CHAP. LXIII.

Of the Gun-Powder Plot.

THE gun-powder plot was a scheme of the Roman catholics to cut off at one blow, on the fifth of November 1605, the king, lords, and commons, at the meeting of parliament, when it was also expected that the queen and prince of Wales would be present. Never was treason more secret, or ruin more apparently inevitable. The hour was expected with impatience, and the conspirators gloried in their meditated guilt. The dreadful secret, though communicated to above twenty persons, had been religiously kept during the space of near eighteen months. But when all motives of pity, justice and safety, were too weak, a remorse of private friendship saved the kingdom.

Sir Henry Percy, one of the conspirators, conceived a design to save the life of Lord Mounteagle, his intimate friend and companion, who also was of the same persuasion with himself. About ten days before the meeting of parliament, this nobleman, upon his return to town, received a letter from a person unknown, and delivered by one who fled, as soon as he had discharged his message. The letter was to this effect: My lord, stay away from this parliament; for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of the times. And think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire to your country seat, where you may expect the

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event in safety. For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I 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 past as soon as you have burnt this letter."

The contents of this mysterious letter surprized and puzzled the nobleman to whom it was addressed; and though inclined to think it a foolish attempt to frighten and ridicule him, yet he judged it safest to carry it to lord Salisbury, secretary of state. Lord Salisbury, too, was inclined to give little attention to it, yet thought proper to lay it before the king in coun cil, who came to town a few days after. None of the council were able to make any thing of it, although it appeared serious and alarming. In this universal agitation between doubt and apprehension, the king was the first who penetrated the meaning of this dark epistle. He concluded that some sudden danger was preparing by gun-powder; and it was thought advisable to inspect all the vaults below the houses of parliament. But the search was purposely delayed till the night immediately preceding the meeting, when a justice of peace was sent with proper attendants, and before the door of the vault under the upper-house, finding one Faux, who had just finished all his preparations, he immediately seized him, and at the same time discovered in the vault 36 barrels of powder, which had been carefully concealed under faggots and piles of wood. Every thing proper for

setting fire to the train was found in Guy Faux's pocket, whose countenance bespoke his savage disposition, and who after regretting that he had lost the opportunity of destroying so many heretics, made a full discovery; and the conspirators, who never exceeded eighty in number, being seized by the country, confessed their guilt, and were executed in different parts of England.

Notwithstanding this horrid crime, the bigotted catholics were so devoted to Garnet, a jesuit, one of the conspirators, that they fancied miracles to be wrought by his blood; and in Spain he was considered as a martyr.

CHAP. LXIV.

Of Charles the First of England.

THE many struggles between king Charles, who wanted to assume to himself the absolute power of disposing of his people's property; and the parliament, who were willing to grant the king's necessary supplies, provided their grievances were redressed, and the rightful privileges of the subjects secured, at last produced a civil war. The first fatal blow the king's army received, was at Marstonmoor, where through the imprudence of prince Rupert, the earl of Manchester defeated the royal army, of which 4000 were killed, and 1500 taken prisoners. This victory was owing chiefly to the

courage and conduct of Cromwell; and though it might have been retrieved by the successes of Charles in the west, yet his whole conduct was a string of mistakes, till at last his affairs became irretrievable.

It is true, many treaties of peace, particularly one at Uxbridge, were set on foot during the war, and the heads of the presbyterian party would have agreed on terms that would have bounded the king's prerogative. They were out-witted, betrayed, and over-ruled by the independents, who were assisted by the stiffness and unamiable behavior of Charles himself. In short, the independents at last succeeded, in persuading the members at Westminster, that Charles was not to be trusted, whatever his concessions might be.

From that moment the affairs of the royalists rushed into ruin. Sir Francis Fairfax, whose father lord Fairfax, remained in the north, was at the head of the army, which was now newmodelled; so that Charles in a short time lost all his towns and forts, and was defeated by Fairfax, and Cromwell at the decisive battle of Naseby, owing partly, as usual, to the misconduct of prince Rupert. This battle was followed by fresh misfortunes to Charles, who retired to Oxford, the only place where he thought he could be safe.

The Scots were then besieging Newark; and no good understanding subsisted between them and the English parliamentarians; but the best and most loyal friends that Charles had, thought it prudent to make their peace. In this melan

choly situation of his affairs, he escaped in dis. guise from Oxford to the Scotch army before Newark, upon a promise of protection. The Scots, however, were so intimidated by the resolutions of the parliament at Westminster, that they put the person of Charles into the hands of the parliament's commissioners, probably not suspecting the consequences.

The presbyterians were now more inclined than ever to make peace with the king, but they were no longer masters, being forced to receive laws from the army, and the independents. The latter now invoked their intentions. They first by force took Charles out of the hands of the commissioners, and then dreading that a treaty might still take place with the king, they imprisoned 41 of the presbyterian members, voted the house of peers to be useless; and that the house of commons was reduced to 150 inde. pendents, most of whom were officers of the army.

In the mean time Charles, who unhappily promised himself relief from those dissentions, was carried from prison to prison, and sometimes cajoled by the independents, with hopes of deliverance, but always narrowly watched.

Several treaties were begun, but all miscarried; and he had been imprudent enough, after his effecting an escape, to put himself into colonel Hammond's hands, the parliament's governor of the isle of Wight. A fresh negociation was begun, and almost finished, when the independents, dreading the general disposition of the people for peace, and strongly persuaded of the