The Gunpowder Plot and Lord Mounteagle's Letter Part 5

The two Wrights' parents were stanch Roman Catholics, and their mother had suffered imprisonment "for the Faith" in York for the "s.p.a.ce of fourteen years together," during the time when Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon was Lord President of the North, _i.e._, between the years 1572 and 1599.

(Henry third Earl of Huntingdon was one of the few members of the ancient n.o.bility who accepted whole-heartedly the Calvinistic Protestantism then gradually taking root in England.)

One of Christopher Wright's sisters, Ursula, was married to Marmaduke Ward, Gentleman, of Mulwith, in the Parish of Ripon; another, named Martha, was married to Thomas Percy, Gentleman, the Gunpowder conspirator.

It is said of John Wright, Christopher Wright's brother, and of his brother-in-law, Thomas Percy, that they were formerly Protestant, and became Catholic about the time of the rebellion of the Earl of Ess.e.x. But it is certain John Wright and Thomas Percy[45] must have been both brought up Roman Catholics in the days of their childhood; although they probably ceased to practise their duties as such until about the year 1600. For it is incredible that the son and son-in-law of Robert Wright and Ursula, his wife, should have been brought up as children and youths anything other than rigid Catholics, whatever else for a season they might, in the days of their early manhood, have become, either from conscientious conviction or reckless negligence, whereof the latter alternative is doubtless the more probable.

From the account of the Gunpowder conspirators given by Father John Gerard, the friend of Sir Everard Digby, and, it is highly probable, the friend of the Wrights also, it would seem that Christopher Wright was a taller man than his brother John,[A] fatter in the face and of a lighter-coloured hair. "Yet," says Gerard, "was he very like to the other in conditions and qualities and both esteemed and tried to be as stout a man as England had, and withal a zealous Catholic and trusty and secret in any business as could be wished."[46]

[Footnote A: It is, however, possible that John Wright may have come under the influence of the Blessed William Hart (styled the Apostle of York and the second Campion), a priest who suffered death at the York Tyburn in 1583. Because Hart was indicted for (amongst other things) "reconciling" a "Mr. John Wright and one Cooling."--See Challoner's "_Missionary Priests_." If so, John Wright would then be about fourteen years of age.

It, however, may have been another John Wright; perhaps of Grantley and one of the brothers of Robert Wright, the father of John Wright, the conspirator. Cooling was probably Ralph Cowling, of York, a shoemaker, the father of Father Richard Cowling (certainly of York), a Jesuit and relative of the Harringtons, of Mount St. John, and, therefore, of Guy Fawkes. See Note 147, where will be found a letter under the hand of this Father Cowling (or Collinge) to a gentleman in Venice--possibly Father Parsons or someone else of authority among the Jesuits--respecting the Harringtons and Guy Fawkes. Ralph Cowling, the father, died in York Castle a captive for his Faith, and was buried under the Castle Wall--I think facing the Foss towards Fishergate.]

Christopher Wright was married. His wife's name, we know, was Margaret.[A][47] I strongly suspect that Mrs. Christopher Wright was a sister of both Marmaduke Ward and Thomas Ward, of Mulwith, in the Parish of Ripon; yet of this there is only, perhaps, slight evidence, so that no positive argument can be grounded upon it, _considered by itself_; though the evidence of Mistress Robinson, Christopher Wright's landlady in London, indirectly tends to confirm such a suspicion.--See Evidence of Dorathie Robinson, _postea_, where she says that Wright had "a brother" in London.

[Footnote A: See "_Life of Mary Ward_," vol. i., p. 89.]

When Guy Fawkes was examined in the Tower of London, in the forenoon of the 6th of November, he said, in answer to a question--"You would have me discover my friends; the giving warning to one overthrew us all."

Now, if Guy Fawkes eventually revealed the conspiracy by reason of the agony caused by the _physical_ pains of the rack, when after the first racking he was told he "must come to it againe and againe, from daye to daye, till he should have delivered his whole knowledge," is it, I ask, a thing incredible that the son of a Yorks.h.i.+re Catholic mother that had spent fourteen years of her life in "durance" for her profession of her forefathers' ancient Faith, should have revealed the conspiracy itself, by reason of the agony caused by the _moral_ pains of a p.r.i.c.king conscience, goading him to madness for having committed _in act_ (in the case of the unlawful oath), _in desire_ (in the case of the intended murder) most horrible crimes against the offended Majesty of Heaven?

