he was made to believe by his Companions that he should be bountifully rewarded for that his good service to the Catholick Cause now perceiving that on the contrary his Death had been contrived by them he thereupon freely confessed all that he knew concerning that horrid Conspiracy which before all the tortures of the rack could not force him unto The truth of all this was attested by Mr William Perkins an eminent Christian and Citizen of London to Dr Gouge which Mr Perkins had it from the mouth of Mr Clement Cotton that made our English Concordance who also had it from the Relation of Mr Pickering himself The Names of those that were first in this Treason and laboured in the Mine were Robert Catesby Robert Winter Esquires Thomas Percy Thomas Winter John Wright Christopher Wright Guy Fawkes Gentlemen and Bates Catesbies man Persons made acquainted with it and Promoters of it were Sir Everard Digby Knight Ambrose Rookwood Francis Tresham Esquires John Grant Gentleman Robert Keyes This prodigious contrivance did not only stupifie the whole Kingdom with consternation and amazement but Foreign Princes at least seemed to wonder at it also and though for the propagation of the Catholick cause they might have Conscience enough to wish that it had taken effect yet they had policy enough to congratulate the discoverers and some of them to take off the asperity of the suspect sweetned their expressions with many rich gifts to our King and Queen The Parliament by reason of the hurry occasioned hereby met not till the ninth of November at which time Henry Lord Mordant and Edward Lord Sturton not coming to the Parliament according to their Writ of Summons were suspected as having knowledge of the Conspiracy and so was the Earl of Northumberland from some presumptions and all three were Committed to the Tower The two Barons after a while were redeemed by fine in Starchamber but the Earl continued a Prisoner there for many years after How the Parliament was affected for this great deliverance of the whole Kingdom from ruine and destruction will appear by the Act which they made to have the fifth of November for ever solemnized with Publick Thanksgiving wherein they imputed the discovery of the Treason to the inspiring the King with a divine spirit to interpret some dark Phrases of the Letter above and beyond all ordinary construction they attainted also the blood of those Traytors that were executed as also of those that were slain at Holbach-House or that died in Prison and the King being not unmindful of the Lord Monteagle the first discoverer of this Treason gave him and his Heirs for ever two hundred pounds a year in Fee-Farm Rents and 500l l a year besides during his life as a reward for his good service But now to the Act it self An Act for a Publick Thanksgiving to Almighty God every year on the fifth of November FOrasmuch as Almighty God hath in all Ages shewed his Power and Mercy in the miraculous and gracious deliverance of his Church and in the protection of Religious Kings and States and that no Nation of the Earth hath been blessed with greater benefits than this Kingdom now enjoyeth having the true and free profession of the Gospel under our most Sovereign Lord King James the most Great Learned and Religious King that ever reigned therein enriched with a most hopeful and plentiful Progeny proceeding out of his Royal Loyns promising the continuance of this happiness and profession to all Posterity the which many malignant and Devillish Papists Jesuits and Seminary Priests much envying and fearing conspired most horribly when the Kings most Excellent Majesty the Queen the Prince and all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons should have been Assembled in the Vpper House of Parliament upon the fifth day of November in the year of our Lord 1605. suddenly to have blown up the said House with Gunpowder an invention so inhumane barbarous and cruel as the like was never before heard of and was as some of the principal Conspirators confess purposely devised and concluded to be done in the said House that where sundry necessary and Religious Laws for preservation of the Church and State were made which they falsly and slanderously term cruel Laws enacted against them and their Religion both place and persons should be all destroyed and blown up at once which would have turned to the utter ruine of this whole Kingdom had it not pleased Almighty God by inspiring the Kings most Excellent Majesty with a divine spirit to interpret some dark phrases of a Letter shewed to his Majesty above and beyond all ordinary construction thereby miraculously discovering this hidden Treason not many hours before the appointed time for the Execution thereof Therefore the Kings most Excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all his Majesties faithful and loving Subjects do most justly acknowledge this great and infinite blessing to have proceeded meerly from Gods great mercy and to his most holy name do ascribe all Honour Glory and Praise And to the end this unfeigned thankfulness may never be forgotten but be had in a perpetual remembrance that all Ages to come may yield praises to his Divine Majesty for the same and have in memory this joyful day of deliverance Be it therefore enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and by the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That all and singular Ministers in every Cathedral and Parish Church or other usual place for Common-Prayer within this Realm of England and the Dominions of the same shall alwaies upon the fifth day of November say Morning Prayer and give unto Almighty God thanks for this most happy deliverance and that all and every person and persons inhabiting within this Realm of England and the Dominions of the same shall alwaies upon that day diligently and faithfully resort to the Parish Church or Chappel accustomed or to some usual Church or Chappel where the said Morning Prayer Preaching or other service of God shall be used and then and there to abide orderly and soberly during the time of the said Prayer Preaching or other service of God there to be used and ministred And because all and every person may be put in mind of this duty and be the better prepared to the said holy service Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that every Minister shall give warning to his Parishioners publickly in the Church at Morning Prayer the Sunday before every such fifth of November for the due observation of the said day And that after Morning Prayer or Preaching on the said fifth day of November they read distinctly and plainly this present Act. Upon the Powder-Plot OH Murtherous Plot Posterity shall say 'S Vnholyness o'reshoots Caligula The Pope by this and such designs 't is plain Out-Babels Nimrod and out-Butchers Cain Monteagle's Letter was in dubious sence And seem'd a piece of
England's Remembrancer A True and Full NARRATIVE OF Those two never to be forgotten DELIVERANCES One From The Spanish Invasion in 88. The other from The Hellish Powder Plot November 5. 1605. Whereunto is added The like Narrative of that signal Judgment of God upon the Papists by the Fall of the House in Black-Fryers London upon their fifth of November 1623. Collected for the Information and Benefit of each Family by Sam. Clark formerly Pastor in Bennet Fink Behold the wicked travelleth with iniquity and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falshood He made a Pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate Psal. 7. 14 15 16. LONDON Printed for J. Hancock and are to be sold at the three Bibles in Popes-Head Alley next to Cornhill 1677. TO THE HONOURABLE And his Much Honoured Friends EDWARD RVSSEL Esq Son to the Right Honourable Francis Earl of BEDFORD AND TO The Lady PENELOPE His prudent and pious Consort Sir Madam I Take the boldness to present you with these Narratives not for that they are new or supposing your selves to be strangers to them but as a Testimony of my Gratitude for those favours I have received from you The high Heavens may be seen in the lowest valleys So may a large heart in the least Gift But truly though the Gift be worthless yet so is not the matter contained in it which sets forth such eminent and signal deliverances as no Church or people in these latter Ages of the world have received And there must be a recognition of Gods mercies or else there will neither follow estimation nor retribution Hence Micah 6. 5. O my people saith God many hundreds of years after remember now what Balack King of Moab consulted and what Balaam the Son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord. If there be not such a recognition of former deliverances we that should be as Temples of his praise shall be as graves of his benefits Our souls indeed are too like filthy Ponds wherein fish die soon and frogs live long Rotten stuff is remembred memorable mercies are forgotten whereas the soul should be as an holy Ark the memory as the pot of Manna preserving holy truths and special mercies as Aarons Rod fresh and flourishing Oh! let us imitate that man after Gods own heart If the Lord will be Davids Shepherd he will dwell in Gods house to all perpetuity Psalm 23. 1 6. If God deal bountifully with him he will sit down and bethink himself what to render for all his benefits Psalm 116. 