'

the prominent part he undertook in the execution of it, was a gentleman of good family, and respectable parentage in Yorkshire. His father, Edward Fawkes, was a notary at York, and held the office of Registrar and Advocate of the Consistory Court of the Cathedral Church there*. He died in 1578, leaving a large family. Of the education and early history of Guy Fawkes nothing is known; but having spent the little property he derived from his father, he enlisted as a soldier of fortune in the Spanish army in Flanders, and was present at the taking of Calais, by the Archduke Albert, in 1598. He was well known to the English Catholics, and had been despatched by Sir William Stanley and Owen, from Flanders, to join Christopher Wright on his embassy to Philip II., immediately after Queen Elizabeth's death. Father Greenway, who knew all the conspirators intimately, describes him as 66 a man of great piety, of exemplary

*The proof of this identification of Guy Fawkes is as follows: In an Examination dated the 7th of November, 1605, in which he, for the first time, gives his real name, Fawkes says, that he "was born in the city of York, and that his father's name was Edward Fawkes, a gentleman, a younger brother, who died about thirty years before, and left to him but small living which he spent." Now it appears from certain proceedings in the StarChamber in 1573, the record of which is in the Chapter-house at Westminster, that an Edward Fawkes, a notary, was at that time living at York in a respectable sphere of life; and in the register of burials in St. Olave's, in Marygate at York, is the following entry: "Mr. Edward Fawkes, Register and Advocate of the Consistory Court of the Cathedral Church of York, about forty-six years of age, buried in the Cathedral Church, January 17th, 1578." Here then is an Edward Fawkes, whose station in the world and time of death correspond pretty exactly with the statement of Fawkes himself in the Examination, and as the name is an uncommon one, the above facts seem almost to amount to demonstration. It is highly probable that Edward Fawkes, who is described by his son as "a gentleman, and a younger brother," belonged to the family of Fawkes of Fernley, but neither his name, nor that of Guido appears in any pedigree of that family.

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 is stated, by the same authority, to have been "sought by all the most distinguished in the Archduke's camp for nobility and virtue." If this account of his character is correct, we are to look upon this man, not according to the popular notion, as a mercenary ruffian, ready for hire to perform the chief part in any tragedy of blood, but an enthusiast whose understanding had been distorted by superstition, and in whom fanaticism had conquered the better feelings of nature. His conduct after the discovery of the Plot is quite consistent with the character of a fanatic.

as

Thomas Winter returned to London with Fawkes, about the latter end of April, 1604, and reported to Catesby the slender encouragement he had received from the Constable to expect any material assistance from the King of Spain or himself in the way of negotiation. This result of the mission had probably been anticipated by Catesby, who seems to have only suggested it in order to remove the conscientious scruples of Winter.

A few days after Winter's return, Thomas Percy, whom we have already mentioned as one of the most prominent characters in this transaction, came to London, probably upon Catesby's invitation. Percy was confidential steward to Henry Earl of Northumberland, and nearly related to that nobleman, who had appointed him one of the band of gentlemen pensioners. In his youth he is said to have been dissipated and licentious, but since his conversion to the Catholic faith, he, like Catesby, had become an enthusiastic devotee. Father Greenway says that, at the period of which we are speaking," he was about forty-six years of age, though from the whiteness

of his head, he appeared to be older; his figure was tall and handsome; his eyes large and lively, and the expression of his countenance pleasing, though grave; and notwithstanding the boldness of his mind, his manners were gentle and quiet *”. He had been employed, as above related, by the Earl of Northumberland, on a mission to the King in Scotland, previously to the death of Elizabeth, for the purpose of ascertaining the disposition of James towards the Catholics. He returned into England with assurances of James's favourable intentions, reporting to the Catholics the King's promise of a full toleration of their religion, and urging them on that ground to support his title. When the King afterwards adopted a course of conduct totally different from these assurances, the mind of Percy was filled with the deepest distress and indignation. He imagined that his Catholic brethren regarded him with suspicion or contempt, as one who had been used either as a willing instrument, or as a dupe, for the purpose of betraying them; and in this state of mind, he was prepared to yield his ready assistance to any scheme, which might enable him to vindicate the sincerity of his devotion to the Catholic cause.

Upon Percy's joining Catesby at his lodging in London, Thomas Winter, John Wright, and Fawkes were present; Percy's address to them as soon as he came into their company was, "Well, gentlemen, shall we always talk, and never do any thing?" Catesby then drew him aside and whispered to him of something to be done, but proposed that before the particulars of the scheme should be disclosed, all of them should take a solemn oath of secrecy. This was agreed to; and accordingly a few days afterwards they met by appointment at a house in the fields beyond St. Clement's Inn, and Catesby, Percy,

* Greenway's MS.

Thomas Winter, John Wright, and Fawkes, then severally took an oath in the following form: "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 given by them to each other in the most solemn manner, "kneeling down upon their knees with their hands laid upon a primer." Immediately after they had taken the oath, Catesby explained to Percy, and Winter and 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. This was approved by both of them; and after some consultation and discussion, respecting the means of effecting their purpose, they all adjourned to an upper room in the same house, where they heard mass, and received the sacrament from Father Gerard, a Jesuit missionary, in confirmation of their vow. But both

Fawkes and Thomas Winter (who were the only individuals of this party who could be examined as to this fact after the discovery of the plot, Catesby, Wright, and Percy having been slain in Worcestershire) state that the secret was not imparted to Gerard.

During Winter's absence in the Netherlands, Catesby had made inquiries respecting a house situated next to the Parliament House, which seemed particularly well adapted to the purpose of the conspirators. This house he found was held by one Ferris, as tenant to Whinneard, the keeper of the King's wardrobe: it was now arranged that Percy should purchase the interest of Ferris in the house, under the pretence that it was conveniently situated for his occasional residence, while discharging the duties of his office of gentleman pensioner. The house was

accordingly taken in Percy's name, by a written agreement with Ferris, the original of which, dated the 24th May, 1604, may be seen at the State-Paper Office. From the cellar of this house a mine was to be made through the wall of the Parliament House, and a quantity of gunpowder and combustibles to be deposited immediately under the House of Lords. It was arranged that Fawkes, who was not known in London, should receive the keys, and keep possession of the house, under the assumed name of Johnson, as Percy's servant. Soon afterwards the Parliament was adjourned until the 7th of February following; and upon this the conspirators agreed to depart into the country, and to meet again about the beginning of November. In the interval it was thought desirable that a house should be taken at Lambeth, at which the timber required for constructing the mine, and also the powder and other combustibles, might be collected in small quantities at a time, and afterwards removed by night to the house at Westminster. The custody of the house at Lambeth was, at Catesby's suggestion, committed to Robert Keyes, who, after being sworn in the same manner as the others, was intrusted with the secret, and received into the number of conspirators, shortly before Midsummer.

There is reason to believe that Robert Keyes, Key, or Kay, was the son of Edward Kay, a Protestant clergyman, of Stavely in the north of Derbyshire, who was himself a younger son of John Kay of Woodsam in Yorkshire, from whom the Baronets of that name are lineally descended. The mother of Robert Keyes was a daughter of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt of Kettleby, a Catholic gentleman, of great opulence in Lincolnshire. Keyes was himself a Catholic, and seems to have been in indigent circumstances: Father Greenway says, that "he was introduced