Rye-House Plot. In 1682–3, while a scheme was formed among the leading Whigs of England to raise the nation in arms against Charles II, another scheme was planned by a few fiercer spirits of the party to waylay and kill the king. It was to be carried out at a farm near Hertford, belonging to one of the plotters, called Rye-House. The plot failed because the house at Newmarket, where the king was staying, caught fire accidentally and caused Charles to leave sooner than intended. Both the greater and the less conspiracy were discovered before long. Though Monmouth, Russell and other Whig leaders had nothing to do with the Rye-House plot, the indignation aroused by it throughout the country took in the whole party. Russell, Sidney and Walcot, the last being of the plot, were brought to the block.
