would send a note by one of their members
to the general at the Tower, and then join
him there. There were also to be risings
in the country at the same hour.

Last of all, the dark man of Southampton-
buildings had arranged for an officer at the
same fatal hour to go to Richmond and
seize "Prince Prettyman" (the Prince of
Wales), and bring him to Southwark,
where an agent from the general would
meet them with further orders. This pretty
bit of mischief was headed with the French
motto, "Au defaut de la force, il faut
employer la ruse." With this scheme were
also found ten blank receipts signed by
the Pretender, and these receipts Layer
acknowledged came from Sir William Ellis,
the Pretender's secretary at Rome.

The parcel at Mrs. Cooke's also contained
papers in cipher, the key to them, and several
letters from Eustace Jones (Sir William
Ellis) to James Fountaine, Esq. (Layer),
"To be left at Howell's Coffee-house, in
Great Wild-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields."
The most important of these letters, from
the Pretender's private agent, were as full
of treasonable matter as a hand-grenade is
full of death. The most fatal passage addressed
to the mysterious man in Southampton-
buildings ran thus in secret language,
easily interpreted by means of the
cipher-key:

"I was entirely of his opinion as to the
method of carrying on the manufactory;
the procuring of good workmen is the first
step to be made, and if he can get such,
the rest will be easy, particularly if he
could gain some of the ablest of Mrs.
Barbara Smith's. I know it would be very
agreeable to all concerned, and particularly
to Mr. Atkins."

The key to the cipher showed that
"manufactory" meant rebellion, "good
workmen," soldiers; "Mrs. Barbara Smith,"
the army, and "Mr. Atkins," the Pretender
himself. In other letters, "Dillon"
stood for Digby; "Burford" for Lord
Orrery, who was deep in the plot;
"Tanners" for Tories; "Waggs" for Whigs;
"he of the North, a grey-haired ancient
man," for Lord North and Grey, who was
already sufficiently compromised. With
these papers were also discovered lists of
the officers in the regiments which had
been tampered with.

Before a committee of lords of the
council, Layer, who was frank enough in
his confessions as long as they did not
compromise any of his fellow-conspirators,
confessed that in April, 1721, having private
business in Venice, he went on to Rome
on purpose to have an interview with the
Pretender. On his way through Antwerp,
Plunkett and his fellow-traveller obtained
a letter from General Dillon, directing them
what steps to take in Rome to obtain the
wished-for interview. A Jacobite at Rome,
named Kennedy, appointed Layer to meet
him and a Colonel Haye in the square before
the Pretender's house at ten at night.
At the appointed hour Haye and Kennedy
met the London plotter, and conducted
him up a convenient back stair to the
Pretender. Layer had brought with him
tenders of service to the Pretender from
the Norfolk Jacobites, and a most
important and much-wished-for list containing
their names. The Pretender said to
Layer: "This journey must have been very
expensive to you. I believe it cannot
have cost you less than five hundred
pounds." Layer replied not near so much.
At a second interview, the Pretender
promised that the queen should permit
him to kiss her hand. On a third
interview, Layer was introduced to the
Pretender and his wife. The Pretender
almost immediately spoke to his wife in
Italian, requesting her to withdraw.

Layer then said that he had nothing
material to offer sufficient to have procured
him such a great honour and indulgence;
but if there was any service on earth he
could do, he was ready. He then told the
Pretender that all the Norfolk young
gentlemen mentioned in the list were entirely
devoted to the Pretender's interest, and that,
indeed, all the gentlemen in England were
the same, except those in places of profit
and trust. The Pretender replied that he
believed the people of England were generally
well inclined to his cause, and pretty
well convinced of their error; and he then
spoke of the discontent occasioned by the
South Sea Scheme. Layer, before taking
leave, desired some token from the
Pretender, by which he might obtain credit
from the Pretender's adherents in England;
and the Pretender and his wife then undertook,
by proxy, to stand godfather and godmother
to his child. On Layer's return to
England, in September, he called on the
Duchess of Ormond, who was to stand
proxy for the Pretender's wife, and she
consented to do so. Lord Orrery, the other
proxy, refused to stand, so Lord North and
Grey stood for the Pretender.

Layer also confessed to having heard
Green, a gunsmith, talk to Lord North after
dinner of five thousand muskets being ready
in the City for the Westminster mob. Lord
North interrupted him angrily, and said,