BEING A BIOGRAPHY OF SIR EVERARD DIGBY BY ONE OF HIS DESCENDANTS BY THE AUTHOR OF “A LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP LAUD,”BY A ROMISH RECUSANT, “THE LIFE OF A PRIG, BY ONE,”ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., Ltd. PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1895 [Pg iv] [Pg v]...

The chief difficulty in writing a life of Sir Everard Digby is to steer clear of the alternate dangers of perverting it into a mere history of the Gunpowder Plot, on the one hand, and of failing to say enough of that great conspiracy to illustrate his conduct, on the other. Again, in dealing with that plot, to condemn all concerned in it may seem like kicking a dead dog to Protestants, and to Catholics like joining in one of the bitterest and most irritating taunts to which they have been expose

Nothing is so fatal to the telling of an anecdote as the prelude:—“I once heard an amusing story,”&c., and it would be almost as unwise to begin a biography by stating that its subject was a very interesting character. On the other hand, perhaps I may frighten away readers by telling them at starting, this simple truth, that I am about to write the history of a young man of great promise, whose short life proved a miserable failure, who terribly injured the cause he had most at heart, fo

Young as he was, Sir Everard Digby’s acquaintance was large and varied, and Gothurst was a very hospitable house. Its host’s tastes enabled him thoroughly to enjoy the society of his ordinary country neighbours, whose thoughts chiefly lay in the direction of sports and agriculture; but he still more delighted in conversing with literary and contemplative men, and when his guests combined all these qualities, he was happiest. One such, who frequently stayed at Gothurst, is thus quaintly described

A change of religion causes, to most of those who make it, a very forcible wrench. It may be, probably it usually is, accompanied by great happiness and a sensation of intense relief; no regrets whatever may be felt that the former faith, with its ministers, ceremonies, and churches have been renounced for ever; on the contrary, the convert may be delighted to be rid of them, and in turning his back upon the religion of his childhood, he may feel that he is dismissing a false teacher who has dec

The responsibility of the intrigues in respect to the claims to the English throne, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, rests to some extent upon Queen Elizabeth herself. As Mr Gardiner puts it:— [57] “She was determined that in her lifetime no one should be able to call himself her heir.”It was generally understood that James would succeed to the throne; but, so long as there was the slightest uncertainty on the question, it was but natural that the Catholics should be anxious that a m

Considering that the king had been led to distrust the Catholics through the two lately discovered plots in which some of their number had taken part, the best policy for those who remained loyal, and these were by far the majority, would have been to have taken every opportunity of displaying their faithfulness to their sovereign, and, for those whose position so entitled them, to present themselves as often as they conveniently could at his Court, even if their welcome was somewhat cold. Digby

In the summer of the year 1605, Sir Everard Digby spent a week in London, and stayed at the lodgings in the Savoy of his friend Roger Manners, [122] the eldest brother of Sir Oliver Manners, whose conversion to the Catholic faith has been already noticed. This Roger Manners married the daughter and heir of the famous Sir Philip Sydney, and eventually succeeded his father, as fifth Earl of Rutland. Although Sir Everard stayed with Roger Manners, he “commonlie dieted at the Mearmaid in Bred Street

Believing that his principal friends, and the priests for whom he felt the greatest veneration, had either joined in or expressed their approval of the scheme, Sir Everard began to be half inclined to consent to it. Was there to be a great enterprise, entailing personal activity and danger for the good of the Catholic cause, and was he to shrink from taking part in it? Was he alone, among the most zealous Catholic laymen of England, to show the white feather in a time of peril? Could he call him

In the last chapter we saw how Catesby, by means of his infamous perversion of Father Garnet’s words, induced several of his friends, among others, and last of all, Sir Everard Digby, to join in his conspiracy; but even with his extraordinary powers of personal influence and persuasion, his unscrupulousness, and his intimate friendship with Sir Everard, it is just possible that he might have failed in enlisting him as a conspirator, had it not been for a most unfortunate, and apparently unguarde

