Anonymous

“ All suspected Tresham to be their betrayer, and he was accused by them, but he vehemently denied the accusation. Since they did not know accurately to what extent their proceedings had been divulged, they had still hope of effecting their design, especially as, upon examination, Fawkes found that the cellar was not watched and had not been disturbed. When, however, they heard that, on the 31st of October, the letter had been shewn to the King, their hope diminished and their fears increased. Some of the conspirators left London; others concealed themselves in an obscure lodging ”

“ The public exercise of the social rites of their own Church was virtually interdicted; for it was enacted, 'that every priest saying mass was punishable by a forfeiture of two hundred marks, and every person hearing it by a forfeiture of one hundred marks, and both were to be imprisoned a year, and the priest until his fine was paid.' The ministers of their religion, without whose presence they were precluded from the exercise of the Sacraments and other rites, were in effect proscribed and banished ”

“ When we remember that the victims of the laws above enumerated considered themselves to be the majority of the gross population of the country; that the chief sufferers were the principal nobility and gentry of the land, whose ancestors had served the Kings of England, before the Reformation, in the highest offices of state, and whose honours and possessions were the proofs of royal favour and distinction conferred on their predecessors ”

“ Upon hearing the statement of the Lord Chamberlain, who declared the store of eoals and wood to be beyond all proportion to the wants of a person who dwelt so little in the house as Perey, and that the man (Fawkes) in the cellar looked like 'a very tall and desperate fellow, it was determined by the King, with the concurrence of several of the Privy Council, that the cellar should that night be minutely checked. ”

“ For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet say they will receive a terrible blow this Parliament; and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good, and can do you no harm; for the danger is over as soon as you have burned this letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to make use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you.—To the Right Honourable the Lord Mounteagle.'—This letter has been ascribed to Anne, the daughter of Lord Vaux, to Mrs Abington, Lord Mounteagle's sister, to Percy, and to others ”

“ These repeated threats were practically enforced by proceedings in Parliament, and generally throughout the country, which distinctly indicated to the dismayed Catholics a return to the persecutions and indignities of the reign of Elizabeth. ”

“ The particulars of what took place at the communication of the plot to Tresham by Catesby are unknown; however, he at first seemed to agree to it cordially, and undertook to furnish £2000 towards the promotion of the scheme. The sineerity of Tresham seems to have been always suspected by some of the conspirators; and probably nothing but the temptation of the great wealth of which he had lately become possessed upon his father's death, and his devotion to the Catholic religion, would havo induced them to consent to his rcecption amongst them. ”