Note 7 — The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle

Various attempts have been made to explain the nature of the danger alluded to, which the King and Salisbury at the time, and others since, have understood as in allusion to the danger of the plot. Jardine describes it as "mere nonsense" ("Gunpowder Plot," 1835, p. 73). But the meaning clearly is the danger of the letter being discovered. The counsel may do him good, and can do him no harm, except through the danger of keeping the letter, which being burnt, the danger is past. There is no allusion intended to the danger of the plot, as that, unlike the danger of the discovery of the letter, could not be affected by burning the letter.