GUY FAWKES DISCOVERED.

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* fee who hurts them. This counsel is not to be contem"ned, because it may do you good, and can do you no "harm: for the danger is past, as foon as you have burned

the letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to "make good use of it; unto whofe holy protection I com"mend you."

Monteagle, alarmed at this ambiguous letter, and yet inclined to think it some foolish scheme to frighten and ridicule, carried it at midnight to Lord Salisbury, fecretary of ftate his Lordship having confulted with the Earl of Suffolk, the contents were afterwards communicated to the king, the Earls of Northampton, Worcester, and Nottingham. A terrible blow and yet the authors concealed; a danger fo fudden and yet fo great, these intimations seemed all to denote fome contrivance by gunpowder, and it was thought adviseable to infpect all the vaults below the houses of parliament. Accordingly, on the 4th of November, the Lord Chamberlain vifited all the adjoining places. He obferved, though feemingly with a flight inspection, the great piles of wood and faggots in the vault under the upper house, and caft his eye upon Fawkes, who ftood in a dark corner, and faid he was one of Piercy's fervants. The Lord Chamberlain was ftruck with the appearance of a man in whofe countenance all the signs of ferocious courage were strongly marked. It appeared a little extraordinary, that Piercy, who feldom refided in town, fhould have here such a quantity of fuel, and, upon comparing all cir cumstances, it was refolved to make a more thorough fearch. This refolution being taken, about midnight Sir Thomas Knevet, a justice of the peace, was fent with proper attendants to examine the cellar, under the pretext of searching for ftolen goods. Fawkes had just put the finishing stroke to his preparations, and was coming out of the vault, when Knevet arrived on the fpot. The daring confpirator VOL. I. No. 8.

X x

was inftantly fecured, and the faggots being removed, the barrels of gunpowder were laid open to view. Fawkes had a dark lantern in his hand, and the matches with every thing neceffary for setting fire to the powder, were found in his pockets. The guilt of this determined villain was now apparent, who knowing that all denial would be in vain, avowed the dreadful defign, at the fame time expreffing the utmost regret that he had loft the opportunity of firing the powder, and at once destroying both his enemies and himfelf. When examined before the council, he shewed not the least concern, but for the failure of his enterprize, and refused to discover his accomplices. He was then conveyed to the Tower, where though fhewed and threatened with the rack, he still difplayed the fame intrepid firmness, and it was on account of the following circumftance, that he made any confeffion.

One Mr. Gilbert Pickering, a proteftant of TichmarshGrove, in Northamptonshire, and who was in great esteem with King James, had a horfe remarkable for fwiftnefs, on which he used to hunt with the king. A little before the blow was to be given, Robert Keies, one of the confpirators, and brother-in-law to Pickering, borrowed this horfe, and conveyed him to London upon the following bloody defign. Fawkes, upon the day of the fatal blow, was ap pointed to retire to St. George's Fields, where this horse was to attend him to further his escape, as they made him believe; but it was otherwife contrived that Mr. Pickering, who was a noted puritan, fhould be murdered in his bed, and fecretly conveyed away, and also that Fawkes, as foon as he came into St. George's Fields, fhould be there murdered, and fo mangled, that he could not be known; whereupon, it was to be reported that the puritans had blown up the parliament-houfe, and as a corroboration, there was to have been Pickering's body near his own horse. Fawkes, on understanding this underhand fcheme, freely

difcovered

THE FATE OF THE CONSPIRATORS.

