!I !

,!'.'.

THE TROUBLES OF
OUR CATHOLIC FOREFATHERS
RELATED BY THEMSELVES.

KOEHAMPTON -
PRINTED BY JAMES STANLEY.

p. GUlLLCLWl-US WESTOiMUS CANTUARlENSIS Iwi-'^Eds.
HDO TytU)clNiUliA J Nov 1 575 .-jy AN MOM' M CAKcpcl. T>R,u TiDE
JJ.LUSTR.IS . C»)rT*VA-J-USQi-£Tl ip APK. itiS" >t.T. if.

..1--*

FATHER WILLIAM WESTON, S.J.

THE TROUBLES OF
OUR CATHOLIC FOREFATHERS
RELATED BY THEMSELVES.

S)£ConlJ »iem0*

EDITED BY

JOHN MORRIS,
Priest of the Society of Jesus.

LONDON: BURNS AND GATES.
1875.

PREFACE.

To Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, Deputy Keeper
of the Public Records, to the Reverend Father
Purbrick, Rector of Stonyhurst, and to the
Reverend Father O'Callaghan, Rector of the
English College at Rome, I am indebted for
the use of valuable manuscripts that form the
staple of the contents of this volume. It is a
pleasant duty to thank them in this place.- I
have to offer my grateful thanks to other friends
also for much kind assistance. But I ow^e an
especial debt of gratitude for their patience to those
who have entrusted to me documents for which
I have not been able to find place in this Second
Series. I trust to their forbearance, till in the
midst of conflicting occupations I can manage to
find time to prepare the Third Series for the press.
William Weston and Anthony Tyrrell were
thrown about the same time into the midst of
the labours and dangers of the English mission,
when the persecution under Elizabeth was at its
hottest. Their conduct, when they fell into the
hands of the persecutors, presents a remarkable
and instructive contrast. The more important

vi Preface.
and more interesting portions of their lives, and
especially their experience of imprisonment, were
written by themselves. They were brought into
personal contact both while at liberty and in
prison ; and their narratives thus curiously interlace
the one with the other, and mutually support and
illustrate one another. This is the more satisfactory
as the two autobiographies are entirely independent,
and it is only by a happy accident that they now
see the light together. The original manuscript
of the one is preserved at Stonyhurst ; while the
other, which was prepared for the press by the
famous Father Robert Persons, is in the Archives
of the Venerable English College at Rome. I
hope that their publication may be found to be a
useful contribution to the materials of history.
The present volume is considerably larger than
its predecessor, and I have therefore been more
sparing than I could have wished in the use of State
Papers, especially in illustration of Father Persons'
narrative of Tyrrell's Fall. I regret that when I
sent the Chapter on the Bellamy family to press,
I had for the moment forgotten an article by
Mr. Simpson in the Rambler, by the help of Avhich
I could have made that portion of my book more
complete. My object throughout is to let our ancestors
speak for themselves. For this reason I have
always preferred to give a document in full rather
than to state its substance in my own words. Both
Father Weston's autobiography and Father Persons'
narrative are complete. The book would perhaps

Preface. vli
have gained in some respects, if I had curtailed
them ; but on the whole I have considered it better
to give them in their integrity. Besides, Father
Persons has already used the pruning-knife to
Tyrrell's prolix story, and my duty has been to
add rather than to take away.
There is but one further remark with which
I need detain the reader. The First Series was
received with such kindness by the literary journals,
that I feel tempted to break through the etiquette
which seems to require that authors and editors
should receive in silence the criticisms passed upon
them. My only temptation would be to return
thanks for much unmerited praise, and to acquiesce
in the justice of the corrections that have been
suggested, if it were not that an expression in a
journal of the highest literary ability seems to call
for a word of reply in self-defence and explanation.
The Pall Mall Gazette, in reviewing the former
volume, remarked that " the Editor must be desti
tute of all sense of humour," who could have
published the story of the crosses that appeared on
Mrs. Tregian's smock.^ Now I am fain to confess
that the same deficiency has accompanied me while
compiling the present volume. The old writers,
whose words I print, have told various stories that
seem to me extremely droll ; but I plead guilty to
the accusation that I have not seen the fun of
omitting them. Besides, if I had possessed the
sense of humour that would have led me to omit
the story of Mrs. Tregian's smock, I should have
1 Troubles, First Series, p. I2I.

viii Preface.
been bound to resist it, and to leave unmutilated a
document that I was printing entire. I have not
felt myself obliged to suppress anecdotes which,
though gravely told long ago, now raise a smile in
the perusal. To strike out such stories as those
of the devils swimming like fishes beneath a man's
skin, or Mrs. Bellamy's wonderful plant, or the
Glastonbury mouth of Purgatory, or the poor man
whose interior fire was not quenched by eight
gallons of liquor,^ may be a method of showing
a " sense of humour," but it would be a poor way
of bringing back the records of a bygone time.
Our gratitude to our Catholic forefathers for the
precious inheritance they have bequeathed to us,
is not the less serious and deep because Ave are
now and then amused by their quaint tales. And
certainly we do not regard them as less trustworthy
witnesses to the historical events they relate,
because they reflect with accuracy the feelings of
their own time. J. M.
St. Beuno's College, St. Asaph,
May %th, 1875.
' Infra, pp. loi, 188, 192, 215.

CONTENTS.

I. THE LIFE OF FATHER WILLIAM AVESTON, S.J. . . 3
Chapter I. — Father Weston's Vocation  5
II. — The English Jesuit Mission  12
III. — Father Weston's landing in England . . . . 27
IV.— Father Weston's first shelter  44
v.— The exUes of 1585  66
VI.— Father Weston's first convert  82
VII. — Possessions and exorcisms  96
VIII.— Hard times  108
IX. — Missionary life . .  119
X.— Arrest  138
XI. — Government information  152
xn.— The Babington Plot  167
XIIL— Life in the Clink  19°
XrV. — Between two prisons  208
XV.— Wisbech Castle  221
XVL— Collie life in prison  242
, XVIL— The Tower, Exile, and Death  264
II. —THE FALL OF ANTHONY TYRRELL . . . .287
Introduction  ^^9
The true and wonderful Story of the lamentable Fall
of Anthony Tyrrell, Priest, from the Catholic Faith,
written by his own hand, before which is prefixed a
Preface showing the causes of publishing the same
UNTO THE World.
The Preface to the Christian Reader, concerning the causes of publishing
this Confession of Anthony Tyrrell . . . .3'°
Chapter I.  His accusing of himself, set down in the Preface to the
Reader  ¦ • -320

X Contents. PAGE
Chapter II.— Of his Apprehension and Behaviour in Prison, before his
Fall, with his Examinations and Answers to the same 325
,, III.— Of the beginning and secret occasion of his Fall and
yielding  333
,, IV. — Of his acquaintance and proceeding with Mr. Ballard the
priest, and how after Ballard's apprehension the devil
tempted him to fall  340
,, V. — Of his desperate resolution to deny his religion against his
own conscience, and of his accusing innocent men
wrongfully and maliciously : and of Justice Young and
the IjOrd Treasurer's manner of proceeding with him
in these affairs ....... 34S
,, VI. — Of a Letter written unto him by the Treasurer, and of his
most wicked and lying answer to the same, containing
the grounds of many men's unjust deaths afterwards . 355
,, VII. — How the Lord Treasurer, upon sight of the former letter,
sent twenty-eight new interrogatories, and Tyrrell's
answers to the same .... . . 362
,, VIII. — What course he held after the giving up of the aforesaid
accusations, of his impious -writing to the Queen, and
talk with the Treasurer, and how he procured to
change prison from the Counter to the Clink, to do
more hurt ........ 392
), IX. — Of his dissimulation, treachery, and spiery in the CUnk,
and Justice Young his dispensation for the same, and
what persons he betrayed there, and of the death of
Mr. Ballard and his fellows  402
,, X.— How he brought to their ends three other godly priests,-
named Mr. Lowe, Adams, and Dibdale, and of the
matter of exorcisms practised in Peckham Place . 411
>) XL — How he goeth forward with his course of dissimulation
and spiery, and the dispensation given him for the
Same by Justice Young, for saying Mass, and hearing
confessions, reconciling, and the like, is confinned by
the Lord Treasurer and the Queen's order . . 418
„ XII.— Of three letters more written by Young to Tyrrell, with
the plot of his delivery out of prison to play the spy
abroad ... .,,
425
„ XIIL— He setteth forth his own miserable affliction of conscience
whilst he lived in this dissimulation, and showeth how
he could not yet brave to be an open Protestant . 433
„ XIV.— How he was convinced and brought to repentance by
certain Catholic priests of his acquaintance, and yet
how he dissembled again afterwards ... 44-^

Contents. xi

PAGE

Chapter XV. — His sorrow for the great crimes rehearsed, with a declara
tion of the true causes of his Fall, and of the wicked
manner of proceeding of the enemy with him . -457
,, XVI. — Of divers letters that after his repentance he wrote as well
to the Queen as to other persons .... 471
,, XVII.^How after all this he went over sea and returned, and fell
again, and made new abjuration publicly at Paul's
Cross, the 31st January the next year following, 1588 487

THE LIFE OF
FATHER WILLIAM WESTON, SJ

The chief sources from which this Life has been drawn are manu
scripts in the possession of Stonyhurst College. One of them is the
valuable transcript made in Rome in 1689, by Father Christopher
Grene, of the writings of Father Persons that had not been printed.
These volumes of his Collectanea were distinguished by Father
Grene by the letter. P. Of this collection much use has been
previously made by Mr. Simpson in his Life of Father Campion.
Still more to our present purpose is Father Weston's Auto
biography. The original, in Father Weston's own hand, is'very
neatly written on large quarto pages. Unfortunately the sizing of
the paper was bad, and the manuscript fell to pieces. It has
lately been carefully inlaid and bound, but the leaves towards the
end are very defective, and all that followed page 76 is now lost.
The original paging is very peculiar, the alternate folios only
being numbered.
The missing leaves at the end were lost before the manuscript
was brought to Stonyhurst, for a copy was made by Father John
Laurenson, who was librarian of the College when in August, 1794,
it was transferred from Liege. It is a fortunate circumstance that
he did so, for owing to the progress of decay many leaves have
partially perished that were entirely legible in his time. His copy
is in one hundred and thirty-six pages small quarto.
His copy we have called it ; but it is to be lamented that he
took unwarrantable liberties with the wording in his transcription.
He treated it as he would have treated a boy's theme-book, and
corrected the latinity to his own taste. Fortunately a careful
comparison with the original assures us that the sense is not
affected, and in a translation the alterations are not perceptible.
The kindness of Father Boero, the archivist of the Gesu, has
furnished us with another unpublished manuscript. It is the Life
B 2 •

4 Life of Father William Weston.
of Father Weston, witten in Spanish, and apparently the author's
autograph, by Father de Peralta, Rector of the English College at
Seville. It was written in the year of Father Weston's death,
1615, when forty years had elapsed since the writer's first
acquaintance with the subject of his memoir. The title is,
Puntos que el P'=. de Peralta de la Comp^ de Jesus, P^r del colegto
ingles de Sevilla, junto de personas fidedinas de la Comp't y seglares,
cerca de la s'f vida del P. Guillermo Weston de la Comp^ de Jesus,
PT del coll", ingles de Valid., que murie nel propio colegio en 9 de
Abril deste afio de 1615, de mttchos de los quales es testigo de vista de
cerca de 40 afios, a esta parte cursafido con el estudio, y siendo su
superior en el seminario de Sev^ mas de seis aiios. It consists of
twelve folios, small quarto size, and it is divided into seven
sections, the last of which is the circular in Spanish to the
members of the Society, written on occasion of Father Weston's
death, by Father Thomas Silvester, then Minister of the College
of Valladolid. A Latin copy of this circular, entitled Elogium
P. GuUelmi Westoni, 16 15, is in the Archives de I'Etat at Brussels,
with other papers belonging to St. Omers College, which were
seized at Bruges when the Society was suppressed.
In addition to these sources of information, the State Papers
in the Public Record Ofhce have been freely quoted. Their
accessibility, and the ability and care with which the Calendars
have been compiled, are singular advantages that we enjoy over
former students of history in its less trodden paths.

LIFE OF FATHER WILLIAM WESTON.

CHAPTER I.
FATHER WESTON'S VOCATION.
William Weston was born at Maidstone, in Kent, in
the year 1550. Of his family nothing is known, nor,
though he was a contemporary of Father Campion at
Oxford, has it been possible to ascertain his College^ at
that University. Campion was ten years his senior, but
as in those days students went to the Universities in their
boyhood, Weston may have been some years at Oxford
before Campion left it in 1569. They are said to have
been personally acquainted at Oxford, and they met again
later in a place of learning of a very different spirit.
Weston must, when a very young man, have felt the neces
sity of leaving his country for the sake of his religion, for as
soon as he had taken his bachelor's degree, he went to
Paris to continue his studies. This must have been shortly
after Campion's departure from Oxford. Letters from
Dr. Bristow and Dr. Martin, two of the great lights of
the newly-founded Seminary of Douay, drew him from
Paris in 1572; and there he found, amongst one hundred
and fifty more of like mind and purpose with himself,
Edmund Campion, who the year before had begun his
1 Mr. Simpson, in his Life of Campion, p. 80, says that he was at All
Souls. His assertion would be sufficient authority, if we were not obliged to
place against it the assurance of the Reverend the Warden of All Souls, that
"the name of WiUiam Weston does not occur in the registers of the College."

6 Life of Father William Weston.
study of theology. They were not, however, long together,
for in the autumn of 1572, Campion set out for Rome.
Campion's journey was made on foot and alone. His
object in going to Rome was to offer himself to St. Francis
Borgia for admission into the Society. He tried to per
suade William Weston to accompany him with the same
intention, but the time was not yet come and the friends
parted ; and though they had the happiness of being sons
of the same Society, they never met again. The impres
sion that Father Campion made on the mind of Father
Weston may be best gathered from the name that he
chose in the place of his own by which to be called when
sent on the English mission. Edmund Campion had
then set the crown to his apostolic career by his happy
martyrdom, and Father Weston, out of veneration for him,
took the name of Edmonds, by which he was better known
in England than by his own.
This was not the only instance of homage of this sort
to Campion's name. In those times it was necessary for
all who thought of coming on the English mission to
conceal their identity as far as possible by change of
name. The love of Father Campion must have been strong
to induce a priest to take a name that was so likely to
draw attention to him, and bring him into trouble; yet
this was what was done by the martyred priest, whom we
honour under the name of Edward Campion. His true
name was Edwards,^ and he said on his examination, as
Lord Keeper Puckering notes against him,= that "he
wisheth he were no worse a traitor than Campion, that
was executed for treason.'' Edwards was of "White
Hall," now St. John's, Father Campion's College at Oxford.
Others also adopted the surname, as Robert Wigmore,
who died in the Jesuit Novitiate at Louvain, in 1614,
^ British Museum, Harleian MSS. 360, fol. 25.
" Strype, Annals, vol. iv. p. 255; P.R.O. State Papers, Domestic,
Elizabeth, vol. cc. n. 36.

Life of Father William Weston. 7
and Father John Pointz, alias Stephens, who was known
by the name of Campion while a student in the English
College at Rome, of which College he was afterwards
Rector. The desire of entering the Society induced William
Weston to leave Douay College and to follow Campion
to Rome. And he travelled, as Campion travelled, on
foot He went " on pilgrimage," the Douay Journal says ;
and how much of fatigue and hardship was involved in
the term, we of a more feeble generation are not likely
ever to experience. "He went four hundred leagues on
foot to ask admission into the Society," is Father de
Peralta's note on the journey. In one respect Weston's
was an easier journey than Campion's, for he had a com
panion, John Lane, an Oxford Master of Arts and Fellow
of Corpus, who like himself sought admittance into the
Society. Immediately on his conversion Lane had gone from
Oxford to Rome, and there in 1574, at the end of
September, Persons found him, when desiring to have
him to share the studies he proposed to pursue at
Padua. ^ They were present together when Pope
Gregory XIII. opened the Porta Sancta, at the begin
ning of the year of Jubilee, 1575, and then, with Luke
Atslow, they went to Padua. There, Father Persons
says in his fragmentary Autobiography, " we took a very
commodious house of our own, they two studying law
and I physic, and finding ourselves very well settled, I
bought good store of books for my faculty, as also pro
vision of apparel." The arrangement did not last long.
" It was at the end of the month of May," Father Persons
continues, " when I left Padua, and though I was no good
goer on foot, and the weather very hot, yet by God's help
I made all that journey without any riding." Rome was
Persons' destination ; and the thought in his mind, which
1 Stonyhurst MSS., Father Chr. Grene's Colleetan,, P. fol. 22$.

8 Life of Father William Weston.
had broken up the promising plan of study at Padua, was
that perhaps he was called by God to the religious life
in the Society of Jesus. Persons arrived in Rome at the
end of May, and " stayed some weeks in Rome before he
resolved to offer himself to the Society, which finally he
entered upon St. James' day," July 25, 1585. Weston found
him in the Novitiate of St. Andrew's, on the Quirinal, when
he reached Rome a few months later. "My two companions
at Padua," Father Persons adds, " Mr. Lucas Atslow and
John Lane, hearing of my resolution, they made the like,
but Mr. Atslow died soon after in Padua, and Mr. John
Lane came and entered the Society in Rome." Lane,
when left at Padua by Persons, and when he had lost
Atslow, betook himself to Douay, but only to leave it
again in company with William Weston on his pilgrimage
to Rome. Weston evidently entered the Society as soon
as they reached Rome, for he was received at St. Andrew's
on the 5th of November, 1575, being then twenty-five
years of age. John Lane was a little after him, being
admitted February 2, 1576. According to Father Grene,
Lane died at Alcala, May 6, 1579.
The friendship that subsisted between the great Semi
nary of Douay, the mother of the English secular clergy,
and the Society of Jesus, was very close and most edifying.
When Father Weston left Douay he made a gift to the
Seminary of all that he possessed.^ On the other side
it is charming to see how his old friends at Douay rejoiced
in his vocation to the happy life of Religion. "On the
Sth of April, 1576," we translate from the Douay Diary,
" four of ours who left us half a year ago on a pilgrimage
to Rome, have returned to us again, and to the great joy
of our souls they have told us that Mr. William Weston
and Mr. Lane, honourable men of great promise (who
^ " P. Gul. Westonus cum Duaco discederet ad Societatem ingrediendam
bona sua omnia Seminario Duacensi donavit." Father Garnet to the General,
June II, 1597.

Life of Father William Weston. 9
about the same time left this for Rome on pilgrimage),
have there entered the Society of Jesus." And in "the
hst of priests ordained and sent on the mission there is
a not less friendly entry. " In the year 1575, two priests
entered the Society of Jesus, men of weight, Mr. Thomas
Robinson, of Lincoln, and Mr. Thomas Marshall, of York ;
also Mr. William Weston, of Canterbury, not yet a priest,
but learned and very pious."
St. Francis Borgia had died before Campion reached
Rome, and his successor, Everard Mercurian, was the
General by whom the English were received into the
Society. Campion, who had entered the Society in June,
1573, as soon as the new General was elected, had
finished his two years' noviceship before the entrance
into the Society of Weston or even Persons, and when
they came to Rome he was in Austria. Father Weston
was not destined to meet him again. Oxford asso
ciates, however, not a few, met in the Novitiate on
the Quirinal Hill. Besides Persons of Balliol and Lane
of Corpus, there were Henry Garnet, the future martyr,
Giles Wallop, and soon after, Thomas Stephens, from the
same University. Wallop, or as his name was Latinized,
Gallop, died in Rome in 1579. Stephens went as a
missionary to Goa, and there died, after forty years of
exile and apostolic labour, in 16 19, in his seventieth year.
At St. Andrew's, with such fellow-novices as Persons and
Garnet, Weston remained for some months.
In the course of 1576 Father Weston went to
Spain. Don Alonzo Perez de Guzman, Duke of Medina
Sidonia, had petitioned the General for an English
Father to hear the confessions of his countrymen at the
ports of Cadiz and St. Lucar. To prepare him for this
charge, William Weston was sent to Montilla, in the
Province of Andalusia, to finish his novitiate. This com
pleted, he went to the College of Cordova to finish his
studies in theology, which had been broken off when his

IO Life of Father William Weston.
vocation induced him to leave Douay ; and at Cordova
he remained for three years. He had, together with all
the students then at Douay, been tonsured and promoted to
the minor orders at Brussels, in the month of March, 1573.
One of his companions during his theological course
was Francis de Peralta, who was afterwards his Superior
for six years in the College of Seville. From the pen of
this excellent witness, we are so fortunate as to have an
account of the life of Father Weston, written in 161 5, the
year of his death. ^ "All the three years that he was at
Cordova," Father de Peralta says, " he was a living picture
of all virtues, and rare was the example which he gave to
all by his holy life. When his time was not spent in
attending lectures and in study, he devoted himself to
continual prayer, recollection, silence and mortification.
His delight was to help in all the humblest and meanest
offices of the house, such as carrying water and taking
part with the lay-brothers in cleaning the- rooms." Mean
while he made, as men of such spirit are apt to do, great
progress in study, and Father de Peralta especially notes
the proficiency that he had brought with him to Cordova,
not only in Latin, but in Greek and Hebrew.
In 1579, he was ordained priest, and was soon after
sent to Cadiz and to St. Lucar, where for about two
years he showed great charity in the exercise of the
sacred ministry, both to the English and Spaniards.
Falling ill, however, at Cadiz, he was sent by his
superiors to Seville, where he remained for a little more
than two years. He became a great favourite with the
English students there, many of whom chose him for
their confessor. He never knew the students by name,
and all that passed between them was Una palabrita de
Dies — the word or two about Almighty God that on such
occasions descends into the heart. " Holy Father William,"
* This Life was used by Father Henry More in his History of the Province,
but Father Nathaniel Southwell never saw it.

Life of Father William Weston.

II

was the name by which the students knew him. They
also saw him during this time in the professor's chair, for
he had to teach them Greek. The reputation of his
sanctity was as high amongst his fellow-religious. He
was occasionally appointed to hear the confessions of the
Community, and there were many who availed themselves
of the opportunity of the help of such a man to make
general confessions.
"The greater part of the time that he lived in this
College," Father de Peralta continues, " one would see him
scouring the copper and helping in the kitchen, and in
the humblest offices in the house, without ever having been
asked to do so. He usually called the others in the
morning." Father Campion did the same, v/hile Professor
of Rhetoric at Prague. "At that time I was Minister
in the College," says Father de Peralta, "and it happened
to me sometimes to get up before the Community. I
then found Father Weston on the terrace in prayer, on
his knees, with his eyes fixed on heaven, waiting for it
to be time to call the others.
" Just then there was so large a number in the College,
and so great a want of rooms, that the Superior was the
only one who had a room to himself. Father Weston's
chamber-fellow was Brother Forivio de el Palacio, the
Procurator of the College, which office he filled in 1585, in
the house where I was then Superior, and he told me three
things of Father Weston. The first was that almost always
on entering the room, he found him on his knees. The
second, that frequently he found him in some posture
taken for mortification, and Father Diego de Cordova,
who was Minister all the while that Father Weston
studied at Cordova, has told me that he has often
observed the same. The third thing was that every
night he would discipline himself cruelly at midnight.
Father Alvaro Gonzales, who was a professor for five-
and-thirty years, at one time shared his room, and he

1 2 Life of Father William, Weston.
told me that he was often awakened by the sound of his
discipline, and that he too, on entering the room, generally
found him kneeling ; '' so that, to use the beautiful phrase
that Father Henry More has recorded for us,^ he seemed
studendo orare et orando studere — to pray by study and
to study by prayer. We thus see how he came to deserve
the high encomium of the Douay record, that he was
doctus et valde pius. In the College at Seville Father
Weston remained till he was summoned to the toils and
perils of the English mission in 1584.

CHAPTER IL
THE ENGLISH JESUIT MISSION.
The first impulse to the Society William Weston had
received while still at Oxford. Some of the Annual Letters
from the Jesuit missionaries in Japan had fallen into his
hands, and he was greatly attracted by the narrative of
conversions and good works done in that very interesting
mission. Twenty years only had elapsed since the death
of St Francis Xavier, and his work in that fervent young
Christianity was carried on by men who ^\•ere worthy to
succeed the Apostle of the East. The story was one to
stir the heart, and to arouse within a man like Weston the
desire to do his utmost for his own salvation and perfec
tion and for that of others. When duly prepared by study
and prayer, England was to be his Japan. It was a mission
in which souls were in greater need, and where help was
then brought to those who needed it at far greater risk to
the bringer. The blood of priests was shed in England
sooner than in Japan, and the persecution was hardly less
fierce and persistent. J Historia Prov. Angl. lib. iv. n. 16, p. 142.

Life of Father William Weston. 1 3
The impression made on such a mind as Weston's by
the news of Father Campion's martyrdom may well be
imagined. The day so memorable for the Society, on
which its English protomartyr suffered, was the ist of
December, 1581. This was about the time when Father
Weston went to Seville. In the course of the following
year many heroes suffered for their faith, and the number of
priests thus martyred was so considerable that a missionary
going to England must have seen plainly that he carried
his life in his hand. Cuthbert Maine had led the way in
1577, the first of the glorious holocaust of Douay priests.
In 1578 one priest had been martyred, John Nelson ; and
one layman, Thomas Sherwood, a Douay student. Four
priests suffered in 1581, Campion's year; and in 1582 no
less than eleven. As Weston was at Douay with the first
generation of students, and did not leave the College
before 1575, he was personally acquainted with many of
those of whom he now heard these great tidings. He
was certainly the college companion of Thomas Ford,
Cuthbert Maine, John Nelson, John Paine, and Robert
Johnson, who were martyred before he set foot in England,
as well as of others, like Momford Scott, who suffered
later. At that time there was not a single Jesuit at liberty in
England or Scotland. Father James Bosgrave and Father
Thomas Cottam were tried with Father Campion. Father
Cottam was martyred at Tyburn on the 30th of May, 1582,
in his thirty-third year. Father Bosgrave was shut up in
the Tower, and there he remained until he was exiled in
June, 1585. As early as December, 1578, Father Mercurian
had received Thomas Pound into the Society, a most
zealous and generous confessor, who spent the greater
part of his life in prison for the Faith. Amongst other
fruits of his zeal. Father Cottam owed his conversion to
him. Pound was then in the Tower of London, with
Stephen Bfinckley and William Carter, the printers and

14 Life of Father William Weston.
disseminators of Catholic books. ^ Later on he was to be
for ten years and more the companion in imprisonment
of Father Weston.
Before the apprehension of Father Campion, Father
Persons had petitioned for a reinforcement, and two fathers
were deputed by the new General, Claude Aquaviva, to
cross over into England in 1581. These were William
Holt and Jaspar Haywood. Father Holt, after a time
spent in England, was sent into Scotland. On his arrival
he was imprisoned, and narrowly escaped being handed
over to Queen Elizabeth's Ambassador. In 1584 he
was set free, and during the latter period of his stay in
Scotland was greatly protected by the young King. Father
Haywood arrived in England just as Father Persons left
it, and when he received Father Persons' letter from
France appointing him Superior in England during his
absence, he was the only one of the Society in England
then at liberty. Besides those already mentioned, there
was only Father Thomas Mettam, who was received into
the Society in May, 1579. I" the following May he was
imprisoned, and when his captivity ended by death after
seventeen years' confessorship, Fat;her Weston was his
fellow-prisoner, and assisted him when dying.
When Father Campion was arrested at Mrs. Yates'
house at Lyford, on the i6th of July, 1581, Father Persons
was not far off. He was at Henley Park, the house of
Mr. Francis Browne, the brother of Anthony Viscount
Montague. Campion's arrest was not the only blow that at
this time fell upon Persons. Within a month after,^ Stonor
Park was searched, where Stephen Brinckley and all the
printers were taken, who shortly before had been engaged
in printing Father Campion's famous Ten Reasons, and
with Mr. John Stonor, were imprisoned in the Tower. In
the spring of the same year, George Gilbert had been sent
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elisabeth, vol. dix. n. 36 : Maich, 1583
" Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 229.

Life of Father William Weston. 15
by Father Persons out of England. To raise some money
for his journey, Gilbert offered to sell his lands in Suffolk
to his tenants. "They should have paid it unto him in
Mr. Higgens' house, the scrivener, in London," but the
tenants betrayed him, and Sir George Carey, the Knight
Marshal, would have seized him if Father Persons had not
feared treachery, and prevented his going. However, his
two friends, Mr. Francis Browne and Mr. Charles Basset,
one of whom was Persons' host, were imprisoned. George
Gilbert escaped safely to France, and stayed in Rouen till
he was joined there by Father Persons, who left Henley
for Mr. Shelley's house at Michelgrove, in Sussex, where
he made up his mind very reluctantly to leave England
for awhile. He was never able to return.
One other Jesuit there was, who had also managed to
escape from England. This was Ralph Emerson, the lay-
brother, whom Father Campion used to call his "little
man." He parted from Father Campion the day before
his apprehension, and succeeded in making his way safely
to Rouen, which place served as a very convenient rendez
vous. It was there in the winter of 1581 that some of
Persons' books were printed, and in particular the famous
Christian Directory, which made its appearance under the
name of the Book of Resolution. The printer first em
ployed at Rouen was George Flinton, who devoted himself
for some years to the production of English books. On
his death, Stephen Brinckley, who in June, 1583, had
been set free from the Tower, and had afterwards been
to Rome with Persons, was able to take his place and
resume his own most useful work as an English Catholic
printer. Father Persons was hospitably received at Rouen by
M. Michel de Mons, Archdeacon of Sens, and nephew of
the Cardinal Archbishop of Rouen. From his house he
wrote a long letter^ to Father General Aquaviva, dated
1 More, Hist. Prmi. lib. iv, cap. 9, p. 1 13.

t6 Life of Father William Weston.
September 26, 1581, desiring that the answer might be
addressed to him under the name of Roland Cabel,
merchant. In this letter he told the General that
Father Campion had been tv/ice tortured and had had
four disputations on religion in the Tower. On the
day he was writing he had received two large packets of
letters from England by his servant, and he had sent by
another many letters to help and console the English
Catholics. He was anxious to return to England as soon
as possible, for though the two Fathers Haywood and
Holt were doing much good, they were working at a
considerable distance from London. Other letters arrived
while he was writing to tell him that his presence in
England was particularly desired that he might make
some provision for collecting and distributing alms in
behalf of the poor prisoners for the Faith. However,
Father Jasper had been in London the week before with
a plentiful alms for them.
There were three districts, he told the General, that
particularly interested him, and which seemed to be in
great need of priests. The first was Wales, which was
not hostile to the Faith, but where heresy had prevailed
owing to the ignorance entailed by want of clergy. He
had sent several priests there, under the protection of a
nobleman, probably the Earl of Powis. The second was
Cambridge. There was a priest at the University in the
guise of a student, and in a few months seven promising
youths had been sent to Rheims. For this priest help
had been found near the town, perhaps at Sawston Hall,
the seat of the Huddlestones. The third district was the
north, where he was attracted by the noble and generous
disposition of the Catholics of the four or five counties
that were nearest to Scotland. A priest named William
Watts, or Waytes, whom he had sent into those counties,
he had since sent into Scotland, and he inclosed the letter
he had just received from him.

Life of Father William Weston. 17
In consequence of the receipt of this letter, from
which he gathered that there was an excellent prospect
of doing good there, the active and zealous soul of
Father Persons was all on fire with the wish to help
Scotland, and England through Scotland. A French
Jesuit, 'Henry Samelie, had been sent at the particular
request of the Queen of Scots to be her confessor during
her imprisonment under the custody of the Earl of Shrews
bury. Mary had also written most urgent letters to the
Duke of Guise to beg him to intercede with the Nuncio
and the Provincial of the Jesuits that some Scotch fathers
might be sent into Scotland without delay. To Don
Bernardino de Mendoza she wrote that Persons was at
Rouen, and that he must be made to feel that it was
no time to spend in writing books when the salvation
of kingdoms was at stake. Father Persons was so moved
when he received this message through Dr. Allen that
he was on the point of leaving everything and starting
for Scotland.
Just at this time two Jesuit fathers arrived who had
been appointed by the General of the Society to pass
over into Scotland. These were William Crichton and
Edmund Hay. By way of experiment Father Crichton,
the younger of the two, was sent over first, and Father
Persons gave him his trusty lay-brother Ralph Emerson
for his companion. By April, 1582, however, they were
both back again in France, and "brought answer," Father
Persons says, "from the Duke of Lennox, then governor
of Scotland and of the young King, to the full contentment
of the Duke of Guise."
The information thus brought by Father Crichton, in
confirmation of the report made by Waytes of the good
dispositions of the Duke of Lennox, was naturally con
sidered to be of the greatest importance. A conference
was held at Paris at which were present the Duke of
Guise, the Papal Nuncio, the Archbishop of Glasgow,
c

1 8 Life of Father William Weston.
who was Mary's Ambassador to the King of France, and
John Baptist Tassis, the Spanish Ambassador; while the
French Provincial of the Jesuits, Father Claude Matthieu,
and Dr. Allen, President of the Seminary of Rheims, were
summoned to be present at it Charles Paget and Thomas
Morgan were not present, and Father Persons attributes
the factious course they subsequently pursued to their
mortification at this exclusion, which was at the desire of
the Duke of Guise and the Archbishop of Glasgow.
The message of the Duke of Lennox was to the effect
that his goodwill was useless owing to his want of money.
The first thing he urged was that funds should be sent to
him sufficient to maintain a body-guard for the young
King of Scots. At the conference it was resolved that
Father Persons should go to the King of Spain, and
Father Crichton to the Pope, to represent the urgent and
critical state of affairs in Scotland, and their bearing on
England. They left Paris accordingly on the ist of May,
1582. Father Crichton carried to Rome a letter from
King James. He wrote to Father Thomas Owen, June 4,
1605, "Our King had so great fear of the number of
Catholics, and the puissance of Pope and Spain, that he
offered liberty of conscience, and sent me to Rome to
deal for the Pope's favour and making of a Scottish
Cardinal ; as I did show the King's letters to Father
Persons." In 1584 the General sent Fathers William
Crichton and James Gordon to Scotland, but Father
Gordon alone succeeded in effecting a landing. Crichton
was taken prisoner at sea, and, with a Scotch priest named
Patrick Adye, was lodged in the Tower of London on the
1 6th of September, 1584.
On the 15th of June, 1582, Father Persons reached
Lisbon "with no small pains." "This summer," Father
Persons continues,^ "was spent in Lisbon, when the
Marquis of Santa Crux went to the Terceras, and had his
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 230.

Life of Father William Weston. 19
victory against the French and Pietro Strozza. And
in the mean space the Queen of England, mistrusting the
Duke of Lennox for that he was Catholicly given, caused
him to be taken by a sleight of hunting in Scotland,
and the King to be taken from him, himself to go
to France by England, where he was poisoned as is
supposed, for that he died as soon as he arrived at Paris,
and so fell all that attempt to the ground : which being
heard in Lisbon I returned with Mr. William Tresham
about Michaelmas, and coming to Bilboa, I fell sick very
grievously, and so stayed all that winter in Biscay, and
the next spring returned into France. At this my being
with the King of Spain I obtained twenty-four thousand
crowns to be sent to the King of Scots, which were paid
by John Baptist Tassis in Paris. I caused also two
thousand ducats of yearly pension for the Seminary at
Rheims, and a promise for Dr. Allen to be Cardinal,
which was afterwards fulfilled."
Allen was alarmed by Persons' long absence, and on
the 29th of December he wrote to Father Agazzari to say
that not having heard any tidings of him for two months,
they feared that he had died on the journey. His illness
was very serious, and his life was probably saved by the
charity of Father Gonzales, the Provincial of Castile, who
on hearing of his state sent a man to bring him to the
College of the Society in a town called Ofiate, where he
was taken care of till he recovered.
In Father Persons' absence,^ the General of the Society
had requested Dr. Allen to keep up a correspondence with
the fathers who were in England. Just before the return
of Father Persons to Paris, Allen wrote to the General,
March 29, 1583, that he had two or three times inquired
of Father Haywood what his wishes were respecting the
despatch of other Jesuits into England, and whether he
would prefer that they should be Englishmen or foreigners.
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 45.
C 2

20 Life of Father William Weston.
George Gilbert, who was now in Rome, pressed Dr. Allen
most earnestly not to allow any delay in sending these
reinforcements that were so greatly wanted.
Dr. Allen's proposal^ to the General was that as Father
Thomas Darbyshire and Father William Good, the one
then at Paris, the other at Rome, were now incapable
through age of bearing the fatigues of the English mission,
Father William Weston, who was in Spain, and Father
John Gibbons, then Rector of the College of Treves, should
be selected. Father Gibbons answered with great sim
plicity and honesty both to the General and Dr. Allen
that he hoped that he should give no disedification by
saying that he had not the spiritual strength for such an
enterprize, but that he would give all the help that was
in his power towards the work in hand. That which he
performed in fulfilment of that pledge has made his
debtors all students of the history of his time and all
clients of the English martyrs, for we owe to him together
with John Fenn, the martyr's brother, the first preparation
of an invaluable book that Dr. Bridgwater re-edited with
their cooperation, the Conccrtatio Ecclesia; Anglicance. It
is curious that some letters that were addressed to him
while engaged in this work and were waylaid by English
spies, may now be found in the British Museum.^ In them
Dr. Humphrey Ely, writes to him from Mussipont, the
20th of June or July, 1587, "I have dealt with Father
Rector here, who hath appointed Mr. Sutton to translate
the rest of the martyrs, and I have set him on work
already. Besides those [lives of martyrs] by you named
in your letter, if I am not deceived, I sent you Mr. William
Hart's, martyr's, life, fair written in folio, as also the life
of Mr. Emerford, priest. Of Mr. Hart's I am sure, as
I think, for I cannot find it amongst my papers here.
I requested you, and so I do eftsoons, to send me by
your good opportunity the copies in English I did send
' Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 52. a Lansdmvne MSS. 96, n. 26.

Life of Father William Weston. 2 1
you, if Mr. Fenn hath returned them, because I mean
one day to see them extant in English, and I have no
copies so fully and so well gathered as those are I sent
you." The life of Hart, the martyr, is given at length
in the Concertatio^ but there are but a few lines ^ of
Emerford, or Hemerford, as he is more frequently called.
When Father Persons reached Paris, in April, 1583,
not a little had happened in England to cause him grave
anxiety. There had been a grave scandal caused by one
who had been long in the Society, and had filled offices
of trust. Father Thomas Langdale entered the Society
in 1562, was Penitentiary in Rome and Loretto, and when
in 1578 the Duke of Terranuova, a Sicilian, was sent to
Cologne on an important political mission he asked to
have Father Langdale as his confessor and theologian.
In 1580 he was at Milan, when Father Campion and
Father Persons passed through on their way to England,
and though he showed a great desire to accompany them,
there was nothing to create an unfavourable impression
of him. But a year or two later, having received orders
to return to Rome, when he was at Genoa on his way a
grave temptation seized him to embark for England
without leave of his superiors, to which unhappily he
yielded. Early in 1583 he arrived, and betook himself
to the Lord Treasurer and others of the Privy Council,
and afterwards to the Protestant Bishop of Durham. By
them he was received with extraordinary favour, and they
gave out that a learned Jesuit had voluntarily come from
Italy, who taught that it was lawful for Catholics to
frequent Protestant churches, and that therefore leave
had been given him to go where he liked, and to say
Mass when he pleased. The poor man who thus had
practically become an apostate went into Yorkshire. His
sister, Mrs. Colburne, he persuaded to go to the church
and to receive the Protestant Communion, and thus one
1 Fol. 104. » Fol. 156.

2 2 Life of Father William Weston.
who " had ever been a good Catholic gentlewoman, after
she fell in these two points, became a most perverse
Protestant in the rest." A nephew of his, as Allen wrote
to Aquaviva,^ showed another spirit. " I wonder I do not
put my sword into you, and put an end to your unworthy-
life, and to the dishonour you bring on our name and
blood. If you do not care to honour it by dying as you
ought to do for the Catholic faith, which is ours and all
our ancestors', I greatly care that you should not dishonour
us by your vile trade of apostate and seducer."
Thomas Langdale gave out that he was a "Papal
penitentiary," and had been sent by the Pope to visit and
reform the Jesuits and Seminarists, and then go back to
Rome. Father Haywood sent messengers to undeceive
the Catholics, and the unhappy man wrote to ask the
father not to injure his authority here or abroad. What
became of him is not known ; but it was believed that he
went to Germany, and soon after died.
Another trouble for Father Persons, on his return from
Spain, but one involving no such serious scandal, was a
misunderstanding with the older clergy, especially those of
Queen Mary's time, into which Father Haywood had
imprudently fallen. In England the fasts observed by the
Catholics, from time immemorial, were singularly severe.
The Fridays throughout the year, excepting in Paschal
time, and many vigils not kept in Rome, were fasting days ;
and the Saturdays, the Rogation days, and St Mark's day
were days of abstinence. With good intentions, we may
well believe, but with great imprudence. Father Haywood
set himself to introduce the Roman practice in this matter
into England. The law was not on his side, for the
obligation remained for two centuries after this, until Pope
Pius VL, in 1777, transferred the vigils through the year
to the Wednesdays and Fridays in Advent ; and in 1781
abrogated the Friday fast. The abstinence on Saturdays,
^ BartoU, InghUterra, lib. iv. cap. vi. p. 261.

Life of Father William Weston. 23
the Rogations and St. Mark, Pius VI. left in force as " a
pious custom descending from ancient times," but Pius
VIII. dispensed the English Catholics from its observance
in 1830. It is to be supposed that Father Haywood based
his opinion upon the substitution of the Roman for the
Salisbury and other English rites, which change was intro
duced by the Seminary priests ; but, as may well be
imagined, a storm was raised by him from which no good
was to be expected.
This was one of the points discussed in the well-known
consultation^ at which Fathers Campion and Persons met
" certain of the graver priests then remaining in London,
whereof two were Mr. Edward Mettam, Bachelor of
Divinity, and Mr. Blackwell, Master of Art, and very
learned, besides others newly come from beyond the sea."
" Divers principal laymen, for their better satisfaction,"
were also present. On the point of fasting, "the best
resolution seemed to be, and most conformable to piety,
reason, and union, that nothing should be altered in matter
of the fastings from the old customs ; but in what shire
soever of England (for all had not one custom, but the
Church of York some, and Canterbury and London others)
the Catholics could remember that the Fridays or any
other days or vigils were fasted, the same to be kept and
continued now, and the priests always to be the first and
most forward to put it in execution ; but when such know
ledge or remembrance could not be had, then men not to
be bound to fast, but yet commended they that would ;
and this was so much as then seemed necessary to be
spoken by way of counsel only, and not of commandment
or authority, for direction of priests, for keeping of unity,
until God should open the door for further determination
by way of authority."
Father Haywood sent full explanations on the subject
to Father Persons, and he chose for his messenger an
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 128.

24 Life of Father William Weston.
excellent priest named John Curry. His letter arrived
when Father Persons was in Spain, and Curry, leaving his
business with Father Darbyshire at Paris, entered straight-'
way into the Jesuit Novitiate. When Persons returned he
thought it best that Father Curry, though but a novice;
should return to England, as the respect borne to him by
all Catholics there was calculated to make him a good
peacemaker. This father did good service on the English
mission for many years. He may be said to have been
the friend of martyrs. He had helped Campion to dis
tribute his books. ^ He was " chamber-fellow to Sherwin
that was executed,"^ so says Thomas Dodwell, a spy, in
1584. "And after the departure of the said Patenson,"
William Holmes, another informer, says, in 1594, and here
he is speaking of William Patenson, the martyr, "there
came another priest unto the said lady [Sir John Arundell's
widow at Chideock], named John Curry, who remained
there until the death of [John] Sherwood [a priest], who
died in Lent last was twelve months, and as he doth
understand, was buried in the chapel of Chideock House.'
After whose death the said Cornelius [another martyr]
and Curry remained together in the same house until
Michaelmas last [1593], and then the said Curry went
away into London."^ In the year following another spy
called Benjamin Beard, who, it is to be feared, was a
Tichborne, reported to Sir John Puckering : " Likewise I
understand of one John Curry, who useth about Hogsdon
in London, and is a Seminary, and a consort of John
Cornelius lately taken, both bred and born in a town called
Bodmin, in Cornwall."* " In England there are four Jesuits
at liberty, Southwell, Garnet [both martyrs], Curry, and
another:" this is the report of an apostate priest, John

1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 157.
" P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxviii. n. 34.
^ Ibid. vol. ccxlviii. n. 75.
^ Ibid. vol. ccxlviii. n. n8.

Life of Father William Weston. 25
Cecil, alias Snowden.^ " Did he ever know Father Curry,
alias Castell, Jasper Haywood, or Edmonds, all three
Jesuits.?" This question was put to John Harrison, and
he was "charged that he was in company with Curry,
Haywood, and Edmonds, Jesuits, as well the year before
as after the Queen's Majesty was at Cowdray [Viscount
Montague's house] and heard Mass of them or some of
them." 2 Robert Gray, another priest under examination,
gives us Father Curry's personal appearance. " Sir George
[Browne] brought this examinate to one Mr. Dennis' house
at Todham, half a mile from Cowdray, and there Sir
George brought this examinate up to a chamber, where
they found a man sitting in his cloak, of about forty years
old, long, slender-faced, black hair of head, and a little
black beard, whom since he heard was Father Curry the
Jesuit."^ To the notes of his enemies we are indebted for
some knowledge of one of Father Weston's companions on
the mission, of whom, if it had not been for this, we should
only have known what Father Gerard tells us in a yet
unpublished portion of his Autobiography, that he died in
London in the house kept by Mrs. Anne Line, who was
afterwards martyred, "and there he lies buried in some
secret corner ; for those priests' who live secretly on the
mission, we are obliged also to bury secretly when they
die." That Father Haywood should by indiscretion have
caused a division among the Catholics, was not the
only trouble awaiting Father Persons at Paris on his
return from Spain. Much harm was being done by
the course pursued by the two chief confidants of
the Queen of Scots, Charles, Lord Paget's brother, and
Thomas Morgan. " When I returned to Paris," he says,
" I found Mr. Paget and Morgan wholly aversed ; but
Dr. Allen and I sought all means to regain them again.
1 P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccxxxviii. n. l6i.
^ Ibid. vol. cclvi. n. 71. ' Ibid. vol. ccxlv. n. 138.

26 Life of Father William Weston.
I went first to Rouen, where Mr. Paget lay, and made
peace with him ; and after went to Paris, and called
Dr. Allen thither from Rheims to do the same. We
went and lay in the same lodging to perform the matter
better, but all would not serve. After this we imparted
all our affairs with them, and upon a new agreement
Mr. Paget was sent into England, and I went to Rome
and Mr. Brinckley with me, whence returning again in a
few weeks I found Mr. Paget come from England."^
The date of Father Persons' return from Rome we are
able to time pretty accurately, for George Gilbert fell
into his last illness before Father Persons left Rome, and
after his return to Paris, October 28, 1583, he wrote to
Father Agazzari hoping that Gilbert was recovered and
on his way thither, where his presence was greatly needed ;
and while he was writing, Agazzari's letter reached him,
giving him the news of the death of that true and
devoted friend. George Gilbert died in the English
College at Rome, after having taken the vows of a
Jesuit on his death-bed, October 6, 1583. It was at his
expense that the deaths of the English martyrs were
painted on the walls of the old church of St. Thomas
of Canterbury, attached to the College. In his illness
he invoked Sherwin, Briant, and Campion, and he died
with the little cross in his hand that Briant had made
to be his last comfort.^ " Blessed be Jesus Christ and
the Father of all mercies for this blow also," Father
Persons wrote at the news of the death of this noble-
hearted friend, " though it is the greatest that ever my
soul has felt at the death of any creature soever."^
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 23a
' Brother Foley's fesuits in Conflict, p. 201.
» Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 351.

27

CHAPTER IIL
father WESTON'S LANDING IN ENGLAND.
There are curious errors and contradictions in the
various narratives respecting the date of Father Weston's
coming to Paris and departure for England. In the notes
of these events that Father Persons made many years
afterwards his memory has failed him, for he says^ that
when he returned from Rome to Paris, which was in
October, 1583, he there found Father Weston, who after
a few days' conference with him on the affairs of the
mission, went over into England. Father Henry More
at first^ follows Persons in this error, but immediately
afterwards^ he transfers Father Weston's landing to 1582,
misled by Father de Peralta, whose manuscript, written
more than thirty years afterwards, gives that date.
Later on in the notes* Father Persons gives the exact
date of Weston's embarcation as September 12, 1584.
This is shown to be correct by the letters of the period.
It will be enough to quote in this place an intercepted
letter of Father Darbyshire, written from Paris, August
13, 1584, to a Jesuit at Avignon. The letter a few days
after its date was in Lord Burghley's hands, and a copy
in Walsingham's before the month was out in which it
was written, and now it is in the British Museum.^ " We
have here now and have had for some months. Father
Robert Persons, of whom, I suppose, you have often
heard  Campion's companion. There is also another,
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 53.
2 P. 141. ^ R- 142- * Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 74.
5 Harleian MSS. 228, fol. 154.

28 Life of Father William Weston.
Father Weston, who not long ago came here' from
Spain. We are now nine English in this province;
praise be to Christ."
We have therefore to carry on the history of the
English Jesuit mission a little further, till we can intro
duce Father Weston into it. Two matters worthy of
mention have been passed over, the establishment of the
little College at Eu, and the admission of Father John
Hart into the Society. The first was a useful under
taking while it lasted, which, however, was not long.
Up to that time boys who had come over young, and
therefore had to be taught Latin, had been sent to Pont-
a-Musson to be prepared for Rheims. This was an
expensive journey, and Father Persons, finding that the
Duke of Guise had built a new College at Eu for the
Fathers of the Society, begged to have the old one as a
college for the English lads. The Duke gave the use of
the building, and an income of lOO/. a year for its main
tenance. A secular priest named Mann, alicts Chambers,
who died at Douay soon after the closing of the College,
was made Rector. However, at the death of the Duke
in 1589, it was given up.
The admission of Father John Hart into the Society,
which belongs to the beginning of 1583, is an instructive
history. His is one of the cases in which the opening
of the State Papers has betrayed to us a weakness that was
unknown to the Catholics of his own time. An Oxford
shire man by birth, and Master of Arts at Oxford, he went
over to Douay in 1571, was made Bachelor of Divinity in
that University in 1577, and priest in the following year.
He was apprehended at Dover as he landed in June, 1580,
"and sent prisoner to the Court," as Father Persons relates.^
"And for that he was a very comely young gentleman,
and his father and friends well known, and his talents
greatly liked by Sir Francis Walsingham, the Secretary,
^ Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 132.

Life of Father William Weston. 29
that had the examination of him, they would fain have
gotten or perverted him by sweet means; and so after
commendations of his person and protestation of goodwill
by Sir Francis, as Mr. Hart himself told me afterward the
whole story in France and Italy, he gave him leave to go
to Oxford for three months, upon condition that he should
confer with one John Reynolds, a minister of Corpus
Christi College, about controversies of religion, which
Mr. Hart accepted, both for that he desired by that oc
casion to see his friends and to settle better his temporal
affairs whatsoever should happen, as also for that though
he were young, yet feared he little whatsoever John
Reynolds or any other could say in defence of heresy
against the Catholic religion. Wherefore after the end
of these three months, he presented himself to Sir Francis
Walsingham again, as resolute in his religion as before,
and somewhat more by the weakness he had perceived in
his conferences, though in so bad a cause he was one of
the best the other side had. Sir Francis would gladly
have taken more time of conference, but in the end seeing
little or no hope to pervert him, he sent him to the prison
of the Marshalsea, as for religion only, and so he remained
there until it was resolved by the Council to make all
priests' cases treason, and then he was sent to the Tower
and used most barbarously and arraigned and condemned
among the rest, and divers times to have been executed
but that by reason of his good friends he was still re
prieved, until at last in the year [1585] he was cast into
banishment with divers other priests, who going to Italy
entered into the Society of Jesus, as he had greatly desired
and vowed in time of his imprisonment, and after was sent
by his Superior into Polony, where he died most godly,
as ever he had lived ; and this much of this notable
confessor, Mr. John Hart."
To have accepted a temporal advantage on condition
of conference with a Protestant minister, was to do what

30 Life of Father William Weston.
the martyrs would not have held to be lawful. Father
Persons probably regarded the offer only as a challenge-
to controversy. For such a disputation with Sir George
Carey, the Knight Marshal, Hart offered himself together
with Sherwin and Bosgrave, when prisoner in the Marshal-
sea. He was transferred to the Tower with Father Bosgrave,
on the 29th of December, 1580, as we learn from Rishton's
Diary, the next entry in which is that " John Hart, after
five days with no bed but the ground, was taken to the
rack." Through that year he persevered with constancy,
and on the day after Father Campion's condemnation,
he was tried with several who were martyred, and like
them he had sentence pronounced against him. In the
records of the Queen's Bench the warrants^ are to be seen
ordering the Lieutenant of the Tower to deliver up
Campion, Sherwin, Bryant, and Hart, to the sheriffs for
execution on the ist of December, and requiring the
Sheriffs of the City of London to receive them and see
their sentence carried out at Tyburn. " Father Campion
was alone on one hurdle, and the other two together on
the other," Bishop Challoner says in one place, and in
another, " On the day designed for execution, he was by
a reprieve taken off the sledge and returned to prison."
Why he did not occupy the place on the hurdle by
Campion's side, the Catholics of his time never knew.
The sad secret is betrayed to us by the letter that he
wrote to Walsingham,^ which bears date the very day
which might have brought the crown of martyrdom to
him as to Campion, Sherwin, and Bryant It is a vile
letter, in which, having professed " conformity " with most
solemn attestations, he now proposes that he shall be sent
over to Dr. Allen, who would keep nothing secret from
him, after " suffering for the cause which liketh him so well,
when as he shall now understand of my stoutness, that it
• P.R.O., Controlment Rolls, Michaelmas Term, 24 Elizabeth, rot. 24.
" P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cl. n. 80.

Life of Father William Weston. 31
hath been such as to abide a whole year and more close
imprisonment, and that in the Tower, the only name
whereof is very terrible abroad ; yea, and yet much more,
to have been at the rack (though I endured nothing therein,
but that is unknown to him), to have been indicted,
arraigned, and condemned for the same, as both he and his
fellows (I know it) are fully persuaded, and now presently
do stand at her Majesty's mercy for my life, without any
speeches, as I suppose, yet openly known, otherwise than
to your Honour and a few others who are secret enough
for that matter, that I am so minded as I have professed
to your Honours to reform my life according to her
Majesty's godly and virtuous proceedings," which would
" better serve for the setting forth of that true cause indeed
which your Honour, under her Majesty, doth so mightily
defend : I mean the religion this day professed in this
noble realm of England ; for as for my bare yielding and
reforming of myself, which I have promised to your
Honour unfeignedly, though it may do some good there
unto by giving others of my profession example to do the
like, yet that thing is not of such importance as this which
hitherto I have spoken of, and which is more than may be
done by many others with as great profit as by me."
No doubt it was what he protested it was not, " to the
intent that he would put the neck out of the collar again,"
and once safe at Rheims, repent as best he might of his
apostacy ; but who that knows his own weakness can
throw the first stone at one who yielded to save his life ?
It makes the heart sick to read such words on such a day ;
and it is a relief to see that six weeks afterwards the
confessor, though his was not a martyr's spirit, was himself
again. Luke Kirby, the martyr, in his letter from the
Tower, given by Dr. Challoner, says, " Mr. Hart hath had
many and great conflicts with his adversaries. This
morning, the lOth of January [1582], he was committed
to the dungeon, where he now remaineth ; God comfort

32 Life of Father William Weston.
him. He taketh it very quietly and patiently. The cause
was for that he would not yield to Mr. Reynolds, of
Oxford, in any one point, but still remained constant^
the same man he was before and ever." And Rishton
enters in his Diary for January li, 1582, "John Hart,
priest, because after his condemnation he would not yield
in anything to the heretics, was put into the pit for nine
days." It is hard to see what they could have asked that
he would not have done on that 1st of December; but
he must have repented at once, for something was required
of him to which he would not yield when he was consigned
for nine days to that awful oubliette underground. Nichols,
the apostate, was at once set at liberty when he undertook
to preach against the Pope, and Hart would have been also
set free, or at any rate would not have been punished, if he
had not repented of his fall. The interpretation of the
change in Hart is probably to be found in the fact, told
by Allen to Agazzari in a letter,^ dated the 7th of February,
1582, that his mother had been to visit him in the Tower,
and that she, " a gentlewoman of a noble spirit, spoke to
him in such lofty terms of martyrdom, that if she found
him hot with the desire of it, she left him on fire ; and
the report of this great deed on her part, and its merited
promise, was wide-spread among the Catholics."
On the anniversary of the day when he should have
died, his name reappears in Rishton's Diary, December i,
1582. "John Hart, priest, under sentence of death, was
punished by twenty days in irons, for not yielding to one
Reynolds a minister." And six months later, June 19,
1583. "The same John Hart for the same offence was put
into the pit for four-and-forty days."
There is no need that we should doubt his sincerity
when he wrote,^ November 15, 1582, to Dr. Allen, that he
knew how welcome his letter would be because it was
^ Bartoli, InghUterra, lib. iv. cap. xi. p. 293.
» Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 39.

Life of Father William Weston. 33
written from prison. Some sad things had happened which
he would leave others to tell : he would relate only good
news. Pitts and Haydock were littie men with great
courage. Pound, Brinckley, and Roscarrock were laymen
who, he was ashamed to say, had shown themselves braver
than many priests. Jetter and Carter had been nearly
killed on the rack, but nothing could be drawn from them
but the Name of Jesus ; Jetter especially at such a time
had shown his sense of the sweetness of that Name.
"Of myself I dare to make no profession, but this one
thing only will I say, Thomson, Bosgrave, Colleton, Slack,
Rowsham, Godsalf, Orton, Barnes, Briscoe, all of us by
the grace of Christ are in the Faith, and there is not one
of us who is not resolved to hold the Faith and fight
against heresy, though it were necessary to shed his blood
for his religion."
In March, 1583, Allen wrote to Agazzari that he had
received many letters from the prisoners, but that they
could not be published without questions being raised how
they had been sent : however, he forwarded one from
" Hart, that constant confessor, who desires to enter your
Society." Immediately afterwards, while still carrying on
the correspondence of the Society during the absence of
Persons in Spain, Dr. Allen acknowledges the receipt from
Father General of the admission of John Hart into the
Society, and promises to send it to him because he knew
that it would give him the greatest consolation. Thus we
see that Rishton was correct when he says that amongst
the twenty-one exiles sent from the Tower on the 21st
of January, 1585, three were Jesuit Fathers, Jasper
Haywood, James Bosgrave, and John Hart. And on
the other hand that More is wrong in saying that Hart
entered at Verdun, and that Persons' memory failed him
when he said that he became a Jesuit in Italy, two years
after the date of his actual admission. When banished
in 1585 he went first to Verdun, then to Rome, and he
D

34 Life of Father William Weston.
died at Jarislau, in Poland, on the 19th of July in the
following year. The doubt whether it was in 1586 or
in 1594 is set at rest by the Douay Diary, which enters
the news of his death as received in September, 1586.
Father More reports that seven years after his death
his body was found to be incorrupt, and was translated
to a more honourable resting-place. None can doubt that
the Lord who retained in His Apostleship the chiefest
of the Apostles by whom He was denied, pardoned this
fall, and that, though the palm of martyrdom was forfeited,
yet sufferings and exile have received their reward.
It will have been seen that Father Haywood was in
the Tower of London with Father Hart. His apprehension
happened thus. On Father Persons' return from Rome
in October, 1583, he brought back with him a letter
from P'ather Aquaviva, the General, to Father Haywood,
requesting him to come over to France to confer with
his Superior, on account, no doubt, of the want of dis
cretion shown by him with regard to the English fasting
days. Father Persons, when he sent him the letter, named
Rouen for their place of meeting. Father Jaspar started
immediately on receipt of these instructions, and the ship
in which he sailed was in sight of the French coast, and
almost of port, when it was driven back by a foul wind,
and the father fell into the hands of his enemies. In
the first instance he was committed to the Clink, but
was soon transferred to the Tower. A certificate from
the keeper of the Clink to tiie lords of the Council,'
dated March 21, 1584, contains this entry: "Jaspar
Haywood, a Jesuit, committed by your Honours the 9th
day of December last, and committed from her Majesty's
Bench at Westminster to the Tower." By his apprehension
no Jesuit in England was left at liberty at the beginning of
1584, he and Father Bosgrave being. in the Tower, Father
Mettam and Brother Pound in Wisbech Castle.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. d.xix, n. 23.

Life of Fatlur William Weston. 35
Failing thus of his intended conference with Father
Haywood, Father Persons returned from Rouen to Paris,
where Dr. Allen came from Rheims to meet him. Their
object was to see whether it might not be possible to
save Lord Paget and Sir Charles Arundell, who had just
crossed the Channel, from the course followed by Charles
Peiget and Morgan. Unfortunately they failed, and Father
Persons speaks in his notes-' of the suspicions raised by
their intimacy with the English Ambassador ; suspicions
which, as far as Sir Charles Arundell was concerned, are
fully borne out by the correspondence of the English
Ambassador at Paris, Sir Edward Stafford, preserved
among the State Papers.^
Before the return of Father Persons from Rome, the
Duke of Parma, by direction of the King of Spain, sent
for him to come to him in Flanders, that he might confer
with him on the position of the English Catholics in the
Low Countries. The winter of 1583 was accordingly
spent by him at Tournai, in company with the Duke
and with Father Oliverius Manareus, the Visitor of that
Province. "About Corpus Christi day," says Father Persons,®
"I returned from Flanders to France, and in the way
passing from Ghent to Oudenarde, Mr. Owen and I were
in great peril to be taken by the English soldiers of
Mechlin, if we had not escaped by flight, as I did before
on my journey from Louvain to Beveren, where all our
carts and convoy were taken, and I escaped by the benefit
of a good horse.
"The rest then of this summer I remained at Paris,
and Mons. Duke of Alengon being dead, there was much
parieying between the princes for making their league
that brake forth the next spring after : whereupon I,
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 57.
^ The Letter-Books of Sir Amias Poulet, p. 381.
3 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 231.
D 2

.36 Life of Father William Weston.
buying myself divers sorts of good books, returned to
live for the next winter at Rouen, in a void house
given to the Society in a garden, where were with me
Mr. Stephen Brinckley, a virtuous gentleman that trans
lated Loarte's book under the name of James Sanker,
and Mr. Flinton, an honest merchant, who both of them
did help me to set forth my second edition of the Book
of Resolution much augmented."
When Persons was in Rome he had arranged with
Father Claude Aquaviva that Weston was to go to
England. The summons reached him early in 1584. The
journey across Spain and France from Seville to Paris is
hardly an easy one now-a-days ; it was difficult enough
then. Father Weston was going to a country where diffi
culties abounded. A spirit of mortification alone could
make light of thetn, and that spirit of mortification he lost
no opportunity of strengthening by practice. He was
provided by his superiors with a horse and money for his
journey. The horse he sold, and all the money of which
he became master was distributed to the poor. New
clothes were placed in his room, but he left them behind
him and there they were found after he was gone. He
would travel on foot, and, like the first fathers of the
Society in their journeys, beg his way. The practice of
holy poverty in its hardest form was the completion of
his preparation for the mission. His first duty was to see
Father Persons, and then to go to England.
Father Westoni had evidently reached Paris, and
was with Persons when the latter wrote, under the date
July 23, 1584, to beg the General not to be moved by
the dissuasions of the French Provincial, Father Claude
Matthieu, whose tender heart was touched by the adversi
ties suffered by the Catholics in England, and who thought
that it would be better for a time to send over neither
missionaries nor books. Persons, fearing lest tiiis timid
and suicidal policy should prevail, urged on the General

Life of Father William Weston. 37
that he should send other fathers on the English mission,
"Now' more than ever is our time to go forward, seeing
that God helps us so manifestly in our battles; so I
pray your Paternity for the love of God quickly to send
Father Henry [Garnet] from Rome, for the more I think
of it the more satisfied I am of his fitness. And this
Father William [Weston], if I am not greatly deceived,
your Paternity may trust that he will prove excellently
well adapted for this work, for he is a thoroughly trust
worthy man for all virtue, prudence, and edification ; and
by being here, what with reading some books and by
hearing conversations on the matters over there, he has
become' beyond belief on fire about it."
They were together in Paris a little more than three
months. This is the time of which Father Darbyshire
says that there were nine English Jesuits in the French
province, but we are not acquainted with the names of
more than four or five. Brother Ralph Emerson was
sent down to Dieppe to make preparations for their
passage, and on the 20th of August Persons wrote to
Aquaviva,^ "Ralph is just returned from the sea, where
he has . done wonders. He has planned two new ways of
passage, by which he has sent in. four priests and eight
hundred and ten books, but it has cost us dearly. Father
Weston in another twenty days will be at the sea with
Ralph." Father Persons parted from them in Paris on the
1 2th of September, and immediately after their departure he
wrote several letters. One was to the General, a long letter,®
in which he says that it is becoming exceedingly difficult
to obtain the funds to carry on the mission, for that now
there were not less than three hundred Seminary priests
in England, there were at least two hundred persons
to be maintained at Rheims in the College, and nearly as
many more who were not in the College, gentlemen for
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 73. ^ Ibid., P. fol. 461.
i* Ibid., P. fol. 494.

38 Life of Father William Weston.
the most part who were stripped of their possessions and
sent into exile, and that the Catholics in England who
had hitherto helped them, were themselves greatiy im
poverished by the system of fines, and had a grave and
increasing burden in the maintenance of the poor prisoners
who were suffering extremely from want. Of the Society,
he says that Father Holt is the only one at liberty,
and he in Scotland ; but that he has the greatest
hopes from the two fathers and the brother who had just
gone over. The second father here spoken of must be
John Curry.
On the 13th he tells Agazzari that he was obliged to
start immediately for Rouen, and sends his salutations to
Fathers Good, Enghiam, and Southwell.' Two days after
he wrote again to the same,^ expressing his regret at
the news that had reached him of Father Enghiam's
death, which took place at Eu on his way to England.
Richard Enghiam had been "a boy of her Majesty's
chapel,"^ several of the choristers of which had become
Catholics. Father Persons proposes that Father Thomas Marshall,
who had taught philosophy for nine years at Douay, should
be made confessor of the English College, as he showed
greater fitness for that position than for the work of the
mission, and that would set free Father William Good for
England. " Your Reverence must treat with our Father
General to send either Father Good or Father Henry
[Garnet], who, I hear, cannot go on with his lectures for
want of health. I should be content with Father Simon
Hunt or Father Southwell if his Paternity should think fit
to send them." Garnet and Southwell left Rome together
for the English mission about eighteen months after this.
Father Christopher Grene concludes* that Father Southwell
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 452. 2 ji,-j^ p f^i^ ^yg_
" P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxlvi. n. 18.
" Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 303.

Life of Father William Weston. 39
was newly ordained priest about the time when Persons
wrote these letters, for before July, 1584, he always
speaks of him as his "dearest brother Robert," but
after that date he is always " Father Robert.''
By the 30th of this same month of September Persons
was at Rouen, driven from Paris, as he wrote to Agazzari,'
by the plague breaking out in the house next to him there.
He says that Charles Basset was with him, and that Father
William and Ralph had embarked twelve days before. In
two months' time he had to bear the loss of Charles Basset,
who died at Rheims in November. He v/as a great grand
son of Sir Thomas More,^ an intimate friend of George
Gilbert, and his rival in making generous sacrifices for
religion. He left his money to Douay College, which
was then removed for a time to Rheims.® In the letter
in which Persons mentions his death to Agazzari, he
also says, " Yesterday I had a letter from your Father
Oliver Holiwell [a secular priest from the English College
at Rome], who is doing much good ; and all write in
the highest terms of Father Weston and of Ralph, supra
modum."
We may now let Father Weston tell his own story in
his Autobiography. It was written, we must remember,
between twenty and thirty years after the time at which its
narrative commences, and having been written by command
of the General, it has something of a confidential character.
The lapse of centuries has made that which he has written
public property ; but the time and circumstances under
which it was written are not to be forgotten during its
perusal. Its beginning in a single line disposes of the
painful journey on foot from Seville to Paris.
" Being summoned by an order from our Father General
to set out to labour in the harvest of souls in England, I
left Seville and travelled to Paris. There I tarried for
1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 478- " ^l>i<^-> P- fo'- ^^^
¦3 Ibid,P.io\.Z%.

40 Life of Father William Weston.
some days, and conversed with Father Persons. Then,
with Ralph Emerson, who had been appointed me as my
companion, I went to Rouen, and on to "the harbour of
Dieppe, where I embarked, and, having a fair wind, arrived
within sight of England in the middle of the day. On the
open coast, between two ports, we were set ashore ; myself,
that is to say, and Henry Hubert, whose house had been
plundered shortly before by the heretics, he himself
escaping to France to wait until their fury might be
appeased. We two, in company with his servant, arrived
by the shortest cuts at the house of a friend, the familiar
acquaintance of the above - mentioned Henry. Ralph,
meanwhile, remained in the ship with the baggage ; for we
had agreed that in the dead of the night we would send
him a horse for the conveyance of our goods, and likewise
of the books, of which he had brought over no small
number for distribution in England. This we accomplished
with all speed ; everything so far prospered, and when he
joined us all his treasures were safe and uninjured.
" On the next day, however, arrangements being made
for sailing by the river, Ralph intrusted his cargo of books
. to a light boat, and went to Norwich, for from thence it is
the custom that goods and merchandize should be conveyed
by the public riders and carriers from the neighbouring
places to London. As for ourselves, we took horse, pro
ceeded by gentle stages, and arrived first in London.
After we had entered the city by an open and much-
frequented street, a person met us, who addressed Henry
openly and simply by his name, at which we became not a
little uneasy, seeing that he had striven with all possible
precautions to prevent his return out of France from being
known. Nevertheless, we entered an hostelry and dined
there ; then, departing without loss of time, we turned
towards a distant quarter of the city, and waited with
anxiety for Ralph's arrival. As I was myself, however,
entirely unknown, I took courage and often went out to

Life of Father William Weston. 41
the spot where the carmen from Norwich were wont to
assemble, looking and waiting for my friend Ralph, whom,
with all joy, I met at length in the middle of the road.
" I questioned him about the condition of our affairs,
and he told me that all was right, but that the baggage was
still detained in the inn, and that it was not possible for it
to be removed without the host's consent and permission.
Here we could not make up our minds as to what course
we ought to pursue. It would be too painful and cowardly
to abandon the books ; and yet to claim and redeem them
seemed full of peril. On both sides the difficulty was
great ; he judged it best, however, to surmount all fear,
and not to relinquish lightly what had been intrusted to
his fidelity. He was confident, also, that in a case of
extremity friends would aid him to carry out his purpose.
Committing his business, therefore, first to God, he retui-ned
with courage to the inn, where he was immediately arrested
and brought before a magistrate. Having already searched
the packages, they examined Ralph concerning the books,
and thrust him into a dark and narrow prison. There they
kept him for a year and more, and so strictly that with all
our inquiries we were unable to find out what had become
of him or where they had concealed him. We thought
that he must have been transferred to the Tower of
London, whereas the prison in which they really placed
him was the one called the Poultry."
In the Counter in the Poultry poor Brother Ralph was
accordingly cooped up. After more than a year and a
half, when the keepers of the London prisons were called
upon by the Privy Council to make a return of the Jesuits
or recusants in their custody, the Counter contained no
other Catholic but Ralph. " May it please your Honours
to understand that we have no more in our custody but
one Ralph Emerson, for bringing over certain books
touching some of the honourable Council, who was com
mitted the 26th of September, anno 1584, by Sir Edward

42 Life of Father William Weston.
Osborne, then Lord Mayor of London, examined before
him, Mr. Topcliffe, Justice Young, the Master of St.
Catharine's, and others at sundry times. We have no
recusants or Jesuits but only the aforenamed Ralph
Emerson, whose examination remaineth in the hands of
the said Justices or town clerk. Your Honours' most humble,
— Robert Gyttyns, keeper." Endorsed, " 14th June,
1586. The keeper of the Counter in the Poultry."' And
Popham signed a report, September 25, 1586, that he had
"examined Ralph Emerson, committed by the lords for
bringing in books from beyond the seas, and was servant
to Persons or Campion."^
It is plain enough what the books were that cost Little
Ralph so dear. Two of Dr. Allen's books were just pub
lished ; the Duo Edicta of Elizabeth, that is, her two
proclamations against the Seminaries and Jesuits, published
at Treves in 1583, evidently under the editorship of Father
Gibbons ; and Allen's Apologia and Admonition to the
Afflicted Catholics. This, and Father Persons' recent
books, and perhaps Father Gibbons' Conccrtatio, may have
constituted the staple of Ralph's confiscated cargo, together
with the Rheims New Testament, which had not long been
published ; and the newest book of all, Dr. Allen's Modest
Defence of the English Catholics that suffer for tlteir faith
both at home and abroad. This was the book " touching
some of the honourable Council," for it was an answer to
Lord Treasurer Burghley's Excctition of Justice in Eng
land. Allen's book was so obnoxious to Elizabeth's
Ministers that Thomas Alfield, one of the Douay priests,
was indicted, not for his priesthood, but for disseminating
this book, from which long extracts are given in the
indictment.® Alfield was hanged as a felon for this offence
on the 5th of July, 1585. Emerson was treated with com
parative leniency, his life being spared ; though the first
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxc. n. 32. = Ibid. vol. cxciii. n. 66.
5 Lansdowize MSS. 33, n. 58 ; Strype's Annals, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 449.

