174 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"« S. IX. Mar. 10. '60. 



ship that there came not such man post nor any other 

 but only one man which belongeth to the Lo of Rutland, 

 whose name is M r . Mann. TJppon Saturday last there 

 came one M r . Thomas Percie and one other Gentleman 

 and M r . Percie his man rydinge post from the north. This 

 is all that I can certifyeyour Lordship. Resting nothing 

 of my continual prayer for your Lordship's Health with 

 encrease of honoures. Ware, this 5 th of November, 1605. 

 " Your honourable good Lordship 

 " to be comanded, 



" Tho» Swyned. Post." 

 Endorsed 



" Hast, post haste. 

 Ware 5 th November after xii in the day. 

 " Post (master) of Waltham and London, you must 

 send this awaye with all the speed that may be." 



Endorsed also by another band — 



" Waltham, the 5 th of November, at half-past two in 

 the afternoone." * 



A variety of witnesses were then examined. 

 The purport of these examinations can be gathered 

 from the following: — 



" Isabell, the servant of one Cole dwelling at the syne 

 of the Lyon in St. Thomas', a Hostelle, affirmeth, That 

 she kneweth one Thomas Percy, a tall black man w tU 

 grey heares in his beard, she serving in one Cosden's 

 House, a recusant. This Percy was wont to come to him, 

 and by that means she knew Percy. And saith that 

 this day about eight of the clock in the morninge she 

 saw this Percye come downe by Dowgate, and passing by 

 the figure of the Checker Inn went towards Colhar- 

 bour. He had a man after him in a greene cloak w th 

 sieve buttons. Percy went very fast away towards Col- 

 harbour. And she further sath in Colharber there some- 

 tyme dwelt one Dentryll, to whose house Percy used to 

 resort, and this Dental! being dedd, his wyddow is mar- 

 ryed to on who dwells at a Towne four miles on the syde 

 of Gravesend."f 



In this deposition Percy appears to have been 

 recognised. That was not the case, however, in 

 the following examination. The fact of two men 

 being seen near Lincoln's Inn Fields early in the 

 morning of the 5th of November seems to have 

 given rise to suspicion in the mind of the Chief 

 Justice of England. Popham accordingly took the 

 following declaration and enclosed it to Salis- 

 bury : — 



" The Declaration of Henry Tattnall, Gent., taken this 

 5 th of November, 1605. 



" He saith that this morning about 7 of the clock he 

 mett two young men, gentlenienlvke, the one in a greyish 

 Cloake, the other in a Tawnyish Cloake with broade 

 Buttons, in Lincoln's Inn Fields near the Turning Style, 

 going in some haste towards the back side of Gray's Inn 

 Fields towards St. Johns (when used this speech the one 

 to the other and swearing), as God's woundes, we are 

 wonderfully besett and all is marred. 



" With that this Deponent and M r . Nevill looke 1 back 

 towards them, and they looked back also, And this De- 

 ponent eyed them which way they passed as aforesaid, 

 not suspecting or hearing at all of this dangerous acci- 

 dent at that tyme. But thought the}- had been pursued 

 from some fraye, or were cutt purses, or such lyke. And 



* " Gunpowder-Plot Book." No. 8. 

 t " Gunpowder -Plot Book," No. 234. 



he thinketh he hath seen the one of them before, and 

 shall know them if he see them again. 



" Henry Tatnalt,." * 



Writing letters and taking depositions were not 

 the only means that the government used in their 

 anxiety to discover Percy, as appears from a letter 

 written by Mr. Justice Grange to Salisbury : — 



" Right ho w ». 

 " The gentleman whome j r o desyre to have appre- 

 hended hath a howse in the upper end of Holborn in the 

 Parish of St. Gyles in the fields, where his wyfe is at this 

 instant. She saith her husband liveth not \v ,h her, but 

 being attendant on the very honble the Erie of Northum- 

 beland lyveth and lodgeth, as she supposeth, with him. 

 She hath not seene him since Midsummer. She lyveth 

 very pryvate, and teacheth children. I have caused some 

 to waeh the howse, as also to guard her until yo r h™ 

 pleasure bee further knowen. Thus resting at your 

 Lorps Comand, I humbly take leave, 



" Yor Lo™ to be comanded, 

 " St. Gyles in the Fields, \ " E. Grange. 



5 th November, 1605. j 



" In searching Thomas Percie his howse, John Roberts 

 was taken newly entered, boted as having ridden, he 

 confesseth himself of the Romish religion, and that his 

 intendment is to goo over to the Arch Duke. 1 have 

 committed him to the charge of the constable untill y<5r 

 Lpps pleasure be further knowne." f 



Percy's wife was a sister of John and Chris- 

 topher Wright of Plowland in Holderness, two 

 of the conspirators, who were both afterwards 

 slain at Holbeach. 



Two other letters of the Lieutenant of the 

 Tower, written on the 5 th of November to Salis- 

 bury, are among the Gunpowder Papers. Waad 

 was afterwards most indefatigable in all proceed- 

 ings connected with the Plot. He held the office 

 of Lieutenant of the Tower for many years, but 

 subsequently was dismissed on suspicion of em- 

 bezzling some jewels belonging to Lady Arabella 

 Stuart, and his daughter was imprisoned. His 

 name is affixed to many of the numerous depo- 

 sitions afterwards taken. One of these letters 

 relates to the Spaniards : — 



" It may please y e honourable L. I thought it very fit y r 

 L. should know that the people in these parts do so 

 murmur and exclaim against the Spaniards as may grow 

 to further mutiny or disorder if some good severe order 

 be not taken to prevent the same. M r . Cole dwelleth 

 hard by, who if your Lordship thirk fit may have direc- 

 tions to be in readiness, if any thing should be attempted, 

 to appease the same : which I reserve to y r L. graiver 

 Judgment, and so rest ever, very humblv, 



" at thee, of y* h. L. 



" W. G. Waad." I 



The other seems to be a letter of congratula- 

 tion merely. The expressions he uses are cu- 

 rious : — 



" As nothing is more strange unto me then that it 

 should enter into the thought of any man living to at- 

 tempt anything against a sourain prince of so sourain 



* " Gunpowder-Plot Book," No. 11. 

 f " Gunpowder-Plot Book," No. 15. 

 X " Gunpowder Plot-Book," No. 13. 



