he was really the only gentleman in regard to birth, education, and behaviour amongst his fellow-conspirators. This theory is, of course, fallacious in the extreme. He was not, for instance, so well educated or so learned as Thomas Winter; he was no better born than at least six of his confederates—nor, indeed, so nobly descended as was Percy; in private life he was not more esteemed or better behaved than Ambrose Rookewood; whilst, as a soldier, his reputation was not equal to that of Guido Faukes, nor, as a swordsman, either to that of Catesby or John Wright. In a word, he is erroneously supposed by the man in the street to have been the only respectable person engaged in the Gunpowder Plot.
Sympathy, too, resting on no surer foundations, and wholly undeserved, has been extended towards him on account of his youth, and his being the husband of a young and comely wife,[1] by whom he was the father of two children.[2] Here again, however, his supporters are at fault. If, indeed, he was so fortunate as to be a happy husband and a proud father, so also was Rookewood, whose wife was, from all accounts, a lady of far greater personal attractions, and more highly accomplished than was Lady Digby. As to the question of his age, his admirers have been
