Note 36 — Chapter XI

— So that the Plot was first hatched about Easter, 1604. — See Dr. S. R. Gardiner’s “What Gunpowder Plot was,” as to the decisive causes of the Plot. — Jardine, in his “Narrative” (pp. 45 and 46), thinks that the Star-Chambering of that aged but charming Roman Catholic gentleman, Thomas Pounde, Esquire, of Belmont, Hampshire, contributed to the causes of the Plot. This is very probable. Pounde was first cousin to the father of the Earl of Southampton, the patron and friend of Shakespeare. Pounde was a devoted friend of Campion, and himself a Jesuit lay-brother. He spent a large part of his life in prison. He was attired in prison as became his rank and fortune, and was, besides being a “mystical” Catholic, a most accomplished Elizabethan gentleman. — See “Jesuits in Conflict” (Burns & Oates).