339

discovered what before the rack could not extort. Here it should also be obferved, that Robert Keies, having been a little before this at his brother-in-law's houfe, fuddenly whipped out his sword, and in merriment, made many of fers therewith at the heads, necks, and fides of feveral gentlemen and ladies then in his company: it was then taken for a mere frolic; but when the treafon was discovered, fuch as remembered his gestures thought he practised what he intended to do on the proteftants, when the plot should take effect. Chriftopher Wright having been the first who heard of the apprehenfion of Fawkes, advised the confpirators, who with all their attendants did not exceed the number of 80, to an immediate and feparate flight. Many might have escaped, but still maintaining hopes of fuccefs in their plan, they reforted to that place which was to have been their general rendezvous. Having been furrounded on every fide, they boldly prepared for an attack; but fome of their powder took fire and difabled them for defence. Some little time before this accident, Winter dreamt that "he saw steeples and churches ftand awry, and within those churches strange and unknown faces;" and this explosion having scorched several of their faces, and much disfigured the countenances of Grant, Rockwood, &c. Winter imagined that the faces of his affociates, thus disfigured, refembled those which he had seen in his dream. The people having now rushed in upon them, Catesby and Piercy were killed by a single shot, and Digby, Rockwood, Bates, &c. were taken prifoners, tried, and found guilty. Bates, when condemned, craved pardon, as being led into the scheme by his master; he was however executed Jan. 22, 1606. Wright and his brother were killed; Guy Fawkes, T. Winter, Ambrofe Rockwood, and Robert Keies, were executed within the Old Palace Yard, Weftminster, near the Parliament Houfe, Jan. 31. Winter was very penitent. Digby, Garnet, &c. were likewife executed.

MR. GRANGER,

Should you think the following true Story worthy a Place (it will take but a fmall one) in your Entertaining Museum, you will oblige a conftant Reader,

W. R.

Extraordinary STORY of ELIZABETH RUSSELL. Extract from the Parish Regifter, STREATHAM, SURRY:

Ruffell buried April 14, 1772. N. B. This perfon was always known under the guise and habit "of a woman, and answered to the name of Elizabeth

as registered in this parish, Nov. 21, 1669, but at "death proved to be a man."

IN speaking of this extraordinary perfon, whose history I

have taken fome pains to enquire into, it will be necessary, in order to avoid confufion among the relative pronouns, to make constant use of the mafculine gender, however oddly it may be fometimes combined.

The various adventures of his life, had they been collected by a contemporary, would have formed a volume as entertaining as those of the celebrated Bampfyle Moore Carew, whom he accompanied in many of his rambles, and from whom probably he first took the hint of difguifing his sex to answer fome temporary purpose.

Upon examining the register, I find that John Ruffell (a younger branch of the Bedford family) had three daughters and two fons, William born in 1668, and Thomas 1672; there is little doubt therefore that the perfon here recorded was one of the two, and that when he affumed the female drefs, he affumed alfo the name of his fifter Elizabeth, who died in her infancy; under this name in the year 1770, he applied for a certificate of his baptifm, He attached himself at an early period of life to the gypfies, and being of a rambling difpofition, vifited most parts of the continent as a troller or vagabond; when advanced in years he fettled at

Chipfted

A NATIVE OF STREATHAM, SURRY.

341

Chipfted in Kent, where he kept a large fhop. Sometimes he travelled the country with goods in the character of a married woman, having changed his maiden name for that of his husband who carried the pack, and to his death was his reputed WIDOW, being known by the familiar appellation of Bet Page. In the courfe of his travels he attached himfelf much to itinerant phyficians, learned their noftrums, and practifed their arts. His long experience gained him the character of a Doctress, to which profession he added that of aftrologer, and practised both with great profit; yet fuch was his extravagance, that he died worth fix fhillings only. It was a common cuftom with him to fpend whatever he had in his pocket at an alehouse, where he ufually treated his companions. About twelve months before his death he came to refide at his native place (Streatham). His extraordinary age procured him the notice of the most refpectable families in the neighbourhood, particularly that of Mr. Thrale, in whose kitchen he was frequently entertained. Doctor Johnson, who found him a fhrewd fenfible person with a good memory, was very fond of converfing with him. His faculties indeed were fo little impaired by age, that a few days before he died he had planned another ramble, in which his landlord's fon was to have accompanied him. His death was very fudden: the furprise of the neighbours may be well imagined upon finding that the perfon, who, as long as the memory of any perfon then living could reach, had been always esteemed and reputed to be a woman, was difcovered to be a man; and the wonder was the greater, as he had lived much among women, and had frequently been his landlady's bed-fellow when an unexpected lodger came to the house,

Among other precautions to prevent the difcovery of his sex, he constantly wore a cloth tied under his chin. And his neighbours not having the penetration of Sir Hugh Evans, who fpied Falftaff's beard through his muffler, the

motive