Towards the end of the last chapter, I showed that the conspirators were for the most part in fairly comfortable circumstances, and that some of them were rich. It was not necessary to my purpose to enter into details concerning Guy Fawkes, who was an adventurer and a mere tool, or concerning Thomas Bates, who was Catesby’s servant. Nor did I mention the Littletons—one a wealthy man, and the other a younger son, and a cousin of the former; for, although they joined in the rising after the discov

Both Catesby and Fawkes left Gothurst as October wore on; so also did any other conspirators who may have visited it. Most of them betook themselves to White Webbs, a desolate, half-timbered house, with “many trap-doors and passages,” [231] on Enfield Chase, to the north of London, about ten miles from the cellar where their gunpowder lay. This house had been taken, a long time before this, by Anne Vaux, and was rented by her [232] as a convenient place near London for the meeting of priests and

It is to be lamented that Catesby, not content with giving an account of the failure of the plot to Sir Everard Digby, added to it a lie. In his examination, [271] Digby stated that Catesby “told him that now was the time for men to stirre in the Catholick cause, for though the sayd Ro. Katesbie had bin disappointed of his first intention, yet there was such a pudder bredd in the State by y e death of the King and the Earle of Salisburie , as if true Catholiques would now stirre, he doubted not

Much time had been lost on the Thursday afternoon, in going hither and thither, on either side of the route, in the vain hope of persuading the Catholic knights and squires, who lived in the neighbourhood, to join the insurgents; even after dark Digby and his allies continued these fruitless endeavours, in defiance of the band of horsemen that was dogging their footsteps at some distance in the rear; and it was nearly ten o’clock at night [318] before the rapidly diminishing and draggled party r

Sir Everard says, in a letter from the Tower, [347] that, at one of his examinations, “they did in a Fashion offer me the torture, which I wil rather indure then hurt any body”; but it was only a threat; for, although torture was used to priests and Jesuits in connection with the Gunpowder Plot, it does not [348] appear to have been brought to bear upon any of the actual conspirators except Guy Fawkes. Lord Dunfermline, however, strongly urged Salisbury to expose them to it. [349] “Recommends th

Sir Everard appears to have received several kind communications, whilst in the Tower, from Father Gerard, if we may judge from some of his remarks concerning “my brother”in his letters to Lady Digby. For instance, we find him writing [371] :—“Let my Brother see this, or know its Contents, tell him I love his sweet comforts as my greatest Jewel in this Place”; in another, [372] “I give my Brother many thanks for his sweet comforts, and assure him that now I desire death; for the more I think on

On Monday, the 27th of January 1606, Sir Everard Digby, Robert and Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, John Grant, Ambrose Rookwood, Robert Keyes, and Thomas Bates, were taken from their cells in the Tower, led to a barge, and conveyed up the river to Westminster to be put on their trial in the celebrated hall, which stands on the site of the banquetting room of William Rufus. They were to stand before their accusers on soil already famous, and destined to become yet more famous for important trials. Her

SIZES OF BOOKS. A book is folio (fol.); quarto (4to.); octavo (8vo.); twelve mo (12mo.); sixteen mo (16mo.); eighteen mo (18mo.); thirty-two mo (32mo.), &c., according to the number of leaves or foldings of a printed sheet, whether the sheet be foolscap, crown, demy, medium, royal, super-royal, or imperial, and irrespective of the thickness of the volume. The following are approximate outside measurements in inches of the more common sizes. Printed and folded in the reverse way—the bread

Note. — Books are arranged in alphabetical order under the names or pseudonyms of author, translator, or editor. Biographies ‘by the author’ are placed under the name of the subject. Anonymous works and ‘selections’ will be found under the first word of the title. The letters I.S.S. denote that the work forms a volume of the International Scientific Series. A. K. H. B., From a Quiet Place: some Discourses. Cr. 8vo. 5 s. ABEL, CARL, Linguistic Essays. Post 8vo. 9 s. ( Trübner’s Oriental Series. )