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XVI. Letters illustrative of the Gunpowder Treason: Communicated by JOHN BRUCE, Esq. F.S.A. in a Letter to Sir HENRY ELLIS, K.H., F.R.S., Secretary.

Read March 5, 1840.

MY DEAR SlR HENRY, Chelsea, February 18, 1S40. I BEG to transmit to you copies of two letters connected with the his- tory of the Gunpowder Treason, which I think will be found worthy of consideration by the Society of Antiquaries. The originals are in the Cotton Collection, in the volume Titus B. n.; a volume composed of various miscellaneous transcripts and original docu- ments, divided into six parts, the last part being entitled " Letters and Papers of State in the time of Queen Elizabeth." Amongst them, and placed between documents dated in 1571 and 1574, are the letters in question. The fact of their being thus obviously misplaced, and the circumstance of the signature of the second being rather difficult to decypher, and the wri- ter's name having been consequently left blank in the catalogue, may ac- count for their having hitherto escaped notice. They are written upon sheets of foolscap, and bear marks of having been kept some time in dirty pockets. Probably they were found upon the person of Catesby, the chief conspirator, to whom they are both addressed. The first letter to which I shall allude, is an original, dated the 12th of October, no doubt in the year 1605, and addressed by Thomas Winter to his " louing frind Mr. Ro. Catsby." The preparations of the conspirators were completed about the beginning of May 1605 ; but, as the Parliament was not appointed to meet until the following 3rd of October, they despatched Fawkes upon a mission into the Letters illustrative of the Gunpowder Treason. 421

Low Countries, and agreed that the others should separate, in order to avoid suspicion. Early in September they again assembled in . They heard Fawkes's report of his mission, and sent off Sir Edmund Baynham* to Rome, in order that, being there when the news of the explosion arrived, he might negociate with the Pope on behalf of the conspirators, and explain to him their designs. At this time the Parliament was again prorogued from the 3rd October to the 5th November, a circumstance which alarmed the conspirators, and, according to Greenway's narrative, they deputed Thomas Winter, the writer of the following letter, to be present in the House of Lords at the time of the prorogation, and observe the demeanour and coun- tenances of the Lords Commissioners. As a retainer in the household of Lord Mounteagle, who was one of the Commissioners, he found no diffi- culty in being present at the ceremony, and his report of the easy, careless manner in which the Commissioners conversed and walked about the house, in apparent unconsciousness of the volcano beneath them, quieted the fears of the conspirators, and they again separated to abide the further delay. Catesby went into Northamptonshire, residing principally at his house at Ashby St. Leger's, and occupying himself and some of his friends in raising a troop of horse, under pretence of joining the service of Spain in Flanders. About Michaelmas he went to Bath, and shortly afterwards returned to Lon- don ; where the following letter was addressed to him. Its reckless tone is extremely characteristic of the daring writer, and it confirms the fact of his poverty. Ashby, mentioned in it, was Catesby's residence in Northampton- shire ; Winter's brother, was Robert Winter of Huddington, in Worcester- shire, also one of the conspirators; and Mr. Talbot was Robert Winter's father-in-law, the same person who is several times mentioned in Sir 's letters— of Grafton, father of George the ninth . a Baynham was a fit person to be employed on such a mission. Mr. Jardine says that he was " a Catholic gentleman of good family in Gloucestershire, but of profligate and turbulent habits. Besides beiug engaged in Essex's rebellion, he had been more than once prosecuted in the Star Chamber, in the time of Elizabeth, for riots and affrays, and was known as the captain of a club, or society, called ' The Damned Crew ; ' the name of which strongly denotes its character."—Crimi- nal Trials, ii. 47. 422 Letters illustrative of the Gunpowder Treason. The letter is as follows : " To my louing frind Mr. Ro. Catsby." " Though all you malefactors flock to London as birdes in winter to a dunghill, yett doe 1, honest man! freely possess the seet cuntry ayre, and, to say truth, would fayne be amonge you, but cannott, as yett, gett mony to come vp. I was att Asbye to haue mett you, butt you were newly gonne; my busines, and your vncertaine stay, made me hunt no further. I pray you commend me to our frinds. And, when ocasion shall require, send downe to my brother's, or Mr. Talbott's: within this moneth I wilbe with you at London. So God keep you : this 12th of October. " Your louing frind, "THO. WINTOUR."

