Let others speak for him. The Protestant Bishop Barlow, in his book on the Gunpowder Plot, which so severely condemns all concerned in it, says[406]:--"This Gentleman was verily persuaded of the lawfulness of this Design, and did engage in it out of a sincere, but ignorant zeal for the advancement, as he thought, of the true Religion." These are the words of a hostile historian: the following--some of which have been quoted earlier--are those of a friend[407]:--"He was so much and so generally lamented, and is so much esteemed and praised by all sorts in England, both Catholics and others, although neither side can or do approve this last outrageous and exorbitant attempt against our King and country, wherein a man otherwise so worthy, was so unworthily lost and cast away to the great grief of all that knew him, and especially of all that loved him. And truly it was hard to do the one and not the other." An unfriendly critic, Scott, in a footnote to the _Somers' Tracts_,[408] says that Sir Everard "was a man of unblemished reputation until this hellish conspiracy." Yet another, Caulfield, says of him,[409] "Digby himself was as highly esteemed and beloved as any man in England"; and one more hostile writer, Jardine, says[410]:--"There is abundant evidence that Sir Everard Digby joined in the enterprise under the full persuasion that in so doing he was rendering good service to his church and promoting the cause of true religion." [406] _Gunpowder Treason_, Appendix. [407] _Narrative of the G. P._, Gerard, p. 91. [408] Vol. ii. p. 116. [409] _History of the G. P._, by James Caulfield, 1804, p. 56. [410] _Gunpowder Plot_, p. 153. Testimonies to his character would be incomplete without any from a woman. Here is one from a Protestant to the back-bone, Miss Aikin:--[411] "His youth, his personal graces, the constancy which he had exhibited whilst he believed himself a martyr in a good cause, the deep sorrow which he testified on becoming sensible of his error, seemed to have moved all hearts with pity and even admiration; and if so detestable a villainy as the powder plot may be permitted to have a hero, Everard Digby was undoubtedly the man." [411] _Memoirs of the Court of James I._, Vol. i. p. 254.