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 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,(7) 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.1

That the Wardes were connected with and related to Lord Mounteagle by common family ties.(79)

1 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

Hence, from the foregoing evidence, the conclusions are inevitable, first, that Thomas Warde, of Mulwith, who married Marjory (or Margery) Slater' 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, that, through 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.

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.

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.

Comme

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. yammare 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 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!"

Hurrah for Yorkshire

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, Esqre 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 :

(81) GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS-Part I., No. 47. "The examinacion of Marmaduke Warde, gent. of Newbie in the countie of yorke taken before Sr ffowlk Grevyll' Knight and Bartholmewe Hales esqr

"This ex 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

1 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.