Thomas Bates and Robert Winter 'craved mercy.' John Grant was a good while mute; yet after, submissively said, he was guilty of a conspiracy intended, but never effected.'

Ambrose Rookewood 'first excused his denial of the Indictment, for that he had rather lose his life than give it. Then did he acknowledge his offence to be so heinous, that he justly deserved the indignation of the King, and of the Lords, and the hatred of the whole commonwealth; yet could he not despair of mercy at the hands of a prince, so abounding in grace and mercy; and the rather, because his offence, though it were incapable of any excuse, yet not altogether incapable of some extenuation, in that he had been neither author, nor actor, but only persuaded and drawn in by Catesby, whom he loved above any worldly man and that he had concealed it not for any malice to the person of the King, or to the State, or for any ambitious respect respect of his own, but only drawn with the tender respect, and the faithful and dear affection he bare to Mr. Catesby, his friend, whom he esteemed dearer than anything else in the world. And this mercy he desired not for any fear of the image of death, but for grief that so shameful a death should leave so perpetual a blemish and blot unto all ages, upon his name and blood. But, howsoever that this was his first offence, yet he humbly submitted himself to the mercy of the King; and prayed that the King would herein imitate God, who

sometimes doth punish corporaliter, non mortaliter, "corporally, yet not mortally."

... Here also was reported Robert Winter's dream, which he had before the blasting with powder in Lyttleton's house, and which he himself confessed and first notified, viz. That he thought he saw steeples stand awry, and within those churches strange and unknown faces. And after, when the aforesaid blast had the day following scorched divers of his confederates, and much disfigured the faces and countenances of Grant, Rookewood, and others; then did Winter call to mind his dream, and to his remembrance thought, that the faces of his associates so scorched, resembled those which he had seen in the dream.'

Sir Everard Digby pleaded guilty, stating, inter alia, that his firm friend, Catesby, had introduced him to the conspirators, whom he had joined 'for the restoring of the Catholic religion in England.' He requested that all his property might be preserved for his wife and children, and that he might be beheaded, instead of hanged. The last request would,' in all probability, have been granted, had not Digby, most unfortunately for himself, made reference to the fact that promises were broken with the Catholics.' This was too open a criticism of the King's duplicity not to be understood by all in Court, and brought Cecil to his feet, who denied that James had ever committed himself so far as to promise toleration to the Roman Catholics.

1 Aubrey (who calls Sir Everard 'the handsomest gentleman in England') states that 'King James restored his estate to his son and heir.'

The winter's afternoon was by now so far advanced that darkness had set in, and in that dimly lighted, sombre Court the jury quickly found all the accused men guilty, and the Lord Chief Justice passed sentence of death.'

Upon the rising of the Court, Sir Everard Digby, bowing himself towards the Lords, said, "If I may but hear any of your Lordships say you forgive me, I shall go more cheerfully to the gallows." Whereunto the Lords said, “God forgive you, and we do."'*

The conspirators met their fate with courage, considering the terrible nature of their punishment. Tied to separate hurdles, they were dragged, lying bound on their backs, through the muddy streets to the place of execution, there to be first hanged, cut down alive, drawn, and then quartered.

Guy Faukes, weak and ill though he was, seems to have suffered the least, for he was dead by the time his body was taken down. Ambrose Rookewood lived until he reached the quarteringblock. Keyes, breaking the rope, was probably killed by the knife; whilst Sir Everard Digby was in full possession of all his senses on being cut down, and even felt the pain of a bruise on the head when his body fell to the ground.

1 Hanging, drawing, and quartering.

Anything more absolutely in accord with the traditional story of the Plot than the above confessions of Rookewood, Thomas Winter, and Digby it is difficult to conceive; yet, with almost incredible audacity, some Jesuit writers have had the hardihood to question whether there was a Plot at all.

CHAPTER XIII

SIR EVERARD DIGBY'S LETTERS FROM THE TOWER

Ο

F intense interest and importance is the correspondence, that has been preserved to us, of Sir Everard Digby when a prisoner in the Tower of London. He found means, probably by bribing his gaolers, to smuggle letters out of the Tower of London without detection. These letters were scribbled on scraps of paper, and were generally left unaddressed and unsigned, whilst they were often written with lemon juice in lieu of ordinary ink. They were not discovered until seventy years after his death, when they were found amongst the papers of his famous son, Sir Kenelm, and were published by a contemporary writer,' from whose original edition I reprint them below.

These letters have been ignored, as much as possible, by Jesuit writers, for the good reason that they reveal, on the whole, their favourite, Digby, in a not very pleasant light.

1 They were printed in the Appendix to Thomas Barlow's (Bishop of Lincoln) account of the Gunpowder Treason, published at the Bishop's Head, St. Paul's Churchyard, February, 1679. In a later edition, published in 1850, no less than five of the letters are omitted.

As will be seen by their perusal, Digby, notwithstanding the clever way in which he fenced with the Lords of the Council, had frequently been, during the nine months preceding the plot, in the company of Fathers Garnet and Greenway, as well as of Gerard. Moreover, he does not seem to consider that his share in the plot was a crime, and expresses his intense surprise that the majority of his co-religionists regarded the proceedings of himself and his friends with horror. Beyond all doubt, too, he seems to have thought that the English Jesuits not only knew of the plot, but secretly approved of it, for he writes of his certain belief that those which were best able to judge of the lawfulness of it, had been acquainted with it, and given way unto it. More reasons I had to persuade me to this belief than I dare utter !' When, therefore, the Jesuit apologists pretend that Father Garnet did not receive a fair trial, and was unjustly condemned, they should remember that had this paper of Digby's, from which the above extract is taken, been produced at Garnet's trial, it would have afforded damning evidence against him, in regard to his being absolutely possessed of certain information as to Catesby's conspiracy.

THE LETTERS

'The Several Papers and Letters of Sir Everard Digby which are (as we have been credibly informed) the Original Papers and