them they were also provided with fire-arms, having resolved there to perish in case of a discovery. By perseverance in their work, they soon pierced the wall, though three yards in thickness, but on approaching the other side, they were somewhat startled at hearing a noise, which they knew not how to account for. Upon inquiry they found, that it came from the vault below the House of Lords; that a magazine of coals had been kept there, and that as the coals were selling off, the vault would be disposed of to the highest bidder. The opportunity was immediately seized, they hired the vault, and purchased the remaining coals with which it was then stored, as if for their own use; and afterwards conveyed there thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, which had been purchased in Holland, covering them with faggots bought for that purpose.

CHARLES. Was it a public vault?

WILLIAM. The conspirators made it so; for they boldly threw open the door, as if it contained nothing secret. The near approach of the sitting of Parliament, now warned them to plan the remaining part of their project. The king, queen, and prince Henry (the king's eldest son), were all expected to be present; and as the king's second son, by reason of his tender age, would be absent, it was resolved that Percy should seize or assassinate him. The princess Elizabeth, a child likewise, (and whom it was intended immediately to proclaim queen,) was to be seized on by Sir Everard Digby, Rockwood, and Grant, who were to assemble in Warwickshire, on pretence of a hunting match, that they might be contiguous to the house of Lord Harrington, where the princess was kept. The important day at length approached. The secret had been made known to more than twenty persons, and inviolably kept for the space of near a year and a half. Never was treason more secret, or ruin more apparently inevitable; the hour was expected with im

patience, and the conspirators gloried in their meditated guilt.

MR. CONSTANCE. And yet, notwithstanding that every motive of pity, justice, and even personal safety, were disregarded in their holy fury,-a remorse of private friendship, I believe, saved all.

WILLIAM. It did so: Percy, who had been the first to accede to the plot as developed by Catesby, was the intimate friend and companion of Lord Mounteagle, a Catholic. Being desirous of saving his friend from the general ruin, he apprized him, through an anonymous letter, to keep away from the approaching parliament; for God and man, he said, had concurred to punish the wickedness of the time; begging him also to retire into the country, where he might expect the event in safety; and not to think slightly of the advice given: for though there would be no appearance of any stir, yet a terrible blow would be struck that parliament, and yet they should not see who hurt them: concluding with a hope that God would give him grace to make good use of the advice which the letter contained.

ANGELINA. Which he did, by making it public, I believe.

WILLIAM. Yes: for although he at first felt inclined to think it a foolish attempt to alarm him, yet he judged it expedient to carry it to Lord Salisbury, secretary of state. Salisbury seemed to pay as little attention to it; he, however, considered it his duty to lay it before the king, who immediately conjectured, from the earnestness of its style, that it implied something dangerous and important; and even thought it denoted some preparations of a dreadful nature to be effected by gunpowder: an order was therefore given to inspect the vaults below the Parliament House. This care belonged to the Earl of Suffolk, lord chamberlain, who purposely delayed the

search till the day before the meeting of parliament; when he remarked that there was a greater quantity of fuel than appeared necessary for the use of one living so little in town as Percy; while the determined villany, so strongly marked in the countenance of Fawkes, (who passed himself for Percy's servant,) did not escape the observation of the chamberlain. Other circumstances also induced him to believe that all was not right, and he therefore commissioned Sir Thomas Knevet, a justice of the peace, to attend, about midnight, with his officers, for the purpose of making a thorough inspection. When about to enter they discovered Fawkes at the door, whom they immediately seized, and on turning over the faggots in the vault, discovered the powder.

CHARLES. It was of course then evident that treason was contemplated, and Fawkes, I suppose, made an immediate confession.

WILLIAM. On the contrary: Fawkes, indeed, appears to have been a desperately bold-faced villain, capable of committing any act, however base, with all the appearance of composed indifference. The matches and every thing proper for setting fire to the train, were found on his person: his guilt was therefore apparent. Despair of pardon, however, inspiring him with resolution, he told the officers, with an undaunted air, that had he blown them and himself up together he had been happy. When carried before the council, he displayed the same intrepid firmness, mixed even with scorn and disdain; refusing to discover his accomplices, and showing no concern but for the failure of his enterprise. But his bold spirit was at length subdued: being confined in the Tower for two or three days, and the rack just shown to him, his courage, fatigued with so long an effort, at last failed him, and he made a full discovery of all his companions in crime.

MR. CONSTANCE. In reflecting on the character of

this extraordinary man, we are struck with the apparent absence of those feelings which should be the guide of our actions; and are apt to express our surprise, that a human being could be found capable of contemplating an act so atrocious. It should, however, be remembered, that it was not a mere love of cruelty,--not a wanton display of hardened villany, that prompted him to undertake this work of destruction, but an ardent attachment to religious principle a blind zeal, which has, from the earliest periods, made enthusiasts of some of the best of men, and caused the committal of those dreadful outrages of which we have heard so much in these Conversations. Under the influence of this error, Fawkes believed that he was serving God, by ridding the world of all heretics; that the end would warrant the means, and that he should deserve well of his fellow-creatures. But I am interrupting your narrative, William ; please to proceed. How did his companions fare?

WILLIAM. Those who were in London at the time when the plot was discovered, immediately hurried into Warwickshire to join Sir Everard Digby; who, relying on the success of his friends, was already in arms in order to seize the infant Elizabeth. But the country had taken the alarm; the conspirators met a foe in every quarter; and being at length compelled to take refuge in a house, they determined (about eighty in number) to sell their lives as dearly as possible. Having therefore confessed themselves, they stood on the defensive; when Percy and Catesby, fighting back to back, were killed by one shot: and some of their powder happening to blow up, several were disabled, and the whole easily overcome. Digby, Rockwood, Winter, and others, were taken prisoners and finally executed.

MR. CONSTANCE. Of the trial and execution I am enabled to give you a particular account, (as I did of the

fire of London on a former evening,) by the rea ding of few extracts from a curious and quaintly written tract, published in the year 1606. The title page and address run thus:

"A brief Discourse upon the Arraignment and Execution of the eight Traytors; Digbie, the two Winters, Graunt, Ruckwood, Caies, Bates, and Johnson alias Faulkes; four of which were executed in Paules-Churchyeard, in London, upon Thursday, being the 30th of Januarie; the other foure, in the olde Pallace Yard, in Westminster, over against the Parliament House, upon Friday next following.

"Not to aggravate the sorrow of the living in the shame of the dead, but to disswade the idolatrously blinded, from seeking their owne destruction, in the way to evil; I have here briefly set downe a discourse of the behaviour and carriage of the eight persons afore-named, from the time of their imprisonment to the instant of their death the nature of their offence, the little show of their sorrow, their usage in prison, and their obstinacies to their end. First, for their offence, it is odious in their cases of all humaine creatures, that it could hardly be believed, that so many monsters in nature, should carry the shapes of men: Murther, oh, it is the crying sinne of the world, and such an intended murther, as, had it taken effect, would have made a worlde to crie, and therefore the horror thereof must needs be hatefull to the whole worlde to heare of it.

"Men that saw them goe to their execution, did in a sorte grieve, to see such proper men in shape goe to so shamefull an end; but the end was proper to men of so unproper minds, who, to satisfie a blinded conceite, would forget their duties to God and their king, and unnaturally seek the ruine of their native countrie: they are said to