7 12. A Christian counts all that he can do for God by way of retribution but a little of that much he could beteem him and thinks nothing more unbeseeming him than to bury the mercies of God in oblivion His two mites of Thankfulness and Obedience he daily presents and then cryes out as that poor Grecian did to the Emperour If I had a better present thou shouldest be sure of it What then may we judge of those persons in our daies who labour to extenuate yea annihilate these deliverances that would have no publick commemorations of them that study how to invalidate them and to blot out the remembrance of them To render good for evil is Divine Good for good is Humane Evil for evil is brutish But evil for good is Devillish Yet alas how ordinary an evil is this among us to abuse our deliverances to Gods dishonour But Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not he thy Father he hath bought thee c. Deut. 32. 6. Should we not remember that good-turns aggravate unkindnesses and our offences are not a little encreased by our obligations Ingrateful persons are like the Snake in the Fable who said to the Country-man when he had shewed it kindness Summum praemium pro summo beneficio est ingratitudo Ingratitude is the greatest reward of the greatest benefit How many such Snakes have we amongst us that return evil for good and unkindness for kindness Is not this to fight against God with his own weapons as David did against Goliah as Jehu did against Jehoram and as Benhadad did against Ahab with that life that he had lately given him For the preventing whereof if it may be are these things published being almost worn out of remembrance more than the very names of them Besides though they may be found in larger Volumes yet are they not so fit for every Family And as I have presumed honourable and beloved to publish them under your protection so I doubt not but they will find the better entertainment for the same My earnest desire and prayer for you is that the God of Peace will fill you with all joy and peace by believeing multiplying his Blessings upon you and yours And that you would afford me a room in your Albe among those that Sir Madam From my Study in Thridneedle-Street Octob. 22. 1657. Love honour and serve you Sam. Clark THE Spanish Invasion A Commemoration of that wonderful and almost miraculous Deliverance afforded by God to this Nation from the Spanish Invasion Anno Christi 1588. THE year one thousand five hundred eighty eight was foretold by an Astronomer of Koningsberg above one hundred years before that it should prove a wonderful year and the German Chronologers presaged that it would be the Climacterical year of the World which was in some measure accomplished in that glorious and never to be forgotten Deliverance vouchsafed by God to us in England and in that fatal overthrow of the Spanish Navy A true Narrative whereof followes But that we may the better see what induced the Spaniard to make this hostile Invasion we must be informed both who were the inciters and by what arguments artifices they stirred him up thereunto The Inciters were the Pope and some traiterous English Fugitives who were entertained in Spain and at Rome The design was The Conquest of England which had been hindred for the space of ten years by reason of the Spanish Wars in Portugal The Arguments were that seeing God had blessed the King of Spain with admirable Blessings and Successes had given him in Portugal the East-Indies and very many rich Islands belonging to the same that he should therefore perform somewhat that might be acceptable to God the giver of so great and good things and most worthy the Power and Majesty of the Catholick King That the Church of God could not be more gloriously nor meritoriously propagated than by the Conquest of England extirpating Heresie and planting the Catholick Roman Religion there This War they said would be most just and necessary considering that the Queen of England was excommunicated and persisted contumacious against the Church of Rome That she supported the King of Spains Rebels in the Netherlands annoyed the Spaniards
priviledges nor be governed by a stranger but by a Native Prince That they might have liberty to serve God with Freedom of Conscience And lastly that the Articles of the Pacification of Gaunt and other like treaties might be observed which things if they were granted She would condescend upon reasonable conditions to deliver up the Towns in the Netherlands which She then had in possession that it might appear that she had not for her own advantage but for the necessary defence of the Netherlands and her self taken up arms To these the Spaniards replyed that touching their preparations at Sea they did assure them that it nothing concerned England That to send away the Souldiers the King could not resolve till the Netherlanders had submitted themselves to him Concerning their priviledges that it appertained nothing to the Queen neither should She prescribe to the King a Law And so far was he from tolerating Religion that he would not