I think not.

_Therefore_ I conclude that it is antecedently probable that in the heart of Christopher Wright, emotions, not only of compa.s.sion but also of compunction, _were_ awakened by the remembrance of the early training he had received at his mother's knee: emotions which were potent enough, under the wisdom and skill of one whose special duty it was to "work good unto all men," speedily to swing right round on its axis, though well-nigh at the eleventh hour, the diabolical designment known to History as the Gunpowder Treason Plot.

Had Christopher Wright any entirely trustworthy friend, one who not only would prove a healing minister to a mind diseased with the leprosy of crime, but also be an able and ready helper for giving effect to an all but too late repentance? Was there anyone to whom he could have recourse, who was at once wise of head, sympathetic of heart, and skilful of hand?

There was.

CHAPTER XIII.

For at Hindlip Hall, near the City of Worcester, there had dwelt for the past sixteen years one who was not only the trusted spiritual guide of Thomas Abington, Esquire, and the Honourable Mary (Parker), his wife, daughter of the Lord Morley and sister to the Lord Mounteagle, but who by reason of his remarkably zealous labours in that part of the country had come to be accepted as a very Apostle of Worcesters.h.i.+re.

This was Edward Oldcorne, a Priest and a Jesuit.

He was the son of John Oldcorne, Tiler, a schismatic Catholic, of St.

Sampson's Parish, in the City of York. His mother was Elizabeth Oldcorne, a rigid Catholic recusant, who had suffered imprisonment "for the Faith."

He was born about the year 1560, and proceeded to the English College at Rome in 1582, aged twenty-one, for the higher studies. He was most probably at the Royal School in the Horse Fayre, in York, and he may have been there at the same time as Oswald Tesimond,[48] John Wright,[49]

Christopher Wright, and Guy Fawkes, though about ten years the senior of the three latter. As already has been stated, before going beyond the seas he had studied medicine. He was a man remarkable alike for mental ac.u.men, tranquillity of spirit, gentleness of nature, and strength of will. He was one of those Jesuits who, realising a higher unity, were at once Mystics _and_ Politicians. His equipoise of mind shows him to have been a very great man--indeed, on account of his combination of mental gifts and graces, I think the greatest, in reality, of _all_ the early English Jesuits. For "he saw life steadily and saw it whole."[A]

[Footnote A: Matthew Arnold.]

"All the chiefest gentlemen," says Father Gerard, Oldcorne's contemporary, "and best Catholics of the county where he remained and the counties adjoining depended upon his advice and counsel, and he was indefatigable in his journeys."[50] Again, a MS. Memoir[51] says, "so profuse was his liberality in aiding others that he supplied the necessities of life to very many Catholics. It was very evident his residence was well selected in the midst of the Catholics of that district of the Society of Jesus, so great and so promiscuous was the concourse of people flocking thereto for his sermons, for his advice, and the sacraments."[52][B]

[Footnote B: See Supplementum II.]

Now, Father Oldcorne was the spiritual adviser of Robert Winter, another subordinate plotter, and also of Catesby, according to the statement of one Humphrey Littleton, who knew Oldcorne well. And as John Wright was a tenant of Catesby's Mansion House, at Lapworth, in Warwicks.h.i.+re, about twenty miles distant from Hindlip, Christopher Wright must have not only heard of Father Oldcorne's fame as a "counsellor of the doubtful" and a "friend in need," but it is at least possible he may have been among those divers Catholics and Schismatics[53] in the country thereabouts who flocked to him for conference and to have his exhortations.[54][C]

[Footnote C: Evidence of the practical side of Oldcorne's mind is furnished by the fact that we are told he often begged leave in Rome of his superiors to visit the hospitals and serve in the kitchen. And when the English College was in low water, owing to the parents of the scholars not being able to pay for their sons through stress of the persecution, Oldcorne was sent to the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily to negotiate pecuniary a.s.sistance. His business emba.s.sy was eminently successful, and he brought back "a good round sum" to the College.--See Gerard's "_Narrative_," p. 272.]

