Catesby, before receiving his fatal shot, we are told by Father Gerard in his “_Narrative_,” p. 109, “took from his neck a cross of gold, which he always used to wear about him, and blessing himself with it and kissing it, showed it unto the people, protesting there solemnly before them all it was only for the honour of the Cross, and the exaltation of that Faith which honoured the Cross, and for the saving of their souls in the same Faith that had moved him to undertake the business; and seth he saw it was not God’s will it should succeed in that manner they intended, or at that time, he was willing and ready to give his life for the same cause, only he would not be taken by any, and against that only he would defend himself with his sword. “This done, Mr. Catesby and Mr. Percy turned back to back, resolving to yield themselves to no man, but to death as the messenger of God. “None of their adversaries did come near them, but one fellow standing behind a tree with a musket, shot them both with one bullet,[A] and Mr. Catesby was shot almost dead, the other lived three or four days. [Footnote A: It was with one musket, but two successive bullets.] “Mr. Catesby being fallen to the ground, as they say, went upon his knees into the house, and there got a picture of our Blessed Lady in his arms (unto whom he was accustomed to be very devout), and so embracing and kissing the same, he died.”[B] [Footnote B: The mind of each of the thirteen Gunpowder conspirators affords the intellectual philosopher and the moral philosopher rich food for thought. What a reflection from human nature is not the soul of these men, one and all——especially Catesby, Thomas Percy, Thomas Winter, Guy Fawkes, Ambrose Rookwood, and Christopher Wright. I would especially point out the strange superstition that Catesby exhibited in wishing to blow up the _Parliament House_, because it was _there_ the iniquitous laws had been made against the Catholics. He primarily wished, like some pagan, to be revenged on the _material object_, which had been the unconscious and irresponsible instrument of his kinsfolk’s and friends’ hurt. Moreover, how true to daily experience is the behaviour of Catesby in his last moments: of one who in his youth had been very wild, but who, on reaching maturer years, had grown to have a great devotion to _her_ whom Wordsworth has so beautifully styled “our tainted nature’s solitary boast.” Again; the dying soldier’s flying for protection to, and the kissing in his last agony, when the light of life was about to be quenched in his mortal eyes for ever, a picture of _her_ who is “the Mother of Christ,” and whom millions hold to be likewise “the Refuge of sinners,” is startlingly true to human nature. But——“Close up his eyes, and let us all to meditation.” For “_In la sua volontade è nostra pace_”——“Only in the Will of God is man’s peace.” And the essence of that Will is the Everlasting Moral Law.]