so much as hear thereof otherwise than he had allowed to other Towns that had submitted to his obedience And as for those Towns which had been taken from the King and the mony expended about them They said that the Spaniard might demand as many Myriades of Ducats to be repayed to him by the Queen as he had expended upon the Low-Country War from the time that She supported the revolting Netherlanders and took them into her Protection About this time went Dale by the Queens command to the Prince of Parma and mildly expostulated with him about a Book lately published by Cardinal Allen that English Renegado wherein he exhorted the Nobility and People of England and Ireland to joyn with the Spanish Forces under the Conduct of the Prince of Parma to execute the Popes sentence already published by his Bull against Queen Elizabeth wherein she was declared an Heretick Illegitimate cruel for putting to death the Queen of Scots c. And her Subjects absolved from their Oath of Allegiance and commanded to aid the Prince of Parma against Her And indeed there was a great number of these Bulls and Books printed at Antwerp from thence to be dispersed all over England The Prince denied that he had ever seen any such Book or Bull neither would he undertake any thing in the Popes name howbeit that he must obey his Prince But for the Queen of England he protested that he did so honour her for her Vertues that next to the King his Master he esteemed Her above all others and would be ready to do Her service For the manifestation whereof he said that he had perswaded the King to condescend to this treaty of peace which would be more advantagious for the English than for the Spaniard For said he if the Spaniards be overcome they will soon recover their loss but if You be overcome your Kingdom and all is lost To which Dale made this reply Our Queen is provided with strength sufficient to defend her Kingdom and you your self in your wisdom may foresee that a Kingdom cannot be lost with the fortune of one Battel seeing the King of Spain after so long Wars is not able to recover his ancient inheritance in the Netherlánds Be it so said the Prince These things are in the hands of the Almighty After this the Commissioners contended with mutual debates and replies still twisting and untwisting the same thread For when the English pressed that a Toleration of Religion might be granted for the Vnited Provinces at least for two years It was answered That as the Spaniard demanded not this for the English Catholicks so they hoped the Queen in her Wisdom would require nothing of him which might be against the Honour Oath and Conscience of the Spaniard When they demanded the mony due from the States of Brabant to our Queen They answered that it was lent without the Kings Knowledge or Warrant and that the accounts being cast up how much the said mony was and how much the King had disbursed about the War it would soon be known to whom the most ought to be repayed With such answers as these they dallied with the English Commissioners till the Spanish Fleet was come within the view of England and the thundring of the Ordnance was heard from the Sea which put the English Commissioners into some suspicion and fear having no hostages for their safe return But they received a safe conduct from the Prince of Parma who had in the mean time drawn down all his Forces to the Sea-Coast and so were conducted to the borders near Calice Thus came this Treaty to nothing undertaken by our Queen as was conceived to divert the coming of the Spanish Fleet and continued by the Spaniard to surprize England unprovided and at unawares So both sides put the Foxes skin upon the Lions head And now we are come to speak of this Invincible Armado which was the preparation of five whole years at least It bare it self also upon Divine assistance having received a special Blessing from the Pope and was assigned as an Apostolical Mission for the reducement of this Kingdom to the obedience of the See of Rome and in further token of this holy Warfare there were amongst the rest of the Ships twelve called by the names of the twelve Apostles The Gallions and Galliasses were of such a vast size that they were like floating Towers and Castles so that the swelling waves of the Sea could hardly be seen and the Flags Streamers and Ensigns so spread in the wind that they seemed even to darken the Sun and to threaten destruction which way soever they turned On the nine and twentieth day of May this Fleet set Sail out of the River Tayo bending its course towards the Groin in Galizia the place appointed for the general Rendezvous as being the nearest Haven unto England But whilest they hoysed and spread abroad their proud Sailes to the wind God who is an Enemy to such Nimrod-like undertakings and hating such