i68 



GARDENS OLD AND NEW. 



with many of the greatest families in England. 

 Digby was of great stature and much bodily strength, 

 was attached to field sports and proficient in hawking 

 and hunting. About the year 1599 he fell under the 

 influence of Catesby, who seems to have obtained 

 extraordinary power over him, drawing him into that 

 dark conspiracy in which they were so deeply 

 concerned, and in which Digby was destined to play 

 a gloomy part. He had been a ward of the Crown, 

 and in consequence had been educated as a Protestant ; 

 but, in the year before the Queen's death, he turned 

 his back upon the courtly prospect before him, and, 

 returning to his Buckinghamshire estate, embraced 

 the religion of his fathers. He was, however, one of 



the pretext of joining a hunting expedition on Duns- 

 moor Heath When the plot fell through, and 

 revengeful hands were upon the track of the con- 

 spirators, Digby sought shelter in a wood. The 

 pursuers were almost upon him, and he thought it 

 best to dismiss his attendants, telling them they 

 might keep what money they had, and shift for 

 themselves. Two of them stuck to him, and the 

 three sought concealment in a dry pit in a wood. 

 They were soon discovered, however, and the cry 

 was raised, " Here he is ! Here he is ! " Digby, 

 advancing on horseback, replied, " Here he is, indeed ! 

 What then ? " and, coming towards them, made as if 

 he would ride them down. His plight, however, 



THE 



those ready to welcome James at Belvoir, and was 

 knighted there in April, 1603. It would appear that 

 it was with difficulty he was induced to join the 

 conspiracy against the King. Catesby lured him on, 

 and deceived him by specious arguments, until at 

 length his doubts and misgivings were silenced, and 

 he threw himself enthusiastically into the cause, 

 contributing much money for its purposes. There is 

 some reason to believe that he was never so fully 

 trusted as the others. The part which he was to 

 play kept him away from London. He was to 

 co-operate with the general movement by inviting his 

 friends to foment a rising in the Midlands by bringing 

 them together at Dunchurch in Warwickshire, under 



FRONT. 



was seen to be hopeless, and, giving himself up, he 

 was taken, and sent to the Tower. Condemnation 

 followed, and, being drawn on a hurdle with three of 

 his accomplices to the place of execution, he behaved 

 with some dignity, and before being handed, drawn 

 and quartered, protested that Father Gerard was 

 innocent in the plot, a statement which historical 

 enquiry has vindicated. 



Digby, the conspirator, seems to have secured 

 the estates at Gayhurst to his successor, the still more 

 famous Sir Kenelm Digby, who was born in the 

 house in 1603, and was brought up there. Sir 

 Kenelm Digby, author, naval commander and diplo- 

 matist, had a strange romantic career, and was an 