Again, Christopher Wright appears to have been especially friendly with two other conspirators, namely, Thomas Winter and Ambrose Rookwood. And it is worthy of notice that Huddington Hall, in Worcesters.h.i.+re, the seat of Robert Winter (of which place Thomas Winter is also described), and Clopton Hall, in Warwicks.h.i.+re, near Stratford-on-Avon (whither Ambrose Rookwood removed soon after Michaelmas, 1605), were easily accessible to and from Hindlip Hall, where Father Oldcorne was, in general, to be found when not engaged at some other missionary station, such as Worcester City or Grafton Manor, the seat of John Talbot, Esquire, then heir presumptive to the Earldom of Shrewsbury and father-in-law to Robert Winter, who had married Miss Gertrude Talbot.[A]

[Footnote A: The site of Shakespeare's new residence, which he built and called New Place, at Stratford-on-Avon, had belonged to the Clopton family.

Clopton Bridge and Clopton Hall (or House) are still well known to all visitors to the shrine of Shakespeare. It is to be remembered that Clopton Hall, the property of Lord Carew, whither Ambrose Rookwood repaired for temporary residence soon after Michaelmas, 1605, was by road twenty-three miles from Hindlip Hall, where Father Oldcorne resided.

Ambrose Rookwood and Christopher Wright were particular friends. Rookwood was a man of very tender conscience, which, however, unhappily failed him at the most crucial moment of his life, namely, when he consented to join in the Plot which proved his ruin. But indirectly he probably unknowingly strengthened Christopher Wright's resolve to reverse the Plot, by revelation. The influence of "a.s.sociating" (even if of not always "according") "minds" one upon the other is very subtle but very powerful.]

CHAPTER XIV.

Let us now examine the Letter itself.

The first thing to be noted is that no reprint that I have seen of the famous Letter, whether in ancient or modern continuous Relations of the Gunpowder Plot, is strictly correct. For they all omit the p.r.o.noun "yowe"

after the words "my lord out of the loue i beare." This p.r.o.noun "yowe" is indeed crossed out in the original Letter with a blurred net-work of lines.[55] But, this notwithstanding, it can be still detected in the original doc.u.ment, happily, even to this day, to be seen in the Record Office, London.

Now the fact that this word "yowe" is crossed out in this mysterious fas.h.i.+on, coupled with the fact that the words used at the end of the Letter are as follow: "and i hope G.o.d will give yowe the grace to mak good[56] use of it to whose holy proteccion i comend yowe," makes it clear (to my mind) that an universal temporal salvation of the destined victims was intended by the revealing conspirator and by his penman, and not merely the particular salvation of the recipient of the Letter.

Again, the meaning of the words "for the danger is pa.s.sed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter," is in one sense fairly clear. For as Wilson says, in his "_Life of James I._" (1653), p. 30, "the writer's desire was to have the letter burned, and then the danger would be past both to the writer and the receiver, if he had grace to make use of the warning."[57]

This must be the, at least, _ostensible_ meaning. For it is obvious that neither Wright nor Oldcorne (_ex hypothesi_) would, for different but most potent reasons, wish the penman of the Letter to be known to the then public, either Catholic or Protestant.

Now it was in accordance with universal right reason and moral fitness that Father Oldcorne should--so far as was consistent with his being satisfied that warning of the Plot had been given through trustworthy channels to the King's princ.i.p.al Secretary of State--keep in the background and not himself in person adventure upon the theatre of action, even for the purpose of compa.s.sing an object which he was bound by his vocation, alike in Justice and Charity, to compa.s.s. For by the Act 27 Elizabeth, he was "a traitor," being a Priest and remaining in England for more than forty days. While the fact that he was a Jesuit into the bargain would be, of course, counted an aggravation of his statutory offence.[58]

Again, Father Oldcorne had to remember, besides the ideal standard that his vocation imposed upon him, the practical standard which was the unwritten law that guided the conscience of the best of the average Catholics in that period of their intolerable sufferings.[A] For it is a fact of human nature that every man seeks to instruct his conscience by some objective rule or standard of Truth and Right; but that instincts and emotions oftentimes finally rule men rather than reason and argumentative proof.