hostile actions suddenly manifested his displeasure and poured out revenge by a sudden and hideous tempest which drave the Duke of Medina the General back again into the Groin eight other of the Ships being dispersed on the Seas had their Masts broken and blown over board besides three other Portugal Gallies which were driven upon the Coasts of Bayon in France where by the valour of one David Gwin an English slave and the help of other slaves French and Turks they were delivered into the hands of the French and they freed themselves by the slaughter of the Spaniards amongst whom Don Diego de Mondrana was one About the same time the English Admiral and Vice-Admiral who had in all about one hundred Ships whereof fifteen were Victuallers and nine Voluntaries of Devonshire Gentlemen hearing for certainty that the Spanish Fleet was ready to hoise up their Sails resolved to put forth from Plymouth and to meet and fight them by the way but were so met with by the same wind that they could not get
was this STraverat innumeris Hispanus classibus aequor Regnis juncturus Sceptra Britanna suis. Tanti hujus rogitas quae motus causa superbos Impulit Ambitio vexat avaritia Quam bene te Ambitio mersit vanissima ventus Et tumidae tumidos Vos superastis aquae Quam bene Raptores Orbis totius Iberos Mersit inexhausti justa vorago Maris At tu cui venti cui totum militat Aequor Regina O mundi totius una decus Sic regnare Deo perge Ambitione remota Prodiga sic opibus perge jùvare pios Vt te Angli longum longum Anglis ipsa fruaris Quam dilecta bonis tam metuenda malis SPaines King with Navies great the Seas bestrew'd T' augment with English Crown his Spanish sway Ask ye what caus'd this proud attempt 't was lewd Ambition drove and Avarice led the way It 's well Ambitions windy puff lies drown'd By winds and swelling hearts by swelling waves It 's well those Spaniards who the Worlds vast round Devour'd devouring Sea most justly craves But thou O Queen for whom Winds Seas do war O thou the Glory of this Worlds wide Mass So reign to God still from Ambition far So still with bounteous aids the Good imbrace That Thou maist England long long England Thee enjoy Thou terror of all Bad Thou Good Mens joy The other is that made by Mr Samuel Ward of Ipswich OCtogesimus Octavus Mirabilis annus Clade Papistarum Faustus ubique piis IN Eighty eight Spain arm'd with potent might Against our peaceful Land came on to fight The Winds and Waves and Fire in one conspire To help the English frustrate Spains desire THE Gunpowder-Treason Being A REMEMBRANCER TO ENGLAND Of that ancient deliverance from that Horrid Plot hatched by the Bloody PAPISTS 1605. Tending to revive the Memory of the fifth of November to every Family in this Nation That all sorts may be stirred up to real thankfulness and transmit the same to their Posterities that their Children may know the reason why the fifth of November is celebrated that God may have glory and PAPISTS perpetual Infamy The Lord is known by the judgment that he executeth and the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah Psal. 9. 16. By SAMVEL CLARK formerly Pastor of Bennet Finck London LONDON Printed for J. Hancock at the three Bibles in Popes-Head Alley next to Cornhill 1676. TO THE READER Christian Reader LEt the remembrance of so signal a mercy and deliverance vouchsafed by God both to Church and State should be buried in Oblivion I have at the request of the Book seller presented thee here with a true and faithful Narrative of that grand work of darkness forged in Hell and by Satan suggested to some Popish Instruments who envying the peace and prosperity of our Church and progress of the Gospel had designed at one blow to overthrow both and that nothing might be wanting to complete that horried wickedness their purpose was to have charged it upon the Puritans thereby hoping to free themselves and their Religion from the imputation of so hainous a Crime Now that the memorial of a mercy of such publick and general concernment should not be forgotten we have the word of the eternal God to be our guide therein When the Lord had by his Angel destroyed the first-born of Egypt and spared Israel he instituted the feast of the Passover to continue the memorial thereof through their Generations Ex. 12. 11 12 14. and ver 26 27. saith Moses to them when your Children shall say unto you What mean you by this service ye shall say It is the Sacrifice of the Lords Passover who passed over the Houses of the Children of Israel when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our Houses And how careful good Mordecai was to continue the remembrance of that great deliverance of the people of God from destruction plotted and contrived by that wicked Haman appears Esth. 9. 