so noble and grave a Council and the restless and confused questions that every man all that day did vex him with yet was his countenance so far from being dejected that he often smiled in a scornful manner answering quickly to every mans questions scoffing at those that were impertinent and jesting at such as he thought had no authority to examine him Before the Council he refused to answer to such questions as he thought might discover the Plot took all the blame upon himself whereunto he said he was moved only for Religion and Conscience sake denying the King to be his lawful Sovereign because he was an Heretick As desperate were Catesby Percy and the rest who seeing the treason discover'd posted all into Warwickshire About the same hour of the night wherein Fawkes was apprehended one Grant a Gentleman having associated to himself others of his opinion all desperate Papists broke open the Stables of Mr Bennock a Rider of great Horses at Warwick Castle and carried away eight of them which belonged to divers Noblemen and Gentlemen of that Country who had put them into Mr Bennock's hand to fit them for their service and so both they which had fled from London and Grant and his Company met on that Tuesday night at Dun-Church at Sir Everard Digbies Lodgings who had made a match for a great Hunting upon Dunsmore-heath that under pretence thereof they might seize upon the Lady Elizabeth then at Comb-Abbey with the Lord Harrington but when by those which posted from London they were informed that they were discovered and pursued being struck with a great fear not knowing whither to fly they desperately began an open Rebellion pretending that they did it for the cause of Religion all the Catholicks throats being intended to be cut But the violent taking away of those Horses in the night seemed even in the eyes of the common-people to be so great a riot though they knew nothing more that it begat in their hearts a suspicion of some following Rebellion so that all sorts both great and small began to arm themselves upon this unexpected accident And old Sir Fulk Grevil of Beauchamps-Court being Deputy-Lieutenant of Warwickshire though aged and infirm yet out of his zeal for the peace and welfare of his Country presently took order to get into his hands the Ammunition and Arms of all such Gentlemen as were absent from their Houses or Popishly affected and sent such directions to the Towns about him that thereupon when these Rebels came to Ilcester a poor Smith stroke Winter who had likewise been taken by the Townsmen but that he was rescued by his Companions Yet sixteen of their followers were taken and sent to the Sheriff at Warwick and from thence to London In the mean time the rest wandred through Warwickshire being pursued by Sir Richard Verney the then High-Sheriff and from thence they went through Worcestershire into the Borders of Staffordshire their Servants and followers being about eighty men who also stole away many of them from them Thus ranging about and finding no resistance they rifled the Lord Windsors House of all the Armour Shot Powder and all other Warlike provisions but the weather being rainy and the waters somewhat high the Powder in Carriage took wet and so became unserviceable For their last refuge they betook themselves to Holbach House in Staffordshire belonging to Steven Littleton whither they were pursued by the High-Sheriff of Worcestershire who not knowing of the treason and thinking it to be only some fray or riot sent his Trumpeter unto them commanding them to render themselves to him his Majesties Minister But their Consciences witnessing what the Sheriff knew not answered that he had need of greater assistance than of those few that were with him before he could be able to command or controul them and so they prepared for resistance and having laid two pounds of the said Powder into a Platter to dry in the Chimney one coming to mend the fire threw in a Billet whereby a spark flew into the Powder whose sudden blast was so violent that though so small a quantity it blew up the roof of the House scorching the Bodies and Faces of Catesby Rookwood and Grant and some others whose Consciences now told them that God had punished them justly with Powder who with Powder would have destroyed so many Being dispirited with this accident yet like desperate men they resolved to die together set open the Gates and suffered the Sheriffs men to rush in upon them and presently both the Wrights were shot down dead Rookwood and Thomas Winter were very sorely wounded Catesby and Percy desperately fighting back to back were both shot through and slain with one Musket Bullet the rest being taken were carried Prisoners to London being all the way gazed at reviled and detested by the common people for their horrid and horrible treason and so at last they received the just guerdon of their wickedness Thus you have seen this work of darkness by the watchfulness of Gods providence detected and defeated and the contrivers of mischief faln into the Pit that they digged for others Now let us see also how cunningly they contrived the transferring the Odium of it upon the Puritans There was one Mr Pickering of Tichmarsh-Grove in Northamptonshire that was in great esteem with King James This Mr Pickering had a Horse of special note for swiftness on which he used to hunt with the King A little before the blow was given Mr