for the catholics, they were disappointed in some promises the king had made them, while he was in Scotland; and people would be apt to believe, that some of them would be prone to resent it in a factious manner. Besides, it was a seasonable contrivance, to draw two missioners over to the party. It gave a kind of lustre to the cause; the name of a priest and a plotter being equivalent terms, as the common notion had obtained among the vulgar. Those, that have calmly considered the matter, have observed that both the design in general (if there was any) was very weak, and the persons concerned in it were neither of such interest nor principles, as to effect the matter they were said to have undertaken. Is it probable, that protestants and catholics would join in a confederacy to destroy the church by law established? What appearance was there that lady Arabella should either obtain the crown, or answer the different ends of the parties concerned? To which if we add the slenderness of the proofs, and the circumstance of the conspirators being almost all pardoned, they will be apt to startle a cautious reader, who cannot view mysteries of state with the same implicit assent, as he does mysteries of faith.'

[Dodd, in common with all but our recent historians, has here confounded two distinct, though simultaneous, conspiracies; and, uniting the discordant elements of the one with the mysterious objects of the other, has, by this means, been enabled to throw a doubt over the reality of both. That in which Watson and Clarke were engaged may be first noticed. By the conspirators themselves it was quaintly denominated" the Bye:" and though described by some of our writers as "the Treason of the Priests," was originally suggested by sir Griffin Markham, and George Brooke, the brother of lord Cobham. Markham was a catholic, Brooke a protestant: both were discontented with the new government; and both persuaded themselves, that if, in imitation of what had formerly been effected by the Scottish lords, they could possess themselves of the royal person, they should at once have it in their power to remove the present members of the council, and secure for themselves the chief employments of the state. With this view, they sought for cooperators among the two great parties, the puritans and the catholics, who, alike exposed to the intolerance of the penal code, would willingly unite in any scheme that might promise to relieve them from its oppression. Of the puritans the lord Grey was the acknowledged leader. To him the two confederates unfolded their views, and received in return the ready promise of a powerful aid. About the same time, they formed a connexion with the catholic missionaries, Watson and Clarke. Watson, in particular, was known to be discontented. In the late reign, he had written in support of James, against the claims of the infanta: but he had subsequently been treated with neglect, if not with insult, by the monarch; and

I do not find that king James had conceived any particular aversion to the catholics upon account of the

he now willingly undertook to engage the assistance of his friends in behalf of the proposed enterprise. His first step was, to assemble his more intimate associates, and, by pointing out to them the hopelessness of their present condition, to induce them, whilst the king was still uncrowned, and consequently, so he maintained, only the claimant of the throne, to make use of the liberty which still remained to them, and obtain redress by any means that might be offered. Having then administered an oath, binding the parties to defend the king's person, to seek the restoration of the catholic faith, and, at the same time, to keep their association secret from all persons whatsoever, he cautiously proceeded to unfold his designs. To the more timid he proposed merely that they should assemble in a numerous body, that they should meet the king as he came forth to hunt, and that they should then present to him a petition, reminding him of their sufferings and of their services, and asking either a toleration for their religion, or, at least, a mitigation of the penal code. To other and bolder spirits he propounded the scheme in a different form. The lord Grey, he said, with the puritans, was about to seize the king. Let them assemble, then, in sufficient numbers to overpower the other party; let them rescue their sovereign from the hands of his captors; and, having conveyed him to a place of safety, let them there solicit from his gratitude that liberty of conscience, which their services could scarcely fail to obtain. Among the principal conspirators, however, the real objects of the plot were undisguisedly mentioned. The king was to be suddenly seized at Greenwich by a body of armed men; he was to be conveyed, for security, to the Tower, or, if the attempt on that fortress should fail, to Dover Castle, of which Brooke's brother, the lord Cobham, was governor; and, when the monarch should thus be completely in the power of the confederates, he was to be prevailed on to grant a pardon to all engaged in the transaction, to ensure to them the full toleration of their religion, and to remodel his council in conformity with the advice which they should offer him Perhaps the reader will smile to learn that, in the proposed distribution of offices, Brooke was to obtain the appointment of lord treasurer, sir Griffin Markham was to be earl marshal, lord Grey was to assume the command of the Isle of Wight, Copley was to become principal secretary, and Watson himself was to be made lord chancellor. The last, however, declares that these appointments, which were "only spoken of at random," were never intended to be more than temporary; and that, as regarded Markham and himself, they each purposed, and he had bound himself by vow, to proceed on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, "after all were settled" (Watson's Voluntary Declaration, August 10, 1603).

