Rookwood (novel) of "Rookwood" and many more added in later editions. Of the other songs, some were sung by gypsies about love, some were hymns, and some were used to further the gothic setting. The name Rookwood alludes to the old Recusant (Roman Catholic) family of that name, most famous of whom was Ambrose Rookwood, executed in 1606 for his part in the Gunpowder Plot (the conspiracy which forms the theme of Ainsworth's 1841 novel "Guy Fawkes"). Ainsworth, perhaps consciously, paid a double homage to this family, in that his later historical romance "The Spendthrift" concerns an eighteenth-century heir of the Gage
Ambrose Rookwood theyself wholly to God. I, for my part, do as freely restore thee to God as He gave thee unto me." For the rest of the journey he kept his eyes closed, in prayer. Thomas Wintour was the first that day to be hanged and then killed. Rookwood was next, and made a short speech to the assembled audience. He was repentant, asking God to bless the king, queen, and their "royal progeny", but "spoil[ed] all the pottage with one filthy weed" by beseeching God to make the king a Catholic. Nevertheless, he seems to have been left to hang