Keies one of the Conspirators and Brother in Law to Mr Pickering borrowed this Horse of him and conveyed him to London upon a bloody design which was thus contrived Fawks upon the day of the fatal blow was appointed to retire himself into St. Georges Fields where this Horse was to attend him to further his escape as they made him believe so soon as the Parliament House should be blown up It was likewise contrived that Mr Pickering who was noted for a Puritan should that Morning be murthered in his Bed and secretly conveyed away as also that Fawks so soon as he came into Georges Fields to escape should be there murthered and so mangled that he could not be known whereupon it was to be bruited abroad that the Puritans had blown up the Parliament-House and the better to make the World believe it there was Mr Pickering with his choice Horse ready to make an escape but that stirred up some who seeing the hainousness of the fact and him ready to escape in detestation of so horrible a deed fell upon him and hewed him in pieces and to make it more clear there was his Horse known to be of special speed and swiftness ready to carry him away and upon this rumor a Massacre should have gone through the whole land upon the Puritans When the contrivance of this Plot was thus discovered by some of the Conspirators and Faux who was now a Prisoner in the Tower made acquainted with it whereas before
with continual depredations surprised and sacked his Towns in Spain and America and had very lately put the Queen of Scots to death therein violating the Majesty of all Kings Again that this War would be no less profitable than just For hereby he might add to his Empire other flourishing Kingdoms extinguish the Rebellion in the Low-Countries hitherto fomented and supported from England secure his Voyages from both the Indies and abate his vast expences in Convoying his Indian Fleets both forward and backward For proof whereof they suggested that the English Navy was neither for number nor greatness nor strength comparable to that of Spain especially having the Portugal Fleet now annexed unto it That England was not fortified and it wanted Commanders Souldiers a Cavalry and Ammunition was bare of Wealth and Friends That there were many in all parts of it addicted to the Romish Religion and would upon the first opportunity joyn their forces with his In brief that so great was the strength of the Spaniard and so unmatchable was their valour that no man durst oppose against them and therefore they might confidently assure themselves of victory Moreover that now an opportunity was afforded by God himself to the King of Spain to effectuate this great design having no cause to fear any other Enemies by reason of a Truce lately concluded by him with the Great Turk and the French his old Enemies being now embroiled in Civil Wars at home They perswaded him likewise that England was an easier Conquest than the Netherlands For that he had a shorter cut to it by Sea and that an open Sea neither was it so fortified with Cities Castles c. as the Netherlands were and that England being once Conquered the Netherlands would soon follow of course having lost their best Supporter These and such like arguments prevailing with the King of Spain in the next place they held a serious Consultation about the manner of Invading England Don Alvares Bassano Marquiss of Sancta Cruce who was to Command the Armado advised that some Port-Town in Holland or Zealand should suddenly be surprized by the Prince of Parma's Land Forces who was then Governor of the Netherlands under the King of Spain and by some Spanish Ships sent to assist him by Sea that so the great Fleet might have an Harbour from whence to begin their Invasion with whom agreed in opinion the Prince of Parma himself who was very forward to promote this expedition But others opposed this by reason of the difficulty danger expence of time and vast charge that it would require They held that with the same charge England might easier be won and that the Conquest thereof would be assured if a well-appointed Army out of Spain and the Low-Countries might be landed at the Thames mouth and London the Metropolis of England surprised by a sudden Assault And this opinion as the more probable prevailed And then again it was advised by some that War should first be denounced by an Herald both to remove suspicion and jealousie from neighbour Princes and to drive our Queen to call in Foreign Forces to assist Her hoping that according to the insolent manner of mercenaries they would raise mutinies and spoil the Country which would make the Queens Subjects evil affected towards Her so that all things would grow into confusion in England But this motion was not hearkened to by men grown fierce insolent and confident of their own strength only they desired the blessing of the Pope upon their Armado and the Prayers of the Catholicks to God and the Saints for good success And to strike the greater terror into the hearts of the English They set forth Books with printed Maps wherein was expressed the greatness of their Preparations in each particular which indeed was so great in Spain Portugal Italy and Sicily that the Spaniards themselves were amazed at it and procured the Pope to Christen it by the name of the Invincible Armado Now that the wonderful power and mercy of God to us in this poor Nation in protecting us against the