20 c. where they did not only celebrate those present dayes of their deliverance with feasting and gladness but he together with the rest of the Jewes or dained and took upon them and their seed and upon all such as joined themselves unto them so as it should not fail that they would keep those daies in their appointed time every year and that those daies should be remembred and kept through their Generations every Family every Province and every City and that those daies of Purim should not fail from amongst the Jews nor the memorial of them perish from their seed c. And truly the remembrance of this great mercy hath the more need to be revived at this time when some noted persons amongst us begin to decry it and wholly to lay aside the observation of that day though enjoined by Act of Parliament and made conscience of by most of the godly people of the Nation I have also been induced the rather to make this brief Collection of the Story because though it be published by others yet it is in larger Volumes which are not every ones money whereas for a small matter every family may get and keep this by them for the benefit and satisfaction both of themselves and Children that so the Lord may not lose of his glory nor they for want of information fail of their duty I shall conclude with that of the Psalmist Psal. 107. 8. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the Children of men which is the hearty desire of Thine for thy spiritual good SAM CLARK THE DELIVERANCE OF OUR CHURCH and STATE FROM THE Hellish Powder-Plot 1605. THE Plot was to undermine the Parliament-House and with Powder to blow up the King Prince Clergy Nobles Knights and Burgesses the very confluence of all the flower of Glory Piety Learning Prudence and Authority in the Land Fathers Sons Brothers Allies Friends Foes Papists and Protestants all at one blast Their intent when that irreligious atchievement had been performed was to surprize the remainder of the Kings Issue to alter Religion and Government and to bring in a Foreign Power Sir Edmond Baynam an attainted person who stiled himself Prince of the damned Crew was sent unto the Pope as he was a temporal Prince to acquaint him with the Gun-Powder-Plot and now to the Plot in self The Sessions of Parliament being dissolved July the 7th Anno Christi 1604. and Prorogued to the seventh of February following Catesby being at Lambeth sent for Thomas Winter who before had been imployed into Spain and acquainted him with the design of blowing up the Parliament-House who readily apprehending it said This indeed strikes at the root only these helps were wanting a House for residence and a skilful man to carry on the Mine But the first Catesby assured him was easie to be got and for the man he commended Guy Fawkes a sufficient Souldier and a forward Catholick Thus Robert Catesby John Wright Thomas Winter
digging Tools betook themselves to their Weapons having sufficient shot and Powder in the House and fully resolving rather to die in the place than to yield or be taken The cause of this their fear was a noise that they heard in a room under the Parliament House under which they meant to have Mined which was directly under the Chair of State but now all on a sudden they were at a stand and their Countenances cast each upon other as doubtful what would be the Issue of their enterprize Fawkes scouted out to see what he could discover abroad and finding all safe and free from suspicion he returned and told them that the noise was only occasioned by the removal of Coals that were now upon Sale and that the Cellar was to be let which would be more commodious for their purpose and also would save their labour for the Mine Hereupon Thomas Percy under pretence of Stowage for his Winter provision and Coals went and hired the Cellar which done they began a new Conference wherein Catesby found the weight of the whole work too heavy for himself alone to support for besides the maintenance of so many persons and the several Houses for the several uses hired and paid for by him the Gunpowder and other Provisions would rise to a very great sum and indeed too much for one mans Purse He desired therefore that himself Percy and one more might call in such persons as they thought fit to help to maintain the charge alledging that they knew men of worth and wealth that would willingly assist but were not willing that their names should be known to the rest This request as necessary was approved and therefore ceasing to dig any further in the Vault knowing that the Cellar would be fitter for their purpose they removed into it twenty Barrels of Gunpowder which they covered with a thousand Billets and five hundred Faggots so that now their lodging rooms were cleared of all suspicious provision and might be freely entered into without danger of discovery But the Parliament