Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/68

54 deceived by not knowing the date of his birth; for he was not, as his principal biographer tells us, barely four and twenty years of age at the period of the exposure of the plot, but over three years older. Had he been barely twenty-four, he must have been married at the early age of fourteen. But, in making these just comments, it must not be thought that the writer is influenced by any desire to make an attack on the character of Sir Everard, for such is not the case. His sole aim in offering these criticisms is merely to show that Digby, whatever virtues he may or may not have possessed, is not entitled to receive any more sympathy from historians than, say, either Robert Winter, Thomas Winter, or Ambrose Rookewood.

Sir Everard Digby was born and brought up a Protestant, but reverted to the faith of his ancestors when still in his 'teens. He became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, and cut quite a gay figure at Court, his ample fortune, no doubt, being a considerable factor in his advancement. His father, a gentleman owning estates in Rutlandshire, had died when Everard was quite a child, and had left him a ward of the Crown, or, as we should now term it, award of Chancery. In 1596, he married Mary Mulshol, a notable heiress, of Goathurst, Bucks. In 1603, he was knighted by James I.