[Footnote A: The English papists groaned under the following persecution:--The poor were practically liable to be fined (and therefore sold up "stick and pin") one s.h.i.+lling every time they absented themselves from their parish church. The richer members of the community were compelled to pay 20 per lunar month. Many of the English n.o.bility, gentry, and yeomanry were ruined by this; indeed the Catholics must have been very rich on the whole to hold out as long as they did. It was the Government authorities (Clerical and Lay) that did the persecuting; individual Protestants often sought to mitigate the miseries of their fellow-countrymen from whom they differed in religion. Being reconciled to the See of Rome was death, and to be a popish priest was by the terrible Statute 27 Eliz. to be "a traitor" and to be liable to be hanged, cut down alive, bowelled, and quartered. To say Ma.s.s was to be liable to a fine of 200 marks _and_ imprisonment for life (a mark was 13s. 4d.). To hear Ma.s.s was to be liable to a fine of 100 marks _and_ imprisonment for life. To harbour a priest was death and forfeiture of property.]

It was, furthermore, inc.u.mbent upon Oldcorne to recollect that more harm than good is frequently occasioned in this entangled world by an unseasonable, indiscriminate, "heroic" application of abstract principles (faultless in themselves) to the varied and perplexing circ.u.mstances of man's terrestrial life.

To ill.u.s.trate my propositions: It is worth while remembering that even so lofty a soul as Mrs. Ambrose Rookwood evidently regarded her husband, primarily, as a sufferer for conscience sake, and only secondarily, if at all, as a repentant sacrilegious traitor and murderer in desire, who was suffering condign punishment and paying the just penalty of his ruthless crimes.

No doubt special allowances have to be made for this poor woman, inasmuch as her husband and children were all the world to her. But still the following recorded statement proves that the _tendency_ was for even the best of the average English Catholics of that day, of whom Mrs. Rookwood is a fair type and specimen, to centre their sympathies on the wrong-doers rather than on the wronged.

This was natural enough; for man's disposition is to be led by his unconscious instincts and emotional sympathies rather than by drawn-out reason and cool argument, as has been mentioned above.

It was the bounden duty of Oldcorne to hold that disposition strictly in check and to keep himself absolutely master of the tendency. But, on this being a.s.sured, he was bound likewise to remember that the tendency existed, and that he lived in a world not of angels, nor of machines, but of _men_--of men indeed who were not totally depraved, nor utterly corrupt, yet who were sorely wounded and weakened in intellect, heart, and will.

The crying want of the present day--as of Oldcorne's day--is not only for men but for men who are statesmen. And no man can be a statesman unless he has a wide and profound knowledge of human nature, and who, while he pities human nature and loves it, never makes the mistake of expecting too much from it. In other words, we require men who are humanists and humorists, as I cannot but think was the character of Edward Oldcorne.

Now, no man in England knew better nor recognised more fully (for he knew the virtually omnipotent transforming power of the precedent conditions of person, time, and circ.u.mstance) the truth of the propositions I have just enunciated than did Father Oldcorne. But this notwithstanding, I hold it was _not_ the truth of the foregoing propositions ALONE--indisputable doubtless as he regarded them--that finally controlled the motives that ruled the action--in substance and in form--at the most critical moment of the existence of this acute, disciplined, high-minded Yorks.h.i.+reman, when by Fate he was called upon to contemplate, _after the fateful November the Fifth_, the b.l.o.o.d.y, prodigious Gunpowder Plot, and the mighty feat which Destiny had imposed upon him for helping to spin the same right round on its axis, even though well-nigh at the eleventh hour.[59]

What finally controlled the motives, the positive _not_ negative motives, that ruled that beneficent and never-to-be-forgotten action of this Yorks.h.i.+re Priest and Jesuit in that supreme moment--the Plot having then become, through his instrumentality, as a mere bubble-burst--will be discovered in due course of this Inquiry.