being again Prorogued to the fifth of November following these persons thought sit that for a while they should again disperse themselves all things being already in so good a forwardness and that Guy Fawkes should go over to acquaint Sir William Stanley and Master Hugh Owen with these their proceedings yet so as the Oath of secresie should be first taken by them For their design was to have Sir Stanley's presence so soon as the fatal blow should be given to be a Leader to their intended stratagems whereof as they thought they should have great need and that Owen should remain where he was to hold correspondency with Foreign Princes to allay the odiousness of the fact and to impute the Treason to the discontented Puritanes Fawkes coming into Flanders found Owen unto whom after the Oath he declared the Plot which he very well approved of but Sir William Stanley being now in Spain Owen said that he would hardly be drawn into the business having suits at this time in the English Court yet he promised to ingage him all he could and to send him into England with the first so soon as their Plot had taken effect Upon this Fawkes to avoid further suspicion kept still in Flanders all the beginning of September and then returning received the Keyes of the Cellar and laid in more Powder Billets and Faggots which done he retired into the Country and there kept till the end of October In the mean time Catesby and Percy meeting at the Bath it was there concluded that because their number was but few Catesby himself should have power to call in whom he would to assist their design by which Authority he took in S ir Everard Digby of Rutlandshire and Francis Tresham Esquire of Northamptonshire both of them of sufficient state and wealth For Sir Everard offered fifteen hundred pounds to forward the action and Tresham two thousand But Percy disdaining that any should out-run him in evil promised four thousand pounds out of the Earl of Northumberlands Rents and ten swift Horses to be used when the blow was past Against which time to provide ammunition Catesby also took in Ambrose Rookwood and John Grant two Recusant Gentlemen and without doubt others were acquainted also with it had these two grand Electors been apprehended alive whose own tongues only could have given an account of it The business being thus forwarded abroad by their complices they at home were no less active For Percy Winter and Fawkes had stored this Cellar with thirty six Barrels of Gunpowder and instead of shot had laid upon them Bars of Iron logs of Timber massie Stones Iron Crowes Pick-Axes and all their working Tools and to cover all great store of Billets and Faggots so that nothing was wanting against that great and terrible day Neither were the Priests and Jesuits slack on their parts who usually concluded their Masses with Prayers for the good success of their expected hopes about which Garnet made these Verses Gentem aufer perfidam credentium de finibus Vt Christo laudes debitas persolvamus alacriter And others thus Prosper Lord their pains that labour in thy cause day and night Let Heresie vanish away like smoke Let their memory perish with a crack like the ruine and fall of a broken house Upon Thursday in the Evening ten days before the Parliament was to begin a Letter directed to the Lord Monteagle was delivered by an unknown person to his footman in the street with a strait charge to give it into his Lords own hands which accordingly he did The Letter had neither date nor subscription and was somewhat unlegible so that the Nobleman called for one of his servants to assist him in reading it the strange contents whereof much perplexed him he not knowing whether it was writ as a Pasquil to scare him from attendance at the Parliament or as matter of consequence and advice from some friend Howsoever though it were now Supper-time and the night very dark yet to shew his loyalty to his Sovereign he immediately repaired to Whitehall and imparted the Letter to the Earl of Salisbury then principal Secretary who reading the Letter and hearing how it came to the Lord Monteagles hands highly commended his Prudence and Loyalty for discovering it telling him plainly that whatsoever might be the event yet it put him in mind of divers Advertisements wherewithal he had acquainted both the King and his Council of some great business which the Papists were in hand with both at home and abroad against this Parliament pretending a Petition to the King and Parliament for a toleration of their Religion but withal giving out that it should be delivered in such an order and so well backed that the King should be loth to refuse their request Then did the Earl of Salisbury presently acquaint the Lord Chamberlain therewith who deemed the matter not a little to concern himself his Office