Life of Father William Weston. 43
three years of his long imprisonment were spent in one of
the most miserable prisons in London.
When he had been in prison nine years he was exa
mined by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,' and Lord
Keeper Puckering's note of the examination is printed, in
a curtailed form, by Strype. "April 17, 1593, Ralph
Emerson, of the bishopric of Durham, scholar, of the age
of forty-two years or thereabouts, examined before Sir
Owen Hopton, Mr. Dr. Goodman, Dean of Westminster,
Mr. Dale, Mr. Fuller, and Mr. Young, who refuseth to be
sworn, but saith first that he hath been in prison these nine
years, viz., three years and a quarter in the Counter in the
Poultry, and the rest of that time hath been in the Clink ;
committed by Mr. Young for bringing over of books called
My Lord of Leicester s books, as he saith; and hath been
examined before Sir Francis Walsingham and before
Mr. Young, and before others divers times, and was never
indicted to his knowledge. Item, he confesseth he is a lay
Jesuit ; took that degree at Rome fourteen years since,
and was some time Campion's boy. And saith that when
he took that order he did vow chastity, poverty, and
obedience to the Superior of their house ; and if he sent
him to the Turk he must go. Item, being urged to take
the oath of allegiance to her Majesty, refuseth the same,
and saith he may not take any oath. Item, he saith he
hath neither lands, goods, nor other living, but will not set
down by whom he is maintained and now relieved. Item,
he refuseth to be reformed and to come to church, affirming
that he will live and die in his faith. Item,hemg demanded
whether if the Pope shall send an army into this realm
to establish that which he calleth the Catholic Romish
religion, he would in the like case fight for the Queen's
Majesty on her side against the said army, or on the
army's side, saith that he will never fight against her
Majesty, nor against the religion which he professeth."
1 Harleian MSS. -6998, fol. 65 ; Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 258;

44 Life of Father William Weston.
There we must leave Littie Ralph, confident in his
constancy through his continuous imprisonment for the
twenty years remaining of Elizabeth's reign. He was
taken on the 26th of September, and on the 9th of October
an informer, one Ralph Miller, a tailor, gave the following
description of him,' not knowing that he was already in
durance. " There is a little fellow called Ralph, who is in
England for Father Persons, is a great dealer for all the
Papists. He is a very slender, brown little fellow, of whom
Harrington [the martyr] can tell more certainly.'' Thus
Ralph Emerson's coming over served but to add one more
to the number of the members of the Society whose zeal
and patience were to be exercised within prison walls.
That this was far from a barren field to cultivate. Father
Gerard's narrative^ helps to show. In the Clink Ralph
was nejit-door neighbour to Father Gerard, and afterwards
we shall meet him again with Father Weston at Wisbech.

CHAPTER IV.
FATHER WESTON'S FIRST SHELTER.
" Such was Ralph's misadventure," Father Weston con
tinues, " at the time of our first entrance into England.
We, however, in the meantime did not cease our prayers to
God while we remained in the inn, imploring that good
success might attend him. But when we perceived that he
delayed to appear, and when we saw nothing of him either
on that day or the following, we suspected what must have
occurred, and, in despair of Ralph's coming, began to
consult what we were ourselves to do.
" The difficulties that surrounded us were by no means
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxxiii. u, 64.
2 Condition of Catholics, p. l.xx.

Life of Father William Weston. 45
light ; for as he was to have acted as our guide, and have
introduced us into the houses of our friends and of other
Catholics, we could not easily determine what was at
present to be done. I had received from Father Persons
certain introductions and tokens of friendship addressed to
a gentlewoman of the name of Be[llamy], of whom further
mention will be made. She had been the hostess of Father
Persons, and as her house was spacious and she herself
was wealthy, and, being a zealous Catholic, full of goodwill
towards the father, under her roof he had done much
work, as I heard, and written much.
" Now the house of this lady was three leagues or more
beyond London ; to it, therefore, we went, requesting to
speak with her. As soon as she appeared I delivered my
tokens, secretly, however, as was necessary in such circum
stances. She declared, nevertheless, that my words were
perfectly strange to her, as she had never seen Father
.Persons or known him in any way ; much less was it
possible that any such messages should pass between them.
Seeing, then, that I must make no delay, I departed
quickly, thinking that it was of no use to press the mattet
further. I imagined myself to be walking upon unsafe
ground, and feared lest I had made some mistake either in
the house or the person, or that circumstances themselves
might have changed, as is frequently the case in such a
disturbed state of the kingdom. Henry and I, therefore,
called for our horses and withdrew, but by a different road
from the one by which we had arrived. We were afraid
lest, if by chance we had come to the house of an enemy,
messengers might be despatched who would either search
or arrest us as enemies to the State.
" Our anxiety was not altogether without foundation ;
for, as it was afterwards reported to us, she had given
refuge to three or four Catholic priests, who lay hidden in
her house, and to another person, a layman, and impostor,
who passed himself off as a Catholic, and made an

46 Life of Father William Weston.
iniquitous pretence of religion. This man, as soon as we
were gone, followed us in order to find out v/hat manner of
men we were ; but as we changed our route, and he himself
pursued the public highway, he was deceived in his expec
tations. Later on he assumed his real character as a traitor
and notorious persecutor, and brought affliction upon many
persons and confusion into families ; not long, however,
with impunity, for he paid the just penalty of his crimes
under the sword of an enemy with whom he was engaged
in a quarrel, and died a miserable death."
The house to which Father Weston had gone was the
manor-house of Woxindon, or Uxendon, at Harrow-on-
the-Hill, which manor was granted by Richard II. to
Thomas Godelac, or Goodlack, an ancestor of the Bel
lamys.' Thomasine Goodlack, his daughter and heiress,
married Sir John Boys, and their great grandson, Thomas
Boys of Harrow, married Joan, the sister and heiress of
John Nix, Bishop of Norwich in Henry VII.'s time. They
had two daughters, Mabel and Plesaunce, of whom the
elder married Richard Bellamy of Hedley, Middlesex,
bringing to her husband the manor of Uxendon, and the
right to quarter the arms of Boys, Goodlack, and Nix.^
Their son William married Catharine, the daughter of
Richard Page of Harrow, and at the time of Father
Weston's visit William was dead, and Uxendon was in the
possession of his eldest son, Richard Bellamy, and his wife
Catharine, the daughter of William Forster of Cobdock, in
Suffolk. This was the devoted household which for many
years was the most famous refuge for priests in the south
of England. An incessant and unequal warfare was carried
on with the pursuivants, who looked, in the first instance,
when in search of a " seminary," to the Bellamys. In a
note of "houses that are to be searched,"^ August 2I,
^ Lyson's Environs of London, vol. ii. p. 563.
= Harleian MSS. 1551, fol. 5.
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. c.\cii. n. 48.

Life of Father William Weston. 47
1586, the first on the list is " Mrs. Bellamy's house : one
house she hath called Okington [Uxendon] at Harrow-of-
the-Hill, the other house in Kentish Town by Pankeridge."
When Father Weston arrived, the widowed m^other of
Richard Bellamy was yet alive. We hear something of
her in the " offer " of a subsidy 1 which she was obliged to
make, in common with all the recusants of the kingdom,
to arm her Majesty against the Spaniards. " Catharine
Bellamy, widow, saith that she is very aged and sickly,
and is indebted above 60/., and that all her living was
never above 60/. a year, being her jointure, and that she is
charged with the keeping of divers of her children, and
therefore to get her debts paid, and to be discharged of
her labour and travail about the husbandry of her living,
which resteth chiefly upon tillage, she about one year past
hath devised all her lands and tenements unto her son,
Thomas Bellamy, reserving to herself 30/. rent. And
further she saith that she did lately pay for thfe furnishing
of an horse 25/., and yet she is willing to offer to her
Majesty 10/. yearly, and more would do if she were able,
— K. B., 14th March, 1585."
Her brother, William Page, makes an " offer " likewise,
into which an error must have crept as to the value of his
"living."^ "28° die Martii, 1585. William Page of Harrow,
in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, saith that his living
is not above 10/. a year, yet nevertheless he will give 10/.
yearly, — ^WlLL. PAGE."
It is probable that all the Page family were not
Catholics, for in the Letters Patent in the 14th year of
Elizabeth's reign (i 571-2), incorporating the school, that
John Lyon had just founded, which has made the name of
Harrow famous, the first Governors of the school were
Sir Gilbert Gerard, the Attorney-General, John Page of
Wembley, and Thomas Page of Sudbury Court. Wembley
1 P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxxxvii. n. 48 xiii.
i" Ibid. n. 48 xi.

48 Life of Father William Weston.
was a manor that once belonged to the Priory of Kilburn,
and this John Page lived to see seventy-five children and
grandchildren, and died in 1623. A manuscript history of
Harrow in the British Museum,' written at the beginning
of this century, says that " Wembley belongs to Richard
Page, Esq. It was conveyed to his ancestor in 1543, and
furnishes almost the only instance in Middlesex of a family
now existing, resident proprietors for two centuries and
a half. Woxendon, or Uxendon, is also the property of
Richard Page, Esq.," to whose family it passed from the
Bellamys, early in the last century.
Father Francis Page, S.J., who was martyred in 1602,
was a member of this family, and brought up a Protestant
He was converted by Father Gerard, and has left as
a record of his imprisonment in the Tower of London,
as narrated by that father,^ an inscription on the walls
of the Beauchamp Tower, " Dieu est mon esperance, —
F. Page." ' William Page, whose " offer " has just been
given, was a Catholic ; and he is the " Uncle Page, a
close prisoner by Mr. Topcliffe's commandment," of whom
Richard Bellamy speaks. This was not his only im
prisonment. A note in the State Papers says : " Counter
in Wood Street. William Page committed by the lords
[of the Privy Council], discharged by Mr. Young, Sth
October [1586]."®
This was an arrest on occasion of the Babington Plot
His sister, Catharine Bellamy, the widow, was arrested at
the same time. " Mrs. Catharine Bellamy was committed
to the Fleet on Saturday, the 14th of August, 1586."* She
was soon removed to the Tower of London,^ and her. name
appears in a list of prisoners in the Tower, September 25,
1586, signed by Chief Justice Popham, where .she is
bracketed with Sir Thomas Gerard.
^ Harleian MSS. 2211. ^ Condition of Catholics, p. ex.
" P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxv. n. 34.
* Ibid. vol. cxcii. n. 49. » Ibid. vol. cxcv. n. 34.

Life of Father William Weston. 49
" Sir Thomas Gerard, knight "j both indicted of high
Catharine Bellamj'-, widow J treason."
It was resolved by the Privy Council that the aged and
sickly widow should not be spared. " The lords' resolu
tion upon prisoners, November 30, 1586," says, "Catharine
Bellamy, indicted for harbouring of traitors and seminaries,
to be proceeded against in course of law."' And more
significant still, the original notes" in Sir Francis Walsing
ham's hand, order " Kat Bellami To be arrayned and con-
dempned." In those days a Secretary of State could take
for granted that condemnation of a Papist would follow
arraignment The good widow died a martyr's death in
the Tower of London, the hardships of which rendered a
public execution unnecessary. Her youngest son, Jeremy,
was executed with Ballard and Babington, September 21,
1586 ; and he found general sympathy, for his sole offence
was that he had -relieved Barnwell and Dunne, who had
hidden themselves in a wood near Harrow. Another of
her sons (probably Bartholomew) shared her imprisonment
in the Tower, and gained with her the martyr's crown, for
he died under torture in that cruel place.
She had in all six children : Richard, the eldest, to
whom we return presently ; Thomas, whose name occurs
in her " offer " (who settled at Studley, in Buckingham
shire, and married Catharine, heiress of John Symonds of
South Mimms) ; Bartholomew, Robert, and Jeremy ; and
one daughter, Dorothy, the wife of Anthony Frankyshe of
Water Stothard, Bucks, who died in 1574, and whose tomb,
Lysons tells us, was in the nave of Harrow Church.
Robert's sufferings for religion are shown by an entry
in a list® of prisoners in Newgate, June 13, 1586, when he
had been confined eighteen months in that prison. "Robert
Bellamy, late of Harrow-upon-the-Hill, in the county of
Middlesex, gentleman, was committed unto Newgate the
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 32. ^ Ibid. vol. cxcv. n. 30.
^ Ibid. vol. cxc. n. 29.
E

50 Life of Father William Weston.
30th day of January, 1585, by Mr. Young and other of
the commissioners for the Romish religion ; and at the
sessions holden the i8th day of April, 1586, was convicted
for the hearing of Mas.s, and had judgment accordingly."
His name appears as prisoner in the Clink, in a list dated
December 7, 1586, where he is called " Robert Bellamy of
London, yeoman, committed by Mr. Young the 30th of
June, 1585."' "Jan." and "June" are easily mistaken for
one another, so that the month of his arrest is doubtful.
The penalty for hearing Mass, by the 23rd Eliz., cap. i,
was one hundred marks (661. I'^s. ^d) and one year's
imprisonment. But hearing Mass was adjudged^ to be
"procuring or maintaining a minister " to say a service
other than that of the Common Prayer-Book, and the
penalty, by the Act of Uniformity,® was "for the first
offence a hundred marks, or if that be not paid in six
weeks, six months' imprisonment ; for the second offence,
four hundred marks, or that not paid in six weeks, one
year's imprisonment ; for the third offence, forfeiture of
goods and chattels, and imprisonment for life."
Robert was arrested very shortly after Father Weston's
visit, and was kept in Newgate fifteen months before trial.
It is interesting to learn that the Mass for hearing which
he was punished, was said by one of the martyrs. William
Thompson, called Blackburn, from the place of his birth,
suffered at Tyburn on the 20th April, 1586. The martyr
was taken prisoner with Robert Bellamy, and tried at the
same sessions. This and other particulars respecting the
adventures and sufferings of Robert during the next seven
years, we learn from his examination* in the Marshalsea in
April, 1593.
"Robert Bellamy of Harrow-at-Hill, gentleman, of
fifty-two years, examined, saith that he hatii been in prison
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxv. n. 51.
" Dyer's Reports, 203. a i Eliz. cap. ii.
* Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 259.

Life of Father William Weston. 5 1
six years. First, being taken with Blackburn, a Seminary
priest, in his house at Mass, with divers others. Committed
to Newgate. Indicted for hearing of Mass, according to
the statute. Did afterwards break prison, with others, and
fled into Scotland, and from thence into Germany ; and
there taken by Duke Casimir, and by him sent into
England. Then committed by Sir Francis Walsingham.
By the means of Robert Robinson, who had twenty marks '
for his labour, being a suitor to the Privy Council, was by
their Honours set at liberty. Afterwards committed again
by Mr. Young and other commissioners, about twelve
months since, or somewhat more. Then in Easter set at
liberty again, upon bonds taken with sureties that he
should appear at the next sessions ; in the meantime,
should resort to the Dean of Westminster for conference.
And again, being committed by Mr. Young for being in
the court as a man suspected. But will not yet come
to church. "Being demanded, if any army shall come into this
realm by the Catholic Romish authority, sent from the
Pope to establish the Catholic Romish religion (as he
calleth it) within this realm, whether in the like case he
would fight for the Queen's Majesty against such an army,
or against the Queen's Majesty and her forces on the said
army's side, saith he will fight for the Queen's Majesty
against any such army, and this he affirmeth upon his
oath. Saith he hath not been at church these fifteen
years ; but yet is not indicted for recusancy."
We now turn to the eldest brother, Richard Bellamy,
and his wife Catharine. They had five children, Frith and
Thomas, Audrey, Mary, and Anne, and from the last of
these came the affliction that cost them more sorrow than
all the persecution they underwent. The story is well
known how this poor girl, when a helpless prisoner, was
despoiled of her virtue and, driven to despair, married her
^ The mark was 13^-. i^.
E 2

52

Life of Father William Weston.

gaoler, and became in his hands an instrument for the
destruction of her father's house, and of the priests who
risked their lives for her soul. She betrayed Father
Robert Southwell, and appeared as a witness against him
at his trial. ' It is of her that her father speaks in the con
clusion of the following paper.
It was in opposition to some petition on the part of
the Bellamys that Topcliffe wrote the " exceptions " which
they have attempted to answer. The following is what
they presented to Lord Keeper Puckering^ —

" Mr. Topcliffe : his Exceptions to
this Petition.

" It is especially known
to the Queen's Majesty that
Bellamy's houses be within
six miles of four or five of
her ordinary houses and
courts. "I. This Richard Bel
lamy and his wife be to be
charged never to have lived
in obedience to her Majesty's
laws but in disobedience and
infamously, for he and his
wife have received, relieved,
and harboured in their house
15 or 16 Jesuits and Semi
nary priests sithence the
statute of 27™°. Elizabeth
Reginje [1584-5], boarded
them a long while, all being
of the most traitorous sort of
practisers. ¦* Condition of Catholics, p. ccxiv., cc-xviii.
' Harleian MSS. 6998, fol. 23.

"A true Answer to Mr. Top-
cliff^s Exceptions against
Richard Bellamy and his
wife. "If the said Bellamy's
house were within so few
poles as they are miles which
is 8 or 9 at the least, he
trusteth in God he should
never be dangerous or hurt
ful unto her Majesty. His
obedience and loyalty is and
hath been such, and so for
ever shall continue to her
Majesty. " To the first he saith he
never before or sithence the
statute did relieve nor board
any knowing them to be
priests or traitorous practi
sers of their company.

Life of Father William Weston.

53

"2. Both he and his
wife received and harboured
Doctor Bristow that writ the
"Motives," a most traitorous
book and slanderous against
the Queen's Majesty, and
kept him there being brought
thither sick, and he and his
wife called Bristow the Priest
there Cousin Spring to keep
him unknown, and he died
in their house, and [they]
caused him to be buried in
Harrow Church by another
Seminary priest called Hall
alias Birkett who continued
there. " 3. This Hall alias Bir
kett did continue much with
Richard Bellamy and his
wife in their house, and that
priest did travel over sea
from thence in company with
Robert Barnes, another trait
orous dissuaded guest of
theirs,to Doctor Allen. They
departed one St. Gregory's
day and returned upon St.
George's day, both lousy with
lying on shipboard, with a
pair of black stony beads
from Dr. Allen the arch-
traitor, and this Hall alias
' Birkett was boarded in Bel
lamy's house and Barnes
paid for his board.

" 2. He denieth that ever
he received Doctor Bristow,
but one Springe which was
a kinsman unto his wife, who
being sick at London came
down for the help of his
health and died within 12
hours or thereabouts imme
diately after his coming, and
was buried by the Curate at
Harrow and not by any
Seminary priest, whatsoever
Mr. Topcliffe reporteth.

"3. To the third he saith
that it is not true that the
said Hall alias Birkett did
continue much in the house
of the said Richard Bellamy,
neither was he ever boarded
there.

54

Life of Father William Weston.

"4. Wingfildea&i-Davies
alias Cooke a Seminary
priest boarded and was har
boured in their house a
long time when Hall used
thither. " 5. Howlforde alias Ac
ton another Seminary priest
was harboured there when
he fled from the Sheriff's
men of Cheshire out of the
Strand, by the same token
that the maiden in Bellamy's
house did pick thorns out of
his legs gotten with running
thither through hedges in
the night, and this Howlforde
alias Acton used to play at
Tables with Richard Bellamy
aforesaid. "6. And Howlforde and
Wingfilde were sent to Bab
ington and Barnewell the
traitors into the wood from
Bellamy's house when Bab-
ington's treason was in hand.
" 7. Barrowes alias Wal-
grave a Seminary priest was
received and harboured there,
and treated of marriage for
one of his brothers.
"8. Southwell a//«i' Cotton
did use thither divers times
before that time he was
taken, and preached there

"4. One Wingfilde a
schoolmaster did sometimes
come to his house, but he
knew him not to be a priest

" 5. He knoweth not
Howlforde alias Acton nor
of any such, nor never heard
of any such man.

" 6. The said Bellamy at
the apprehension of Babing
ton and Barnewell was called
before Sir Edward Harbert
knight, Mr. Barnes and Mr.
Paine, and found clear con
cerning this Article.
" 7. There never came to
his house any called Bar
rowes or Walgrave being a
priest to his knowledge.
" 8. Sowthewell did never
before his apprehension
come to his house, and that
day he was from home and

Life of Father William Weston.

55

that a Papist might lawfully
forswear himself before an
heretical ruler. Queen or
Magistrate. And so do
both Bellamy and his wife,
being asked the truth of
these priests &c. as that
Davies \alias\ Wingfield was
not there at Bellamy's house
at that time [when] South-
[well was] there, whereby
Wingfilde escaped from be
ing taken.
" 9. Horrible and most
traitorousbooks both printed
and written were found by
me in that house by multi
tudes, besides many dis
persed ; so as their houses
were like stationers' shops.

" 10. And they have con
cealed Francis Southewell's
two fairest horses to the
great hinderment of the

three days before. And the
said Sowthewell was taken
within 12 hours after his
coming (as he hath heard
say), and thus Winckefilde
the schoolmaster was there
that day but stayed not one
hour, and further saith that
his daughters told him that
Mr. Topliffe said unto them
that the same Wincke[filde]
did betray Sowthewell.
" 9. The books which he
fo[und] in [the house] were
there left by his mother un
known to him. Other books
he found in further
saith if any of them had
been trai[to]rous books, it
had been fit for [Mr. To]p-
liffe to have received them
before some other justice by
some special note under
[both] their hands the better
to charge his house withal,
for otherwise he may say
what books soever he found
in any other place he found
them there, and especially
now being almost three years
since. " 10. He never concealed
any of Sowthewell's horses,
but if Sowthewell had had
any horse there, his house

56 Life of Father William Weston.
service of the Queen's Ma- is a manor, and might well
jesty and of the State. have seized them.
"II. Besides they have "ii. His daughter Au-
married their daughter Au- drye was not married by
drye at one of their three his consent, neither knew
houses by a Seminary priest he thereof in half a year
to a Papist of late to show after, which was to him
their obedience. a great grief, for that she
might at that time if she
had been ruled by him have
had a husband which was
heir to a thousand marks by
the year.
" And further for proof of the truth of these answers
the petitioner humbly craveth the examinations of him
self taken before the late Bishop of London, Mr. Wrothe,
Mr. Barnes, Mr. Hawlie, Mr. Young and others, as also the
examinations of his wife, his two daughters, and his uncle
Page, now close prisoners by Mr. Topliffe's command
ment, with the examination of one John Shepherde and
one Humfrey Heigood, who were examined by Mr. Top
cliffe and others and threatened, imprisoned, and fair
promised to confess against his said wife and himself what
they would, to be brought forth, that thereby your Honours
in charity and in your grave considerations may the
freelier deliver her, her two daughters and his uncle Page,
out of this miserable estate of imprisonment, either upon
bond or otherwise, to be forthcoming at all times to make
their purgation, if your Honours so please, by very pregnant
circumstances, that Mr. Topcliffe's drift in these accusations
is rather to benefit one Jones, some time his servant and
after servant unto the keeper of the Gatehouse, who got
with child while she was a prisoner a daughter of this
petitioner committed thither about three years since and
more, and after married her, for whom he now seeketh a
far greater portion than either this petitioner's ability may

Life of Father William Weston. 57
well afford or his daughter's duty towards him deserveth
or her advancement requireth, which he thinketh were
rather fit to be punished than in any sort favoured."
The accusations brought by Topcliffe against Richard
Bellamy are exceedingly interesting and accurate. No
wonder, when the child turned Queen's evidence against
her father.
It is true that Dr. Richard Bristow, one of the first
founders of Douay College, died in his house. He was the
author of the Motives (Antwerp, 1574) and many other
works. Dodd says, that "according to the character given
of him in the College records, he might rival Allen in
prudence, Stapleton in acuteness, Campion in eloquence,
Wright in theology, and Martin in languages." He came
over to England in a consumption brought on by his
labours, setting out from Rheims for Spa on the 13th of
May ; but receiving no benefit, he returned to the College
on the 26th of July. He is affectionately mentioned in
the College diary as venerabilis vir et magister noster. He
left for England on the 23rd. of September, and died at
Uxendon on the 14th' of October, 1581.
George Birket, the priest next mentioned in Topcliffe's
accusations, was a man of considerable eminence, as may
be gathered from the fact that in 1608 he was chosen
archpriest, and continued in that office till his death in
1614. Bartoli gives ^ a beautiful letter written by him
just before Father Weston's coming over, addressed to
Father Agazzari, August 13, 1584, imploring the General
" in the name of all the priests and of all the Catholics
of our nation " to send some members of the Society to
take the place and carry on the work of Campion and
Persons. The "Robert Barnes, another traitor," that Topcliffe
1 Dodd (vol. ii. p. 60) erroneously says the 1 8th.
a InghUterra, lib. iv. cap. viii. p. 278; Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 74.

58 Life of Father William Weston.
unites with Birket, was the brave layman, who was sen
tenced with Mrs. Jane Wiseman to the peine forte et dure
in July, 1598, for refusing to plead when arraigned with
Father Jones, alias Buckley, the Franciscan martyr.
Barnes was an excellent Catholic, whose name often
appears in the records of the persecution.
Next to him Topcliffe mentions Davies and Holford,
two priests and the latter a martyr, and Topcliffe tells
of Mr. Holford the same story which Bishop Challoner
gives on the authority of this very Mr. Davies. As the
passage in question relates to Mr. Bellamy's house, which
Mr. Davies does not name, but which Topcliffe enables us
to identify, it may be well to insert it here for comparison.
Mr. Davies had been the means of Mr. Holford's
conversion. " Meeting v/ith him again some four years
after," Mr. Holford having meanwhile been ordained
priest at Rheims, " I acquainted him where I lay myself,"
says Mr. Davies, meaning Mr. Bellamy's, we may be sure;
"where, to his welcome at his first coming, the house
was searched upon All Souls' day, when Mr. Bavin
[Bavant] was making a sermon. The pursuivants were
Newall and Worsley ; but we all three escaped." As
Thomas Holford was ordained April 7, 1583, his con
version will have been 1579, and this adventure in 1584,
about the time of Father Weston's arrival.
"After that," continues Mr. Davies, "he fell into a
second danger, in the time of the search for Babington
and his company [July, 1586], of which tragedy Sir Francis
Walsingham was the chief actor and contriver, as I
gathered by Mr. Babington himself, who was with me
the night before he was apprehended : for after he,
Mr. Holford, had escaped two or three watches, he came
to me [at Uxendon] ; and the next day the house where
I remained was searched, but we both escaped by a secret
place which was made at the foot of the stairs, where we
lay, going into a hay-barn.

Life of Father William Weston. 59
" Which troubles being passed, Mr. Holford the next
year after went into his own country, which was Cheshire,
hoping to gain some of his friends there into the Catholic
Church: but. there he was apprehended, and imprisoned
in the Castle of West Chester \i.c. Chester], and from
thence was sent with two pursuivants (as I take it) to
London : who lodging in Holborn, at the sign of the
Bell or the Exchequer (I do not well remember whether),
the good man rising about five in the morning, pulled
on his yellow stocking upon one of his legs, and had
his white boot hose on the other, and walked up and
down the chamber. One of his keepers looked up (for
they had drank hard the night before, and watched late),
and' seeing him there, fell to sleep again ;• which he
perceiving went down into the hall. The tapster met him
and asked him, ' What lack you, gentleman } ' But the
tapster being gone, ]\Ir. Holford went out, and so down
Holborn to the Conduit, where a Catholic gentleman
meeting him (but not knowing him) thought he was a
madman. Then he turned into the little lane into Gray's
Inn Field. What ways he went afterwards I know not ;
but betwixt ten and eleven of the clock at night, he came
to me where I lay [at Mr. Bellamy's] about eight miles
from London. He had eaten nothing of all that day ;
his feet were galled with gravel stones, and his legs all
scratched with briars and thorns (for he dared not to keep
the highway), so that the blood flowed in some places.
The gentleman and mistress of the house caused a bath
with sweet herbs to be made, and their two daughters
washed and bathed his legs and feet ; after which he
went to bed." This will have been in 1587. If Audrey
Bellamy was married then, Anne will have been one of
these two daughters, and this accounts for the accuracy
of Topcliffe's knowledge. She has, however, attributed
her charity to " the maiden."
"After this escape," adds Mr. Davies, and a few words

6o Life of Father William Weston.
more suffice to tell all that we know of Thomas Holford's
martyrdom, "he avoided London for a time, but the next
year, 1 588, he came to London to buy him a suit of apparel.
At which time, going to Mr. Swithin Wells' house, near
St Andrew's Church, in Holborn, to serve God [to say
Mass] Hodgkins, the pursuivant, espying him as he came
forth, dogged him into his tailor's house, and there appre
hended him. He was executed on. the 28th of August,
at Clerkenwell." As for Mr. Davies himself, he was taken but not
known to be a priest, and was released on bail, to the
great chagrin, as we shall see, of the pursuivants who
took him, Berden, a spy, reported' to Sir Francis Wal
singham, "Davies, alias Winckfield, late prisoner jn the
Counter in Wood Street This companion was shifted
out for a layman by the name of Davies. He was the
principal person that received Campion, Parsons, and
Edmonds, and conducted them through England, and
the corrupter of William Fytton and his mother-in-law
and all their family, with divers others."
There is one more who is mentioned by Topcliffe in the
paper on which we are commenting, and that is the vene
rated name of Robert Southwell. The indictment of the
poet and martyr says, that " not . having the fear of God
before his eyes and slighting the laws and statutes of this
realm of England, without any regard to the penalty therein
contained, on the 20th day of June, the thirty-fourth year
of our Lady the Queen, at Uxendon, in the county of
Middlesex, traitorously and as a false traitor to our said-
Lady the Queen, was and remained, contrary to the form
of the statute in such case set forth and provided, and
contrary to the peace of our said Lady the Queen, her
crown and dignity." This gives us the exact date^ of
Father Southwell's apprehension, Tuesday, June 20, 1592.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol, cxcv. n. 72.
" Oliver erroneously says Sunday, the 5th of July.

Life of Father William Weston. 6i
Topcliffe, by a lie common in those times, told
the Bellamys that Father Southwell was betrayed by
Mr. Davies the priest : in his letter, however, to Queen
Elizabeth the day after his arrest, he said that Nicholas,
the underkeeper of the Gatehouse, was the man that caused
him to take him. This Nicholas Jones was the husband
of Anne Bellamy.
This is the letter' that Topcliffe wrote to Elizabeth.
"I have him here within my strong chamber in West
minster churchyard. I have made him assured for starting
or hurting of himself by putting upon his arms a pair of
[irons] ; and so to keep him either from view or conference
with any but Nicholas, the underkeeper of the Gatehouse,
and my boy ; Nicholas being the man that caused me to
take him. I send an examination of him faithfully taken,
and of him foully and suspiciously answered, and for what?
Knowing the nature and doings of the man may it please
your Majesty to see my simple opinion, constrained in
duty to utter it Upon this present taking of him, it is
good forthwith to enforce him to answer truly and directly,
and so to prove his answers true in haste, to the end that
such as be deeply concerned in his treachery may not have
time to start, or make shift to use any means in common
prisons ; either to stand upon or against the wall (which
above all things exceedeth, and hurteth not) will give
warning. But if your Highness' pleasure be to know
anything in his heart, to stand against the wall, his feet
standing upon the ground, and his hands but as high as he
can reach against the wall (like a trick at Trenshemarm)
will enforce him to tell all ; and the truth proved by the
sequel. (i) The answer of him to the question of the
Countess of Arundel. And (2) that of Father Persons
deciphereth him. It may please your Majesty to consider
I never did take so weighty a man, if he be rightly con
sidered. . . . And so humbly submitting myself to your
^ Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 185.

62 Life of Father William Weston.
Majesty's direction in this or in any service with any
hazard, I cease until I have your pleasure. Here at
Westminster with my charge and ghostly father, this
Monday the 22nd [21st] of June, 1592. Your Majesty's
faithful servant, — Ryc. Topclyff." And her Majesty's
pleasure was that Richard Topcliffe should work his
wicked will on Robert Southwell. Ten times was he
tortured by being hanged by the hands against the wall ;
a torture so severe that Father Southwell said he would
sooner have died ten times. And then after this he
endured two months' imprisonment in the Gatehouse,
before he was committed to the Tower, under the custody
of Nicholas Jones and his wife, Anne Bellamy.
By betraying the hiding-places at Uxendon, Anne
knew that she was bringing her father and mother under
the capital law for felony. She was probably assured that
their lives would be spared, and that every effort would
be made to bring them into conformity. The sort of
influence that was brought to bear upon them the follow
ing letters instructively show.
They were arrested in virtue of an order, which we
take from the Introduction to the Reverend Alexander
Grosa-rt's noble edition of Southwell's Poems.' "That
Mr. Justice Young, or some other like commissioner, do
apprehend Richard Bellamy of Oxendon, in the parish
of Harrow-on-the-Hill, and his wife, and the two sons
and their two daughters, in whose house Father Southwell,
alias Mr. Cotton, was taken by Mr. Toplay [Topcliffe] a
commissioner, and where a number of other priests have
been received and harboured, as well when Southwell hath
been there, as when Mr. Barnes alias Stranudge alias Hynd
alias Wingfield, hath been a sojourner in Bellamy's house.
And they to be committed to several prisons : Bellamy
and his wife to the Gatehouse, and their two daughters
to the Clink, and their two sons to St. Catharine's, and
1 r. ixv.

Life of Father William Weston. ^-^
to be examined straitly for the weighty service of the
Queen's Majesty."
That that order was written by Topcliffe himself is
plain enough. The Bellamys were arrested while he
was out of town, and not disposed of as he had arranged,
so he wrote thus,- ungrammatically as usual, to Lord
Keeper Puckering :
" It may please your lordship, at my return out of the
country this night, I did hear of Mrs. Bellamy's two
daughters committed to the Gatehouse, but the old hen
that hatched those chickens (the worst that ever was) is
as yet at a lodging. Let her be sent to the prison there
at the Gatehouse, and severed from her daughters, and
her son Thomas Bellamy committed to St Catharine's,
and you shall hear proof cause enough, and see it work
a strange example thereabouts. But Mr. Young nor any
other commissioner must know that I do know thereof,
or am a doer in this device : Nor by will other than his
lordship that was with you when you did conclude what
should be done at Greenwich last. Let them feel a day
or so imprisonment, and then your lordship shall see me
play the part of a true man with charity, in the end to
the honour of the State. And so in haste at midnight
this Friday. Your lordship's at commandment, — Ryc.
TOPCLYFFE. To the right honourable my sin[gular good]
lord. Sir John Puckering, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal
of England." Whether "this Friday" was the 23rd or the 30th, of
that June is not certain ; probably the latter, and in that
case on that day, Mrs. Bellamy got the following letter'
from her " true man with charity." In it he hypocritically
takes some expressions of obedience to the Queen as
intended for faithfulness to her religion.
" Mrs. Bellamy, it may be that I did leave you in fear
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccxliii. n. 26.
2 Harleian MSS. 6998, fol. 21.

64 Life of Father William Weston.
the other night for the cause that fell out in your house,
better known to yourself than to any of us that were there.
But because I myself found you carried a duty and
reverence to the name of my Sovereign Queen and yours,
and showed the fruit of obedience you know wherein, I
presumed to adventure to show you more favour than like
offenders unto you have had showed in like cause. And
your sons and your household for your sake, for I know
her Majesty's pleasure is, and so hath always been my
disposition, to make a difference of offenders and offences,
and between those that owe duty and perform duty to
her Majesty and such as show malice unto her in word and
deed. This day I have made her privy of your faithfiil
doings, which traitorous Papists will say is faithless. You
seeming to bear by this your doing a good heart smitted
with a little scrupulousness her Majesty is disposed to take
better than you have deserved and I trust will be your
gracious lady at my humble suit which you .shall not want
without bribe and with a good conscience of my part
And therefore take no care for yourself, and for your
husband so as he come to me to say somewhat to him for
his good, your children are like to receive more favour so
as from henceforth they continue dutiful in heart and show.
And although your daughter Anne have again fallen in
some folly there is no time past but she win favour. And
knowing so much of her Majesty's mercy towards you as
I would wish you to deserve more and more and no way
to give cause to her Majesty to cool her mercy. And so I
end at my lodging in Westminster churchyard the 30th
day of June, 1592." The signature is cut off. The letter
would hardly be in its present place among Sir John
Puckering's papers, if Mrs. Bellamy had not sent it to the
Lord Keeper by way of complaint against Topcliffe.
Two years elapse before we hear of the Bellamys
again. Richard, who had been what our fathers called
" a schismatic," that is one who knew the Catholic religion

Life of Fatner i-^itiiam iveston. 65
to be true and who went to the Protestant church, though
he knew it to be a sin, in order thus to obtain some cessa
tion of the persecution, had gone into Belgium. There
Father Henry More says he saw him in exile and poverty,
ampla defectum fortuna, extorrem, et reliquam exiguo quod
superesse potuit traJientem vitam} Catharine his wife, and
his two sons at length " conformed," but the two daugh
ters Audrey Wilford, now a widow, and Mary, held out
bravely to the last. Here are their examinations,^ taken
in 1594, and it makes one's heart ache to read them.
"The examination of Katherine Bellamy, wife of
Richard Bellamy of Harrow Hill, taken before me Richard
Young the i8th day of July, 1594.
" The said examinate saith that she doth go to church,
and doth hear divine service and sermons, but she saith
that she hath not received the Communion.
"Item, she saith that she hath two sons, one Frith
and the other Thomas, and they do go to church every
Sunday. "Item, she saith that she hath two daughters, one
called Awdrey, the other Mary, and they be in house with
her, but they do not go to church.
" Item, she saith that Mr. William Page her uncle doth
lodge at her house and doth not go to church.
" Thomas Bellamy, of the age of twenty-two or twenty-
three years, examined saith that he goeth to church and
heareth divine service and sermons also. And although he
did not receive the Communion the last Easter, yet now
he is willing. He saith also that Mr. William Page lieth
at his father's, but goeth not to church.
"Awdry Wilford, widow, examined saith that she
remaineth with her mother Mrs. Bellamy, and being asked
1 Hist. Prov. lib. v. n. 25, p. 192.
" P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccxlix. n. 31.

66 Life of Father William Weston.
whether she goeth to church, answereth No, and saith
that her conscience will not give her to go to church, and
(so far as she can remember) she was never at church in
all her life-time, and refuseth also now to go, or to have
conference. " Mary Bellamy, of the age of twenty-seven years.
examined saith that she hath dwelt always with her
mother and hath not been at church these fourteen years.
And being asked why, saith that her conscience will not
suffer her, neither will she now go to church, or yet admit
any conference."

CHAPTER V.
THE EXILES OF 1585.
"We meanwhile returned to London," Father Weston,
that is, and his companion Henry Hubert, " there to devise
new plans for our future proceedings. Mr. Henry had
received news while still in France, that his wife whom
he had left with child had retired from her own home, and
was living secretly in the house of a Catholic until the
birth of her child, in order to avoid the danger of its falling
into the hands of heretics and receiving baptism according
to their rite.' We thought it good to make an attempt,
for we were not certain of her being concealed there, so I
went to the house, for Mr. Henry did not dare to be seen
in public, as every place and house seemed dangerous to
^ When the persecution was more systematically directed in King James'
time to the robbery of Catholics, the penalty incurred by every Popish recusant
who did not cause his child to be baptized by a lawful minister of the Church
of England, in open church, within one month after it was bom, was the
forfeiture of 100/., of which one third was to go to the King, one third to the
prosecutor, and the remainder to the poor of the parish. 3 Jac. L cap. 5.

Life of Father William Weston. 67
him. I made inquiries whether his wife were dwelling
there. The people of the house denied to me that she
either was there or ever had been, for they feared that I
might be an enemy or a spy. When I had been often
repulsed, and had nevertheless from certain indications
become pretty sure that this was her retreat, I assumed a
bolder air and said that it was impossible that she was
not within, adding words which implied how sorely I was
annoyed at the fact of being repelled so many times.
Nevertheless, they sent me away. As I was withdrawing,
however, a girl followed me and inquired whether I had
ever seen or known the woman for whom I was inquiring.
I said that I had not, but that I had certain tokens from
her husband which she would not be sorry to see and
recognize. She asked me therefore to return, and leadino-
me in, she pointed the woman out to me. I immediately
showed her a jewelled ornament of her husband's, a most
certain token, tiie recognition of which brought me into
the greatest favour, both with herself and the whole family.
Every mark and office of charity was joyfully lavished
upon me. In reply to their many inquiries, I told them
all I knew concerning Mr. Henry and where he was
staying. I then went out and brought him back with
me, and we passed that day in happiness.
" On the morrow there arrived a priest, with whom I
talked for awhile about matters of business and the state
of affairs. Then, having said Mass, we took our leave
Mr. Henry remaining behind there in company with his
wife. The priest conducted me to the same lady who
at first had denied that she knew Father Persons. She
received me most kindly and explained the reason of
her mistrust ; in fact, she had imagined that we belonged
to that race of men whom they call pursuivants. I
sojourned there for a few days, during which we had
frequent visits from Catholic priests. From this house
I made a beginning of those matters which belong to
F 2

68 Life of Father William Weston.
our duty and our office, and I became presently known
to many persons.
"Father Haywood during those days lay detained in
captivity within the Tower of London, and besides the
other inconveniences of his prison he was afflicted with
divers infirmities. On account of his age and ill health
he was permitted to receive visits from his sister, who
was able to bestow upon him some care and nursing.
Through her help, therefore, as she was a Catholic, I
transacted some business with him by means of letters,
and received letters from him in return. The opening
of Parliament was now at hand, that very Parliament in
which were decreed those dreadful and ruthless laws
against Catholics in general, and against their clergy
in particular ; at which time such priests as were still
detained in prison were driven into exile. One of these
was Father Haywood, whom I was most intensely anxious
to see and converse with before his departure. The
matter being in consequence discussed with his sister,
and understanding from her that it was possible to bring
it to pass without extreme danger, as freer leave of
having intercourse with his friends would be granted to
him in consideration of his removal, I entered with her
into the Tower, not without great terror, as I perceived
the dreary spaces, the gates and iron bolts past which
I was led by my guide, and which inclosed me round.
When I came to where the Father was confined, we
saluted each other and then discoursed, as was natural,
concerning what we each knew respecting affairs.
" Amongst other things he told me that in spite of all
my endeavours to keep my arrival in England a secret,
it had yet been previously known to himself; he had
heard it from the Earl of Northumberland, as also about
Ralph, my companion ; and it was impossible that infor
mation should not have reached the ears of the Queen's
Council. This Earl was at that time held fast in the

Life of Father William Weston. 69
Tower, and shortly afterwards [July, 1585] he was atro
ciously murdered in his chamber in the dead of the
night by some villains who discharged into his breast
the contents of a musket, charged with two bullets ; at
least so public report expressed it.
"At length, when my conference with Father Haywood
was finished, and we had spent almost the whole day
together, having embraced him and said a last farewell,
I returned by the same labyrinth by which I had entered,
and as soon as I found myself outside safe and sound,
it seemed as though I was restored to the light of day.
After some weeks he was placed in the same vessel with
many other priests, and thrust away into exile, leaving
us, his country, his parents and friends behind him. Then
I found myself alone in England, deprived both of my
father and of Ralph, my brother."
Among these exiles was Edward Rishton, a priest who
had been condemned with Campion, and v/ho was one of
Father Haywood's fellow-prisoners in the Tower. To him
we are indebted, not only for his very valuable diary of
events during his imprisonment there, but also for the
supplement, or third book, that he added to Sanders'
History of the English Schism.
The diary in the Tower ends with this record, under
date of January 21, 158I : "Jaspar Haywood, James
Bosgrave, and John Hart, priests of the Society of Jesus ;
Christopher Thompson, Arthur Pitts, Robert Nutter,
Thomas Stevenson, Richard Slack, Thomas Barnes,
Thomas Worthington, and ten other priests, with one
layman (in all we were one-and-twenty), when expecting
nothing of the sort, were by the Queen's command put on
board a ship, and against our will put ashore on the
coast of Normandy, and not long afterwards fifty [one]
others followed us into exile, and we were all expressly
threatened with pain of death if we ever returned to our
country."

7© Life of Father William Weston.
Rishton's account of this deportation, given in his
edition of Sanders, is much more full, and in it Father
Jaspar Haywood plays the most prominent part He had
been, when a boy, in Elizabeth's service, and it was thought
that he might be withdrawn from his fellow-prisoners at
the time of their trial, in such ¦ a manner as to leave the
impression on the minds of Catholics that he had yielded.
Accordingly, when they were on their trial at West
minster, he was taken away so that they should not
know what had become of him. Imprisoned first in the
Clink on the 9th of December, 1583, he was taken
from the Queen's Bench at Westminster to the Tower
on the 6th of February, 1584; while his companions,
George Haydock, John Munden, John Nutter, James
Fenn, and Thomas Hemerford, all priests, were con
demned and martyred.
While in the Tower Elizabeth's Ministers did their best,
by promises, to induce him to desert his religion, even
going so far, as he told Rishton, as to offer him a bishopric
He had not been a full year in the Tower of London when
he was shipped off to France. A few only of the multi
tudes of Catholic prisoners were selected for this excep
tional punishment, as they regarded it. The prisons were
full. In the Marshalsea alone there were thirty priests;
and in the course of the year no less than seventy-two
were sent into exile, of whom many were aged priests from
the gaols of York and Hull. The gaolers of the London
prisons were furnished with lists of the names of those who
were 'chosen for banishment, in order that the prisoners
might provide themselves with requisites for tiieir journey.
This, however, ^\'as not an easy thing for close prisoners
to do. When the day came at last, after various delays, the
twenty priests, who, with Henry Orton, constituted the
first ship-load, met from their various prisons on the Tower
wharf. Instead of regarding their liberation from prison

Life of Father William Weston. 71
as a favour. Father Jaspar Haywood made a protest in the
name of all, that they were innocent men who were being
punished with exile, and that, so far from consenting to
leave the Catholics, whom they were bound to serve, they
would gladly give their lives for them. They valued their
country, he said, and their countrymen's souls above their
lives. Their protest was not listened to, nor their demand
to see the Queen's warrant for their expulsion ; and the
ship left amid the salutations of many friends who had
been allowed to see them start.
They were bound for Boulogne, and when they had
been two days at sea, they made a fresh request to be
allowed to see the warrant for their transportation. The
indignation of the priests was great when they found that
it recited that by their own and others' confessions they
had been found guilty of seditions and conspiracies against
the Queen and the State, and that the sentence of death
was commuted, by her Majesty's clemency, to exile. So
far from this being true, many of them had not been put
upon their trial, and one of them, John Collington, had
even been acquitted when tried with Father Campion.
Haywood was spokesman again, but of course the officers
answered that they had nothing to do but to obey orders.
These protests were necessary, lest it should be thought
that they were of their own accord withdrawing from
the field of duty and of danger, which would have been
accounted disgraceful by themselves and by the Catholics
on both sides of the Channel. On the 3rd of March
fourteen of this first ship-load reached the College at
Rheims, and they were joined by ten other exiled priests
in the course of the year. By degrees they found their
way back again into England ; for in what respect were
they, with their special threat of death, in a worse position
than all priests whose priesthood was treason .? That they
sincerely meant what they said, when they promised soon
to return to England, to reassure the Catholics who feared

72 Life of Father William Weston.
that they had purchased exile by concessions, is shown
by the fact that, among the twenty-four to whom the
College at Rheims gave shelter, there were William
Hartley, William Dean, Robert Nutter, Stephen Row-
sham, John Adams, Thomas Pilchard, Nicholas Garlick,
Edmund Sykes, and John Hewet, who were all subse
quently martyred.
Jaspar Haywood, who had been seventeen years
Professor of Theology at Dillingen, and was famous
for his knowledge of Hebrew, was so highly esteemed
there that to obtain him for the English mission it was
necessary for Pope Gregory XIII. to address a Brief to
the Duke of Bavaria, requesting that he might be spared
for the important work for which he was wanted. Bartoli
says that in spite of his previous reputation, and of his
acknowledged piety and his sufferings for religion, a
character for an obstinate adherence to his own opinion
rendered it impossible for him to be employed in any
capacity but that of a simple operarius. This judgment
seems unduly severe, for we have nothing to support it
but his indiscretion in the question of the English fasting
days ; and there is nothing that requires explanation in
the fact that a professor should not have been again
employed in teaching, when his studies had been for
some time interrupted by the very different duties of
missionary life. He went first to Dole in France, then,
after four years, to Rome, and lastly to Naples, where he
died a most pious death on the 9th of January, 1598,
sixty-three years of age.
James Bosgrave, his companion in imprisonment and
exile, was received into the Society at Rome in 1564, and
ordained priest at Olmutz in 1572. He spent twelve years,
before and after his ordination, teaching Rhetoric, Philo
sophy, Mathematics, Greek, and Hebrew, and in 1580 he
1 It is given by Father More {Hist. I'rcz\ lib. iv. u. II. p. 132), and is
dated May 26, 1581.

Life of Father William Weston. 73
returned to England, where he was taken prisoner as soon
as he landed, and was sent first to the Marshalsea and then
to the Tower.' He was tried with Father Campion, and
sentence of death was pronounced against him. There is
a curious paper in the Public Record Office, ^ dated July,
1580, giving the points on which it was considered he
might be arraigned.
"James Bosgrave chargeable: being at Rome and
going in the company of Dr. Harding thither.
" Saying that her Majesty is Queen of England and
head of this Church, because she is the beginner of the
religion which we now hold.
" Saying that our bishops be not lawful bishops because
they are not consecrated by the Pope, neither they allow
able ministers that are made by our bishops.
" Saying there be in London twelve Catholics well
known to the Catholics beyond the sea, who have sent for
four doctors to come over to them from Rome, which
arrived in London in August last past
" Saying that his own coming is looked for of many in
London ; that he can bring one to service in London where
there shall be four hundred Catholics.
" Saying that her Majesty would not live [for] ever,
and that there is hope all things will here be brought into
an unity when the crown of England shall be subject to
Scotland. " Saying the Catholics in England are able to cast out
all the Protestants in this realm, but that they lack only
a head. " With having a letter sent unto him from Owen at
Rome, telling him it was not yet time for him to go into
England, [it] being impossible to do good there till God
send better days.
" Having a testimonial from one Peres, master of a
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxlix. n. 83; vol. clix. n. 36.
, • Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxl. n. 43.

74 Life of Father William Weston.
College of Jesuits, signifying that he is a Jesuit, and
without impediment to say Mass everywhere."
Father Persons gives an account of the error committed
by Father Bosgrave, and of the humility with which he
corrected it, in the notes that he wrote in 1594 for the Life
of Father Campion. 1 "A few days after this [Father
Cottam's apprehension in June, 1580], there was taken also
one Mr. James Bosgrave, a priest of the Society of Jesus,
of a very worshipful house and parentage in England, who,
having departed out of England when he was but very-
young, and afterwards, making him a religious man, had
lived many years in Germany and Poland, though he were
very well learned for his years, yet knew he not the perfect
state of matter in England especially touching religion;
and therefore returning into England on the sudden for
recovery of his health, and being taken at his first landing
before he could have conference with any Catholics, was
brought before the Bishop of London, and being asked
whence he came, he said, 'From Germany and Poland,'
which liked them not evil ; and being asked what he had
done there, he said he had travelled countries, which also
they took well, as being a thing much used by English
gentlemen at this day. But after this they came to matter
of religion, wherein he professed himself a Catholic;
whereto they replied that so were they too, but the
question was whether he would go to church or no.
Whereunto he said that he knew no cause to the contrary,
whereat they were wonderfully glad, for that they saw he
was learned, and hoped by this means to have him to
oppose himself against the rest of his religion in this point,
which imported them as they thought very much, and
therefore they praised him highly for his discretion and
conformity, and made extreme much of him, giving him
liberty to go where he would, and presently published
about London that one of the learnedest men of all the
^ Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 133.

Life of Father William Weston. 75
Jesuits had yielded unto them in this point of going to the
church, and that all the rest of them that held the contrary
were nothing to him for wit or learning.
"When this rumour came abroad, it grieved the
Catholics exceedingly, and so much the more, for that
when it came to be known to them. Father Campion and
Father Persons were both departed from London, so as
none of his Order being there to deal with the said Bosgrave
and to instruct him of the state of England and [of the]
error [he had] committed, they doubted it might proceed
further, and come to great scandal in the end, and so much
the more, for that the heretics gave out, according to their
fashion, that he would wholly be theirs in all points of
doctrine very shortly ; for which cause also the Catholics
durst not greatly trust him at the beginning, but when he
offered himself to their companies or came to their houses,
they shunned him ; which when he perceived and yet knew
not the cause, he was wonderfully afflicted and knew not
what to do nor whither to go, for he had been so long out
of England as he had no acquaintance left whose house he
,knew in London.
" But at length God's providence was that he met with
a certain near kinsman of his own, who being a Catholic
told him of the opinion men had of him, and of the offence
.taken at his speech and proceeding with the Bishop of
London, whereat the good [Father] was much amazed, and
.said that he meant no further in saying that he would go
to their churches, than if in Rome or Germany he should
offer to go to the Jews' synagogue, or in Constantinople
to see the Turks' mosques, to hear their folly and refute
the same ; and that in Germany and Poland, where he had
spent the most part of his time, he never heard such scruple
made thereof, but that any learned men might go to a
church or meeting of Calvinists, Lutherans, Trinitarians,
Anabaptists (for of all these four sects there are churches
there), and hear their folly and blasphemy, the rather and

76 Life of Father William Weston.
better to detest and refute it And the like he meant
when he promised the Bishop of London to go to his
church. " To this his Catholic kinsman replied that the state of
things was different in England from Germany concerning
this point, for that in England the question was not
whether one or two learned men or more, for such a cause
of curiosity or to know more of their doings and sayings
to refute them, may repair for once or twice or the like to
an heretical church ; but whether a learned man may bind
himself to go thither ordinarily, thereby to acknowledge
that religion to be good, and to give example to other
simpler men and women to go also, which have not
learning nor intention to refute that which they shall hear,
but perhaps believe it. Besides that, in England this act
is commanded and enacted by public authority of the
magistrates as an act of religion, which is far different
from a private act of any particular man in a corner ; and
if the like act were required in Germany at Cathohcs'
hands by a public heretical magistrate, commanding them
to repair to their churches, no doubt but if they do obey,
it is a great sin to them as well as in England.
"And finally he said that this particular point of
sincere confessing the Catholic faith by utter refusing to
come to heretical churches was now in trial in England,
and many numbers of Catholics did suffer imprisonment
and persecution for the same, and all the priests generally,
and also the other fathers of his Order ; and all learned
zealous Catholics were of one opinion in this behalf, and
therefore for him that was also a religious man, and so
learned, to swerve from the rest must need be a very great
scandal. And besides he told him also how offensively
the heretics, upon this little yielding of his, had sown
suspicions abroad that he would be of their religion in all
points : wherewith he was exceedingly moved, and grieved
at their malice, and .said that by God's grace he would

Life of Father William Weston. 77
soon take away their imaginations in that behalf, as also
give the Catholics satisfaction of his true meaning in that
cause, for which he was as ready to die as any other ; and
thereupon resolved presently to write one letter to the said
Catholics, excusing and giving reasons of that which he
had done,i and another to the Bishop of London and other
Protestants, to call back again whatever he had promised
about going to their churches, and to offer himself to
prison or whatsoever punishment besides, for defence of the
contrary doctrine of the Catholics. And so he did, and
was sent prisoner to the Marshalsea, among other priests
before named, and some months after to the Tower ; and
thence brought forth, indicted of treason and condemned
to death without any other new crime whatsoever but
that which you have heard. He was not executed, but
reprieved, and sent afterward into banishment among
many other, and so he returned to his religion again in
Polonia." Father More says that he was professed of the
three vows at Caliss in 1604, and died there in 1623, over
seventy years of age.
There was an interference in P"ather Bosgrave's behalf
that must have surprised and angered Elizabeth. It was
a letter from the King of Poland, Stephen Battori,
addressed to Elizabeth. As Father Bosgrave was not
exiled for two years after the date of the letter, it can
hardly be said to have produced any effect in his favour.
Translated from the Latin given by More,^ it runs thus,
and it is a curiosity in its way.
" Stephen by the Grace of God King of Poland, Grand
Duke of Lithuania, to the most Serene Princess the Lady
Elizabeth, by the same Grace of God Queen of England.
1 This letter, entitled "The Satisfaction of Mr. James Bosgrave, the godly
confessor of Christ, concerning his going to the church of the Protestants at
his first coming into England," according to Dr. Oliver, occupies five pages
of a small 8vo volume, published at Rheims in 1583.
" Hist. Prov. lib. iv. n. 12, p. 136.

78 Life of Father William Weston.
" There has been for some time detained in prison in
your Majesty's kingdom a man whose piety and learning
is in many men's mouths, James Bosgrave, Theologian of
the Society of Jesus and Professor in our University of
Vilna, and that as we hear for no cause but the strenuous
profession of the Catholic Roman religion, which he
imbibed with his mother's milk. We do not doubt that
your Highness will perceive that it is important that a man
remarkable for his piety and learning should not be so
long absent from his University. The injury that his
absence has caused to literature v/e plainly see, and this is
our motive for earnestly asking your Majesty as a favour
to ourselves to set free and send back to us this theologian,
in order that, restored to his former position, he may con
tinue to teach piety and letters, to the great future benefit
and adornment of Church and State. We do not doubt
that your Highness for your goodwill to us will give this
man up to us, and will not allow that while your subjects
are free to profess any religion whatever in our kingdom,
our religion should be a capital offence in yours ; and we
hope that in a short time the royal clemency and goodness
of your Majesty will set all the Catholics free, and do at
once a most humane act and one that will be most
gratifying to us. And so we bid you a happy farewell.
Given at Niepolomice this 29th of January, 1583, the
seventh year of our reign."
When Fathers Haywood, Bosgrave, and Hart had been
sent away, there yet remained a Jesuit in the Tower,
Father William Crichton, who had been taken at sea on
his way to Scotland, and was committed to prison on the
1 6th of September, 15 84, according to Rishton's Diary.
A ridiculous story was put in circulation, that a letter torn
up by him and thrown away, had been blown on board
ship again, pieced, and read. When the Privy Council
decided on transporting the others, a note' was made,
^ P.R.O, Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxxviii. n. 74.

Life of Father William Weston. •]()
May 27, 1585, respecting Father Crichton and the Scotch
priest who was imprisoned with him. " William Crichton
to be continued for a season in the Tower. . . . Patrick
Adye, taken in Crichton's company, a Scot and a priest,
and chaplain to the Bishop of Ross ; fit to be banished."
One of Walsingham's " Secret Advertisements,"' dated
April 6, 1585, tells this singular story. "Sithence my last
certificate I had some conference with one Gervase Pierre
pont, late prisoner in the Tower, concerning Crichton, the
Scottish Jesuit there, viz., whether he had any means to
confer with his friends or to convey any letters unto them
sithence his committing to the Tower. He answered me
that when Crichton was first committed, he was lodged
in Martin Tower, right over the lodging of Nicholas
Roscarrock, which said Nicholas did oftentimes by some
device open two doors which were between their lodgings,
and so they conferred at pleasure, and also the said
Pierrepont said unto me that such letters as Crichton did
write, were by the said Nicholas conveyed out of his
chamber window, which was near the ground, to a little
maiden which was sent often to him from Orton which
was late banished, and so by him farther conveyed out of
the Tower, but to whom or what place he seemed ignorant;
only some of them were conveyed to the Lord Gray that
not long sithence was Ambassador from Scotiand during
his abode here in England. But I cannot learn that
Crichton hath had any means to confer or to convey
sithence Orton his banishment, and I understand that he
is removed from his old lodging, and from his keeper also.
Yet nevertheless I will do my best endeavour to learn
farther of the matter. It seemeth that Pierrepont was
lodged where Crichton was, in Martin Tower, and that
he had the same means to confer with Roscarrock as
Crichton had. My acquaintance is yet but new with
Pierrepont." 1 P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cbocviii. n. 11.

8o Life of Father WilliaiH Weston.
The Martin Tower was at the inner corner of the
bastion wall towards East Smithfield, but between it and
the outer world there was " the Mount " and the broad
moat The "little maiden" who came to Roscarrock's
window was therefore within the precincts of the Tower
of London. Henry Orton, one of those condemned with
Father Campion, was the only layman that was banished
with Father Haywood and the other priests in 1585.
It is probable from the note, which says that Father
Crichton was " to be continued for a season in the Tower,''
that it was then intended that he should soon follow the
others into banishment He seems, however, to have been
kept in durance for more than another year. A paper'
dated November 30, 1586, called "The lords' resolution
upon the prisoners," has a singular entry respecting this
Father. "Crichton: the matter he is charged withal
sufficiently known." And Father Crichton's name is the
first in a list of prisoners against which there is written :
"Her Majesty's pleasure to be known touching these
persons." His hberation, though not immediate, is attributed to
one of Parry's confessions, in which it was said that, when
consulted whether it was lawful to kill the Queen, Father
Crichton had answered distinctly and, strongly that it was
not lawful. After an examination on the subject. Father
Crichton wrote a letter to Walsingham, which was pub
lished by Elizabeth's orders. Bartoli ^ translates it from
Holinshed, to whose Chronicle we have had recourse
for the letter. Crichton afterwards told Father Louis
Richeome, a French Jesuit, that Elizabeth had said that
it could not be true that all the Jesuits were in con
spiracy against her life, if this Jesuit had, when in France,
declared that it was unlawful to kill her, and had done
his best to dissuade an intended assassin.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elisabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 32.
" Inghiltei-ra, lib. iv. cap. x. p. 291.

Life of Father William Weston. 8 1
" Right honourable Sir, — When your honour demanded
me if Master Parry did ask me if it were leason [ .' lawful]
to kill the Queen, in deed and verity, then I had no
remembrance at all thereof But since, thinking on the
matter, I have called to mind the whole fashion of his
dealing with me, and some of his arguments : for he dealt
very craftily with me, I dare not say maliciously. For I
did in nowise think of any such. design of his, or of any
other, and did answer him simply after my conscience and
knowledge to the verity of the question. For after that I
had answered him twice before. Quod omnino non liceret;
he returned late at even by reason I was to depart early
in the next morning towards Chambery in Savoy, where
I did remain, and being returned out of the close within
one of the classes of the College he proponed to me of new
the matter, with his reasons and arguments.
" First he alleged the utility of the deed for delivering
of so many Catholics out of misery, and restitution of the
Catholic religion. I answered, that the Scripture answereth
thereto, saying : Non sunt facienda mala, itt veniant bona.
So that for no good, how great that ever it be, may be
wrought any evil, how little that ever it be. He replied
that it was not evil to take away so great evil, and induce
so great good. I answered, that all good is not to be
done, but that only, quod bene et legitime fieri potest.
And, therefore, dixi Deum magis amarc adverbia, quam
nomina. Quia in actionibus magis eiplacent bene et legitime,
quam bonwn. Ita tit mtlbtm bonum liceat facere, nisi bene
et legitime fieri possit. Quod in hoc casu fieri non potest.
Yet, said he, that several learned men were of the opinion :
Quod non\J\ liceret. I answered, that these men perhaps
were of the opinion, that for the safety of many in soul and
body, they would permit a particular to his danger, and to
the occult 'judgment of God: or perhaps said so, moved
rather by some compassion and commiseration of the
miserable estate of the Catholics, not for any such doctrine
G

82 Life of Father William Weston.
that they did find in their books. For it is certain, that
such a thing is not licit to a particular, without special
revelation divine, which exceedeth our learning and
doctrine. And so he departed from me. Out of the
prison in the Tower, the 20th of February [iS8|].
"Your honour's poor servitor in Christ Jesus,
"W. CreitchTON, Prisoner."'

CHAPTER VL
FATHER WESTON'S FIRST CONVERT.
" I WAS invited to the houses of several Catholics, and had
frequent opportunities of preaching and hearing confes
sions : saying Mass I had never been obliged to leave
off. Whilst I was occupied with these functions, and
admitted myself with more freedom and boldness into the
society of Catholics, it happened, either through the perfidy
of some pretended Catholics, as is wont to be the case, or
else by the levity of others who talk of everything and
know not how to keep a secret, that it became known that,
upon one particular day, I was going to be present and
preach in the house of a certain Catholic. This I certainly
did, in presence of a sufficiently numerous congregation;
considering the disturbed state of the Church. When the
whole had been accomplished according to our desires,
and I was going forth out of the door, I beheld a man
walking up and down in front of tiie entrance, as though
he were waiting for something. However, I passed him
by. When I was safe away, it was told me the next day
by a Catholic gentleman whose house had been searched
by the heretics on the following night, that strict inquiries
' Holinshed's Chronicles, London, 1587, vol. iii. fol. 1388.

Life of Father William Weston. 83
had been made of him respecting me ; and that when, on
the preceding day, I had been present in such and such a
house, notice had been taken by some one who desired to
apprehend me, but that, from a cause unknown, I had
suddenly disappeared from his sight, and so, through God's
goodness, I was enabled to escape the danger.
" About this same time I formed an intimate acquaint
ance with a most zealous Catholic who was in the service
of the Earl of A[rundel] ; and since, besides the special
faithfulness which he displayed to the Earl, he had the art
of managing with prudence and dexterity any affair that
was intrusted to him, that nobleman explained to him,
togetiier with other private matters commended to his
honour and care, that he was filled with desire of changing
his life and manners, that he was weary of heresy, was
anxious to become a Catholic, and requested him to look
out for a priest such as he judged most suitable for the
furtherance of his designs. All this the good man commu
nicated to me, and place and time were appointed for the
carrying out of the Earl's desire. The affair was transacted
quietly in the darkness of the night, so that no one might
see me either going out or coming in accompanied by the
Earl, or talking with him for long together in a quiet and
separate place ; more particularly because a suspicion was
entertained by certain members of his family, who observed
him closely, that some such idea was floating in his mind.
On the second or third day, however, I was sent for again,
and in a chosen place, in presence of himself and one or
two of his nearest relations, not more, I celebrated Mass
and gave him Holy Communion."
The Catholic in the service of the Earl of Arundel who
brought Father Weston to him to receive him into the
Church, may have been either Mr. Richard Bayly, who
did a similar good service to the Countess, or Mr. John
Momford, his secretary, who was apprehended on his
way to Flanders, and committed to the Gatehouse. Both
G 2

84 Life of Father William Weston.
these good men were suspected of being priests. It is
more likely that it was Mr. Bayly that introduced Father
Weston to the Earl, as apparently Mr. Momford was in
prison at the time, subjected to examinations which were
intended to compromise the Earl.
" By reason of those troubles," says the Jesuit
Father who wrote the beautiful lives of the Earl and
Countess of Arundel which were published by the late
Duke of Norfolk,' " the Earl had deferred his reconcilia
tion to the Church of God which he very earnestly
desired, biit could not put in execution for want of
means and opportunity. So soon, therefore, as they were
a little overpassed, he used such diligence therein, that
he procured a meeting with Father William Weston, a
very virtuous and religious priest of the Society of
Jesus, well known in England by the name of Father
Edmonds, and much esteemed in it and other countries
for his constant suffering of seventeen years' imprison
ment in the Tower of London, Wisbech, and other
places, for the profession of the Catholic religion.
" By this good man was the Earl reconciled in the
year 1584, and by his means received such comfort to
his soul as he never had felt before in all his life, and
such good directions for the amending and ordering of
his life, as afterwards did greatly help and further him
therein. For, ever after that time he lived in such manner
,as that he seemed to be changed into another man, having
great care and vigilance over all his actions, and addicting
himself much to piety and devotion. For which purpose
forthwith he procured to have a priest ever with him in
¦his own house, by whom he might frequently receive the
Holy Sacrament, and daily have the comfort to be present
at the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice, whereto with
^ The Lives of Philip Hvioard, Earl of Arundel, and of Anne Daeres,
his loife. Edited from the original MSS. by the Duke of Norfolk, E.M. 1857,
p. 26.

Life of Father William Weston. 85
great humility and reverence he himself in person many
times would serve."
In this passage the Earl's conversion is placed in
1584, the year of Father Weston's entry into England.
The indictment of the Earl charges him with ha.ving
been " treasonably reconciled " on the 30th of September,
26° Elizabeth, that is, 1584, at the Charter-house. If
this date is correct, Father Weston must have been
taken to the Earl within a few days of his landing,
for he left France on the 12th of September. But
the indictment speaks of Allen and others conspiring at
Rome on the 26th of May, and at Rheims on the 31st
of May, in the same year. This being impossible, these
are but fancy dates, and so perhaps the date of the
Earl's reconciliation is imaginary also. The indictment
was content also with a legal fiction, in saying that " one
William Weston, otherwise Edmonds, being a seditious
and traitorous Jesuit, and Edward Bridges, otherwise
Gratley, being a seditious and traitorous Seminary man
and priest, did June i, 26° Elizabeth [1584], arrive in
the kingdom of England from parts beyond the seas."
It was most probable that the indictment is right in
naming the Charterhouse, as the place where the Earl
was reconciled by Father Weston, for it was his London
dwelling-house. It was bought by the Duke, his father,
in 1565, and as it was sold in 161 1 by the Earl's brother,
Thomas Howard, then Earl of Suffolk, it must have been
a part of the lands for the grant of which he disgracefully
"made means unto the Queen immediately upon his
[brother's] attainder." ^
The priest who became the Earl's chaplain was Edward
Gratley, and that the greatest confidence was reposed in
him is shown by the note that the Earl wrote from
shipboard, in which^ he requested "his sister the Lady
Margaret Sackville that she should speak to Mr. Bridges,
1 Life of the Earl of Arundel, p. 72. = Ibid. p. 54.