same may the more gloriously appear I shall in the next place set down what their preparations were for Ships Mariners Land-Souldiers Ammunition and other provisions for the carrying on of so great an undertaking The Spanish Navy being the best appoinâ—ed for Men Munition and all manner of provision that ever the Ocean saw had been five years in preparing consisted of one hundred and thirty Ships whereof these were the principal The Admiral Gallion of Saint Martins of a thousand Tun burden had in her one hundred seventy and seven Mariners three hundred Souldiers fifty Canon c. The Gallion of Saint Johns of one thousand and seventy Tun had in her one hundred and sixty Mariners two hundred and thirty one Souldiers fifty Canon c. The Gallion of Saint Mark of seven hundred and ninety two Tun had in it one hundred and seventeen Mariners two hundred and ninety two Souldiers c. The Gallion of Saint Phillip of eight hundred Tun had in it one hundred and seventeen Mariners four hundred and fifteen Souldiers forty Guns c. The Gallion of Saint Lewis of eight hundred and thirty Tun had in it one hundred and sixteen Mariners three hundred and seventy six Souldiers forty Guns c. The Gallion of Saint Matthew of seven hundred and fifty Tun had in it fifty Mariners one hundred and seventy seven Souldiers forty Guns c. The Gallion of Saint James of five hundred and twenty Tun had in it one hundred Mariners three hundred Souldiers fifty two Guns c. The Gallion of Florence of nine hundred and sixty one Tun had in it one hundred Mariners three hundred Souldiers fifty two Guns c. The Gallion of Saint Christopher of three hundred fifty and two Tun had in it ninety Mariners three hundred Souldiers thirty Guns c. The Gallion of Saint Bernard of three hundred fifty two Tun had in it one hundred Mariners two hundred and eighty Souldiers thirty Guns c. A Ship of Saint Angelo of seven hundred sixty and eight Tun had in it one hundred and fourteen Mariners three hundred and twenty three Souldiers thirty Canons c. The Gangrine of one thousand one hundred and sixty Tun had in it one hundred and ten Mariners three hundred Souldiers thirty six Canons c. The Ship Saint James of six hundred and sixty Tun had in her one hundred and two Mariners two hundred and fifty Souldiers thirty Guns c. The Manuel of five hundred and twenty Tun had in her fifty four Mariners one hundred and thirty Souldiers sixteen Guns c. The Saint Mary of seven hundred and 7 Tun had in her fifty Mariners two hundred and twenty Souldiers thirty Guns c. But I need not reckon up the rest They had in all one hundred and thirty Ships containing Fifty seven thousand eight hundred and eight Tun wherein were Eight hundred and forty five Mariners
digging Tools betook themselves to their Weapons having sufficient shot and Powder in the House and fully resolving rather to die in the place than to yield or be taken The cause of this their fear was a noise that they heard in a room under the Parliament House under which they meant to have Mined which was directly under the Chair of State but now all on a sudden they were at a stand and their Countenances cast each upon other as doubtful what would be the Issue of their enterprize Fawkes scouted out to see what he could discover abroad and finding all safe and free from suspicion he returned and told them that the noise was only occasioned by the removal of Coals that were now upon Sale and that the Cellar was to be let which would be more commodious for their purpose and also would save their labour for the Mine Hereupon Thomas Percy under pretence of Stowage for his Winter provision and Coals went and hired the Cellar which done they began a new Conference wherein Catesby found the weight of the whole work too heavy for himself alone to support for besides the maintenance of so many persons and the several Houses for the several uses hired and paid for by him the Gunpowder and other Provisions would rise to a very great sum and indeed too much for one mans Purse He desired therefore that himself Percy and one more might call in such persons as they thought fit to help to maintain the charge alledging that they knew men of worth and wealth that would willingly assist but were not willing that their names should be known to the rest This request as necessary was approved and therefore ceasing to dig any further in the Vault knowing that the Cellar would be fitter for their purpose they removed into it twenty Barrels of Gunpowder which they covered with a thousand Billets and five hundred Faggots so that now their lodging rooms were cleared of all suspicious provision and might be freely entered into without danger of discovery But the Parliament being again Prorogued to the fifth of November following these persons thought sit that for a while they should again disperse themselves all things being already in so good a forwardness and that Guy Fawkes should go over to acquaint Sir William Stanley and Master Hugh Owen with these their proceedings yet so as the Oath of secresie should be first taken by them For their design was to have Sir Stanley's presence so soon as the fatal blow should be given to be a Leader to their intended stratagems whereof as they thought they should have great need and that Owen should remain where he was to hold correspondency with Foreign Princes to allay the odiousness of the fact and to impute the Treason to