It was originally intended that the seizure of the royal person should be effected during the night of the twenty-fourth of June. Late, however, on the twenty-third, Markham received intelligence that the court was about to remove, on the following morning, to Windsor, and that, in his way, the king purposed to sleep at Hanworth, a small hunting seat in the neighbourhood of Hounslow. Nothing could be more fortunate for the designs of the conspirators. At Greenwich, the monarch was surrounded by a body of three hundred armed gentlemen, who lay within the palace: at Hanworth," the house was weak, and not strongly guarded," and there was little doubt that," with less blood, and fewer men," the associates would be able to accomplish their purpose. Still difficulties arose as to the means of executing the design. Of five thousand men whom Watson had expected from Lancashire, all had failed in their engagement: Clarke had returned disappointed and disheartened from a fruitless journey in search of aid: the few persons who had arrived were unprovided

late conspiracy, or that the misbehaviour of some of their clergy influenced him in regard of the whole;

with arms: and, after some discussion, it was at length resolved to defer the prosecution of the enterprise until the following Saturday. At an appointed hour on that day (June 25), Markham met Watson, Copley, and others, in his own lodging. He had been dining with the lord Grey, and, to the consternation of the confederates, now brought intelligence of the defection of that nobleman. Grey, in fact, was jealous of the catholics, and, with a view to gain time for strengthening his own party, proposed to adjourn the execution of the project for some months. But this proposal was the discomfiture of the whole plot. Deprived of the assistance which they had anticipated, the leaders saw the hopelessness of their undertaking; and, after some mutual upbraidings, the design was finally abandoned.

It was in the preceding April, and before either the oath of secrecy had been drawn up, or the details of the conspiracy had yet been arranged, that Markham, Watson, and another (probably Brooke), had opened a correspondence with the jesuits Darcy and Gerard, for the purpose of effecting a reconciliation between themselves and the members of the society. The negotiation, after several meetings between the parties, had broken off: but the tone assumed by the two jesuits had left a favourable impression on the mind of Markham; and he accordingly ventured to address to them a letter, stating his own anxiety to attempt something "for the restoring of religion," and requesting their cooperation. Gerard, however, who, if we may believe the declarations both of Copley and of Watson, was, with the other members of his party, already interested in the success of a separate conspiracy, at once declined the proposal. At the same time, he wrote to Garnet, his superior, in London: he requested him to lay information of the intended plot before the archpriest: and he engaged both these persons to exert their influence in deterring all catholics from joining in the enterprise. Still, however, the design advanced, and midsummer, the period for carrying it into effect, was fast approaching, when Gerard, apprehensive that it might defeat the plans of his own party, despatched a friend, an attendant of the court, to give intelligence of it to the government. But his object had been anticipated by Garnet and the archpriest, who, through the agency of John Gage of Haling, in Surrey, and of Barnaby, one of the appellant priests, then a prisoner in the Clink, had already revealed the plot to the bishop of London, and to other members of the council. Orders were now issued for the apprehension of the conspirators. First, Copley, whose sister was the wife of Gage, and afterwards the other confederates were successively arrested; and, in the course of a few weeks, each, by his confessions, had furnished sufficient evidence to convict both himself and his associates. For these particulars, see the Confessions of Copley, Watson, &c. in the Appendix, No. I.; and compare them with Caley's Life of Raleigh, i. 360, 361. ii. 3, 4: Loseley MSS. 374; Jardine, i. 456, 457; and Dr. Abbot's Antilogia, 130b, 136a.