86 Life of Father William Weston.
alias Gratley, a priest, to give one hundred pounds to the
bearer, by the token that was betwixt them that ' black is
white. ' " Gratley, who was one of the first students of
the English College at Rome, had begun well, and in:
a letter to Father Agazzari of the 3rd of February, 1582,
Father Persons praises him highly.' Eduardus GratJem
alumnus vester . . . est mihi valde necessarius et optime
se gerit. Gratley's perversion was due to his acquaintance with
Gilbert Gifford, who had been his fellow-student at the
English College. That he was in communication with
Gifford while he was the Earl's chaplain, and that this
was the cause of the Earl's ruin, is too plain; but we
do not know whether he was yet aware of the treachery
of Gifford, in which he afterwards became an accomplice.
Sir Christopher Hatton told^ the Earl of Arundel after
his first examination on May Day, 1585, "If he loved
his life not to conceal any of those things which were
already known, as that he and his brother the Lord
William had sent to Dr. Allen ; that they had attempted
to go over ; that they had heard from, and offered to
be directed by him ; that Mr. Bridges the priest was the
messenger who was commanded by Dr. Allen to deliver
the message unto them both jointly, and came unto them
by the name of Gratley, with divers other circumstances
which were all most true. For Mr. Bridges had out of
confidence told all these things to one Mr. Gilbert Gifford,
a priest, who then lived at Paris, in France, and after
was discovered to be a spy, who gave intelligence of
these and all other things he could come to know unto
some of the Council."
The use that was made of this against the Eari may
be gathered from one of the clauses in his indictment'
' Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 26.
" Life of the Earl of Arundel, p. 57.
' Translated and abridged from xii^.Baga de secretis in the Fourth Report
cf Deputy Keeper of Public Records, p. 280.

Life of Father William Weston. 87
"That the Eari of Arundel, 4th October, 26° Elizabeth
[1584], treasonably compassed to depose and slay the
Queen, &c., and that he did afterwards, to wit, 20th
November, 27° Elizabeth [1584],' at the Charterhouse
adhere to and confederate himself with Allen, attainted
as before mentioned, and on the said 20th of November,
27° Elizabeth, at the Charterhouse, admitted to Bridges,
who had communicated with him, the Earl of Arundel,
on the part of Allen concerning the said treasons, that
he, the Earl of Arundel, would be at the direction of
Allen, and would do whatsoever he, Allen, should direct
for the promotion of the Catholic cause, meaning thereby
the restoration of the Roman religion in England and the
following invasion."
It is difficult to imagine how Gratley can have given
such information without knowing that he was treacherously
ruining the Earl. It is certain that in May, 1586,^ hp
was in communication, under the name of Foxley, with
Walsingham, either directly or indirectly. He wrote a
book against the Jesuits which Gifford offered to Walsing
ham ; "a mad book," even Phelippes called it^ which,
nevertheless, Walsingham sent to Paris for publication.
In consequence of it Gratley, who had been previously
received into Cardinal Allen's household, before his mis
doings were known, was imprisoned for five years in the
Holy Office at Rome. To have fallen into such hands
was the first and greatest misfortune of the Earl of
Arundel. The perplexity felt by the Earl when bound to attend
the Queen on state occasions, that he might escape notice
while absenting himself from Protestant service, which is
the subject next mentioned by Father Weston, he himself
mentions in the letter that he wrote to the Queen when he
1 Elizabeth's regnal years begin on the 17th of November.
2 Letter-Books of Sir Amias Poulet, pp. l8g, 385.
= Ibid. p. 219.

88 Life of Father William Weston.
attempted to leave England. He says,' " Being resolved
rather to endure any punishment than willingly to decline
from the beginning I had begun, I did bind myself wholly
as near as I could to continue in the same without any act
which was repugnant to my faith and profession. And by
means hereof was compelled to do many things which
might procure peril to myself and be an occasion of mislike
unto your Majesty : for the first day of this Parliament
when your Majesty with all your nobility was hearing of
a sermon in the Cathedral Church of Westminster above
in the chancel, I was driven to walk by myself below in
one of the aisles. And one day this last Lent when youf
Majesty was hearing another sermon in the Chapel at
Greenwich, I was forced to stay all that while in the
Presence Chamber. To be short, when your Majesty went
upon any Sunday or holy day to your great closet, I was
forced to stay either in the Privy Chamber, and not to
wait upon you at all, or else presently to depart as soon
as I had brought you to the Chapel."
The first of these occasions is related by Father
Weston. "Already the above-mentioned Parliament had
been summoned, and had begun to hold its session in
London, as, I think, in the early part of the year 1585, at
which it was necessary for the Earl to be present, both on
account of the high position which he held in the State,
as likewise because of his office about the Queen's person'
seeing that he was one of the chief noblemen of the
kingdom. Cruel perplexities now assailed him. He saw
that he would immediately be not only suspected by all,
but known to be a Catholic, if he were to abstain from the
profane ceremonies of the heretics, which were celebrated
each day before the beginning of Parliament He turned
over in his mind every possible plan or pretext of evasion.
Should he feign sickness.' Should he be engrossed in
some other occupation > Should he hide himself ? Should
' Lif', p. 42-

Life of Father William Weston. 89
he fly away } He could find no feasible plan, none which
was not beset with great and imminent perils. The day
drew on ; the peers of the realm assembled : all men and
all things were in a state of readiness such as is requisite
for the pomp of a royal procession. Among the rest
appeared the Earl of A[rundel] to fulfil his rightful function
in attendance upon the Queen, trembling, however, for the
result of the design which God had suggested to his mind.
" They proceeded to the Pariiament House, each one
intent upon his order and office. The Earl's place was
close to the person of the Queen, as he was one of her
train-bearers. Having entered the House of Parliament,
all of them. Queen and nobles, took their appointed
places, a signal was given for the profane ceremonies ;
the Earl hurried away from their celebration, pretending
that he was overwhelmed with the crowd and suffocated
with the heat, and so ingeniously had he arranged
appearances to look like the truth, trying to look flushed,
and unbuttoning his dress and seeming to enjoy the
fresh air while the service was going on, that for some
days his secret escaped notice.
" His religion, however, could not be long kept hidden.
When I heard all these things from his own lips, and he
at the same time explained to me that he was perpetually
nurturing in his mind a plan of escape into France, I did
my best to dissuade him from it, both because I thought
that he would thereby endanger his person and his estate,
and also because I doubted whether his enemies would go"
so far against him as to inflict imprisonment or death if
they had nothing to allege in his disfavour beyond the
name and cause of religion ; which idea was strengtheiied
by the visible cases of other illustrious men ; and further
still, because his presence and public profession of faith
would be such an encouragement to all Catholics for
their improvement, inciting them to follow bravely so
excellent and illustrious an example. He then replied

90 Life of Father William Weston.
to me that his plan had been recommended to him by
Dr. Allen, who was then President of the Seminary at
Rheims, and that he had consulted him by letter, and
was determined to follow his counsel. I did not wish
to oppose any longer the opinion of so wise and expe
rienced a person, and left the Earl therefore to pursue
his own course. He hastened to carry out his intention
as rapidly as possible, not judging it safe to indulge in
delays. He fell in with a man who engaged to under
take the management of the whole affair and to carry
it out faithfully. The time was appointed, the ship was
prepared, the harbour designated ; everything requisite
for the voyage was embarked and in order. They
weighed anchor, and with a prosperous breeze sought
the open sea. They deemed themselves already secure
and beyond the reach of danger, when suddenly they
fell into the path of a hostile ship that had been at a
distance insidiously observing their departure (for so it
had been agreed upon that the Earl should be seized
in the act of flight and not in the harbour), and he was
brought back a prisoner. How the Earl's escape became
known to the heretics was never by him clearly ascer
tained ; suspicion fell, however, upon one of the persons
who was in the ship with him."
There was a priest on board the ship in the Earl's
company, who was apprehended with him, and afterwards
became one of Father Weston's fellow-prisoners at
Wisbech. He is mentioned thus in a report' that was
made to the Government about them : " Jonas Meredith,
alias Farmer, a Seminary priest, was first taken in a ship
with the Earl of Arundel, attempting to fly the reedm, and
is a great persuader to papistry."
The two servants whom the Earl took with him on
board the ship were named Bray and Burlace. William
Bray cannot have betrayed him. He was known after-
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcix. n. 91.

Life of Father William Weston. 9:
wards to the English Government as "a common
conveyor of priests and recusants, and of naughty
books over the seas, and was taken carrying the Earl
of Arundel over seas."' He seems to have taken up
this as a profession, and a trusty and skilful man would
find it a lucrative occupation, for there were always
passengers for France or Flanders, who would be glad to
pay handsomely for a good pilot He was naturally much
looked after by the pursuivants. With regard, however,
to the other man, amongst the charges made against
the Earl in the Star Chamber^ v/as "a certain writing
of his servant Burlace, who was one of those who was to
have gone with him, wherein something was contained
about his being to be made Duke of Norfolk : to
which he protested that Burlace never acquainted him
with any such thing, and that he never so much as
heard thereof until the present time wherein they alleged
it against him." So Burlace seems to have given some
evidence against his master.
"The Earl strictly guarded was brought to London
and thrust into the Tower [April 25, 1585]. A short
time afterwards sentence was pronounced against him,
and his property confiscated ;^ and when during many
years he had suffered with constancy the hardships of
a most painful imprisonment, debarred from the sight
and conversation of all who were dearest to him, having
nourished his mind every day with holy meditations and
pious readings, full of the faith which he so bravely con
fessed, he rendered up his blessed soul to his Creator
in peace on Sunday, October 19, 1595, in the eleventh
year of his imprisonment."
1 Lansdmvne MSS. 58, fol. 13.
' Life, p. 63.
=' The Earl was condemned, in 1585, in the Star Chamber to a fine of
10,000/. and imprisonment at the Queen's pleasure. The date of his arraign
ment for high treason in the Queen's Bench at Westminster, and of the
sentence for his execution at Tyburn, was April 14, 1589.

92 Life of Father William Weston.
His biographer tells us' that " he had a great desire
to have the assistance of Father Weston at his death, by
whose means he was first reconciled to the Church, but
it would by no means be permitted that either he or any
other priest should come to him."
Respecting a suspicion which has found record on
the Earl's coffin-plate,^ Father Weston says : " Some
imagined that he was carried off by poison. For my
own part I inquired of a Catholic who in his boy
hood had served him in the Tower, but I was never
able to discover anything certain. When dying he
bequeathed to me the breviary which he had used.
Our Father Garnet wished to retain this book in his
own keeping, as a precious relic for those who will
come after us. He did not venture to intrust it to my
custody, because, as he said, my things might at any
moment be taken from me by violence, and it was not
fit to expose to such jeopardy a treasure that in his
estimation was more to be valued than gold.
" The following also I ought to have mentioned
amongst the praises of this soldier of Christ In the
midst of his most grievous tribulations an offer of libera
tion from prison was sent to him on the part of the
Queen, on condition that he would hold a disputation
on the subject of religion with the so-called Archbishop
of Canterbury. This he refused to accede to, choosing
rather to be afflicted with the people of God than to
enjoy the brief delights of temporal liberty, esteeming
the persecutions greater riches than the unjust and
false pleasures of worldly prosperity."
In the Earl's biography^ we have the expression
respecting conference with a Protestant minister, that
" he thought it lawful in regard, as he signified to Father
^ Life, i:>. 114.
° Non absque veneni suspicione in Domino obdormivit.'' Ibid. p. 123.
" Ibid. p. 151.

Life of Father William Weston. 93
Southwell, he remembered that Father Weston had once
told him he might admit of a minister offered or urged
upon him, so that he had a priest allowed who could
answer and detect his untruths ; adding withal that per-
adventure such a disputation might by the grace of God
work some unexpected good towards some who were most
forward to procure it, if they were not too far given over."
The good Earl was probably thinking of the memor
able disputation to which he owed his own conversion,
for' " by the providence of God it so happened that he was
present at the disputation which was made in the Tower
of London in the year 1581, concerning divers points of
religion betwixt Father Edmund Campion of the Society,
Mr. ' Sherwin and some other priests of the one part,
Charke, Fulke, Whitaker and some Protestant ministers
of the other : for by that he saw and heard there he easily
perceived on which side the truth and true religion was."
Before we part from Father Weston's first convert,
who lived in his prison like a saint and died like a martyr,
it will not be out of place to remark that by a slip of
the memory in after years. Father Persons asserted that
the Earls of Arundel and Northumberland were received
into the Church by Father Jaspar Haywood. "I am
astounded at the take of fishes," wrote Father Jaspar,
and Persons wishes to explain the saying. "And what
can I say," the good Father subjoins, " but. Depart from.
me for I am a sinner.?" But the letter^ in which this occurs
is dated April 16, 1583, and the Earl of Arundel was not
reconciled before September, 1584, when Father Haywood
was in the Tower.
That it was Father Weston who fulfilled this happy
office in his behalf, his biographer frequentiy asserts. For
instance,* "The like grateful mind and great affection
he also ever bore and always showed unto Father William
Weston, by whom he was first reconciled, and for his sake
1 Life, p. 19. = Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 45- " ^f'' P- '36.

94 Life of Father William Weston.
unto the whole Society, for thus he writ in a letter to one
of them. ' I call God to witness I have and do principally
in my heart most affect, reverence, and honour your
vocation above others, for that I have seen, heard, and
read ; as also in respect that from one of that calling I
received the greatest good which ever I tasted.
Not only is the Earl's breviary lost, which would have
been prized as an inestimable relic, but also the manu
scripts on which he occupied himself in prison. "One
book of Lanspergius containing an epistle of Jesus
Christ to the faithful soul he translated out of Latin
into English, and caused it to be printed for the further
ance of devotion." It appeared after his death bearing
the imprint of London, 1598, and again St Omers, i6ia
This was probably intrusted to Father John Gerard's
editorship, as the translation is generally attributed to
him. But more valuable than any translation would be the
"three treatises of the excellency and utility of virtue,
which never came to light by reason he was forced to
send them away upon fear of a search, before they were
fully perfected and polished."' They were sent to Father
Weston, and Father Garnet rightly estimated the risks
that anything ran that was in his charge. In the humility
of the saintly author, "those treatises which he compiled
,in the praise of virtue were judged by him to contain
great faults and gross errors, in which respect he willed
his secretary, Mr. Keeper, to deliver them to Father
Weston to be corrected. 'I pray you,' says he, 'if it
please God to call me, make this humble petition for me
to that blessed Father to whose will you shall commit
that work, that as charity covereth many faults, so my
charitable intent therein to do good to all, and not wil-
hngly offend any, may obtain a pardon for all my gross
faults and absurd errors."-
' Life, p. 106. - Ibid. p. 1 38.

Life of Father William Weston. 95
These writings would have been precious relics, but
we must be content to forego them as we have to be
satisfied with the scanty remains that have descended
to us of the history of the great Catholics of those days ;
but amid the sad privation of the relics of the bodies of
our martyrs, we may well rejoice when we remember that
we possess the relics of this brave confessor and martyr for
his faith, Philip Howard. The bones of the Earl are in an
iron chest in the vault of Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel.
Each bone. is wrapped up in silk. Canon Tierney on one
occasion opened the chest, and took out one of the bones
which he gave to the late Duke of Norfolk. It is pre
served by the Duchess in a gold reliquary.
" A glorious confessor, yea a martyr," Cornelius a
Lapide says of him, naturally associating Philip, Earl
of Arundel, with the words of St. Paul, "For you had
compassion on them that were in bands, and took with
joy the being stripped of your own goods, knowing that
you have a better and a lasting substance." That "we
all ought to esteem him " as a martyr for the Catholic
faith, " and may with just reason commend ourselves to
his holy prayers and intercession," is his biographer's
conclusion, who adds that such " is the general persuasion
of all learned Catholic men, both of our own and other
nations."

96

CHAPTER VII.
POSSESSIONS AND EXORCISMS.
"When Parliament closed, the Act against all priests
was immediately promulgated, ordering them to quit
the kingdom within forty days under pain of death.
Some obeyed, thinking it wise to yield to the fury of
the time, but the greater number remained to strengthen
the courage of Catholics, lest in a season of such important
changes they might be stricken with too great terror, and
if deprived of the sacraments and pious exhortations
might lose heart ; also lest the sudden flight of all the
clergy should seem to arise out of fear and slothfulness
rather than a sound delibera,tion. They did not wish
that the heretics should be too much pleased at such
a favourable beginning of their designs, if at the first
onset of war they should put to flight all the leaders of
Christ's army, and as if the victory were half attained,
find themselves in a position to wreak their vengeance
upon others. They were, in fact, exceedingly annoyed
at the small number of those who gave way ; for the vast
majority determined to stand with intrepidity and await
the issue of so sacred a conflict.
" For my part, I thought that I ought to withdraw
for awhile into a solitaiy place, there to observe the
course of events, and the shape after which they were
about to fashion themselves. I should in this manner
gain experience as to the mind and disposition of
Catholics, as to whether they would retain their wonted
constancy of faith, whether they would seek out priests,

Life of Father William Weston. 97
petition for them, and keep them ; or whether they would
repel them, or at all events be quite willing to be aban
doned by them in such great perils ; and I deemed it to
be far more to the purpose that I should be enticed and
summoned to them rather than that, by putting myself
forward, I should cause them for my sake to risk the loss
of their lives and property.
"When, however, I was turning these things over in
my mind, a Catholic gentleman requested me to take up
my abode in his house, a large, solitary, and commodious
mansion which he possessed at the distance of three
leagues from London. I did not refuse an offer which
tallied so well and conveniently with my own intentions.
Taking therefore a companion for my journey, we mounted
our horses in the evening after dark to avoid being seen.
We travelled in safety, and passed that night well ; and I
began to congratulate myself upon the convenience of .
the place and the goodness of our host In the morning,
however, when I had prepared myself for the celebration
of Mass (for the chamber was fair and particularly suited
for the purpose), everything being arranged commodiously
in respect to time and place, and I was in the chapel about
to put on the sacred vestments, there came a messenger
from London warning me to depart instantly from thence,
for it was already known at Court that Father Cornelius
and I had arrived. It was indeed true that both of us had
been invited, although he had not yet reached the house.
What was there for me to do .'' Necessity and danger
drove me away ; but whither I could go in safety was
not very apparent Spies were continually on the alert,
to watch the roads and distinguish the passers-by. For
awhile I walked in the garden adjoining the house, pre
pared for flight, until one and another came up to me
to repeat and confirm the news that the searchers would
presently be at hand to besiege the house and explore it
thoroughly. I made no further delay, but removed from
H

98 Life of Father William Weston.
the house in company with a person who undertook to
show me the way towards a lonely and dilapidated
building. There I remained the entire day, looking
out often through the holes and crevices, so that if the
pursuivants should be visible in the distance I might fly
into the neighbouring wood and hide under cover of the
trees. In the evening a horse was brought to me, and I
made my escape."
Father Weston now comes in his narration to a topic,
in which it is particularly necessary to bear in mind the
feelings of his time. The idea of possession by the devil
the nineteenth century thinks itself justified in regarding
as superstitious and absurd. How far this is consistent on
the part of those who profess to believe in the New
Testament it is for them to consider! If they should be
inclined to scoff at the accounts of possessions and exor
cisms as related in Catholic books, they would do well to
read again the Gospel narratives of possessions and exor
cisms, such as the account of the demoniacs among the
tombs, whose legions of devils our Blessed Lord permitted,
on their own petition, to enter into the herd of swine and
to remember that the power of casting out devils was exer
cised by the Apostles and bequeathed by our Lord to
"them that believe."'
All that Catholics say about it is that diabolical
possessions are still possible and that the power of exor
cism is left with the Church. Indeed, one of the minor
orders relates exclusively to this power. But Catholics
are not bound to believe that in this or that particular
case there was real possession or exorcism. In any case
there may be conscious or unconscious deception. And
as to the one particular case mentioned by Father Weston,
of devils moving about under a person's skin like fishes
swimming, we may be greatly inclined with Burgliley to
laugh at it as absurd. It is at all events witiiout example.
' St. Matt. viii. 28, 31 ; St. Luke ix. i ; x. 17 ; St. Mark xvi. 17.

Life of Father William Weston. 99
But that we should not draw the line where they drew it,
will not justify us in ridiculing the priests of that time
who sincerely believed in the reality of the possessions
that were then so much spoken about, much less in
regarding them as impostors.
Most of the priests who were known as exorcists were
afterwards martyred. "Father Cornelius, called by the
Protestants a conjurer and enchanter, is in safety and
doth much good by his singular gift in preaching." So
says an intercepted letter' signed "Robert," probably
written by Father Southwell to Father Agazzari. A spy
writing- to Walsingham calls Garlick "the demonite."
Bishop Yepez relates* exorcisms by Dibdale and Nelson.
Adams and Lowe were both exorcists. And all these
gave their lives for their religion. They might have been
deceived certainly, but these are not the men to be
deceivers. If there was imposture it was most likely
suggested by reality, and no end would be gained by an
attempt on our part to judge of details.
The effect produced at the time was very great.
Anthony Tyrrell, an apostate priest, of whom we shall hear
much in the sequel, said when examined on the subject
in 1602, " I cannot in my conscience esteem the number
fewer, that in the compass of half a year were by that
means reconciled to the Church of Rome, than five
hundred persons : some have said three or four thou
sand." Tyrrell mentions in the following terms the account of
the exorcisms which Father Weston says that he wrote.
"There was also a treatise framed to prove, first, that
in former times divers had been possessed. Secondly,
that Christ hath left to His Church certain remedies for
the dispossessing of such parties. Thirdly, that in the
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccxv. n. 119.
^ P.R.O., Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 103.
3 Persecucion de Inglaterra, p. 97.
H 2

lOO Life of Father William Weston.
casting out of devils there hath been great use of applica
tion to the demoniacs of holy relics. ... If I be not
deceived Ma[ster] Edmonds, alias Weston, was the author
of this book."
The mention of the relics of the English martyrs is
curious and interesting. " We omitted not," says Tyrrell,
" the relics and bones of Ma. Campion, Ma. Sherwin,
Ma. Brian, and Ma. Cottam, to have some little testimony
by implication from the devil to prove them holy martyrs."
The chief houses where these exorcisings took place
were Sir George Peckham's, at Denham, near Uxbridge,
and the old Lord Vaux's at Hackney. Father Weston
in the Autobiography speaks of the subject as follows
" In those days there were many persons, even Catholics,
tormented with an evil spirit, who caused terrible molesta
tion to the people with whom they dwelt, whom it was
difficult, nevertheless, to relieve by exorcisms, because
of the loud and vehement shriekings, vociferations and
bowlings which they are accustomed to raise during such
ceremonies. Notwithstanding this, the deliverance of
those who laboured under so grievous an affliction, and
compassion towards those who had such persons in their
houses, seemed to demand that something should be tried,
and that the care of them should not be neglected,
seeing that God might be pleased to assist the sufferers
and grant them the desired relief This indeed He did
clearly ; for out of many persons the devils were cast,
not without the manifest interference of heaven and to the
incredible admiration of those who looked on. Persons
were cured and set free from those monsters when I was
myself present and beheld that which passed. At the
time when the matter was fresh I wrote in letters many
details concerning it which I could not now remember,
neither would they perhaps belong exactiy to my present
undertaking ; still a few words upon the subject will not
be out of place.

Life of Father William Weston. lor
" In the service of the elder Cecil there was a young-
Catholic gentleman who had been a witness of these
exorcisms, for it was in the house of a relation of his
that many were used, and upon divers persons. When,
therefore, the matter became notorious, and the rumour
of it reached as far as the Court and the ears of the
Queen's Councillors, Cecil conversed upon the subject
with the above-mentioned young man, and in talking
of these possessed persons and the exorcisms he raised
various questions, and desired the youth to report to him
clearly as to the truth of what was in every one's mouth
respecting the possessed, and whether the narrations con
cerning them were realities that deserved to be believed.
The young man having received permission from his lord
(whom he knew to be a persecutor of the Faith and of all
good men), related to him what he had seen and heard,
which amounted to something so marvellous that it could
hardly be described. Cecil laughed at everything as being
probably a fraud and a series of impositions devised by
priests to deceive. Then the young man swore a solemn
oath to the truth of his assertions. 'Apart from other
awful things,' he said, • you could see the devils gliding
about and moving under the skin in immense numbers,
in visible form, like fishes swimming.' 'Go along with
you,' said Cecil, ' great knave that you are, never see me
again, or come near my house any more.' Knowing that
he was wrong, vexed by the evidence of the thing, and
still more by his own conscience, he could not endure to
learn any further, for he was afraid, I think, lest such a
striking testimony of the truth should "compel him to
open his eyes and assent to it or lest it should increase
the remorse of his conscience that was uneasy.
" Here likewise it may not be unsuitable to narrate
that some pursuivants, with warrants to search, came to
that very house where the demoniacs were, with an inten
tion of discovering what might be going on, and whp

I02 Life of Father William Weston.
were present, so that they might arrest any priests or
suspected persons whom they might find. They chose the
time that seemed most likely for the celebration of Mass
^nd exorcisms. They knocked a long time at the door,
for that house was a large one, and surrounded with a
lofty wall, otherwise they would have rushed in at any,
visible entrance and have taken all unawares. On being
required to show their authority, they produced the
warrants with which they were furnished, and named the
magistrates by whom they had been sent, and at last were
admitted into the house. Just within the threshold they
met with one of the victims of possession. It was a girl,
and as soon as she saw them she looked and ground her
teeth and declared that one of them (a man whom she
named) had a thousand devils hanging on the buttons of
his dress. At this the pursuivants were so scared that
they forgot all the furious temper with which they had
come. In their excessive fright they seemed half dead
and became perfectly gentle. They not only showed no
violence, but did not so much as touch a thing in the
whole house, either because they had no will to do so, or
because they durst not. They did not search any corner
or room, but went only where they were taken. However,
when they went away they asked the lady of the
house to give security for her appearance within a certain
time before the Privy Council. There were, nevertheless,
various priests at the time in that house, and some of
them actually saying Mass when they came. Everything
was finished before the rogues were admitted into the
house, and the' priests had concealed theiAselves in the
different hiding-places.
"This also I am inclined to mention. After the lapse
of nearly a year, when I had been taken and had fallen
into the power of the heretics, a secret examiner was sent^
who cam6 to me into the prison to take information. Being
an inquisitive man, he inquired with much minuteness about

Life of Father William Weston. 103
those events, but turned them all into ridicule, saying that
he had seen the same kind of things performed by the
tricks of juggling for the astonishment of the simple. In
order to put down his insolence, I informed him of some of
the events that were then passing, and I said that I wished
that the Queen herself had been present, or some of her
Councillors, to view those spectacles, or else that they
could have taken place in public. I had no doubt but that
many persons on witnessing and recognizing the power
and majesty of the keys of the Church when used against
those furies and monsters, and easily discerning the dif
ference of power between the two religions, would yield
the palm of victory to the Catholic faith. He then swore
with a great oath that he would not by any means have
liked to have been present at scenes so terrific : so little
strength is there in an evil conscience v;hen it is in the
smallest degree touched by the weapon of God's Majesty,
or by the root of things which are divine."
Under date June 28, 1602, Father Anthony Rivers
wrote ' to Father Persons in these terms. " His lordship
[Richard Bancroft, then Bishop of London, afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury] is in hand with a piece of
work touching the incontinency of priests, for which
purpose he hath called unto him Tyrrell, and some such
lost companions as Mainy, and two or three women that
were exorcised heretofore for being possessed, by some
priests, and being now heretics, according to their con
fessions, compileth a book, which haply shortly you may
see. Albeit Tyrrell hath refused to swear to the truth
of such things as he hath confessed, which hath not a
littie troubled Mr. Bancroft, for that he meaneth nothing
shall be said in his book but that which is avouched by
the oath of others."
However Tyrrell did swear to his confessions, and in
due time Samuel Harsnet, Bancroft's chaplain, after-
1 Old Chapter MSS., Rivers' Letters.

T04 Life of Father William Weston.
wards Bishop of Chichester and Archbishop of York, pub
lished a book called "A declaration of egregious Popish
Impostures, to withdraw the hearts of her Majesty's subjects
from their allegiance and from the truth of Christian
Religion professed in England, under the pretence of
casting out devils. Practised [by] Edmonds alias Weston,
a Jesuit, and divers Romish Priests, his wicked associates.
Whereunto are annexed the Copies of the Confessions and
Examinations of the parties themselves, which were pre
tended to be possessed and dispossessed, taken upon oath
before her Majesty's Commissioners for causes Ecclesi
astical. At London : Printed by James Roberts, dwelling
in Barbican, 1603."'
The book is a vile book, full of the foulest insinuations.
It is built upon the examinations of Sarah Williams, taken
in 1602, Friswood, alias Frances Williams, taken in 1598
and "augmented" in 1602, Anne Smith, alias Atkinson, in
1598, Richard Mainy, gentleman, "written by himself"
upon oath, June 6, 1602, and Anthony Tyrrell, clerk,
"written with his own hand," also upon oath, June 15,
1602, from which some extracts have been already
given. This Friswood Williams is the wicked woman called
Fid, who was believed to have borne a child to Bancroft,
as Bishop Challoner relates in the Life of Richard Dibdale,
in his Missionary Priests.
In her examination she has evidently tried to say what
she thought would be most acceptable to her examiners,
the Bishop of London, the Dean of Westminster, and their
reverend assessors. She has said the vilest things of all
the priests whom she names, and it is worthy of remark
that the accusations of indecency against them, which are
greedily seized upon by Harsnet, are not hinted at by the
1 "The names of Modoz, Mohu, Frateretto, Flibberdigibit, and a few
other particulars in Shakspeare's ' King Lear ' were taken from this book."
Note in the copy in the Bodleian Library.

Life of Father William Weston. 105
other witnesses. A specimen will serve,' especially as it
refutes itself
"It was not long after this examinate came to
Mrs. White, but that one Harrington, growing into
acquaintance with her, did afterwards marry her, as she
believeth. The marriage was in the Marshalsea, where
after a Mass, one Lister, a priest (as she remembereth),
then prisoner there, used certain Latin words, whereby
they said she and the said Harrington were married
together. There were present there five or six. After
which time the said Harrington lived with this examinate
at times for the space of about four or five years, she
notwithstanding continuing her service with Mrs. White.
. . . She further saith that the said Harrington being con
demned and executed on the i8th of February, 1593
[O.S.] (as she remembereth), she married again with Ralph
Dallidowne, a smith in Holborn, as she thinketh."
This flagrant calumny against the holy memory of a man
who had given his life for his faith, is false on the face of it
First, she says that a mock marriage was performed by
a priest whom she names, after Mass, in the presence of
five or six persons. Her examiners might be ready to
believe such a story, but it is simply incredible that so
many persons should be found amongst those who were in
prison for their religion, so to make a mock of that religion
by profaning holy Mass and the Sacrament of Matrimony.
Secondly, she says that the words used were Latin.
Her examiners may not have known that the essential
words of the contract always were in English. The form
of the Anglican marriage service, as well as that which
English Catholics now use, is taken from the ancient
English form in the rite of Sarum. Fid could not have
been deceived in the way she describes.
Thirdly, her story contains this glaring absurdity, that
a man who had gone through a form of marriage in a place
' 1 Yiz.x%n&'C^ Declaration, ^.2'ii.

lo6 Life of Father William Weston.
so public as the Marshalsea prison, before a priest, in the
presence of five or six witnesses, could go to the great
College at Rheims, where he had previously spent two
years and was well known, remain there eighteen months
more, receive the Sacred Orders openly together with
many others, the subdeaconship at Laon, deaconship and
priesthood at Rheims, and one of these orders at the
general ordination in the ecclesiastical capital of France,
and the other at the hands of the Cardinal of Guise ; that
he could then go on the English mission and serve it till
his death, mingling with Catholics in England for two
years and known to them to be a priest ; that that death
should be at Tyburn, after a public trial for the crime of
his priesthood — and no one have ever said, while he was
preparing for Orders, or while he was receiving them, or
while he was in England acting as a priest, or while being
tried because he was a priest, or when his name was in
every one's mouth as a martyr, that he had been married
by a priest in the presence of five or six people. Such
a story could be believed only by those who held the
Catholics to be profoundly and generally depraved, and
that such depravity extended to those who were suffering
imprisonment for the sake of their religion.
Harrington was in the Marshalsea, but only for a few
months, and that after his arrest as a priest When
examined' by Justice Young after his apprehension in
May, 1593, he gives us such details of his life, that with
the help of the Douay Diary we become well acquainted
with his movements. He went first to the College at
Rheims, in 1582, when he was only sixteen, and remained
there for two years. When he left Rheims it was to enter
the Jesuit Novitiate at Tournay, but he "came over into
England because he could not have his health." As soon
as he came over he was betrayed, in October, 1584, by
Ralph Miller, the Rheims tailor,^ and he was then "taken
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccxlv. n. 14. ' Ibid. vol. clxxiii. n. 64.

Life of Father William Weston. 107
and sent to his father's house " at St John's Mount, in
Yorkshire, and there is no trace whatever of his being in
prison, or even in London, till he was a priest
From the Marshalsea he wrote to Lord Keeper Pucker
ing a very manly and noble letter,' in which he said that
if his Hfe were granted to him " with such condition as he
could observe without prejudice to his conscience and pro
fession," he would be thankful for the favour, but that if
not, he would "in all joy and patience expect his final
sentence.'' "If my boldness and resolute answers," he
wrote, " move any man, I desire him to remember that
even nature and my bringing up, which hath not been
illiberal " — ^he was a gentleman by birth — " always taught
me in a just cause to be assured and confident ; and more
than this, in His cause my Saviour expressly commandeth
me not to fear those who, having in ignominious sort
hanged or quartered my body, have then no more what
ever to do with me. And for my own part I protest
sincerely unto your honour that, after once I had deter
mined this course, which at God's good pleasure and yours
I shall consummate, I made no more account of life, or
any worldly pleasure, but, sleeping and waking, death was
the continual object of my mind, the end of my desires,
and the greatest honour v/hich in this world I expected
as the reward of my long and painful labours." This was
not written from a place of security, but when he was in
the hands of men who had indicted him of high treason.
This is the true man, and this the spirit that animated
him when imprisoned in the Marshalsea, not that which
the calumnious tongue of Friswood Williams attributed
to him when he was dead. Her story is false on the face
of it, and as she bore false witness because she would
say what she thought would please her examiners, it
would be but wasting time to examine her evidence
respecting the possessions and exorcisms.
^ Ibid. vol. ccxlv. n. 66.

io8

CHAPTER VIII.
HARD TIMES.
" The times that succeeded the holding of Parliament were
full of bitterness to Catholics, and beyond all measure
grievous. For although before, the cruelties had been
great, and tending to the destruction of many, yet now
the fury of persecution lifted up itself much more vehe
mently against them. By means of the authority of the
Earl of Leicester and the advice of Cecil (for under the
Queen these two men were our rulers), it was brought about
that for Catholics their country and native soil became
changed into a ruthless and unfriendly ground ; the hatred
of all men was turned against them ; they were laid in
wait for, betrayed, attacked with violent and sudden
assaults ; they were plundered by night, their property
was confiscated, their flocks were driven away, their cattle
taken from them. What prison was there, what place,
however dark and gloomy, which was not at that time
rendered glorious by the noble and magnanimous confes
sion of saintly confessors and even martyrs? In the
cross-ways and public roads you might see guards suddenly
stationed, so that none of the travellers passing by could
move on in safety or without rigorous examination. On
one and the same night and hour now a single city, now
several throughout the kingdom, were disturbed with
unlooked-for incursions of secret spies ; the inns, the
taverns, the lodging-houses, the bed-chambers, were
searched with the utmost rigour; if suspected or unknown
persons were found, unless they could give a satisfactory

Life oj Father William Weston. 109
account of themselves, they were either imprisoned or
guarded until the next day came, and till they could clear
themselves, in presence of a magistrate, from all suspicion
of being- Catholics, and particularly of being Catholic
priests. Lying rumours were set afloat about the prepara
tion and coming of a hostile fleet into England ; false
letters were forged pretending to come from Catholics,
and containing conspiracies against the Queen ; nothing
was more in fashion than to believe that the Queen's death
was intended by them ; indeed, there were some spies that
went so far as to disguise themselves as Catholics, and
submit to arrest and incarceration, and to make a con
fession of guilt in order to inflame the passions of men
against the Catholic name, and enable them to demand
and exact vengeance upon them.
" It happened sometimes in London (and I have myself
been present and heard the complaints and lamentations
of Catholics) that it was reported as a certain fact that a
decree had been passed by the Queen's Council for the
suppression and massacre of all Catholics in their houses,
on such or such a night. Many persons would then
abandon their homes and resting-places, and spend the
night in the fields ; others hired boats on the Thames, and
floated up and down the river. There was a saying spread
abroad, which was supposed to have come from the lips of
Cecil, to the effect that he would bring matters to such a
pass that in a short time Catholics would be reduced to
such a state of destitution that they would be unable to
assist each other, and would be thankful if, like swine, they
could find husks wherewith to assuage their hunger. Truly
it seems to me that the prophecy of our Saviour was then
accomplished : ' They will put you without the Synagogue,
and all who shall slay you will think that they are doing
God service.'
"Willingly I omit here the frequent arrests of priests
and others, their imprisonments and violent deaths, which

iio Life of Father William Weston.
were perpetrated partly in London, partly in York, at
Winchester, Canterbury, and other places; for all these
things have been diligently noted down in histories of their
own, divided according to time, and described with their
proper circumstances. New prisons, in like manner, were
devised and erected at Wisbech, Ely, Reading, and
they were filled with high-born persons for the most part,
and illustrious men. When a request was made to the
Queen to make similar arrangements for women, she is
reported to have made answer : ' You have had your own
way with the men ; do you want to shut up the women,
too, like nuns in cloisters .'' A fine work that would be !'
and she withheld her consent Nevertheless, there were in
Yorkshire public prisons, where the wives of several men
of rank were detained ;' others were held captive in the
houses of private persons. But as to the events which
happened to myself during that sorrowful period of public
affairs, or to others whom those trials touched, it may not
be unseemly to put down some records here.
" There was a gentleman who desired to be present at
Mass in his own house. The outer door of the house was
therefore carefully shut, and the servant had orders not to
admit any man without express leave from her master.
He himself, meanwhile, in the upper part of the house,
prepared and arranged everything necessary for the cele
bration of the Holy Sacrifice. Then, having cjilled the
priest from his hiding-place, he put on a surplice, and
devoutly served the father at Mass. By his side he had
a sword in readiness.
" Mass was not quite finished when tiie pursuivants
appeared at the door, and began their knocking. The
servant, forgetting her orders, opened the door for them,
and they suddenly rushed in. The maid saw her mistake,
and shouted out lustily that thieves had broken in. When
^ For some account of the Catholic ladies who were imprisoned in the
Castle at Sheriff Hutton, see Troubles, First Series, p. 229.

Life of Father William Weston. 1 1 1
her master heard the outcry, being stih in his surplice, he
seized his sword, met the men as they were ascending
towards the room where Mass was going on, turned the
point of his sword sharply upon them, and threw them
downstairs, drove them into the lower part of the house,
shut and barred the intervening doors, went upstairs again,
removed and arranged everything, hid tiie priest in a safe
place, took off his surplice, and then went down to the
men, saying to them, 'And, pray, who are you, and what
is your business here V They, however, called him by his
name, and said, ' You seem to have changed yourself into
another man. TeU us, where is your surplice ?' ' I .'' said
he, ' I in a surplice ? I do not belong to the sort of
people who wear surplices.' Then he produced some gold,
lined their palms, appeased them, and sent them away.
" There was also an illustrious matron, who sent word
to a certain priest whom she knew to be dwelling at the
distance of a few leagues, requesting him to come to her
house upon one special day to administer the sacraments
to herself and her family. At the same time she entreated
her husband to be absent from home on that day so that
the priest might have freer access to the house and more
facility in the discharge of his duties. The husband being
attached to his wife, albeit not of the same religion, pur
posed to do as she wished ; but before he could leave
home there fell suddenly such a heavy shower of rain
that he determined to stay within doors. The priest
meanwhile remembered his appointment, and did not
regard either the long journey or the rain. When he
arrived he was soaked with the storm, and the person
who opened the door to him at his coming chanced to
be the master of the house, who, upon seeing the priest
guessed immediately the reason why he had been sent
for. Nevertheless, he received him kindly and invited
him to enter. He ordered a fire to be lit to dry his
clothes, and showed him, in fact, every mark of hospitality

1 1 2 Life of Father William Weston.
In the meanwhile the Catholic members of the family
employed themselves in arranging a room and an altar,
and all that was required for the celebration of Mass.
They likewise prepared themselves for receiving Com
munion. They could not so well, however, keep the
secret but that the master of the house formed a tolerably
true idea of what was intended. He then went to the
priest and asked to be allowed to be present at Mass,
saying that he had heard much of it but had never seen
.it The priest made answer that his request was not
merely singular but even wrong, because sectaries and
heretics were not admitted to Catholic rites as being
excommunicated persons ; sacred things were not to be
given to dogs. The. gentleman refused to accept this
answer, but only urged his plea more forcibly. The
priest yielded at last, under the impression that there
must have been some spark of goodness lying beneath
so earnest a petition. Neither did his hope deceive him.
When the gentleman witnessed everything, the beauty of
the ceremony, the reverence of the priest, the devotion of
those who were present, feeling himself quite overcome
either with terror or with great awe, he all at once in
the middle of Mass, turned faint, pale and rigid, then a
profuse perspiration broke out over him and he fell in
a faint. His wife came to his assistance ; the otiiers who
were near lifted him up from the ground, rubbed his
hands, aided him in eveiy manner, and at length after
a long delay they brought him back to life and sensation.
When the Mass and Communion were finished, the priest
said to him, ' Now you have seen and felt by your own
experience that you were unworthy to be present, and have
received the just punishment of an excommunicated man.
You have seen, too, what a miserable thing is life, how un
certain, how entirely dependent upon the will of God.' This
event so profited the gentleman that by its means, together
with the priest's short and expressive words, he was so moved

Life of Father William Weston. 113
as to request the father not to depart for awhile, adding,
'Then I can hear from your lips what will tend to my
advantage and that of my soul.' Being instructed in the
Faith, and how to make his confession, he became a most
exemplary Catholic, and continued so throughout his life
with the greatest constancy. It fell in my way to see
him myself upon one occasion when he came to Wisbech
to visit us, bringing an ample alms with him in the fulness
of his devotion.
"It was about this period that there occurred a very
memorable incident which was narrated to me by a priest
who was a witness of the fact. He had been invited
to a Catholic house to administer the Holy Communion.
He said Mass and was about to communicate those who
were present. Amongst them was a young child who with
great admiration watched all that was passing. The
ceremony over, he attached himself to his mother, took
hold of her dress, and said, ' Mother, mother.' ' What
is it ? ' she asked. ' Did you not see .'' Did you not see .-' '
he answered. ' But what should I see ? ' said the mother,
The child replied, 'The wonderful little infant, and so
beautiful, like nothing that you ever saw, that was placed
in my father's mouth by my uncle (this was the priest who
had distributed Communion), and my father received it
and it disappeared. What a pity!' These and similar
words he went on repeating to his mother, and he could
not cease lamenting and complaining that the beautiful
child was gone.
" I once obtained the familiar friendship of a young
Catholic gentleman who used to bewail often and bitterly
the condition of his father, whose wife and children were
Catholics, together with some other members of the
family, but who would persist himself in the outward
profession of a false religion, though he was not ignorant
of his error and danger in thus manifestly offending
his Creator, and risking his. own salvation. The young
I

114 Life of Father William Weston.
man asked me if I would disguise myself, visit his father's
house, and lay hold of some opportunity of conversing
with him on the subject of religion. He went on to say,
'For my father delights in that kind of conversation and in
company of those who make religion the matter of their
discourse.' He had considerable learning for a person in
his position of life, and was well versed in the science of
law. " I could not refuse to listen to such a request Con
sequently I made my visit, and after a friendly salutation
and a few words upon general matters, the rest of our
conversation was devoted to such topics as belonged to
religion. When our long discussion was concluded, and
I was going away, he asked of his son who I might be.
He added that it would please him much if I would visit
him frequently. This I did accordingly, and became so
intimate with him that he used to invite me into his
library, and besides other books which he showed me, he
would bring out even Durandus, Medina, and various
scholastic authors which he was wont to peruse with
diligence, hoping to find some passage in them which
might excuse him in his custom of frequenting heretical
assemblies and churches. He requested me to read the
sentences which he had marked, and to solve the diffi
culties which he had woven together out of them, or which
had been otherwise suggested to him by his own under
standing. And when sometimes he was so far pressed
that he was not well able to maintain his own position,
he would cry out and say, 'Away with- the heretics, the
detestable enemies of God, with whom nothing is sacred,
who are the destroyers of all law and the murderers of
souls. Never will I put it within their reach to strip me
of my property, so that myself, my wife and children
should be all at their mercy.'
" Now I will mention the end of the life of this man
who in other respects was honourable and adorned with

Life of Father William Weston. 115
a variety of virtues. His house in London was scarcely
ever a day or two without there being a priest within
it He owned, moreover, another house in the country
(whither he used frequently to betake himself), and there
he kept a brother of his who was a priest, so that, were
illness to overtake him, he might always have a spiritual
remedy at hand in a physician who could offer succour to
his soul. Once when he was travelling, according to
his custom, from one house to the other, he was taken ill
in the middle of the journey, in an inn where he was
resting. From thence he sent an express messenger to
bring his brother, the priest, to him from home, but
although much haste was used, before the priest could
arrive he was dead. Thus it is God's way to surprise the
wise in their craftiness. Something similar I heard also
concerning another person who kept his son, a priest,
privately in his house in case of any danger of death.
One day he left his house to go into a neighbouring town,
wherein having heard an heretical sermon, he was over
taken by a mortal malady, fell down and expired."
Perhaps the case here alluded to by Father Weston
was the following, which is taken from "Relations of
Mr. George Stokes and Mr. Heath concerning martyrs,"
copied by Father Christopher Grene.' "When I was a
scholar in Oxford, Mr. Pitts of Mey hard by, being a
schismatic,, and having two sons Catholic priests in his
house, being often desired to come to the unity of the
Church, answered that he could when he would ; but as
he went into our Lady's Church at Oxford, he fell down
dead." "The house in which I was myself entertained in secret
was once visited by certain Catholics who gave a satis
factory account of themselves both to me and to the head
of the family, and expressed their desire of hearing Mass.
When it was over and all were departing, I remained at
1 Stonyhurst MSS., M. fol. 191.
I 2

ii6 Life of Father William Weston.
home as usual, and going upstairs to the room where my
books were kept, I began my occupations. After nearly two
hours the whole house was besieged by a great concourse
of men ; by what accident or through whose information
I know not The servant ran to me suddenly, as I
happened to be still in the house. He told me of the
danger, and made me immediately come down into an
underground hiding-place that he showed me. There are
several such places in Catholic houses, otherwise there
would be no security possible. I descended, having
nothing but my breviary with me. Nothing else was at
hand, and moreover it would have been dangerous to wait,
for the heretics had already found their way into the
house and were examining the more distant parts of it
From my cave I could hear where they were from the
noise and tumult which they raised. Step by step they
carried on their attacks. When they came to my chamber
and saw my books they became more eager than before
in their hope of discovering their prey. Within that
room was a secret passage ; of this they demanded the
key, and after opening the door that led to it they stood
so exactly over my head that I could hear almost every
word that was uttered. 'See;' they cried, 'here is the
chalice, and here is the missal.' These things were really
there, for there had been no time or means of removing
them. They demanded a hammer and instruments to
break through the wall and the boarding, for they felt
sure that I could not be far away. As for myself I was
praying with no slight fervour to God that He would
avert the danger. It struck me likewise that it would be
nobler for a priest to surrender himself into the hands of
the enemy rather than to endure being drawn out with
ignominy. For I believed that some Judas had been
informing and betraying me, and that the men knew
perfectly well where I was to be found, but preferred that
the discovery should be attributed to accident sooner

Life of Father William Weston. 1 1 7
than to treachery, in order to conceal the guilt of the
traitor. "Whilst these thoughts were passing through my
mind, one of the company, induced either by error or
design, or as is more probable, by the suggestion of a
good angel, exclaimed, 'Why do you spend your time
looking for hammers and hatchets } There is no space
here large enough to hold a man. Look at all the corners
and where everything leads, there can be no secret place
here.' The reasoning of this man proved effectual, and
the men desisted from their resolution of searching any
more and destroying the place. It was God's purpose,
as I think, to deprive them all of common sense. For
it seemed surprising that men of that kind, so expert in
their employment, should have been unable to discover
a place that was not constructed with any remarkable
skill or ingenuity. So at last they lost courage, and
being very much fatigued after their tedious hunt, they
departed, carrying away whatever they found, the silver
chalice, the missal, a number of books, and what else I
know not.
" They arrested and imprisoned the master of the
house, and one or two more who belonged to his house
hold, which was not large, seeing that a long while before
he had been expelled from his own home, and had hired
part of another. I think that at this same time his wife
also was arrested ; however, they did not long delay to
release her as she was a woman of noble birth, and they
did not care to treat her with severity on account of her
position. " So the whole day was passed by me and the night
likewise, and the following day, until near sunset It
was winter time, and I was in a dark cellar, damp, cold,
and so narrow that I was compelled to stand all the time.
I had, moreover, to remain in perfect silence, without
coughing or noise, because I was under the impression

ii8 Life of Father William Weston.
that as they did not find me in all that time they would
besiege the house, lest I should secretly escape. As none
of the servants came to me during those long hours to
open the door, it confirmed me in my suspicion that the
enemies were still in possession of the place. It appeared
to me, nevertheless, that something must be done to
prevent myself from finding my hiding-place turned into
my tomb whilst I was yet alive. I mounted the steps,
therefore, and listened long to find whether I could dis
tinguish voices or footsteps passing. After much watching
no symptom of anything or of any person reached my
ear ; so, being at the top of the steps, I pressed my
shoulders against the trap-door of the cellar, which had
been shut from without By many efforts, interspersed
with prayers, I was but just able to break it open. Of one
thing there was great fear, lest if I used too much force
the cross-plank of the ladder should get broken under
my feet and so fail me, in which case all hope would have
been over,' and I should have perished with the dreadful
fall, for the person who had shut me in had been impri-.
soned ; those who had remained at home did not know
the place, and were unaware of what had become of me.
When at last I had accomplished my purpose through
using all the energies of my soul and body so that my
bones ached for days afterwards, I was still at the top of
the steps, with only my head and shoulders visible from
above and listening all the time. As there was nothing
to be heard I began to recite the Office for the day out of
the breviary which I had with me. At length I was able
to distinguish the voices of women, the lamentations of
the mistress of the house and her nurse, and the voices
of people calling me. Then I surmised that all was safe,
and the house must be free from peril, so I came out
entirely ; otherwise, if there had been suspicion of danger,
it would have been easy for me to have pulled down the
trap-door, and to have descended. When I had fully

Life of Father William Weston. 119
mounted I was covered with dust and spiders' webs ;
these had to be brushed off, and then I set off imme
diately and escaped, not without considerable danger,
because, as I heard afterwards, there were watchmen in
the way. Notwithstanding, through the goodness of God
I escaped."

CHAPTER IX.
MISSIONARY LIFE.
" God delivered me from another peril, and, as I believe,
no less a one, upon a different occasion. While I was
in the house of a certain viscount, having been invited
thither by a nobleman, the viscount's son-in-law,' in
order to discourse about religion in presence of the
daughter of the former, and sister of the wife of the
latter, who desired earnestly to be instructed in Catholic
doctrine. When I had arrived, and we were all together
in one of the rooms absorbed in conversation concerning
matters of faith and religion, a disturbance was quickly
raised in the house, fomented, as the viscount's daughter
believed, by her Puritan sister-in-law. It was rumoured
that an old man, a priest, was already in the house, and
engaged in a disputation in such and such an apartment
As these and several other persons had heard me speak,
the gentleman who had invited me began to guess that a
trap had been prepared in order to arrest me. He went
out of the room where we were, and perceived that the
^ " A quodam nobili viro et genero ejusdem vicecomitis.'' Orig. Nobilis
is the usual term for a gentleman, and vicecomes may be the sheriff of a
county. If this be a viscount, as seems probable from the phrase tua
dominatio, a little lower, it must be Henry Howard, Viscount Howard of
Bindon. Anthony Brown, Viscount Montague, was a Catholic.

I20 Life of Father William Weston.
Puritan lady had arranged watchers in various quarters of
the house so that from whatever point I might try to
escape there might be men to capture me.
" On the emergency he felt himself driven to a course
of action that bordered upon insanity; for since the
greatness of the danger did not allow time for longer
deliberation, he determined to assemble his servants,
take me by force through the midst of the house,
rescue me from all the pursuers, place me in a boat,
as the Thames was close by, and row me over to the
opposite side of the river. He recollected himself, how
ever, in time, considering how rash such an attempt
must be, and how much danger and violence it must
bring with it, involving perhaps murder as a necessary
consequence. In the end he resolved to make an appeal
to the viscount himself, his father-in-law, although cer
tainly a heretic, even ex officio a persecutor. Thus piitting
his hope in God, he went to that nobleman and called him
out of the room where he was talking and recreating
himself after dinner in company with other men of rank.
Finding that he lingered for awhile and continued his
conversation, he called to him again, and asked him to
make haste, seeing that the matter in hand was one that
suffered not delay. The company present wondered what
was the reason of such urgency. The viscount, however,
quitted his companions and hurried to my friend, who
explained to him the snare that had been set to catch
me by his daughter-in-law ; he asserted at the same time
that she was quite mistaken in her opinion respect
ing me, for instead of being an old man and a priest,
as she imagined, coming for the purpose of converting
his daughter, I was a young gentleman quite well known
to himself, come over to pay him a visit ; that as I
had been out of the country many years, travelling
in other regions through curiosity, it was natural that
various persons besides himself should be anxious to hear

Life of Father William Weston. 121
what I had to say respecting the novelties of foreign
lands. After his father-in-law had heard what he said,
and had felt that it was unworthy of his dignity if so
treacherous an action were perpetrated in his own house,
in his own presence, and to the annoyance of his son-in-
law (for the affair had now gone so far that they were
holding me imprisoned together with one other person),
he instantly gave orders that his son should be sent
for, to whom he then put questions as to where his wife
was, and what was her present occupation. The son
answered that he did not know. The father commanded
that she should be called. The other returned, saying
that he could not find her. ' Go away,' said the father ;
' make no excuses, but bring her to me.' She came at
last, and the viscount said to her : ' You forward thing,
what are you about .' ' She began then to tell her story,
but he replied to her : ' Just go, foolish woman, and call
away instantly the men who are on the watch, and all
the servants whom you have posted about' Then he
descended himself, accompanied by some noblemen, and
coming to the spot ordered the door to be opened. I
came forth, not at all, it must be confessed, looking like
an old man or a priest. I looked at them all, saluted
them in the usual form, received the like courtesy from the
viscount, made my way out, and so escaped. The one who
had sent for me was standing by, and he said to his father-
in-law, 'You lordship can see how unlike this man is to
what he was imagined to be.'
"The viscount's daughter, however, for whose sake I had
been brought into jeopardy, as she had a strong inclina
tion to embrace the Catholic faith, did not cease to receive
ill-usage from her relations. They would pluck at her dress
and uncover her neck to see whether she might not be
wearing relics or crosses or an Agnus Dei. Sometimes, too,
they insisted on her eating meat on abstinence days. All
these details I have set down for the private, reading of

122 Life of Father William Weston.
your Reverence,^ that you may see how many and how
various are the accidents growing out of one and the same
danger, and how many troubles and anxieties it may
involve. "There was likewise another adventure in London,
which should not be passed over in silence. I was walking
near the shop of a man whom I knew to be a Catholic,
so I stopped a moment and had a word with him, when
there came up to me a young man of rank who both at
his first greeting, and in his after speech, showed me more
reverence than my dress or appearance would seem to
demand, for he knew that I was a priest This was
observed by a pursuivant, one of those tormentors of
Catholics, who happened to be then in a house on the
opposite side of the same street. From the gentleman's
extreme civility he guessed that I was something out of
the common way, so he descended speedily from his upper
chamber resolved to find out whether there were any sign
about me of my being a priest, and, if so, to apprehend me.
In the middle of the road he recollected his sword, for he
noticed that I carried arms. Being afraid to come unpro
vided, and not knowing what he might require, he went
back to look for his sword. This brief space of time was
granted me by God for my deliverance. For in the mean
time we had made an end of our conversation ; the young
man, however, remained in his place. I went my way and
by chance moved out of the highroad, turning down a
small by-street When the pursuivant had left his house,
and had come to where we had been standing, he failed to
see me and cried out, ' He has gone off, then, and escaped
out of my hands. I knew that he was somebody worth
taking.' 'Of whom are you talking,' exclaimed the
Catholic young man, 'and whom are you looking for?'
The youth knew the pursuivant's face because he had
^ The Autobiography was written in compliance with tlie request of the
General of the Society.

Life of Father William Weston. 123
seen him before, when visiting, for no good purpose, his
father's house. The pursuivant inquired, 'Who was that
person with whom you were talking.? For I know that
if he had not been something out of the ordinary run
you would never have shown him so much respect in
your manner." The other put the question off, saying,
'Come, you are a little more inquisitive than you need
be. Go home, and do not be so full of suspicions;' and
then he said good-day.
" I knew also a Catholic married woman who, as she was
expecting her confinement, left her own home and resolved
to live secretly in company with another Catholic woman
to prevent her child from falling into the hands of heretics,
and being baptized by them. Having entered the house
to visit her, seeing that she was young and with her first
child, I spoke of the danger that was usual in her circum
stances, and advised her to have recourse to the Sacra
ments of Confession and Communion, in order to prepare
herself for what might prove to her an occasion of death.
She listened to my counsel and resolved to follow it
without delay. After being fortified, therefore, with these
aids, she gave birth to a child without much suffering
at the end of a day or two, but through the carelessness
of her nurse she fell subsequently into a mortal fever.
When the illness was at its height she again demanded
the sacraments.
" At length the violence of her malady so gained upon
her that it became necessary to administer Extreme
Unction. When she had been prepared by this last rite
of the Church she exclaimed, not without great joy and
exultation of soul, and not merely once or twice, but
many times, ' I see my own soul, and its appearance is
so beautiful, shining, and pure, that it surpasses the
clearest crystal and the heavens themselves in splendour
and in grace.' She was likewise favoured with the vision
of celestial spirits, and that several times before she gave

124 Life of Father William Weston.
up the ghost ; at which sight she was so filled with joy
and was inflamed with so vehement a desire of enjoying
God that she declared how that in her eyes the entire
world and its glory seemed to be not only vain and a
thing to be despised, but an object of horror, as though
it were so much mire, and that instead of fearing death
she embraced it with her whole soul and "with the ardent
desire of her heart in order that she might participate
in the pure and glorious fellowship of those heavenly
spirits. She did not wish to be restored to the world,
but desired to die ; and she could say nothing else.
She would also speak of the wonderful beauty of the
angels whom she was privileged to see. She predicted
likewise her certain death, and I think the very moment
when it was to take place.
" I think, too, that this must have been about the time
when there was a story reported concerning a certain man,
despised indeed in the opinion of the world, but in the
judgment of God, as we may fairly believe, one of the
elect and a vessel of eternal predestination. This man's
name was John, and he gained a poor livelihood by rowing
his small boat up and down the river Thames. To this
John there came one day men whose appearance and dress
were, as he thought, those of merchants ; in reality, however,
they were robbers and spoilers. They expressed a wish to
hire his labour and his boat. The man, therefore, glad of
the pay. and innocent of fraud, agreed upon the price of
two crown pieces. They entered the boat and ordered
him to row in the direction of a vessel which was there
lying at anchor. They took care to observe the time when
the ship had no one on board. They unloaded it of its
merchandize, transferred the things to the boat and went
away, having managed their business secretly and craftily,
to their entire satisfaction.
" God, however, who ordered all things to work for the
good of His elect, did not suffer the matter to be longer

Life of Father William Weston. 125
concealed. The men were detected, arrested, and taken
to prison. John also was recognized as having been in
company with the others, and as having let them have his
boat: he was consequently captured with the rest The
thieves were tried, pleaded guilty, and were condemned to
death. John pleaded his innocence, and protested that he
had not been a sharer in the crime, but had simply let his
boat for hire for the price of two crowns. This statement,
nevertheless, was of small service to him, for he was con
demned with the criminals.
" After the sentence they were remanded to prison, and
within a few days were to undergo their punishment John
meanwhile found the way and manner of a better life, in
the very place where he imagined that he would find
only death. It was his habit to earn a mouthful of bread
by carrying the cups from the cells of the prisoners to
a tavern that was kept within the prison to supply the
prisoners. He was noticed one day by a priest, who was
detained in the same prison. 'Where are you going in
such a hurry, John, with your cups t ' said this priest to
him ; ' before many hours are over it will be along another
road that you will be hastening.' ' I entreat you,' said the
man in reply, ' give me a trifle of money by way of alms.'
The priest answered him, ' Of what use will the silver be to
you, since before this time to-morrow you are to be led to
the scaffold ? ' The other replied, ' I should have hope of
pardon, or at least of a reprieve, if I had a single shilling
for what I require. For my wife could bring it about by a
petition, provided that she had money to give a lawyer for
drawing it up.' ' I see,' responded the priest, ' how little
understanding you have of such matters, if you imagine
that such a danger as yours can be averted with so slight a
trouble. Do not let a vain hope carry you away. I advise
you to be thinking rather of your eternal salvation.'
" Then he began to explain to him the necessity of the
Catholic faith, and of confession of sins, declaring at the

126 Life of Father William Weston.
same time that all those were in error who exchanged the
ancient teaching of the Apostles and the Fathers for their
private fancies and idle dreams. John eagerly turned his
ears and his heart to this discourse ; he set his burden
upon the ground and said, ' Let us hear further about these
things, they please me much.' The priest continued his
instruction, while John listened ever more attentively ; and
when through the help of divine grace he was persuaded,
the priest appointed that on the following day, the very
one destined for the execution, John should meet him in a
certain place and should make his confession ; in the mean
time he was to make a diligent examination of all the
thoughts and actions of his past life. John was not slothful
in accomplishing what was imposed upon him, but observed
faithfully both time and place, and when everything had
succeeded according to the wishes of both, the priest added
that he was to take special heed to avoid the churches and
profane rites of the heretics, such as sermons and commu
nion, or any other service which they are wont to celebrate
contrary to the doctrine and customs of the Catholic
Church. John promised honourably to obey these pre
cepts. " When, therefore, the hour for execution was at hand,
the criminals were summoned to attend a sermon and to
receive communion before they were led away to death.
The other wretched men submitted readily ; John alone
was not present He was ordered to appear, but he refused
to come. Again and again they sent for him ; they tried
exhortations, commands, menaces. ' Go away,' he said, ' I
have nothing to do with your communion ; oftener than
enough during my life I have been to it and it has done
me no good. You can use force if you please to do so,
but to make me go willingly is beyond your power. I do
not belong to your religion ; give it to those who hke it
and ask for it Let me alone now, I will not come.'
Seeing his constancy, and that neither threats nor per-

Life of Father William Weston. 127
suasions were able to win him, they left him alone and
admitted his companions to their heretical rites.
"That concluded, all of them, including John, were con
ducted to the gallows. The others, as they had lived
heretics, so they died. As to John, before the rope was
put round his neck he was ordered by an Evangelical
minister to \t&g God's assistance, to stir up his faith and
bear witness to it. John replied that he had nothing to do
with their faith, albeit, through his great blindness, he had
professed it during his whole life, for which he was grieved
and of which he heartily repented. He was a Catholic, he
said, and wished to die in the Catholic faith, in which alone
salvation and eternal life have to be sought for and found ;
moreover, he was completely innocent of the crime
with which he was charged ; he had been ignorant of
the snare laid for him, and his sole intention in using
his boat had been the desire of earning something in that
way of life which he had practised from his childhood.
' Now let me alone,' he concluded ; ' do not trouble me any
more ; I am innocent ; I die a Catholic ; you work in vain
if you attempt anything to the contrary.' Many things
were said to him by the minister and others; they pro
mised him pardon and life provided that he v/ould change
his mind with regard to religion ; but they could do
nothing with him. With the greatest courage and con
stancy he bore away the crown both of innocence and of
faith, and persevered till he died."
The man of rank, of whom Father Weston speaks in the
next anecdote, was John, eighth Lord Stourton, one of the
peers who sat in judgment on Mary Queen of Scots. His
mother, Anne, daughter of Edward, third Earl of Derby,
married secondly Sir John Arundell of Lanherne, commonly
called the Great Arundell. Father Cornelius, according to
the deposition of William Holmes,' who betrayed him in
April, 1594, "came unto Sir John Arundell when he lay at
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elisabeth, vol. ccxlviii. n. 75.

128 Life of Father William Weston.
Clerkenwell, and remained there with him by the space of
two years. . . . And after that Sir John Arundell removed
his house from Clerkenwell to Mowshill, where he remained
the space of three years, the said Cornelius and Sherwood
continuing with him. And after that the said Sir John
Arundell removed unto Thisselworth [Isleworth], where he
remained by the space of six or eight weeks, and there
died. . . . After the death of the said Sir John Arundell,
his lady removed unto Chideock in Dorsetshire, about a
fortnight before Christmas, the said priests not coming in
her company, but they came unto Chideock some two or
three days after, . . . where the said priests remained
together well near twelve months, and then William
Patenson went unto London, and soon after his return
thither . . . was executed." William Patenson was mar
tyred January 22, 159I-: Father Cornelius will therefore
have gone to Sir John Arundell's in 1586. Before this
we have a trace of his whereabouts, at the time when
Father Weston used to meet him, in the note of a spy,'
dated April 23, 1586. "John Cornellis most[ly] accom
panying with Mr. Gower, servant to the Lord Montague,
and often lodged with the said Gower within his lord's
house at St Mary Overies." Cornellis or Cornellys is more
likely to be the true form of the name than the Latinized
Cornelius. The story is well known of the apparition of the soul of
Lord Stourton, asking for prayers and Masses. It is given
by Bishop Challoner from the narrative of a priest named
Manger, who says that the vision was seen at the same
time by Patrick Salmon, who was afterwards martyred
with Father Cornelius, and was then serving his Mass.
Dorothy Arundell, who was present, also wrote an account
of this vision, which was sent to Rome.
"I am not quite sure whether the incident that occurred
during the Mass said by Father John Cornelius, took place
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cl.\xxviii. n. 37.

Life of Father William Weston. 129
at this time or a little later on. It was as follows. A man
of high rank had fallen from the profession of his faith,
and after persevering in error for a few years not without
considerable remorse of conscience, was assailed at last by
a deadly disease. When his last hour seemed near he was
not ignorant of how much he stood in need of a priest's
assistance in order to expiate his sins and receive the
Viaticum before he died. Through a faithful servant,
therefore, he gave directions that one should be sought
out and brought to him. The servant used, though in
vain, all the diligence of which he was capable, and with
great disappointment he at length returned to his master,
without having succeeded in finding a priest It was
certainly a case to be much lamented ; for the greatness
of the nobleman's sorrow arose from the circumstance that
it was the everlasting safety of his soul, more than the life
of his body, that stood in jeopardy. He did, nevertheless,
all that lay in his power, since he could not do that which
he desired. He assembled all his family, and made an
open profession of the Catholic religion ; he called upon
those present to be witnesses for him, in the Day of
Judgment, that he repented of his faithlessness and his
fall ; that he was a Catholic, and as such he wished to die ;
and that there was no way of saving the soul excepting in
that faith. Soon after these words he breathed forth his
soul. "Some days afterwards Father John was celebrating
Mass in London, in the house of Sir John Arundell (whose
wife was the mother of the nobleman in question), and the
dead man appeared to him at the altar entirely surrounded
with flames. Father John recognized him by his high bald
forehead, which was conspicuous even amidst the flames.
The Father asked him wherefore he was in that state, and
what he wished for. The apparition mentioned who he
was, and in what suffering : he was in hope of salvation ; he
entreated his prayers and those of all ; then he vanished
J

1 30 Life of Father William Weston.
My memory has failed me if it was not also reported that
those who were present at the Holy Sacrifice heard a
sound of voices, though low and indistinct, and saw some
thing upon the altar that shone in an unwonted manner.
The Father informed them of the vision, and told them to
pray earnestly for the soul of the dead man, who was said
likewise to have made his confession to his faithful servant
when all hope of seeing a priest was quite at an end.
" Once I was requested by a Catholic to accompany
him to the house of his father, who was a schismatic. On
our way we visited the houses of various Catholics, whom
I tried, in my poor way, to assist both with exhortations
and the sacraments. After our arrival some days were
spent without fruit or advantage, so far as our object
was concerned. During this delay I formed an intimate
acquaintance with a certain gentleman, whose house was
near, and by degrees I obtained his confidence.
" He had been formerly a Catholic, but through the
•difficulty of the times and of circumstances, and through
fear, had fallen away. His bodily powers had begun also
to fail him, and he was afraid that his corporal health and
the welfare of his soul might both be lost if he were to
throw away the opportunity for good afforded him by my
presence. He therefore resolved to lay aside all solicitude
and idle fear, and to return to the Church and the firm
confession of his faith, after imploring the assistance of
God and waiting for it with hope. For the sake of this
matter I went over and over again to his house, either
invited or uninvited, looking out some suitable opportunity
of time and place to carry out our business.
"He had a wife, however, who was more inquisitive
than was agreeable, and she carefully remarked what he
might be doing, and with what persons he spent his time.
I imagine, too, that she guessed something of her husband's
design, and, being full of fear lest he should risk every
thing again, himself, his property, and his entire family,

Life of Father William Weston. 131
plunging into an open gulf of danger, she kept watch over
him, remaining ever by his side, in order to prevent his
doing anything she did not like.
" He nevertheless remained inflexible in his purpose ;
and as he saw that nothing was to be done at his own
home through the inopportune and unpleasant perverseness
of his wife, he came over to me, under the pretence of
visiting my host, who in birth and position was equal to
himself, and I received his confession as we were walking
about in the garden together. This seemed the best way
of avoiding all that suspicion which could not fail to have
arisen if there had been a long conversation between us
in a private room. This he was most anxious to avoid,
particularly as there were so many spies and busy-bodies
around, and his was a large family of persons of either sex.
" His confession being, therefore, concluded to the satis
faction of us both, we then turned all our attention and
care to the discovery' of some plan or device by which he
might be enabled to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
It appeared to us both a difficult undertaking (though he
by no means judged that it should be passed by), because
neither his own house nor that of my host offered any
place suitable for our design. As neither, therefore, proved
convenient, we determined to move both of us to the
nearest market town, which was not more than a league
distant, and there to meet in an inn v/e named. In conse
quence, I myself, together with my companion, the son of
my host, set out on horsebabk to the market town, after
I had said Mass in my room and deposited the Blessed
Sacrament in a pyx that hung round my neck.
" We entered the inn as agreed upon, and chose in it
the most suitable room that we could find, one that was
large and sufficiently fair. Seeming to be occupied about
other affairs, we spent neariy half the day going to and
fro between the market-place and the inn, waiting for our
friend. When the time was over, as he sent us no message
J 2

132 Life of Father William Weston.
saying either that he had changed his mind or that he was
hindered from coming, I told my companion to prepare
himself for receiving Holy Communion. Hardly had he
done so when we heard a violent knocking at the door of
our room. I inquired who was there ; there was no reply.
There was another knocking, with equal or even with
greater violence than before. My companion was still on
his knees, making his thanksgiving. I opened the door,
and there beheld an unlucky guest for us, none other than
a pursuivant "The thought came into my mind, what evil spirit
drove you here .' for I saw the tokens of his office fastened,
as usual, upon his breast. I asked him what he wanted ;
for I expected nothing better than that he would lay hands
upon me and take me prisoner. ' I am looking,' he said,
' for a suitable lodging for the King, and this is the best
room in the house.' I wondered to hear him speaking to
me of this new King, as the Queen was yet alive, and I
asked him what King he meant. He answered me,
'Antonio, the King of Portugal, who has been just driven
hither on his way from France, and is from hence going
straight on to Court.' He added, indeed, ' But if you like,
remain here, and we will appoint another place for him.'
I replied, ' We will make way gladly for so distinguished
a guest ; besides, we shall be leaving the town in a short
time, when our business is over.' The man then wrote
the King's name upon the door of the room, and went
his way. " In the meanwhile a messenger came to us from our
expected companion, bringing us word of the reason why
he had failed to make his appearance at the appointed
time and place. He had been so weakened by an attack
of bleeding at the nose that he was compelled to remain
at home. He entreated us, however, to be present at the
same market the ensuing week, and said that he would
certainly join us unless Providence hindered the journey.

