Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/50

40 Thomas Percy was a person of great influence among the conspirators. Indeed, next to Catesby, he was the most important amongst them. He seems to have acted as Catesby's first lieutenant. It was he who hired within the precincts of Westminster Palace the little dwelling next to the Parliament House, and it was he who obtained possession of the cellar where the powder was eventually deposited. As soon as the news of the abortive plot leaked out in London on November 5, it was described at first as Percy's conspiracy. In common with so many of his confederates, Percy was of illustrious lineage, being a scion of the great feudal house of Northumberland. He was an agent of the head of the family, Henry, the ninth Earl, the political enemy of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. Authorities differ, however, as to how nearly he was related to the Earl. The nearness of the connection has, I think, been exaggerated, and (so far as I can ascertain) he was no nearer in blood to the head of his house than a third or fourth cousin. With this opinion Father Gerard agrees, when he declares that 'he was not very near in blood, although they called him cousin.'

'For the most part of his youth,' relates Father Gerard, 'he had been very wild more than ordinary, and much given to fighting; so much that it was noted in him and in Mr. John Wright (whose