as

66

To the connexion of Brooke with " the Bye," or, as it was also denominated, "the Surprising Treason," and " the Surprise," from its object of seizing the king's person, may be ultimately traced the discovery of what was designated the Main," or the Spanish Treason," the only conspiracy in which Cobham and Raleigh were concerned. Brooke, as the reader is aware, was the brother of Cobham; and this to the mind of Cecil was a sufficient reason for suspecting that both Cobham and Cobham's political friend, Raleigh, might be implicated with him in the design of Markham, Watson, and their associates. It chanced, at the moment, that Raleigh was in attendance on the court at Windsor. Cecil, therefore, ordered him to be arrested and examined: but his answers at once satisfied the council that he was free from all participation in

which was usually done, when any of that party were found to be delinquents. However, his council suspect

the intended "Surprise;" and he was accordingly dismissed (Jardine, i. 416, 462). Cobham was then sent for. From the confession of his brother it had been ascertained that he was privy to the existence of the plot: that he had taken part, however, in the proceedings of the conspirators, there was no reason to believe; and nothing further would probably have been suspected, had not Raleigh addressed a letter to Cecil, intimating that Cobham was engaged in a secret negotiation with Aremberg, the ambassador of the archduke, and advising the minister to examine La Renzie, one of Aremberg's dependents, through whom the correspondence had been conducted (Ibid. 412, 416; Caley, i. 393, 398). Cobham was now questioned on this subject. During two examinations, he persisted in asserting his innocence, and resolutely denied not only all connexion with the ambassador, but also all knowledge of any treasonable design whatsoever (Examinations, July 16 and 19, in the State Paper Office). On the third examination (July 20), Raleigh's letter was placed in his hands. As he read it, he saw that he was betrayed. "That wretch," he exclaimed, “that traitor Raleigh!—hath he used me thus? Nay, then, I will tell you all." The outline of another plot was now revealed. It had been arranged with Aremberg, that Cobham should pass into Flanders, there to consult with the archduke as to the future proceedings of the confederates. He was then to proceed to Spain, to receive from the king a sum of five or six thousand crowns; and, on his return, was to meet Raleigh in Jersey, where the latter was governor, and from him obtain instructions as to the application of the new fund (Jardine, i. 411, 415; Caley, i. 392, 396). Of the real nature of the enterprise, in which this money was to be employed, no satisfactory account was obtained. From the confessions of Watson and the other prisoners engaged in "the Bye," the government afterwards attempted to show that the object was, to land a Spanish force in Scotland, to seize and murder the king with the royal issue, and then to proclaim the lady Arabella Stuart as queen. But of all this no sufficient evidence was produced. Cobham himself, though he acknowledged a general intention to act upon the growing discontent of the country, positively declared that " nothing was determined" (Jardine, i. 423): the only letter ever written to Arabella professed merely to warn her against those, who would injure her in the mind of the king (Caley, i. 419): while La Renzie, in his examination, Raleigh, both before the commissioners and at his trial, solemnly asserted that the money was intended only “for the furthering of the peace between England and Spain" (Jardine, 425, 426). But, whatever were the precise object of the conspiracy, sufficient had now been obtained, to warrant a further investigation. On the strength of Cobham's confession, Raleigh was immediately arrested the two friends, now become the accusers of each other, were committed to the Tower; and, in the following November, the trial of all the prisoners, the execution of Clarke, Watson, and Brooke, with the pardon of the other conspirators, as mentioned in the text, took place (see Jardine, i. 400, 461-476; Howell's State Trials, ii. 65-70; and Caley's Life of Raleigh, i. 362–366. ii. 5—26).

