. The place of execution was usually the Tyburn, -opposite Knavesmire, near Hob Moor Gate, in the middle of the Tadcaster -High Road. In the reign of Philip and Mary no Protestant was burned to -death in Yorkshire. Archbishop Heath, of York, like Bishop Tunstall, of -Durham, and the great Catholic Jurist, Edmund Plowden, who, for conscience -sake, declined the Chancellorship when offered to him by Elizabeth, did -not think they could "save alive" the soul of a "heretic" by roasting -"dead" his body at the stake. And they were right.] - -Thomas Winter, the ill-fated nephew of him just mentioned, was a -courageous man and an accomplished linguist. - -He had seen military service in Flanders, in behalf of the Estates-General -against Spain, and in France, and possibly against the Turk. - -We are told by a contemporary that "he was of such a wit and so fine a -carriage, that he was of so pleasing conversation, desired much of the -better sort, but an inseparable friend of Mr. Robert Catesby. He was of -mean stature, but strong and comely and very valiant, about thirty-three -years old, or somewhat more. His means were not great, but he lived in -good sort, and with the best."[27] He seems to have been unmarried. - -Sir Everard Digby was a tall, handsome, singularly generous, charming -young fellow, and like Ambrose Rookwood, previously mentioned, had won the -loving favour of all who knew him. Digby had two estates in the County of -Rutlandshire (Tilton and Drystoke), also property in the County of -Leicestershire; and through his amiable and beautiful young wife, Mary -Mulsho, a wealthy heiress, he was the owner of Gothurst[A] (now Gayhurst) -in the parish of Tyringham, near Newport Pagnell, in the County of -Buckinghamshire, still one of England's stately homes.[28] - -Francis Tresham was married to a Throckmorton, and was connected with many -English families of historic name, high rank, and great fortune. - -[Footnote A: Gothurst (now Gayhurst), resembles in its style of architecture, The -Treasurer's House, York, on the North side of the Minster, the town-house -of Frank Green, Esquire. Walter Carlile, Esquire, now resides at -Gayhurst.] - -He was a first cousin to Robert Catesby through his mother--a -Throckmorton. Tresham and the Winters were also akin. - -Francis Tresham, like his cousin, Robert Catesby, had been involved in the -Essex rising, and his father, Sir Thomas Tresham, had to pay a ransom of -at least L2,000 to effect his son's escape from arraignment and certain -execution. Powerful interest had been exerted in the son's favour with -Queen Elizabeth by Lady Catherine Howard, the daughter of Lord Thomas -Howard, Lieutenant of the Tower, and afterwards Earl of Suffolk.[29] - -John Grant was a Warwickshire Squire, who had married Robert and Thomas -Winter's sister Dorothy. Grant's home was at Norbrook, near Snitterfield, -a walled and moated mansion-house between the towns of Warwick and -Stratford-on-Avon.[30] Grant was a taciturn but accomplished man, who had -been likewise fined for his share in the Essex rising. - -John Wright and Christopher Wright were younger sons of Robert Wright, -Esquire, of Plowland (or Plewland) Hall, Welwick, Holderness, in the East -Riding of Yorkshire. - -They were related to the Inglebies of Ripley, through the Mallories of -Studley Royal near Ripon. Hence were they related to Thomas Winter, Robert -Winter, and Dorothy Grant. - -Robert Keyes, of Drayton in Northamptonshire, was the son of a Protestant -clergyman and probably grandson of one of the Key or Kay family of -Woodsome, Almondbury, near Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. - -Through his Roman Catholic mother, Keyes was related to Lady Ursula -Babthorpe, the daughter of Sir William Tyrwhitt[31] of Kettleby, near -Brigg, Lincolnshire, and wife of Sir William Babthorpe, of Babthorpe and -Osgodby, near Selby, in the East Riding of Yorkshire Sir William Babthorpe -was "the very soul of honour," one of the most valiant-hearted gentlemen -in Yorkshire, and himself, likewise, related to the Mallories, the -Inglebies, the Wrights, and the Winters. His sister was Lady Catherine -Palmes, the wife of Sir George Palmes, of Naburn, near the City of York. - -Ambrose Rookwood, of Coldham Hall--an ivy-clad, mullion-windowed mansion -still standing--in the parish of Stanningfield, near Bury St. Edmunds, -Suffolk, was of an honourable and wealthy Suffolk family, who had suffered -fines and penalties for the profession of their hereditary faith. - -His wife was a Tyrwhitt and sister to Lady Ursula Babthorpe. At the time -of the Plot he was twenty-seven years of age.[A] - -[Footnote A: Edward Rookwood, of Euston Hall, Suffolk, was cousin to -Ambrose Rookwood. At Euston in 1578 Queen Elizabeth was sumptuously -entertained by Edward Rookwood.--See Hallam's "_Constitutional History_," -and Lodge's "_Illustrations_."] - -Of the engaging Ambrose Rookwood a contemporary says, "I knew him well and -loved him tenderly. He was beloved by all who knew him. He left behind him -his lady, who was a very beautiful person and of a high family, and two or -three little children, all of whom--together with everything he had in -this world--he cast aside to follow the fortunes of this rash and -desperate conspiracy."[32] - -Guy Fawkes was also a Yorkshireman, being born in the year 1570, in the -City of York. - -His baptismal register, dated the 16th day of April, 1570, is still to be -seen in the Church of St. Michael-le-Belfrey, hard-by the glorious -Minster. - -Probably that one of four traditions is true which says that the son of -Edward Fawkes, Notary and Advocate of the Consistory Court of York, and -Edith, his wife, was born in a house situated in High Petergate. In fact, -in the angle formed by the street known as High Petergate and the ancient -alley called Minster Gates, leading into the Minster Yard, opposite the -South Transept of the Minster, and at the top of the mediaeval street -called Stonegate.[A] - -[Footnote A: The house I refer to is occupied by the Governors of St. -Peter's School (where Fawkes was himself educated), by Mr. T. H. Barron, -and Mr. Matkins. It is still Minster property. It is a brick Elizabethan -house refaced. Fawkes' grandmother, Mrs. Ellen Fawkes, almost certainly -lived in a house in High Petergate, on the opposite side of the road, -probably. His father may have had a house also at Bishopthorpe.--See -Supplementum I.] - -Though the property Guy Fawkes inherited was small, his descent and -upbringing had made him the equal and companion of the gentry of his -native County. - -In the thirty-third year of Elizabeth (1592), in a legal document dealing -with his property, Guy Fawkes is described as of Scotton, a picturesque -village in the ancient Parish of Farnham, between Knaresbrough and Ripley, -in Nidderdale. - -Fawkes was a tall athletic man, with brown hair and an auburn beard. He -was modest, self-controlled, and very valiant. He left England for -Flanders most likely in 1593 or 1594. At the time of the conspiracy he was -about thirty-five years of age. He was unmarried. - -Fawkes was highly intelligent, direct of purpose, simple of heart, -well-read, and, as a soldier of fortune in the Netherlands, not only -"skilful in the wars," but, apart from his fanaticism, which seems to have -grown by degrees into a positive monomania, possessed of many attractive, -and even endearing, moral qualities. - -Fawkes held a post of command in the Spanish Army when Spain took Calais -in 1596, and gave promise of becoming, like his friend and patron, Sir -William Stanley, an ideal "happy warrior," and one of England's greatest -generals.[A] - -[Footnote A: It is interesting and instructive to compare the Forty Years' -War between Spain and the Netherlands with the present unhappy strife in -South Africa between Britons and the descendants of those that repelled -the arms of the once greatest soldiery in the world. The war between Spain -and the Dutch was not a religious war at the commencement of the struggle. -It arose out of a chafing under the sovereignty of Spain, and a dispute -about tenths. In fact, many Catholics fought against Philip II. in this -war at the beginning. - -I visited Scotton for the first time on the day set apart in York as a -general holiday for the Relief of Mafeking (19th May, 1900).] - -It is said by an old writer, "Winter and Fawxe are men of excellent good -natural parts, very resolute and universally learned."[33] In the days of -their joyous youth these two gifted men may have many a time and oft -played and sported together in Nidderdale, with its purple moors, its -rock-crowned fells, its leafy woods, its musical streams, its flowery -ghylls, its winding river. - -Guy Fawkes was a son of destiny, a product of his environment, a creature -of circumstances--always saving his free-will and moral responsibility. - -But, dying, he must have remembered his dear York and sweet Scotton. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - -Let us deal with the inferences from the Evidence, and ascertain to what -further suggestions those inferences give rise. - -Now, among the first things that must strike the reader of the list of -actors in the Gunpowder tragedy is the large number that were, directly or -indirectly, connected with the far-stretching, prolific province of -Yorkshire. Of the whole thirteen conspirators, four first drew the breath -of life in that grandest and fairest of English Counties, namely: Thomas -Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Guy (or Guido) Fawkes. While -five of the other intending perpetrators of an action which, if -consummated, would have indeed "damned them to everlasting fame," -indirectly had relations with it. - -Nay, more; of the four members of the clerical profession whom the -Government sought to charge with complicity in this nefarious designment, -namely: Fathers Garnet, Tesimond, Gerard, and (subsequently) Oldcorne--two -out of the four, Oswald Tesimond and Edward Oldcorne, were likewise -Yorkshiremen.[A] - -[Footnote A: The late Bishop Creighton, in his fine illustrated work -entitled, "_The Story of some English Shires_" (Religious Tract Society), -says:--"Yorkshire is the largest of the English shires, and its size -corresponds to its ancient greatness."] - -Edward Oldcorne was certainly a native of the City of York, and it is very -likely indeed that Oswald Tesimond was a native also.[34] - -Moreover, Oswald Tesimond, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Guy Fawkes -were all educated at the Royal School of Philip and Mary in the Horse -Fayre, at the left-hand side going down Gillygate, York, where Union -Terrace is now situated, just outside Bootham Bar, and not far from the -King's Manor, where Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon, or his preceding or -succeeding Lords President of the North, presided in State over the -Council of the North and the Court of High Commission.[A] - -[Footnote A: Lord Strafford, the representative of Charles I. in Ireland, -was in after years Lord President of the North. In his day the King's -Manor was known as the Palace of the Stuart Kings, for both James I. and -Charles I. sojourned there. It is now used as a beneficent Institution for -the Blind, as a memorial to that illustrious Yorkshireman, William -Wilberforce, M.P., the immortal slave emancipator. One of the rooms in the -old Palace is called the Earl of Huntingdon's room to this day. William -Wilberforce's direct heir, William Basil Wilberforce, Esquire, resides at -Markington Hall, near Ripon. - -The Earl of Huntingdon was a scion of the House of York, and had Elizabeth -become reconciled to the Church of Rome the Puritans would have probably -rallied round Lord Huntingdon as their King. The Honourable Walter -Hastings, the Earl's brother, was a Roman Catholic. They were, of course, -akin to Queen Elizabeth, and were descended from the "Blessed" Margaret -Plantagenet Countess of Salisbury.] - -It is more than probable that Edward Oldcorne also quaffed his first -draught of classical knowledge at the same "Pierian spring;" for we are -told that his parents "in his young years kept him to school, so that he -was a good grammar scholar when he first went over beyond the seas."[35] - -Before going to Rheims and Rome Edward Oldcorne had studied medicine. - -Who among these unparalleled conspirators is then the most likely, either -through fear or remorse or both feelings, to have first put into motion -the stupendous machinery whereby the Gunpowder conspiracy was revealed? -Only an energy practically superhuman would be, or could be, sufficient -for the accomplishment of such an end, as--well-nigh at the eleventh -hour--speedily to swing round on its axis a project so diabolical and -prodigious as the Gunpowder Plot. - -For the passion--the concentrated, suppressed, yet volcanic passion--that -had purposed so awful a catastrophe was deep as hell and high as heaven. - -And well might it be, regard being had to the indisputable facts of -English History from the year 1569--the year of the Rising of the North, -which was stamped out with such cruel severity--down to the year 1605. -Truly, the measure of the Gunpowder conspirators' personal guilt was the -measure of their representative wrongs. Yet this, in itself, for these -wrong-doers was no ground of pardon or release: for, by a steadfast decree -of the universe, "The guilty suffer." - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - -Now, according to the laws which govern human nature, a subordinate -conspirator, introduced late into the conspiracy, whose early training was -such as to lead him, on reflection, to regard as morally unlawful the -taking of a secret oath, such as the Gunpowder conspirators had taken: a -conspirator in whose heart emotions, not only of compassion but also of -compunction, were likely to be awakened by the remembrance of that -training, as the day was about to dawn and as the hour was about to strike -when would be consummated one of the bloodiest tragedies that had ever -stained an evil world: a conspirator answering to this, I say, was the -most likely to be the conspirator who revealed this purposed appalling -massacre, the bare thought of which causes strong men to shudder, even to -this day. - -Still more likely would be a conspirator who, fulfilling the description -just mentioned, adds to that the following, namely--that he possessed an -entirely trustworthy friend who would act as penman of any document he -might wish to use as a means of communicating a secret yet warning note to -a representative of the intended victims. - -And yet still more likely would be a conspirator who, to the descriptions -of the two preceding paragraphs, added a third, namely--that he possessed -a second entirely trustworthy friend who would act as an "_interpres_"--a -go-between--to drive home the full intended effect of the document penned -by the hand of the first; and this with the express knowledge and consent -of that first. - -Hence, such go-between would be the agent common to both the revealing -conspirator and his scribe, and would be informed, directed and controlled -by them. - -Regard being had to the fixities of thought or self-evident fundamentals -which in the introduction to this Inquiry were enunciated, these two -friends, these two confidants must have been bound to the revealing -conspirator by bonds, ties, obligations, "light," indeed, "as air, yet -strong as iron," which were the outcome of kinship, friendship, or -business (in a superlatively wide sense), possibly of all three. - -Now the inference that I draw, from a reviewing and weighing of the -Evidence to-day available in relation to this matter, is this, that -_Christopher Wright_ was the conspirator who revealed the Plot, and that -his worthy aiders and honourable abettors were, first, _Thomas Ward_, the -gentleman-servant (and almost certainly kinsman) of Lord Mounteagle -himself, _amicus secundum carnem_; and, secondly, _Edward Oldcorne_, -Priest and Jesuit, _amicus secundum spiritum:--friends according to the -flesh and to the spirit respectively_. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - -Let us proceed to support these statements with Evidence and with -Argument. - -(1) Now was Christopher Wright a subordinate conspirator, introduced late -into the conspiracy? It is plain that he was, from "_Thomas Winter's -Confession_," where he says: "About Candlemas we brought over in a boat -the powder which we had provided at Lambeth and layd it in Mr. Percy's -house, because we were willing to have all our danger in one place. We -wrought also another fortnight in the mine against the stone wall which -was very hard to beat through, at which time we called in Kit Wright -(sometime in February, 1605), and near to Easter as we wrought the third -time, opportunity was given to hire the cellar in which we resolved to lay -the powder and leave the mine." - -Again, in the published "_Confession_" of Guy Fawkes (17th November, -1605), Fawkes says, that a practice "in general was first broken unto me -against his majestie, for releife of the Catholique cause, and not -invented or propounded by myself. And this was first propounded unto me -about Easter last was twelve-month,[36] beyond the seas, in the Low -Countries of the Archdukes' obeyance by Thomas Wynter." - -Fawkes says, in his "_Confession_" further on: "Thomas Percy hired a howse -at Westminster ... neare adjoyning the Parlt. 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 myself, and soon after[37] we tooke another unto us, -Christopher Wright, having sworn him also, and taken the sacrament for -secrecie."[38] - -Therefore Christopher Wright must have become a confederate about ten -months after Fawkes himself and the other prime movers in the nefarious -scheme, and his services were requisitioned--as the modern phrase -goes--primarily for the purpose of adding to the amount of manual labour -available for the digging of the mine, which was afterwards abandoned for -the cellar as the receptacle for the gunpowder that was to effect the -explosion purposed. - -(2) Now, was Christopher Wright a conspirator whose early training was -such as to lead him, on reflection, to regard as morally unlawful the -taking of a secret oath such as the Gunpowder conspirators had bound -themselves by, and one in whose heart emotions, not only of compassion but -also of compunction, were likely to be awakened by the remembrance of that -training as the day was about to dawn and the hour was about to strike -when the awful tragedy would be consummated? - -If a man's character may be presumptively known by his friends, still more -may it be presumptively known by his progenitors; and in the light of this -principle I therefore answer the foregoing question emphatically in the -affirmative. - -But what was the form of the oath taken by all these conspirators save -one, namely, Sir Everard Digby, who was _specially_ "sworn in" on the hilt -of a poniard? - -It was this:--"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." - -This oath was administered to the conspirators by each other in the most -solemn manner--"kneeling down upon their knees with their hands laid upon -a primer."[39] - -Immediately after the oath had been taken,[40] we are told, Catesby -explained to Percy, and Winter and John Wright to Fawkes, that the project -intended was to blow up the Parliament House with gunpowder when the King -went to the House of Lords.[41] This would include the Queen, the Commons, -Ambassadors, and spectators who would be present during the King's Speech. - -From Fawkes' "_Confession_," already quoted, it would seem probable that -all five prime conspirators imparted their prodigious designment of -sacrilegious, cold-blooded murder to the conspirator Christopher Wright. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - -Who and what then, with more particularity, was Christopher Wright? - -He was the third son of Robert Wright and Ursula his wife, who was the -daughter of Nicholas Rudston, Esquire (of the Rudstons, Lords of -Hayton,[A] near Pocklington, in the East Riding of the County of York, -since the reign of King John). Ursula Rudston's mother was Jane, the -daughter of Sir William Mallory, of Studley Royal, near Ripon.[42] - -[Footnote A: It is gratifying to the historic feeling to know that the -Manor of Hayton is still owned by a member of this ancient family, the -present possessor being T. W. Calverley-Rudston, Esquire, J.P., of -Allerthorpe Hall, Pocklington.] - -Christopher Wright was born about the year 1570, the year after the Rising -of the North[43] under "the Blessed" Thomas Percy Earl of Northumberland, -and Charles Neville Earl of Westmoreland, in which movement many of -Christopher Wright's mother's relatives and connections (notably "old -Richard Norton," his sons, and the Markenfields) were implicated.[44] - -Plowland (or Plewland) Hall, in the Parish of Welwick, in Holderness, was -doubtless where Christopher Wright first beheld the light of the sun. -Plowland Hall, or Great Plowland as it is sometimes called, is situated on -the left of, and a little distance from, the high-road, on slightly rising -ground, between the ancient town of Patrington and the pretty village of -Welwick. When Robert Wright and Ursula, his wife, and their sons, John and -Christopher, and their daughters, Ursula and Martha, knew the place, now -so historic, Plowland Hall was a fortified dwelling, surrounded by a deep -moat and approached by a drawbridge, much after the fashion of Markenfield -Hall, in the Parish of Ripon, the ancestral seat of the Markenfields, -heroes of Flodden and kinsmen of the Wrights, Wards, Nortons, Mallories, -and numberless others amongst the ancient and wealthy Yorkshire gentry. - -Christopher Wright and his elder brother John were educated, along with -Guy Fawkes and Oswald Tesimond, at the Royal Grammar School (as we have -already stated) in the Horse Fayre, Gillygate, in the City of York. - -Their master was the Reverend John Pulleyn, who probably belonged to the -ancient and honourable West Riding family of the Pulleyns (or Pulleines), -of Killinghall, near Bilton-cum-Harrogate, and of Scotton, in the Parish -of Farnham, near Knaresbrough. - -The two Wrights' parents were stanch Roman Catholics, and their mother had -suffered imprisonment "for the Faith" in York for the "space of fourteen -years together," during the time when Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon -was Lord President of the North, _i.e._, between the years 1572 and 1599. -(Henry third Earl of Huntingdon was one of the few members of the ancient -nobility who accepted whole-heartedly the Calvinistic Protestantism then -gradually taking root in England.) - -One of Christopher Wright's sisters, Ursula, was married to Marmaduke -Ward, Gentleman, of Mulwith, in the Parish of Ripon; another, named -Martha, was married to Thomas Percy, Gentleman, the Gunpowder -conspirator. - -It is said of John Wright, Christopher Wright's brother, and of his -brother-in-law, Thomas Percy, that they were formerly Protestant, and -became Catholic about the time of the rebellion of the Earl of Essex. But -it is certain John Wright and Thomas Percy[45] must have been both brought -up Roman Catholics in the days of their childhood; although they probably -ceased to practise their duties as such until about the year 1600. For it -is incredible that the son and son-in-law of Robert Wright and Ursula, his -wife, should have been brought up as children and youths anything other -than rigid Catholics, whatever else for a season they might, in the days -of their early manhood, have become, either from conscientious conviction -or reckless negligence, whereof the latter alternative is doubtless the -more probable. - -From the account of the Gunpowder conspirators given by Father John -Gerard, the friend of Sir Everard Digby, and, it is highly probable, the -friend of the Wrights also, it would seem that Christopher Wright was a -taller man than his brother John,[A] fatter in the face and of a -lighter-coloured hair. "Yet," says Gerard, "was he very like to the other -in conditions and qualities and both esteemed and tried to be as stout a -man as England had, and withal a zealous Catholic and trusty and secret in -any business as could be wished."[46] - -[Footnote A: It is, however, possible that John Wright may have come under -the influence of the Blessed William Hart (styled the Apostle of York and -the second Campion), a priest who suffered death at the York Tyburn in -1583. Because Hart was indicted for (amongst other things) "reconciling" a -"Mr. John Wright and one Cooling."--See Challoner's "_Missionary -Priests_." If so, John Wright would then be about fourteen years of age. -It, however, may have been another John Wright; perhaps of Grantley and -one of the brothers of Robert Wright, the father of John Wright, the -conspirator. Cooling was probably Ralph Cowling, of York, a shoemaker, the -father of Father Richard Cowling (certainly of York), a Jesuit and -relative of the Harringtons, of Mount St. John, and, therefore, of Guy -Fawkes. See Note 147, where will be found a letter under the hand of this -Father Cowling (or Collinge) to a gentleman in Venice--possibly Father -Parsons or someone else of authority among the Jesuits--respecting the -Harringtons and Guy Fawkes. Ralph Cowling, the father, died in York Castle -a captive for his Faith, and was buried under the Castle Wall--I think -facing the Foss towards Fishergate.] - -Christopher Wright was married. His wife's name, we know, was -Margaret.[A][47] I strongly suspect that Mrs. Christopher Wright was a -sister of both Marmaduke Ward and Thomas Ward, of Mulwith, in the Parish -of Ripon; yet of this there is only, perhaps, slight evidence, so that no -positive argument can be grounded upon it, _considered by itself_; though -the evidence of Mistress Robinson, Christopher Wright's landlady in -London, indirectly tends to confirm such a suspicion.--See Evidence of -Dorathie Robinson, _postea_, where she says that Wright had "a brother" in -London. - -[Footnote A: See "_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 89.] - -When Guy Fawkes was examined in the Tower of London, in the forenoon of -the 6th of November, he said, in answer to a question--"You would have me -discover my friends; the giving warning to one overthrew us all." - -Now, if Guy Fawkes eventually revealed the conspiracy by reason of the -agony caused by the _physical_ pains of the rack, when after the first -racking he was told he "must come to it againe and againe, from daye to -daye, till he should have delivered his whole knowledge," is it, I ask, a -thing incredible that the son of a Yorkshire Catholic mother that had -spent fourteen years of her life in "durance" for her profession of her -forefathers' ancient Faith, should have revealed the conspiracy itself, by -reason of the agony caused by the _moral_ pains of a pricking conscience, -goading him to madness for having committed _in act_ (in the case of the -unlawful oath), _in desire_ (in the case of the intended murder) most -horrible crimes against the offended Majesty of Heaven? - -I think not. - -_Therefore_ I conclude that it is antecedently probable that in the heart -of Christopher Wright, emotions, not only of compassion but also of -compunction, _were_ awakened by the remembrance of the early training he -had received at his mother's knee: emotions which were potent enough, -under the wisdom and skill of one whose special duty it was to "work good -unto all men," speedily to swing right round on its axis, though well-nigh -at the eleventh hour, the diabolical designment known to History as the -Gunpowder Treason Plot. - -Had Christopher Wright any entirely trustworthy friend, one who not only -would prove a healing minister to a mind diseased with the leprosy of -crime, but also be an able and ready helper for giving effect to an all -but too late repentance? Was there anyone to whom he could have recourse, -who was at once wise of head, sympathetic of heart, and skilful of hand? - -There was. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - -For at Hindlip Hall, near the City of Worcester, there had dwelt for the -past sixteen years one who was not only the trusted spiritual guide of -Thomas Abington, Esquire, and the Honourable Mary (Parker), his wife, -daughter of the Lord Morley and sister to the Lord Mounteagle, but who by -reason of his remarkably zealous labours in that part of the country had -come to be accepted as a very Apostle of Worcestershire. - -This was Edward Oldcorne, a Priest and a Jesuit. - -He was the son of John Oldcorne, Tiler, a schismatic Catholic, of St. -Sampson's Parish, in the City of York. His mother was Elizabeth Oldcorne, -a rigid Catholic recusant, who had suffered imprisonment "for the Faith." -He was born about the year 1560, and proceeded to the English College at -Rome in 1582, aged twenty-one, for the higher studies. He was most -probably at the Royal School in the Horse Fayre, in York, and he may have -been there at the same time as Oswald Tesimond,[48] John Wright,[49] -Christopher Wright, and Guy Fawkes, though about ten years the senior of -the three latter. As already has been stated, before going beyond the seas -he had studied medicine. He was a man remarkable alike for mental acumen, -tranquillity of spirit, gentleness of nature, and strength of will. He was -one of those Jesuits who, realising a higher unity, were at once Mystics -_and_ Politicians. His equipoise of mind shows him to have been a very -great man--indeed, on account of his combination of mental gifts and -graces, I think the greatest, in reality, of _all_ the early English -Jesuits. For "he saw life steadily and saw it whole."[A] - -[Footnote A: Matthew Arnold.] - -"All the chiefest gentlemen," says Father Gerard, Oldcorne's contemporary, -"and best Catholics of the county where he remained and the counties -adjoining depended upon his advice and counsel, and he was indefatigable -in his journeys."[50] Again, a MS. Memoir[51] says, "so profuse was his -liberality in aiding others that he supplied the necessities of life to -very many Catholics. It was very evident his residence was well selected -in the midst of the Catholics of that district of the Society of Jesus, so -great and so promiscuous was the concourse of people flocking thereto for -his sermons, for his advice, and the sacraments."[52][B] - -[Footnote B: See Supplementum II.] - -Now, Father Oldcorne was the spiritual adviser of Robert Winter, another -subordinate plotter, and also of Catesby, according to the statement of -one Humphrey Littleton, who knew Oldcorne well. And as John Wright was a -tenant of Catesby's Mansion House, at Lapworth, in Warwickshire, about -twenty miles distant from Hindlip, Christopher Wright must have not only -heard of Father Oldcorne's fame as a "counsellor of the doubtful" and a -"friend in need," but it is at least possible he may have been among those -divers Catholics and Schismatics[53] in the country thereabouts who -flocked to him for conference and to have his exhortations.[54][C] - -[Footnote C: Evidence of the practical side of Oldcorne's mind is -furnished by the fact that we are told he often begged leave in Rome of -his superiors to visit the hospitals and serve in the kitchen. And when -the English College was in low water, owing to the parents of the scholars -not being able to pay for their sons through stress of the persecution, -Oldcorne was sent to the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily to negotiate -pecuniary assistance. His business embassy was eminently successful, and -he brought back "a good round sum" to the College.--See Gerard's -"_Narrative_," p. 272.] - -Again, Christopher Wright appears to have been especially friendly with -two other conspirators, namely, Thomas Winter and Ambrose Rookwood. And it -is worthy of notice that Huddington Hall, in Worcestershire, the seat of -Robert Winter (of which place Thomas Winter is also described), and -Clopton Hall, in Warwickshire, near Stratford-on-Avon (whither Ambrose -Rookwood removed soon after Michaelmas, 1605), were easily accessible to -and from Hindlip Hall, where Father Oldcorne was, in general, to be found -when not engaged at some other missionary station, such as Worcester City -or Grafton Manor, the seat of John Talbot, Esquire, then heir presumptive -to the Earldom of Shrewsbury and father-in-law to Robert Winter, who had -married Miss Gertrude Talbot.[A] - -[Footnote A: The site of Shakespeare's new residence, which he built and -called New Place, at Stratford-on-Avon, had belonged to the Clopton -family. - -Clopton Bridge and Clopton Hall (or House) are still well known to all -visitors to the shrine of Shakespeare. It is to be remembered that Clopton -Hall, the property of Lord Carew, whither Ambrose Rookwood repaired for -temporary residence soon after Michaelmas, 1605, was by road twenty-three -miles from Hindlip Hall, where Father Oldcorne resided. - -Ambrose Rookwood and Christopher Wright were particular friends. Rookwood -was a man of very tender conscience, which, however, unhappily failed him -at the most crucial moment of his life, namely, when he consented to join -in the Plot which proved his ruin. But indirectly he probably unknowingly -strengthened Christopher Wright's resolve to reverse the Plot, by -revelation. The influence of "associating" (even if of not always -"according") "minds" one upon the other is very subtle but very -powerful.] - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - -Let us now examine the Letter itself. - -The first thing to be noted is that no reprint that I have seen of the -famous Letter, whether in ancient or modern continuous Relations of the -Gunpowder Plot, is strictly correct. For they all omit the pronoun "yowe" -after the words "my lord out of the loue i beare." This pronoun "yowe" is -indeed crossed out in the original Letter with a blurred net-work of -lines.[55] But, this notwithstanding, it can be still detected in the -original document, happily, even to this day, to be seen in the Record -Office, London. - -Now the fact that this word "yowe" is crossed out in this mysterious -fashion, coupled with the fact that the words used at the end of the -Letter are as follow: "and i hope god will give yowe the grace to mak -good[56] use of it to whose holy proteccion i comend yowe," makes it clear -(to my mind) that an universal temporal salvation of the destined victims -was intended by the revealing conspirator and by his penman, and not -merely the particular salvation of the recipient of the Letter. - -Again, the meaning of the words "for the danger is passed as soon as yowe -have burnt the letter," is in one sense fairly clear. For as Wilson says, -in his "_Life of James I._" (1653), p. 30, "the writer's desire was to -have the letter burned, and then the danger would be past both to the -writer and the receiver, if he had grace to make use of the warning."[57] - -This must be the, at least, _ostensible_ meaning. For it is obvious that -neither Wright nor Oldcorne (_ex hypothesi_) would, for different but most -potent reasons, wish the penman of the Letter to be known to the then -public, either Catholic or Protestant. - -Now it was in accordance with universal right reason and moral fitness -that Father Oldcorne should--so far as was consistent with his being -satisfied that warning of the Plot had been given through trustworthy -channels to the King's principal Secretary of State--keep in the -background and not himself in person adventure upon the theatre of action, -even for the purpose of compassing an object which he was bound by his -vocation, alike in Justice and Charity, to compass. For by the Act 27 -Elizabeth, he was "a traitor," being a Priest and remaining in England for -more than forty days. While the fact that he was a Jesuit into the bargain -would be, of course, counted an aggravation of his statutory offence.[58] - -Again, Father Oldcorne had to remember, besides the ideal standard that -his vocation imposed upon him, the practical standard which was the -unwritten law that guided the conscience of the best of the average -Catholics in that period of their intolerable sufferings.[A] For it is a -fact of human nature that every man seeks to instruct his conscience by -some objective rule or standard of Truth and Right; but that instincts -and emotions oftentimes finally rule men rather than reason and -argumentative proof. - -[Footnote A: The English papists groaned under the following -persecution:--The poor were practically liable to be fined (and therefore -sold up "stick and pin") one shilling every time they absented themselves -from their parish church. The richer members of the community were -compelled to pay L20 per lunar month. Many of the English nobility, -gentry, and yeomanry were ruined by this; indeed the Catholics must have -been very rich on the whole to hold out as long as they did. It was the -Government authorities (Clerical and Lay) that did the persecuting; -individual Protestants often sought to mitigate the miseries of their -fellow-countrymen from whom they differed in religion. Being reconciled to -the See of Rome was death, and to be a popish priest was by the terrible -Statute 27 Eliz. to be "a traitor" and to be liable to be hanged, cut down -alive, bowelled, and quartered. To say Mass was to be liable to a fine of -200 marks _and_ imprisonment for life (a mark was 13s. 4d.). To hear Mass -was to be liable to a fine of 100 marks _and_ imprisonment for life. To -harbour a priest was death and forfeiture of property.] - -It was, furthermore, incumbent upon Oldcorne to recollect that more harm -than good is frequently occasioned in this entangled world by an -unseasonable, indiscriminate, "heroic" application of abstract principles -(faultless in themselves) to the varied and perplexing circumstances of -man's terrestrial life. - -To illustrate my propositions: It is worth while remembering that even so -lofty a soul as Mrs. Ambrose Rookwood evidently regarded her husband, -primarily, as a sufferer for conscience sake, and only secondarily, if at -all, as a repentant sacrilegious traitor and murderer in desire, who was -suffering condign punishment and paying the just penalty of his ruthless -crimes. - -No doubt special allowances have to be made for this poor woman, inasmuch -as her husband and children were all the world to her. But still the -following recorded statement proves that the _tendency_ was for even the -best of the average English Catholics of that day, of whom Mrs. Rookwood -is a fair type and specimen, to centre their sympathies on the wrong-doers -rather than on the wronged. - -This was natural enough; for man's disposition is to be led by his -unconscious instincts and emotional sympathies rather than by drawn-out -reason and cool argument, as has been mentioned above. - -It was the bounden duty of Oldcorne to hold that disposition strictly in -check and to keep himself absolutely master of the tendency. But, on this -being assured, he was bound likewise to remember that the tendency -existed, and that he lived in a world not of angels, nor of machines, but -of _men_--of men indeed who were not totally depraved, nor utterly -corrupt, yet who were sorely wounded and weakened in intellect, heart, and -will. - -The crying want of the present day--as of Oldcorne's day--is not only for -men but for men who are statesmen. And no man can be a statesman unless he -has a wide and profound knowledge of human nature, and who, while he -pities human nature and loves it, never makes the mistake of expecting too -much from it. In other words, we require men who are humanists and -humorists, as I cannot but think was the character of Edward Oldcorne. - -Now, no man in England knew better nor recognised more fully (for he knew -the virtually omnipotent transforming power of the precedent conditions of -person, time, and circumstance) the truth of the propositions I have just -enunciated than did Father Oldcorne. But this notwithstanding, I hold it -was _not_ the truth of the foregoing propositions ALONE--indisputable -doubtless as he regarded them--that finally controlled the motives that -ruled the action--in substance and in form--at the most critical moment of -the existence of this acute, disciplined, high-minded Yorkshireman, when -by Fate he was called upon to contemplate, _after the fateful November the -Fifth_, the bloody, prodigious Gunpowder Plot, and the mighty feat which -Destiny had imposed upon him for helping to spin the same right round on -its axis, even though well-nigh at the eleventh hour.[59] - -What finally controlled the motives, the positive _not_ negative motives, -that ruled that beneficent and never-to-be-forgotten action of this -Yorkshire Priest and Jesuit in that supreme moment--the Plot having then -become, through his instrumentality, as a mere bubble-burst--will be -discovered in due course of this Inquiry. - -The remark of Mrs. Rookwood to which I have referred is given in Gerard's -"_Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_," p. 219. Thomas Winter, Rookwood, -Keyes, and Fawkes were drawn on their hurdles from the Tower to the Yard -of the old Palace of Westminster over against the Parliament House. - -"As they were drawn upon the Strand, Mr. Rookwood had provided that he -should be admonished when he came over against the lodging where his wife -lay: and being come unto the place, he opened his eyes (which before he -kept shut to attend better to his prayers), and seeing her stand in a -window to see him pass by, he raised himself as well as he could up from -the hurdle, and said aloud unto her: 'Pray for me, pray for me,' She -answered him also aloud: 'I will; and be of good courage and offer thyself -wholly to God. I for my part do as freely restore thee to God as he gave -thee to me,'" - -This was Friday, the 31st day of January, 1605-6. - -On the previous day in St. Paul's Churchyard had been likewise hanged, cut -down alive, drawn, and quartered, Sir Everard Digby, Robert Winter, John -Grant, and Thomas Bates. - -Catesby, John Wright, and Christopher Wright had been slain at Holbeach on -the 8th of November previously. - -Thomas Percy died of wounds there received the next day. - -Father Tesimond had proceeded to Huddington, doubtless mainly in the hope, -let us trust, of stirring up in the hearts of these desperate creatures -sorrow--that great natural sacrament--for their awful crimes that, not in -vain, had cried to Heaven for vengeance! For truly the guilty suffer and -the blood-guilty man shall not live out half his days. - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - -Now there is a sentence in the Letter whose wording is peculiar, but -which, I submit, is pre-eminently a wording likely to be used by two -natives of Yorkshire. - -I mean the sentence, "I would aduyse yowe as yowe _tender_ your lyf to -deuys some excuse to _shift off_ youer attendance at this parleament," -meaning thereby, "I would advise you as you _have a care_ for your life to -devise some excuse to _put off_[60] your attendance at this parliament." - -Once more, a comparison of the Letter sent to Lord Mounteagle with a -Declaration not only signed by Father Oldcorne but entirely in his -handwriting, dated the 12th of March, 1605-6,[61] reveals this remarkable -fact that there is, first, a general similarity between the penmanship of -both documents; and, secondly, there is a particular similarity in the -case of the following letters:--the small c/s, l/s, i/s, b/s, w/s, r/s, -long s/s (as initials), and short s/s (as terminals); also the m/s and n/s -are not inconsistent with being written by one and the same hand. The -handwriting in the Letter is, for the most part, not in round hand, but in -roman character. The letters do not all lean at the same angle to the -horizontal. Evidently the writer had endeavoured "painfully" to disguise -his handwriting, but conscientious carefulness and a disciplined will -emphatically characterise both documents.[62] See Appendix. - -Now Thomas Ward, the gentleman-servant of Lord Mounteagle, was, I -maintain, the intermediary--the diplomatic intermediary--through whom -Christopher Wright (_ex hypothesi_) acted in communication with -Mounteagle. And this, with the express knowledge and consent of Father -Edward Oldcorne, who was, almost certainly, well acquainted with Thomas -Ward.[63] - -In short, the revelation was a curvilinear triangular movement. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - -Mounteagle, we are told, knew there was a Letter to be sent to him before -it came.[64] - -Lingard says the conspirators suspected that Tresham had sent the Letter, -and that there was a "secret understanding between him and Lord -Mounteagle,[A] _or at least the gentleman who was employed to read the -Letter at the table_." (The italics are mine.) - -[Footnote A: It is to be recollected that the conspirators themselves -suspected that there was a secret understanding, at least between the -gentleman-servant of Mounteagle and Tresham, whom they thought was the -revealing conspirator.--See Greenway's MS., quoted by Lingard.] - -In a letter dated 19th November, 1605, of a certain Sir Edward Hoby to Sir -Thomas Edmondes, the King's Ambassador at Brussels, after giving an -account of the discovery of the Plot, Hoby says:--"Such as are apt to -interpret all things to the worst will not believe other but that -Mounteagle might in a policy cause this letter to be sent, fearing the -discovery already of the letter, the rather that one Thomas Ward, a -principal man about him, is suspected to be accessory to the conspiracy." - -Now there is evidence which creates a moral certainty that Christopher -Wright and a certain Thomas Ward (or Warde, for the name was spelt either -way at that time) were closely allied by virtue of at least one marriage -(if not indeed more than one) subsisting between certain (virtually -undoubted) relatives of theirs then living. - -Christopher Wright's sister, Ursula, was (as has been already mentioned) -the wife of one Marmaduke Ward (or Warde), of Mulwith, in the Parish of -Ripon, in the County of York. - -A lady of high family named Winefrid Wigmore, the daughter of Sir William -Wigmore, of Lucton, in the County of Herefordshire, says, in her "_Life of -Mary Ward_," the gifted daughter of Marmaduke Ward and Ursula, his wife: -"Mary Ward was the eldest daughter of Mr. Marmaduke Ward, of Givendale, in -the County of York. Mulwith and Newby were Manor-houses of his."[65] - -Now in the Parish Register, which was published in the year 1899, -belonging to the Church of St. Michael-le-Belfrey, in the City of York, is -to be found the following remarkable entry: "_Weddinges 1579.--Thomas -Warde of Mulwaith in the p'ishe of Rippon, and M'rgery Slater, S'vant to -Mr. Cotterell, maried xxixth day of May._"[66] - -But for only eleven years (lacking nine days) were Thomas Warde and -Margery his wife destined to be united in the bonds of wedlock. For the -Register of Ripon Minster records "_the burial_," under date "_May the -20th, 1590, of Marjory wife of Thomas Warde of Mulwaith_."[67] - -They do not seem to have been blessed with offspring. At any rate there -are no names of any children of these two spouses entered in the Register -of Christenings still kept at Ripon Minster. Although, of course, there -may have been such baptized at home[A] "secretly," or even at some other -church than at the chapel of the Skelton Chapelry, or than in Ripon -Minster, the mother church of the great Parish of Ripon. - -[Footnote A: But see Supplementum III. _postea_, and the evidence there -given; evidence which is also interesting as showing how, at any rate -sometimes, "the oracle was worked," with reference to that curious -historical problem, the apparent baptism of the children of papists by the -minister of the parish church. In Ireland, I have been told, at one time -the authorities of the then establishment accepted the mere "allegation" -that certain rites had been complied with by the popish clergy. - -Dr. Elze is grossly wrong in arguing that _because_ Shakespeare's name is -found in the Register of Christenings in the parish church of -Stratford-on-Avon, _therefore_ Shakespeare's father was a Protestant. Such -a conclusion founded on such proof is simply ludicrous.--See Elze's "_Life -of Shakespeare_" (Bell & Sons), p. 457. One really is disposed to distrust -many of the _conclusions_ of "German learning" when Elze argues like this. -To my mind, much of "the critical" work (so called in a certain -department) may be hereafter found to be full of flaws from building on -too _narrow a foundation_ of evidence. How little man can know of the Past -which affords him evidence to hang even a dog on with absolute, as -distinct from moral, certitude! (I wish especially not to be thought to -imply any disrespect towards the great German people, whose love for him -who is for all nations and all time fills me with the profoundest -admiration. But Truth is no respecter of persons when it detects errors, -or the probabilities of errors, on the part of such as should be "masters -of those that know.") - -For even the Rigmaydens, of Woodacre Hall, Garstang (harbourers of Campion -in 1581), in the most Catholic part of Lancashire, _apparently_ had at -least some of their children baptised at the parish church.--See Colonel -Fishwick's "_Parish of Garstang_" (Chetham Soc.)] - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - -Now we know that Marmaduke Warde was of Mulwaith (or Mulwith) in the year -1585. For the "_Life_" of his daughter Mary expressly states that she was -born at Mulwith in that year. And if _a_ Thomas Warde was of Mulwaith (or -Mulwith) only six years prior to 1585, and again of Mulwith in 1590, when -he lost his wife, the inevitable inference is that the said Marmaduke -Warde and the said Thomas Warde belonged to one and the same family, and -that, in all probability, they were akin to each other as brothers.[68] - -Again, the Register of Ripon Minster records on the 6th day of October, -1589, the baptism of Edward,[A] the son of a certain Christopher Wright, -of Bondgate, Ripon. - -[Footnote A: If this Edward Wright is the same as a certain Prebendary -Edward Wright, of Ripon Minster, who received his nomination from King -James I. on the 26th of March, 1613, then at least one cousin of Mary Ward -must have conformed to the Established Church.--See "_Memorials of -Ripon_," in 3 vols. (Surtees Society.) - -He would be about 23 years of age when the royal favour was thus -vouchsafed to him. - -An Edward Wright was Mayor of Ripon in the year 1635.--Gent's -"_Ripon_."--Probably the son of Prebendary Edward Wright. - -Another cousin of Mary Warde, I find, had likewise conformed--a Dr. Warde, -the Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He belonged, I think, to -the Wardes, of Durham, descended from a brother of Sir Christopher Ward.] - -On the 23rd day of July, 1594, of Eliza, daughter of Christopher Wright, -of Newbie.[69] - -The baptism on the 12th day of July, 1596, of Francis, son of Christopher -Wright, of Newbie. - -And furthermore, on the 3rd day of February, 1601, the baptism of -Marmaduke, the son of Christopher Wright, of Skelton. - -Now, when we recollect that _a_ Marmaduke Warde was certainly -brother-in-law to _a_ Christopher Wright; and when we recollect that we -have proof that _a_ Thomas Warde and _a_ Marmaduke Warde were, -respectively, of Mulwaith (or Mulwith) in the Parish of Ripon, and that -_a_ Christopher Wright was of Bondgate, Newbie, and Skelton, all likewise -in the Parish of Ripon; and when we further recollect that these three -gentlemen were of these several places in the closing decades of the years -of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, only one conclusion is forced upon the -mind of even the most sceptical, namely, that the said three gentlemen -must have known, and been known to, one another personally, without the -shadow of any reasonable doubt. - -And again; that between those years, 1589 and 1590 inclusive, the said -_Thomas Warde_ and the said _Christopher Wright_ had known each other -intimately, by meeting within the bounds of the Parish of Ripon,--nay even -within the chapelry of Skelton--is surely one of the likeliest things in -the world. - -Furthermore, it is possible that the Thomas Warde, of Mulwaith (or -Mulwith), was in the diplomatic service of Queen Elizabeth in the -Netherlands, along with Queen Elizabeth's well-known diplomatist and -Treasurer of the Chamber, Sir Thomas Heneage, the step-father of Lord -Southampton, Lord Mounteagle's friend, as well as Shakespeare's patron. - -For I find that the great Sir Francis Walsingham, in a letter dated from -"the Court," the 24th of March, 1585--six years _after_ the marriage of -Thomas Warde, of Mulwaith, to Marjory Slater, and five years _before_ her -lamented death--that the great Sir Francis Walsingham, in a letter to the -Earl of Leicester, "Lord Lieutenant-General of Her Majesty's Forces in the -Low Countries," speaks of _a_ "Mr. Warde."[A] - -[Footnote A: See the "_Leicester Correspondence_" (Camden Soc.), p. 187.] - -Now we know for certain from Winwood's Memorials[B] that a Mr. Walter -Hawkesworth, of the Hawkesworths of Hawkesworth Hall, in the Parish of -Otley, in the County of York, was in the diplomatic service of King James -I., and that, according to Foster's "_Pedigrees of Yorkshire Families_" he -was poisoned at Madrid when on an embassy there. - -[Footnote B: See also Sir Ralph Sadler's Papers. Edited by Sir Walter -Scott.] - -Hence, is it quite within the bounds of possibility that his remote -kinsman, Thomas Warde, of Mulwith, may have been in the diplomatic service -of Queen Elizabeth. The Hawkesworths and the Wardes had, in days long gone -by, twice formed alliances by marriage, so that the families were -distantly akin. Indeed it was from Sir Simon Warde, of Esholt, in the -Parish of Otley, and of Givendale, in the Parish of Ripon, that the -Hawkesworths of Hawkesworth had by marriage alliance gained the -Hawkesworth Estate.--See Foster's "_Pedigrees of Yorkshire Families_." - -But is there any evidence that links Thomas Ward (or Warde), of Mulwaith -(or Mulwith), and the Ward (or Warde) family in general, of Givendale, -Newby and Mulwith, with the Lord Mounteagle?[C] - -[Footnote C: It will be seen as this narrative further unfolds itself that -it is almost certain that Thomas Warde (or Ward) was in the service of the -Government as a Catholic diplomat under Walsingham. And, moreover, it will -appear probable that the servant Warde (or Ward) "had as much, off" as the -master Walsingham.] - -And, first of all, is there any evidence to show that Marmaduke Ward ever -had a brother in London, who lived at Court? - -There is. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - -For in Foley's "_Records_"[70] we are told that Father George Ward, alias -Ingleby, was a son of Marmaduke Ward, Esquire, of Newby, near Ripon, by -his wife Ursula Wright.[A] And in a note at the foot of the self-same -page, it is stated that William Ward entered the English College at Rome -in the name William Ingleby vere Ward, 4th October, 1614, at the age of -twenty-three; that the family was of distinction in the county, _and his -uncle lived at Court_. (The italics are mine.) - -[Footnote A: I am, however, inclined to think that Ursula Ward died early -in the year 1588, after the birth of her son, probably George, and that -the Elizabeth Ward, who is mentioned in Peacock's "_List of Roman -Catholics in Yorkshire in 1604_" as the wife of a Marmaduke Ward, of the -Parish of Ripon, was the mother of Elizabeth Ward, Teresa (or Ann) Ward, -William Ward, and Thomas Ward. Indeed, the mother of all Mary Warde's -father's children, except Mary herself, Barbara, John, and George. - -I think, moreover, that Elizabeth Ward was a Sympson, probably of Great -Edston, near Kirbymoorside, Rydale, in the North Riding of the County of -York. The Sympsons, of Edston, had a daughter Elizabeth at this time.--See -Foster's Ed. of "_Glover's Visitation_." - -In the Ripon Minster Registers there is certainly the entry under date -15th May, 1588, of a wedding between a "Marmaduke Warde and Elizabeth -Sympson." Now Mary Warde, the eldest child of Ursula Warde, was born the -23rd day of January, 1585-86, and Barbara in the year 1586; so that if -Ursula Warde died in the year 1588 (at the early part) after giving birth -to George Warde, Marmaduke Warde might be conceivably married again in -May, 1588. Sir Thomas More's case would afford a precedent for so early a -second marriage. The marriage of Marmaduke Warde and Elizabeth Sympson may -have taken place at Ripon from the house of friends, in the presence of -some semi-popish conforming Vicar. Winefrid Wigmore styles George Ward -Mary's "owne brother," implying that there was at least one -half-brother.--See "_Life of Mary Ward_" vol. i., p. 427. John Ward, the -elder brother, died from wounds received in a duel. He must have taken -after his uncle John Wright, who was one of the most expert swordsmen of -his time, and never happy but when sending a challenge to some swordsman -or another who specially boasted himself of skill in the use of that -ancient weapon.] - -Moreover, there is evidence tending to prove, with absolute certitude, -that the "Ward" or "Warde" family, of Givendale, Newby, and Mulwith were -connected with the family of Mounteagle, both on his mother's side through -the Mounteagles, and on his father's side through the Barons Morley.[71] - -Also is there evidence tending to prove, with moral certitude, that either -through the Stanleys or the Morleys, or some other family or families, the -Wards (or Wardes) were connected by marriage and actually related to Lord -Mounteagle by blood. - -The proof is this:--In the "_Life of Mary Ward_," [72] by Mary Catherine -Elizabeth Chambers, it is stated that Mary Ward was in some way related to -the before-mentioned lady of high family, Winefrid Wigmore, of Lucton, -Herefordshire, who was an accomplished woman, speaking five languages -fluently. - -Now it is known that Winefrid Wigmore's father, Sir William Wigmore, had -married Anne Throckmorton, one of the daughters of Sir Nicholas -Throckmorton. Now Lady Wigmore, through the Throckmortons and the -Treshams, "was connected with the families of Lord Mounteagle, Morley, -Berkeley, and Vaux."[73] - -Hence it follows that, through the Wigmores,[A] the Throckmortons, and the -Treshams, there was a connection of some kind or another between Mary -Ward's family and the families of Mounteagle, Morley, Berkeley, and -Vaux.[74] - -[Footnote A: Since the text was written, I have found out that Winefrid -Wigmore, through her mother, was a cousin once removed to Elizabeth, Lady -Mounteagle (_nee_ Tresham).--See Notes 30 and 76 _postea_.] - -Again, Mary Ward was related to Mary Poyntz (pronounced Poynes), a lady -whose ancient family had come over with William the Conqueror.[75] Mary -Poyntz, herself a lovely woman, was the daughter of Edward Poyntz, -Esquire, of Iron Acton and Tobington Park, in the County of -Gloucester.[76] - -Sir Nicholas Poyntz, who was living in 1580, the father of Edward Poyntz, -had married Margaret Stanley, the daughter of Edward Earl of Derby. This -lady was the mother of Edward Poyntz, the father of Mary Poyntz, the -relative of Mary Ward. - -Now I find (from Burke's "_Extinct Peerages_") that Henry Parker Lord -Morley, the grandfather of William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle, had -married Elizabeth Stanley, daughter of Edward Earl of Derby. - -Hence the Poyntz and the Mounteagles were cousins. Again, the Wards were -in some way or other related to the Poyntz family. Hence it follows that -through the Poyntz the Wards were related in some sort with Lord -Mounteagle, by means of the Stanleys, Mounteagle's father's ancestors and -mother's ancestors.[77] - -For it is obvious that families connected with or related to the same -family are connected with or related to each other. - -Again, there was certainly a further marriage connection and a probably -blood relationship between the Morleys, Mounteagles, and Wards through the -great House of Neville. - -(We may be sure that a young nobleman like the fourth Lord Mounteagle -would be glad to recognise the Wards of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale as -"Cousins" if such were the fact, and to treat them in every respect as -being on an equality with him.) - -Therefore the combined Evidence so far gives us this conclusion:-- - -That a Christopher Wright was the brother-in-law of Marmaduke Ward, of -Mulwith, in the Parish of Ripon. - -That Marmaduke Ward was of the same place--Mulwith (or Mulwaith)--as a -person named Thomas Warde, who was married in a church in York in the year -1579, and whose wife died in the year 1590, and whose burial is recorded -to this day at Ripon Minster. - -That _a_ Christopher Wright, most probably the brother-in-law of Marmaduke -Ward, and thus most probably the connection of Thomas Warde, was residing -at Newby, near Mulwith,[78] in the Parish of Ripon, between the years 1594 -and 1596 inclusive, and in the neighbourhood of the City of Ripon, and -within the boundary of its parish, from the year 1589 to 1601. - -That Marmaduke Ward's son, William, had an uncle who lived at Court.[A] - -That the Wardes were connected with, and related to Lord Mounteagle by -common family ties.[79] - -[Footnote A: The fact that a Christopher Wright who lived at Newbie in -1596, and at Skelton (Newbie itself is in the Parish of Skelton) in 1601, -when he called one of his children "Marmaduke," raises a strong -presumption, I maintain, that this Christopher Wright was the -brother-in-law of Marmaduke Ward. - -At this time there was also a Francis Wright at Newbie, and a John Wright -at Grantley. They may have been the children of John and Christopher -Wright, _the uncles_ of John and Christopher Wright, the Gunpowder -plotters. And, of course, it is _possible_ that the Christopher Wright who -lived in Bondgate, Newbie, and Skelton between the years 1589 and 1601 -_may have been a cousin or other kinsman_ of Christopher Wright the -plotter, or even of different families altogether. But in the Register of -Welwick Church are the following entries of Burials: "13 October 1654 -ffrauncis Wright Esquire and 2 May 1664 ffrauncis Wright Esquire" -(communicated by the Rev. D. V. Stoddart, M.A., Vicar of Welwick), entries -which tend to prove that the Newby Wrights and the Plowland Wrights were -one and the same persons, and, therefore, of one and the same clan. - -There seem, from the "_Memorials of Ripon_," vol. iii. (Surtees Soc.), to -have been "Wrights" in Ripon and the neighbourhood for many generations, -certainly long before the reign of Henry VIII., when the grandfather of -the plotters is said to have come from Kent into Yorkshire.--See Foster's -"_Glover's Visitation of Yorkshire_." Possibly the Wrights of Kent -originally sprang from Yorkshire. - -"A Christopher Wright" lived at South Kilvington, near Thirsk, in the -nineteenth century.--See the tablet to his memory in the church of that -parish.] - -Hence, from the foregoing evidence, the conclusions are inevitable, first, -that Thomas Warde, of Mulwith, who married Marjory (or Margery) Slater[A] -in 1579, was almost certainly a connection and relative of Lord -Mounteagle, in whose household Warde held an honoured and honourable -position; or, as doubtless we should say nowadays, was the young peer's -private secretary: and, secondly, that, through the said Thomas Warde, -Christopher Wright likewise was almost certainly by affinity connected -with, if not related by blood to, the same highly-favoured English -nobleman. - -[Footnote A: This marriage of Thomas Warde, of Mulwaith, to Marjory (or -Margery) Slater, "servant to Mr. Cotterill," of the Parish of St. Wilfrid, -York, forcibly reminds one of the romance which Lord Tennyson has -immortalized in his charming little poem, "The Lord of Burleigh." -Moreover, it is worthy of remark that there was a family connection -between the family of Cecil and a family of Ward, most probably the Wards -of Mulwith, or those akin to them.--See Hatfield's "_Hist. MSS._" (Eyre & -Spottiswoode), pt. viii., p. 553, where it says, "Pedigree connection of -the Cecil and Ward families, partly in Lord Burleigh's hand," pt. i., -204-289.] - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - -But again, seeing that we know that a certain Thomas Ward lived at Court, -by reason of his being a member of the household of Lord Mounteagle, who -had been admitted to Court ever since the accession to the throne of James -the First, by this point also I know not how to escape from these several -probable conclusions: that the Thomas Warde (or Ward), the -gentleman-servant of Lord Mounteagle, was the brother of Marmaduke Warde -(or Ward); that, by consequence, he was the connection of Christopher -Wright; and that by remoter consequence, Christopher Wright himself was a -connection of Lord Mounteagle likewise. - -Now, granting the family connection between Thomas Warde and Wright, there -is no antecedent improbability, but the contrary, in the supposal that -Christopher Wright, if and when stricken with remorse at the thought of -his sworn part and lot in the iniquitous Gunpowder Plot, had recourse to -this Thomas Warde, who was his connection, for trustworthy and effectual -help in saving from a sudden and cruel death, haply himself and his -confederates, but certainly his Sovereign and the Senators of his -Fatherland, along with Heaven alone knows whom else beside! - -Furthermore, if there were any antecedent improbability in such a supposal -as that Christopher Wright should have recourse to this particular -Yorkshireman, Thomas Warde, in the hour of his need, it should be had in -continual remembrance--as a self-evident proposition from the constitution -of human nature--that the person or persons to whom a Yorkshireman like -Christopher Wright (supposing him to have been the revealing plotter) -almost certainly would have recourse would be, if possible, some tried and -constant native of his own County, whose intellect, he would think, there -was some guarantee for being shrewd and practical, his heart not devoid of -fellow-feeling with a "brother in adversity," and his will at once -indomitable and energetic.[80] One who indeed laughs at alleged -impossibilities and who cries: "_It shall be done!_" - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - - -Lastly, there is proof, indirect indeed but very telling, that Thomas -Warde must have been closely akin to Marmaduke Warde, and that both must -have been related to Lord Mounteagle. - -This proof is contained in the following "Examination of Marmaduke Warde, -Gentleman, in the County of Yorke, taken at Beauchamp Court before Sir -Fulke Grevyll, Knight, and Bartholmewe Hales, Esq^{re.}, on Wednesday, the -6th day of November, the day following the arrest of Fawkes and the flight -of the others of the conspirators from London towards Dunchurch, in -Warwickshire:-- - - "GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--PART I., NO. 47.[81] - - "The examinacion of Marmaduke Warde, gent. of Newbie in the - countie of yorke taken before S^{r.} ffowlk Grevyll[A] Knight - and Bartholmewe Hales esq^{r.} - - "This ex^{t} beinge demaunded when he came into this Countreye - saith a fortnight since & hath since continued at Mr Jo: Writes - at Lapworth, where Mr Write discontynuinge the space of on weeke - past his sister in lawe Mrs Write intreated him (beeinge - accompanyed w^{th} on Marke Brittaine her man) to goe to Mr - Winter w^{th} a horse to Huddenton where as theye past by - Alcester about an hower after the troope past this ex^{t} was - apprehended but the saide Brittaine beeinge well horst escapt - hee further saith hee knewe not of the companies passinge y^{t} - way vntill they came to Alcester nor of theire purpose any - thinge at all." - -[Footnote A: This was the celebrated Sir Fulk Greville, the friend and -biographer of Sir Philip Sidney. Greville was afterwards created Lord -Brooke. His tomb, with a famous inscription, is in the church of St. Mary, -Warwick.] - -Now, from the "_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 91, it is evident, first, -that Marmaduke Warde got into no trouble of any kind, notwithstanding that -for a fortnight he had been actually dwelling under the roof-tree of one -of the principal conspirators, and when apprehended was even in the act of -taking a horse from Lapworth to Huddington, the mansion of Robert Winter, -one Gunpowder traitor and armed rebel, who was also the brother of another -Gunpowder traitor and armed rebel--the latter, indeed, being among the -very chiefest of the traitors and rebels. - -It is evident, secondly, that on reaching London town the Master of -Newbie, in the County of York, lodged in Baldwin's Gardens, Holborn, -apparently as a matter of course. - -Moreover, the marvel of the whole thing is enhanced by the fact, first, -that Marmaduke Ward's name is bracketed along with Richard Yorke (a -follower of Robert Winter) and Robert Key (doubtless Robert Keyes), the -Gunpowder traitor, who was arrested in Warwickshire by himself and not in -the company of the others (it is supposed he had been to Turvey, in -Bedfordshire, to see his wife and children at Lord Mordaunt's, and was -making his way towards Holbeach); and by the fact, secondly, that the -said Marmaduke Ward, Richard Yorke, and Robert Key are specially described -as "suspected persons usually resorting to Mr. Winter, Mr. Grant, and Mr. -Rookwood's."[A] - -[Footnote A: See add. MS. 5874, fo. 322, British Museum. See also Appendix -for the list of suspected persons usually resorting to Mr. Winter's, Mr. -Grant's, and Mr. Rookwood's. - -Mr. Winter's house would be Huddington, in Worcestershire; Mr. Grant's, -Norbrook, in Warwickshire; Mr. Rookwood's would be Clopton Hall (or -House), Stratford-on-Avon. Mabie's "_Life of Shakespeare_" (Macmillan, -1901), p. 393, contains a picture of the dining-hall at Clopton.] - -Now the inferences that I draw from these two truly astounding -circumstances are these following:--That Marmaduke Warde must have had -literally "a friend at Court," or his lodging when he reached the great -Metropolis, as a matter of course, would have been not--emphatically -_not_--Baldwin's Gardens, Holborn, but, of a surety, the Tower of London. - -That this "friend" must have been very closely allied to him in some way -or another. - -And that this "friend" must have been a very powerful friend indeed, -especially when one remembers the punishment that was inflicted after the -Plot had become a mere bubble-burst by the Court of Star Chamber upon -Marmaduke Warde's own connection (through the Gascoignes), Henry Earl of -Northumberland,[82] and upon the Lords Montague, Mordaunt, and Stourton, -the latter of whom had married a daughter of good Sir Thomas Tresham; and -the prosecution of Marmaduke Warde's other connection, Sir John Yorke, of -Gowthwaite Hall, in Nidderdale, as late as the year 1612, on a charge of -complicity in the Plot.[83] - -Now, from all these three inferences, surely the further inference is -inevitable, that the probabilities are so high as to amount to moral -certitude, that Thomas Warde and Marmaduke Warde were each allied, in -blood, to William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle. - -And "probability" that amounts to moral certitude is, as every-day -experience, as well as philosophy, tells us, "the very guide of life." - -Therefore the historical Inquirer henceforward is warranted in reason in -pursuing his inquiries into this matter on the following assumption, at -the very least, namely, that Christopher Wright, Marmaduke Warde, Thomas -Warde, and Lord Mounteagle had common family ties subsisting between them -in the year 1605. - -And, consequently, upon such an assumption the Inquirer may justifiably -build his hypothesis respecting the revelation of the Gunpowder Treason -Plot.[84] - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - - -But, it may be asked, is there any Evidence, however remote, to show how -it is possible that Mounteagle may have been brought into personal contact -with his morally certain kinsman, Thomas Warde (or Ward)? - -There is. - -For it is to be remembered that although Mounteagle seems to have spent -most of his time in London and Essex, his grandmother, Elizabeth Lady -Morley, the wife of Henry Parker Lord Morley, was, as we have seen, of the -then well-nigh princely house of the Stanleys Earls of Derby, she being, -in fact, a daughter of Edward Stanley Earl of Derby, as was Margaret Lady -Poyntz, the wife of Sir Nicholas Poyntz,[A] of Iron Acton, in the County -of Gloucester, the father of Edward Poyntz, Esquire, the relative of the -Wardes of Yorkshire. - -[Footnote A: It is a remarkable fact that Sir Thomas Heneage (whose name -frequently occurs in the correspondence of Sir Francis Walsingham with the -Earl of Leicester when in the Low Countries), married for his first wife -Anne Poyntz, the eldest daughter of Sir Nicholas Poyntz and the Honourable -Margaret Stanley, the daughter of Edward Stanley Earl of Derby.--See -"_Visitation of Essex, 1612_" (Harleian Soc.) under "Poyntz."--Sir Thomas -Heneage is described as Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth and -Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Sir Thomas Heneage married for his -second wife the Dowager Countess of Southampton, the mother of -Shakespeare's friend and patron. Now this Earl of Southampton, like the -Earl of Rutland, was an intimate friend of Lord Mounteagle.] - -Besides, as we have also seen, this was not William Parker fourth Lord -Mounteagle's only relationship with England's "North Countrie,"--that -birthplace and home of so much that is most original and energetic in the -English race. For this happily-circumstanced young peer was related doubly -to the great Lancashire house of Derby, being, indeed, the heir and -successor to the honours and estates of the Stanleys Lords Mounteagle, of -Hornby Castle, near "time-honoured Lancaster." - -In fact, through his mother Elizabeth (Stanley) Lady Morley, William -Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle was the owner of Hornby Castle, situated in -the Vale of the Lune, one of the grandest portions of North-east -Lancashire. - -Again, through his grandmother Anne (Leybourne) Lady Mounteagle, Lord -Mounteagle was descended from two other families belonging to the ancient -and wealthy Catholic gentry of the North, some of whom the Wards, of -Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale, in the Parish of Ripon, in the County of -York, must have known personally, and certainly all of whom they must have -greatly honoured. - -I refer to the Prestons, of Levens and Preston Patrick, in the County of -Westmoreland, and of Furness and Holker, in Lancashire, "North of the -Sands," and to the Leybournes (or Labourns), of Cunswick, Skelsmergh, and -Witherslack,[A] in the County of Westmoreland, and of Nateby-in-the-Fylde, -in the west of the County of Lancaster.[85] - -[Footnote A: The modern Witherslack Hall, in Westmoreland, is the property -of the present Earl of Derby. It is situated in a lovely neighbourhood -which instinctively recalls the words of the poet: - - "Daffodils, - That come before the swallow dares, and take, - The winds of March with beauty."--_Winter's Tale._ - -Witherslack is reached from Arnside, Silverdale, or Grange-over-Sands. - -The old Witherslack Hall of the Leybournes is now a farm-house.] - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - - -Lastly, it should be remembered, in endeavouring to trace out by -inevitable inference the nature of the tie or ties, manifestly very -strong, that bound Mounteagle to Marmaduke Ward (and therefore to Thomas -Ward), that the ancestors of both Mounteagle and the Wards had, in the -year 1513, fought together at the great battle of Flodden Field, in -Northumberland, in which the Scots were led by King James IV. of Scotland, -who married Margaret Tudor, the daughter of King Henry VII. of England, -and whom naught would content, like many a valiant Scot before and since, -save "a soldier's death or glory." - -In the memorable fight, the fifth son of Thomas Stanley first Earl of -Derby, namely, Sir Edward Stanley (whose mother was a Neville),[A] turned -the fortunes of the day in favour of the English by attacking with his -archers the rear of the Scottish centre--which centre, led by King James -himself in person, was assaulting, with some success, the English forces, -whose vanguard was led by Lord Thomas Howard, in 1514 created the Earl of -Surrey. - -[Footnote A: The first Lord Mounteagle's mother was Lady Eleanor Neville, -the sister of Richard Neville, so well known to history as "the King -Maker." The Wards were related to the Nevilles in more than one way.--See -"_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., the earlier chapters. - -In Staindrop Parish Church, three miles from Winston, Darlington, are -still to be seen the monuments of the great Ralph Neville and his two -wives. This was the first Neville who bore the title Earl of Westmoreland. -There are also the monuments of Henry Neville fifth Earl of Westmoreland, -and two out of his three wives. His son Charles was the last Neville who -bore this title.--See Wordsworth's "_White Doe of Rylstone_." I visited -Raby Castle, Durham, with its famous Hall and Minstrels' Gallery, on the -1st of July, 1901. Raby Castle is owned now by Henry De Vere Vane ninth -Lord Barnard, who also owns Barnard Castle, overlooking the Tees, -celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in "Rokeby."] - -This Earl of Surrey was afterwards the second Duke of Norfolk, of the -Howard line of the Dukes of Norfolk, and great great grandfather of Philip -Howard Earl of Arundel, who died in the Tower of London in 1595. - -The Mowbrays had been the holders of the coveted title Duke of Norfolk[A] -from the year 1396 down to 1475, when John de Mowbray Earl of Warren and -Surrey, the fourth of the Mowbray Dukes of Norfolk, died leaving no son -but only a daughter, Anne, in her own right Baroness Mowbray and Segrave, -and also in her own right Countess of Norfolk. This lady was contracted in -marriage to Richard, afterwards created Duke of Norfolk, a son of King -Edward IV., but they had no issue. - -[Footnote A: The first Earl of Norfolk was Thomas of Brotherton, a brother -of King Edward II. The date of this ancient Earldom was 1312. It fell into -abeyance on the death of Richard Duke of Norfolk and his wife Anne Lady -Mowbray. - -Thomas Howard Earl of Arundel and Surrey (the half-cousin of Lord -Mounteagle) was created Earl of Norfolk by a patent of King Charles I. -(formerly Duke of York) in 1644. At the present date (25th June, 1901) the -House of Lords has under consideration a claim by Lord Mowbray Segrave and -Stourton that he be declared senior co-heir to the Earldom of Norfolk -created in 1312. (A case of great historic interest.)] - -The second of the Howard Dukes of Norfolk, the hero of Flodden Field, was -the father of Thomas third Duke of Norfolk, commonly called the "old Duke -of Norfolk." - -He was that Duke of Norfolk, under Henry VIII., who opposed the insurgent -Yorkshire and Lancashire "Pilgrims of Grace" (1536) led by the gallant -Robert Aske,[A] of Aughton, on the banks of the Yorkshire Derwent, when in -the event Aske was hanged from one of the towers of the ancient City of -York--probably Clifford's Tower--and many of his followers tasted of Tudor -vengeance. - -[Footnote A: Representatives of the family of Robert Aske are still to be -found at Bubwith, near Aughton, and, I believe, at Hull. Aughton is -reached from the station called High Field on the Selby and Market -Weighton line. Aughton Parish Church is a fine mediaeval structure. Hard-by -is Castle Hill, the site of the ancient castle of the Askes, showing also -evident traces of two large moats which had surrounded the fortified -buildings on the hill which constituted the Aughton Hall of days gone by.] - -"The old Duke of Norfolk" was the father of that illustrious scion of the -house of Howard who, under the name Earl of Surrey, has left a deathless -memory alike as warrior, statesman, and poet. - -The Earl of Surrey's son was Thomas Howard fourth Duke of Norfolk, who is -the common ancestor of the present Duke of Norfolk and the present Earl of -Carlisle. - -The fourth Duke of Norfolk's head fell on the scaffold, by reason of the -Duke's aspiring to the Royal hand of Mary Queen of Scots.[B] - -[Footnote B: Slingsby Castle, 28 miles north-east of York (now -dismantled), is associated with the Mowbrays Dukes of Norfolk, they giving -the Vale near the Howardian Hills and Rydale the title, Vale of Mowbray. -While Sheriff Hutton Castle, 10 miles north-east of York (rebuilt by the -first Earl of Westmoreland), is associated with the Howards Dukes of -Norfolk; for the "old Duke" lived there for 10 years during the reign of -Henry VIII. (The occupier of part of Sheriff Hutton Castle now (1901) is -Joseph Suggitt, Esq., J.P.)] - -The then Lord Dacres of the North, "who dwelt on the Border" at Naworth -Castle,[A] near Carlisle, was likewise a sharer in the renowned laurels of -Flodden Field. - -[Footnote A: The Howards Dukes of Norfolk give their name to the Howardian -Hills, through Lord William Howard, who married the Honourable Anne -Dacres, of Naworth Castle and Hinderskelfe Castle, now Castle Howard. -Historic Naworth and that veritable palace of art, Castle Howard, belong -to that cultivated nobleman, Charles James Howard ninth Earl of Carlisle, -whose gifted wife, Rosalind Countess of Carlisle (_nee_ Stanley of -Alderley), is akin to the famous William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle, of -the days of James I.] - -This before-mentioned Sir Edward Stanley, the fifth son of Thomas Stanley -first Earl of Derby, was created by Henry VIII. Baron Mounteagle, and he -was the great-great-grandfather of William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle, -who married Elizabeth Tresham. - -The story of the battle of Flodden Field[86] and its famous English -archers must have been familiar to Mounteagle from his earliest years. And -he, doubtless, would have learned from maternal lips that, in consequence -of his ancestor's prowess in that historic fight, his mother's family -received from Henry VIII. the famous title whereby he himself had the good -fortune to be known to his King and his fellow-subjects. - -I find from Baines' "_History of Lancashire_," vol. iv., ed. 1836, that -Hornby Castle, in the Vale of the Lune, in the Parish of Melling, did not -pass out of the family of the Lords Morley and Mounteagle until the reign -of Charles II. (1663), when it was sold to the Earl of Cardigan: that -James I. confirmed to William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle certain -ancient rights and privileges, such as court view of frankpledge, etc.: -and that James stayed at the Castle in the year 1617, on his return from -Scotland to London through Lancashire. Baines also says that Sir Edward -Stanley first Lord Mounteagle (who married Anne Harrington, daughter of -Sir John Harrington) successfully petitioned Henry VII. for the Hornby -Estates, in consequence of the attainder of James Harrington, apparently -his wife's uncle. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - - -The first Lord Mounteagle left Hornby Castle to his son Thomas second Lord -Mounteagle. - -William third Lord Mounteagle, the son and heir of Thomas the second Lord -Mounteagle, died in 1584, and is buried in the Parish Church of St. Peter, -Melling. - -Lady Mary Brandon,[A] the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, was the -first wife of Thomas second Lord Mounteagle, whose second wife was Ellen -Leybourne (_nee_ Preston), the mother of Anne, the wife of William third -Lord Mounteagle, who died in 1584. - -[Footnote A: Lady Mary Brandon was the daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of -Suffolk, who was married four times, one of his wives being a sister of -Henry VIII. The Duke of Suffolk was grandfather of Lady Jane Dudley, -commonly called Lady Jane Grey, one of the finest moral characters -Protestantism has produced.--See Spelman's "_History of Sacrilege_" -(Masters, ed. 1853), p. 228.] - -Ellen Preston's father was Sir Thomas Preston; her mother was a -Thornborough, of Hampsfield Hall, Hampsfell, in the Parish of Cartmel, -North Lancashire. The Thornboroughs (or Thornburghs) had held some of the -following manors from the time of Edward III.:--Hampsfield Hall, Whitwell, -Winfell, Fellside, Skelsmergh, Patton, Dallam Tower, Methop, Ulva, and -Wilson House, all either in North Lancashire or Westmoreland. - -In the parish church of Windermere, at Bowness, near Lake Windermere, -there is a window containing, besides royal arms (possibly those of Henry -V.), the arms of Harrington, Leybourne, Fleming de Rydal, Strickland, -Middleton, and Redmayne, most of which houses of gentry of "the North -Countrie" were more or less allied to the fourth Lord Mounteagle. - -Sir Edward Stanley first Lord Mounteagle was in possession of Hornby -Castle and its broad acres at the date of Flodden Field, 1513.