The Gunpowder Plot And Lord Mounteagle's Letter, Being A Proof, With Moral Certitude, Of The Authorship Of The Document - free ebook by Henry Spink

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The Gunpowder Plot And Lord Mounteagle's Letter, Being A Proof, With Moral Certitude, Of The Authorship Of The Document

Henry Spink

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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.

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.

“ 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 ord

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PREFACE.

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 profo

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ERRATA.

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.]: —...

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PRELUDE.

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 th

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CHAPTER I.

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 sinne

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CHAPTER II.

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 conspirat

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CHAPTER III.

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 Bis

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CHAPTER IV.

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. [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 genu

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CHAPTER V.

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 J

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CHAPTER VI.

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 conseq

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CHAPTER VII.

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. [A] Lord Edmund Talbot, brother to

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CHAPTER VIII.

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 prie

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CHAPTER IX.

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

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CHAPTER X.

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

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CHAPTER XI.

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 w

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CHAPTER XII.

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] [A] It is gratifying to the historic feeling to know that the Manor of Hayton is still

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CHAPTER XIII.

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,

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CHAPTER XIV.

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, eve

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CHAPTER XV.

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 Mounte

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CHAPTER XVI.

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.) [A] It is to be recollected that the conspirators themselves suspected that there was a secret understanding, at least between the gentleman-servant of Moun

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CHAPTER XVII.

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 broth

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CHAPTER XVIII.

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.) [A] I am, however,

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CHAPTER XIX.

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 Wr

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CHAPTER XX.

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 cons

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CHAPTER XXI.

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 b

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CHAPTER XXII.

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

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CHAPTER XXIII.

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 ( née Preston), the mother of Anne, the wife of William third Lord Mounteagle, who died in 1584.

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CHAPTER XXIV.

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 conspirato

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CHAPTER XXV.

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 th

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CHAPTER XXVI.

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

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CHAPTER XXVII.

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 p

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

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 perh

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CHAPTER XXIX.

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 sh

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CHAPTER XXX.

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

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CHAPTER XXXI.

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 s

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CHAPTER XXXII.

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

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CHAPTER XXXIII.

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

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CHAPTER XXXIV.

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 oc

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CHAPTER XXXV.

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 s

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CHAPTER XXXVI.

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

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CHAPTER XXXVII.

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 fi

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CHAPTER XXXVIII.

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

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

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 &amp; Willm Combes Esq r Justices of peace there saith as followeth. [A] Kettleby is near Brigg, in Lincolnshire. Twigmore, where John Wright had lived, is also near the same town. (Communicate

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CHAPTER XL.

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 consideratio

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CHAPTER XLI.

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 th

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CHAPTER XLII.

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 docume

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CHAPTER XLIII.

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 t

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CHAPTER XLIV.

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 a

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CHAPTER XLV.

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

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CHAPTER XLVI.

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 Tesi

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CHAPTER XLVII.

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] [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,

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CHAPTER XLVIII.

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

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CHAPTER XLIX.

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. [A] Gothurst (now Gayhurst) is twelve miles from Northampton and from ten to fifteen miles from Great Harrowden. Weston Under

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CHAPTER L.

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 kni

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CHAPTER LI.

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. [A] Mush may have been of the Mushes, of Kna

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CHAPTER LII.

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: — “T

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CHAPTER LIII.

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, sleep

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CHAPTER LIV.

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 memor

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CHAPTER LV.

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 fiftee

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CHAPTER LVI.

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 disgu

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CHAPTER LVII.

CHAPTER LVII.

“The voluntarie declaration of Edward Oldcorne alias Hall Jesuite 12 Mar. 1605 [ i.e. , 1605-6]. “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. [A] I do not know the exact point of time when Humphrey Littleton thus spoke to Father Oldcorne, except that it was certain

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CHAPTER LVIII.

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

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CHAPTER LIX.

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 ow

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CHAPTER LX.

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 dis

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CHAPTER LXI.

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. Oldcor

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CHAPTER LXII.

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

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CHAPTER LXIII.

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

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CHAPTER LXIV.

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

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CHAPTER LXV.

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 obligatio

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CHAPTER LXVI.

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 tr

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CHAPTER LXVII.

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

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CHAPTER LXVIII.

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] [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. B

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CHAPTER LXIX.

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 s

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CHAPTER LXX.

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] [A] Torture, for the purpose of drawing evidence from a prisoner, was contrary to the Law of En

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CHAPTER LXXI.

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

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CHAPTER LXXII.

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

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CHAPTER LXXIII.

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

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RECAPITULATION OF PROOFS, ARGUMENT, AND CONCLUSIONS.

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 t

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Supplementum I.

Supplementum I.

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] [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 ye

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Supplementum II.

Supplementum II.

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 o

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Supplementum III.

Supplementum III.

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

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Supplementum IV.

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 Minst

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Supplementum V.

Supplementum V.

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 w

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Supplementum VI.

Supplementum VI.

... 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 immediatel

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Appendix A.

Appendix A.

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 t

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Appendix B.

Appendix B.

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

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Appendix C.

Appendix C.

[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. [B] This was Father Thomas Strange, S.J., a cousin to Thomas Abington, of Hindlip. [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 Northu

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Appendix D.

Appendix D.

This Examinat sayith that xpofer Wright cam to S t Gilis in the ffeild to the Maydenhead there vpon Weddnesday laste &amp; sent Wilt Kiddle (that cam vp w t him as his man) to Westm the same night for this Examinat to come &amp; 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 &amp; this Examinat went vpon ffriday brought the child vpon Satterday to St. Gil

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Appendix E.

Appendix E.

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 £ [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 &amp; 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

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Appendix F.

Appendix F.

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] [A] This was Keyes. — See “Elizabeth More’s Evidence.” He saieth his Masters horsses stood in d

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Appendix G.

Appendix G.

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 Rock

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Appendix H.

Appendix H.

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 Jesuy

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Appendix I.

Appendix I.

O r humble dutyes remembred. We have this day apprehended &amp; 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 offender

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Appendix J.

Appendix J.

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. [A] Contraction for “man.” [B] I.e. , Faux. [C] Gravelyng would be Gravelines in France. Most probably “t

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Appendix K.

Appendix K.

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 wer

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Appendix L.

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 &amp; 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

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Appendix M.

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. “Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle’s Letter. “Adverting to your letter of

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Appendix N.

Appendix N.

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 &amp; trew religon w th in this o r Realme and oth

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Note as to authenticity of “Thomas Winter’s Confession,” at Hatfield.

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 du

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NOTES.

NOTES.

[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

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FINIS.

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 Dut

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