The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605 — John Shaqi
The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605Monteagle, William Parker, Baron
History
The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605
Monteagle, William Parker, Baron
Gunpowder Plot, 1605; Monteagle, William Parker, Baron, 1574 or 1575-1622
George Vavasour's handwriting upon the last leaf of the MS. (Facsimile
No. 5) shows a much more refined and educated hand than his brother's,
from which the writing is in every respect different. A small "s" is
invariably used in commencing a word with that letter; the "t's " are
quite different; the "w" finishes with an inner, not an outer loop; the
"g's" have no flat tops; and the "hangers" of the "h's" do not descend
below the line. The writing is evidently an educated hand for the time,
and cannot readily be imagined as using small "i's" for the first
person, such as are used in, and seem to accord so well with, the much
less educated handwriting of the warning letter.
* * * * *
WILLIAM VAVASOUR, the Tresham family serving-man, is thus not only
conclusively proved to have written the anonymous letter to Lord
Monteagle, but most probably was also the "unknown man of a reasonable
tall personage" who is so quaintly described in the Government story as
having delivered the letter.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 46: Calendared by the Historical MSS. Commission. "Report on
MSS. in various Collections, vol. iii., 1904. The MSS. of T.B.
Clarke-Thornhill, Esq., of Rushton Hall, by Mrs. R.C. Lomas." These
important family papers were preserved and discovered in a curious
manner. In 1828, when making alterations at Rushton Hall, on removing a
partition wall, they were found with some theological books in a large
bundle wrapped in a sheet, which had been built into a recess in the
wall. As the papers, commencing in 1576, with a few of earlier date, end
in November, 1605, they were probably thus hidden away on Tresham's
arrest.]
[Footnote 47: "Calendar," p. 59.]
[Footnote 48: _Ibid._, p. 89.]
[Footnote 49: "Students admitted to the Inner Temple, 1547-1660"
(1877).]
[Footnote 50: "Calendar of Tresham Papers," p. 90.]
[Footnote 51: His name does not appear in the list of Sir Thomas's ten
livery servants as retained while the establishment was at Hoxton before
Monteagle's tenancy, of which the accounts are with the Tresham Papers.
Under the stable charges is the keep of a horse for Thomas Vavasour, the
father (_ibid._, pp. 47, 50).]
[Footnote 52: "Examination of Christopher Story, Thomas Bates's man"
("State Papers, Domestic," James I., xvi. 28, 1).]
[Footnote 53: It will be remembered that Salisbury in the official story
describes Ward, who was Monteagle's secretary, as "one of his men."]
[Footnote 54: Each of the other female attendants and servants, even
"Mawdlyn the Frenchwoman" at £10 yearly, have a livery ("Calendar of
Tresham Papers," p. 50).]
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