[A] This is -interestingly evidenced by the two following stanzas from the old "Ballad -of Flodden Field":-- - -[Footnote A: In the battle of Flodden Field, which caused such -lamentation, mourning, and woe in Edinburgh, several citizens of York -behaved themselves valiantly under Sir John Mounville. Among English lords -in this fight were the Lords Howard (Edmund Howard), Stanley, Ogle, -Clifford, Lumley, Latimer, Scroope (of Bolton), and Dacres; among knights -were Gascoyne, Pickering, Stapleton, Tilney, and Markenfield; and among -gentlemen were Dawney, Tempest, Dawbey, and Heron.--See Gent's "_Ripon_," -p. 143. - -It is said that the gallant Northumbrian Heron knew all the "sleights of -war."] - - "Most lively lads in Lonsdale bred, - With weapons of unwieldly weight; - All such as Tatham Fells had bred, - Went under Stanley's streamers bright. - - From Silverdale to Kent Sand Side,[87] - Whose soil is sown with cockle shells; - From Cartmel eke and Connyside, - With fellows fierce from Furness Fells." - -Now, the fourth Lord Mounteagle would, almost certainly, know that among -the many valiant knights that fought with his forbear, Sir Edward Stanley, -was Sir Christopher Ward, who led the Yorkshire levies to the victorious -field, and who came of the great family of Ward (or Warde), long famous in -the annals of the West Hiding of Yorkshire about Guiseley, Esholt, and -Ripon. - -For, as the grand old "Ballad of Flodden Field" again tells us, the -English arms were reinforced - - "With many a gentleman and squire, - From Rippon, Ripley, and Rydale, - With them marched forth all Massamshire, - With Nosterfield and Netherdale." - -The honourable fact just mentioned concerning the valiant Yorkshire -knight, Sir Christopher Ward, together with the fact of the relationship, -whatever was its precise degree, between the families of Mounteagle and -Ward, through the Nevilles and, almost certainly, other ancient houses -besides, would tend to cement the bond of union betwixt William Parker -fourth Lord Mounteagle and his private secretary or gentleman-servant, -who--as we have proved by evidence and inevitable inferences therefrom--it -is all but absolutely certain must have been Thomas Warde,[A] of Mulwith, -the brother of Marmaduke Ward, of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale.[88] - -[Footnote A: Sir Edward Hoby is the only contemporary, so far as I know, -that has written in English the name of Lord Mounteagle's -gentleman-servant as such who read the Letter on the 26th of October, -1605. - -Now, Hoby writes Ward without the final "e." If this be borne faithfully -in mind there is no objection to my writing the name either "Ward" or -"Warde" indifferently. - -To write Thomas Warde as well as Thomas Ward helps the mind, I think, to -realize the force of the evidence and arguments of this Inquiry; hence my -so doing. But, of course, I wish to make it clear that it is _inference_ -only, _not direct proof_, that supplies the missing link in identifying -Thomas Ward.] - -With the consequence that both Lord Mounteagle and his older--almost -certainly diplomatist-trained--Elizabethan kinsman would share the lofty -traditions, memories and ways of looking at things common to both, which -would characterize an historic race that had been of high "consideration" -long before the sister Kingdom of "bonnie Scotland" gave to her ancient -foe a King from her romantic and fascinating but ill-fated Stuart line. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - - -Having then thus established the point that if Christopher Wright and his -conjectured Penman of the Letter wished to put themselves into -communication with the King's Government, Christopher Wright himself had -family connections in Mounteagle and Ward, who were pre-eminently well -qualified--from their Janus-like respective aspects--for the performance -of such a task, let us proceed with our Inquiry. - -For there is Evidence to lead to the following conclusions:-- - -(1) That the revealing conspirator (whoever he was) had arranged -beforehand that Mounteagle should be at Hoxton on the memorable Saturday -evening, the 26th day of October, 1605, at about the hour of seven of the -clock. - -Moreover, my strong opinion is that this arrangement was made through the -suggestion of Thomas Ward, the diplomatic intermediary, with the express -consent of Mounteagle himself. - -The suggestion, I think, may have been made by Thomas Ward at Bath,[A] a -town which Ward possibly took on his leaving Lapworth, in Warwickshire, -whither, I surmise, he repaired some time between the 11th of October and -the 26th of that month. - -[Footnote A: It is possible that Mounteagle and Catesby may have been -together at Bath between the 12th of October, 1695, and the 26th October. - -See a curious letter dated 12th October, but without date of the year, -from Mounteagle to Catesby ("_Archaeologia_," vol. xxviii., p. 420), -discovered by the late Mr. Bruce. - -There is a copy of this "_Archaeologia_" in the British Museum, which I saw -in October, 1900.] - -(2) That Thomas Ward's was the guiding mind, the dominant force, or, to -vary the metaphor, the central pivot upon which the successful -accomplishment of the entire revelation turned, inasmuch as, I submit, -that Ward must have received from the conscience-stricken conspirator a -complete disclosure of the whole guilty secret, with full power, moreover, -to make known to Mounteagle so much of the particulars concerning the -enterprise as in the exercise of his (Ward's) uncontrolled diplomatic -discretion it might be _profitable_ to be made known to Mounteagle, in -order that the supreme end in view might be attained, namely, the entire -spinning round on its axis of the prodigious, diabolical Plot. - -(3) That Thomas Ward (or Warde) was the diplomatic go-between, the trusty -mentor, and the zealous prompter of his master throughout the whole of the -very difficult, delicate, and momentous part that Destiny, at this awful -crisis in England's history, called upon this young nobleman to play. - -If Ward (or Warde) were born about the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, in -the year 1605 he would be well-nigh in the prime of life, namely, -forty-six years of age; whereas Mounteagle, we know, was just about -thirty. Hence was Warde, by his superior age and experience of men and -things, well fitted to play "the guide, philosopher, and friend" to -Mounteagle in the matter.[A] - -[Footnote A: If Thomas Warde were sent to the Low Countries, as I think it -almost certain he was sent, although I cannot prove it, belike he may have -been one of those Elizabethan gentlemen Shakespeare had in mind when he -wrote in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona": - - "Yet hath Sir Proteus ... - Made use and fair advantage of his days: - His years but young, but his experience old: - His head unmellowed, but his judgment ripe; - And, in a word (for far behind his worth - Come all the praises that I now bestow) - He is complete in feature and in mind, - With all good grace, to grace a gentleman." - -It sheds some very faint corroborative light on the supposal that Thomas -Ward was the "Mr. Warde" mentioned by Sir Francis Walsingham in the "_Earl -of Leicester's Correspondence_" (Cam. Soc), that Sir Thomas Heneage, a -trusted diplomatist of Queen Elizabeth in the Low Countries, married Anne -Poyntz, the daughter of Sir Nicholas Poyntz and Margaret Stanley, a -daughter of Edward Stanley Earl of Derby, especially when it is -recollected that the Poyntz and the Wards, of Mulwith, were related.--See -"_Life of Mary Ward_" (Burns & Oates, 2 vols.) - -Also a "Mr. Wade" mentioned, by Walsingham to Leicester in a letter dated -3rd April, 1587, may have been really "Warde."--See Wright's "_Elizabethan -Letters_," vol. ii., p. 335. - -Again, "_The Calendar of State Papers_," Domestic Series, 1581-90, gives, -page 93, a Thomas Warde, as an examiner for the Privy Council, taking down -evidence in the cause of Robert Hungate and wife _v._ John Hoare and John -Shawe, in the year 1583.] - - - - - CHAPTER XXV. - - -Now what is the Evidence to support the preceding paragraphs (1), (2), and -(3)? - -As to paragraph (1), the Evidence is direct. - -There was a tradition extant that _Mounteagle expected the Letter, told to -a gentleman named Edmund Church his confidant_.--See Gardiner's -"_Gunpowder Plot_," p. 10. - -Moreover, the fact that the footman was in the street at about seven of -the clock when the missive was given to him _is strongly suggestive of the -fact that he had been anxiously sent thither by some one, so that he might -be ready at hand to receive the document immediately on its arrival_. - -As to paragraphs (2) and (3), the Evidence is indirect and inferential. - -It is this:--Thomas Ward was manifestly on excellent terms with Mounteagle -on the one hand and with the conspirators on the other. - -For it is evident that no sooner had Mounteagle arrived back from his -errand of mercy on that dark night of Saturday, the 26th day of October, -1605, than he divulged to his servant almost all, if not quite all, that -had passed at Whitehall during his never-to-be-forgotten interview with -Salisbury, the King's principal Secretary of State.[A] - -[Footnote A: The days of the week and the dates of the month run parallel -for the years 1605 and 1901. Thus both the 26ths of October are on a -Saturday. _What was the condition of the moon on that memorable Saturday -night?_] - -That Lord Mounteagle had imparted to Thomas Ward almost all, if not quite -all, that had passed between Lord Salisbury and himself on the delivery to -the latter of the peerless document to my mind is clear from the fact -_that the faithful Ward, the very next day (Sunday) repaired to Thomas -Winter_, one of the principal conspirators, _and told Winter that the -Letter was in the hands of Salisbury_!--"_Winter's Confession._" - -Assuming that Thomas Ward was a Ward of Mulwith, he would be a family -connection of Thomas Winter as well as of Christopher Wright through -Ursula Ward and Inglebies, of Ripley, in Nidderdale. - -Now, what is proved by this very significant fact of _Thomas Ward's_ so -unerringly darting off to _Thomas Winter_, one of the prime movers in this -conspiracy of wholesale slaughter, when he (Ward) had all the adult male -inhabitants of London and Westminster to make his selection from? - -Plainly this: that the revealing conspirator (whoever he was) _must have -"primed" Thomas Ward by previously telling Thomas Ward that Thomas Winter -was one of the chiefest of those involved in the conspiracy_. - -Again; as Winter had been formerly in Mounteagle's service (a circumstance -doubtless well known to the revealing conspirator), _that revealing -conspirator_ would naturally, nay inevitably, _bid Ward_ put himself _not -only into speedy communication with Mounteagle_, in order to reach -Salisbury, the principal servant of the King, _but, this done, also into -speedy communication with Thomas Winter_, one of the chief promoters of -the baleful enterprise, in order that by dint of _Winter's_ powerful -influence the general body of the latter's co-conspirators might be -warned, and not merely warned, but haply prevailed upon to take to their -heels in instant flight. - -Thus the great end aimed at by the curvilinear triangular -movement--wherein (_ex hypothesi_) the Penman, Father Oldcorne, as well as -the go-between, Thomas Ward, and the revealing Christopher Wright, was a -party and responsible actor--would be, with clear-eyed, sure-footed, -absolute certitude, secured and accomplished--nothing being left to the -perilous contingencies of purblind, stumbling, limited chance. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI. - - -Now, I maintain that there is Evidence, from a very unexpected quarter, -that Thomas Ward had received from the revealing plotter a complete -disclosure of every one of the material facts and particulars of the Plot, -including the existence of the mine, the hiring of the cellar, the storing -therein of the gunpowder, and even the names of the conspirators. And -that, moreover, Thomas Ward had received the fullest power "to discover" -to his master, Lord Mounteagle, all that had been told to him (Ward) by -the revealing plotter, _if_, in the exercise of his (Ward's) uncontrolled -diplomatic discretion, he deemed it necessary in order to effect, -_primarily_, the temporal salvation of the King and his Parliament, and, -this done, in order to effect, _secondarily_, the escape of the -conspirators themselves. - -The Evidence to which I refer is deducible from the testimony of none -other than Francis Tresham, Evidence which he gave to Thomas Winter in -Lincoln's Inn Walks on Saturday night, the 2nd day of November, just one -week after the delivery of the Letter to Lord Mounteagle, and just one day -after the Letter had been shown by Salisbury to the King.[89] - -Thomas Winter, in his "_Confession_," writes thus: "On Saturday night I -met Mr. Tresham again in Lincoln's Inn Walks, where he told such speeches -that my Lord of Salisbury should use to the King, as I gave it lost the -second time, and repeated the same to Mr. Catesby, who hereupon was -resolved to be gone, but stayed to have Mr. Percy come up whose consent -herein we wanted. On Sunday night came Mr. Percy and no 'nay,' but would -abide the uttermost trial."[90] - -To what purport can these "speeches" have been, I should like to know, -which so mightily wrought on the nerves of even the doughty Thomas Winter -that they were potent enough to break down and sweep away the barriers -formed by the strong affection which he naturally must have harboured for -the pet scheme and the darling project that had cost himself and his -companions the expenditure of so much "slippery time,"[91] so much sweat -of the brow, and so much treasure of the pocket? Yea, indeed, to what -purport can these "speeches" have been? - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII. - - -In the King's Book, after describing Salisbury's first visit to James in -"the privie gallerie" of Whitehall Palace, it is stated that it was -arranged that there should be another meeting on the following day, -Saturday, the 2nd of November. - -The precise words of the Royal Work are these: "It was agreed that he -[_i.e._, Salisbury] should the next day repair to his Highness; which he -did in the same privie gallerie, and renewed the memory thereof, the Lord -Chamberlaine [_i.e._, Suffolk] being then present with the King. At what -time it was determined that the said Lord Chamberlaine should, according -to his custom and office, view all the Parliament Houses." - -This pre-arranged meeting with the King on the Saturday was duly held just -one week after the delivery of the Letter, Salisbury and Suffolk the Lord -Chamberlaine being present thereat; and I suggest that, most probably, -Mounteagle himself was, if not then actually within ear-shot, yet not afar -off. - -Now it is evident from Lingard's "_History_" that Tresham had told Winter -that the Government had already intelligence of the existence of "the -mine."[92] - -Tresham also told Winter that he (Tresham) knew not how the Government had -obtained this knowledge (vol. ix., p. 72). - -The inevitable inference, therefore, that reason demands should be drawn -from these statements of Tresham is that Mounteagle must have _either_ -sent for his brother-in-law, _or_ gone himself to see him, and that -Mounteagle then must have told the terrified Tresham that he (Mounteagle) -knew for a fact that a mine had been digged,[A] and that the same -information probably that very day (Saturday) would be imparted to the -King's Government likewise.[93] - -[Footnote A: I hold that the probabilities are that Christopher Wright -told Thomas Ward of the existence of the mine: that Thomas Ward told -Mounteagle: that Mounteagle told Tresham: and that Tresham told Winter. - -Thus would be the concatenation complete, naturally and easily, with no -link missing.] - -This explanation, moreover, stands unspeakably more to reason than the one -which woodenly says that Tresham himself revealed the dread secret -respecting the mine to Mounteagle, and that then, out of his own mouth, -the unhappy man hazarded self-condemnation in the presence of the astute -Winter only one day after his (Tresham's) life had been in the gravest -possible jeopardy at Barnet, near White Webbs, from the poniards of the -infuriated Catesby _and_ Winter.[94] - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - - -Again, on Monday, the 4th instant, Mounteagle offered to accompany his -distant connection, the Earl of Suffolk, to make the search in the cellar. - -Whyneard, keeper of the King's wardrobe, declared to the two noble -searchers that Thomas Percy had hired the house and part of the cellar or -vault under the same, and that "the wood and coale" therein were "the said -gentleman's own provision." - -Mounteagle, on hearing Percy named, let drop--probably in an unguarded -moment--words to the effect that perhaps Thomas Percy had sent the Letter. - -Now, guarded or unguarded, to my mind, the fact that Mounteagle, in any -shape or form, mentioned Percy's name on that momentous occasion tends to -show that Mounteagle knew all the material facts and particulars of the -Plot, including even the names of the conspirators.[95] - -But Mounteagle, I hold, was resolved to do his duty to his King and his -country on the one hand, and to his friends--his reprobate, insane, but -(he full well knew) grievously provoked friends--on the other. - -He was determined, spurred on, I suggest, by Thomas Ward, to save the King -and Parliament from bloody destruction by gunpowder on the one hand, and -to save his own kith and kin and boon companions on the other: of whose -guilt, or otherwise, he did not constitute himself the judge, still less -the executioner. - -To this end the young peer watched and measured the relative value and -effect of every move on the part of the Government like a vigilant -commander, bent, indeed, on securing what he deemed to be the rights and -interests of the wronged and the wrong-doers alike. - -And, most probably, being driven into a corner at the last and compelled -so to do by the imperious exigencies of his _primary and supreme duty_, -namely, the saving of the King and Parliament from being rent and torn to -pieces in a most hellish fashion, truly "barbarous and savage beyond the -examples of former ages," Mounteagle actually himself told Salisbury to -inform Sir Thomas Knevet and his band of armed men to keep a sharp lookout -for a certain tall, soldierly figure, "booted and spurred," in the -neighbourhood of the cellar, before the clock struck the hour of midnight -of Monday, November the 4th. If this were so, it accounts for the efforts -of Knevet, Doubleday, and others being so speedily crowned with success. - -Fawkes was probably _taken into custody_ in the court adjoining Percy's -house and the House of Lords' cellar, and a few moments afterwards -_secured_ by being bound with such things in the nature of cords as Knevet -and his men had with them.--See Gardiner's "_Gunpowder Plot_," pp. -132-136. - -The dark lantern, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, was left burning -in the cellar by Fawkes. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX. - - -Let me now make two quotations. - -One is from the King's Book, giving an account of the procedure followed -by the Earl of Suffolk the Lord Chamberlain, and the Lord Mounteagle, the -champion, protector, and hero of the England of his day, in whose honour -the "rare" Ben Jonson[96] himself composed the epigram transcribed at the -end of this Inquiry. - -The other quotation, collected from the relation of a certain interview -between Catesby, Tresham, Mounteagle, and Father Garnet, is one which -plainly shows that Mounteagle was closely associated with Catesby, not -merely as a passive listener but as an active sympathiser, as late as the -month of July, 1605, in general treasonable internal projects, which -indeed only just fell short of particular treasonable external acts. - -But this, of course, does not prove any complicity of Mounteagle in the -particular designment known as the Gunpowder Treason Plot, of which -diabolical scheme, I have no reasonable doubt, the happy, debonair, -pleasure-loving, but withal shrewd and generous, young nobleman was -perfectly innocent. - -These two quotations show, first, how zealously and faithfully Mounteagle -of the Janus-face, looking both before and after--as henceforward we must -regard him--kept his hand on the pulse of the Government at the most -critical hour of his country's annals, with a view to doing what both he -and his mentor deemed to be justice in the rightful claims and demands, -though diverse and conflicting, of each group of "clients." - -And, secondly, how wisely and prudently Christopher Wright and his -counsellor or counsellors had acted in determining upon this favoured -child of Fortune as their "vessel of election" for conveying that precious -Instrument, which for all time is destined to be known as Lord -Mounteagle's Letter, to the Earl of Salisbury and, through him, to King -James, his Privy Council and Government, on that Saturday night, the 26th -day of October, 1605. - -The King's Book says: "At what time hee [_i.e._, the Earl of Suffolk,[97] -the Lord Chamberlain] went to the Parliament House accompanied with my -Lord Mounteagle, being in zeale to the King's service, earnest and curious -to see the event of that accident whereof he had the fortune to be the -first discoverer: where having viewed all the lower roumes he found in the -vault under the upper House great store and provision of Billets, Faggots, -and Coales; and enquiring of Whyneard, keeper of the Wardrobe, to what use -hee had put those lower roumes and cellars; he told them that Thomas Percy -had hired both the house and part of the cellar or vault under the same, -and that the wood and coale therein was the sayde gentleman's owne -provision. Whereupon the Lord Chamberlaine casting his eye aside perceived -a fellow standing in a corner there, calling himself the said Percyes man -and keeper of that house for him, but indeed was Guido Fawkes the owner of -that hand which should have acted that monstrous tragedie."[98] - -The Discourse then goes on to say that the Lord Chamberlain reported to -the King in the "privie gallerie," in the presence of the Lord Treasurer, -"the Lord Admirall," "the Earles of Worcester, Northampton, and -Salisbury," what he had seen and observed, "noting Mounteagle had told -him, that he no sooner heard Thomas Percy[A] named to be possessour of -that house, but considering both his backwardnes in Religion and the old -dearenesse in friendship between himself and the say'd Percy, hee did -greatly suspect the matter, and that the Letter should come from him. The -sayde Lord Chamberlaine also tolde, that he did not wonder a little at the -extraordinarie great provision of wood and coale in that house, where -Thomas Percy had so seldome occasion to remaine; as likewise it gaue him -in his minde that his man looked like a very tall and desperate -fellow."[99] - -[Footnote A: I think that Lord Mounteagle or Thomas Ward (or both) must -have given some member of the Privy Council a hint that a Christopher -Wright was a probable conspirator, for it is noticeable that on the 5th of -November several persons testified as to Christopher Wright's recent -whereabouts. Ward probably hoped that Wright's name would be joined with -Percy's in the Proclamation, and so haply warn the conspirators the better -that the avenger of blood was behind. _Or_, the Government may have -procured Christopher Wright's name from some paper or papers found in -Thomas Percy's London house, on the 5th of November, the day of Fawkes' -capture. - -At that time the Privy Council undertook all preliminary inquiries in -regard to the crime of High Treason. It is different now; at first the -case may be brought before an ordinary magistrate.] - - - - - CHAPTER XXX. - - -Shortly after Midsummer (_i.e._, July), 1605, Father Garnet was at the -Jesuit house at Fremland, in Essex. Catesby came there with Lord -Mounteagle and Tresham. - -At this meeting, in answer to a question, "Were Catholics able to make -their part good by arms against the King?"--Mounteagle replied, "If ever -they were, they are able now;" and then that young nobleman added this -reason for his opinion, "The King is so odious to all sorts." - -At this interview Tresham said, "We must expect [_i.e._, wait for] the end -of Parliament, and see what laws are made against Catholics, and then seek -for help of foreign princes." - -"No," said Garnet, "assure yourself they will do nothing." - -"What!" said my Lord Mounteagle, "will not the Spaniard help us? It is a -shame!"[A] - -[Footnote A: If Mounteagle was in the company of Catesby at Fremland in -the summer of 1605, these two may have been together at Bath between the -12th October and the 26th. Catesby probably would endeavour to induce Lord -Mounteagle to join Sir Everard Digby's rebellion, as he did induce Stephen -Littleton and Humphrey Littleton.] - -Then said Father Garnet, "You see we must all have patience."[100] - -It is also to be remembered that when Sir Edmund Baynham, a -Gloucestershire Catholic gentleman of good family--but of whom Winter -said "he was not a man fit for the business at home," _i.e._, the purposed -Gunpowder massacre--went to Flanders and Rome in the first week of -September, 1605, Mounteagle appears to have written certain letters of -introduction or of general recommendation, in Baynham's behalf, to English -Catholics residing in Flanders or in Rome. Jardine says that "it is not -quite certain that Baynham was himself entrusted with the great secret of -the Plot."[101] - -I think that it is morally certain he was not. - -Sir Edmund Baynham[A] was intended by the prime conspirators to be at Rome -to justify (_if he could_) to the Pope any action that the conspirators -might have perpetrated on or after November the Fifth in behalf of their -religion. But the prime conspirators were far too astute "to open their -mouth" to let a chattering, hare-brained swashbuckler like Baynham "fill -other people's" in every wine-shop _en route_ for "the Eternal City." - -[Footnote A: Father Garnet was also employing Sir Edmund Baynham as _his_ -diplomatic intermediary with the Pope in order "to gain time," so that -meanwhile the plotters might find space for repentance! Garnet was -apparently one of those men who though possessed of a profound knowledge -of Man know little or nothing of men. Whereas Oldcorne seems to have had -practical reason as well as theoretical wisdom. Oldcorne, I take it, had a -good, strong, clear, practical head on his shoulders, which included in -its armoury _will_, in the sense of _power_, as well as intellect and -heart, and "_where there's a will there's a way_."] - -Guy Fawkes probably was authorised to impart and possibly actually did, -under the oath, impart some knowledge of the Plot to Captain Hugh Owen, a -Welsh Roman Catholic soldier of fortune serving in Flanders under the -Archdukes.[102] Owen's name figures in the Earl of Salisbury's -instructions to Sir Edward Coke, the Attorney-General who prosecuted the -surviving Gunpowder conspirators in the historic Westminster Hall. - -Moreover, I have thought that at least some of the powder must have been -purchased in Flanders through the good offices of the said Captain Owen. -The powder and the mining tools and implements appear to have been stored -at first in the house at Lambeth and placed under the charge of Robert -Keyes and, eventually, of Christopher Wright. The powder was, I take it, -packed in bags, and the bags themselves packed in padlocked hampers. -Afterwards, I conclude, the powder bags were deposited in the barrels, and -the barrels themselves carried by two of the conspirators, with aid of -brewers' slings, and deposited in the cellar, which apparently had at -least two doors. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI. - - -Now, when deep within the depths of the moral being of Christopher Wright -there first arose that tender day-spring, a realization of guilt and -shame: that crimsoned dawn, a sense of grief and sorrow for those two high -crimes whereby his wretched conscious-self had been made darksome and -deformed: acts, wondrous in the telling, in that soul had been indeed -wrought out; regard being had to the overmastering power of Man's -conditioned yet free will. - -Furthermore, the historical Inquirer cannot but seek, if possible, by the -exercise of the philosophic faculty, to penetrate to what, on the human -side, may have been the originating cause, the moving spring, of the -limited yet responsible moral nature of a guilty creature, whose eyes for -well-nigh three hundred years have been closed by a violent death; of a -guilty creature who, in the awful tragedy of his end, verified in himself, -in the sight of all men, the sublimely terrible words of the old Greek -tragedy, "The guilty suffer." - -For wrong-doing, by a steadfast law of the universal reason, "till time -shall be no more," will ever entail temporal punishment; and, by nature, -expiation and atonement must be wrought out in the criminal's own keen -consciousness. - -Yet, by a compensating law of universal reason, as inexorable as its -fellow, according as Man does work out that measure of punishment, -expiating and atoning, which to him Destiny has allotted for his guerdon, -in that proportion does his soul regain its forfeited harmoniousness and -peace. - -Now the originating cause, the moving spring, in the case of the, I hold, -contrite Christopher Wright was, on the human side, the flooding of his -soul by memories pure and bright of days long, long ago. - -I need not labour this point; but in a note I will relate certain facts -concerning her to whom Christopher Wright owed the gifts of life and -nurture, which will sufficiently tell what manner of woman that -Elizabethan Yorkshire mother was, in respect of courage, humanity, and -devotedness to her ideals.[103] - -I furthermore opine that, although it was the personal dawning -consciousness of Christopher Wright himself that _primarily_ prompted the -happy step of recourse to Father Edward Oldcorne,[104] yet Christopher -Wright, in my judgment, already had confided the just scruples of his -conscience to the ear, not of a "superior" judicial Priest, but of an -"equal" counselling Layman. - -That Layman, I hold, was Thomas Ward, who, belike, heightened and -strengthened his connection's laudable resolve.[105] - -Now, if such were the case, I do not doubt that Father Oldcorne, that -skilled, tried "minister of a mind diseased," the duties of whose vocation -urged him, with persistent force, promiscuously "to work good unto all -men," voluntarily offered to pen the immortal Letter; _provided he were -released from the obligations of that solemn secrecy imposed by "the seal -of the Confessional": released by the Penitent himself, in whom alone -resided the prerogative of granting or withholding such a release_. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII. - - -Again; I think that probably Thomas Ward had either at Hindlip, Evesham or -elsewhere at least one interview with the great Jesuit himself--"the -gradely Jesuit," as the good, simple-hearted Lancashire Catholics would -style him--in order that Father Oldcorne might receive from Ward in person -satisfactory assurance that, with certainty, when the Letter had been -prepared it would be delivered directly by Ward himself, or indirectly by -him, through Mounteagle, to the Government authorities. - -Nay, to make assurance doubly sure, it is even possible that Father -Oldcorne may have insisted on a _second Letter_ being penned and sent to -_another nobleman at the Court_, the Earl of Northumberland, a man of -ancient lineage and great name, with whom Ward, through the Gascoignes, -would be distantly connected.[106] - -It appears to me that the moral certitude is so strong that Thomas Ward -was brother to Marmaduke Ward, of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale, that it -seems practically almost the mere extravagance of caution to express a -doubt of it.[A] - -[Footnote A: It will be remembered that we have evidence that William -Ward, a son of Marmaduke Ward, _had an uncle who lived at Court_. - -This evidence is of the greatest value and importance in identifying -Thomas Ward, the secretary and friend of Lord Mounteagle, and should be -continually borne in mind by all my readers. - -It should be also remembered that Edmund Neville, the claimant of the -Earldom of Westmoreland, was the man who accused Dr. William Parry of a -plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Now this Neville became a suitor for -the hand of Mary Ward, though about double her age. Neville would be -related to the Wards, and perhaps knew Thomas Ward when in 1584 Parry was -tried and executed. Parry had invited Neville to join in assassinating the -Queen. I believe Parry to have been a great liar; but all the same it is -not absolutely certain that the wretch was not the victim of a state -intrigue. If we could ascertain at Hatfield more about Thomas Ward there -might be a clue to the Parry mystery.] - -Now, the suggestion that Thomas Ward was probably in the Midland counties -of Warwickshire and Worcestershire sometime about the 11th of October, -1605,[107] is, I maintain, to some very slight extent supported by the -fact that we know for certain that Marmaduke Ward came up from Yorkshire -to Lapworth about thirteen days afterwards, and that he was bracketed with -those who were said to have been at the houses of John Wright, Ambrose -Rookwood, and John Grant at that time.[A] - -[Footnote A: See the List of the names of conspirators, insurgents, and -others arrested in the Midlands given in the Appendix.] - -Now, if about the 11th of October Thomas Ward found at Lapworth, Clopton, -and Norbrook every inchoate evidential sign of a heady, hopeless, armed -rebellion, what was there more natural than that he should have despatched -some trusty horseman, fleet of foot, "from the heart of England" down into -Yorkshire, bearing an urgent missive adjuring Marmaduke Ward, by the love -that he bore to his kith and kin, to come up to Lapworth with all speed -possible? To the end that he might use his counsels and entreaties to -induce his late wife's combative brother, John Wright,[108] the -close-natured Christopher Wright, the gallant Ambrose Rookwood, and the -strong-willed John Grant, to abandon all designment of insurrectionary -stirs. - -For Thomas Ward, from the experience of a man at Court aged forty-six, who -knew from the daily observation of his own senses, how firmly James's -Executive was certainly established, must have clearly perceived that, at -that time Catholic stirs against the Government could be fated to have -only one unhappy issue and disgraceful termination, namely, the utter, -bloody, irretrievable ruin of all that were so thrice wretchedly bewitched -as to have become entangled in them.[A] - -[Footnote A: It is to be borne in mind that hereafter proof may be -forthcoming that Christopher Wright married Margaret Ward, the sister of -Marmaduke and Thomas Ward. I _think_ that they had another sister named -Ann Ward, who married a Marmaduke Swales.--(See Ripon Registers). There -was an old county family called Swales at Staveley Hall, near Farnham and -Scotton. They were Roman Catholics. They are the same, I opine, as the -Swales (or Swale) family, of South Stainley, between Ripley and Ripon, -whose descendants are of the ancient faith in Yorkshire to this day. - -The late Sir James Swale, Bart., of Rudfarlington, near Knaresbrough, I -conclude, likewise belonged to the same race. I was introduced in the year -1898 to this fine specimen of an old Yorkshire Catholic by my friend, -Charles Allanson, Esq., of Harrogate--himself of an old West Riding family -that "had never lost the Faith."] - -And this the rather, when it is remembered that, the names of John and -Christopher Wright were already unfavourably known to the Government; -since during Elizabeth's reign, in the year 1596, they, together with -Catesby, Tresham, and others, had been put under arrest by the Crown -authorities, who feared that on the death of Elizabeth these "young -bloods" would, at what they deemed to be "the psychological moment" for -the execution of their revolutionary designs, lead, sword in hand, the -oppressed recusants in some wild, fierce dash for liberty.[109] - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII. - - -We have now considered the Evidence leading up to the commission of the -respective acts that this Inquiry, at an earlier part, has attributed -severally to Christopher Wright and Father Oldcorne, who stand, as it -were, at the angular points in the base of that triangular movement of -revelation, at whose vertex is Thomas Ward (or Warde), the entirely -trustworthy friend and diplomatic intermediary common to both the -repentant conspirator and the beneficent Priest of the Society of Jesus. - -But before proceeding with the Evidence and the deductions and suggestions -therefrom, which tend to prove that, _subsequent_ to the dictating of the -Letter by Christopher Wright and the penning of the same by Father -Oldcorne, these two Yorkshiremen were conscious of having performed the -several parts attributed unto them, let us deal with certain _objections_ -that may be put forward as preliminary objections fatal to the contentions -of this Inquiry. - -Now, there is an objection which, with a _prima facie_ plausibleness, may -be advanced against the hypothesis that Christopher Wright was the -dictating, repentant, revealing conspirator, through whom primarily the -Plot was frustrated and overthrown. - -And there is also a second objection that may be urged against the -hypothesis, with even still greater _prima facie_ plausibleness, that -Father Edward Oldcorne, Priest and Jesuit, was the meritorious Penman of -the dictated Letter. - -Each objection must be dealt with separately. - -Let us take the objection in the case of Christopher Wright first, and, -having laid that one, proceed to the objection in the case of Edward -Oldcorne. - -Now, a certain William Handy, servant to Sir Everard Digby, on the 27th -day of November, 1605, before (among others) Sir Julius Caesar, Kt., Sir -Francis Bacon, Kt.,[110] and Sir George More, Kt., High Sheriff of Surrey -and Sussex, deposed (among other things) the following:-- - -That early on Wednesday morning, the 6th of November, as the fugitives -were proceeding from Norbrook to Alcester, he (Handy) heard the younger -Wright say, "That if they had had good luck they had made those in the -Parliament House fly with their heels upward to the sky;" and that "he -spake these words openly in the hearing of those which were with him, -which were commonly Mr. John Grant, the younger Grant, and Ambrose -Rookwood."[111] - -Now, Christopher Wright _may_ have used these words in the early part of -that November day, and every candid mind must allow that they are _not_ -the words that one would expect to find in a sincerely repentant criminal. - -But the philosopher knows that there is "a great deal of human nature in -Man." While the experienced citizen of the world who knows men -practically, as the philosopher knows Man theoretically, will not be -literally amazed, or even unduly startled, at finding these words recorded -against Christopher Wright, even after (_ex hypothesi_) he had become as -one morally resurrected from the dead. - -For it is to be remembered that Christopher Wright was the brother of John -Wright, and the brother-in-law of Thomas Percy, Thomas Percy having -married Martha Wright, of Plowland Hall. Now, concerning John Wright and -his brother-in-law, Thomas Percy, the following traits of character are -chronicled by their contemporary, Father John Gerard.[112] - -"It was noted in him [_i.e._, Thomas Percy] and in Mr. John Wright (whose -sister he afterwards married) that if they had heard of any man in the -country to be esteemed more valiant and resolute than others, one or the -other of them would surely have picked some quarrel against him and fought -with him to have made trial of his valour." - -On the march then, with such relatives as these close at hand, there is no -antecedent improbability, but the contrary, in the supposal that -Christopher Wright used these words by way of a feint, to the end that he -might, peradventure, draw his companions away from those scaring -suspicions, by the haunting fear of which Wright's self-consciousness -would be sure to be continually visited. - -For "Conscience doth make cowards of us all." - -Truly, "The guilty suffer." And it was part of the awful temporal -punishment wherewith severe, just Nemesis, the dread executioner of -Destiny, visited this--I still hold, all outward shows to the contrary -notwithstanding--repentant wrong-doer, that he should be fast bound to one -of the spiked, lacerating wheels of a flying chariot that he desired, "to -the finest fibre" of his tortured, writhing being, to have no part nor lot -in driving: fast bound, for the residue of that all too brief mortal -career, which, on that chill November morning, was rapidly drawing to its -shattered close. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV. - - -What objection, then, can be brought against the hypothesis that Father -Edward Oldcorne, Priest and Jesuit, and native of the City of York, was -the Penman of this most momentous perhaps of all Letters ever writ by the -hand of man? - -It is this, that in a pamphlet by a certain Dr. Williams, published about -the year 1680,[113] purporting to be a History of the Powder Treason, with -a parallel between the Gunpowder Treason and the Titus Oates' alleged -Popish Plot of the reign of Charles II., there occurs the following -statement:-- - -"Mrs. Habington was sister to the Lord Mounteagle and so being solicitous -for her brother, whom she had reason to believe would be at the -parliament, _she writ the aforesaid letter to him_, to give him so much -notice of the danger as might warn him to provide for his own safety, but -not so much (as she apprehended) as might discover it. From this relation -betwixt the two families, it was that Mr. Habington alone of all the -conspirators, after sentence, had his life given him. _This account Mr. -Habington himself gave to a worthy person still in being._" (The italics -are mine.) - -Now, of course, if Mrs. Habington (or Abington), of Hindlip Hall, near -Worcester, where Father Oldcorne was domesticated for sixteen years, -actually wrote the Letter, then Father Oldcorne did not. There can be no -two opinions about _that_, even with the most sceptical. - -But did she? - -I submit that this testimony of Dr. Williams, second,[114] third, or -fourth hand possibly, is hopelessly inadequate for the establishing of any -such conclusion. - -First, let it be noted that, although "the worthy person" to whom Mr. -Abington is said to have imparted this tremendous secret--and apparently -to none other human creature in the wide world beside--was living in the -year 1680 (or thereabouts), _his thrice-important name is not divulged by -the learned author, neither is the faintest hint given as to where he may -have resided_. - -Accordingly, we cannot submit the now dead but once highly privileged -gentleman to the salutary ordeal of cross-examination: a fact which is -well-nigh fatal to his credibility for any serious student of true -history; with the further consequence that a grave suspicion is, by this -very fact alone, at once cast upon the entire story. - -Secondly, Dr. Williams does not say that he (Williams) himself had this -testimony direct from the unnamed and unidentified witness--"the worthy -person still in being" in (or about) the year 1680. - -Therefore, this story may have been handed on by wagging, irresponsible, -chattering tongues, whose name is legion. With the result that it gained, -not lost, in the course of transmission to the mind of Dr. Williams, who -has enshrined in the printed page, still to be viewed in the British -Museum, the far-fetched tale for the benefit of succeeding ages. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV. - - -Now, if Dr. Williams solemnly had said that he knew Mrs. Abington -personally, and that she (Mrs. Abington) had told him (Williams) with her -own lips that she had writ the Letter, the case would have been _a good -way_ towards being established: assuming the lady to have been -intellectually and morally capable at the time when she made such -statement, and Williams himself a man whose word could be relied on. - -Or, if _Mr. Abington_ had told _Williams_ that _he knew his wife had writ -the Letter because he saw with his own eyes the lady do it_, then the case -would have been _also a good way_ towards being established. - -Or, if _Mr. Abington_ had told _Williams_ that _he believed his wife had -writ the Letter because she had told him (Abington) she had done so -immediately after she alleged she had performed the meritorious deed_, the -case would have been some _slight way_ towards being established. - -But when the only shred or patch of evidence we have to support the -stupendous article of belief that Mrs. Abington accomplished the immortal -feat is an uncircumstantial, uncorroborated allegation by Dr. Williams -that _some person or another unknown_ (on the most favourable view) _told -him_ (Williams) that Mrs. Abington had writ the Letter _merely because her -husband said so_, then the case for Mrs. Abington's authorship of the -document is _in no way_ towards being established. - -And, therefore, the story falls to the ground. - -And, therefore, it should be, in reason, henceforward consigned to the -limbo of exploded myths and idle tales. - -It is true that Dr. Nash in his work on Worcestershire,[115] written in -the eighteenth century and published in 1780, declares that "Tradition in -this county says that she [_i.e._, Mrs. Abington] was the person who wrote -the Letter to her brother, which discovered the Gunpowder Plot." - -But then, obviously, this alleged tradition is absolutely worthless, -unless it can be shown to have been a _continuous_ tradition from the year -1605 down to the time when Nash was writing his "_History_." For if the -tradition sprang up at a later date, for the purposes of true history its -value as a tradition is plainly nothing. - -The learned David Jardine--to whom all students of the Gunpowder Plot will -be for ever indebted for his labours in this conspiracy of -conspiracies--in his "_Narrative_," published in the year 1857, and to -which reference has been already frequently made in the course of this -Inquiry, says,[116] "No contemporary writer alludes to Mrs. Abington as -the author of the Letter." - -And Jardine evidently does not think that the penmanship of the document -can be brought home to this lady. - -Moreover, if Mrs. Abington had written the Letter of Letters, surely she -would have, at least, _shared_ her brother Lord Mounteagle's reward, which -was L700 a year for life, equal to nearly L7,000 a year in our money. - -For if L700 a year was the guerdon of _him_ that _merely delivered_ this -Letter of Letters, what should have been the guerdon of _her_ that -actually _penned_ the peerless treasure? - -But the hypothesis that Mrs. Abington penned the Letter of Letters has -absolutely no foundation in contemporary evidence. For there is not the -faintest echo of an echo of testimony, nor the merest shadow of a shade of -proof that _either_ she _or_ Mr. Abington had the remotest previous -knowledge of the Gunpowder Treason Plot. - -And the mere fact that Mr. Abington, although the harbourer of Fathers -Garnet and Oldcorne, was spared from undergoing the extreme penalty of the -law, in itself tends to disprove the allegation that either he or his wife -had been in any way privy to the Plot. For no plotter's life was spared. - -Mr. Abington became a celebrated antiquary, especially in regard to his -own County of Worcestershire, within the confines of which he was ordered -by the King to remain for the rest of his days.--See Jardine's -"_Narrative_," p. 212.[A] - -[Footnote A: The splendid Elizabethan mansion known as Hindlip Hall, four -miles from Worcester, with a large and magnificent prospect of the -surrounding country, was demolished early in the nineteenth century. A -picture of this mansion is in the Rev. Ethelred Taunton's book, "_The -Jesuits in England_" (Methuen & Co.). The present Hindlip Hall is the seat -of the Lord Hindlip.] - -In these circumstances, Dr. Nash's alleged tradition cannot possibly -outweigh the inferences that the facts known and inferred concerning the -Plot all tend to establish. For these inferences, both in respect of what -happened _before and after_ the penning of the Letter, all go to show -this: that the conjectures, surmises, and suggestions of this Essay are -indeed probable to the degree of moral certitude. - -And I respectfully submit these same conjectures, surmises, and -suggestions cannot be upset, still less broken, by knowledge commensurate -with zeal. - -Jardine mentions the singular hypothesis that this famous Letter was -penned by the Honourable Anne Vaux, at the dictation of the Honourable -Mrs. Abington. - -Now, the Honourable Anne Vaux was one of the daughters of the Lord Vaux of -Harrowden, in Northamptonshire, at whose house Father Henry Garnet (the -chief of the Jesuits in England) lived for many years, from 1586, when -Garnet returned to England from Rome. Anne Vaux and her sister, the -Honourable Eleanor Brookesby, were high-minded women who lived at White -Webbs, Stoke Pogis,[A] Wandsworth, and other places of Jesuit resort, -rendering, along with Edward Brookesby,[B] Esquire (the husband of Eleanor -Brookesby), the members of the Jesuit Society in England signally devoted -service. - -[Footnote A: The mansion-house at Stoke Pogis, where the Dowager Lady Vaux -lived for a time along with Miss Anne Vaux, had been built by Elizabeth's -favourite Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton. If this was the manor-house -of Stoke Pogis, then Gray, the author of the immortal "Elegy in a Country -Churchyard," sojourned at the place.] - -[Footnote B: Edward Brookesby was of Arundel House, Shouldby, -Leicestershire. Frances Brookesby (his sister, probably, and one of Queen -Anne's Maids of Honour), became a devoted friend of Mary Ward.--See "_Life -of Mary Ward_," vol. ii., p. 23.] - -This was especially so in the case of the Honourable Anne Vaux, who spent -and was herself spent in behalf of labours wherein the English Jesuits -busied themselves for, as they thought, the greater glory of God and the -greater good of man. - -Jardine, however, after comparing the Letter with many letters and papers -at the then State Paper Office, which are undoubtedly in the Honourable -Anne Vaux's handwriting, says, "I am quite unable to discover the alleged -identity of the handwriting."[117] - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI. - - -Now, regard being had to the fact that "there is seldom smoke except there -be, at least, some little fire, the question arises: Is it possible to -account, on rational grounds, for any such statement of the worthy person -still in being in 1680 as Dr. Williams credits him with? - -(Nash's evidence, in the absence of proof of a _continuous_ tradition, is -not one whit more worthy of credence than Dr. Williams' impalpability.) - -It is possible. - -For, it is well within the bounds of rational probability that what Mr. -Abington said to some person or persons unknown (assuming that he ever -said anything whatever) was _not_ that his wife _"had writ the Letter," -but that_ his wife "_knew, or thought she knew, who had writ the Letter_." - -The way in which to test the matter is this: Supposing, for the sake of -argument, that my hypothesis be true, and that Father Oldcorne _did_ -actually pen that Letter which was the instrument, not only of the -temporal salvation of Mrs. Abington's brother, the Lord Mounteagle, but -also of her father, the Lord Morley, together with many others of her -kinsfolk, friends, and acquaintance, as well as of her lawful Sovereign -and His Royal Consort, _is it, or is it not, probable that Mrs. Abington -would guess, in some way or another, the mighty secret_? - -It is probable. - -For let it be remembered who and what Mrs. Abington was. - -The Honourable Mary Parker, the daughter of Edward Parker Lord Morley and -the Honourable Elizabeth Stanley, was the mother of William Abington, the -well-known poet[118] of that name, who was born, in fact, on or about the -5th of November, 1605. - -Therefore Mrs. Abington was the mother of a son who was a man of -distinguished intellectual parts. - -Moreover, seeing that usually it is from the mother that a son's -capabilities are derived rather than from the father, it is more, rather -than less, likely that Mrs. Abington herself was a naturally clear-minded, -acute, discerning woman, gifted with that marvellous faculty which -constitutes cleverness in a woman--sympathetic, imaginative insight. - -Now if this were so, Mrs. Abington's native perspicacity would be surely -potent enough to enable her to form a judgment, at once penetrating and -accurate, in reference to such a thing as the penmanship of the great -Letter--a document which had come home, as events had proved, with such -peculiar closeness to her own "business and bosom."[119] - -In these circumstances, may the Lady of Hindlip not, in after days, when -the tragic scenes of those fateful years 1605 and 1606 had become a sad, -pathetic memory merely, have recalled to mind certain special aspects in -the play of the countenance, in the tone of the voice, aye, in the general -mien of Father Edward Oldcorne that she had noted shortly from and after -the Michaelmas of that unhappy year 1605, forming evidence whence she -might draw her own shrewd, wise conclusions? - -May not this honourable woman--honourable by nature as well as by -name--have recollected that _she_ had then observed that the holy man -sought more than hitherto had been his wont the retirement of his "secret -chamber?" That, at that period, he seemed more than ever absorbed, nay -hidden, in thought? - -May she not have recalled that at that "last" Christmastide, too, he, who -was by nature so severely yet sweetly just, and the humblest among men, -had shown himself disposed to judge those wicked wrong-doers with a -mildness and a leniency that assuredly, perforce, betokened--what? I -answer, a consciousness of some high prerogative, some kingly right, -abiding in him, whereby he was _warranted_ in thus speaking. - -Again; did he not _then_ manifest a disposition, remarkable even in _him_, -to act in diametrical opposition to the ordinary way of men, which is so -well expressed by the sarcastic, cynical, yet only too true saying, that -"the world is ready enough to laugh with a man, but it leaves him to weep -alone." And this, when "a compassionate silence" (save in extraordinary -circumstances) was the utmost that Justice and Charity alike would prompt -even a Priest and a Jesuit (nay, even a Priest and a Jesuit of the type of -Edward Oldcorne) to display towards the wretched, erring victims of that -"_ineluctabile fatum_," that resistless decree of the Universe--"The -guilty suffer." - -Now, I submit, with sure confidence for an affirmative answer, to the -judgment of my candid readers--of my candid readers that know something of -_human_ nature, its workings, its windings, and its ways--the question: -Whether or not it is not merely possible, but probable, that Mrs. Abington -_divined that stupendous secret_, through and by means of the subtle, yet -all-potent, _mental sympathy_, which must have subsisted betwixt herself -and the disciplined, exalted, stately soul, who, as a Priest--aye! as a -very Prophet--this high-born lady, or at least her spouse, had "counted it -all honour and all joy" to have harboured, as a beloved spiritual Father, -"elect and precious," for no less than sixteen years?[120] - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVII. - - -Let us finally consider the Evidence and the deductions and suggestions -therefrom which tend to prove that _subsequent_ to the dictating of the -Letter by the contrite, repentant Christopher Wright, _and subsequent_ to -the penning of the Document by the deserving, beneficent Edward Oldcorne, -each of these two Englishmen, aye! these two Yorkshiremen, _were conscious -of having performed_ the several functions that these pages have -attributed unto them. - -Let us take, then, the case of Christopher Wright first. - -Now, the Evidence that tends to show that Christopher Wright was conscious -of having been the revealing plotter and dictating conspirator[121] has -been already mainly set forth, but let me recapitulate the same. - -It is as follows:-- - -(1) That either Thomas Winter must have gone in search of Christopher -Wright, or Christopher Wright must have gone in search of Thomas Winter, -in order that it might be possible for Stowe to record on p. 880 of his -"_Chronicle_" the following allegation of facts:-- - -"T. Winter, the next day after the delivery of the Letter, told -Christopher Wright that he understood of an obscure letter delivered to -the Lord Mounteagle, advising him not to appear at the Parliament House -the first day, and that the Lord Mounteagle had no sooner read it, but -instantly carried it to the Earle of Salisbury, which newes was presently -made known unto the rest, who after divers conferences agreed to see -further trial, but, howsoever, Percy resolved to stay the last -houre."[122] - -(2) Poulson says, in his account of the Wrights, of Plowland (or Plewland) -Hall, in his "_History of Holderness_," vol. ii., p. 57, that Christopher -Wright "was the first who ascertained that the plot was discovered." - -(3) Christopher Wright was possibly being harboured by Thomas Ward in or -near Lord Mounteagle's town-house in the Strand during a part of Monday -night, the 4th of November, and during the early hours of Tuesday, the -5th. - -Or, if Christopher Wright were not being so harboured, then it is almost -certain he must have been taking such brief repose as he did take at the -inn known by the name of "the Mayden heade in St. Gyles."[A] For there is -evidence to prove that this conspirator's horse was being stabled at that -hostelry in the afternoon of Monday, the 4th of November. - -[Footnote A: The Strand is not far from the Church of St. -Giles-in-the-Fields. This well-known church has now two district churches, -Christ Church, Endell Street, and Holy Trinity, Lincoln's Inn Fields. -(Communicated by Mr. J. A. Nicholson, Solicitor, York.) In 1891 the -population of St. Giles's Parish was 15,281.] - -This we know from the testimony of William Grantham, servant to Joseph -Hewett, deposed to on the 5th of November, 1605,[B] taken before Sir John -Popham, the Lord Chief Justice of England. - -[Footnote B: See Appendix.] - -Moreover, the Lord Chief Justice Popham[C] reported to Lord Salisbury on -the 5th of November as follows: "Christopher Wright, as I thyncke, lay -this last night in St. Gyles."--"_Gunpowder Plot Book_," Part I., No. 10. - -[Footnote C: Of the Leyborne-Pophams, of Littlecote, Co. Wilts.] - -(4) Again; from the following passage in "_Thomas Winter's Confession_" it -is evident that Christopher Wright, at a very early hour in the morning of -Tuesday, November 5th, must have been _in very close proximity to -Mounteagle's residence_, in order to ascertain so accurately--either -directly, through the evidence of his own senses, or indirectly, through -the evidence of the senses of some other person (presumably of Thomas -Ward)--what _there_ took place a few hours after Fawkes's midnight -apprehension by Sir Thomas Knevet. - -Thomas Winter says:-- - -"About five o'clock being Tuesday came the younger Wright to my chamber -and told me that, a nobleman[A] called the Lord Mounteagle, saying, 'Rise -and come along to Essex House, for I am going to call up my Lord of -Northumberland,' saying withal 'the matter is discovered.' - -[Footnote A: It was Edward Somerset Earl of Worcester, Master of the -Horse, I believe, an ancestor, lineal or collateral, of the Duke of -Beaufort. Worcester was a Catholic.] - -"'Go back, Mr. Wright,' quoth I, 'and learn what you can at Essex Gate.' - -"Shortly he returned and said, 'Surely all is lost,[123] for Leyton is got -on horseback at Essex door, and as he parted, he asked if their Lordships -would have any more with him, and being answered "No," he rode as fast up -Fleet Street as he can ride.' - -"'Go you then,' quoth I, 'to Mr. Percy, for sure it is for him they seek, -and bid him be gone: I will stay and see the uttermost.'" - -(5) Furthermore; Lathbury, writing in the year 1839,[A] asserts that -Christopher Wright's advice was that each conspirator "should betake -himself to flight in a different direction from any of his -companions."[124] - -[Footnote A: Lathbury's little book, published by Parker, is a very -careful compilation (_me judice_). It contains an extract from the Act of -Parliament ordaining an Annual Thanksgiving for November 5th; also in the -second Edition (1840) an excellent fac-simile of Lord Mounteagle's Letter. -In Father Gerard's "_What was the Gunpowder Plot?_" (1896), on p. 173, is -a fac-simile of the signature of Edward Oldcorne both before and after -torture.] - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVIII. - - -Now, as somewhat slightly confirming this statement of Lathbury, is the -fact that in an old print published soon after the discovery of the Plot, -which shows the conspirators Catesby, Thomas Winter, Percy, John Wright, -Fawkes, Robert Winter, Bates, and Christopher Wright, Christopher Wright -is represented as a tall man, in the high hat of the period, facing -Catesby, and evidently engaged in earnest discourse with the -arch-conspirator. Christopher Wright to enforce his utterance is holding -up the forefinger of his right hand. Catesby's right hand is raised in -front of Christopher Wright, while Catesby's left hand rests on the hilt -of the sword girded on his side.[125] - -(Of course the evidence in paragraphs (2) and (5) of the last chapter may -have emanated from one and the same source; but the great point is that it -_has emanated from somewhere_.) - -In connection with Christopher Wright's propinquity to Thomas Ward -possibly, and to Thomas Winter possibly likewise, on the Sunday -immediately previous to the "fatal Fifth," the two following items of -evidence are of consequence:-- - -(1) In Jardine's "_Narrative_," p. 98, we are told: "On Sunday, the 3rd of -November, the conspirators heard from the same individual who had first -informed them of the Letter to Lord Mounteagle, that the Letter had been -shown to the King, who made great account of it, but enjoined the -strictest secrecy." - -_This individual was Thomas Ward._--(Jardine.) - -Now, we have seen already that Stowe's "_Chronicle_" records "the next day -after the delivery of the Letter" there was a conjunction of the -planets--Thomas Winter and Christopher Wright. - -This conjunction at or about this period I hold to be a very significant -fact, tending to show that _either_ the one or the other must have sought -his confederate out, as has been remarked already. - -But from the following important Evidence of William Kyddall, servant to -Robert Tyrwhitt, Esquire,[A] brother of Mrs. Ambrose Rookwood, and kinsman -of Robert Keyes, it is evident that it was physically impossible for -Christopher Wright to have met Thomas Winter on Sunday, the 27th of -October; inasmuch as Christopher Wright was then at Lapworth, only twenty -miles distant from Hindlip Hall.[B] - -[Footnote A: Robert Tyrwhitt and William Tyrwhitt and one of Thomas -Winter's uncles, David Ingleby, of Ripley (who married Lady Anne Neville, -a daughter of Charles fifth Earl of Westmoreland), along with "Jesuits," -were, about the year 1592, great frequenters of Twigmore, in Lincolnshire, -twelve miles from Hull by water. John Wright afterwards lived at Twigmore. -Father Garnet is known to have been at Twigmore.] - -[Footnote B: For the information as to the distances between Coughton and -Hindlip; and Stratford-on-Avon and Hindlip; also between Lapworth and -Hindlip, I am indebted to Charles Avery, Esq., of Headless Cross, near -Coughton; the Rev. Father Atherton, O.S.B., of Stratford-on-Avon; and -George Davis, Esq., of York.] - -Yet this does not disprove the material _fact_ of the meeting itself, the -date or circumstance of time not belonging to the essence of the -assertion. (See Appendix.) - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIX. - - -GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--PART I., NO. 52. - - "The examinacon of William Kyddall of Elsam in the Countie of - Lincolne s^{r}vant to Mr. Robert Turrett of Kettleby[A] in the - said Com. taken the viii^{th} daie of November 1605 before S^{r} - Richard Verney Knighte high Sherriff for the Com. of Warr. S^{r} - John fferrers & Willm Combes Esq^{r} Justices of peace there - saith as followeth. - -[Footnote A: Kettleby is near Brigg, in Lincolnshire. Twigmore, where John -Wright had lived, is also near the same town. (Communicated by R. H. -Dawson, Esq., of Beverley, a descendant of the Pendrells, of Boscobel.)] - -"That he was intreated of Mr. John Wrighte, who was dwellinge at Twigmore -in the Countie of Lincolne, to bringe his daught^{r} beinge eight or nine -yere old to Lapworth to Nicholas Slyes[B] house where he hath harbored -this half yere. He brought the child to Lapworth the xxiiii^{th} of -October, and there was Mr. John Wrighte and his wife and Mr. Christopher -Wrighte and his wife, soe he continued at Lapworth from Wednesdaie to -Monday, from thence he goeth to London w^{th} Mr. Christopher Wrighte and -came to London on Wednesdaie betwixt two & three a Clocke to St. Giles to -the signe of the Maydenhead from whence Mr. Wrighte wente into the Towne -and he stayed at the Inn, uppon ffriday one Richard Browne s^{r}vant to -Mr. Wrighte wente downe into Surrey, and on ffriday at night Browne -returned and he & Browne wente uppon Sattersdaie for the Child to a Towne -he knoweth not about Croydon Race and broughte it to the Maydenhead at St. -Gyles to Mr. Wrighte the ffath^{r} who seeinge the child too little to be -carried sent them backe w^{th} it to the place whence thei fetched it on -Sonday Morninge, and thei retorned Sondaie night to the Maydenhead and it -was purposed by Mr. Wright to come awaie w^{th} this examinate uppon -Mondaie morninge but staied because Mr. Wrightes Clothes were not made -till Tuesdaie morninge and then Mr. Wrighte sent this examinate _and[A] -William Ward nephew to Mr. Wrighte downe to Lapworth in Warwickshire_ -whither they were now goinge. He saith he lefte Mr. Wright at London and -knoweth not the causes why he came not away w^{th} them he saith that -Browne lyeth in Westminster neare Whitehall at one Bonkers house. Thei -broughte in their Cloakbagge a suit of Cloathes for Mr. John Wright a -Petronell and a Rapier & dagger thinkinge to find him at Lapworth. - -[Footnote B: Probably Nicholas Sly and his house were well known to -Shakespeare. John Wright appears to have gone to Lapworth (which belonged -to Catesby) about May, 1605. Who Mrs. John Wright was I do not know.] - -[Footnote A: William Ward, one of the sons of Marmaduke Ward, _it will be -remembered, had an uncle who lived at Court_. This surely must have been -Thomas Ward. And I opine that the boy had been on a visit to this uncle; -for at this time his father was at Lapworth, the house of John Wright. It -is possible, however, that Christopher Wright and Kyddall may have brought -young Ward up to London from Lapworth; but I do not think so, otherwise we -should have been told the fact in Kyddall's evidence, most probably. (The -italics are mine.)] - - "Richard Verney.[B] - Jo: fferrers.[C] - W. Combes."[126][D] - -[Footnote B: Sir Richard Verney, Knt., would be a friend, belike, of Sir -Thomas Lucy, Knt., of Charlcote (a Warwickshire Puritan gentleman).] - -[Footnote C: Of the Ferrers, of Baddlesley Clinton (a very old Catholic -family).] - -[Footnote D: From whom Shakespeare bought land. To John Combes, brother to -William, the poet bequeathed his sword by Will.] - -(No endorsement). - -Mistress Dorothie Robinson, Widdow, of Spur Alley, on the 7th of November, -1605, also deposed as follows:-- - -GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--PART I., NO. 41. - - "The examinacon of Dorathie Robinson[127] widdow of Spurr Alley. - - "Shee sayeth that one Mr. Christopher Wright gent did lye in her - house about a Moneth past for xviii^{en} dayes together and no - more. And there did come to him one Mr. Winter w^{ch} did - continually frequent his Company and about a moneth past the - said Winter brought to her house two hampers[A] locked w^{th} - two padlockes, and caused them to be placed in a little Closet - at the end of Mr. Wright's Chamber. But what was in the said - hamps, was privately conveyed away by Winter w^{th}out her - knowledge, and the hamps was geven to her use. - - "Shee sayeth that Mr. Wright could not chuse but know of the - conveying of those thinges w^{ch} were in the hamper as well as - Mr. Winter. - - "Shee sayeth that Mr. Winter by report of his man, was a - Worcestershire man, and his living Eight score poundes by the - yeare at the lest. - - "_The said Mr. Wright hath a brother in London,[B] whose servant - came to him in this woman's house, and the same morning of his - going away, w^{ch} was a Moneth on Tuesday last._ - - "That the said Wright was to seeke his loding againe at this - woman's house; but she tould him her lodgings were otherwayes - disposed of. And then he went his wayes. And since that tyme - shee never saw him. - - "_She sayeth that shee saw Mr. Winter uppon Sunday last in the - afternoone. But where he lodgeth she knoweth not._ (The italics - are mine.) - - "I can find no manner of thing in this woman's house whereby to - geve us any incouragem^{t} to proceede any further. - - "The said Mr. Wright did often goe to the Salutation to one Mr. - Jackson's house; And one Steven the drawer as shee thinketh will - tell where hee is." - -[Footnote A: These hampers contained the fresh gunpowder, no doubt, -mentioned by Thomas Winter in his "_Confession_" written in the Tower. -This sentence tends to confirm the genuineness of the Confession.] - -[Footnote B: _Who was this brother?_ I _suggest_ that by brother is meant -brother-in-law, and that as a fact Christopher Wright _had_ married -Margaret Ward, the sister to both Marmaduke and Thomas Ward. If this be -correct, then we have demonstrative proof of the servant of Thomas Ward -calling upon Christopher Wright (probably with a message from Thomas Ward) -the very same morning as, I hold, that Christopher Wright went down into -Warwickshire, where he would be within twenty miles of Father Oldcorne. -This evidence is important. The word _came_, too, is noticeable, implying, -I think, a habit of coming, a frequentative use of the past tense of the -verb. Observe also "_and the same morning_," implying _cumulative_ acts of -"_coming_," the visit of that day being the last of a series of visits.] - -Mr. Jackson also deposed:-- - - "He sayeth that he knoweth Mr. Wright very well, _But it is - about a fortnight past,[128] since he ws at his house, and since - that tyme he knoweth not what is become of him._ (The italics - are mine.) - - "He sayeth further that he knoweth not any other of his Consorts - or Companyons, yf hee did he would reveale it. - - (Endorsed) "The examinacon of Dorathy Robinson Widdow of Spurr - Alley." - -Furthermore, we have the following Evidence of Mistress Elizabeth More:-- - -7 Nov: 1605. - -STATE PAPERS DOMESTIC--JAS. I., Vol. xvi., No. 13. - -"The Declaracon of Elizabeth More the wief of Edward More taken the 5th of -November 1605. - -"She saieth that the gent that lay at her howse w^{th} Mr. Rookwood this -last night and the night before his name is Mr. Keyes and he took upp the -Chamber for the said Mr. Rookwood. - -"And she saieth that uppon ffryday night last Mr. Christofir Wright came -to this exaite howse w^{th} the said Mr. Rookwood and lay that night in a -chamber on the said Mr. Rookwoode Chamber. - -(Endorsed) "5th No: 1605. - - "The Declaracon of Elizabeth More." - -Mistress More, I find, lived near Temple Bar.[A] - -[Footnote A: Where was Spur Alley? and how far were Temple Bar and Spur -Alley from the town-house in the Strand of the Lord Mounteagle, and -therefore of his Lordship's secretary, Thomas Ward? - -It will be noted by the judicious reader that the conjectured fact that -Christopher Wright's London lodgings were within a short distance of -where, doubtless, his--I suggest--_brother-in-law_ (Ward) was to be found -tends to support my theory.] - - - - - CHAPTER XL. - - -Before we well-nigh finally take our leave of Christopher Wright, I should -like to bring before my readers two pieces of Evidence, from each of -which, at any rate, may be drawn the inference that it was one of the -conspirators themselves that revealed the tremendous secret. - -That Christopher Wright was that revealing conspirator, the manifold -considerations which the preceding pages of this Inquiry have established, -I trust, will satisfy the intellect of my readers, seeing that those -considerations, I respectfully but firmly urge, must be held to have built -up a "probability" so high as to amount to that "moral certitude" which is -"the very guide" of Man's terrestrial life, in that it furnishes Man with -those sufficient rules which direct his daily action.[129] - -But, in bringing the first piece of Evidence to which I allude before the -eyes of my readers, I desire, with great respect, to say that I am keenly -conscious that I run the risk of incurring the condemnation implied in the -words: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." - -But, since "circumstances alter cases," I feel warranted (under -correction) in adventuring, in this one instance, upon a particular line -of argument which I feel is, as an affair of taste, _prima facie_ -unseemly, and, as a matter of feeling, a line of action, in ordinary -cases, to be rigorously eschewed. - -Yet, seeing that such a course of conduct cannot be held to be morally -wrong, my plea is--and I respectfully submit my all-sufficient plea -is--that an Inquiry, having for its purpose the elucidation of the -hitherto inscrutable mystery as to who revealed, or who were instrumental -in revealing, so satanic an enterprise as the Gunpowder Plot, being far, -far removed beyond the range of mere logic-chopping, dry-as-dust, -non-human investigations, justifies the following, in one instance, of a -course of action which unquestionably would clash with mere, decorous -taste, and would collide with mere delicate feeling, except, by the case -being altered, it were lifted into the realm of the categories of the -extraordinary and the special. - -_Then_ the nature of the act _or_ action composing that course of conduct -would be, in a sense, fundamentally and meritoriously changed. And, -_therefore_, it would be, by a double title, morally justifiable. - -Now, when the Gunpowder conspirators were at Huddington, the mansion-house -of Robert Winter, on Thursday, the 7th day of November, certainly most of -the conspirators, and probably all of them, received the Sacrament of -Penance through the ministry of a Jesuit Father, named Nicholas Hart -(alias Strangeways and Hammond), who besides being an _alumnus_ of -Westminster School, and for two years a student of the University of -Oxford, had, prior to his becoming a Priest and a Jesuit, "studied law in -the Inns of Court and Chancery in London."[130] - -Now, William Handy, the serving-man of Sir Everard Digby (of whom we have -already heard), further deposed as follows:[131] - -"On Thursday morning, about three of the clock, all the said company, as -well servants as others, heard Mass, received the Sacrament, and were -confessed, which Mass was said by a priest named Harte, a little man -whitely complexioned, and a little beard." - -Now, Ambrose Rookwood, on the 21st day of January, 1605-6, deposed[132] -that he confessed to Hammond at Huddington, on Thursday, the 7th of -November, that he was sorry he had not revealed the Plot, it seeming so -bloody, and that after his confession Hammond absolved him without remark. - -The precise words of the ill-fated Rookwood hereon are these:-- - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--NO. 177. - - "The voluntarie declaration of Ambrose Rokewood esquier. 21 - Janu. 1605 [1606] - - "I doe acknowledge that uppon thursday morninge beeing the 7th - of November 1605 my selfe and all the other gentlemen (as I doe - remember) did confesse o^{r} sinnes to one Mr. Hamonde Preeste, - at Mr. Robert Wintour his house, and amonges other my sinnes I - did acknowledge my error in concealing theire intended - enterprise of pouder agaynste his Ma^{tie} and the State, having - a scruple in conscience, the facte seeminge to mee to bee too - bluddye, hee for all in generall gave me absolution without any - other circumstances beeing hastned by the multitude that were to - come to him. - - "Ambrose Rookewoode. - - "Ex^{r} p. Edw. Coke - W. Ward." - (Endorsed) - - "... pouder - xx^{th} of January 1605. - hamond - Declaration of Ambrose - Rookewoode of his own hand." - - - - - CHAPTER XLI. - - -Now, regard being had to the fact that this kneeling young Penitent was, -with his own lips, avowing the commission in _desire and thought_ of -"murder most foul as at the best it is"[A] (and "we know that no murderer -hath eternal life abiding in him"[B]), by confessing to a fellow-creature -a wilful and deliberate transgression against that "steadfast Moral Law -which is not of to-day nor yesterday, but which lives for ever"[C] (to say -nothing of his avowal of the commission _in act and deed_ of the crime of -sacrilege,[D] in taking a secret, unlawful oath contrary to the express -prohibitions of a visible and audible Institution which that Priest and -that Penitent alike believed was of divine origin), I firmly, though with -great and all-becoming deference, draw _these_ conclusions, namely, that -_one of the plotters_ had _already_ poured into the bending ear of his -breathless priestly hearer _glad tidings_ to the effect that he (the -revealing plotter, whoever he was) had given that one supreme external -proof which heaven and earth had then left to him for showing the -genuineness of his repentance in regard to his crimes, and the perfectness -of his contrition on account of his transgressions, by taking -premeditated, active, practical, vigorous steps for the utter frustrating -and the complete overthrowing of the prodigious, diabolical Plot. - -[Footnote A: Shakespeare.] - -[Footnote B: St. John the Divine.] - -[Footnote C: Sophocles.] - -[Footnote D: Of course the Gunpowder Treason Plot was a "sacrilegious -crime," because it sought to compass the death of a king who was "one of -the Lord's anointed," _as well as_ because of the unlawful oath of -secrecy, solemnly ratified by the reception of the Sacrament at the hands -of some priest in a house behind St. Clement's Inn, "near the principal -street in London called the Strand."--See "_The Confessions of Thomas -Winter and Guy Fawkes_." This house was probably the London lodging of -Father John Gerard, S.J. Winter and Fawkes said that the conspirators -received the Sacrament at the hands of Gerard. But "Gerard was not -acquainted with their purpose," said Fawkes. Gerard denied having given -the conspirators the Sacrament.--See Gardiner's "_What Gunpowder Plot -was_," p. 44. One vested priest is very much like another, just as one -soldier in uniform is very much like another. So Fawkes and Winter may -have been mistaken. Besides, they would not be likely to be minutely -examining the features of a priest on such an occasion.] - -Furthermore; that it was _because_ of the possession by Hammond of this -happy intelligence, early on that Thursday morning, before sunrise, that -_therefore_, in the Tribunal of Penance, "he absolved" poor, miserable -(yet contrite) Ambrose Rookwood "for all in general"--"without any other -circumstances." - -That is, I take it, without reproaching or even chiding him--in fact -"without remark."[A] - -[Footnote A: Father Nicholas Hart (alias Hammond) appears to have been -stationed with the Vauxes, of Great Harrowden, usually. Foley (iv., Index) -thinks it probable that the Father Singleton, S.J. (alias Clifton), -mentioned by Henry Hurlston, Esquire, or Huddlestone, of the Huddlestones, -of Suwston Hall, near Cambridge; Faringdon Hall, near Preston, in -Lancashire; and Millom, "North of the Sands," was in reality Father -Nicholas Hart (alias Hammond). I do not think so. For, according to the -Evidence of Henry Hurlston (Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., pp. 10, 11), -who was at Great Harrowden, on Tuesday, November 5th, at five o'clock in -the afternoon, Father Strange, S.J. (a cousin of Mr. Abington, of -Hindlip), and this said Father Singleton, "by Thursday morning took their -horses and intended to have ridden to Grote." They were apprehended at -Kenilworth. This Father Singleton is a mysterious personage whose "future" -I should like to follow up. Was he the same as a certain "Dr. Singleton" -who figures in the "_Life of Mary Ward_" vol. i., p. 443? and was he of -the Catholic Singletons, of Singleton, near Blackpool?] - - - - - CHAPTER XLII. - - -The other piece of Evidence that I wish to bring before my readers which -tends to show that it was _one of the conspirators themselves that -revealed the Plot_ is this:-- - -Jardine gives in his "_Criminal Trials_"[133] a certain Letter of -Instructions to Sir Edward Coke,[134] the Attorney-General who conducted -the prosecution of the surviving Gunpowder conspirators at Westminster -Hall[135] before a Special Commission for High Treason, on the 27th day of -January, 1605-6. - -This very remarkable document is in the handwriting of Robert Cecil first -Earl of Salisbury. - -It is as follows:-- - - "These things I am commanded to renew unto your memory. First, - that you be sure to make it appear to the world that there was - an employment of some persons to Spain for a practice of - invasion, as soon as the Queen's breath was out of her body. The - reason is this for which the King doth urge it. He saith some - men there are that will give out, and do, that only despair of - the King's courses on the Catholics and his severity, draw all - these to such works of discontentment: where by you it will - appear, that before his Majesty's face was ever seen, or that he - had done anything in government, the King of Spain was moved, - though he refused it, saying, 'he rather expected to have - peace,' etc. - - "_Next, you must in any case, when you speak of the Letter which - was the first ground of discovery, absolutely disclaim that any - of these wrote it, though you leave the further judgment - indefinite who else it should be._ (The italics are mine.) - - "Lastly, and 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 as this was. To be short, sir, - you can remember how well the King in his Book did censure[A] - his lordship's part in it, from which sense you are not to vary, - but _obiter_ (as you know best how), to give some good echo of - that particular action in that day of public trial of these men; - because it is so lewdly given out that he was once of this plot - of powder, and afterwards betrayed it all to me. - - "This is but _ex abundanti_, that I do trouble you; but as they - come to my head or knowledge, or that I am directed, I am not - scrupulous to send to you. - - "You must remember to lay Owen as foul in this as you can." - -[Footnote A: The word "censure" here means, formed an opinion of his -lordship's part. From Lat. _censeo_, I think.] - -Now, strangely enough, in the day of public trial of these men, the -learned Attorney-General forgot in one particular the aforesaid clear and -express Injunctions of his Majesty's principal Secretary of State. - -For, if he be correctly reported, Sir Edward Coke then said:--[136] - -"The last consideration is concerning the admirable discovery of this -treason, _which was by one of themselves_, _who had taken the oath and -sacrament, as hath been said, against his own will; the means was by a -dark and doubtful letter sent to my Lord Mounteagle._"[A] (The italics are -mine.) - -[Footnote A: "Truth will out!"] - -Now, regard being had (1) to what Salisbury bade Coke _not say_; and (2) -to what Coke as a matter of fact _did say_, I infer, first, that it _was_ -one of the conspirators who revealed the Plot; because of just scruples -that his conscience had, well-nigh at the eleventh hour, awakened in his -breast: that, secondly, not only so, but that the Government, through -Salisbury, Suffolk, Coke, and probably Bacon, strongly suspected as much: -that, thirdly, this was the explanation not only of their _comparatively_ -mild treatment of the Gunpowder conspirators themselves,[137] but also, I -hold, of the subsequent _comparatively_ mild treatment of the recusants -generally throughout the country.