The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter Part 15

GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--PART I., NO. 41.

"The examinacon of Dorathie Robinson[127] widdow of Spurr Alley.

"Shee sayeth that one Mr. Christopher Wright gent did lye in her house about a Moneth past for xviii^{en} dayes together and no more. And there did come to him one Mr. Winter w^{ch} did continually frequent his Company and about a moneth past the said Winter brought to her house two hampers[A] locked w^{th} two padlockes, and caused them to be placed in a little Closet at the end of Mr. Wright's Chamber. But what was in the said hamps, was privately conveyed away by Winter w^{th}out her knowledge, and the hamps was geven to her use.

"Shee sayeth that Mr. Wright could not chuse but know of the conveying of those thinges w^{ch} were in the hamper as well as Mr. Winter.

"Shee sayeth that Mr. Winter by report of his man, was a Worcestershire man, and his living Eight score poundes by the yeare at the lest.

"_The said Mr. Wright hath a brother in London,[B] whose servant came to him in this woman's house, and the same morning of his going away, w^{ch} was a Moneth on Tuesday last._

"That the said Wright was to seeke his loding againe at this woman's house; but she tould him her lodgings were otherwayes disposed of. And then he went his wayes. And since that tyme shee never saw him.

"_She sayeth that shee saw Mr. Winter uppon Sunday last in the afternoone. But where he lodgeth she knoweth not._ (The italics are mine.)

"I can find no manner of thing in this woman's house whereby to geve us any incouragem^{t} to proceede any further.

"The said Mr. Wright did often goe to the Salutation to one Mr.

Jackson's house; And one Steven the drawer as shee thinketh will tell where hee is."

[Footnote A: These hampers contained the fresh gunpowder, no doubt, mentioned by Thomas Winter in his "_Confession_" written in the Tower.

This sentence tends to confirm the genuineness of the Confession.]

[Footnote B: _Who was this brother?_ I _suggest_ that by brother is meant brother-in-law, and that as a fact Christopher Wright _had_ married Margaret Ward, the sister to both Marmaduke and Thomas Ward. If this be correct, then we have demonstrative proof of the servant of Thomas Ward calling upon Christopher Wright (probably with a message from Thomas Ward) the very same morning as, I hold, that Christopher Wright went down into Warwickshire, where he would be within twenty miles of Father Oldcorne.

This evidence is important. The word _came_, too, is noticeable, implying, I think, a habit of coming, a frequentative use of the past tense of the verb. Observe also "_and the same morning_," implying _c.u.mulative_ acts of "_coming_," the visit of that day being the last of a series of visits.]

Mr. Jackson also deposed:--

"He sayeth that he knoweth Mr. Wright very well, _But it is about a fortnight past,[128] since he ws at his house, and since that tyme he knoweth not what is become of him._ (The italics are mine.)

"He sayeth further that he knoweth not any other of his Consorts or Companyons, yf hee did he would reveale it.

(Endorsed) "The examinacon of Dorathy Robinson Widdow of Spurr Alley."

Furthermore, we have the following Evidence of Mistress Elizabeth More:--

7 Nov: 1605.

STATE PAPERS DOMESTIC--JAS. I., Vol. xvi., No. 13.

"The Declaracon of Elizabeth More the wief of Edward More taken the 5th of November 1605.

"She saieth that the gent that lay at her howse w^{th} Mr. Rookwood this last night and the night before his name is Mr. Keyes and he took upp the Chamber for the said Mr. Rookwood.

"And she saieth that uppon ffryday night last Mr. Christofir Wright came to this exaite howse w^{th} the said Mr. Rookwood and lay that night in a chamber on the said Mr. Rookwoode Chamber.

(Endorsed) "5th No: 1605.

"The Declaracon of Elizabeth More."

Mistress More, I find, lived near Temple Bar.[A]

[Footnote A: Where was Spur Alley? and how far were Temple Bar and Spur Alley from the town-house in the Strand of the Lord Mounteagle, and therefore of his Lordship's secretary, Thomas Ward?

It will be noted by the judicious reader that the conjectured fact that Christopher Wright's London lodgings were within a short distance of where, doubtless, his--I suggest--_brother-in-law_ (Ward) was to be found tends to support my theory.]