Life of Father William Weston. 133
The seven days passed away, and we all met at the same
place, where we performed quickly what was necessary
to be done, and then departed home."
Don Antonio was the natural son of Don Louis,
brother of the Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal, and he
was supported as a claimant to the throne by Elizabeth,
out of a wish to embarrass King Philip of Spain. In June,
1581, Don Antonio came to England for the first time,
Walsingham writing to Burghley,' June 29 : " The new
guest, Don Antonio, arrived last night at Stepney, and,
for lack of apparel, he will not demand audience these
two days." He was in the country three months ; a letter
of the 28th of September^ saying that "Don Antonio is
still at Dover, detained by contrary winds."
The following paper shows that the date of Don
Antonio's second landing, when his royal title startled
Father Weston, was September, 1585. Elizabeth agreed
at last to assist him by an armed force, and the ill-fated
expedition of one hundred and eighty-seven ships, under
Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norreys, left Plymouth,
April 18, 1589. Of twenty-one thousand men, eleven
thousand were lost ; and of eleven hundred gentlemen,
about seven hundred and fifty. Don Antonio went to
France in November, 1593, and died at Paris, August 26,
1595- The examination^ of one of Don Antonio's priests is
curious, as showing how sharply they were looked after,
and that Mass, even in the French Ambassador's house,
was stopped as soon as the news reached England of the
death of Henri III.
" The examination of John Gondsalvus de Lima, taken
before me, Richard Younge, the loth day of February,
in the thirty-second year of the Queen's Majesty's reign
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxlix. n. 53. ^ Ibid. vol. cl. n. 15.
2 Ibid. Addenda, vol. xxxi. n. 121.

134 Life of Father William Weston.
"The said examinate saith that he was born at Lish
borne [Lisbon], where his mother yet liveth, and his parents
were Portugalles [Portuguese], and he himself was made
priest at Lishborne, and came into England out of France
with the King, at September was five years, and hath ever
since continued with the King as his chaplain. And he
saith further that here are three friars attendant on the
King, viz.. Friar Diego or James, a PVanciscan, Friar
Joseph, a Dominican, and Friar Lewis, of the Order of
the Trinity, who have been with him ever sithence his
coming into England.
" Item, — He saith that he was in Flanders and Germany
with the King's son, being commanded by the King to
attend upon him, and stayed there six months, and being
demanded whether he gave not the King's son counsel
and admonition that he should not eat eggs or flesh on
the Fridays, as the Earl of Leicester and others there did,
he saith that it may be he did so, and thinketh he did not
evil therein, for that he is a Portugall and a Catholic,
and he hath persuaded the King's son to continue in the
Catholic religion, for that his father is a Catholic King,
and this examinate is a Catholic priest, and herein he
thinketh he did but his duty.
"Item,- — He saith that he did not cause any man to be
punished in the Low Countries for his conscience or for
eating of flesh at his being there, and he denieth that he
would have gone to King Philip from the King Antonio,
for that he is banished and dare not come thither.
" Item,— He saith that he knoweth Robin, the King's
Treasurer's boy, but denieth by his priesthood that he ever
confessed him or any other Englishman, for that (as he
saith) the English Cathohcs will not trust him, that he is
not King Philip's friend, and his King hath commanded
upon pain of death that he shall not meddle with the
Queen's subjects.
"Item, — He saith that he used daily to say Mass before

Life of Father William Weston. 1 35
the King, and the friars used to say Mass to the house
hold, but since the King his last coming from Portugal he
hath not said Mass, for that the King wanteth furniture,
having left all at Penecha,' and when he used to say Mass
the King would not suffer any Englishmen to come
thither. And this examinate hath also said Mass at the
French Ambassador's house seven or eight times, and in
none other place or places since his coming with the King
into England.
"Item, — He saith that since his coming out of Portugal,
viz., in August last past, on tiie Saturday next after the
Assumption of our Lady, he said Mass at the French
Ambassador's house, he being then in France, but his
secretary and the rest of the household were present at
it, and on the Sunday following, the King's death being
known,^ commandment came from the Council that they
should have no Mass there, and since that time this exami
nate did never say Mass either there or elsewhere, and
at that time there was no Englishman there to his know
ledge, and he thought he might lawfully say Mass there,
for that the Ambassador had liberty and licence in his
own house."
England, in its war against the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass, regarded no details as too small for its attention.
Even hosts or altar-breads were carefully looked after
amongst " Church stuff ; " and they often are mentioned
in the lists of things seized, under their old name of
"singing cakes." The English Ambassador in Spain in
King James' time thought the subject worthy of mention
in a despatch to his Government Sir Charles Cornwallis
wrote,3 May 28, 1609, "One Peter Lester, an apothecary,
a man of the age of thirty-five or forty years, dwelling near
^ Penecha was the landing-place of the expedition under Sir Francis Drake,
thirty miles from Lisbon. Birch's Elizabeth, vol. i. p. 59.
2 Henri IIL was assassinated August 1 (July 22), 1589.
' P.R.O., Foreign, Spain; Winwood's Memorials, vol. iii. p. 48.

1 36 Life of Father William Weston.
Fleet Bridge, makes the 'hostyes' for the Jesuits and
Massing priests that are in England. His irons that he
useth for that purpose he keeps in a barrel or vessel of
beer in his cellar in a corner on the right hand of the
said cellar, there being in the said vessel a secret partition
wherein he puts them." So Thomas Freeman of Ashby-
de-la-Zouch, "Massing priest," being examined at Bedford,
April 19, 1585, "where he had the Popish singing cakes
which he had about him, confessed that he had them of
his brother John Freeman," a linendraper in London.
Father Weston proceeds to tell a very good story in which
" singing cakes " are concerned.
" During this journey there happened to us a case of
danger by no means contemptible. It occurred some
times in the houses of Catholics that there were not hosts
for consecration, and that so a great fruit of our labour
was lost, as we could neither say Mass nor give Holy
Communion. To prevent this inconvenience I thought it
would be well to purchase some altar-breads and carry
them with me. As I had no proper place to put them in,
my companion arranged them and folded them within
a fine linen handkerchief which belonged to him, and
with sufficient security, as he thought It came to pass,
however, that from the constant movement in riding on
horseback, the hosts found their way out, and by degrees,
first three or four, then a larger number, fell down and
lay in the public road, and that along almost half a mile.
We did not perceive our misfortune until we came into
the open country fields out of the narrow road, for the
way hitherto had lain between two high inclosures on
either side. At last the wind blew strongly and carried
the particles into the air and scattered tiiem all around.
Then we perceived what had happened and the peril that
it brought with it. We had not much leisure for thought.
We did however the best we could, though not without
grave risk. My horse being the quickest, I went back to

Life of Father William Weston. 137
the furthest point at which they had begun to fall, and
set to work to gather them up, while my companion did
the same for those which lay at intervals here and there
further on. We were not slow in finishing our work. If
they had been suffered to lie there within sight of all
passers-by, it would have brought endless trouble upon
the Catholics of the neighbourhood, and we ourselves
should have been hunted down with the intensest zeal.
The hazard appeared all the greater, because the hosts
had fallen not in lonely or uncultivated paths but in an
inhabited country and amongst cottages scattered up and
down for the convenience of the owners' occupations.
Twenty or more had fallen in a heap just outside the
door of a house which belonged to the minister of the
village as I afterwards learned. It was an advantage to
us that the accident took place in harvest time, during
which season the men are mostly in the fields instead
of being in their houses."

rsS

CHAPTER X.
ARREST.
"After the lapse of some days, when I had returned
from my journey, the news was brought me that two of
our fathers had arrived in London. The tidings pleased
me greatly ; and although these times of persecution were
most terrible, during which many were delivered up to
death, houses were laid waste, and Catholics were filling
the prisons in every quarter of the kingdom, still it was
no small consolation to me to find faithful and brave
sharers of my perils in the midst of so many adversities.
So I prevented all delay and hastened to the inn to pay
them a visit
" They were Father Henry Garnet and Father Robert
Southwell " — who left Rome together. May Sth, and landed
in England, July 7, 1586. "We saluted and embraced each
other and in that same place we dined together. On the
following day (as there was no safe place in London either
in the way of inns or private houses) we left the city and
travelled nearly ten leagues till we came to the house of
a Catholic gentleman and an intimate friend of mine. To
him our appearance was a pleasure so great and desired
(as the event proved) that it was not possible for us to
wish or dream of any reception more loving or even
devout In former times he had been devoted to the
Court and to courtiers, as chamberlain, if I am not
mistaken, to the Earl of Leicester who was then in full
power. At all events he was one of his special favourites
singularly high in his estimation ; but he grew tired of

Life of Father William Weston. 139
that life even when still young, and having some idea
of Catholic truth and knowing how contrary such world-
liness and moral corruption must be to the sincerity and
purity of life commanded by the Faith, he made up his
mind to break from it all, and forsake the Court and
look out for some place and manner of life more remote
from that secular splendour and less obnoxious to the
temptations of sin. Although he did not doubt that his
resolution would be unwelcome to the Earl, with the
secrets of whose dark and mysterious life he was con
siderably acquainted, it was yet essential to him to
prefer the interests of his soul at the risk of temporal
perils ; and he judged it better to be bold at once and
make a breach with him, rather than by a system of
delay to continue in a state of life that brought great
spiritual injury with it and might perhaps entail on him
irremediable ruin. He therefore chose for himself a country
house quite separated from the tumults of the city, and
settled there with his wife, children, and servants, keeping
it nevertheless always open to priests and Catholics who
might pass that way.
"This change gave vehement offence (as was natural,
considering his own life) to the Earl of Leicester. Offence
even is not a sufficient word ; he became absolutely hostile
and hateful, and thought that it could not be passed over
any more than if it had been a crime, but must be
avenged. Nor did the vengeance fail in its coming, for
a short time afterwards, in the very same year in which
the plot against the life of the Queen of Scots was
carried out, the offender's house was overthrown, he him
self with his wife and part of his family was brought to
London and imprisoned in the Marshalsea, and death
would have certainly been decreed against him unless
the sudden decease of the Earl, occasioned, as it was
said, through poison administered to him by his wife,
had removed that enemy. After he was gone " — Leicester

140 Life of Father William Weston.
died September 4, 1588— "the fervour of the persecution
against him relaxed, and our friend was released from
prison. The rest of his life he spent partiy in Ireland,
far away from his country and his friends."
There cannot be much doubt that this house was
Mr. Bold's, in Berkshire, where these three illustrious
Jesuit Fathers celebrated with such devout solemnity their
meeting on English soil. Anthony Tyrrell wrote to Lord
Burghley on the 30th of August, 1586, "As concerning
Bold of Lancashire, Edmonds the Jesuit and I, about
two months past, did ride with him from London into
Berkshire to his house that was burnt, where Edmonds
preached. At the sermon was himself, his wife, one other
gentleman and his wife that dwelleth in Hertfordshire :
whether he were his brother or no, I know not : his name
I have forgotten. Edmonds persuaded him to be recon
ciled. He answered that he was so intricated on my Lord
of Leicester's dealings, that as yet he possibly could not
He would presently [go] over again and give my lord
a quietus est, and peradventure a worse term. He spake
of my lord very loudly."'
The next day Tyrrell wrote to Burghley again, in
answer to " Articles," ^ that is, questions suggested by the
former confession, and then he repeats more minutely his
story of the visit to Mr. Bold's house. " Of my journey
to Mr. Bold's of Lancashire with Father Edmonds, thus
it was. Mr. Edmund Peckham, late[ly] deceased, brought
me acquainted with Mr. Bold, and Father Edmonds and I
came to his chamber by St. Clement's, at the house which
sometime was Dr. Burkett's, now kept by one Mrs. Bright
From thence we went with him to St. Giles', and tiien took
horse and did ride down with him into Berkshire, to a
house of his that was burnt There we remained two or
three days. Father Edmonds and I each day saying Mass ;
none at it but Mrs. Bold and a young gentlewoman. After
^ P.R.O., Maryi Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 67. ' Ibid. n. 68.

Life of Father William Weston. 141
dinner Father Edmonds preached before Mr. Bold, his
wife, one other gentleman, and his wife of Hertfordshire;
and after. Father Edmonds vehemently persuaded Mr. Bold
to be reconciled to the Church. He protested that with
all his heart he desired it, but he was so entangled in my
Lord of Leicester's affairs that as yet possibly he could
not. He said he would make all the speed he could to
be gone again, and then he would remove himself out of
Leicester's fetters, repeated that he hated him from his
heart, and that most of his friends ere it were long would
forsake him, and pity it were that ever he should come
back again ; and many other hard speeches he gave out
of the Earl which I forbear here to utter. His conclusion
was that he would play him a slippert trick ere it were
long." No wonder, after this, that Mr. Bold and his family
were sent to prison and hardly used. The system of
espionage and secret accusation that then prevailed,
rendered it impossible for any man to know the real
reasons of his imprisonment or persecution.
There was one John Bolt, who was apprehended in
March, 1593, who had "lived for two or three years at
Court, being in great request for his voice and skill in
music." With the recklessness in spelling that prevailed
in those times, we cannot be sure that Bolt and Bold
are different names, and it may be that he was a member
of the family in Berkshire that had so great a taste for
music. If this was so, and as according to the good nun
who wrote the Chronicles of St. Monica's, " the Queen
having heard of his departure, fell out with the master of
music, and would have flung her pantoufle at his head
for looking no better unto him," ' we may well suppose
that he was a friend of Byrd the composer, who was a
" Gentleman of her Majesty's Chapel."
William Byrd also gave up his office, but he returned
1 Troubles, First Series, p. 297,

142 Life of Father William Weston.
to it as soon as ever Elizabeth was dead, for he was
certainly one of the " Gentiemen of the Chapel " at the
coronation of James I.
This well known musician was born in 1538, and
was educated in the music school of St Paul's Cathedral,
his master being the celebrated Thomas Tallis. In 1554,
Byrd was senior chorister of St Paul's. He was appointed
organist of Lincoln in 1563, and in 1570 he was sworn
Gentleman of the Chapel Royal in the place of Robert
Parsons, who was drowned at Newark. Tallis and Byrd
had a patent from Queen Elizabeth for the exclusive
privilege of printing music and selling music paper.'
His musical works are enumerated by Dr. Rimbault,
who adds, "Of his compositions extant in MS., the greater
number are for the Virginals," and he considers that the
chief part of Byrd's ecclesiastical compositions being com
posed to Latin words betokens his Roman predilections.
In a list^ of "places where certain recusants remain
in and about London," we have "William Bjn-d of the
Chapel, at his house in , the parish of Harlington in the
county of Middlesex." In another State Paper* he is
called a friend and abettor of those beyond the sea, and
is described as "Mr. Byrd, at Mr. Lester his house, over
against St Dunstan's, or at the Lord Paget's house at
Drayton. The messenger [evidentiy the bearer of an
intercepted letter] -is to tell him things which he will
well like." About the time of Father Weston's arrest,
we find "Mr. Byrd's house at Harmansworth or Crane-
ford" in a list* of houses to be searched, August 21, 1586.
In "an inventory^ of the books and other Popish
^ These details are taken from the Old Cheque Book, or Book of Remem
brance of the C/uipel Royal from 1561 to 1744. Edited for the Camden Society
by Edw. F. Rimbault, LL.D. 1S72.
" P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cli. n. ir.
" Ibid. vol. cxlvi. n. 137.
' Ibid. vol. cxcii. 11. 48.
" Ibid. vol. clxvii. n. 47.

Life of Father William Weston. 143
rehcs found in Mr. Hampden's house of Stocke in the
county of Bucks," January 26, 158I, there is "an old
printed song-book, which was sent unto Carleton, as
appeared by a letter sent therewithal, and one other letter
sent unto Mr. Fytton from one Mr. Byrd of the Queen's
Majesty's Chapel."
The brother of William Byrd was a Catholic likewise,
and acquainted with some fervent English Catholics.
When Benjamin Tichborne was let out of prison on the
condition that he would act as a spy on his fellow-
Catholics, his first letter' to Lord Keeper Puckering,
dated May 28, 1594, reported "meeting with one Byrd,
brother to Byrd of the Chapel. I understand that Mrs.
Tregian, Mrs. Charnock, and Mrs. Sybil Tregian, will be
here at the Court [at Greenwich] to-day."
The whole family were good Catholics, and we learn
that in 1605 they were suffering the temporal disabilities
entailed in the statement that "they have been exconi-
municated these seven years." This is taken from the
Proceedings in the Court of Archdeaconry of Essex,
May II, 1605, published by Dr. Rimbault from Hale's
Precedetits in Criminal Causes. As we often hear of pre
sentments of recusants by the minister and churchwardens,
but have not many opportunities of seeing their vexatious
and inquisitorial character, we may give the entry.
"[Parish of] Standen Massie. \Contrd\ Willielmum
Byrd et Elenam ejus tixorem. Prcesentantur for Popish
recusants. He is a gentleman of [the] King's Majesty's
Chapel, and as the minister and churchwardens do hear,
the said William Byrd, with the assistance of one Gabriel
Colford, who is now at Antwerp, hath been the chief and
principal seducer of John Wright, son and heir of John
Wright of Kelvedon, in Essex," gentleman, and of Anne
Wright, the daughter of the said John Wright the elder ;
and the said Ellen Byrd, as it is reported, and as her
^ P.R.O., Domestic i Elizabeth, vol. ccxlviii. n. Il8.

144 Life of Father William Weston.
servants have confessed, hath appointed business on the
Sabbath days for her servants, of purpose to keep them
from church ; and hath also done her best endeavour to
seduce Thoda Pigbone, her now maid-servant, to draw her
to Popery, as the maid hath confessed ; and besides, hath
drawn her maid-servants from time to time these seven
years from coming to church ; and the said Ellen refuseth
conference ; and the minister and churchwardens have not
as yet spoke with the said William Byrd, because he is
from home," &c.
The last notice of Byrd in the Old Cheque Book of tlie
Chapel Royal is that of his death, when he was about
eighty-five years old. "1623. William Byrd, a Father of
Music, died the 4th of July."
To Father Southwell and to Father Garnet, as we can
well conceive, the music in Bold's house must have been
delightful. Southwell had the soul of a poet, and Garnet
had a great taste for Church ceremonies and a special
devotion to singing Mass. Two extracts from his letters
we must give to show it, to see in what difficult circum
stances he thus refreshed his spirit.
To Sister Elizabeth Shirley at Louvain he wrote' on
Midsummer day, 1605 : " Besides the general affliction,
we find ourselves now betrayed in both our places of abode
and are forced to wander up and down, until we can get a
fit place. Yet we impute to the great providence of God
that our persons have escaped through your prayers and
others. We kept Corpus Christi day with great solemnity
and music, and the day of the Octave made a solemn pro
cession about a great garden, the house being watched,
which we knew not till the next day, when we departed
twenty-five in the sight of all in several companies, leaving
half a dozen servants behind, and all is well — et cvasinms
manus eorum iji nomine Domini."
And to Father Strange,^ June 30, 1601, he wrote:
' Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 578. » Ibid., P. fol. 553.

Life of Father William Weston. 145
" This last week there was the cruellest search at London
in the night that ever was, and some days before and after
the Court was guarded, and the gates of London, and
rumours spread abroad that the Jesuits and the King of
Scots went about to kill the Queen. One justice said that
for his part he had searched four hundred houses. . . .
Notwithstanding all our troubles we sing Mass.''
"When we reached this gentleman's house," Father
Weston says, "we were received by him with every mani
festation, as I said before, of the greatest charity and
friendly feeling. We found there also some gentlewomen,
who had come thither for the sake of concealment We
spent a whole week there, to the incredible joy of all, in
the midst of the liveliest tokens of welcome ; for that place
was the most suitable in the world for our business and
intentions, not merely because of the loneliness of the
mansion and the position of honour held both by it and
the persons who inhabit it, but besides, because they had a
chapel for the celebration of the Divine Mysteries, an organ
likewise and other musical instruments, and, moreover,
singers of both sexes belonging to the family, the master of
the house being singularly experienced in the art. Thus
during the course of those days we celebrated, as it were,
a long octave of some magnificent festival.
"We met there also Mr. Byrd, the most celebrated
musician and organist of the English nation, who had
been formerly in the Queen's Chapel, and held in the
highest estimation ; but for his religion he sacrificed every
thing, both his office and the Court and all those hopes
which are nurtured by such persons as pretend to similar
places in the dwellings of princes, as steps towards the
increasing of their fortune.
" Mass was sometimes sung by Father Garnet We
preached also in our turns, and heard many confessions,
and devoted the first half of the day almost entirely to
these occupations. We had, too, present amongst us the
K

146 Life of Father William Weston.
domestic pastor of this distinguished and holy family, and
one not unworthy of it, for a brief time afterwards he
ended his life as a most illustrious martyr of Christ In
the afternoon we were employed in other affairs and in
various consultations, as to what kind of instructions the
new-comers had brought from Rome from our Father
General, as to what was the condition of affairs in England
so far as I could explain it to them, in fine, as to how
we were to conduct ourselves in future, and what were
our common prospects.
" When the time had been passed in arranging these
matters according to our ability, I gave them information
of the Catholic houses to which they might betake them
selves and where they might remain, and I appointed
faithful men to conduct them thither. I myself set out
for Oxford without loss of time. Urgent necessity sent me
there for the welfare of a family which was somewhat in
confusion and stood in need of advice and assistance.
Having accomplished that matter, I turned towards
London and began my journey. About half way I
rested one night in the house of a Catholic [Mr. Francis
Browne of Henley Park], a good man and well known
to me, together with all his family; and as his house
was exactly fitted for the carrying out of a design which
had been previously in my mind and thoughts, namely,
of withdrawing myself for a few days from the affairs and
the intercourse of men, I resolved to give myself up to
prayer and the refreshment of my spirit, which was almost
worn out after so many occupations and worldly cares,
the management of which I could now intrust for the
time to those two Fathers.
" I determined consequently not to lose the opportunity
of making my retreat, as I found myself in so convenient
a house. It was very solitary in its position, in the midst
of rabbit-warrens and surrounded by a deer-park, and the
whole place A\as delightful through the vicinity of pleasant

Life of Father William Weston. 147
woods and meadows. God, however, had destined for me,
not this lovely and joyous place of rest, but another retreat,
much better for prayer and for spiritual exercises of every
kind, and where I had to stay longer, among wild animals
it is true, but of a different description.
" It happened in this wise. On the second or third
day after I had arrived at that house [Henley Park], two
Catholic gentlemen came to me to tell me that it was
necessary for me to set out for London, that certain
persons and affairs were waiting for me there, though they
themselves could not through ignorance explain the matter,
but they told me of a house where I should be informed of
all, both persons and things. On the next day I set out,
fully hoping and intending to return quickly to my present
abode. Those two men accompanied me. They were
gentlemen and firm Catholics, well known to myself and
to all, as being upright and honourable men. I have said
so much to prevent any one from suspecting wrongfully
that it was through fraud or insincerity on their part that
suffering came upon me.
" On reaching London I bade them farewell, and went
to the house without delay, where I was to be informed
about those who were seeking me. On the way I frequently
turned my eyes to observe whether any one was following
me, from whose presence suspicion might arise of some
impending danger. As I drew near the house I saw
a man running along, but wearing no sword or other
weapon, so that no evil opinion of him arose in my mind.
When I knocked at the door, however, and stopped for
a moment that it might be opened, he turned towards me,
put his hand on me, and said; 'I arrest you in the Queen's
name.' I answered him, 'You had better take care lest
you make some mistake ; perhaps I am not the man
whom you are seeking.' ' There is no mistake,' said he,
' you are the man I want ; you are Edmonds, priest and
Jesuit' I answered him, ' In that you are not far wrong :
K 2

148 Life of Father William Weston.
but by whose authority do you arrest me t show me your
warrant if you can ; if not, I am not to be taken prisoner.'
Immediately he put his hand into his breast, and drew
from thence a paper containing the names of many
Catholics who were to be, as I imagine, arrested : but as
my name was not among them, I exclaimed : ' This list,
besides being of no authority, does not contain my name ;
if you have nothing better to produce than this I will not
yield, but stand upon my right.'
" Whilst we were there thus disputing, there passed
along the road a butcher driving two oxen before him to
the slaughter-house, as it seemed. The street was close
by the city, but there were only a few houses or habita
tions. When he saw us striving with each other and had
understood how the matter lay, he ordered me to obey the
command, otherwise he would knock me down with the
staff he carried on his shoulder. While all this was going
on, an old woman came forth from the house to open the
door for the person who had knocked. She saw me led
away, and was the sole witness of what had taken place.
Later on she was obliged to appear for examination, as
was also the master of the house in like manner. However,
they suffered no harm on that occasion, as I understood,
whereas, if they had received me within their house, it
would have been very different It was my frequent
prayer to God, that when it was needful for me to fall
into the hands of the enemy, no harm or injury might be
brought thereby to other persons.
"When they had taken me in this manner, they did not
place me at once in the common prison, but shut me up
in a private house opposite the prison, giving me a keeper
and taking me into an inner part of the house, shut in by
several doors. They held me a close prisoner, giving out to
the world that I was a Puritan. Here I continued several
weeks without being examined, or having any crime laid to
my charge."

Life of Father William Weston. 149
Of this apprehension we know more than Father
Weston can tell us. Unfortunately for him he reached
London when Walsingham had made up his mind that
it was time to explode the Babington plot and arrest
the conspirators. Francis Mills, his secretary, in reporting
to him the progress making in that matter,' gives him
information of Father Weston's capture. The letter was
written on the 3rd of August, 1586.
"It may please your honour, by the inclosed which
I received from Berd[en] yesterday, a little before supper,
you may see how the apprehension of Bal[lard] receiveth
still delays, and this may happen to prove hereabout no
better than yesterday. Besides Phelippes telleth me yester
night that Bab[ington], from whom he thought to have
by a certain means received a letter, is contrary to his
expectation slipped out of the city into the country. How
this gentleman's departure may import the present appre
hension it may be of Bal., or require the delay of his
apprehension, your honour best knoweth, and accordingly
may it please you to give your direction to me. Phelippes
thinketh it good Bal. be taken as soon as may be, though
Bab. be as you see departed the city ; and so my meaning
is to do, unless you command otherwise.
" I understand by the messengers that attend me, that
one Davies,^ lately made priest here in England by some
such as hath power from the Pope, apprehended by them
and committed to the Counter where he lay a good while,
is lately by the Town Clerk of this city upon some bail
set at liberty as an ordinary recusant ; whether your
honour have heard it I know not; but these men that
take such pains to find out these miscreants are discouraged

^ P.R.O., Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 4.
^ This is the priest of whom mention has been made more than once.
Supra, p. 60. When or by whom he was ordained priest is not known.

150 Life of Father William Weston.
much to see many of them receive so much favour and
liberty as they do. They say also Mr. Young also is
gentle enough towards these men, for all his outward show
of forwardness, &c.
" Being come thus far in my letter of this morning at
eight of the clock, Berd. bringeth me word from Phelippes
that Bab. is still in the city, and with divers others like him
self betaken to a new lodging without Bishopsgate, where
all this day watch hath been laid in the best and secretest
manner might be, in hope that Bal. is among them : but
hitherto we cannot understand that Bal. is in this new
lodging. Bab., Donne, Skyrres [.-"], and some others both
men and women of this crew I have discovered this day
with my own eyes, and therefore seeing Bab. is not
departed, I hope for the better success of this service.
" I hold it not good to attempt the entry and search
of any house for Bal. unless we were perfectly assured
he were within it, which yet neither Berd. nor any other
can assure me. For if they could, I would make small
doubt of his apprehension. Otherwise upon uncertainty
to enter and search doth scare and mar the whole matter.
We endeavour therefore to take him in passing out or in.
"Whether your honour's pleasure be, if need be or
occasion so offered, that myself or Phelippes being your
own servants shall take Bal., and so you appear to have
laid the plot for his apprehension, I know not expressly:
but if the opportunity be offered, it shall not be omitted,
although it be besides your express direction.'
" One thing this afternoon, about five of the clock is
fallen out besides our expectation. Berd. and Sheppard,
1 It seems that it did not suit Walsingham that it should be known that he
had "laid the plot" for Ballard's apprehension. On the following day,
August 4, Mills wrote to him : " Between eleven and twelve of the clock this
day was Bal. taken by virtue of my Lord Admiral's waiTant (as I think and as
I appointed), and so is, according to the tenour of the -warrant, fast in the
Counter iu Wood Street. The matter so handled in every circumstance as
neither you nor any of yours did or need to be known in the matter." P.R.O.,
Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 14.

Life of Father William Weston. 1 5 1
the keeper of the Clink, being together here about Bishops
gate espied Edmonds the Jesuit, and he was presently
apprehended by Sheppard alone (Berd. not any way
appearing in the matter), his weapon taken from him, and
he carried to the Clink, where he is to be kept in such
sort as he may neither escape nor any friend of his know
what has become of him until your direction touching
him may be known. And if he be so notable a person
as is supposed, it were not amiss he were conveyed closely
and so clapt awhile in the Tower. That I mislike and
doubt in Edmonds' apprehension is that being missed
now peradventure by Bal. and his company (for he no
doubt was going to them), it will disperse them. The
letter of Berd. mentioned above, I left at home when in
the morning I came hastily out of mine own house to
take this standing I am now in. But this letter importeth
no great thing. Thus I humbly cease to trouble your
honour. From without Bishopsgate, this Wednesday
evening. " Your honour's most bounden and humble
servant always at commandment,
" Era. Mylles."
"To the right honourable Sir Francis Walsingham,
knight, her Majesty's principal Secretary. ' "
Endorsed— " K^x^\x%t, 1586. From Era. Milles."

152

CHAPTER XI.
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION.
Father Weston's apprehension was accidental, as it
happened, but the spies had long been on his track, and
he could hardly have escaped much longer. A very few
days before his arrest, Walsingham had received this
"Secret Advertisement"' from a spy who does not sign
the paper. It is dated July 21, 1586. " I have many times
given notice of the place where the Jesuit hath resorted
at the time of his being there, but no great account hath
been made thereof If I did know it to be your honour's
pleasure, I would apprehend both him and divers others
with my own hands. And when some priests have been
by my directions apprehended, it hath been so handled
contrary to my direction as I hardly escaped without
being discovered to the author thereof Henley Park
[Mr. Francis Browne's house] is never without three or
four priests, and the Jesuit is there at this present, but
never searched that I can hear of, though I have often
required it when there hath been a certain number there."
The writer, who was thoroughly well informed, and there
fore was quite unsuspected by the Catholics with whom
he was mingling only to betray them, was either Nicholas
Berden or Robert Foley, names that occur frequently at
this time in the course of Walsingham's plot against the
Queen of Scots, in which they were active instruments.
This was by no means the first of the "Secret
QQ^jj'j^tisements " that Walsingham received respecting
neither yc 1 p.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxci. n. 33.
Mary Que,.

Life of Father William Weston. 153
Father Weston. The following are interesting as showing
the work done in return for Walsingham's secret service
money, and there is much valuable information' to be
derived from them for the purpose of our biography.
The first ^ is endorsed March, 1585. The " Lady Paulett "
mentioned in it was by birth a Blount, widow of Sir
Thomas Pope, the founder of Trinity College, Oxford,
and stepmother of Sir Amias Poulet, keeper of the Queen
of Scots. ^
Cornelius and Loe, or Lowe, were afterwards martyrs.
Wingfield was the same person as Davies, whose subse
quent liberation Mills lamented, as we have just seen.
George Blackwell was made archpriest in 1598.
"May it please your honour to be advertised that
Edmonds the Jesuit, alias Hunte, did dine with me
according to his promise upon Saturday last, who so
abiding as I perceive hath been in Spain these ten or
twelve years past His coming into England was about
Midsummer last, sithence which time he hath most
frequented the younger sort of the gentlemen of the Inns
of Court, like unto whom he goeth apparelled. I find
that he hath persuaded many of them to his opinion in
religion. He useth much to preach at the Lady Paulett's,
who is lodged near Temple Bar, at Mrs. Lovelesse in the
Blackfriars, and at one Richard Beedell his chamber,
which is at one Mr. Smyth's house in the upper end of
Holborn, unto which place divers young gentlemen do
resort, as namely young Suthwycke and Claxton of Gray's
¦^ These spies' reports have to be read with caution. For instance, at the
time when Father Edmonds was safe in prison, we have from St. Omers,
Sept. 26, 1586, " One of the English here reports that there are two hundred
Masses daily in London and the suburbs. Those he wrote of before were two
Jesuits, who passed from Boulogne to Hyde ; one Father Edmonds and the
other a young man." Calendar, Domestic, Addenda, Elizabeth, vol. xxix.
n. 143- ^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxxvii. u. 48.
^2Lettsr-Books of Sir Amias Poulet, p. 374.

154 Life of Father William Weston.
Inn, and fifteen or sixteen others whose names I know
not as yet I required of the said Jesuit to know his
lodging, but he refused to let me know the same. Yet,
nevertheless, he referred me to one Ingram, a gentleman
and a student at the law, who is lodged at Taylor's house
in Holborn, near Barnard's Inn, who should direct me
unto him at all times. And he further promised me that
he will come to my lodging once or twice in the week,
so as I do provide all necessary stuff for him to say Mass,
which I have promised him to do if by any means I may
procure the same. More in particular I cannot gather
of him by reason of my small acquaintance, but that by
way of discourse he seemeth to be persuaded that the
King of Scots shall marry with the King of Spain his
daughter, whereupon he doth infer that the country of
Scotland will become Papists, and for the King's affection
to Papistry he standeth nothing doubtful, the rather for
the great credit that Holt, the English Jesuit, and some
other of the seminaries, have about the King there and
some of his Council, as he supposeth. This was the sum
of our first and last conference.
" The names of certain priests with such places as they
resort unto.
" To Mr. Darrell, who is lodged at Doctor Johnson's in
Fleet Street, resorteth one Martyne a priest.
"To Sir John Arundell resorteth one Tompson and
Cornelius, priests. Cornelius is commonly lodged there.
" To the Lady Paulett's, by Temple Bar, resorteth one
Twyfford and Stone, priests.
" To Mr. Treamayne, at Clerkenwell, resortetii one Loe,
priest "To Richard Beedell his chamber at Mr. Smjrth's in
Holborn, one Holland, priest, who is a great preacher.
" By Revell his man I have found that Blackwell, of
whom I have made mention heretofore, is and hath been
lodged at Mrs. Meany's, who now lieth at Westminster

Life of Father William Weston. 155
these seven or eight years together. \In marg. This
Mrs. Meany's daughter was married to Sir Thomas
Gerard's son and heir.]
"There resorteth to Mr. William Fytton' his house at
Bailes, Transome the younger, and one Wynckffeld, priests,
with divers others whose names I cannot yet learn.
" There resorteth to Mr. Brookesbye of Leicestershire,
one Nicholas Eake, a priest, but his abiding is now in
Holborn and Islington.
"Edmonds the Jesuit, Holland, Cornelius, and Tran
some are the chiefest preachers.
"There are also divers other priests here in London
whose names and places I hope shortly to advertise your
honour of
"There is at this moment one Sutton, a Jesuit, remaining
at Verdun, in France, [with] Chambers, which Chambers is
the General of the Englishmen there. The said Jesuit
doth attend a passage to come into England.
" Also the Papists do expect forty or fifty priests
from Rome and Rheims to arrive here in England, which
news Dr. Allen's man did bring unto them, and with their
coming I hope to be made acquainted. Thus, according
to my duty, I have advertised your honour of the premises,
and for my farther service and duty to be done, I rest
both night and day at your honourable commandment,
as also to pray God to maintain your honour with much
prosperity." "May^ it please your honour to be advertised that it
is concluded and agreed among the Papists that such
priests as are determined to remain in England, or here
after shall come into England, shall be relieved at the
hands of Mr. Henry Vaux, son to the Lord Vaux, or by
his assigns. This Henry Vaux, in company of Edmonds
the Jesuit, Floyd, Jatter, Cornellys, Stampe, alias Dyghton
1 Supra, p. 60. " P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxxviii. n. 39.

156 Life of Father William Weston.
and Holland, priests, did lately assemble themselves at
the house of Mr. Wylford in Hoggesdon, where it was
ordered the Lord Vaux should pay to the relief of priests
that would tarry, one hundred marks. Sir Thomas
Tresham, Sir William Catesby, and Mr. Wylford one
hundred marks the piece, and certain other gentlemen
they [as]sessed at lower sums. All this money is presently
to be delivered to Mr. Vaux before the forty days, to avoid
the danger of the statute, and letters also directed into the
country abroad for the said collection, and the money to
be delivered to Mr. Vaux, and he to take notice of all
priests that shall remain or come into England, and in
secret by his servant Harris (as is thought) to relieve them
where they shall be heard of It is ordered that the
priests shall shift for themselves abroad, as in inns or such
like places, and not visit any Papists, especially of the
gentlemen, except they be sent for, for this summer season,
within which time they hope either by help or entreaty
of foreign princes,' or by some general petition to be made
to her Majesty by a great number of them together to be
assembled, to be holpen by some toleration ; if not, then
to adventure the danger of the statute. So with my
most humble duty to your honour, I ' rest to certify here
after what they shall further determine.
"London, this 2nd day of May, anno 1585."
In the next letter^ we have mention of Cornelius, Dean,
Garlick, and Pilcher, all martyrs. We also learn the curious
fact that Morgan was to have had the appointment of those
of Queen Elizabeth's household who were to have been
sent to serve the Queen of Scots. Walsingham can
hardly have appreciated the sharpness of his spy, who
had perceived of another spy, who had been recommended
^ "The hope which the Papists have to receive comfort by the Duke of
Guise and his confederates, is not little." In marg.
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxxxviii. n. 37.

Life of Father William Weston. 157
by Morgan, that he was " a great keeper of company
with the priests and Papists, ajid yet most conversant and
familiar" in Walsingham's own chamber.
" May it please your honour to be advertised that there
is one Peter Wylkox, one of the purveyors of her Majesty's
buttery, whose first coming to her Majesty's [service was
to be sent on] service to the Scottish Queen by the appoint
ment of Thomas Morgan, for it was then expected that the
Scottish Queen should have had certain of her Majesty's
officers to have waited upon her, whereof this Wylkox
should have intended himself for one, but now his expec
tation having been long frustrate, he will seem to be
weary of his office and to rid himself of the same for
money, and so to pass on. This man hath been and is
a great keeper of company with the priests and Papists,
and yet most conversant and familiar in your honour's
chamber. " Sithence my return I do find these priests hereunder
to make their abode in London, viz., Edmonds the Jesuit,
commonly frequenting the house of the late widow Tempest,
now wife to Mr. Francis Browne.
" John Cornellis, most accompanying with Mr. Gower,
servant to the Lord Montague, and often lodged with the
said Gower within his lord's house at St Mary Overies.
" Willson, alias Gaunte, lodged in the house of the
Countess of Pembroke, and confessor to the Lord Compton
in Broad Street. This Willson is the only man that col-
lecteth for the Seminary. He hath a convey for [the
money], but by whom I cannot yet learn. Ely Jones in
Compton's house.
" Fortescue, alias Ballard, and Dryland, much conv[er-
sant] with the Lord Windsor.
"More, Wedall, alias Ithell, Doctor Stafferton, alias
Williamson, Brome, Grene, Lawyer.
" Deane, Garlicke, Pylcher ; these three were banished
men.

158 Life of Father William Weston.
" The principal receivers of the priests about London
are Ruste the elder, W John Southcote, Richard
Rainold, lodged at Whytffeld's in Holborn, John Mannop,
lodged at the Three Kings, without Temple Bar, Henry
D[un]ne, Mr. John Darrell of Sussex.
"The lodgings of the said priests are for the most
part in the common inns in Holborn, especially the Red
Lion ; for their ordinary meals they are commonly at
Whytffeld's in Holborn, and the Plough, without Temple
Bar. [A sentence about the state of feeling among the
Catholics is too imperfect for transcription.]
"April 23, 1586."
" May' it please your honour to be advertised that
according to my [duty] and allegiance I have thought good
to certify your honour the names of such Jesuits and priests
as are now remaining in London, viz. : —
Edmonds the Jesuit, Fortescue,
Cornellys, Bosse,
Dryland, Sherwood,
Barloe, Twyfford, and
Lawyer, Ithell, priests.
Blackborne,
" These are now lodged in common inns about London,
and they do receive their relief of Edmonds the Jesuit,
who receives the same of Mr. Henry [Vaux], that daily
collecteth money for the same purpose. This Ithell afore
said came from Paris about a month past, where [he] made
his abode one whole year now last past, and was con
versant [and] familiar with Charles Paget, Charles Arundell,
Morgan, Throgmorton, and the rest of that faction. I was
earnestly urged by Edmonds to provide [lodgings] for the
said Ithell, which (under your honour's correction) I did
two days sithence [at] a tailor's house near Clement's Inn,
where I have had some conference [with] him. . . . He
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, \ol. clxxviii. n. 72.

Life of Father William Weston. 159
hath also promised to give me credit with Persons the
Jesuit, by the help of Edmonds, if I will devise any sure
means for the conveying of letters.
" London, May 26, 1586."
Another paper,' somewhat later in date, gives us the
names of two Catholic houses frequented by Father
Weston. Thules and Parry were afterwards his fellow-
prisoners at Wisbech.
"The names of such Seminary priests as have been
since Easter last, anno 1586, at Sir Thomas Tresham's.
Edmonds the Jesuit.
Christopher Thules, alias Ashton, now prisoner
in the Gatehouse.
Stampe, alias Dighton, now prisoner in Wood
Street
Edward Dakins.
Ballard, alias Thompson, that was executed.
John Cornelius, with others that I do not now
remember.
"The names of such as have been at Mitcham with
Mr. Talbott since the same time.
Edmonds, Jesuit.
Wingfield. Parry, alias Morgan, now prisoner in the Clink.
John Cornelius.
Doctor Stafferton.
John Mushe, with others that I do not now
remember.
"3 Martii, I586[7]."
To these letters, by which we get an insight into the
service rendered by the spies, it may be well to add others
that show how those services received some extraordinary
recompense. Recusants and priests were arrested as enemies
¦^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcix, n. 15.

i6o Life of Father William Weston.
of the State, too dangerous to be at liberty ; yet some of
them were set at liberty because "the money would do
Berden great pleasure, being in extreme need thereof"
Mr. Secretary Walsingham was influenced by his deci
pherer, Phelippes, and Phelippes was influenced by Berden,
and Berden was bribed.
Ralph ¦ Bickley, who would have been worth 20/. to
Berden, was not released, but Phelippes' letter shows that
Shelley was substituted for Bickley when the application
was made to Walsingham.
"Ralph Bickley, a Seminary priest, [was] committed
by the Lord Chancellor and others of the lords of the
Council the 3rd day of May, 1585, and was examined
before Mr. Attorney-General and Mr. Solicitor." So says
the list' of prisoners in the Gatehouse at Westminster, on
the 1 2th of June, 1586. He was Father Weston's fellow-
prisoner at Wisbech, and his fellow-exile on the accession
of James I. in 1603. At Wisbech Father Weston obtained
for him a closer fellowship, for Father Garnet wrote ^ to
Father Persons, August 15, 1597: "Ralph Bickley wrote
to you to sue for him that he may be admitted. He is a
very singular man. I pray you obtain it He hath sued
these twelve years. He is with Father Weston, who
desireth it greatly."
He was arrested again in 1617, when Atkinson, the
apostate priest and pursuivant, succeeded in getting 20/.
from him, under promise of letting him go free for that
sum, and then took him before Sir Ralph Winwood, a
magistrate, which Father Bickley, in a fragment of a
letter that describes it, calls " cozening" and " conie-
catching." Carleton, for whom Berden interests himself so dis
interestedly, was Richard Sherwood, the priest, whose
servant, when a layman, Edmund Genings, the martyr,
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxc n. 25.
= Stonyhuret MSS., P. fol. 537.

Life of Father William Weston. i6i
had been. Shelley was a layman. Berden's letter' is
addressed to Thomas Phelippes, and is dated "from
Bedlam." "Sir, — Upon Thursday last, being at the French Ambas
sador's (as I told you), there was also the Lady Compton,
in company with the Lady Strange, who had attending
upon them young Thomas Jarrat [Gerard], son and heir
to Sir Thomas. There was also Francis Tresham, son
and heir to Sir Thomas Tresham, who I see is well
acquainted in that house, and he had conference with
the Ambassador himself, but he came alone. The rest
made a visitation which I suppose was rather for letters
than otherwise, the courier being arrived the night before.
For the Lady Strange I can say nothing : the rest are
all too bad members and meet to be looked unto, whereof
I pray you advertise his honour.
"For any convey to the EarP in the Tower I car
find none that he either hath or had as yet. Edmonds
is not yet come. Upon Monday I would crave the help
of your man.
"Sir, if it please you to procure me the liberty o:
Ralph Bickley, Seminary priest in the Gatehouse, at his
honour's hands, it will be worth 20/. to me ; and the
liberty also of Richard Sherwood, alias Carleton, prisonei
in the Counter, in Wood -Street, will be worth 30/. Thej
crave their liberty upon bonds with sureties to appeal
again at twenty days' warning. The money will do me
great pleasure, being now in extreme need thereof; neithei
do I know how to shift longer without it. In which suil
I earnestly pray your furtherance, not only for the gain
but also to make them beholden to me and thereby tc
make them instruments to do her Majesty good service
though against their will. For Carleton I take to be a
•" P.R.O,, Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 75.
' The Earl of Arundel had at this time been about fourteen months in th<
Tower.

1 62 Life of Father William Weston.
meet man to further any service concerning the 'Earl that
you will devise, and his practices beyond the seas (if there
be any), I hope will not be hid from me: and the priests
always to be disposed of as shall please his honour, and
my turn served, for Carleton he is persuaded there is no
hope but by your means, and he hath directed me to
make friends to you for his liberty. So praying you to
favour these suits as well for my particular, which is some
what extreme at this present, whereof his honour is not
ignorant, and for the service in general, I rest expecting
your answer hereunto, if you please. From Bedlam, this
Saturday night Yours to command, — NICHOLAS Berden.
"Bickley is of small account, and v/as departing the
realm about the beginning of the statute."
In the next letter' we have Phelippes interceding with
Walsingham for Berden and others.
"It may please your honour. The apposted party,
with his supplication for Carleton and Shelley, will present
himself unto you, at your coming abroad, which is
B[erden]'s brother-in-law. It may please your honour
to sign this warrant ready. He is addressed of whom
to demand it, after upon your honour's show of content
ment and Mr. Justice Young to take good surety for
his forthcoming and good behaviour every way toward
the State. It may please you to-morrow to be good
unto Gray, of Wisbech, who will be petitioner for some
of the best priests or others that their honours tiiink well
to be restrained of liberty. Doctor Bavand is an old
man, and no seminary, and well commended by Doctor
Young, which maketh me bold to pray your honour that
according to his supplication to the lords, he may be
to-morrow committed to Mr. Jo. Roper, of Kent, whocometh
to church, but I take him to be otherwise affected in religion.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxc. n. 30.

Life of Father William Weston. \ 63
But this I do at mine uncle's request, who was his pupil
at Oxford, having hitherto refused to make any motion
in favour of the man till now I see a general course taken
for them all And seeing the man is like enough other
wise to have favour, I would not have my uncle think
but that my good word had been cause thereof And
so I humbly take my leave. London, the 13th of June,
1586. Your honour's always most humble at command
ment, — Tho. Phelippes."
Berden writes' to Walsingham to thank him for
another favour of the same kind.
" I humbly thank your honour for that it pleased you
to spare Christopher Dryland's life at the last sessions, at
my request, assuring you that it hath much increased my
credit amongst the Papists that by my endeavour his life
was saved, for they suppose that some friend at my request
moved your honour therein. I protest I abhor the man in
regard of his profession, and the only thing that moved
me thereunto was for that the man is singularly well
persuaded of me, supposing me to be a most apt man
to serve the Papists' turn, and further a man of great
credit amongst them all, of what faction soever, and
therefore a meet man to be sent over, thereby to avow
and maintain my credit to all the practisers. May it
therefore please your honour, if it may stand with your
honourable courses and the benefit of the State, to grant
him liberty upon bond with sureties, in respect of his
health, to yield his body before the lords at a month's
warning to be given at one of his sureties' houses, or to-
depart the realm within the said term after his enlarge
ment My meaning is that he shall (and so his is own)
depart the realm within one month ; but he standeth
scrupulous to be bound directly to depart, for that they
¦¦ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 21.
L 2

164 Life of Father William Weston.
choose rather death than voluntary banishment, for that
is scandalous amongst their fellows ; and Martin Arre
[Array] is generally condemned for that he yielded there
unto, and he that shall give credit to another man had
need to preserve his own. So praying your honour's
favour in the suit, if it be not offensive, I humbly crave
pardon for my boldness. If it may please your honour to
grant the suit, the party is prisoner in the Counter in
Wood Street; and Mr. Justice Young will hinder his
liberty, except your honour take special order therein.
"London, November 23, 1586."
" Dryland, Tyrrell, Wolseley, in the Counter in Wood
Street, apprehended this last month, and famous priests."'
Such is one notice of Dryland in the State Papers.
Another is,^ " The Counter in Wood Street : Dryland,
Tyrrell, Wolseley, Dighton, Dibdale, Maddox — conjurers
or exorcisers as they are termed.''
One word of Martin Array, an excellent priest, the
spelling of whose name is wonderfully varied. Walsing
ham's private secretary, Francis Mills, was greatly puzzled
by his liberation, as he tells Walsingham in the letter we
are about to give. From a Stonyhurst Paper^ we learn that
Array was " for a round sum bought from the shambles."
Mills writes of his release, and it is amusing to see his
compassion for the poor pursuivants who were balked
of their prey. Just so, in the letter that recounted to
us Father Weston's arrest, he bewailed Davies' libe
ration, for "these men that take such pains to find out
these miscreants are discouraged much to see many
of them receive so much favour and hberty." And he
even adds that "they say" that is, the pursuivants say,
that " Mr. Young also is gentle enough towards these men,
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxci. n. 37.
° Ibid. vol. cxciii. n. 13.
' Angl. A. vol. i. n. 70 ; Letter-Books of Sir Amias Poulet, p. 387.

Life of Father William Weston. 1 65
for all his outward show of forwardness." The Catholics
did not say so,' though Justice Young also was open to
the influence of a bribe.
As to Array, Berden notes for Walsingham's informa
tion,^ — " Martin Arre : this deserveth well to be hanged,
for that he received great favour of his honour and was
bound to depart this realm, and yet remaineth in the
North parts. It were good to call upon his bonds." In
an examination^ under the name of Martin Ara, alias
Cotton, he gives some account of his movements since he
came to England as a priest The following is the letter*
from Mills to Walsingham.
" It may please your honour, having lodged these two
nights past Newall and Worsley here with me, to the end
I might have them at hand to help do the service I am
here about [the apprehension of Ballard and Babington],
they requiring this forenoon to go for an hour or two
abroad, as I thought for some their necessary private
causes, are now returned to me, having about Tuttle
[Tothill] Street appreheiided three priests and committed
them close and several to the Counter in Wood Street.
The names of these priests are in the little paper inclosed.*
And the other inclosed papers* they found about Robert
Palmer, one of the three, worth reading to see how little
they account of her Majesty or her laws, made against
such traitorous varlets as they are, and what grounds they
think they have by the laws of this realm to stand against
any law made in her Majesty's time. There was in the
company of these priests the wife of young Peckham
^ Condition of Catholics, p. Ixix.
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 72.
' Strype's Annals, vol. iii. part ii. p. 422.
* P.R.O., Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xviii. n. 71.
' Thomas Smythe, alias Deacon, Robert Palmer, Simon Godfraye.
' The form of indictment of a priest, with an outline of the arguments that
might be used at the bar in defence of a priest so indicted.

-x,66 Life of Father William Weston.
(deceased), son to Sir G. Peckham, but escaped away
because these two men had not belike ability to appre
hend all the company, being as they were ready to go
home and ride away.
" All this day I hear nothing of Casye, Phelippes' man.
" Newall and Worsley say there is one Martin Arrea'
set at liberty out of the Counter (a notable Seminary priest)
yesterday or very lately, which they are very sorry for.
Whether your honour know anything hereof, and that this
Martin be used to any good purpose with your privity
I know not, but these messengers are sorry he is enlarged.
Thus I humbly cease to trouble your honour.
" Your honour's most humble servant
always at commandment,
" Era. Mylles.
"Tower Hill, tiie 24th of July, 1586."
Christopher Dryland was not set free as Berden
proposed, but was sent to Wisbech Castle. He was a
priest of very exemplary life, and is said to have been
Father Weston's confessor while they were fellow-prisoners
at Wisbech. He was banished in 1603, and going at
once to Rome, entered the Society.
He is hardly to be blamed for desiring to get his release
made out in such terms that he should not be looked upon
by Catholics abroad as having purchased his liberty by
renouncing his priestly work in England. It was not very
.heroic, but all men are not heroes. Our Father Weston
acted in a very different spirit, for, as we shall see later
on,2 when the Countess of Arundel offered to purchase his
liberty, he absolutely refused it if thus obtained.
^ " This Arrea was by them taken.'' In marr.
^ Infi-a, p. ig6.

167

CHAPTER XIL
THE BABINGTON PLOT.
Of the two men who were the chief of those pretending
to be Catholics that they might act as spies, Berden and
Foley, Father Weston looked upon Foley as the cause of
his arrest, though it was really Berden. In the words in
which he resumes his narrative, it is pretty plain that he
had Foley in his mind. As to Foley's keeping a good
table and entertaining Catholics, it is a coincidence that
on the day of Father Weston's arrest, Phelippes wrote to
Walsingham,' " I might have taken him [Babington] and a
whole knot at supper in Poley's garden."
The folly was extreme of trusting a man who lived
under Walsingham's roof Foley was in the service of
Walsingham's daughter. Lady Sydney. Babington dis
ported himself in Poley's garden, as though the sharpest
eyes in Europe were not fixed upon him, though he knew
all the while, as Father Weston is about to tell us, that
Walsingham was better acquainted with his plot than he
was himself Babington wrote only one letter to the Queen
of Scots that ever reached her hands, and that was the
well-known letter in which he communicated to her his
plans for her liberation. This letter v/as accompanied by
a few lines to Queen Mary's Secretary Nau, to ask his
opinion of Foley. Nau's answer about him, which was not
very assuring, was sent off at once, without waiting till
Mary's answer to Babington was ready. It was of these
that Phelippes said,^ "The short note was sent to Bab,
wherein is somewhat only in answer of that concerned
' P.R.O., Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 6.
^ Letter-Books of Sir Amias Poulet, p. 224.

1 68 Life of Father William Weston.
Foley in his. We attend her very heart at the next" As
"her very heart," when it came, contained no allusion what
ever to the proposed assassination of Elizabeth, interpo
lations were foisted into her letter, a copy of which thus
falsified was the only evidence brought against her.
We ^re concerned only with Poley here, and these
are the two letters' relating to him that passed between
Babington and Nau.
" A Monsr. Nau, Secretaire de sa Ma'=-
" Monsr. Nau, — Je seroy bien aise d'entendre quelle
opinion vous auez d'un nomm6 Robert Pooley lequel ie
trouve d'auoir intelligence des affaires de sa Ma'=- Je
suis fort priue avec luy, par quel moyen j'en sgay quelque
chose, et en soupsonne d'auantage. Je vous prie faictes
m'en sgauoir vostre opinion de luy.
"Antho. Babington.
" Je pense que cecy a est6 escript per un
Babington et que Curie luy a respondu
en mon nom. Ainsy sign^, Nau.
C'est la vray copie de la lettre que i'escrivis
k Mons. Nau. Ainsy signd, Anthoine Babington."
" Sir, — Yesternight her Majesty received your letters
and their inclosed, which before this bearer's return cannot
be deciphered. He is within these two or three days to
repair hither again : against which time her Majesty's
answer shall be in readiness. In the meanwhile I would
not omit to show you that there is great assurance given
of Mr. Poley his faithful serving of her Majesty, and by
his own letters hath vowed and promised the same. As
yet her Majesty's experience of him is not so great as
I dare embolden you to trust him much, he never having
written to her Majesty but once, whereunto she hath not
yet answered for not knowing of his abode, neither
assuredly to whose hands he first committed the said
^ P.R.O., Queen of Scots, vol. xix. a. 9 ; vol. xviii. n. 43.

Life of Father William Weston. 169
letters. Let me know plainly what you understand of
him. And so I will pray God to preserve you. This 13th
of July. At Chartiey. " Nau."
Father Weston thus describes this Robert Poley.
" The principal author of my apprehension was, it was
said, a certain man who held one of- the smaller offices
in Court and had obtained some familiarity with Secretary
Walsingham, whom he served in the quality of a spy,
being ready witted by nature and ingenious in deceiving,
and from whom upon occasions he received, according
to report, large sums of gold and silver to encourage him
in his art. He had contrived to insinuate himself into
the intimate acquaintance of the chief Catholics who
resided about London, whom he would receive often in his
own house and at a table luxuriously supplied. Through
this familiarity, by thus becoming accustomed to him
and through habit, he gained their good opinion as
being a worthy man, approved not only as honourable
but as very devout, so that he was often admitted to
be present with them at Mass, the sacraments, and
exhortations. For he knew right well how to behave
himself, so that he came to them without a shadow of
suspicion. By this Cathohc demeanour and the friendship
of good men, he acquired so high a character that he
tried to avail himself of it in order to fasten himself
upon me, and to obtain more familiarity than I was
anxious for. In short, he made me so many promises
and was so obsequious in his manner towards me
that it made me scent out something that did not
please me. For instance, his house, his room, his keys,
his coffers would be all open to me and might be used
by me ; whether he were at home or absent, he would
make arrangements that in any time of peril or diffi
culty whatever I should always find a refuge in his
house. If I desired to send letters or money to any place

1 70 Life of Fatlier William Weston.
beyond the seas, he never had a doubt but that he could
help on my purpose, and send them from any harbour
or any part of the sea coast. Now I knew that the
possibility of such promises was beyond the reach of any
good or sincere Catholic, for it is not possible for such
to dare to make such offers, or to lend such aid in so
disturbed and hostile a condition of public affairs : so I
began to avoid him by degrees and to see as little of
him as was possible, albeit even this line of conduct did
not appear to me particularly safe ; for I could not escape
him very long without having to undergo a serious expos
tulation on his part on account of my altered behaviour,
so that it became clear to me that he felt himself offended
in no small a degree. The marks of his affection for
me began from that time very much to cool ; and what
he afterwards attempted against me, it is not in my power
to relate. General- rumour reported that he was the man
who betrayed me, and nine days before my arrest had
stationed a watch in secret at the gates of London, giving
them a description of my person, so that as I passed by
they might be able to secure me. Neither did his hopes
deceive him.
" Now to return to my story. They imprisoned me
in a room in which, for greater security, a warder was
shut up with me. At midnight after the second or third
day' I heard the bells ringing in an unaccustomed manner
through the entire city. I inquired of my keeper ^\"hat
this bell-ringing meant He answered that the city was
overjoyed at the capture of various Papists who had been
engaged in the horrible crime and treachery of conspiring
against the life of the sovereign, and had plotted to nomi
nate the Queen of Scots as the rightful heir of the crown
and to ravage the city of London with fire and sword ;
also to make one Edmonds a Jesuit (meaning myself, who
^ This was the 15th of August, and Father \A'eston had been more than
ten days under arrest.

Life of Father William Weston. 171
at that time went by the name of Edmonds) bishop of
the city. ' A horrid conspiracy ! ' he added ; ' but God has
turned their evil plot against the heads of the authors of it'
" He mentioned several gentlemen, whose names I
knew well, as actors in the conspiracy. And although it
struck me that a great deal of what was told me must be
false and feigned, still I did not doubt but that some secret
mischief had been at work which would be used by the
heretics with a most intense zeal and ingenuity as a handle
for cruel persecution against all Catholics, and even for
their ruin, unless God should interpose. The idea made
me forget my own danger, although the prospect before
me was nothing less than a most painful death. I was
absorbed in anxiety for our common cause that stood in
such extremity, and ever}'- kind of disturbing thought came
upon me to agitate my mind. For as I knew with what
a hatred the heretics were inflamed against the Catholic
faith, there was nothing else to expect but that with all
craft and dissimulation and extreme cruelty they would
no longer spare any person or thing, but having obtained
this pretext either real or assumed, and planned by them
selves (as was afterwards proved to be the case), they
would expend their rage against Catholics without inter
mission. In the midst of these tempestuous thoughts,
which distracted and wounded my mind, the night passed
away. Then followed the morning, and the day more
sorrowful than the night On one side of my room I had
the public street, on the other side flowed the Thames.
During all that day and, I think, some days following,
there was a great concourse of men full of excitement and
congratulating each other ; they collected piles of wood for
their bonfire and stood around talking wildly and boast
fully against the Pope, the King of Spain, the Catholics,
and the Queen of Scots ; and as you may suppose against
the Jesuits also, and that not in the last place. As I saw
and heard these things through the window (for they lit

1 72 Life of Father William Weston.
their bonfire just beneath it), I could not help pitying
them and lamenting for ourselves.
" But on the other side of the room the spectacle was
still more terrible : Catholics bound and carried in boats
along the river to and fro between the tribunals and the
Tower of London. The Tower was probably at the
distance of a mile and a half from Westminster, where the
courts of justice are held. It was easy to see and dis
tinguish when they were being conveyed by river in the
boats, from the uniform and arms of the soldiers, and from
the rushing and tumult of the people thronging to see,
who had often light skiffs in which they accompanied the
prisoners all the way on the river. Such was the daily
spectacle that met my eyes during a period of six or
seven weeks. In all that interval the trials were going
on. Sentence of death was passed upon several gentle
men, and the executions took place. Yet in the course
of all these weeks nothing whatever was done with me,
no examination was made or question asked, although in
the estimation of all the heretics I had been the author
and leader of the whole tragedy. Of this my quiet, and
of the delay whilst every day and hour I expected to be
removed to the Tower, where all the others were detained
in irons and subjected to tortures, I can allege no better
cause than that they were anxious to extort by torments
from the rest all that lay in their power, so as to be able
to bring me forward as the concluding show of the entire
tragedy, already convicted and adjudged by the overwhelm
ing testimony of so many persons, and that they might enjoy
a perpetual triumph against the Jesuits as tiie contrivers
of evil against princes. I do not say this without just
ground of suspicion, as I was afterwards told that during
the space of a whole year there was no one seized or put
upon the rack who was not most carefully examined with
respect to me as to whether I knew of or had given any
help towards the affair, which circumstance was not dis-

Life of Father William Weston. 1 73
guised even by my keeper, for he often told me that he
was in daily expectation of my being carried away to the
Tower for examination.
" However, after the entire affair of the conspiracy had
been most strictly investigated on all sides, and those who
were found guilty had been condemned to death and
executed, they then brought my cause before the public,
but it was very quickly disposed of if we consider the
times, for as they had not succeeded in gaining any evidence
against me in spite of the rigorous examinations of the
others, in sheer desperation of bringing out anything
against me, they resolved to act with mildness. They
examined me, however, recounting before me the names
of all the alleged authors of that conspiracy, and asking
me whether I knew them or had given them counsel or
had heard anything of their attempt or had any under
standing of it ; and other similar searching questions they
put to me. I made answer, which was the real truth, that
I had not the slightest acquaintance with their plan or
design, and as they had nothing more severe to charge
me with or prove me guilty of, they relinquished that head
of their accusation and turned to another, namely, that I
had persuaded a certain gentleman' not to espouse the
party of the Earl of Leicester, and not to afford him- any
assistance in that unjust campaign of his with the heretics
in Belgium against the King of Spain ; for this gentleman
had served the Earl with a large equipment of soldiers and
horses at his own expense. They said that with a long
exhortation and many arguments I had pointed out to
him the injustice of that war. The examiner related
likewise the very place where I had held such a discourse
with him, and that, having mounted me on his own horse,
he had taken me to his home. He then indicated the
part of the house where my chamber stood, and that I
had delivered an exhortation there in the presence of
^ See Tyrrell's information respecting Mr. Bold, supra, p. 140.

174 Life of Father William Weston.
many persons. He even mentioned the text of Scripture
upon which I had preached, together with some part of
my sermon and its phrases.
"When I heard all these things it was impossible
not to be amazed : for many of them were true, though
mingled with interpolations ; which latter, as I could prove
them to be falsities, I so handled and turned as to throw
doubt upon even the other things which were true, and
to let it appear that the person who did not scruple to
be untruthful in some cases was not worthy of belief when
he testified to. the rest He made answer: 'You need not
think that by this trick you will escape, or that by the
sophistry of your logic, you can elude the laws ; but we
will make you confess the truth. '
" Then he changed his discourse to certain other
things not much to the purpose, and asked many curious
questions concerning exorcisms, and the power of casting
out devils from the bodies of men by the ceremonies of the
Church, about which things there had been much earnest
talking in the mouths of all men ; and for that day he
departed. " On the next day he came again, and drawing a
written paper from his breast, he said to me : ' See here,
I bring you the confession of a man written in his own
words, that you may know how hard it will be for you
to equivocate, and how true were the things which I
related and upon which I questioned you ; and yet you
hesitate and refuse to confess.' He then began to read
over a long list of statements pertaining to that gentie-
man's confession. I said to him, ' Well, what more do
you require from me, and why do you go on pressing
me, when you have this confession of the man who is
accused ? For if he has admitted himself that he has
conversed with me, that he has entertained me, that I
told him such and such things with regard to Leicester
and the war in Flanders, arrange your accounts with him ;

Life of Father William Weston. 1 75
a criminal's confession against himself is worth more than
the testimony of many witnesses ; let his blood fall upon
his own head ; I know nothing of these things, nor can
confess them ; if he accuses me of anything, you know
better than I do, or if you mean things that I do not
deny, such as that I am a Catholic, a priest, a Jesuit,
bring it forward and urge it ; it will rest with me to defend
my cause or to assent to the accusations.' When he saw
indeed that he was unable to extort anything more from
me, he departed ; for I knew, or guessed pretty well, that
the whole charge was a pretence and a fiction and that
no such confession had been made by any one, but was
an invention of their own brains to bring that gentleman
within the clutches of their laws, since he was very rich
and had large revenues, — those laws, I mean, which forbid
men under pain of death and confiscation of property to
have any intercourse with priests and Jesuits, and that
they might thus have it in their power to deprive him
of his goods and even of his life, if it so pleased them;
although that man was not at that time a Catholic, but
had a pious inclination towards the Faith, as he showed
an extreme desire to see me and treat with me about
certain affairs relating to his soul and conscience. I had
consented to visit him, though with reluctance, being
urged by the entreaties of various persons who thoroughly
knew him and had special influence with me. He had
been married to a Catholic, and some were of the same
faith who belonged to his family, who lived in a
house some leagues from London. Thither he conducted
me, and there I celebrated Mass, heard confessions and
gave exhortations to such as were Catholics. Though not
admitted to Mass, he wished to be present at the sermons.
" The process, against me however, did not entirely rest
here, for after an interval of one or two days they took
me out of the room where they had kept me hitherto with
a solitary keeper, and carried me away across the river

1 76 Life of Father William Weston.
to a private dwelling-house, where, with greater length
and seriousness they examined me upon all the charges.
I formed a conjecture that they had brought me into
the light for no other purpose than to have opportunities
of producing against me divers faithless and treacherous
men, who would bear witness that they had seen me in
the company of that gentleman, and that I had preached
in his house. After my arrival at the dwelling which
they had chosen for me, they treated me not like a
criminal, that is to say, they did not make me stand
bare-headed to answer their demands in the humble
position of a suppliant, but they placed me at the head
of the table above the examiners themselves, and wished
me to speak and reply to their questions with my head
covered. Sitting down, therefore, as they requested me,
although at first I declined, I was not so foolish as to
believe that it was with any intention of doing me
honour that they behaved in such a manner, knowing
how they abhorred the name of a priest and a Jesuit
" Happening to lift my eyes, I noticed in the higher
part of the room opposite to me, a net-like grating covered
with a curtain. Then the thought recurred to my mind
that perhaps they had placed some traitor there to identify
me, if possible, as I was just in front of him, as the person
whom they had accused of carrying on the secret con
versation with the gentleman above mentioned. My
suspicions were by no means improbable, for later on
the whole stratagem was laid open, and the author of
the treachery was recognized and restored to liberty; for
at that time they held him in custody. They were not
anxious to produce this traitor openly that he might
accuse me face to face, lest, being once recognized, he
should lose his power of injuring us and of being useful
to them. He served them, indeed, afterwards, and did
great injury to many other persons, but most particularly
to himself

Life of Father William Weston. i 'j^]
"Here, therefore, they put many questions to me
with respect to the conspiracy of Anthony Babington
and his companions, the supremacy of Queen Elizabeth,
the authority of the Pope, the Papal dispensation for the
marriage of Henry VIII. and Catharine his wife, the
Queen of Scots, and sundry other subjects, none of them
new. However, neither did they bring against me stronger
arguments or proofs than they had done before.
"When they had satisfied themselves with every
species of interrogation, they sent me back to my
prison, where they kept me five months in daily expec
tation of something new, either that they would bring
me out for death, or would take me to the Tower.
For, although they had found me innocent and free
from all ground of accusation with regard to the con
spiracy, still they were furnished with ample reason for
putting me to death seeing that I was a priest and a
Jesuit However, they are not willing to allege reasons
like these when they can invent any more odious offence
to accuse men of in presence of the people.
" These affairs, therefore, being satisfactorily arranged,
according to their ideas, they immediately turned all their
thoughts and designs towards the subject of the trial of
the Queen of Scots.' With eve" kind of preparation and
solicitude, they appointed ir /i&xs and other agents for
carrying on that business A executing the sentence at
Fotheringay, where she ' ss kept in close imprisonment ;
and in a very short time that whole work of iniquity was
brought to a close. As to myself, I remained, as I said,
in great perplexity of mind concerning that which might
occur both to my own person and our cause in general,
and I prayed unceasingly to God that He would turn to
good these strange and terrible extremities of persecution.
" Once as I was sitting full of care I turned my eyes
^ Mary was tried in the middle of October, 1586, and was executed
February 8, 158^.
M

178 Life of Father William Weston.
towards another part of the room, and there became visible
to me a sheet of paper thrown down in a dark corner of
it The previous day I had heard a great noise in that
direction, which noise had been meant as a signal to attract
my attention by the person who brought the writing. So
I picked up the letter, for the bringer of it had taken heed
of the time when my keeper was out of the way, and on it
I read the following words: 'Write back who you are, what
you wish to be done, and if you are in want of anything.'
He had inclosed a pen in the paper, but the ink had been
lost, I think, by the way, or else they had forgotten to
send any. Necessity drove me to hunt through every
corner of the room to see whether any materials for writing
could be found. At length I lit upon a dry and withered
flower which, when chewed, supplied moisture and colour
sufficient to produce in writing letters that were legible.
Having written, therefore, what was essential, I waited for
the departure of the keeper on the following day, and
when the friendly noise was heard at the hole, I gave
back the answer. This happened through the diligence
and care of some Catholics who were in the neighbouring
prison ; and not only was the whole affair an immense
consolation to me, but proved exceedingly useful for many
purposes, for by this contrivance I received intelligence of
what was going on outside the walls. This way of writing
was put an end to shortly afterwards, but another plan
was thought of and invented, still more convenient, both
for the exchange of letters and for tiie transm^ission of
various things besides.
" At this time two priests out of the same prison were
led forth to judgment ; sentence of death was passed upon
them and they were executed."
We know of three of Father Weston's fellow-prisoners
in the Clink to whom God gave the grace of martyrdom,
besides those whose martyrdom he here mentions. In the
six months from June to November, 1586, there were com-

Life of Father William Weston.

