glory—for he recurs to it perpetually—the
station of a Justice of Peace. "He was,
perhaps, the man of our age that did the
most good in that station . . . He that ought
to know best hath often said Sir Edmund
Godfrey he took to be the best Justice of
Peace in this kingdom." And, further on,
says the Divine with enthusiasm, "that
which exceeds all the rest, where the officers
durst not, he went himself into the Pest
house to seize on a malefactor!"

Having done with particulars of the knight's
life, the preacher turns now to more serious
matters: "Methinks I see you all stirred up,
as it were, expecting I should name you the
persons that did this bloody fact. But I
cannot pretend to that. I can only say with
David, they were wicked men." Still, though
this seems discouraging enough, "if you
would know more, I will endeavour to show
you how possibly you may discover them."
There are faithful signs and tokens in such
cases pointing unmistakeably in the direction
of the guilty parties. He can help them to a
few of these. They should take thought of
"Cassius's word, cui bono? For whose
interest was it."

"They must have been some that were not
safe while he lived," says Doctor Lloyd, hinting
darkly, "or some that might be better
for his death." It could not have been any
who bore personal malice against him. He
was too "tender hearted" for that. "Much
less were they robbers or any such poor
rogues that kill men for what they have.
These did their work gratis .... 'Tis very
credible that the authors had some other
interest that moved them to it. And that
seems rather to have been against the government
and the laws." This is something more
explicit; but the dean will speak even
plainer yet. The principles of such parties
are an unfailing test. "How shall we excuse
them that hold it lawful to do such things? If
there are such men in the world, and if the
other tokens agree to them, they surely are
the likeliest that can be thought of for this
matter." But away with all circumlocutions
and mysterious hints. It were best now to
speak out plainly. "Such a sort of men there
is, even here in England—we have them
among us. I could not but think of them
when I named the other tokens, and so
must any one that hath been conversant
in their books. We need not put them on
the rack to make them confess. They offer
themselves. They are the Jesuites I speak
of!"

"We thank you, Reverend Fathers of the
Society," says the dean warming with his
subject, "if you were the men that killed
him, as you are the likeliest, if we may
believe yourselves: we thank you that you
did not begin with the government first.
That you killed him, not the king. There had
been a blow indeed. We thank you for not
beginning with that. Though we have the
less cause, if your plot was against the king,
and you only took this man away that you
might the better cover it." Could anything
be devised more ingeniously suggestive, or be
more artfully put than these last few
sentences? "God still deliver us," continues the
dean, "from your bloody hands. God keep
England from your bloody religion!"

The only thing that surprises the dean is
the wonderful patience and equanimity with
which the people of England have tolerated
these dangerous conspirators. "I cannot but
reflect," he says, "on the incredible patience
that was found in you at the Fire of London
. . . . You then bore patiently that great
loss, both of your houses and of your goods,
And now it cometh to your persons and
lives, still your patience continues."

Still, with all these dangers, there is a
certain consolation and hope, "especially if we
remember the good Providence of God which
is the third thing. He that hath
delivered me from the bear and the lion, he
will deliver me from the hand of this
Philistine. We might argue likewise: He that
saved us in Eighty-Eight, he that saved
us from the Gun Powder Plot, he will
deliver us from this cursed conspiracy ....
Who knows but in the end it may prove a
fatal blow to themselves? This, together
with other things now under consideration,
may occasion a fair riddance of all that
faction out of England!" There is a certain
significance in those "other things now
under consideration," suggesting associations
of Doctor Gates and Bedloe then very
busy.

Finally, the dean winds up and sends his
hearers home with this comforting assurance,
"Let them kill our bodies, abuse them,
mangle them, as this is or worse: let them burn
them and throw our ashes whither they
please. We shall lose nothing by it. At last,
we shall all meet again in a happy and blessed
Resurrection!"

Now ready, price Five Shillings and Sixpence, neatly
bound in cloth,
THE FIFTEENTH VOLUME
OF
HOUSEHOLD WORDS,
Containing the Numbers issued between the Third of
January and the Twenty-seventh of June of the preseoit
year.

Just published, in Two Volumes, post Svo, price One
Guinea,
THE DEAD SECRET.
BY WILKIE COLLINS.
Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars.