kept under close supervision by the English Government for nine years before the fatal fifth of November, 1605. What chance of success, therefore, had a plot, under the direction of such men, escaping detection for any length of time?
Before closing this brief introduction to our account of this pair of conspirators, I may as well mention that, for the sake of simplicity, I have spelled the name 'Winter' as it is now generally written. Thomas Winter, however, seems almost invariably to have written his name 'Wintour,' as signed by him in letters (still extant) addressed to his confederate Grant, in January and February,[1]1605; in a letter written in the Tower, 1 November, 25, 1605; and in documents signed by him in the Tower,[1] in December-January, 1605-06. In his confession, preserved at Hatfield, dated November 25, 1605, he (suspiciously) signs himself 'Winter,' a point which has been the subject of much criticism and controversy. Into a close examination of this discrepancy I will not now enter, but I would take this opportunity of remarking that, judging by the almost illegible manner in which is written the date ' 25 * Qbor,'[2] in the Hatfield MS., it is not certain whether, in any event, the confession belongs to the date assigned to it.[3] His brother, and co-conspirator,