179

Priests.

mitted to the Clink fourteen priests and ten laymen, of
whom only two were discharged during that time. This
we know from a certificate among the State Papers,' but
there may have been other recusants in the Clink, whose
^ "An abstract of the certificate of priests and other recusants committed
to sundry prisons since the month of June, 1586, until November, 1586.
"CliDk. i Sampson Lowe, committed by Mr. Attorney, the 19th of October.
Jonas Meredith, committed by the lords, 13th of August.
James Taylor, committed by the lords, 15th of August.
Christopher Asheton, committed by the lords, 29th of August.
David Ringsteede, committed by the B. of Winton, the 3rd of
June.
Richard Bawlbett, committed by the Archb. of Canterbury, the
14th of June.
Roger Yardley, alias Bruerton, gent. , committed by Mr. Secre
tary, the 22nd of August.
Thomas Leighton, gent., committed by the lords, the 2Sth of
August.
Charles Babington, gent., committed by Mr. Secretary, dis
charged by him the Sth of November.
Thomas Dymocke, gent., discharged by Mr. Waade, the l8th of
November.
Norton Greene, gent., committed by Mr. Young, the Sth of
September.
John Gage, gent., committed the 4th of September, and dis
charged by Mr. Waade.
John Stephens, sent from Winchester, the 30th of October.
Richard Lusher, gent., committed by the Archb. of Canterbury,
the loth of October.
^ John Robinson, pr., committed the 30th of June by the Lord
Treasurer.
William Parrye, pr., committed the 28th of September by
Mr. Secretary.
Paul Spence, pr., committed by Mr. Rokeby, the 19th of January,
1586.
Edward James, pr., sent by Mr. Topcliife, Ist of May, 1586.
Morrice Williams, pr., committed by Mr. Young, the 17th of
June.
William Edmonds, pr., committed the 4th of August by Mr.
Secretary.
Nicholas Phipps, alias Smyth, pr., committed by Mr. Secretary,
the 19th of September.
Anthony TyrreU, pr., committed by Mr. Young, the 17th of
September.
William Cartricke, pr., committed by Mr. Secretary, the 30th of
October.
Nicholas GeUebrand, pr., committed by Mr. Young, the 9th of
October " {Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. 11. 34).
M 2

Priests. '

i8o Life of Father William Weston.
committal was of an eariier date. Two martyrs are
named in this list, John Robinson and Edward James,
who suffered, the one at Ipswich, in October, 1588, and
the other on the 17th of the same month, at Chichester.
Edward James was one of four priests who were seized
off Littlehampton, in Sussex, and who never set foot in
England after their ordination except in custody. Ralph
Crockett, another of this company, was executed with him.'
John Robinson was a v/idower, and his son, Francis
Robinson, was also a priest, " a true heir of his father's
virtue." Bishop Challoner quotes the narrative of a priest
of the name of Joseph Haynes, which may fitly find place
here. " Mr. John Robinson, a secular priest, being in the
year 1588 prisoner in the Clink at London, when the rest
that had been there prisoners with him (whom he called his
bairns, and they for his age and sincerity called him father),
were, for the Catholic faith, sent into divers parts of the
kingdom to be executed; the good old man, being left
alone, lamented for divers days together exceedingly, until
at last a warrant was sent from the Council to execute him
also. The news whereof did much revive him, and to him
that brought the warrant he gave his purse and all his
money, and fell down on his knees and gave God thanks.
Being to set forward in his journey, they willed him to put
on boots, for it was in winter, and so far as Ipswich in
Suffolk where he was sent to suffer. ' Nay,' said the good
man, ' these legs had never boots on yet, since they were
mine, and now surely they shall perform this journey with
out boots, for they shall be well paid for their pains.' "
Another martyr, William Flower, alias Way, will be
mentioned later. Those of whom Father Weston speaks
as executed at this time, were John Lowe and John
Adams, who suffered for their priesthood at Tyburn,
* Their examinations exist in the P. R. O. , Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. clxxxviii.
n. 46, and the account of their execution, ibid. vol. ccxvit n. I. See
Mr. Simpson's article in the Rambler for April, 1857, p. 269.

Life of Father William Weston. i8i
October 8, 1586. Their names are of frequent occurrence
when the exorcisms are mentioned, and thus in a list of
prisoners,' dated August or September, 1586, they are
bracketed with Father Weston as "practisers." At this
time Tyrrell was in the Counter in Wood Street, but he
was transferred to the Clink before their execution, which
he attributes, as we shall afterwards see, to the information
against them given by himself He must therefore have
had the misery of seeing these two innocent men taken out
for execution through his cowardice.
" This period was indeed full of confusion for every one :
all the roads and harbours were beset, and guarded day
and night, so that no one without most rigorous exami
nation was allowed to pass. The hostelries, the houses,
the rooms were searched and investigated with such
exceeding diligence that neither guest nor acquaintance
could hope to escape notice, but was compelled to render
an account of himself In this manner many priests were
captured, and the prisons throughout the whole kingdom
were thronged with Catholics.
"This seems to me to be a convenient opportunity
for inserting a few particulars concerning that entire affair,
I mean the plot attempted by Anthony Babington, partly
drawn from what I have read in a certain writing of
Father Southwell, who drew up a brief description of
the whole conspiracy, partly from those things which
with my own eyes I saw and understood. Anthony
Babington was a man of good family, and in income,
^ "In the Clink— ' Edmonds the Jesuit.
Adams.
" Practisers -{ Parry, alias Morgan.
Edward James.
Lowe.
Robinson.Williams.
Paul Spence, a banished man, but simple, and hath sub
scribed to her Majesty's authority " (Lansdowne MSS.
363, fol. 10).

1 82 Life of Father William Weston.
ready money, furniture, and other property, well pro
vided, young, scarcely thirty years old, attractive both in
face and in all bodily perfections, sharp of understanding,
pleasant and facetious, and with a turn for literature
unusual among men of the world. He had spent a
portion of his life in Paris, or elsewhere on the Continent,
whither he had travelled for the sake of curiosity and
also for learning. Upon his return to London he lived
in such a manner as to gather around him, by force of
his gifts and moral superiority, various young men of
his own rank and position. Catholics, zealous, adven
turous, bold in the face of danger, ardent for the protec
tion of the Catholic faith, or for any enterprise the end
of which was to promote the general Catholic cause.
"Walsingham (as we are told by Father Southwell,
whose little work is said to have just come from the
press, and I wish much that your Reverence had seen
and read it when I saw it in manuscript and freshly
brought out, and only accessible to a few), Walsingham,
I say, from whom it was impossible to hide their pro
ceedings, judged that nothing could be worthier of his
genius and dexterity than to invent an iniquitous strata
gem, and by its means to involve these young men in
destructive designs, which must serve to inflict a stigjma
of dishonour upon the Catholic cause and bring in
ample and pleasant spoil from the confiscated property
of the victims. This Walsingham, therefore, being ex
pressly fitted for the art of deceiving by the employ
ment of all kinds of fraud and devices, caused one or
two of his own hypocrites to be introduced into tiieir
society, who could act the part of Catholics with pro-
foundest dissimulation, entering into long and close
familiarity with them, and most devoutly dedicating them
selves to God and all holy things in every business of
theirs ; and then work on from smaller matters until they
could suggest the undertaking of the supreme design of

Life of Father William Weston. 183
all; not indeed the death of Elizabeth, as the heretics
declare falsely, but the release from prison of the Queen
of Scots, the next legitimate heir to the crown after
Elizabeth, and conveying her safe and sound into France,
there to be under the protection of the Duke of Guise,
her near blood relation. This enterprise they did not
consider as exceedingly arduous, yet they imagined that
it would be the cause of unbounded terror to the heretics,
and would occasion them a great deal of laborious occu
pation, for there would be danger that the French, finding
themselves in possession of the rightful heiress, might
prepare and unite their forces, and restore her, at all events
after Elizabeth's death, to her own lawful estate and
kingdom by force of arms.
"This was the leading idea and foundation of the whole
attempt and contrivance. For this purpose some excursions
had to be made into Scotland and into France ; and the
entire negotiation was explained and communicated, as
they thought, to the Duke of Guise. The unhappy men
however were cruelly deluded, and ensnared in an in
extricable network of perplexity and deceit For the
contrivers of this fraud so arranged that another man
should assume the person and office of the Duke of
Guise and should take the responsibility of providing the
assistance which they were begging from the real Duke.
They poured forth their innermost souls therefore, and their
secret designs to this deceiver, and falling thus headlong
into the most rash and immature resolves, came to ruin.
" This is, as well as I can remember, what was reported
in Father Southwell's book. With regard to what con
cerns myself, I wish to add such details as came under
my own eyes or notice in relation to the affair, either
before or after it took place, over and above those things
which I have mentioned already. Many opportunities
came in my way of conversing familiarly with this
Anthony Babington, and of discussing affairs in general

184 Life of Father William Weston.
with him, seeing that he was a very ready witted person
and, for a young man, had a considerable experience
in matters of moment And as he was excessively
inclined to the idea of visiting foreign nations, it was
a pleasure to him to hear me describing various circum
stances which I had seen and known. Before, how
ever, his setting out for the purpose of foreign travel, he
was anxious to pay a visit to his own home and
family, who lived at no small distance from London,
and when he had made every preparation for this journey
and his coach and horses were all ready, he begged that
I would accompany him on the expedition, implying
that he had decided hopes of being able to accomplish
something for the cause of Christ and the Church in
the society of his relations and friends. But, in spite
of the prospect of these advantages, I did not think it
desirable to avail myself of the offer, both for other
good reasons, and likewise because that appearance of
splendour and secular ambition, though not misbecoming
to him and his state of life, did not appear to me to be
profitable in my vocation of gaining souls.
"As it happened, however, in accordance with the
changeableness of human affairs, in the course of a few
days he was frustrated in all those expectations. For he
was sent for to pay a visit to Walsingham, who put to
him many questions concerning the Queen of Scots, and,
together with a severe expostulation, informed him that
he was himself aware of his most secret designs, that it
lay in his power to disclose many secrets, if he chose, for
he knew as a certain fact that letters had mutually passed
between him and that Queen, and, after divers threatening
words, he charged him to cultivate affection for his own
country, and the fidelity of a subject towards his own
sovereign. How the other defended himself I cannot tell ;
he did contrive to defend himself in such manner as he
was able. Walsingham at length dismissed him full of

Life of Father William Weston. 185
trouble, as I conceive, and very thoughtful, and disturbed
with fear as to the result of various events.
" After an interval of a few days he was sent for again,
and Walsingham went over once more and repeated his
former discourse, with greater gentleness, however, and
with some kind words well calculated to soften his feelings.
He should remember what his position was, how excel
lently endowed in gifts, both of nature and education ; of
how great service he might become in the State ; how
useful his merits, if he would employ for his country's
advantage his energies and his industry ; that, for his own
part, he was ready to bring him under the notice of the
Queen, and obtain for him a personal interview ; and
stretching out his hand, he added : ' Come, now, act with
confidence ; do not fear to converse freely amongst
Catholics on the subject of our affairs, so as to escape
observation ; ' many other things he subjoined, trying to
win the man to his side, for what purpose I know not ;
because he had already sufficiently entrapped him, one
would think, in those former designs of which I made
mention above.
"All these particularities Babington narrated to me
with his own lips, one by one, and profound was my
sorrow when I heard him telling me, since I knew full
well what a master in the art of deception was this
Walsingham, and how powerful in accomplishing what
ever his mind was set upon. I answered him that he
might as well put out of his mind all idea of his expedi
tion, and I continued : ' It will not be either soon or easily
that this affair will be brought to a close. I cannot tell
you in what manner you can escape out of his snares : if
you yield, you give up your religion ; if you renounce him
and decline his offers, you surrender yourself inevitably to
the peril of death ; if you doubt and waver betwixt the
two, you will even then risk the loss of your life, and you
will soon among Catholics lose the reputation of being a

1 86 Life of Father William Weston.
Cathohc' He said in reply: 'No one who has ever
known me will have a suspicion of my not being a Catholic,
even if I were to use a little liberty either in speaking or
acting.' I answered : ' No one doubts that you are a
Catholic, and will be always so, and no one ever will doubt
provided that you continue to act like a Catholic man,
and fulfil the duties of one; but if you were ever to
say words or attempt actions which Catholics would be
ashamed to suggest even to their most intimate and most
trusted friends, you would find it quite an impossibility to
escape suspicion or to avoid disgrace.'
" This was my last conversation with Anthony Babing
ton ; indeed, from that day forward I never saw him more.
If I had had an opportunity of seeing him I should have
abstained from, so doing, not that I feared for himself or
for anything that he might do (for in his religion he was
always the best and bravest of young men) ; nor did I
imagine that Walsingham would ever be able to lead him
astray in any matter that would be dishonourable to a
Catholic, but because it was clear to my mind that I could
not with safety enter into and preserve an intimacy with
men of his description, and still maintain that pure
principle of our Institute which requires us to interfere only
in such business and matters as may concern religion,
withholding ourselves from political affairs. This would
be in the present instance impossible, since he would be
driven to consult me frequently, and impart to me much
information. " Afterwards the affair became public ; the whole plan
of the negotiations was laid open ; the authors of it
hunted to death, the remainder scattered through every
quarter of the kingdom, wherever they could hope for a
refuge. Anthony, with four others, fled to a neighbouring
wood, wherein they tried to conceal themselves. Mean
time, being pressed by hunger, Anthony sent to a neigh
bouring house that belonged to a Catholic woman, the

Life of Father William Weston. 187
same Mrs. Bellamy of whom I before spoke.' To one of
the daughters of that gentlewoman he sent a ring
from his finger, entreating by that token, which she
knew by sight, as the gems inserted in it were of great
price, that she would supply some provision for himself
and his companions. She complied with his request, in
spite of its being full of danger ; but sympathy and pity
conquered in her all fear of consequences. Still they were
not able to remain long in hiding : they were taken them
selves, and with them Mrs. Bellamy, the young lady
above mentioned, and two others of her children. They
were all separated, and sent to different prisons.
" Of the two sons who were placed in the Tower, one
was tortured with such cruelty that he sank under it and
died. After his death he was calumniated by the heretics,
who said that he had strangled himself Jerome, the other,
was condemned to death at the same time with Anthony
and the other conspirators, and executed accordingly.
Their mother was also placed in the Tower, and after
some months died, worn out with suffering and with the
filth and loathsomeness of her prison ; miserably in truth
if we look merely at this present life, gloriously however
as I should judge of such a death, for it does not seem to
me either in place or manner inferior to that of a martyr.
" Since the present opportunity appears to be a suitable
one for the narration, I am not willing to pass over a
certain memorable event which occurred in the house of
this same gentlewoman, Mrs. Bellamy. A short time
before the breaking out of that tragedy a herb, or rather
a shrub, furnished with leaves, flowers, and at length
fruit in form like berries, sprang up and grew in the
inner roof of an upper chamber, in a place that projected
just above people's heads, between the principal beam and
the mortar. They usually cover the internal ceilings of
houses with a smooth layer of cement or gypsum spread
^ Supra, p. 49.

1 88 Life of Father William Weston.
over a firm framework made of wood. It was between
this cement and the old rafter, without sap or moisture,
that the plant fixed its roots and began to flourish. After
the leaves and the flowers it put forth its fruits, which were
only five in number. Neither was this a sudden event,
appearing and disappearing in a moment, but during
many months it continued, and the spectacle was shown
to all who lived near and was seen by them, not without
just and universal surprise.
" The lady took wonderful pleasure in her new and
marvellous plant She failed not to visit it every day,
and she showed it to all who came to the house. After
several months she went up to see it as usual and beheld
it in a withering condition, about to give way out of its
support, which had grown loose and altogether threatening
decay. She turned to her daughter-in-law who was near
her, and said, ' What is this, daughter } I am so afraid
that I shall lose my plant and its fruits.' She then lifted
up her hands and wished to raise the plant and set it
in its former place. She had not yet touched it when
it fell down entirely and dropped into her hand. She
felt much surprised at the strangeness of the thing, which
she regarded, and not unnaturally, as an omen of some
misfortune that awaited her family. Her fears indeed
were by no means unfounded. At the end of a few
days those five young men were taken who were thought
to have been designated by the five fruits of this singular
plant ; and their dangerous cause, as she helped them
with food while they were wandering in the woods, fell
upon her, that is to say, brought ruin to herself and to
her family."
It is curious to contrast the care with which in the time
of which we are writing everything was committed to paper,
and the neglect in after times of documents that would
now be highly valued. The account of Babington's
conspiracy written by Father Southwell, though it is a

Life of Father William Weston. 189
subject so unlike anything else we have from his pen, we
should be very glad to find. If it was printed, as Father
Weston suggests, we have not been able to identify it
Mrs. Bellamy's flower is not quite of the same historical
importance, and of that there is another record. As even
little things help us to enter into the feeling of the time,
we copy it here. Father Christopher Grene says' that
" the relations of Mr. George Stoker and Mr. Heath have as
followeth : ' There was a gentlewoman called Mrs. Bellamy,
who not long before that she with her three sons was taken,
kneeling in her chamber, directly over her head, out of an
old post, there sprung a flower with four pendants at it
She, lifting up her eyes by chance, saw it, and being
amazed thereat called her daughter to see it also. The
same flower not long after, as she was praying, fell upon
her head, the which she took and put into a box. It is at
this time in England, and hath been seen of many of good
credit. The same gentlewoman was condemned by a wrong
name, upon which consideration she could not be executed
with the rest ; but they kept her till the next sessions, in
mind then to have executed her. In the meantime she
died in the Tower.' " Though, as we have already seen,*
the name of Catharine Bellamy was well known to Popham,
Walsingham, and others, the widow was first indicted by
the name -of Elizabeth. This was in the general indict
ment* against the conspirators, which was found on
Wednesday, September 7. The amended indictment
against Catharine Bellamy, late of Harrow-on-the-Hill,
for helping and receiving Babington and Barnwell on
August 12, was found September 23 ; her son Jerome
having been tried and convicted on the 15th of the
same month, and executed on the 21st We do not know
whether the good widow lived to hear of Bartholomew's
death under torture.
1 Stonyhurst MSS., Catalogue of Martyrs, p. 85.
' Supra, p. 48.
' Fourth Report of Deputy Keeper of Public Records, p. 277.

190

CHAPTER XIII.
LIFE IN THE CLINK.
" During the period of the above narrative of the year (as
I believe) 1586, that is, a httle before my own imprison
ment, various events took place, not indeed of great
consequence and yet perhaps not to be so despised
as to deserve entire omission. In my travels, amongst
other friends I came as a guest to the house of a
Catholic man who was very old, a white-haired octoge
narian. He had lived before the suppression and the
destruction of the religious houses in the reign of
Henry VIII., and had been servant or had filled some
office in the monastery of Glastonbury.' In the overthrow
of that house and church, when all the most sacred vessels
of religion, and those things which should be the most
kept from the profane, were being handled by sacrilegious
fingers, among other things which he was able to seize and
save as if from a conflagration, was a certain cross held
sacred and venerable, not so much on account of its
material, albeit adorned with gold and precious gems,
as for the sake of the holy relics of saints which were
inclosed within it. Above all, there was one of the nails
with which the body of our Saviour was fastened to the
^ Glastonbuiy seems to have been the only monastery where an effort was
made to save the treasures of tlie Church from the hands of the spoiler.
Richard Whiting, the Abbot, and two of the monks, were hanged on Tor Hill
for this offence, Nov. 15, 1539. The commissioners reported, Sept. 28, "We
have found the two treasurers of the church, monks, with the two clerks of the
vestry, temporal men, in so arrant and manifest robbery, that we have com
mitted the same to the gaol " {Suppression of Monasteries, Camden Society,
p. 257). Perhaps this old man was one of the clerks of the vestry.

Life of Father William Weston. 191
Cross. It was the general report and opinion that this
had been brought into England by St. Joseph of Arimathea
and his companions, and had been handed down as an
inheritance by perpetual succession from age to age till
it became considered as the settled property of the
monastery at Glastonbury, where there was also a tra
dition that the body of the same St. Joseph, having
been conveyed thither, had lain for some centuries, kept
with the utmost veneration.
" Thus this nail came into the hands of the old man,
and was kept by him, as may be imagined, with great
devotion. The matter came in course of time to the
hearing of Bishop Jewel, who held the see of Sahsbury;'
he obtained the needful authority from the Crown, and
by an act of exceeding injustice took it away by force.
What use he afterwards made of it, or where he placed
it, is not known. I was unable therefore to see the nail
itself, but the old man showed me the case, made of wood,
in which it had been laid, and by reason of the softness
of the material there still remained in the case an impres-
, sion of the form of the nail wrought in the wood, and in
that manner preserved. So far as I could conjecture, it
must have been about a foot long, and in the upper
part was of the thickness of a finger. The head
was not, I believe, broad ; lower down, however, it was
wider than in the remaining part, and tapering by degrees
to the end, which was marked out with four or five
corners. " The old man told me also of a remarkable miracle
which had been accomplished a short time previously by
the case of the nail or else the cross of which I spoke
before (which of the two it was is not clear to my mind,
but I rather think it was the former), and it was corro
borated by the testimony of almost all those who dwell
near. The miracle was this, that by the simple touch of
^ John Jewel became Bishop of Salisbury in 1559 and died in 1571.

192 Life of Father William Weston.
it a boy's wound, both large and deep, was suddenly
healed. "The house of the old man stood at the distance of
three or four English miles from that ancient monastery,
but scarcely one mile from the spot which, as tradition
asserts, was chosen by St Joseph and his companions
as their habitation. The situation of this latter was on
a mountain, and its old foundations and remains are
still in existence. The old man told me that he often
used to go up thither for the sake of devotion, mounting
the hill not on his feet but upon his knees, and carrying
with him the cross and the reliquary of the nail, ' to protect
me,' he added, ' from the assaults of the spirits : ' for there
could be heard in that place bowlings and groanings and
lugubrious voices as of persons mourning, so that he
imagined that there must be there some place of com
munication with the souls in Purgatory. His scrupulous
devotion made him likewise keep a lamp perpetually
burning in that portion of his house which looked towards
the mountain. All these and many others besides were
the wonderful stories narrated to me by that old man,
so that I remained with him two days or more, feeling
myself more taken and delighted by his conversation
than I could have imagined.
" Leaving him, I went after some days to the house
of a man of rank, who brought out to me a New Testa
ment in a large volume made of parchment, all written
with golden letters and great capitals most elegantly
wrought, and adorned on both sides and distinguished
with blue characters ; the first letters of all the chapters
were ornamented with the most singular and elaborate
workmanship. This volume was ancient, and,- through
want of care, it is believed, some of the leaves at
the beginning had been injured, and others entirely
destroyed. In consequence I asked for the book, as I
saw that its present place was neither suitable or sufficient

Life of Father William Weston. 193
for so great a treasure, and he gave it to me. I requested
him nevertheless to keep his present for me for a while,
as I meant to come back after a short space, and convey
it away to a better locality. Before however I could do
this, my arrest took place, and I was shut up in prison.
" Not long after those days, it happened that a certain
Catholic, overwhelmed witii sorrow on account of his
crimes, fell into so great a despair, that he resolved to
attempt his own life, and the first thing that he did was
to plunge a dagger, which he used to carry about with
him, into his bosom. The wound was deep, but not
mortal. He was travelling at the time with other asso
ciates, and on horseback. The pain made him dismount,
though he alleged some other pretence ; traces of much
blood were perceived ; his companions were amazed, and
ran to his assistance; they conveyed him into a neigh
bouring city to be taken care of, and the wound was
healed. He was restored to his health and his friends,
but after four years, if I remember right, he was seized
with an attack of the same melancholy, and thought it
best to finish the matter at once, when there was no one
near to interrupt him. He therefore shut himself up in
the most distant and quiet part of the great house where
he was living, in order to bring his deadly purpose to a
close. He bethought himself of a very old and rusty
knife, which he had hidden years before in some corner
of that same place. He took it out, and with it so tore
himself open that his bowels came out, and in the midst
of those pains and tortures of death, he raised his voice
in most lamentable cries, until he was heard by the persons
who were far away in another part of the house. They
rushed to his room, and beheld the frightful spectacle,
a man, that is to say, covered with blood and his own
entrails, shrieking out and asking for a confessor. It
chanced that there was one ready in the house, through
the providence of God, and life was just prolonged for
N

194 Life of Father William Weston.
the sake of the soul of that unfortunate man until he had
made a full and complete confession of his sins ; after
which he expired.
"To return now to the year 1587. At the end of
five, or at the most, of six months (for I am going back
now to the intended order of my narrative), when every
intention of transferring me to the Tower of London had
been set at rest, since out of the confessions of so many
persons they had not been able to find a sufficient reason
for charging me with any complicity with the acts and
machinations of the conspirators, they took me away from
the private house where I had been guarded, and cast
me into the public prison called by the people the Cfink,
and together with me in the same cell they placed a
priest whose name was Nicholas [Phipps or Felps, alias'l
Smith. There I remained in pretty close imprisonment
for rather more than a year. There were in this same
Clink many priests and gentlemen, and Catholics of a
middling rank, besides criminals, thieves, and debtors.
"Among other persons, such is the injustice of the
heretics, I found a Catholic man who had a wife and
two children, and yet he had been kept and shut up
there many years under the title and pretence of being
a priest. Another prisoner was even a preacher of no
small note among the Puritans, and almost a prophet,
who was one day found by a Catholic in some solitary
place diligently reading and poring over a small book.
He was asked what book it was. He hardly liked to let
it be seen, but it turned out to be an A B C book,' which
taught the first elements of reading. The man explained
sorrowfully that for eight years or more he had devoted
himself to the study of it, and yet had never been able
to succeed in arranging the letters into words, so as to
spell them out, read, and pronounce them.
"This prison was in many ways far more convenient
' Abecedarium. Orig.

Life 'of Father William Weston. 195
for me, since it was possible occasionally to hear the
voices of Catholics and talk to them, although only by
means of chinks and crevices in the walls. Sometimes
also I had an opportunity of celebrating the Holy
Mysteries, for from the lower room (which was inhabited
by Catholics) in the dead of the night we were enabled
to obtain vestments by a rope which was let down from
our window, and in the early morning, before the warders
and other prisoners were awake, we returned them in the
same manner. It likewise came to pass (to my great and
superabounding consolation) that on the night of our Lord's
Nativity all the Catholic prisoners at the same time came
to see me, so that, having heard their confessions, I
celebrated three Masses, and made them all participate
in the banquet of the Sacred Body of our Saviour ; after
which I dismissed them all safe and sound.
" Your Reverence would have been full of admiration
both of their devotion and their tact in the management
of affairs. There was indeed among them a certain man
who had been formerly a heretic and a keeper of Catholic
prisoners. This man excelled greatly in skill and ingenuity.
Besides other devices, he had a clever contrivance for
opening locked doors and shutting them up again securely.
So he went through all the rooms and opened them, mine
he also of course unlocked, and thus they were all intro
duced, and we were able to spend the whole night together
to our great joy.
" The greater part of this year was spent by me in
perpetual expectation of death, and although it was told
me by some persons that the sovereign herself had
declared her firm conviction that Edmonds (meaning^
myself) had no part whatever in the conspiracy, never
theless there were daily rumours flying about which
asserted that on such a day I should be brought before
a public tribunal, which would certainly end in my
receiving sentence of death. This information was brought
N 2

196 Life of Father William Weston.
to me so often that I was never long without it, and used
to spend days and nights in meditation upon death.
There were not wanting to me friends who pleaded in
my behalf with their patrons, the courtiers and chief men
of State around the Queen. No one nevertheless, how
ever great a favourite, was bold enough to intercede for
me with the sovereign. One of them said : ' If it had
been a case of theft, homicide, piracy, or anything of that
kind, I should not be afraid of asking or of obtaining ;
but in an affair which relates to Jesuits like this, I can
do nothing, and am afraid.'
" Others tried to release me from captivity and save
my life by sums of money, which, when it was related
to me, I wrote immediately to Father Robert Southwell
that in every possible way he might try and prevent it;
for it did not seem to me an honourable proceeding,
particularly for a disciple of the Society (so many of
whose members do not hesitate every day throughout
all parts of the world to hazard their lives for the salvation
of souls), that for a paltry sum of money my confession
of faith should be obscured ignominously, as it appeared
to me, for I felt as though I could never again have looked
men in the face freely and confidently with such a stain
of cowardice and degeneracy of mind burnt into me and
degrading me. Not that I was free from fear of death,
or did not appreciate liberty. I was very much afraid
of dying, and should have welcomed liberty with open
arms ; but the .idea remained always in my mind that
such a mode of liberation was contemptible, and that it
would be singularly unworthy of those times which had
been rendered illustrious by the confession of so many
martyrs." That which Father Weston here tells of himself, is
related more precisely in the Life of the Earl of Arundel}
" When he was first taken, and put prisoner in the Clink,
» P. 27.

Life of Father William Weston. 197
the Countess of Arundel went in disguise to visit him,
and offering by means of money to procure his banish
ment, as was usual in those times, his answer was, as she
herself told me, that he was not committed to prison for
money, so neither would he be released by money, but
expect till either God, or they by whose authority he was
deprived of his liberty, should of their own accord set
him free." Father Weston says that he wrote to Father
•Robert Southwell to hinder this plan for his liberation,
which shows that the Countess continued for awhile to
entertain the idea.
" I also received letters," he says, " encouraging me
to martyrdom from the same Father Robert and from
Father John Cornelius, both of them now themselves
martyrs of the Society. For what end God has preserved
me hitherto, I know not. He who preserved me knows
well, and as it has been His will so far, may He con
tinue to preserve me.
" Frequent visits meanwhile were made by the magis
trates to this prison, and many were the investigations.
One of them entered the cell of a certain priest with a
design to examine it ; and either from his own hand or
from that of his attendant, let one or two hosts fall upon
the ground. Then, as if he had known nothing of the
fraud, he turned round, looked at them, and said: 'Are
these the sort of things you do here .' They must no
longer be tolerated. This is not all, we may be sure ;
but only a token of other things which you have here,
and of what you presume to do in disobedience to the
laws and proclamations.' He forthwith began a search,
and went straight up to the very spot where all the
vestments and the furniture for the altar were hidden
away, together with a silver chalice. On a single board
being taken up, everything was of necessity seen, and
carried from the place. He knew where to look before
he came in, having received information from a person

198 Life of Father William Weston.
concerning whom I shall have more to say presentiy,
and who had been formeriy admitted there for the purpose
of celebrating Mass.
"Not contented with his spoil, he returned to my
room, and began to look round and to move things out of
their places. Then he said : ' I sometimes find chalices
lying hid amongst the bricks of the fire-places.' Drawing
a poignard which hung by his side, he began to feel with
it The result, however, did not answer his expectations,
although I had in reality a silver chalice then laid under
the hearth-stone. If one brick were removed, there was
a hollow place under the fire and a heap of wood. This
cavity was most useful for concealing things because, when
covered up and sprinkled over with ashes, it would escape
the notice of any one, unless he were very careful and
prepared beforehand.
" After having been molested with these and similar
annoyances, and with uncertain messages of death, they
sent for me one day through an official, and I was
taken out of prison to a house where many commissioners
and persons appointed to examine into my cause were
assembled together, in company with a notary. They
again went over all the heads of the former examination,
excepting the affair of Babington. They inquired my
name, the condition of my parents, the place Mliere I was
born, where I was educated. ' Was it in England ? Was
it abroad } Where had I studied .-' Where had I become
a priest and a religious .¦" Through whose command had
I returned into England .' Where had I been .' Whom
had I known .? At Avhose houses had I said Mass .' Whom
had I reconciled to the Church .' Whose confessions had
I heard } ' To all these interrogations I replied with
brevity and ease, confessing all such things as might be
revealed without injury to others, denying those which
they had no right to press me upon, and which I could
not, without sin, betray to them.

Life of Father William Weston. 199
" They first of all brought out a Bible, written in the
vulgar tongue, to make me swear upon it that I would
answer sincerely and honourably to every question. In
the beginning I declined the book. ' Yet you will swear,'
said one of them, 'if we bring you a copy of Jerome's
works.' ' By no means,' I replied ; ' neither by that nor by
any other oath will I bind myself; and you, being laymen,
cannot lawfully make me swear, as I am an ecclesiastic,
nor can you judge me at your tribunals. I am exempted
from them by my privileges, and I shall use my rights ;
nor is there any occasion to be so disturbed about an oath,
for I am ready to do anything save in those matters by
which religion would be offended ; and moreover, my word
shall be as firm as any oath.'
" From these beginnings they went on (if I remember
right) to different things. They asked me what I thought
of the justice of the excommunication of the Queen by the
Bull of Pius V. I said that I had never seen the Bull, nor
heard all that it contained. They here pressed me very
hard, and insisted much, doing all that was possible to get
some explanation from me, but in vain.
"At that time there reigned a perpetual rumour and
a vivid expectation and fear of the Spanish fleet, that was
said to be preparing for a voyage in the ensuing year.
Upon this subject they questioned me with the closest
curiosity. ' Did I know anything about it } Had I heard
of its approach .' Was I a party to it in any way ? What
should I do, when it was already near the coasts of
England ? Whose side should I take 1 Which party
should I defend ? ' I made answer that the report which
was spread abroad had certainly come to my hearing,
but with regard to having any correspondence with the
Spaniards by letters or secret messages, there was abso
lutely nothing of which they could accuse me with any
justice ; but as to declaring which side I should prefer,
particularly as I was ignorant of the causes of the war, it

200 Life of Father William Weston.
was impossible for me to attempt it Whether the war
should be proclaimed for the purpose of restoring the
Catholic religion, or for any other reasons just or unjust,
it was clear that I should not have either the wish or the
power to take up arms and fight : it would be no business
of mine. They said : ' We know that very well ; but what
advice would you give } Whom would you follow if they
came to fight for a matter of religion 1 ' 1 replied : ' Rest
assured that in that case I should do nothing contrary to
religion ; of that I am resolved already. What I should
really do is not for me to say, so various and changeable
are the thoughts of men ; and it is not just or right that
a man should be reckoned a criminal because of some
future event, when there is nothing to charge him with at
the present time.'
" Still they ceased not to turn the matter over in every
possible way, bringing into the argument various forms
of speech and inventions of possible contingencies which,
though, of course, they sometimes happen, may very
possibly not happen at all ; and upon the ground of an
hypothesis they required and urged me to give a clear and
plain answer, when they would have turned my words
into a crime, just -as if the facts themselves had existed.
This examination was continued during three or four
hours. On this occasion many subjects besides the above
were brought into dispute ; in particular, the execution of
the Queen of Scots, and the injury that Catholics had
received from it, insomuch that now they are thoroughly
cast down from all hope of seeing their Faith on the throne,
and of enjoying their religion ¦^^•hicll they seek after so
earnestly and desire so strongly. This is a summary of all
their interrogations and of my replies.
" They sent me back to my prison, where I gave myself
up entirely to my former exercises of meditation and
preparation for death, expecting each moment to be
hurried away to a- tribunal and to judgment, and such

Life of Father William Weston. 201
was the expressed opinion of all and what they looked
for. As Catholics were naturally full of curiosity to be
acquainted with every article of my examination, I satisfied
their anxiety as well as I could by slipping written papers
through fissures and apertures. The other prisoners, both
near me and elsewhere, were full of similar expectations
for themselves ere long, and imagined that they would be
interrogated in the same manner.
" Nevertheless, in the midst of all those trials which
befell Catholics day by day, including punishments and
death, there was not wanting some consolation. Three
of the family of our keeper himself were converted to the
Faith, so were also one among the minor officials on
guard, a woman advanced in years, and a girl who,
abandoning her former master, devoted herself hence
forward to the service of Catholics.
" In this ver>' year it was my lot to hold a disputation
with a certain Doctor of the University, of the name of
Andrewes, a man of considerable, reputation among them,
who is now, as I hear, the so-called Bishop of Ely.' I was
summoned out of prison and conducted to a certain place
where it was said to me by the person who had desired
me to be sent for : ' We want you to hold a controversy
with this learned man and to discuss your opinions with
him, to see if he can make any impression on you. No
one will interrupt you : all your questions and difficulties
you can treat of by yourselves alone.' I made answer :
' If it is only for my sake that this controversy is to
be entered upon, there is no reason why I should
admit of it, since I have not the smallest doubt or
hesitation in any matter little or great with respect to
faith. In affairs like these the dispute should be held
in the Universities or public places, that the disguise of
a false religion may be torn away in presence of those
^ Lancelot Andrewes became Bishop of Chichester in 1605, of Ely in
1609, of Winchester in 1618, and died in 1626.

202 Life of Father William Weston.
who live in error, and the real truth may be displayed
before them freely and openly, without any veil of dissi
mulation.' ' In no way,' replied the other, ' would such a
course be desirable, for so you would have an opportunity
of seducing many, but if you wish that seven or eight of
your own people should meet in my house, together with
an equal number from the other side, you shall find either
here or elsewhere both place and books.' ' But who
are to be the judges or the auditors?' I inquired; 'for
unless those who are to judge or hear belong to both
the parties concerned, the truth will be oppressed and
lie, as it were, buried. However, be it so,' I added, 'let
them come as you have said ; and let faithful notaries
be summoned who will honourably receive and write down
the words, the opinions, the arguments of all the con
tending parties. It will not be difficult to find persons
who will undertake the business, and joyfully offer them
selves to have a share in the contest' This he did not
like, but said in conclusion : 'At all events in the mean
time you can have your disputation, you two together,
and a conference with each other.' He then departed,
leaving us alone with the doors closed.
" I said that there was no occasion for me to leara
from him as a master or teacher those things which I
had learned already from faith and tiie authority of the
Church. If he wished to ask me anything since we
were alone, I added, let him say what he would. Our
discussion fell upon sacramental confession and the inter
pretation of the Scriptures. Whether we talked about
any other subject I do not well remember ; without
doubt there were several articles proposed between us,
for we remained there about four hours. And with regard
to those two first questions, he admitted at last that he
did not allow in the interpretation of Scripture the in
constant and fallacious spirit of private persons. In
speaking of confession, he did not disapprove of the use

Life of Father William Weston. 203
of it, and thought it not only lawful in itself, but allowed
that it was a practice that he was not altogether without
experience of Though this Doctor was a Puritan, it
seems he tolerated a certain form of confession ; indeed
his temper of mind, as some say, was not entirely in
opposition to the Catholic faith.
" I cannot repeat the remainder of our conversation, for,
with the exception of those two points. Confession, and the
Holy Scripture, my memory a good deal fails me. The
reason for this meeting was at first unknown to me. It
appeared to me strange that I should have been called up to
so solitary an interview, not a single witness or judge being
present. However, two days after I had been sent back to
prison, there came to me, with the gaoler's permission, a
certain person quite unknown to me, whether a Catholic
or a heretic I know not, certainly in a benevolent and
friendly spirit He said to me : ' Perhaps you are not
aware of the motive for procuring your conversation with
Dr. Andrewes. While you were disputing there were in
reality two priests present, who were placed near at hand
and were able to hear everything that you said, and they
were so moved and agitated that they could scarcely
refrain from breaking forth from their hiding-place, con
fessing openly to you their want of constancy, and making
amends for their error by a manifest and avowed return
to their faith. These men had been overcome through
fear of torments and the terror of death, and had vacillated
in their faith. One of them (if I am not mistaken, and
I think that I am not) underwent an illustrious martyrdom
for the Faith : the other's name was Anthony Tyrrell, the
person about whom I promised above to give a more
lengthened notice. His story is as follows.
"This same Anthony was arrested a short time before
Babington and thrown into prison, into that which is
generally known as 'the Poultry.'' There, as he was not
•¦ Tyrrell was not in the Counter in the Poultry, but in the prison of the
same name in Wood Street.

204 Life of Father William Weston.
a man of much constancy, he began to show symptoms
of vacillation, being influenced partly by gentleness and
the hope of liberty, partly through fear of torture. There
were in the same prison some Catholic prisoners, who,
after carefully observing him, did not consider it as a
good sign that he received so many visits from heretics,
and conversed so much with them. They also discovered
after awhile that he admitted and kept by him heretical
books, a Bible written in the vulgar tongue, and the
Institutes of Calvin, which circumstance strengthened
much further their opinion that his courage wjis waxing
feeble and faint.
" In the course of some months he was removed from
that place and brought to our prison' where I was then
detained a close prisoner, and together with me several
Catholics, many of whom were young gentlemen in
trouble on account of Babington's conspiracy. All of
these, after collecting from every side tokens and signs
that there were just grounds for suspicion, began some
to decline his acquaintance, some to take precautions
when in company with him. For in the first place, when
there was no call or necessity for so doing, he always
retained his secular dress. When he found himself at
table the only priest among many secular Cathohcs he
could not be induced to say grace. It was likewise
remarked that the book-marks in his Breviary, that in
dicated the Office for the current day, were not rightly
placed. His friendship and familiarity with heretics were
such as to produce a general suspicion that his behavio\ir
was not so sincere and holy as became a priest, and it
was felt that these external relations were not suitable
to a man who was maintaining a conflict in prison for the

' " Counter in Wood Street. Anthony Tyrrell, pr., moved by Mr. Young,
the 13th of September [1586]." P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 34.
His admission into the Clink seems to have been four days later. Supra,
p. 179.

Life of Father William Weston. 205
Catholic faith, and in presence of so many persons both
Catholics and heretics.
"He did not continue long to mislead those who
surrounded him : for after no great interval of time he
left both his prison and his religion, went over to the
side of the heretics, and was presented with his liberty.
In the room he left there dwelt at the same time a
certain Catholic who, considering the manners . of the
man, searched carefully to see whether he could find any
letters or notes written by him or by other persons to
him. He fell upon one spot where lay hidden some
letters of William Cecil and his answers to them, but
very much torn and in disorder. He brought these
letters to me, and asked me what had better be done,
in order that after such great and evident perfidy he
might stand convicted, for Anthony concealed his
treachery as much as possible, and did not wish to
appear as though he had sinned against religion. I bade
him unite together the fragments of the letters and so
to arrange them upon a gummed sheet of paper that
they might be read ; then to send them to the Marshal
sea prison, in which, besides other sufferers, there were
also some priests in captivity, so that they might send
for the man and expostulate with him in the first place
about his faithlessness and treachery in conspiring with
heretics, and at the same time persuade him to return
to his former profession as soon as possible. If he should
confidently persist in denying his crime, I exhorted
them to show him his correspondence with Cecil, and
thus close his shameless lips by such plain evidence
against him.
" They therefore invited Tyrrell to visit them, and laid
before his eyes the foulness of his sin against God, against
men and his own conscience. Still he did not seem to be
moved until they showed him his letters and convinced
him by his own handwriting, when his pertinacity gave

2o6 Life of Father William Weston.
way and he abandoned his falsehood. Finding himself
detected he promised to return to the Church, to
renounce his engagements with the heretics, do penance
in earnest, and make just restitution, so far as it could
be done to those whom he had injured by his perfidious
accusations. All this he afterwards accomplished, and in
a long writing' he manifested the whole history of his
previous frauds and the causes of his ruin. He also
cleared many persons of false and unjust accusations,
and as to myself he made all things fair and freed me
from sundry suspicions.
" Since the rumour of this scandal had been spread
far and wide, and nothing was more notorious in the
mouths of all men than the public renunciation of the
Catholic faith by Tyrrell the priest, it was judged that
there could be no place so appropriate and no time so
suitable for its accomplishment as St Paul's Cross, on
the occasion of some public sermon delivered there before
the people. When therefore the day and the hour
approached on which this event was appointed to take
place, John Reynolds ascended the pulpit intending to
use as the material of his oration and triumph (as he
imagined) the abjuration of the perfidious priest Near
him Tyrrell also mounted, though for a very different
and opposite purpose, having not only no design of
speaking against the Faith, but being resolved to make
a renunciation of his heresy and errors and to confess
openly his treachery and the reasons of his fall. When
therefore he had begun to express his sorrow for his
transgressions, to promise that during the remaining
course of his life he would never by word or action
offend the cause of religion, and to declare these things
aloud in presence of the people, the heretics seeing into
what a contrary channel from what they expected the
tide of affairs was turning, laid hands on him, drew him
* Tyrrell's letter to the Queen, in Stiype's Annals, -vol. iii. pt. i,i. p. 425.

Life of Father William Weston. 207
away, thrust him out of the pulpit What did Tyrrell do
then .' Since it was impossible for him to explain to his
auditors his full mind and meaning, he drew out of his
bosom many sheets of paper which contained the whole
history of his case^ and scattered them among the people,
so that from their hands and eyes they might receive that
information which they were debarred from gathering
by means of his voice from the pulpit. For he had fore
seen how unlikely it would be that they should allow him
to carry on his harangue through to the end ; he had
therefore prepared his papers in readiness to act as a
substitute for uttered words.
" From the pulpit he was eagerly hurried off to prison
and shut in there ; they loaded him with irons and tor
mented him in a thousand ways. What am I now to say ?
Unhappily things went wrong again. Not bearing such
severity he fell a prey to the craft of Satan, and gave himself
up a second time to the heretics, allured by the hope of
pardon and an excessive love of liberty. When set free
he again returned to the Catholics, deploring his incon
stancy. They then, as they had good reason to fear that
he would never be able to 'live in England free from the
snares of the heretics, arranged for him that he should
cross the water, so that living in security amongst Catholics
he might pass the rest of his life beyond the reach of
further danger. He consequently set sail and reached
the harbour in safety; but not content with this, the
fickle and unhappy man came back again in a few days,
and being convicted once more, he acted as minister at
the sacrilegious tables of the heretics till he was an old
man. At length (as I have heard lately) he was rescued
from them by the diligence, admonitions, and fervent
prayers of his brother, who was a Catholic and a most
devout man, and so in the end he returned to God and
the most secure harbour of salvation. That he might do
^ Palinodia Antonii Tyrrelli, Concertatio, after fol. 213, sig. E 4.

2o8 Life of Father William Weston.
this more safely he passed over into Belgium, and there
in the peace and unity of the Church slept in our Lord."
As the singular life of Anthony Tyrrell will be treated
apart in the present volume, it is not necessary here to add
any notes to Father Weston's accurate narrative. But
though the same matter will be told at greater length,
and in more minute detail, it has been thought better
to leave this story as it stands in this place, in order not
to interfere with the integrity of the autobiography of
Father Weston.

CHAPTER XIV.
BETWEEN TWO PRISONS.
" The year '88 now appeared, in which preparations and
warlike equipments were made on no small scale both
by sea and land to oppose the Spanish fleet which was
then declared to be near at hand in full force. The
Queen's Councillors therefore deemed it to be but a part
of their prudent duty to meet in arms an armed and
foreign foe, unless they could also provide with anxious
forethought against all fear and danger from internal
enemies. And as the entire body of Catholics formed a
perpetual subject of uneasiness to them, they brought it
about as far as present circumstances would permit that
a good number of Catholics, both priests and laymen,
should be kept out of the way in prison, for fear that,
if an opportunity were granted them, they might join
forces with the enemy.
" This intention was made notorious, and the command
was received first by the priests who were detained in
London ; not indeed by all, only by some, and of that
number I was myself one. A messenger came to me, sent
from the Council, telling me that it was the Oueen's

Life of Father William Weston. 209
pleasure and that of the lords of the Council that I should
go to Wisbech Castle, and that within a few days. I asked,
'At whose expense?' He replied, 'At your own.' But
leave was given me that, during two or three days, in
company with a keeper, I might visit my friends and
provide all things necessary for the journey. I did not
want for money, and gladly seized the opportunity, in
particular for the sake of divers persons who had not
courage to come and visit me in the prison, and yet were
exceedingly anxious to see me and converse with me.
" On the succeeding day I set out, having changed my
habit for secular clothes, and in the first place I visited all
those Catholics who were detained in the different prisons,
both priests and laymen, not without great joy and con
gratulation on either side. While I was thus employed in
visiting my friends, there came to me a messenger on the
part of a certain illustrious and noble lady, requesting me
by no means to omit arranging an interview with her
before my departure. I answered that there would be no
difficulty in the matter ; adding, however, ' I have with me
for my companion a' keeper who is always watching
me, and never permits me to go anywhere without his
presence.' The messenger said to me : ' That will never
do ; ' for the lady, in truth, was of more than ordinary
rank. ' Do your very best to be set free from him for a
few hours, and come alone, if it be possible ; if otherwise,
do not trouble yourself further about it' I told him that
there was no great difficulty in trying the man, but that
any hope of succeeding in the attempt was small indeed.
We went out, therefore, from that place (which was one of
the prisons) and went on to visit other persons. As soon
as we were alone I said to John (this was the name of my
keeper), ' A friend has just sent word to me that without
any manner of excuse I am to go and see him as speedily
as possible.' ' Well,' replied the man, ' you can go when
you please.' I replied : ' But I do not wish to have you
O

2IO Life of Father William Weston.
with me as a companion and witness.' ' That must not
be,' he said ; ' it is as much as my life is worth, for the
eyes of many persons are on us, and if you were to escape
from me after my receiving such a strict command to
guard you safely, all the danger will fall upon me. I
cannot grant you such a liberty.' I reminded him that
he had experienced already my nature and fidehty, and
that it was not my way to requite with a bad return such
persons as had rendered me a service. Then I produced
an angel' (a golden coin of the value of twenty reals), and
continued : ' See here ; this will be yours if you will grant
me that which I ask of you ; and you need have no fear
about losing favour.' ' I dare not,' he replied, ' I dare not'
He had hardly, however, gone six paces further when
he broke out into the following expressions : ' When will
you be back again, or where shall I find you when you
have finished with your friend .'' ' Such was the effect the
gold produced. I said that it was for him to settle that
matter according to his own convenience ; as for me, I was
ready at any hour or in any place to meet him.
" It is not without reason that I mention these details,
however unimportant they may seem ; for they helped to
obtain for me not only the presence and sight of Father
Robert Southwell," and a long interview with him, and
the means of visiting other illustrious personages ; but it
enabled me to supply comfort to a certain soul that was
labouring in extreme sorrow, and to afford it a remedy
for its salvation. For there lay in a certain heretical house
a Catholic, who, with the consent of his keeper,, had come
to London for the completion of some urgent business.
He had been committed to a prison in the country, a good
way out of London. Fie was seized, however, and over-
^ The angel was worth ics. The real, the Spanish sixpence. Johnson.
''¦ Father Southwell lived with Anne Countess of Arundel, who is no
doubt the " lady of more than ordinary rank," whom Father Weston visited.
She was living then, it would seem, at Arundel House, near Somerset House,
in the Strand. Life of the Countess of Ai-undel and Surrey, pp. 192, 196.

Life of Father William Westoji. 211
powered by a long sickness, which brought him near to
death. The woman who nursed him, being a Catholic,
had diligently searched the whole city through to find a
priest, but in vain ; she then sent word to me of the peril
of that person, and entreated me, if it could be contrived,
to come to his assistance, as he was almost giving up the
ghost I went to him when the little piece of gold obtained
for me the liberty to do so. I explained that I was a
priest (for I was dressed like a layman), and that I had
come to hear his confession. ' If that is the reason why
you have come, it is in vain,' he said ; ' the time for it is
passed away.' I said to him : ' What ! are you not a
Catholic } If you are, you know what you have to do.
This hour, which seems to be your last, has been given
you that by making a good and sincere confession you
may, while there is time, wash away the stains of your
past life, whatever they are.' He answered : ' I tell you
that you have come too late ; that time has gone by. The
judgment is decided ; the sentence has been pronounced ;
I am condemned and given up to the enemy ; I cannot
hope for pardon.' ' That is false,' I answered, ' and it is a
most fearful error to imagine that a man still in life can
assert that he is already deprived of God's goodness and
abandoned by His grace, in such a way that even when
he desires and implores mercy it should be denied
him. Since your faith teaches you that God is infinitely
merciful, you are to believe with all certitude that there is
no bond so straitly fastened but the grace of God can
unloose it, no obstacle but grace has power to surmount
it' ' But do you not see,' he asked me, ' how full of evil
spirits this place is, where we are .' There is no corner or
crevice in the walls where there are not more than a
thousand of the most dark and frightful demons who,
with their fierce faces, horrid looks, and atrocious words,
threaten perpetually that they are just going to carry me
into the abyss of misery. Why, even my very body and
O 2

2 1 2 Life of Father William Weston.
entrails are filled with these hateful guests, who are
lacerating my body and torturing my soul with such
dreadful cruelty and anguish that it seems as if I were
not so much on the point merely of going there, as that
I am already devoted and made over to the flames and
agonies of hell. Wherefore it is clear that God has
abandoned me for ever, and has cast me away from all
hope of pardon.'
" When I had listened in trembling to all these things,
and to much more of a similar kind, and saw at the same
time that death was coming fast upon him, and that he
would not admit of any advice or persuasion, I began to
think within myself, in silence and anxiety, what would be
the wisest course to choose. There entered into my mind,
through the inspiration, doubtless, of God, the following
most useful plan and method of dealing with him. ' Well,
then,' I said, ' if you are going to be lost, I do not require
a confession from you ; nevertheless, recollect yourself just
for a moment, and with a quiet mind answer me in a few
words, either yes or no, to the questions that I put to you ;
I ask for nothing else, and put upon you no other burden.'
Then I began to question him, and to follow the order of
the Commandments : first, whether he had denied his
faith. ' See,' I said, ' do not worry yourself; say just those
simple words, yes or no.' As soon as he had finished
either affirming or denying anything, I proceeded through
four or five Commandments, whether he had killed any
one, stolen anything, &c. ? When he had answered with
tolerable calmness I said to him: 'What are the devils
doing now .' What do you feel or suffer from tiiem ? '
He replied : ' They are quieter with me ; they do not seem
to be so furious as they were before.' ' Lift up your soul
to God,' I said, ' and let us go on to the rest' In the same
fashion and order I continued to question him about other
things ; then I inquired again, saying : ' How is it now ? '
He replied : ' Within I am not tormented ; the devils stand

Life of Father William Weston. 213
at a distance ; they throw stones, they make dreadful
faces at me, and threaten me horribly; I do not think
that I shall escape.' Going forward as before, I allured
and encouraged the man by degrees, till every moment he
became more reasonable, and at last made an entire con
fession of all his sins ; after which I gave him absolution,
and asked him what he was suffering from his cruel and
harassing enemies. ' Nothing,' he said ; ' they have all
vanished : there is not a trace of them, thanks be to God.'
Then I went away, after strengthening him by a few words
and encouraging him beforehand against temptations
which might return. I promised at the same time that
I would be with him on the morrow, and meant to bring
the most Sacred Body of Christ with me, and warned
him to prepare himself diligently for the receiving of so
excellent a banquet. The whole following night he passed
without molestation from the enemy, and on the next day
he received with great tranquillity of mind the most Holy
Sacrament, after which, at an interval of a few hours,
without disturbance, he breathed forth his soul, and quietly
gave it up to God. Before he died I asked the man what
cause had driven him into such desperation of mind. He
answered me thus : ' I was detained in prison many years
for the Catholic faith, nevertheless I did not cease to sin
and to conceal my sins from my confessor, being persuaded
by the devil that pardon must be sought for from God
rather by penances and severity of life than by confession.
Hence I either neglected my confessions altogether or else
made insincere ones, and so I fell into that melancholy of
mind and that state of tribulation which has been my
punishment' " How extraordinary may be the effects produced by
a mind in the agitations of terror and consciousness of
wrong may in truth be well gathered from those events
narrated above, but it will be yet further proved by what
will next be described. When the Queen on one occasion

214 Life of Father William Weston.
for the sake of diverting herself made a progress through
the county of Norfolk, all the inhabitants of that county,
noble and simple, vied with each other in giving her
the most splendid reception that was possible ; some,
that they might win her grace and favour, others, that
they might not lose it ; others in short, particularly
Catholics, that they might not incur still further their
sovereign's displeasure and aversion. Her journey being
at an end, when, after many congratulations, festivities,
shows, and triumphant pageantries, the Queen had
departed, and when they were expecting many graces
and privileges in reward for their homage and dutiful
service, she at length commanded that all those Catholics
who had not as yet submitted to frequent the churches,
if they still refused, should be sent to prison. Great was
the trouble and anxious the deliberations of all of them
to decide what was best to be done.
" Concerning the others I say nothing : the case of
one person alone I mean to commemorate, which, although
I believed it before as an undoubted fact through the
evidence of many persons, was, however, later on related
to me by the lips of the very man himself when he came
once to visit us at Wisbech. It is as follows. 'That
proclamation,' he said, ' did not touch me lightiy, but lay
like a weight upon my mind. It was not merely my own
happiness that was at stake : my wife, my children, my
establishment, all were in danger unless I obeyed the
command. On the other hand, if I were to obey, dis
honour would await me, and the infamy attached to
cowardice and degeneracy of mind ; the offence against
God, and the inevitable danger to my soul. To increase
my trepidation,' he added, ' there came upon me Hkewise
the persuasions of my friends and their entreaties (I mean
those friends who are wise rather according to the world
than towards God), exaggerating the transitory goods
of this life, and showing me how rash and lamentable

Life of Father William Weston. 2 1 5
a thing it would be to refuse for the sake of one visit
to church the avoidance of so many evils. So at length,'
he went on, ' although I saw what was the better counsel,
I followed the worse one, and I determined for once
to do violence to my conscience, and to break through
my difficulties. When, therefore, the festival day came
on which it was necessary for me to be present, I entered
the church, a strange new-fangled place to me, as for
many years I had not been there. Soon my bowels began
to be tormented, a fire seemed presently to be lighted
in them which gave me vehement pain, so that, as the
flame ascended to my breast and penetrated the region
round my heart, I thought that I was broiling and con
suming in an infernal conflagration. Neither did the fire
cease here, but it gained my head and raised itself far
above my head so that several times I lifted up my hand
to feel whether what I felt were a real flame or no. At
length I seemed to myself to be all on fire and burning;
and what I was to do I did not know, for to bear those
flames any longer was intolerable to me, but to go out
and quit that pestilent assembly while the service was
only half over, would have undone all my trouble and
reduced me to a still worse position than before.' He
held on therefore, controlling both himself and his
sufferings with courage, until the profane prayers were
concluded ; but after he had left, it seemed to him as if
he was carrying about with him an unbearable inward
hell, and he was oppressed with such a thirst that its
intensity made him take refuge in the nearest tavern.
There he ordered some drink to be brought to him, and
emptied so many tankards that, although it sounds in
credible, he swallowed eight gallons and more without
suffering any inconvenience or sickness, all that liquor
being quickly consumed and absorbed in his interior, just
as though it had been poured down into an extremely
deep furnace. Notwithstanding all this he had not

2i6 Life of Father William Weston.
succeeded in extinguishing the secret fire within him.
He returned home in despair, with a sorrowful counten
ance and an aching heart His wife perceived how he was
changed, and asked him what had happened to pain him.
Then he explained the whole affair to her, what he had
suffered in the heretical meeting, and how great was the
oppression both of body and mind under which he was
labouring even at that time. The lady being not only
an excellent Catholic, but most warmly attached to her
husband, tried to console him by all that lay in her
power, and excited him to hope for better times ; further
more, which was still better, she sent for a priest with
all speed that, by the infusion of the grace of the Holy
Spirit, he might heal the sickness of his mind. Every
day his condition became easier and pleasanter. At
length, after he was quite restored to health, he went to
visit the so-called Bishop of that place, and related to
him how he had done his best to satisfy the wishes of
his sovereign, though against his conscience, how he had
attended the church, and what he had suffered while
therein. He concluded by saying : ' Know now, that I
am not only sorry for what I have done, but I am firmly
resolved never on any account to go to church again.'
The Bishop was not at all moved by his narrative, nor
did he show the slightest compassion for the man, but
committed him forthwith to prison, where he continued
during four whole years with great constancy of mind,
though the loss of his liberty was a less evil than the
injury to his family affairs.
" Likewise, since it bears upon my subject, I should
wish to mention what was told me concerning her son
by the above-mentioned gentleman's wife, who was a very
meritorious good Catholic woman. This, her son by a
former husband, received a summons from a certain
magistrate to appear before him. He was questioned
about his faith and religion, and after bravely confessing

Life of Father William Weston. 217
that he was a Catholic, he was detained for three days
in the magistrate's house, with nothing to eat, so that,
being worn out and tamed by hunger, he might be
compelled to eat meat on days when it was prohibited
by the Church. At length the magistrate sent him to
the University of Cambridge, and put him into the hands
of a most cruel master, who not only with every species
of art and fraud, but by violence also and menaces might
compel him to attend the church. And when the youth
with a strong and undaunted mind made resistance, he
was so severely beaten that he well-nigh lost his reason.
On hearing this, his mother undertook the journey to
see her son. When admitted into his room, she found
him ill in bed and not altogether right in his mind :
perceiving also that his shirt was all covered with blood
from his wo.unds, she could not suppress her sorrow and
tears. With some difficulty she was allowed to take
him home with her, and many months elapsed before he
was restored to himself and to soundness of body and
mind. " In that same town of Wisbech there were two boys
born of poor parents, whom the keeper of the prison
admitted within the wall, that they might be useful as
servants to the prisoners detained there. In the course
of some months, those boys learned so much about the
Catholic religion that by degrees they left their heresy
which they had imbibed in infancy, attached themselves
to Catholic doctrine, and left off frequenting the churches
and profane rites of the heretics. When the governor
of the place received information of this, he fixed upon
a certain festival day, and commanded the boys to
be present at the heretical sermon. This they refused.
He then had them cruelly flogged in the market
place in presence of all the people, and put them in
irons. Being afterwards set free, one of them escaped
to Belgium, was received as a student in the Colleges

2i8 Life of Father William Weston.
at Douay, and so improved in learning and a character
for virtue that he was admitted to Holy Orders, and
is labouring at present in the English vineyard.'
"The other was captured a second time and thrust into
the prison at Ely, where for many months he endured
a painful life in the midst of various hardships. At length
he was brought to trial in company with several criminals,
and was indicted upon the sole ground of his being a
Catholic 'You, indeed,' said some one, 'wanting to be
a Catholic, when you have never so much as seen a Mass,
and do not know what this sect means. Who could it
ever have been who drove you into such folly.'' The
others meanwhile began to mock him and turn him
into ridicule, seeing how very young he was to do such
a thing. He replied : ' It is true, as you say, that I
have not seen much, nor heard much concerning the
Catholic faith ; and, as you see, I am young enough
and not well practised or brought up in it; but this
one thing I know well and understand, that it is the
only faith for salvation, and much more ancient than
your new religion, yea, and older by many centuries.'
They said to him : ' How can you, an ignorant boy, tell
what is oldest.? You are deceiving yourself 'It is
not I,' he replied, 'but your own chroniclers, and a
man of your own profession and one of your ministers,
Holinshed, I mean, who asserts as much plainly in his
chronicle.' They all denied that there was anything of the
kind in Holinshed's book. ' Indeed there is,' he repbed. ' I
am telling no lie ; I know what I am talking of : ' and at
the same time he produced from his bosom a great leaf
torn out from Holinshed's Chronicle, and continued :
' Now to begin with, recognize your man by his name :
then, if your please, read the words that are contained in
^ In the list of boys attending tlie prisonei-s at Wisbech we find Thomas
and George Fisher ; and George Fisher entered the English College at Rome
in i6oi. There is no such name in the Douay ordination list.

Life of Father William Weston. 219
this torn leaf When they had openly read the page,
they were sorry and much ashamed of what they had
done ; for it contained a description of the entrance of
St. Augustine, the Apostle of England, with the cross,
litanies, relics, and all the other tokens of a Catholic
ceremonial. A Catholic prisoner in Wisbech had torn
this leaf out of his own book, a very large volume, and
had admonished the boy to preserve it carefully, so that
when he should be brought to trial for his faith, he need
assert nothing else with regard to his religion, or say
anything besides, but satisfy himself with showing that
torn leaf to the judges. This was done by the youth
very opportunely, both as to time and place : and he
so put them to confusion, that they did not know what
they ought to say in reply. For the writer of the book
was one of their most approved authorities, and a most
clear witness for the extreme antiquity of the Catholic
faith. " The assizes of the island of Ely are held usually
twice in the year, and the judges' courts are made ready
in our prison. On one of these occasions two men and
a woman were condemned for some crime to the punish
ment of death and remanded to prison while they awaited
their execution. These persons received from some of our
number an explanation of the Catholic religion ; and the
truth of it was laid before them, together with its supreme
necessity, if they wished to avoid eternal punishment
and obtain eternal blessedness. Without any very great
difficulty they were persuaded to become Catholics, and to
obtain pardon of their sins by confession. To obtain access
to the woman was more difficult ; but the two men
employed much zeal and diligence in rendering their aid.
As, she was near them they were able, through the chinks
of the partition wall, to suggest things which were neces
sary for belief, in particular, the authority of the Catholic
Church and the purification of the conscience by the

220 Life of Father William Weston.
Sacrament of Penance, which things when she had
eageriy taken in and thoroughly understood, she began
to think of every art and method by which she might
comply with the precept of confession, as the men had
already done; neither, by God's assistance, was she left
without a suitable opportunity, considering the shortness
of the time. For since, on her part, she made use of all
industry and fervour she obtained the satisfaction of her
desire. The fatal hour was at hand, and they were sum
moned to execution by the ministers. Then, in order to
make an open demonstration to the people who were
spectators that they were Catholics and meant to die as
such, they all placed upon their necks the linen shrouds
that had been given to them by Catholics for their burial
and so arranged them upon their breasts as to produce
the form of the Cross ; and that the religion of the
Cross might appear still more evident to all, they
contrived to insert black bows of ribbon on these
shrouds. They went out of the inclosure of the prison
giving signs of their devotion not only by words and
demonstrations but with tears and sighs that betrayed
their piety, an infinite multitude of persons being present
and admiring them. Without intermission they were
visibly deploring the crimes of their past life, and they
vehemently lamented that it was so late before they had
understood the salutary doctrine that alone leads to
eternal life. Three times or more, before they reached
the scaffold, they all knelt down and prayed a long
while with abundance of tears. Some among the heretics
wished to hinder them, saying that so many and such
evident signs of Popery ought not to be tolerated in
public. Others, however, and indeed the great number,
ceased not to defend and praise them and to wish that
such fruits of penitence might be bestowed upon them
selves by God. The criminals, in truth, seemed to make
no end of testifying their faith and shedding tears. When

Life of Father William Weston. 221
they arrived at the place of punishment they emulated
each other in repeating everything with yet greater
fervour of soul and piety, to the amazement of the
standers-by, so that no one scarcely could help pitying
them. At length when the ropes had been placed around
their necks and they had finished speaking, they put to their
lips beads which Catholics had given them for the sake
of gaining the indulgence attached to them, and these
they swallowed in presence of all the people.' Then being
turned off the ladders they exchanged this miserable life,
as all hoped and declared, for that blessed and happy one
beyond. This event being reported everywhere, came to
the ears of the Queen's Councillors, who gave a severe
reprimand to the chief gaoler of that prison because he
suffered such things to go on in public."

CHAPTER XV.
WISBECH CASTLE.
Father Weston rather abruptly turns at this point of
his autobiography to his transfer to Wisbech, and the
opportunity is a good one for inserting a few words
respecting this his new prison. Wisbech, dear to us as
having been long the place of confinement of many
notable prisoners for the Faith, was one of the oldest
possessions of the Church of Ely, having been given to
the convent by Oswy and Leoflede when their son Alfwin,
afterwards Bishop of Elmham, was educated there.^ A
great part of the estate was assigned to the monks, after
¦^ It is needless to say that this little demonstration was an invention of
their own, and had nothing to do with gaining an indulgence.
^ Supplement to the First Edition of Mr. Bentham's History and Antiquities
of the Cathedral and Conventual Church of Ely. By William Stevenson,
F.S.A. Norwich, 1817, p. 77.

222 Life of Father William Weston.
Ely became a bishop's see. That portion now belongs
to the dean and chapter, and is called Wisbech Murrow.
The remainder, which was annexed to the see, is called
Wisbech Barton. It seems that a castle was built there
by William the Conqueror, which is said to have been
greatly injured by an inundation of the sea in 1236.
Cardinal Morton, Bishop of Ely, built, between 1478
and 1483, a new castle of brick, and made it the chief
residence of the see. It was, however, allowed by his
successors to become ruinous, and Father Weston describes
its condition when he was sent there in 1588. From very
early times the Bishop's prison was used occasionally for
the custody of State prisoners, but in 1579 the whole
castle, or what remained of it, was given over to receive
Catholic prisoners, with their keeper and his officers. The
bishopric of Ely was vacant from 1581 to 1599, and, says
Strype,' " for v/ant of a bishop a great number of Papists
are harboured in that diocese, and the bishop's houses
are much decayed." By " Papists harboured in the diocese,"
he does not mean the prisoners in Wi.sbech, but Catholics
living peaceably because the office of chief persecutor was
vacant ; and as for the decay of Wisbech Castie, that had
come about no doubt because the bishops had found its
situation among the fens unwholesome. This was held
to be no disadvantage to its use as a prison instead of a
palace. At the Revolution tiie castle was sold to Thurlow,
afterwards the secretary of Oliver Cromwell, who built a
house on its site. The estate reverted to the see at the
Restoration, and in 1793 Bishop Yorke sold it, under an
Act of Parliament, to John Medworth of Bermondsey, by
whom the last remains of the castle were taken down in
1816. Its site is now the garden in the Crescent"
^ Annals, vol. iv. p. 344.
= The English Counties Delineated. By Thomas Moule. London, 1S37,
vol. i. p. 183.

Life of Father William Weston. 223
It will help to illustrate Father Weston's narrative if
we add that "the building,' which covered two acres of
land, stood in the midst of other four acres, at the bound
ary of which was a strong high wall, and on the outside
next the town was a ditch or moat forty feet wide ; and
there was no way to the castle but by a drawbridge in
the west front . . . The great tower was the residence of
the constable or governor. Underground were dismal,
dark vaults for the confinement of prisoners, which made
this tower sometimes be called the keep or dungeon.
In this building was the great hall."
The castle was used as a prison for Catholics at least
as late as 1615, for we have a curious account- by James
Tabor, Registrar of the University of Cambridge, of the
passage through the town of some priests on their way
to Wisbech, about the time of a visit of King James I.,
and of the precautions taken to prevent any conferences
between them and the undergraduates of the University.
Though this relates to a time subsequent to Father
Weston's imprisonment, the story is so unlike our own
ways that it is difficult to resist the temptation to insert
it here. "13 Mali, 161 5. A three weeks before the day, early
notice was given, both to the deputy Vice-Chancellor
and the actors of the comedy called Ignoramus, that his
Majesty, at his going up to London from Thetford and
Newmarket, where he had sported, was fully resolved to
hear the said comedy acted again ; whereupon the actors
were suddenly called together, and they made speedy
preparation, as well for the altering and adding something
to the plot ; and in the interim, whilst this was prepared,
^ An Historical Account of the Ancient Town and Port of Wisbech. By
Wilham Watson, Esq., F.A.S. Wisbech, 1827, pp. 123, 129.
' Annals of Cambridge. By Charles Heniy Cooper. Cambridge, 1845,
vol. iii. p. 84.

