Page:Guy Fawkes, or, The history of the gunpowder plot.pdf/17

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
THE GUNPOWDER PLOT.
17

sisters had married Lords Stourton and Mounteagle. Indeed, Tresham so passionately required that Lord Mount eagle should have warning of his danger, that very high words ensued; and when he was thwarted in his wishes, he hinted that the money he had promised would not be forthcoming; and from this time he ceased to attend their councils. On Saturday, the 26th of October, ten days before the meeting of Parliament, Lord Mounteagle unexpectedly gave a supper in a house which he had not lately occupied. Circumstances have given rise to a belief that he was privy to the plot at the time that he invited his friends, and that the supper was only given as a convenient opportunity of discovering the conspiracy to them. Be this as it may, whilst he was at table, a letter was brought to him by one of his pages, who stated that no had received it in the street from a stranger, who pressed its instant delivery into his master’s hands. The letter was as follows:— My Lord,—Out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care for your preservation; therefore, I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift off your attendance on this Parliament, for God and man have determined to punish the wickedness of the times. And think not slightly of this advertisement; but retire yourself into the country, where you may expect the event in safety. For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they will receive a terrible blow this Parliament; and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be contemned, because it may do you good, and can do you no harm; for the