The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter, Being a Proof, with Moral Certitude, of the Authorship of the Document: Together with Some Account of the Whole Thirteen Gunpowder Conspirators, Including Guy FawkesSpink, Henry
History
The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter, Being a Proof, with Moral Certitude, of the Authorship of the Document: Together with Some Account of the Whole Thirteen Gunpowder Conspirators, Including Guy Fawkes
Spink, Henry
Gunpowder Plot, 1605; Monteagle, William Parker, Baron, 1574 or 1575-1622
On the 27th of October, the day following the delivery of the Letter,
_Thomas Ward came to Thomas Winter_ (being Sunday at night) and told him
that a Letter had been given to Lord Mounteagle, which the latter
presently had carried to Robert Cecil Earl of Salisbury.——“_Winter’s
Confession._”
Winter, thereupon, the next day, Monday, the 28th October, went to a house
called White Webbs, not far from Lord Salisbury’s mansion Theobalds.
White Webbs was a lone and (then) half-timbered dwelling, “with many trap
doors and passages,” surrounded by woods, near Enfield Chase, ten miles
north of Westminster.
At this secluded spot Thomas Winter had speech with Catesby, the
arch-conspirator, “assuring him withal that the matter was disclosed and
wishing him in anywise to forsake his country.”——“_Winter’s Confession._”
Catesby told Winter, “he would see further as yet and resolved to send Mr.
Fawkes to try the uttermost protesting if the part belonged to himself he
would try the same adventure.”——“_Winter’s Confession._”
On Wednesday, the 30th October, from White Webbs, “Mr. Fawkes,” as Thomas
Winter styles him, went to the cellar under the House of Lords, where
thirty-six barrels of powder, wood, and coal were stored in readiness for
the bloody slaughter purposed for November the Fifth.
Fawkes returned to White Webbs at night, at which the conspirators “were
very glad.” Fawkes had found in the cellar his “private marks” all
undisturbed.
“The next day after the delivery of the Letter,” says Stowe (though as a
fact it was probably five days after the delivery of the momentous
document, namely, on the following Thursday), _this self-same “Thomas
Winter told Christopher Wright”_——a subordinate conspirator,——“that he
(Winter) understood an obscure letter had been delivered to Lord
Mounteagle, who had conveyed it to Salisbury.”[9]
_Hence, most probably, either Thomas Winter went in search of Christopher
Wright to afford him this piece of information; or Wright went in search
of Winter to obtain it._
At about five o’clock in the morning of Tuesday, November, the Fifth,
about five hours after Fawkes’ apprehension by Sir Thomas Knevet and his
men,[10] the said Christopher Wright went to the chamber of the said
Thomas Winter and told him that a nobleman (_i.e._, the Earl of Worcester,
Master of the Horse) “had called (_i.e._, summoned) the Lord Mounteagle,
saying, ‘Rise and come along to Essex House,[11] for I am going to call up
my Lord of Northumberland,’ saying withal, ‘the matter is
discovered.’”——“_Winter’s Confession._”
Of this conspirator, Christopher Wright, it is said,[12] that “he was the
first to ascertain that the Plot was discovered.” Probably this refers to
the information he (Christopher Wright) obtained as the upshot of his
interview with Winter on (probably) Thursday, the 31st October.
Christopher Wright was, likewise, the first to announce the apprehension
of Fawkes on the morning of the 5th of November.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account