2 24 Life of Father William Weston.
certain Jesuits or priests, being to be conveyed from
London to Wisbech Castie, were not suffered to come
through Cambridge, but by the sheriff carried over the
back of the town to Cambridge Castle, where they lodged
one night, which the Vice-Chancellor did carefully and
wisely to prevent the dangers which might have ensued
if the younger sort of students had seen them, and so
by their own allurements or persuasion of some of their
adherents, drawn them to a private conference either there
or at Wisbech, which also to prevent, the Vice-Chancellor
attended their coming into the castle, and then sent back
all such young students as he saw there. This they
perceiving, offered a disputation to the Vice-Chancellor
upon three questions, which were [the contradictories of]
these —
" I. Protestantium Ecclesia est vera Christi Ecclesia
"2. Non datur Judex externus infallibilis in rebus
Fidei. " 3. Fides non potest existere sine Charitate, sine qua
tamen est causa adaequata justificationis.
" The Vice-Chancellor told them he knew they were to
make no abode there, neither had he power from his
Majesty to give leave for a disputation, which might give
them occasion of stay, and cause a meeting of tiie students,
and so left them ; whereupon the Papists gloried as in the
victory, that they offered to dispute, and the Vice-Chan
cellor did refuse it, and, that this might be the better
known, they writ divers copies of the questions, and
fastened them to boughs ; and the next morning, as tiiey
went to take boat for Wisbech, they threw them over
Magdalen College walls, which were brought to the Vice-
Chancellor; whereupon the Vice-Chancellor certified the
King what they had done, so the King, about eight days
before his coming, notified to the Vice-Chancellor that at
his coming to Cambridge he would have a disputation
there of those questions. Then the Vice-Chancellor chose

Life of Father William Weston. 225
young men of the University to fit the disputation, which
were — " Mr. Roberts,' Trinitatis, to answer.
" Mr. Bidglande, Reginalis^
"Mr. Cumbar,^ Trinitatis >• to reply,
" Mr. Chappel,* Chi-isti )
and Mr. Ceci\\,Johannis, to moderate this act The King
had a Latin sermon on Sunday, and disputations on
Monday, before coming away."
The first Catholic prisoner who was sent to Wisbech
was John Feckenham, O.S.B., the last Abbot of West
minster. Anthony a Wood says* that " all the time of
Queen Mary's reign, he employed himself in doing good
offices for the afflicted Protestants from the highest to the
lowest, and did intercede with the Queen for the Lady
Elizabeth, for which he gained her displeasure for a time.
After the said Lady Elizabeth came to the Crown, and
religion was about to be altered, he devised and made
speeches in the Parliament House against the Queen's
supremacy over the Church of England. But the Queen,
having a very great respect for his learning and virtuous
life, as also for his former tenderness of her, sent for, and
had private discourse with him ; but what it was, none yet
do positively know, though there be not wanting some
that say that she offered to him the Archbishopric of
Canterbury, if he would take the oath and conform to the
Church of England, which he refused."
Elizabeth's respect and gratitude led her no further
than to grant Feckenham the honour of this interview,
for she sent him to the Tower, then to " free custody "
¦' "Supposed to be William Roberts, afterwards Fellow of Queen's, and
ultimately Bishop of Bangor.
" "Thomas Comber, afterwards Master of Trinity College, and Dean of
Carlisle. ' ' ' William Chappell, afterwards Dean of Cashel, Provost of Trinity College,
Dublin, and Bishop of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross " (Mr. Cooper's notes).
* Athencs Oxon. vol. i. p. 322. •
P

2 26 Life of Father William Weston.
with Robert Home, Bishop of Winchester— the same
who, in 1 549, was the cause of his imprisonment in the
Tower under Edward VI., so that it is not improbable
that Home, "as the Roman Catholics say, did deal
uncivilly and falsely by him" — from Home's custody
Elizabeth sent him back to the Tower, thence, after a time,
to the Marshalsea — while a prisoner in which place he was,
however, allowed, on account of his health, to sleep in a
private house in Holborn, — and at last he was sent to
Wisbech, where he died in 1585, the twenty-seventh year
of Elizabeth's reign, and consequently the twenty-seventh
year of his imprisonment The first mention of his transfer
to Wisbech is in a letter' from George Carleton to the
Privy Council, in July, 1579. The names of his fellow-
prisoners are mentioned in another letter^ written by
Carleton and his colleague, Humphrey Michell. The most
notable of these is Thomas Watson, the last Bishop of
Lincoln, on whose death at Wisbech, on the 27th of
September, 1584, the ancient hierarchy of England
expired.^ Feckenham and Watson rest in the parish
churchyard of Wisbech St. Peter. The letter of their
fanatical keepers at Wisbech will give a good idea of the
sort of persons under whose charge the last years of their
venerable lives were spent.
" All duty and obedience unto your honourable lord
ships, — We crave pardon in that we have not so straitiy
observed your honours' direction in advertising the state
of the recusants in Wisbech Castle as was set down. The
greatest reason for our excuse is to crave more time than
the allowance of one month for certifying the state of our
proceedings therein, for else by not searching into the
particular conditions of the parties, we might inform more
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxxxi. n. 48.
' Ibid. vol. cxliii. n. 17.
= Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St. Asaph, died in 1584 (Stonyhurst MSS.,
P. fol. 107), and it is possible that he was the last survivor of the ancient bishops.

Life of Father William Weston. 227
for order than for matter, and so in vain. Let it therefore
please your honours to understand that the recusants here
now imprisoned are eight in number, namely, Watson,
Feckenham, Younge, Windham, O.^enbridge, Metham,
Wood, and Bluet And we, according to your lordships'
letters and articles to the same adjoined, have (as duty
have charged) performed carefully what was enjoined, as
well to the Bishop, Gray the keeper, as the prisoners
themselves. Advertising further that the Lord Bishop
hath appointed a preacher unto the recusants, a man of
holy life, learned, and able to give account of his doctrine
strongly. The men restrained, before us both, and
others have been called divers times and as often required
to hear the preacher, aud abide the prayer ; but they all
with one voice generally, and after that every man parti
cularly answering for himself, denied to allow either, saying
that as they are not of our Church, so they will neither
hear, pray, nor yet confer with us of any matters con
cerning religion. Yet as touching conference we must
confess that Oxenbridge, Metham, and Bluet (being
privately dealt with) were contented to abide some con
ference with the learned ; but when the place and time
was appointed for disputation upon their own questions,
the first of them that spoke made his protestation that, for
obedience' sake and our pleasings, they were content to
dispute before us, upon divers causes between their Church
and ours now in question. Nevertheless, with such minds
as what and whatsoever could be, said against them, they
meant not to be reformed.
" The disputation held by the space of two hours, the
Lord be thanked, to the great profit of us and such as
stood by, though to them a hardening.
"We have also, according to the article, with the
preacher perused their books and writings, of which we
restrained all saving the Canonical Scriptures and the
allowed writers, which to forego (together with their
P 2

2 28 Life of Father William Weston.
Romish notes upon the same) was a great grief unto their
hearts, alleging that the Book of God simply carrieth not
such force and comfort to their consciences as when the
same is unfolded by the Councils and Church of Rome.
It may further please your honours that divers of the
recusants have their servants to attend upon them, and
yet for them to be allowed is not warranted. We have
suffered them (as restrained only within the walls) to
attend their masters till we know your further pleasure,
and in the meantime we find that their repairing together,
and not so abridged as their masters, is in manner all one
as if their masters might as well confer as eat together,
which conferring, as it is restrained, so we wish their
together eating were. For if they be such offenders as in
your honours' letters appear, ordinary meeting at meals
doth not only strengthen them in error, but also layeth a
persuasion before them that this late earnest restraint with
such favour added, will end with restoring of their former
liberty ; but it were too much boldness for us to show any
further our opinions before your wisdoms, what we think
meet for such obstinates without further understanding of
your honourable minds herein.
" Even thus, therefore, beseeching the Lord our God
to endue your honours with all knowledge, judgment, and
obedience of and to His will in this behalf, and that even
Upon these monsters somewhat may be wrought by your
authority that may yield to His glory and the godly peace
of this part of His Church, in the preservation of the life
and continuance of the prosperous government of her most
excellent Majesty, with increase of all grace, we most
humbly take our leaves, from Wisbech Castle the i6th of
October, 1580.
"Your honours' most humbly in the Lord at com
mandment,
" George Carleton,
" Humphrey Michell."

Life of Father William Weston. 229
Though the number of priests banished in 1585 was
seventy-two, there were many yet remaining in the various
prisons, and the vacancies were soon filled by fresh
captures of Seminary priests and of Catholic laymen. It
became a serious question for the Government what was
to be done with them, and among the State Papers we
find, under the title, " The means to Stay the Declining in
Religion,"' the following politic suggestions —
" Remedies for the restrained [priests]. The execution
of them, as experience hath showed, in respect of their
constancy, or rather obstinacy, moveth many to compassion
and draweth some to affect their religion, upon conceit
that such an extraordinary contempt of death cannot but
proceed from above, whereby many have fallen away.
And therefore it is a thing meet to be considered whether
it were not convenient that some other remedy were put
in - execution. And in case the execution of them shall
not be thought the best course, then is it to be considered
what other way were fit to be held with them. There are
of these seminaries two sorts, some learned and politic
withal, and of great persuasion ; others simple, having
neither zeal, wit, or learning. For the first they are to
be sent to Wisbech, or some such-like places where they
may be under honest keeping, and be restrained from
access and intelligence ; for that, being banished, they
might do a great deal of harm. For the second, they may
be banished as others before, upon penalty to be executed
if they return. Such as were banished and are returned
are to be presently executed."
One would be led to suppose that this paper was read
at a Privy Council, for we have a holograph letter on the
subject from Walsingham to Phelippes,^ in which its
expressions recur.
'^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 114.
° Cotton. MSS. Calig. C. ix. f. 566. [Wrongly endorsed, Babington's
treasons.]

230 Life of Father William Weston.
" My lords do mean to take order with the Seminary
priests by banishment of some, executing of others, and
by committing the rest to Wisbech or some such-like place
under some honest keeper. I have thought good to send
you a register of their names, to the end you may confer
with the party you wot of, and to desire him to set down
their intentions to do harm in their several kinds.
" I take it there will be found very few of them fit to
do good. " And so I commit you to God. At Barnes, the 25th
December, 1586. " Your loving friend,
" Era. Walsingham."
Walsingham bears testimony to the constancy of the
priests who were his prisoners. " Few fit to do good,"
means few that would become his tools. The " party you
wot of " ^vas Berden the spy, and accordingly among the
State Papers we have various papers giving his comments
on the register of names that Walsingham sent him. It
seems incredible that the fate of men of the character of
the imprisoned priests should have been dependent upon
the report of a mercenary wretch like Berden, but so it
¦was. Two names, with his comments upon them, taken
from his report, will be the strongest illustration of the
sort of counsellor by whom Walsingham was content to
be guided in the distribution of "justice.''
" William Edmonds is the onh- Jesuit of England ; to
be kept, if not hanged.
" John Lister, in the Marshalsea; I beseech you to show
him all favour ; he is my wife's near kinsman."'
It is all in keeping with the system by whicli Phelippes
had power with Walsingham, and Berden with Phelippes,
and Berden used his power in behalf of the man that paid
him well. This time it was not the prisoner suing for
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 73.

Life of Father William Weston. 231
liberty, but the keeper of the prison desiring prisoners
who would pay him best, and so Phelippes writes to
Walsingham' in these terms in behalf of Thomas Gray,
the keeper of Wisbech Castle. " It may please you
to-morrow to be good unto Gray of Wisbech, who will be
petitioner for some of the best priests or others that their
honours [of the Privy Council] think well to be restrained
of their liberty." The best priests, those, that is, whose
friends would help them to pay the most. They were to
be there at "their own charges,"^ which simply means that
the keeper was to make all the profit possible from their
custody at their own expense, and that a certain amount
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxc. n. 30.
^ "Priests and others in the prisons about London fit for Wisbech, able
to bear the charges — " Gatehouse — ^Jonas Meredith.
James Taylor.
Newgate — Leonard Hide.
Isaac Higgens.
George CoUinson.
Counter, Wood Grene.
Street — Stampe.
Edmund Bradock.
White Lion — Thomas Pound.
Marshalsea — ^John Lister.
John Hubberley.
Edward Calverley.
George Potter.
Nicholas Knighton.
John Smythe.
Counter, Poultry — Stranguish."
(P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxciii. 11. 67.)
"The names of the prisoners at Wisbech —
Recusants. Priests. Priests.
Mr. Scroope. Potter. Stranguish.
Mr. Pierrepont. Powell. Greene.
Mr. Pound. Bramstone. Wigges.
Priests. Southworth. Stampe.
Metham. Loide. Dryland.
"Wigge. [?] Bickley. Bagshawe.
Bluet. Bradock. Tillotson.
Calverley. Chadock. Barlwin."
Edmonds.
{Ibid. p. cxc. n. 44.) These papers are dated in the Calendar, in evident
error, September and June, 1586.

232 Life of Father William Weston.
of freedom would be winked at if it were paid for hand
somely. Time went on, and the plan of sending some of the
prisoners out of the way to Wisbech, which seems to have
been forgotten for a while, revived again. Mr. Justice
Young, to whom the examination of Catholics was espe
cially intrusted, was commissioned to report on the various
priests, and to choose out those who should be sent to the
prison in the Fens. He wrote thus' to Walsingham —
" Right Honourable, — Mine humble duty remembered,
it may please your honour to be advertised that according
to your honour's commandment I have talked with sundry
priests remaining in the prisons about London, whom I
find to be of divers dispositions, some very obstinate and
perverse, so liberal of their slanderous speeches and so
evil affected towards the Queen's Majesty and the estate
of the realm, that as they are most unworthy to live in
England for fear of the disturbance of her ^Majesty's peace
able government, so in mine opinion they are not worthy
to live in any other place, where they may incite any
others to the hurt and damage of the realm : amongst
which is one Simpson, alias Hyegate, and one Flower,
priests, with many others, but these are especial, and such
as by the laws have justly deserved death, and in nowise
merit her Majesty's mercy, as will appear by their exami
nations, which I will send to your honour, with all the
others when I shall have perfected them.
"Whereas your honour thinketh convenient that some
should be sent to Wisbech, it is most assured that living
here in London at liberty in the prisons, they do much
harm to such as resort unto them, especially William
Wigges, Leonard Hide, and George Collinson, priests,
prisoners in Newgate ; Morris Williams, an old priest,
prisoner in the Clink, and Thomas Pound, prisoner in the
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cciii. n. 20.

Life of Father William Weston, 233
White Lion, taken as a layman, but (as Tyrrell assureth
me) he is a professed Jesuit, and was admitted by one
substituted by Persons while the said Pound was prisoner
in the Tower. These are most busy and dangerous
persons, and such as in nowise are worthy of liberty,
neither are they within the compass of the last statute ; '
so that if your honour think so good, Wisbech were a
convenient place for them.
" There are many others which will appear to be of
the same sort ; but for so much as these are principal
malefactors, and that perhaps they be a number sufficient
to be carried thither at one time, I will forbear to speak
of the others until I shall deliver all their examinations
together, which shall be with as much celerity as I
may, for I find many that would live peaceably, and
are not estranged from conference to be had with our
preachers. '' I am given to understand that one Francis Tyrrell is
to be admitted into her Majesty's service, and hath the
grant of a room, but where I know not. As I hear, he is
an obstinate Papist, and is doubted lest he be placed as
an espie. He hath of late spoken very slanderous and
evil speeches against the Earl of Leicester and Sir Francis
Drake, which I write to your honour because you may
inquire of him and prevent him, for it will be verified to
him what he is and what he hath spoken.
" I beseech your honour to remember her Majesty for
the protection for my son Wendover, for it standeth me
greatly upon as I certified her Majesty, and I hope her
Highness will be mindful of my suit for myself And so
I humbly take my leave, praying Almighty God long to
' By the statute 27 Eliz. [158-*] cap. 2, Jesuits, Seminary priests, and
other ecclesiastical persons, born in these realms, and ordained by the pre
tended authority of the See of Rome, coming into or remaining in the Queen's
dominions, were guilty of high treason. Neither Queen Mary priests, nor
those who had " remained," because they were in prison from the passing of the
Act, were "within the compass of the statute.'

234 Life of Father William Weston.
preserve and keep you and all yours in health, with much
increase of honour. London, this 26th day of August,
1587. "Your honour's most ready at commandment,
" Ryc Young."
Of the two priests whom Young recommended for death,
one was executed. "William Flower, a/zaj- Way, seminary,"
was one of Father Weston's fellow-prisoners' in the Clink.
His name does not occur in the lists already given,^ for they
are both dated in 1586, and he was not arrested, as we shall
immediately see, till June, 29 Eliz., that is, 1587. Lord
Keeper Puckering mentions him thus ¦? " Surrey. William
Flower, born in Denshire, made a priest in France at
Michaelmas, anno 28 Regintz. He returned into England,
and was apprehended in Surrey about June, 29 RegincB,
after the general pardon. His offence was of being in the
realm." If " Denshire " means " Devonshire," this agrees
very well with William Way, of the diocese of Exeter,
who, according to the Douay Diary, was ordained priest
at Laon, September 18, 1586. The College Diary enters
this priest on its list of martyrs. A contemporary manu
script* says of him : " Mr. William Way, priest, a man
much mortified by great abstinence and other austerities.

^ "20 July, 15S7.
" Clink — ^Maurice Williams.
William Edmonds, Jesuit.
Nicholas Felps, alias Smyth, Seminary.
Anthony Tyrrell, alias Browne, Seminary.
Nicholas GeUebrand, Seminary.
William Flower, alias Way, Seminary.
William Parry, Seminary.
John Robinson, Seminary.
Edward James, Seminary.
I'aul Spence, Seminary."
(P.R.O., D.v?h-slic, Elizabeth, vol. ccii. n. 6l.)
^ Supra, pp. 179, 181.
^ Strype's Annals, vol. iv. p. 254.
* Oscotl College MSS., Father Grene's Collaiaii. F. p. 7S.

Life of Father William Weston. 235
lying ever in prison upon the boards and wearing con
tinually a shirt of hair, so desirous of martyrdom that he
would many times cry out, ' Oh, I shall never come to it,'
was conveyed from London to Kingston-upon-Thames,
where, answering with great constancy, he was drawn,
hanged, and quartered with severity." The Bishop of
Chalcedon, in the Catalogue of Martyrs sent by him to
the Holy See in 1628, places his martyrdom on the 23rd
of September, 1588, and quotes, as referring to this martyr,
Stowe, who says : " On the 23rd of September a Seminary
priest named Flower was hanged, beheaded, and quartered
at Kingston." By a very curious coincidence it appears that another
priest, who suffered martyrdom at the same place a few
days later, was also called, at least as an alias, William
Way. It is not surprising that the Bishop of Chalcedon
and Bishop Challoner have omitted him from their
Catalogues of Martyrs, yet it seems that there really was
a second martyr who was called by that which was the
true name of the first. His own name was William Wigges;
and, what is more curious, there were two priests of this
name also, of whom one, and that not the martyr, is
mentioned in Young's letter. We will take the martyr
first, though he was the younger of the two.
Anthony a Wood says :' " One Will. Wygge, some
times called Way, was executed for being a seminary and
denying the oath of supremacy, at Kingston, in Surrey, on
the 1st day of October, 1588." Whether he was the same
with William Wygge, of New College, Oxford, who took the
degree of M.A. October 12, 1582, Wood adds that he does
not know. Dr. Worthington, whose Catalogue of Martyrs
was printed in 1614, and Dr. Champney, whose manuscript
history of the reign of Queen Elizabeth was begun in 1618,
agree in saying that a martyr, whom they call Way,
suffered at Kingston on the ist of October. Wilson, in
1 Fasti Oxon. p. 123.

236 Life of Father William Weston.
his Catalogue, printed in 1608, makes no mention of
Flower or Way, but names William Wigges, priest, on
that day. Yepez derived his list,' printed in 1599, from
a little book called Relacion de algunos martyrios, published
by Father Persons in 1590, in which occur the names of
Flower and Way; and this shows what is meant by
" Elouer " and " Vvayo " in Yepez. On the other hand,
the list at the end of Ribadeneira's Spanish Sanders,
printed in 1594, gives "Guillermo Wiges," or Wigges,
and " Guillermo Vero," the latter half, apparently, of the
name of Flower.
The other William Wigges was of St John's College;
Oxford, and according to Anthony a Wood became B.A
in 1566. He is mentioned as "still in London" by
Gregory Martin, in a letter^ written by him to Campion,
dated February 8, 1575. "Wigsseus noster Londini est
adhuc." He seems to have been at the College at Rheims
from November, 1577, to the March following, and in
August, 1 581, to have proceeded to Rome with Thomas
Stanney and John Munden. Munden was martyred in
1582. Wigges must have returned from Rome very soon,
for he was ordained in 1582, when the Douay Diary notes
that he was of the diocese of London. He left the College
for England on the i6th of February, 1583. In 1585 he
was in the Tower with Leonard Hide and Thomas Alfield,
and the three priests were indicted together.^ Alfield was
martyred, but the lives of Wigges and Hide were spared,
and we learn from Young's letter that they were still in
Newgate in 1587.
Young's recommendation was adopted respecting both
of them, and they were sent to Wisbech Castle ; and some

' Persecucion de Inglaterra, p. 612.
' Archives of the English College, Rome. For this extract, and for
the references here given relating to Wigges, tlie editor is indebted to Canon
Estcourt. ' The Rambler, June, 1857, p. 426.

Life of Father William Weston. 237
time later their characters were thus reported' to the Privy
Council by some official, whom we do not know.
" Leonard Hide, a most dangerous and presumptuous
Seminary priest, who, being sent to the Tower, willed the
commissioners to show him favour, that he might show
them favour another day. He was removed from Newgate
to Wisbech, and is a great practiser and writer of letters
abroad for traitorous causes.
"William Wigges, priest, a most traitorous seducer of
the Queen's Majesty's subjects from the truth and from
their true obedience. He is a desperate man, and told the
commissioners that he had said Mass, and would say
Mass, and that he hoped to say Mass in Paul's. He hath
greater power and authority than the ordinary sort of
priests have for consecration of chalices, altar-stones, and
such like."
The report reached Rome that William Wigges had
died of hardships in prison in the year 1588, whereas in
reality he survived and, as we have seen, was sent to
Wisbech. This was printed at Rome in 1590, in the
Catalogue of the Martyrs of the two Seminaries of Rome
and Rheims, and was no confusion with the other priest
of the same name, for his martyrdom in that year was
also mentioned in the same Catalogue. This we learn
from Father Grene,' who says that he understands the
martyr to be the same as William Way, and in his index
he has "Waius Gul., alias Wiggs."
There is one more ^ prisoner who is mentioned in
Young's letter, of whom it may be well to say a word.
When the report above-mentioned, respecting the Wisbech
prisoners, was made to the Privy Council, there were
thirty-two in confinement there, who were all priests except
one. That one was Thomas Pound, and he probably
owed the honour to the perfectly accurate information that
* P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcix. ii. 91.
^ Stonyhurst MSS., Catalogue of Martyrs, p. 56.

238 Life of Father William Weston.
Anthony Tyrrell had given to Young, that he had been
received into the Society. In truth, he had been nearly
ten years a Jesuit, for Father Mercurian had received him
on the ist of December, 1578, and all that time, and
onwards for full thirty years, he was in prison. The report
said of him : " Thomas Pound, a layman, a very obstinate
man, and a great maintainer of priests and other bad
persons." We must now at length accompany Father Weston to
his new place of imprisonment.
" Affairs being as I have described, the appointed day
came for us to begin our journey to Wisbech. Out of the
whole number of priests in the different prisons there
were twelve of us chosen, who were conducted by our
keepers to a public inn, and then delivered into the hands
of those who, with the help of a strong and armed guard,
were to escort and convey us away. We set out on our
travels in the midst of a great concourse of men and
women, who followed us with their eyes and gestures till
we were far beyond the city, as though we had been
some strange spectacle. They treated us with kindness
throughout our journey. At night, however, they set
watches at the doors of our rooms, both to prevent the
possibility of our escaping, and also to protect us from
violence on the part of the heretics. When we arrived at
Wisbech, at least on the following day, the Justices of
the Peace assembled, who had received orders from the
Queen's Council to take us in charge, and place us in our
appointed prison. Here, again, we had a tiirong of almost
the whole population, for it was a market-day. In dense
groups they surrounded us as we quitted the inn where
we had slept, and accompanied us to the prison. When
we reached it, we were divided and sent into separate
rooms, wherein we lived day and night under bolts and
locks, excepting at the hours of dinner and supper, and
half an hour before and after our meal, when we could

Life of Father William Weston. 239
breathe the air and walk about a little. This was a public
prison, common to all the thieves and criminals, and
situated within the inclosure of the Bishop's palace. It
stood upon a high terrace, and water filled a moat all
around it. Everything, however, at that time was ruinous
and dilapidated, particularly through the rapacity and
avarice of the heretical prelates, who, not caring for
posterity, and only mindful of their own convenience, had
despoiled the building of its best material, selling the lead
off the roof, the beams, the iron, and the glass, and thus
abandoning the other parts to ruin and decay.
" In this prison, besides other priests and high-born
laymen, I found Thomas Metham and Thomas Pound, the
former a priest, the latter a layman of good family, both
of whom had been formerly admitted into the Society by
Father Persons, and had suffered much for many years
and in many prisons, even including the Tower of London,
with great courage, for the confession of their faith. Before
thera, indeed, the Bishop of Lincoln, Feckenham, Abbot
of Westminster, Doctor Wood, the confessor of Queen
Mary, all of them illustrious men, had been thrust into
this prison, or rather sepulchre, and, after many calamities,
tribulations, and labours, had happily slept in our Lord.
Hither, also, we ourselves, with no other expectation of it
but as a place of living entombment, arrived and entered
in, and there we were kept, deprived of the sight of the
world and all who were dear to us, myself for the space of
eleven years, others for a still longer period, others for a
shorter one, being intercepted by death and allowed to finish
their earthly course, not without a great store of merits.
"The number of the prisoners was not always the
same, or fixed ; for from time to time new ones were
brought in, while the older ones, particularly laymen of
distinction, were set free, and some were removed by
death. But we averaged generally thirty or five-and-
thirty, shut up day and night in our cells, as I said ; only

240 Life of Father William Weston.
at dinner and supper we were set free and met at a
common table, a keeper being always present, and
occupying one extremity of the table, while his wife did
the same at the other end, both of them watching us
diligently for fear of a word being dropped that they
could not themselves hear. Immediately, then, after a
half hour, we were sent back to our rooms. We were
fed at the expense of Catholics, and that at no light
cost; but we were scarcely ever permitted to enjoy the
sight or conversation of any one. If a person, however,
brought money for the prisoners, one or two had leave to
go to meet him to receive his alms. Night watches were
arranged within and without the walls. The whole order
of affairs and the care of us were committed to the hands
of four justices, men of particular mark ; and if any
matter or business stood in need of special assistance or
diligent attention, it was referred to them. Moreover, on
a certain tablet, long and broad, were written many laws,
all set down in a long list and in order, and hung up in
a public place, so that any one who chose might read
them. These rules were imposed upon the gaolers and
upon ourselves ; we all had to observe them : they related
to the subject of our food, to the hours which had to be
kept, to visitors, to books, to disturbances of the peace, and
various other things which it would take too long to telL
" Under this condition and manner of living we con
tinued, I think, six years. We were subjected, however,
to freqwent examinations, searchings of our rooms, contests
with ministers, and disputations concerning religion. Yet,
notwithstanding all these annoyances, it was a great con
solation to us that we were frequently enabled to celebrate
the Holy Mysteries ; for we had learned to arrange matters
with so much ingenuity that we did not want for either
vestments, chalices, altar-breads, or wine.
" From the beginning the prison had been beset by a
great multitude of Puritan visitors; especially a little before

Life of Father William Weston. 241
our arrival, partly from the town itself, partly from the
villages near. For as the gaoler was himself a Puritan,
together with all his family, and had the justices also for
supporters, they used to come in crowds, flocking from all
quarters to be present at their exercises. These they used
to begin with three or four sermons, preached one after the
other. Then they went to communion, not receiving it
either on their knees or standing, but moving by, so that
it might be called a Passover in very truth. They had
likewise a kind of tribunal of their own, and elders who
had power to investigate and punish at will the misde
meanours of their brethren. They all had their Bibles,
and looked diligently for the texts that were quoted by
their preachers, comparing different passages to see if they
had been brought forward truly and to the point, in such
a manner as to confirm their own doctrine. They held
arguments, also, among themselves about the meaning of.
various Scripture texts, all of them, men and women, boys
and girls, labourers, workmen, and simpletons ; and these
discussions were often wont, as it was said, to produce
quarrels and fights. All these things could be seen by
the Catholic prisoners from the windows of their cells, for
they took place not in a temple or house, but within the
inclosure of the prison walls, on a large space where a
thousand or more persons were reported sometimes to
assemble, and occasioned laughter to such as beheld or
heard them by the multitude of their Bibles, the number
of their horses, and the medley of their voices. When the
congregation was dismissed, after the long fast that had
been imposed upon them all, and after the whole day had
been consumed in these exercises, they ended the farce
with a plentiful supper. As time passed, however, their
fervour relaxed, their principal leaders were removed, and
they began to diminish in numbers and to seek other
places better fitted to serve as scenes for their sacrilegious
assemblies." Q

242

CHAPTER XVI.
COLLEGE LIFE IN PRISON.
"After we had passed about six years in solitary con
finement, during which time, besides other affronts and
molestations, we had to sustain assaults from the throwing
of stones, hurled at us partly in contempt, partly in a spirit
of hatred, there began to dawn upon us gentler times,
tempered with greater liberty, through the goodness of
God. At the end of many complaints and contentions
with our gaoler, we at last obtained leave to go out of
our rooms when we pleased, though not beyond the walls
of the prison. We could receive openly any friends who
came to visit us ; we were exempted from the necessity of
dining at our gaoler's table, and we gained the power of
providing food for ourselves at our own choice, each one of
us paying every month for our rooms the sum of twenty-
four reals [i2j.]. This sum, when paid by thirty, and
sometimes forty of us, amounted to a very comfortable
stipend for a man who deserved so little, and received
it as pay for so singularly impious and sacrilegious an
employment We had then a public refectory for us all,
separate from the keeper's house, our own kitchen,
pantry, cellars, and offices, so that we appeared to be
almost dwelling in our own house and free home. The
place was large, as I said, and formed part of the Bishop's
residence. Thus it proved quite spacious enough for us
all ; neither was there anything left to annoy us beyond
the absence of corporal liberty, our gaoler always securing
our custody and reserving to himself certain concessions

Life of Father William Weston. 243
which he could grant or withhold, according to circum
stances. "The following was, I think, the only event of these
times that deserves to be recorded, and that was very
remarkable. It happened during that period when all
the prisoners were kept shut up until the time for dinner
and supper. One day, at the very hour of dinner, whilst
Mr. Pound and his companion were present with the
others, the roof of the chamber allotted to those two fell
in, the beams being quite decayed. If this had occurred
at any other time but that brief space set apart for dinner,
it must have imperilled their lives, or at least have resulted
in the breaking of their limbs. It was remarked that the
part of the room where stood the table that served them
instead of an altar, where Mass was said every day, and
was decorated for that purpose with a number of pictures,
was in such a manner preserved from the accident that
neither the altar nor the pictures were so much as soiled
with the dust and rubbish of the falling rafters.
"After those six years I emerged, as it were, from
darkness and the strict confinement of the cells, and felt
myself permitted once again to behold the light of the
world. Then not only were we able to minister to the
spiritual wants of those Catholics who came to see us, but
we arranged our life so as to form a kind of college, and
began to employ ourselves in literary studies and in all
other honourable occupations, devoting certain days of the
week to cases of conscience, controversies, discussions, and
lectures in the Hebrew and Greek languages. We also
appointed sermons, not so much for the necessity of
seculars as for the benefit and practice of the priests
themselves. " After it became known to Catholics that liberty had
been granted to us of seeing and speaking with all who
came to us, there appeared forthwith a great number, not
only of Catholics, but also of heretics, who thronged to
Q 2

244 Life of Father William Weston.
visit us for the sake of seeing who we were, consulting us,
and holding controversies with us. No day passed away
without some guests. For, even if I omit the arrival of
students from the Universities, and of ministers who came
often attended by numerous followers, to discuss doctrines
with us, the continual tide of Catholics of all kinds who
pressed in to visit us was so great that the Queen and her
Councillors were highly indignant at it, and blamed our
gaoler for allowing it But in spite of all this, since the
place was at a considerable distance from Court, the visits
were not stopped for long. Innumerable persons came
from all parts of the kingdom ; some, as to a place of
devotion, as though they had undertaken a pilgrimage,
spending the time during which they stayed with us in
¦ receiving the sacraments, and other pious exercises, as
though they were celebrating a solemn festival. In this
manner the house was never empty, nor were we ever freed
from the duty of these ministrations. I pass over the cases
of conscience that were settled by us, the quarrels that we
pacified, the frequent letters that we were required to write,
answers to heretics, and to those, also, who had the faith,
but who insisted that the practice of going to heretical
services was not unlawful nor worthy of condemnation.
" Such was the state and such were the habits of our
prison life during all the last five years, until I was
removed from thence and shut up in the Tower of London.
If there is anything else proper to be mentioned it would
be the manner of our own life — my own, I mean, that of
Father Thomas Metham, and of Thomas Pound, to whom,
after a few years. Father Ralph Bickley was added. There
is scarcely anything for me to add to the general customs
of our whole community, excepting the exercises of prayer,
examination of conscience, exhortations, and conferences,
which we took care should be diligently maintained,
unless violence or any great necessity came to interrupt
them.

Life of Father William Weston. 245
" Immediately on our obtaining the liberty of which I
spoke, in the year '94, if I mistake not, Father Thomas
Metham having finished the course of his life by a happy
passage, left us for God. He was at least sixty years old,
and had experienced many prisons. For four years he
had been detained in the Tower of London, from which,
when suffering from serious illness, he was released at the
intercession of friends. Later on he passed through other
prisons, and in the end was brought to Wisbech. As he
was a learned man and a theologian, having been a
licentiate before he entered religion, and accomplished
both in the Hebrew and Greek languages, and in historical
knowledge and all scholarship, he had been engaged in
many contests and disputations with heretics, and carried
away glorious trophies in the cause of that faith which he
so bravely defended. At last, it was by a short and
apparently light illness that he was attacked and over
come. Fortified by the sacraments of the Church, happily
and sweetly, painlessly and without any agony, he slept
in peace." Of Father Thomas Metham very little is known beyond
that which is here told by Father Weston. It is a mistake
on the part of Dodd and Oliver to say that "he was one
of the first missionaries from Douay College." He was
ordained elsewhere, and became Licentiate in Theology
in some other Continental university, for he but passed
through Douay College on his way to England, in order
that he might obtain missionary faculties from Dr. Allen,
the President This was in 1 574 ; and the Douay Diary,
in recording it, notes that he was a Yorkshireman by birth.
In all probability he was a son of Sir Thomas Metham, of
whom Sanders says' that he and his wife had been many
years in prison. Mrs. Metham is mentioned ^ as one of the
six Catholic ladies, " of the best sort," who were imprisoned
in Sheriff Hutton Castle by the Earl of Huntingdon,
1 Concertatio, fol. 47. ^ Troubles, First Series, p. 229.

246 Life of Father William Weston.
"all which gentlewomen became afterwards ladies, their
husbands being knighted." This was probably our Father
Metham's brother's wife. The old Sir Thomas, as we
learn from Sanders, was an intimate friend of Thomas
Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, who was beheaded in
1572. He says that when the Earl was brought to York,
shortly before his execution Sir Thomas Metham had an
interview with him, and after an affectionate farewell, went
home and died in a few days, so that death did not separate
the two friends.
When Father Thomas Metham began his long course
of imprisonment may be computed from the fact that the
Roman Annual Letters' say. that he died in 1592. Fatha:
Weston was therefore wrong in saying 1594- June 28,
1592, says Nadasi, "in the seventeenth year of his
captivity, martyrio eo niolestiori quo diuturniori." This
would take the commencement of his prison life back to
1575, the year after his entrance on the English mission.
This agrees sufficiently well with the date of his reception
into the Society. It was from the Tower, where Father
Weston has told us he spent four years, that he managed
to get his desire to be a Jesuit convej^ed to his friend
Father Thomas Darbyshire, who, as we have seen, was
then at Paris. Father Darbyshire interceded for him with
Father Everard Mercurian ; and the letter by which the
General granted his desire is dated May 4, 1579. Beuiioli,^
apparently, a little overstates it when he says that he had
then been five full years in prison.
H^is name does not often appear in the State Papers.
It occurs, however, in the year 1 580, showing that he had
been previously liberated on bail, perhaps at the time when
the intercession of friends obtained his release from the
Tower on account of illness. The paper^ is called, "Note
^ More, Hist. Prov. lib. iv. c. 15, p. 141.
- InghUterra, lib. v. p. 345.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol cxl. 11. 38.

Life of Father William Weston. 247
of the names of prisoners in charge under the Marshal of
her Majesty's Bench for not conforming themselves in
causes of religion." "Thomas Metham, clerk, was com
mitted the nth day of May last past, by the Justices of
her Majesty's Bench at Westminster, at which time he did
yield his body for the safeguard of his sureties, who before
had entered into bond that he should appear that term in
the court The cause appeareth in the Crown Office with
Mr. Sandes, and [is] unknown to the Marshal in whose
custody the said Thomas Metham remaineth at this
present." It was not until long after Father Metham's death that
Ralph Bickley was admitted into the Society, for the
date of the application in his behalf made by Father
Garnet to Father Persons, was April 15, 1597.
On the accession of King James Father Bickley was
banished, when he had spent seventeen years in prison ;
but he returned to the mission, and, as we have
already mentioned,' was again arrested in 16 17, when
he was cozened out of 20/. by Atkinson, the apostate
pursuivant Half a letter in his handwriting is still in
existence, and in it he gives some account of his exami
nations on that occasion by Sir Ralph Winwood, and by
the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot.
" I, weary of their company," he says, speaking of
the pursuivants, who had him in custodj^, "willed them to
carry me before Sir Ralph Winwood before dinner. We
v/ent, and Sir Ralph not coming to dinner to his house we
went to the next tavern to dine, but by the way ; this
morning, when we were so cozened, after that I had told the
knaves [letter torn] and easily was satisfied, protested to me
that he would do what he could for me [with Sir Ralph],
and he told me the particular causes of his favour with
the knight, and he hoped [short]ly to procure that for my
health I under sureties should be permitted to lie about
' Supra, p. 160.

248 Life of Father William Weston.
the fields. But that if that could not be effected but that
I must go to prison, he would procure me liberty to walk
abroad into the fields with my keeper. To this purpose he
dealt with the knight privately, and came with me from
my lodging to Sir Ralph, and he brought me up to my
examination, where the pursuivants having given him the
letter and paper above said, calling me to him, sitting
in his great chamber where suitors came for audience, he
first asked my name. I said, ' Britain.' ' Are you a priest
or Jesuit .•¦ ' I answered, ' May it please your honour to
understand that seeing I was stayed on suspicion only, I
hoped his honour would not enforce me to answer to more
than my accusers could prove ; but if privately alone he
would ask me anything that I could without hurt of myself
or others, I would, in confidence in his honour's humanity,
satisfy him to his content' Thereat presently he arose,
and carried me into his gallery and none present but he
and I, he asked me if I were a priest and Jesuit I
answered, ' I will not deny or fear to acknowledge my
profession to you : I am so.' Then asking me a question
or two about the letter, I satisfied him. Then he asked
me of what University I was. I told him, ' Of Oxford.'
He asked of what college. I said, ' Of Exeter College.'
Then he demands me whom I knew in that time. I told
him. And asking if I had been a prisoner, I said, ' Ay, at
Wisbech.' Then he asked me why I changed my name.
I said because friends would be afraid of our known proper
names. . . .
"Being brought to my Lord of Canterbury before
dinner, he sitting in his chamber in a chair, and some
of his gentlemen and secretary by, first bid them give
me a stool, for he saw me very faint. Then said he,
' Mr. Bic[kley], I missed you narrowly some years since.'
' Where } ' said I. ' At a place the first letter whereof was
Cant'= ' My lord,' said I, ' I know nothing thereof
" It is not easy to determine the letters of this syllable. They may be
" Card," or even "Caril."

Life of Father William Weston. 249
" Then said he, ' I have your first profession of a
Jesuit under your own hand.' I answered, ' My lord, I
hope you have not anything under my hand whereof I
need repent me or be ashamed.' Then, asking me how
long I had been priest and Jesuit, and how long prisoner
heretofore, and when I was banished ; to 1 which I
answering, then said he to me, ' When you were at
Wisbech, you were distributing bishoprics of this realm,
and dividing the kingdom to the Infanta.' I answered,
' My lord, this is the first news I heard of such doings.
Your honour hath many informations not sound, whereof
this is one to my knowledge.' Then said he, ' Will you
show yourself ready to swear your allegiance to his
Majesty .' ' I answered, ' Yes, my lord, as far as all
ancient clergymen of this realm or other Catholic realms
have done in Catholic days ; but this oath of allegiance
is new, not heard of before, yea, by divers learned men
proved to be unlawful, howbeit some maintain it, and in
dubiis securior pars sequenda est, which is not to take it'
' You, then,' saith he, ' will not take it .¦" ' No, my lord,
for the reasons alleged.' All this being done, he required
me to testify that with my hand, which I did. He said not
a word of the letter and paper taken with me."
Father Ralph Bickley was one of twelve Jesuits, who
were set free by King James in June, 1618, at the
request of Diego de Sarmiento, Count de Gondomar, the
Spanish Ambassador, who was then leaving England.
Father Bickley died soon after at St Omers, in a good
old age.'
In illustration of the community life led at Wisbech
by the prisoners when the regulations were relaxed, we
may here insert an examination,^ which shows that the
priests were accustomed to have the Scriptures read from
the Vulgate, while they were at dinner.
^ More, Hist. Prov. lib. viii. n. 22, p. 377.
' P. P.O., Domestic, Elizxbeth, vol. cclv. n. 15.

2 50 Life of Father William Weston.
"The examination of William Wagge, of Wisbech,
butcher, of and concerning certain speeches uttered by
Edward Hall, late my servant, taken before me, William
Medeley, in the Castie of Wisbech, the 2 1st of December
last, 1595.
"The said Wagge, being examined what undutiful
speeches to her Majesty he heard Edward Hall utter in
the alehouse, publicly, when he came from the marshes
from his cattle, confesseth that when he asked Hall what
babbling and noise the Papists made in dinner-time, Hall
made answer that 'it was a foolish- speech to call it
babbling, for it was but reading of certain chapters of
the Bible in Latin, and we have it in English, and in that
there is as good matter as we have either read, or taught,
or preached unto us ; the which I will justify [that is,
am ready to prove] and therefore give it a better term.'
' I can give it no better,' saith Wagge, ' neither doth it
deserve a better, nor yet scarce as good as long as
I understand it not ; and if you do so far justify
and commend the same, I will like the worse of you,
and so will your master, I am sure, if he knew it'
As for the words which Baldwin justifieth, he saith he
heard no such, but only the very word of 'mutiny' and
no more, neither could he tell what he meant by it or what
he would say. More than this he cannot say.
" William Medeley."
William Medeley was the new keeper, successor to
Thomas Gray, of whom Father Weston .speaks further
on. Bartoli says that Gray's daughter, whose conversion
he next recounts, was called Ursula.
" I must not here omit the conversion of the daughter
of our chief gaoler. She was gifted with a keen and unusual
understanding, and being entirely given up and devoted
to the sect of the Puritans, she was held to have such
authority and inspiration that she had already obtained

Life of Father William Weston. 251
the title and dignity of elder, and was regarded by them
all as a prophetess. When she had often heard the
Catholic prisoners disputing with the heretics upon matters
of religion, and had silently weighed in her mind the
arguments used upon both sides, comparing the solid
reasoning of Catholics with the light answers of their
opponents ; and v.hen she had observed that her own
husband, although an obstinate man, was often reduced
to silence or else driven to absurd replies ; although in
the beginning she had been much opposed to us and even
pertinacious (for on some occasions she would in a modest
way interpose her own opinions), as the light of the
Catholic religion dawned upon her mind, she began by
degrees to hesitate, to waver, to form doubts, to listen
patiently to what was answered her and to receive instruc
tions, and at length to move so far towards a right dis
position as to incur the suspicion of her own father. At
last when she had gone so far that being more and more
confirmed in the truth of our Faith, she more and more
rarely did frequent the assemblies and churches of her
Puritan friends, her father, perceiving his daughter's
alienation from that sure sign, and also from the fact that
she would sometimes argue on the Catholic side and urge
against the Puritans those same arguments to which she
had herself yielded assent, became so infuriated against
her and all Catholics, that, after trying every mode of
bringing back his daughter, and perceiving that he gained
nothing by argument, caresses, and menaces, he made an
impious protestation that he detested and execrated the
Catholic religion with so implacable a hatred that, even
though he should be certain of the fact that without
it he could not obtain his salvation, even then he
would never embrace it. This wicked speech, worthy
of the lips of some lost spirit, made so deep an
impression upon his daughter's mind that she felt
herself more strongly drawn towards the Faith, and

252 Life of Father William Weston.
sought ways and means by which, without any
greater offence to her father, she might accomplish her
design. At that time she was shortly expecting the birth
of an infant It would be impossible to tell how much
she had to bear from her wicked father as the time of her
confinement approached ; but when, through God's mercy,
she had safely passed through it and had returned with
renewed strength from the place to which she had retired
for her confinement (which was outside the inclosure of
the prison and her father's house), she had daily con
tentions with her father, her mother (who, however, loved
her exclusively), with her husband, and with many others
of the sect. Notwithstanding this she could not 'oe
withdrawn from her resolution, for she was always so
urged by the force of truth and the reproaches of her
conscience that she found herself unable to go back ; but
the rough and furious violence of her father so terrified
her that she shrank from seriously and actually professing
herself a Catholic. Formerly, indeed, when her father
ordered her or requested her to go to church, she would
invent some obstacle, or find out some cause for excusing
herself ; but one day on which custom rendered it
necessary to attend, when her parents and the rest of the
family were ready to go to church, they directed her to
accompany them. She began to feign a hindrance to put
it off, and when commanded, at last, refused obedience.
Then her father, a ferocious man by nature, to the horror
of the by-standers, in a deadly rage said to her, 'You
wretch, how dare you .•* ' Upon that he drew his dagger,
rushed at his daughter, and when she ran away, with
blind fury pursued her. She, however, was quick and
active and avoided that danger. Keeping her face always
turned towards her father, she went backwards out of the
house, and as she withdrew, implored and conjured him
to spare her life. But he, forgetful not only of paternal
love but also of common humanity, with his drawn

Life of Father William Weston. 253
dagger pressed after her to run her through. Put to
flight thus and expelled from her father's house, she was
left in the street desolate, not knowing whither she was
to betake herself, or to whom she should turn, for all the
neighbours held the man in dread. At length an honour
able and wealthy matron, touched with pity, received
her as a guest for that night. By the exertions, however,
and diligence of Catholics, it was brought about that she
was conveyed away on horseback, and did not for many
years see her father again or any of her relations. She
bore this separation from her friends and many other
afflictions very bravely, and so manfully embraced the
Cross of Christ that not only did she endure with
equanimity the loss of her worldly goods, but she sub
mitted, as I have heard, for many years to imprisonment
for the confession of the Faith."
Father Weston's next story is a specimen of the curious
way in which our ancestors treated the insane. It is not
uncommon to find now-a-days that people have gone out
of their minds in consequence of religious troubles, and it
is to be wondered at that we have not more frequent
instances of a similar effect in a time of great religious
excitement and anxiety like the days of Elizabeth.
The case of the unfortunate young undergraduate at
Hart Hall seems to have made a great impression on
Father Weston, who it must be confessed becomes a
little prolix as he comes towards the end of his auto
biography. We have ventured to cut his sentences down
a littie. Hart Hall, afterwards Hertford College, then Magdalen
Hall, and now again Hertford College, was one of the
houses in Oxford to which men went whose tendency was
to the Catholic religion. The other Colleges frequented by
them were St John's and Gloucester Hall. The latter is
now merged in Worcester College. There the old religion
lingered, when the scholars of Dr. Allen had left St Mary's

254 Life of Father William Weston.
Hall and time had removed the effect of Dr. Bridgewater's'
influence on Lincoln, of which Colleges they had been the
heads. Laurence Humphrey and John Reynolds were two of
the best known Puritans at Oxford at that time. Rey
nolds, whose name Anthony a Wood' spells Rainolds, was
of Christ Church, or as Father Weston calls it, " of the
Cathedral." We have met him before in his discussions
with Father John Hart The story ran that John and
William Reynolds were brothers, John a Cathohc and
William a Protestant, and that they disputed on religion
till they converted one another, " William turning a zealous
Catholic, and John a strong Puritan." A Wood shows
from one of Father Persons' books that William Reynolds
was converted because " he fell in the end to read over
Mr. Jewel's book, and did translate some part thereof
into Latin, but before he had passed half over, he found
such stuff as made him greatly mislike of the whole
religion, and so he, leaving his hopes and commodities
in England, went over the sea; and the last year of Jubilee,
to wit, 1575, he came to Rome and brought that book
with him, and presented both himself and it to the tribunal
of the Inquisition, of his own free motion and accord,
where I guess the book remaineth still, if it be not
burned." Of John Reynolds' five brothers, the tiiree
eldest were Catholics, Jerome, William, and Edmund
William was a Fellow of New College ; Jerome and
Edmund were Fellows of Christ Church, the latter,
"leaving that house because he was in animo Catholicus,
retired to Gloucester Hall"
As to the other Protestant divine here mentioned
by Father Weston, Laurence Humphrey, according to
a Wood,^"in 1560 was constituted the Queen's Professor
of Divinity in the University of Oxon, being then about
thirty-four years of age, at which time was a very great
^ Athence O.xou. vol. i. p. 267. " Ibid. p. 242.

Life of Father William Weston. 255
scarcity of theologists throughout the body of students,
and in the year following he was elected President of
this College." " From Zurich and Geneva," a Wood
goes on to say, " he brought back with him at his return
into England so much of the Calvinian both in doctrine
and discipline, that tiie best that could be said of him
was that he was a moderate and conscientious Noncon
formist." And he and Thomas Sampson, another severe
Calvinist, who wore " the round cap " in imitation of
Humphrey, " preached by turns every Lord's day, either
at St. Mary's or elsewhere, to the academicians, at that
time there being a great scarcity of divines in the
University and but very few masters."
" It must' be now known that in the beginning of the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, the University of Oxon was
so empty, after the Roman Catholics had left it upon
the alteration of religion, that there was very seldom a
sermon preached in the University Church called St Mary,
and what was done in that kind was sometimes by
Laurence Humphrey, President of Magdalen College,
and Thomas Sampson, Dean of Christ Church. But
they being often absent, a young man of All Souls'
College would often step up and preach to the admira
tion of all his auditors."
By these expressions honest Anthony a Wood shows
how averse the University of Oxford as a whole was to
the new rehgion, and how great was the injury caused
to learning by its introduction.
" One of my fellow-prisoners, a priest, related to me a
history regarding an occurrence of which he had been an
eye-witness whilst he was in the University of Oxford,
before his conversion, while still a Protestant minister.
As this story deserves to be told, it may as well be inserted
here, although it took place long before the period of which
I have been writing, and must have had for its date some-
^ Athence Oxon. vol. i. p. i6i.

256 Life of Father William Weston.
where about the middle of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
It was told to me in 1595 or 1596. There was a young
man from Lancashire, born of Catholic parents, and
educated as a Catholic in his father's house. After making
some progress in his humanities, he was sent to Oxford
for the higher studies of logic and philosophy. Of all the
numerous colleges of young men there, he chose or fell
upon the one known as Hart Hall. As he was a Catholic,
he could not escape notice among the heretics, neither
could he conceal or disguise the profession of his religion.
It was remarked by his associates that he did not frequent
their churches or join in their prayers. Some entreated,
some threatened, while others (who seemed more humane)
exhorted and terrified him by describing the severity of
the laws decreed against such as himself At length he
found himself unable to endure those heavy and daily
molestations inflicted on him by so many persons, particu
larly as he was only a youth seventeen or eighteen years
old ; so being without wiser counsel, he consented to be
present at the sermon of a certain Laurence Humphrey,
an arch-heretic and dogmatizer. When the sermon was
over, the deep sting that remained in his mind allowed
him to have no rest or peace in his soul. His nights and
days, therefore, he passed in a state bordering on despair,
as though he had been tormented by the furies. One night
that was singularly tempestuous, he was frightened by the
thunder and lightning. He imagined that his last hour
had come, when he would be compelled to render an
account to God of all the actions of his life, and that this
thunder was sent by God as a kind of forewarning of the
tremendous sentence about to be pronounced against him.
He trembled, raised his hands to heaven, and prayed
fervently and eagerly. In particular he repeated frequently
aloud, and with intense earnestness, that petition in our
Lord's Prayer, 'And lead us not into temptation.' Thus
he spent the night in prayers and tears. At dawn he

Life of Father William Weston. 257
saw, or thought he saw, a dove with outstretched wings,
knocking again and again at the window of his room.
This he interpreted as a good omen, as though that inno
cent bird had been sent to him as a messenger of peace
and reconciliation. The thorn, nevertheless, still remained
in him, and during all that day he kept to his bed, turning
over in his mind various thoughts that led him to despera
tion. What was he to do .¦• To go on suffering such misery
appeared to him an evil worse than any death. Then
an incredible suggestion occurred to his mind. He thus
disputed and meditated with himself: 'My sin has been
most grievous ; there is no greater sin that I know of than
a sin against religion ; there has been public scandal : there
must be satisfaction as public as the sin.' He waited,
therefore, until about evening, when they were all at
supper ; then, having stripped off his clothes, he went
down to the gate, and, through as quiet and retired streets
as he could find, made his way with all speed to the market
place of the city. He had got a good way, and was making
haste, when he suddenly met the bursar of his house, who
stored in surprise to see a naked man rushing along the
public street It was in the middle of summer, and it was
still light. As he drew nearer he recognized who it was,
and called out, ' Why, Mr. March (for so he was called),
what is the meaning of this .'' ' Go on your way,' said the
boy, ' and let me finish what I am doing, for it is necessary
for my soul. I am going to make confession before all
the people, and say how sorry I am for my great sin.'
The bursar, taking him to be stark mad, made him come
home, put him to bed, and reported in the house the
strange conduct of young March. They all ran up to see
him, scarcely believing him sane. They discovered that
he had been urged by the pricks, of his conscience to form
such a design, because of the heretical sermon preached
against religion at which he had been present. Of those
who stood round him some broke forth into vehement
R

258 Life of Father William Weston.
reproaches and arguments, persuading him to give up all
his scruples and religion together. March answered them
still more sharply. He called them heretics, condemned
and lost enemies of God and of all that is good, and
ordered them to leave his room. In the midst of his con
versations and controversies, however, he ever and anon
betook himself to prayer, especially caUing out in a loud
voice, 'And lead us not into temptation.' In these reli
gious controversies they spent a considerable portion of
the night, March defending himself against them vigor
ously. At last they got tired and went to bed. March,
finding himself alone, besought of God with earnest sighs
and tears that He would rescue him from his trouble. The
man who told the story to me, and who was occupying
a chamber near, then went to see him. He encouraged
him to throw off his despondency, at all events, for that
night, and to take some rest and sleep ; and he added, ' I
am a different sort of man from what you, perhaps, take
me for. In matters of religion I feel with you, whatever
I am in name and profession (for at that time he was an
Evangelical minister, though well disposed in favour of the
Catholic faith), and I quite understand how a delicate
conscience is wounded by the stings of remorse; but
nothing should make you doubt. I have a friend and a
physician who is both able and willing to heal persons
afflicted like yourself To-morrow morning early I will
awake you, and will take you to a place where you will be
able to confer with him about the wounds of your soul.'
He meant, of course, a priest whom he knew to be in
concealment somewhere in the city. At these words
March was comforted, and at last fell asleep.
" The fame of this affair could not long remain within
the walls of the College. It soon became the talk of the
city, to such a degree that very eariy in the morning,
before they had time to go out, March was surrounded
by a multitude of the chief theologians amongst them.

Life of Father William Weston. 259
There was John Reynolds, doctor of theology of the
cathedral, and a well-known writer also. He went up
to the youth, and in a long conversation that lasted several
hours did his best to undermine his faith and constancy,
but in vain, for March with great zeal persevered in
defending the authority of the Catholic Church. ' But,'
said Reynolds, 'are not all you Papists egregious idolaters .''
Do you not adore creatures instead of God .'' Your chief
doctor and theologian, Thomas Aquinas, whom you all
accept, affirms in distinct words that the cross, which is
a creature, is nevertheless to be worshipped with latria,
which, as it is the worship peculiar to God, ought never
to be offered to any one excepting God.' March made
answer : ' I am not a theologian, nor do I know what
has been said by St Thomas, but I am quite sure that
neither he nor any tolerably instructed Catholic ever said
that the adoration due to God alone may be given to a
creature. You cannot show me this out of St Thomas.'
' I will show it to you,' said Reynolds, ' and if you please,
I will place the very passage before your own eyes, that
you may believe it' 'Then,' said March, 'leave off dis
puting, and do as you have said.' Hereupon Reynolds
went away and did not return himself, but sent the book
with the passage marked, at an interval of some hours,
and desired the minister to take care that March did not
read anything besides the sentence in question. When
March had read the passage and wanted to read further,
the minister put his hand over the book, and said, 'You
must not go any further, you have got enough, the cross is
a creature, and yet to be worshipped with latria: what
more do you want .' ' ' For all that,' cried March, ' I wish
to read what follows ; I do not know what the sense of
it is.' After some contention, therefore, and some violence,
the one trying to remove, the other to keep in its place
the hand that lay on the page, March exclaimed, 'Go
away with you, heretic that you are, like all the others,
R 2

26o Life of Father William Weston.
you know nothing about spiritual things. Away with you
all, cursed by God, the fellows of Judas and Cain, and
haters of the truth ; trouble me no more, for I mean to
adhere firmly henceforward to the only true and Catholic
Church.' When he had spoken thus the minister departed,
and March, although pretty nearly beside himself, rested
for a while. Not for long, however, for during the greater
part of that day and the following, the perpetual stream of
visitors, his fellow-collegians and others, never ceased in
the direction of his room. They excited the unhappy boy
both by their words and actions ; they ill-treated him and
bound him with cords as a madman, and smothered him
up between feather beds, although it was in the height
of summer. So that within two days, whether they
worried him to death (though I do not say so), or whether
he sank under the agonies of his own mind, perhaps in
part from both causes, at any rate, within two days, as
I said, deprived of all human succour (not of divine, we
may believe), he breathed his last
" A certain man, a Catholic, related to me an answer
which he made to the so-called Bishop of Winchester,'
and his assessors, when he was cited with other Catholics
before his tribunal. His companions had been already
interrogated and dismissed, and when it came to his turn
they said to him, 'And you, good man, what have you
got to tell us .' ' He was very simple in his appearance,
and poor, just able to earn a scanty livehhood with his
tailor's needle and scissors. ' Do you, too, like remaining
in that blind ignorance } It is not to be wondered at in
you who have been deceived and led away by a too great
simplicity, still it does not require much wisdom to under
stand that it is atrociously wicked and stupid to worship
stocks and stones instead of God, which is what you
Papists do. Therefore, do not be so foohsh. Admit with
us that these things are not gods, but false and empty
» Thomas Cooper became Bishop of Winchester in 1383, and died in 1594.

Life of Father William Weston. 261
representations of the true and supreme God.' The man
replied, ' We neither know nor adore any other God save
the one Creator of the world and the Redeemer of all
men; and, however simple we may be, we are not ignorant
of the difference between Christ as He is, reigning in
heaven, and the images of Christ ; betwixt Peter and
Paul, and their pictures and representations.' They said
to him, ' Do you presume to deny that you hold up your
hands, bend your knees, and offer up incense to pictures
or images, that is to say, to wood and stone, and that
you invoke these idols, and address prayers to them as
though they were true gods } ' Then the other replied,
' To answer your question, be so kind as to let me bring
forward a familiar example. If, for instance, one of you
were out hunting with your hounds, and were to enter a
hall adorned with tapestry and hangings representing deer,
hares or other animals, and were then to try to excite his
dogs to tear them in pieces, do you think the hounds
would be so stupid as to attack the painted pictures and
mistake them for real animals ? I entreat you, therefore,
to believe that we are, at all events, as sensible as you
allow the dogs are. Be sure that the least learned of us
are quite enough instructed by the Church to be fully
aware of the distinction that exists between God, Christ,
and the saints, and their representations painted or carved,
and to know that we are not to worship images instead of
God and the saints, but that we are to consider the realities
of what we see in the images.' Upon receiving this answer
the heretics were astounded, marvelling that so much
wisdom and truth should have come from such a simple
person, so not knowing how to oppose him further, they
felt confused and dismissed him.
"A certain Greek from the island of Patmos, relying
on the letters of recommendation which he had received
from the British envoy at Constantinople, came into
England to collect alms for the redemption of some

262 Life of Father William Weston.
captives. He in consequence, after showing his letters
and obtaining permission from the Privy Council, travelled
through many cities and towns in England, and at length
stopped at Wisbech. There on a certain festival day the
cause of his' arrival was proclaimed by the preacher from
the pulpit, and he was presented by the people with a very
generous contribution. When the report of the affair
reached us we asked and obtained leave that the man
should visit and converse with us. He was dressed in a
common suit rather threadbare, not in his own Greek
fashion. He was so well acquainted, not only with the
Greek, but likewise with the Latin and Italian tongues,
that he could explain his meaning and understand that of
others in all three languages. The place where we were
was soon filled with the concourse of spectators, both
Catholics and heretics, whom curiosity drew together.
The stranger narrated amongst other things the different
adventures of his travels ; and in the course of his
descriptions he produced letters from the two Patriarchs
of Constantinople and Alexandria, written with clearness
and elegance in the Greek tongue, and duly sealed with
the Patriarchs' own seals. The seal of Constantinople was
of white wax and bore a large figure of the Blessed Virgin ;
that of Alexandria was of black wax and had the effigy of
St. Mark. After the letters had been unfolded we took
care that they should be read and explained before the
company in the vulgar tongue. Besides the motive of the
journey, these letters contained some passages relating to
religion and the questions controverted by heretics, such as,
in particular, the mystery of the unbloody Sacrifice. An
opportunity having thence arisen for saying something on
the subject of religion in presence of the minister and his
people, we made inquiry about several matters as to what
was felt concerning them by tiie Greek Church and religion,
for example, about pictures, for these he openly carried
about with him, and then there were besides the seals of

Life of Father William Weston-. 263
the two prelates. ' What did they feel with respect to their
honour and worship .¦" What about the true presence of
the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrifice of the Mass }
What about Purgatory, the honour of the saints, the neces
sity of good works for salvation .' ' To all these questions
he gave answers very much in harmony with Catholic
doctrine, and proved plainly that the Greek and Latin
Churches (with the exception of those errors peculiar to
the former which have little in common with our modern
heretics) unite wonderfully and are conformed to each other
in opinion and teaching, in opposition to the new heresies
of our time. On hearing this all the heretics who were
present, and particularly the minister (who was looked
upon by his own people as a great preacher and not a
little learned) stood speechless and greatly confounded.
They were so shut out from escape as to be unable to
mutter a word in reply, and their discomfiture was the
more complete because oftentimes they had ventured to
boast of having the Greeks for their imitators and patrons
in doctrine. " My narrative so far has been continued in order, and
I have set down with truth and fidelity such things as I
happened to see, or to hear from trustworthy persons. Since
the conclusion is now drawing on I mean to add these
few words. In the prison of Wisbech I was detained for
eleven years, during six of which, if my memory serves
me, I was kept closely and strictly, and during the other
five more freely, together with my fellow-captives. Our
first gaoler having been removed by a most dreadful death,
another was chosen in his place who wished to be con
sidered as a gentleman, being sprung from the same family,
according to his own account, as William Cecil, the Lord
Treasurer, by whose goodwill and authority he obtained
an excellent position, being made by him Justice of the
Peace. This man being appointed as keeper and governor
of the prison was in hopes that, in consequence of his

264 Life of Father William Weston.
authority over the laity, he would be able in like manner
to hear and pass judgment in the case of ourselves and our
causes, if any difficulties were to arise. He had, moreover
(though he never ought to have had them), persons who
strenuously favoured all his endeavours and designs, saying
that in consequence of the civil laws of the kingdom and
the decrees of the Queen all the negotiations and disputes
among priests (excepting matters of faith and religion) had
to be put an end to and decided."' . . .

CHAPTER XVII.
THE TOWER, EXILE, AND DEATH.
It would appear that just at the point where the mutila
tion of the manuscript brings Father Weston's autobio
graphy to an abrupt termination, he was beginning to
allude to a subject that all must wish to be forgotten.
Though what he would have said, would have been for
certain most modestly said, it is not to be regretted that
we should not have to reproduce it here. The divisions
that embittered, as no hardships could embitter, the greater
part of a year during the latter portion of that long im
prisonment at Wisbech, could be described from the
contemporary papers that survive; but it would be to
revive unnecessarily a now happil}^ forgotten discord.
Of that disagreement this only need be said, that the
division had its origin in the strong desire of eighteen of the
priests there confined to render their imprisonment as con
ducive as possible to their sanctification, but they adopted
a means that the others had a perfect right to object, to
and keep aloof from, as they judged best These eighteen
1 P. 76 of the MS. The rest is wanting.

Life of Father William Weston. 265
petitioned Father Garnet, then Superior of the English
Jesuits, that Father Weston might be charged to preside
over them as their local Superior, according to certain
rules by which they proposed to frame their community
life. This letter was written by them on the 7th of
February, 159!, and on the 8th of November, Dudley
and Mush, two ancient niissioners, who had gone with
Father Garnet's concurrence to Wisbech, as pacificators,
were able to write to him and say that the division was
at an end. "You would have wondered," they wrote,'
" to have seen the vehemency of God's spirit, in one
moment to make all hard hearts relent ; and where there
was most froward aversion immediately before, there was
suddenly seen to be most intense affections and tender
ness. Such humiliation one at another's feet ; such wring
ing, clipping," and embracing ; such sobs, tears, and joyful
mourning^hat for joy also our hearts were like to burst
among them. And verily. Father, neither among them
selves, nor to our sight, they appeared, after, the same
men they were before. We thought it one of the joyfullest
days that ever we had seen."
It would have been well for England if all differences
had ended there. Such reconciliations are rarely lasting,
and the " stirs at Wisbech," as they were called, had been
heard of all over the kingdom. Party spirit arose : very
violent things were written, and what was worse, were
printed and published ; and this evil continued till it
culminated in Watson's detestable Quodlibets, which were
the delight of the enemies of the Church.
Another matter Father Weston's autobiography must
have described, the loss of which is more to be regretted.
From Wisbech he was transferred to the Tower of
London, and we should have liked to have been told by
himself how it happened, and in what way he was treated
^ Tiemey's Dodd, vol. iii. p. 115.
^ To clip, Anglo-Saxon, to embrace. Halliwell.

266 Life of Father William Weston.
in that most cruel of all English prisons. That the state
of things at Wisbech should not have been permitted to
continue is not surprising. How Elizabeth's Government,
with its lynx eyes, should have overlooked the open
practice there of the Catholic religion for five years or
more, we cannot imagine. A paper, printed by Strype,'
scurrilous in other parts, says, and is justified in saying,
as follows : " The state of the Seminary priests and Jesuits
at Wisbech, by liberty and favour of their keeper, growing
to be as dangerous as a Seminary College, being in the
heart and midst of England. First, there is about twenty-
eight Seminary priests and Jesuits, ° who have com-

^ A7inals, vol. iv. p. 273.

= In the Harleian MSS.

6998, fol. 220, from -n-hich this is taken, there

are the subjoined lists of the priests and the boys attending on them, of -which

Strype only prints a few lines.

"Staff:

Dr. Christopher Bagshawe.

Lond:

Dr. Norden.

Kent.

Father William Edmonds.

Wales.

Mr. Thomas Blewett.

Staff:

Father Buckley.

Essex.

Mr. Ralph Ithell.

Wales.

Mr. Lewis Barlow.

Lond :

Mr. William Wi^es.

Wales.

Mr. James Powell.

Bark:

Mr. Leonard Hide.

Kent.

Mr. Thomas Bramstone.

Hampsh

: Mr. Ralph Bickley.

Norf:

Mr. Edward Bradocke.

Lane :

Mr. Christopher Southworth.

Wales.

Mr. Jonas Meredith.

Yorks :

Mr. Edmund Calverley.

Mr. Christopher Thules.

Lane :

Mr. Chaddocke.

Lane :

Mr. Roba-t Nutter.

Yorks :

Mr. Philip Strangwidge.

Staff:

Mr. John Greaie.

Kent.

Mr. Christopher Dryland.

Yorks :

Mr. Francis Tillotson.

Yorks :

Mr. William Clargenett.

Kent.

Mr. George Potter.

ilr. jVrcher.
Lane :
Mr. Boulton.
Wales.
IMr. William Parry.
Wore :
Mr. James Taylor.
Wales.
Mr. Aberley.
Life of Father William Weston. 267
pounded with their keeper, Gray, for their diet and all
provision, and necessary entertaining servants, as if they
were in a free College and no prison. . . . Great resort and
daily is there to them of gentlemen, gentiewomen, and of
other people, who use to dine and sup with them, walk
with them in the castle yard, confer with them in their
chambers; whereby they receive intelligence, and send
again what they list, from and unto all quarters of the
realm, and beyond sea. And other priests resort unto
them, as Father Scott, the Seminary priest did, anno '91,
and others known."
In this account of the resort of Catholics to Wisbech
Castie at this time, it is clear that there is no exaggeration.
Lane : Mr. Robert Woodroffe.
Mr. Alexander Gerard.
Hampsh : Mr. Poimd, a layman.
"The names of all such boys, as are attending upon the priests now
remaining within the Castle of Wisbech —
John Crompton, about the age of seventeen years, and bom about London ;
servant to Dr. Bagshawe.
John Cutler, about the age of seventeen years, and bom at Wisbech ; servant
to Mr. Barlow.
Thomas Fisher, about the age of sixteen years, bom at Stilton ; servant to the
whole company.
George Fisher, his brother, about the age of fourteen years ; late servant to
Mr. Dryland, and now servant to Mr. Bickley.
Michael Randall, about the age of thirteen years, bom at Stilton ; servant to
Mr. Wiggs.
John Ingram, about the age of seventeen years, bom at [blank] ; late servant
to Mr. Meredith, and now attending on the whole company.
Bartholomew Story, about the age of seventeen years, bom at Wisbech;
servant to Mr. Blewet.
Thomas Churchard, about the age of sixteen years, bom at [blank] ; servant to
Mr. Pound, recusant.
William Clarke, about the age of eighteen years, bom at [blank] ; servant to
Mr. Hide.
Thomas White, about the age of thirteen years, bom at Wisbech ; servant to
Mr. ItheU.
Edward Overton, about the age of fifteen years, bom at Wisbech ; servant to
Mr. Southworth.
John Gooday, about the age of thirteen years, bom at Haddenham ; servant to
Mr. Buckley.
Henry Cutler, about the age of eighteen years, born at Wisbech ; servant to
Mr. Taylor."

268 Life of Father William Weston.
Father Weston says that it was like a place of pilgrimage.
Justice Young reported' to the Lord Keeper, under date
January 2, 159!, that Mrs. Jane Wiseman "was at Wisbech
with the seminaries and Jesuits there, and she did repent
that she had not gone barefooted thither, and she is a
great reliever of them, and she made a rich vestment
and sent it them, as your lordship doth remember as I
think, when you and my Lord of Buckhurst sent to
Wisbech to search, for that I had letters which did
decipher all her doings." And again,^ April 14, 1594,
" Mrs. Jane Wiseman hath been also a great receiver and
harbourer of Seminary priests, and other bad persons,
and went to Wisbech with her two daughters, where (as
she saith) she was absolved and blessed by Father
Edmonds the Jesuit, and since that time her daughters
are sent beyond seas to be professed nuns, as other two
her daughters were before."
William Wiseman, her son, in his examination,^ March
19, 1594, said that he "was with Father Edmonds at
Wisbech about Michaelmas last was twelve months, and
there saw and spake with him, both privately and in
company." Such may serve as specimens, and they only come
to our knowledge because they came to the knowledge
of the Government In all this the authprities must have
seen the esteem in which Father Weston was held by
Catholics. When they chose, what was done at Wisbech
Castle was perfectly well known. Edward Hall, the porter,
told* them even that "some of them would not acknow
ledge Mr. Edmonds, a Jesuit, to have any govemment-
over them, whilst others were content he should govern
according to the custom of their Colleges in France."

^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccxlvii. n. 3.
° Ibid. vol. ccxlviii. n. 68.
' Ibid. vol. ccxlviii. n. 36 ; Condition of Catholics, p. 1.
* Ibid. vol. cclvi. n. 116.