[138] - -For had the Government stripped all English Papists of their lands and -goods and driven them into the sea, Humanity scarcely could have -complained of injustice or harshness, regard being had to the devilish -wholesale cruelty of the Gunpowder Plot. - -Contrariwise, the entire action of the Government resembles the action of -a man in whose hand the stick has broken whilst he is in the act of -administering upon a wrong-doer richly deserved chastisement. - -For, indisputably, the Government abstained from following after, and from -reaping the full measure of, their victory (to have recourse to a more -dignified figure of speech) _either on grounds of principle, policy--or -both_. - -Moreover, none of the estates of the plotters were forfeited. And this, -regard being had to the fact that the plotters were "moral monsters," and -to the well-known impecuniosity of the tricky James and his northern -satellites, is itself a circumstance pregnant with the greatest possible -suspicion that there was some great mystery in the background.--See -Lathbury's "_Guy Fawkes_," pp. 76, 77, first Edition. - -For, even if deeds of marriage settlement intervened to protect the -plotters' estates, an Act of Parliament surely could have swept them away -like the veriest cobwebs. For Sir Edward Coke himself might have told the -King and Privy Council that "an Act of Parliament could do anything, short -of turning a man into a woman," if the King and Council had needed -enlightening on the point. - - - - - CHAPTER XLIII. - - -Again: the primary instinct of self-preservation alone would have -assuredly impelled the bravest of the brave amongst the nine malefactors, -including Tresham, who were incarcerated in the Tower of London, either to -seek to save his life when awaiting his trial in Westminster Hall, or, at -any rate, when expecting the scaffold, the ripping knife, the embowelling -fork, and the quartering block, in St. Paul's Churchyard or in the old -Palace Yard, Westminster, to seek to save his life, _by divulging the -mighty secret respecting his responsibility for the Letter of Letters, had -anyone of them in point of fact penned the document. For "skin for skin -all that a man hath will he give for his life."_ - -Hence, from the silence of one and all of the survivors--a silence as -unbroken as that of the grave--we can, it stands to reason, draw but this -one conclusion, namely, that the nine surviving Gunpowder conspirators -were stayed and restrained by the omnipotence of the impossible from -declaring that _anyone of them_ had saved his King and Parliament. - -Hence, by consequence, _the revealing conspirator must be found amongst -that small band of four who survived not to tell the tale_. - -Therefore is our Inquiry reduced to within a narrow compass, a fact which -simplifies our task unspeakably. - -If it be objected that "a point of honour" may have stayed and restrained -one of the nine conspirators from "discovering" or revealing his share in -the laudable deed, it is demonstrable that it would be a _false_, not a -_true_, sense of duty that prompted such an unrighteous step. - -For the revealing plotter, whoever he was, had duties to his kinsfolk as -well as to himself, and, indeed, to his Country, to Humanity at large, and -also to his Church, which _ought, in justice_, to have actuated--and it is -reasonable to believe would have assuredly actuated--a disclosure of the -truth respecting the facts of the revelation. - -But I hold that the nine conspirators told nothing as to the origin of -this Letter of Letters, _because they had none of them, anything to tell_. - -Moreover, I suggest that what Archbishop Usher[139][A] meant when he is -reported to have divers times said, "that if Papists knew what he knew, -the blame of the Gunpowder Treason would not lie on them,"[140][B] was -this:-- - -[Footnote A: Protestant Archbishop of Armagh.] - -[Footnote B: Such a secret as the answer to the problem "Who revealed the -Gunpowder Plot?" was a positive burden for Humanity, whereof it should -have been, in justice, relieved. For it tends to demonstrate the existence -of a realm of actualities having relations to man, but the workings of the -causes, processes, and consequences of which realm are invisible to mortal -sight; in other words, of the contact and intersection of two circles or -spheres, whereof one is bounded by the finite, the other by the infinite. -Now, in the case of strong-minded and intelligent Catholics, the weight of -_this_ fact would have almost inevitably impelled to an avowal of the fact -of revelation had not the omnipotence of the impossible stayed and -restrained. Hence, the absence of avowal demonstrates, with moral -certitude, the absence of ability to avow. And this latter, with moral -certitude, proves my point, namely, that one of the four slain divulged -the Plot.] - -_That it was "the Papist Doctrine" of the non-binding force of a secret, -unlawful oath that (Deo juvante) had been primarily the joint-efficient -cause of the spinning right round on its axis of the hell-begotten -Gunpowder Plot._ - -It is plain that King James's Government[A] were mysteriously stayed and -restrained in their legislative and administrative action after the -discovery of the diabolically atrocious Gunpowder Treason Plot. - -[Footnote A: It is the duty of every Government to see that it is true, -just, and strong. Governments should confine their efforts to the calm and -faithful attainment of these three ideals. Then they win respect and -confidence, even from those who fear them but do not love. James and the -first Earl of Salisbury, and that type of princes and statesmen, oscillate -betwixt the two extremes, injustice and hysterical generosity, which is a -sure sign of a lack of consciousness of absolute truth, justice, and -strength.] - -And illogical and inconstant as many English rulers too often have been -throughout England's long and, by good fortune, glorious History, this -extraordinary illogicalness and inconstancy of the Government of King -James I. betokens to him that can read betwixt the lines, and who "knows -what things belong to what things"--betokens Evidence of what? - -Unhesitatingly I answer: _Of that Government's not daring, for very -decency's sake, to proceed to extremities._ - -Now, by reason of the primal instincts of human nature, this consciousness -would be sure to be generated by, and would be certain to operate upon, -any and every civilized, even though heathen, government with staying and -restraining force. - -Now, the Government of James I. was a civilized government, and it was not -a heathen government. Moreover, it certainly was a Government composed of -human beings, who, after all, were the persecuted Papists' -fellow-creatures. - -Therefore, I suggest that this manifest hesitancy to proceed to -extremities sprang from, and indeed itself demonstrates, this fact, -namely, that the then British Government realized that _it was an -essentially Popish Doctrine of Morals which had been the primary motive -power for securing their temporal salvation. That doctrine being, indeed, -none other than the hated and dreaded "Popish Doctrine" of the -"non-binding force" upon the Popish Conscience of a secret, morally -unlawful oath which thereby, ipso facto, "the Papal Church" prohibited and -condemned._ - -Hence, that was, I once more suggest, what Archbishop Usher referred to, -in his oracular words, which have become historic, but which have been -hitherto deemed to constitute an insoluble riddle. - -For certainly behind those oracular words lay some great State mystery. - -The same fact possibly accounts for the traditional tale that the second -Earl of Salisbury confessed that the Plot was "his father's -contrivance."--See Gerard's "_What was the Gunpowder Plot?_" p. 160. - -For the Plot _was_ "his father's contrivance," considered as to its broad -ultimate _effects_ on the course of English History, in that the Plot was -made a seasonable handle of for the destruction of English Popery. And a -valuable and successful handle it proved too, as mankind knows very well -to-day. Though "what's bred in the bone" is apt, in this world, "to come -out in the flesh." Therefore, the British statesman or philosopher needs -not be unduly alarmed if and when, from time to time, he discerns about -him incipient signs, among certain members of the English race, of that -"staggering back to Popery," whereof Ralph Waldo Emerson once sagely -spoke. - -"_'Tis a strange world, my masters! And the whirligig of Time brings round -strange revenges!_" - - - - - CHAPTER XLIV. - - -We come now to the last portion of this Inquiry--to the last portion, -indeed, but not to the least. - -For we have now to consider what Evidence there is tending to prove that -_subsequent_ to the penning of the Letter by Father Edward Oldcorne, he -was _conscious_ of having performed the meritorious deed that, I maintain, -the Evidence, deductions, and suggestions therefrom all converge to one -supreme end to establish, namely, that it is morally (not mathematically) -certain that his hand, and his hand alone, actually penned that immortal -Letter, whose praises shall be celebrated till the end of time. - -Before considering this Evidence let me, however, remind my readers that -there is (1) _not only a general similarity_ in the handwriting of the -Letter and Father Oldcorne's undoubted handiwork--the Declaration of the -12th day of March, 1605-6--_a general similarity_ in point of the size of -the letters and of that indescribable something called style,[141] _but -(2) a particular similarity_ in the formation of the letters in the case -of these following, namely, the small c/s, l/s, i/s, b/s, w/s, r/s, long -s/s (as initials), short s/s (as terminals), while the m/s and n/s are not -inconsistent.[A] - -[Footnote A: Bentham aptly terms the comparison of Document with Document, -"Circumstantial real Evidence."--See Best's "_Principles of the Law of -Evidence_," and Wills on "_Circumstantial Evidence_." See Miss Walford's -Letter (Appendix).] - -Moreover, there is (3) this fact to be remembered, that in both the Letter -and in the said Declaration, the name "God" is written with a small "g," -thus: "god." - -It is true that, of course, not only did this way of writing the name of -the Supreme Being then denote no irreverence, but it was commonly so -written by Englishmen in the year 1605. - -Still, it was certainly _not by them universally so written_. For in the -fac-simile of "_Thomas Winter's Confession_" the word "God" occurs more -than once written with a handsomely made capital G,[142] to mention none -other cases. - -There is to be also remembered (4) the user of the expressions "as yowe -tender youer lyf," and "deuys some exscuse to shift of[143] youer -attendance at this parleament for god and man hathe concurred to punishe -the wickednes of this tyme." - -For these expressions are eminently expressions that would be employed by -a man born in Yorkshire in the sixteenth century. - -Again; there is to be noted (5) the expressions as "yowe tender youer -_lyf_," and "god and man hathe concurred." Inasmuch as I maintain that as -"yowe tender youer _lyf_" was just the kind of expression that would be -used by a man who had had an early training in the medical art, as was the -case with Edward Oldcorne. - -For "Man to preserve is pleasure suiting man, and by no art is favour -better sought." And a deep rooted belief in the powers of Nature and in -the sacredness of the life of man are the two brightest jewels in the true -physician's crown. - -Once more; (6) the expression "god and man hathe concurred" is -pre-eminently the mode of clothing in language one way, wherein a rigid -Roman Catholic of that time would mentally contemplate--_not_, indeed, the -interior quality of the mental phenomena known as the Gunpowder Plot, in -which "the devil" alone could "concur," but the simple exterior designment -of the same, provided he _knew_ for certain that it could be considered as -a clear transparency only--as a defecated cluster of purely intellectual -acts.[A] - -[Footnote A: It is manifest that if, _in intent_, Oldcorne by his own -Letter had destroyed the Plot, he, of all other people in the world, would -have _the prerogative_ of regarding the Plot as a clear transparency; -_while of the Plot as a transparency_, he would feel a freedom to write -"god and man hathe concurred to punishe the wickednes of this tyme." If -the Writer had not the prerogative of regarding the Plot as a clear -transparency then these results follow--that he regarded Him (Whose Eyes -are too pure even to behold iniquity) as _concurring_ in the designment of -a most hellish crime, nay, of participating in such designment; _for he -couples God with man_. Now the Letter is evidently the work of a Catholic. -But no Catholic would regard God as the author of a crime. Therefore the -Gunpowder Plot to the Writer of the Letter can have been regarded as no -crime. But it was obviously a crime, _unless and until_ it had been -defecated of criminous quality, and so rendered a clear transparency. Now, -as the Writer obviously did not regard it as a crime, therefore he must -have regarded it as defecated, by some means or another; in other words, -as a clear transparency. And _this_, I maintain, proves that the Writer -had a special interior knowledge of the Plot "behind the scenes," that is, -deep down within the depths of his conscious being.] - -Furthermore, in reflecting on these preliminaries to the general -discussion of the Evidence tending to prove a consciousness on Edward -Oldcorne's part, _subsequent_ to the penning of the Letter, of being -responsible for the commission of the everlastingly meritorious feat, let -it be diligently noted that the Letter ends with these words: "_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 -contend yowe._" (The italics are mine.) - -Now, I opine that what the Writer intended _to hint at_ was a suggestion -to the recipient of the Letter to destroy the document. _Not_, however, -that as a fact, I think, he really wished it to be destroyed.[144] Because -it is highly probable that (apart from other reasons) the Writer must have -wished it to be conveyed to the King, else why should he have said, "i -hope god will give you the grace to mak _good_ use of it"? - -And why should the King himself in his book have omitted the insertion of -this little, but here virtually all-important, adjective?[145] - -Besides, the Writer cannot have seriously wished for the destruction of -the document. For in that case he would not have made use of such a -masterpiece of vague phraseology as "the dangere is passed as soon as yowe -have burnt the letter."[146] But, on the contrary, he would have plainly -adjured the receiver of the missive, for the love of God and man, to -commit it as soon as read to the devouring flames! - -Lastly should be noted the commendatory words wherewith the document -closes. These words (or those akin to them), though in use among -Protestants as well as Catholics in the year 1605, were specially employed -by Catholics, and particularly by Jesuits or persons who were "Jesuitized" -or "Jesuitically affected."[147] - - - - - CHAPTER XLV. - - -Having dealt with the _preliminary_ Evidence, we now come to the -discussion of the _main_ Evidence which tends to show that _subsequent_ to -the penning of the Letter Father Edward Oldcorne, Priest and Jesuit, -performed acts or spoke words which clearly betoken _a consciousness_ on -his part of being the responsible person who penned the document. - -That this may be done the more thoroughly, it will be necessary to ask my -readers to engage with me in a metaphysical discussion. - -But, before attempting such a discussion, which indeed is the crux of this -historical and philosophical work, we will retrace our steps somewhat, in -the order of time, to the end that we may, amongst other things, haply -refresh and recreate the mind a little preparatory to entering upon our -severer labours. - -Now, on Wednesday, November the 6th, Father Oswald Tesimond went from -Coughton, near Redditch, in Warwickshire, the house of Thomas -Throckmorton, Esquire, to Huddington, in Worcestershire, the seat of -Robert Winter, who had married Miss Gertrude Talbot, of Grafton. The -Talbots, like the Throckmortons, were a people who happily managed to -reconcile rigid adherence to the ancient Faith with stanch loyalty to -their lawful Sovereign.[A] - -[Footnote A: I believe that the grand old Catholic family of Throckmorton -still own Coughton Hall, which is twelve miles from Hindlip.] - -Tesimond, leaving behind him his Superior Garnet at Coughton, went, it is -said, to assist the unhappy traitors with the Sacraments of their Church. -But, I imagine, he found most of his hoped-for penitents, at least -externally, in anything except a penitential frame of mind. - -This was the last occasion when Tesimond's eyes gazed upon his old York -school-fellows of happier, bygone days--the brothers John and Christopher -Wright.[148] - -Now, to Father Tesimond, as well as to Father Oldcorne, Hindlip Hall[A] -and Huddington[B] (in Worcestershire), Coughton,[C] Lapworth,[D] -Clopton,[E] and Norbrook[F] (in Warwickshire), must have been thoroughly -well known; for at Hindlip Hall for eight years Tesimond likewise had been -formerly domesticated. - -Where resided either temporarily or permanently:-- - -[Footnote A: Thomas Abington.] - -[Footnote B: Robert Winter and Thomas Winter.] - -[Footnote C: Thomas Throckmorton.] - -[Footnote D: John Wright and Christopher Wright.] - -[Footnote E: Ambrose Rookwood.] - -[Footnote F: John Grant.] - -Dr. Gardiner's "_History of James I._" (Longmans) contains a map showing -the relative positions of these places. - -On Wednesday, the 6th November, Fathers Garnet and Tesimond were at -Coughton. Catesby, along with Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, Sir -Everard Digby, Ambrose Rookwood, and others, was at Huddington. Catesby -and Digby had sent a letter to Garnet. - -Bates was the messenger, and was come from Norbrook, the house of John -Grant, where the plotters rested in their wild, north-westward flight from -Ashby St. Legers. For to Ashby the fugitives had posted headlong from -London town on Tuesday, the "fatal Fifth." - -Catesby and Digby urged Garnet to make for Wales.[A] - -[Footnote A: Catesby had great influence over Tesimond, and it was -Tesimond whom Catesby first informed of the Gunpowder Plot, in the -Tribunal of Penance. Tesimond had a sharp and nimble, but probably not -very powerful, mind. Catesby gave Tesimond permission to consult Father -Henry Garnet as to the ethics of the Plot. Moreover, Catesby gave the -Jesuits permission to disclose the particular knowledge of the Plot they -had received, provided they thought it right to do so. This is how we come -to know what passed between Catesby and Tesimond, and then between -Tesimond and Garnet. Tesimond had received from Catesby about the 24th -July, 1605, in the Confessional, a particular knowledge of the Plot, in -the sense that he was told there was projected an explosion by gunpowder, -with the object of destroying the King and Parliament; but all particulars -respecting final plans he did not know till a fortnight before the 11th of -October, I think.] - -After half-an-hour's earnest discourse together, Father Garnet gave leave -to Tesimond to proceed to Huddington to administer to the wretched -fugitives the rites--the last rites--of the Church they had so disgraced -and wronged. Garnet remained at Coughton. Tesimond tarried at Huddington -about two hours. - -Tesimond arrived at Hindlip from Huddington in a state of the greatest -excitement possible. He showed himself on reaching Hindlip to be a -choleric man, while Father Oldcorne--who seems to have kept perfectly calm -and cool throughout the whole of the momentous conference--Tesimond -himself denounced, if he did not reproach, as being phlegmatic. - -Tesimond, evidently, had been commissioned by Catesby,[B] at Huddington, -to incite Mr. Abington, his household, and retainers, including (I take -it, if possible) Oldcorne himself, to join the insurgents at Huddington, -Holbeach, Wales, and wherever else they might unfurl the banner of "the -holy war," or, in other words, the armed rebellion against King James, his -Privy Council, and Government. - -[Footnote B: Tesimond, in my opinion, was completely over-mastered by the -more potent will of his penitent (?) Catesby. _Cf._, The case of Hugh -Latimer and Thomas Bilney; Bilney made a Protestant of Latimer, who was -Bilney's confessor. These afford striking examples of the power of -psycho-electrical will force.] - -Tesimond's mission, however, to Hindlip, proving fruitless, he thereupon -rode towards Lancashire, in the hope of rousing Lancashire Catholics to -arms, as one man, in behalf of those altars and homes they loved more than -life. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVI. - - -Now, in this calm and dignified demeanour of Oldcorne, at Hindlip, which -evidently so annoyed, nay, exasperated--because it arrested and -thwarted--his younger brother Jesuit (both of whom, almost certainly, had -known each other in York from boyhood), the discerning reader, I submit, -ought in reason to draw _this_ conclusion, namely, that Edward Oldcorne -was tranquil and imperturbable because, in regard to the whole of the -unhappy business, that so possessed and engrossed the being of Oswald -Tesimond, Edward Oldcorne's was a _mens conscia recti_--a mind conscious -of rectitude--aye, a mind conscious of superabounding merit and virtue. - -So important evidentially do I think the diverse demeanour[149] of -Tesimond and Oldcorne on this occasion, that I will transcribe from -Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_"[150] Oldcorne's testimony of what took place -at Hindlip Hall at this interview:--[151] - -"Oldcorne confesseth that upon Wednesday, being the 6th of November, about -two of the clock in the afternoon, there came Tesimond (Greenway) from -Huddington, from Mr. Robert Winter's to Hindlip, and told Mr. Abington and -him 'that he brought them the worst news that ever they heard,' and said -'that they were all undone.' And they demanding the cause, he said that -there were certain gentlemen that meant to have blown up the Parliament -House, and that their plot was discovered a day or two before; and now -they were gathered together some forty horse at Mr. Winter's house, naming -Catesby, Percy, Digby, and others; and told them, 'their throats would be -cut unless they presently went to join with them.' And Mr. Abington said, -'Alas! I am sorry.' And this examinate and he answered him that they would -never join with him in that matter, and charged all his house to that -purpose not to go with them. He confesseth that upon the former speeches -made by this examinate and Mr. Abington to Tesimond, alias Greenway, the -Jesuit, _Tesimond said in some heat 'thus we may see a difference between -a flemmatike [phlegmatic] and a choleric person!', and said he would go to -others, and specially into Lancashire, for the same purpose as he came to -Hindlip to Mr. Abington_." [152][153] (The italics are mine.) - - - - - CHAPTER XLVII. - - -Father Henry Garnet, the chief of the English Jesuits, left London at the -end of August, 1605,[154] and proceeded towards Gothurst (now Gayhurst), -in the Parish of Tyringham, three miles from Newport Pagnell, -Buckinghamshire.[A] - -[Footnote A: The seat of Walter Carlile, Esquire, as has been already -mentioned. I have to thank this gentleman for his courteousness in -informing me that Gayhurst (formerly Gothurst) is three miles from Newport -Pagnell. An excellent picture, together with descriptive account, of -Gayhurst, is given in the "_Life of Sir Everard Digby_," by one of that -knight's descendants. Gothurst contained a remarkable hiding-place, which -was probably constructed by Nicholas Owen, the lay-brother of Father -Garnet. According to Father Gerard, the friend of Digby, Gothurst was ten -miles from Great Harrowden, the seat of the young Lord Vaux.] - -Now, who was Henry Garnet, whom the Attorney-General, Sir Edward Coke, -described in Westminster Hall as "a man--grave, discreet, wise, learned, -and of excellent ornament, both of nature and art;" but around whose name -so fierce a controversy had raged for well-nigh 300 years? He was born in -1555, and brought up a Protestant of the Established Church; his father -being Mr. Briant Garnet, the head master of the Free School, at -Nottingham; his mother's name was Alice Jay. Henry Garnet was a scholar of -Winchester School, and the intention was to send him to New College, -Oxford. However, he resolved to become reconciled to the Pope's religion, -and in 1575 joined the Jesuit Novitiate in Rome, where the great Cardinal -Bellarmine was one of his tutors. - -Now, to the end that the claims of Truth and Justice, strict, severe, and -impartial, may be met in relation to this celebrated English Jesuit, it -will be necessary to repeat that as far back as about the beginning of -Trinity Term (_i.e._, the 9th June, 1605), Catesby, in Thames Street, -London--_outside the Confessional_--had propounded to Garnet a question, -_which ought to have put the Jesuit expressly upon inquiry_. For that -question was, in case it were lawful to kill a person or persons, whether -it were necessary to regard the innocents which were present, lest they -also should perish withal. - -And this the rather, when Catesby on that very occasion "made solemn -protestation that he would never be known to have asked me [_i.e._, -Garnet] any such question as long as he lived."--See "Hatfield MS.," -printed in "_Historical Review_," for July, 1888, and largely quoted in -the Rev. J. Gerard's articles on Garnet, in "_Month_" for June and July, -1901. - -On the 24th of July, 1605, Garnet had sent a remarkable letter to Rome, -addressed to Father Aquaviva, the General of the Jesuits.--See "Father -Gerard's Narrative," pp. 76, 77, in "_Condition of Catholics under James -I._," edited by Rev. John Morris, S.J. (Longmans, 1872). - -In this letter, which of course was in Latin, Garnet says--amongst other -things betokening an apprehension of a general insurrectionary feeling -among Catholics up and down the country in consequence of the terrible -persecution which had re-commenced as soon as James I. had safely -concluded his much-desired peace with Spain--"_the danger is lest secretly -some Treason or violence be shown to the King, and so all Catholics may be -compelled to take arms._" - -Garnet then proceeds: "_Wherefore, in my judgment, two things are -necessary, first, that His Holiness should prescribe what in any case is -to be done; and then, that he should forbid any force of arms by the -Catholics under Censures, and by Brief, publicly promulgated; an occasion -for which can be taken from the disturbance lately raised in Wales, which -has at length come to nothing._ It remains that as all things are daily -becoming worse, we should beseech His Holiness soon to give a necessary -remedy for these great dangers, and we ask his blessing and that of your -Paternity." (The italics are mine.) - -Now, by the word "censures" here, I presume, Garnet meant excommunication, -that is, a cutting off from the visible fellowship of Catholics and (what -would frighten every Catholic, whether his faith worked by love or fear, -that is, whether it were a rational form of religion or a mere abject -superstition) a deprivation of the Sacraments of his exacting Church, -which are, according to Rome's tenets, the special means devised by the -Founder of Christianity whereby Man is united to "the Unseen -Perfectness." - - - - - CHAPTER XLVIII. - - -When Garnet penned this letter to the General of the Jesuits in Rome, he -had, _outside the Confessional_, a general knowledge of the Gunpowder -project from Robert Catesby. - -Thus much is clear. - -That is to say, Garnet had a great suspicion, tantamount to a general -knowledge, that Catesby had in his head some bloody and desperate -enterprise of massacre, the object whereof was to destroy at one fell blow -James I. and his Protestant Government.--See Gerard's "_Narrative_," p. -78. - -_Garnet most probably in the Confessional even did not at first know all -particulars._ - -That is to say, he did not know that it was intended to put thirty-six -barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the House of Lords--consignments of -explosives which it was further intended were to be ignited, when -Parliament met, by Guy Fawkes, booted and spurred, by means of a -slow-burning match, which would give him one quarter-of-an-hour's grace to -effect his escape to a ship in the Thames bound for Flanders: and that the -young Princess Elizabeth was to be seized at the house of the Lord -Harrington, in Warwickshire, and proclaimed Queen _after_ her parents and -two brothers, Henry Prince of Wales and Charles Duke of York, had been -torn and rent into ten thousand fragments. - -But this able, learned, sweet-tempered, yet weak-willed, unimaginative, -irresolute man _knew enough outside the Confessional_--which is the point -we have to deal with here--to render himself liable to have been sent to -the galleys by the Pope, if His Holiness could have laid hold of him, -when, notwithstanding this atrocious knowledge, he actually refused to -give ear to the arch-conspirator, even although Catesby, on Father -Gerard's own admission, "offered sometimes to tell him [Garnet] that they -[Catesby and his friends] would not endure to be so long so much abused, -but would take some course to right themselves, if others would not -respect them or could not relieve them."--Gerard's "_Narrative_," p. 78. - -Truly "Evil is wrought by want of thought as well as by want of heart." - -The fact that Garnet knew violence was likely to be shown to his lawful -Sovereign, coupled with the fact that Garnet _might have learned all the -particulars about that purposed violence_ had he not, through a negligence -which can be only characterized as grossly criminal, passively omitted, if -indeed he had not actively declined, to obtain those particulars from the -lips of the arch-conspirator himself--such facts make the case _up to the -24th of July, 1605, absolutely_ fatal against Garnet. And such facts can -lead the unbiased mind of the philosophical historian (who does not care a -pin about all the ecclesiastical spite, on either one side or the other, -that ever was or ever shall be), can lead to one inevitable conclusion -only: that Henry Garnet was justly condemned to death by an earthly -tribunal for misprision, that is, for concealment, of High Treason -_against the Sovereign power of his Country_. Although, being a priest, he -ought to have been ecclesiastically "_degraded_" first, according to the -provisions of the Canon law, and then handed over to the secular arm for -condign punishment, according to the law of the outraged State. - -For, "_Id certum est quod certum reddi potest_," that is, certain -knowledge which can be reduced to a certainty. - -Again, the damning evidence against Garnet is clenched by a letter that he -sent to Rome, dated 28th August, wherein, amongst other things, he said: -"And for anything we can see, Catholics are quiet, and likely to continue -their old patience, and to trust to the King or his son for to remedy all -in time."--Gerard's "_Narrative_," pp. 78, 79. - -Now Garnet[A] was a man of most acute mind and very clear-sighted; but he -was intellectually unimaginative as well as morally weak-willed. And such -a man is never a far-sighted man. - -[Footnote A: Garnet was a profound mathematician and accomplished -linguist, amongst other acquirements.] - -But as Garnet's moral character was almost certainly good on the whole, -the conclusion that Justice suggests in reference to this letter of the -28th August especially is that, through intense grief and anguish of mind, -Garnet had lost his head, and was not wholly responsible for either his -words or actions.[B] - -[Footnote B: After Father Tesimond had told Garnet (with Catesby's leave) -of the Plot, thereby bringing the matter as a natural secret indirectly -under the seal of the Confessional, Garnet could not sleep at nights. Now, -sleeplessness, combined with carking care and keen distress of heart, -would inevitably tend to unbalance even the very strongest of human minds, -at least, temporarily. Tesimond told Garnet _generally_ of Catesby's -diabolical plan "a little before" St. James'-tide (_i.e._, the 25th of -July, 1605), at Fremland, in Essex, but by way of confession. The -Government, however, it seems to me, from the report of the trial in -Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_" and from Lingard, condemned Garnet _not_ -because he did not reveal particular _knowledge_ he had received _in the -Confessional from Tesimond_, but because he did not reveal _general -knowledge_ he had _from Catesby outside the Confessional_. This, in -fairness to James I., Salisbury, and the King's Council, should be -faithfully borne in mind. Moreover, according to one school of Catholic -moralists, in _either case_ the Government ought to have been communicated -with _if_ Garnet could have done so without risk of divulging Tesimond's -name. Indeed, Garnet himself took this view--the view which most princes -and statesmen will prefer, I should fancy. Garnet, however, had not the -machinery ready to his hand to carry _both views_ into practical effect. -_Therefore Garnet, to my mind, was eminently justified in not divulging -the particular knowledge he had from Tesimond by way of confession. For -according to the teaching of Thomas Aquinas, the Christian Aristotle, a -natural secret may be indirectly_ protected by the seal of the -Confessional if the priest _promises_ so to protect it. I conclude, -however, that (1) according to the dictates of right reason the promise -may be _either implied or expressed_, and (2) that in the case of -overwhelming necessity the promise may be broken, as in the case of High -Treason, _if the priest_ can avoid, _with absolute certitude_, exposing -the name of the depositor of the wicked secret. It was because Garnet -could not avoid exposing Tesimond's name _practically_ that he was -justified in not acting upon his own _abstract_ principles in relation to -the knowledge he had from Tesimond by way of confession.] - - - - - CHAPTER XLIX. - - -At the beginning of the month of September, 1605, Father Garnet was at -Gothurst,[A] three miles from Newport Pagnell, in the County of -Buckinghamshire, and about the 5th of September from this still standing -stately English home there proceeded the nucleus of a pilgrim-band bent -for the famous well of St. Winifred, the British Saint, situated at -Holywell, in North Wales. - -[Footnote A: Gothurst (now Gayhurst) is twelve miles from Northampton and -from ten to fifteen miles from Great Harrowden. Weston Underwood and -Olney, immortalized by William Cowper, are not far from both places. The -poet would be distantly related to young Lord Vaux of Harrowden, through -the Donnes, who, like Lord Vaux, through the Ropers, were descended from -Sir Thomas More. To Walter Carlile, Esquire, who now resides at Gayhurst, -which was the ancient name of the Estate (Gothurst, however, being its -name in Sir Everard Digby's day), I am indebted for the information as to -the distance of Gayhurst from Northampton. Cowper was, it will be -recollected, the intimate friend of the Throckmortons of his day.] - -Sir Everard Digby, the Master of Gothurst, was not of the company, as he -was engaged in negotiating a match between the young Lord Vaux of -Harrowden, then a youth of about fourteen years of age, with one of the -daughters of the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Suffolk. But Lady Digby -formed one of the band, as did the uncle of Lord Vaux, Edward Brookesby, -Esquire, of Arundell House, Shouldby, Leicestershire, and his wife the -Honourable Eleanor Brookesby, together with her sister the Honourable Anne -Vaux. - -At least two Jesuits formed part of the cavalcade, Father Henry Garnet and -Father John Percy, the chaplain to Sir Everard Digby. - -Father John Gerard, who had "reconciled to the Church," as the phrase -went, both Sir Everard and Lady Digby and was their intimate and honoured -friend, as well as the friend of the Dowager Lady Vaux of Harrowden and -her family, did not join the pilgrimage. - -Father Gerard was most probably in Yorkshire at this time. For there is -interesting evidence tending to prove that about the 25th of August, 1605, -this Lancashire Jesuit was being harboured as the guest of Sir John and -Lady Yorke, at Gowthwaite (or Goulthwaite) Hall, near Pateley Bridge, in -Nidderdale.[A] - -[Footnote A: See "_The Condition of Catholics under James I._" Edited by -John Morris, S.J. (Longmans, 1872), p. 257.] - -The following abstracts from the Evidence of two of Sir Everard Digby's -serving-men, who accompanied their devout, charming young mistress on -this now famous pilgrimage, will give the best account of what took place -on this occasion.[A] They are as follow:-- - -[Footnote A: St. Winifred's Well is at Holywell, Flintshire, Wales, and is -sacred to St. Winifred of Wales, an early British Virgin and Martyr. Her -"Life" will be found in Butler's "_Lives of the Saints_," under date -November 3rd, her Feast Day. The waters of the Well are of healing -quality, very copious and icy cold. There is an elegant mediaeval stone -Chapel built over the Well. (I visited this ancient shrine of a British -Maiden--who still rules human hearts--in September, 1897, on my return -from Ebbsfleet, where the thirteenth Centenary Commemorations had been -held in honour of the spiritual grandsire and sire of the English race, -the Italian Pope Gregory the Great and the Italian Benedictine Monk -Augustine.)] - - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--NO. 153. - - [Abstract.] - - ii. Dec. 1605 - - [In Cal. 11 Dec. 1605.] - - "Th'examination of James Garvey serv^{t} to S^{r} Everard Digby - - * * * * * - - "Saieth about Bartholmew tide last his ladie roade to St. - Wenefred's Well from Gotehurst: first daie to Deyntrie:[A] 2 to - Grantz:[B] 3 to Winters:[C] 4 to Mr. Lacon's:[D] 5 to - Shrewsberie: 6 to holte:[E] 7 to the well: they staied at the - well but one night: and retorned the first day 2 to holt 2 to - Mr. Banester's at Wen[F] 2 to Mr. Lacon's againe and so retorned - to Gotehurst. - - [Footnote A: Daventry, Northamptonshire.] - - [Footnote B: John Grant's, at Norbrook, Snitterfield, - Warwickshire.] - - [Footnote C: Huddington Hall, near Droitwich, Worcestershire.] - - [Footnote D: Most probably at Kinlet Hall, about five miles from - Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire.] - - [Footnote E: Holt, in Denbighshire.] - - [Footnote F: Wem, Shropshire.] - - "Saieth ther were in that jorney the ladie Digby, Mrs. Vaux,[B] - Mr. Brookysby and his wief Mr. Darcy[C] one Thomas Digby[D] a - tall gentleman: one fisher[E] a little man: S^{r} frauncis Lacon - and his daughter and two or 3 gentlemen more went with them from - Mr. Lacon's to the well, &c., &c. - - [Footnote B: Miss Anne Vaux.] - - [Footnote C: An alias of Father Garnet; Farmer was another of - Garnet's aliases.] - - [Footnote D: An uncle of Sir Everard, belike.] - - [Footnote E: An alias of Father Percy, afterwards famous for his - historic controversy with Archbishop Laud.] - - (Endorsed) "11 Dec. 1605. - - "The Exam^{n} of James Garvie srv^{t} to S^{r} Everard Digby." - - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--No. 121. - - [Abstract.] - - "Th'examination of William Handy servaunte to S^{r} Everard - Digby taken the xxvij^{th} of November 1605 - - * * * * * - - [Par. 4]--"Saith that he haith bin at many masses since Easter - last sometimes at the howse of the said Digby sometimes at the - howse of the L: Vaux sometimes at the howse of Mr. Throgmorton - at the howse of Mr. Graunt at the house of Mr. Winter and at the - house of Mr. Lacon in Shropshire and at Shrosbury in an Inn and - at a Castle in the Holte in Denbeghe or Flintshire, and at St. - Wynyfride's Well in an Inn, from whence the gentlewomen went - barefoote to the said well and in their retourne from the said - well at one Farmer's howse about 7 miles from Shrosbury, and - from thence to Mr. Lacon's where they had masse whereat S^{r} - Frauncis Lacon was from thence to Mr. Robert Winter's and from - thence to Mr. Graunte's from thence to Deyntree and from thence - to S^{r} Everard Digby at all which places they had masse.[A] - - [Footnote A: The reason why the Examiner who took down the - Evidence was particular to inquire about Masses was that for a - priest to say (or offer) Mass was to be liable to a penalty of - 200 marks (a mark being 13s. 4d.) _and_ imprisonment for life; - while for a lay person to hear (or assist at offering) Mass was - to be liable to a penalty of 100 marks and imprisonment for - life. To harbour a priest was felony and the penalty was - hanging, but without the cutting down alive, drawing and - quartering. This last was the portion of the priests who, by - remaining in England 40 days, were held _ipso facto_ guilty of - High Treason without proof of the exercise of priestly - functions. This last penalty, of course, rendered unnecessary - the having recourse to the penalty of 200 marks fine _and_ - imprisonment for life, since the greater included the less.] - - * * * * * - - (Endorsed) "27 Nov. 1605. - - "Th'examination of Wm. Handy serv^{t} to S^{r} Everard Digby." - - - - - CHAPTER L. - - -The pilgrim-band numbered about thirty souls, and included Ambrose -Rookwood and his wife in addition to those before mentioned. Ambrose -Rookwood appears to have been sworn in as a conspirator by Catesby and -others in London about ten weeks before the 2nd day of December, 1605, so -that I conclude this must have been very soon after his return from -Flintshire. - -Sir Everard Digby was also made a confederate by Catesby alone about this -time, and in the "_Life_" of that well-favoured but misguided knight there -is an admirably-written account of the unhappy enrolment of the ill-fated -young father of the famous cavalier and diplomatist, Sir Kenelm Digby. - -It would seem that Father Garnet proceeded to Gothurst with the pilgrims -on their return. But he must have shortly afterwards retraced his steps to -Great Harrowden. - -For a fortnight before Michaelmas (11th October, old style) the chief of -the English Jesuits was being harboured at Great Harrowden, the house of -the Dowager Lady Vaux and the young Lord Vaux. - -Great Harrowden Hall appears to have been rebuilt by the guardians of the -youthful baron a little before the year 1605. For in "_The Condition of -Catholics under James I._," being largely the life of Father John Gerard, -there is (p. 147) the following statement: "Our hostess set about fitting -up her own present residence for that same purpose, and built us separate -quarters close to the old Chapel.... Here she built a little wing of three -stories for Father Percy and me. The place was exceedingly convenient, and -so free from observation that from our rooms we could step out into the -private garden, and thence through spacious walks into the fields, where -we could mount our horses and ride whither we would." On p. 175 Father -Gerard says: "Our vestments and altar furniture were both plentiful and -costly ... some were embroidered with gold and pearls and figured by -well-skilled hands. We had six massive silver candlesticks on the altar, -besides those at the sides for the Elevation; the cruets were of silver -also, as were the basin for the lavabo, the bell, and the thurible. There -were, moreover, lamps hanging from silver chains, and a silver crucifix on -the altar. For greater Festivals, however, I had a crucifix of gold, a -foot in height." - -The Hall at Great Harrowden contained hiding-places for the priests, -probably contrived by Brother Nicholas Owen, the servant of Father Garnet. - -The priests that resided at Great Harrowden were at that time mainly -Jesuits. And besides Father Gerard himself, Fathers Strange, Nicholas -Hart, and Roger Lee were there oftentimes to be found.[A] - -[Footnote A: The present Lord Vaux of Harrowden, in the course of a most -courteous reply to various historical questions the writer ventured to -propound to him, says, in a letter dated 15th November, 1901, that his -residence, Harrowden Hall, was erected in the year 1719. It will, -therefore, not be the self-same mansion as that wherein Fathers Garnet, -Gerard, Fisher, Roger Lee, etc., were wont to be harboured by his -Lordship's distinguished ancestors. - -None of the grand old English Catholic families, those "honourable -people," if such were ever known to mortal, have a better right than the -Lords Vaux of Harrowden, to take as their motto those fine words of Gerald -Massey:-- - - "'They wrought in Faith,' and _not_ - 'They wrought in Doubt,'-- - Is the proud epitaph that we inscribe - Above our glorious dead." - -The name "Vaux of Harrowden" is still to be found in the bead-roll of -English Roman Catholic Peers. And, along with such historic names as -Norfolk, Mowbray and Stourton, Petre, Arundell of Wardour, Stafford, -Clifford of Chudleigh, and Herries, the name "Vaux of Harrowden" was -appended to "the Roman Catholic Peers' Protest," dated from the House of -Lords, 14th February, 1901, addressed to the Earl of Halsbury, Lord High -Chancellor of England, anent "the Declaration against Popery," that Our -Most Gracious King Edward VII. was compelled, by Act of Parliament, to -utter on the occasion of meeting His Majesty's first Parliament.] - - - - - CHAPTER LI. - - -On the 4th of October, Father Garnet wrote a long letter to Father Parsons -in Rome, who was then virtually the ruler of the Catholics of England, -though that sturdy Yorkshireman, Father John Mush,[A] among secular -priests, together with many others, resented being dictated to by Father -Parsons, certainly a man of great genius, but indulging too much the mere -"wire-puller" instinct and propensity to be reckoned a prince among -ecclesiastical statesmen. - -[Footnote A: Mush may have been of the Mushes, of Knaresbrough, stanch -Catholics, but in humble circumstances.--See Peacock's "_List_."] - -This letter of Father Garnet's, to which reference has been just made, is -a remarkable production. It begins as follows:-- - - - "My very loving Sir, - - "This I write from the elder Nicholas[A] his residence where I - find my hostess with all her posterity very well; and we are to - go within few days nearer London." - - [Footnote A: Father Nicholas Hart, S.J., as distinguished from - Brother Nicholas Owen, S.J.] - - The letter then says:-- - - "The judges now openly protest that the King will have blood and - hath taken blood in Yorkshire."[B] - - [Footnote B: The "Venerable" Thomas Welbourn and John Fulthering - suffered at York on the 1st August, 1605; and William Brown at - Ripon on the 5th September.--See Challoner's "_Missionary - Priests_." Ed. by T. G. Law (Jack, Edinburgh).] - - There were four paragraphs at the end of the letter. - - Now, a short but separate paragraph of three lines is carefully - obliterated between the first and the third of these paragraphs. - - The third paragraph ends thus:-- - - "_I cease 4th Octobris._" - - The fourth paragraph then continues:-- - - "My hostesses both and their children salute you. Sir Thomas - Tresham is dead."[C] - -[Footnote C: The hostesses would be those valiant women, Elizabeth Dowager -Lady Vaux of Harrowden (_nee_ Roper), the Honourable Eleanor Brookesby, -and the Honourable Anne Vaux. William Lord Vaux of Harrowden, who -harboured Father Parsons in 1580-81, had married for his second wife a -sister of Sir Thomas Tresham. This Lord Vaux's eldest son Ambrose, a -priest, resigned his title in favour of his half-brother the Honourable -George Vaux, afterwards Lord Vaux of Harrowden. The first wife of William -Lord Vaux was Elizabeth Beaumont, of Gracedieu, Leicestershire. She was -the mother of Ambrose, Elizabeth, and Anne Vaux. Father Garnet for many -years lived at Harrowden, from 1586 as the guest of William Lord Vaux, -whose son, George Lord Vaux of Harrowden, married Elizabeth Roper, -daughter of the first Lord Teynham. This lady was the above-named Dowager -Lady Vaux of Harrowden, mother of Edward Lord Vaux of Harrowden, who -became as "noble a confessor for the Faith" as were his numerous other -relatives. (The present Lord Vaux of Harrowden, whose family name is -Mostyn, is descended from the above-mentioned Lords Vaux, through the -female line.)] - -_Here ends the body of the letter._ - - - - - CHAPTER LII. - - -_After the body of the letter there is a post scriptum._ - -Now, there are nine words in the _post scriptum_ that suffice to clench -the argument of this book. - -And why? Because, I respectfully submit, those nine words show that -between the 4th day of October, 1605, _and_ the 21st day of October, -Garnet had received from somewhere _intelligence to the effect that -machinery was being put into motion whereby the Plot would be squashed_. - -For the _post scriptum_ to this letter of Father Garnet is as follows:-- - - - "_21º Octobris._ - - "This letter being returned unto me again, FOR REASON OF A - FRIEND'S STAY IN THE WAY, I blotted out some words, purposing to - write the same by the next opportunity, as I will do apart. - - "I have a letter from Field, the Journeyman in Ireland, who - telleth me that of late, there was a very severe proclamation - against all ecclesiastical persons, and a general command for - going to the churches, with a solemn protestation that the King - never promised nor meant to give toleration. - - "I pray you speak to Claude, and to grant them, or obtain for - them all the faculties we have here; for so he earnestly - desireth, and is scrupulous. I gave unto two of them, that - passed by me, all we have; and I think it sufficient in law; for - being here, they were my subjects, and we have our faculties - also for Ireland, for the most part. I pray you procure them a - general grant for their comfort." - -The letter and the _post scriptum_ are alike unsigned. The letter and the -_post scriptum_ are still in existence, and, I believe, are preserved in -London in the archives of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. - -I am indebted for my copy to the work entitled, "_A True Account of the -Gunpowder Plot_," by "Vindicator" (Dolman), 1851--taken from Tierney's -Edition of "_Dodd's Church History_." - -The Claude referred to in the _post scriptum_ is Father Claude Aquaviva, -the then General of the Jesuits, who lived in Rome. - -(Irish Catholics will not fail to notice the interest this afflicted, -much-tried Englishman took in their case on the 21st October, 1605.) - -Father Gerard says in his "_Narrative of the Plot_," p. 269: "Father -Oldcorne his indictment was so framed that one might see they much desired -to have withdrawn him within the compass of some participation in this -late Treason; to which effect they first did seem to suppose it as likely -that he should send letters up and down to prepare men's minds for the -insurrection." - -Again; respecting Ralph Ashley, the Jesuit lay-brother and servant of -Father Oldcorne, Gerard says, on p. 271: "Ralph was also indicted and -condemned upon supposition that he had carried letters to and fro about -this conspiracy." - -_Now, my deliberate conjectures are these: That Edward Oldcorne had indeed -sent "Letters" which his servant Ralph Ashley had carried concerning "this -conspiracy." That one of those Letters was sent and carried to Henry -Garnet. And another to William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle._ - -On the 12th of March, 1605-6, Father Garnet, when a prisoner in the Tower -of London, before the Lord Chief Justice Popham, Sir Edward Coke, Sir -William Waade (Lieutenant of the Tower), and John Corbett, "confessed that -Father Parsons wrote to him certain letters last summer [_i.e._, 1605] -_which he received about Michaelmas last_, wherein he requested this -examinat to advertise him what plotts the Catholiques of England had then -in hand; _whereunto for that this examinat was on his journey he made no -answere_." - -Yea, indeed, this was a part of the truth, no doubt. _But the remainder of -the truth, I suggest, was that the Plot of Plots Garnet had learned, a few -days after the aforesaid Michaelmas, was being assuredly squashed by -Edward Oldcorne._ - -Poor Henry Garnet, a sorry, pathetic figure in the history of his Country, -surely. Yet, because _much_ was lost, he knew that it did not therefore -follow that _all_ was lost. For this gifted, distraught, erring man still -held "something sacred, something undefiled, some _pledge_ and keepsake of -his better nature." - -_That something was his point of honour as a Priest of the Catholic -Church._[A] - -[Footnote A: How many a gallant soldier and sailor in our own day, young -and old, has been sustained in life and death by the consoling _infinite -thought of fidelity to the commands of a lawful superior_; by the -comforting _transcendental thought of duty done_! _Cf._, Frederic Denison -Maurice's fine passage on the inspiring and ennobling idea of Duty, in his -"_Lectures on the Epistles of St. John_ (Macmillan); also Wordsworth's -magnificent "Ode to Duty."] - - - - - CHAPTER LIII. - - -Sir Everard Digby had rented Coughton, near Alcester, in Warwickshire, -from Thomas Throckmorton, Esquire, as a base for the warlike operations, -which were to be conducted in the Midlands as soon as intelligence had -arrived from London that the King, Lords Spiritual and Temporal, together -with the Gentlemen of the House of Commons, "were now no more." - -On Sunday, the 3rd of November, the young knight rode from Coughton to -Dunchurch, near Rugby. - -Robert Winter the same day left Huddington and, sleeping on the Sunday -night at Grafton, at the house of his father-in-law, John Talbot, Esquire, -rode on to Coventry, in company with the younger Acton, of Ribbesford, and -attended by several servants. - -At Coventry, Robert Winter was joined by Stephen Littleton, of Holbeach -House, in Staffordshire, just over the borders of Worcestershire; and also -by his cousin, Humphrey Littleton, brother to the then late John -Littleton,[A] of Hagley House, Worcestershire, who had been engaged in the -Essex rising. - -[Footnote A: All the Littletons were descended from the great Judge -Littleton, author of "_Littleton on Tenures_." The present Lord Lyttelton -belongs to the same family.] - -On the following Tuesday, November the 5th, the whole party proceeded -towards Dunchurch, the armed cavalcade continually increasing in numbers. - -The plan was, that at Dunsmore Heath, under a feigned hunting or coursing -match, there should be a gathering of the Midland Catholic clans, then -very numerous and powerful. Dunsmore Heath, in fact, was to be the -rendezvous of the insurgents. - -Robert Winter left the cousins Littleton at "the town's end" of Dunchurch, -and rode on to Ashby St. Legers, the ancestral seat of the Catesbies, -where, indeed, the Dowager Lady Catesby was then residing. - -Here Robert Winter hoped to meet Catesby, with whom, after the latter had -reported progress with reference to things done in London on that Tuesday -morning, Winter purposed to gallop off to the rendezvous at Dunsmore -Heath. - -Ambrose Rookwood was one of the latest to leave for the provinces. He -owned many fine horses; and he had placed relays of horses all the way -from London to Dunchurch. Rookwood rode one horse at the rate of fifteen -miles an hour. Riding for dear life, he overtook Catesby, Percy, and the -two Wrights, near Brickhill. Percy and John Wright cast off their cloaks -and threw them into the hedge to ride the more swiftly.[155] - -About six o'clock in the evening of Tuesday, just as Lady Catesby, Robert -Winter, and some others were about to sit down to supper in the old -mansion-house, there fell upon their ears a mingled din, occasioned by -horses' feet and men's excited voices. - -Soon in rushed, with scared faces and travel-stained garb, grievously -fatigued and intensely agitated, the son of the house (Robert Catesby), -Thomas Percy, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Ambrose Rookwood. Their -announcement was the capture of Guy Fawkes early that Tuesday morning. - -After holding a short council of war, the whole band of conspirators, -snatching up all the weapons of warfare they could lay their hands on, -took horse again and rode off to Dunchurch. - -Sir Everard Digby, his uncle (Sir Robert Digby, of Coleshill), Stephen -Littleton, Humphrey Littleton, and many others were awaiting their arrival -at Dunchurch, in an inn. - -The six fugitive conspirators, all bespattered with the mire of November -high roads, with dejected looks and jaded aspect, arrived in due time to -tell their tale. - -Soon Sir Robert Digby departed with one of his sons, then Humphrey -Littleton, and speedily many others of the hunting party. - -It was determined by the ringleaders to make for Wales; for the Catholics -of the Principality were then very strong,[A] and the Counties of Warwick, -Worcester, and Stafford were to be traversed, from all of which valuable -reinforcements were expected. - -[Footnote A: It is a curious fact that in the reign of Elizabeth, Father -Weston, S.J., specially spoke of Wales, along with the counties bordering -on Scotland, as being firm in its attachment to the Church of Rome. It was -the lack of a Welsh College in Rome which, causing the supply of priests -to fail, gradually caused the interesting Cymric people to lose the Faith -which they of all the inhabitants of the British Isles were the first to -embrace. - -It is to be remembered, however, that there has always been a remnant in a -few of the valleys of Wales faithful to the See of Rome; and Dr. Owen -Lewis, the Bishop of Cassano, a Welshman, aided Cardinal Allen to found -Douay College, in 1568. Several of the Martyrs of the sixteenth and -seventeenth centuries, too, were Welsh. - -At the English College at Rome the Welsh and the English students had -violent and, to read of, amusing quarrels. Evidently the Welsh, students -looked down upon their Anglo-Saxon compeers as belonging to a -comparatively inferior race.] - -About ten o'clock on Tuesday night the full company, now about thirty -strong, set out for Norbrook,[A] the house of John Grant. - -[Footnote A: At Warwick, _en route_ for Norbrook, they took some horses -out of a stable near the Castle, and left their own steeds in exchange -therefor. They arrived at Warwick at about three o'clock on Wednesday -morning.] - -Thence, it will be recollected, Bates was sent with a note from Catesby -and Sir Everard Digby to Father Garnet, at Coughton, urging Garnet to join -the rebels in Wales. - -Lady Digby had also a letter from her husband, but the poor young wife, we -are told, could, alas! do naught but cry. - -After a halt of about two hours for refreshments and the procuring of more -arms, the insurgents once more slipped their feet into the stirrups, and -on they rode for Huddington, near Droitwich, where they arrived at two -o'clock in the afternoon of Wednesday, the 6th. Sentinels were posted at -the passage of every way at Huddington, possibly by the order of John -Winter, half-brother to Robert and Thomas Winter. - -Here they were joined by Thomas Winter, who had come down from London with -the latest news; also by the Jesuit, Father Tesimond, whom Catesby hailed -with joy. - -They rested for a good few hours at Huddington; and, as we have seen -already, at about three o'clock in the morning of Thursday all the -gentlemen assisted at Father Nicholas Hart's Mass, went to Confession, and -received, at the Jesuit's, hands, what most of them from their childhood -had been taught to believe was "the Bread of Angels," and "the Food of -Immortality."[B] - -[Footnote B: Certainly Man's nature _needs_ these things; but the question -is: Can it get them? "Aye, there's the rub."] - -Before daybreak of Thursday the fugitives were on the march north-westward -again. For "there is no rest for the wicked." - -The rebels made for Whewell Grange, the seat of the Lord Windsor, one of -the numerous Worcestershire Catholic families. - -At Whewell Grange the traitors helped themselves to a large store of arms -and armour. - -Then they sped on towards Holbeach House, near Stourbridge, in -Staffordshire. Their number was then about sixty all told, although -earlier in the march it had increased to about a hundred. In two days they -had traversed about sixty miles, "over bad and broken roads, in rainy and -inclement weather." - -To the dire disappointment of Catesby, Sir Everard Digby, and the rest, -John Talbot, of Grafton, drove Thomas Winter and Stephen Littleton from -his door when they sought his aid for the rebellion.[A] - -[Footnote A: See Jardine's "_Narrative_," p. 112, to which I am indebted -for this account; also Handy's evidence, Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_," -vol. ii., pp. 165, 166.] - -And Sir Everard was constrained to avow that of the wealthy Catholic -gentry "not one man came to take our part though we had expected so -many."[B] - -[Footnote B: Jardine's "_Narrative_," p. 112. Holbeach House is no longer -standing.] - - - - - CHAPTER LIV. - - -The High Sheriffs of Warwickshire and Worcestershire, with their _posse -comitatus_, were in pursuit of the fugitives, who arrived at Holbeach -House at ten of the clock on Thursday night. - -At Holbeach they prepared to make their last stand. And alack! never more -were the brothers John and Christopher Wright destined to behold Lapworth, -Twigmore, Ripon, Skelton, Newby, Mulwith, York, or Plowland,[A] nor any of -those scenes around which must have clung so many endearing associations -and sacred memories.[156] - -[Footnote A: For an account of recent visits to Mulwith and Plowland, see -Supplementum IV. and Supplementum V. - -To the generosity of my friend, Miss Burnham, the lady of Plowland, my -readers owe the view of the present Plowland House, which forms the -Frontispiece to this Book. The old Hall occupied the site of the present -dwelling, and faced the river Humber towards the south. The gabled -buildings in the rear are ancient, and behind them are a few mossy Gothic -stones, evidently belonging to the old chapel. Behind the ancient -buildings is a willow-fringed remnant of the old moat. George Burnham, -Esq., brother to Miss Burnham, is the owner of this historic spot. Edward -Wright Burnham, Esq., of Skeffling, Holderness, is their brother. The -names _Edward Wright_ suggest descent from Edward Wright, the son of -Christopher Wright, the revealing conspirator.] - -Early in the morning of Friday some of the company went out to descry -whether or not reinforcements were in sight. Others began to prepare their -shot and powder. - -Catesby, Rookwood, and Grant were severely burnt in the face, especially -the two latter, with some damp or dank gunpowder which they were drying -on a platter before the kitchen fire, and into which a hot cinder fell. - -This incident seems to have thoroughly unnerved Catesby and all his wicked -confederates. They saw in the fact a stroke of poetic justice--nay, the -flaming, avenging sword of Heaven. - -Thomas Winter was told by Catesby and the rest, in reply to his question, -"We mean here to die." - -Winter thereupon replied, "I will take such part as you do." - -"Then they all fell earnestly to their prayers," says Gerard, "the -litanies and such like." They also "spent an hour in meditation." - -About eleven o'clock in the forenoon of that black Friday, November the -8th, 1605, the High Sheriff of Worcestershire arrived with the whole power -and force of the county, and beset the house. - -Thomas Winter, going into the court-yard, was shot in the shoulder with an -arrow from a cross-bow, and lost the use of his right arm. - -John Wright was shot dead. - -Christopher Wright was mortally wounded. - -Ambrose Rookwood was wounded in four or five places. - -John Grant was likewise disabled. - -Catesby and Thomas Percy, each sword in hand, and "standing before the -door" close together, were mortally wounded by two successive shots fired -by one musketeer, who afterwards boasted of his resolute carriage of -himself on that eventful day.[A] - -[Footnote A: The man's name was John Streete. He received a pension of two -shillings a day for life, equal to about sixteen shillings a day in our -money. Gerard's "_What was the Gunpowder Plot?_" p. 155.] - -Catesby, before receiving his fatal shot, we are told by Father Gerard in -his "_Narrative_," p. 109, "took from his neck a cross of gold, which he -always used to wear about him, and blessing himself with it and kissing -it, showed it unto the people, protesting there solemnly before them all -it was only for the honour of the Cross, and the exaltation of that Faith -which honoured the Cross, and for the saving of their souls in the same -Faith that had moved him to undertake the business; and seth he saw it was -not God's will it should succeed in that manner they intended, or at that -time, he was willing and ready to give his life for the same cause, only -he would not be taken by any, and against that only he would defend -himself with his sword. - -"This done, Mr. Catesby and Mr. Percy turned back to back, resolving to -yield themselves to no man, but to death as the messenger of God. - -"None of their adversaries did come near them, but one fellow standing -behind a tree with a musket, shot them both with one bullet,[A] and Mr. -Catesby was shot almost dead, the other lived three or four days. - -[Footnote A: It was with one musket, but two successive bullets.] - -"Mr. Catesby being fallen to the ground, as they say, went upon his knees -into the house, and there got a picture of our Blessed Lady in his arms -(unto whom he was accustomed to be very devout), and so embracing and -kissing the same, he died."[B] - -[Footnote B: The mind of each of the thirteen Gunpowder conspirators -affords the intellectual philosopher and the moral philosopher rich food -for thought. What a reflection from human nature is not the soul of these -men, one and all--especially Catesby, Thomas Percy, Thomas Winter, Guy -Fawkes, Ambrose Rookwood, and Christopher Wright. I would especially point -out the strange superstition that Catesby exhibited in wishing to blow up -the _Parliament House_, because it was _there_ the iniquitous laws had -been made against the Catholics. He primarily wished, like some pagan, to -be revenged on the _material object_, which had been the unconscious and -irresponsible instrument of his kinsfolk's and friends' hurt. - -Moreover, how true to daily experience is the behaviour of Catesby in his -last moments: of one who in his youth had been very wild, but who, on -reaching maturer years, had grown to have a great devotion to _her_ whom -Wordsworth has so beautifully styled "our tainted nature's solitary -boast." - -Again; the dying soldier's flying for protection to, and the kissing in -his last agony, when the light of life was about to be quenched in his -mortal eyes for ever, a picture of _her_ who is "the Mother of Christ," -and whom millions hold to be likewise "the Refuge of sinners," is -startlingly true to human nature. - -But--"Close up his eyes, and let us all to meditation." For "_In la sua -volontade e nostra pace_"--"Only in the Will of God is man's peace." And -the essence of that Will is the Everlasting Moral Law.] - -On the 9th of November Sir Edward Leigh wrote to the Privy Council that -the Wrights were not slain as reputed, but wounded. Not till the 13th was -their death certified by Sir Richard Walsh, High Sheriff of -Worcestershire.--See Gerard's "_What was the Gunpowder Plot?_" pp. 153, -154. - -Whatever was the case with John Wright, it seems clear that the weight of -evidence inclines to show that Christopher Wright did not expire on -Friday, the 8th November, but that he lingered at least a day or two. The -exact day of Christopher Wright's death, and what became of his remains, -may be ascertained facts hereafter, possibly. At present, they are -unknown.[157] - - - - - CHAPTER LV. - - -Father Garnet did not go nearer London than Gothurst, in Buckinghamshire, -between ten and fifteen miles distant from Great Harrowden. - -We know that he was at Gothurst when Catesby was there, on Tuesday, the -22nd of October, one day after the date of the _post scriptum_ mentioned -in the last chapter. Probably the _post scriptum_ of the 21st October was -written at Gothurst and not at Great Harrowden, though the letter itself -of the 4th October undoubtedly was penned at Harrowden, between ten and -fifteen miles distant from Gothurst, as just remarked. - -The Honourable Anne Vaux, whose maternal grandfather was Sir Thomas -Beaumont, Master of the Rolls, was a level-headed woman of acute mental -perceptions as well as of great moral ardour and intense spiritual -exaltation.[A] - -[Footnote A: The psychologist will have observed that these qualities are -not seldom combined in a certain order of minds. _Cf._, Shakespeare's -"great wits to madness are near allied"--some thinkers will be inclined to -say.] - -Miss Vaux was allied to both Catesby and Tresham, and their words, and -still more their doings, during the few months then last past, had been -not unnoticed by her. She evidently had that strange premonitory -foreboding, that curious sense of swift approaching doom, which have -marked all tragedies written or unwritten since the world began. - -Moreover, the large number of cavalry horses in the stables of Norbrook -and Huddington (those places being her fellow-pilgrims' and her own -places of sojourning when _en route_ for Holywell) had alarmed Anne Vaux's -imagination. And in reply to the lady's anxious inquiries she had been -told by her iniquitous, head-strong connections--Catesby and the -rest--that the horses were wanted for the troop of horse whereof Catesby -was to be in charge, with King James's permission, in aid of the cause of -the Spanish Archdukes in the Low Countries, then still in rebellion -against the Spanish sovereignty. - -Again; at either Harrowden or Gothurst, Miss Vaux sought out her father's -friend, and her own honoured and beloved spiritual counsellor, the chief -of the English Jesuits, and told him that she feared that some trouble or -disorder was a-brewing; and, moreover, that some of the gentlewomen, -namely, the wives of the conspirators, "had demanded of her where they -should bestow themselves until the burst was past in the beginning of the -Parliament." - -Garnet, in reply, asked his inquirer who told her this; but she said "she -durst not tell who told her so; she was [choked] with sorrow."[A] - -[Footnote A: Garnet's examination of the 12th March. Foley's "_Records_," -vol. iv., p. 157.] - -At Coughton, Father Garnet said Mass on the 1st of November, All Saints' -Day. - -There "assisted" at this Mass the Lady Digby,[B] Mr. and Mrs. Brookesby, -Miss Anne Vaux, and almost the whole of Sir Everard Digby's Gothurst -household. - -[Footnote B: Lady Digby had been brought up a strong Protestant, and, like -most converts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the Church of -Rome from Calvinistic Puritanism, she became an ardent devotee of the -Jesuits. (The point of contact was probably a common interest in the -problems of the mystical life, and a tendency towards a grave, sober, -strict regularity of "daily walk and conversation.") George Gilbert, a -gentleman of high Suffolk family and great wealth, was likewise a convert -from Calvinism, through the instrumentality of the Jesuit Fathers, -Darbyshire and Parsons. Gilbert, as a young man, daily "waited upon the -ministry" of the once celebrated Puritan Divine, Dering, the friend of -Thomas Cartwright. George Gilbert died in Rome in 1583, holding in his -hand a crucifix made in prison by "the Blessed" Alexander Briant, a martyr -friend of "the Blessed" Edmund Campion. Of Briant it is said he was "of a -very sweet grace in preaching," and that he was "replenished with -spiritual sweetness" when suffering the tortures of the rack. George -Gilbert mainly defrayed the cost of painting on the walls of the Church of -the English College at Rome certain pictures of some of "the English -Martyrs," although "old Richard Norton," of Norton Conyers, near Ripon, -and some others who as exiles had "with strangers made their home," -likewise subscribed to the expense of the pious and artistic work. I saw, -on the 13th October, 1900, through the kind courtesy of the Right Reverend -Monsignor Giles, D.D., Rector of the English College, copies of these -remarkable pictures, copies which are painted on the walls of that very -College where Father Oldcorne himself had been educated. - -The original pictures on the walls of the Church are no longer in -existence. The copies, however, even in our own day, have played an -important part in "the beatification" of those of the English Martyrs -already beatified, including "the Blessed" Thomas Percy Earl of -Northumberland, who suffered death at York in 1572.--See the "_Acts of the -English Martyrs_," by the Rev. J. H. Pollen, S.J. (Burns & Oates).] - -At Gothurst, however, was Sir Everard himself, busy making his final -preparations for the war he was about to levy upon his King. - -We find Sir Everard there also on November 2nd, All Souls' Day, the last -he and his ill-fated comrades were destined to keep on earth.--See -Gerard's "_Narrative_." - -On All Saints' Day, Father Garnet appears to have offered some prayers, or -otherwise advised the offering of the same, which had a certain reference -to the King, the Parliament, and the hoped-for triumph of his Church over -her enemies, especially over those then molesting the faithful English -remnant of "the elect." He also appears, according to his own admission, -to have spoken a sermon which might be easily construed as bearing some -allusion to the then wretched condition of the unhappy English -Catholics.[A] - -[Footnote A: See Letter to Miss Anne Vaux, dated 2nd March, 1605-6, quoted -in Foley, vol. iv., p. 84, where Garnet says: "There is a muttering here -of a sermon which either I or Mr. Hall [an alias of Father Oldcorne] made. -I fear mine, at Coughton. Mr. Hall hath no great matter, but only about -Mr. Abington, though Mr. Attourney saith he hath more."] - -Now, I infer that all this tends to demonstrate that Father Henry Garnet -felt that a great burden or load had been lifted from his heart in regard -to the aforetime perilous, but then practically abortive, Gunpowder -Treason Plot. Therefore he must have known, from some source or another, -that the Plot would be squashed before Tuesday, November the 5th, had -dawned upon a "fallen world," and all danger from the Plot finally swept -away. - -Again, in the Mass for All Saints' Day there is a hymn, one verse of which -is: "Take away the faithless people from the boundaries of the faithful, -that we may joyfully give due praises to Christ." - -Cardinal Allen had induced the Pope "to indulge" the recital of these -words by Catholics for the harmless "intention" of the "Conversion of -England." - -Garnet, at Coughton, appears to have urged the recital of the same words -for "the intention" of the "confounding" of the anti-popish "politics," -and the "frustration" of the "knavish tricks" of James at the forthcoming -Parliament. If Garnet did so, then he must have known that James and his -_Parliament_ would be in _existence_ to work mischief! _And this once more -proves that he knew the Plot would be squashed and finally swept away._ - - - - - CHAPTER LVI. - - -Soon after Catesby, Rookwood, and Grant had been injured by the exploded -gunpowder at Holbeach House (as has been already mentioned in Chapter -LIV.), Robert Winter, the Master of Huddington, deeming discretion the -better part of valour, quitted the ill-fated mansion of Stephen Littleton. - -Now, it so fell out that Robert Winter met with Stephen Littleton, the -Master of Holbeach, in a wood about a mile from Holbeach. And for no less -than two months these two high-born gentlemen were wandering disguised up -and down the country. Having plenty of money with them, the fugitives -bribed a farmer near Rowley Regis, in Staffordshire, a tenant of Humphrey -Littleton, cousin to Stephen Littleton, to grant them harbourage. - -On New Year's Day the rebels came very early in the morning to the house -of one Perkes, in Hagley. After an extraordinary adventure there (an -account of which may be read in Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_," vol. ii., -pp. 90-93), at about eleven of the clock one night, Humphrey Littleton -conveyed the two hunted delinquents to Hagley House, in Worcestershire, -the mansion wherein dwelt his widowed sister-in-law, Mrs. John -Littleton,[158] a Protestant lady, to whose children the place apparently -belonged. - -Mrs. Littleton was herself either in, or on the way to, London at this -time, so the two traitors were harboured without the lady's knowledge or -consent. - -By the treachery, however, of the man-cook at Hagley, or rather, in -justice it should be said, by his diligent zeal in the service of his -sovereign lord the King, Stephen Littleton and Robert Winter were captured -by the lawful authorities, and forthwith conveyed to the Tower of London. - -Now, some time during these two months of the wanderings of these two -gentlemen, with whose efforts to elude the vigilance of the law of the -land Humphrey Littleton had connived, this same Humphrey Littleton -repaired to Father Edward Oldcorne, probably at Hindlip, in order to be -resolved in respect of certain doubts which he (Humphrey Littleton) said -had entered into his mind as to whether or not the Gunpowder Treason Plot -were or were not morally lawful. - -Now, although an English Roman Catholic gentleman, it is certain that -Humphrey Littleton, like a great many more of his co-religionists before -and since, was by no means perfect. Inasmuch as, first, we hear tell of "a -love-begot" boy of his (if Virtue's pure ears can pardon the phrase), who -was to become a page of Robert Catesby, in the event of Catesby's going in -command of that company of horse to Flanders to fight, with James's -permission, in behalf of the Spanish Archdukes, whereof we have already -heard. And, secondly, Humphrey Littleton was plainly deemed by the astute -Edward Oldcorne to be what we should nowadays style "a dangerous fellow," -who was capable, from various motives, of propounding a question of that -sort in order to entrap. That is to say, in order wantonly to cause -mischief, whatever might be the tenour or purport of Oldcorne's -answer--mischief among either Catholics or Protestants.[159] - -We will, however, let Father Oldcorne tell his own tale as to what took -place on the occasion of this momentous visit to him by Humphrey -Littleton. For the great casuist's own words are contained in his -holograph Declaration of the 12th day of March, 1605-6, written by him -when a prisoner in the Tower, and which I beheld in the Record Office, -London, on the 5th of October, 1900.[160] - - - - - CHAPTER LVII. - - -GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--Vol. II., No. 202. - - "The voluntarie declaration of Edward Oldcorne alias Hall - Jesuite 12 Mar. 1605 [_i.e._, 1605-6]. - - A. - - "Mr. Humfrey Litleton[A] telling me that after Mr. Catesbie saw - him self and others of his Companie burnt w^{th} powder, and the - rest of the compnie readie to fly from him, that then he began - to thinke he had offended god in this action, seeing soe bad - effects follow of the same. - - [Footnote A: I do not know the exact point of time when Humphrey - Littleton thus spoke to Father Oldcorne, except that it was - certainly after the fatal 5th of November, 1605.] - - B. - - "I answeared him that an act is not to be condemd or justified - upon the good or bad euent that follow^{th} it but upon the ende - or object, and the meanes that is used for effecting the same - and brought him an example out of the booke of Judges wher the - 11 tribs of Israel weare comannded by god to make warrs upon the - trib of Benjamin; and yett the tribe of Benjamin did both in the - first and secound battaile overthrow the other 11 tribs. The - like said I wee read of Lewis King of france who went to fight - against the Turks and to recouer the hoolye Land, but ther he - loost the most of his armie, and him self dyed ther of the - plague the like wee may say when the xtianes defended Rhoodes - against the turks wher the Turkes preuayled and the xtianes - weare overthrowne, and yet noe doubt the xtians cause was good - and the turks bad and thus I applied it to this fact of Mr. - Catesbie's it is not to be approved or condemned by the euent, - but by the propper object or end, and meanes w^{ch} was to be - vsed in it; and bycause I know nothinge of thes I will neither - approve it or condeme it but leave it to god and ther owne - consciences and in this warie sort I spake to him bycause I - doubted he came to entrap me, and that he should take noe - advantage of my words whither he reported them to Catholiks or - Protestants. - - "(Signed) Edward Oldcorne. - - "Acknowledged before vs - - "J. Popham.[A] - Edw. Coke.[B] - W. Waad.[C] - John Corbett." - -(The A and B at the left side of the Declaration are Coke's own marks.) - -[Footnote A: The Lord Chief Justice of England.] - -[Footnote B: Afterwards the celebrated Lord Chief Justice of England, and -Editor of "_Littleton's Tenures_." This Humphrey Littleton, mentioned in -the Text, was a descendant of Sir John Littleton, Author of the immortal -legal work.] - -[Footnote C: Lieutenant of the Tower of London.] - - - - - CHAPTER LVIII. - - -We are now come to the crux of this Inquiry. - -To every philosophical thinker who takes the trouble to ponder the matter -it must be evident that the ethical principles enunciated in the first -part of the Declaration, given _in extenso_ in the preceding chapter, are -intellectually irrefutable and morally irreproachable; although their -obviousness, certainly, will not be palpable to "the man in the street." - -The answer of this clear-sighted, strong-headed Yorkshireman, is indeed -the answer that is the resultant of exact ethical knowledge, that is, of -moral science. _For what is science, either in the realms of the -intellectual, the moral, the political, or the physical, but "exact -knowledge."_ - -Moreover, these principles are the resultant of abstract moral science, or -exact ethical knowledge pure and simple. - -Now, "Morality is the science of duty."[161] But, just as it is most -mischievous _indiscriminately_ to apply abstract principles of morality, -however faultless in themselves, to the complex affairs of individuals and -of States, so is it most dangerous to strew broadcast statements of the -abstract principles of ethics for the untutored mind of the _merely_ -practical man--first of all, to misunderstand; and, secondly, to wrest to -his own undoing and that of his equally unfortunate fellow-men. - -This is certainly so in the present stage of the world's imperfect -education. Though one lives in the hope that sooner or later that "ampler -day" may dawn, when, from the least unto the greatest, men shall come to -have a happy conscious realization of the truth of the poet's dictum: -"_Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas_;"[162] "Happy is he who hath -been able to learn the causes of things." - -Still, _truth--that which is--is truth_. - -_And partial truth is not less true, according to its measure and in its -degree, than the full orb of truth._[A] - -[Footnote A: Strategy in war has for its intellectual and moral -justification the fact that partial truth is not less true, in its measure -and in its degree, than the full orb of truth.] - -Furthermore, "Wisdom is justified by all her children;" even although some -of those children are tardy in realizing and in expressing their sense of -such justification. - -Now, although all this stands to reason--nay, because it is true, is even -the perfection of reason--it was an enunciation of principles by Father -Oldcorne, which it was more than probable would be misinterpreted by two -sets of people, the intellectually stupid and the morally malicious. - -Nay, it may be allowed that even persons of the highest intelligence and -of the utmost good faith--such as, in the last century, the late David -Jardine[163]--might easily enough think that Edward Oldcorne deserved -condemnation and chiding for thus apparently showing such a marked -disposition to look at this grave matter, the moral rightness or wrongness -of the Gunpowder Plot, as though it were as purely abstract and -scholastic a question as that famous moot of the middle ages: "How many -angels can dance on the point of a needle?"