ng. This appears to have so
alarmed him that in his statement (Fascimile No. 4), written in the
presence of Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, he asserted that
the dying statement was written by Mrs. Tresham, at her husband's
dictation:

"I do rememb' y^t my m^r did cause my m^{res} to write a note wherto he
did did (_sic_) bid the mayd and me beare witnes y^t he did set his
hand unto it, but it was not reade at y^t time but since m^{res}
Tressa' did reede it to me and sayd it was y^t noate y^t my m^r did
bid us beare witnesse and she comaunded me to carye a letter to S^r
Waulter Cope and to desire him to deliver the noate inclosed to my
Lorde of Salsburye and further my m^r did say y^t he cold not write
him selfe bycause he was not able but he did sett his hande unto it
as before I have sayd and this was done some day before his death.

"(Signed) By me William Vavasor.

"23. March 1605 [-6].
Taken before us:
(Signed) W. Waad.
Willus Lane."

If for any reason Vavasour did not desire his writing to be brought into
question, there could be no harm, beyond his falsehood, in naming Mrs.
Tresham as the writer of that letter, as neither could possibly be
blamed for writing such a statement for his master. The question arises,
whether Vavasour would have ventured upon an untrue statement, except
through panic, unless feeling sure of Mrs. Tresham's support? As Mrs.
Tresham throughout made no attempt to conceal the truth for Vavasour,
she may have been unaware of any reason for diverting inquiry from
himself respecting letters written for his master. Even if Mrs. Tresham
had been willing to connive at his falsehood, she could not have done
so; as Salisbury, being convinced that she not only wrote but composed
her husband's dying statement and induced him to sign to shield Father
Garnet, was so incensed against her that he declined to see her,[24] or
even to receive her husband's statement, when she tried to deliver it.
She was therefore obliged, in view of possible consequences to herself,
to own[25] that Vavasour wrote the statement at her husband's dictation.
Vavasour was then examined in the Tower by Chief Justice Popham and by
Coke, when he confessed[26] that he wrote the dying statement at his
master's dictation, and had denied it through fear, which could only
arise from having written some other and less innocent letter for him.

Vavasour, when writing