Life of Father William Weston. 269
And the report' from which extracts respecting others
have been previously given, said of him : " William
Edmonds, a Jesuit, a very dangerous man, and in especial
account amongst the Papists, was sent thither from
the Clink, and was suspected to be a great practiser
of treasons." With this sense of his prominence, it is
not to be wondered at that when Elizabeth's Ministers
resolved to make a thorough change at Wisbech, they
should have separated Father Weston from the others,
and have consigned him to the Tower of London.
The discipline at Wisbech again became more severe,
and this severity was renewed from time to time even
after the accession of King James. Father Garnet wrote
to Father Persons,^ September 8, 1601, "The prisoners
[at Wisbech] were suffered to buy nothing but bread
and drink. I understand that dured [lasted] for few meals.
Now they buy their own meat, but are kept from their
chambers, and are not suffered to have their beds, but
in two strait rooms forced to lie on mats on the ground
to the number of twenty. . . . Some there be exempted
and live by themselves in chambers, Mr. Pound, Ralph
Emerson, by reason of his infirmity," &c. And again,^
October 4, 1605, just a month before the Gunpowder
Plot, "The prisoners at Wisbech are almost famished.
They are very close, and can have no help from abroad,
but the King allowing a mark [133-. 4^.] a week for each
one, the keeper maketh his gains, and giveth them meat
but three times a week."
Poor little Brother Ralph Emerson was in a helpless
state that rendered imprisonment a peculiar hardship.
A stroke of paralysis deprived him of the use of half
his body, and in this condition he lingered till James I.
came to the throne. He was then shipped off to Flanders,
^ P.R.O, Domestic, Elizabeth, yd\. cxcix. n. 91.
= Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 554.
» Ibid fol. 563.

270 Life of Father William Weston.
after twenty years all but a few months spent in Enghsh
prisons, and he died at St Omers on the 12th of March,
1604. It was a mistake to say' that he was at Wisbech
with Father Weston. At Wisbech, Father Weston never
had more than two Jesuits at a time for his companions.
Mr. Pound and Father Metham were the first, and
Father Metham had been dead five years before Father
Bickley was admitted into the Society. Weston and
Pound were removed together, and Bickley then remained
the only Jesuit at Wisbech till in February, 1600, Father
Christopher Holiwood, an Irish Jesuit, who had been
captured the year before, was sent thither from the
Gatehouse, Father Edward Coffin from the Counter in
Wood Street, and Ralph Emerson from the Clink. They
were all banished together in 1603.°
It is not possible to resist the temptation of saying
one word in passing of another religious, though not of
his own order, who was with Father Weston at Wisbech
during the later portion of his imprisonment there.
His name appears in the Harleian list' as "Father
Buckley." There were two of the name, and they
have this in common, that each was a connecting
link between the religious of Queen Mary's time and
their brethren in the revival of their respective orders in
the days of persecution. Which of the two this was is
not quite plain. Bishop Challoner thinks that it was
John Buckley, who was also called Godfre)- Morris, or
Jones, a Franciscan,* who had been brought up by the
^ Supra, p. 44.
" Anno 1603 "ejecti sunt etiam quatuor Patres Societatis Jesu, scU. P.
Christophorus Holiwodus, Hibernus, P. Rogerus [Hemicus] Floydus, P.
Edouardus Cofflnus,^P. Radulphus Bickleus, et Frater Radulphus Emerson"
{Douay Diary). Of Father Holiwood, Fatlier Garnet -wrote, " He doth much
comfort our friends at Wisbech, and was of exceeding edification in the Gate
house." May 22, 1600 (Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 552). "To Framlingham
went out of the Tower, ^Wright, Archer, Pound, .\labaster." July 7, l6oi
{Ibid. fol. 539).
•* Supra, p. 266.
* Certamen Seraphicuiit, p. 13.

Life of Father William Weston. 271
Franciscans at Greenwich, the brave men of whom Friar
Forest was one, and was martyred at St Thomas
Waterings, July 12, 1598. But it seems more probable
that it was Sigebert Buckley,' a Benedictine monk of
Westminster, around whom, after the accession of
James I., the venerable Anglo-Benedictine Congregation
was formed. It is time, however, for us now to bid
Wisbech farewell, leaving there many worthy confessors
of Christ, while we accompany Father Weston back to
London. Father Bartoli tells us that one of the justices of
Wisbech was commissioned to send in safe custody to
London Father Weston and three others. He chose the
dinner hour as the time when they would necessarily be
out of their cells, and thus be unable to destroy any papers
or conceal anything they had. The first name called out
was Edmund Weston, then Giles Archer, Christopher
Southworth, and lastly Thomas Pound ; and when they
had been successively consigned to the keepers he had
brought with him, he proceeded to search their rooms and
to take possession of all their letters and papers, as well as
their altar furniture. Dr. Christopher Bagshawe is not
mentioned as removed from Wisbech at this time, but
his transfer cannot have been long afterwards, for his
name appears with the others in a list of the priests,
prisoners in London, in February, 159I. Mr. Dodd says
of him that " not long afterwards he found means to
be discharged of his confinement." It can hardly be a
mere coincidence that in 1601 there should have appeared
from his pen one of those violent books to which allusion
has been made above.
It was mid-winter when Father Weston was taken to
London, and the journey occupied three days. But the
cold and the foul winter roads were a preparation for
further suffering. The apprehension at Wisbech had been
^ Dodd, Church History, vol. ii. p. 137.

2 72 Life of Father William Weston.
so sudden that there had been no time to put off the
Jesuit habit that Father Weston was accustomed to wear
in prison. Thus conspicuous, he was kept for two hours
standing in the midst of the London mob, a punishment in
itself littie short of the pillory, till the Privy Council
decided where the prisoners were to go. Archer and
Pound accompanied Father Weston to the Tower ; Chris
topher Southworth, a son of that noble confessor, Sir
John Southworth, and, it would seem, a brother of John
Southworth, who died a martyr in 1654, was sent to the
Gatehouse.' It was in the power of the officials of the Tower to
make imprisonment tolerable, entailing in fact, no further
suffering than the loss of liberty ; but it was also in their
power, without resorting to actual torture, to make it
intolerable. Father Weston was there for four years and
a half, and it was a time of great suffering. A cell
was assigned him where the air was foul and the smell
pestilent. It was lighted by one small ^^'indow, so small
that its light was scarcely sufficient to enable him to read.
His one book was a Bible, and his one occupation was to
read and re-read it when the light was sufficient to enable

^ " Tower — Edmonds. Archer.
Gatehouse — Two Irish priests.
Dr. Bagshawe.
Christopher South-worth.
Newgate — Nicholas Knight.
Nicholas Linclie.
Robert Barwis.
Anthony Rowse.
Wood Street — Edward Coffin.
Counter — Robert Benson.
King's Bench — ^John Pibush.
Marshalsea — ^John Champney.
Clink — William Cornwallis.
Edward Hughes.
Edw ard Tempest.
Brideivell — Wright. "
(P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccl.xx, n. 45 ; Feb. 159.)

Ltfe of Father William Weston. 2 73
him to do so, and to ponder over what he read when
his eyes failed him. His breviary had been taken from
him, and for a very long time he had no means of
obtaining another, for his confinement was strictly solitary.
Ordinarily the prisoners in the Tower were supplied with
all they required from their friends outside, and the plan
was a profitable one for those in charge of them ; but this
was a privilege of those who had what, speaking com
paratively, deserved its name of the " liberty of the prison."
In the Tower, above all places in England, it was possible
entirely to isolate those who were "close prisoners."
Father Weston was thus isolated. For the whole time
of his imprisonment, we are told by Father de Peralta,
who is careful in what he says. Father Weston was not
able once to go to confession, or to speak face to face with
a friend. And for the first two years he had for gaoler a
sour-tempered, harsh man, who never spoke to him a kind
word ; and once even used blows to force him to give
up a rosary that he had managed to keep in spite of the
searches to which he had been subjected. At that time
the Lieutenant of the Tower, who was his only other
visitor, had nothing for him but reproaches, and all the
poor Father's power of abstraction in prayer was insufficient
to save him from sometimes brooding on them. The
bribes offered by his friends were unavailing, and for
two years no communication whatever reached him from
them or them from him. No wonder that, as he told
Father de Peralta, it was not an uncommon thing for
the Close prisoners in the Tower to go out of their
minds. When the first two years were over, his gaoler was
changed, and though he still was not allowed intercourse
even with a fellow-prisoner, his new gaoler permitted him
some little change. It was doubtful whether it was a
change for the better, except that it brought with it
sunlight after the long twilight of his cell, and fresh air
S

274 Life of Father William Weston.
to breathe. He was now allowed to go on the roof of
his tower, but this involved being locked out there,
solitary as before, and exposed to all weathers, until, the
last thing at night, his keeper came to take him back
to his comfortless cell, sometimes wet through and stiff
with cold.
To make the solitude more solitary, and the crown
of patience still brighter, it pleased God that his eyesight
should fail. Straining his eyes for two years to read in
the dark, had overtaxed them. Father Garnet got intelli
gence of him about this time, and wrote' under date
January 14th, i6o\, "I am in hand to get out our
cousin William Weston. If it be done, it will cost well.
His eyes are not well yet, and one he thinketh he shall
never use.'' But all attempts to procure his release were
unavailing, and as long as Elizabeth lived. Father Weston
lingered on in his dark prison, and the eyesight did not
improve. When he was set free, after her death. Father
Garnet wrote again,^ May 14th, 1603, "Yesterday went
from London, Father Weston, a man beloved and
admired of his enemies. He hath almost lost his
eyes.'' It may well be imagined how the eye was turned
inward all that time. If the life was to be borne at all,
it could only be by the exercise of the most fervent piety.
To the practice of an ascetic life Father Weston devoted
himself in the spirit of one of the Fathers of the Desert
At Wisbech his life had been one of great severity to
himself, and of it we have the testimony* of Giles Archer,
the priest who was immured with him in the Tower. "I
have continued and daily conversed witii him for the space
of ten years. He was first committed to the Chnk ; after
some time sent down to Wisbech. It is well known to all
^ Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 546.
" Ibid. fol. 547.
= Stonyhurst MSS., Father Grene's Colleetan. M. fol. 201.

Life of Father William Weston. 275
that company that for the space of seven years together
he never came into any bed to repose his wearied body,
ever rising from the ground, where he couched, at
four of the clock, and never lay down again until eleven
at night The whole space of the said seven years, he
used only one meal in the day, which was also very
temperate. He never drank wine, but only at the altar,
nor any strong drink, if possibly any small might be
gotten." In the Tower he took to soaking all that they brought
him to eat in cold water, to make it tasteless and insipid,
but he discontinued this when he found it was injuring his
health. His nights were passed on the damp floor. Once
the lieutenant, from compassion, sent him a bed. Father
Weston slept in it the following night, and in the morning,
turning to his Bible, the first verse that met his eye was
that in the twenty-sixth chapter of Proverbs : " As the
door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the slothful upon
his bed," and he did not feel encouraged to persevere
in abandoning his former practice.
The Earl of Essex came one day to visit the Tower,
and Father de Peralta remembered the name, for it was
that of the general who led the expedition against Cadiz.
He happened to visit some tower that commanded a view
of the leads where Father Weston spent so many hours.
He saw him on his knees and motionless in prayer. The
Earl turned to his companions, after observing him for
a while, and said to them, " I should not think that he was
the great traitor they make him out to be." Another story
Father de Peralta tells is, that a gentleman once seeing
him there, sent him some crown pieces as an alms.
Father Weston declined them, on which the giver sent
him the message : Domine, cur non accipis has pecunias?
His appearance on his little tower was not always, how
ever, the signal for compassion. Bigotry was strong
enough, even among those who were in the same con-
S 2

276 Life of Father William Weston.
demnation, to cause them to throw stones at him from one
or two places where his position was overlooked.
The all but unbroken solitude, and the continual tension
of the mind on spiritual subjects, was, as might be expected,
injurious to the bodily health. Uninterrupted prayer is
said' to be like a fine saw, that imperceptibly cuts through
the frail frame of man. It is the sharp sword cutting its
own scabbard. Father Weston's effort was undistractedly
to maintain the actual sense of the Divine Presence. Six
hours he devoted daily to prayer by a rule that he laid
down for himself, and this was often increased. His belief
was that he had conflicts with evil spirits, not interiorly
only, but physically. He believed that they appeared to
him visibly, and that the temptations they suggested to
him were audibly uttered. Their importunities for a time
were incessant day and night, that he should put an end
to it all by his own hand, and his belief was that they
offered him the rope with which to hang himself or the
knife to cut his throat. He thought they roused him from
his sleep by blows, and he said himself that for a space of
fifty days he had not more than ten hours' sleep.
But his spirit was far from being always in desolation
and temptation. At one time in particular, while, absorbed
in prayer, he offered to God his eyesight, his hearing, and
his mental powers, all of which he expected to lose, he
thought he saw a bright ray of light descending like a
thread from heaven, and a voice saying, " By this thread
thou dost depend on My Providence: I am with thee;
abandon not thyself" The temptation in all great trouble
is to think one's-self forgotten by God. And His goodness
never fails then to bring home to the soul that it has a
loving Father in heaven.
This was his own account of his feelings afterwards,
but he could hardly ever be induced to allude to that
terrible time. To one or two most intimate friends, of
' Rodriguez, Christian Perfection, part 2, treatise I, ch. I.

Life of Father William Weston. 277
whom De Peralta was one, he told a little of what he had
suffered, and where he had found comfort A fellow-
student of his at Cordova, Father Juan de Pineda, who,
when he came there, was at Rome as Procurator of the
Province of Andalusia, gathered some insight into his
interior life, and spoke of him always as a man who had
a particular light from heaven and lived in singular close
ness with God.
Every effort to procure his liberation failed, and the
weary time went on. At last Queen Elizabeth died, and
the prison doors opened. Framlingham, and Wisbech,
and the Tower gave up their captives, but liberty in
their native land was linked with a condition that Weston
for one could not accept To remain in England Catholics
must attend the services of the Protestant Church ; if
they would not do so, they must exchange their imprison
ment for exile.
James was proclaimed March 24, i6a|, and a royal
pardon was at once granted, but it was a month after the
liberation of the other prisoners that its benefits were
extended to Father Weston. The Lieutenant of the
Tower then showed the impression that had been made
on him by the patience of his prisoner. He invited
him to dine, gave him, says Father Bartoli, eighty reals
[2/.], lent him a place to live in within the Tower, and
gave him full liberty to see his friends. And of his
keeper a saying is recorded that he had had Norton, the
rack-master, for a prisoner as well as Father Weston,
and that "the Calvinist was a devil, while the Jesuit was
a saint'" Father Thomas Garnet ' used to tell his fellow-
novices at Louvain that the Constable of Wisbech, Medeley
we must suppose, reading Watson's Quodlibets when they
appeared, after Father Weston's transfer to the Tower,
and coming on the calumnies against his old prisoner,
flung the book from him, affirming with an oath that
^ More, Hist. Prov. lib. iv. c. 24, p. 154.

278 Life of Father William Weston.
all that was said about Weston was false, and that the
life that he had led at Wisbech had been so innocent
and holy that he would be glad to get a place in such
a man's prayers.
Father Weston left the Tower, May 13,' 1603. A
crowd of persons assembled on the Tower Quay to see
him embark. Protestants were moved by curiosity, and
Catholics by devotion to see the famous Jesuit Father
Edmonds, who had be'en seventeen years in prison. The
Catholics made no secret of their veneration. They fell
on their knees about him, kissed his hands and begged
his blessing, feeling sure, like those of Ephesus when
St. Paul left, them, that they should see his face no more.
God, who often shows His acceptance of a generous will
by the sacrifice of the very preferred service itself, and
the substitution of a cross to be borne in union with the
Prince of Pastors, had allowed Father Weston to be
actively engaged, in behalf of the souls for whom he risked
his life, for two years only at liberty of the nineteen that
he had now spent in England. The coveted palnj of
martyrdom was not bestowed, and Father Weston must
now go into exile, after a missionary career that the
world would regard as a failure, but which was as accept
able to God as if the goodwill had been crowned by
the most brilliant success. All tiiat our Master asks of
us is to be content with the lot that He assigns to us, and
thus he who succeeds and he who fails, the reaper and
the sower, may rejoice together.
There was a boat waiting on the Thames, and four
priests with three royal pursuivants for travelling com
panions. They left the river at Gravesend, thence passed
to Canterbury, and on to Dover, and it was not till they
reached Calais that Father Weston was left free by his
^ Bai-toli is wrong in saying that the day on which Father Weston left the
Tower was May :;, N.S. May 13, OS. was May 23, N.S. He is still
further wrong in naming Monday before ^^^lit Sunday (June 6) as the date
of the order for his liberation {InghUterra, lib. vi. cap. i, p. 466).

Life of Father William Weston. 2 79
guards to go his way. He went straight to St Omers,
where his brethren in religion made him welcome, almost
blind, half broken down, prematurely old — a venerable
confessor for the cause of Christ Three or four lines
of a letter to Father Persons were as much as either his
weakened eyesight, or his impaired power of attention
would permit him to write.
The scrap of a letter' from Father Garnet, from which
a few words have been already quoted, written the day
after Father Weston's departure, runs thus : " May 14,
1603. Yesterday went from London Father Weston,
a man beloved and admired of his enemies. He hath
almost lost his eyes. I wish first he go to Flamsted
for his rest, and then to Joseph [Father Joseph Cress-
well in Spain. Father Grenes marginal note\, for he
came from that place and hath the language. There
went with Father Weston, Mr. Wright, Friar Baily, &c.
All broke away but poor Father Weston." The Douay
Diary gives the names of those sent into banishment with
Weston as Thomas Wright,^ Andrew Bailey, a Dominican,
John Roberts, a Benedictine, and a priest named James
West, of whom the Diary says, " lunaticus si non demens."
Father John Roberts, O.S.B., called in religion Father
John de Mervinia, died a martyr's death at Tyburn,
December 10, 16 10.
Whether by " Flamsted " Father Garnet meant St.
Omers or Rome is not certain, but it most probably was
the former. However to Rome Father Weston went, at
Father General's request, after he had rested himself a little
in Flanders. Some months were spent by him there, and
his health soon showed the benefit of the change. At
first it had seemed as though he could not live half a

1 Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 547.
' This Thomas Wright was seventeen years in the Society, and was
dismissed about 1597. He is well distinguished from the Dean of Courtrai,
by Dr. Jessopp in his edition oi Father Walpolis Letters, p. 55.

28o Life of Father William Weston.
year, and as if his work on earth were done. However,
he soon rallied, and becoming fit to resume work, he was
sent to Spain, for which, as Father Garnet had noted,
his knowledge of the language and familiarity with the
place, fitted him. He went first to Valladolid, and thence
in 1605 to Seville, where he remained nine years.
He was received in Spain by his old companions with
open arms. Wherever he went he found the fathers who
had been witb him in the Novitiate or Scholasticate, now
Rectors and Superiors. His prudence, his sanctity, his
affability were not forgotten, and those who had known
him twenty years before were delighted to have him
amongst them, his virtues matured by the constancy
with which he had suffered for the Faith. And not only
was he welcome amongst his brethren in religion, but
in Seville in particular there were many gentlemen in
the world and ecclesiastics, even among the members of
both Chapters, who had been his penitents, and were glad
again to put themselves under his guidance.
The warm dry climate of Seville suited his health
perfectly, so that he soon recovered his eyesight and
hearing, and lost the habit of sleeplessness. He was
thus able to undertake a full share of work. Besides
being confessor, he was made Spiritual Father of the
English College, giving his exhortations to the students
in English, and to the lay-brothers in Spanish. He spoke
with great facility. Father de Peralta, who was now his
Rector, tells us, and with such unction and fervour that
his words kindled a fire in the hearts of his hearers.
Besides these more spiritual duties, he gave lectures of
moral theology, and resumed his old classes of languages,
teaching alternate Hebrew and Greek. In this occupation
he continued for nine years, " edifying us, encouraging
us, consoling us," says his biographer, till in June, 1614,
Father General thought well to make him Rector of the
English College at Valladolid.

Life of Father William Weston. 281
He felt the change very much, for both the climate
of Seville and his occupations there were exactly adapted
to him. The cold of Valladolid he thought would kill
him, and he told Father de Peralta that he went there
to die. But he bowed his head to the judgment of his
superiors, and as he had done all his life, showed himself
to be a good and obedient religious. What an excellent
choice the General had made was visible in the peace
and contentment that reigned in the College while he
was its Superior. Father Anthony Hoskins was then
Vice-President of the mission, living at Madrid, and
having charge of the English Jesuit houses in Spain,
and he often told Father de Peralta that he had never
seen a College so peaceful or so united with its Rector,
and he attributed it as a special blessing from heaven,
merited by the holiness of Father Weston's life. It
lasted, however, but a short time, for the good Father's
anticipations were verified, and as he died when he had
been at Valladolid but nine months, he may well be said
to have given his life as a martyr to obedience. That
transfer cost him more, says Father de Peralta, than
anything he had been called upon to do since he entered
the Society. Father Weston was brought up in the same
school of virtue as Blessed Father Peter Favre, and he
may well have said, as the first priest in the Society
had learnt from St. Ignatius to say, that whether his life
was long or short mattered little, but whether his soul
was obedient mattered much.
William Weston died at Valladolid on the 9th of
April, 161 5, at two o'clock in the morning. At first his
illness seemed to be of little importance, but a malignant
fever manifested itself which the doctors could not subdue.
The words he used when told that he would die were,
Lcetatus sum in his quce dicta sunt mihi, in domum
Domini ibimus. By a remarkable phrase used by him
as death came near, he showed the confidence in God

282 Life of Father William Weston.
that had always distinguished him. Non timeo, Domine,
non timeo; tu scis quia non timeo — " I do not fear, O Lord,
I do not fear ; Thou knowest that I do not fear." These
little traits of the last dispositions of Father Weston,
together with details of the virtues manifested by him,
are mentioned in the Circular sent round to the Houses
of the Society on the occasion of his death by Father
Thomas Silvester, then Minister of St Alban's College at
Valladolid. In the corridor of that College a picture of
its saintly Rector hangs,' surrounded by pictures of the
noble sons of St Alban, who, like the English proto
martyr, gave their lives for their Faith. Another picture
of him there is, or until lately there was, on the walls
of the Roman Novitiate of St Andrew's on the Quirinal,
a copy of which, made by Mr. Charles Weld, of Chideock,
serves as the frontispiece to this Life.
Father Weston died in his sixty-fifth year, and in
the fortieth of his religious life. His last vows — the four
solemn vows of a professed Father of the Society — he had
the consolation of taking on the 2nd of August, 1598,
while still at Wisbech. This, Father Nathaniel Southwell'
has taken from the Catalogue of the Professed, and he
is the only writer who has mentioned it. Father Weston's
Requiem was performed not only at the English College,
but also at the Professed House of the Society at Valla
dolid, and was numerously attended. A Spanish preacher
of renown. Father Francis Labata, preached his funeral
sermon, and in it he told a capital story. He said that
in the midst of an exorcism Father Weston was asked
by a devil for leave to enter into Queen Elizabeth. "No,"
said Father Weston, "she is my Queen, though she is
not of my religion. I would do her a service, but I
wish her no harm." " Well, then," the devil asked, " may I
^ The inscription calls Father Weston "a native of Durham," but
apparently without reason.
'•¦ Stonyhurst MSS., Catalogus primorum Patrum, p. 15.

Life of Father William Weston. 283
come into you .' " " As God pleases," the Father replied.
"I had as soon go into a holy water pot,'' said the
devil.' The head of Father Weston is reverently kept at
Roehampton, in the sacristy of the Novitiate of the
English Frovince of the Society of Jesus. It was restored
to us in a singular manner.
On the scull itself there has been written : Para el
Provincial de Inglaterra y su Provincia. Cabeza del
Venerable Padre Guillermo Weston, de la Compania de
Jesus. ' A si lo testifico yo que la vi sacar de su sepultura.
Juan Friman. Jorge Garnet. Notario Apostolico.
After the revolution, early in this century, the house
which up to the suppression of the Society had been
the English Tertianship, the foundation of Anne, Countess
of Arundel, had become the residence of the Bishop of
Ghent. In 18 17, Father Charles Waldack, whose recent
loss we deplore, often saw a scull on the mantel-piece
of the room occupied by the Bishop's secretary, the
Chanoine Boussen, in that house. It was kept by him
simply as a memento mori, and when the worthy Canon
was made Bishop of Bruges, he gave the tite de mart to
one of the religious of a community in Ghent, of which
he had been the director. Some years afterwards Father
Waldack had given a retreat in the convent, and the
Superioress told him that one of the religious, who was
now very old, wanted to make him a present. When
he learnt what the present was, he accepted it and carried
it away to his room. One day reading the History of
the Society by Jouvency, his eye was struck by the name
of Weston, which he remembered to have seen written
upon the scull. Somewhat later. Father Waldack, being
Socius to the Belgian Provincial and Procurator of that
Province, was thrown into relations with Father Randal
Lythgoe, the English Provincial, on his visits to Belgium.
^ More, Hist. Prov. lib. iv. c. 25, p. 155.

284 Life of Father William Weston.
To Father Lythgoe, at his earnest request, Father Wal
dack gave the head of Father Weston, and by him it
was immediately sent to Father Connell, then Master
of Novices at Hodder; and from that time it has been
kept with affection and veneration by the English Novices
of the Society. The Roman Novices had his picture
among them ; those of his own Province are encouraged,
by the possession of this precious relic, to bear in honoured
remembrance this man of austerity and prayer.

IL
THE
FALL OF ANTHONY TYRRELL.

287

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell was prepared for the Press by
Father Persons. Probably the news of first one and then another
relapse of the man whose " fall " was thus multiplied, prevented
its pubhcation. The relapses of the subject of the narrative
would certainly have spoiled the edification of the story, ahd it
would no longer have carried all the warning to the Catholics of
England that it was written to convey. With .us it is otherwise.
Our -wish is to ascertain the historical features of a very interest
ing period, and we wish to leam not only what was done by the
strong and brave, but also by the weak and cowardly. The sort
of pressure that was brought to bear on Catholics who fell into
the hands of Elizabeth's Ministers, the conduct of those Ministers,
the instruments that they used, and indeed created; all this con
cerns us much, if we would form for ourselves a true idea of
the " Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers."
The main staple of the following pages is Father Persons'
narrative. It is illustrated by the original papers in the Public
Record Office and the British Museum, which fall naturally into
their places and bear out the story.
Two copies exist of Father Persons' work, both of which are
in the English College at Rome. Both are in quarto and are
bound in white vellum. The first consists of one hundred and
twenty-seven pages, well and clearly -written, and in excellent
preservation. It is on English paper, in a contemporary English
binding, and is revised and corrected by a contemporary hand.
The other copy is in fifty-four pages, and on the side there is
written in Father Christopher Grene's well-known hand, "P. Rob.
Personii." This also is a contemporary manuscript, but in bad
condition, in some places nearly destroyed by the action of the

288 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
acid in the ink. It was probably written in Rome, and copied
from the other manuscript
The Reverend Joseph Stevenson has sent home a transcript
to the Public Record Office, and Sir Thomas Duffiis Hardy,
Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, has kindly allowed it to
be used for the present publication.

THE FALL OF ANTHONY TYRRELL.

INTRODUCTION.
Lord Acton, in a letter to the Times newspaper of
November 24th, 1874, expressed himself in the following
words. "The case of Tyrrell, in the time of Gregory XIIL,
resembles that of Ridolfi, but Mr. Froude gives, I think,
good reason to doubt the evidence on which it rests."
Mr. Froude has had some severe things said of him, but
nothing so severe as this has been said before. It can
have no sense if it is not ironical. " The case of Ridolfi,"
in Lord Acton's language, signifies that Pope St. Pius V.
sanctioned Ridolfi's plan for the murder of Queen
Elizabeth. "The case of Tyrrell," signifies that Pope
Gregory XIII. approved of a similar plan which Tyrrell
is supposed to have put before him. In Lord Acton's
judgment Mr. Froude gives " good reason to doubt the
evidence " on which Tyrrell's case rests. Yet Mr. Froude
calmly relates it as .though it were undoubtedly and
undeniably true.
"It was towards the close of the Pontificate of
Gregory XIIL," we read in his pages,' "that two young
English Jesuits, Anthony Tyrrell, who tells the story, and
Foscue or Fortesctie, better known as Ballard, and con
cerned afterwards in the Babington conspiracy, set out
upon a journey to Rome on a noticeable errand." The
footnote contains a reference to " Confessions of Anthony
Tyrrell, made in the Tower." To readers who are accus-
' History of England, vol. xi. chap. xxv. p. 302.
T

290 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell
tomed to Mr. Froude's habitual inaccuracy in the statement
of facts, it is hardly needful to say that they must not
think because Mr. Froude thinks well to say so, either
that Tyrrell was ever in the Tower, or that he or Ballard
were Jesuits. The one is as false as the other. And it
is not less false, that Gregory XIII. approved of a proposal
for the assassination of Queen Elizabeth. But Mr. Froude,
who gives such " good reason to doubt the evidence " on
which the story rests, not only tells it as Tyrrell's story,
but he repeats his calumny without any mention of
Tyrrell's name, at a later stage of his " History,"' when
he introduces John Ballard as "one of the two Jesuits who
had sought and obtained the sanction of Gregory XIII.
to the Queen's murder, and who had since clung to his
purpose with the tenacity of a sleuth-hound."
Tyrrell wrote his story when he wanted to purchase
Lord Burghley's favour; and when he was out of
Burghley's reach, he wrote to Queen Elizabeth in these
words. "As for Pope Gregory, I protest, as I hope to
be saved, I never heard him speak anything unto your
Majesty's prejudice or harm ; but I have heard him with
my own ears, and seen with mine own eyes to shed tears
for your Majesty, wishing that all the blood in his body
were spilt to do you any good. And so far he hath been
from persuading us to any treachery towards your person,
as he hath by his own mouth commanded us to pray
for you, and not to intermeddle in anything but that
directly concerned our profession ; and this is tiie worst
that ever I did know Pope Gregory to wish you, whom
I have most falsely accused in many things."
In a note Mr. Froude refers to this passage as it
stands in the pages of Strype, = but only to reject it
as having been written when Tyrrell had "fallen again
into the hands of the priests." Mr. Froude adds, what
' History of England, vol. xii. chap, xxxiv. p, 227.
'^ Annals, vol. iii. part ii. p. 431.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 291
is quite true, that when Tyrrell was in custody once
more he " withdrew his recantation." But how often
the poor creature changed his religion and recanted
his recantations Mr. Froude does not say. In that which
follows respecting him, we have to put before the reader
the story of a man who was four times a Catholic and
three times turned Protestant. The case is singular
enough, and the story very instructive, for it lets us
see what influence was brought to bear on any priests
in Queen EUzabeth's prisons who showed signs of
weakness, and what work was expected of them in
return for the gift of their lives. As for that which
comes from his pen, the reader must judge for himself,
from the circumstances, when the man is telling the
truth, and when he is telling lies. He wrote equally
well, saving the prolixity in which that age delighted,
on either side. When he was free he wrote one way,
when in duress another ; but at the end, as Father
Weston has already' told us, he showed on which side
he thought it best to die.
"George Tyrrell" is noted by Dr.Bridgewater^ as having
" left England with his two sons, in order that he might
continue faithful to the Church of God." Anthony Tyrrell
was one of those sons. The family was of knightly rank,
and since that time it has had two baronetcies conferred
on it It claimed descent from Sir Walter Tyrrell, who
shot William Rufus. Historians might express their
doubts, the heralds felt none ; and one of them,^ in his
Visitation of Arms, places at the top of the family pedigree
the following quaint note of the event, of the antiquity of
which, at least, the family was probably proud. "This
Sir Walter Tyrrell, shooting at a deer, unaware hit King
William Rufus in the breast, that he fell down dead and
1 Supra, p. 207. " Concertatio : Brevis descriptio, fol. 3.
3 ffarleian MSS. 1398, fol. 4.
T 2

292 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
never spake word : the King at that time being hunting in
the New Forest, being the morrow after Lammas day,
anno iioo, anno regni sui 13. His body was laid upon
a collier's cart, and drawn with one silly lean beast to the
City of Winchester, and there buried."
The eighth in descent from Sir Walter was Sir James
Tyrrell, who married the daughter of Sir William Heron,
by whom, in the tinie of Edward 1 1., the estate of Heron
in Essex came to the family. Their great grandson. Sir
John, was Treasurer of the Household to King Henry VL,
and his three sons were founders of three branches of the
family, the eldest son of Heron, the second of Gypping
in Suffolk, and the third of Beeches. Of Sir Thomas,
the eldest of these three, descended in the third degree
Sir Thomas, who married Constance, daughter of John
Blount, Lord Mountjoy. He had six sons and three
daughters, the fourth son being George, the father of
Anthony Tyrrell. The eldest son, John, married Anne,
daughter of Sir William Browne, Lord Mayor of London.
He left no son, but Sir Henry Baker of Kent, Bart., was
descended from his daughter. He died April 3, 1540,
and his widow married Sir William Petre, by whose death,
January 13, 157^^, she a second time became a widow.
Their son, Sir John Petre, was created Baron Petre of
Writtle, July 21, 1603. Sir William Petre's first wife, by
whom he had two daughters, also connected him with
the Tyrrell family. She was Gertrude, daughter of Sir
Jolin Tyrrell of Warley.
John Tyrrell dying without male heirs, the family
estate of Heron came to his brother. Sir Henry. The
third son was Sir William, a knight of Rhodes ; then came
George, Thomas, and Charles, a physician. The daughters
were Ada, who was drowned, Catharine, who married
George Keble of Newbottle, co. Northampton, and Anne,
whose first husband was named Knight, and the second
Knighton.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 293
The family were Catholics, and stood well with Queen
Mary. Charles was recommended to Sir William Petre
by Lord Rich for a vacant pensionership' in 1554, and
later. Lord Rich wrote to express to the Queen Charles
Tyrrell's desire to serve her. Queen Mary appointed
Edward Tyrrell Warden of the Fleet prison : he was
probably a cadet of the same family. Their Catholicity
was less useful in Elizabeth's reign, and when,, combining
persecution and diversion, in one of her royal progresses
in 1578, the Papists of Essex were summoned^ "to be
dealt withal by my lords in this progress," one entry made
was, " Sir Henry Tyrrell is sick ; his two sons come to the
church." The steadiest to his faith of all the family was
George Tyrrell, the father of Anthony, and we accidentally
get an insight into the state of destitution to which he was
reduced by his constancy in his faith.
At Michaelmas, 1573, George, then an old man, left
his wife and daughter at Cambray in Belgium, and went
on foot, accompanied by his other son, carrying such
luggage as they took with them, to implore aid of the
King of Spain. That his journey was not in vain we
may gather from a note^ among the State Papers of
"Enghshmen entertained by the King of Spain," dated
in November, 1573. "Tyrrell," it says, "Cotton, Pet,
Tichborne, Strodlen, Swinborn, Greffy, and Smith, 1300
ducats ; and some 20 ducats, some 1 5 ducats a month
in Flanders or Milan."
At this time Anthony's only sister, Gertrude, entered
religion. There was then but one English convent on the
Continent though St Ursula's Convent of the Canonesses
of St Augustine, at Louvain, might almost deserve the
name under Mother Margaret Clement's government. The
first house of Benedictinesses was founded in 1598 by
' P.R.O, Domestic, Mary, vol. ii. n. 4; vol. iii. n. 5.
' Cotton. MSS., Titus B. iii. n. 60.
3 P.R.O., Domestic, Addenda, Elizabeth, vol. xxiii. n. 6l.

294 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Lady Mary Percy. In 1574, therefore, there was hardly
a religious house for English ladies besides the venerable
Convent of Sion of the Order of St Bridget, which had
been driven from place to place, and was now temporarily
sojourning at Rouen. In 1580 a "Supphcation for poor
Sion " was addressed by the Brethren and Sisters to the
Catholics of England,' and among the good old Catholic
names of the Community who sign it is that of Sister
Gertrude Tyrrell.
In 1574 Anthony had taken his Bachelor's degree
in one of the universities, and all that he wanted was 10/.
for two years to enable him to proceed to his Master's
degree also. Not being able to raise the money, he had
to " take another condition not so commodious." He was
in the service of some one on the Continent, whom he
seems to have left without warning to accompany Christo
pher Dryland,^ then a young man " but new come over,"
and not having yet commenced his studies for the priest
hood. Tyrrell started with a crown in his pocket, thinking
it enough to take him to Dunkirk, but when they got
there, instead of returning they started for England in the
same reckless way that later on was to bring Tyrrell into
such grave danger to his soul. In England he went about
living on his friends and relations, and of these the one
that seems to have made him most welcome was his cousin
Mary, the daughter of George Keble, and wife of John
Paschall of Much Baddow in Essex.
There was a John Paschall who entered the English
College of Rome in the year of its opening, 1579, and was
there with Anthony T}Trell. He was of this family, and
was one of the first companions of Persons and Campion
on their first coining to England in 1580. He was the
only one of that company who fell away when his courage
was put to the test ; but Father Persons adds, " It was
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxlvi. n. 114.
^ Dryland was ordained priest at Chalons, Mardi 30, 1582.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 295
only of frailty and upon fear of torments that were
threatened unto him." His case is thus described by
Father Persons,' who of course knew him well. " This
young man was named John Paschall, a gentleman as I
take him, born in Essex, who had been scholar to
Mr. Sherwin [Ralph Sherwin the martyr] in Oxford, and
dearly beloved of him ; and being young and sanguine of
complexion, and fervent in his religion, would oftentimes
break forth into zealous speeches, offering much of himself
(as St Hierome noteth also of St. Peter before his denial
of Christ), but Mr. Sherwin would always reprove him,
saying, ' O John, John, little knowest thou what thou
shalt do before thou comest to it.' And so it fell out
¦with no little grief of the martyr, who had been in the
same prison with his scholar, to wit in the Marshalsea,
and was no sooner removed from him to the Tower but
that the other fell."
When Tyrrell was in England he took occasion to
present some petition to the Lord Treasurer. His father,
as we shall shortly see, thanked Lord Burghley for his
kindness to his son. In all probability he means, not that
Burghley granted the petition, whatever it was, but that
when Anthony was arrested he gave him his liberty. For
the first of Anthony Tyrrell's numerous apprehensions
took place now, while he was devising ways and means to
return to his family abroad. He was taken at Milton,
probably Milton next Sittingbourne, in Kent, a town
situated at the head of a creek which opens into the
Channel between the Isle of Sheppey and the coast of
Kent. He was sent by his captor to Lord Rich, with
the following letter,^ which will show how sharp a look
out was kept on fugitives, long before a Jesuit had
landed in England or the Spanish fleet had threatened
her shores. ^ Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 107.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. xcviii. n. 20.

296 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
"It may please your good lordship to be signified
that upon Tuesday at night last past, I had advertisement
that one Anthony Tyrrell, as he calleth himself, was come
to Milton shore, and as he hath declared, which will be
justified [proved] that he would go over either to Dunkirk
or else to Brydgys [Bruges], whom I have apprehended,
examined and searched, and so found about him certain
writings, which I do send with him to your lordship by
this bearer, Poulter, Constable of Milton, and also his
examination taken before me and other ; among which
writings I found one wherein was written the Queen's
Majesty's style, as you may perceive by the said writing,
which I have sent you herein inclosed, desiring you to
note well the placing of his words, whether it be Regina
or Thegina, besides Fidei devastatrix, which as I think
is much to be noted. And the same morning that the
said Tyrrell was brought to me being Wednesday, he
wrote one letter which I do also send you here inclosed,
directed to Mr. Robert Tempest, and yet he saith in his
examination that his name is Nicholas Tempest, and is
all one person as he saith, which is also meet to be noted.
Further it may please your good lordship to peruse over
all the rest of his writings with good deliberation, for
that there be some of them in Latin, which I do
not well understand; and some of them that be in
English do import as I take it, that some aid is sent
to them in Flanders by some in this country, which
I do refer to your lordship's good discretion, and so
thought good to advertise you thereof And so com
mitting you to the Almighty God, who preserve and
keep you with much increase of honour. From your
late park of Raighlye, this 9th of September, anno
Domini 1574. " Yours most bounden to command,
"Edward Burye.

TJie Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 297
" It may please your lordship to understand that I am
lame of my right hand, so that I am forced to have one to
write for me.
Addressed — "To the right honourable and my singular
good lord, the Lord Ryche, give these.
Endorsed — "Examination of Anthony Tyrrell [priest
added in ano titer handl''
Of the papers that still accompany this letter, the
only one remaining of those mentioned in it is the
following. "Cousin Robert Temp., I have been here according
to my promise to meet you. I am returned back again
upon earnest occasions. I pray you either come or send
to me to my cousin Paschall's of Much Baddow, and if
you have any carriage [anything to carry] leave it with
your hostess, and bring certain word when you think to
find passage, inquiring the same of the goodman Curteis,
of whom you shall learn if he be hither come. Ask mine
hostess of him, and she will tell you where he dwelleth.
Fare ye well, in haste, this Wednesday morning.
" Yours as you know,
"Anthony Tyr  ."
Addressed — "This be delivered to Mr. Robert Tempest,
if he come to Milton shore, or to any one that shall inquire
for a letter."
Of the other papers two are religious, notes of sermons
apparently, one is a short copy of poor verses, the rest
either letters prepared to be sent or rough drafts, all in
Tyrrell's writing. The verses are these —
Like as the merchant, which on surging seas
In beaten bark hath felt the grievous rage
Of JS.ohii' blasts, till Neptune for his ease
By princely power their cholers did assuage :
Even so my muse

298 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Doth seem by Fortune's cruel spite
To feel her cup so mixt with bitter gall
As no conceit could make her to delight,
Until she chanced in scholarship to fall
With you, my friend.
Whom mighty Jove hath sent me for relief
When heavy cares would seek for to appease
My pensive mind, and slyly as a thief
Hold me captive still in sore distress.
To one cousin by marriage, whom he cahs "good
cousin Moore," he writes that he " dare not boldly repair
unto his presence for angering the old knight" To
another he says :
" Had I thought, dear cousin, that I should thus long
have been delayed in my suit, I would not have kept
secret my necessity at my last being with you, for the
which I am constrained as now to trouble you, not having
to my knowledge any friend now living here in England
unto whom I dare sooner complain my case than unto
you, of whom I have always found, besides a natural
good will, most evident proofs of godly piety. Know
you, therefore, that I have delivered unto my Lord
Treasurer a supplication, declaring the cause of my suit,
who having received the same of me hath given me yet
no manner of answer, and yet do I repair unto him from
day to day, sometimes to the Court, and sometimes to
Westminster, but by reason of some earnest affairs I must
be fain as yet to dance a longer attendance. Most humbly
desiring you (for that I am driven very bare of money),
to stand my good friend with some small matter as you
may easily pleasure me. I do lie at Gray's Inn with
Mr. Tempest, and am in commons also with him, having
hitherto discharged all of mine own purse, and now shall
be fain to run off the score, unless it shall please your
courtesy to minister unto my distress some remedy. Thus
not having farther to trouble you, until my business be
brought to good end, which I hope shall be shortly, I am

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 299
with my humble commendations unto yourself, my dear
cousin, your bedfellow, et sic de reliquis, do take most
humbly my leave. From Gray's Inn on Midsummer day,
" Your poor cousin and faithful beadsman,
"Anthony Tyrrell."
He had with him the draft of a long letter to one
of his uncles, dated from Cambray, January 24, addressed
to his cousin, " Mr. Thomas Tyrrell, esquire." In it he
says that his father and brother "have taken that journey
in hand, of the which I informed you when I was last
in the country. Their constraint was such for want of
friends, as the poor old man was fain to go on foot, and
his son to bear the burden. I pray God be their good
speed and comfort, and send them a safe return. . . . Your
niece my sister hath bequeathed herself unto God, and
hath forsaken this miserable world, wherein she perceived
nothing else but care and misery, and hath taken up
her cross, as this bearer can tell you, by whom I commend
you the residue, if you desire to know. My mother
remaineth all desolate, deprived of husband and children,
not having where to disburden her sorrows but only to
God. . . . Most humbly beseeching you with weeping
tears (most dearly beloved) to send by this bearer unto
my poor desolate mother some comfort, and to solicit
her cause towards my good Lady, whose friendly promise
as yet remaineth in her Ladyship's hands to perform. . . .
I have by the help of God and good friends gone so
far in my study as I have taken the degree of a Bachelor
in Art, and now for want of assistance I am forced to
forsake the University, and take another condition not
so commodious unto me. If among all the friends that
I have in the world I could make but 10/. for two years,
I should go forth graduate a Master, and be then able
to pleasure myself and recompense my friends. 4/. for
two years I am promised in these parts. I stand but

300 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
now destitute for 6/., the which among a number of good
ability were no hindrance, and unto me a perpetual
benefit. . . . Commend me, I pray you, unto my good
Lady, giving her in my behalf most humble thanks for
her benevolence towards me, unto yourself, unto good
Mrs. Margaret your wife, Benytt, Lienor, Avys, Tomeson,
Sandell, and to the residue of my friends at your dis
cretion. ... I hope by Easter to hear some news of my
father and brother, who departed from Cambray on
St Michael's day last. Hitherto I have heard no manner
of word from them, how they speed. In their return you
shall be informed. I hope they shall have good success,
and that pity will arise in the heart of so noble a prince
to hear an aged man's complaint . . . Your token that
you sent by me at my last being in the country, for
want of money I was constrained to sell by the way. . . .
I am not ashamed to crave some of your cast apparel,
whatsoever you could spare."
In another letter he asks "the right worshipful and
his singular dear friend and cousin, Mrs. Mary Paschall,"
to send him letters "unto his cousin White for a cloak
cloth, the which he would not crave as a gift.''
He went on a begging excursion apparently to his
aunt. Lady Petre, who was then, after Sir William Petre's
death, living at Ingatestone. He sent a letter before
him, the following sentence from which shows the turn
for writing, of which we shall have many specimens in the
sequel " Pity me, therefore, good Mrs. Petre, if not for
myself unacquainted, yet for my friends, with whom per
adventure you are better acquainted ; if not for my
friends, j^et for the love of Him from whom all charity
proceedeth." However, his eloquence did not avail him, as we learn
from the fragment of another letter. "Now remaineth
nothing else but to declare unto you the entertainment

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 301
which we had at Ingerstone,' the which because it was
not very good beshrew Mrs. Jhones. We came in I think
a saturnical hour, for the old drab began upon us so to
lower, that although she were my aunt Rebecca's maid,
her look would have made the devil himself afraid. Mine
aunt she said plainly we might not see, by reason her
mistressship's pleasure would have it so to be."
The mention of " Mrs. Jhones " has been the induce
ment to insert the young gentleman's doggrell, and that
because there was a Mr. Jhones, or Johnes, whose letters,
with or without excuse, must be inserted here. This
Mr. Johnes — Da-vy Johnes — was a minister, who having
got into the Marshalsea prison, found many Catholic
priests there, and was reconciled to the Catholic Church.
He thus came to be looked upon as a Cathohc, and
the following letters^ written by him to Francis Mills,
Walsingham's secretary, show the use he made of the in
formation he acquired in houses where he was kindly used.
" Mr. Mills, I do commend me unto you. This shall
be to let you understand that I was confessed in the
Marshalsea, and twain more with me were confessed,
which were Mr. Blewitt, of the sign of the Hanging
Sword, in Fleet Street ; he doth keep an ordinary tavern
for gentlemen, and one David Sadler of Fleet Street also.
I do give you to understand that there shall be upon
Sunday sennight a Mass at my Lord Bishop Hethe
[Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York], which was Bishop
of York, and he doth dwell within a little way of
Windsor as I heard say, but I will see afore it be long.
Also there doth come thither a great sort. Also there
is a Mass upon Sunday next at one Mr. Tyrrell's, which
^ The true name is Ingatestone, i.e. the ing, or the meadow at the
Roman milestone. It formerly belonged to St. Mary's Barking, and
Domesday notes, "Ingam tenet semper Sancta Maria." The omen has
been good.
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. xcvii. nn. 27, 39 ; vol. xcviii. n. 10.

302 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
doth dwell in a place called Rawle in Essex, and he
hath a priest which Mr. George Tyrrell did send over,
which was gentleman usher to the Queen's Grace, and I
do know well the place where it shall be said, for I did
carry a letter from the Marshalsea thither, and possibly
to have Master George Tyrrell's man there, who doth use
to come over. That house is from London thirty-eight
miles, and I am weak. I would fain have your counsel.
I shall be going thither two days, and Mr. Archdeacon
Walker is the next justice that is to the place. Also of
the 20i-. I had of you I did owe for my board 17^.
Also I have not wherewith to carry my cost but 2s. which
Dr. Feckenham gave me. Also you would not think what
they of the Marshalsea doth draw unto them, and men
doth come unto them daily. Thus I have said my mind
I desire you to send word what is best for me to do,
whether to go to Mr. Tyrrell or not, for there is to the
number of ten which doth ride thither, and rich men.
Thus I will cease to trouble you. I pray Jesus Christ
to preserve my good master and you. By me, yours to
command to his power, — Davye Johnes, clerk. July 6."
Archbishop Heath died in 1579 at Cobham, in Surrey,
where he spent the latter years of his hfe "with such
freedom as is commonly allowed to a prisoner at large."'
The Nappers, Nappiers or Napiers, mentioned in the next
letter, were an Oxford family. The old manor-house in
which they lived may still be seen in the outskirts of
Oxford in the parish of Holywell. Amongst Anthony
Tyrrell's letters there is one to "gentle Mr. Napper."
George Napper, who was martyred at Oxford in 1610,
was ordained priest in 1596.. There must have been
another priest of the family, for Johnes evidently means
that it was a priest of whose presence in Mr. Tyrrell's
house he had given notice to the Justice.
^ Dodd, Church History, vol. i. p. 498.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 303
" Mr. Mills, I have forgotten to let you understand that
I did give intelligence unto the Justice of Napper's being
in Mr. Tyrrell's house, and if he did not take him, the
blame was not in me, for I told what manner of man he
was. This I do let you understand, that there is a gentle
man named Bocking beyond Colchester, and there is an
old priest named Latymer, which was prisoner in the Clink
last, but he was in prison this fifteen or fourteen years, and
as Mr. Webster doth tell me of the Marshalsea that there
is a certain of outlandish men and Englishmen there, and
it is from London, eight [miles] beyond Colchester. I do
know Latymer well, but if it would please you to send
some man there that were of Latymer's acquaintance, he
should see all, but I do let to understand that I do not
stir, and if I do not come any more to Essex, because
they will use a traveller surlily if he have not some
certificate with him, and in especial a poor man as we are.
Thus I do let you to understand that my feet and my
fellow's are very sore with the stocks, and I am fain to
leave, an you would give me leave at this time [to go to]
Doctor Hethe's house, because I would not put you in
charge, for I have no money left. It stood his bower and
mine as good as 16s. beside our charges going down.
Thus I pray God be with my good master that did help
me out of prison. I told the Justice of Napper's being
upon Sunday after dinner. I desire you to send me a
word what your pleasure is afore Saturday at three o'clock
afternoon, whether I shall go to Doctor Hethe or not, for
I will travel all night an if you will. July 20, 1574."
What Davy Johnes had done to be so surlily used,
or who his fellow was, whose feet like his own were
"very sore with the stocks," we do not know. But the
ingratitude of the man is remarkable. In his first letter
he said that he had not wherewith to carry his cost but
is. which Dr. Feckenham gave him ; and in the last we

304 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
give, he acknowledges that he might starve but for a
gentiewoman of the Tyrrell family, whom he calls "his
mistress," and yet he proposes to send Walsingham word
"when she doth receive," that she and her priest may
be taken, and he desires " the benefit of that she doth
lose by the statute, if it be but the chain that she doth
wear." The "statute" he alludes to is probably the
"Statute of Apparel of wives and keeping of horses,"
33 Henry VIII., by which gold chains were forbidden.
" Mr. Mills, — I do heartily commend me unto you, and
I pray God to save my good master and yours. I have
written to know your mind as concerning my going to
the Charterhouse and of my going out of the town, for
I have no living here to tarry, for the Papists and friends
are come abroad and some gone that were of my acquaint
ance, . . . but I might starve but for a gentlewoman
named Mistress Cawkon, a notorious Papist She was
aforetime named Mistress Tyrrell. He was warden of
the Fleet, and she was one that was greatly in favour
with Queen Mary, and she doth dwell in Reed Boffrett,
and she doth wear a chain of gold, and I have seen
more books in her house of Papistry than any place
else ; but concerning the Papists that doth come to her
Mass at the Charterhouse, they be to the number of ten
the last Sunday, and outlandish men a great number.
In all there was there that received about forty, and to
let you understand I have many to let you know of
since I have sent unto you, but this, my mistress as I
do call her, named Cawkon, afore Tyrrell, confessed unto
me that she was in no church this fifteen years. Mr. Mills,
I will send you word when she doth receive. I pray
you to desire my master [Walsingham] that I may have
the benefit of that she doth lose by the statute, an if it
be but the chain that she doth wear. There is a certain
priest named Rand come from beyond the seas, and he

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 305
is in one Mr. RandoU's house in Wood Street Thus I
have not to write unto you more when the Court doth
come nearer, but to let to understand where the Ambas
sador was confessed upon his knees, and wearing about
a garment like a parliament robe, with a red flower de
luce upon his breast, and there was the Pope's pardon
too, to absolve us. Thus I desire I may hear of my
two letters before this. Fare you v/ell, by me, — Davy
Johnes. 13th of August, 1574."
In another letter signed, " Davy Johnes, minister," he
says to Mills, " If you do so much as to send me to the
George the sum of 2s. until I do speak with you, you
may do me a good pleasure, but not by the bearer."
It was to such espionage as this that the Catholics
were exposed, and it is not surprising that many left
the country. However, we have learnt from this unusually
disgraceful specimen of a spy that there were other
Tyrrells, good Catholics, besides Anthony's father. The
State Papers have one letter from that brave gentleman,
who faced exile and poverty in his old age, that he might
hve " in the fear and true faith and service of God, in
the unity of His Catholic Church." The letter,' which
is addressed to Lord Treasurer Burghley, is worth reading.
" I have hitherto abstained to write unto any man in
my country, right honourable and my very singular good
lord ; and so purposed with myself to continue, fearing
thereby to incur in contempt and misliking with my dis
cretion, notwithstanding trusting that wisdom and piety
with rare virtues united together I have observed always
to abound in your honour, I thought now to give some
attempt and render unto your honour most humble thanks
for my poor son, who if your honour had not extended
your pitiful hand, had drunk of a sour and bitter cup.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cviii. n. 65.
U

306 The Fall of. Anthony Tyrrell.
As your lordship hath dealed mercifully with us, so my
continual prayer shall be that you may find mercy with
the Omnipotent Majesty in your necessity. What is done
to him for my sake I must take it done to myself Your
lordship shall have the poor boy your bond-servant, to
pray for your honour all his life, and to do nothing that
may offend the same as he will avoid my displeasure, and
upon so just occasion I have enterprised to write to your
honour, I shall instantly desire the same to bear further
with my boldness.
"I am reported, as I hear, to be a traitor to my prince,
an enemy to my country, which are very grave enormities
and heinous crimes, and require of my part some purga
tion, as I shall answer before the Divine Majesty when
He shall sit in His glorious and terrible throne to judge
and reward our doings.
" As I did depart thence, so in like manner I remain
here, for no other cause than for quieting and satisfaction
of my conscience, and to end this my old age in penance
for my former iniquities, in the fear and true faith and
service of God in the unity of His Catholic Church ; and
so to pray for her Grace's Majesty, my country, and
among others your good lordship and my Lord of
Leicester. " For what other thing could move me } I freely con
fess I served a most royal prince, and for her wisdom far
excelling my place of service. By so much of more honour
the meeter it was unto her Majesty, her favour and
bountiful liberality towards me I [acjknowledge and con
fess not a little. I found your honour always my good
lord, and ready in all times to further any reasonable suit,
the which courtesy I may not forget while I live.
" Here I do remain in great misery concerning corporal
necessaries, destitute of sufficiency to relieve my neces
sities, yet the quietness of conscience which causeth a
continual gladness of heart, and abundance of spiritual

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 307
riches far passingly supplieth the lack of the other.
Wherefore I shall most humbly request your honour to
continue my good lord, and as occasion and opportunity
may serve, to report unto her Grace's Majesty that I
remain her humble servant and true subject, the care of
my soul and my duty to God only reserved ; yea, the
very same I was in my old mistress' time. Queen Mary.
Assure your honour nothing can be proved against me to
the contrary.
" Concerning my journey into Spain, this necessity,
that hath no law, forced me thereunto. I was driven on
every side to straits for money here, and there was no man
that would lend me any. My charge was great for myself,
my wife, three children. I foresaw that we should all
perish for lack of necessaries. I had no other refuge to
remedy my extreme necessity. Wherefore your honour,
according to your customary piety, will rather, I doubt
not, lament my miserable case so destitute in a strange
land, than be offended with that fact ; for the Apostle
saith. He that taketh not care to provide for his own,
especially for his own family, denieth his faith, and is
worse than an infidel. Wherefore, right honourable, enter
not in judgment and think, as St Thomas saith. Presuppose
and think always thus. Everything is good where the con
trary is not proved manifestly and open.
" And so, fearing to trouble your honour, I shall most
humbly desire to take this my boldness in writing in good
part, considering the occasion. And my prayers are daily
unto Almighty God to preserve the Queen's Majesty [and]
your lordship with increase of honour and all prosperity.
"From Louvain, the 27th of July [1576].
" Your honour's to command during life,
"George Tyrrell."
The merciful dealing with Anthony Tyrrell for which
his father thanks Lord Burghley in this letter, was probably
u 2

3o8 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
his release from prison. This was the first of the many
occasions that made Tyrrell acquainted with the interior
of an English prison house. He was about twenty-two
when captured by Edward Bury and sent to Lord Rich,
and the date of his father's letter would lead to the con
jecture that he was about a year and a half in prison this
first time.
The second time was when he was a priest, and it must
have been very shortly after his arrival in England. He
went to Rome and entered the English College there,
when it first opened in 1579. His name is the fourteenth
in the hst of the fifty who took the College oath with
Ralph Sherwin, on the 23rd of April, 1579, but no other
information is given in the College register,' except that
he was then twenty-seven years of age and was a student
of theology. His course of theology, and his prepara
tion for the priesthood must have been dangerously
short, for we find him in England a priest within two
years of that date. The news of his capture at that time
we learn from a letter in the Record Office addressed to
Father Agazzari, the Rector of the English College at
Rome, by Dr. Allen, which information is fully corroborated
by Father Persons' notes. ^ Dr. Allen's intercepted letter^
said, after speaking of Father Bryant's apprehension, which
was on the 28th of April, 1581 : "Next day John Nichols,
that apostate, met in the street Father Tyrrell, a student
of your College, and as soon as he saw him exclaimed,
' Traitor,' and so arrested him ; but he is thrown, not into
the Tower, but into another prison called the Gatehouse,
and there he and Father Rishton, also a student of your
College, are living in joy." This, which was Anthony's
^ "(l) Antonius Tirellus, annorum 27, laicus. Sacra; Theologia; studens
juravit ut supra. (2) Missus est in Angliam. (3) Proditorem egit postea ad
tempus, sed postea publice eum pcenituit, idemque declaravit ex suggestu
1588." In three several hands. English College, Rome; Liber rubus.
^ Stonyhurst MSS., P. fol. 16.
^ P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxlix. n. 51.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 309
second imprisonment, did not last long, for he contrived
to break prison and make his escape. A spy, who signed
his notes with the initials P. H. W.,' wrote under date
January 5th, I58i "Tyrrell, who broke out of the Gate
house, arrived the morning next following at Drayton,
where he was four days with the old Lady Paget"
Anthony Tyrrell's third imprisonment was in 1586,
as we have already seen in Father Weston's narrative.
He had a good reputation among the Catholics, and on
his apprehension Father Robert Southwell wrote to Father
Agazzari in a letter, an abstract^ of which was sent by
some agent to Walsingham, "that Father Tyrrell, a man
that hath done much good is taken, and two days before
the writing hereof two others ; as also Martinus Arraius,
who (as he hears) hath procured by money to be pardoned
his life, but shall be banished."
Having now brought him to the prison respecting
which we have already had Father Weston's account,
we may leave him to his confessions. The document as
left by Father Persons is given in its integrity, and the
only case in which it will be necessary to interrupt it,
will be when interesting details may be drawn from
original letters still existing.
' P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxlvii. n. 2 ; misdated in the Calendar
1581. ^ Ibid. vol. cxcv. n. 119.

3IO

THE TRUE AND WONDERFUL STORY OF THE
LAMENTABLE FALL OF ANTHONY TYRRELL,
PRIEST, FROM THE CATHOLIC FAITH, WRITTEN
BY HIS OWN HAND, BEFORE WHICH IS PRE
FIXED A PREFACE SHOWING THE CAUSES OF
PUBLISHING THE SAME UNTO THE WORLD.

THE PREFACE
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER, CONCERNING THE CAUSES
OF PUBLISHING THIS CONFESSION OF ANTHONY
TYRRELL.
There came into my hands some months past a certain
roll of papers that had been sent me out of England not
long before, and for that they seemed somewhat of a stale
date, and I was occupied at that time in divers other
businesses, I let them lie by me for the space of two or
three months without reading them over; but at last,
taking time to peruse the particulars, I found, among
other things, a very large narration and confession made
by Anthony Tyrrell, priest, which contained six-and-fifty
sheets of paper written all with his own hand, in a very
small letter, and his name subscribed in divers places, to
the same. Which hand and letter of his I well remembered
of old, and was so much grieved for his cause in reading
the contents as I cannot well express ; for I ever loved the
man with sincere affection since our first acquaintance,
which hath been for fifteen or sixteen years, as well for his
own sake and for the gifts of God, which appeared to be
in him, as also for his Catholic friends and kindred, who
are well known to be both worshipful and very virtuous,

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 311
and consequently they cannot but remain extremely
afflicted with this so lamentable a fall of him whom they
hoped to be their special comfort But there is no remedy
in these accidents and successes, for the words of our
Saviour must needs be fulfilled which say that not only
out of the self-same family and kindred, but even out of
the same house and bed also, one shall be taken and
St. Matt. xxiv. ; sl Luke .xvii. another rejected, one chosen and
another cast off for a reprobate, and this separation and
opposition between good and bad, respecteth no kindred,
affinity, friendship, or acquaintance. The father shall fall
from the son, and the son impugn his father. No greater
conjunction of kindred can be imagined than was at the
beginning between the good and wicked spirits, between
Michael the Archangel and Lucifer the dragon, being all
created at the self-same instant, by the self-same hands of
one Creator, and ordained to the self-same end of ever
lasting glory, if equally they had persevered in the love
and obedience of their said Lord and Master ; but one
part falling from that, there ensued presently the enmity,
hatred, and everlasting war between them which St John
the Evangelist describeth in his Revelations. The like
contemplation may be made of the nearness of kindred
between Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, that were born
in one belly, as also of the familiar acquaintance between
Judas and St. Peter and the rest of the Apostles, whilst
they lived jointly in the service and daily company of one
and the same so blessed a Master; but yet afterward
when the one would fall and ruin himself wilfully and
desperately to the devil, truth it is that the other remained
much afflicted, humbled, and terrified thereby, but yet
neither discredited nor disanimated in the service of Him
whom Judas had forsaken.
The like happeneth daily among us, and will to the
world's end, whilst this conflict and combat endureth, for
winning or losing the immortal garland proposed, one

312 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
will stand and another will fall, and another will rise and
another will faint Domino suo stat aut cadit, saith
St. Paul. Every one standeth or falleth to his Lord, who
is to judge him, and either to condemn or reward him
according to his fight, so as kindred, friendship or acquaint
ance hath no part in this, further than his carnal friends
or kindred should be movers or persuaders to any man's
fall, which I know to be far off from the case that we
now handle of Anthony Tyrrell, and therefore it shall not
need that we speak any more of this point, but to return
unto the narration from which we have digressed.
After I had read over and perused the whole story
set down by Anthony Tyrrell, of his living in England,
his going to Rome, his return, his acquaintance with
Ballard, his apprehension, his examinations, confessions,
fictions, accusations, slanders, spiery,' recantation and
the like, and had with some attention weighed not only
the things themselves, but also the time wherein they
happened, the horrible and bloody effects that ensued
thereupon, and the persons that had been actors and
authors therein, with the manner of their proceeding and
other such circumstances, I had many thoughts and
deliberation with myself what it were best to do with
the book, either to publish or to suppress it and let it
die in oblivion.
And for the latter part, which is to conceal it, or at
best not to divulge the same no further than already it
is known, there offered themselves divers reasons and
considerations, as that it was a most scandalous fact, and
very opprobrious to the universal name and function of
priesthood, that many good men would be afflicted there
with and disedified, and the enemy would scorn and
rejoice for that it seemeth he had his will, and that
many in England, and especially abroad in other countries,
would come to know and understand of this foul scandal
^ spiery, the -work of a spy.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 313
which otherwise perhaps would never have heard thereof,
and therefore, as wounds and sores and loathsome infir
mities, they were rather to be covered and shifted aside,
than to be displayed to the sight of the world : and these
were reasons that seemed of moment on this side.
But on the contrary, there represented themselves first,
the perpetual custom of God and His Church to have
these events known, and so we see that Almighty God
caused the fall of the first Angels to be revealed and
published to us in Scripture, which having happened
before any memory of man might have been kept secret
if God had been so pleased ; and the like we may
consider of the. fall and scandal given by our first parents
in Paradise, and of all human flesh almost afterwards,
which God would have published and recorded to posterity,
together with His severe punishments upon the same ; and
after them again, the grievous falls of three Kings together,
the first that ever He chose by His own mouth, Saul,
David, and Solomon, the two everlastingly, as it may be
feared, and the third raised up again by His holy grace: —
all which falls and scandals His Divine Majesty appointed
to be revealed and uttered, without respect of any offence
that thereof might be taken, or of disgrace as it were
unto His own works that made and elected them.
The like course took our Saviour Christ with His two
Apostles that fell, the one to his proof the other to his
perdition, the one of frailty the other of malice, both which
He would have published by His holy historiographers,
the Evangelists ; as also the scandalous fall of Nicholas,
one of the seven first deacons elected by His Apostles;
and the glorious Apostle St Paul himself discovered divers
persons by name in his Epistles that had fallen from Christ
in his days and had played the traitors ; and the like after
him did St. John the Evangelist, St Polycarp, St Ignatius,
and other of the first Christian Fathers; and St Cyprian,
that holy bishop, doctor, and martyr, who lived some time

314 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
after them, again wrote a whole book, De Lapsis, of such
as had fallen in his time and had denied their faith, whereof
he saith some were so impudent and wicked as at the very
first word of the persecutor they yielded to do whatever
he required at their hands, and some others hearing of
the persecution, cowards, prevented the matter and went
privily and offered themselves beforehand ; and by which
other such things recorded by Eusebius in the beginning
of the persecutions of Maximinus, Diocletian, and others,
it is evident that as our Saviour had many valiant soldiers
in those days that fought most faithfully and conquered in
His cause, so there were then also as now many weaklings,
and divers false and traitors to the same ; all which, though
it might seem as in our case, it would be very offensive
and scandalous to have it uttered to the world, yet those
holy Fathers took the contrary course and divulged the
same even in the very face of so potent and rigorous
enemies, as were the emperors of those days and their
wicked ministers. I take the cause to have been for
that albeit those foul facts of themselves in respect of
those that commit them be very loathsome and abomi
nable and worthy to be suppressed, yet in respect of
God's most sweet and holy providence that permitteth
them and directeth them ever, though never so evil of
themselves, to some good end for the profit of many,
beyond the intention of the doers or procurers, they are
most profitable and to be conserved in memory; and this
may serve for the first and principal reason for publishing
of this treatise, if we respect the custom of God's holy
providence in like affairs.
But to leave this general consideration and to descend
to some particulars, a second reason offered itself for the
publishing of their confession in respect of the Catholics
themselves of our nation who otherwise might be doubted
to receive grief and scandal thereby. And this reason
consisteth in two points : first, that all priests and others

The Fall oJ Anthony Tyrrell. 31
that are called to confession of their faith in England
at these days may learn by this man's horrible fault to
humble themselves, and not to presume overmuch of their
own forces, and beholding the particular causes of this
man's overthrow, the beginnings, proceedings, and increase
of the same, together with the manner of dealing of the
adversary, they may the better look into themselves, and
hold a preparation fit for such a combat ; and this perhaps
may be pronounced to be one of the chief and most
principal causes that moveth Almighty God both to permit
those ruins of some for benefit of others, as also for the
same end to have them known and punished.
What Catholic priest is there that will not look more
dihgentiy unto himself, and have a more attentive care
to conserve the rigour of holy discipline, both towards
his body and his soul, when he shall consider the disso
lution that crept into this man by little and little, and
brought him at length to so dangerous a shipwreck ?
What Christian is there of discretion, that having to come
to appear before such examiners or judges as Tyrrell did,
will not arm himself beforehand with a holy purpose of
great patience, constancy, and resolution to proceed
plainly, simply, and sincerely in matters of his conscience,
¦without opening any one door or chink unto them, whereby
the devil may enter, considering the depth of all iniquity
whereunto they won this unhappy and miserable man,
and were never satisfied, when once he began to yield
in any one point to serve their turns .-'
This then is one commodity that may come to
Catholics by divulging this confession. Neither is this of
small importance ; but yet another is there of no less
moment, which is, that hereby, and by these notorious
events, all Catholics may easily gather the truth, assurance,
and dignity of their cause, and this not only by those
examples that I have shown before of all antiquity,
wherein is seen that those that fell did commonly fall

3i6 The Fall of Ayithony TyrreU.
from the better cause to the worse — to wit, from God
and from His true Church, according to the saying of
St John the Apostle concerning such miserable people,
I St. John ii. " They went from us and were not of us,"
but also and much more, if we consider rightly and truly
the causes, reasons, and motives of such as fall in these
our own days in England, which are evidently seen to
be fear, frailty, desire of life, looseness of behaviour,
wicked appetites of honour, riches, pleasure, or of human
favour: or on the other side, spite, malice, envy, hatred,
pride, revenge, contempt of God, lack of devotion; and
that contrariwise, other cogitations of rising again and
returning unto us, and of their voluntary confessing of
their faults is upon the plain contrary motions to these,
that is to say, upon scruple of conscience, fear of God's
judgments, hope of salvation, terror of eternal condem
nation, love of justice, zeal of truth, and for defence of
innocency, which in their passion they had slandered ;
all which particulars when they are duly considered to
Catholics, as they may be commonly in all falls of such
as have been shaken in these years of our English perse-
cutipn set down by their own pens and free declarations,
I mean such as have fallen, and after have recanted and
recalled the same, as this of Anthony Tyrrell, and that
of John Nichols, of Laurence Caddy, of Richard Bayne,
Edward Osborne,' and some others, which are yet extant
under their own hands, oaths, and voluntary confessions,
and do plainly, sincerely, and resolutely confess and
discover in the same the very causes of their falls that
I have here rehearsed, — when things I say are considered,
they cannot but confirm greatly any reasonable man in
the truth and comfort of the Catholic cause which works
these effects ; and this is the sum of the second reason
for publishing Tyrrell's confession to the view of many.
^ The retractations of Nichols, Caddy, Bayne, and Osborne are given
in the Concertatio, fol. 231 — 242.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 317
A third reason there is in respect of the Protestants
and enemies themselves, who may be counted in two
sorts, the first of such as for conscience and opinion of
religion do follow that cause, and these beholding the
shameful practices that have been used in this affair of
Tyrrell's and that in truth nothing less is sought in these
turmoils about religion than religion itself, and nothing
less executed than justice in all these late executions of
justice against Catholics ; when they shall see, I say,
and consider attentively what devices, practices, and
treacheries have been used for the entrapping and over
throw of so many as in this confession are named, they
cannot, being otherwise men of judgment and good nature,
but take great compassion of the afflicted state of Catholics
in England, although they were not of their own blood
and country as these be, to see them used so contrary
to all order of common justice, which this land itself
observeth unto very thieves, murderers, and malefactors,
who are not, nor ought not, guilefully to be drawn into
snares as Catholics are, and that this should be the fruits
of their new religion in so few years, to pervert the
common course of all ordinary justice, which even under
the Turk or Sophie' is permitted to Christians that live
under their dominion, it seemeth that these men cannot
but blush thereat, if reason and wisdom have any place
at all and this for them ;
But for others who do sit at the stern and govern, and
their ministers under them, whose profession perhaps is
to follow rather policy than justice or religion (though
events daily do show that policy without equity and
conscience is more damnable indeed than durable), yet
even in respect of this their policy they may be warned
by this confession of Anthony Tyrrell, as also by that
of John Nichols before set forth already in divers
languages, that these proceedings of theirs cannot turn
' Sophi, the Ei)4peror of Persia. Johnson.

