[153] Winter says: "... We heard that the Parliament should be anew adjourned until after Michaelmas; upon which tidings we broke off both discourse and working until after Christmas" (November 23rd, 1605).
Lingard writes, "When a fortnight had thus been devoted to uninterrupted labour, Faukes informed his associates that the Parliament was prorogued from the 7th of February to the 3rd of October. They immediately separated to spend the Christmas holidays at their respective homes."--_History_, vii. 47 (ed. 1883).
[154] Faukes, as has been said, makes the work upon the wall terminate at Candlemas. Winter (_ut sup._) says that they brought over the powder at Candlemas, that is, after they had been some time engaged upon the wall, and found the need of the assistance of Keyes.
[155] _Lord's Journals_ "A^o 1604(5) 2 Jac.--Memorandum quod hodierno die, septimo die Februarii, A^o Regis ñri Jacobi, _viz._ Angliae (etc.) 2^{ ndo}, & Scotiae 38^o, in quem diem prorogatum fuerat hoc praesens parliamentum, convenere Proceres tam Spirituales quam Temporales, quorum nomina subscribuntur."
Then follow twenty-nine names, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lords Ellesmere (_Chancellor_), Dorset (_Treasurer_), Nottingham (_Admiral_), Suffolk (_Chamberlain_), Northumberland, Cranborne (Cecil), Northampton, etc. It is noted "Lords Montagu, Petre, and Gerard [all three Catholics] were present, though they were none of the Commissioners."
[156] _Narrative_ (Stonyhurst MSS.), fol. 44 b.
[157] This absurd supposition is obviously implied by Faukes (November 17th, 1605), and T. Winter (November 23rd), in the only two accounts furnished by any of the conspirators wherein the episode of the mine is mentioned. In Barlow's _Gunpowder Treason_ (_Harleian Miscellany_, iii. 123) it is expressly stated that the confederates "came to the knowledge of the vault" only on the occasion now detailed. Tierney says (Dodd's _Church History_, iv. 45, note): "At this moment an accidental noise ... first acquainted them with the existence of the cellar."
[158] On the 3rd of October following, Thomas Winter was sent to be present at the ceremony of prorogation, and to watch the demeanour of the assembled peers.