What was the Gunpowder Plot? The Traditional Story Tested by Original EvidenceGerard, John
History
What was the Gunpowder Plot? The Traditional Story Tested by Original Evidence
Gerard, John
Gunpowder Plot, 1605
Accordingly we find representations of Lucifer, the Pope, the King of
Spain, the General of the Jesuits, and other such worthies, conspiring
in the background while the redoubtable Guy walks arm in arm with a
demon to fire the mine, the latter grasping a papal Bull (unknown to the
Bullarium), expedited to promote the project: or again, Faukes and
Catesby stand secretly conspiring in the middle of the street, while
Father Garnet, in full Jesuit habit (or what is meant for such) exhorts
them to go on: or a priest gives the conspirators "the sacrament of
secrecy;" or representative Romish dignitaries blow threats and curses
against England and her Parliament House,--or the Jesuits are buried in
Hell in recompense of their perfidy.
It cannot, however, escape remark that while the limners have been
conscientiously careful in respect of these details, they have one and
all discarded accuracy in regard of another matter in which we might
naturally have expected it. In no single instance is Guy Faukes
represented as about to blow up the right house. Sometimes it is the
House of Commons that he is going to destroy, more frequently the
Painted Chamber, often a nondescript building corresponding to nothing
in particular,--but in no single instance is it the House of Lords.
[Illustration: THE POWDER PLOT. V.]
The most extraordinary instance of so strange a vagary is afforded by a
plate produced immediately after the occurrence it commemorates, in the
year 1605 itself.[450] In this, Faukes with his inseparable lantern, but
without the usual spurs, is seen advancing to the door of the "cellar,"
which stands conspicuous above ground. Aloft is seen the crescent moon,
represented in exactly the right phase for the date of the
discovery.[451] The accuracy exhibited as to this singular detail makes
it more than ever extraordinary that the building to which he directs
his steps is unquestionably St. Stephen's Chapel--The House of Commons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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