in the plot, no less than eleven were either captured or killed within a period of four days from the fatal Fifth of November. Of these eleven men, Catesby,[1] Percy, and the Wrights were dead; Guy Faukes was in the Tower; Digby, Thomas Winter, Grant, Keyes, Bates, and Rookewood were on their way thither under arrest. Of the remaining pair, Francis Tresham was in London, but not yet actually arrested; and Robert Winter was in hiding. By November 12, Tresham also was under lock and key, so that, if we omit the fugitive Robert Winter (the least important of the band), we find the Government's measures for the repression of the conspiracy, both at Westminster and in the Midlands, had been so skilfully executed that it had only taken the authorities seven days to kill or imprison all those who had been actively engaged in the Gunpowder Plot.
That the Government wished to take Percy alive is further shown by reference to a letter from the Venetian Ambassador to the Doge of Venice, dated November 23,[2] in which he writes:—
'Percy, head of the conspiracy, was wounded by a musket, and along with five others was taken alive. As soon as the King heard this, he sent off two of his best surgeons, and a doctor,