Before I close this note, I must advert to another transaction, not altogether unconnected with the present subject. I have alluded to the connexion of Gerard and his friends with a separate conspiracy, distinct from that of Watson. This conspiracy, the expiring effort of the Spanish party, had originated in the last reign: it had, of course, been opposed by the advocates of the Scottish succession; and, as the reader has already seen in the Appendix, is constantly referred to by Watson, in his confessions, as the great object for whose defeat he had been induced to engage in the project of " the Surprise." A few words

ing he would be too favourable to them (which they judged from his behaviour towards them in Scotland), they put him upon issuing forth a severe proclamation,

will sufficiently explain its purport. It was shortly after Christmas, 1601, that Catesby, Tresham, and Thomas Winter met Garnet, the superior of the jesuits, and probably Greenway, another member of the society, at White Webbs, a house on the borders of Enfield Chase, to which the jesuits and their friends were accustomed to resort. The object of the laymen was, to devise means for inducing the Spanish monarch to attempt another invasion of the country. Garnet, however, if we may believe himself, "refused to act in it :" but the other parties continued to press him, and, after two or three meetings, it was finally agreed, that Winter and Greenway should proceed to Spain, and that Garnet, to give the more credit" to the undertaking, should write, in his behalf, to father Creswell, a jesuit residing at the Spanish court. Garnet, who wrote as had been determined, afterwards declared that the only object of his letter was, to obtain money from the Spanish monarch for the relief of the distressed catholics in England. The envoys, however, employed themselves in arranging with Philip the plan of an invasion. Spain was to pay over a sum of one hundred thousand crowns, to be employed in securing a sufficient party among the natives: an army was to land in the spring of 1603,-if numerous, on the coast of Essex or Kent; if deficient in numbers, at Milford Haven; while the catholics, in the meantime, were to be ready to join the invading force, and to provide horses for the service of the Spanish cavalry. On the return of Winter and his companion, the particulars of this negotiation were communicated to Garnet. He, at once, so he assures us, declared that he "misliked it," and expressed his conviction that it would be equally “disliked at Rome." Still, it does not appear that he resorted to any means of disconcerting the project. The existence of the plot he carefully concealed within his own breast; and the period was rapidly approaching for its execution, when the death of Elizabeth, and the unanimous acknowledgment of her successor, suddenly frustrated the design (Gunpowder Treason, 91-94, 158, 159, 186; Jardine's Criminal Trials, ii. 124, 125, 249, 291; Eudæmon Joannes, 285, 295, 296, 300. See also Appendix, No. II.). Other measures were now to be adopted. It had been arranged by Winter, that, if the queen should die before the time appointed for the invasion, intelligence of the event should instantly be forwarded to the Spanish court. With this view, Christopher Wright, a gentleman of Yorkshire, was selected (March, 1603) to proceed to Spain. Like his predecessor, he was furnished with letters of recommendation from Garnet to Creswell, and was secretly instructed to deal with Philip or his council for a renewal of the engagements previously made with Winter. In June, he was followed by Faukes, a soldier of fortune, who had been despatched from Brussels for the purpose of aiding in the negotiation. Faukes had brought letters from Baldwin, a jesuit resident in Flanders; and was enabled to enforce his reasonings with a description of the preparations already made in England, for the assistance of an invading army. But neither this man nor his associate could disturb the pacific dispositions of the Spanish king. Philip, though he received the messengers kindly, refused to adopt their proposals. He had no quarrel, he said, with his English brother: he had already appointed an ambassador to adjust the terms of a lasting peace with that monarch and, under such circumstances, it was impossible that he could listen to the offers or the representations of the two envoys (Gunpowder Treason, 94, 95, 162, 163, 186; Jardine, ii. 125, 126, 252, 292; Eudæmon Joannes, 306-309; and the preamble to the statute 3 Jac. 1. c. 2, in the Appendix, No. III.). This answer was, of itself, sufficient to disconcert the schemes of the

: