to be that Thomas Winter, who had known Fawkes from
childhood, came to him in Flanders to acquaint him with the plot, and
subsequently introduced him to Catesby and Percy; that Fawkes was in the
service of Anthony Browne, Lord Montague, about 1604; that in the summer
of that year, when the mine was stopped on account of the prorogation of
Parliament, he went to Flanders, returning about the 1st of September.
During the progress of the mine, he served as sentinel, passing by the
name of John Johnson, Mr Percy's man; and he was the only one of the
conspirators allowed to be seen about the house, his face being unknown
in London. He said that he "prayed every day that he might perform that
which might be for the advancement of the Catholic faith, and the saving
of his own soul." Fawkes provided the greater part of the gunpowder,
and stowed it in the cellar, as is described in the story. His lodging
when in London was at the house of Mrs Herbert, a widow, at the back of
Saint Clement's Inn. Mrs Herbert disliked Fawkes, suspecting him to be
a priest. On his return from Flanders, he took up his quarters in the
house at Westminster, where the mine had been, and brought in the
remainder of the gunpowder. At the end of October, he went to White
Webbs, whence he was sent to Town on the 30th, to make sure of the
safety of the cellar and its dangerous contents. He returned at night
to report all safe, but came back to Town not later than the 3rd, when
he was present at the last meeting of the conspirators: but as to the
exact day he made three varying statements. The circumstances of his
arrest are told in the story. It is difficult, however, to reconcile
some of the details. According to Greenway, Fawkes was taken as he
opened the door of the vault; according to the official report, he was
"newly come out of the vault;" while according to Fawkes himself, when
he heard the officers coming to apprehend him, he threw the match and
touchwood "out of the window in his chamber, near the Parliament House,
towards the water,"--which can only refer to the room in Percy's house.
The one certainty is that he was not apprehended inside the vault. He
said himself that if this had been the case, he would at once have fired
the match, "and have blown up all." The lantern (now in the Bodleian
Library) was found lighted behind the door; the watch which Percy had
sent by Keyes was upon the prisoner. Fawkes originally assumed an
appearan