Lastly, there is proof, indirect indeed but very telling, that Thomas
Warde must have been closely akin to Marmaduke Warde, and that both must
have been related to Lord Mounteagle.
This proof is contained in the following “Examination of Marmaduke Warde,
Gentleman, in the County of Yorke, taken at Beauchamp Court before Sir
Fulke Grevyll, Knight, and Bartholmewe Hales, Esq^{re.}, on Wednesday, the
6th day of November, the day following the arrest of Fawkes and the flight
of the others of the conspirators from London towards Dunchurch, in
Warwickshire:——
“GUNPOWDER PLOT BOOKS——PART I., NO. 47.[81]
“The examinacion of Marmaduke Warde, gent. of Newbie in the
countie of yorke taken before S^{r.} ffowlk Grevyll[A] Knight
and Bartholmewe Hales esq^{r.}
“This ex^{t} beinge demaunded when he came into this Countreye
saith a fortnight since & hath since continued at Mr Jo: Writes
at Lapworth, where Mr Write discontynuinge the space of on weeke
past his sister in lawe Mrs Write intreated him (beeinge
accompanyed w^{th} on Marke Brittaine her man) to goe to Mr
Winter w^{th} a horse to Huddenton where as theye past by
Alcester about an hower after the troope past this ex^{t} was
apprehended but the saide Brittaine beeinge well horst escapt
hee further saith hee knewe not of the companies passinge y^{t}
way vntill they came to Alcester nor of theire purpose any
thinge at all.”
[Footnote A: This was the celebrated Sir Fulk Greville, the friend and
biographer of Sir Philip Sidney. Greville was afterwards created Lord
Brooke. His tomb, with a famous inscription, is in the church of St. Mary,
Warwick.]
Now, from the “_Life of Mary Ward_,” vol. i., p. 91, it is evident, first,
that Marmaduke Warde got into no trouble of any kind, notwithstanding that
for a fortnight he had been actually dwelling under the roof-tree of one
of the principal conspirators, and when apprehended was even in the act of
taking a horse from Lapworth to Huddington, the mansion of Robert Winter,
one Gunpowder traitor and armed rebel, who was also the brother of another
Gunpowder traitor and armed rebel——the latter, indeed, being among the
very chiefest of the traitors and rebels.
It is evident, secondly, that on reaching London town the Master of
Newbie, in the County of York, lodged in Baldwin’s Gardens, Holborn,
apparently as a matter of course.
Moreover, the marvel of the whole thing is enhanced by the fact, first,
that Marmaduke Ward’s name is bracketed along with Richard Yorke (a
follower of Robert Winter) and Robert Key (doubtless Robert Keyes), the
Gunpowder traitor, who was arrested in Warwickshire by himself and not in
the company of the others (it is supposed he had been to Turvey, in
Bedfordshire, to see his wife and children at Lord Mordaunt’s, and was
making his way towards Holbeach); and by the fact, secondly, that the
said Marmaduke Ward, Richard Yorke, and Robert Key are specially described
as “suspected persons usually resorting to Mr. Winter, Mr. Grant, and Mr.
Rookwood’s.”[A]
[Footnote A: See add. MS. 5874, fo. 322, British Museum. See also Appendix
for the list of suspected persons usually resorting to Mr. Winter’s, Mr.
Grant’s, and Mr. Rookwood’s.
Mr. Winter’s house would be Huddington, in Worcestershire; Mr. Grant’s,
Norbrook, in Warwickshire; Mr. Rookwood’s would be Clopton Hall (or
House), Stratford-on-Avon. Mabie’s “_Life of Shakespeare_” (Macmillan,
1901), p. 393, contains a picture of the dining-hall at Clopton.]
Now the inferences that I draw from these two truly astounding
circumstances are these following:——That Marmaduke Warde must have had
literally “a friend at Court,” or his lodging when he reached the great
Metropolis, as a matter of course, would have been not——emphatically
_not_——Baldwin’s Gardens, Holborn, but, of a surety, the Tower of London.
That this “friend” must have been very closely allied to him in some way
or another.
And that this “friend” must have been a very powerful friend indeed,
especially when one remembers the punishment that was inflicted after the
Plot had become a mere bubble-burst by the Court of Star Chamber upon
Marmaduke Warde’s own connection (through the Gascoignes), Henry Earl of
Northumberland,[82] and upon the Lords Montague, Mordaunt, and Stourton,
the latter of whom had married a daughter of good Sir Thomas Tresham; and
the prosecution of Marmaduke Warde’s other connection, Sir John Yorke, of
Gowthwaite Hall, in Nidderdale, as late as the year 1612, on a charge of
complicity in the Plot.[83]
Now, from all these three inferences, surely the further inference is
inevitable, that the probabilities are so high as to amount to moral
certitude, that Thomas Warde and Marmaduke Warde were each allied, in
blood, to William Parker fourth Lord Mounteagle.
And “probability” that amounts to moral certitude is, as every-day
experience, as well as philosophy, tells us, “the very guide of life.”
Therefore the historical Inquirer henceforward is warranted in reason in
pursuing his inquiries into this matter on the following assumption, at
the very least, namely, that Christopher Wright, Marmaduke Warde, Thomas
Warde, and Lord Mounteagle had common family ties subsisting between them
in the year 1605.
And, consequently, upon such an assumption the Inquirer may justifiably
build his hypothesis respecting the revelation of the Gunpowder Treason
Plot.[84]