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 committed to close imprisonment (Egerton MS. 2543, f. 65;, Register, pp. 567–602). For nearly six years he was a prisoner, first in the Tower, then in St. Mary's Island, Scilly, and finally in Pendennis Castle (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1665–6, pp. 200, 288). His captivity was shared by his son, and, according to Burnet, he spent his time in studying law and physic. After the fall of Clarendon, on 1 Oct. 1667, Wildman was released on giving security to attempt nothing against the government (ib. 1667, p. 502). In December it was even rumoured that he was to be a member of the committee of accounts about to be appointed by parliament, through the influence of the Duke of Buckingham. Sir William Coventry expressed his wonder at the proposal to Pepys, Wildman having been ‘a false fellow to everybody,’ and Sir John Talbot openly denounced Wildman to the House of Commons (, Diary, 8 Dec. and 12 Dec. 1667). The scheme fell through, and on 7 July 1670 Wildman obtained a license to travel abroad for his health with his wife and son (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1670, p. 322). But his intimacy with Buckingham continued, and he was one of the trustees in whom on 24 Dec. 1675 the unsold portion of Buckingham's estate was vested (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. vi. 218).

On his return to England Wildman plunged once more into political intrigues, though keeping himself at first cautiously in the background. In the plots for armed resistance to the king which followed the dissolution of Charles II's last parliament in 1681 he appears to have played a considerable part. Wildman was closely associated with Algernon Sidney, both of whom were distrusted by the leaders of the Scottish malcontents, and by the English noblemen concerned, as too republican in their aims. Wildman drew up a manifesto to be published at the time of the intended insurrection, and, though not one of the ‘public managers,’ was privately consulted upon all occasions and applied unto as their ‘chief oracle’ (Informations as to the Rye House Plot, p. 50 ed. 1696;, Life of Robert Ferguson pp. 145, 434). He was also credited with suggesting the assassination of the king and Duke of York, ‘whom he expressed by the name of stags that would not be impaled, but leapt over all the fences which the care and wisdom of the authors of the constitution had made to restrain them from committing spoils’ (ib. pp. 78, 419, 434). On 26 June 1683 he was committed to the Tower for complicity in the Rye House plot, but allowed out on bail on 24 Nov. following, and finally discharged on 12 Feb. 1684 (, Diary, i. 263, 292, 301; The Proceedings upon the bailing the Lord Brandon Gerrard … Major Wildman, &c., folio, 1683). The chief witness against him was William Howard, third lord Howard of Escrick [q. v.], who testified that Wildman undertook to furnish the rebels with some guns, which the discovery of two small field-pieces at his house seemed to confirm (, Own Time, ed. Airy, ii. 363;, Rye House Plot, ed. 1696, ii. 107).

When the reign of James II began, Wildman, undeterred by his narrow escape, entered into communication with Monmouth, and was his chief agent in England. He sent a certain Robert Cragg, alias Smith, to Monmouth and the English exiles in Holland. According to Cragg, Monmouth complained of Wildman's backwardness to provide money for the expedition, saying that he ‘would govern everybody,’ ‘liked nothing of anybody's doing but his own,’ and thought ‘by keeping his own purse-strings fast and persuading others to do the same’ he would hinder the expedition from coming till what he imagined the right season. Wildman, on the other hand, complained that Monmouth and a little knot of exiles were resolved ‘to conclude the scheme of the government of the nation without the knowledge of any of the people in England, and that to this day they knew not what he intended to set up or declare’ (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. vi. 394). Other depositions represent him as advising Monmouth to take upon him the title of king, and encouraging him by citing the example of the Earl of Richmond and Richard III (The Secret History of the Rye House Plot, by Ford, Lord Grey, 1754, pp. 93, 114; cf., History of England, ii. 121, People's edit.) All accounts agree that he drew back at the last moment, did nothing to get up the promised rising in London, and refused to join Monmouth when he landed. At the beginning of June 1685 Wildman fled, and an order for his apprehension was published in the ‘Gazette’ for 4–8 June 1685, followed on 26 July by a proclamation summoning him and others to surrender. Wildman, who had escaped to Holland, remained there till the revolution, probably residing at Amsterdam. He was dissatisfied with the declaration published by the Prince of Orange to justify his expedition, regarding it as designed to conciliate the church party in England, and desiring to make it a comprehensive