CHAPTER XL.

Before we well-nigh finally take our leave of Christopher Wright, I should like to bring before my readers two pieces of Evidence, from each of which, at any rate, may be drawn the inference that it was one of the conspirators themselves that revealed the tremendous secret.

That Christopher Wright was that revealing conspirator, the manifold considerations which the preceding pages of this Inquiry have established, I trust, will satisfy the intellect of my readers, seeing that those considerations, I respectfully but firmly urge, must be held to have built up a "probability" so high as to amount to that "moral cert.i.tude" which is "the very guide" of Man's terrestrial life, in that it furnishes Man with those sufficient rules which direct his daily action.[129]

But, in bringing the first piece of Evidence to which I allude before the eyes of my readers, I desire, with great respect, to say that I am keenly conscious that I run the risk of incurring the condemnation implied in the words: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

But, since "circ.u.mstances alter cases," I feel warranted (under correction) in adventuring, in this one instance, upon a particular line of argument which I feel is, as an affair of taste, _prima facie_ unseemly, and, as a matter of feeling, a line of action, in ordinary cases, to be rigorously eschewed.

Yet, seeing that such a course of conduct cannot be held to be morally wrong, my plea is--and I respectfully submit my all-sufficient plea is--that an Inquiry, having for its purpose the elucidation of the hitherto inscrutable mystery as to who revealed, or who were instrumental in revealing, so satanic an enterprise as the Gunpowder Plot, being far, far removed beyond the range of mere logic-chopping, dry-as-dust, non-human investigations, justifies the following, in one instance, of a course of action which unquestionably would clash with mere, decorous taste, and would collide with mere delicate feeling, except, by the case being altered, it were lifted into the realm of the categories of the extraordinary and the special.

_Then_ the nature of the act _or_ action composing that course of conduct would be, in a sense, fundamentally and meritoriously changed. And, _therefore_, it would be, by a double t.i.tle, morally justifiable.

Now, when the Gunpowder conspirators were at Huddington, the mansion-house of Robert Winter, on Thursday, the 7th day of November, certainly most of the conspirators, and probably all of them, received the Sacrament of Penance through the ministry of a Jesuit Father, named Nicholas Hart (alias Strangeways and Hammond), who besides being an _alumnus_ of Westminster School, and for two years a student of the University of Oxford, had, prior to his becoming a Priest and a Jesuit, "studied law in the Inns of Court and Chancery in London."[130]

Now, William Handy, the serving-man of Sir Everard Digby (of whom we have already heard), further deposed as follows:[131]

"On Thursday morning, about three of the clock, all the said company, as well servants as others, heard Ma.s.s, received the Sacrament, and were confessed, which Ma.s.s was said by a priest named Harte, a little man whitely complexioned, and a little beard."

Now, Ambrose Rookwood, on the 21st day of January, 1605-6, deposed[132]

that he confessed to Hammond at Huddington, on Thursday, the 7th of November, that he was sorry he had not revealed the Plot, it seeming so b.l.o.o.d.y, and that after his confession Hammond absolved him without remark.

The precise words of the ill-fated Rookwood hereon are these:--

GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS--NO. 177.

"The voluntarie declaration of Ambrose Rokewood esquier. 21 Janu. 1605 [1606]

"I doe acknowledge that uppon thursday morninge beeing the 7th of November 1605 my selfe and all the other gentlemen (as I doe remember) did confesse o^{r} sinnes to one Mr. Hamonde Preeste, at Mr. Robert Wintour his house, and amonges other my sinnes I did acknowledge my error in concealing theire intended enterprise of pouder agaynste his Ma^{tie} and the State, having a scruple in conscience, the facte seeminge to mee to bee too bluddye, hee for all in generall gave me absolution without any other circ.u.mstances beeing hastned by the mult.i.tude that were to come to him.

"Ambrose Rookewoode.

"Ex^{r} p. Edw. c.o.ke W. Ward."

(Endorsed)

"... pouder xx^{th} of January 1605.

hamond Declaration of Ambrose Rookewoode of his own hand."