This letter, although interesting as marking the movements of the chief parties in that unparalleled conspiracy, has nothing like the historical value of the one to which I am next to direct your attention. It is written in a dark, mysterious manner, and, of itself, tells but little, but, when taken in connexion with other facts—read, as it were, by the light thrown upon the movements and proceedings of the conspirators and the government from other quarters—it seems to me to afford very strong presumptive evi- dence that Lord Mounteagle, the peer to whom the letter of discovery was addressed, had a guilty knowledge of the plot, and must, therefore, have played the part of a spy amongst the conspirators. Before I insert the letter I would request attention to the following cir- cumstances of suspicion against Lord Mounteagle which are known at present. I. He was related to most of the principal conspirators; to Tresham, the Winters, and to Catesby; the following letter is addressed by him to his loving kinsman . He was connected also with the Throg- mortons, the Abingtons, and with Thomas Percy. II. He had been concerned with the principal conspirators in former con- spiracies ; with Catesby, Thomas Winter, and Tresham, in that of Essex in 1601 ; and with Catesby, Winter, and the Jesuits Garnet and Greenwell, in Letters illustrative of the Gunpowder Treason. 423 the treasonable correspondence with Spain in the year in which Elizabeth died. III. His intimacy with the chief conspirators continued up to the time of the completion of their preparations for carrying the plot into effect. This may be inferred from the fact that he sent letters to the Pope by Sir Ed- mund Baynham, the messenger secretly despatched to Rome by the conspi- rators in September 1605. IV. His conduct previous to the receipt of the letter of discovery, and at the time of its delivery, wears the appearance of a scene arranged for the purpose of effecting an open declaration of what was, secretly, very well known before. This point has been so ably developed, and commented upon, in Mr. Jardine's admirable account of the , that I shall only refer to his work in proof of it. V. It is obvious that the Government did every thing in their power to keep Lord Mounteagle's connexion with the conspirators out of sight. This again is a point which Mr. Jardine has clearly proved. In the examinations in the State Paper Office, the name " Lord Mounteagle " occurs twice : in one instance a slip of paper is pasted over it; in the other, it has been most carefully endeavoured to be obliterated. Garnet, also, in one of his over- heard conversations in the Tower, is said to have remarked—" Well! I see they will justify my Lord Mounteagle of all this matter. I said nothing of him, neither will I ever confess him."—Jardine, p. 69.b VI. The reward that he received—£500 per annum for his life, and £200 per annum of fee-farm rents—was most extravagant, upon the supposition that the delivery of the anonymous letter to Lord Salisbury was his only claim upon the gratitude of the Government. If, bearing in mind these things, we read the following letter, I think we shall be irresistibly led to the conclusion, that Lord Mounteagle had a guilty knowledge of the plot, and earned his reward by betraying his companions. The letter is without date, but was evidently written in September 1605.

t> Since writing the above, I have been informed that there is at Hatfield an original examination of Garnet, in which Lord Mounteagle is directly implicated. It was kept back at Garnet's trial by command of the King—probably on that account. VOL.XXVIII. 3 I 424 Letters illustrative of the Gunpowder Treason.

It is addressed " To my louing kinsman Robert Catesbye, esquier, geve theise. Lipyeat." Lipyeat, or Lypiat, was a house of the Throgmortons near Stroud.c

" If all creatures borne vnder the Mones spheare can not endure without the ellimentes of Aier and fyre, In what languishment haue wee lede owre lyfe, since wee departed from the deare Robine whose conversation gaue vs such warmeth as wee neded no other heate to mainetayne owre healthes : since, therfore, yt is proper to all, to desire a reamedy for their disease, I doe, by theise, bynd the, by the Lawes of Charitye, to make thy present aparance here, at the bath, and lett no watery Nimpes divert you, who can better lyve with the aier, and better forbeare the fyre of your spirite and vigoure, then wee, who accumptes thy person the only sone that must Ripene owre harvest. And thus I rest: Ever

It is unnecessary for me to point out the suspicious allusions in this letter to air and fire; the unquestionable proof which it affords of the con- tinuance of Lord Mounteagle's intimacy with the chief conspirator; or the significant title which it bestows upon him—" the sun that must ripen our harvest;" but I may add, that the terms of attachment applied to Catesby, and the description of the fascination of his conversation, are similar to those which occur in other allusions to that remarkable man. Rookwood

e Atkyns's Gloucestershire, 368. Letters illustrative of the Gunpowder Treason. 425 said, in one of his examinations, that he had long been intimate with him, and " loved and respected him as his own life." Catesby went to Bath about Michaelmas 1605, it now appears, in conse- quence of the above invitation. Percy, and, as we may conclude, Lord Mounteagle, met him there, and it was then determined that," the company being yet but few, Mr. Catesby should have the others' authority to call in whom he thought best." In pursuance of this resolution Catesby admitted Sir Everard Digby, , and into the plot. I need not remind you that Catesby and Percy, probably the only persons who could directly have proved the active interference of Lord Mounteagle* were killed at Holbeach.

I have the honour to be,

my dear Sir Henry,

Your very faithful humble servant,

JOHN BRUCE. SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H. F.R.S. Sec. S. A.