[357] S. P. Dom. James I., Vol. xviii. n. 37. The "goods which he sold of Mr Digby's," mentioned in the letter may be assumed to have been the contents of the trunk, carried by his "trunk-horse," and inventoried in a letter[358] written from the Tower. [358] _Letters of Sir E. D._, paper 22. It is probable that Lady Digby wrote to her husband, expressing herself powerless to "conceive his nature to give consent for such an act" as the Gunpowder Plot; for he wrote to her from the Tower excusing himself.[359] [359] _Letters of Sir E. D._ (p. 169) No. 1. "Let me tell you, that if I had thought there had been the least sin in the Plot, I would not have been of it for all the world: and no other cause drew me to hazard my Fortune and Life, but zeal to God's Religion. For my keeping it secret, it was caused by certain belief, that those which were best able to judge of the lawfulness of it,"--by these he evidently means the Jesuit Fathers--"had been acquainted with it, and given way to it. More reasons I had to persuade me to this belief than I dare utter, which I will never, to the suspicion of any, though I should go to the Rack for it, and as I did not know it directly that it was approved by such so did I hold it in my Conscience the best not to know any more if I might." He seems to have intended to convey that he had been practically certain that the Jesuit Fathers had given their approval but was anxious to be able to say that he did not actually know this. In another letter,[360] he says "My dearest, the ---- I take at the uncharitable taking of these matters, will make me say more than I ever thought to have done. For if this design had taken place, there could have been no doubt of other Success: for that night, before any other could have brought the news, we should have known it by Mr Catesby, who should have proclaimed the Heir-Apparent at Charing-Cross, as he came out of Town; to which purpose there was a Proclamation Drawn," etc. The absurdity of attaching any value to a proclamation by such a comparatively insignificant individual as Catesby does not appear to have occurred to him! [360] (P. 177), No. 9. After describing the plans laid for securing the young Duke and the Princess Elizabeth, he goes on to say "there were also courses taken for the satisfying of the people if the first had taken effect, as the speedy notice of Liberty and Freedom from all manner of Slavery, as the ceasing of Wardships and all Monopolies, which with change would have been more plausible to the people, if the first had been, than is now. There was also a course taken to have given present notice to all Princes, and to _Associate_ them with an Oath answerable to the League in France." Whether "all Princes" would have felt inclined "to associate" themselves "with an Oath" at the request of a band of assassins may be questioned. Sir Everard, as well as Lady Digby, wrote to Salisbury; but his letters asked for fewer favours.