willing and ready to give his life for the same cause' (Gerard).
Such was the resolute Robert Catesby, the captain of the conspirators, a man of supreme courage, of winning manners and address, of great presence of mind in the hour of peril, of blind devotion to his religion, and of remarkable personal strength; but cruel and vindictive at heart, and one who was too sanguine of success to make sufficient allowance for the serious nature and number of the impediments which stood in his way.[1] He was, as became a chief of such a company, both an excellent swordsman and a good rider. By all the conspirators he seems to have been regarded with feelings of real affection, as he was by several of their intimates who were not actually engaged in the plot. Sir Everard Digby, at his trial, testified that no other man but Catesby could have obtained sufficient influence over him to have induced him to join such a conspiracy. Thomas Winter, Grant, Rookewood, and the Wrights, were all warmly attached to Catesby, and Rookewood, during his captivity, spoke of him in much the same terms as did Digby. Bates was his servant. Lord Mounteagle was an old friend. The ruffianly Sir Edmund Baynham, who was directed to inform the Pope of the plot (if it succeeded), acted under Catesby's orders. Guy Faukes he
- ↑ One great mistake of his was the low estimate he formed of the craft and ability of Cecil.
