uage of deceit must have been used. The king of
Spain and the pope, were among the most forward to congratulate his
majesty; and yet with great inconsistency they sheltered and protected
some of those individuals who fled from their own country, and were
privy to the conspiracy. Osborn assures us, however, that the pope could
not refrain from laughing in the face of _Cardinal D'Ossat_, when he
informed him, that the Spanish monarch had sent a special messenger to
the English court for that express purpose. Indeed, all these
congratulations were hollow and insincere; but they would have been
exposed to censure as men and as sovereigns, if they had not so far
acted the part of hypocrites as to pretend to rejoice at the escape of
the English monarch.

That the pope and the king of Spain, and some other papal sovereigns,
would have rejoiced at the success of the plot, can scarcely be doubted,
since their subsequent actions, as will be noticed in another chapter,
proved that they favoured those who were privy to the conspiracy. It can
scarcely indeed be doubted that the Spanish sovereign, and his holiness,
and perhaps some other sovereigns, were acquainted with the designs of
the conspirators; at all events, if they were not aware of the
particulars of the plot, they knew that some conspiracy was in
agitation, which was intended to be executed during that winter. Many of
the Romanists on the Continent knew that some great deed was to be
attempted, though they did not know the particulars.

The parliament did not meet on the 5th of November; but the following
entry stands on the journals of the House of Commons under that
date:--"This last night the upper house of parliament was searched by
Sir Thomas Knevett; and one _Johnson_, servant to Mr. Thomas Percye, was
there apprehended, who had placed thirty-six barrels of gunpowder in the
vault under the house, with a purpose to blow up the king and the whole
company when they should there assemble. Afterwards, divers other
gentlemen were discovered to be of the plot[17]."

[Footnote 17: _Parl. Hist._ v. 125.]

On the 21st of January, the two houses assembled according to the
previous arrangement, when a committee was formed "to consider the laws
already in force, that tend to the preservation of religion--what
defects are in the execution of them, or what new laws may be thought
needful[18]." The lord chancellor gave special directions to the clerk
to notice the peers who