Volume II 1603-1660 - The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple

INTRODUCTION.
of political life was flowing, but our society amidst these troubled
waters lay like a silent lake with its placid surface undisturbed by
the adjacent rapids and whirlpools of public discord. Meanwhile the
long peace under King James, followed by the national prosperity of
the early years of King Charles, developed in our ancestors an almost
modern tone, which rapidly increased under the commonwealth.
Gunpowder plot, the most remarkable episode of the reign of
King James, is hardly recognized in our records, which, however, up
to i6o8, are somewhat deficient. And yet, of all the inns of court,
ours is the only society which was even indirectly connected with the
conspiracy, or with any of the persons engaged in it. Sir Edward
Coke achieved an unenviable notoriety by the vindictive mode in
which he prosecuted all the accused, especially the priests, and one
at least of the conspirators was a resident within our inn. The
Treshams had for some generations been fellows of the society. Sir
Thomas Tresham, Lord Prior of the Order of S. John of Jerusalem
Vol. i.,p. xlvi in the time of Henry VI I I.,1 had been deposed by statute, but had
been reinstated by Oueen Mary, and had held that post till he was
again removed by Elizabeth. His grandson, Sir Thomas Tresham,
of Rushton, in Northamptonshire, had lived in the Inner Temple
during the reign of Elizabeth, leaving his keys, when away from
London, with one or other of the Vavasours, also members of the
inn.2 Lewis Tresham, a younger son of Sir Thomas and brother
of Francis (who was engaged in the plot), was also a fellow of the
society, to which he was admitted in 1595, but from which he was
expelled for a blow given to another student in the hall at reading
Vol. i., p. 445 time, in or about 1598. He was re-admitted in November, i6o 1,
after an absence of three years. Some part of this time he passed
in prison, some part abroad, and for some months he lived with
George Vavasour at Cole's house, near S. Dunstan's Church,' opposite
the Temple gate. William Tresham, another brother, was also a
fellow and a resident in the inn, having been admitted in 1598.
The eldest brother was Francis Tresham, who had only recently
succeeded his father, Sir Thomas, in the Rushton estates. George
Vavasour was admitted in 1596, and William was likewise, I believe,
' Jardine, "Gunpowder Plot," London, 1857, p. 9.
2 " tate Papers Dom. Jac. I.," vol. xvii., No. 22.
" State Papers Dom. Jac. I.," vol. xvii., No. 31.