At length Pendergrass was prevailed upon to give a list of those he knew, yet not before the king had solemnly promised that he should not be used as an evidence against them, except with his own consent.

As the king did not go to Richmond on the day appointed, the conspirators postponed the execution of their design till the Saturday following.

They accordingly met at different houses on the Friday, when every man received his instructions.

There they agreed, that after the perpetration of the parricide, they should ride in a body as far as Hammersmith, and then dispersing, enter London by different avenues.

But on the morning, when they understood that the guards were returned to their quarters, and the king's coaches sent back to the Mews, they were seized with a sudden damp, on the suspicion that their plot was discovered.