his friend and patron, Lord Mordaunt, who had given food and shelter to his wife and children. There were others whose impending fate excited the liveliest interest; and all of them were desirous of warning the youthful Earl of Arundel. But Catesby undertook to prove to them that most of the Catholics would be absent, seeing that their presence would be useless, as they could not prevent the passing of new penal laws against their religion. But,' said Catesby, 'with all that, rather than the project should not take effect, if they were as dear to me as mine own son, they also must be blown up.'

Here, then, the matter was allowed to rest; and all the conspirators had to do was to wait quietly the few days which intervened between that date and the fatal fifth of November. And "surely," thought they, "our plot cannot fail; 'as good a plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant; a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation; an excellent plot, very good friends.""

All this they might have said; and something like it they, no doubt, did say one to another. But they did not think of these words: "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision." Or of these: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain."

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CHAPTER IV.

A MYSTERIOUS LETTER.

NE morning in October of 1605, a certain nobleman, already mentioned, Lord Mounteagle by name, was sitting at supper in his house at Hoxton, when his servant entered the room and laid a letter on the table before him.

'Where does this come from?" asked his lordship, seeing that the letter was directed to himself, but in a very indifferent hand-writing, which he did not recognize.

The servant could not say. All he knew was that the letter had just been delivered to him at the door of the mansion-by a stranger, he thought; though, as the night was so dark that he could not distinctly see the man's face, he might be mistaken.

"What sort of man was he?" the master wished to know, as he held the letter in his hand unopened. "A tall man, my lord-a serving man, belike." "Does he wait?"

"No, please your lordship, he went away directly he had given me the letter."

As nothing more could be gathered from his page Lord Mounteagle broke the seal and opened the letter. "What folly is this?" he muttered, or thought, to himself, when, after glancing at a line or two of the strange epistle, he turned over-leaf and saw that it was neither signed nor dated. "Here, sir; please to read it to me aloud, and save me the trouble of spell

ing it out," he added, handing the letter to one of the gentlemen of his household, who was sitting with him at table The gentleman obeyed, and read; and as the letter is a kind of curiosity in its way, it shall be given in its original and strange spelling, and entire absence of capital letters and stops. Here it is:—

"mi lord out of the love i beare to some of youer frends i have a caer of youer preservacion therefor i would advyse yowe as yowe tender youer lyf to devyse some exscuse to shift of youer attendance at this parleament for god & man hathe concurred to punish the wickednes of this tyme & thinke not slightlye of this advertisment but retyere youre self into youre contrie wheare yowe may expect the event in safti for thoughe theare be no apparence of anni stir yet i saye they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament & yet they shall not seie who hurts them this councel is not to be contemned because it maye do yowe good and can do yowe no harme for the dangere is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter and i hope god will give yowe the grace to make good use of it to whose holy proteccion i commend yowe."

What could be the meaning of this strange anonymous letter? Lord Mounteagle's first thought was that it was a silly hoax, meant to frighten him; but then some expressions in it led him to think more seriously of what might be hidden beneath its mysterious warnings. For instance, it referred to the coming meeting of Parliament, which had been fixed for the fifth of November; and it spoke about a terrible blow that was to be given to this Parliament,

from which Lord Mounteagle (who was one of the lords of Parliament) would be safe, if he would take good advice, and retire into the country. This did not look quite like a joke: it was too real.

And then there were sufficient reasons for thinking seriously of this warning, in the many plots which had previously been hatched by discontented men, and in

KING JAMES HAWKING (from an old engraving).

the continued dissatisfaction with the government, which Lord Mounteagle knew to exist.

"It passes my wit to spell out its meaning," thought the puzzled nobleman; "and though I may perhaps get laughed at for my pains, I will put the letter into the hands of those who are more clever at such things than I am,"-meaning the ministers of state, with

whom, though a Roman Catholic, Lord Mounteagle was on friendly terms. So, though it was then late, the nobleman put the letter in his pocket, and, starting off that same evening to Westminster, showed it to as many of the members of the king's council as he could find at their posts. These lords of the council thanked Mounteagle for the pains he had taken, and the confidence he had shown, and begged permission to keep the letter to show to the king. The truth is that the mysterious warnings it contained corresponded very closely with some hints they had received from other quarters, of a desperate conspiracy which was going on; though they had, as yet, had no certain intelligence of it. The letter was valuable, therefore, because it gave some sort of information, not only of danger to the government, but also to the time, and place, and character of that peril.

King James was at that time forty miles away in the country, in the pleasant neighbourhood of Royston, in Hertfordshire. It was the hunting season; and the king fancied that he was fond of this country sport, though he was so timid and awkward a rider that, to prevent his falling from his horse, a peculiarly-shaped padded saddle, which made such an event almost an impossibility, was contrived for his especial use. Being thus recreating himself, the king did not return to London for several days, during which time some of the council had pretty well spelt out the meaning of the letter,-aided as they were by other secret information they, no doubt, continued to receive, and the inquiries they as secretly made.