[Footnote 56:——The word “good” is omitted in the copy of the Letter given in the “_Authorised Discourse_,” which is remarkable. I think it was done designedly, in order to minimize the merit of the revealing plotter.] [Footnote 57:——King James’s interpretation of these enigmatical words was simply fantastical. It may be read in Gerard’s “_Narrative_,” and in most contemporary relations of the Plot.] [Footnote 58:——I am of opinion that one of Father Oldcorne’s servants, Ralph Ashley by name, a Jesuit lay-brother, was the person that actually conveyed the Letter to the page who was in the street adjoining Lord Mounteagle’s Hoxton residence, on the evening of Saturday, the 26th of October, 1605. My reason for being of the opinion that Ralph Ashley conveyed the Letter will be seen hereafter, in due course of this Inquiry. The page’s evidence went to show that the deliverer of the Letter was a tall man, or a reasonably tall man. There is nothing inconsistent in this account of the height of the Letter-carrier with what we know of the size of Ashley, which is negative knowledge merely. I mean we are not told anywhere that he was of short stature, as we are told in the case (1) of the Jesuit lay-brother, Brother Ralph Emerson, a native of the County of Durham, and the servant of Edmund Campion——see Simpson’s “_Life of Campion_”——whom the genial orator playfully called “his little man”——“_homulus_”; and in the case (2) of the Jesuit lay-brother, Brother Nicholas Owen, the servant of Garnet, who was affectionately termed “little John” by the Catholics in whose castles, manor-houses, and halls, up and down the country, he constructed most ingenious secret places for the hiding of priests. Ralph Ashley had acted in some humble capacity at the English Catholic College of Valladolid, which had been founded in Spain from Rheims, through the generosity of noble-hearted Spanish Catholics, among whom was that majestic soul, Dona Luisa de Carvajal.——See her “_Life_,” by the late Lady Georgiana Fullerton (Burns & Oates).——See also “_The Life of the Venerable John Roberts, O.S.B._,” by the Rev. Bede Camm, O.S.B. (Sands & Co.)——Father Roberts founded the Benedictine College at Douay, still in existence. Cardinal Allen’s secular priests’ College is now used as a French Barracks. Ushaw College, Durham, and St. Edmund’s College, Ware, are the lineal successors of Cardinal Allen’s College at Douay. (By the way, when are the letters of the late Dr. Lingard likely to be published? Lingard, after Wiseman, was the greatest man Ushaw has produced, and his letters would be interesting reading; for Lingard must have known many of the most considerable personages of his day. Lingard died at Hornby, near Lancaster, not far from Hornby Castle, the seat of the once famous Lord Mounteagle.)