the discontented Puritanes Fawkes coming into Flanders found Owen unto whom after the Oath he declared the Plot which he very well approved of but Sir William Stanley being now in Spain Owen said that he would hardly be drawn into the business having suits at this time in the English Court yet he promised to ingage him all he could and to send him into England with the first so soon as their Plot had taken effect Upon this Fawkes to avoid further suspicion kept still in Flanders all the beginning of September and then returning received the Keyes of the Cellar and laid in more Powder Billets and Faggots which done he retired into the Country and there kept till the end of October In the mean time Catesby and Percy meeting at the Bath it was there concluded that because their number was but few Catesby himself should have power to call in whom he would to assist their design by which Authority he took in S ir Everard Digby of Rutlandshire and Francis Tresham Esquire of Northamptonshire both of them of sufficient state and wealth For Sir Everard offered fifteen hundred pounds to forward the action and Tresham two thousand But Percy disdaining that any should out-run him in evil promised four thousand pounds out of the Earl of Northumberlands Rents and ten swift Horses to be used when the blow was past Against which time to provide ammunition Catesby also took in Ambrose Rookwood and John Grant two Recusant Gentlemen and without doubt others were acquainted also with it had these two grand Electors been apprehended alive whose own tongues only could have given an account of it The business being thus forwarded abroad by their complices they at home were no less active For Percy Winter and Fawkes had stored this Cellar with thirty six Barrels of Gunpowder and instead of shot had laid upon them Bars of Iron logs of Timber massie Stones Iron Crowes Pick-Axes and all their working Tools and to cover all great store of Billets and Faggots so that nothing was wanting against that great and terrible day Neither were the Priests and Jesuits slack on their parts who usually concluded their Masses with Prayers for the good success of their expected hopes about which Garnet made these Verses Gentem aufer perfidam credentium de finibus Vt Christo laudes debitas persolvamus alacriter And others thus Prosper Lord their pains that labour in thy cause day and night Let Heresie vanish away like smoke Let their memory perish with a crack like the ruine and fall of a broken house Upon Thursday in the Evening ten days before the Parliament was to begin a Letter directed to the Lord Monteagle was delivered by an unknown person to his footman in the street with a strait charge to give it into his Lords own hands which accordingly he did The Letter had neither date nor subscription and was somewhat unlegible so that the Nobleman called for one of his servants to assist him in reading it the strange contents whereof much perplexed him he not knowing whether it was writ as a Pasquil to scare him from attendance at the Parliament or as matter of consequence and advice from some friend Howsoever though it were now Supper-time and the night very dark yet to shew his loyalty to his Sovereign he immediately repaired to Whitehall and imparted the Letter to the Earl of Salisbury then principal Secretary who reading the Letter and hearing how it came to the Lord Monteagles hands highly commended his Prudence and Loyalty for discovering it telling him plainly that whatsoever might be the event yet it put him in mind of divers Advertisements wherewithal he had acquainted both the King and his Council of some great business which the Papists were in hand with both at home and abroad against this Parliament pretending a Petition to the King and Parliament for a toleration of their Religion but withal giving out that it should be delivered in such an order and so well backed that the King should be loth to refuse their request Then did the Earl of Salisbury presently acquaint the Lord Chamberlain therewith who deemed the matter not a little to concern himself his Office
and Guy Fawkes had many meetings and Conferences about this business till at last Thomas Percy came puffing in to Catesby's Lodging at Lambeth saying What Gentlemes shall we alwaies be talking and never do any thing You cannot be ignorant how things proceed To whom Catesby answered that something was resolved on but first an Oath for secresie was to be administred for which purpose they appointed to meet some three days after behind Clements Church beyond Temple-Bar where being met Percy professed that for the Catholick cause himself would be the man to advance it were it with the slaughter of the King which he was there ready to undertake and do No Tom said Catesby thou shalt not adventure thy self to so small a purpose if thou wilt be a Traytor there is a Plot to greater advantage and such an one as can never be discovered Hereupon all of them took the Oath of Secresie heard a Mass and received the Sacrament after which Catesby told them his devilish device by Mine and Gunpowder to blow up the Parliament-House and so by one stroke with the destruction of many to effect that at once which had been many years attempting and for cause of Conscience to kill the innocent with the nocent he told them that it was warrantable by the Authority of Garnet himself the superiour of the English Jesuites and of Garrard and Tresmond Jesuitical Priests likewise who by their Apostolical Power did commend the fact and absolve the Actors The Oath was given them by the said Garrard in these words You shall swear by the blessed Trinity and by the Sacrament you now purpose to receive never to disclose directly nor 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 The Project being thus far carried on in the next place the first thing they sought after was an House wherein they might begin their work for which purpose no place was held fitter than a certain Edifice adjoining to the Wall of the Parliament House which served for a withdrawing room to the Assembled Lords and out of Parliament time was at the dispose of Mr. Winyard the Keeper of the place and Wardrobe thereto belonging these did Percy hire for his Lodgings entertaining Fawkes as his man who changing his name into Johnson had the Keyes and keeping of the rooms commended to him Besides this they hired another House to lay in provision of Powder and to frame and fit Wood in for the carrying on the Mine which Catesby provided at Lambeth and sware Robert Keies into their Conspiracy whom he made the Keeper of those provisions who by night conveyed the same unto Fawkes The appointed day for the Parliament being the seventh day of February It was thought fit to begin their work in October before but Fawkes returning out of the Country found Percies rooms appointed for the Scottish Lords to meet in who were to treat about the union of the two Kingdoms whereupon they forbore for a while to begin their work But that Assembly being soon dissolved upon the eleventh of December late in the night they entred upon their work of darkness beginning their Mine having tools aforehand prepared and baked meats provided the better to avoid suspicion in case they should send abroad for them They which first began the Mine were Robert Catesby Esquire the Arch-Contriver and Traitor and ruine of his name Thomas Percy Esquire a Kin to the Earl of Northumberland Thomas Winter John Wright Guy Fawkes Gentlemen and Thomas Bates Catesbies Man all of them well grounded in the Romish School and earnest labourers in this Vault of Villany so that by Christmas-Eve they had brought the Mine under an Entry adjoining to the Wall of the Parliament-House under-propping the Earth as they went with their framed Timber nor till that day were they seen abroad of any man During this undermining much consultation was had how to order the rest of the business when the deed should be accomplished the first was how to surprise the next Heir to the Crown for though they doubted not but that Prince Henry would Accompany his Father and perish with him yet they suspected that Duke Charles as too young to attend the Parliament would escape the train and perchance be so carefully guarded and attended at Court that he would be gotten into their hands hardly But Percy offered to be the remover of this rub resolving with some other Gentlemen to enter the Dukes Chamber which by reason of his acquaintance he might well do and others of his like acquaintance should be placed at several Doors of the Court so that when the blow was given and all men in a maze then would he carry away the Duke which he presumed would be easily done the most of the Court being then absent and for such as were present they would be altogether unprovided for resistance For the surprize of the Lady Elizabeth it was held a matter of far less difficulty she remaining at Comb Abbey in Warwickshire with the Lord Harrington and Ashbey Catesbies House being not far from the same whither under a pretence of an hunting upon Dunsmore Heath many Catholicks should be assembled who knowing for what purpose they were met had the full liberty in that distracted time to provide Money Horses Armor and other necessaries for War under pretence of strengthning and guarding the Heir Apparent to the Crown Then it was debated what Lords they should save from the Parliament and it was agreed that they should keep as many as they could that were Catholicks or Favourers of them but that all others should feel the smart and that the treason should be charged upon the Puritans to make them more odious to the World Next it was controverted what Foreign Princes they should make Privy to this Plot seeing they could not enjoin them secresie nor oblige them by Oath and this much troubled them For though Spain was held fittest to second their Plot yet he was slow in his preparations and France was too near and too dangerous to be dealth with and how the Hollanders stood affected to England they knew very well But while they were thus busying themselves and tormenting their brains the Parliament was again adjourned to the fifth day of October ensuing whereupon they brake off both discourse and work till Candlemas and then they laid in Powder and other Provisions beginning their work again and having in the mean time taken into their Company Christopher Wright and Robert Winter being first sworn and receiving the Sacrament for secresie the foundation Wall of the Parliament-House being very hard and nine foot thick with great difficulty they wrought half through Fawkes being their Centinel to give warning when any came near that the noise in digging might not be heard The Labourers thus working into the Wall were suddenly surprized with a great fear and casting away their