[A] - -[Footnote A: Oldcorne had special private knowledge that the Plot would -never be a Plot _executed_, because (1) he knew Christopher Wright had -resolved to reveal it; because (2) he knew that his own personal act had -ended the Plot by his penning the Letter.] - - - - - CHAPTER LIX. - - -Now, the contention is this: That regard being had to the extraordinary -heinousness of the Gunpowder Plot, in point of underhand stealthiness and -secrecy as well as of deliberateness, malice, magnitude, and cruelty, no -man of moral uprightness and intellectual keenness could be--without doing -a violence to his human nature that is all but incredible--so unspeakably -reckless and utterly insane as to fling broadcast to the winds, for the -wayfaring man and the fool to pick up and con for their own and their -hapless fellow-creatures' moral destruction, an _oral statement_ as to -this diabolical Plot, that expressed ways of looking at the Plot merely -speculative and simply in the abstract,[A] _save and except_ on one -condition only, namely, that such speaker had had both from without and -from within, _et ab extra et ab intra_, a special _knowledge_. - -[Footnote A: It is to be noted that in this momentous Declaration of the -12th March, 1605-6, Oldcorne in the first part reserves or conceals -"_partial truth_;" that is to say, in _this_ case, _truth in the concrete, -or truth in action_. While in the second part of the Declaration Oldcorne -orally disclaims, denies, or dissembles integral truth, that is here a -special and particular knowledge of the end the plotters had in view, and -the means they purposed to adopt. The knowledge he had received was of a -nature _official_, and at least conditionally, though not absolutely, -_private_ knowledge.] - -Furthermore, _a special knowledge, with absolute certitude_, which -_warranted_ the speaker in mentally surveying that Plot not merely as it -_then_ was at the moment when he was giving utterance to his speculative -statement concerning it, but, as he full well knew, at some point of time -prior to that fateful day, November the 5th, 1605, it had been destined to -be perpetually, namely, A PLOT _ante factum in aeternum_, a mere abstract -mental plan for ever. Aye, a mere abstract mental plan to all eternity; -because transmuted and transformed by some process wherein that speaker -had himself taken a primal, an essential, a meritorious part.[A] - -[Footnote A: The argument is that a man at once good and clever, like -Edward Oldcorne, would not, according to the rules that govern human -nature and daily experience, have clothed in words and then let loose to -wander about the world seeking whom it might fall in with and victimize, a -bare abstract proposition regarding the Plot, _unless_ he had been first -absolutely certain that the foundation-thing, the Plot itself, was too -attenuated and ghost-like to work hurt or mischief to any human creature. - -Now, since Littleton propounded his question _after_ the 5th of November, -Oldcorne had an _ordinary_ ground for allowing himself to speak of the -defunct Plot purely in the abstract. But this was an obviously very -dangerous thing to do, both for Littleton's sake, the general public's -sake (Catholic or Protestant), and for the speaker's own sake. Therefore -the fact that Oldcorne did so speak postulates something _more than -ordinary_. Hence, as Oldcorne was a man of virtue both intellectually and -morally, the reasonable inference is that Oldcorne _had an extraordinary -ground_ for his answer which endued him with a special liberty of abstract -speech in regard to the matter. _That extraordinary ground, I maintain, -was based deep down within the depths of his own interior knowledge._] - - - - - CHAPTER LX. - - -But it may be objected that instead of assuming that Father Oldcorne was a -man not only of mental keenness but also of moral uprightness, and -proceeding forthwith to build an argument on such an assumption, the -writer ought in truth and justice to have proved, by evidence or reason, -the latter part of the proposition. And this the rather, seeing that so -many of the co-religionists both in our own day as well as in the days of -Father Oldcorne have regarded that society, whereof Oldcorne was a -distinguished English member, with not merely unfeigned suspicion but with -sincere dislike, and even with genuine loathing.[A] - -[Footnote A: The most formidable adversaries of the Jesuits far and away -have been Roman Catholics of a particular type of mind. Blaise Pascal, -that colossal genius, has been probably their most successful enemy.] - -Now, the unbiased historical philosopher is content not only to let the -dead bury their dead but also to let theologian deal with theologian. To -the historical philosopher, a Jesuit is a man and nothing more: nothing -more, that is, so far as his being entitled to receive at the former's -hands the benefit of all those natural rights which belong to all members -of the human species. For all men (including Jesuits) are, in the mind of -the philosopher, "born free and equal." - -Hence it follows that when, amid the chances and changes of this mortal -life, the historical philosopher is thrown across the path of a Jesuit, he -looks at him, as a matter of duty, straight in the face, just as he looks -at any other rational creature; and then seeks to ascertain, by dint of -normal touchstones and tests, what manner of man the person is whom that -philosopher, by the ordinances of fate, has then and there confronted. - -Now, in the case of Edward Oldcorne, the Text of this Inquiry, and also -the Notes thereunto, supply abundant proof that Oldcorne came of a good, -wholesome, Yorkshire stock--hard-working, honest, and honourable; that his -own mental nature was broad, rich and full, high-minded, just, and -generous.[A] - -[Footnote A: Father Henry Garnet, S.J., landed in England in 1586 along -with the gifted Robert Southwell, whose prose and poetical works belong to -English literature. Father Weston was then the Jesuit Superior. Father -John Gerard landed, along with Father Edward Oldcorne, off the coast of -Norfolk, in August, 1588, shortly after the decisive fight with the -Spanish Armada, off Gravelines. As illustrating the conscientiousness and -courage of this Yorkshire Elizabethan Jesuit, the following quotation from -Foley, vol. iv., p. 210, may be of interest: "Father Oldcorne was employed -sometime in London by Father Garnet, diligently labouring in the quest and -salvation of souls. He was ever of a most ready wit, and endeavoured as -far as possible to adapt himself to the manner of those with whom he -lived. There were exceptions, however, in which, consumed with an ardent -zeal of asserting and defending the Divine honour, he could not refrain -from correcting those whom he heard uttering obscene and injurious -language either towards God or their superiors. When in London, in the -house of a Catholic gentleman, he struck with his fist and broke into -pieces a pane of stained or painted glass representing an indecent picture -of Venus and Mars, which he considered wholly unfit for the eyes of a -virtuous family." - -[The curious philosopher wonders whether this Elizabethan Catholic -gentleman, having been deprived of his "Venus and Mars" in such a -high-handed fashion, afterwards became anti-Jesuitical.]] - -Therefore is it, alike by evidence and reason, borne in upon the mind of -the philosopher that, on grounds of probability so high as to afford -practical certitude, he may proceed to build his argument upon the -assumption that Edward Oldcorne was a man not only of intellectual acumen -but also of moral integrity, as has been already predicated of him. - - - - - CHAPTER LXI. - - -Now, in the first part of his Declaration, Father Oldcorne uttered -concerning the Gunpowder Plot a proposition which expressed partial truth -alone. Because he expressed truth in the abstract only, not truth in the -concrete also, concerning that nefarious scheme. - -In other words, Father Oldcorne severed in thought the two kinds of truth, -the two aspects of truth, the two parts of truth, which being _unified_ -gave the _whole_ truth respecting the moral mode of judging the Gunpowder -Treason Plot. - -Oldcorne severed concrete truth from abstract truth,[A] practical truth -from speculative truth, and so far as his hearer, Humphrey Littleton, was -concerned, held that concrete truth, that practical truth, suspended at -the sword-point over Littleton's head. - -[Footnote A: Or, it may be said, Oldcorne separated concrete truth from -abstract truth, practical truth from speculative truth, holding the former -in solution, and putting into the hands of Littleton the latter alone, in -the form of a dangerous precipitate.] - -Now, I maintain that, regard being had to the terrific danger of -Littleton's occasioning mischief, either through stupidity, malice, or -both, a man of the intellectual and moral calibre of Edward Oldcorne would -have never suffered his tongue to give utterance to a proposition -dividing, as with a sword, concrete truth from abstract truth, practical -truth from speculative truth, and then holding the former suspended above -the head of his questioner, _unless and until_ that great Priest and -Jesuit had been first possessed of the living consciousness that he had -had, and then was, at that very instant of time when speaking, having that -Plot, which represented "the sum of all villainies," in that it involved -"sacrilegious murder,"[A] _firmly and unconquerably crushed under his -feet_.[164] - -[Footnote A: This phrase is used by Shakespeare in "Macbeth" (1606), I -suggest, with indirect reference to the Gunpowder Plot, which Shakespeare -must have followed with the most breathless, absorbing interest. For -Norbrook was in Snitterfield, where his mother (Mary Arden) had property; -while Coughton was the home of the Throckmortons, the Ardens' relatives. -Clopton House, where Ambrose Rookwood was living from Michaelmas, 1605, -Lapworth, where John Wright resided from May, 1605, and where Christopher -Wright and Marmaduke Ward visited him (all of which places were in that -"garden of England," Warwickshire), must have been as familiar to the poet -almost as his own Stratford-on-Avon. - -I find the name "Robert Arden," of Pedmore, Worcestershire, 1-1/2 miles -from Stourbridge, down as "a popish recusant" for the year 1592, in the -"_Hatfield MS._," part iv.] - - - - - CHAPTER LXII. - - -And how could this be? - -It could be only by dint of a _two-fold knowledge_, a two-fold, -warranting, justifying, vindicating knowledge, which this Priest and -Jesuit held stored-up deep down within the depths of his conscious being, -a knowledge _passive_ or receptive which had come to him "from without," -_ab extra_; a knowledge _active_ or self-caused which he had bestowed upon -himself "from within," _ab intra_. - -Now, the passive knowledge "from without" was the knowledge Oldcorne had -had from the penitent plotter of that penitent's resolve to reveal the -Plot to his lawful Sovereign by the most perfect means for so doing that -by the human mind could be devised. - -The active knowledge "from within" was the knowledge that Oldcorne had -possessed, and was at that moment possessing, of his own sublimely -conceived and magnificently executed act and deed: although even this -active knowledge "from within" was itself _indirectly_ traceable to that -penitent plotter's repentant resolve and repentant will.[A] - -[Footnote A: We know on the authority of Sir Edward Coke himself that one -of the conspirators was supposed to have revealed the Plot, and indeed -such _must_ have been inevitably the case. Now, the proved position of -Thomas Ward in the work of communicating with Thomas Winter suggests that -Ward was the diplomatic go-between. But it is obvious that Ward cannot -have himself penned the Letter; for if he had been in the service of -Elizabeth's Government his handwriting would be known to the Government. -Now, circumstantial evidence tends to prove that Father Oldcorne did. -Therefore the relationship of priest and penitent and the machinery of the -Tribunal of Penance is forthwith, naturally and easily, brought into play. -Now, in these days of "_emancipated and free religious thought_," it is -difficult for us readily to realize the _stupendous_ force that the -alleged supernatural facts of historical Christianity had upon _the mind -of all those who lived consciously_ hemmed in, as it were, by an alleged -supernatural tradition of Christianity, _whether_ Calvinistic _or_ Roman -Catholic, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Those alleged facts -were assumed and deliberately calculated upon as among the ruling and -controlling _realities_ of daily life. Now, a Yorkshire Roman -Catholic--especially one brought up in the Wright, Ward, Babthorpe, -Ingleby, Mallory circle--might be easily frightened, nay, terrified, into -confession and avowal of his crimes, and _therefore_ into satisfaction, -and _therefore_ into reversal, by the mere fact that about the Feast of -St. Michael and All Angels, 11th October (old style), 1605, when -"examining his conscience" he came to realize the tremendous and awful -wickedness of his two crimes, sacrilege and murder. For the Archangel -"_Michael--who is like unto God_"--would be to _him_ a being as real and -living and of transcendently greater _power_--an important -consideration--than even the stern reality of the hangman of the -gallows-tree and the ripping knife; while a close-natured, thoughtful -Yorkshireman like Christopher Wright would vividly realize, with his -shrewd instinct for values and tendencies, that, _unrepentant_, his -ultimate fate--either here or hereafter--was not worth while the risking. -For, on the one hand, he may have peradventure, consciously or -unconsciously, argued there is the certainty of falling, sooner or later, -into "the Hands of the Living God," and of being by Him consigned to the -charge of Michael, the Minister of His Justice; while, on the other, there -is the going, _not_ to the chill, viewless wind, but to a sympathetic -rational creature with a brain, heart, eyes, hands, and feet, and the -getting _him_, in the solid reality of flesh and blood, to put a speedy -stop, here and now, to the whole unhappy business, and so save further -trouble. (A man of middle age, well educated, belonging to an old -Yorkshire Roman Catholic family that "had never lost the Faith," told a -relative, not long ago, that "after being on the spree" he should have -certainly committed a great crime had he not been stayed by the knowledge -that, if he did so, "_he would go plump into Hell_." I mention this to -show how, at least, sometimes the Catholic conscience works even in these -"enlightened" days. Hence, the antecedent probability of the truth of my -suggested solution of _how_ the revealing conspirator was motived to -reveal the conspiracy. For an Inquiry into the Gunpowder Plot is a great -philosophical study of human _motives_ as well as of _probabilities_; and -the case of Christopher Wright (_ex hypothesi_) is, in relation to the -example just cited, an _a fortiori_ case.)] - - - - - CHAPTER LXIII. - - -But, it may be plausibly objected, if it were of such dangerous tendency -_indiscriminately_ to give utterance to bare, abstract, moral principles -only, how came it to pass, then, that Oldcorne, who was a good man, -morally, as well as a clever man, intellectually, suffered himself _thus_ -to act when questioned by Humphrey Littleton respecting the moral -lawfulness, or otherwise, of the Gunpowder Plot? - -Now, Oldcorne, as we have already seen in his Declaration quoted above, -has recorded a--that is one--reason why he left Littleton _in -abstracto_--that is furnished with truth in the abstract merely. And -beyond a doubt, as subsequent events so signally proved, the astute -Jesuit's judgment of Littleton's character had not erred one whit. - -Littleton, as Oldcorne justly feared, was a "dangerous fellow," one who -was likely to entrap the innocent, and one who was, therefore, not -entitled, either in Justice or in that more refined kind of justice called -Equity, to have his question dealt with by anything other than a flanking -movement; or, in other words, by anything other than such an intellectual -man[oe]uvre as would _turn aside the question_ Littleton had elected to -propound to the great mental strategist--as would turn aside the question -Littleton had elected to propound, on the face of it, probably, and as the -event proved, certainly, from sinister motives and with crooked aims. - -Hence, _partly_ because of his questioner's inferred insincerity and -pernicious purposes _did Oldcorne sever speculative truth in thought from -concrete truth in action_; or, in other words, _Oldcorne gave to Littleton -an answer "sounding" in partial truth alone_. - - - - - CHAPTER LXIV. - - -Now, _partial truth_, as has been affirmed already, _is not, in its -proportion, less true than the full orb of truth_.[A] And many are the -times and many are the circumstances in this strangely chequered human -life of ours, with its endless movements and its perpetual -vicissitudes, when apparently conflicting and antagonistic duties can -be in justice, equity, and honour reconciled on one condition only, -namely, that man shall leave to Omniscience alone, "from Whom no -secrets are hid," a knowledge of the full orb of certain degrees of -some particular kind of truth, governing some particular -subject-matter under consideration.[165][B] - -[Footnote A: _It is never morally lawful to tell a lie_, that is, to speak -contrary to one's mind, or to deceive by word contrary to that law of -justice which bids a man render to all rational creatures their due. - -_To act a lie_ is as base and wicked as to tell a lie, and often more -unmanly and contemptible besides: else might the deaf and dumb be unjustly -deceived with impunity.] - -[Footnote B: The noble science of casuistry is founded on the fact that -_partial truth is not less true, in its measure and in its degree, than -the full orb of truth_. - -A knowledge of casuistry, that is, of the principles of moral science -scientifically applied to the living facts of the living present, will be -of primal necessity to British statesmen in the twentieth century, which -will be a century of few, but strong, principles, and of few, but strong, -men to apply those principles. - -Efficiency, and efficiency through scientific exactitude, will be the -characteristic aim of all the great Imperial Powers of the world in the -near future. Here, in England, with all our intellectual, moral, and -physical virtues (which indeed are neither few nor contemptible), we have -been too apt to allow a number of persons to speak for us, able in their -way, no doubt, but of limited mental vision, and hopelessly incapable of -grappling with the problems that confront a world-wide Empire, embracing a -fifth (some say a fourth) of the human race. A democratic Empire must -choose leaders that are _wise_, just, self-controlled, courageous; and -then that Empire must entrust freely and fearlessly their destinies with -such leaders, who must not be afraid faithfully to go "full tilt" against -ignorant prejudice or short-sighted prepossession. - -Now, wisdom (or prudence) is the cardinal virtue which presides over all -the other three virtues. And wisdom (or prudence) tells us that strategy -in war, that sometimes necessary evil; diplomacy betwixt the -representatives of nations; and above and beyond all the imparting to the -general body of the people only so much knowledge of the tendencies of -current events as is for the common good, can have intellectual and moral -justification on this one fundamental ethical principle only, namely, that -_partial truth is not less true, in its measure and in its degree, than -the full orb of truth_. - -Again; where a sound intellectual and moral basis is not consciously held, -man, by the rules that govern his rational nature, will not "walk -sure-footedly." Moreover, it is impossible for a self-respecting free -people to allow that essential _unity_ does not prevail betwixt the -fundamental principles of both private action and public action. _For just -wars and politics are not the pawns of a game that has been devised and -patented by the devil._ Just wars and politics are ethics working in the -living present, in the wider field of human conduct. And, properly -understood, they are, after their kind, and must be, if they are lawful to -rational creatures, as noble and as much under the reign, rule, and -governance of the _Ideal Man_ as are those solemn acts of life which have -been (amongst other purposes) devised to remind man of the transcendental -nature of his origin and destiny.] - -Just as on some wild, tempestuous night, the full orb of the silvery moon -is obscured to the eye of the gazer by a dark, driving cloud. - -Now, it has been said that, partly, _because_ Oldcorne inferred -insincerity of heart in Humphrey Littleton, and, partly, _because_ -Oldcorne inferred in his questioner pernicious purposes in propounding the -question he did propound respecting the moral lawfulness, or otherwise, of -the Gunpowder Plot, _therefore_ Oldcorne gave Littleton an answer sounding -in partial--that is, in this case, in abstract, in speculative--truth -alone. - -Oldcorne's own expressed words are as follow:-- - -"_In this warie sort I spake to him bycause I doubted he came to entrap -me_, _and that he should take no advantage of my words whither he reported -them to Catholics or to Protestants._" - -Unquestionably, this must have been _a_ reason--_one_ reason, that is--for -Father Oldcorne's flanking, evasive reply, sounding in partial--that is, -in this case, in abstract, in speculative--truth alone. - -For otherwise a man of such approved goodness and established character -would have never declared it to be a reason. The contrary supposal it is -impossible to entertain. - -But because Oldcorne's declared reason was undoubtedly _a_ reason, it does -not follow--regard being had to persons, times, and circumstances--either -from the demands of universal reason or moral fitness, that it was _his -only and sole reason_, nor (still less) that it was his _paramount and -predominant reason_ for his action in question, that is, for his mode of -couching the aforesaid Declaration in partial truth alone. - -What leads to the conclusion with resistless force that Oldcorne's alleged -reason cannot have been his paramount, his predominant, reason is the -simple, indisputable fact that such an aim so egregiously miscarried. - -Therefore, in the case of so astute and clever a man, as all the evidence -we have concerning Oldcorne to demonstration proves him to have been, it -is rendered probable, to the degree of moral certainty, that the great -casuist had some far stronger reason latent within him than the reason he -chose to put forth for couching an answer to Humphrey Littleton, sounding -in partial truth alone. - -Besides the sufficient, indeed, _yet inferior reason_, grounded on the -primal instinct of personal self-preservation, or, in other words, to put -the matter bluntly, the mere brute instinct of not being entrapped, wisdom -suggests that Oldcorne must--his moral character being what we know it -was--have had a reason latent deep down within the depths of his conscious -being, which was not only a sufficient but _superior reason_, not only a -true but a sublime reason, for severing in this grave matter, and holding -suspended, truth _in thought_ from truth _in action_. - -Yea, Father Oldcorne, I maintain, gave Humphrey Littleton the flanking, -evasive answer that he did give him, notwithstanding the inevitable, -possible, and even probable dangers attendant thereon, because he -(Oldcorne) felt within himself, "to the finest fibre of his being," a -_freedom_, a _three-fold freedom_, which warranted, justified, and -vindicated him in so answering. - -Now this freedom was a three-fold freedom, because it was a -thrice-purchased freedom. - -_And it was a thrice-purchased freedom because it had been purchased by -the merits_:-- - -(1) Of the personal, actual repentance of the revealing plotter himself. -By the merits - -(2) Of the imputed (or constructive) repentance of that penitent's -co-plotters. And by the merits - -(3) Of the laudable action of Oldcorne himself. - - - - - CHAPTER LXV. - - -Now, Oldcorne, being a man as good as he was clever, and as clever as he -was good, manifests from the inherent nature of his answer to Humphrey -Littleton a sense, a consciousness, an assurance of freedom from the -restraints and obligations which would have undoubtedly stayed and bound -him had he not been already freed from their power. - -Now, it is a superior power that countervails, that renders impotent an -inferior power. - -_Now, Oldcorne would be freed from the restraining power of moral -obligations, as to the user of a particular character of speech, if he had -had residing within him a power of superior, of sublimer, that is, of -countervailing force._ - -_Now, Oldcorne, in his answer to Littleton, manifestly gives evidence of -power, of countervailing power._ - -_Knowledge gives power: gives countervailing power._ - -_Therefore it follows that the presence of power, of countervailing power, -in Oldcorne proves likewise the strong probability of knowledge, of -countervailing knowledge likewise._ - -_And what kind of knowledge can such two-fold knowledge have been, save a -meritorious knowledge of what aforetime had been, but which was then no -longer, the Gunpowder Treason Plot?_ - -For, from the very moment of Oldcorne's becoming conscious that the Plot -as a plot had vanished into thin air by (1) personal, actual repentance; -by (2) imputed or constructive repentance; by (3) a personally heroic act: -had vanished like the morning mists before the beams of the rising sun, -Oldcorne would feel himself, so to speak, immediately to be endued with an -extraordinary power: with a power that would straightway cause him to grow -to a loftier stature than all his fellows: with a power that then would -enable him, as it were, to scale the heights, and, at length, to mount up -to the very top of what aforetime had been the baleful Plot, but which -Plot Oldcorne full well knew would be henceforward and for ever emptied -and defecated of and from all murderous, criminous, sacrilegious -quality.[166] - -Hence was Oldcorne warranted, justified, and vindicated in viewing and -surveying "the fact of Mr. Catesbie's" simply speculatively and purely in -the abstract. - -Hence was Oldcorne warranted, justified, and vindicated in leaving -Humphrey Littleton _in abstracto_, after the latter had propounded to him -his dangerous question: of leaving the doubter with an answer sounding in -partial truth alone. - - - - - CHAPTER LXVI. - - -Now, this conclusion leads inevitably to the further conclusion that -Edward Oldcorne must have had latent within him, deep down within the -depths of his conscious being, a particular knowledge, _as distinct from a -general knowledge, a private knowledge as distinct from a public -knowledge_, not indeed of this Plot as a plot, but of the Plot _after_ it -had been, _when_ it had been, and _as_ it had been _first transmuted and -transformed, by the causes and processes hereinbefore mentioned: -transmuted and transformed into an instrument, sure and certain for the -temporal salvation of his fellow-men_. - -Yea, _because_ Edward Oldcorne's noblest mental faculty, his conscience, -gazing with eagle-eye, sun-filled, yet undazzled and undismayed, upon -absolute truth was able unshrinkingly and calmly to bear witness to the -other indivisible parts of his rational nature, that _his_ mind in -relation to that fell enterprise, which from first to last must have "made -the angels weep," was a mind not only of passive innocence, but of active -rectitude, _therefore_ must he have felt himself to be not barely, but -abundantly _free_. Free, because he knew there was no mortal in this -world, and no being in the world to come, to condemn _him_ at the bar of -eternal Justice; nay, none rightly even to be so much as his accuser: free -to survey the baleful scheme purely speculatively: free, orally to express -the results of that survey, _either as to whole or part, in abstracto, in -the abstract merely; and this notwithstanding the risk of -misinterpretation from his questioner's "want of thought," or "want of -heart_." - -For everlastingly was it the truth, that none could gainsay nor resist, -that in relation to _this_ matter, at any rate, it was the lofty privilege -of Edward Oldcorne--indeed a man, if ever there were such, "elect and -precious"--to have been made "a white soul:" to have been made a soul like -unto "a star that dwelt apart." - -_Res ipsa loquitur._ Yea, the words of Edward Oldcorne speak for -themselves. And from those words evident is it that it was the kingly -prerogative of this disciplined, self-repressed, humblest of men, _to know -the truth as to the once atrocious plan: to know the truth and to be -free_. - -For his language implies, and, his mind and his character being what they -were, his language is intelligible on none other supposal than this: That -at the very moment when his tongue gave utterance to this now famous -flanking, evasive answer to his inquirer, _he, even he, had possession of -a power, a knowledge, a living consciousness, that he had been exalted to -be the chosen agent of that Supreme Power of the Universe_, to Whom by -infinite right, Vengeance belongs: _the chosen agent whereby the -aforetime, but then no longer, stupendous Gunpowder Treason Plot had been, -to all eternity, overthrown, frustrated, and brought to nought_.[167] - - - - - CHAPTER LXVII. - - -Hence may we say, of a surety, has it been proved that Edward Oldcorne, -Priest and Jesuit, used words which imply that, as a fact, he viewed the -Plot _ante factum_, before the fact, and in the abstract merely. - -That, being a man as good as he was clever, and as clever as he was good, -he must have had his warranting reasons, his justifying reasons, his -vindicating reasons for so doing, when such a course of action was -obviously likely to be attended with danger from misinterpretation from -both the fool and the knave; from both the man lacking thought and from -the man lacking heart. - -That such warranting reasons, such justifying reasons, such vindicating -reasons would be found in the fact that Oldcorne knew the Plot was no -longer a plot, but a scheme emptied and defecated of all evil, all -murderous, all criminous, all sacrilegious quality. Nay, that it was a -scheme sublimated and transfigured by his (Oldcorne's) own superabounding -merit and virtue in relation to the once diabolical, but then repented of, -prodigious plan. - -Therefore is the inevitable conclusion pressed upon us with resistless -force, that, according to the changeless laws which govern man's -intellectual and moral nature, Oldcorne must have had some _official or -semi-official particular and private knowledge_ of the thirteen Gunpowder -traitors' heinous project, as distinct from and in addition to that merely -personal, general knowledge, which he necessarily cannot have failed to -possess in his capacity of an ordinary English citizen: some professional -or quasi-professional special, private knowledge, as distinct from that -general, public, common knowledge, which every sane man then a subject of -the British Crown could not help not being possessed of, at that very -instant of time when Humphrey Littleton propounded to the great casuist -Humphrey Littleton's aforetime unhappy question.[A] - -[Footnote A: It is quite clear to my mind that Christopher Wright, the -revealing plotter, must have himself expressly freed his confessor from -the obligation to _absolute_ secrecy, which the seal of the Confessional -would impose. It may have been that Oldcorne made this a condition -precedent to his agreeing to pen the Letter. Or, it may have been that -Wright's own strong Catholic instincts and natural sense of justice -suggested the necessity of this course. As already remarked, a natural -secret, that is, a something that is not a sin, which alone forms matter -for Sacramental Confession, may _indirectly_ come under the seal, if the -confessor promises expressly or impliedly to accept the natural secret -under the obligations of the seal. But in Wright's case there could be no -question of his communication being in the nature of a natural secret -protected _indirectly_ by the seal by reason of Oldcorne's promise. And -though _freed_ by the penitent from the duty of absolute secrecy, Oldcorne -would be still under a positive duty _of discretion_.] - -I say advisedly _aforetime unhappy question_. - -For, I respectfully maintain that the ratiocinative faculty to-day, of a -surety, demonstrates that in the majestic cause of impartial, severe, -historical truth, the act of this frail, erring child of man, Humphrey -Littleton, has proved itself now to be thrice happy. - -"_O felix culpa!_" "O happy fault!" Out of bitterness is come forth -sweetness. - -Humphrey Littleton was not pardoned by King James, his Privy Council, and -Government, notwithstanding the invaluable disclosures he had made.[168] - -This high-born English gentleman was executed at Redhill, Worcester, on -the 7th day of April, 1606, along with (among others) another open rebel, -John Winter, the half-brother of Robert Winter and Thomas Winter, the -Gunpowder traitors. - -Humphrey Littleton, we are told by his contemporary, Father John Gerard, -asked forgiveness of Father Oldcorne more than once, and said that he had -wronged him much. - -He also asked forgiveness of Mr. Abington, who, though condemned to death, -was ultimately pardoned at his wife's and Lord Mounteagle's intercession. - -Humphrey Littleton "died with show of great repentance, and so with sorrow -and humility and patient acceptance of his death made amends for his -former frailty and too unworthy desire of life." - -Stephen Littleton, the Master of Holbeach--who had likewise joined in the -rebellion in the Midlands, under Sir Everard Digby, which grew out of the -Gunpowder Plot, although a distinct movement from it, albeit connected -with the Plot--was made a public example of in his native County of -Staffordshire, _in terrorem_, as a terror to evil-doers: this unfortunate -English gentleman suffering the extreme penalty of the law, according to -his contemporary, the aforesaid Father John Gerard, in the ancient town of -Stafford. - - - - - CHAPTER LXVIII. - - -We now come to the second and latter part of Father Oldcorne's Declaration -to Humphrey Littleton, from the whole of which Declaration Littleton drew -the conclusion that Oldcorne answered "the action was good, and seemed to -approve of it."[A] - -[Footnote A: By thus disclaiming knowledge of "_these_"--that is, the -object the plotters had in view in their nefarious Plot, and the means -they purposed having recourse to, to attain their object--Oldcorne -deliberately throws a veil over the full orb of truth. But Littleton might -have discerned, had he taken the trouble so to do, that Oldcorne was -equivocating under a sense of prior obligation; and the clue was afforded -by the person of the speaker and the tenour of the answer itself. In the -former part of the Declaration, by leaving Littleton _in abstracto_, he -had thrown a veil over a portion of the full orb of truth. Just as the -silvery moon, on some tempestuous night, may be first partially obscured, -by a thick, dark, driving cloud, and then afterwards wholly obscured, from -the view of the gazer.] - -"And thus I applied it to this fact of Mr. Catesbie's; it is not to be -approved or condemned by the event, but by the proper object or end, and -means which was to be used in it; _and because I know nothing of thes_, I -will neither approve it or condeme it, but leave it to god and ther owne -consciences, and in this wary sort I spoke to him bycause I doubted he -came to entrap me; and that he should take noe advantage of the words -whither he reported them to Catholics or Protestants."[B] - -[Footnote B: Oldcorne's full answer to Littleton would be, "and because I -know nothing of these [that I am at liberty to tell you, Humphrey -Littleton"]: _these last words being interiorly expressed, perhaps_.] - -Now, in the first place, let it be remembered that these words were spoken -_not before but after_ Wednesday, the 6th of November, when, as Oldcorne -himself has left on record, and which indeed we have seen already, Father -Tesimond came from Coughton to Huddington, and from Huddington to Hindlip; -and when "_he said that there were certain gentlemen that meant to have -blown up the Parliament House, and that their plot was discovered a day or -two before_."[A] - -[Footnote A: Father Oldcorne says that Tesimond reached Hindlip at two -o'clock. Now, as Tesimond came _from_ Huddington, where, already, he had -had an interview with Catesby, the conspirators must have reached -Huddington _before_ two o'clock; probably they reached the mansion-house -at twelve o'clock mid-day. Bates says that Tesimond was at Huddington -half-an-hour; but Jardine says two hours. Query, what does "_Greenway's -MS._" say?] - -Again; Fawkes, we are told by Eudaemon-Joannes,[169] explained at the Trial -of the conspirators why the prisoners pleaded "'Not guilty,' which was -that the Indictment contained 'many other matters, which we neither can, -nor ought to countenance by our assent or silence,' though none of them -meant to deny that which they had not only voluntarily confessed before, -_but which was quite notorious throughout the realm_."[170] (The italics -are mine.) - -Now, seeing that Oldcorne told Littleton that "_he knew nothing_" as to -the "_end or object_" the plotters had in their Plot, nor "_the means -which was to be used in it_," when the whole of England, not to say -Europe, had been ringing with a knowledge of _not only the end or object, -but also the means_, for the last past few days, and perhaps weeks, at the -very least, I draw this inevitable conclusion:-- - -That because Oldcorne was a man as morally good as he was intellectually -clever, _he must have met his questioner's inquiry with this nescience, by -reason of some antecedent, official, and professional duty; or, at least, -semi-official and quasi-professional duty, which had been imposed upon -him, ab extra, from the outside, prior in time to Humphrey Littleton's -coming to him to be resolved of his doubts as to the moral rightness or -wrongness of the Gunpowder Plot_.[171] - -In other words, that Oldcorne felt instinctively that he could recognise -in _a private individual, like Humphrey Littleton_, no valid right, title, -claim, or demand to call forth an answer, which might discover or disclose -to Littleton the secret of the repentant Christopher Wright. - -Yea, neither in Justice, nor in Equity, nor in Honour could the grand -Yorkshireman betray to Humphrey Littleton the secret of trust that in a -semi-official, quasi-professional mode or fashion had come to be entrusted -to him by another, as that other's private property and exclusive -possession. - -_That other was Christopher Wright, the penitent revealing plotter, and -whomsoever he had, explicitly or implicitly, willed should share a -knowledge of the mighty secret. But to none other or others beside. And -certainly not to men probably prompted by sinister motives and crooked -aims._ - -For a knowledge of truth in action, truth in the result, truth in the -event, truth in the external, and every other kind of truth in relation to -the Gunpowder[A] Plot, _integral or partial, was irrevocably held in -trust_ by Edward Oldcorne, not for Humphrey Littleton, or the like of him, -but for Christopher Wright and men that were true of heart. - -[Footnote A: THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS: NEITHER CAN A MAN OR A -WOMAN DO EVIL THAT GOOD MAY COME. But Oldcorne would contend that, in -perfect Reason, Truth may be concealed, subject to certain limitations -and, regard being had to person, time, and circumstance, the -clue-affording possibilities; and this whether partial truth or whole -truth, _in pursuance of a prior and superior moral obligation_. And so -would say all modern diplomatists and commanders in the field, however -conscientious and upright they might be, unless they wished to court -defeat, or to give away their Country, and (if justice be meted out to -them) to be cashiered. Now, _unity at all times and in all places must -prevail. For all men are subject to the one Moral Law of Right Reason, and -nowhere will you find men without souls_, notwithstanding that certain -members of the English middle classes sometimes seem to labour under a -delusion to the contrary. - -Equivocation cannot be had recourse to in matters of Contract, nor for -pecuniary gain, nor sordid profit. Remember _that_, O all ye worshippers -of Mammon! For, "a more glorious doctrine for knaves and a more disastrous -doctrine for honest men," it would be difficult, if not impossible, to -conceive of than equivocation, if it were not held strictly and severely -in check and under control by the dictates of Intellectual Reason and -Moral Justice. Now, this highly scientific liberty, "equivocation," is -never morally lawful to the witnesses in a Court of Justice, where the -judge has jurisdiction to try the parties and the cause, whether those -witnesses be the parties themselves to the cause, or strangers -"subp[oe]naed" to give testimony therein. Such persons would be justly -punishable for perjury who professed that, when bearing insufficient or -inadequate witness in a Court of Justice by not telling "the whole" truth, -they were merely "equivocating." Nor can equivocation be had recourse to -for working hurt or injury to a fellow-creature, whether bond or free, -white, black, or copper-coloured, contrary to the primary obligations of -Justice, which bid man render unto _all men_ their due. Nor with reference -to Divine Truth can equivocation be used. (Hence the piteous absurdity of -the Royal Declaration against Popery.) - -By the mild and merciful Law of England, a criminally-accused person may -equivocate, on the same moral principles as justify strategy in warfare, -until his guilt has been brought home to him by sufficient proofs. Such a -person equivocates by pleading "_not guilty_." - -_Because_ I believe the ethical doctrine which justifies equivocation, -when properly taught, to be true and not false, _and because_ I -furthermore believe that, in the interests of my Country and of Humanity -at large, it is of practical consequence, as well as mentally salutary, -that a knowledge of equivocation, its foundation principles, extents, and -limitations, should be "understanded" by all those that have the -guardianship of the People, whether in the senate, in the field, or at -sea, _therefore_, I have requested one, who has a competent mastery of the -subject, to explain the matter to my readers. This has been kindly done in -a letter, which will be found in Supplementum VI. For "_Melius petere -fontes_," the jurist as well as the poet has it. "_Better is it to have -recourse to the fountain-head._" - -The philosophical explanation of the fact that, under the pressure of -necessity, certain combatants can and do exhibit in action at the theatre -of war the highest strategetical skill, in spite of their knowing nothing -of the scientific doctrine of equivocation, springs from the law of reason -that, as a rule, _doing_ is the condition precedent _to knowing_; -experience to cognition. See Ferrier's "_Institutes of Metaphysic_" -(Blackwood), p.15.] - -This was an obligation, that flowed from the truth expressed by the -luminous maxim, "_Qui prior est tempore potior est jure_." "He who is -first in time is the stronger in point of right." - -The Jesuit could never that trust, that confidence betray. If needs be, he -must be "true till death." For it was not necessary that he should live. -But it was necessary that he should live undishonoured. - - - - - CHAPTER LXIX. - - -Again; to all those that are "knowing" enough, the facts of this woeful -tragedy "observingly" to "distil out," the form and substance of this -document of the 12th March, 1605-6, under the hand of Edward Oldcorne, -alike afford evidence--conclusive evidence--that Father Oldcorne regarded -the Gunpowder conspirators as repentant conspirators, through the virtual -_representative_ repentance of one of their own number. - -And though it is true that, by the inexorable decree of the Universe, "The -Guilty suffer," each man for himself and not another, temporal punishment, -searching, terrible, and keen, yet this is not the whole of the truth -governing the perfected ethics of the matter. For "Man learns by -suffering." And guilt is pardoned on repentance, that is, on the -observance and on the performance of certain equally decreed conditions. - -These conditions are (1) confession, (2) contrition, which implies sorrow -and regret, and (3) satisfaction or "damages," which involves amendment, -withdrawal, or reversal. And when all three conditions have been observed -and performed, then - - "Whoso with repentance is not satisfied, - Neither to earth nor heaven is allied." - -Hence, could the great moralist, by a _complexus_ of intellectual acts, -personal and vicarious, justly regard the whole band of plotters as -transgressors released from the abstract guilt of their double crime. For -it is a dictate of reason that the release of one joint debtor operates -derivatively to the release, _ipso facto_, of all the rest. - -Now, if Oldcorne possessed a conscious realization that, through the -_repentance, personal and representative_, of the Gunpowder plotters, that -Plot was no longer a plot, then, to speak after the manner of men, he must -have had that realization as the resultant of two particular kinds, -aspects, or sides of _knowledge: ab extra_, from without, that is, passive -knowledge, or communicated, in the _first_ step; and _ab intra_, from -within, that is, knowledge active, or self-bestowed, in the _second_ step. - -Now, both passive knowledge and active knowledge here would imply, in the -final analysis, a communication by some external mental agency, the agency -of some living, intelligent being. - -It would be implied in the first case, directly; in the second case, -indirectly. But, directly or indirectly, the source would be the same. - -Now, who can that aforesaid living, intelligent being, which reason -demands, have been, if not _a repentant plotter himself_? - -Therefore, by irresistible inference, the Letter is surely, with moral -certitude, traced home at last. - - - - - CHAPTER LXX. - - -Father Edward Oldcorne was racked in the Tower of London, "five times, and -once with the utmost severity for several hours,"[172] in order that, -haply, information might be extracted from him that would prove him to be -possessed of a guilty knowledge of the Plot. But this princely soul had -nothing of that kind to tell, so that King James and his Counsellors -wreaked their lawless severity in vain.[A] - -[Footnote A: Torture, for the purpose of drawing evidence from a prisoner, -was contrary to the Law of England. Brother Ralph Ashley, the servant of -Father Oldcorne, who, I maintain, carried the warning Letters to Father -Henry Garnet and Lord Mounteagle, was tortured, but without revealing -anything apparently. Brother Nicholas Owen, the great maker of priests' -hiding-places and secret chambers in the castles, manor-houses, and halls -of the old English Catholic gentry, was tortured with great severity; but -he, too, seems to have revealed nothing. Owen "died in their hands," but -whether he was tortured to death or committed suicide in the Tower is a -mystery to this day. One would like to see this mystery bottomed.] - -On the 7th day of April, 1606, at Redhill, one mile from the City of -Worcester, on the London Road, "the silver cord was loosed, the golden -bowl was broken, the pitcher was crushed at the fountain, the wheel was -broken on the cistern." For on that day, at that spot, the happy spirit of -Edward Oldcorne mounted far, far beyond the fading things of time and -space.[173] - -It may be objected that Father John Gerard's relation of the last dying -speech and confession of the great Jesuit Priest and Martyr is hostile to -the hypothesis that Oldcorne penned the great Letter, "_Litterae -Felicissimae_." - -Gerard's reported words are these; but, I contend, we have no absolute -proof that they are the _ipissima verba_ of Father Oldcorne, though he may -have uttered some of these words, and something resembling them in the -case of the others.--See Gerard's "_Narrative_" p. 275. - -"He declared unto the people that he came thither to die for the Catholic -faith and the practice of his function, seeing that they neither had, nor -could prove anything against him which, even by their own laws, was -sufficient to condemn him, but that he was a Priest of the Society of -Jesus, wherein he much rejoiced, and was ready and desirous to give his -life for the profession of that faith which he had taught many years in -that very country, and which it was necessary for everyone to embrace that -would save their souls.[174] _Then being asked again about the treason and -taking part with the conspirators_, he protested there again that he never -had the least knowledge of the treason, and took it upon his death that he -was as clear as the new-born child from the whole plot or any part -thereof. Then commending his soul, with great devotion, humility, and -confidence, into the hands of God and to the Blessed Virgin, St. Jerome, -St. Winifred, and his good Angel, he was turned off the ladder, and -hanging awhile, was cut down and quartered, and so his innocent and -thrice-happy soul went to receive the reward of his many and great -labours." (The italics are mine.) - - - - - CHAPTER LXXI. - - -Now, in the first place, it is to be noticed that Father Oldcorne made the -special disclaimer of ever having had the least knowledge of the Plot only -_after being asked again about the treason and taking part with the -conspirators_. - -My respectful submissions to the judgment of my candid readers, therefore, -are these:-- - -First, that we have no exact, that is, no scientific, proof[175] that -Father Oldcorne, as a fact, employed these _precise words_. - -And, secondly, that, even if he did so employ them, what he meant to -convey to his hearers' mind by the words was, I maintain, that he had no -criminal, no traitorous knowledge of the ruthless Gunpowder enterprise; -or, in other words, _no guilty knowledge, no knowledge that his King and -his fellow-subjects had any right, title, claim, or demand, in Reason, -Justice, Equity, or Honour, to obtain or to wring from him_. - -For "_Qui prior est tempore potior est jure_." "He who is first in time is -the stronger in point of right." - -Again; "There is on earth a yet auguster thing, veiled though it be, than -Parliament or King." And that is the Human Conscience, instructed by Truth -and Justice. _Her_ rights are invincible and eternally sacred. - -Gerard continues, after Father Oldcorne "followed Ralph, his faithful -follower and companion of his labours, who showed at his death great -devotion and fervour, as may be guessed by this one action of his; for -whilst Father Oldcorne stood upon the ladder and was preparing himself to -die, Ralph, standing by the ladder, suddenly stepped forward, and takes -hold of the good Father's feet, embracing and kissing them with great -devotion, and said, 'What a happy man am I, to follow here the steps of my -sweet Father!' And when his own turn came, he also first commended himself -by earnest prayers unto God, then told the people that he died for -religion and not for treason, whereof he had 'not had the least knowledge; -and as he had heard this good Father, before him, freely forgive his -persecutors and pray for the King and Country, so did he also....' He -showed, at his death, great resolution joined with great devotion, and so -resigning his soul into the hands of God, was turned off the ladder and -changed this life for a better."--See Gerard's "_Narrative_," pp. 27, -5276.[176] - -Furthermore, Father Gerard says, on p. 269 of his "_Narrative_," as we -have seen already, that "Father Ouldcorne his indictment was so framed -that one might see they much desired to have drawn him within the compass -of some participation of this late treason; to which effect they first did -seem to suppose it as likely that he should send letters up and down to -prepare men's minds for the insurrection.... Also they accused him of a -sermon made in Christmas, wherein he should seem to excuse the -conspirators, or to extenuate their fact, and, withal that speaking with -Humphrey Littleton in private about the same matter, he should advise him -not to judge of the cause, or to condemn the gentlemen by the event." - -Although Father Oldcorne was found guilty and sentenced to death, it is -not clearly shewn, from Gerard's Relation, or that of anybody else, what -offences were proved against him. Probably, reliance was mainly placed -(1) on the fact of his being a notorious Priest and Jesuit, reconciling as -many of the King's subjects to the See of Rome as possible; (2) on his -providing, through the Jesuit, Father Jones, a place of refuge for Robert -Winter and Stephen Littleton, two of the fugitives from Justice; and (3) -on his aiding and abetting the concealment of his Superior, Father Garnet, -a proclaimed traitor, at Hindlip.[A] - -[Footnote A: The reason why Humphrey Littleton, at his execution, begged -pardon of Mr. Abington, as well as of Father Oldcorne (see _ante_ p. 214), -was that Humphrey Littleton, when in Worcester Gaol, had reported to the -Government, in the hope of getting a respite, that the Jesuits, Garnet and -Oldcorne, were being concealed at Hindlip. - -Father Garnet left Coughton for Hindlip, accompanied by the Honourable -Anne Vaux, on the 16th December, 1605, and lay concealed there until the -last week of January, 1605-6, when Garnet and Oldcorne, together with the -lay-brothers, Nicholas Owen and Ralph Ashley, were captured at Hindlip, by -Sir Henry Bromley, of Holt Castle, a Worcestershire magistrate, in -pursuance of elaborate instructions from Lord Salisbury himself. The -captives were all four solemnly conveyed to the Tower of London. Miss Vaux -was herself afterwards locked up in the Tower, but finally released. This -unconquerable lady seems to have "come to her grave in a full age, like as -a shock of corn cometh in in its season." For, as late as the year 1635, -we find her name being reported to the Privy Council of Charles I., for -helping certain Jesuits to carry on a school for the education of the sons -of the English Catholic nobility and gentry, at her mansion, Stanley -Grange, about six miles from Derby.] - - - - - CHAPTER LXXII. - - -Edward Oldcorne might have, perchance, saved his life had he told his -lawful Sovereign that he had been (_Deo juvante_) a joint efficient cause -of that Sovereign's temporal salvation and the temporal salvation of the -Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Commons of England, Ambassadors, and Heaven -only knows whom, and how many else beside. For King James, with all his -faults, was averse from shedding the blood even of popish Priests and -Jesuits. But Oldcorne did not do so. And I hold that he had two -all-sufficient reasons for not so acting. - -First, he may have thought there was a serious danger of his entangling -Thomas Ward, in some way or another, as an accessory, at least, after the -fact, in the meshes of the Law of that unscrupulous time: the time, be it -remembered, of the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission. - -And, secondly, although this great Priest and Jesuit, _by virtue and as a -result of the releasing act of his Penitent_, Christopher Wright, had -come, _practically_, to _receive a knowledge of the tremendous secret as a -Friend and as a Man_, and not as a Priest, yet, _because_ that Man and -that Friend _was a Priest_; and _because_ it was impossible for that -Priest in practice, and in the eyes of men, to bisect himself, and make -clear and manifest the different sides and aspects in which he -had--subsequent to the Penitent's release from the seal of the -Confessional, _sigillum confessionis_--thought and acted in relation to -the revealing plotter, _therefore_ did Oldcorne, I opine, -deliberately--because, according to his own principles, he was -predominantly "a Priest," and that "for ever"--_therefore_ did he -deliberately choose the more excellent way, aye! in the chamber of torture -and upon the scaffold of death, the way of perfect self-sacrifice for the -good of others. - -For, by a Yorkshire Catholic mother, dwelling in a grey northern city--and -who in January, 1598, is described as "old and lame"[A]--Edward Oldcorne -had been taught long years ago "_to adjust his compass at the -Cross_."[177][178] - -[Footnote A: Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. 204.] - -Brother Ralph Ashley, too, possibly might have saved his life, had he -disclosed that, whatever other letter or letters he had carried to and -fro, he had carried that great Letter, that Letter of Letters, which had -proved the sheet-anchor, the lever, of his Country's temporal salvation -through the temporal salvation of its hereditary and elected rulers. - -But Brother Ralph Ashley knew he had a duty to perform of strict fidelity -to his master, a duty which, though unknown to man, would not escape the -Eye of Him to advance Whose greater glory this humble Jesuit lay-brother -was solemnly pledged. - -Father Gerard says, as we have already seen, in his "_Narrative_," that -Ralph Ashley "was divers times put upon the torture but he revealed -nothing." Gerard furthermore says that Ralph Ashley "was indicted and -condemned upon supposition that he had carried letters to and fro about -this conspiracy." "But," says Gerard, "they neither did nor could allege -any instance or proof against him."--See "_Narrative_," p. 271. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXIII. - - -A few final words as to Thomas Ward (or Warde), who was, I hold, no less -than Edward Oldcorne and his Penitent, the joint arbiter of destinies and -the controller of fates. - -Indeed, as previously stated in an earlier portion of this Inquiry, my own -opinion is that Christopher Wright probably unlocked his burthened heart -to his connection, Thomas Ward, of whose constancy in friendship he would -be, by long years of experience, well assured, at a time anterior to that -at which he unbosomed himself to the holy Jesuit Priest, that skilled, -wise, loving minister of a mind diseased. - -While Ward, on his part, readily and willingly, though at the imminent -risk of being himself charged as a knowing accomplice and accessory to the -Plot, undertook the diplomatic engineering of the whole movement, whereby -the Plot was so effectually and speedily spun round on its axis, even if -well-nigh at the eleventh hour. - -In bidding farewell, a long farewell, to Thomas Ward, the following -extracts from a letter of Sir Edward Hoby[179] to Sir Thomas Edmunds, -Ambassador at Brussels, are important, although some of the passages have -already appeared in the earlier part of this Inquiry:-- - - "Such as are apt to interpret all things to the worst, will not - believe other but that Lord Mounteagle might in a policy cause - this letter to be sent, fearing the discovery already of the - letter; the rather that one Thomas Ward, a principal man about - him, is suspected to be accessory to the treason. Others - otherwise ... some say that Fawkes (alias Johnson) was servant - to one Thomas Percy; others that he is a Jesuit and had a shirt - of hair next his skin. - - "Early on the Monday [_vere_ Tuesday] morning, the Earl of - Worcester was sent to Essex House to signify the matter to the - Earl of Northumberland, whom he found asleep in his bed, and - hath done since his best endeavour for his apprehension ... Some - say that Northumberland received the like letter that Mounteagle - did, and concealed it ... - - "Tyrwhyt is come to London; Tresham sheweth himself; _and Ward - walketh up and down_."[180] (The italics are mine.) - -Surely, the twain facts that Thomas Ward "walked up and down," and that -his brother, Marmaduke, was also at large, with the latter's eldest -daughter, Mary, lodging in Baldwin's Gardens, Holborn (although we have -seen the Master of Newby apprehended in Warwickshire, in the very heart -and centre of the conspirators), _tend to demonstrate that the King, his -Privy Council, and Government were very much obligated to the -gentleman-servant and, almost certainly, distant kinsman of William Parker -fourth Lord Mounteagle, and that they knew it_.[A] - -[Footnote A: Is it possible that some time after the Plot, Thomas Ward -retired into his native Yorkshire, and became the officer or agent for -Lord William Howard's and his wife's Hinderskelfe and other Yorkshire, -Durham, and Westmoreland estates? I think it is possible; for I find the -name "Thomas Warde" from time to time in the "_Household Books of Lord -William Howard_" (Surtees Soc). See Supplementum III. I am inclined to -think that the reason Father Richard Holtby, the distinguished Yorkshire -Jesuit, who was _socius_, or secretary, to Father Henry Garnet, and -subsequently Superior of the Jesuits in England, was never laid hold of by -the Government, was that Holtby had two powerful friends at Court in Lord -William Howard, of Naworth and Hinderskelfe Castles, and in Thomas Warde -(or Ward). Father Holtby was born at Fryton Hall, in the Parish of -Hovingham, between Hovingham and Malton. Now, Fryton is less than a mile -from Slingsby, where I suspect Thomas Warde (or Ward) finally settled -down, and both are only a few miles distant from Hinderskelfe Castle, now -Castle Howard. Fryton Old Hall is at present, I believe, occupied by Mr. -Leaf, and is the property of Charles James Howard ninth Earl of Carlisle, -the descendant of Lord William Howard. The late Captain Ward, R.N., of -Slingsby Hall, I surmise, was a descendant, lineal or collateral, of -Thomas Ward, of the days of Queen Elizabeth and King James I.] - -From a grateful King and Country, Lord Mounteagle received, as we have -already learned, a payment of L700 a year, equal to nearly L7,000 a year -in our money.[A] - -[Footnote A: Lord Mounteagle's reward was L300 per annum for life, and -L200 per annum to him and his heirs for ever in fee farm rents. Salisbury -declared that Mounteagle's Letter was "the first and only means" the -Government had to discover that "most wicked and barbarous Plot." -Personally, I am bound to say I believe him. The title Lord Morley and -Mounteagle is now in abeyance (see Burke's "_Extinct Peerages_"); but let -us hope that we may see it revived. An heir must be in existence, one -would imagine; for the peerages Morley and Mounteagle would be granted by -the Crown for ever, I presume. There is at the present date a Lord -Monteagle, whose title is of a more recent creation.] - -But Ben Jonson, the rare Ben Jonson, the friend of Shakespeare, of -Donne,[B] and other wits of the once far-famed Mermaid Tavern, Bread -Street, London, deemed the temporal saviour of his Country to be still -insufficiently requited. So the Poet, invoking his Muse, penned, in the -young peer's honour, the following stately epigram:-- - -[Footnote B: John Donne the celebrated metaphysical poet, afterwards Dean -of St. Paul's, and author of the once well-known "_Pseudo-Martyr_," which -Donne wrote at the request of King James himself. For one of Donne's -ancestors _and descendants_, see _ante_ p. 160. - -Henry Donne (or Dunne), a barrister, was brother to John Donne. He was, I -believe, implicated in the Babington conspiracy along with Edward -Abington, brother to Thomas Abington, and about ten other young papist -gentlemen, some of very high birth, great wealth, and brilliant prospects. -At the chambers of Henry Donne, in Thavies Inn, Holborn, London, "the -Venerable" William Harrington, of Mount St. John, near Thirsk, was -captured. Harrington fled to the College at Rheims to study for the -priesthood, in consequence of the impression made upon him by Campion, who -was harboured, in the spring of 1581, for ten days at Mount St. John; -Campion there wrote his famous "_Decem Rationes_." Harrington was executed -at the London Tyburn, for his priesthood, in 1594. He is said to have -struggled with the hangman when the latter began to quarter him alive. -Harrington is mentioned in Archbishop Harsnett's "_Popish Impostures_," a -book known to Shakespeare. Harrington was a second cousin to Guy Fawkes, -through Guy's paternal grandmother, Ellen Harrington, of York.] - -"TO WILLIAM LORD MOUNTEAGLE. - - "Lo, what my country should have done (have raised - An obelisk, or column to thy name; - Or if she would but modestly have praised - Thy fact, in brass or marble writ the same). - I, that am glad of thy great chance, here do! - And proud, my work shall out-last common deeds, - Durst think it great, and worthy wonder too, - But thine: for which I do't, so much exceeds! - My country's parents I have many known; - But saver of my country, thee alone." - - - - - RECAPITULATION OF PROOFS, ARGUMENT, AND - CONCLUSIONS. - - -(1) The revealing plotter cannot have been Tresham or any one of the other -eight who were condemned to death in Westminster Hall; otherwise he would -have _pleaded_ such fact. - -(2) The revealing plotter must have been amongst those who survived not to -tell the tale: that is, either Catesby, Percy, John Wright, or Christopher -Wright. - -(3) Christopher Wright, a subordinate conspirator introduced late in the -conspiracy, was the revealing conspirator. - -(4) Father Edward Oldcorne, S.J., was the Penman of the Letter. - -(5) Thomas Ward was the diplomatic Go-between common to both. - -_All these three were Yorkshiremen._ - -(6) Ralph Ashley was the messenger who conveyed the Letter to Lord -Mounteagle's page, who was already in the street when the Letter-carrier -arrived. - -_Perhaps a Yorkshireman._ - -(7) Mounteagle knew a letter was coming. Known to Edmund Church, Esq., his -confidant. - -(8) Thomas Ward, on Sunday, the 27th October (the day after the delivery), -told Thomas Winter, one of the principal plotters, that Salisbury had -received the document; and on Sunday, the 3rd November, that Salisbury had -shown it to the King. - -(9) Christopher Wright, who was at Lapworth when the Letter was delivered, -and within twenty miles of Father Oldcorne, saw Thomas Winter some little -time subsequent to the delivery of the Letter. - -(10) Christopher Wright is said to have been the first who ascertained -that the Plot was discovered. - -(11) Christopher Wright is said to have counselled flight in different -directions. - -(12) Christopher Wright announced to Thomas Winter, very early on Tuesday, -the 5th of November, the capture of Fawkes that morning. - -(13) Father Oldcorne's handwriting to-day resembles that of the Letter; by -comparison of documents, certainly one of which is in Oldcorne's -handwriting. - -(14) Oldcorne was accused by the Government of sending "letters up and -down to prepare men's minds for the insurrection." - -(15) Brother Ashley, his servant, was accused of carrying "letters to and -fro about this conspiracy." - -(16) Father Henry Garnet, Oldcorne's Superior, mysteriously changed his -purpose expressed on the 4th October, of returning to London; and on the -29th October went from Gothurst to Coughton, in Warwickshire. (I think -Garnet's main reason for going to Coughton was in order to meet Catesby, -and endeavour to induce him to discard Percy's counsel and to seek refuge -in flight.) - -(17) Father Oldcorne evaded giving a direct answer as to the Plot, when -questioned by Littleton, after November 5th. - -(18) Hence, the facts _both before and after_ the delivery of the Letter -are consistent with, and indeed converge towards, the hypothesis sought by -this Inquiry to be proved. - -(19) The circumstance that Christopher Wright displayed a strangely marked -disposition to "hang about" the prime conspirator, Thomas Winter, _after_ -the sending of the Letter, is a suspicious fact, strongly indicative of a -consciousness on Christopher Wright's part of a special responsibility in -connection with the revelation of the Plot; as showing anxiety for -personal knowledge that the train of revelation lighted by himself had, so -to speak, taken fire. - -(20) Christopher Wright lived not to tell the tale. - -(21) Hence, the hypothesis is a theory established, with moral certitude, -mainly by Circumstantial Evidence, which latter "mosaics" perfectly. - -(22) Finally, the crowning proof of the theory sought by this Book to be -established is found in these nine words of the _post scriptum_ of 21st -October, 1605, to letter dated 4th October, 1605, under the hand of Father -Garnet to Father Parsons, in Rome[A]: "This letter being returned unto me -again, FOR REASON OF A FRIEND'S STAY IN THE WAY, I blotted out some words -purposing to write the same by the next opportunity, as I will do -apart:"--The word "stay" here being used to signify "check." _Cf._, -Shakespeare's "King John," II., 2: and see Glossary to Globe Edition -(Macmillan). - -[Footnote A: This letter, I understand, is still extant, and is in the -archives of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster. I wonder whether by -any of the rigorous tests of modern science these "blotted out" words can -be discerned. Probably they have some reference to the Plot. The late Rev. -John Morris, S.J., thought they had not. But on this point I am obliged to -differ, _in toto_, from that painstaking editor of much invaluable -Elizabethan Catholic literature. See the learned Jesuit's remarks on this -letter of the 4th October, 1605, in "_The Condition of Catholics under -James I._" (Longmans), p. 228. - -Father Morris contends that for Father Garnet to have inserted a reference -to the Gunpowder Plot "between two such subjects as the choice of -Lay-brothers and his own want of money," would have been for Garnet to -have exhibited a disposition "to be the most erratic of letter-writers." - -But, surely, Father Morris's argument is feeble in the extreme when regard -is had to the fact that poor Henry Garnet's mind, _from the 25th July, -1605, when he first heard from Tesimond, by way of confession, the general -particulars of the Plot, down to the 4th of October, 1605_, was a very -weltering chaos of grief, distress, and perplexity. And, therefore, the -most natural thing in the world was for him to exhibit a trifle of -eccentricity in the style of his epistolary correspondence, in such trying -circumstances, even with so acute and caustic a critic as Father Parsons. - -I have said that about the 25th July, 1605 (St. James'-tide), Garnet had, -by way of confession, the _general particulars_ of the Plot, because I -think that Garnet obtained from Tesimond final details of the Plot at -Great Harrowden a fortnight before Michaelmas (11th October); in fact, -after the return from St. Winefrid's Well, in Flintshire, Wales. - -It is, however, probable that about the 21st of October, at Gothurst, -Tesimond may have made a further communication to Garnet, possibly in -consequence of Garnet's sending for Tesimond _after_ he (Garnet) had -received "_the friend's stay in the way_." For the old tradition was that -Garnet _first_ had particulars from Tesimond, by way of confession, about -the 21st October. (See the earlier editions of Lingard's "_History_.") -But, of course, this was an error by _three months_, Garnet first -receiving at least general particulars from Tesimond about the 25th of -July. (At some future date I may, perhaps, write an essay on "_Garnet -after the 21st October, 1605_," but at present I have not space to pursue -this matter further.)] - - - - - SUPPLEMENTA. - - - SUPPLEMENTUM I. - - GUY FAWKES. - -The forefathers of Guy Fawkes almost certainly sprang from Nidderdale, in -the West Riding of Yorkshire. See Foster's "_Yorkshire Families_," under -Hawkesworth, of Hawkesworth, and Fawkes, of Farnley. - -Guy's grandfather was William Fawkes, of York, who married a York lady, -Ellen Harrington.[A] - -[Footnote A: Ellen Harrington's father was Lord Mayor of York, in the -reign of Henry VIII., in the year 1536.] - -William Fawkes became Registrar of the Exchequer Court of the Archbishop -of York, and died between the years 1558-1565. - -William Fawkes had two sons and two daughters--Thomas Fawkes, a -merchant-stapler, and Edward Fawkes, a Notary or Proctor of the -Ecclesiastical Court, and afterwards an Advocate of the Consistory Court -of the Archbishop of York. (Certainly it is a strange and bitter irony -that an ancestry like this should have brought forth such a moral monster -as poor Guy Fawkes afterwards became. But our guiding motto must be: -"Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.") - -Edward Fawkes married a lady whose Christian name was Edith, but her -surname is unknown. She was the mother of four children--two sons and two -daughters. Only one of her sons grew to man's estate, and this was the -hapless Guy. - -(Only four children are known of with certainty; but Guy _possibly may_ -have had another brother, who was a student at the Inns of Court, in -November, 1605.) - -Now, the exact house where Edith Fawkes gave birth to her ill-fated boy is -at present not known with certitude. There are four traditions respecting -the place. Two traditions say the house was on the south side of High -Petergate, York; one tradition that it was on the north side, adjoining -the alley called Minster Gates; the fourth tradition that it was at -Bishopthorpe. Personally, I am in favour of the Minster Gates' tradition. -But the Bishopthorpe tradition is worthy of a respectful hearing. - -My friend, Mr. William Camidge, F.R.H.S. (than whom no man now living in -York has a greater, if indeed as great, knowledge concerning the City's -antiquarian lore) tells me in a letter, dated the 5th of November, 1901, -that in old Thomas Gent's "_Rippon_" (1733) there is mention made of -Bishopthorpe as being Guy's birthplace. Gent says, "The house opposite the -church[A] is said to be the birthplace of Guy Faux." - -[Footnote A: _I.e._, the _old_ Bishopthorpe Church. The present -Bishopthorpe Church is a handsome structure of recent date, at the -entrance to the village from York.] - -Mr. Camidge continues: "I found, a few years ago, rooted in the minds of -the oldest inhabitants of Bishopthorpe, the positive assurance that Guy -Fawkes was born at Bishopthorpe, and the site of the house was indicated -by several persons. I found one of the descendants of the former owner of -the house, who assured me that her father always held that Guy Fawkes was -born in the house; that my informant's great grandfather maintained the -same; and that for two or three generations they had shown the house as -the place of Guy Fawkes' birth. The site of the house is now a -pleasure-garden; but a stone was put in the ground to mark the site." - -Now it is a remarkable fact that in almost all, if indeed not quite all, -of those places where there has been a strong local tradition to the -effect that the Gunpowder conspirators had some association with a -particular spot, subsequent investigation has found the tradition to be -well authenticated. (This was pointed out by David Jardine sixty years -ago.) - -Yet the strongest argument against the Bishopthorpe tradition is that -Guy's baptismal register is to-day found at the Church of St. -Michael-le-Belfrey, in the City of York. - -Now, in the time of Elizabeth, as Dr. Elze has pointed out in his "_Life -of Shakespeare_," a child would be _baptized on the third day after -birth_. Hence, on the whole, I cannot personally accept the Bishopthorpe -tradition as to the _birthplace_ of Guy Fawkes. - -It is, however, more than possible that as a babe in arms Guy Fawkes may -have _lived_ at Bishopthorpe. For the Act of Uniformity, whereby the York -Court of High Commission had been established, would bring much legal work -to his father, Edward Fawkes; and that the latter found it convenient to -have a house in close proximity to his Grace the Lord Archbishop of York, -a leading member of the High Commission, is one of the likeliest things in -the world. - -In these circumstances, then, the present-day inhabitants of Bishopthorpe -may still lay the flattering unction to their souls (if they wish so to -do) that Guy Fawkes drank in his mother's milk in their picturesque -Yorkshire village, on the banks of the noble Ouse. - -Mr. J. W. Knowles, of Stonegate, York, another gentleman well versed in -York's antiquities, informed me in August, 1901, that a Mr. John Robert -Watkinson, of Redeness Street, Layerthorpe, York, held a tradition that -Guy Fawkes' birthplace was in the house adjoining the Minster Gates. - -Accordingly, some little time afterwards, I wrote to Mr. Watkinson, who at -once kindly replied in a letter, dated 22nd October, 1901, as follows:-- - - "My reason for thinking that the house in High Petergate, at the - corner of the Minster Gates, ... is the house where Guy Fawkes - was born, is this: - - "Some fifty years ago I was working at the same house when an - old Minster mason, named Townsend, told me it was the house - where Guy Fawkes was born. Job Knowles, an old bell-ringer and - watchman at the Minster at the time Jonathan Martin set the - Minster on fire, also told me it was the same house. - - "It is an Elizabethan[A] house, but it has been re-fronted, - which you would see if you went inside and looked at the - wainscotting and the carved mantel-piece." - -[Footnote A: In a subsequent letter, Mr. Watkinson, who is a Protestant, -tells me that he is in the seventieth year of his age, and that he is -descended collaterally from Thomas Watkinson, of Menthorpe, near Selby, -the father of "the Venerable" Robert Watkinson, priest, who suffered -martyrdom at the London Tyburn in 1602, two years before the Gunpowder -Plot was hatched.] - -Edward Fawkes died, aged forty-six, when his son, Guy, was not quite eight -years old. He was buried in the Minster on the 17th January, 1578-9. About -twenty-seven years afterwards this Yorkshire citizen's thrice hapless -child--by nature a tall, athletic man, but then, by torture of the rack, -so crippled "that he was scarce able to go up the ladder"--met on the -shameful gallows-tree, and on the quartering block, in the Old Palace -Yard, Westminster, over against the Parliament House, the terrible death -of a condemned traitor. The whole world knows the reason why. - -Mistress Edith Fawkes, Guy's mother, was married a second time to a -gentleman named Dennis Bainbridge. He was connected with the John Pulleyn, -Esq., of Scotton, near Knaresbrough, and the probabilities are that Mr. -and Mrs. Dennis Bainbridge, and that lady's children by her first husband, -namely Guy, Elizabeth and Ann Fawkes, all lived by the favour of the young -squire, John Pulleyn, in patriarchal fashion, at Scotton Hall. The -Pulleyns and the Bainbridges were Roman Catholics, and their names (along -with the names Walkingham, Knaresborough, and Bickerdyke) occur in -Peacock's "_List of Roman Catholics in Yorkshire in 1604_," under the -title "Parish of Farnham." The name Percy, of Percy House, is not found in -Peacock's "_List_." - -[If the Bainbridges did not live at Scotton Hall, they may have lived at -Percy House, hard-by the Hall. Percy House is now owned by Mr. Slater, of -Farnham Hall, the property of the relatives of the late Charles Shann, -Esquire, of Tadcaster.] - -It is, therefore, easy to understand how it came to pass that the mind of -young Guy Fawkes became impregnated with Roman Catholicism. For man is a -creature of circumstances. - -Yorkshire abounded in Roman Catholics in the time of Elizabeth (see the -"_Hatfield MSS._" and numerous other contemporary records). Such was -especially the case with the district round about Knaresbrough and Ripon. -And recollecting that many Yorkshiremen had suffered a bloody death for -their conscientious adherence to their religion between the years 1582 and -Easter, 1604, when the Gunpowder Plot was hatched, one ceases to marvel at -such a psychological puzzle as even the mind of Guy Fawkes.--See -Challoner's "_Missionary Priests_" and Pollen's "_Acts of the English -Martyrs_," already frequently referred to. - -["The Venerable" martyrs, Robert Bickerdyke, Peter Snow, Ralph Grimston, -Francis Ingleby, and John Robinson (some priests, others laymen) came from -Low Hall, Farnham; "at or near Ripon;" Nidd, near Scotton; Ferensby and -Ripley respectively. While the "Blessed" John Nelson came from Skelton, -York, and the "Blessed" Richard Kirkeman from Addingham, near Ilkley (both -priests). All these men suffered death for legal treason or felony based -upon their religion between the years 1578 and 1604. And, therefore, -according to the laws that govern human nature, such events were sure to -tell an impressive tale to a man like Guy Fawkes. Princes and statesmen -should avoid, as far as possible, inflicting punishments that impress the -imagination. Moreover, an inferior but potent objection against all -religious persecution is found in the wisdom enshrined in the exclamation -of Horace, "O imitators, a servile crowd!"] - -The following testimony of Father Oswald Tesimond, one of Guy Fawkes' old -school-fellows, along with John Wright and Christopher Wright, at Old St. -Peter's School, in the Horse Fayre, Gillygate, York, where Union Terrace -now stands, will be of interest. - -Fawkes was "a man of great piety, of exemplary temperance, of mild and -cheerful demeanour, an enemy of broils and disputes, a faithful friend, -and remarkable for his punctual attendance upon religious observances." -His society was "sought by all the most distinguished in the Archdukes' -camp for nobility and virtue."--Quoted by Jardine in his "_Narrative_," p. -38. - -How sad to think that such a man should have so missed his way in the -journey of life as to become so demoralized as to join in the Gunpowder -Treason Plot; nay, _in intention_, to be the most deadly agent in that -Plot. What can have caused, in the final resort, such a missing of his -way, and have wrought such dire demoralization? Echo answers what? - -Yet nothing more clearly shows that Guy Fawkes deserved all the punishment -he got than the fact that he returned to his post in the cellar, where the -thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were, after no less than _three_ distinct -warnings that the Government had intelligence of the Plot. One warning was -given him on Monday, the 28th October, at White Webbs, by Thomas Winter; a -second, on Sunday night, the 3rd November, by Thomas Winter, after the -delivery of the Letter to the King; and the third, on Monday, the 4th -November, after the visit to the cellar of the Earl of Suffolk and Lord -Mounteagle, of which visit Fawkes informed Thomas Percy.--See Lingard's -"_History_." - -Copies of the three following Deeds given in Davies' "_Fawkeses, of -York_," will be read with interest. One of the Deeds is an "Indenture of -Lease;" the second, an "Indenture of Conveyance;" and the third, a "Deed -Poll," whereby Dennis and Edith Bainbridge release all right to Dower in -Guy Fawkes' real estate that he "heired" from his own father, Edward -Fawkes; all the property was outside Bootham Bar, in the suburbs of York. - -In "_The Connoisseur_," for November, 1901, is given a fac-simile of the -"Conveyance." Thomas Shepherd Noble, Esq., of Precentor's Court, York, one -of York's most respected citizens, saw these Deeds sixty years ago in -York, he informed me on the 5th of November, 1901; and Mr. Noble then told -me he had no doubt that the fac-simile given in "_The Connoisseur_" of the -"Conveyance" is a fac-simile of one of the documents he saw _more than -half a century ago_. - -The Pulleyns, Pulleines, Pulleins, or Pullens (for the family spelt their -name in all four ways) bore for their Arms one and four azure, on a bend -between six lozenges or, each charged with a scallop of the first, five -scallops sable: two and three azure, a fess between three martlets.