Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/70

56 the hands of the Jesuits, as the references to 'Mr. Farmer' (Father Garnet), contained in his correspondence, plainly prove. It was, however, by the inspiring influence of Catesby that his scruples were gradually overcome, and he consented to aid the conspirators.

Francis Tresham, who, according to the generally received tradition, was the Judas among the conspirators, came from a race as wealthy and illustrious as did Digby. Related to the Winters, Catesby, and Lord Mounteagle, he was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Tresham, of Rushton, Northamptonshire, a most ardent Roman Catholic, but chiefly famous for his building operations, an interesting account of which has been compiled in an illustrated treatise by Mr. Alfred Gotch. One of the most remarkable results of his enterprise was the erection of a triangular lodge at Rushton, built in honour of the Trinity, the idea running through the whole building being Three; e.g. the shape of the house being an equilateral triangle, thirty-three feet in length, the floors three in number, three windows on each floor, triangular rooms, etc.

Sir Thomas Tresham was, altogether, a far better man than his disreputable son Francis, who was ever of a crafty and treacherous nature, a fact well known to the arch-villain, Catesby, who, however, was tempted, at the eleventh