The pilgrim-band numbered about thirty souls, and included Ambrose
Rookwood and his wife in addition to those before mentioned. Ambrose
Rookwood appears to have been sworn in as a conspirator by Catesby and
others in London about ten weeks before the 2nd day of December, 1605, so
that I conclude this must have been very soon after his return from
Flintshire.
Sir Everard Digby was also made a confederate by Catesby alone about this
time, and in the “_Life_” of that well-favoured but misguided knight there
is an admirably-written account of the unhappy enrolment of the ill-fated
young father of the famous cavalier and diplomatist, Sir Kenelm Digby.
It would seem that Father Garnet proceeded to Gothurst with the pilgrims
on their return. But he must have shortly afterwards retraced his steps to
Great Harrowden.
For a fortnight before Michaelmas (11th October, old style) the chief of
the English Jesuits was being harboured at Great Harrowden, the house of
the Dowager Lady Vaux and the young Lord Vaux.
Great Harrowden Hall appears to have been rebuilt by the guardians of the
youthful baron a little before the year 1605. For in “_The Condition of
Catholics under James I._,” being largely the life of Father John Gerard,
there is (p. 147) the following statement: “Our hostess set about fitting
up her own present residence for that same purpose, and built us separate
quarters close to the old Chapel.... Here she built a little wing of three
stories for Father Percy and me. The place was exceedingly convenient, and
so free from observation that from our rooms we could step out into the
private garden, and thence through spacious walks into the fields, where
we could mount our horses and ride whither we would.” On p. 175 Father
Gerard says: “Our vestments and altar furniture were both plentiful and
costly ... some were embroidered with gold and pearls and figured by
well-skilled hands. We had six massive silver candlesticks on the altar,
besides those at the sides for the Elevation; the cruets were of silver
also, as were the basin for the lavabo, the bell, and the thurible. There
were, moreover, lamps hanging from silver chains, and a silver crucifix on
the altar. For greater Festivals, however, I had a crucifix of gold, a
foot in height.”
The Hall at Great Harrowden contained hiding-places for the priests,
probably contrived by Brother Nicholas Owen, the servant of Father Garnet.
The priests that resided at Great Harrowden were at that time mainly
Jesuits. And besides Father Gerard himself, Fathers Strange, Nicholas
Hart, and Roger Lee were there oftentimes to be found.[A]
[Footnote A: The present Lord Vaux of Harrowden, in the course of a most
courteous reply to various historical questions the writer ventured to
propound to him, says, in a letter dated 15th November, 1901, that his
residence, Harrowden Hall, was erected in the year 1719. It will,
therefore, not be the self-same mansion as that wherein Fathers Garnet,
Gerard, Fisher, Roger Lee, etc., were wont to be harboured by his
Lordship’s distinguished ancestors.
None of the grand old English Catholic families, those “honourable
people,” if such were ever known to mortal, have a better right than the
Lords Vaux of Harrowden, to take as their motto those fine words of Gerald
Massey:——
“‘They wrought in Faith,’ and _not_
‘They wrought in Doubt,’——
Is the proud epitaph that we inscribe
Above our glorious dead.”
The name “Vaux of Harrowden” is still to be found in the bead-roll of
English Roman Catholic Peers. And, along with such historic names as
Norfolk, Mowbray and Stourton, Petre, Arundell of Wardour, Stafford,
Clifford of Chudleigh, and Herries, the name “Vaux of Harrowden” was
appended to “the Roman Catholic Peers’ Protest,” dated from the House of
Lords, 14th February, 1901, addressed to the Earl of Halsbury, Lord High
Chancellor of England, anent “the Declaration against Popery,” that Our
Most Gracious King Edward VII. was compelled, by Act of Parliament, to
utter on the occasion of meeting His Majesty’s first Parliament.]