546
THE STRAND MAGAZINE.
The above Plate Exhibits the Autographs of some of the Principal Conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot.
- Robert Catesbye.—Taken from an original letter from Catesbye to his cousin, John Grant, entreating him to provide money against a certain time. This autograph is very rare.
- Guido Fawkes.—Taken from his declaration made in the Tower, on the 19th November, and afterwards acknowledged before the Lords Commissioners. When first apprehended he called himself John Johnson, and it was not until his third examination he confessed his name was Guy Fawkes.
- Thomas Percy.—From an original letter to W. Wycliff, Esq., of York, date at Gainsborough, November 2nd, 1605.
- Henry Garnet.—From one of his examinations, wherein he confessed to have been on a pilgrimage to Winifred's Well.
- Amrose Rookewood. From an original letter, declaring that he had felt a scruple of conscience, the fact seeming "too bluddy."
- Thomas Wintour.—From an original examination before the Lords Commissioners, on the 25th November, 1605.
- Francis Tresam.—From his examination relative to the book on Equivocation. Tresam escaped being hanged by dying in the Tower, on the 23rd December, 1605.
- Sir Everard Digby.—From an original examination. He was related to John Digby, subsequently created Baron Digby and Earl of Bristol, and was a young man of considerable talent. He was in the 24th year of his age when executed.
- To the Right Hon. the Lord Mounteagle.—The superscription to the anonymous letter that led to the discovery of the plot. By whom it was written still remains a mystery. The Conspirators themselves suspected Tresam, but he solemnly denied it; and nothing transpired on the trials of any of the Conspirators, by which the author could be ascertained. All the principal Conspirators were married and had families; several of them possessed considerable property, and were highly, and in some instances nobly, related.