--See -Flower's "_Visitation of Yorkshire_," Ed. by Norcliffe. - -Flower gives the Pulleyns, of Scotton, first, and then the Pulleyns, of -Killinghall, near Harrogate. - -Walter Pulleyn, the step-grandfather of Guy Fawkes, is given as a Pulleyn, -of Scotton. Walter Pulleyn married for his first wife Frances Slingsby, of -Scriven; for his second wife Frances Vavasour, of Weston, near Otley. One -branch of the Vavasours, of Weston, settled at Newton Hall, Ripley, which, -embosomed in trees, can be seen to-day by all those who drive from -Harrogate,[A] through Killinghall and Ripley, on towards Ripon. Their son -was William Pulleyn, who married Margaret Bellasis, of Henknoll; and -_their_ son and heir was John Pulleyn, almost certainly the John Pulleyn, -Esquire, of Scotton, given under the Parish of Farnham, in Peacock's -"_List of Roman Catholics in Yorkshire in 1604_." - -[Footnote A: How lovely is this drive from Harrogate to Ripon on a bright, -balmy summer-morn! How amiable the fair sights and sounds that greet from -all sides the traveller's eye and ear! What historic memories well-up in -the heart as Scotton Banks, on the right hand, and Ripley Valley, on the -left, appear through charming sweet vistas never-to-be-forgotten!] - -Flower's "Pedigree" shows that the Pulleyns, of Scotton, had intermarried -with the Ruddes, of Killinghall; the Roos, of Ingmanthorpe, near -Wetherby; the Tankards, of Boroughbridge; the Swales, of Staveley; the -Walworths, of Raventoftes, Bishop Thornton; the Coghylls, of Knaresbrough; -and the Birnands, of Knaresbrough; one and all old Yorkshire Catholic -gentry. - -Flower also shows in his "Pedigree" of the Pulleyns, of Killinghall, that -James Pulleyn, of Killinghall, married first Frances, daughter of Sir -William Ingleby, of Ripley; and secondly Frances Pulleyn, daughter of -Walter Pulleyn, of Scotton. They must have been cousins in some degree. -Among _their_ numerous children were Joshua and William, both Roman -Catholic priests. - -The "_Douay Registers_" (David Nutt) show that Joshua Pulleyn was ordained -priest in 1578. He returned to England on the 27th August of that year. He -was educated at Cardinal Allen's[A] College in Douay. His brother, William -Pulleyn, was ordained in 1583, at the same time as the future martyr, "the -Venerable" Francis Ingleby, afterwards the friend of "the Venerable" -Margaret Clitherow, of York, and for harbouring whom, along with her -spiritual director, Father John Mush, belike of Knaresbrough, Margaret -Clitherow was indicted in the Guildhall, York, at the Lent Assizes of -1586. - -[Footnote A: Cardinal Allen had been a lay canon of York Minster during -the reign of Philip and Mary. He was a Lancashire man, being a native of -Rossall, near Blackpool.] - -In 1578 the College of Douay was transferred by Cardinal Allen to Rheims -(or Reims), where it remained for twenty-one years, when it was -transferred back to Douay. Fathers William Pulleyn and Francis Ingleby -were educated at the College at Rheims (or Reims).--See "Order of Queen -Elizabeth," dated last day of December, 1582, in Appendix _postea_ where -Reims is mentioned in connection with the popish missionary priests it -was then sending forth into the City of York.[A] - -[Footnote A: Miss Catharine Pullein, of the Manor House, Rotherfield, -Sussex, courteously tells me in a most interesting letter, under date 13th -May, 1901, that from the _inq. post mortem_ the above-named Walter Pulleyn -died in 1580. That his son William, whose wife was a Bellasis, died before -his father, so that in 1580 John Pulleyn (the one mentioned in Peacock's -"_List for 1604_") was the young squire. In 1581 or 1582 John seems to -have married. He suffered from the infliction of fines for popish -recusancy, and appears to have left Scotton between 1604 and 1612. -(Scotton Hall is to-day (1901), I believe, owned by the Rev. Charles -Slingsby, M.A., of Scriven Hall, near Knaresbrough. The tenant is Mr. -Thrackray.)] - -There is a tradition to this day at Cowthorpe (or Coulthorpe, as it is -pronounced by ancient inhabitants), near Wetherby, that Guy Fawkes was -wont to visit that old-world village (until recently so quaint from its -thatched farm-houses and cottars' dwellings, and but little changed belike -since the days of "Good Queen Bess"). - -This tradition is certainly probably authentic; for a Roman Catholic -family, named Walmsley, at that time lived at Cowthorpe Hall, a dignified -"moated grange" between the Nidd and the historic "Cowthorpe Old Oak." Guy -Fawkes, possibly, many a time and oft, may have stabled his horse at the -old Hall when, after fording at Hunsingore the shallow Nidd, he traversed -the pleasant fields betwixt Cowthorpe and Ingmanthorpe, near Wetherby, -where dwelt the family of Roos, who were, as above stated, allied by -marriage to Guy's friends, the Pulleyns, of Scotton. - -Lastly; so intelligent a Yorkshire lad as was, beyond all doubt or cavil, -the son of Edward Fawkes and Edith his wife--the lad whose manly but -delicately-formed handwriting may be seen to-day by all who have the -privilege of obtaining a sight of the precious document fac-similed in a -well-known monthly periodical for November, 1901[A]--must have visited, I -opine, Ribston Park, between Knaresbrough, Hunsingore, and Cowthorpe -(where had been in mediaeval times a celebrated Preceptory of the Knights -Templars, the record of whose deeds against "the infidel Turk" may have -fired Guy's imagination from his earliest years). Moreover, Richard -Goodricke, Esquire, of Ribston, had married Clara Norton, one of -chivalrous, old Richard Norton's daughters, of Norton Conyers; and this, -to the popish youth, would be an additional attraction for going to view -Ribston Hall, its chapel, park, and pale.[B] - -[Footnote A: "_The Connoisseur._"] - -[Footnote B: Richard Norton fled to Cavers House, Hawick, in the Border -Country of Scotland, and afterwards to Flanders, where he died.--See "_Sir -Ralph Sadler's Papers_," Ed. by Sir Walter Scott.] - -The Goodrickes derived the Ribston Estate (which included the Manor of -Hunsingore and the Lordship of Great Cattal) from Charles Brandon Duke of -Suffolk, William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle's great-great-grandfather. -The Goodrickes were akin to the Hawkesworths, who again were akin to the -Fawkeses, and likewise to the Wards (see _ante_). The Ribston branch of -the Goodrickes died out early in the nineteenth century--Sir Harry -Goodricke being the last baronet. The ancient Ribston, Hunsingore, and -Great Cattal demesne is now owned by Major Dent, of Ribston Hall, near -Knaresbrough. - -From _"The Fawkes Family of York."_ - - This Indenture made the fourtenth daye of October in the yere of - the reigne of our Sovereigne Ladye Elizabeth, by the Grace of - God Queen of England Fraunce and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, - &c. the xxxiijrd, Betwene Guye Fauxe of Scotton in the County of - Yorke gentilman of the one partye, and Christofer Lomleye of - the cittie of Yorke taylor, of the other partye, Witnessethe - that the said Guy Fauxe, for divers good cawses and - consideracions him thereunto speciallye moveinge, hath demysed - graunted and to farme letten, and by theis presentes doth demyse - graunt and to farme lett, unto the sayd Christofer Lomleye, one - barne and one garth on the backside of the said barn, with the - appertenaunces, scytuate lyeinge and beinge in Gilligaite in the - suburbes of the said cittie of Yorke, and three acres and half - of one acre of arrable lande, with the appertenaunces, in - Clyfton in the said countie of Yorke, whereof halfe of one acre - called a pitt lande, and one roode of lande lyinge at - Newe-Close-gaite, are lyinge and beinge in the common field of - Clyfton aforesaid towards Roclyffe, one half acre lyeth in the - field called Mylnefeilde in Clyfton afforesaid, one rood lyinge - in the flatt or field called Layres, one half acre called Layres - in the Fosse-feild, one half acre called Hungrine lande, one - half acre beyond the newe wynde mylne, and one half acre at the - More-brottes, all whiche are lyinge and beynge in the feildes of - Clyfton afforesaid; and also one acre of medowe lyinge and - beynge in the ynges or medowe of Clyfton afforesaid, with all - and singuler the appertenaunces in Clyfton aforesaid, nowe or - laite in the tenure or occupacion of the saide Christofer or his - assignes; to have and to holde the said barne, garth, three - acres and half of one acre of arrable lande, and the sayd acre - of medowe, and all other the premisses, with all and singuler - the appertenaunces, in Gilligaite and Clyfton afforesaid, unto - the sayd Christofer Lomley his executors and assignes, from the - feast of St. Martyne the Bishop, comonlye called Martinmas daye, - nexte ensewynge the daite hereof, for and dureinge the terme of - twentye and one yeres from thence nexte and ymediatlye - ensewinge and followinge fullye to be complett fynished and - ended, yeldinge and payinge therfore yerelye dureinge the said - terme unto the said Guye Fauxe his heires or assignes, fortie - and two shillinges of lawfull Ynglish monie at the feastes of - St. Martyne the Bishop in winter and Penteycost, or within ten - dayes nexte after either of the sayd feastes, yf it be lawfully - demaunded, by even and equall porcions. And the said Christofer - Lomley, for him his executors and assignes, doth by theis - presentes covenaunte and graunte to and with the said Guye - Fauxe, that he the said Christofer Lomley his executors and - assignes, at his and their proper costes and chardges shall well - and sufficyentlye repaire maintayne and uphould the said barne - at all tymes dureinge the said terme in all necessarie - reparacions, greate tymber onely excepted, whiche the said Guye - Fauxe, for him his heires and assignes, doth by theis presentes - covenaunt and graunte to and with the said Christofer Lomley his - executors and assigns, to delyver upon the ground at all tymes - as often as neede shall require dureinge the said terme. And the - said Guye Fauxe, for himself his heires executors and assignes, - doth by theis presentes covenant and grante to and with the sayd - Christofer Lomley, his executors and assignes, that he, the sayd - Christofer Lomley, his executors and assignes, shall or lawfully - maye at all tyme and tymes, and from tyme to tyme, dureynge the - sayd terme of twentye and one yeres, peacablye occupie and - quyetlie enjoye the said barne and all other the premisses and - every parte and parcell thereof, with all and everie their - appurtenaunces, without lett disturbance or interrupcion of any - person or persons whatsoever. And that the sayd barne, and all - other the premisses, with the appurtenaunces, at the daye of the - daite hereof are, and dureynge the sayd term of twenty and one - yeres shall and may continewe, clere and clerelie dischardged, - or well and sufficyently saved harmeles, by the sayd Guye Fauxe - his heires and assignes, of and from all former leases, - grauntes, charges, incumbraunces, and demaundes whatsoever, the - rentes by theis presentes reserved, and the covenauntes in theis - presentes expressed on the behalf of the said Cristofer Lomley, - to be observed and performed, onely excepted and foreprised. And - the said Guye Fauxe and his heires all and singuler the - premisses, with the appurtenances, before by theis presentes - demysed to the sayd Cristofer Lomley his executors and assignes, - dureigne the terme afforesayd, against all people rightfully - claimynge shall warrante and defende by theis presentes. In - witnes whereof, the partyes abovesaid to theis present - Indentures have interchangeablie set to their handes and seales - the daye and yere above written. - - GUYE FAWKES. L.S. - - Sealed and delivered, in the presence of us--DIONIS - BAYNEBRIGGE--JOHN JACKSON--CHRISTOPHER HODGSON'S marke x - -This Indenture maide the firste daie of Auguste in the xxxiiijth yere of -the reigne of our Soveraigne Ladie Elizabethe, by the grace of God Quewne -of England Fraunce and Ireland, Defendour of the Faithe, &c. Betwene Guye -Fawkes of the cittie of Yorke gentilman, of the one partye, and Anne -Skipseye of Cliftone in the countie of Yorke, spinster, of the other -partye Witnessithe that the said Guy Fawkes, for and in consideration of -the sum of xxix^{li} xiij^{s} iiij^{d} of good and lawfull English moneye -to him, the said Guye Fawkes, well and trewlie contentid and paid by the -said Anne Skipseye, at and before the ensealinge of these presentes, -whereof and wherewith the said Guye knowlegith him self to be fulie -satisfied contentid and paid, and the said Anne Skipseye, hir heires -executors administratores and assigneis, thereof to be fullie acquited and -dischargdgid for ever by theis presentes, hath geven grauntid alliened -bargained and sollde, and by these presentes dothe clerelie and absolutlye -geve graunt allien bargaine and sell unto the said Anne Skipseye, hir -heires and assigneis, that his messuage tenement or farme-hollde, with the -appurtenaunces, and a garthe and a gardine belonginge to the same, lyeinge -and beinge in Cliftone in the countie of York, and towe acres and an half -of arrable lande liinge in severall feilldes in Clifton aforesaid, half an -acre of medowe grounde liinge in a closse callid Huntingtone buttes, -within the townshipp and territories of Cliftone aforesaid, one acre of -medowe lyinge in Lufton Car, thre inges endes, and towe croftes or lees of -medowe in a crofte adjoyninge on the garth endes in Cliftone aforesaid, of -the easte parte of the said messuage; all which premissis are nowe in the -tenure and occupation of the said Anne Skipsie; and also one acre of -arable land and medowe liinge in the towne-end felld of Clifton aforesaid, -nowe or late in the occupation of Richard Dickinsone; and all other his -landes and tenementes in Clifton aforesaid, with all comons of pasture, -more grownde, turffe graftes, and all and singuler the appurtenaunces to -the same belonging or apperteyninge, in whose tenures or occupations -soever they nowe be, excepte thre acres and an half of arable land with -the appurtenaunces in Cliftone aforesaid, whereof half an acre callid a -pitt land, and a roode of land liinge at Newe Close Gate, and being in the -comon felld of Clifton aforesaid towardes Roclif, one half acre lyenge in -the felld callid Milne felld, one rood lying in the flatt callid the -Laires, and half acre callid Laires in Fosse filde, one acre callid a -hungrie land, one half acre beyonde the newe windemill, one acre of land -at the More Brottes; all which are lyinge and beinge in the felldes of -Cliftone aforesaid; and also one acre of medow lyinge and beinge in the -medowe or inges of Clifton, with theire appurtenaunces to the same -perteyninge or belonginge, by the said Guye Fawkes heretofore demissid -grauntid and to ferme letten for diverse yeres yett to come and unexpirid -to one Cristofer Lumleye of the cittie of Yorke tailor, as shall appeare -by one Indenture maid thereof betwene the said Guye Fawkes of the one -partie, and the said Cristofer Lumleye of the other partie, bearinge date -the xiiijth daie of October in the xxxiijrd yere of the said our -Soveraigne Ladie the Quenes Majestie reigne more at lardge maie appeare; -together with all the deedes evidences writinges, and escriptes, towchinge -and concerninge the premissis with the appertenaunces, before by these -presentes bargaind and solde by the said Guye Fawkes to the said Anne -Skipsie, which the said Guye nowe hathe in custodie, or which any othere -persone or persones have in their custodies to his use or by his -deliverie, which the said Guye Fawkes maie lawfullie come by withowte -suite in lawe: To have and to holld the said messuage cotage or -farme-holld, and all and singuler the premissis, with the appurtenaunces, -by these presentes before bargaind and solld (except before exceptid), -with all and singuler the appurtenaunces to the same perteyninge and -belonginge, in Cliftone, and the felldes of Cliftone aforesaid, together -with all the said deedes, evidences, writinges, and escriptes, towchinge -and concerninge the same, as is said, to the said Anne Skipseye her -heires and assigneis, to the sole and proper use and behowfe of the said -Anne Skipseye hir heires and assigneis for ever. And the said Guye Fawkes, -for him his heires executores and administratores, doeth covenant and -graunt by these presentes to and with the said Anne Skipseye, hir heires -executores administratores and assigneis, that he the said Guye Fawkes, -the daie of the makinge hereof, ys the verie and trewe owner of the said -messuage tenement and farme-hold, with all and singuler the landes, -medowes, pastures, comon of pasture, turbaries, with the same pertenyinge -or belonginge in Cliftone, and within the felldes and territories of -Clifton aforesaid, with other the appurtenaunces whatsoever to the same -perteyninge or belonginge before bargaind and sold, and that he is -lawfullie seassid thereof in his demesne as of fee in fee simple, and hath -full power and lawfull authoritie to bargaine and sell the same unto the -said Anne Skipeseye hir heires and assignes for ever. And also that the -said messuage tenement or farme-holld, and other the premissis, with the -appurtenances, before bargaind and sold, the daie of the makinge hereoff, -and at all tymes hereafter, and from tyme to tyme, is and shall stand -clerely acquittid and dischardgid, or otherwise savid harmeles, by the -said Guye Fawkes, his heires, executores or assignes, of and from all -former bargaines, sailles, joyntores, doweres, thirde parties, -feoffamentes, statutes-marchant and of the staple, recognizances, -writinges of eligit, condempnations, judgmentes, executions, fines, -forfaiturs, intrusions for allienations, rentes-chardges, rentes-seke, and -all othere chardges and incumberances whatsoever theye be, the rentes and -services hereafter to be dewe to the cheife lord of the fee thereof onely -exceptid. And also the said Guye Fawkes, for him his heires executores -and assigneis, dothe further covenant and graunt to and with the said Anne -Skipseye hir heires and assigneis, that Edeth the late wife of Edward -Fawkes deceassid, mothere to the said Guye Fawkes, and now wife to Dionese -Baynebridge gentillman, nor any other persone or persones whatsoever, -which have, shall have, or shall clame any lawfull right or title in or to -the premissis or any parte thereof, shall at any tyme hereafter moleste, -interrupt, or trowble, the said Anne Skipseye hir heires or assigneis, of -for and concerninge the premissis or any parte thereof, but that the said -Anne Skipseye hir heires and assigneis shall and maie at all tyme -peacablie and quietlie possess and enjoye the same and everie parte -thereof, and that all and everie persone or persones whatsoever, which doe -stand seazid of the premissis or any parte thereof, shall at all tymes, -and from tyme to tyme, within five yeres next ensuinge the date hereof, -upon the reasonable requeste and desire of the said Anne Skipseye hir -heires administratores or assigneis, make, knowledge, sealle, and deliver, -unto the said Anne Skipseye hir heires executores and assigneis, all such -further assurance and assurances whatsoever as shall be devisid or advisid -by the learnid councell in the lawes of this realme, beinge of the -councell of the said Anne Skipseye, whether the same shalbe by dede or -dedes inrollid, with warrantie against all men, inrollment of these -present Indentures, fine with like warrantie, recoverie with vocher or -vochers single or doble, release with warrantie against all men, or -otherwise or by soo manye of them as shall be advisid or requirid by the -said learnid councell of the said Anne, the cost and chardges whereof in -lawe shalbe at thonelie cost and chardges of the said Anne Skipseye hir -heires executores or assigneis. In witness whereof, the parties abovesaid -unto these present Indentures interchangable have sett there handes and -seall the daie and yere abovesaid. - - GUYE FAWKES. L.S. - -Seallid and delyverid in the presence of--GEORGE HOBSON--WILLIAM -MASKEWE--LANCELOT BELT--THOMAS HESLEBECKE--CHRYSTOFER LUMLEYE--IHON LAMB -marke x--JOHN HARRISON--JOHN CALV'LEY. - -Omnibus Christi fidelibus ad quos hoc presens scriptum pervenerit -Dionisius Baynbrige de Scotton in comitatu Ebor' generosus et Edetha uxor -ejus salutem in Domino sempiternam. Noveritis nos prefatum Dionisium -Baynbrige et Edetham remississe, relaxasse ac omnino de et pro nobis et -heredibus nostris per presentes inperpetuum quietum clamasse Anne Skipseye -de Cliftone in dicto comitatu Ebor' spynster in sua plena pacificaque -possessione et seisina die confectionis presentium existenti heredibus et -assignatis suis, totum jus, statum, titulum, clameum, usum, interesse et -demaunda nostra quecunque que vel quas unquam habuimus, habemus, seu -quovismodo infuturum habere poterimus seu deberimus de et in uno cotagio -sive tenemento cum una clausura vocata A Grisgarthe et duobus croftis vel -selionibus cum suis pertinentiis in Cliftone predicto in comitatu Ebor' -predicto ac de et in una roda terrae arrabilis jacentis in Favild-nooke in -campis de Cliftone, inter terram Johannis Bilbowe ex parte occidente et -terram Leonarid Weddell ex parte oriente, dimidia acra terrae jacente in -les Sokers inter terram nuper Roberti Wright ex parte australi et terram -Thome Hill ex parte boriali, una roda terrae jacente in Longwandilles inter -terram Thome Hill ex parte boriali et terram nuper Roberti Wright ex -parte australi et Thome Hill ex parte boriali, dimidia acra terrae jacente -inter regias vias ibidem inter terram nuper Roberti Wright ex parte -australi et Thome Hill ex parte boriali, dimidia acra terrae jacente in lez -shorte layeres inter terram Johannis Bilbowe ex parte boriali et terram -nuper Rogeri Browne ex parte australi, dimidia acra jacente in Huntington -buttes inter terram Johannis Bilbowe ex parte occidente et terram Roberti -Walker ex parte orientali, una acra terrae jacente in Lupstone Carre in le -Northfelld sive campo juxta Roclif inter terram nuper Roberti Wright ex -parte australi et le moore dike ex parte boriali, et tribus dimidiis acris -prati jacentibus in fine prati vocati ynge endes quarum una dimidia acra -jacet inter pratum Edwardi Turner ex parte boriali et Thome Burtone ex -parte australi, alia dimidia acra inde jacet ex parte australi Leonardi -Weddell, et tertia dimidia acra inde jacet inter Thomam Hill ex parte -boriali et Henricum Granger ex parte australi, cum omnibus et singulis -suis pertinentiis in Cliftone et in campis de Cliftone predicto modo in -tenura sive occupatione prefate Anne Skipseye, ac etiam de et in una acra -terrae et prati jacente in le Towne-end felld de Cliftone predicto modo vel -nuper in occupatione Ricardi Dickensone, necnon de et in omnibus aliis -terris et tenementis in Clifton predicto que nuper fuerunt Guidonis Fawkes -generosi (tribus acris et dimidia acra terrae cum pertinentiis in campis de -Cliftone predicto et una acra prati in prato vocato le ynges de Cliftone -modo in tenura Cristoferi Lumleye, tantum modo exceptis per presentes), -ita viz. quod nec nos prefati Dionisius Bainbrige et Edetha aut nostrum -uterlibet nec heredes nostri nec aliquis alius sive aliqui alii pro nobis -seu nominibus nostris aut nomine nostrum alterius aliquod jus, statum, -titulum, clameum, usum, interesse vel demandum de et in predicto cotagio -sive tenemento cum clausura predicta, et de predictis duobus croftis vel -selionibus, aut de et in predictis premissis cum pertinentiis in Clifton -et campis de Cliftone predicto ut prefertur, seu de et in aliqua inde -parte sive parcellis (exceptis prius exceptis) decetero exigere, petere, -clamare vel vendicare, poterimus nec debemus in futuro, sed ut ab omni -actione, jure, titulis, clameo, usu, interesse, vel demando aliquid inde -habendi sive petendi sumus penitus exclusi et quilibet nostrum sit inde -penitus exclusus in perpetuum per presentes. Et nos vero prefati Dionisius -Baynbrige et Edetha et haredes nostri predicta omnia premissa cum suis -pertinentiis universis ut prefertur (exceptis prius exceptis) prefate Anne -Skipseye heredibus et assignatis suis in forma predicta contra nos et -heredes nostros warrantizabimus et imperpetuum defendemus per presentes. -In cujus rei testimonium nos prefati Dionisius Baynbrige et Edetha huic -presenti scripto nostro sigilla nostra apposuimus. Datum xxi^{mo} die -mensis Octobris, anno regni domine Elizabethe Dei gratia Anglie, Frauncie, -et Hibernie Regine, fidei defensoris &c. tricesimo quarto. - - DIONIS BAYNEBRIGGE (L.S.)--E.B. (L.S.) Seallid and delyverid in - the presence of--GUYE FAWKES--WILLIAM GRANGE--JAMES RYDING. - - - SUPPLEMENTUM II. - - HATFIELD MSS.--Part VI. - - [Dr. Bilson] Bishop of Worcester to Sir Robert Cecil. - -1596, July 17. I have viewed the state of Worcester diocese, and find it, -as may somewhat appear by the particulars here enclosed, for the quantity, -as dangerous as any place that I know. In that small circuit there are -nine score[A] recusants of note, besides retainers, wanderers, and secret -lurkers, dispersed in forty several parishes, and six score and ten -households, whereof about forty are families of gentlemen, that themselves -or their wives refrain the church, and many of them not only of good -wealth, but of great alliance, as the Windsors, Talbots, Throgmortens, -Abingtons, and others, and in either respect, if they may have their -forth, able to prevail much with the simpler sort. - -[Footnote A: This letter will be read with interest, as affording -independent testimony to the strength of Popery in the County of Worcester -during the period of Father Oldcorne's labours.] - -Besides, Warwick[B] and the parts thereabout are freighted with a number -of men precisely conceited against her Majesty's government -ecclesiastical, and they trouble the people as much with their curiosity -as the other with their obstinacy. - -[Footnote B: This is interesting as showing that in the native county of -Shakespeare, Puritanism was gaining strength in 1596, probably through the -influence of the Earl of Leicester, Sir Thomas Lucy (of Charlcote), and -Sir Fulke Grevyll, as well as others.] - -How weak ordinary authority is to do any good on either sort long -experience hath taught me, excommunication being the only bridle the law -yieldeth to a bishop, and either side utterly despising that course of -correction, as men that gladly, and of their own accord, refuse the -communion of the church, both in sacraments and prayers. - -In respect therefore of the number and danger of those divers humours both -denying obedience to her Majesty's proceedings, if it please her Highness -to trust me and others in that shire with the commission -ecclesiastical,[A] as in other places of like importance is used, I will -do my endeavour to serve God and her Majesty in that diocese to the -uttermost of my power. - -[Footnote A: Under the provisions of the Elizabethan Act of Uniformity.] - -First, by viewing their qualities, retinues, abilities, and dispositions; -next, by drawing them to private and often conference, lest ignorance make -them perversely devout; thirdly, by restraining them from receiving, -succouring, or maintaining any wanderers or servitors that feed their -humours; and, lastly, by certifying what effects or defects I find to be -the cause of so many revolting. - -Her Majesty hath trusted me fifteen years since to be of the _quorum_ on -the commission ecclesiastical in Hampshire, and therefore age and -experience growing, as also my care and charge increasing, I hope I shall -not need to produce any further motives to induce her Majesty's favour -therein, but the profession of my duty and promise of my best service with -all diligence and discretion, which I hope shall turn to her content and -good of her people. - -With which my most humble petition, if it please you to acquaint her -Majesty; I will render you all due thanks, and make what speed I may -towards the place where I long to be and wish to labour to the pleasure of -Almighty God and good liking of her Majesty. - - London 17 July 1596. - - Signed - - Encloses:-- - -The names and qualities of the wealthier sort of Recusants in Worcester -diocese:-- - - The Lady Windsor, with her retinue. - M^{r} Talbot. - Thomas Abington Esq. and Dorothy, his sister. - Thomas Throgmorton, Esq. - John Wheeler gent. and Elizabeth his wife. - Thomas Bluntt gent. and Bridgett, his wife. - John Smyth gent. Thomas Greene, gent. - Hugh Ligon gent., and Barbara, his wife. - Michael Folliatt, gent., and Margaret, his wife. - William Coles gent., and Marie, his wife. - M^{r} Bluntt, gent. of Hallow. - Hugh Day gent. and Margaret, his wife. - Lygon Barton, gent. - John Taylor, gent., and Ann, his wife. - John Midlemore, gent., Hugh Throgmorton gent. - Humphrey Packington, gent. - John Woolmer gent. of Inkbarrow. - Rowse Woolmer, gent. - John Woolmer gent. of Kingston. - M^{r} Busshop gent. of Oldbarrow. - - [Total]--23. - -The names of the gentlewomen that refuse the church, though their husbands -do not. - - Margaret, wife of Roger Pen gent. - Jane wife of John Midlemore. - Alice wife of John Hornyhold gent. - Margaret wife of William Rigby gent. - Mary wife of Thomas Sheldon gent. - Dorothy wife of Thomas Rauckford gent. - Ann wife of William Fox gent. - Joan, wife of Thomas Barber gent. - Prudence wife of Thomas Oldnall gent. - Frances wife of John Jeffreys gent. - Elizabeth wife of Thomas Randall gent. - Mary wife of William Woolmer gent. - Elizabeth Ferreys widow. - Jane Sheldon widow. - Katherine Sparks of Hinlipp. - Dorothy Woolmer. - Jane Mary Eleanor daughters of Anthony Woolmer gent. - -Of the meaner sort:-- - -Fourscore and ten several households where the man or wife or both are -recusants, besides children and servants. - - - SUPPLEMENTUM III. - - THOMAS WARD. - -It is probable that diligent search among the Cecil and Walsingham papers -will shed more light on Thomas Ward (or Warde) than I have been able -hitherto to gain. - -The probabilities are, as has been already indicated, that Thomas Ward was -a younger son of Marmaduke Ward, of Newby, and Susannay, his wife. That -Marmaduke Ward's elder son was Marmaduke Ward (who married Ursula Wright, -and afterwards, in all likelihood, Elizabeth Sympson), the father of that -extraordinary woman, Mary Ward. - -I opine that Thomas Ward attached himself to the Court party of Queen -Elizabeth, through the Council of the North, established by Henry VIII. -after the defeat of the first Pilgrimage of Grace (1536). - -Thomas Ward was just the sort of man (_me judice_) that Queen Elizabeth -would affect. Moreover, I find that a Captain John Ward was on the side of -the Crown on the occasion of the second Pilgrimage of Grace, commonly -called the Rising of the North, or the Earls' Rebellion (1569). - -Therefore, through the influence of a man like Sir Ralph Sadler, who was a -distinguished Privy Councillor of the Queen in the northern parts, a -Yorkshire gentleman, such as a Ward, of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale, -would have no difficulty in obtaining an _entree_ at Elizabeth's Court, -who, as is well known, was, from a certain English conservative instinct -probably, favourably inclined to those Catholics whose leaning was -towards the easy side of things.[A] - -[Footnote A: See "_Sir Ralph Sadler's Papers_," Ed. by Sir Walter Scott. -It is observable that although the Nortons and the Markenfields were for -the Earls, yet members of the following Yorkshire Catholic Families (many -of them kinsmen of the Wards) were for the Queen, who was not then -excommunicated:--The Eures, the Mallories, the Inglebies, the Constables, -the Tempests, the Fairfaxes, the Cholmeleys, the Ellerkers, and the -Wilstroppes. - -For these Families and their alliances see the "_Visitations of -Yorkshire_," by Glover, Ed. by Foster; and by Flower, Ed. by Norcliffe. -Also "_Dugdale_" (Surtees).] - -Now, if Thomas Ward became a member of Elizabeth's diplomatic service -under Sir Francis Walsingham, the inevitable question arises: Can Thomas -Ward (or Warde) have always maintained a conscience void of offence, or -did he sometimes stoop to compliances which were unworthy of his -principles and name? - -At present I cannot say, yet I am constrained to allow that the following -two pieces of evidence afford curious reading and suggest many -possibilities:-- - -HATFIELD MSS.--Part VI., p. 96. - -Thomas Morgan to Mary Queen of Scots. - -1585, Mar. 30./Ap. 9. Informs her of his apprehension at the request of -the Earl of Derby. Mr. Ward's negotiation to procure his being delivered -up into England. Requires her support. Lord Paget's money taken in his -(Morgan's) lodging. Efforts of Charles Paget and Thomas Throgmorton in his -behalf. - -[It is to be recollected that this said Thomas Morgan was a Catholic of a -sort, who had been in the service of Archbishop Young, of York. Hence, a -Ward, of Ripon and York, was the very man the subtle Walsingham would -employ to negotiate a delicate matter requiring an accurate knowledge of -Morgan's intellectual and moral characteristics; for Ward most likely had -known Morgan at York.] - - * * * * * - -Thirteen years later we find the name "Ward" again in the "_Hatfield -MSS._" - - HATFIELD MSS.--Part VIII., p. 295. - -1598 Aug. 4. Steven Rodwey to secretary Cecil for permission to go to -Italy to go over to accompany M^{r} Paget into Italy. - -"The disgrace with your Honour I suspect to proceed, either of Lord -Cobham's disfavour at another man's suit, which I have not deserved; or by -the suggestion of _Ward_ M^{r} Paget's, solicitor, because I refused to -carry his[A] letters that was so lately "jested" with high treason, and -might father all the faults I am charged with." - -[Footnote A: Whose letters? Paget's or Ward's?] - -[Who or what Mr. Steven Rodwey was, one can only surmise. Possibly he was -a spy, who had been doing more business on his own account than on account -of his master. Hence, his disgrace with "his Honour." - -Charles Paget, a younger brother of Lord Paget, and his friend, Thomas -Morgan, figure in all histories of Mary Queen of Scots; also in "_Cardinal -Allen's Memorials_," Ed. by the late Dr. Knox (Nutt), there are some -interesting particulars about these two men, Charles Paget and Thomas -Morgan. They were hostile to Father Parsons and Parsons' Spanish faction -among the English papists.] - -But here, for the present, we must take our leave of Thomas Ward, -excepting to say that it is possible that he may be the same as the Thomas -Ward (or Warde) who is mentioned several times in the "_Household Books of -Lord William Howard_," as his agent for the Howard-Dacre, Yorkshire, -Durham, and Westmoreland estates.[A]--See Note to p. 231 _ante_. - -[Footnote A: The Rev. A. S. Brooke, M.A., the Rector of Slingsby, informs -me that his parish registers begin only in 1687. The late Captain Ward, -R.N., of Slingsby Hall, who lies in Slingsby Churchyard, perhaps may have -had some family tradition bearing on the point. It is certainly remarkable -that there should have been Wards, Rectors of Slingsby, from the time of -James I., and long afterwards. It suggests that Thomas Ward, the agent of -Lord William Howard, may have either married again after 1590, and had a -family; or else that some of the Wards, of Durham, or others that had -conformed to the Established Church received this ecclesiastical -preferment at the instance of Thomas Ward. Valentine Kitchingman, Esquire, -the grandson of Captain Ward, and owner of Slingsby Hall, has, however, no -such tradition. (I am told through the Rector of Slingsby, September, -1901.)] - -The Right Honourable Charles James Howard ninth Earl of Carlisle, in the -course of two most gracious replies to letters of mine, informs me that, -although he has caused search to be made at Naworth and Castle Howard, he -has not been able to find any particulars concerning Thomas Ward (or -Warde) beyond what are mentioned in the "_Household Books of Lord William -Howard_" (Surtees Soc.); and that probably, owing to the fire at -Hinderskelfe Castle, after the time of Thomas Ward, letters or papers -containing possible reference to him may have been destroyed. - -Lastly; I beg to bring before my readers the following document from the -Record Office, which makes mention of the name Ward; but whether or not -that of Thomas Ward, of Mulwith, in the Parish of Ripon, I cannot say:-- - - STATE PAPERS DOMESTIC--ELIZ., Vol. ccxxxviii., 126 I. - A. D. 1591. - - Obiections against one Fletcher vicar of Clarkenwell for the - permission of these maters followinge - -Fyrst at conveniente tymes of receivinge the holye communion at which time -he is to give warninge to all his parishioners for his privat comoditye he -excepteth sume particuler persones whose names are under written and of -them taketh money. - -M^{r} Wardes[A] Two daughters. - -M^{r} Gerrat his wiffe a watinge mayde called M^{ris} Marye and a man -called Anthenie recevinge of him for theire absence divers somes of money -and in my knowledge at Easter was Twoo yeares the some of xx^{s} in -goulde. - -M^{r} Saunders and his Two Sonnes certen unknowne money. - -Besides M^{ris} Gerrat being delivered of a doughter aboute Twoe yeares -since he did forbeare to cristen yt beinge bribed with a peece of money ye -Chillde being Cristned in the house, by a priest and she churched by th' -afforsaide preist being knowne to this Fletcher. - -[Footnote A: What Mr. Warde can this have been? Not Thomas Ward (or -Warde), of Mulwith, I think. For the presumption is that he had no -children, for none are registered at Ripon Minster; and Thomas Ward was -more likely to have his children christened by a Protestant minister than -was his brother, Marmaduke; for the former evidently associated with -Protestants much more than the latter. Moreover, in 1591 any daughters -that Thomas Warde had can have been only about nine or ten years of age. -His wife died the previous year, 1590. (Still it may have been.)] - - * * * * * - -Norris and Watson persevantes have been divers times latly in ye closse -and Norris hath receved in ye way of borrowinge of sume V^{s} of others -more. But Watson by vertue of a comission from my L. of Cant. hath latly -serched Gerates house and M^{r} Wardes where he found nothinge at all they -being partly privie before of his cominge. But in M^{r} Wardes house -theire did latly remayne hidden under ye higest place of ye stares within -a nayled boarde divers bookes [not specified] pictures and other folishe -serimonyes. - - Orders amungst ye papistes for ye releyse aswell of prisoners as - of ye porer sorte at libertye. - -Yt is an order amungst ye papistes for ye releyse of prisoners aswell -Jesuytes as Laymen that there be a generall colleccion which beginneth at -ye L. Mountegue and so by degree to ye meaner sorte for ye maytenance of -three prisones in London, viz. the Klinke, the Marshallseas and Newgate -which cesseth not tyll ye some of a hundred and ffyftye poundes be -gathered quarterly which somme is sente by some trustye messinger to -London where yt is comitted to dyvers mens handes apoynted by the cheyfe -and from them to ye foresayde prysones. - -Yt is further ordered for ye porer sorte of them beinge at libertie to -have theire dyett at several houses kepinge certen dayes for theyre -repayre to evereye house with certen money allowed to everye one at ye -wekes end And yf any recusante dye a piece of money is bequeathed to ye -porest sorte to saye dirge for theire sowles for a xii moneth to be payde -weklye both to men and women tyll this money be spente And thus they lyve -untyll ye lyke comoditye fall agayne. - - per me Robartum Weston. - (Endorsed) 20 April. Robert Weston. - -[On p. 76 of Text, in Note 1 at foot of page, it is stated that the first -Lord Mounteagle's mother was Lady Eleanor Neville, sister to Richard -Neville, the King-maker. But I find that, under "Stanley," in Flower's -"_Visitation of Yorkshire_," Ed. by Norcliffe (Harleian Soc.), _the great -grandfather_ of Edward Stanley first Lord Mounteagle, namely, Thomas Lord -Stanley, is said to have married Eleanor, daughter to Richard Nevell Earl -of Salisbury. _Their_ son is given as George Lord Stanley; _his_ son as -Thomas Stanley first Earl of Derby; and _his_ son as Edward Stanley first -Lord Mounteagle, who married Elizabeth Lady Grey, daughter of Sir Thomas -Vaughan, and whose son was Thomas second Lord Mounteagle. - -But the "_National Dictionary of Biography_" (under "Stanley Earl of -Derby") says that Eleanor Countess of Derby (_nee_ Neville) was the -_daughter_ of Warwick, the King-maker. So the "learned" must be left to -determine the truth upon the point. - -Again; on p. 160 of Text, in Note at foot of page, I have stated that the -young Lord Vaux of Harrowden was a descendant of Sir Thomas More. - -But I find that that strong-minded lady his mother, Elizabeth Dowager Lady -Vaux of Harrowden, was _only distantly connected_ with Sir Thomas More. -For she was descended from _Christopher_ Roper, a younger brother of -William Roper, who married Margaret More. - -Hence, Christopher Roper is the ancestor of the Lords Teynham, of Kent, -who, I believe, conformed to the Established Church after "1715," as did -many old English papist families.] - - - SUPPLEMENTUM IV. - - AN ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO GIVENDALE, NEWBY, AND MULWITH, - ANCIENTLY IN THE CHAPELRY OF SKELTON, IN THE PARISH OF RIPON, IN - THE WEST RIDING OF THE COUNTY OF YORK. - -On Sunday, the 22nd day of April, 1901, it fell out that the writer found -himself sojourning in the good City of Ripon; a city which a few years -ago, calling its friends and neighbours together, kept, amid high -festival, the one thousandth anniversary of its own foundation: at Ripon, -around the time-honoured towers of whose hallowed Minster abidingly cling -memories, strong and gracious, of canonized Saints and beloved -Apostles.[A] - -[Footnote A: St. Wilfrid, Archbishop of York and Apostle of Sussex -(634-709) and his friend St. Willibrord, Archbishop of Utrecht and Apostle -of Holland.] - -"Hail, smiling morn!" I exclaimed, on seeing at an early hour the bright -sunshine stream through my chamber windows. On this day of rest and -gladness will I hie me to the sites of the ancient roof-trees of those -whose graves, parted by long distances of space and time, are known -to-day, for the most part, no longer to Man, but to Nature merely. - -Not to you and to me, gentle reader, are those graves to-day known (save -with one exception), but to the verdant grass, the crimson-tipped daisy, -the golden celandine, who are pre-eminently faithful watchers by the -dead. For steadfastly will _they_ remain watching until the daybreak of an -endless day.[A] - -[Footnote A: This exception is the grave of Mary Ward, the daughter, it -will be remembered, of Marmaduke Ward and Ursula Wright, and, -consequently, the niece of Christopher Wright and, I maintain, of Thomas -Ward, the guide, philosopher, and friend of Lord Mounteagle. Mary Ward -died at the old Manor House, Heworth, on the 20th January, 1645-46, and is -buried at Osbaldwick, near York, where a stone, bearing a simple but -touching inscription, is still to be seen by an increasing number of her -admirers, Protestant and Catholic, the former of whom have ever styled her -"that good lady, Mary Ward." The inscription on the gravestone bears out -this view of this great-hearted, truly human, English gentlewoman. It runs -thus: "To love the poore, persever in the same and live, dy, and rise with -them was all the ayme of Mary Ward, who, having lived 60 years and 8 days, -dyed the 20 of Jan., 1645." That gravestone might also fittingly bear a -second inscription, consisting of those triumphant words of victory over -death: "_Credo_; _Spero_; _Amo_" ("I believe; I hope; I love"). The Rev. -F. Umpleby, the Vicar of Osbaldwick, and his churchwardens guard the -gravestone of Mary Ward with the most commendable care.] - -Having duly paid my orisons to heaven in the ancient manner, and having -broken my fast with such fare as my place of sojourning bestowed, I set -out upon my quest. - -I set forth alone, yet not alone; for mine was the companionship of lively -historical ideas. But as soon as I had journeyed about one mile to the -south-east of Ripon, I perforce came to a halt. For my footsteps, on a -sudden, had been arrested by the ear being struck with that most musical -of natural sounds--the sound of living, gurgling, murmuring waters. - -I hearkened again, being infinitely pleasured by such natural music. And, -mending my pace somewhat, soon found myself at Bridge Hewick, looking down -from the parapet of the old grey bridge upon the rushing, boulder-broken, -glancing waters of the Ure, which, after gladdening fruitful Wensleydale, -flows through Ripon; and after skirting Givendale and Newby, and laving -"the green fields of England," in front of Mulwith, hurries on towards -Boroughbridge; thence to Myton, where, by the junction of the Ure and -Swale, the Ouse[A] is formed, that majestic flood, which, with broad -swelling tide, flows past the towers of York, the far-famed Imperial City, -whose only peer in the western world is Rome. - -[Footnote A: The winding Nidd, known to St. Wilfrid and dear to St. -Robert, pours itself into the Ouse at Nun Monkton, a few miles above York, -and not far from historic Marston Moor.] - -I say I set out upon my quest for Givendale, Newby, and Mulwith alone, yet -not alone; because I had the companionship of lively historical ideas. - -Thus much is true. And more: for romantic fancy conjured up visions before -my mental gaze during that sunny Rest-Day morning, - - "When all the secret of the spring - Moved in the chambers of the blood,"[B] - -[Footnote B: Tennyson's "In Memoriam."] - -as I traversed those fair budding country-lanes, "made vocal by the song" -of a thousand warbling birds, and paradisaical - - "With violets dim, - But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes - Or Cytherea's breath; pale primroses - That die unmarried, ere they can behold - Bright Ph[oe]bus in his strength."[C] - -[Footnote C: Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale."--Shakespeare may have possibly -known, or at least heard of, Father John Gerard, S.J., the life-long -friend of Mary Ward, and the first "to English" Lorenzo Scupoli's -"_Spiritual Combat_." Any educated Buddhist or Mohammedan British subject -who wishes to understand the genius of Christianity should carefully study -the "_Spiritual Combat_." It will repay his pains. - -Francis Arden, who was in the Tower of London, escaped from that prison -along with Gerard during the night of 8th October, 1597. Francis Arden was -probably a relative of Edward Arden, who was executed as a traitor -on the 23rd December, 1583, in connection with the mysterious -Somerville-Arden-Hall conspiracy against the life of Queen Elizabeth. The -Shakespeares were justly proud of their connection with the Ardens, a fact -which is evidenced by the well-known application of John Shakespeare (the -poet's father) to the College of Heralds for the grant of a coat-of-arms -that impaled and quartered the arms of the Ardens, of Wilmcote, his wife's -family. I cannot doubt that the Ardens, of Wilmcote, Warwickshire, were of -the same clan as the Ardens, of Park Hall, Warwickshire, to which family -Edward Arden belonged, who was executed in 1583. To disallow the -relationship of the Ardens, of Wilmcote, with the Ardens, of Park Hall -(both in Warwickshire), simply because the former were less liberally -endowed with worldly goods in the reign of Elizabeth than the latter, -proves to demonstration that such disallowers, merely on such ground, have -something yet to learn respecting the England of "Good Queen Bess"--and of -every other England too.] - -Yea, before my mind's eye I seemed to behold, ever and anon, riding -towards and passing me on horseback, to and fro, from east to west, and -from west to east, the shadowy yet tall stately forms of Elizabethan -gentlemen, in feathered hat, girded sword, and Ripon spurs; aye, and of -Elizabethan gentlewomen likewise, in hooded cloak, white ruff, and pleated -gown. - -Sometimes the groups, methought, were accompanied by one showing a graver -mien and more reverend aspect than the gentlefolk among whom he rode, -although apparelled and equipped externally as they. The breviary, -crucifix, and large jet rosary-beads which, in my phantasy, lay concealed -within the last-named's breast, would betoken that he was a priest of the -ancient faith of the English people, although at that period one of such a -vocation was, by law, counted a traitor to his sovereign. - -But my day-dreams vanished: from a vivid realization of a near approach to -Givendale, which was announced by a new guide-post visible to the eye of -flesh. A few paces further of walking, under the boughs of noble -interlacing trees, brought me by the gate leading to the dwelling-house -to-day known as Givendale--that historic name. The old hall occupied a -site most probably a little to the north of the present Givendale, and was -surrounded by a moat. Leland, writing in the reign of Henry VIII., -describes it as "a fair manor place of stone." Lovely views does Givendale -command of the valley of the Ure,[A] looking westward towards the sister -valleys of the Nidd and Wharfe and Aire. - -[Footnote A: Givendale, in the time of Sir Simon Ward, who lived in the -reign of Edward II., was evidently the Wards' principal seat near Ripon; -for Sir Simon Ward is described as of "Givendale and Esholt." Esholt is in -the Parish of Otley. The arms of the Wards were azure, a cross patonce, -or. Sir Simon Ward's daughter, Beatrice, was married to Walter de -Hawkesworth, and, through her, the Hawkesworth estate, in the Parish of -Otley, between Wharfedale and Airedale, came into the ancient family of -Hawkesworth (see Text _ante_). To-day, the well-known Fawkes family, of -Farnley (the friends of the artist, Turner, and of his great interpreter, -Ruskin), own Hawkesworth Hall, a fine, ivy-clad, antique mansion looking -towards Airedale. Campion was probably harboured here in the spring of -1581, and possibly also by the Hawkesworths, of Mitton, near Clitheroe.] - -A kind wayfarer, whom I chanced to meet near Givendale, pointed out to me -the way to Skelton, Newby, and Mulwith. - -I had to retrace from Givendale my steps for Skelton; but I soon found -from a second friendly guide-post that my good friend of a few moments -before had directed my eager steps aright. - -The faithful following towards the south-east of the high road, running -parallel with the woods of Newby on my right, brought me in due course to -Skelton, a large limestone village, characteristic of that part of the -West Riding of Yorkshire. - -I walked down the town street of Skelton and found that the Park-gates of -Newby entered from the village. - -I passed, on my left, the little chapel of Skelton, standing in its -grave-yard, which, rebuilt in 1812, had taken the place of the chapel -where once or twice a year, "after long imprisonment," it is probable -that Marmaduke Ward--though not Elizabeth, his wife, nor Mary, nor any of -his other children--"against his conscience" went to hear read the Book of -Common Prayer, in order to avoid the terrible penalty of having "to pay -the statute," that is, to pay L20 per lunar month by way of fine for -"popish recusancy."[A] - -[Footnote A: This would be about L160 in our money. Thirteen of these -payments in one year would amount to about L2,080. Father Richard Holtby, -S.J., was a friend of the Wards, and the priest who decided Mary Ward's -"vocation" in Baldwin's Gardens, Holborn, London, after Marmaduke Ward had -been released from his brief captivity in Warwickshire. (See "_Life of -Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 89.) Holtby speaks of Mary as "my daughter -Warde." Now, Father Holtby, of Fryton, near Hovingham, has recorded that -"after long imprisonment Mr. Blenkinsopp [of Helbeck, Westmoreland, no -doubt], _Mr. Warde_, Mr. Trollope [of Thornley, in the County of Durham, -no doubt], and Mrs. Cholmondeley [probably of Brandsby, near Easingwold], -and more" were "overthrown," which clearly means became (temporarily at -least) "Schismatic Catholics," by consenting to attend "the Protestant -church." (See Morris's "_Troubles_," third series, p. 76.) This would be -in the years 1593-94-95, or previously. Peacock's "_List_" for 1604, under -"Ripon," gives "Elizabeth wief of Marmaduke Ward," _but ominously no_ -Marmaduke Ward. Therefore, like his relative Sir William Wigmore, -Marmaduke Ward, it is almost certain, for a time frequented his parish -church (contrary to what he deemed "the highest and best") perhaps once or -twice a year. Poor fellow! he was, however, very strict in not allowing -his children to do the like. (See "_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., pp. 30, -31.)] - -The Newby Hall of to-day, the seat of R. C. De Grey Vyner, Esquire, is a -grand structure, having been designed by Sir Christopher Wren about the -year 1705. In the Park is the beautiful Memorial Church, built by the late -Lady Mary Vyner, in memory of her son, Frederick George Vyner, who was -slain by Greek brigands in the year 1870.[B] - -[Footnote B: The late Dr. Stanley delivered, in Westminster Abbey, one of -his beautiful and pathetic "Laments," after the sorrowful tidings reached -England that this fine young Englishman, by a deed of violence, had passed -into the world of the "Unseen Perfectness."] - -One mile from Newby is Mulwith.[A] It is reached by what evidently has -been an avenue in days of yore, connecting the two manor-houses. - -[Footnote A: R. C. De Grey Vyner, Esquire (brother-in-law to the Most -Honourable the Marquis of Ripon, K.G., of Studley Royal, Lord Lieutenant -of the North Riding of Yorkshire), to-day owns Givendale, Newby, and -Mulwith. They are within about five miles of Ripon, and can be also -reached from Boroughbridge.] - -The old hall of Mulwith was most probably a castellated mansion, -quadrangular in shape, with a Gothic chapel, gateway, drawbridge, and -moat, pretty much like Markenfield Hall, near Ripon, at the present day. -There was a fire at Mulwith in the year 1593, we know from the "_Life of -Mary Ward_." And it may be, that the hall was then razed to the ground and -never afterwards rebuilt.[B] - -[Footnote B: Mary Ward was born at Mulwith, in 1585 (see _ante_, p. 59). -Among her devoted scholars, who crossed the seas either with her or to -her, were Susanna Rookwood, Helena Catesby, and Elizabeth Keyes, each -respectively related, closely related, to the conspirators bearing those -names.--See "_Life of Mary Ward_," vols. i. and ii.] - -To-day Mulwith is a pleasant farmstead, built of brick with slated roof. -It is a two-storied, six-windowed dwelling, with homestead, gardens, and -orchards all adjoining.[C] - -[Footnote C: My friend Mr. Renfric Oates, of Maidenhead, Berks., kindly -made me, when in Harrogate (in May, 1901), a sketch of Mulwith, which I -value highly. Since then a relative of his has bestowed upon me a portrait -of Mary Ward herself. So I am fortunate indeed. In the "_Life of Mary -Ward_," by M. Mary Salome (Burns & Oates), the lady who so generously -gifted me with a picture I can scarcely prize enough, there is a copy from -the first of that remarkable series of paintings known as the Painted Life -of Mary Ward, which represents Mary (then a little maiden betwixt two and -three years old) toddling across the room, attired, as to her head, in a -tiny close-fitting cap. This picture bears the following note in ancient -German:--"'Jesus' was the first word of the infant, Mary, after which she -did not speak for many months." Another of the famous pictures in the -Painted Life is one representing Mary, at the age of thirteen, making her -first Communion, at Harewell Hall, Dacre, Nidderdale. (I visited Harewell -Hall, which is still owned by the Inglebies, of Ripley, as in the days of -Mary Ward, on Wednesday, the 10th April, 1901, being courteously shown -round the Hall by Miss Simpson, the tenant. The River Nidd flows at the -foot of this ancient, picturesque dwelling.)] - -In front of Mulwith still flows, as in the ancient days, the historic -waters of the Ure.[A] On almost every side the eye is gladdened with -woodland patches embroidering the horizon with that "sylvan scenery which -never palls."[B] - -[Footnote A: Near Newby, in February, 1869, Sir Charles Slingsby, Bart., -of Scriven, when a-hunting was, with some other gentlemen, drowned in the -act of crossing in a boat the River Ure, then swollen high through -February floods. The event cast a profound gloom over Yorkshire for many a -long day. (The writer was eight years of age when this melancholy -catastrophe took place, and well does he remember the grief depicted on -the faces of the good citizens of York on the morrow of that sad -disaster.)] - -[Footnote B: Lord Beaconsfield.] - -Hence, at last I was come to my journey's end. For I had reached Mulwith, -or Mulwaith, in the Parish of Ripon, whereof "Thomas Warde" is described, -who married M'gery Slater, in the Church of St. Michael-le-Belfrey, York, -on the 29th day of May, 1579. - -Mrs. John Hardcastle and her son most kindly conducted me round the place -once more; for I had visited Mulwith about ten years previously, with my -sister, then approaching it from the east. - -And on that Sunday evening (April 22nd, 1901), an evening calm and bright, -to the sound of sweet church bells, again I satisfied historic feeling by -the recollection of the Past; the sense whereof bore down upon me with a -force too strong for words, "too deep," too high, "for tears." - -"_Many waters cannot quench Love; neither can the floods drown it._" - - - SUPPLEMENTUM V. - - AN ACCOUNT OF A VISIT TO GREAT PLOWLAND (ANCIENTLY PLEWLAND), IN - THE PARISH OF WELWICK, HOLDERNESS, IN THE EAST RIDING OF THE - COUNTY OF YORK. - -On Monday, the 6th day of May, 1901, the writer had the happiness of -accomplishing a purpose he had long had in mind, namely, that of paying a -visit to Great Plowland (anciently Plewland), in the Parish of Welwick, -Holderness, the birthplace of John and Christopher Wright, and also of -their sister, Martha Wright, who was married to Thomas Percy, of Beverley. -These three East Riding Yorkshiremen have indeed writ large their names in -the Book of Fate. For, as the preceding pages have shown, they were among -that woeful band of thirteen who were involved, to their just undoing, in -the rash and desperate enterprise, known as the Gunpowder Treason Plot, of -the year 1605, the second year of the reign of James I., King of England, -Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and progenitor and predecessor of our own -Most Gracious King Edward VII. Long may he reign, a crowned and sceptred -Imperial Monarch: and in Justice may his house be established for ever![A] - -[Footnote A: How full of happy augury for the future of our Empire was the -fine speech of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, delivered in the -Guildhall, London, the 5th December, 1901, shortly following on the -Prince's and His Princess's return to Old England's shores, after their -historic sojourning, during the year 1901, in His Majesty's loyal -Dominions beyond the seas.] - -The writer arrived at the town of Patrington (the post-town of Plowland) -somewhat late in the afternoon. He had not been before; but he well knew -that Patrington is famous, far and near, for its stately and -exquisitely-beautiful church, so aptly styled "the Queen of Holderness," -the church of Hedon being "the King." - -After viewing the general features of the little town of Patrington, -which, maybe, is but slightly changed since its main street was trodden by -English men and English women of "the spacious days of Good Queen Bess," I -(to have recourse to the first person singular, if the liberty may be -pardoned) went in search of some ancient hostelry such as wherein "Jack -Wright, Kit Wright, and Tom Percy," then in the hey-day of their youthful -strength and vigour, quaffed the foaming tankard of the nut-brown ale, or -called for their pint of sack, when William Shakespeare[A] was the Sir -Henry Irving of his day, and was writing his immortal dramas for all -Nations and all Time. - -[Footnote A: The common consent of mankind ranks Shakespeare, along with -Homer and Dante, as one of the world's three Poet-Kings.] - -Such a house of entertainment "for man and beast" I found in the inn -bearing the time-honoured and sportsmanlike sign of the "Dog and Duck". - -On entering the portals of this ancient hostelry the historic imagination -enabled me to conjure up the sight of some of the gentlemen who, three -hundred years ago, must have formed the company who assembled at the "Dog -and Duck;" to discuss, maybe, a threatened Spanish invasion of England's -inviolate shores; "a progress" of the great Tudor Queen; or the action of -her Privy Counsellors, Lord Burleigh, Sir Francis Walsingham, the Earl of -Leicester, Sir Robert Cecil, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the ill-fated Robert -Devereux Earl of Essex; or, belike, to sound the praises of that model of -chivalry, Sir Philip Sidney, the General Gordon, Lord Bowen, and Matthew -Arnold of his day, and the darling of his countrymen for ever. - -If I had to content myself with the historic imagination alone for the -sight of John Wright, one of the most expert swordsmen of his time; of -Christopher Wright, who was a taller man than his brother, of a closer and -more peaceable disposition; and of Thomas Percy, their brother-in-law, who -was agent for his cousin, the great head of the House of Percy; and also -for the vision of all those high-born, courageous, but self-willed, -wayward Yorkshire Elizabethan gentlemen, in their tall hat, graceful -cloak,[A] and short sword girded on their side, with their tinkling -falcons on their wrist, with their cross-bows and their dogs: if I had to -be content with imagination alone for all this, on that Monday, the 6th -day of May, 1901, I had the sight and vision in the solid reality of flesh -and blood of "mine host" of the "Dog and Duck," who bade me welcome in -right cheery tones; and, in answer to my question, told me he well knew -Great Plowland, in the Parish of Welwick (being a native of those parts), -and ever since he was a boy he had heard tell that some of the Gunpowder -plotters had been at Plowland.[B] - -[Footnote A: The cloak was then one of the outward tokens of a gentleman.] - -[Footnote B: It is impossible to understand Shakespeare's characters -aright except one has first made a close study of such typical Elizabethan -gentlemen as the Gunpowder plotters and their friends, and of the -Elizabethan Catholic gentry in general. Hence the wide value of the -labours of such men as Simpson, Morris, Pollen, Knox, and Law.] - -Soon was the compact made that that very evening, ere darkness came on, -"mine host" should drive me to the site of where John Wright and -Christopher Wright first beheld the light of the sun. (In view of the fact -that the circumstantial evidence to-day available tends to prove that -Christopher Wright was the repentant conspirator who revealed the Plot and -so saved King James I., his Queen, and Parliament from destruction by -exploded gunpowder, it may be easily conceived that I felt great eagerness -to gaze on Plowland with as little delay as possible.) - -A short drive brought my driver and myself within sight of the tall -"rooky" trees, the blossoming orchard, the ancient gabled buildings in the -background, and the handsome two-storied red-brick dwelling, all standing, -on slightly rising ground, within less than a quarter of a mile from the -king's highway, which to-day are known as Great Plowland, in the Parish of -Welwick, Holderness, in the East Riding of the County of York. - -This, then, was the fair English landscape whereon the eyes of Christopher -Wright had rested in those momentous years, from 1570 to 1580, when "the -child is father of the man!" I exclaimed in spirit. - -As we were entering through the gates of Plowland I made enquiry as to the -name of the owner of this historic spot. I was informed that the gentleman -to whom the ancestral seat of the Wrights, of Plowland, belonged resided -on his own domain. - -On reaching Plowland Hall (now Plowland House), Mr. George Burnham, of -Plowland House, came forward, and, with frank, pleasant courtesy, never to -be forgotten, assured me that I was at liberty to see the place where the -two Gunpowder conspirators, John and Christopher Wright, had lived when -boys. - -I alighted from my vehicle, and being joined by Miss Burnham, sister to -Mr. Burnham, the owner of the estate, we all three examined the evident -traces of the moat, the remains of what must have been the old Gothic -chapel, and certain ancient buildings and doors in the rear, which were -left intact when old Plowland Hall was taken down, shortly after the -middle of the nineteenth century, to make way for the present Plowland -House.--See Frontispiece to this Book for picture of Plowland House. - -[The Burnhams, of Plowland, are the grandchildren of the late Richard -Wright, Esq., of Knaith, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. One of that -gentleman's descendants is _Robert Wright_ Burnham, the eldest brother to -the present owner of Plowland and his sister. The name _Richard_ Wright is -found in the Register of Christenings at Ripon Minster, under date 29th -March, 1599, as the son of one _John_ Wright, of _Skelton_.] - -After taking leave of my kind friends, the "guardians" of Great Plowland, -Mr. Robert Medforth, of the "Dog and Duck" hostelry, at Patrington, drove -me to Welwick. A short survey of this characteristically East Riding -Yorkshire village and its grey old Gothic church in its grave-yard, where -John and Christopher Wright were christened, no doubt, brought the -historical travels and explorations of Monday, May 6th, 1901, to a -delightful and profitable close. - -"Farewell, Plowland," I interiorly exclaimed, when I turned myself in my -conveyance, for the last time, to take the one last, lingering look, -"Farewell, Plowland, once the home _not only_ of those who 'knowing the -better chose the worse,' and who, therefore, verified in themselves that -law of Retribution, that eternal law of Justice, '_the Guilty suffer,' but -also_ once the home of some of the supremely excellent of the earth. -Farewell, Plowland, where Mary Ward, that beautiful soul, resided with -Ursula Wright, her sainted grandmother, the wife of Robert Wright, the -mother of Christopher Wright: where Mary Ward resided, during the five -years, 1589 to 1594, before returning to her father's house at Mulwith, in -the Parish of Ripon, on the banks of the sylvan Ure." - -The Estate of Plowland came into the Wright family in the reign of Henry -VIII., owing to John Wright, Esquire (a man of Kent), having married Alice -Ryther, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Sir John Ryther, of -Ryther, on the banks of the "lordly Wharfe," between York and Selby. - -John Wright's son, Robert, succeeded as the owner of Plowland (or -Plewland). Robert Wright married for his second wife Ursula Rudston, whose -family had been lords of Hayton, near Pocklington, from the days of King -John. Ursula Wright was akin to the Mallory (or Mallorie) family, of -Studley Royal, Ripon, and so a cousin in some degree to most of the grand -old Yorkshire gentry, such as the Ingleby family, of Ripley Castle and of -Harewell Hall, Dacre, near Brimham Rocks, in Nidderdale, and the -Markenfields, of Markenfield Hall, near Ripon, to mention none others -beside.[A][B][C][D] (This is shown by the Ripon Registers.) - -[Footnote A: The Most Honourable the Marquis of Ripon, K.G., Viceroy of -India (1880-85), and the Most Honourable the Marchioness of Ripon, C.I., -are akin to John Wright and Christopher Wright, through the Mallories of -Studley Royal.] - -[Footnote B: The Right Honourable the Lord Grantley, of Markenfield Hall, -is akin to the Wrights, through his ancestor, Francis Norton, the eldest -son of brave old Richard Norton; the Mallories; the Inglebies; and many -others.] - -[Footnote C: Sir Henry Day Ingilby, Bart., of Ripley Castle, is likewise -akin to the Wrights, the Winters, and indeed to almost all the other -ill-fated plotters. I may mention also that Sir Henry is likewise related -to the exalted Mary Ward, who (as was the case with her great kinswoman -and friend, Lady Grace Babthorpe) lived at "lovely Ripley" in her -childhood, with the Inglebies of that day, on more than one occasion, as -we find recorded in Mary's "_Life_."] - -[Footnote D: At Grantley a John Wright resided in the time of Elizabeth. -He was probably brother to Robert Wright, the father of John and -Christopher Wright. Grantley Hall nestles in a leafy hollow of surpassing -beauty. The swift, gentle, little River Skell flows past the Hall on -towards St. Mary's Abbey, Fountains. Grantley Hall is now owned by Sir -Christopher Furness, M.P. It was formerly one of the estates of the Lords -Grantley.] - -Robert Wright (the second Wright who owned Plowland) had been married -before his marriage to Ursula Rudston. His first wife's name was Anne -Grimstone. She was a daughter of Thomas Grimstone, Esquire, of Grimstone -Garth. Robert Wright and Anne Grimstone had one son who "heired" Plowland. -His name was William Wright. He married Ann Thornton, of East Newton, in -Rydale, a lady who was related to many old Rydale and Vale of Mowbray -families in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The names of William Wright and -Ann, his wife (born Thornton), are still recorded on a brass in the north -aisle of Welwick Church.[A] - -[Footnote A: Mass was said at Ness Hall, near Hovingham, not far from East -Newton, during the early part of the nineteenth century. _I think_ that -this was owing to the old Catholic family of Crathorne owning Ness Hall at -this time. The Crathornes intermarried with the Wrights, of Plowland, in -the days of James I. or Charles I., and I suspect that Ness Hall had been -brought into the Crathorne family, through the Wrights, from the -Thorntons. The Crathornes came from Crathorne, near Stokesley, in -Cleveland. The Thorntons conformed to the Established Church.] - -William Wright was half-brother to Ursula Ward, the wife of Marmaduke -Ward, of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale, near Ripon, the parents of the -great Mary Ward, the friend of popes, emperors, kings, nobles, statesmen, -warriors, and indeed of the most distinguished personages of Europe during -the reigns of James I. and Charles I. William Wright (or Wryght, as the -name is spelt on the brass in Welwick Church) was also half-brother to the -two Gunpowder conspirators, John and Christopher Wright, who were slain at -Holbeach House, Staffordshire, a few days after the capture of Guy Fawkes -by Sir Thomas Knevet, early in the morning of November 5th, 1605. - -The late Rev. John Stephens, Rector of Holgate, York, and formerly Vicar -of Sunk Island, Holderness, told me, in September, 1900, that Guy Fawkes -is said to have slept at Plowland Hall, on Fawkes' departure for London -for the last time, a tradition which is very likely to be authentic. For, -as will be remembered, the Wrights, Fawkes, and Tesimond were old -school-fellows at St. Peter's School, in the Horse Fayre, Gillygate, -York,[A] which had been re-founded by Philip and Mary, who likewise -founded the present Grammar School at Ripon. - -[Footnote A: John Wright, Christopher Wright, Guy Fawkes, and Oswald -Tesimond must have many a time and oft passed through Bootham Bar, leading -towards Clifton, Skelton, and Easingwold, along the great North Road. And -besides the King's Manor to the left of Bootham Bar, Queen Margaret's -Gateway, named after Queen Margaret (grandmother of Mary Queen of Scots), -must have been to them all a thrice-familiar object. Queen Margaret, it -will be remembered, was wife to King James IV. of Scotland, who fell at -Flodden Field in 1513, fighting against the forces of the brother of the -Scots' Queen, King Henry VIII. - -In 1516, Henry VIII. invited his widowed sister to London, "and good Queen -Katerine sent her own white palfrey" for her poor sister-in-law's "use." -On this memorable occasion the bereaved daughter of King Henry VII., -through whom His Most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII., in part at least, -traces his august Title to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and -Ireland, was kindly welcomed by the worthy citizens of the northern -capital.--See Dr. Raine's "_York_" (Longmans), p. 98. - -In the month of July, 1900, at the Treasurer's House, on the north side of -the Minster, our Most Gracious Sovereign and His Beloved Consort (then the -Prince and Princess of Wales) together with the present Prince and -Princess of Wales (then the Duke and Duchess of York), graciously -sojourned for a brief season: an event memorable and historic even in the -proud annals of the second city of the British Empire.] - - - SUPPLEMENTUM VI. - - St. Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst, - Blackburn, 5th October, 1901. - -... You are quite correct in saying that the doctrine of Equivocation is -the justification of stratagems in war, and of a great many other -recognised modes of conduct. - -But I despair of its ever finding acceptance in the minds of most -Englishmen: since they will not take the trouble of understanding it; -while, at the same time, they have not the slightest scruple in -misrepresenting it. It is, of course (like most principles, whether of -art, or of science, or of philosophy), not a truth immediately to be -grasped by the average intellect, and, therefore, liable to much -misapplication. Even the best-trained thinkers may frequently differ as to -its comprehension of this or that particular concrete case. - -Given the tendency of human nature, English or foreign, to shield itself -from unpleasant consequences at the expense of truth, it is unsafe to -supply the public with a general principle, which, precisely on account of -its universality, might be made to cover with some show of reason, many an -unwarrantable _jeu de mots_. There are many exceedingly useful drugs which -it would be unwise to throw into the open market. Hence, I quite recognise -the partial validity of the objection to the doctrine in question. But -since the doctrine is so often thrust in the public face, it is as well it -should appear in its true colours. - -This leads me to a point which I think ought to be insisted upon, namely, -that those features, which are most objectionable to Englishmen in the -scholastic doctrine were devised by their authors with the intention of -_limiting_ the realm of Equivocation and of safeguarding the truth more -closely. - -All rational men are agreed that there are circumstances in which words -must be used that are _prima facie_ contrary to truth--in war, in -diplomacy, in the custody of certain professional secrets. In such -instances the non-Catholic rule seems to be: Tell a lie, and have done -with it. The basis of such a principle is Utilitarian Morality, which -estimates Right and Wrong _merely_ by the consequences of an action. The -peripatetic philosopher, on the other hand, who maintains the _intrinsic_ -moral character of certain actions, and who holds _mordicus_ to the love -of truth for its own sake, is not content to rest in a lie, however -excusable, but endeavours, for the honour of humanity, to demonstrate that -such apparent deviations from truth are not such in reality. For he -perceives in them _two_ meanings--whence the name _Equivocation_--one of -which may be true, while the other is false. The speaker utters the words -in their true meaning, and that the hearer should construe them in the -other sense is the latter's own affair. - -"_Not at home_" may mean "_out of the house_" or "_not inclined to receive -visitors_." It is the visitor's own fault if he attaches the first meaning -to the phrase rather than the second, or _vice versa_. - -No sensible man would consider a prisoner to be "lying" in his plea of -"_Not Guilty_," because a certain juryman, in his ignorant simplicity, -should carry off the impression of the prisoner's _absolute_, and not -merely of his _legal_, innocence. Yet the plea may mean either both or -only the latter. - -Similarly, an impertinent ferretter-out of an important secret needs -blame none but himself if he conceives the answer "_No_" to intimate -anything else than that he should mind his own business. - -As to such _facts_ there is, I should say, an overwhelming agreement of -opinion. That they differ from what we all recognise as a sheer "_lie_" is -pretty evident. It is, therefore, convenient and scientific to label them -with some other name, and the Scholastic hit upon the not inapt one of -_Equivocation_. - -The malice of lying consists, according to Utilitarian Philosophy, in the -destruction of that mutual confidence which is so absolutely necessary for -the proper maintenance and development of civilized life. But the -Scholastic, while fully admitting this ground, looks for a still deeper -root, and finds it in the very fact of the discrepancy between the -speaker's internal thought and its outward expression. The difference -between the two positions may be more clearly apprehended in the following -formula:--The first would define a lie as "_speaking with intent to -deceive_;" whereas the second defines it "_speaking contrary to one's -thought_" (_locutio contra mentem_), even where there is no hope (and -therefore no intent) of actual deception. The latter is clearly the -stricter view, yet very closely allied with, and supplementing, the -former. For we may perhaps say with Cardinal de Lugo--and _a la_ -Kant--that the malice of the discrepancy mentioned above lies in the -self-contradiction which results in the liar, between his inborn desire -for the trust of his fellow-men and his conviction that he has rendered -himself unworthy of it--that he has, in other words, degraded his nature. - -Now, where there do not exist relations of mutual confidence, such malice -cannot exist. An enemy, a burglar, a lunatic, an impudent questioner, -etc., are, _in their distinguishing character_, beyond the pale of mutual -confidence--_i.e._, when acting professionally as enemies, burglars, etc. - -In regard to such outlaws from society, some moralists would accordingly -maintain that the duty of veracity is non-existent, and that here we may -"answer a fool according to his folly." If a burglar asks where is your -plate, you may reply at random "_In the Bank_," or "_At Timbuctoo_," or -"_I haven't any_." If a lunatic declares himself Emperor of China, you may -humour him, and give him _any_ information you may imagine about his -dominions, etc. - -Such is the teaching of, _v.gr._, Professor Paulsen, of Berlin, in his -"_System of Ethics_," in which he is at one with Scholasticism, though, I -daresay, we should not follow him in all his applications of the -principle. He prefers to call such instances "_necessary lies_," whereas -we should say they were not lies at all, because they would not be rightly -considered to imply _speaking_ strictly understood, that is, the -communication of one's mind to another. There is no real speech where -there are no relations of mutual confidence. Practically, however, it is -so far a question of name rather than of reality, of theory rather than of -fact. - -The doctrine of _Mental Reservation_ seems to me to differ from that of -_Equivocation_ only in this, that Equivocation implies the use of words -which have a two-fold meaning in themselves, _apart from_ special -circumstances, and are therefore _logical_ equivoques. Thus to the -question: "_What do people think of me?_" one might diplomatically reply: -"_Oh! they think a great deal!_" which leaves it undetermined whether the -thinking be of a favourable or unfavourable character. - -But more commonly words, apart from special circumstances, have one -definite meaning, _e.gr._, "_Yes_" or "_No_." When Sir Walter Scott -denied, as he himself tells us, the authorship of "_Waverley_" with a -plain simple "_No_," he was guilty of no logical Equivocation: but the -circumstance that it was generally known that the author intended to -preserve anonymity gave his answer the signification, "_Mind your own -business._" This is what I should call a _moral_ equivoque. The -Scholastics call it _broad mental reservation_ (_restrictio late -mentalis_). The origin of this terminology seems to me to lie in a bit of -purism. Some moralists were not content with merely _moral_ equivoques: -they appear to insist on the junction with them of _logical_ Equivocation; -and so they would have directed the equivocator to _restrict_ (and so -double) the meaning of a word in his own mind. Thus to Sir Walter they -would have said: "Don't say '_No_' simply, but add in your own head, '_as -far as the public is concerned_,'" or something similar. - -When this addition could not be conjectured by the hearer, it received the -name of _pure mental reservation_ (_restrictio pure_ [or _stricte_] -_mentalis_): as when one might say "_John is not here_" (meaning in his -mind "not on the exact spot where the speaker stood"), though John was a -yard off all the time. Such a position has not found favour in the body of -Catholic moralists. They regard it as not only a useless proceeding, but -as one which, although intended out of respect for truth, is liable, from -its purely subjective character, to easy abuse. - -But when objective circumstances (as in the case of Sir Walter) enable the -hearer to guess at the double meaning and to suspend his judgment, then we -have a case of _broad_ mental reservation: for it is writ large in social -convention that, where a momentous secret exists, a negative answer -carries with it the limitation (restriction, reservation), "_secrets -apart_." - -I trust I have made it sufficiently clear that the doctrine of -Equivocation, properly understood, has been devised in the interests of -Veracity. That we may find in some writers, whether St. Alphonsus de -Liguori or Professor Paulsen, particular applications in which we do not -concur, surely does not affect the validity of the principle. - -I may add that _all_ Catholic theologians with whom I am acquainted limit -its use by requiring many external conditions: _v.gr._, that the secret to -be preserved should be of importance; that the questioner should have no -right to its knowledge, etc. In one word, that the possible damage to -mutual confidence resulting from the hearer's self-deception should be -less than that which would certainly accrue from the revelation of a -legitimate secret. - -No one feels more keenly than we do that to have resort to Equivocation is -an evil rendered tolerable only in presence of a greater evil of the same -nature; and I venture to say, from an intimate knowledge of my brother -"religious," that no one is less likely to recur to it, where only his own -skin is concerned, than a Jesuit. - - Believe me, Yours very sincerely, - George Canning, S.J.[A] - -[Footnote A: The above lucid explanation of the much and (_me judice_) -stupidly maligned doctrine of Equivocation will place readers of this -work, as well as the writer, under an obligation of gratitude to the Rev. -George Canning, who is the Professor of Ethics at St. Mary's Hall, -Stonyhurst, so I am informed by the Rev. Bernard Boedder, S.J., Professor -of Natural Theology, at that seat of learning, whom I have had the honour -of meeting in York on more than one occasion. "Wisdom builds her house for -_all_ weathers." But England, relying too much on a long course of -prosperity in her ruling classes, and in the protected classes immediately -beneath her ruling classes, has neglected the Truth and Justice contained -in this eminently rational doctrine of Equivocation. The democracy must, -and will, however, insist on amiable, self-contenting, self-pleasing -delusions being speedily swept away. Reason and self-interest alike will -compel and compass this. - -The question of Equivocation is not a question of Protestant _versus_ -Catholic, but of Wise Noddle _versus_ Foolish Noddle. This is a distinct -gain.] - - - - - APPENDICES. - - - APPENDIX A. - - CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE DEFINED AND DESCRIBED. - -Circumstantial Evidence is indirect, as distinct from direct evidence. It -is likewise mediate, as distinct from immediate. - -Direct evidence is testimony that is a statement of what the witness -himself has seen, heard, or perceived by the evidence of any one of his -own five senses,[A] which testimony is directly given by a witness, to -lead to the facts in issue, that is, the facts required to be proved in -order to make out or to constitute the criminal case, or the civil cause -of action, sought to be established, according to some rule of Law. - -[Footnote A: By sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch.] - -Indirect or mediate evidence is _inferred_ from a relatively minor fact or -relatively minor facts already directly proved. - -This _inference_ is drawn by a valid process of reasoning from a -relatively minor fact or minor facts already directly deposed to by a -witness, who may be a party interested in the case or cause, or a -stranger-witness, either friendly or hostile. - -Hence, Circumstantial Evidence is _specially_ inferential and cumulative -in its nature. It denotes the resultant of a method of knowledge, which -has carried the Inquirer forward by successive stages of advancement. - -It implies the _inferring_ of the unknown from the known; but from a known -which has been itself transmuted from the unknown, at some point of time -anterior to the making of the successive stage of advancement in the -knowledge of the facts sought to be proved, and vindicated by some rule of -Law. - - * * * * * - -The following interesting account of Evidence generally is from the pen of -Mr. Frank Pick, of Burton Lodge, York, a student of the Law:-- - -Evidence is the collective term used to denote the facts whereby some -proposition, statement, or conclusion is sought to be established or -confirmed. - -While, as thus defined, the term Evidence primarily denotes the actual -_known_ facts themselves which form the basis or point of departure, it -connotes also a method or process in the development of those known facts -to a resultant fact or opinion: and the resultant fact or opinion so -obtained. The former is often styled _Testimony_. - -This will be illustrated in Circumstantial Evidence, and in what is -commonly styled "Expert Evidence," though better, "Evidence of Opinion," -where a person from a consideration of certain facts not necessarily -expressed (being likewise one specially competent to form an opinion where -such certain facts are involved) gives an opinion which may be used as, -and for similar purposes with, evidence as above defined. - -The value of evidence, _i.e._, the completeness and efficiency with which -it serves these ends, varies with, and the weight accorded to it in -judgment is determined from, a review of the character or quality of the -source whence these facts proceed; and the nature or proximity of the -relation which they bear to the proposition, statement, or conclusion to -be supported. - -As regards the character or quality of its source, evidence is -distinguished into primary and secondary. - -Primary Evidence is the witness or testimony of personal experience, -whether shown in the spoken or written word or by conduct. Or it may be -described as, on its positive side, the avowal or confession of fact of a -person present knowingly, at the manifestation, in consciousness of the -phenomenon to which the fact corresponds: on its negative side, as the -denial or negation of fact similarly conditioned. - -Secondary Evidence comprises all the manifold degrees of nearness or -remoteness to primary evidence. - -As all degrees are here included, it is sometimes said that there are no -degrees of secondary evidence. This must not be misunderstood to mean that -all secondary evidence is entitled to be received as of the same degree of -credibility. For a further, and in some respects parallel, distinction to -that lastly taken, arises as the speech is or is not deliberate, the -writing authenticated, the conduct reasoned. And in every case partiality, -bias, and prejudice are grounds not to be neglected in the ascertainment -of accuracy and trustworthiness. - -So far as regards the nature or proximity of the relation, evidence is -either direct and immediate, or indirect and mediate, called -circumstantial; as concerned rather with the surrounding circumstances -leading to the proof of the presumed truth of a fact than with the fact -itself. - -Direct Evidence comprises those facts from which, if proved, the truth of -the proposition, statement, or conclusion necessarily follows. - -Circumstantial Evidence comprises those facts from which again may be -inferred facts, whence the truth of the proposition, statement, or -conclusion must necessarily follow. - -This inferential method is especially involved in Circumstantial Evidence. -In all evidence there is a presumption open more or less to rebuttal, and -evidence on this account is qualified as, _e.g._, _prima facie_, -conclusive. In Direct Evidence there is the presumption of the truth of -the proposition, statement, or conclusion from the proven facts. In -Circumstantial Evidence there is first an inference of directly connected -facts, otherwise unknown or unevidenced from remotely connected facts, -known or given in evidence; then there is further a presumption of the -truth of the proposition, statement, or conclusion from these mediately -established facts. - - - APPENDIX B. - - DISCREPANCY AS TO DATE WHEN NOT MATERIAL TO ISSUE, - NO DISPROOF OF TRUTH OF THE REST OF THE ASSERTION. - -The above doctrine of the law of Evidence applies, of course, to whatever -may be the nature or purpose of the Inquiry, whether conducted in a Court -of Law, in the library of the historical scholar, or elsewhere. - -The principle was soundly stated at the trial of "the Venerable" Martyrs, -Fathers Whitbread, Harcourt, Fenwick, Gavan, and Turner, at the Old -Bailey, by Sir William Scroggs, Knt., the Lord Chief Justice of the King's -Bench, on the occasion of the Popish Plot Trials, in the year 1679. - -"If it should be a _mistake only in point of time_, it destroys not the -evidence, _unless you think it necessary to the substance of the thing_. - -"If you charge one in the month of August to have done such a fact, if he -deny that he was in that place at that time, and proves it by witnesses, -it may go to invalidate the credibility of the man's testimony, _but it -does not invalidate the truth of the thing itself_, which may be true in -substance, though the circumstance of time differ; and the question is, -_whether the thing be true?_" Quoted in Morris's "_Troubles: The Southcote -Family_," first series, p. 378 (Burns & Oates). (The italics are mine.) - - - APPENDIX C. - - - PART I. - - BRITISH MUSEUM--ADD. MS. 5847, FO. 322. - - _List of such as were apprehended for the Gun-Powder - Plot._ - - _The names of such as were taken in Warwicke and - Worcestershire, & brought to London._ - - S^{r} Everard Digby, Knight - Rob^{t} Winter - John Winter - John Grant - Tho: Percy - Tho: Winter - Rob^{t} Acton - Henry Morgan - Christopher Litleton - Lodwicke Grant, who was taken the _9 of Novemb_: - & confessed there was lodged in _Holbage House_ to the - number of _60 Persons_. - Tho: Grant - Will^{m} Cooke - Rob^{t} Higgins - Christopher Wright - Rob^{t} Rookwood - M^{r} Henry Hurleston, Sonne & Heire of _Sir Edward - Hurleston_[A] - Tho: Anderton[B] - John Clifton[C] - Mathy Batty, late Servant to the _Lord Monteagle_ - Willm Thornberry} Servants to _Mr. Hurleston_ - Henry Sergeant } - Stephne Bonne} - Richard Daye } Servants to _S^{r} Everard Digby_ - Willm Eadale } - James Garvey } - Rob^{t} Abram - Rob^{t} Osborne - Christopher Archer - Ambrose Fuller - Willm Howson - Francis Grant - Richard Westberry - Tho: Richardson - Edward Bickerstaffe - Will Snow - John Facklins - Francis Prior - Tho: Darler, Servant to _M^{r} Rob^{t} Monson_ - Reginald Miles, Servant to _Sir Willm Engleston_ - Tho: Rookwood, of _Claxton_, in _Warwickshire_ - Richard Yorke } _Suspected Persons_ usually resorting - Marmaduke Ward} to _M^{r} Winter_, _M^{r}_ - Rob^{t} Key } _Grant_ & _M^{r} Rookwoods_ - Rob^{t} Townsend, of St. Edmund Berry - The Lord Mountacute} Are all comitted to the - The Lord Mordant } _Tower_ - M^{r} Francis Tressam} - -[Footnote A: Sir Henry Huddleston, as he afterwards became, the son and -heir to Sir Edmund Huddleston, of Sawston Hall, Cambridge, not Edward as -in Text. Sir Henry Huddleston married the Honourable Dorothy Dormer. He -was reconciled to the Church of Rome by Father Gerard, S.J.] - -[Footnote B: This was Father Thomas Strange, S.J., a cousin to Thomas -Abington, of Hindlip.] - -[Footnote C: This was Father Singleton.] - -The Earle of North: is in the Custody still of the _Lord Archbishop of -Canterbury_. - -This was Henry _Percy Earl of Northumberland, W.C._ - - _Gentlewomen_ - - My Lady Mordant - M^{ris} Dorothy Grant - M^{ris} Helyn Cooke - M^{ris} Mary Morgayne - M^{ris} Anne Higgins - M^{ris} Martha Percy - M^{ris} Dorothy Wright - M^{ris} Margaret Wright - M^{ris} Rookwood - -See Mr. Dod's "_History of Catholick Church_," vol. ii., p. 331, W.C. - -[N.B.--This MS. consists of extracts from the Collections of the Rev. Mr. -Rand, Rector of Leverington and Newton, in the Isle of Ely.] - - - PART II. - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--PART I., NO. 12. - - [Frequenters of Clopton (or Clapton), Stratford-on-Avon.] - - Ther hath bine at Clapton[A] w^{th} M^{r} Ambrous Rucwod - Mr. Jhon Grant ther is with m^{es} Rucwood M^{es} Ceo (?) m^{es} munson - and others and to of his britherin - m^{r} Wintor - m^{r} Bosse - m^{r} Townesend - m^{r} Ceo (?) w^{th} on m^{r} Thomas a Cynesman of M^{r} Rucwoode - m^{r} Ryght - Allso mye pepeoll hath seene ther - Se^{r} Edward bushell - m^{r} Robeart Catesbee - with diuers others which I can not nam unto youer honer. - -(Endorsed) Clopton. - -[Footnote A: Clopton Hall, Stratford-on-Avon, was likewise styled Clapton -Hall. Lady Carew, afterwards the Countess of Totnes, was (with her sister, -Anne Clapton, the wife of Cuthbert Clapton, Esquire, of Sledwick, County -Durham) the co-heiress of the Claptons (or Cloptons), of Warwickshire. -Lady Carew was a Protestant, but her sister and brother-in-law were -Catholics. A son of the Catholic Cloptons (or Claptons) was made the -"heir" of the Countess of Totnes.--See Foley's "_Records_," vol. vi., pp. -326, 327.] - - - APPENDIX D. - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--Part I., No. 25. - - The Examination of Richard Browne taken the 5^{th} of - Novemb^{r} 1605. - -This Examinat sayith that xpofer Wright cam to S^{t} Gilis in the ffeild -to the Maydenhead there vpon Weddnesday laste & sent Wilt Kiddle (that cam -vp w^{t} him as his man) to Westm the same night for this Examinat to come -& speek w^{th} him, which this Examinat did com thither vpon Thursday -morning, when Wrights request was to him to fetch his child which he had -at nurss some 13 myles off. And Kiddle & this Examinat went vpon ffriday -brought the child vpon Satterday to St. Giles & carryed it away agen vpon -Sonday which night this Examinat returned back to Westm and lay there at -his owne lodging, the next morning being monday this Examinat went to -S^{t} Gyles to speak w^{t} M^{r} Wright only vpon Kiddle's intreaty & not -fynding M^{r} Wright there he retorned towards London & mett M^{r} Wright -in S^{t} Clem^{t} ffeilds, at which tyme Wright sent this Examinat to -S^{r} ffrancis Manners w^{th} a message concerninge a kinsman of M^{r} -Wrights that serveth M^{r} Manners after which tyme this Examinat did not -see the sayd Wright. - -This Examinat sayeth that he saw the sayd Wright onely 4 tymes since -Wright last coming to London, viz., vpon Thursday morning when he came -first vnto him upon Satterday night when he brought his child, vpon Sonday -morning when he carryed the child away, and vpon monday at noone when he -mett of the back syd of S^{t} Clem^{t}s - - mark - x - Richard Browne - - (Endorsed) Examination of Richard Browne - 6 Nov. 1605 Concerning Wright. - - - APPENDIX E. - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--Part I., No. 15. - - The Examynacon of Willum Grantham servaunt to Josephe Hewett taken - before S^{r} John Popham Knighte L: Cheife Justyce of England - the 5 of November 1605. - -He sayeth that yesterdaye aboute three of the Clocke in the afternoone one -m^{r} wryght was at this Ex masters howse And there boughte three beaver -hatts and payde xj^{L}[A] for them This Ex went w^{th} the sayde wryght -and caryed the hatts to wrighte lodgyng at the Mayden heade in S^{t} Gyles -where m^{r} wryght & this Ex went into the howse And then wryght went to -the Stable and dyd aske yf his man were come the hosteler sayde that he -came longe synce, then wryght dyd aske for his horse whether he were -readye or no and the hosteler sayde he was Then the sayde wryght went into -his Chamber and wryghte man dyd will this Ex to go in And the sayde -wryghte man went downe the Stayres And this Ex went into M^{r} Wryghte -Chamber and delyvered the hatts to him And wryght dyd looke uppon the -hatts and gave this Ex vj^{d} for his paynes and then he depted. - -[Footnote A: Unmistakably L11 (E.M.W.).] - - William Grantham. - - (Endorsed) 5 November 1605. William Grantham Ex. - - - APPENDIX F. - - STATE PAPERS DOMESTIC--JAS. I., Vol. xvi., No. 11. - - The Examon of Robert Rookes taken the 5^{th} of November 1605. - -He saieth that his Master M^{r} Ambrose Rookewood whoe dwelleth at -Coldhame Halle in Suff came from thence uppon Wensday last and noe more -w^{th} him but this exaite and Thomas Symons another of his servaunte. - -He saieth his Master hath layen en sithence Thursday last at one Mores -howse w^{th}out Temple Barre and thear lay w^{th} him the last night and -the night before a talle gent having a reddish beard.[A] - -[Footnote A: This was Keyes.--See "Elizabeth More's Evidence."] - -He saieth his Masters horsses stood in drewery Lane at the grey hound. - -He saieth his Master & the other gent went forth this morning about 8 of -the clock and his Master stayed not forth above an hower before he came in -againe and then going in & out some time about x of the clock went alone -to his horsse to ryde away in to Suff. and willed this exaite and his -fellowe to come after him to morowe. - -He saieth his M^{rs} as he hath hard lyeth in warwick shere whear he -knoweth not for he hath not benn w^{th} his M^{r} that nowe is aboue a -senight. - - (Endorsed) 5^{o} No. 1605. - - The Ex of Robte Rokes M^{r} Rookwoode boy. - - - APPENDIX G. - - STATE PAPERS DOMESTIC--JAS. I., Vol. xvi., No. 16. - - The declarn of John Cradock cutler the vj^{th} of - November 1605. - -He sayeth that M^{r} Rockwood whos father marryed M^{r} Tirwhyte mother -about the Begynyng of the last Som vacac dyd bespeke the puttyng of a -Spanyshe Blade off hys into a Sword hilte and appoynted the hylth to have -the Story of the passyon of Christ Richly Ingraved, and now w^{th}n these -Syxe dayes cawsed that hylth being enamlled and Rychly sett forth to be -taken of and the handle to be new wrought of clere gold and the former -hylth w^{th} hys story to be putt on agayne and delyvered yt unto m^{r} -Rockewood upon Monday last at xj of the Clocke at nyght at his Chamber at -m^{r} Mores and m^{r} Wynter a pp Gentylman of about xxx yeares or vpward -who lyeth at the Syng of the Docke an Drake beyond putrycke in the Strand -and ys a great Companyon w^{th} m^{r} Catesby m^{r} Tyrwhyt and m^{r} -Rockwood hadd a Sword w^{th} the lyke Story and was delyvered hym on -Sunday last at nyght but not so Rychly sett forth as the form for w^{ch} -he payed in all xij^{L} x^{s} pt about a quarter of a yeare past at the -bespeken thereof and the Rest on Sonday last and this term an other -Gentylman of that Cupany being a Blacke man of about xl yeares old bespake -a lyke Sword for the story & shuld pay vij^{ti} for yt gave hym x^{s} in -Ernest he ys yet out of Towne and the Sword remayneth w^{th} thys Exam -Christopher Wryght was often w^{th} thys M^{r} Rockwood at thys Exam -shoppe and he hadd the said Wryghte jugmet for the worcke and Syse of the -Blade. - - Jo Cradock - - Ex p - J. Popham - - (Endorsed) Cradocke. - - - APPENDIX H. - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--Part I., No. 10. - -I have sent vnto yo^{r} L. herin Inclosed the Copye off the declarac off -Mr Tatnall, off two that passed the fylde thys mornyg wherof some -Suspycyon may be gathered off confederacy he observed them so as he hopeth -he may mete w^{th} them and therfore I have gevin hym a warrant to attach -them a lyke note yo^{r} L shall receave herin off an expectacn that M^{rs} -Vaux hadd off some thyng to be done and I know yt by such a means as I -assured my selff the matter is trewe and both Gerrard and Walley the -Jesuyte make that the chefest place of their accesse and therfore lyke she -may knowe Some what both M^{r} Wenman hym selff & the lady Tasbard do -knowe of this wherfore howe farre forth thys shalbe fytt to be dealt in I -humbly leave to yo^{r} L consyderacn Chrystoffer Wright and M^{r} Ambrose -Rokewood were both together yesternyght at x of the Clocke and vpon -ffryday last at nyght they were together at M^{r} Rokwoode lodgyng and -this forenoon Rokwood Rode away into Suffolke about xj of the clocke alone -leavyng both hys men behynd hym one Keyes a Gentylma that lay these two -last nyghte w^{th} m^{r} Rokewood and gave hym hys lodgyng went away also -about eight off the clocke for w^{ch} Keyes I have layed weyet This -Rokwood ys of Coldham hall in Suffoke one of the most dangerous houses in -Suffolke he marryed m^{r} Tyrwhytte Syster & she ys now in Warwykshere -Chrystoffer Wright as I thyncke lay this last nyght in St. Gyles and yf he -be gone yt ys Lyke he ys gone into Warwykesher where I hyer John Wryght -Brother unto Chrystoffer ys marryed ther were thre hatts bought yesterday -in the afternoone by Chrystoffer Wryght the ar for his Brother and two -others for two Gentylwomen they cost xj^{L} and after that about ix of the -Clocke at nyght Chrystoffer Wryght cam again to that haverdasshers and -Boughte two hatts more for two Servante unto a Gentylman that was w^{th} -hym he thyncks that Gentylman was called Wynter but I dowbt that mans name -ys mystaken Ther cam a yong Gentylman w^{th} this wryght w^{th}in these -fewe dayes that gave to Cutler here by xix^{L} xv^{s} for a Sword whom I -am in some hoep to dyscover by the Sword and other cyrcumstance and even -so I humbly take my leave of yo^{r} L at Serienty Inn the v^{th} of -november 1605. - - yo^{r} L very humbly - - Jo Popham.[A] - -[Footnote A: The Lord Chief Justice of England.] - -(P.S.) I have this mornyg the vi^{th} noveber dyscovered where Wynter [is] -w^{th} the matter which I have delyverd to m^{r} Att^{r}ney wherof happely -yo^{r} L may make good vse I wyll see yf I can mete w^{th} m^{r} Wynter -Walley the jesuyt and Strang as I am Informed are now at ffrance Brownes -pcke about Surrey as I take yt and Sundry letters lately sent over are yet -Remaynyng at fortescues house by the Wadropp but yt wylbe hard to fynd any -thyng in that house. - - (Endorsed) 5 Novemb^{r} - L Ch. Justice - - (Addressed) To the Ryght - honorable and my - very good L the - Earle of Sarysbury. - - (Declaration enclosed--short.) - - - APPENDIX I. - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--Part I., No. 75. - -O^{r} humble dutyes remembred. We have this day apprehended & deliwed to -his Ma^{ty} messenger Berrye the bodie of M^{ris} Graunt, from whom we -gathered that Percyes wief was not farre of, whervppon wee made search in -the most lykely place and have even since night apprehended her in the -house of M^{r} John Wright, and have thought fitt to take this -opportunitie to send vpp to yo^{r} honors' w^{th} the said M^{ris} Graunt -aswell the said M^{res} Percye as alsoe the wives of other the principall -offenders in this last insurrection as appeth by the Kallender -heerinclosed by whos exaiacons we thinke some necessary matters wilbe -knowne. - -M^{r} Sherief taketh care & charge of these woomens children vntill yo^{r} -honors pleasures be further knowne. - - ffrom Warr this xij^{th} of November 1605 - yo^{r} honors most humbly at comaundment - in all service. - - Richard Verney - Jo: fferrers - W^{m} Combe - Bar: Hales - - (Endorsed) 12 9bre 1605 - S^{r} Rych: Verney and other Justices to me - - (Addressed) To the right honorable my especyall good - Lord the Earle of Salisbury & the rest of - his Ma^{ty} most honorable privie Counsayle - - w^{th} all speed. - - - APPENDIX J. - - GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--Part II., No. 130. - -This Last Vacatio Guy faux als Jhonson did hier a barke of Barkin the -owners name Called paris wherein was Caried over to Gravelinge a ma[A] -supposed of great import he went disguised and wold not suffer any one ma -to goe w^{th} him but this Vaux[B] nor to returne w^{th} him This paris -did Attend for him back at Gravelyng[C] sixe weekes yf Cause quier there -are severall proffs of this matter. - -[Footnote A: Contraction for "man."] - -[Footnote B: _I.e._, Faux.] - -[Footnote C: Gravelyng would be Gravelines in France. Most probably "the -man supposed of great import," who "went disguised," accompanied by -Fawkes, was one of the principal conspirators, perhaps Thomas Winter or -John Wright. I suspect their errand was to buy fresh gunpowder through -Captain Hugh Owen. Notice "Vacation," 1605.] - - (Endorsed) Concerninge one Paris that caried faukes to - Gravelyng and others. - - - APPENDIX K. - - 45, Bernard St., - Russell Square, - London, W.C., - 30th October, 1901. - - Dear Sir, - -The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter. - -I well remember accompanying you to the Record Office, Chancery Lane, -London, W.C., on Friday, the 5th of October, 1900, when we saw the -original Letter to Lord Mounteagle and the Declaration of Edward Oldcorne -of the 12th March, 1605-6. - -As soon as I began to compare the two documents I noticed a general -similarity in the handwritings; although the handwriting of the Letter to -Lord Mounteagle was evidently intended to be disguised. The letters were -not uniform in their slant, and seemed, as it were, to be "staggering -about." There was also, certainly, a particular similarity in the case of -certain of the letters. - -I have for the last seventeen years had great experience in transcribing -documents of the period of Queen Elizabeth and James I.; and, in my -opinion, it is at least probable that the Letter to Lord Mounteagle and -the Declaration of the 12th March, 1605-6, signed by Edward Oldcorne, were -by one and the same hand. - - Yours truly, - Emma M. Walford. - - To H. H. Spink, Jun., Esq., Solicitor, York. - - - APPENDIX L. - -Having recently learnt that Professor Windle, M.D., F.R.S., Dean of the -Faculty of Medicine in the University of Birmingham, had written two books -descriptive of the Midland Counties, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, with -part of Herefordshire, "_Shakespeare's Country_," and "_The Malvern -Country_" (Methuen & Co.), I ventured to write to him respecting the roads -from Lapworth to Hindlip (traversed on horseback, I conjecture, by -Christopher Wright, about the 11th October, 1605); and from Hindlip to -Gothurst, three miles from Newport Pagnell (traversed on horseback, I -conjecture, by Ralph Ashley, between the 11th October and the 21st of -October); and from Coughton to Huddington, and thence to Hindlip -(traversed on horseback, as we know with certitude, by Father Oswald -Tesimond, on Wednesday, the 6th November, 1605). - -I append Dr. Windle's most kind and courteous reply for the benefit of my -readers. I may say that his opinion is largely corroborative of former -opinions as to distances given to me independently by the Rev. Fr. -Kiernan, S.J., of Worcester; and the Rev. Fr. Cardwell, O.S.B., of -Coughton; as well as of those given by the gentlemen whose names occur in -the Notes to the Text--the Rev. Fr. Atherton, O.S.B., of -Stratford-on-Avon; Charles Avery, Esq., of Headless Cross; and George -Davis, Esq., of York. (I understand that Mr. Avery wrote to the Vicar of -Coughton, the parish wherein Coughton Hall, or Coughton Court, is -situated, respecting my inquiry. I desire, therefore, to express my thanks -to that reverend gentleman, as well as to the reverend the Vicar of Great -Harrowden, Northamptonshire, for certain information which the latter -likewise most readily vouchsafed to me a few months ago.) - - "The University, - Birmingham, - Dec. 22, 1901. - - "My dear Sir, - -... - -"With respect to the distances which you wish to know, I have taken them -out as well as I can, and I think they will be exact enough; but, of -course, I have had to work from modern maps, and I cannot be certain that -all the roads now in existence were there in the time of James I. You will -observe that most of our great roads, near the parts you mention, run -approximately North and South, so that you want cross-roads. - -"I expect from what I hear of that part of the county that the roads I -have taken are fairly old, or at least represent bridle tracks. I think -they may fairly be taken as representing the way by which a horseman would -travel. With this preface I now give the figures:-- - -"1. Lapworth to Hindlip--as the crow flies, nineteen--via Tutnal and -Bromsgrove I make it twenty-two miles, and I think this is the most likely -route. There were Catholic houses at both Tutnal and Bromsgrove. - -"2. Coughton to Hindlip--twelve as the crow flies--about fourteen I make -it by road--but I am not sure that the first piece I have used is an old -road. But fifteen miles would do it, if the more devious path had to be -taken. - -"3. Huddington is four from Hindlip as the crow flies; going by road by -Oddingley I should make it five. - -"4. By the _route_ I should go, if I were cycling, I should take - - Worcester to Stratford-on-Avon 23 miles. - Stratford-on-Avon to Warwick 8 " - Warwick to Daventry 19 " - Daventry to Northampton 12 " - Northampton to Newport Pagnell 12 " - ---- - 74 miles. - ---- - -"It would be about the same distance from Hindlip; for from that place you -can get into the Worcester and Stratford-on-Avon road by a bye-road. - -"I hope this information may be of service to you, and if I can help you -any further, pray apply to me. - - "I am, - Yours very truly, - Bertram C. A. Windle." - - - APPENDIX M. - -Since hearing from Professor Windle, M.D., of Birmingham, I have received -the following letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Carmichael, the Chief -Constable of Worcestershire, which my readers will be glad to see, I am -sure. The difference in Professor Windle's statement of distances and that -of Colonel Carmichael is probably to be accounted for by the turns in the -road, as well as other differences in the basis of calculation. - - "County Chief Constable's Office, - Worcester, - 27th December, 1901. - - "Sir, - -"Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter. - -"Adverting to your letter of the 14th inst., _re_ the above, I am -forwarding you, as under, the required distances (by road), which are as -accurate as I can possibly ascertain, viz.:-- - - Hindlip distant from Huddington, - near Droitwich 3-1/4 miles. - - Do. from Coughton, near Alcester, - Warwickshire 17-1/2 " - - Do. from Lapworth, Warwickshire 30 " - - Worcester from Northampton 64 " - - "Yours faithfully, - - George Carmichael, - Lieut.-Col., and Chief Constable - of Worcestershire." - - "H. H. Spink, Jun., Esq., Solicitor, - Coney Street, York." - - - APPENDIX N. - - EXTRACT FROM YORK CORPORATION HOUSE BOOK--Vol. - xxviii., f. 82. - - 4 Jany vicesimo - quinto Elizth. - -Assembled in the Counsell Chamber upon Ousebridg the day and year -abovesaid when and where the Queen's Maties Comission to my Lord Maior and -Aldermen directed was openly redd to these present the teno^{r} wherof -hereafter enseweth word by word:-- - -By the Queene - -Right trustie and welbeloved we greet you well wheras the great care and -zeale we have had ever since our first coming to the crowne for the -planting and establishing of God's holie Word & trew religon w^{th}in this -o^{r} Realme and other our dominions haith ben notoriouslie knowen unto -all o^{r} Subjects aswell by sundry lawes & ordinances maid and published -for the true serving of god and adminstracon of the Sacraments As by -divers Commissions and other directions gyven out from us for that purpose -to th'end that therby our Subjects being trayned up in the feare and true -knowledge of god might the better learne ther dutie and obedience towards -us; and yet neverthelesse sondry lewde and evill affected psons to our -present estate by nature o^{r} Subjects borne, but by disloyaltie yelding -ther obedience to other forraine potentats have of lait yeares entred into -certayne societies in the partyes beyond the Seas, as in the Cyttie of -Reimes and other places carreyinge the names of Semynaries & Jesuits where -being trayned upp and as it were full fraught with all erronious and -detestable doctrine they have and do dailie repare over disguised and in -most secreet manner into this o^{r} Realme and especiallie into this o^{r} -County of the Cyttie of Yorke where they are in sondry places well -entertained and harbored, by meanes whereof they have not onelie -malitiously gone about to seduce and pervert the simple sort of our good -subjects in matters of religion but also have practised most unnaturailie -trayterouslye to wthdraw them frome their naturall dewties and allegiance -towards us Sowing even according to the name they have receved abroad the -vere sede of all sedicon and conspiracye amongst o^{r} people. And all be -it we conceved that ther Rebellious harts and practises being thoroughlie -discovered as well by the lait trayterous attempts of some of them in -o^{r} Realme of Irland as by the treasonable actions of others w^{th}in -this our Realme And ther obstinate and sedicious manner of dyeing when -being justlie condempned by our lawes they have suffered death for the -same Yow wold most carefullie and diligentlie have loked into the seeking -owt and apphending of such wicked psons, being a matter of so great -consequence to our service and tending princepallie to the publique quiet -of o^{r} wholl State and to the p'ticuler saftie of every of our good -subjects: and the rather for that our pleasure on that behalf haith often -and sundry wayes ben signified unto yow And for the execucion wherof yow -have not wanted sufficient authoritie. Yet notwithstanding, smale care or -none at all haith ben had to annswere o^{r} expectacon and trust reposed -in yow so as we might juslie be drawen to thinke hardlie of yow if we were -not pswaded that yow have rather neglected yo^{r} duties for some other -respect than for want of good affection to our service. We have thought -good therfor oftsons to renew unto yow the remembrance of yo^{r} duties, -and do hereby straightlie charge and command yow and ev'ye of yow to have -a greater care & moare continewall circumspection on that behalf and by -all the good and discreet meanes yow may to make diligent enquirie and -searche w^{th}in yo^{r} severall wardes and devisions for all manner of -popish preasts, Jesuits Semynaries and such like psons as yow shall have -vehement cause to suspect to be malitious and obstinate mistakers of the -religeon by us established and of our present estate and the same to -apprehend and send under safe custodie unto our right trustie and -welbeloved cosine E. of Huntington President of our Counsell in these -partes and in his absence to our Counsell here. And further we will yow to -have a speciall regard that such persons as shall ether willinglie absent -themselves from the church or shall any way deprave the order of comen -praer & of the holie sacraments now established w^{th}in this realme or -shall malitiously abuse the ministers of the same or shall by anie other -meanes show themselves obstinate & contemptous in matters concerning -religeon may be throughlie p'ceded w^{th} according to o^{r} Lawes wherein -o^{r} meaning is that yow should especiallie deale with principall persons -who (we assure our selves) do by ther evill example drawe and encouradg -the Inferior sort to continew in ther blindnes and disobedience and so -requiring yow to procede and continew in the execution hereof in such -diligent manner as we may have cause to think yow desier thereby to repare -the falts of your former negligence and to dischardge yourselves in your -duties according to our expectacon and the trust we comitt to yow. We -recomend the due accomplishment of all the p'misses unto your discreet and -diligent proceding herein. Whereof yow may not fayle as yow tender o^{r} -favo^{r}. Geven under o^{r} Signet at o^{r} Cyttie of Yorke the last of -December 1582 the 25^{th} yeare of o^{r} reigne. - -And by hir Counsell. - - (Addressed to) To our right trustie and welbeloved the - Maio^{r} of our Cittie of Yorke and to the Aldermen his - bretheren. (On the back.) - - * * * * * - -M^{r} Harbart M^{r} Robinson Maister Maltby M^{r} Appleyard M^{r} Trew & -M^{r} May, Aldermen, are appoynted by these presents to view the Chambers -upon Ousebridge & Monckbarr tomorrow at after none & to see whether of the -same be most mete for the pson for Churche persons as will fullie resist -to come to Church to the intent the same may be forthwith repared for that -purpose.[A] - -[Footnote A: Leave was given me to print the aforesaid Order of Queen -Elizabeth in Council by the authorities of the York Corporation, on the -3rd day of June, 1901; the Lord Mayor for that year being Alderman the -Right Honourable E. W. Purnell; and John Close, Esquire, J.P., Sheriff; J. -G. Butcher, Esquire, K.C., and George Denison Faber, Esquire, -Representatives in Parliament--the first Parliament of His Most Gracious -Majesty King Edward VII.] - - - _Note as to authenticity of "Thomas Winter's Confession," - at Hatfield._ - -Whilst greatly admiring the erudition and dialectical skill displayed by -the Rev. John Gerard, S.J., in his recent Gunpowder Treason Works, -mentioned in the Prelude to this Book, I am of opinion that the Confession -attributed to the conspirator, Thomas Winter, is authentic. The internal -evidence for the genuineness of this document is too strong (_me judice_) -to be upset. - -It is true that the change in the form of signature is undoubtedly a -suspicious circumstance; but such change was probably due to a desire, on -the prisoner's part, _to let "a great gulf be fixed" between "Thos. -Wintour," the free-born gentleman, and "Thomas Winter," the inchoately -attainted traitor_. - -Moreover, the name Winter, or Wynter, _was_, at that time, certainly spelt -with the "_er_" as well as with the "_our_," just as the name "Ward" was -spelt either with the final "e" or without the same. For instance, in -Flower's "_Visitation of Yorkshire_," Edited by Norcliffe (Harleian Soc., -London), Jane Ingleby is stated to be the "Wyff to George _Wynter_ son and -heyr of _Robert Winter_ of Cawdwell in Worceshyre." - -One would like to see from the pen of the Rev. John Gerard a translation -of Father Oswald Tesimond's Italian Narrative, known as "_Greenway's -Manuscript_." Tesimond, it is almost certain, knew the bulk of the -plotters more intimately than did the seventeenth century Father Gerard. -Therefore, Tesimond's Narrative, _pro tanto_, must surpass in value even -the work of the Father Gerard of three hundred years ago. - - - - - NOTES. - - -[Footnote 1:--The following quotation is from the "_Calendar of State -Papers Domestic, 1603-1610_," p. 254:--"Nov. 13 (1605) Declaration of -Fras. Tresham--Catesby revealed the Plot to him on October 14th: he -opposed it: urged at least its postponement, and offered him money to -leave the kingdom with his companions: thought they were gone, and -intended to reveal the Treason; has been guilty of concealment, but, as he -had no hand in the Plot, he throws himself on the King's mercy." - -Now surely it stands to reason that if Tresham had penned the -Letter--_Litterae Felicissimae_--he would have never addressed his Sovereign -thus. He would have triumphantly gloried in the effort of his pen, and -"worked" (as the phrase goes) "his beneficent action for all that it was -worth." Tresham was held back _by the omnipotence of the impossible_; -anybody can see _that_ who reads his evidence. - -Besides Mounteagle, Tresham (who died of a painful disease, strangurion, -in the Tower 23rd December, 1605) probably would have had a powerful (if -bribed) friend in the Earl of Suffolk. Hence his friends saying that had -he lived they feared not the course of Justice. The Earl of Suffolk was a -son of Thomas fourth Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife, Margaret Audley, -the heiress of Sir Thomas Audley, of Walden, Essex. The Duke was beheaded -in 1572 for aspiring to the hand of James the First's mother, Mary Queen -of Scots. It is to James's credit that he seems to have treated the Howard -family, in its various branches, with marked consideration, after -ascending the English Throne. Thomas fourth Duke of Norfolk's first wife -was the heiress of the then last Earl of Arundel, Lady Mary Fitzalan. She -left one son, Philip, who became the well-known Philip Howard Earl of -Arundel and Surrey.] - -[Footnote 2:--In 1568 a Commission was appointed which sat at York to hear -the causes of the differences which had arisen between the Scottish Queen -and her subjects. Thomas fourth Duke of Norfolk presided over this -Commission, and the late lamented Bishop Creighton, in his fascinating -biography of Queen Elizabeth, thinks that the proposal that Mary Stuart -should be married to Norfolk came from the Scottish side at York on this -occasion. Whatever may be the true history and character of Mary Queen of -Scots, in clearness of mind she excelled her Royal cousin of England, that -wonderful child of the Renaissance, poor, pathetic, lonely, yet -marvellous, "Bess," who for 342 years, even from the grave, has ruled one -aspect of English ecclesiastical life.[A] Moreover, I am of opinion that -the Scots' Queen showed a singular tolerance of spirit towards the holders -of theological opinions the contradictory of her own, whilst at the same -time continuing constantly established in her own tenure of what she -believed to be the Truth: indeed a tolerance of spirit, combined with a -personal steadfastness, reached only by the very choicest spirits of that -or any succeeding age. - -Tolerance is not a simple but a compound product; and its attainment is -especially difficult to women by reason of the essential intensity of -their nature. Tolerance is a habit born of a consciousness of intellectual -strength and moral power. It is a manifestation of that princely gift and -grace which "becomes a monarch better than his crown." It ought to be the -birthright and peculiar characteristic of all that know (and therefore -believe) they have a living possession of the Absolute and Everlasting -Truth. In the interests of our common Humanity, all who think that their -strength is as the "strength of ten," because their "faith" (whatever may -be the case with their "works") is "pure," should seek to place on an -intellectual foundation, sure and steadfast, the principle, the grand -principle, considered in so many of its concrete results, of religious -toleration: a principle which England has exhibited in its practical -working to the world: but rather as the conclusion of the unconscious -logic of events than the conscious logic of the mind of man. Now this -latter kind of logic alone, because it is idealistic, can give permanency; -the former kind, being primarily materialistic, will inevitably sooner or -later go "the way of all flesh;" and we know what _that_ is. - -The ideas of Truth and Right imply a oneness or _unity_. Now unity is the -opposite of multiplicity, and, _therefore_, the contrary of division and -distinction. One must rule men by virtue of the prerogatives of Truth and -Right when these are ascertained. The problem at the root of the terrible -conflict on the veldt of South Africa since 11th October, 1899, to the -present time, 26th October, 1901, involves this question of the unity that -is implied in the ideas of Truth and Right. For those ideas are the -originating causes, the moving springs, the ultimate justification, and -the final vindication of all true and just claims to paramountcy and -sovereignty everywhere. But who is to determine which side has Truth and -Right, and, therefore, the true and the just claim to paramountcy and -sovereignty in South Africa? - -Surely the answer is that people who have shown that they can rule -Humanity because _first_ they have themselves obeyed princely ideals of -the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. Nothing short of this can satisfy -the universal conscience of mankind. - -What have our men of light and leading been about that they have not -explained clearly and straight from the shoulder these truths to the world -long, long ago? Had they done so, how much innocent blood might have been -never spilt! How many bitter tears might have been never shed!] - -[Footnote A: See "_Life of Mary Queen of Scots_," by Samuel Cowan -(Sampson, Low, 1901); also "_The Mystery of Mary Stuart_," by Andrew Lang -(Longmans, 1901).] - -[Footnote 3:--Lord Mounteagle had been a party to the sending of Thomas -Winter and Father Oswald Tesimond into Spain in 1601 to negotiate with -King Philip III. of Spain an invasion of England with an army on -Elizabeth's death. In 1601 he seems to have been a prisoner in the house -of Mr. Newport, of Bethnal Green. But in 1602 he was with Catesby at White -Webbs, by Enfield Chase, near London; so he was then at liberty. On the -accession of James I., Mounteagle--along with the Earl of Southampton -(Shakespeare's patron and friend), and Francis and Lewis Tresham--held the -Tower of London for the King, who seems to have welcomed Mounteagle at -Court from the first. After James's accession Christopher Wright and Guy -Fawkes were sent on a mission to Spain to urge upon the Spanish King to -invade the realm. This mission seems to have been a continuation of the -mission in 1601 of Winter and Tesimond. Mounteagle, however, took no part -or lot in despatching the second mission. (It is important to notice the -fact that as far back as 1601 and 1603 Thomas Winter and Tesimond, -Christopher Wright and Fawkes, were co-workers in revolutionary designs -against the Government of the day.) - -Mounteagle's father, Lord Morley, was living in 1605. He did not die till -1618, when his son and heir succeeded him as eleventh Baron Morley. -Mounteagle was called to the House of Lords in the autumn of 1605, under -the title of Baron Mounteagle, in right of his mother. "Mounteagle," says -Father Oswald Tesimond, alias Greenway, "was either actually a Catholic in -opinion and in the interior of his heart, or was very well-disposed -towards the Catholics, being a friend of several of the conspirators and -related to some of them." After the Plot, Mounteagle evidently left the -religion of his ancestors, though his wife (_nee_ Tresham) continued -constant herein, and brought up her children Catholics; but Mounteagle -"died a Catholic." - -Jardine thinks that Mounteagle held some ceremonial office at Court, -probably in the Household of Queen Anne of Denmark, wife of James I., who -was at heart a Roman Catholic, though most probably never received into -that Church.--See "_Carmel in England_" (Burns & Oates, 1899), p. 30. We -hear of Mounteagle about ten days before the 5th November, 1605, calling -at the Palace at Richmond to kiss the Prince's hands (_i.e._, Henry Prince -of Wales). Thomas Winter told Catesby that Mounteagle, at that time, -gathered from what he heard at the Royal Household that the Prince would -not be present at the opening of Parliament. Somerset House was Queen -Anne's Palace. It would be the centre for all the most brilliant wits, -ambassadors, and diplomatists of the day.] - -[Footnote 4:--The Earl of Arundel and Lord William Howard were -half-brothers. (Lord William Howard was "the Belted Will Howard," renowned -in Border story as the scourge of the lawless moss-trooper. For a -description of this remarkable man see Sir Walter Scott's "Lay of the Last -Minstrel.") The half-brothers were both the sons of that unfortunate -nobleman, Thomas fourth Duke of Norfolk, who in 1572 was beheaded for -aspiring to the hand of Mary Queen of Scots. Lord Arundel died in the -Tower of London in 1595, "a Martyr-in-will for the Ancient Faith." Though -their father was a strong Protestant (being a pupil of John Fox, the -author of Fox's "_Book of Martyrs_") both his sons, Philip and William, -became strong Roman Catholics, as did his daughter, Margaret Lady -Sackville. Philip Howard Earl of Arundel, losing his father when only -fifteen years old, was, at an early age, drawn within the vortex of the -gaieties of the Court of his kinswoman Queen Elizabeth. However, in the -year 1581, while still a mere courtier and votary of pleasure, it happened -he was present, we are told, at "the disputation in the Tower of London in -1581, concerning divers points of religion betwixt Fr. Edmond Campion of -the Society of Jesus and some other Priests of the one part; Charke, Fulk, -Whitaker, and some other Protestant Ministers of the other." We are -further told by his biographer, an unknown Jesuit writer of the -seventeenth century, "By that he saw and heard there, he easily perceived -on which side the Truth and true Religion was, tho' at that time, nor -untill a year or two after, he neither did nor intended to embrace and -follow it: and after he did intend it a good while passed before he did -execute it. For, as himself signify'd in a letter which he afterwards writ -in the time of his imprisonment in the Tower to Fr. Southwell, he resolved -to become Catholic long before he could resolve to live as a Catholic, and -thereupon he defer'd the former until he had an intent and resolute -purpose to perform the latter. The which (being aided by a special grace -of God) he made walking one day alone in the Gallery of his Castle at -Arundel, where after a long and great conflict within himself, lifting up -his eies and hands to Heaven, he firmly resolved to become a member of -God's Church, and to frame his life accordingly." - -Sir Robert Howard, in the reign of Henry VI., married the Lady Margaret -Mowbray, daughter of Thomas De Mowbray Duke of Norfolk, and -grand-daughter, maternally, of Richard Fitzalan Earl of Arundel ("_Law -Times_," 9th November, 1901). The motto of the Howards Dukes of Norfolk -is, "_Virtus sola invicta_"--"Virtue alone unconquered." The motto of the -Howards Earls of Carlisle is, "_Volo sed non valeo_"--"I am willing, but I -am not able." - -The Earl of Arundel was "reconciled" by Fr. Wm. Weston, of the Society of -Jesus, in 1584. In the next year he was imprisoned, and after an -incarceration of ten years died in 1595. Fr. Robert Southwell, the poet, -wrote for the Earl's consolation, when the latter was in the Tower of -London, that ravishing work, the "_Epistle of Comfort_." (The illustrious -House of the Norfolk Howards has been indeed highly favoured in being able -to call "Friend" and "Father" two such exquisite geniuses as Robert -Southwell and Frederic William Faber.) The two half-brothers, Philip and -William, married two sisters, the daughters and co-heiresses of Thomas -Lord Dacres of the North, "a person of great estate, power, and authority -in those parts (as possessing no less than nine baronies) and one of the -most ancient for nobility in the whole kingdom." These ladies were among -the most amiable and delightful women of their time. From Philip Howard -Earl of Arundel and Surrey and Anne Dacres is descended the present Duke -of Norfolk; and from his half-brother Lord William Howard and Elizabeth -Dacres the present Earl of Carlisle: both of which Englishmen are indeed -worthy of their "noble ancestors," and fulfil the great Florentine poet's -ideal of "the truly noble," in that _they_ confer nobility upon their -_race_. - -For further facts concerning those mentioned in this note--who so appeal -to the historic imagination and so touch the historic sympathies--see the -"_Lives of Philip Howard Earl of Arundel and Anne Dacres his wife_" (Hurst -& Blackett), and the "_Household Books of Lord William Howard_" (Surtees -Society).] - -[Footnote 5:--Lord Mounteagle would be also akin to Lord Lumley (who had -estates at or about Pickering, I believe), through the great House of -Neville. Lord Lumley's portrait, from a painting in the possession of the -Right Hon. the Earl of Scarbrough, Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of -Yorkshire, is to be found in Edward Hailstone's "_Yorkshire Worthies_," -vol. i. Edward Hailstone, Esquire, of Walton Hall, Wakefield, was a rich -benefactor to the York Minster Library, and his memory should be ever had -in grateful remembrance by all who "love Yorkshire because they know -her."--See Jackson's "_Guide to Yorkshire_" (Leeds).] - -[Footnote 6:--It should be remembered that (i.) the page's evidence goes -to show that the man who delivered the Letter was a "tall man." (ii.) That -the Letter was given in the street to the page who was already in the -street when the "tall man" came up to him with the document. - -Hoxton is about four miles from Whitehall. I opine that Mounteagle -proceeded from Bath to Hoxton, and that the supper had been pre-arranged -to take place at Hoxton on the evening of the 26th of October, 1605, by -Thomas Ward, the gentleman-servant of Lord Mounteagle, who indeed read the -Letter after Mounteagle had broken the seal and just glanced at its -contents. Anybody gifted with ordinary common sense can see that this -scene must have been all planned beforehand.] - -[Footnote 7:--The letters "wghe" are not, at this date (5th October, -1900), clearly discernible.] - -[Footnote 8:--See letter dated November, 1605--Sir Edward Hoby to Sir -Thomas Edmonds. Add. MSS. in British Museum, No. 4176, where name "Thomas -Ward" is given.] - -[Footnote 9:--Stowe's "_Chronicle_," continued by Howes, p. 880. Ed. 1631. - -From the evidence of William Kydall, it was physically impossible for -Thomas Winter to confer with Christopher Wright, Wright being nearly 100 -miles away from London "the next day after the delivery of the Letter," -for the next day would be Sunday, October the 27th. Wright reached London -in the afternoon of Wednesday, the 30th. - -See Appendix respecting discrepancy as to date not affecting allegation of -fact when the former is not of the essence of the statement, per Lord -Chief Justice Scroggs, _temp._ Charles II.] - -[Footnote 10:--Fawkes was apprehended at "midnight without the House," -according to "_A Discourse of this late intended Treason_." Knevet having -given notice that he had secured Fawkes, thereupon Suffolk, Salisbury, and -the Council went to the King's chamber at the Palace in Whitehall, and -Fawkes was brought into the Royal Presence. This was at about four o'clock -in the morning of Tuesday, the 5th of November. - -Fawkes showed the calmest behaviour conceivable in the Royal Presence. To -those whom he regarded as being of authority he was respectful, yet very -firm; but towards those whom he deemed as of no account, he was humorously -scornful. The man's self control was astounding. He told his auditory that -"a dangerous disease requires a desperate remedy!" (See "_King's Book_.") - -Whitehall Palace had been a Royal Palace since the reign of Henry VIII.; -it was burned down in the time of William and Mary. It was formerly what -St. James's Palace is now in relation to royal functions. - -It was at St. James's Palace that His Most Gracious Majesty King Edward -VII. deigned to receive the respectful address of condolence on the death -of His late beloved Imperial Mother, and of loyal assurance of devoted -attachment to His Throne and Person from Cardinal Vaughan, together with -several Bishops, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis of Ripon, the Lord -Mowbray and Stourton, and the Lord Herries, including other peers and -representatives of the English Roman Catholic laity. - -By a singular coincidence the day happened to be the 295th anniversary of -the execution of Father Henry Garnet, S.J., in St. Paul's Churchyard, -London (3rd May, 1606): a coincidence of happy augury, let us devoutly -hope, that old things are about to pass away, and that all things are -about to become new!] - -[Footnote 11:--Essex House was between the Strand and the River Thames. - -Somerset House was a favourite Palace of Queen Anne of Denmark, the -Consort of James I. Here the Spanish Ambassador Extraordinary, Juan -Fernandez de Velasco, Duke de Frias, and Constable of Castile, sojourned a -fortnight, when in 1604 he came to ratify the treaty of peace between -England and Spain.] - -[Footnote 12:--By Poulson in his "_History of Holderness_," Yorks. (1841), -vol. ii., pp. 5, 7, in an account of the Wright family, where there is a -pedigree showing the names of Christopher Wright and his elder brother -John. Poulson may have been recording a local tradition, though he -mentions no kind of authority.--See also Foster's Ed. of Glover's -"_Visitation of Yorkshire_," Also Norcliffe's Ed. of Flower's "_Visitation -of Yorkshire_" (Harleian Society). - -See Supplementum for account of my visit to Plowland (or Plewland) Hall, -in the Parish of Welwick, Holderness, on the 6th of May, 1901.] - -[Footnote 13:--See "_Guy Fawkes_," by Rev. Thomas Lathbury, M.A. (J. W. -Parker, 1839), p. 21. Lathbury does not give his authority for this -interesting statement respecting this conspirator, Christopher Wright. It -is presumed, however, that he had some ground for the statement; for it is -antecedently improbable that his "imagination" should have provided so -circumstantial an assertion. Then, whence did he derive it? - -Query:--Does Greenway's Narrative make any such statement? Apparently -Jardine had a sight of the whole of this invaluable MS., and possibly -Lathbury (who appears to have been a clergyman of the Established Church) -may have seen it likewise through Canon Tierney, the Editor of "_Dodd's -Church History_."] - -[Footnote 14:--I am afraid that when the Acts of the High Commission Court -that sat in the King's Manor, in York, under the Presidency of Queen -Elizabeth's kinsman, the Earl of Huntingdon, come to be published, we -shall find that "the lads and lassies" of Yorkshire and Lancashire -especially were very "backward in coming forward" to greet the rising of -the Elizabethan ecclesiastical aurora which it was their special privilege -to behold. - -Mr. Thomas Graves Law knows about these invaluable historical documents, -and I hope that he will undertake their editorship. He is just the man for -this grand piece of work. To the people of "New England," as well as of -"Old England," these records of the York Court of High Commission are of -extraordinary interest, because they relate to "Puritan Sectaries" as well -as to "Popish Recusants," Scrooby, so well known in the history of the -Pilgrim Fathers, being in the Archdiocese of York.] - -[Footnote 15:--So that bad as they were, they were not hoary-headed -criminals, if we except Percy who seems to have been prematurely "grey." - -The name of Thomas Percy's mother appears under "Beverley" as "Elizabeth -Percye the widowe of Edward Percye deceased," in Peacock's "_List of Roman -Catholics of Yorkshire in 1604_." - -The Percy Arms are in Welwick Church. (Communicated by Miss Burnham, of -Plowland, Welwick.)] - -[Footnote 16:--I have seen the statement in a letter of the Earl (who was -one of the most scientific men of his age) which he wrote after the -discovery of the Plot. The letter is in Collins' "_Peerage_." The Earl of -Salisbury was Northumberland's enemy, as Northumberland was looked up to -by the popish recusants as a sort of natural leader, though the Earl, on -his own avowal, was no papist. Salisbury's native perspicacity, however, -told him that Northumberland, from every point of view, was alike to the -Royal House of Stuart and to the noble house of Salisbury dangerous. For -had the oppressed papists "thrown off" the yoke of James in course of -time, Salisbury's life would have been not worth the price of a farthing -candle; and the philosophic, nonchalant Northumberland would have thought -that the papists' support was well "worth a Mass," just as did King Harry -of Navarre, the father of Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I., a -few years previously. (An ancient portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria is in -the possession of the York Merchant Adventurers, York.) Then again, -Salisbury had a personal grudge against the proud Percy. For the latter -evidently in his heart scorned and rejected Salisbury, not only as a -_novus homo_--a new man--but as belonging to that band of statesmen who -had controlled Elizabeth's policy, and told her not what she ought to do, -but what she could do; and whom the great Northern Earl would have been -taught from his cradle to spurn at and despise, because they were nothing -other than "a low bad lot," who "were for themselves;" very different -indeed from the Earls of Essex, Walter and Robert, and such men as Sir -Henry Sidney and his still greater son, Sir Philip Sidney, the darling of -the England of his day. Percy indeed once declared that if Percy blood and -Cecil blood were both poured into a bowl, the former would refuse to mix -with the latter. So, human nature being what it is, no wonder the shrewd -and able Salisbury had no love for the "high and mighty" Northumberland, -and that _carpe diem_--seize your opportunity--was Salisbury's motto as -soon as he got the chance. (I know of no stronger proof that, during the -past 300 years, in spite of back-waters, the world _has_ made true moral -progress than the contrast presented by the present Prime Minister and the -present First Lord of the Treasury and their ancestors of "Great Eliza's -golden time" and the days of James Stuart.)] - -[Footnote 17:--Robert Catesby held his Chastleton estate in possession -from his grandmother. He sold it to pay his ransom after the Essex -rebellion. (Dr. Jessopp in Article on "Catesby," "_National Dictionary of -Biography_.") - -Had Catesby an estate at Armcote, in Worcestershire, not far from Chipping -Norton?] - -[Footnote 18:--This Father Gerard of the seventeenth century was the -second son of Sir Thomas Gerard, of Byrn, Lancashire. He was an -acquaintance of the Wards, of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale, most -probably, for he was the early and life-long friend of Mary Ward.--See the -"_Life of Mary Ward_," by Mary Catherine Elizabeth Chambers (Burns & -Oates).] - -[Footnote 19:--Sir Thomas Leigh settled considerable property to the uses -of the marriage. Jardine says that only Chastleton actually came into -Catesby's possession.] - -[Footnote 20:--S. T. Coleridge, speaking of the age of Elizabeth, says -that, notwithstanding its marvellous physical and intellectual prosperity, -"it was an age when, for a time, the intellect stood superior to the moral -sense." "_Lectures on Shakespeare_," Collier's Ed. (1856), p. 34.] - -[Footnote 21:--What a lesson to us all, of every creed and philosophy, is -the just, yet terrible fate of these personally charming men, "to hug the -shore" of plain Natural Ethics, of solid Moral Virtue, which indeed is -"fairer than the morning or the evening star." The establishment of -Ethical Societies by such men as the late Sir John Seeley and Professor -Henry Sidgwick for the diffusion of true Moral Ideas is a fact pregnant -with happy augury for the twentieth century.] - -[Footnote 22:--Jardine's "_Narrative_," pp. 31, 32.] - -[Footnote 23:--Gerard's "_Narrative_," p. 56.] - -[Footnote 24:--Knaresborough, Knaresbrough or Knaresburgh, is thus -pleasantly celebrated in Drayton's "_Polyolbion_":-- - - "From Whernside Hill not far outflows the nimble Nyde, - Through Nytherside, along as sweetly she doth glide - Tow'rds Knaresburgh on her way-- - Where that brave forest stands - Entitled by the town[A] who, with upreared hands, - Makes signs to her of joy, and doth with garlands crown - The river passing by."] - -[Footnote A: The allusion is to the ancient Forest of Knaresbrough -belonging to the Duchy of Lancaster. (As to the extent and history of the -Forest, see Grainge's "_Forest of Knaresbrough_.")] - -[Footnote 25:--"The Venerable" Francis Ingleby's portrait is still to be -seen at Ripley Castle, an ideal English home, hard-by the winding Nidd.] - -[Footnote 26:--For the facts of Francis Ingleby's life, see Challoner's -"_Missionary Priests_," edited by Thomas G. Law; and "_Acts of the English -Martyrs_" (Burns & Oates), by the Rev. J. H. Pollen, S.J.] - -[Footnote 27:--From Father Gerard's "_Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_," -p. 59.] - -[Footnote 28:--See the admirably written life of Sir Everard Digby, under -the title "_The Life of a Conspirator_," by "One of his descendants" -(Kegan Paul & Co., 1895). The learned descendant of Sir Everard Digby, -however, evidently knows very much more concerning his gallant ancestor -than he knows about Guy Fawkes, who (excepting that "accident of an -accident"--fortune) was as honourable a character as the high-minded -spouse of Mary Mulsho himself--_honourable, of course, I mean after their -kind_.--Jardine's "_Narrative of Gunpowder Plot_," p. 67.] - -[Footnote 29:--Sir William Catesby and Sir Thomas Tresham were excellent -types of the English gentry of their day. Each was "a fine old English -gentleman, one of the olden time." They had both become "reconciled" Roman -Catholics--along with so many of the nobility, gentry, and yeomanry in the -Midlands--in 1580-81, through the famous missionary journey of the Jesuit, -Robert Parsons, probably forming with Edmund Campion two of the most -powerful extempore preachers that ever gave utterance to the English -tongue. - -We may readily picture to ourselves "the coming of age" of the son and -heir of each of these gallant knights and stately dames. And we may easily -conceive of the bright hopes that either of the gentlewomen (especially -the two sisters), in their close-fitting caps, laced ruffs, and gowns -falling in pleated folds, must have cherished in their maternal hearts for -an honourable career for the child--the treasured child--of their bosom. -Alas! through the evil will of man, for the pathetic vanity of human -wishes.] - -[Footnote 30:--Jardine, in his "_Narrative_," p. 51, says that John -Grant's ancestors are described in several pedigrees as of Saltmarsh, in -Worcestershire, and of Snitterfield, in Warwickshire; that Norbrook -adjoined Snitterfield, though it is not now considered locally situate -therein. Students of Shakespeare will be interested to learn that in the -Parish of Snitterfield, near Grant's ancestral home, the poet's mother, -Mary Arden--herself connected with the Throckmorton family--owned -property. Moreover, through his mother, Shakespeare was distantly -connected with several of the plotters. For Catesby and Tresham, as well -as Lady Wigmore, of Lucton, Herefordshire, were all first cousins to Lady -Mounteagle, who was a daughter of Sir Thomas Tresham. Sir Nicholas -Throckmorton (the father of Francis Throckmorton, who was executed in the -reign of Elizabeth) having three daughters whom he married to Sir William -Catesby, Sir Thomas Tresham, and Sir William Wigmore.--See Jardine's -"_Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_," p. 11; also Foley's "_Records of the -Jesuits in England_" (Burns & Oates), vol. iv., p. 290. - -Probably Shakespeare knew Grant personally, and not only Grant, but -Catesby, Percy, the Winters (Robert and Thomas Winter were likewise akin -to the Throckmortons), and Tresham. That the bard of Avon knew Lord -Mounteagle, the associate of his friend and patron the Earl of -Southampton, is even still more probable. - -How is it that Shakespeare never in his writings sought to make political -capital (as the sinister phrase goes) out of the Gunpowder Plot? For -several reasons: first, his heart (if not his head) was with the ancient -faith he had learned in the old Warwickshire home; secondly, his large -humanity prompted him to sympathise with all that were oppressed. I hold -that in this studied silence, this dignified reserve of Shakespeare, we -may discern additional proof of the nobleness of the man, supposing that -he knew personally any of the plotters. He would not kick friends that -were down, when those friends were even traitors. He could not approve -their action--far from it. He might have condemned with justice, and with -the world's applause. But upon himself a self-denying ordinance he laid, -tempting as it must have been to him to perform the contrary, especially -when we recollect the course then followed by his brother-poet--Jonson. -But Shakespeare would not "take sword in hand" with the pretence of -restoring "equality" between these wrong-doers and their country. He -deemed that the ends of justice--exact, strict Justice--were met in "the -hangman's bloody hands"--"Macbeth," 1606--and that sufficed for him. - -Since writing the above note I find it stated in "_The Religion of -Shakespeare_," by Henry Sebastian Bowden (Burns & Oates, 1899)--chiefly -from the writings of that great Elizabethan scholar, the late Richard -Simpson--that "among the chief actors in the so-called Gunpowder Plot were -Catesby; the two Bates; John Grant, of Norbrook, near Stratford; Thomas -Winter, Grant's brother-in-law; all Shakespeare's friends and benefactors" -(p. 103); so that my conjecture is, belike, warranted that the poet knew -Catesby, Winter, and Grant. Moreover, from the same work, it appears that -Shakespeare, through the Ardens and Throckmortons, was connected by family -marriages, not only with Catesby, the Winters, and Tresham, but distantly -with the Earl of Southampton himself, who was a relative of Lord -Mounteagle. Hence it is still more probable that Shakespeare knew -Mounteagle personally. - -Again, Shakespeare probably was present as one of the King's players in -1604 at Somerset House, on the occasion of the Constable of Castile's -visit.--See Sidney Lee's "_Life of Shakespeare_" (Smith & Elder), p. -233.--If this were so, then it is well-nigh certain that the poet must -have there beheld Mounteagle, who would be one of the Lords then present, -most probably in attendance on the Queen Consort. The festivities in -honour of the Spanish Ambassador Extraordinary wound up with a magnificent -banquet at the Palace of Whitehall, when the Earl of Southampton "danced a -correnta" with the Queen. This was August 19th, 1604.--_Cf._ Churton -Collins's "_Ephemera Critica_" (Constable) as to religion of -Shakespeare.] - -[Footnote 31:--The name is also spelt Tirwhitt. Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, Lady -Ursula Babthorpe's grandfather, had entertained Henry VIII. at the old -Hall at Kettleby. A new Hall was built in the time of James I., but this -was pulled down about 1691, I believe. The Tyrwhitts, of Kettleby, were -allied to such as the Tailboys, Boroughes, Wymbishes, Monsons, Tournays, -Thimbelbies, Thorolds, and other Lincolnshire houses. They were rigidly -Roman Catholic. The marriage between Sir William Babthorpe and Ursula -Tyrwhitt was one of those marriages "that are made in heaven." The lovely -pathos of the lives of this ideal Yorkshire family is indescribable; -beginning with Sir William Babthorpe, who harboured Campion in 1581. It -was continued through Sir Ralph Babthorpe, who married that "valiant -woman" (the only daughter and heiress of William Birnand, the Recorder of -York), Grace Birnand by name, of Brimham, Knaresbrough, and York. Lady -Grace Babthorpe's active and contemplative life was one long singing of -_Gloria in excelsis_. Sir William Babthorpe and Lady Ursula his wife, like -their noble parents, Sir Ralph Babthorpe and Lady Grace, "for conscience -sake" became voluntary exiles "and with strangers made their home." Sir -William died a captain in the Spanish Army fighting against France. Lady -Ursula, his wife, died of the plague at Bruges. They had many children, -some of whom were remarkably gifted. Mary Anna Barbara Babthorpe, the -grand-daughter of Sir William Babthorpe, and great-great-grand-daughter of -the Sir William Babthorpe who harboured Campion, was the Mother-General of -the Nuns of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin, one of whose oldest -convents, St. Mary's, is still situated near Micklegate Bar, York, on land -given by Sir Thomas Gascoigne, Bart., of Barnbow Hall, near Aberford, in -the time of James II. In Ireland the nuns of this order are styled the -Loretto Nuns. The story of the Babthorpes is a veritable English "_Un -Recit d'une s[oe]ur_."--See "_Life of Mary Ward_."--The Wards--like the -Inglebies, of Ripley; the Constables, of Everingham;[A] the Dawnays, of -Sessay; and the Palmes, of Naburn--were related to this "family of -saints."--See also "The Babthorpes, of Babthorpe" (one of whose ancestors -carried the sword before King Edward III. on entering Calais in 1347), in -the late Rev. John Morris's "_Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers_," -first series (Burns & Oates). - -For "the Kayes," of Woodsome, see Canon Hulbert's "_Annals of Almondbury_" -(Longmans). - -"The Venerable" Richard Langley, of Owsthorpe and Grimthorpe, near -Pocklington, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, who suffered at the York -Tyburn on the 1st December, 1586, for harbouring priests, was -great-grandson of one of the Kayes, of Woodsome. (Communicated by Mr. -Oswald C. B. Brown, Solicitor, of York.)] - -[Footnote 32:--"_Greenway's MS._," quoted by Jardine, "_Narrative of the -Gunpowder Plot_," p. 151.] - -[Footnote 33:--Hawarde, "_Reportes of Star Chamber_." - -See "_The Fawkeses, of York_," by Robert Davies, sometime Town Clerk of -York (Nichols, Westminster, 1850); and the "_Life of Guy Fawkes_," by -William Camidge (Burdekin, York). Davies was a learned York antiquary. - -William Harrington, the elder, first cousin to Edward Fawkes (Guy's -father), and Thomas Grimstone, of Grimston, were both "bound over" by the -Privy Council, on the 6th of December, 1581, to appear before the Lord -President of the North and the Justices of Assize at the next Assizes at -York, for harbouring Edmund Campion.--See "_Acts of Privy Council, 1581_" -(Eyre & Spottiswoode), p. 282.--What was the upshot I do not know. - -Their Indictments are probably still to be found at York Castle. And it is -a great desideratum that the old York Castle Indictments should be -catalogued, and a catalogue published. I believe such never has been done. -Since August, 1900, York Castle has been used as a Military Prison. All -the old Indictments that are in existence, whether at York, Worcester, or -other Assize towns, would be of interest and value re the Gunpowder Plot -_if the affair is to be thoroughly bottomed_. - -The York Quarter Sessions' Indictments appear to be irretrievably lost, -which is a great pity, as many of those of the sixteenth and seventeenth -centuries must have referred to Popish recusants, and those of the -seventeenth century probably to Puritan sectaries, and, later, to Quakers -as well--the latter being punished under the Popish Acts of Supremacy and -Allegiance. Indeed, the barrister, William Prynne (seventeenth century), a -Calvinistic English Presbyterian, wrote a book to prove that Quakerism was -only a sort of indirect and derivative Popery. The learned gentleman -entitled his work: "_The Quakers unmasked and clearly detected to be but -the spawn of Romish Frogs, Jesuites, and Franciscan Fryers._" Now, Prynne -was not far wrong either, the erudite historical philosopher knows very -well, who has studied the genesis of the remarkable system developed by -Fox, Barclay, and Penn. - -Was there a Grimston near Mount St. John, Feliskirk, near Thirsk? Or was -it Grimston Garth, Holderness? or was it North Grimston, between Malton -and Driffield, that Thomas Grimstone came from; or Grimston, three miles -east of York? - -Since writing the preceding note I have come to the conclusion that the -Grimston was, most likely, the Grimstone some twelve miles from Mount St. -John, in the Parish of Gilling East, near Hovingham and Ampleforth, in the -Vale of Mowbray, and near Gilling Castle, once the seat of the Catholic -branch of the Fairfaxes, now the seat of George Wilson, Esquire, J.P. This -Grimstone would be a spot very suitable for harbouring Campion after he -had been at Babthorpe, near Selby; Thixendale, near Leavening, east of -Malton; and Fryton, west of Malton, near Hovingham. - -(How wonderful to think that the probabilities are in favour of the -supposal that these tranquil, sequestered nooks, each with its own fair -summer beauty, once rang with the golden eloquence of Edmund Campion, "one -of the diamonds of England," in the days of Shakespeare.) - -Guy Fawkes was also connected with another Roman Catholic martyr, "the -Venerable" William Knight, yeoman, of South Duffield, Hemingbrough, Selby, -East Yorkshire, who suffered death at the York Tyburn in 1596, for -"explaining to a man the Catholic faith."--See Challoner and Foster's -"_Pedigrees of Yorkshire Families_" ("Fawkes, of Farnley").] - -[Footnote A: The Constables, of Everingham, are one of those old English -Roman Catholic families who so appealed to the historic imagination and so -touched the historic sympathies of the first Earl of Beaconsfield. The -present Lord Lieutenant of the East Riding of Yorkshire, Lord Herries, is -the owner of this grand old home of the Constables, one of whom was -executed for his share in the first Pilgrimage of Grace under Robert Aske, -of Aughton on the Derwent, in the time of Henry VIII. (1536). The pilgrims -captured York, Pontefract, and Hull, and laid siege to Skipton Castle. -Aske was hanged as a traitor from one of the towers of York, either -Clifford's Tower or possibly the tower of All Saints' Church, The -Pavement, York. After the movement had been quelled, Henry VIII. came with -dread majesty to York and established the Council of the North. Lady -Lumley, the wife of Sir John Lumley, of Lumley Castle, was burned alive at -Smithfield.--See Burke's "_Tudor Portraits_."] - -[Footnote 34:--Father Morris, S.J., in "_The Troubles of our Catholic -Forefathers_" (York volume), says that Father Tesimond was a Yorkshireman; -though in Foley's "_Records_," in one place, he is said to have been born -in Northumberland, perhaps a translation of the Latin "Northumbria," -intended to represent the name "Yorkshire." There were, at least, three -families of Tesimond in York in the reign of Elizabeth, namely, Robert -Tesimond, a butcher, of Christ's Parish; Anthony Tesimond, a cordyner; and -William Tesimond, a saddler, both of St. Michael-le-Belfrey's Parish. I -incline to think that Father Oswald Tesimond was the son of William -Tesimond, who lived in the Parish of St. Michael-le-Belfrey, York. Oswald -Tesimond was born in 1563; but as the Register books of St. Michael's -Church, unfortunately, begin in 1565, two years afterwards, there are no -means of verifying my supposal. William Tesimond was, for a great part of -his life, a rigid Catholic, suffering imprisonment for his faith, although -eventually he appears to have yielded. Margaret Tesimond, the wife of -William Tesimond, also bore a more than lip testimony to the ancient -religion by suffering imprisonment for it. Whether William Tesimond died -"reconciled" or not, I cannot say. Perhaps further researches will clear -the matter up as to this and the exact parentage of Father Tesimond. In -the very learned and deeply lamented Dr. James Raine's admirable book on -the City of York (Longmans, 1893), on p. 110, is the following:--"Whilst -the Earl of Northumberland's head was lying in the Tolbooth on Ouse -Bridge, William Tessimond cut off some hair from the beard. He wrapped it -in paper, and wrote on the outside, 'This the heire of the good Erle of -Northumberland, Lord Perecy.' For this he got into great trouble." This -must have been about the 22nd August, 1572, as Thomas Percy Earl of -Northumberland was beheaded on that day, at three o'clock in the -afternoon, in The Pavement, York, for his share in the Rising of the -North. The Church Register of St. Margaret's Church, Walmgate, York, -contains an entry of the death of the Earl of Northumberland. The Percy -family had property in Walmgate at that time. The Earl is now "the Blessed -Thomas Percy," one of "the York martyrs." The Lady Mary Percy, of Ghent, a -well-known Benedictine Abbess, was his daughter. She would be probably -named after her aunt Mary, the wife of Francis Slingsby, of Scriven Hall, -near Scotton. There is a fine monument in the Parish Church of -Knaresbrough to the memory of Francis Slingsby and Mary Percy, his wife. -The Slingsbies were Roman Catholics till many years after the reign of -Elizabeth; in fact, Sir Henry Slingsby, who was beheaded during the -Commonwealth, was himself a Roman Catholic. - -The Half Moon Hotel, in Blake Street, York, perhaps derives its name from -the well-known device of the Percy family.] - -[Footnote 35:--Quoted from Father Gerard's "_Narrative_," p. 278.] - -[Footnote 36:--So that the Plot was first hatched about Easter, 1604.--See -Dr. S. R. Gardiner's "_What Gunpowder Plot was_," as to the decisive -causes of the Plot.--Jardine, in his "_Narrative_" (pp. 45 and 46), thinks -that the Star-Chambering of that aged but charming Roman Catholic -gentleman, Thomas Pounde, Esquire, of Belmont, Hampshire, contributed to -the causes of the Plot. This is very probable. Pounde was first cousin to -the father of the Earl of Southampton, the patron and friend of -Shakespeare. Pounde was a devoted friend of Campion, and himself a Jesuit -lay-brother. He spent a large part of his life in prison. He was attired -in prison as became his rank and fortune, and was, besides being a -"mystical" Catholic, a most accomplished Elizabethan gentleman.--See -"_Jesuits in Conflict_" (Burns & Oates).] - -[Footnote 37:--_I.e._, according to Winter, about two months after.] - -[Footnote 38:--See pp. 269 and 271 of the Rev. John Gerard's, S.J., work, -"_What was the Gunpowder Plot?_" (Osgood, McIlvaine, & Co., 1897).] - -[Footnote 39:--_I.e._, a Prayer Book. Sir Everard Digby appears to have -been sworn in by Robert Catesby on the cross formed by the hilt of a -poniard.--See "_Life of Sir Everard Digby_."] - -[Footnote 40:--It is also said that Catesby "peremptorily demanded of his -associates a promise that they would not mention the project, even in -Confession, lest their ghostly fathers should discountenance and hinder -it."--See "_The Month_," No. 369, pp. 353, 4.--This would be to make -assurance double sure. But, happily, the "best laid schemes o' men gang -aft agley." "For there is on earth a yet auguster thing, veiled though it -be, than Parliament or King"--the human conscience, which is "prophet in -its informations, a monarch in its peremptoriness, a priest in its -blessings and anathenas" (John Henry Newman). Also, "Conscience is the -knowledge with oneself of the better and the worse" (James Martineau).] - -[Footnote 41:--See Jardine's "_Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_," p. 41.] - -[Footnote 42:--The Most Hon. the Marquess of Ripon, K.G., Lord Lieutenant -of the North Riding of Yorkshire, and the Marchioness of Ripon, C.I., of -Studley Royal, near Ripon, are descended from this leile-hearted and -chivalrous Yorkshire race, in whom so many idealistic, stately souls, of a -long buried Past, claim kindred. - -Of what manner of men these Mallories were, the puissant owners of Studley -Royal, is evident from what we are told concerning that Sir William -Mallory, "who was so zealous and constant a Catholic, that when heresy -first came into England, and Catholic service commanded to be put down on -such a day, he came to the church, and stood there at the door with his -sword drawn to defend, that none should come in to abolish religion, -saying that he would defend it with his life, and continued for some days -keeping out the officers so long as he could possibly do it."--From the -"Babthorpes, of Babthorpe," Morris's "_Troubles of our Catholic -Forefathers_," first series, p. 227.--The Church referred to must have -been the old Chapel at Aldfield, near Studley Royal. Aldfield was one of -the Chapelries of the ancient Parish of Ripon. The old Chapel at Aldfield -is now represented by the noble new Church which is seen in the distance, -at the end of the long avenue, by all who have the rare happiness of -visiting Studley Royal and the tall grey ruins of the Cistercian Abbey of -St. Mary, Fountains, laved by the musical little River Skell. (Studley -Church is twin-sister to Skelton Church, the Vyner Memorial in the Park of -Newby. Skelton was likewise one of the old Ripon Chapelries.) This phrase -"to abolish religion," I opine, refers to the time of Edward VI., when the -Mass was first put down, and a communion substituted therefor.--See -Tennyson's "_Mary Tudor_."--There is a curious old traditional prophecy -extant in Yorkshire, as well as other parts of England, that as the Mass -was abolished in the reign of the Sixth Edward, so it will be restored in -the reign of the Seventh!] - -[Footnote 43:--The promoters of the Rising of the North wished:-- - -(1) To restore to her kingdom Mary Queen of Scots, who simply fascinated -Francis Norton, and every other imaginative, romantic, Yorkshire heart -that she came in contact with. - -(2) To depose Elizabeth, whom they regarded as morally no true claimant -for the throne, until dispensed from her illegitimacy by the Pope. - -(3) To place Mary Stuart on the throne of England. - -(4) Above all, to restore "the ancient faith," which they did in Durham, -Staindrop, Darlington, Richmond, Ripon, and some of the churches in -Cleveland, for a very brief season. - -It is to be remembered that the Rising of the North in 1569 was not joined -in by _all_ the Catholics of Yorkshire, nor by any of the Catholics of -Lancashire. This latter fact, together with the influence of Cardinal -Allen, of Rossall, partly accounts for the circumstance that Lancashire -(especially the neighbourhood of "Wigan and Ashton-on-Makerfield, and, -above all, the Fylde, that region between Lancaster and Preston, whence -"the great Allen" sprang) is "the Rome of England" to this day. It is said -that the Parish Church of Bispham (near which the well-known sea-side -resort, Blackpool, is situated) was the parish church where last the -parochial Latin Mass was said publicly in Lancashire, the priest being -Jerome Allen, uncle to the Cardinal. In the white-washed yeoman dwellings -of the Fylde have been reared many of the sturdiest and most solidly pious -of the post-Reformation English Catholic Priests. William Allen's plain, -honest, finely-touched spirit seems to have brooded over this fruitful, -western, wind-swept land which is well worthy of exploration by all -philosophic historians that visit Blackpool. - -Also, all who travel in Yorkshire, either by road or rail, from -Knaresbrough and Harrogate to Ripon, and thence to Topcliffe, Thirsk, -Darlington, Durham, and Alnwick, pass through a part of the North of -England whose very air is laden with historic memories of the reigns of -Elizabeth and James I. And how often, when visiting Bishop Thornton (an -idyllic hamlet betwixt Harrogate, Pateley Bridge, and Ripon, that is still -a stronghold of "the ancient faith," which, as in a last Yorkshire -retreat, has _there_ never died out), has the writer recalled the -following lines from the old "Ballad of the Rising of the North":-- - - "Lord Westmoreland his ancyent [_i.e._, ensign] raisde, - The Dun Bull he rais'd on hye; - Three dogs with golden collars brave, - Were there set out most royallye. - Earl Percy there his ancyent spred, - The half moon shining all so fair; - The Nortons ancyent had the Cross - And the Five Wounds Our Lord did beare." - -Norton Conyers, in the Parish of Wath, near Ripon, was forfeited by the -Nortons after the Rebellion of 1569. It is now, I believe, the property of -Sir Reginald Graham, Bart. If the Grantley estate belonged to the Nortons -in 1569, it was not forfeited, or else it was recovered to the Norton -family. Grantley, however, may have possibly belonged to the Markenfields, -and, being forfeited by them, granted to Francis Norton, the eldest son of -old Richard Norton.--See "_Sir Ralph Sadlers Papers_," Ed. by Sir Walter -Scott.--The present Lord Grantley is descended from Thomas Norton, who was -sixth in descent from old Richard Norton, and fifth in descent from -Francis, the eldest of the famous "eight good sons." The Grantley property -belonged to Lord Grantley until it was recently disposed of to Sir -Christopher Furness, M.P. Lord Grantley's ancestor, Sir Fletcher Norton, -was created Lord Grantley and Baron Markenfield in 1782. Sir Fletcher -Norton's mother was a Fletcher, of Little Strickland, in the County of -Westmoreland. The present Sir Henry Fletcher, Bart., M.P., belongs to a -branch of the Fletcher family, who originally came from Cockermouth, in -Cumberland. There is a tradition that when Mary Queen of Scots had been -defeated at the Battle of Langside, after her romantic escape from -Lochleven Castle, Henry Fletcher, of Cockermouth Hall, waited on the -Scots' Queen when she first landed at Workington. Henry Fletcher -"entertained" the Queen at Cockermouth Hall (17th May, 1568), "most -magnificently, presenting her with robes of velvet." It is further said -that when James I. came to the English Throne he treated Henry Fletcher's -son, Thomas Fletcher, with great distinction, and offered to bestow upon -him a knighthood.--See Nicholson & Burns' "_History of Cumberland and -Westmoreland_." - -As to the Nortons and Markenfields, see Wordsworth's "_White Doe of -Rylstone_"; "_Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569_" (1840); Froude's -"_History of England_"; "_Memorials of Cardinal Allen_"[A] (Ed. by Dr. -Knox, published by Nutt, London); and J. S. Fletcher's "_Picturesque -Yorkshire_" (Dent & Co.). In Hailstone's "_Portraits of Yorkshire -Worthies_" (two magnificent volumes published by Cundall & Fleming) are -photographs of old Richard Norton and of his brother Thomas, and of the -former's seventh son, Christopher. The photographs are taken from -paintings in the possession of Lord Grantley, now, I believe, at -Markenfield Hall. - -The same valuable work also contains a photograph of a portrait of "the -Blessed" Thomas Percy Earl of Northumberland, from a painting belonging to -the Slingsbies, of Scriven. - -From the Ripon Minster Registers of Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, it is -plain that, between the years 1589 and 1601, a "Norton," described as -"_generosus_," lived at Sawley, close to Bishop Thornton and Grantley, -near Ripon.] - -[Footnote 44:--In 1569 the Norton Conyers estate seems to have been vested -in a Nicholas Norton, probably as a trustee.--See "_Sir Ralph Sadler's -Papers_," and see _ante_, Supplementum III. - -The Winters were also related to the Markenfields, their aunt, Isabel -Ingleby, having married Thomas Markenfield, of Markenfield. - -The Wrights and Winters were also, through the Inglebies, connected with -the Yorkes, of Gowthwaite, in Nidderdale, of which family, most probably, -sprang Captain Roland Yorke (who introduced the use of the rapier into -England--see Camden's "_Elizabeth_"), the friend of Sir Philip Sidney, in -the Netherlands.--See Foster's Edition of "_Glover's Visitation of -Yorkshire_"; "_The Earl of Leicester's Correspondence_" (Camden Soc.); -also "_Cardinal Allen's Defence of Sir William Stanley's Surrender of -Deventer, 29th January, 1586-87_" (Chetham Soc.). - -The Wards, of Mulwith, Newby, and Givendale, were related to the Nortons, -old Richard Norton's grandmother being Margaret, daughter of Roger Ward, -of Givendale. Richard Norton's mother was Ann, daughter and heiress of -Miles Ratcliffe, of Rylstone. Through her came to the Nortons the Rylstone -estates. Hence the title of the immortal poem of the Lake poet. - -Rylstone and Barden (or Norton) Tower are both near Skipton-in-Craven. -Skipton Castle was the seat of the Cliffords Earls of Cumberland. The -Craven estates of the Nortons, it is said, were granted by James I. to -Francis Earl of Cumberland. (I visited Norton Tower in company with my -friend, Mr. William Whitwell, F.L.S., now of Balham, a gentleman of varied -literary and scientific acquirements, in the year 1883. Norton Tower, -built on Rylstone Fell, between the valleys which separate the Rivers Aire -and Wharfe, commands a magnificent prospect "without bound, of plain and -dell, dark moor and gleam of pool and stream."--See Dr. Whitaker's -"_Craven_.")] - -[Footnote A: Cardinal Allen, though a Lancashireman by his father, was a -Yorkshireman by his mother, who was Jane Lister, of the County of -York.--See Fitzherbert's Life of Allen, in "_Memorials of Cardinal -Allen_."--Lord Ribblesdale, of Gisburn Park, in the West Riding of the -County of York, is the representative of this ancient Yorkshire family of -Lister. Lord Masham is a representative of a younger branch of the same -family. - -By a remarkable coincidence, on the 16th day of October, 1900, there were -presented to Pope Leo XIII., at Rome, on the occasion of the English -Pilgrimage, the Rev. Philip Fletcher, M.A., and Lister Drummond, Esq., -barrister-at-law, representatives respectively of the families of both -Fletcher and Lister.] - -[Footnote 45:--That Thomas Percy (of the Percies, of Beverley, not of -Scotton, I feel certain), the eldest of the conspirators, must have been a -Roman Catholic as a young man is plain from the fact that Marmaduke Ward, -brother-in-law to John Wright and Christopher Wright, had a designment "to -match" his gifted and beautiful eldest daughter, Mary, with Thomas Percy -who, however, singularly enough married Martha Wright, Mary Ward's -aunt.--See "_Life of Mary Ward_," by Mary Catherine Elizabeth Chambers -(Burns & Oates, 1882), vol. i., pp. 12 and 13.--Percy, being agent for his -kinsman, the Earl of Northumberland, would frequently reside at the Percy -palace at Topcliffe, which was only distant twelve miles or so of pleasant -riding across a breezy, charming country to Mulwith and Newby. Sampson -Ingleby, uncle to the Winters, succeeded Thomas Percy as the Earl's agent -in Yorkshire. Sampson Ingleby was a very trusty man. A photograph of a -painting of him is in Hailstone's "_Yorkshire Worthies_," taken from a -painting at Ripley Castle. - -Edmund Neville Earl of Westmoreland, _de jure_, was afterwards one of the -many unsuccessful suitors for the hand of Mary Ward.--See her "_Life_," -vol. i.--The Government would have liked to implicate Neville in the -Gunpowder Plot, but utterly failed to do so. He eventually became a Priest -of the Society of Jesus. He petitioned James to restore to him the Neville -estates, but without avail; so that historic Middleham and Kirbymoorside -(in Yorkshire), and Raby and Brancepeth (in Durham), finally passed from -the once proud house of Neville, one of whom was the well-known Warwick, -the King-maker, owing to the chivalrous, ill-fated Rising of 1569. This -Rising first broke out at Topcliffe, between Ripon and Thirsk, where the -Earl of Northumberland was then sojourning at his palace, the site of -which is pointed out to this day. Topcliffe is situated on the waters of -the River Swale, which (like the East Riding river, the Derwent) is sacred -to St. Paulinus, the disciple of St. Augustine, the disciple of St. -Gregory the Great, the most unselfish, disinterested friend the English -and Yorkshire people ever had. - -The first Pilgrimage of Grace, under Robert Aske, of Aughton, broke out on -the banks of the Derwent. Hence, each of "the holy rivers" of Yorkshire -inspired a crusade--a thing worth memory. - -Mr. Thomas P. Cooper, of York (author of "_York: the History of its Walls -and Castles_"), kindly refers me to "_Letters and Papers, Foreign and -Domestic, Henry VIII., 1537_," p. 87, for evidence tending to prove that -Robert Aske was executed "on the height of the castle dungeon," where the -High Sheriff of Yorkshire had jurisdiction, and _not_ the Sheriffs of the -City of York. - -This would be Clifford's Tower, not The Pavement, where Aske is sometimes -said to have met his fate. I think Mr. Cooper has, most probably, settled -the point by his discovery of this important letter of "the old Duke of -Norfolk" to Thomas Cromwell.] - -[Footnote 46:--Father Gerard's "Narrative of Gunpowder Plot" in -"_Conditions of Catholics under James I._" Edited by Father Morris, S.J. -(Longmans, 1872).] - -[Footnote 47:--The "very imperfect proof" to which I refer is contained in -a certain marriage entry in the Registers at Ripon Minster. The date is -"10th July, 1588" (the year and month of the Spanish Armada), and _seems_ -to me to be as follows: "Xpofer Wayde et Margaret Wayrde." Now, "Margaret" -was a family name of the Wardes, of Givendale, Newby, and Mulwith, and the -clergyman making the entry _may_ have written "Wayde" instead of Wright. -We cannot tell. Therefore, alone, it is a mere _scintilla_ of evidence to -show that Christopher Wright married a Warde, of Mulwith. - -Further research among those of the Ward (or Warde) papers that are yet -extant may clear the question as to whom Christopher Wright married. The -mysterious silence which broods over the life and career of Marmaduke -Ward, subsequent to the year 1605, suggests to my mind many far-reaching -supposals. Marmaduke Ward seems to have died before the year 1614, but the -"burials" of the Ripon Registers are lost for this period apparently.] - -[Footnote 48:--Born 1563. Father Oswald Tesimond was for six years at -Hindlip Hall, along with Father Oldcorne. Ralph Ashley, a Jesuit -lay-brother, was Oldcorne's servant.] - -[Footnote 49:--John Wright was born about 1568. Christopher Wright was -born about 1570. Had they a brother Francis, living at Newbie (or Newby), -who had a son Robert?--See Ripon Registers, which records the baptism of a -Robert Wright, 25th March, 1601, the son of Francis Wright, of Newbie; -also of a Francis Wright, son of Francis Wright, of Newby, under date 2nd -February, 1592. - -The Welwick Church Registers for this period are lost apparently, though -the burial is recorded, under date 13th October, 1654, of ffrauncis -Wright, Esquire, and of another ffrauncis Wright, under date 2nd May, -1664, both at Welwick. (Communicated to me by the Rev. D. V. Stoddart, -M.A., Vicar of Welwick.) Probably the Francis Wrights, of Newby (or -Newbie), are those buried at Welwick, being father and son respectively. -Certainly the coincidence is remarkable.--See _ante_.] - -[Footnote 50:--Foley's "_Records of the English Province of the Society of -Jesus_," vol. iv., pp. 203-5 (Burns & Oates, 1878).] - -[Footnote 51:--Quoted in Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. 213.] - -[Footnote 52:--It is noteworthy, as illustrative of Father Oldcorne's -character, that Robert Winter says in his letter to the Lords -Commissioners, 21st January, 1605-6: "After our departure from Holbeach, -about some ten days, we [_i.e._, himself and Stephen Littleton, the Master -of Holbeach] met Humphrey Littleton, cousin to Stephen Littleton, and we -then entreated him to seek out one Mr. Hall [an alias of Oldcorne] for us, -and desire him to help us to some resting place."--See Jardine's -"_Criminal Trials, Gunpowder Plot_," vol. ii., p. 146.] - -[Footnote 53:--Schismatic Catholics were those Catholics that went to Mass -in private houses, and then, more or less, frequented their parish church -afterwards to escape the fines. They were further divided into -Communicants and Non-communicants. Very often the men of a family were -Catholics of this sort, and the womenkind strict Catholics. Indeed, it was -mainly the women and the priests that have kept "the Pope's religion" -alive in England: although, of course, _many_ men of great mental and -physical powers were papists of the most rigid class. The practice of -"going to the Protestant church," as English Roman Catholics term the -practice to this day, was deliberately condemned by the Council of Trent. - -The cause of the historic controversy between the Jesuits and the Secular -Priests in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. lies in a nut-shell. It -was this: the Jesuits, and especially their extraordinarily able leader, -Father Parsons, thought that the Secular Priests required watching. And so -they did; and so do all other human creatures. But the mistake that -Parsons made was this: his prejudices and prepossessions blinded him to -the fact that the proper watchers of Secular Priests are Bishops and the -Pope, and not a society of Presbyters, however grave, however gifted, or -however pious.] - -[Footnote 54:--"_Collecti Cardwelli_," Public Record Office, Brussels Vitae -Mart, p. 147. - -In Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., there is a beautiful picture of Father -Edward Oldcorne, S.J., now "the Venerable Edward Oldcorne," one of York's -most remarkable sons. In the left-hand corner of the portrait is a -representation of a portion of Old Ouse Bridge, with St. William's Chapel -(at present the site of which is occupied by Messrs. Varvills' -establishment). St. Sampson's Church, the ancient church which gave the -name of the parish where Oldcorne first saw the light of the sun, is still -standing. It is near Holy Trinity, King's Court, or Christ's Parish, where -"the Venerable," Margaret Clitherow lived. Oldcorne must have known that -great York citizen well. She was born in Davygate, and was the second wife -of a butcher, named John Clitherow, of the Parish of Christ, in the City -of York. She was married in the Church of St. Martin, Coney Street, in -1571. She was one of Nature's gentlewomen, by birth: and the Church of -Rome, ever mindful of her own, declared in 1886 (just three hundred years -after the martyr's death in the Tolbooth, on Old Ouse Bridge) that -Margaret Clitherow, a shrewd, honest, devout York tradeswoman, is one of -the Church's "Venerable Servants of God," by grace.--See J. B. Milburn's -Life of this extraordinary Elizabethan Yorkshire-woman, entitled, "_A -Martyr of Old York_" (Burns & Oates, London).] - -[Footnote 55:--This crossing-out of the word "yowe" is noticed in Nash's -"_History of Worcestershire_."] - -[Footnote 56:--The word "good" is omitted in the copy of the Letter given -in the "_Authorised Discourse_," which is remarkable. I think it was done -designedly, in order to minimize the merit of the revealing plotter.] - -[Footnote 57:--King James's interpretation of these enigmatical words was -simply fantastical. It may be read in Gerard's "_Narrative_," and in most -contemporary relations of the Plot.] - -[Footnote 58:--I am of opinion that one of Father Oldcorne's servants, -Ralph Ashley by name, a Jesuit lay-brother, was the person that actually -conveyed the Letter to the page who was in the street adjoining Lord -Mounteagle's Hoxton residence, on the evening of Saturday, the 26th of -October, 1605. My reason for being of the opinion that Ralph Ashley -conveyed the Letter will be seen hereafter, in due course of this Inquiry. - -The page's evidence went to show that the deliverer of the Letter was a -tall man, or a reasonably tall man. There is nothing inconsistent in this -account of the height of the Letter-carrier with what we know of the size -of Ashley, which is negative knowledge merely. I mean we are not told -anywhere that he was of short stature, as we are told in the case (1) of -the Jesuit lay-brother, Brother Ralph Emerson, a native of the County of -Durham, and the servant of Edmund Campion--see Simpson's "_Life of -Campion_"--whom the genial orator playfully called "his little -man"--"_homulus_"; and in the case (2) of the Jesuit lay-brother, Brother -Nicholas Owen, the servant of Garnet, who was affectionately termed -"little John" by the Catholics in whose castles, manor-houses, and halls, -up and down the country, he constructed most ingenious secret places for -the hiding of priests. - -Ralph Ashley had acted in some humble capacity at the English Catholic -College of Valladolid, which had been founded in Spain from Rheims, -through the generosity of noble-hearted Spanish Catholics, among whom was -that majestic soul, Dona Luisa de Carvajal.--See her "_Life_," by the late -Lady Georgiana Fullerton (Burns & Oates).--See also "_The Life of the -Venerable John Roberts, O.S.B._," by the Rev. Bede Camm, O.S.B. (Sands & -Co.)--Father Roberts founded the Benedictine College at Douay, still in -existence. Cardinal Allen's secular priests' College is now used as a -French Barracks. Ushaw College, Durham, and St. Edmund's College, Ware, -are the lineal successors of Cardinal Allen's College at Douay. - -(By the way, when are the letters of the late Dr. Lingard likely to be -published? Lingard, after Wiseman, was the greatest man Ushaw has -produced, and his letters would be interesting reading; for Lingard must -have known many of the most considerable personages of his day. Lingard -died at Hornby, near Lancaster, not far from Hornby Castle, the seat of -the once famous Lord Mounteagle.) - -Brother Raphael (or Ralph) Ashley, was possibly akin to the Ashleys, of -Goule Hall, in the Township of Cliffe, in the Parish of Hemingbrough, in -the East Riding of Yorkshire, or to the Ashleys, of Todwick, near -Sheffield, in the south-east of Yorkshire. He came to England along with -Father Oswald Tesimond, in 1597.--See "Father Tesimond's landing in -England," in Morris's "_Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers_," first -series (Burns & Oates).--If Ashley were a Yorkshireman, one can easily -understand his being the chosen companion of the two Yorkshire Jesuits, -Oldcorne and Tesimond. - -This Jesuit lay-brother was acquainted with London; and as, _Qui facit per -alium facit per se_, it was pre-eminently likely that Oldcorne would -employ his confidential servant to perform so weighty a mission as the one -I have attributed unto him. - -Again, since "he who acts through another acts through himself," it is -unnecessary for me to treat at large in the Text concerning my supposal -respecting the part that Brother Ralph Ashley played in the great drama of -the Gunpowder Plot. Ashley being identified with his master, Father -Oldcorne, shares, in his degree, his master's merits and praise. - -Professor J. A. Froude thought that Ralph Waldo Emerson was of the same -stock as Brother Ralph Emerson. It is quite possible. For after the -Gunpowder Plot, I opine that the younger Catholics in many cases became -Puritans, and in some cases, later on, Quakers.] - -[Footnote 59:--Notwithstanding the endless chain of the causation of human -acts and human events, man's strongest and clearest knowledge tells him -that he is "master of his fate," nay, that "he is fated to be free," -inasmuch as at any moment man can open the flood-gates that are betwixt -him and an Infinite Ocean of Pure Unconditioned Freedom: can open those -flood-gates, and in that Ocean can lave at will, and so render himself a -truly emancipated creature. - -The antinomies of Thought and Life do not destroy nor make void the Facts -of Thought and Life. Antinomies surround man on every side, and one of the -great ends of life is to know the same, and to act regardful of that -knowledge.] - -[Footnote 60:--The copy in the "_Authorised Discourse_" gives "shift off," -not "shift of" as in the original. Doubtless "shift off" was the -expression intended. It is still occasionally used in the country -districts about York. The word "tender," in the sense of "take care of" or -"have a care of," is to-day quite common in that neighbourhood (1901).] - -[Footnote 61:--"_Gunpowder Plot Books_," vol. ii., p. 202.] - -[Footnote 62:--It is impossible to describe the emotions that welled up in -the heart of the writer as he gazed on this small, faded, and fading -document: emotions of awe and gratitude, blended with veneration and -reverence, for the maker of this lever--this sheet-anchor--of the temporal -salvation of so many human creatures, who had been barbarously appointed -to die by those that had forgotten what spirit they were of. - -The writer was favoured by the sight of the original Letter on Friday, the -5th day of October, 1900, at about half-past two o'clock in the afternoon. -He desires to place on record his sense of obligation for the courteous -civility with which he was treated by the authorities at the Record -Office, London, on this occasion.] - -[Footnote 63:--Oldcorne, being a Jesuit, would from time to time go to -White Webbs, Morecrofts (near Uxbridge), Erith-on-the-Thames, Stoke Pogis, -Thames Street (London), and other places of Jesuit resort where Mounteagle -and Ward had the _entree_. Again, he must have known well the Vaux family -of Harrowden, and all the circle that Mounteagle and Ward would move in. -Again, if Ward were married in York, in 1579, he may have met Oldcorne as -a Catholic medical student of promise in the ancient city. - -Along with a dear brother, a young Yorkshireman, in London, I visited -White Webbs, by Enfield Chase, on Saturday, the 6th October, 1900. The old -house known as Dr. Hewick's House, where the conspirators met, is now no -longer standing; but the spacious park, with its umbrageous oak trees, -meandering streams, tangled thickets, and pleasant paths, is almost -unchanged, I should fancy, since it was the rendezvous of the Gunpowder -traitors, concerning whom the utmost one can say is that they were not for -themselves; and that Nemesis in this life justly punished them, and drove -them to make meet expiation and atonement, before the face of all men, for -their infamous offences. Thereby Destiny enabled the men to restore -equality between the State they had so wronged, _in act and in desire_, -and themselves; and a happy thing for the men, as well as for others, that -Destiny did so enable them whilst there was yet time. - -(In October, 1900, I was informed that the present mansion, known as White -Webbs, belongs to the Lady Meux.)] - -[Footnote 64:--Known by Edmund Church, Esq., his confidant.] - -[Footnote 65:--See "_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 1.] - -[Footnote 66:--M'rgery Slater most probably belonged to a Ripon family, as -I find the same Christian name and surname among entries of the -"Christenings" in the Ripon Minster Register, a few years after the year -1579. Possibly the child was a niece of "Mistress M'rgery Ward." "Mistress -Warde" may have been a relative of Mr. Cotterell, as I find in the St. -Michael-le-Belfrey Register the entry of the burial (1583) of Anne ---- -who is described as "s'vaunt and cozine to Mr. Cotterell, being about -twenty-six years of age." Now, Mr. Cotterell was probably Mr. James -Cotterell, of the Parish of (Old) St. Wilfred, York, a demolished church, -whose site is to-day (1901) occupied by the official lodgings of the -King's Judges of Assize when on circuit. For the "subsidy" of 1581, a Mr. -James Cotterell of that parish was assessed in "Lande" at L6 13s. 4d. -(among the highest of the York assessments). There was a Mr. Cotterell "an -Examiner" for the Council of the North in the time of Elizabeth, and I -have no doubt that "Mistress Warde's" late master was this very gentleman. -Whether the young woman whom "Thomas Ward, of Mulwaith," made his wife -(evidently direct from the house of her master), on the 29th day of May, -1579, was the equal by birth and by descent of her husband, I do not know. -Let us hope, however, that alike in gifts of personal attractiveness and -graces of character she was not unworthy of one who came from so truly -"gentle" a people as the Wardes, of Mulwith, Givendale, and Newby. If -M'gery Slater did hail from Ripon, this "faithful following" of her to -York, and from the house of her master, publicly making her, in the face -of all the world, his "true and honourable wife, as dear to him as were -the ruddy drops that visited his own heart," bears early witness to an -idealism of mind in this Yorkshire gentleman that was thoroughly in -keeping with the chivalrous race whence he sprang. I cannot give any -personal description of Thomas Warde; but I can of Marmaduke Warde, who -was also of Mulwith, or Mulwaith, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and -from _this_ picture we may imagine _that_.] - -[Footnote 67:--Speaking of Marmaduke Warde (or Ward)--for the name was -spelt either way--his kinswoman Winefrid Wigmore, a lady of high family -from Herefordshire, in after years said:--"His name is to this day famous -in that country [_i.e._ Yorkshire] for his exceeding comeliness of person, -sweetness and beauty of face, agility and activeness, the knightly -exercises in which he excelled, and above all for his constancy and -courage in Catholic religion, admirable charity to the poor, so as in -extreme dearth never was poor denied at his gate; commonly sixty, eighty, -and sometimes a hundred in a day, to whom he gave great alms: and yet is -also famous his valour and fidelity to his friend, and myself have heard -it spoken by several, but particularly and with much feeling by Mr. -William Mallery, the eldest and best of that name, who were near of kin to -our 'Mother,' both by father and mother." - -The William Mallery, here spoken of, was one of "the Mallories," of -Studley Royal, near Ripon, the present seat of their descendants, the Most -Hon. the Marquess and Marchioness of Ripon. - -The above quotation is taken from the "_Life_" of Marmaduke Ward's eldest -daughter, Mary, who was one of the most beautiful and heroic women of her -age.--See M. C. E. Chambers' "_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 6 (Burns & -Oates).--Mary Ward died at the Old Manor House, Heworth, near York, on the -20th January, 1645-6. She was related to Father Edward Thwing, of Heworth -Hall, who suffered at Lancaster for his priesthood, 26th July, 1600. I -think the Old Heworth Hall was built _behind_ the present Old Manor House, -which seems to be an erection of about the end of the seventeenth century. -The Thwing family, of Gate Helmsley, then owned Old Heworth Hall, where -Father Antony Page was apprehended, who suffered at the York Tyburn in -1593 for the like offence, which, by statute, was high treason (27 Eliz.). -Thomas Percy, John Wright, and Christopher Wright, as well as Guy Fawkes, -may have often visited Old Heworth Hall. In fact there is still a -tradition that the Gunpowder plotters "were at Old Heworth Hall" -(communicated to me in 1890 by the owner, W. Surtees Hornby, Esq., J.P., -of York), and also a tradition that Father Page was apprehended there. Mr. -T. Atkinson, for the tenant, his brother-in-law, Mr. Moorfoot, showed the -writer, on the 9th August, 1901, the outhouse or hay chamber (of brick and -old timber) where this priest was taken on Candlemas Day morning in the -year 1593.--See Morris's "_Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers_," third -series, p. 139.--This holy martyr was a connection of the Bellamy family, -of Uxendon, with whom the great and gifted Father Southwell was captured. -Father Page was a native of Harrow-on-the-Hill. The last of the English -martyrs was Father Thomas Thwing, of Heworth, who was executed at the York -Tyburn, 1680. His vestments belong to the Herbert family, of Gate -Helmsley. I have seen them about three times at St. Mary's Convent, York, -where they have been lent by the kindness of the owner. What a hallowed -and affecting link with the past are those beautiful, but fading, priestly -garments. - -The following letter of Mr. Bannister Dent will be read with interest, as -helping the concatenation of the evidence. It is from a York solicitor who -for many years was Guardian for the old Parish of St. Wilfred, in the City -of York:-- - - - "York, - 21st March, 1901." - - "OLD PARISH OF ST. WILFRED." - - "In reply to your letter of to-day's date, the streets comprised - in the above parish were Duncombe Place, Blake Street, Museum - Street, Lendal Hill, and Lendal. I have made enquiries, and am - informed that St. Michael-le-Belfrey's Church would be the - church at which a resident in this parish would be married."] - -[Footnote 68:--Margery Warde (born Slater) was probably the sister of one -Hugo Slater, of Ripon, who, subsequently to 1579, had a daughter, Margery, -and a son, Thomas.--See Ripon Registers. - -John Whitham, Esq., of the City of Ripon, has been so kind as to place at -my disposal the Index, which is the result of his researches into the -Ripon Registers. There seems to be no entry of the baptism of Mary (or -Joan or Jane) Ward in 1585-86, nor of John Ward, William Ward, nor Teresa -Ward. George Warde's baptism is recorded: "18th May, 1595 [not 1594], -George Waryde filius M'maduci de Mulwith." Then under date 3rd September, -1598, occurs, three years afterwards, this significant entry: "Thomas -Warde filius M'maduci _de Nubie_." This naming of his son "Thomas" by -Marmaduke Warde, I submit, _almost_ suffices to clench the proof that -Marmaduke and Thomas Warde were akin to each other _as brothers_. - -If proof be required that the name "Ward" was spelt both Ward and Warde, -it is contained in the following entries in the Ripon Minster Registers of -the baptism of Marmaduke Ward's daughters, Eliza and Barbara[A]: "30 April -1591--Eliza, daughter of Marmaduke Warde of Mulwith;" "21 November -1592--Barbara, daughter of Marmaduke Warde of Mulwith." The entries are in -Latin. In some subsequent entries Marmaduke Warde is described as of -Newbie, _e.g._: "5 Nov. 1594--Ellyn, daughter of Marmaduke Warde of -Newbie."] - -[Footnote A: Eliza was probably Elizabeth Warde, and Ellyn--Teresa -Warde.] - -[Footnote 69:--Newby was spelt "Newbie" at that time. Newby adjoins the -village of Skelton. Mulwith is about a mile from Newby.] - -[Footnote 70:--See vol. v., p. 681.] - -[Footnote 71:--Henry Parker Lord Morley, the grandfather of Mounteagle, -married Lady Elizabeth Stanley, daughter of Edward Earl of Derby. He was -one of the peers who recorded his vote against Elizabeth's Act of -Uniformity, and became "an exile for the faith" in the Netherlands after -the year 1569. His son, Edward Parker Lord Morley, Mounteagle's father, -was born in 1555; he too lived abroad for some years, but eventually seems -to have conformed wholly, or in part, to the established religion; -although his son, Lord Mounteagle, was, on the latter's own testimony, -brought up a Roman Catholic, and, in fact, died in that belief. From an -undated letter of Mounteagle, ably written, addressed to the King, and -given in Gerard's "_What was the Gunpowder Plot?_" p. 256, it is evident -that (after the Plot, most likely) Mounteagle intended to conform to the -Establishment. The Morley barony was created in 1299.--See Burke's -"_Extinct Peerages_," and Horace Round's "_Studies in Peerage and Family -History_," p. 23 (Constable, Westminster, 1901).--From Camden's -"_Britannia_," the Morleys evidently owned, at various times, estates in -the Counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, in addition to Essex, Lincolnshire, -and Lancashire. - -That the conformity to the Established Church of Edward Parker Lord Morley -(the father of William Parker Lord Mounteagle) was in part only is, to -some extent, evidenced by the fact that Mr. Edward Yelverton (one of the -well-known Yelvertons, of Norfolk) is described at the end of the reign of -Elizabeth as "a Catholic, domiciled in the household of Lord Morley."--See -Dr. Jessopp's "_One Generation of a Norfolk House_," being chiefly the -biography of the celebrated Jesuit, Henry Walpole, who suffered for his -priesthood at the York Tyburn, 7th April, 1595, in the thirty-sixth year -of his age. Rome, in 1886, declared Henry Walpole to be "a Venerable -Servant of God."] - -[Footnote 72:--See vol. i., p. 244.] - -[Footnote 73:--See vol. i., p. 244.] - -[Footnote 74:--See vol. i., p. 238.] - -[Footnote 75:--See vol. i., p. 237.] - -[Footnote 76:--Edward Poyntz, Esquire, was a relative, lineal or -collateral, of the celebrated James Duke of Ormonde, Lord Lieutenant of -Ireland, whose mother was a daughter of Sir John Poyntz.--See that -valuable work, "_The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland_," p. 254, by John -P. Prendergast (McGlashan & Gill, Dublin, 1875). - -I have found much information about the Poyntz family in the "_Visitation -of Essex_" (Harleian Soc). I think that Edward Poyntz was uncle to the -Viscountess Thurles. If so, he would be great-uncle to the Duke of -Ormonde. From this it would follow that the Viscountess Thurles (who was a -strict Roman Catholic) would be a first cousin to Mary Poyntz, the friend -and companion, as well as relative, of Mary Warde, the daughter of -Marmaduke Warde, and niece of Thomas Warde.--See "_Life of Mary Ward_," -vol. i. - -Winefrid Wigmore, already mentioned, was cousin, once removed, to Lady -Mounteagle, who was a daughter of Sir Thomas Tresham, Sir William Wigmore, -Winefrid's father, having married her aunt, Anne Throckmorton, a daughter -of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton. Lady Catesby was another daughter.--See Note -30 _supra_.] - -[Footnote 77:--As slightly supporting the contention that Lord Morley, the -father of Mounteagle, was related to, or at least connected with, the -Wards, it is to be observed that John Wright, the elder brother by the -whole blood of Ursula Ward, at the time when the Plot was concocted, had -his "permanent residence at Twigmore," in the Parish of Manton, near -Brigg, in Lincolnshire.--Jardine's "_Narrative_," p. 32.--Now, in Foley's -"_Records_," vol. i., p. 627, it is stated that Twigmore, or Twigmoor, and -Holme "were ancient possessions of the Morley family." The brothers John -and Christopher Wright were evidently called after two uncles who bore -these two names respectively.--See Norcliffe's Ed. of Flower's -"_Visitation of Yorkshire_" (Harleian Soc).] - -[Footnote 78:--To-day (April, 1901) Newby-cum-Mulwith forms one township. -Givendale is a township by itself. Along with Skelton they form a separate -ecclesiastical parish. Skelton Church, in Newby Park, is one of the most -beautiful in the county, having been erected by the late Lady Mary Vyner, -of Newby Hall. The Church is dedicated under the touching title of -"Christ, the Consoler." - -Formerly the Parish of Ripon included no less than thirty villages. At -Skelton, Aldfield, Sawley, Bishop Thornton, Monckton, and Winksley there -were Chapels. Pateley Bridge also had a Chapel, but this was -parochial.--See Gent's "_Ripon_."--At Sawley, I find from the Ripon -Register of Baptisms, there was a William Norton living (described as -"_generosus_") in 1589. He would be the great-grandson of old Richard -Norton, who by his first wife, Susanna, daughter of Neville Lord Latimer, -had eleven sons and seven daughters. They were (according to an old -writer), these Nortons, "a trybe of wicked people universally papists." It -is reported to this day (Easter Day, 1901), at Bishop Thornton, by Mr. -Henry Wheelhouse, of Markington, aged 84, that the Nortons, of Sawley, -continued constant in their adherence to the ancient faith till well on -into the nineteenth century. - -Mr. Wheelhouse's recollection to this effect may be well founded; because -not only has there been a remnant of English Roman Catholics always in the -adjoining hamlet of Bishop Thornton, but there was at Fountains, in 1725, -a Father Englefield, S.J., stationed there--see Foley's "_Records_," vol. -v., p. 722--and if the Nortons, of Sawley (or some of them) remained -Papists, one can understand how it might come to pass that there was a -Jesuit Priest maintained at Fountains and a Secular Priest at Bishop -Thornton, only a few miles off. The Roman Catholic religion was also long -maintained by the Messenger family, of Cayton Hall, South Stainley, and by -the Trapps family, of Nydd Hall, both only within walking distance of -Bishop Thornton: maintained until the nineteenth century. I think the -Messengers, too, owned Fountains in 1725. Viscount Mountgarret now owns -Nydd Hall. His Lordship's family, the Butlers, are allied to the Lords -Vaux of Harrowden. - -Mass also was said (before the present Roman Catholic Chapel was built at -Bishop Thornton) at Raventoftes Hall, in the Ripon Chapelry of Bishop -Thornton, once the home of the stanch old Catholic family of Walworth. -Then Mass was said in the top chamber, running the whole length of the -priest's present house. Afterwards (about 1778) followed the present stone -Chapel. Clare Lady Howard, of Glossop, built the Schools at Bishop -Thornton a few years ago. - -F. Reynard, Esquire, J.P., of Hob Green, Markington and Sunderlandwick, -Driffield, now owns Raventoftes Hall, which has a splendid view towards -Sawley, How Hill, and Ripon. It is rented by a Roman Catholic, named Mr. -F. Stubbs, who is akin to the Hawkesworths, the Shanns, the Darnbroughs, -and other old Bishop Thornton and Ripon families. - -Peacock, in his "_List_," speaks of William Norton as a grandson of -Richard Norton, but, according to Burke's "_Peerage_," he must have been a -great-grandson. The Nortons may have saved the Sawley estate from -forfeiture, somehow or another, or perchance they bought it in afterwards -from some Crown nominee. Francis Norton, the eldest son and heir of old -Richard Norton, fled with his father to the continent. His son was Edmund, -and _his_ son was William Norton, of Sawley, whose descendant was the -first Lord Grantley. - -Gabetis Norton, Esquire, owned Dole Bank, between Markington and Bishop -Thornton, where Miss Lascelles, Miss Butcher, and others of Mary Ward's -followers, lived a semi-conventual life during the reign of Charles II., -previously to their taking up their abode near Micklegate Bar, York.--See -"_Annals of St. Mary's Convent, York_," Edited by H. J. Coleridge, S.J. -(Burns & Oates).--Sir Thomas Gascoigne, of Barnbow, Aberford, was the -benefactor of these ladies, both at Dole Bank and York; Dole Bank probably -at that time belonging to this "fine old English gentleman," who died a -very aged man at the Benedictine Abbey of Lambspring, in Germany, a -voluntary exile for his faith. Dole Bank came to Gabetis Norton, Esquire, -in the eighteenth century, from his sister, who was the wife of Colonel -Thornton, of Thornville Royal (now Stourton Castle, near Knaresbrough, the -seat of the Lord Mowbray and Stourton) and of Old Thornville, Little -Cattal, now the property of William Machin, Esq. (Derived from old -title-deeds and writings in the possession of representatives of William -Hawkes, yeoman, of Great Cattal.) Dole Bank, I believe, now belongs to -Captain Greenwood, of Swarcliffe Hall, Birstwith, Nidderdale. During the -early part of the nineteenth century the Darnbroughs rented Dole Bank, the -present tenant being Mr. Atkinson.] - -[Footnote 79:--I think that Thomas Warde may have been born about the -beginning of Elizabeth's reign; for if he were married in 1579, and was, -say, twenty-one years of age at the time of his marriage, this would fix -his birth about the year 1558. Early marriages were characteristic of the -period. Mounteagle, for example, was married before he was eighteen. The -Ripon Registers begin in fairly regular course in 1587, though there are -fragments from 1574, but not earlier. If Christopher Wright, the plotter, -lived in Bondgate, Ripon, and had a child born to him in 1589 (the year -after the Spanish Armada), he must, like Mounteagle, have been married -when about eighteen years of age. These instances should be carefully -noted by students of Shakespeare, inasmuch as they render the poet's -marriage with Anne Hathaway in 1582, when he was little more than eighteen -and a-half years old, less startling.--See Sidney Lee's "_Life of -Shakespeare_," p. 18 (Smith & Elder, 1898). - -I should like also to add that I think there is a great deal in -Halliwell-Phillips' contention as to Shakespeare having made the -"troth-plight."--Concerning the "troth-plight" see Lawrence Vaux's -"_Catechism_," Edited by T. G. Law, with a valuable historical preface -(Chetham Soc).--Shakespeare's "mentor" in the days of his youth was, most -probably, some old Marian Priest, like Vaux, who was a former Warden of -the Collegiate Church at Manchester, and with "the great Allen" and men -like Vivian Haydock--see Gillow's "_Haydock Papers_" (Burns & -Oates)--retained Lancashire in its allegiance to Rome--so that "the -jannock" Lancashire Catholics style their county, "God's County" even unto -this day.] - -[Footnote 80:--The strong and, within due limits, admirable spirit of -"clannishness" that still animates the natives of Yorkshire--a valiant, -adventurous, jovial race, fresh from Dame Nature's hand--is evidenced by -the fact that within a very recent date the Yorkshiremen who have gone up -to the great metropolis, like many another before them, to seek their -livelihood, and maybe their fortune, have formed an association of their -own. This excellent institution for promoting good fellowship among those -hailing from the county of broad acres has for Patron during the present -year, 1901, the Duke of Cornwall and York (now H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, -December, 1901), and that typical Yorkshireman, Viscount Halifax, for -President. The Earl of Crewe, Lord Grantley, Sir Albert K. Rollit, Knt., -M.P., _cum multis aliis_, are members. May it flourish _ad multos annos_!] - -[Footnote 81:--In the Record Office, Chancery Lane, London.] - -[Footnote 82:--The Earl of Northumberland was fined by the Star Chamber -L30,000, ordered to forfeit all offices he held under the Crown, and to be -imprisoned in the Tower for life. He paid L11,000 of the fine; and was -released in 1621. He was the son of Henry Percy eighth Earl of -Northumberland, and nephew of "the Blessed" Thomas Percy seventh Earl of -Northumberland, and of Mary Slingsby, the wife of Francis Slingsby, of -Scriven, near Knaresbrough. Although the Earl of Northumberland that was -Star-Chambered was by his own declaration no papist, he was looked up to -by the English Roman Catholics as their natural leader. His kinship with -the conspirator, Thomas Percy, alone is usually thought to have involved -the Earl in this trouble; but probably the inner circle of the Government -knew more than they thought it policy to publish. "Simple truth," -moreover, was not this Government's "utmost skill." - -Lord Montague compounded for a fine of L4,000. Guy Fawkes, for a time, was -a member of this peer's household.--See "_Calendar of State Papers, James -I._" - -Lord Stourton compounded for L1,000. - -Lord Mordaunt's fine was remitted after his death, which took place in -1608. Robert Keyes and his wife were members of this peer's -household.--See "_Calendar of State Papers, James I._" - -These three noblemen were absent from Parliament on the 5th of November, -no doubt having received a hint so to do from the conspirators. This fact -of absence the Government construed into a charge of Concealment of -Treason and Contempt in not obeying the King's Summons to Parliament.--See -Jardine's "_Narrative_," pp. 159-164. - -The Gascoignes, through whom the Earl of Northumberland and the Wardes -were connected, belonged to the same family as the famous Chief Justice of -Henry IV., who committed to prison Henry V., when "Harry Prince of -Wales."--See Shakespeare's "King Henry IV." and "King Henry V." - -The Gascoignes were a celebrated Yorkshire family, their seats being -Gawthorpe, Barnbow, and Parlington, in the West Riding. They were strongly -attached to their hereditary faith, and suffered much for it, from the -infliction of heavy fines. Like Lord William Howard, the Inglebies, of -Lawkland, near Bentham, the Plumptons, of Plumpton, near Knaresbrough, and -the Fairfaxes, of Gilling, near Ampleforth, the Gascoignes were greatly -attached to the ancient Benedictine Order, which took such remarkable root -in England through St. Gregory the Great, St. Augustine, and his forty -missionaries, all of whom were Benedictines.--See Taunton's "_The English -Black Monks of St. Benedict_" (Methuen & Co.); also Dr. Gasquet's standard -work on "_English Monasteries_" (John Hodges). - -It may be, perhaps, gratifying to the historic feeling of my readers to -learn that the influence of these old Yorkshire Roman Catholic families, -the Gascoignes, the Inglebies, and the Plumptons, is still felt at Bentham -and in the old Benedictine Missions of Aberford, near Barnbow, and of -Knaresbrough, near picturesque Plumpton, notwithstanding that the places -which once so well knew the Gascoignes and the Plumptons now know them no -more. The present gallant Colonel Gascoigne, of Parlington, I believe, is -not himself descended from the Roman Catholic Gascoignes in the direct -male line of descent; the Inglebies, of Lawkland, recently died out; and -the Plumptons to-day are not even represented in name. - -The stately Benedictine Abbey of St. Lawrence, Ampleforth, in the Vale of -Mowbray, will long perpetuate the memory of the Fairfaxes, of Gilling; H. -C. Fairfax-Cholmeley, Esquire, J.P., of Brandsby Hall, now represents this -ancient family.] - -[Footnote 83:--See "_Condition of Catholics under James I._," by the Rev. -John Morris, S.J., pp. 256, 257 (Longmans). The charge of complicity was -based on an alleged reception of Father John Gerard, S.J. (the friend of -Sir Everard Digby, and author of the contemporary Narrative of the Plot), -by Sir John Yorke at Gowthwaite Hall, after the Gunpowder Treason. Gerard -left England in 1606, and there is no evidence whatever that he had -anything to do with the Plot. I do not know, for certain, how Sir John -Yorke fared as to the upshot of his prosecution. But I strongly suspect -that the tradition that obtains among the dalesmen of Nidderdale to the -effect that the Yorkes, of Gowthwaite (or Goulthwaite, as it is styled in -the Valley), were once heavily fined by the Star Chamber for acting in the -great Chamber of Gowthwaite a political play, wherein the Protestant -actors were worsted by the Catholic actors, sprang from these proceedings -against Sir John Yorke anent the Gunpowder Plot. For long years after the -reign of James I., the Yorkes, like the Inglebies their relatives, were -rigid Catholics. This ancient and honourable family of Yorke is still in -existence, being represented by T. E. Yorke, Esquire, J.P., of Bewerley -Hall, Pateley Bridge. The old home of the Yorkes, Gowthwaite Hall, where -doubtless many priests were harboured "in the days of persecution," is -about to be pulled down to make way for the Bradford Reservoir. I visited, -about 1890, the charming old Hall built of grey stone, with mullioned -windows. A description of this historic memorial of the days of Queen -Elizabeth and James I. is to be seen in "_Nidderdale_," by H. Speight, p. -468 (Elliot Stock); also in Fletcher's "_Picturesque Yorkshire_" (Dent & -Co.), which latter work contains a picture of the place, a structure "rich -with the spoils of time," but, alas! destined soon to be "now no more." - -Ripley Castle, the home of the Inglebies, at the entrance to Nidderdale -(truly the Switzerland of England), still rears its ancient towers, and -still is the roof-tree of those who worthily bear an honoured historic -name for ever "to historic memory dear." - -"_From Eden Vale to the Plains of York_," by Edmund Bogg, contains -sketches of both Ripley Castle and Gowthwaite Hall. Lucas's "_Nidderdale_" -(Elliot Stock) is also well worth consulting for its account of the -dialect of this part of Yorkshire which, like the West Riding generally, -retains strong Cymric traces. There are also British characteristics in -the build and personal appearance of the people, as also in their -marvellous gift of song. The Leeds Musical Festival and its Chorus, for -example, are renowned throughout the whole musical world.] - -[Footnote 84:--It is, moreover, possible that Mounteagle may have met his -connection, and probably kinsman, Thomas Warde, at White Webbs, about the -year 1602. Mounteagle, at that time, like the Earl of Southampton and the -Earl of Rutland, was not allowed to attend Elizabeth's Court on account of -his share in the Essex tumult. He was, in fact, then mixed up with the -schemes of Father Robert Parsons' then-expiring Spanish faction among the -English Catholics. If a certain Thomas Grey, to whom Garnet at White Webbs -showed the papal breves (which the latter burnt in 1603, on James I. being -proclaimed King by applause), were the same person as Sir Thomas Gray, he -would be, most probably, a relative of Thomas Warde. For the Wardes, of -Mulwith, certainly were related to a Sir Thomas Gray.--See "_Life of Mary -Ward_," vol. i., p. 221, where it is said that, "through the Nevilles and -Gascoignes," the Wards were related to the families of Sir Ralph and Sir -Thomas Gray.[A] - -As to father Garnet showing the breves to Thomas Grey, see Foley's -"_Records_," vol. iv., p. 159, where it says:--Garnet "confesseth that in -the Queen's lifetyme he received two Breefs (one was addressed by the Pope -to the English clergy, the other to the laity) concerning the succession, -and immediately upon the receipt thereof, be shewed them to Mr. Catesby -and Thomas Winter, then being at White Webbs; whereof they seemed to be -very glad and showed it (_sic_) also unto Thomas Grey at White Webbs -before one of his journies into Scotland in the late Queen's tyme." - -It will be remembered that Thomas Percy, who married Martha Wright, Ursula -Warde's sister, was one of those who waited upon James VI. of Scotland -before Elizabeth's death, in order to obtain from him a promise of -toleration for the unhappy Catholics. James, the English Catholics -declared, did then promise toleration, and they considered that they had -been tricked by the "weasel Scot." Fonblanque, in his "_Annals of the -House of Percy_," vol. ii., p. 254 (Clay & Sons), thinks that Percy was a -man of action rather than of words, and that the reason he entered into -the Plot was that he was stung by the reproaches of the disappointed -Catholics, whom he had given to understand James intended to tolerate, and -that his vanity (or rather, I should say, self-love) was likewise wounded -at the recollection of the proved fruitlessness of his mission or missions -into Scotland. I think this is a very likely explanation. For, according -to "Winter's Confession"--see Gardiner's "_Gunpowder Plot_" (Longmans), -and Gerard's three recent works (Osgood & Co. and Harper Bros.)--Thomas -Percy seems to have shown a stupendous determination "to see the Plot -through," a fact which I have always been very much struck with. But if, -in addition to other motives, Percy had the incentive of "injured pride," -we have an explanation of his extraordinarily ferocious anger and spirit -of revenge. For well does the Latin poet of "the tale of Troy divine" -insist with emphasis on the fact that it was "the _despised_ -beauty"--"_spretaeque_ injuria _formae_"--of Juno, the goddess, that spurred -her to such deathless hatred against the ill-starred house of Priam. What -a knowledge of the springs of human action does not this portray!] - -[Footnote A: Were Sir Ralph and Sir Thomas Gray of the Grays (or Greys), -of Chillingham, Northumberland? It may be remarked that, about the year -1597-98, Marmaduke Ward and his wife and some of his family went to live -in Northumberland, maybe at Alnwick; and as Thomas Percy was connected -with Marmaduke Ward, it is at least possible that Marmaduke Ward went -himself into Scotland on the mission to King James VI. in the company of -his brother-in-law, Thomas Percy. - -But the Wards may have gone to Chillingham about 1597-9, and not to -Alnwick. Sir Thomas Gray, of Chillingham, married Lady Catherine Neville, -one of the four daughters of Charles Neville sixth Earl of Westmoreland, -whose wife was Lady Jane Howard, daughter of Henry Howard Earl of Surrey. -Lady Margaret Neville was married to Sir Nicholas Pudsey, of -Bolton-in-Bowland, Yorkshire, I think. Lady Anne Neville was married to -David Ingleby, of Ripley, a cousin of Marmaduke Ward and of Ursula Wright. -Lady Margaret Neville conformed to the Establishment, but afterwards, I -believe, the lady relapsed to popery.--See the "_Hutton Correspondence_" -(Surtees Soc.), and "_Sir Ralph Sadler's Papers_," Edited by Sir Walter -Scott.] - -[Footnote 85:--Interesting evidence of the connection of Mounteagle with -not only these great northern families of Preston and Leybourne (whose -places that once so well knew them now know them no more), but also with -the Lords Dacres of the North and with the Earls of Arundel, is contained -in Stockdale's book on the beautiful and historic Parish of Cartmel, on -the west coast of Lancashire, "North of the Sands."--See Stockdale's -"_Annales Caermoelenses_," p. 410, a work, I believe, now out of -print.--Stockdale says that in the old Holker Hall (which seems to have -been built by George Preston, in the reign of James I.), in the Parish of -Cartmel, there was over the mantel-piece in the entrance-hall an -elaborately ornamented oak-wood carving, on which were displayed, in -alto-relievo, twelve coats-of-arms, namely:--Those of (1) King James I., -with the lion and unicorn as supporters. (2) The Preston family, younger -branch; from whom, through an heiress, the Dukes of Devonshire to-day own -the Holker estates. The younger branch of the Prestons, viz., those of -Holker, were probably Schismatic Catholics, or "Church-papists," for some -time, but gradually they conformed entirely to the Established Church. The -elder branch of the Prestons, namely, the Prestons, of the Manor Furness, -were strict Roman Catholics. Margaret Preston was married to Sir Francis -Howard, of Corby, third son of Lord William Howard, of Naworth. The last -of the Prestons, of the Manor, was Sir Thomas Preston, Bart., who, in -1674, became a Jesuit at the age of thirty-two.--See Foley's "_Records_," -vol. iv., p. 534, and vol. v., p. 358.--Sir Thomas Preston, S.J., had been -twice married, but had him surviving only two daughters, whom he amply -provided for, and then gave his Furness estates to the Society he had -joined. A subsequent Act of Parliament, however, defeated his intention -almost entirely. (3) Arundel impaling Dacre; Philip Howard Earl of Arundel -having married Anne Dacre, or Dacres, daughter of Thomas Lord Dacres of -the North. (4) Howard impaling Dacre; Lord William Howard having married -Elizabeth Dacre, or Dacres, sister to Anne Dacres Countess of Arundel and -Surrey. Through Elizabeth Howard, the Earls of Carlisle have the Naworth -Castle and Hinderskelfe (or Castle Howard) estates. (5) Morley impaling -Stanley; Edward Parker Lord Morley having married, in the reign of Queen -Elizabeth, Elizabeth Stanley, only daughter of Lord Mounteagle, of Hornby -Castle, Lancashire (these were the parents of Lord Mounteagle, who married -Elizabeth Tresham). (6) Dacre impaling Leybourne, of Cunswick, near -Kendal; Thomas Lord Dacre having married Elizabeth Leybourne, daughter of -Sir James Leybourne, of Cunswick. (7) Stanley impaling Leybourne; William -Stanley third Lord Mounteagle, of Hornby Castle, having married Anne -Leybourne, sister to Elizabeth Lady Dacre. (8) Leybourne impaling Preston; -Ellen (Stockdale by mistake says Eleanor), daughter of Sir Thomas Preston, -of Westmoreland and Lancashire, having married Sir James Leybourne, of -Cunswick; this lady afterwards married Thomas Stanley second Lord -Mounteagle, the father of her son-in-law, William Stanley third Lord -Mounteagle, who married her daughter, Anne Leybourne, and who was the -grandfather of Lord Mounteagle, who married Elizabeth Tresham. (9) -Cavendish impaling Keighley; William Cavendish first Earl of Devonshire -having married Anne Keighley, daughter of Sir Henry Keighley, of Keighley, -Yorks. (10) Keighley impaling Carus; Henry Keighley, of Keighley, having -married Mary Carus, daughter of Sir Thomas Carus, of Kirkby Lonsdale. (11) -Carus impaling Preston; Sir Thomas Carus, of Kirkby Lonsdale, having -married Catherine Preston, daughter of Sir Thomas Preston, about the reign -of Philip and Mary. (12) Middleton impaling Carus; Edward Middleton, of -Middleton Hall (who died in 1599), having married Mary, daughter of Sir -Thomas Carus, of Kirkby Lonsdale.[A] - -Fittingly does that great master of English, Frederic Harrison, quote -approvingly, in his charming book, "_Annals of an Old Manor House_" -(_i.e._, Sutton Place, Guildford, the home of the Westons, and the -dwelling, for a time, of the above-mentioned Anne Dacres Countess of -Arundel and Surrey--that queenly Elizabethan woman), the words of a -historian-friend of his: "Sink a shaft, as it were, in some chosen spot in -the annals of England, and you will come upon much that is never found in -the books of general history." The late Robert Steggall, of Lewes, wrote a -fine poem in blank verse on "the Venerable" Philip Howard Earl of Arundel -and Surrey, the husband of Anne Dacres. It appeared in "_The Month_" some -years ago.] - -[Footnote A: The arms of Lord Mounteagle were az., between two bars, sa., -charged with three bezants, a lion passant, gu., in chief three bucks' -heads caboshed of the second. - -The title Morley and Mounteagle is now in abeyance--see Burke's "_Extinct -Peerages_"--since the year 1686, the reign of James II. - -The last Lord Morley and Mounteagle died without issue. The issue of two -aunts of the deceased baron were his representatives. One aunt was -Katherine, who married John Savage second Earl of Rivers, and had issue; -the other aunt was Elizabeth, who married Edward Cranfield. - -The present Earl of Morley, Chairman of Committees of the House of Lords, -though a Parker, is of the Parkers of Devonshire, a different family from -the Parkers of Essex.] - -[Footnote 86:--The beautiful and pathetic "Lament," so well known to -Scotsmen under the title of "The Flowers of the Forest," was penned to -express "the lamentation, mourning, and woe" that filled the historic land -of "mountain and of flood," on the tidings reaching "brave, bonnie -Scotland" of the "woeful fight" of Flodden Field. At the funeral of that -gallant soldier and fine Scotsman, the late General Wauchope, of the -Regiment known as the Black Watch, the pipers played this plaintive air, -"The Flowers of the Forest." Who does not hope that those funereal strains -may be prophetic that, through the power of far-sighted wisdom, human -sympathy, and the healing hand of Time, there may be a reconciliation as -real and deep and true betwixt England's kinsman-foe of to-day and herself -as there is betwixt herself and her kinsman-foe of the year 1513--the year -of Flodden Field! - -See also Professor Aytoun's "Edinburgh after Flodden," in his "_Lays of -the Scottish Cavaliers_" (Routledge & Sons); also, of course, Sir Walter -Scott's well-known "Marmion."] - -[Footnote 87:--It should be remembered that Baines says that Nichols, in -his "_Progresses of James I._," describes Hornby Castle in Yorkshire, by -mistake, for the one in Lancashire. - -The sunny, balmy, health-giving watering-place of Grange-over-Sands, built -at the foot of Yewbarrow, a pine-clad, hazel-loving fell, "by Kent -sand-side," is in the ancient Parish of Cartmel; and, in connection with -the family of Lord Mounteagle, the following will be read with interest by -those who are privileged to know that golden land of the westering sun, -the paradise of the weak of chest. - -About three miles from the Grange--so called because here was formerly a -Grange, or House, for the storing of grain by the Friars, or black Canons, -of the Augustinian Priory at Cartmel--is the square Peel Tower known as -Wraysholme Tower. In the windows of the old tower were formerly arms and -crests of the Harrington and Stanley families. A few miles to the west of -Cartmel were Adlingham and Gleaston, ancient possessions of the -Harringtons, which likewise became a portion of the Mounteagles' Hornby -Castle estates. All this portion of the north of England abounded in -adherents of the ancient faith up to about the time of the Gunpowder Plot. -The Duke of Guise had planned that the Spanish Armada should disembark at -the large and commodious port of the Pile of Fouldrey, in the Parish of -Dalton-in-Furness, "North of the Sands." This rock of the Pile of -Fouldrey, from which the port took its name, was not only near Adlingham -and Gleaston, but also near the Manor Furness, the seat of the elder -branch of the Prestons, from whom Mounteagle, on his mother's side, was -descended.[A]] - -[Footnote A: William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle's great-great-uncle, -James Leybourne (or Labourn), of Cunswick and Skelsmergh, in the County of -Westmoreland, was hanged, drawn, and quartered by Queen Elizabeth, in the -year 1583.--See "_The Acts of the English Martyrs_," by the Rev. J. H. -Pollen, S.J. (Burns & Oates).--James Leybourne is not reckoned "a Catholic -martyr" by Challoner, because he denied that Elizabeth was "his lawful -Queen." There has been a doubt as to where this gentleman suffered "a -traitor's death." Baines says that he was executed at Lancaster, that his -head was exposed on Manchester Church steeple, and that prior to his -execution Leybourne was imprisoned in the New Fleet, Manchester. This is -probably a correct statement of the case. Burke, however, in his "_Tudor -Portraits_" (Hodges, London), says that Leybourne was executed at Preston. -Though a minute point, it would be interesting to know what the truth of -the matter is. - -There is a marble tablet on the north wall of the east end of the fine old -Parish Church of Kendal, to the memory of John Leybourne, Esquire, the -last of his race, and formerly owners of Cunswick, Skelsmergh, and -Witherslack Halls. The tablet bears the arms of the Leybournes, and shows -that the last male representative of this ancient Westmoreland family died -on the 9th December, 1737, aged sixty-nine years, evidently reconciled to -the faith of his ancestors.] - -[Footnote 88:--The exact relationship of Marmaduke Ward and Thomas Warde -to Sir Christopher Ward has been not yet traced out. Sir Christopher Ward -was the last of the Wards in the direct line. He died in the year 1521, -but left no male heir. His eldest daughter, Anne, married Francis Neville, -of Thornton Bridge, in the Parish of Brafferton, near Boroughbridge; his -second daughter, Johanna, married Edward Musgrave, of Westmoreland; and -his third daughter, Margaret, married John Lawrence, of Barley Court -(probably near St. Dennis' Church), York. A grand-daughter married a -Francis Neville, of Holt, in Leicestershire.--But see the "_Plumpton -Correspondence_" (Camden Soc.). - -I find that, along with Thomas Hallat, one Edmund Ward was Wakeman (or -Mayor) of Ripon, in 1524. He is described as "Gentleman." He may have been -the grandfather, or even possibly the father, of Marmaduke and Thomas -Ward.--Concerning the Ward family down to Sir Christopher Ward, see -Slater's "_Guiseley_," Yorks. (Hamilton Adams), and the "_Life of Mary -Ward_," vol. i., p. 102.--There is still to be found the name Edmund Ward -at Thornton Bridge (June, 1901); possibly of the same family as the Wards -of the sixteenth century; for Christian names run in families for -generations. - -It is, however, possible that the name of the father of Marmaduke and -Thomas Ward may have been Marmaduke. For I find an entry in the Ripon -Registers, under date the 16th December, 1594, of the burial of "Susannay -wife of Marmaduke Wayrde of Newby." (At least, so I read the entry.) When -this Marmaduke died I do not know. Nor, indeed, have I been able to -ascertain when Marmaduke, the father of Mary Ward, died. It is probable -that Marmaduke Ward, the younger, sold the Newby estate prior to 1614. At -what date the Mulwith and Givendale estates were sold, I cannot say. -Possibly R. C. De Grey Vyner, Esquire, of Newby Hall, their present owner, -may know. In vol. iii. of the "_Memorials of Ripon_" (Surtees Soc.) occur -the names of Edmund Ward and Ralph Ward, both as paying dues for lands in -Skelton (p. 333). Also the "Fabric Roll for 1542" (in the same work) has -the name Marmaduke Ward. This would be the husband of Susannay, who died -in 1594, probably. So that, most likely, Marmaduke and Susannay Ward were -the parents of Marmaduke Ward and Thomas Ward, if the latter were -brothers, as it is practically certain they were. - -I am inclined, on the whole, to think that Edmund Ward cannot have been -the father to Marmaduke and Thomas Ward, though he may have been their -grandfather. There is a curious reference to, most probably, this Edmund -Ward, in the "_Plumpton Correspondence_," pp. 185, 186 (Camden Soc.); but -it sheds no light on this question of the parentage of any of the Wards. -From Slater's "_History of Guiseley_" it is evident that a branch of the -Wards settled at Scotton, near Knaresbrough. - -Miss Pullein, of Rotherfield Manor, Sussex, a relative of the Pulleins, of -Scotton, tells me that in the "Subsidy Roll for 1379" the names -occur:--"Johannes Warde et ux ej. ijs. Tho. Warde et ux ej. vjd Johannes -fil. Thomae Warde iiij d." So that the names John and Thomas were -evidently hereditary in the various branches of the Wardes, of Givendale -and Esholt. (18th April, 1901.)] - -[Footnote 89:--From the "_Authorised Discourse_," or "_King's Book_," we -learn that the King returned from Royston on Thursday, the 31st day of -October; that on Friday, All Hallows Day, Salisbury showed James the -Letter in the "gallerie" of the palace at Whitehall. On the following day, -Saturday, the 2nd of November, Salisbury and the Earl of Suffolk, the Lord -Chamberlain, saw the King in the same "gallerie," when it was arranged -that the Chamberlain should view all the Parliament Houses both above and -below. This "viewing" or "perusing" of the vault or cellar under the House -of Lords took place on the following Monday afternoon by Suffolk and -Mounteagle, when they saw Fawkes, who styled himself "John Johnson," -servant to Thomas Percy, who had hired the house adjoining the Parliament -House and the aforesaid cellar also. - -Now, Mounteagle, almost certainly, must have known that there would be -this second conference with the King, on this Saturday, and from what -Mounteagle (_ex hypothesi_) had said to Tresham about "the mine," Tresham -would have concluded that what Mounteagle knew, Salisbury would be soon -made to know, and, through Salisbury's speeches, the King. My opinion is -that Mounteagle _saw_ and _spoke_ to Tresham _between_ the conference of -the King, Suffolk, and Salisbury (Mounteagle being made acquainted with, -by either Suffolk or Salisbury, if he were not actually an auditor of, all -that had passed), _and_ the meeting with Winter in Lincoln's Inn Walks, on -the night of that same Saturday, November the 2nd.] - -[Footnote 90:--See "_Winter's Confession_," Gardiner, pp. 67 and 68. - -This meeting on the Saturday was behind St. Clement's. At this meeting -Christopher Wright was present. Query--What did he say? And in whose -Declaration or Confession is it contained? If in one of Fawkes', then -which? Possibly it may have been at this meeting that Christopher Wright -recommended the conspirators to take flight in different directions. It is -observable that, so far as I am aware, Christopher Wright and John Wright -do not appear to have expressed a wish that any particular nobleman should -be warned, except Arundel. Whereas Fawkes wished Montague; Percy, -Northumberland; Keyes, Mordaunt; Tresham was "exceeding earnest" for -Stourton and Mounteagle; whilst all wished Lord Arundel to be advertised. -Arundel was created Earl of Norfolk by Charles I. in 1644. - -(Since writing the above, I have ascertained that there is no report in -any of Guy Fawkes' Confessions of this statement of Christopher Wright, -nor in his written "Confessions" does Fawkes refer to his own mother.)] - -[Footnote 91:--"_Labile tempus_"--the motto inscribed over the entrance of -the fine old Elizabethan mansion-house situate at Heslington, near York, -the seat of the Lord Deramore, formerly belonging to a member of the great -Lancashire family of Hesketh, of Mains Hall, Poulton-in-the-Fylde, and -Rufford. Edmund Neville, one of the suitors of Mary Ward, was brought up -with the Heskeths, of Rufford. In 1581 the Mains Hall branch of the -Heskeths harboured Campion.] - -[Footnote 92:--As a fact, the Government did not know of the mine, -according to Dr. Gardiner, even on Thursday, the 7th of November, but -certainly they did know, says Gardiner, by Saturday, the 9th.--See -Gardiner's "_Gunpowder Plot_," p. 31.--Probably the entrance to the mine -was sealed up. No useful purpose would be served by either Mounteagle or -Ward telling the Government about the mine, which then was an "extinct -volcano."] - -[Footnote 93:--The exact words of Lingard are these:--"Winter sought a -second interview with Tresham at his house in Lincoln's Inn Walks, and -returned to Catesby with the following answer: That the existence of the -mine had been communicated to the Ministers. This Tresham said he knew: -but by whom the discovery had been made he knew not." - -Lingard does not give his authority, but probably he got the material for -this important passage from "_Greenway's_ (_vere_ Tesimond's) _MS._" It is -an historical desideratum that this MS. should be published. Mounteagle, -conceivably, may have falsely told Tresham that the Government already -knew of the mine, in order to alarm him the more effectually; but, most -probably, it was an inference that Tresham himself erroneously drew from -Mounteagle's words, whatever may have been their precise nature. -Mounteagle possibly said something about "the mine," and that the -Parliament Houses would be with minuteness searched far and near. This -would be quite sufficient to inflame the already heated imagination of -Tresham, and he would readily enough leap forth to the conclusion that the -"mine" must be for certain known to the Government. - -One can almost feel the heart-beats of the distraught Tresham as one reads -the relation of his second interview with Winter. Then from the pulsations -of _one_ human heart, O, Earth's governors and ye governed, learn _all_. -For the study of true History is big with mighty lessons and "he that hath -ears let him hear." Let him hear that Truth and Right, although each is, -in its essential nature, a simple unity, and _therefore_ imperially -exclusive in its claims, and _therefore_ intolerant of plurality, of -multiplicity, of diversity, yet that each of these high attributes of the -eternal and the ideal is the mistress not only of man's god-like -intellect, but also of his heart and will. And _these_ two faculties are -likewise of divine original and have severally a voice which perpetually -bids man, poor wounded man, "be pitiful, be courteous" to his fellows. For -human life at best is "hard," is "brief," and "piercing are its sorrows."] - -[Footnote 94:--The meeting between Catesby, Winter, and Tresham, at -Barnet, on the road to White Webbs, was on Friday, the 1st of November, -the day the Letter was shown to the King.] - -[Footnote 95:--Or, Mounteagle may have thought that, as it would be -meritorious in Percy supposing he had sent the Letter, he (Mounteagle) -would expressly, in the hearing of Suffolk, give Percy the benefit of the -doubt; since it might stand his old friend in good stead hereafter if -Percy were involved in the meshes of the law for the part that, I hold, -Mounteagle _by_ Christopher Wright _through_ Thomas Warde then _knew_ for -a fact, Percy, and indeed all his confederates, had taken in the nefarious -enterprise. Such a train of thought may have flashed through Mounteagle's -brain well-nigh instantaneously; for what is quicker than thought? I -suspect, moreover, that Mounteagle conjectured that the Letter was from -one of Warde's and his own connections: for Percy, as well as the Wrights, -would be a connection of Mounteagle, through the Stanleys, Percies, -Gascoignes, Nortons, Nevilles, and Wardes, who were all more or less -allied by marriages entered into within the last few generations. Percy -would be about Thomas Warde's own age (forty-six). - -I do not, however, think that Mounteagle knew for certain who was the -revealing conspirator; and his lordship would not want to know either. -Besides, I hold that Warde would be too good a diplomatist and too -faithful a servant to suffer his master to know, even if he had wanted. -"Say 'little' is a bonnie word," would be a portion of the diplomatic -wisdom that Warde would carry with him up to the great metropolis from his -"native heather" of Yorkshire.] - -[Footnote 96:--Ben Jonson was "reconciled" to the Church of Rome either in -1593 or 1594. After, and probably on account of, the Plot he left the -Church, whose "exacting claims" he had "on trust" accepted. Possibly it -was under the influence of Jonson's example that Mounteagle wrote the -letter to the King, given in the Rev. John Gerard's "_What was the -Gunpowder Plot?_" p. 256. Mounteagle, however, died in the Church of Rome, -and the Article in the "_National Dictionary of Biography_" says that he -had a daughter a nun. Belike, she was a member of the Institute of "The -English Virgins," for the name "Parker" is mentioned in Chambers' "_Life -of Mary Ward_."[A] There has been recently (1900) published a smaller -"_Life of Mary Ward_," by M. Mary Salome (Burns & Oates), with a Preface -by Bishop Hedley, O.S.B., which should be read by those not desirous of -possessing the more costly work by Mary Catharine Elizabeth Chambers, in 2 -vols. (Burns & Oates), with a Preface by the late Henry James Coleridge, -S.J. (brother to the late Lord Coleridge). May I express the hope that -these two learned authoresses will cause the Ward Papers, at Nymphenburg, -near Munich, in Germany (that are extant), to be carefully examined afresh -to see if they contain anything about Thomas Warde, Mary's uncle, and -anything further about her connection, through the Throckmortons and -Nevilles, the Lord Mounteagle? By so doing, they will cause to be obliged -to them all serious students of the Gunpowder Plot, which is of perennial -interest and value to human beings, whether governors or governed, by -reason of the intellectual, moral, and political lessons that with the -truest eloquence--the eloquence of Fact--it teaches mankind for all time.] - -[Footnote A: Whilst it is possible that the "Parker" mentioned in the -"_Life of Mary Ward_" was one of Lord Mounteagle's daughters, I find, from -a statement in Foley's "_Records_," vol. v. (by a contemporary hand, I -think), that "Lord Morley and Mounteagle," as he is styled, had a daughter -who was "crooked," and who was an Augustinian nun. Her name was Sister -Frances Parker. Her father is said to have given his consent to this -daughter becoming a nun "after much ado." Lady Morley and Mounteagle, a -strict papist, brought up the children Roman Catholics.--See Foley's -"_Records_," vol. v., p. 973.--The same writer is of opinion that -Mounteagle was not a Roman Catholic. Evidently he was a very lax one, and -between the Plot and the time of his death he probably conformed to the -Establishment.] - -[Footnote 97:--Born Lord Thomas Howard, brother to Lord William Howard, of -Naworth, near Carlisle.--For an interesting account of the Tudor Howards, -see Burke's "_Tudor Portraits_" (Hodges); also Lodge's "_Portraits_," and -"_Memorials of the House of Howard_."] - -[Footnote 98:--Did Mounteagle likewise behold Fawkes? If so, his -self-command apparently was extraordinary; for, almost certainly, -Mounteagle must have met Fawkes at White Webbs, if not at the Lord -Montague's and elsewhere. Fawkes was so strict and regular in his habits -and deportment that he was thought to be a priest or a Jesuit (I suppose, -a Jesuit lay-brother). That Tesimond should think that part of the -"_King's Book_" fabulous which describes this "perusing of the vault" and -finding of Fawkes, is just what I should expect Tesimond, erroneously, -would think; inasmuch as this particular Jesuit would naturally enough -consider it to be simply incredible that Mounteagle should not have -displayed some outward token, however slight, of recognising Fawkes, who -would be sure to carry with him his characteristic air of calm and high -distinction, even amid "the wood and coale" of his "master" Thomas Percy. -But Tesimond did not know what a perfect tutoring Mounteagle had received -from his mentor to qualify him to play so well his part in life at this -supreme juncture. Thomas Ward was evidently a consummate diplomatist. If -he had been trained under Walsingham he would certainly "know a thing or -two."] - -[Footnote 99:--It is to be remembered that, for the first time, the powder -was found by Knevet and his men about midnight of Monday, the 4th of -November. Previous to, possibly, late in the day of the 4th of November, I -do not think that Salisbury and Suffolk knew any more about the existence -of this powder than "the man in the moon." Such ignorance on their part -redounded to their great discredit, and would be, doubtless, duly noted by -the small and timid, yet sharp, mind of James. But the Country's -confidence in the Government had to be maintained at all costs; hence the -comical, side-glance, slantingdicular, ninny-pinny way in which the -"_King's Book_," for the most part, is drawn up. A re-publication of the -"_King's Book_," and of "_The Fawkeses, of York_," by R. Davies, sometime -Town Clerk of York (Nichols, 1850), are desiderata to the historical -student of the Gunpowder Plot. - -I readily allow that it is difficult to believe that neither Salisbury, -nor Suffolk, nor anybody (not even a bird-like-eyed Dame Quickly of -busy-bodying propensities residing in the neighbourhood) knew of this -powder, which had been (at least some of it) in Percy's house and an -outhouse adjoining the Parliament House. Still, even if they did know -(whether statesmen or housewife) of the _Gunpowder_, it does not follow, -either in fact or in logic, that they knew of the _Gunpowder Plot_. For -they might reasonably enough conclude that the ammunition was to carry out -"the practice for some stir" which Salisbury admits that he knew the -recusants had in hand at that Parliament.--See "_Winwood's Memorials_," -Ed. 1725, vol. ii., p. 72.--Moreover, for such a purpose, in the natural -order of things, I take it, the powder would be brought in first, then the -shot, muskets, armour, swords, daggers, pikes, crossbows, arrows, and -other ordnance. (_The barrels, empty or nearly so, would be carried in -first._) - -Sir Thomas Knevet, of Norfolk, was created Baron Knevett, of Escrick, near -York, in 1607. He died without male issue. He went to the Parliament House -on the night of November 4th, 1605, as a Justice of the Peace for -Westminster.--See Nichols' "_Progresses of James I._," vol. i., p. -582.--Escrick is now the seat of the Lord Wenlock.] - -[Footnote 100:--"_Hatfield MS._," 110, 30. Quoted in "the Rev. J. H. -Pollen's S.J., thoughtful and learned booklet, entitled "_Father Garnet -and the Gunpowder Plot_" (Catholic Truth Society's publication, London).] - -[Footnote 101:--See Jardine's Letter to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., F.R.S., -Feb., 1841, in "_Archaeologia_," vol. xxix., p. 100. This letter should be -carefully read by every serious student of the Plot.] - -[Footnote 102:--Sir William Stanley, of Hooton (in that strip of Cheshire -between the Mersey and the Dee), was not seen by Fawkes between Easter and -the end of August, 1605, when Fawkes went over to Flanders for the last -time in his career so adventurous and so pathetic. Sir William knew -nothing of the Gunpowder Plot. It was said that he surrendered Deventer in -pursuance of the counsel of Captain Roland Yorke, who to the Spaniards had -himself surrendered Zutphen Sconce. These surrenders to the Spaniards on -the part of two English gentlemen were strange pieces of business, and one -would like the whole question to be thoroughly and severely searched into -again. As to Roland Yorke, see Camden's "_Queen Elizabeth_." - -Captain Roland Yorke, like his patron Sir William Stanley, was an able -soldier. He held a position of command in the Battle of Zutphen, in which -the Bayard of English chivalry, Sir Philip Sidney, received his death -wound.--See the "_Earl of Leicester's Correspondence_" (Camden -Soc.).--Sidney's widow (the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham) afterwards -married Robert second Earl of Essex. She became a Roman Catholic, like her -kinsman, the gifted and engaging Father Walsingham, S.J. Frances -Walsingham, the only child of Sir Francis Walsingham, became a Catholic, I -think, through her third marriage with Richard De Burgh fourth Earl of -Clanricarde, afterwards Earl of St. Albans. He was also known as Richard -of Kinsale and Lord Dunkellin. He was an intimate friend of the Earl of -Essex and of Father Gerard, S.J., the friend of Mary Ward. - -It would be interesting if Major Hume, or some other authority on the -reign of Queen Elizabeth, could ascertain whether or not there was a -_Thomas Warde_ in the diplomatic service during the "Eighties" of her -reign. Certainly there was a Thomas Warde in the service of the Government -then. I am almost sure that the "Mr. Warde" mentioned by Walsingham, in -his letter to the Earl of Leicester, must have been this Thomas Warde, and -one and the same man with Thomas Warde, of Mulwaith (or Mulwith). It is to -be remembered, too, that the Gunpowder conspirator, Thomas Winter, had -served in the Queen's forces against the Spanish King for a time. The -names Rowland Yorke, Thomas Vavasour, Sir Thomas Heneage, and Thomas -Winter are very suggestive of the circle in which a Warde, of Mulwith, -Newby, and Givendale, would move. Besides, there was a family connection -between the Parkers, Poyntzes, and Heneages.--See "_Visitation of Essex, -1612_" (Harleian Soc.), under "Poyntz." - -Moreover, it must be continually borne in mind that Father Tesimond (alias -Greenway), in his hitherto unprinted MS., declares that Mounteagle was -related to some of the plotters. "_Greenway's MS._," according to -Jardine's "_Narrative_," p. 92, also says that Thomas Ward was an intimate -friend of several of the conspirators, and _suspected_ to have been an -accomplice in the treason. That would imply that Ward was suspected to -have had at least a _knowledge_ of the treason.] - -[Footnote 103:--Mary Ward, the daughter of Marmaduke Ward and Ursula -Wright, lived with her grandmother, Mrs. Ursula Wright (_nee_ Rudston, of -Hayton, in the East Riding of Yorkshire), between the years 1589-94 at -Plowland (or Plewland) Hall, Holderness, Yorkshire; and between the years -1597-1600 at Harewell Hall, in the township of Dacre, Nidderdale, with her -kinswoman, Mrs. Katerine Ardington (_nee_ Ingleby). Mrs. Ardington, as -well as Mrs. Ursula Wright, had suffered imprisonment for her profession -of the ancient faith. We have a relation by Mary Ward herself of her -grandmother's incarceration, which is as follows:--Mrs. Wright "had in her -younger years suffered imprisonment for the space of fourteen years -together, in which time she several times made profession of her faith -before the President of York (the Earl of Huntingdon) and other officers. -She was once, for her speeches to the said Huntingdon, tending to the -exaltation of the Catholic religion and contempt of heresy, thrust into a -common prison or dungeon, amongst thieves, where she stayed not long -because, being much spoken of, it came to the hearing of her kindred, who -procured her speedy removal to the Castle prison where she was -before."--See Chambers' "_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 13. - -This common prison or dungeon would be, it is all but certain, the -Kidcote, the common prison for the City of York and that portion of -Yorkshire between the Rivers Wharfe and Ouse known as the Ainsty of the -City of York. This dungeon was, according to Gent's "_History of York_," -under the York City Council Chamber on Old Ouse Bridge, to the westward of -St. William's Chapel.--See also J. B. Milburn's "_A Martyr of Old York_" -(Burns & Oates).--The Old Ouse Bridge was pulled down in 1810.--See -Allen's "_History of Yorkshire_"--After the Kidcote was demolished, the -York City prison called the Gaol, likewise now demolished (1901), was -built on Bishophill, near the Old Bailie Hill. The prison for the County -of Yorkshire was the Castle built by William the Conqueror, the tower of -which, called Clifford's Tower, on an artificial mound, is still standing. -There was, moreover, in York, a third prison into which the unhappy popish -recusants, as appears from Morris's "_Troubles_" were sometimes consigned. -This was the Bishop's prison, commonly called Peter Prison. The writer is -told by Mr. William Camidge, a York antiquary of note, that Peter Prison -stood at the corner of Precentor's Court, Petergate, near to the west -front of the Minster. Mr. Camidge remembers Peter Prison being used as a -City lock-up prison about the year 1836, soon after which year it was -pulled down. The late Mr. Richard Haughton, of York, showed the writer, -about Easter, 1899, a sketch of this interesting old prison, a sketch -which Mr. Haughton had himself made. The building was a plain square -erection, the door of which was reached by a flight of stone steps. - -Again, we are told--"_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 17--that one day -Mary came to her grandmother, "who was singing some hymns," and the child -asked the old lady whether she would not send "something again to the -prisoners," a question, we are told, which "pleased" Mrs. Wright "very -much." - -Lastly, the gifted daughter of Marmaduke Ward, and the niece of Thomas -Ward, bears this striking testimony concerning one aspect of her aged -relative's gracious life, that "so great a prayer was she" that during the -whole five years that the child lived with her grandmother, the most of -which time she lodged in the same chamber, she "did not remember in that -whole five years she ever saw her grandmother sleep, nor did she ever -awake when she perceived her not at prayer" (p. 15).] - -[Footnote 104:--Maybe Christopher Wright, from his earliest school-days, -had with reverence looked up to Edward Oldcorne, for the latter was the -senior of the former by no less than ten years, so that when Oldcorne was -a clever youth of fifteen years Christopher would be a little fellow of -five, "with his satchel and shining morning-face," though we may be -permitted to hope that little Kit Wright did not "creep like snail -unwillingly to school." For it was at a school second to none in England -that the future ill-fated Yorkshireman learned to con his "_hic, haec, -hoc_." It was a school originally founded by Egbert, Archbishop of York, -in the eighth century, and which, as the Cathedral Grammar School, had -been rendered famous by Alcuin himself, the tutor of Charlemagne. It was a -school re-founded and re-endowed in the Horse Fayre, now Union Terrace, on -the left-hand side going down Gillygate, outside Bootham Bar, by King -Philip and Queen Mary, especially for the training of priests for the -northern parts.--See in Leach's "_Endowed Schools of Yorkshire_" for an -account concerning St. Peter's School, Clifton, York, but no register of -scholars of this ancient seat of learning now exists prior to the year -1828. (Title deeds and writings lent by Mrs. Martha Lancaster, of York, -have enabled me to identify the site of the old school.) - -It is, I take it, furthermore possible that Edward Oldcorne may have -taught Christopher Wright; and if the relation of pedagogue and scholar -ever subsisted between them, a bond of mutual regard would be created -which the lapse of long years would not weaken. For an account of the kind -of education given in a Grammar School in "the spacious days of Good Queen -Bess," see Dr. Elze's "_Life of Shakespeare_" (Bell & Sons), also H. W. -Mabie's very recent and able American "_Life of Shakespeare_" -(Macmillan).] - -[Footnote 105:--"_Surgam, et ibo ad patrem meum, et dicam ei: Pater, -peccavi in caelum et coram te!_" "I will arise."] - -[Footnote 106:--Possibly the Earl of Northumberland. He was (it will be -remembered) the son of Henry the eighth Earl, and nephew to "the Blessed" -Thomas Percy the seventh Earl, and likewise nephew to Mary Slingsby, of -Scriven, Knaresbrough. Sir Kenelin Digby, the eldest son of Sir Everard -Digby, married the beautiful Venetia Stanley, who was descended from "the -Blessed" Thomas Percy. The helmet and gauntlets of this nobleman were kept -at the handsome old Church of St. Crux, in The Pavement, York, which was -pulled down a few years ago. Thomas Longueville, Esquire, of Llanforda -Hall, Oswestry, Salop, through the Lady Venetia Digby, is descended from -"the Blessed" Thomas Percy, as are several other families, including the -Peacocks, of Bottesford Manor, Lincolnshire, I believe. Mr. Longueville is -the learned author of the "_Lives_" of his ancestors, Sir Everard and Sir -Kenelm Digby.] - -[Footnote 107:--We know that on the 5th day of October, two days after the -prorogation of Parliament, Christopher Wright quitted his lodging, in Spur -Alley, where he had been for eighteen days prior to the 5th October.--See -"Evidence of Dorathie Robinson," p. 128 _ante_.] - -[Footnote 108:--John Wright was acknowledged to be one of the most expert -swordsmen of his time. He was commonly known as "Jack Wright," and his -brother as "Kit Wright." Father Garnet says, in a voluntary statement that -he made in the Tower--Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. 157--"'These are -not God's knights, but the devil's knights.' And related how Jack Wright -had sent a challenge by Thomas Winter to a gentleman." The duel, however, -did not come off, though Winter measured swords. Winter appears to have -fulfilled the happy office of peace-maker on the occasion. (What "strange -mixtures" these English and Yorkshire papist gentlemen were, to be sure!)] - -[Footnote 109:--See Article in "_National Dictionary of Biography_" on -"John Wright" (citing Camden in "_Birch Original Letters_") second series, -vol. iii., p. 179.] - -[Footnote 110:--Afterwards the great Viscount Verulam, commonly known as -Lord Bacon. Bacon's particular friend and familiar was Sir Toby Matthews, -the eldest son of Dr. Tobias Matthews, in 1606 created Archbishop of York. -Sir Toby translated Bacon's "_Essays_" into Italian.--See Spedding's -"_Life of Bacon_," and Alban Butler's "_Life of Matthews_."--Sir Toby -Matthews (in the February of 1605-6, just after the Plot) was converted to -popery by Father Robert Parsons, who was then at the English College, -Rome; and Matthews' was, without doubt, the most remarkable and -interesting of all the conversions effected by that strong-minded and most -able Jesuit. Parsons' intellect was one of marvellous range, reach, -versatility, and power. He was a spiritual or mystical man in his way, -too; but his spirituality or mysticism not seldom failed to control his -action in daily life. It was shut up, as it were, in a watertight -compartment. This (_me judice_) sums up, approximately, the truth about -Parsons. Of all the men in Europe, Parsons was the man Burleigh, -Walsingham, and Salisbury most feared. He died in 1610. A really impartial -Life of Parsons, if possible, by a learned lawyer and politician, is a -desideratum. In some of his political ideas this Jesuit was a progressive -born prematurely--"a man before his time." For he believed thoroughly in -the sovereignty of the People, and in the desirableness of universal -education. In this latter respect he resembled "that good lady, Mary -Ward," the daughter of Marmaduke Ward, and niece of Thomas Ward (_ex -hypothesi_). Campion, the Jesuit, who died a martyr in 1581, was much the -more amiable and attractive character. But Campion was no politician. -Oldcorne, I maintain, was the greatest of all the three, because of his -extraordinary mental equipoise and balance. - -"_The History of the Jesuits in England, 1580-1773_," by the Rev. Ethelred -L. Taunton, with twelve illustrations (Methuen & Co., 1901), in some sort -supplies a Life of Robert Parsons. But evidently the Jesuit Society is an -enigma to Father Taunton, as to so many papists. A man must be a jurist -and a statesman to understand the Jesuits. For their aim (_me judice_), -their noble aim, ever has been to make the "Kingdoms of the world the -Kingdoms of God and of His Christ." - -If a delusion, surely a delusion merely, not a crime, the most puissant -spirit among us must allow. - -James Robert Hope-Scott, Q.C., thought that the Jesuits were the backbone -of the Church of his adoption. And Dr. Christopher Wordsworth (no mean -judge) thought that Hope-Scott might have become a more popular Prime -Minister than even W. E. Gladstone, had he chosen a political career. -Wordsworth was Hope-Scott's tutor at Oxford.--See Dr. Christopher -Wordsworth's "_Autobiography_."--He was Bishop of St. Andrews, N.B., and -as a classical scholar almost without a peer.] - -[Footnote 111:--See Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_," vol. ii., p. 166.] - -[Footnote 112:--"_Narrative_" p. 57. As appears from the Lives of Mary -Ward, Father Gerard had known Mary Ward when a child in Yorkshire. Hence -he probably knew her uncles, John and Christopher Wright, and also Thomas -Percy. - -Mary Ward was one of the greatest women-educationists and, in a sense, -women's rights advocates England has ever seen. She ought to figure in the -Supplement to the "_National Dictionary of Biography_." The following -word-portrait of Mary Warde we owe to the skilful hand of her kinswoman, -the gifted Winefrid Wigmore, a cousin once removed to Lady Mounteagle. It -is as Mary Ward, that wonderful Yorkshire-woman, appeared in the year -which witnessed the death of Shakespeare (1616). Perhaps the poet knew -her; if so, no wonder he knew how to describe queenly souls. "She was -rather tall (was Mary), but her figure was symmetrical. Her complexion was -delicately beautiful, her countenance and aspect most agreeable, mingled -with I know not what which was attractive.... Her presence and -conversation were most winning, her manners courteous. It was a general -saying 'She became whatsoever she wore or did.' Her voice in speaking was -very grateful, and in song melodious. In her demeanour and carriage, an -angelic modesty was united to a refined ease and dignity of manner, that -made even princes[A] find great satisfaction, yea, profit, in conversing -with her. Yet, these were withal without the least affectation, and were -accompanied with such meekness and humility as gave confidence to the -poorest and most miserable. There was nothing she did seem to have more -horror of than there should be anything in herself or hers that might put -a bar to the free access of any who should be in need of ought in their -power to bestow." - -No wonder that--with a brother to the right of him like Marmaduke Ward, -and with a niece to the left oL him like Mary Ward, "that great soul," who -in after years, "in a plenitude of vision planned high deeds as immortal -as the sun"[B]--Thomas Warde, the husband for eleven brief years (lacking -nine days) of Margery Warde (born Slater), was instrumental, under Heaven, -in giving effect to the all but too late repentance of the penitent, -Christopher Wright!] - -[Footnote A: Mary Ward was the friend or acquaintance of some of the -greatest men and women in Europe. She was a friend of Queen Henrietta -Maria, the wife of Charles I. and daughter of Henry Bourbon, better known -as "King Harry of Navarre."--See Macaulay's poem, "_Ivry_."] - -[Footnote B: Line borrowed from Lord Bowen.--See his magnificent poem, -entitled, "Shadowland," p. 214 of his "_Life_," by Sir Henry Stewart -Cunningham, K.C.I.E. (Murray).] - -[Footnote 113:--The second Edition is dated 1681. The Pamphlet was by a -Dr. Williams, afterwards Bishop of Chichester.--See "_National Dictionary -of Biography_."] - -[Footnote 114:--The report would be at least second-hand, and it might be -much more. For example, if Mr. Abington saw his wife write the Letter and -told the worthy person what he (Abington) had by the evidence of his own -eyes ascertained, then the worthy person would have the evidence at -first-hand. Any person to whom the worthy person conveyed the intelligence -would have it at second-hand, and so on. But if Mr. Abington had not seen -his wife write the Letter, but had only been told by his wife that she had -writ the Letter, then, although Abington would be a witness at first-hand -_as to the bare fact of such a report having been made_, he would be only -a witness at second-hand _as to the truth of the report_; for Mrs. -Abington, in herself reporting, might have spoken falsely either wilfully -or through mental defect.] - -[Footnote 115:--Vol. i., p. 585.] - -[Footnote 116:--Jardine's "_Narrative_," p. 83.] - -[Footnote 117:--Jardine's "_Narrative_" p. 84.] - -[Footnote 118:--William Abington's chief poem was "Castara," sung in -praise of his wife, the Honourable Lucia Powys. In the recent "_Oxford -Book of English Verse_," selected by Quiller-Couch (Clarendon Press), -there is a fine philosophic poem of the younger Abington (or Habington), -entitled "_Nox nocti indicat scientiam_." John Amphlett, Esq., has edited -the elder Abington's (or Habington's) "_Survey of Worcestershire_," with a -valuable introduction, for the Worcestershire Historical Society.] - -[Footnote 119:--It is, moreover, possible that, through her brother's good -offices with the Government, Mrs. Abington had a sight of the Letter -itself. If so, she would have been almost sure to detect the general -similarity of the handwriting, notwithstanding the disguise, with the -handwriting of Father Oldcorne, handwriting she must have known familiarly -enough, to say nothing of the particular similarity in the case of certain -of the letters. - -As showing that, when at Hindlip, Father Oldcorne came into Mrs. -Abington's company, the following quotation may be given from one of -Father Oldcorne's Declarations, dated 6th March, 1605-6:--"Both Garnett -and he when there were no straungers did ordinarilye dyne and supp with -Mr. Abington and his wyfe in the dyninge chamber."] - -[Footnote 120:--Some idea of the feeling that Mrs. Abington and her -husband must have had for this able and upright Jesuit, a true Jesuit in -whom there was no guile, may be gathered from the following, which is -taken from Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. 213:--"Father Edward -Oldcorne, S.J., came to Hindlip in the month of February or March, 1589, -Mr. Richard Abington keeping house there at the time, who by the advice of -other Catholics, then sojourning with him, sent into Warwickshire for the -said Father to talk with Mrs. Dorothy Abington, his sister, about her -religion, who, at the time living in the house with her brother Richard, -was a very obstinate and perverse heretic, and had left the Court of -Elizabeth, where she was brought up, to come and live with her brother -principally." We are told that Miss Abington desired to have speech on the -subject of religion with some more than ordinarily learned Catholic. -"Father Oldcorne being sent for to that end, and after some earnest -discourses with her for the space of two days, and having yielded her full -satisfaction in all points of religion, and showed such gravity, zeal, -learning, and prudence in his proceeding with her that she was astonished -thereat, and was unable to make any reply of contradiction to what he -propounded to her."--From a MS. at Stonyhurst, Anglia, vol. vi., -attributed to Father Thomas Lister, S.J. - -Another manuscript account of Father Oldcorne says that he fasted and -prayed for three days for the sake of this lady's conversion to the -Catholic faith; after the third day he fell down from exhaustion, and yet -a fourth day's fasting followed. Then the lady was converted and "became a -sharer and participant in the incredible fruit which he reaped in that -county," _i.e._, Worcestershire.--See Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. -213. - -Father Gerard, in his "_Narrative_" of the Plot, says that the Government -accused Father Oldcorne "of a sermon made in Christmas, wherein he should -seem to excuse the conspirators, or to extenuate their act." The -Government had this report from a certain Humphrey Littleton, concerning -whom we shall learn more hereafter. - -Richard, Thomas, and Dorothy Abington were brothers and sister -respectively to Edward Abington, who suffered, in 1587, as one of the -fellow-conspirators of Anthony Babington, a distinguished and captivating -gentleman from Dethick, a chapelry or hamlet in the Parish of Ashover, in -the County of Derbyshire. In the Parish Church of Ashover may be still -seen monuments to members of the Babington family. (Communicated to me by -my partner, Mr. G. Laycock Brown, Solicitor, of York.) - -The history of the romantic but ill-fated Babington conspiracy requires to -be impartially re-written, and to this end diligent search should be made -to find, if possible, the alleged contemporary history of that curious, -ill-starred movement, which is said to have been written by the gifted -Jesuit martyr, "the Venerable" Robert Southwell, S.J., the author of that -exquisitely imaginative and tender poem, "The Burning Babe," an -Elizabethan gem of the highest genius.--See the "_Oxford Book of English -Verse_;" also Dr. Grossart's Edition of Southwell's Poetical Works, and -Turnbull's Edition likewise.--A good Life of Southwell is a desideratum.] - -[Footnote 121:--It is obviously unnecessary either in the former part or -in the latter part of this Inquiry to assign separate logical divisions -for the case of Thomas Ward. His evidence is common to both, and will -appear in due course of this investigation.] - -[Footnote 122:--Thomas Winter lodged apparently at an inn known by the -sign of the "Duck and Drake," in St. Clement's Parish, in the Strand. This -fact is proved by the testimony of John Cradock, a cutler, who deposed on -the 6th of November, before the Lord Chief Justice Popham, that he had -engraved the story of the Passion of Christ on two sword hilts for Mr. -Rookwood and Mr. Winter, and on a third sword hilt for another gentleman, -"a black man," of that company, of about forty years of age. The Winter -here referred to, no doubt, was Thomas, not Robert, the elder brother. - -For Cradock's evidence _in extenso_, see Appendix; also for evidence of -Richard Browne, servant to Christopher Wright; also for letter of Popham, -the Chief Justice to Salisbury, as to Christopher Wright; also for -evidence of William Grantham as to purchase by Christopher Wright of -beaver hats at the shop of a hatter, named Hewett.] - -[Footnote 123:--This emphatic "surely all is lost," of Christopher Wright, -is worthy of notice, as indicating the certitude of his frame of mind. -Now, "certitude" is the offspring of knowledge, and therefore of belief, -and when it is not the life is the death of Hope, an emotion Wright had -then clearly abandoned. Hence we may justly infer a special consciousness -on Christopher Wright's part as to the genesis of the fact that the game -was indeed up, thanks to the infatuated behaviour of his brother-in-law, -Thomas Percy: "up" to all and singular the plotters' fatal undoing; yet, -after all, traceable back indirectly to Christopher Wright's own repentant -act and deed! Truly the repentant wrong-doer suffers temporal punishment -by the everlasting Law of Retribution, which lives for ever!] - -[Footnote 124:--Was this said by Christopher Wright on Sunday, the 3rd of -November, at the meeting behind St. Clement's? There is none such -statement recorded by Fawkes in any of his Declarations or Confessions in -the Record Office, London.] - -[Footnote 125:--See H. Speight's "_Nidderdale_" (Elliot Stock), p. 344. -The title of this interesting work is "_Nidderdale and the Garden of the -Nidd; A Yorkshire Rhineland_": being a complete account, historical, -scientific, and descriptive, of the beautiful Valley of the Nidd.--See -also "_Connoisseur_" for November, 1901.] - -[Footnote 126:--Christopher Wright must have known well the great family -of Hildyard, of Winestead, near Patrington. General Sir H. J. T. Hildyard, -K.C.B., is a scion of this ancient house. The Hildyards are mentioned in -the "_Hatfield MSS._"] - -[Footnote 127:--This good woman's evidence proves that on the 5th of -October Wright left her lodgings. Now, my suggestion is that Christopher -Wright, after quitting Spurr Alley, went down into Warwickshire, probably -to Lapworth. That thence he repaired to Hindlip Hall, four miles from -Worcester, to have his interview with Father Oldcorne. Rookwood went to -Clopton, close to Stratford-on-Avon, and not far from both Lapworth and -Hindlip, soon after Michaelmas, _i.e._, the 11th of October (old style). -That about Michaelmas the diplomatic Thomas Warde came into Warwickshire -and Worcestershire to interview Father Oldcorne, and give full assurance -to the Jesuit that he, Warde, as diplomatic go-between, would vouch for -the conveyance of the Letter, on receipt of the same, to the Government -authorities. That the shrewd, diplomatic Warde, all eyes and ears, from -what he was ear-witness and eye-witness of at Lapworth, sent post-haste -for his brother, Marmaduke Ward, of Newbie. Most probably William Ward, -Marmaduke Ward's son, was at this time on a visit to his uncle Thomas in -London.--See Kyddall's evidence as to "William Ward, nephew to Mr. -Wright."--The boy was sent down to Lapworth on November the 5th, the fatal -Tuesday, in the charge of Kyddall. It is possible that William Ward, -however, came up into Warwickshire along with his father and half-sister -Mary. If so, he must have gone up to London between Marmaduke Ward's going -to Lapworth and the flight of "uncle Christopher" on the 5th; for there is -no evidence that William Ward accompanied Christopher Wright and Kyddall -up to London on Monday, the 28th of October. Kyddall styles William Ward -"nephew to Mr. Wright." Now, this designation would be, by common usage, -accurate if Christopher Wright married Margaret Ward; otherwise, supposing -William Ward's mother was Elizabeth Sympson, it would not be; for Ursula -Wright would be naught akin to William Ward.] - -[Footnote 128:--Mr. Jackson, "mine host" of "the Salutation," probably -meant between a week and a fortnight when he said "about a fortnight." -"Many things had happened since then," so Mr. Jackson might easily fancy a -longer time had elapsed than was really the case. For Kyddall's evidence -shows that Christopher Wright was at Lapworth on the 24th October, and -that he did not reach London till the 30th (Wednesday). On Wednesday -Wright may have again called for his quart of sack or for the foaming -tankard of the nut-brown ale, partly with a view to ascertaining whether -or not any tidings had "leaked out" as to the Letter received by -Salisbury, though, as a fact, it was not shown to the King until Friday, -the 1st of November. Christopher Wright's last visit to "the Salutation" -was, belike, what is styled nowadays "a pop visit." - -At Patrington, in Holderness, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, there is -to-day (May, 1901) an ancient hostelry known by the sign of the "Dog and -Duck." At this house, I doubt not, both John and Christopher Wright full -many a time and oft had quenched their thirst and heard and discussed the -rural gossip of their day; for Plowland Hall was only about a mile distant -from the "Dog and Duck" and its good cheer. The "Hildyard Arms" and the -"Holderness" Inn, Patrington, may have been likewise, belike, favourite -haunts of theirs, for human nature is pretty much the same generation -after generation. And even our social habits bind us to the Past. What -thoughts crowd into the mind when one makes a visit to the "Dog and Duck," -at Patrington, within a short walk of Plowland Hall! - -It is possible that, between the reigns of Elizabeth and Victoria, -Plowland Hall was reduced to smaller proportions than it had been in the -days of John and Christopher Wright. This was the case with Ugthorpe Hall, -the seat of the Catholic Ratcliffes, near Whitby, situate in a lovely -little dingle or dell amid the Cleveland Moors; also it was the case with -Grosmont House, the seat of the Catholic Hodgsons, near Whitby, situate -near and almost laved by the rushing waters of the Yorkshire Esk.] - -[Footnote 129:--Father Henry Garnet knew John Wright, but, according to -Garnet's testimony, he did not know Christopher Wright, a fact which alone -tends to show that the younger Wright was essentially a subordinate -conspirator; for certainly Father Garnet knew, more or less, all the -principal plotters, namely, Catesby, Thomas Winter, John Wright, Percy, -and even Fawkes, whom he once saw, and to whom he gave letters of -introduction when Fawkes went to Flanders, in 1605, to see Stanley and -Owen.] - -[Footnote 130:--Father Hart was captured, along with Father John Percy -(alias Fisher, afterwards famous for his controversy with Archbishop Laud, -who could not "abide" the Jesuits), at the house of Lord Vaux of -Harrowden. Hart was banished for a time, but died in England, in 1650, -aged seventy-two. - -Query--Did Hart make any communication to Bellarmine or Eudaemon-Joannes, I -wonder?] - -[Footnote 131:--See Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_;" vol ii., p. 166.] - -[Footnote 132:--See Foley's "_Records_," vol. i., p. 173, citing -"Gunpowder Plot Book," No. 177. Eudaemon-Joannes, in his "_Apologia_" for -Henry Garnet, gives reasons why Father Hart, S.J., may have thus acted. -Dr. Abbott, in his "_Antilogia_," in reply to Eudaemon-Joannes, answers -Joannes at great length.] - -[Footnote 133:--Vol. ii., p. 120. It may be here stated that by the Common -Law of England a confessor was obliged to reveal the fact to the -Government in the case of his receiving from a penitent the confession of -the heinous crime of High Treason. - -Garnet said that "the priest is bound to find all lawful means to hinder -and discover it, but that the seal of the Confessional must be saved, -_salvo sigillo confessionis_."--See Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. -162.--It seems to me that this statement of Garnet is of the utmost -importance.] - -[Footnote 134:--Afterwards the well-known Lord Coke, the famous Editor of -Judge Littleton's work on "_Tenures_."--For a diverting account of Coke -and his domestic infelicities see Lord Macaulay's Essay on "Lord Bacon."] - -[Footnote 135:--Catesby, John Wright, Christopher Wright, and Thomas Percy -were already dead; the two first were slain at Holbeach; Christopher -Wright and Thomas Percy both were wounded unto death at the same place; -but certainly Percy and possibly Christopher Wright actually breathed -their last a day or two afterwards. Query--Where were the bodies of these -four men interred? Were they first quartered as traitors according to law? - -Tresham died in the Tower, but his body was quartered, and its members -exposed at Northampton in the usual way.] - -[Footnote 136:--Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_," vol. ii., p. 135. This of -the learned Attorney-General reminds one of the late Lord Bowen's witty -saying: "Truth will out; even in an Affidavit!"] - -[Footnote 137:--Father Henry Garnet, the chief of the Jesuits in England, -said that he considered the authors of the Gunpowder Treason were not only -deserving of the punishment that some of them had undergone, but even a -more severe one, if possible.--See Foley's "_Records_."] - -[Footnote 138:--Fonblanque, in his "_Annals of the House of Percy_," in -the chapter dealing with Thomas Percy, expresses the opinion that the -Government's behaviour was comparatively mild, regard being had to the -atrocious nature of the designment against the King and Parliament. Such -is candidly my own opinion, and this, although I remember that James's -Oath of Allegiance and very tyrannical anti-recusant legislation were the -dire consequences of the Plot, which (_me judice_)--far more than the -Marian burnings, the Elizabethan Acts of Supremacy, of Uniformity, -Constructive Treason, and the Spanish Armada, all put together--led -finally to England's being "bereft" of what to a Roman Catholic is "the -one true faith." - -In regard to James's Oath of Allegiance (1609), it is to be recollected -that while strict Roman Catholics, whether "Jesuitized" or not, refused to -take the oath, some Catholics thought they might lawfully take it. Among -such was the Arch-priest, Blackwell, who, however, was deposed from his -office, as, in general terms, Rome condemned the oath. "The sting" of this -famous oath was "in its tail;" inasmuch as it not only contained a -disclaimer of the deposing power of the Pope, but declared that the -doctrine of the deposing power was "impious, heretical, and damnable." It -is remarkable that all the Roman Catholic peers took the Oath of -Allegiance, except Lord Teynham, a collateral descendant of William Roper, -the husband of Margaret More. - -"An apostate" Jesuit, named Sir Christopher Perkins, aided in framing this -searching test, so the Government knew exactly how to get the unhappy -papist recusants tightly within their grip. (Perkins, like Sir Edwin -Sandys, a philosophic friend of Sir Toby Matthews, was an incipient -rationalist. Shakespeare may have known Sir Toby Matthews.) - -For valuable information (derived from an unpublished manuscript) as to -the working of this Oath of Allegiance, see the late Richard Simpson's -Article, entitled, "A Glimpse of the Working of the Penal Laws," in "_The -Rambler_," vol. vi., p. 401 (1856). If this Article has not been printed -separately, it ought to be. In it occur the names Middleton, Gascoigne, -Ingleby, Whitham, Cholmeley, Vavasour, Dolman, Mennell (or Meynell), and -Catterick, of Yorkshire; Preston and Towneley, of Lancashire; Tichbourne, -of Hampshire; Wiseman, of Essex; Gage, of Sussex; Vaux, of -Northamptonshire; Throckmorton, of Warwickshire; Tregean, of Cornwall; -Plowden, of Shropshire; Morgan, of Monmouthshire; Edwards, of Flintshire; -together with other English and Welsh names, which can be only described -as synonymous with honour, high-mindedness, heroism, and all goodness.] - -[Footnote 139:--James Usher[A] (1581-1656), Protestant Archbishop of -Armagh, was an Anglo-Irishman, who was "learned to a miracle," so the -great English Jurist, Seldon, said.--See "Usher," "_National Dictionary of -Biography_."--Usher was, through his mother, who became a Roman Catholic, -a grandson of James Stanihurst (Recorder of Dublin, and Speaker of the -Irish House of Commons), whose family were the patrons of Edmund Campion, -when in Ireland. The great orator wrote his history of that country after -leaving Oxford, and before going to Douay. Usher crossed over to England -in 1602. He held in the University of Dublin, in 1607, a divinity -professorship, worth L8 a year, which was founded by Mr. James Cotterell, -who died in York. Now, I find from the Register of St. Michael-le-Belfrey, -York, that there is a record of the burial of a "Mr. James Cotterell--in -the mynster--the 29th day of August, 1595." This, I have no doubt, was the -self-same gentleman as the "Mr. Cotterell," from whose house, on the 29th -day of May, 1579, Thomas Warde made M'gery Slater "his true and honourable -wife;" and the same Mr. James Cotterell as founded the Dublin divinity -professorship. Dr. Usher knew personally Lord Mordaunt, the son of the -Lord Mordaunt who died in the Tower in 1608; and also, according to the -"_National Dictionary of Biography_," Father Oswald Tesimond. If so, it is -_possible_ that Usher knew personally Lord Mounteagle and Thomas Warde, -and it may be it was from them that he gathered hints upon which he -founded his oracular statement. (I desire here to express my sense of -obligation to the Rev. E. S. Carter, M.A., the Vicar of St. -Michael-le-Belfrey, York, who most kindly and generously gifted me with a -copy of his singularly valuable "_Parish Register_" Part I., edited by Dr. -Francis Collins, from which I have obtained that item of domestic -information so valuable as a leading clue for the purposes of this -Inquiry, namely, the marriage of Thomas Warde, of Mulwaith.)] - -[Footnote A: "_The Life of Archbishop Usher_" by Barnard (1656), however, -does not bear out the statement of the Author of the Article on "Usher" in -the "_National Dictionary of Biography_." For Barnard says that the Jesuit -who debated at Drayton, in Northamptonshire, with Archbishop Usher, was -called "Beaumond," but that his real name was Rookwood, and that he was a -brother of Ambrose Rookwood, the Gunpowder plotter. The debate was -arranged by Lord Mordaunt (afterwards the Earl of Peterborough), to the -end that his wife, the Lady Mordaunt, a daughter of the Earl of -Nottingham, might become convinced of the soundness of the exacting claims -of the Church of Rome. The upshot was that not only was the Lady Mordaunt -_not_ convinced, but that the Lord Mordaunt himself became a Protestant! -The topics for discussion were:--Transubstantiation, Invocation of Saints, -Images, and the Visibility of the Church. According to Barnard, Beaumond -at the third day of meeting sent to excuse himself, saying, "That all the -arguments he had framed within his own head, and thought he had them as -perfect as his _'Pater noster_,' he had forgotten and could not recover -them again; that he believed it was the just judgment of God upon him thus -to desert him in the defence of His cause for the undertaking of himself -to dispute with a man of that eminency and learning without the licence of -his superior." - -If it were a Rookwood, probably it was Robert (S.J.)] - -[Footnote 140:--The "_Oliver Cromwell_," by John Morley (Macmillan, 1900), -contains a picture of Usher, taken from the original portrait by Sir Peter -Lely, in the National Portrait Gallery. The face is one of great keenness -and power.] - -[Footnote 141:--"Style" in handwriting is its genius, its ethos, its air, -its aroma, its active, its essential principle. "Style is the man."] - -[Footnote 142:--See the Rev. John Gerard's published fac-simile.] - -[Footnote 143:--"Shift off," no doubt, is meant as "_The Kings Book_" -gives it. (I should like to say that a gentleman, a member of Trinity -College, Cambridge, the Rev. Edmond Nolan, B.A., suggested to me in -August, 1900, when I had the pleasure of meeting him in York, that -probably "shift of" was really "shift off.")] - -[Footnote 144:--This enigmatical sentence partook of the nature of a -clever sleight of mental strategy or of a skilful man[oe]uvre of mental -tactics. In the case of a man of Oldcorne's combination of the mystical -and the practical, it is probable that there would be wheels within -wheels, and depths below depths, which are beyond the reach of us ordinary -mortals to detect or to fathom. But all this mystery would tend to grip -hold of the attention of the reader by compelling him to peruse and weigh -the document again and again, and so would tend to beat its warning -message into his brains, and so impel beneficent action.] - -[Footnote 145:--Gerard's "_Narrative_" likewise omits the word "good," -which shows us that the Jesuit was indebted to the Royal Author for his -copy of the document.] - -[Footnote 146:--The Mounteagle Letter is a remarkably clever composition. -Its liveliness, its pithiness, its directness, and its force, in spite of -its designed obscurity, gain upon one more and more the oftener one -ponders it. But Father Oldcorne was a very clever man. His combination of -qualities, theoretical and practical, shows him to have been a man of -distinct genius. - -In Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., there is, as has been already remarked, -a portrait of this great Yorkshire Jesuit, showing a portion of Old Ouse -Bridge, York, and St. William's Chapel in the left-hand corner. The face -depicted betokens an intellect of great acumen, a heart of great -benevolence, both controlled by a will strong with the strength of -persistent discipline. The keenness of the countenance portrayed struck a -distinguished Oxford friend of mine forcibly the moment he beheld the -picture, for he remarked forthwith, "He has an acute look!" The -countenance, moreover, as another Protestant friend in effect observed, -has that look of infinite patience, of calm resignation, and of sweet -melancholy, which was so characteristic of the best of the old English -Roman Catholics during "troublesome times." - -This phrase, "troublesome times," was used in my hearing about the year -1890 by an ancient lady, the late Mrs. Ann Matterson, widow, of -High-field, Bishop Thornton, near Ripon. Mrs. Matterson was an interesting -specimen of the solid, calm, old, Garden-of-the-Soul type of English -Catholic, or as they proudly and touchingly put it, "Catholics that have -never lost the Faith." My informant said she was the daughter of one -Francis Darnbrough--a family well known in that part of Yorkshire, a -Darnbrough being Wakeman (or Mayor) of Ripon in 1542: that her father's -branch of the Darnbrough family had regained the Catholic Faith through -marriages with the Bishop Thornton Hawkesworths, hereditary Catholics, who -were formerly tenants under the Lords Grantley and Markenfield, of -Markenfield Hall. Mrs. Matterson furthermore told me on that occasion that -she was distantly connected (through the marriage of her aunt with a Mr. -William Bickerdyke) with one of the York Catholic Martyrs, whose cause of -canonization had been, in 1886, introduced at Rome, namely, with "the -Venerable" Robert Bickerdyke, a gentleman born at Low Hall, near Scotton, -in the Parish of Farnham, near Knaresbrough, and who suffered at the York -Tyburn, in 1586, for being "reconciled to the Church of Rome." The aged -lady also said that her uncle, William Bickerdyke, had lived at Brampton -Hall, on the River Ure, close to Mulwith: that Brampton Hall had belonged -to the ancient and now extinct Yorkshire Catholic family of Tankard, or -Tancred--one branch of which had their seat at Whixley: and that at -Brampton Hall there had been a place to hide the priest in during -"troublesome times." - -For an interesting work on priests' hiding-places see "_Secret Chambers -and Hiding-places_," by Allen Fea (Bousfield, 1901).] - -[Footnote 147:--The following letter (1599, probably), which ends with the -words: "I comitte you to sweete Jesus his hole protection," etc., will be -read with interest. It was written by Richard Collinge, Coolinge, or -Cowling, a Jesuit, who was a native of York, being the son of a certain -Raulf Cowling (then pronounced Cooling), whose name appears in the York -Elizabethan "Subsidy Roll for 1581" as of "St. Olave's parish and -Belfray's without Bootham Bar," and as being assessed in goods at the sum -of L3, which shows him to have been a well-to-do citizen. Raulf Cowling -died a captive in York Castle for his profession of the Catholic Faith. - -This valuable letter (for which I am indebted to the great generosity of -Dr. Collins, of Pateley Bridge) was written probably in 1599, and -intercepted by the Government. From the document we learn that Father -Richard Collinge, S.J., was not only a cousin to Guy Fawkes, but also to -the Harringtons, of Mount St. John. William Harrington, the elder, who -harboured "the Blessed" Edmund Campion for ten days in the spring of 1581 -at that secluded, tranquil, and lovely spot, Mount St. John, near the -Hambleton Hills, Thirsk, Yorkshire, would be not only father to "the -Venerable" William Harrington, the martyr for his priesthood at the London -Tyburn, but uncle to Father Richard Collinge, and cousin once removed to -Guy Fawkes himself. Guy's mother married for her second husband Denis -Bainebridge, of Scotton, a Roman Catholic gentleman connected with the -ancient and honourable Roman Catholic family of Pulleyn (Pullein, or -Pulleine), of Killinghall and Scotton, by reason of the marriage of Denis -Bainbridge's mother to Walter Pulleyn, Esq., as her third husband. We -learn also from Father Collinge's letter that, belike, Mr. Denis -Bainbridge, Guy Fawkes' step-father, was one of those gentlemen that are -"ornamental" rather than "useful." He was, however, certainly a papist, -and his name, together with that of his wife, occurs in Peacock's "_List -for 1604_," under the Parish of "Farnham." There is a blank left for the -name of the wife of Denis Bainbridge, probably because Mr. Peacock could -not decipher the name indicated. I think that Mrs. Denis Bainbridge must -have sprung originally from Nidderdale or Wharfedale, and that she was -akin to the Vavasours, of Weston and Newton Hall, near Ripley; to the -Johnsons, of Leathley; and the Palmes, of Lindley; both of the two last in -that part of the Forest of Knaresbrough which is near to the town of -Otley. But further researches may solve the problem as to the maiden name -of her who gave birth to Guy Fawkes. - -Guy Fawkes called himself "John Johnson" when accosted by the Earl of -Suffolk and Lord Mounteagle in the cellar under the House of Lords, on -Monday, the 4th November. Possibly, therefore, his mother was a Johnson. -Query--Does the Rev. Dr. Robert Collyer, of Chicago, U.S.A., know of any -tradition hereon? - - "Good Sir,--I pray you lette me intreate y^{r} favoure and - frendshippe for my Cosen Germane Mr Guydo Fawks who serves S^{r} - William (Stanley) as I understande he is in greate wante and - y^{r} worde in his behalfe may stande him in greate steede. I - have not deserved aine such curtesie at y^{r} handes as for my - sake to helpe my friendes but assure yrselfe that yf there be - aine thinge I can doe for you, you may commande me for the - respecte I beare to our ould friendshippe but also by this - meanes you shalle bynde me more unto you. He hath lefte a - prettie livinge here in his countre which his mother being - married to an unthriftie husbande since his departure I think - hath wastied awaye.[A] Yet she and the reste of our friends are - in good health. I durste not as yet goe to them but this sommer - I meane to see them all God willinge lette him tell my Cousin - Martin Harrington that I was at his Brother Henries house at - _the mounte_ but he was not then at home he and his wyfe are - well and have manie prettie children. Mr D. Worthington's - brother hath wrote a letter unto him desiringe a speedie answere - he is a good honeste and devoute man I often mete with him for - nowe I am residente at his Cozens house in that province which - is fallen to my lotte they expecte therefor for some helpe - nothinge is wanting but a beginner amonge them so they saye for - the redemption of Israel. Remember I pray you my commendacons to - my good and honourable godmother my L. Marie[B] (Percie) and the - twoe devoute sisters in her companie. Mr Roberte Chambers[C] - writte to me for his mother, the charge is geven to Mr - Duckette[D] to inquire for her for she is in his vicinitie tho - four Sirsbies of his companie as [? are] here very well. Within - this week I have sene both Cor^{n} & Gould and Batte, to-morrowe - I shall mete w^{th} John Lassells. Thinges goe well forwarde - here o^{r} enemies persecute us all more than ever and are in - particulare feare or rather looke for some what more from o^{r} - owne malcontents. Thus requesting y^{r} favoure in my suite and - remembrance in y^{r} beste memories as you shall have myne _I - comitte you to sweete Jesus his hole protection_ this St John - Baps^{t} Eve.--Yours in Christe Richard Collinge. - - "Lette D. Kellison know that his brother Valentine is in goode - healthe and a well wisher but noe Catholike." - - Addressed thus:-- - - "All Molto Mag^{co} Sig^{re} - il Signiore Guilio - Piccioli a - Venezia" [_i.e._, Venice]. - - (Endorsed) Fugitives. - - Vol. cclxxi., No. 21. - -_Cf._ also a letter of Father Richard Holtby, S.J., of Fryton, Hovingham, -North Riding of Yorkshire, to Father Parsons, dated 6th May, 1609, -ending:--"_I commit you to our sweet Saviour His keeping._"--Foley's -"_Records_," vol. iii., p. 9.] - -[Footnote A: Guy Fawkes' little patrimony was situate in Gillygate and -Clifton, then in the suburbs of the City of York.--See Robert Davies' -"_Fawkeses, of York_," and William Camidge's pamphlet, "_Guy Fawkes_" -(Burdekin, York). - -Miss Catharine Pullein, of Rotherfield, Sussex, and Edward Pulleyn, Esq., -of York and Lastingham, I have reason to believe, likewise belong to this -ancient family so long settled near Knaresbrough.--See Flower's -"_Visitation of Yorkshire_," and Glover's "_Visitation_," for a pedigree -of the family in the time of Elizabeth.] - -[Footnote B: The Lady Mary Percy was niece to Francis and Mary Slingsby -(daughter of Sir Thomas Percy), of Scriven Hall, whose monuments are still -to be seen in the Knaresbrough Parish Church. Dr. Collins tells me that -"Sirsbie" was then "a Knaresbrough name," and occurs in the Knaresbrough -Parish Church Registers of that period. The name "Sizey," which is given -in Peacock's "_List_," under "Knaresbrough," is probably the way "Sirsbie" -was pronounced, just as "subtle" is pronounced "su(b)tle."] - -[Footnote C: I incline to think that this Robert Chambers is the same as -the Robert Chambers mentioned in the "_Douay Diary_," edited by Dr. Knox -(David Nutt); the name, Robert Chambers, appears as one of the students at -the English College, Rome. Gould and Batte (or Bates) were probably also -the names of priests who had been at this College. Corn may have been -Father Oldcorne, S.J., who came to England as a missionary in 1588 with -Father John Gerard; or he may have been Father Thomas Cornforth, S.J., a -native of Durham, and a great friend of Edward fourth Lord Vaux of -Harrowden, whose mother was Elizabeth Roper, a daughter of Sir John Roper -first Lord Teynham. Father Cornforth became a Jesuit in 1600. He was at -the English College at Rome, and came to England in April, 1599.] - -[Footnote D: The Duckette here mentioned was doubtless Father Richard -Holtby, S.J., who succeeded Garnet as Superior of the English Jesuits. -Holtby was born at Fryton--in the Parish of Hovingham, in the Vale of -Mowbray--between Slingsby and Hovingham, where his brother, George Holtby, -lived.--See Peacock's "_List of Roman Catholics in Yorkshire in 1604_;" -also Foster's Edition of Glover's "_Visitation of Yorkshire_."--It was -Richard Holtby, then a secular priest, who found for Campion secluded, -lovely Mount St. John. I think it is probable that, after being harboured -by Sir William Babthorpe, at Babthorpe Hall or Osgodby (or both), Campion -would proceed through the Vale of Ouse and Derwent to Thixendale, in the -Parish of Leavening, to the house of a Mrs. Bulmer; thence, I opine, to -Fryton, in the Parish of Hovingham; thence to Grimston Manor, in the -Parish of Gilling East; thence through the Vale of Mowbray, by Coxwold, to -Mount St. John, the home of the Harringtons, who seem to have quitted the -place soon after the year 1603, because the Gregory family are found -recorded in the Parish Registers shortly after that date, and they -certainly resided at Mount St. John. (Communicated to me by the Rev. Henry -Clayforth, M.A., Vicar of Feliskirk, near Thirsk.) Near Mount St. John are -Upsal Castle, magnificently situated, and Kirby Knowle Castle (commonly -called New Building). These were ancient Catholic houses, formerly of a -branch of the Constable family. In Kirby Knowle Castle, embosomed in -trees, is still to be seen a priests' hiding-place. During the -early part of the nineteenth century a skeleton was found in this -hiding-place--possibly that of a priest. (Communicated to me by the late -Very Rev. Monsignor Edward Canon Goldie, of York, about the year 1889.) -George S. Thompson, Esquire, now lives at Kirby Knowle Castle, or New -Building. This gentleman married a Miss Elsley, of York, whose family, I -believe, formerly owned Mount St. John, through their relatives, the -Gregories, who seem to have succeeded the Harringtons, harbourers of the -great Campion, whom Lord Burleigh himself styled "one of the diamonds of -England." Campion's guides through Yorkshire were Mr. Tempest (probably of -Broughton Hall, near Skipton-in-Craven), Mr. More (probably of Barnbrough -Hall, near Doncaster, which came to the descendants of Sir Thomas More, -through the Cresacre family), Mr. Smyth (brother-in-law of William -Harrington, the elder), and Father Richard Holtby.--See Simpson's "_Life -of Campion_," second Edition (Hodges, London).--In recent years the Walker -family have owned Mount St. John, but I believe that to-day (1901) Sir -Lowthian Bell is the owner. When I visited this historic and ravishing -spot, the Honourable Mrs. Bosville was the lessee, and the writer has a -pleasant recollection of that lady's gracious courtesy (1898).] - -[Footnote 148:--Jardine, in his "_Narrative_" p. 37, has the following -exceptionally interesting paragraph: "Sir William Waad in a letter to Lord -Salisbury, reporting a conversation with Fawkes, says, 'Fawkes's mother is -alive and re-married, and he hath a brother in one of the Inns of Court. -John and Christopher Wright were school-fellows of Fawkes and neighbours' -children. Tesimond, the Jesuit, was at that time schoolfellow also with -them. So as this crew have been brought up together.'"--State Paper -Office, Add. Papers No. 481, Jardine (now Record Office). - -Probably what Fawkes said was that _he_ (Fawkes) _and Tesimond_ were -neighbours' children; for John and Christopher Wright's parents were of -Plowland Hall, in the Parish of Welwick, in Holderness, as we have seen. -Two explanations, however, are possible, which will reconcile this -statement that, after all, Fawkes may have _said that he and the Wrights -were neighbours' children_. One is that possibly the young Wrights boarded -with some citizen dwelling in St. Michael-le-Belfrey's Parish, York, -whilst they were at the Royal School of St. Peter, then in the Horse -Fayre, Gillygate (but now in Clifton), York; the other explanation is that -possibly a portion of the fourteen years during which the mother of John -and Christopher Wright was (as we have seen already _ante_) imprisoned for -her resolute profession of the Catholic religion was spent in company with -her husband, Robert Wright, in some private gentleman's house in the -Belfrey Parish, in the City of York--a thing then very common. For -example, Dr. Thomas Vavasour, a physician, of Christ's Parish, who--_or -whose wife_, Mrs. Dorothy Vavasour--favoured Campion, and probably -harboured him in 1581, was for a time imprisoned in the house of his -brother. This was probably Mr. Edward Vavasour, a Protestant gentleman, -who resided in "the Belfray" Parish, and was a freeman of York and one of -its tradesmen, being, I find, a hatter. In the York "Subsidy Roll for -1581" Edward Vavasour's name appears as being assessed in goods at L8. Dr. -Thomas Vavasour's name does not appear in the Subsidy Roll. I believe he -was then in prison, at Hull, for his persistent refusal to conform to the -Queen's demands in matters of faith. - -Query--Did Father Oldcorne learn his "medicine" from Dr. Vavasour, of the -Parish of Christ? What was the system of medical training in the "golden -days"?] - -[Footnote 149:--As revealing the interior state (1) of Oldcorne's mind in -relation to the Gunpowder enterprise, and (2) of Tesimond's mind, -respectively, the former stands in sharp contrast with the latter, and -must be pregnant with significance to the discerning and judicious -reader.] - -[Footnote 150:--Vol. ii., pp. 285, 286.] - -[Footnote 151:--"_Somers' Tracts_," Edited by Sir Walter Scott, vol. ii., -p. 106, says: "Tesimond severely censured Hall (alias Oldcorne) for his -timidity on the occasion, calling him a phlegmatic fellow." - -Dr. Abbott's "_Antilogia_" confirms Jardine's report of Tesimond's -denunciation, _although Foley most improperly omits it_.] - -[Footnote 152:--The diverse demeanour on this critical occasion of these -two Jesuits (both natives of the same City, most probably, and -fellow-scholars in the then recently re-founded Grammar School belonging -to York Minster) is very striking, and reminds one of the following -sagacious remark of that clear writer, Dr. James Martineau: "In human -psychology, feeling when it transcends sensation is not without idea, but -is a type of idea."--"_Essays and Addresses_," vol. iv., p. 202 (Longmans, -1891).--Such feeling then is _mens cordis_--the mind of the heart.] - -[Footnote 153:--Hindlip Hall, about four miles from Worcester, was built -on an eminence in 1572 and the following years of Elizabeth's reign. It -had a large prospect of the surrounding country, and contained many -conveyances, secret chambers, and priests' hiding-places, perhaps more -than any house in England. The old Hall of the Abingtons was pulled down -at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The present mansion was built -by the Lord Hindlip's family, I believe. This demesne is one of the most -historic spots in the kingdom, owing to its memorable associations with -Fathers Garnet and Oldcorne, Garnet having left Coughton at the request of -Oldcorne, in December, 1605. The two Jesuits were nourished, after -Salisbury instituted his search, during seven days, seven nights, and some -odd hours, mainly by broth and other warm drinks, conveyed to them through -a quill or reed passed "through a little hole in a chimney that backed -another chimney into a gentlewoman's chamber." Doubtless Mrs. Abington and -Miss Anne Vaux (the devoted friend of Father Garnet, who, along with -Brother Nicholas Owen, accompanied him to Hindlip) had administered this -food to the two famishing Jesuits detained in durance.] - -[Footnote 154:--Father Garnet's house in Thames Street, London, had been -broken up, this place of Jesuit sojourning having become known to the -Government. Consequently, Garnet, at the beginning of September, 1605, -went down to Gothurst, in Buckinghamshire, the seat of Sir Everard and -Lady Digby. - -Christopher Wright, it will be remembered, quitted his lodging near Temple -Bar, on October the 5th, and, I opine, then went down to Lapworth, or -Clopton, near Stratford-on-Avon. Catesby was born at Lapworth. - -It will be remembered that the Ardens, the relatives of Shakespeare's -mother, were allied to the Throckmortons, and therefore to Francis -Throckmorton, the friend of Mary Queen of Scots. It is a remarkable -coincidence that the great dramatist was, through both the Ardens and the -Throckmortons, connected with those whose quartered remains he may have -had in his mind's eye (in addition to those of the Gunpowder conspirators) -when in 1606, in "Macbeth," he writ of "the hangman's bloody hands." - -For an account of the Somerville-Arden and the Francis Throckmorton -alleged conspiracies against the life of Queen Elizabeth, see Froude's -"_History_." For an account of Shakespeare's family, including the Ardens, -see Mrs. C. C. Stope's recent book (Elliot Stock, 1901).] - -[Footnote 155:--In the "_Life of Sir Everard Digby_," by "One of his -descendants" (Kegan Paul), is to be found a vivid and historically -accurate account of the proceedings of November the 5th and afterwards. -The conspirators' line of flight would be nearly parallel with the London -and North Western Railway from Euston Station to Rugby.] - -[Footnote 156:--The country crossed by these unhappy fugitives is -undoubtedly the very "heart of England," and in spring and summer is one -of the gardens of England. As those then flying, on that gloomy November -day, from the Avenger of blood, were probably almost all men of strong -family affections, and certainly all ardent lovers of their country, how -often must the feelings have welled up in their heart, as from some -intermittent crystalline spring, so beautifully expressed by the old Latin -poet:-- - - "Linquenda tellus, et domus, et placens - Uxor: neque harum, quas colis, arborum - Te, praeter invisas cupressos, - Ulla brevem dominum sequetur."--_Horace._[A] - -Alas! Like many another wrong-doer, before and since, they thought of this -too late. - -Well-nigh the final glimpse we get of Christopher Wright is from a letter -the conspirator, Thomas Bates, wrote to a priest, which is given in -Gerard's "_Narrative_," p. 210. Christopher Wright, we are told by Bates, -on the morning of the day when the powder exploded at Holbeach House, -"flung to Bates, out of a window, L100, and desired him, as he was a -Catholic, to give unto his wife, and his brother's wife, L80, and take L20 -himself:"--Wright owing Bates some money.] - -[Footnote A: - - "Land must be left, and home, and charming wife, - And of these trees which you cultivate, - None will follow you, their short-lived owner and lord, - Save the detested cypress."] - -[Footnote 157:--Does Greenway's "_Narrative_" clearly state how many of -these conspirators received from Tesimond the sacraments? If so, what -sacraments were they? - -The Government would have had a clear case of inciting to open rebellion -against Tesimond if they had caught him, but he escaped to Flanders. He -was "a very deep dog," was Master Tesimond, and no mistake. But he was -wholly under the finger and thumb (_me judice_) of Catesby, which shows -what a powerful man of genius Catesby must have been. - -Father Henry Garnet, at his trial, allowed that Tesimond had acted "ill," -in seeking to rouse the country to open rebellion.] - -[Footnote 158:--This lady was Muriel, the widow of John Littleton, who had -been involved in the rebellion of Robert Devereux Earl of Essex. She was -the daughter of Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Bromley.--See -Aiken's "_Memoirs of the Reign of James I._" - -For a true estimate of the second Earl of Essex, see Dr. R. W. Church's -"Bacon" (Macmillan).--See also Major Hume's "_Courtships of Queen -Elizabeth_ (Fisher Unwin) and his "_Treason and Plot_" (Nesbit).] - -[Footnote 159:--How well-grounded Oldcorne's suspicions of Littleton were, -and how soundly he had discerned the man's spirit, is proved from the fact -that after Littleton had been condemned to death for harbouring his -cousin, the Master of Holbeach, and Robert Winter, the Master of -Huddington, Littleton sought to save his life by telling the Government -that Oldcorne had "answered that the [Gunpowder] action was good, and that -he seemed to approve of it." Littleton also said that "since this last -rebellion he heard Hall [_i.e._, Oldcorne] once preach in the house of the -said Mr. Abington, at which time he seemed to confirm his hearers in the -Catholic cause."--See Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. 219.] - -[Footnote 160:--On the 5th of October, 1900, I saw this Declaration by the -courtesy of the authorities at the Record Office, London, and compared it -with the Letter to Lord Mounteagle. Miss Emma M. Walford was present the -while.--See Appendix.] - -[Footnote 161:--This luminous definition is by that great writer, Frederic -Harrison.] - -[Footnote 162:--It is not less dangerous to indulge in Irony. For an -emphatic proof of this see the "_Life of Lord Bowen_," p. 115 (Murray), by -Sir H. S. Cunningham, K.C.I.E. - -_Cf._ the great Stagyrite's discountenancing the study by the -inexperienced (the young in years or in character) of the fundamental -grounds of those moral rules that each man must observe if he would -faithfully do his duty from day to day, and "walk sure-footedly" in this -life.--See "_The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle_," book i. See also -Professor Muirhead's "_Chapters from the Ethics_" (Murray). - -Hector, in "Troilus and Cressida," act ii., scene 2, speaks of "Young men, -whom Aristotle thought unfit to hear moral philosophy."] - -[Footnote 163:--Jardine thinks that Oldcorne manifests a disposition "to -hesitate and argue about the moral complexion" of the Gunpowder Treason; -and this disposition Jardine regards as exhibiting in Oldcorne, -"apparently a man of humane and quiet character," a "distorted perception -of right and wrong."--See "_Criminal Trials_," pp. 232, 233. - -But it is evident that, for the nonce, the London Magistrate's judicial -temper of mind had deserted him, when he sniffed too closely the moral air -breathed by a Jesuit. For manifest is it that, _e.g._, all acts of -insubordination against an established government are not treasons and -rebellions when that government is hopelessly tyrannical, inhuman, and -corrupt. Nor are all acts of slaughter of human beings acts of wilful -murder. They may be acts of justifiable tyrannicide, as, possibly, in the -case of "the man Charles Stuart, King of England;" and acts of justifiable -homicide, as in the case of every just war, or of every legitimate slaying -upon the gallows.] - -[Footnote 164:--In this connection the following words of the conspirator -John Grant should be remembered. After the Jury had found a verdict of -"guilty" against the prisoners, at Westminster Hall, on being asked what -he could say wherefore judgment of death should not be pronounced against -him, Grant replied, "He was guilty of a conspiracy intended, but never -effected." - -_Cf._ Wordsworth's Sonnet on the Gunpowder Plot, which is very -penetrating.] - -[Footnote 165:--Let it be remembered by the gentle, though unreflecting, -reader who is disposed to be unnerved at the sound of the word "Casuist," -as at the sound of something "uncanny," that Casuistry is that great -science, so indispensable to statesmen, warriors, and politicians, -especially in these days of democratic self-government, whereby the -electing, self-governing people are told by their own authorized expert -representatives so much of public affairs as it is for the common good -should be known by them, _but no more_. The late Right Hon. W. E. -Gladstone once styled Casuistry "a great and noble science." Now, the -Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., the present Prime Minister of King Edward -VII., denominated Mr. Gladstone in the House of Lords, when paying his -tribute to the memory of that "king of men," "a great Christian -statesman." And justly; for although Mr. Gladstone was himself a master in -the science of Casuistry, the object that science has in view is to forge -a palladium for Truth, and this at the cost of endless intellectual -labour. Casuistry, properly understood, counts all mere intellectual toils -as cheaply purchased, no matter at what cost, provided only that Truth -herself--unsullied Truth--be saved. For, after its kind, in whatever -sphere, Truth is infinitely more excellent than the diamond, neither is -the ruby so lovely; while _partial Truth_, according to its degree, is not -less true than the full orb of Truth.] - -[Footnote 166:--This phrase, "sacrilegious murder," is used by Shakespeare -in "Macbeth," and so precisely does it express the double crime of the -Gunpowder plotters that I feel certain that from this allusion--as well as -from the evident allusion to the well-known equivocations of Father Henry -Garnet (alias Farmer) before the Privy Council--the great dramatist must -have had the Gunpowder Plot in his mind the whole time he wrote this -finest of his tragedies. - -I suggest, too, that the words "The bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan? -for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell" are an allusion -to the mysterious warning bell that the plotters thought they heard whilst -working in the mine.--See Jardine's "_Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot_," -p. 54. - -Compare also Mr. H. W. Mabie's description of the tragedy of "Macbeth" in -his very recent and valuable "_Life of Shakespeare_" (Macmillan & Co.). -Mr. Mabie's account sounds in one's ears like a very echo of a recital of -the facts and purposes of the Gunpowder Plot.] - -[Footnote 167:--Now, as the conspirators were engaged in a -joint-enterprise, it must be evident to every clear-minded thinker that -the repentance of _any one of the joint-plotters_ must have shed an -imputed beneficent influence over and upon all the band. For just as no -man liveth only to himself, and no man dieth only to himself, so, by a -parity of reasoning, no man is morally resurrected only to himself. -Therefore, the moment Christopher Wright was, in the pure eyes of Edward -Oldcorne, freed from the leprosy of his sacrilegious-murderous -crime--freed (1) by his owning to the same in word; (2) by his manifesting -sorrow for the same in heart; and, above and beyond all, freed (3) by his -making amends for the same in deed, through the earnest and part -performance he had given and made of his unconquerable purpose of -reversal, in assenting to the proposal of his listener to pen the -revealing Letter--from that moment Christopher Wright, I say, and, through -him (though in a secondary, subordinate, derivative sense), all the -remaining twelve plotters, would rise up, as an army from the dead; would -rise up and stand once more with head erect and in marching order--that -noble posture and manly attitude which is ever the reward, sure and -certain, of a recovered sense of justice, sincerity, truth.] - -[Footnote 168:--The Government, it is said, appointed a special Commission -to try Humphrey Littleton and some others at Worcester. The following -quotation is taken from "the Relation of Humphrey Littleton, made January -26th, 1605-6," written by one Sir Richard Lewkner to the Lords of the -Privy Council. Lewkner was one of the Commissioners. - -This sentence is to be specially noted in this "Relation":--"The servant -of the said Hall [_i.e._, Oldcorne] is now prisoner in Worcester Gaol, and -can, as he thinks, go directly to the secret place where the said Hall -lieth hid." - -Now, what was the name of this servant? It certainly was not Ralph Ashley -(alias George Chambers), Jesuit lay-brother, for he and Nicholas Owen, the -servant of Garnet, who died in the Tower, "in their hands," whatever that -may mean, were not captured at Hindlip until a few days before their -masters. This treacherous servant of Oldcorne, whoever he was, was -possibly the self-same person who told the Government that Ashley "had -carried letters to and fro about this conspiracy."--See Gerard's -"_Narrative_," p. 271.--The man may have shrewdly suspected it from -something in Ashley's deportment or from his riding up and down the -country in a way that portended that something unusual was afoot. He may -have been a "weak or bad Catholic" servant of Mr. Abington, whom that -gentleman placed at the special disposal of Oldcorne for a class of work -which could be done by one who was not a Jesuit lay-brother. The -Government had evidently got a clue to something from somebody, because I -find Father Oldcorne making answer in the course of one of his -examinations:--"He sayth he bought a black horse of Mr. Wynter at May next -shall be three yeares, and sould him againe." Examination, 5th March, -1606.--See Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv., p. 224. - -According to Foley's "_Records_," Oldcorne was indicted at Worcester for-- - -(1) Inviting Garnet, a denounced traitor, to Hindlip. - -(2) Writing to Father Robert Jones, S.J., in Herefordshire, to aid in -concealing Stephen Littleton and Robert Winter, thus making himself an -accomplice. - -(3) Of approving the Plot as a good action, though it failed of effect. - -Father Jones had provided a place of concealment at Coombe, in the Parish -of Welch Newton, on the borders of Herefordshire, which then abounded in -Catholics. Stephen Littleton and Robert Winter, being captured at Hagley, -in Worcestershire, were executed as traitors according to law. Hagley -House is now the residence of Charles George Baron Lyttelton and Viscount -Cobham.] - -[Footnote 169:--A learned Cretan Jesuit, Father L'Henreux, who was -appointed by Pope Urban VIII. Rector of the Greek College at Rome, wrote a -powerful "_Apologia_" in behalf of Father Henry Garnet, which was -published in 1610. In 1613 Dr. Robert Abbott, a Master of Balliol College, -Oxford, and Regius Professor of Divinity at that University, wrote his -"_Antilogia_" as a reply to Eudaemon-Joannes' "_Apologia_." It would be a -boon to historical students if both the "_Apologia_" and the "_Antilogia_" -were "Englished" by some competent hand. Abbott was made Bishop of -Salisbury, partly on account of the learning he displayed in his -"_Antilogia_." He was a Calvinist, and a vigorous writer, being styled -"the hammer of Popery and Arminianism." - -Dr. Lancelot Andrewes (in answer to Cardinal Bellarmine) and Isaac -Casaubon also contributed to the literature of the controversies anent the -Plot, and modern editions of their works with notes are desiderata. -Casaubon is best known, at the present day, through his "_Life_," by Mark -Pattison; Andrewes, through the late Dr. R. W. Church's "Lecture," now in -"_The Pascal_" volume (Macmillan) of that judicious and learned man.] - -[Footnote 170:--See Jardine's "_Criminal Trials_," vol. ii., p. 120, -quoting "_Apologia_," p. 200. - -Sir Everard Digby was the only conspirator who pleaded "guilty," and he -was arraigned by a different Indictment from that which charged the rest -of the surviving conspirators.] - -[Footnote 171:--My contention is that the conclusion is inevitable to the -discerning mind that the sphinx-like nescience--the face set like a -flint--with which Oldcorne met Littleton's inquiry, displays indisputable -evidence of a sub-consciousness on Oldcorne's part, of what? Of a -_special_, _private_, _official knowledge_ (as distinct from a general, -public, personal knowledge) of what had been intended to be the executed -Gunpowder Plot, but which Oldcorne himself had thwarted, and so prevented -everlastingly any one single human creature being able, even for the -infinitesimal part of an instant, to contemplate "_post factum_"--after -the fact--and in the concrete; which, indeed, judged "from the outside," -and as the bulk of mankind are entitled to judge it, was the only side or -aspect of the baleful enterprise that was of practical and, therefore, to -them, of paramount personal consequence. The conspirator John Grant -expressed the state of the case exactly when he said in Westminster Hall, -after being asked what he could say wherefore judgment of death should not -be pronounced against him, "He was guilty of a conspiracy intended, but -never effected."] - -[Footnote 172:--See Butler's "_Memoirs of English Catholics_," vol. ii., -p. 260. See also Gerard's "_Narrative_."--It is possible (according to -Gerard) that Oldcorne may have been even still more cruelly tortured, -namely, as Dr. Lingard says, during five hours for each of five successive -days; but to me, humanly speaking, this is incredible.] - -[Footnote 173:--Father Edward Oldcorne and Brother Ralph Ashley are both, -along with others, now styled by Rome, "Venerable Servants of God." The -Decree introducing the cause of these "English Martyrs," dated 1886, and -signed by the present Pope, Leo XIII., is kept in the English College at -Rome, where Oldcorne had himself entered as a student a little more than -three hundred and four years previously, namely, in 1582. - -Through the truly kind courtesy of the Right Rev. Monsignor Giles, D.D., -President of the English College, Rome, the writer was privileged to see, -along with the Rev. Father Darby, O.S.B., and some other gentlemen, this -Decree in the afternoon of Saturday, the 13th of October, 1900, the Feast -of St. Edward the Confessor, King of England. In the forenoon of the same -day the first great band of the English Pilgrims for the Holy Year, the -Year of Jubilee, had received, in St. Peter's, the Papal Blessing, amid -great rejoicing, the apse or place of honour in this, the largest Church -in Christendom, being graciously accorded to these fifteen hundred British -Catholic subjects of Her late Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria.] - -[Footnote 174:--As to the precise teaching of the theologians of Father -Oldcorne's Church respecting the famous dictum of St. Augustine of Hippo, -"_Extra ecclesiam nulla salus_," see the book of the once celebrated Douay -theologian, Dr. Hawarden, entitled, "_Charity and Truth; or Catholics not -uncharitable in saying that none are saved out of the Catholic Communion, -because the rule is not universal_" (1728). And, again, that great -Yorkshire son of St. Philip Neri, Dr. Frederic William Faber, an -ultramontane papist of the ultramontane papists, has thus recorded his own -potent testimony on this subject in his singularly able and beautiful -work, entitled, "_The Creator and the Creature_," first edition, p. 368. - -Dr. Faber says: "We are speaking of Catholics. If our thoughts break their -bounds and run out beyond the Church, nothing that has been said has been -said with any view to those without. I have no profession of faith to make -about them, except that God is infinitely merciful to every soul; that no -one ever has been, or ever can be, lost by surprise or trapped in his -ignorance; and as to those who may be lost, I confidently believe that our -Heavenly Father threw His arms round each created spirit, and looked it -full in the face with bright eyes of love in the darkness of its mortal -life, and that of its own deliberate will it would not have Him."] - -[Footnote 175:--Either from the phonograph or even the shorthand scribe.] - -[Footnote 176:--Are the Indictments in existence of Father Oldcorne and -Ralph Ashley, who seem to have been tried in the Shire Hall, Worcester, at -the Lent Assizes of 1606? If so, they and extracts from any Minute Books -still extant bearing on the subject would be of great interest and value -to the historical Inquirer, if published.] - -[Footnote 177:--Oldcorne realized experimentally, in the final action of -the great tragedy, what it means, as Goethe has it, for a man "to adjust -his compass at the Cross." - -And than Oldcorne no human creature ever lived that had a better right to -anticipate those magnificent words of triumph over death of one of -Yorkshire's supremest geniuses: "_If my barque sink, 'tis to another -sea._"] - -[Footnote 178:--In Morris's "_Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers_," -third series, p. 325, we read: "In 1572 John Oldcorne is one of the four -sworn men against the late rebels and other evil-disposed people suspected -of papistry, for St. Sampson's parish." - -Again, under date April 10th, 1577, we read: "And now also John Oldcorne, -of St. Sampson's parish, who cometh not to the church on Sundays and -holidays, personally appeared before these presents, and sayeth he is -content to suffer the churchwarden of the same parish to take his -distresses for his offence." - -There is also for January, 1598, the following pathetic entry concerning -the mother of Father Oldcorne:-- - -"Monckewarde Saint Sampson's, Elizabeth Awdcorne, alias Oldcorne, old and -lame a recusant." - -York is now divided into six wards for the purposes of municipal -government, namely: Bootham, Monk, Micklegate, Walmgate, Guildhall, and -Castlegate. Until the nineteenth century there were only the first four -wards, which, indeed, corresponded to the four great Gates or chief Ways -for entering the City. - -The writer remembers with pleasure that, now some years ago, his -fellow-citizens of Micklegate Ward, on the west side of York, did him the -honour of electing him to occupy a seat, for the term of three years, in -the Council Chamber of his native City, which, he is proud to remember, -was the City wherein first drew the breath of life Edward Oldcorne; one, -he has every reason to believe, whose keen, sane mind, and ready, skilful -hand were instrumental, under Heaven, in penning that immortal document -which saved the life, certainly, of King James I., of His Royal Consort -Queen Anne of Denmark, of Henry Prince of Wales, and Charles Duke of York, -afterwards King Charles I., as well as the life of the Lords Spiritual and -Temporal, the Gentlemen of the House of Commons, and many Foreign -Ambassadors, in the year of grace 1605, now well-nigh three centuries ago. - -As some readers may be, perchance, interested in a few particulars -concerning the ancient Parish of St. Sampson, which is in the heart of the -City of York, close to the Market Place, I propose to mention a few. First -of all, then, the ancient parish church which bears the name of the old -British Saint, St. Sampson, is pre-eminently one of "the grey old churches -of our native land," whereof in the reign of King Henry V. (Shakespeare's -ideal English monarch) there were in the City of York and its suburbs no -less than forty-one, though in the reigns of Edward VI. and Elizabeth the -number was reduced. That forty-one was the number originally we know from -a subsidy of Parliament which granted to King Harry, in 1413, two -shillings in the pound leviable on all spirituals and temporals in the -realm for carrying on the then war with France.--See Drake's "_Eboracum_," -p. 234. - -St. Sampson's Church consists of a lower nave and chancel with north and -south aisles to both, extending nearly to the west base of the tower. The -architecture of the church is in the decorated and the perpendicular -styles. King Richard III., in 1393, granted the advowson of this church to -the Vicars Choral of York Minster. The present Vicar (1901) is the Rev. -William Haworth, one of the Vicars Choral of the Minster, to whom I am -indebted for information respecting the Registers of St. Sampson's Church -and the Church of Holy Trinity, King's Court, or Christ's. - -Mr. Councillor John Earle Wilkinson, "mine host" of the "Garrick's Head" -Hotel, Low Petergate, York, who was the Guardian of the Poor for the old -Parish of St. Sampson (as he is now the Guardian for Ward No. 2 of the -United Parish of York), kindly informed me on the 10th July, 1901, that -the following streets are in the Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Sampson. -Hence we may conclude that it was in a house in one of these streets that -were spent the earliest years of Edward Oldcorne, the son of John -Oldcorne, Tiler, and of Elizabeth, his wife:-- - -(1) Church Street, a street between the Market Place (which Market Place -is formed by St. Sampson's Square and Parliament Street) and Goodramgate -towards Monk Bar. Here is St. Sampson's Church. - -(2) Patrick Pool, to the east of St. Sampson's Church. - -(3) The right-hand side of Newgate, leading into High Jubbergate (formerly -Jews-Gate). - -(4) Little Shambles and Pump Yard. - -(5) That part of Parliament Street on the south-west which includes the -site of the York City and County Bank. - -(6) That part of Parliament Street on the north-east which includes Mr. F. -H. Vaughan's "Clock" Hotel. - -(7) Silver Street, to the west of St. Sampson's Church, connecting Church -Street with High Jubbergate. - -(8) On the north side of Church Street, opposite St. Sampson's Church, -Swinegate. - -Finkle Street. - -(9) Back (or Little) Swinegate, between Swinegate and Finkle Street. - -(10) That part of Little Stonegate which includes the back part of the -premises of Messrs. Myers and Burnell, Coachbuilders, and the Model -Lodging House opposite. - -(11) Coffee Yard. - -(12) The top part of Grape Lane (leading into Low Petergate), which -adjoins Coffee Yard and the north end of Swinegate. - -(13) St. Sampson's Square (forming part of the Market Place). - -Some of the old Elizabethan dwelling-houses and shops in these streets and -yards, built of oak (doubtless from the famous Galtres Forest, northward -of York), with their projecting stories of lath and plaster, happily, are -still standing, "rich with the spoils of time," and the eyes of Edward -Oldcorne must have, many a time and oft, gazed upon them at that momentous -period of life when "the child is father of the man." - -Besides these ancient dwelling-houses and shops, relics of the Past, the -grey old Parish Church of St. Sampson must have been one of the sights -which, from the earliest dawn of reason, entered into the historic -"imagination" of the great Elizabethan Englishman, who was destined to -become a learned student at Rheims and Rome and "to see much of many men -and many cities" before he came to England, in the year 1588, the year of -the Spanish Armada. - -Another familiar object to the future honoured friend and trusted -counsellor of Mr. and Mrs. Abington and the highest in the land would be -also the old Market Cross, which stood in the middle of St. Sampson's -Square, then, and even still sometimes, called Thursday Market.--See -Gent's "_York_." - -The fact that during the month of December, 1901, the claim of the ancient -City of York to be specially represented, through its Lord Mayor, on the -occasion of the forthcoming Coronation of His Most Gracious Majesty King -Edward VII., was considered by the Court of Claims next after the claim of -the City of London, is interesting evidence to show that the City of -Edward Oldcorne is still counted the second City of the British Empire, -notwithstanding that such claim was disallowed.] - -[Footnote 179:--Sir Edward Hoby was a man of parts, a learned diplomatist -and able Protestant controversialist.--See "_National Dictionary of -Biography_."] - -[Footnote 180:--Nichols' "_Progresses of James I._," pp. 584-587. (The -italics are mine.)] - -_Sub-note to Note 178._ - -In 1572 John Oldcorne, we are told, was one of the four "sworn men against -the late rebels and other evil-disposed people suspected of papistry, for -St. Sampson's parish." This is very interesting; for on the 22nd day of -August, 1572, at three o'clock in the afternoon, "the Blessed" Thomas -Percy, "the good Erle of Northumberland," was beheaded in The Pavement, at -the east end of All Saints' Church. He was buried in old St. Crux Church, -adjoining The Pavement; and it is possible, I conjecture, that John -Oldcorne may have been sworn in as a special constable to help to keep the -peace on the occasion of the beheading of the Earl, who held the hearts of -nine-tenths of the people of York and Yorkshire, as well as of "the North -Countrie" generally, at the time of his long and deeply lamented death. - -The York "Tyburn," in the middle of the Tadcaster High-road, opposite Hob -Moor Gate, Knavesmire, was abolished at the beginning of the nineteenth -century. - -John Oldcorne, the father of Father Edward Oldcorne, is described as a -Bricklayer as well as a Tiler. I think he was a "Master," in partnership, -maybe, with his brother, Thomas Oldcorne, a great sufferer for the -Catholic Faith, whose wife, Alice, died--a prisoner for her conscience--in -the Kidcote, on Old Ouse Bridge, and whose body was buried on Toft Green, -near to Micklegate Bar.--See Foley's "_Records_," vol. iv.--The name -Oldcorne is not now found in the City of York. - - - - - FINIS. - - -A task at once pleasurable and laborious is at length accomplished, and -the writer humbly sends forth into the world his modest contribution -towards the literature of the Gunpowder Treason Plot. - -Errors, whether in matters of Fact or in points of Reasoning and Argument, -the author will be gratefully obliged by his readers at an early date -pointing out to him. - -Should his book be read by any of our kith and kin in His Most Gracious -Majesty's Dominions beyond the seas, whom "the stern behests of Duty" have -bidden "with strangers make their home," as well as by professed students -of History and the general citizen reader in the United Kingdom of Great -Britain and Ireland, then will be the writer's joy great indeed. - -The author desires to tender his respectful and cordial thanks to the -Authorities of the following Libraries for the use of their valuable, and -not seldom invaluable, works:--(1) The Minster Library, York; (2) the -Minster Library, Ripon; (3) the British Museum, London; (4) the Free -Library, York; (5) the Free Library, Leeds; (6) the Free Library, Preston; -(7) the Free Library, Wigan; and (8) the Albert Library, York. - -Also the like thanks to the following persons of divers nationalities, -creeds, and parties. Their aid and assistance have been of various kinds: -sometimes the loan of rare and costly books for a twelve-month together; -in certain cases, advice and counsel; in other cases, the revising of -proof sheets, the translation from foreign tongues, and the transcription -of Elizabethan and Jacobean documents:-- - -To the Rev. F. A. Russell, York, formerly of India; the Rev. Edmond Nolan, -B.A., St. Edmund's House, Cambridge; the Rev. Richard Sharp, S.J., -Skipton-in-Craven, Yorks.; the Rev. George Machell, York; the Rev. Louis -Tils, York, formerly of Germany; the Rev. H. Rawlings, M.A., York, -formerly of South Africa; the Rev. T. Harrington, Brosna, Co. Kerry, -Ireland; the Rev. H. A. Geurts, Bishop Thornton, Ripon, Yorks., formerly -of Holland; the Rev. E. J. Hickey, Lartington, North Yorks.; A. E. -Chapman, LL.D., York; A. Neave Brayshaw, B.A., LL.B., York; Oswald C. B. -Brown, York, Solicitor (author of "_The Life of the Venerable Richard -Langley: a Martyr of the Yorkshire Wolds_"); G. Laycock Brown, York, -Solicitor; Miss Emma M. Walford, 45, Bernard St., Russell Square, London, -W.C.; Miss Georgina Kirby, York House, Middlesbrough, Yorks.; Mr. Ralph -Currie, York; and Mr. John Sampson, York. - -Lastly, to all other kind friends who may have rendered assistance, but -whose names do not occur _either_ in the work itself _or_ in the -above-mentioned list, the writer begs to offer his sincere -acknowledgments. - - - PRINTED BY - THE YORKSHIRE HERALD NEWSPAPER COMPANY, LIMITED, - YORK. - - * * * * * - - - - - TRANSCRIBER'S AMENDMENTS - - -Transcriber's Note: Blank pages have been deleted. Footnotes with -alphabetic tags now generally follow the referencing paragraph. Footnotes -with numeric tags are located near the end of the work. The publisher's -inadvertent omissions of important punctuation have been corrected. -Duplicative book and chapter front matter has been removed. - -The following list indicates any additional changes made. The page number -represents that of the original publication and applies in this etext -except for footnotes and illustrations since they may have been moved. - - Page Change - - 2 See Notes at End of Text, indicated by figures in ( )[[ ]] - 2 ['Local' footnotes are indicated with A-Z, not numerals.] - 168 This lady was the the[Delete.] above-named Dowager - 174 Anglo-Saxon compeers as belonging [to] a comparatively inferior - 176 his aid for the rebellion.[Omitted footnote tag added here.] - 192 the point of a needle?"[Omitted footnote tag added here.] - 248 owned by the Rev. Charles Slingsby Slingsby[Delete.], - 251 and from tyme to to[Delete.] tyme, - 306 William Grauntham[Grantham]. - 387 Again; Fawkes, we are told by Endaemon[Eudaemon], - - * * * * * - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gunpowder Plot and Lord -Mounteagle's Letter, by Henry Hawkes Spink Jr. - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GUNPOWDER PLOT *** - -***** This file should be named 40029.txt or 40029.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/0/2/40029/ - -Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Henry Gardiner 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) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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