3i8 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
to their credit in the sight of any discreet man in the
world. I mean, to prosecute matters so deeply upon so
small grounds, induced by themselves, for as John Nichols
confesseth that he was persuaded by Sir Owen Hopton
and others to cast out those slanders of invasions and
killing the Queen, for which afterwards Father Campion,
Mr. Sherwin, and so many other learned, grave, worshipful,
and holy men were made away, so here you shall see
Anthony Tyrrell to confess the like that upon his own
mahce, and Justice Young's and others' allurements, he
devised all these odious accusations of intention to invade
and kill the Queen against both the Queen of Scots,
Ballard, Babington, and the rest that were put to death
about these broils — which is a pitiful and lamentable matter,
and never heard of I dare say in our Commonwealth
before in such number and quality of persons since the
first habitation thereof by the Britons. And that a new
Gospel should breed such stirs in so few days is a matter
worthy consideration, as also it is that God should provide
that the actors and first authors commonly of these
bloody tragedies, like new Judases, should come and cry
mercy of the persons betrayed when their blood was
already sold, as John Nichols did, first to Mr. Kirby in
his chamber in the Tower after his condemnation, and
afterwards openly, and the same you shall see Anthony
Tyrrell do here in this confession of the souls of many
a one already executed upon his false impeachments, — and
thus much of this third reason in respect of the Pro
testants. There remain yet other three reasons and consider
ations that moved me also to the publishing of this
confession, whereof the first was in respect of foreign
countries, which having heard much of the present conflict
and persecution of England and martyrdoms of such as
have stood, reason it is that they understand also of the
frailty of such as do fall, to the end they may perceive that

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 319
we deal plainly and sincerely in this cause, confessing
as well our wounds, hurts, and losses as our victories, as
all true and grave historiographers do in describing of
any war, whereby it shall appear also that our proceeding
is not different from that of the primitive Church, as our
case is the same.
The other consideration, which is the fifth, is in respect
of posterity, to the end they may truly know what passed
with us in these our days of new reformation. And the
last is in respect of them and their posterity that have
been touched or made away upon these false inventions
made by Tyrrell, to the end that albeit that for the present
there be no remedy, yet that their memory hereafter
may be relieved so far forth as it may deserve from the
opprobrious crimes of treasons and conspiracies, by the
confession and clearing of him that first of all as it
seemeth did falsely charge them with the same.
All these reasons therefore remaining together for the
setting forth of this confession of Tyrrell's, they did easily
answer and overcome the other reasons alleged before,
in the beginning of the preface, to the contrary; and so
I resolved to do it, though somewhat abridged, by leaving
out some narrations that seemed over long and not so
important as the rest, yet have I noted the sum thereof
even when I pass over the words themselves, so as this
that is here set down is the chief and most effectual part
thereof, which I doubt not (gentle reader) will seem very
strange unto thee, and cause in thee marvel and divers other
cogitations and effects in reading it over.

320

CHAPTER I.
HIS ACCUSING OF HIMSELF, SET DOWN IN THE PREFACE
TO THE READER.
Anthony Tyrrell before he cometh to the particular
declaration of his sinful enormities, he maketh a vehement
accusation of himself and his wicked doings in a preface
to the Christian reader, which is as followeth word for
word. " When as a man through sin hath once lost the grace
of Almighty God and wilfully yielded himself unto the
wicked suggestions and temptations of the enemy, it is
a thing almost incredible (but yet, God wot, we see it by
daily experience), how suddenly a man descendeth down
by no small degrees from sin to sin, until at the last
he falleth down into the very gulf and depth of all sin,
and when a sinner is once thrown down into the profundity
and bottom of sin, what other thing doth he but contemn,
according as it is written : Peccator cu7n in profundum
venerit contemnit, &c. .' I will for this matter go seek no
further example than from my own self the most miserable
, .... , , , wretch and caitiff, of all others unworthy
A pitiful example of ' ^
myself. ^.j^^^ j jj^g^ worthy of a thousand deaths if
it were possible in this life, and after, most worthy of eternal
damnation in the world to come.
" To set down the number of God's graces and benefits
bestowed upon me, by the memory whereof the enormities
of my heinous and grievous offences would appear the
more monstrous and detestable it were too long a thing,
and I should not (I fear me) find leisure and time sufficient

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 321
to discover another matter, far more important, which is
this, that concerneth my contempt of the majesty of
Almighty God, the dishonour of His Catholic Church, the
horrible slanders of His Supreme Pastor or Vicegerent
under Christ upon earth, the innocence of His most holy
and virtuous priests falsely by me accused, Judasly by me
betrayed, besides the most vile, false, and slanderous
accusations, not only against great princes, but a number
also of most honourable, worshipful, and worthy persons :
whereof some have been by my most wicked and sinful
means most innocently condemned, and most lamentably
cast away in this life (although their happiness no doubt
through the great mercy and providence of Almighty
God be now exceeding great in the kingdom of heaven),
unto the great grief and discomfort of all good and godly
men, not only in this realm of England, but throughout
all other nations of Christendom, unto whom the fame
thereof hath or shall spread ; and many also that be yet
living, who have been or may be called in question and
grievously endangered through my most vile and slan
derous accusations, and not unlikely (as many others
before them) most unjustly to be made away and
executed, with lamentable and pitiful case of their
parts (although on my part the author and original of
these horrible tragedies most damnable and execrable
and worthy of all temporal and eternal punishment). God
of His infinite mercy and goodness who is the only true
Defender and Purger of the innocent, the only Punisher
and heavy Paymaster of the nocent, would not that the
guiltless blood of His dear and loving servants so unjustly
spilt, should be kept secret, but made manifest unto the
God's mercy and pro- world who hath hcld them to be most
vidence in discovering
my wicicedness. hcinous traitors, grievous and abominable
conspirators, whereas in truth and verily they are found
before God, and to be proved also unto the world to have
been far otherwise. And surely were it not for this only
V

322 The Fall of A?ithony Tyrrell.
cause, I see no other reason on my part, how any way I
might have deserved the least drop or sparkle of God's grace
to repentance, but rather might have looked every moment
when the ground should have opened to have swallowed
me up quick into hell, or else some other strange and
wonderful or horrible ' event, to the terror of all such
apostates and traitors as myself unto God and His Church,
suddenly to have happened unto me. But lo ! the prayers
•of that holy and blessed martyr, St. Stephen, how much
they prevailed before the mercy of Almighty God it is
manifest in the Acts of the Apostles, whereby Saul being
a great and famous persecutor of the flock of Jesus Christ
became notwithstanding repentant, and an elect Apostle
of Jesus Christ; and although his persecution was but
of ignorance, and mine of malice, who knoweth yet
whether the prayers of those three most glorious and worthy
The Hood of martyrs martyrs, Mr. Dibdale, Mr. Loe, and Mr.
by me shed hath made
intercession for me. Adams,' whose iunoceut blood I think
verily to have been shed through my most wicked and
malicious means, with the blood I fear me of many other
persons ; who knoweth I say whether they have procured
this favour of the Omnipotent Majesty of God to bring
me unto the confession of my fault, and to cry with
David in the bitterness of heart, Pcccavil and not with
Judas miserable to go and hang myself?
"To their prayers I do impute this grace obtained at
God's hands, and in no wise unto my own deserving,
for I felt myself so clearly gone from God and fallen
so far into His contempt, that my soul abhorred all
goodness, myself I suffered to be drowned in all impiety,
and wilfully or rather monstrously bended myself against
God and His Catholic Church, accounting myself the most
desperate of all others, and so most wickedly had deter
mined to have ended my days.
"If, therefore, I have any repentance, if I be brought
^ Supra, p. I So.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 323
unto the true acknowledging and confession of my crimes,
if I crave effectually all shame and confusion in this world,
so as my soul may find mercy in the world to come, if
yet I desist from sin and turn unto God with all my
heart, in fasting, weeping, and mourning, if all the days
of my life I bewail my fault, my most grievous fault,
and crave mercy of Almighty God, who is rich in mercy,
who forgiveth more than human malice can offend, who
only by His Almighty power and grace can pluck me
out of the jaws of Satan, unloose his fetters wherewith
he hath me so long, so sore apd surely fastened, unto
Him I say and His eternal mercy be all honour and
glory for the same, and to His aforesaid blessed martyrs
and saints, that have by their especial prayers procured
me this grace, be praise and thanks for ever."
Thus far are his own words, wherein he layeth down
(as you see) his own sinful proceedings and grief for the
same, and then turning himself to the Queen and Council
he asketh them pardon for abusing them with lies, and
then to the Catholics afflicted by his falsehoods, to whom
he saith as followeth. "The enormities of my offences
by myself truly laid open, your innocencies showed, your
false and slanderous accusations purged by me your former
malicious accuser, and now your humble, repentant, and
sorrowful supphant, I know not possibly how I may make
. . . . ^ YOU any better satisfaction than this, unless
A petition to the .^ J '
Cathohcs. j^ j^g i^y giving my neck unto the halter,
my quarters to be divided, in a perpetual memory for
the injuries done you and wrongs that by me you have
sustained, and I would to God my future punishments
may unloose so many as by my means are unjustly
detained, and that all other griefs, calamities, smarts,
anguishes both of body and mind were cast upon me
altogether, so as you might be freed, delivered, and be
thought of by our prince and country no otherwise than
you deserve. But alas ! since I have with great falsehood
V 2

324 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
and facility brought you into the briars, and by no sorrow,
coniplaint, punishment, or penance of mine own I can
help you out again, to the mercy of Almighty God I must
commend you, with whose infinite goodness, if the tears
of a wretched sinner daily shed for you may any prevail,
or repentance for my fault, by confessing my crime and
doing penance, in sacco et cinere, for the same all the days
of my life, may procure the eyes of His holy pity to
be inclined towards you, by the help of His heavenly
grace I will not let to do it." Thus far Tyrrell. And
finally, to omit other long lamentations of his which are
here in this preface set down, he endeth the same in these
words, " Read the sequel of this story with patience,
lament my present estate and afflictions, pray for my
amendment, pardon my trespass, and refuse not to help
me to be received again into the grace and favour of
Almighty God by repentance, for which I am ready to
sustain all worldly shame and punishment, and with this
I cease to trouble you further, and will enter into
the narration of the story itself, how it happened."
Hitherto are his words, and there followeth his sub
scription thereunto, which is thus :
"Unworthy abject of all others,
"Anthony Tyrrell."
And after his subscription he giveth this title to the
beginning of his narration —
" The lamentable confession of Anthony Tyrrell, priest,
unworthy of that holy name and sacred profession, as by
the most pitiful discourse following shall plainly appear.
The true title of this whereiu to the honour of Almighty God,
whose majesty I have most grievously
offended, to my own temporal shame and confusion,
worthily of all the world to be contemned, and to the
help of all other sinful and wretched sinners, that by true
repentance their lives may be amended, I have set down

The Fall of Antho7iy Tyrrell. 325
with as much sorrow of heart as it pleased Almighty God
to yield me, although nothing comparable to the quality
of my crime, such offences as I have committed and are
necessary of the world to be known, beseeching God of
His infinite mercy to pardon me, and all good and
charitable people M'ith compassion to pity me and pray
for me, that my deserved confusion here on earth may,
through the sweet merits of our Saviour's Passion, procure
the last spark of His grace to deliver my soul from
everlasting torments, which worthily I have deserved."

CHAPTER II.
OF HIS APPREHENSION AND BEHAVIOUR IN PRISON,
BEFORE HIS FALL, WITH HIS EXAMINATIONS AND
ANSWERS TO THE SAME.
In the sixth page of his confession he beginneth to set
down largely and very particularly his manner of appre
hension, examinations, answers, and whole demeanour
until his fall, which I shall repeat in his own words
most truly and faithfully as all the rest, without altering
anything, as near as I can, as also I shall add his own
marginal notes. Thus, then, he beginneth.
"In the year of our Lord God, 1586, I, Anthony
Tyrrell, priest, by the permission of Almighty God was
My apprehension, apprehended and taken prisoner in my
chamber at Lambert Hill, the 4th day of July, by two
pursuivants, Newall and Worsley, and by them carried
unto the Counter in Wood Street, and there was com
mitted close prisoner. From thence the same day in the
afternoon, by the foresaid pursuivants, I was carried unto
the Court, her Majesty lying then at Greenwich, my arms
,. ¦ , ,h being fast pinioned, as if I had been a
My carrying to the => sr f '-'^ "•
Court. thief or traitor (for so commonly now-a-

326 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
days are all priests accounted until they forsake God),
where being arrived I was then carried unto the Council
chamber and there to be presented before Mr. Secretary
Walsingham, who being then for other affairs of the Queen
at London, I was for the time entertained by Mr. Bell,
,, , . , one of the clerks of the Council, who took
My conference with
^^"' upon him to dispute with me in matters of
divinity, whose arguments and speeches as they were most
foolish and ridiculous, so as they are not worthy the
setting down, but to be passed over with silence, only
this I say in respect of the comfort that I felt in myself of
the benefit of God His grace, who saith, 'When you shall
stand before kings and princes do you not fear nor fore-
think what you may say or speak, for it shall be given
you in the same hour what you shall speak'; and so I
was nothing at that time (I thank God) appalled or afraid
at the threatenings or opprobrious speeches of the enemy,
but rather found in myself courage sufficient to contradict
their blasphemies, to contemn their taunts, and thought
myself much honoured to be scorned at their hands for
Christ His sake: — and I would to God I had never swerved
from that mind, for then those heavy desolations could
never have chanced unto me that after ensued.
" To be short, nothing they gained at my hands by
that arrival, but only shame and discredit, as by their
objecting unto me their exorcisms, or dispossessing of
devils from three poor maids and two men, the which
Bell and the rest in scornful manner termed conjurations,
witchcrafts, sorceries, and illusions to deceive the world.
My speech of the ^'^'^ all of which mattcfs, forasmuch as
exorcisms. .^j^^^ themsclvcs had entered into parti
cular mention thereof, I that had been an eye-witness of
most of those wonderful things, being moved with the
zeal of God's honour, could not choose as then but say
something. Wherefore replying my speech upon Mr. Bell's
most malicious and false inveighings, I think I said thus,

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 327
or to like effect. 'Mr. Bell, you do not well to breathe
out blasphemies against the power and handywork of
Almighty God, or to seek to suppress by falsehood a
most known truth. These things that j-ou speak of are
no conjurations, witchcrafts, sorceries, or illusions, as you
term them, but the wonderful work of God, shown some
times extraordinarily, and mainly in these our days, for
the subversion of heresy and confirmation of the Catholic
cause. It is not your malicious and uncertain speech that
can convince a known and certain truth, and therefore
I pray you give me leave with patience to tell you no
more than I myself did see with mine own eyes, and
many more that were present can witness against you.'
" I did see upon commandment of the exorcist the devil
to cast up out of the bowels of a man a hooked pin, a
Wonderful things done P'^ce of lead, aud z. shirt string, all being
at the exorcisms, fastened togcther, not without great and
grievous pain of the possessed party, and this was done
maugre the malice of the devil, that did seek still by all
means possible to retain them in the body of the party
for his destruction, but by the invincible power of Almighty
God giving authority unto His Catholic priests to command
as I said the wicked spirit to deliver it, within my presence,
and in the presence of divers others, I did see accomplished.
" And not only this, but the next day following, one of
the maidens (there being three in all possessed in one
house, besides the man), whose name was Friswolde Owen,
dwelling in the parish of Denham, and in the county of
Buctingham, and in the house of Sir George Peckham
Knight, being exorcised the devil appeared most sensible
in her body, and talked by the maiden's tongue, confessing
that he had brought into her body two needles and other
filthy stuff for the destruction of the party; but God, which
suffereth none of His creatures to perish that putteth their
trust in Him, was not wanting unto His poor maiden,
as hereafter shall appear, for the devil being commanded

32 8 TJie Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
to render up all such sorceries and witchcrafts as he had
brought unto the maiden's body, refused a great while
(as always his custom is to be loth to surcease from
hurting), but at the last it pleased Almighty God to
make him yield unto the authority of His Church, to the
which the devil cannot but obey. The wench being cast
into a slumber, and the exorcist being departed out of
the chamber for giving the maid repose, the maiden sud
denly awaked crying out that a thing came running up
her side and pricked her. I being then present there
myself came presently to assist her and besought Almighty
God to help her ; and so calling upon the name of Jesus
Christ, forthwith the devil came up into her tongue, blas
pheming the holy name of Jesus, and called for the priest
by name that had immediately before exorcised her, but
he being at that time not present I asked the devil myself
what he would with the exorcist, whose name was Dibdale,
and now no doubt a blessed martyr in heaven triumphing
over them that then so much tormented and vexed him,
threatening him full oft that they would bring him to
the gallows, the which in the end they performed, unto
their own shame and confusion. The devil answered, 'A
plague on him, let him come and take his needle that he
commanded me to give him, and I would it were in
him.' ' Why,' quoth I, ' where is the needle .-" ' ' Dost
not thou see it .-' ' quoth the devil. With that I did behold,
and lo ! contrary to nature or reason, that the handiwork
of God might appear plain to the sight of the world for
the manifestation thereof unto others, the needle came
peering out on the side of her left cheek, and being half
out and half in I took it between my fingers and my
thumb, the point of the needle being outward, and verily
before God I protest I could not by any force pluck it
out of the maiden's cheek, and the devil perceiving me
to use some violence egged me on, saying, 'Why dost
thou not pluck it out.? I would have thee to tear the

77^1? Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 329
wench's cheek.' ' No,' quoth I, ' I command thee to let it
come forth without the maiden's hurt' And so it pleased
God that it came to pass, for the needle then came forth
with great ease and without all pain to the party.
" At this and the fore-mentioned action I was present
myself and did see them, and out of the same maiden
afterwards was fetched forth by the like means a great
blunt nail all rusty, and out of another maiden named
Other things extorted Auu Smith a piccc of a rusty knife, of
from the devil by exor- ,.,,. t i .• i -.i-
cisms. which things I make mention here in this
place, not that I had opportunity given me at the Court
in the presence of Bell and the rest thus largely to express
all these things, but only to set down here the truth, for
the world to judge whether these things could be illusions,
as it pleased Bell to term them, and as at the arraignment
of good Mr. Dibdale it liked Justice Young to account
them, and exaggerate against him for effusion of his blood.
But to proceed.
" All these things that I here have mentioned, both
that which was fetched out of the man and the two
maidens possessed, were in my trunk at what time I was
taken, and being found there by the pursuivants were
brought with me to the Court ; which putteth me now
in remembrance of another thing, the which I think
requisite to make mention of in this place, although at
that time I did not utter it, yet of truth as I shall answer
before God thus it was.
" After the devil had been forced by the Omnipotent
power of God, in the virtue of the holy exorcism, to yield
out of the possessed creatures the fore-mentioned things,
and that I had gotten them all into my keeping, the devil
maligning thereof asked me what I intended to do with
them, whether that I would show those wares of his (as
he termed them), and sell them. 'Look to it,' quoth he,
and swearing a great oath he said he would have them
again, do what I could. Wherewith I thinking that he

330 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
would steal them from me, as things enchanted, I blessed
them with a prayer of the Church and cast holy water
upon them, not knowing the devil's mystery ; but after
I perceived it, for within a short time after I was appre
hended, and then Newall and Worsley got them, and then
„ _, ., , I perceived how the devil was as good as
The devil as good as r^ ^
his word. j^jg .^yQj.^^ f^j. ^jj^j. j^g ]^^j gotten them
again by his ministers, and so he said truly that he would
have them, for from the devil they came and to him by
his two devilish pursuivants they were brought and so
given to Justice Young his treasurer, who for his sake
keepeth them.
"All these things being found, taken, and brought
with me to the Court by the pursuivants, as hath
been said, together with a little book written by myself
as touching all these strange and wonderful events, and
the book being delivered into the hands of Bell, he chal
lenged me for writing and publishing such notorious lies,
saying they were all counterfeit things and illusions, where
upon I answered that they were wonders most true and
such apparent miracles as were able to convert the most
obstinate heretic in the world ; and withal I recited what
things had been brought out by the power of God from
these possessed creatures, willing the pursuivants that had
them to shov/ them unto the company that were many,
but for shame they would not. And, furthermore, I
requested Bell, for that he seemed so incredulous, that
he would inform the Council and procure that Catholic
priests might make public exorcisms, in the face and
The ministers challenged ^icw of the world, and their ministers
might be also present, to the end it
might be seen which of them had the most power to
make the devil obey, for the trial of the cause. This
was the holy courage that it pleased God to give me
then, and I would to God I had been so gracious as to
have conservad it still, but forsaking His divine grace

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 331
I was also by Him right worthily forsaken. But to
proceed. "After I had been kept in the Council chamber the
space of an hour and more, I was carried unto the Lord
Treasurer's chamber, but Justice Young being there present
sent me away back again unto London without speaking
to the Treasurer at all. So came I to my former prison
of the Counter again, where I remained until the next day,
and then I was carried unto Justice Young, before whom
His first examination be- ^ ^"^"^^ examined, and first of all he ten-
ore Justice Young, (jgj-g^ jj^g ^^ ozfh, but I dlrcctly rcfuscd
to be sworn unto anything, unless I might have knowledge .
of the matter that I should be sworn unto first"
Hitherto are Tyrrell's own words, which here I break
off ; for the large narration following, of examinations with
Justice Young, and then of his letter written to the Treasurer,
and his order from him to be examined by Topchffe,
His first examination by ^s he was in the Lord Rich his house in
Young and Topcliffe. g^_ Bartholomew's, is not needful to be
set down here at length. The sum of all is that both
Young's and Topcliffe's speeches, which he setteth down with
his own answers thereunto, tended to no other end, but
partly by sweet prayers and promises and partly vigorous
threats, to induce him unto that which at the last he fell
unto, albeit not now, which was to utter some matter
prejudicial to others as touching the State, which when
neither of them could procure they caused him to write
again to the Treasurer, to see what advantage might be
picked out thereof, but finding none of importance they
denounced to him his arraignment, of which at that time
he was very glad, and writeth as followeth.
"After the sending of the two letters to my Lord
Treasurer I heard no news of anything but that I and
Newsbroughtmeofmy Mr. Dryland wcro against the next day's
arraignment. ^ssizcs allotted out uuto thc gallows. And
God be honoured for His goodness, my cause being then

332 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
directly for religion, it is incredible the comfort that I found
therein, thinking myself far unworthy for so great a benefit
and favour at God's hands, respecting my sinful loose life
which I had led before, not following the fear of God in
my profession, but rather vanities, having led a licentious
and riotous life, that had deserved a greater punishment
than so happily to be called away by martyrdom, so that
then the memory of death was comfortable unto me, and I
had no other thoughts in that my imprisonment but to
prepare for death, and I would God ten thousand times
that I had so happily gone.
" But alas ! my wretchedness did not deserve it I
was spared for a further ruin. I was left to live, as since I
have thought, to be a vessel of perdition, wherein Almighty
God (to the example of all others that have no better care
in their priestly vocation to lead a sincere and pure life)
might pour out the fulness of His indignation, which He
seemeth to have done, for otherwise I could never so
deeply have fallen as I have done ; which now I shall
endeavour to set down with all the truth, sincerity, humility,
and grief of mind that Almighty God shall yield me grace
to do."

33-

CHAPTER IIL
OF the beginning and secret occasion of HIS
FALL and yielding.
The first and principal occasion of his overthrow he
attributed to the delay of his arraignment, though the
inward cause thereof he confesseth to have proceeded of
his negligence in governing his life as he was accustomed
in virtue. His words be these :
" But now let me proceed to confess my fault God
grant me grace hereafter to have a fit time to make some
amends. News was brought me one night that the next
day I was to repair to the Sessions House, which news
nothing at all dismayed me, but gladly and joyfully I
performed those actions that became me against such a
banquet; and the next morning I expected every hour
when I should be called forth. But in fine, the case
altered ; I was not so. Then whereas before I assured
myself of a most happy death, I began to hope again
after an unhappy life, and so I lingered a few weeks
after a close prisoner, and through the procurement of my
friends I got the liberty of the house, which cost me
My arraignment de- lO/. Aud if it had plcaSCd God, I
ferred, and the liberty
of the prison granted, would I had ucvcr obtained it, unless I
could have used it better, for then I verily think I never
had been in such an estate as now I am in.
" For after that I had gained the liberty of the house,
SO withal my mind and affections grew more large
and loose. I served God less, I delighted in profane
pastimes and exercises. I pampered more my belly, and

334 Th^ L'all of Anthony TyrreU.
cocked myself a great deal more than I was wont. The
devil also espying his advantage, brought back again
into my mind the memory of my former pleasures and
delights, wishing sometimes with myself that I might
enjoy such corruptible follies again.
" Thus by little and little sensuality creeping into me,
and less armed with the defence of God's grace than I
was for the resisting of sin, I upon the sudden was sent
for to Justice Young, and although I determined all the
way I went not to speak anything that should be either
offensive to God or to my conscience, yet by reason of
my indisposition and former carelessness for such events,
when it came to the point I somewhat faltered.
"Mr. Young, calling me up into an upper parlour, where
T^ ... was none but he and I and his man
My second examination
before Justice Young, j^arris, hc bcgau vcry smoothly to frame
his speech in this manner, as near as I can guess. ' Mr.
Tyrrell, I have been with her Majesty, with whom I have
had some speech of you, she calling your father to
remembrance, whom she loved well, would of her
exceeding clemency extend some favour upon you, if so
be there be any grace in you as yet left to deserve it
Her will and pleasure therefore is, that you deal plainly
with her, and discover all such noblemen and ladies
within her realm with whom you are acquainted, that
have given you entertainment, or that you know to have
been reconciled either by yourself 'or by any other. In
so doing, I can assure you of her Majesty's favour and
mercy. Otherwise, you must look for all extremities'
" His speech thus ended, ' I am,' quoth I, ' most
My answer to Justice humbly to thauk her Majesty for her
Young. gracious clemency, but surely as I shall
answer before God, there is no nobleman within this
land that ever I conferred withal, my Lord Darcy of
the North excepted, to whose house I came as a guest
with other friends of my lord's acquaintance, and departed

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 335
from thence again, not known unto my lord what manner
of person I was, and more than with him I talked not
since my coming into England.'
" With this fell Mr. Young into very hot language,
saying that I lied loudly, and that he would deal with
me another way — that is, swear me on a book to answer
truly. For oaths I told him I had taken none, nor would
not take any, and therefore I desired him to pardon me.
He never rested urging me on my allegiance, or other
wise he would inform her Majesty of my stoutness, and
how little I deserved the favour I refused, and to take
the oath. Then I began to fear lest he should grow
into some cruelty against me, and inform worse of me
than I wished he should, and my mind being more set
upon liberty again than it was, and I now less constant
in God's cause than I should, did fondly yield unto an
oath, so far forth that he would not ask me any question
that might prejudice my conscience. And so he brought
me a book of common prayer (as they term it), at the
My frailty in taking ^^'^'^h, although my conscicnce pricked
an oath. j^g ^q tzk.^ any oath upon such an
unlawful book, yet for fear of increasing his displeasure,
I yielded, laying one of my fingers upon it — God
knoweth with a full evil will at that time — at which
he took exceptions because I laid not my whole
hand. But his man Harris answered the matter, saying
there could be no dissimulation before God, for as good
was a finger as a fist. And in that he said truly, for as
soon may v/e go to the devil for an inch as for an ell.
God forgive me for it.
" After that I had taken this ungodly oath upon an
ungodly book, and kissed that with my lips which ¦••
detested with my heart, he began to examine me -^ter
this manner : First of all he inquired what talk F -''iionds
He meant by Edmonds the Jcsuit, Comelius the priest.-'nd I had
F. William Weston, ^g touchiug the Ead of -'undel, by the

33^ The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
oath that I had taken. I answered, by the virtue of
the same oath (if there were any virtue in it as other
could be but little), that I never to remembrance talked
with them of the Earl of Arundel in my life, as I
protest before God and the salvation of my soul to my
knowledge I did not Note that which followeth here
after. ' No,' quoth he, ' will you deny that ; did not you
and Edmonds no time talk of the Earl of Arundel ?
Beware what you say,' quoth he, 'and rem^ni'ber~That
you are sworn.' I beginning then to seem somewhat
religious of an irreligious oath, did somewhat study with
myself, saying at the last in good faith, ' I do not
remember that ever I talked with Father Edmonds of the
Earl of Arundel, more than once riding by the way, I
asked Father Edmonds a question, what he thought would
become of the Earl now after he had made his appearance
in the Star Chamber, and had been put to his fine,
whether he should now remain in the Tower or no ?
And that Father Edmonds should answer, if so be he
would but yield to confer with my Lord of Canterbury,
that he should be released from the Tower. And I asked
again whether he might not so do 1 And Father Edmonds
Mr. Young his good should answcr that he might not, for it
affection towards the i , . 11 , .r^i 1,
Earl of Arundel. was both dangcrous and scaudalous. 'Oh!
quoth Justice Young, ' then the Earl sent some messenger
unto Edmonds to know his opinion .' ' ' No,' quoth I,
'I do not say so, for then I should say falsely by the
oath that I have sworn.' Fain Mr. Young would have
inferred in so much by my words, but as the truth was,
I did still swear unto the contrary, and when he could
get no more, he did write the rest with his own hand,
aild because it concerned a nobleman, I besought him
to set down the matter as I had spoken it And so he
did, as I did read myself And no more passed from me
as touching my lord at that time.
" Then did be hunt about after the names of such

The Fall of Antho7ty Tyrrell. 337
persons in whose houses I had frequented sithence my
coming into England. I answered it that was no parcel
of my oath to accuse or appeach any, for that should
offend God, and it was directly against my conscience.
He did swear by God I must tell, for that her Majesty
would know where and how I had lived.
" Upon that, to yield him some satisfaction, and so
, , to quit myself from him, I began to tell
\Vhen a man hath ~\. J • a
Stle.'how he'is'^d^la ^'1" ^ow that at my first coming over,
in further. before the statute made that it should be
felony for every person wittingly to harbour a priest, I
conversed one while in Essex with a kinswoman of mine,
called Mrs. Paschall, the which to speak truly was an
untruth. And after, I travelled into the north, and
kept with the widow Babthorpe, who after niarried into
Suffolk unto one Mr. Suliard. I lay there so long until
by the statute it grew dangerous unto them to give me
entertainment. And so ever after I conversed up and
down, conversing amongst strangers until the time of my
apprehension. Then was he at me for my coming into
England, who came with me, &c. I told him the time,
the port, and that none came in with me but one Mr.
Ballard and Mr. Bray, the one then a prisoner, namely
Bray, the other was I know not where. We came together
to London, and parted at the Bell in Smithfield. And
this was the effect of my examination at that time, and
of my confession, I being heartily sorry, both for my folly
for taking of an unlawful oath, and of my more folly
in confessing anything which might seem offensive and
slanderous unto any. And to conclude this matter with
, , , , a thing that was more than all the rest at
Another degree unto *^ '
the devil. jj^y departure from Justice Young Harris
his man asked me if I would be content to confer, and I
answered, that I would not refuse it. And all was to procure
so much favour for my wretched carcase as I might, not
remembering the hurt I received thereby in my poor soul.
w

338 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
" Thus did I depart at that time from Justice Young
Mr. Ballard appre- to the prison from whcuce I came. After
bended, and my fears T,.f-T-»iii 1 it 1
increased. a whilc was Mr. Ballard apprehended and
taken, which news when I did hear did sore appall me,
not (I take God to witness) that I ever had in heart
consented to any crime, or that I knew anything certain
that did import, whereof I might be accounted faulty for
keeping of his counsel, saving only that former speech
that he talked of, of an invasion like to be, the which
I took to be both vain and foolish, and therefore far from
my thought to believe it Yet because I knew he had
been but lately in France, and was now lately returned
back again, contrary to the expectation of all his friends,
and knowing that he had a mind that somewhat savoured
of ambition, and that he was too forward in matters above
his compass, I feared that he being charged with some
great crime or other, and that I being known to have
so much conversed with him, as in going over the seas
together, in travelling into Italy as far as Rome together,
in coming over back again together, in lodging for a
long season in one chamber together, in riding of many
journeys together, and now, since his last coming over,
having met oftentimes together, I feared, I say, that if
perhaps he were to be charged with any heinous matter,
I should be made partaker of his punishment, though I
deserved it not
" From thence began the cause of all my ruin, although
I am not to blame him or any other but my own self
and my own wilful malice, as by God His grace, to my
own confusion, I mind hereafter truly to set down.
" And because that upon this man, Mr Ballard, depend
great things, as he being accounted a monstrous and
Thecauseofthedeath Capital traitor, a seckcr of the destruction
those'^'' wto ""suffered of hcr Majcsty and the ruin of the realm,
and one that was the chief and principal
cause of the decay and spoil of so many proper gentie-

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 339
men, as hath not been seen cast away together in our
age, I thought good before I go any further truly to set
down as near as I can the beginning of our first acquaint
ance, with the continuance thereof, the places of our
meeting, and winning together unto friendship, the causes
of our going over beyond the seas, our whole continuance,
progress, and return, our actions in England, until the
time of his departure into France, and after his coming
back again, our meetings, and the causes thereof, with
the full substance of all the matters that ever I knew
concerning these supposed heinous enterprises of his, or
of every of them that conversed or suffered with him for
the same. Whereby it shall appear manifested unto the
world what I knew truly by that man, and what I have
falsely reported of him, to his utter overthrow and ruin,
and not only of him, but of divers other gentlemen which
were accounted actors with him, whereof some be dead,
and divers be yet living : wherein I protest, as I hope
through the infinite mercy of God to be saved at the
dreadful Day of Judgment, not to say anything but the
truth : wherein I go not about to excuse any traitorous
person from the guilt of treason, but to clear the innocent,
to tell whom I have hurted and harmed, whom I have
falsely accused, what lies I have invented, what detestable
actions I have committed, how grievously in my con
science I have offended in seeking the overthrow of God's
Church, the perturbation of Christendom, the ruin of all
Catholics, and therefore worthy to be pulled in pieces with
hot irons, and to die ten thousand deaths, if it were
possible. How far those persons or any of them offended
God or the Prince I know not, but sure I am that I have
most grievously offended them in charging them with
such matters, which I protest upon my soul were as false
as God is true." Thus far Tyrrell's words of these affairs.

W 2

340

CHAPTER IV.
OF HIS acquaintance AND PROCEEDING WITH MR. BAL
LARD the PRIEST, AND HOW AFTER BALLARD'S
APPREHENSION THE DEVIL TEMPTED HIM TO FALL.
He maketh a very long narration of his acquaintance
and proceeding with Mr. Ballard, for three or four sheets
of paper together, the principal points whereof are these
truly taken out of his own words. First — That his
acquaintance and first friendship with Mr. Ballard was
in the Gatehouse of Westminster, while himself (I mean
Mr. Tyrrell) was there prisoner, which afterwards was
confirmed in Norfolk, where Ballard went by the name
of Turner. Secondly — About three years after, meeting at
London, they concluded to go together into France
and thence to Rome to see their friends, and so they
did, and returning to England were chamber-fellows in
„ „ ,, ... , London until Lent, in the year IS 86, in
Ballard s conditions and * J J i
qualities. ^^i -whlch time he professeth never to have
seen any evil in the man, nor the least intention against
the Queen or Estate, nor other evil, but that he was
naturally lofty of condition, seeming ambitious in putting
himself into great company and loth to be contradicted,
very liberal in spending and sumptuous in apparel, wherein
this man saith also that he followed him over much, and
was a great occasion of his loss of spirit and fall.
Thirdly — That in the year 1586, being both of them
weary of this following the company of young gentlemen in
England, without attending to their function, they treated
together to go over into France to study, and to retire
themselves to a more strait life ; but that Tyrrell for lack of

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 341
maintenance stayed in England and Ballard went over,
but within three months after he returned again under the
name of Fortescue, and being misliked and much mar
velled at by his friends for the same, he told Tyrrell in
his chamber in Lambert Street, in the month of June,
,, „ ,, , r that it should be good for him to get
Ballard s news out of o &
^'^""- him out of England, for that there would
be great stirs in England before Michaelmas next ensuing
of that year 1586, for that the Pope had made the Kings
of Spain and France friends, and all three had agreed to
make an invasion upon England out of hand.
Fourthly — Being asked of Tyrrell how he knew this
and what ground he had thereof, he answered that such
an Englishman in France (whom Tyrrell saith that for
some causes he will not name now) had assured him of
it, and had willed him to return into England to advertise
the same, which Tyrrell saith he believed not, partly for
that in itself it was improbable, and chiefly for that the
man he named was not much to be credited in like
matters, and lastly, for that he suspected that Ballard
made this tale for colour of his vain and inconstant
proceedings in returning again so quickly out of France;
yet for that the other told him that he was to go to
the French Ambassador and to receive letters of the same
from his said friends in Paris that sent him into England,
who had also (as he said) sent his' picture to the said
Ambassador the better thereby to know him, he was
content to go with Ballard thither, as he desired him to
be his interpreter in the French tongue ; but yet, as he
saith, he went with intention to discover the whole matter
to the Council if it should fall out to be anything of
importance against the State.
Fifthly — He saith that going with him to the Ambas-
Deaiing with the ^^^°'^ ^^ found all as he suspected, that
French Ambassador, j^^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^^^.^ ^^j^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^
Ballard for the most part for his own credit, for neither

342 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
the Ambassador knew him or had his picture or any
relation of him, or letter or matter for him, but only
his secretary had two littie letters of the party in France,
which had been by him a good while, and were only for
a simple plain priest in England,, whom Tyrrell saith he
well knew to be far off from all matters of estate, so as
those letters could not import anything more than some
exhibition sent from the party to the said priest, where
fore Tyrrell saith that in his heart he condemned much
the vanity of Ballard in this action.
Sixthly — He saith that Ballard and he being together
in one lodging, and Mr. Edward Windsor, brother to the
Baron, by chance, not knowing of them, took a lodging also
in the same house, and to him resorted Mr. Edward Tilney,
Mr. Henry Dunn, and other gentlemen afterwards executed,
with all whom Ballard came acquainted by this occasion,
and moreover he continued his acquaintance begun with
The French secre- the Frcnch Ambassador's secretary, who
tary^s coming to Bal
lard's chamber. one evening by mere chance passing that
way entered into their lodging to see Ballard when the
English gentlemen were all together, whom Ballard desired
to entertain the said secretary and cause him to drink
a cup of wine, without any more talk of matters of estate
in the world, but only to ask his master the King of
France how he proceeded against his heretics in France,
which talk endured not half an hour, and so the secre
tary departed. Tyrrell's own words of this meeting are
these that follow. "He stayed with us I think for the
space of one half hour, or somewhat more, all which time
(as I shall answer before God) I heard no manner of
speech uttered by any man, more than that we inquired
of him the estate of France, and how the King did pro
secute the Huguenots, and what hope there was of their
overthrow; not one word was there (I take God to witness)
of the Queen's Majesty or estate, or any other nobleman:
and so after he had drank a cup of wine the secretary

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 343
departed and I did never see him since, or any other of
my acquaintance to my knowledge. This meeting and
conference I have set down as perfectly as I could, together
„, , , with the cause thereof, for that out of this
The ground whereupon '
I corned all my lies, j havc forgcd most false and monstrous
matter, as that that should have been a meeting of set
purpose for the contriving of some notable treason, as the
destroying of her Majesty's person, the consultation how
and in what manner it might be done, with the invasion
of the realm, &c. If therefore there were any more harm
or hurt intended than that which I have already set down,
or anything by any person more spoken of than I have
already mentioned, I pray God I may never enjoy the
kingdom of heaven."
Thus much siith Tyrrell of that point, and afterwards
showeth how, not believing the report of Ballard to be
true, he never uttered the same to any man but to one
Mr. Barnwell, who neither would believe it nor was willing
to hear it, though after he was put to death for it. And the
reasons why Tyrrell discovered not this to the Council
at that time were three, as he saith, which you shall hear
in his own words that ensue.
" Those things," quoth he, " I did at that time conceal,
for these three causes that do follow. First : Because I
The causes moving belicved them not, for I thought it a thing
me not to disclose
Mr. Ballard's news. impossible that any such matter could be
attempted, but that it must needs be known otherwise
than by his private report. Secondly : I being myself a
priest, and in danger of my life by the laws to offer myself
to the Council for the revealing a thing which in my
conscience I deemed untrue, I thought it mere folly so
far to endanger myself for nothing. Thirdly : Mr. Ballard
also being a priest, for me to play the spy and to seek
his death for a matter that he did but utter to me in secret,
whereof there was no hurt done, nor any to my judgment
that might come thereof, I thought I might not So that

344 Th^ P<^ll of Anthony TyrreU.
these were the causes that moved me not to be known
of anything. So long, therefore, as this matter came not
to light, and I well hoped that it would have been utterly
extinguished, and so I feared nothing ; but so soon as I
heard say Mr. Ballard was apprehended and brought to
prison, my sorrows were redoubled, for then I looked every
day when I should be called into question. But alas !
what do I mean, to go about to excuse my fault through
Mr. Ballard's apprehension, or why do not I rather accuse
myself most detestable wretch of all others, of mine own
folly and wilfulness in falling into so grievous sins .' Was
it not mine own fault .'' Was it not mine own corruption.''
Could any man constrain me to that impiety had I not
wilfully yielded of myself .' No, verily : why then unto
mine own shame and confusion it must needs redound ;
no other person can justly be accused of my fault but
Mr. Ballard's appre- mysclf, although indirectly Mr. Ballard's
hension the indirect
cause of my fall. apprehensiou may seem some occasion ;
but yet Justice Young his malice, together with the devil's
somewhat more, but mine own I must confess to be most
of all, and therefore what punishment am I worthy to have
that so highly have offended the majesty of God, dis
honoured His Church, occasioned such stratagems against
so many of my dearest friends and innocents ; what amends
can I now make 1 Surely no other but in all humihty to
confess my wickedness, to crave pardon both of God and
the world, and patiently to sustain what punishment soever
it shall please God and His ministers to inflict upon me,
the which that I may do I beseech His Divine Majesty of
His infinite mercy and goodness to assist me with His
grace. " To return, therefore, whence I came. After the appre-
My sending for to hcnsiou of Ml". Ballard, within few days, I
&r.'BaiiS"s°^ appre- was scut for again to Justice Young, who
examined me afresh, as if I had not been
examined until then. He required many things of me as

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 345
touching Mr. Ballard, telling me first how dangerous a
man he was, and of what heinous matters he was to be
charged, and how that I being so long and well acquainted
with him could not but be privy to most of his practices,
the which unless I would show myself a dutiful subject
in revealing of them, I should be sure to abide the smart ;
whereat, I being overcome with a present fear, I professed
I would keep nothing secret that I knew ; whereupon I
began briefly to reveal what Mr. Ballard had informed me
of at his return from France, and disclosed in effect all
„ J c . that he had told me. At the which Justice
r ear maae me nrst •'
shnnk. Young, seeming to be very glad, gave me
great commendation for my plain dealing, and promised
me that he would procure me what favour he could. Where
upon I liberally offered myself by pen to set down more at
large such matters as would not a little import, if so be he
would not fail to stand my good friend, and that if it might
please her Majesty to be so gracious unto me, I would do
her such service as few of my condition had done the like.
Whereupon he gave me his hand, and willed me to assure
Shaking hands with myself that I should find favour, and that
Justice Young is one
step to the devil. it was her Majcsty's pleasure to use me,
and therefore willed me not to fail, but to send my letters
unto him by my keeper the next morning.
"After I had made him promise so to do and v/as de
parted home to my prison, good Lord ! what a conflict had
I in my conscience to think what I had done ! How often
did I condemn myself for my offence, refusing to go any
The combat between futthcr, and how oftcu gavc I conscut back
my good angel and bad. ^^^j^^ j ^j^^ , ^^j^^^ weakened by my
former fault, and plunged now further in than I could tell
how to wind myself out, fearing that unless I would dis
cover somewhat further, that which I had already spoken
would very likely cast me away, and not having, in truth,
any further true matter of importance, yet for saving myself
I thought that I must enter into somewhat ; and so suddenly

346 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
in this wicked discourse, yielding too much to the tempta
tion of the enemy, and not lifting up my thoughts and heart
unto Almighty God, from whence I should have received
M ieidin to the assistauce of grace and comfort, in one
¦^^"'^ moment I threw myself down headlong
into sin, whereby the devil seized upon me with his power
altogether. That night before I went to bed I did set
down by pen as much against Mr. Ballard as I did know,
I mean of his own speeches since his last coming out
of France, how he revealed them unto me, and how I
revealed them again unto one Mr. Barnwell, an Irish gentle
man, and so much I did set down of this Mr. Barnwell
as I was sure was enough to cast him away ; and yet
in conscience I was persuaded that he never in heart
consented to any traitorous attempt in his life.
" I did sit up that night I think until ten of the clock
My good angel was cuding of that letter, and when I had
loth yet that I should _ . , ,
perish. finished and was gone to bed, I could not
sleep for anguish of mind in thinking I should be the
cause of the casting away a gentleman upon my report,
he never assenting unto harm : for when I first began to
make relation unto Mr. Barnwell of the aforementioned
speeches of Ballard, I remembered well with what heavi
ness and sorrow of heart the good honest gentleman did
listen unto my tale, saying that if it came so to pass as
My dealing with Mr. ^od would puuish our couutry by sending
Barnwell. jj^ ^ foreign powcr, and that the Catholic
religion could not be established otherwise but by the
sword, 'I pray God,' quoth he, 'give me grace to spend
my life in that quarrel that I may please Him best' And
this was the worst word that I ever did hear the gentle
man say, only this he added, that the news was to be
spoken very sparingly, and but to a very few, for that
they imported such danger if they should be known ; yet
I in my letter had set down his speeches in such sinister
manner as though willingly he had condescended to have

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 347
played the traitor, which I protest upon my soul was not so.
Full sore was I troubled all that night for the writing
of this, so that in the morning I did rise very early and
did tear it all to pieces, and framed another wherein I
... specified some matter of Ballard, and left
My conscience cried out sz '
against my first letter. ^^^ jyj^. Bamwdl altogether, thinking that
I would not lay his innocent blood upon my shoulders.
And that letter being made I set it away to Justice Young,
but this would not so content him, for when he had
perceived I had once began to dip my finger in blood
he would not leave until that I had wet my whole fist,
wherefore he sendeth me a note of divers gentlemen's
names, and requireth me to make answer unto them the
next morning. All that night I was wonderful perplexed
what I should do, and in the end the devil getting the
upper hand, I fell into a most desperate discourse with
myself, for I began to think that I had now gone further
than I could call myself back again, and therefore since I
had already offended God so deeply, and given, as I
thought, my soul into the possession of the devil, I would
set up my rest for some worldly gain, and from that time
A desperate resoiu- ^ g^vc my couscnt fully to bccome a
"™" Judas in kind, or rather a most unkind
beast, to betray [my] Master, my friends, my brethren, my
countrymen, and in one moment of time to abandon
myself of all grace and goodness that ever I had obtained
in my life before, and plunged myself headlong into the
bottomless pit of hell."
This much writeth Tyrrell of his own good disposition
when he determined to change his religion and serve
Justice Young's turn in all things, whereof you shall hear
the particulars in the chapter following.

348

CHAPTER V.
OF HIS DESPERATE RESOLUTION TO DENY HIS RELIGION
AGAINST HIS OWN CONSCIENCE, AND OF HIS ACCUSING
INNOCENT MEN WRONGFULLY AND MALICIOUSLY :
AND OF JUSTICE YOUNG AND THE LORD TREASURER'S
MANNER OF PROCEEDING WITH HIM IN THESE
AFFAIRS.
After his most impious and desperate determination to
break with all, and to have no more respect to truth,
honesty, or religion, nor to God or His judgments, as in
the end of the former chapter himself hath declared, there
followeth a declaration of his damnable course in that
behalf, which shall be laid down altogether in his own
words, which are these that ensue.
" After that I had condescended to play the miscreant
and to lose my title and interest to God's everlasting
kingdom for less than a mess of potage, I began to think
what I might do to prolong this wretched life and carcase
of mine to make some temporal gain.
" And first I considered that my state stood upon very
The devil suggesteth slippcry poluts, for that I being a priest
divers cogitations. ^j^^^ ^^^ j ^^^ j^^ j^^^^^.^ ^f ^^^ jjf^^ ^^^j^^^
I would recant Secondly, the matters that I had begun
to mention were no less than treasonable, and the further
that I waded in uttering my knowledge of them, the
further I should bemire myself And moreover, to put
myself into Justice Young's hands I thought it a very
unwise part, and to make him privy unto all my secrets,
I imagined that he would use them all to his own benefit
and credit only, and I might chance to be fairly rewarded
at last with a hempen halter, as Judas was for betraying

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 349
his Master, wherefore I liking not any of these courses,
I rather made choice of this other way, that now I will
tell. "And to begin, the devil thought that he would work
surely with me, which was to overthrow the very tower
of my soul, and utterly to undermine me at the very root
and foundation, and so persuaded me altogether to forsake
,, . , my religion and to become on the sudden
No way to purchase J *=>
lestlnTbutt\orS°e a zcalous Protestant, as brought unto it
™^ ^" ' without all conference or study, only by
revelation : for otherwise, thought I, in all my intended
mischiefs, if I keep my Catholic religion still and play
such parts as I now purposed, I should be most odible
unto God and unto all Catholics, and be but contemned
also of the Protestants for my labour, and hardly of them
be beloved. " Therefore to work surely I must, thought I, relinquish
utterly my faith and religion, and upon a devilish ground
go forward with all mischief without remorse, as I have
begun. It shall suffice, therefore, thought I, to write to
Justice Young, that his orderly proceedings with me and
godly persuasions had prevailed so much as that they had
gained a soul (from God to the devil in truth was my
meaning), and that he had been a great motive unto my
conversion, especially the grace of God so working there-
A devilish purpose, with. And thus in these terms I thought
to flatter him up, but notwithstanding for matters that
concerned the State, whereof I thought I would yield him
great store, if I did see any cause, I would not be too
busy with him, but rather I thought it best by them to
curry favour with my Lord Treasurer himself, and there
fore I craved that I might come to the speech of the said
Treasurer, as if I had matter far more important than ever
I spoke of yet to Young to utter unto him. After that I had
thus wickedly invented, I did write a letter unto Justice
Young, the contents thereof were too miserable ; for can it

350 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
enter into any man's mind that ever had knowledge before
of my life and conversion that I should become of such a
horrible mind, of such a monstrous intention, being a
Catholic priest, to write so abominably as I did, contrary to
mine own knowledge, contrary to my conscience, against
the majesty of Almighty God and my sweet and tender
mother the Catholic Church, that so carefully had fostered
me up ; yet so it was, and what did I write .' I quake now
to repeat it. Alas! I did write with great impudency that I
acknowledged myself by reason of my Ro.mish religion
highly to have offended God and her Majesty, and did
My abominable letter uot let to affirm that our religion Catholic
to Justice Young upon r , i • i -r i
a Sunday. (out of thc which I kncw there can be
no salvation), was both false, wicked, and damnable, that
all Catholics were traitors, that I had too long traced
their accursed steps, that I desired now on my knees to
be delivered, that I submitted myself unto her Majesty's
mercy, that I was weary to live under the servitude of
Pharao, that I desired now to become a true Israelite and
a perfect member of Jesus Christ, or rather an accursed
limb of Satan, as my conscience still told me : but yet
thus damnably did I write, and in the end I concluded
with this petition, that if I might come unto my Lord
Treasurer's presence that then I would show the fruits
of a true and perfect subject (which were indeed to betray
innocents and to seek the effusion of guiltless blood).
Thus then I wrote, and much more. This letter sealed
and sent, I made no doubt of a speedy answer, and forth
with the very same day, in the afternoon, being Sunday,
I was sent for unto Justice Young, and as soon as I was
come hither he carried me up into his upper parlour
all alone, and pinning fast the door did then embrace me
One devil embraceth ''^ ^'^ arms, as who should Say, Welcome
home, gentle brother. Now I was no
more accounted a traitor or a practiser of treasons ; all
were gone with the bare name of Papist, notwithstanding

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 351
that I intended to become a traitor in the highest degree in
betraying of Christ and His servants, I was now as honest
a Protestant as the best But, alas ! small cause had I
to comfort myself with such a courtesy. This new friend
ship exiled me quite from my wonted glory. Oh, that I
been the veriest abject in the world, so as I had con
tinued the servant of God still ! After that he had in
his arms embraced me, 'Oh,' quoth he, 'how I rejoice,
Mr. Tyrrell, to see this day ! ' (Oh, Lord, thought I, how
many good men in the world would bitterly lament to hear
Young's speech at my o^ ^his day.?) ' I have pctused your letter,'
tumbg. Q^^Qt'a. he, ' and I have showed it unto the
Lords of the Council, and it is incredible what joy they
have conceived upon the hearsay of your conversion. My
Lord Treasurer will speak with you some time this day ;
there is an hour appointed, when you and I shall go to
him.' In the meantime he told me many ridiculous [stories]
of himself, how he being once an earnest Papist it pleased
God to open his eyes by reading of the Scriptures, and how
he [came] to be a perfect Protestant ; but he yielded me
such blind reasons, notwithstanding his eyes were so
opened, as he said, that had I not of purpose before wil
fully given myself over to the devil, it had been surely
enough to have called me back again to hear him, but in
truth in my sleeve I laughed his vain speeches to scorn.
No comfort or taste could I find at all in his words, but
to my conscience they were as bitter as gall, although out
wardly I seemed to savour them as sweet as honey. To
be short, the time coming that v/e were to go to my lord
he made me put off my gown, and to put on a cloak
of his, and so taking water at Allhallows, we landed
at the Strand, and coming about on the back of my
lord's, by the fields, we were let into his garden, where
my lord, in one of his walking alleys, expected our
coming, and entering into a banqueting-house, I came
before his presence, and prostrating myself at his feet he

352 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
My Lord Treasurer bade mo arisc, aud with uHctuous words
his speeches at my first , ,, - ,,, ,
coming. began to tell me how glad he was to hear
of my penitent mind, and should be much gladder if I
meant that I had written unfeignedly. He told me as
he doubted not but that God could call a man home at
all times miraculously, as He called Paul and others, yet
my conversion could not be but strange, both by reason
of my bringing up and long conversation ; adding that
subitce mutationes were valde periculosce, or at least sus-
piciosce, which, as I remember, were then his words, and
therefore he willed me to deal sincerely and plainly in
everything. I protested unto him that so I would, and
that I would halt in nothing, and protested moreover that
Now was I tied to J -vyould become a conformable man in all
tne devil in a string, to
be.^drawn unto .-uiy- ^espects uuto her Majesty, and was sorry
with all my heart that I had swerved from her Majesty's
laws, which was only by reason of my perverse opinions,
and therefore most humbly craved pardon for that which
was past, and I did swear to be true and obedient for the
time to come. ' Deceived,' quoth I, ' I might be in my
religion, but traitor in my heart I was never. But well
I perceived how hard a thing it was to be a Papist, and
no traitor, and therefore I was fully minded to relinquish
both the one and the other.'
" My speeches seeming well pleasing unto my lord, he
began to inquire many things of me as touching Ballard,
Barnwell, Babington, Tichborne, Tilney, E. Windsor
Abington, and others, of whom I did speak fully as much
as I did know and more, with hard and bitter speeches
against each of them ; what evil members they were, what
evil practices they went about ; objecting more against
them than was true, the particulars whereof shall be
showed anon.
" My lord hearing me to accuse them so frankly, and
The courtesy a man percciviug that I did Speak it with a mind
shall find for playing
the knave. rcsolute to dcspatch them, thought with

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 353
himself that I was likely to prove a man fit for their
commonwealth, and therewithal promised me that I should
lack ndthing ; and as he was entering to a further discourse
with me, one of his gentlemen informeth him of the coming
of the Earl of Huntingdon, whereupon my lord said he
would talk with me more at large another time.
" In the parting, for my farewell I maliciously appeached
two honest gentlemen; the one was Mr. Bold of Lanca-
Mr Bold first ac- ^^'^^^ ^lie Other was one Captain Jacques,
jacqis,''°"Mr'"\£ Mr. Vice-Chambcrlain's man. As touching
m er ain s man. -jyj.^^ Bold, I told my lotd that sltheuce his
coming out of Flanders both myself and Edmonds
the Jesuit had been at his house ; how he purposed to be
reconciled ; how there was Mass said there ; how he heard
a sermon ; what company were at it ; what vile words he
should speak against the Earl of Leicester, and that he
intended to do some mischief in the camp, with other
notorious lies of the gentleman, as hereafter I shall more
in particular set down. In like manner I- told many
perilous and dangerous things against Mr. Jacques, whereas
I protest before God I never heard or saw any hurt by the
man ; what my words were of him I shall declare anon.
" My Lord Treasurer not having any longer leisure to
'talk with me as then by reason of the Earl of Huntingdon's
coming, called for Justice Young, and willed him that he
The policy they prac- should keep all things concemiug me Very
tise to conserve their , , , - . , -,.
spies. secret, and colourably give out that i
showed myself very stubborn and obstinate ; and the
better to blind the Catholics from the knowledge of my
doings, whereas before I had the liberty of the prison, I
was now to be kept as close prisoner again, as if by reason
of my stout answers some further displeasure had been
conceived against me. Thus was I brought back again
unto Justice Young's house, with whom I supped that
night, and after supper he sent me unto the Counter,
accompanied with one of his men, who was willed to tell
X

354 Th^ -/^a;// of Anthony Tyrrell.
the keeper that I must have a good chamber and good
lodging, and be very well used, saving that the liberty of
the house must be taken from me again.
"All my Catholic friends in the Counter marvelled
what became of me all that day, and hearing the next
morning that I was come home again, and shut up closely
in my chamber, they marvelled much more, insomuch as
they being desirous to know how the world went with me,
they sent me by some means a little note, requesting me
to inform them the cause of my close imprisonment I
made them an answer quite from the truth, for that
the spirit of lying had now possessed me, and made
them believe that I was very straitly examined about
Mr. Ballard, and that I cleared myself and hurt not him ;
and because I would not confess that which I knew not,
I was shut up close again.
" This answer contenting them, I remained in my
chamber, close in body, but having a mind enlarged unto
all mischief I had no other thoughts but how to gain
favour and credit in the world, not regarding how dis
honestly I behaved myself, nor what falsehoods I did
devise so I might obtain the liberty, favour, and pleasure
that I desired."

355

CHAPTER VL
OF A LETTER WRITTEN UNTO Hiil BY THE TREASURER,
AND OF HIS MOST WICKED AND LYING ANSWER TO
THE SAJSIE, CONTAINING THE GROUNDS OF MANY
men's unjust deaths AFTERWARDS.
Tyrrell being so far gone now as himself hath confessed
in the former chapter, and so bent to all mischief as he
might be bade to say, swear, and feign whatsoever might
be in prejudice of any Catholic whatsoever, it seemed to
the Treasurer and Young that they had a fit man to labour
upon, and so the Treasurer wrote unto him out of hand to
that effect, and for the effects which you shall hear Tyrrell
report with his own pen ; for thus he saith —
" The next day after I was sent for again unto Justice
Young in great haste. When I came thither he delivered
me a letter sent from my Lord Treasurer, the which I
must answer with all speed I could ; and so being ready
to depart back again for the more speedy answering of
this letter, before my departure, because I would have
Justice Young to think that I began to be somewhat
Notable dissimulation, zcalous iu my ucw rcHgion, I desired him
to lend me some virtuous book to comfort me now in the
beginning of my conversion, for that I minded no more
for that time to use either my breviary or any other Catholic
prayers, as, God forgive me, I did not, except sometimes
by way of dissimulation. He was very glad of my request,
and said that I should have anything, and he sent me a
wholesome and a comfortable piece of work, to bring a
man headlong unto the devil, forsooth, Calvin's Justifica
tions, in Englishj the which I received as a book of great
X 2

35<5 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
price, and I liked it so well, as ever when I read it
methought I drew nearer and nearer to the devil and
mine own damnation : such monstrous blasphemies and
absurdities I found that I wished mine own knowledge to
have been niuch less, that I might the more easily have
believed them. But let Calvin rest in the devil's name,
with whom no doubt he dwelleth for ever, and let me
return to the answering of my lord's letter.
"When I was come home I perused the letter over and
over, and that my answer thereunto may the better be
known, I shall set down my lord's letter verbatim as it
was, the which he did write unto me with his own hand,
and sealed it with his seal of arms, the true original whereof
I have yet to show.
" The copy of a letter written unto me by my Lord Treasicrer, at what
time I was prisoner in the Counter in Wood Street, thc day after
I had been with him at his house in the Strand.
" I pray you deal plainly with me, for I mean chari
tably towards you, both for compassion of your adversity
and for your father's sake, whom I loved entirely, as I
am sure he did me. There is a God that only seeth the
cogitations of our hearts. He cannot be deceived, and
Scripture well applied thcreforc rcmcmbcr what was said by
by the Treasurer, jt Pctcr iu the Acts of the Apostics to
Ananias and Saphira. They both pretended to bring to
the Apostles the price of their goods, but they brought
but a part, concealing thc rest You may apply this to
beware in your offer to me, that you deliver not to me
a portion and keep back the greater portion. I am surely
in hope that you will not so do. Therefore I earnestly
pray you, enlarge your letter and writing unto me with
matters of importance and not of unnecessary circum
stances. And though a short time cannot serve to repeal
actions of long time, which yet hereafter I will desire, I
pray you for this present to begin to show your know-

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 357
ledge of the needful circumstances of these late actions
intended sithence Fortescuc's last return. Omit not to
name to mc the parties as well taken or discovered as
not taken nor discovered. Explicate the matter of Bold
of Lancashire, which you touched briefly, but I did not
hear you. August 28, 1586.
" Yours assured to acquite [requite] you for your pains,
"William Burghley."
This was the Treasurer's letter, whereby it well
appeareth what store he meant to draw out of this man,
seeing that by authority of Scripture also he urgeth him
to utter more than he had told him the day before, though,
as Tyrrell affirmeth, his own asseverations and accusations
to him had been so many, so sharp, and so furious, as in
reason he must needs suspect they were of passion, and
upon intention only to please him, and so the Treasurer
his speech to Tyrrell himself did import that he mistrusted
him, yet now he desired more of that mine and forge, and
Tyrrell was as ready to serve his turn, for thus he
writeth, page 41.
" I would to God I had answered this letter of my
lord's according to the ground that he himself had set
down. I would to God I had truly performed my duty
according unto my lord's own request of dealing plainly,
for then had not I feigned so much false matter unto him
as I did, and as it pleased him to vouchsafe me his charitable
compassion then for my temporal adversity, I would to
God it would please his honour now to have compassion on
me in the damnable estate that I am fallen into for the
recovery again of God His grace [lost] so wilfully through
sin. And whereas he put me in consideration of a God,
that seeth the cogitations of our hearts, if I had truly
considered that, I should no doubt have trembled in the
uttering of my foul and damnable cogitations fraught
full of malice, sin, and impiety. And whereas he putteth

358 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU
me in remembrance of the severe judgments of Almighty
God against Ananias and Saphira for bringing but a part
of their substance that before was their own, and were
stricken with sudden death for concealing of the rest, I
would I had been so gracious as to have remembered the
like severity towards myself, bringing in a great deal
more than was my mine own against a number of inno
cents whom I accused with most horrible slanders, of
the which I now do bitterly repent and shall while life
doth last.
"If I had had the grace to have followed the counsel of
my lord, which he gave me in these his letters, truly I
had not committed so great and grievous sins as I did.
But leaving my complaint until another time, I will set
down as near as I can the effect of mine own answer unto
this letter received, and unfold the untruths and misreports
that I therein did make. As I remember, thus I began.^
" ' Right honourable and very good Lord, — If I should
,, . , , , use any dissimulation, or not deal plainly.
My wicked answer to .^ ' r J ^
the irea^urer. j rcquirc for my deserts the same reward
that Ananias and Saphira had.' Thus was the beginning,
but for brevity sake I will omit to put down in all points
my letter as I did then write, only I will touch here the
principal contents whereof I discoursed, as of Mr. Fortes-
cue's going out of England and mine together unto Rome,
and how that Mr. Fortescue being at Rome should desire the
Rector of the English Seminary named AlphonsusAgazzarus,
to move unto his general and to other learned men of the
^ Tlie original letter is endorsed by Lord Burghley, "30 Aug. 15S6.
Tyrrell's second confession." P.R.O., Alary Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 67.
Tyrrell's first letter to Burghley is dated July 6, 1586, and is in the British
Museum, Lansd. MSS. 50, n. 73. An extract from it will be given later. In
another letter written by him on the 27th of August (ibid. n. 74) he says, "The
residue of my life, if it may please her Majesty to accept it, shall make such
satisfaction as never any of my conditioir hatb done in her Majesty's time.
When I come before your honour, you shall find that I do not feign, and sliaU
be able to certify your honour of that, of the which you shall be full fain."
His " first confession," which was addressed to Young, is not preserved.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 359
Society, this question, whether it were not a lawful thing
to kill the Queen, she standing excommunicate, and they
giving their answers affirmatively, that then he desired the
Rector at what time we were to be brought before the
Pope his presence that he would in our behalfs make suit
unto His Holiness that he would give us leave to attempt
that enterprise, and how the Pope should much rejoice at
our request, and grant our desired petition, and promise
Against the Pope, a great Tcward unto the doer : which I
protest before God and His angels to have been most
false, for there -was no such matter intended or spoken of ;
yet I devised a horrible speech that the Rector should
frame unto the Pope in our behalfs, and of an answer
that the Pope should make unto the same again, most
false and abominable, the effect whereof I shall set down
anon, when I come to the answering of my lord's second
letter, and particular interrogatories which [I] shall put
down in the chapter following.
" I did write moreover that Mr. Ballard told me that
Against Ballard, he would vcuturc his life for to accomplish
his enterprise in procuring of her Majesty's death, and
that very shortly, which I protest before God to have been
most false, for I never heard him in my life talk of any
such inatter.
"I did moreover appeach Mr. Edward Windsor for
keeping Ballard company, protesting that to my knowledge
I never knew Mr. Windsor converse with Mr. Ballard for
any harm. I did inform, notwithstanding that Mr. Windsor
brought Mr. Ballard to view the secrets of Whitehall, as
men that had conspired her -Majesty's death, and devised
a plot how to perform that enterprise, which I protest
upon the salvation of my soul to have been most false
unto my knowledge and a thing only of my own inventing.
"I accused in the same letter Mr. Ed. Windsor as one that
should conspire with others her Majesty's death, and the
matter to been have debated on in my chamber in the com-

360 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
pany of Ballard, Charles Tilney, Edward Windsor and myself,
and that Charles Tilney his device was to deal with some
lady or gentleman of her Majesty's Privy Chamber for the
Poisoning the Queen, poisouiug of the Quecu, and how that
Edward Windsor should altogether mislike that, as not
thinking it wisdom to commit his life unto the hazard
of a woman, but thought it better to procure it by pistol :
all the which I protest to have been most false, and that
there was never talk of any such matter.
" I did moreover accuse Ballard for repairing unto
many noblemen in this land, as to the Lord Windsor, the
Lord Stourton and others : which I protest was contrary
unto my knowledge, and that I did speak it altogether of
malice. " I mentioned in the same letter a horrible practice
Murder in the Star ^^at should havo bceu attempted in the
Chamber. g^.^^. Chamber: which was a thing most
false and untrue, as I did report it ; the particulars whereof
I shall have occasion to mention in the answer that I made
unto my lord's articles that he sent me.
" In the same matter I falsely accused the Earlof
Arundel, the Queen of Scots, Davy Ingleby and others.
"I amplified Ballard's being at the French Ambas
sador's with me ; and falsely accused Charles Tilney in
that action, and that he also should conspire her Majesty's
death : which as I shall answer at the dreadful day of
doom, I never knew any such thought or inclination in
the man.
" As touching Mr. Ballard's going into France, I did
most falsely set down his purpose and intent to have been
most wicked and traitorous, and that many gentlemen of
great worship were privy to the same : which is as false as
all the rest. The names of the gentlemen that I informed
I shall set down hereafter.
" In the same letter most maliciously and slanderously
I did set down Ballard's being in the north, and of his

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. .361
acquaintance with Mr. Thomas Metham, Ralph Craythorne,
Mr. Babthorpe, Typping, Dynnington, Crosslands, with
other gentlemen of the north. The particulars of each
person I shall set down hereafter. I impeached the two
Wisemen \sic\ of Essex, and Thorogood of the Temple ot
matters that I never knew.
"I impeached the Countess of Arundel for receiving
of Gilbert Gifford, and for conveying a message that he
brought unto the Earl from the Duke [of] Guise, which I
protest to my knowledge to have been most false : and
that George Gifford should have been one of the con
spiracy, which man neither did I know nor ever heard him
spoken of in those matters.
" I accused the Earl of Arundel for delivering of sums
of money unto Ballard and Grately of Burlace, his man :
which I protest to be most false and untrue to my know
ledge, as I shall answer before God.
" I accused the Countess of Arundel for entertaining of
one Baily, and of secret repair unto her : the which I spake
maliciously, not knowing any such matter.
" I accused Mr. Bold of Lancashire of many untruths,
as in my answer to my lord's next letter shall appear.
" I accused Jacques, Mr. Vice-Chamberlain's man, of
conspiring treasons, never knowing the man but to be a
most loyal subject unto her Majesty.
" Of all these matters and persons I did write unto my
lord a letter at large, which contained nought else but
false reports, malicious inventions of mine own pernicious
head, that according to my lord's request in his letters,
he might be assured that I brought forth all the provision
that I had, or rather more, and all to gain credit and to
make him think that I did know much, and could discover
much, whereof as it seemed my lord stood persuaded, as
by his next writing unto me may appear."

362

CHAPTER VIL
HOW THE LORD TREASURER, UPON SIGHT OF THE FORMER
LETTER, SENT TWENTY-EIGHT NEW INTERROGATORIES,
AND TYRRELL'S ANSWERS TO THE SAME.
Albeit it might seem that by the former letter which
Tyrrell sent unto the Treasurer of accusations, he should
have satisfied his appetite in that kind, yet it proved not
so, for that he was pressed presently to utter more, as may
appear by the twenty-eight articles which here do ensue,
sent by the said Treasurer out of hand upon the receipt of the
former letter, whereof Tyrrell himself writeth as followeth.
"This letter being ended, sealed, and sent, the next
day my Lord Treasurer sendeth me a catalogue drawn out
into articles to answer unto, which he gathered out of the
contents of my former letters, which I have here set down
verbatim as I have it written with my lord's own hand."
Thus saith Tyrrell, and then he setteth down the said
twenty-eight articles in order, after which all the Treasurer's
words in his letter are these —
" I pray you consider all these articles, and the sundry
circumstances thereof, and make answer to them as parti
cularly as you can, answering every article particularly as
they are divided in numbers, and what you think conve
nient for to be discovered for the safety of the Queen and
for continuance of peace in her realm ; for which you may
be assured of God's favour for "discharge of your own
conscience, and shall not lack all necessary maintainance
of the Queen by my means. " Yours assured,
" William Burghley."

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 363
Upon which articles Tyrrell writeth in this manner.
"When I had received all these foresaid articles to answer
unto as they are before set down, it is a thing almost
incredible that a man having received tiie grace of God,
could be so far forgetful of himself as to convert His
mercies into such malice, hatred, and contempt as I did.
O sin most execrable, that driveth a man into all abomi
nation, far worse than any beast, and to become as odious
unto God as the very devil himself, for otherwise how
could it possibly have been, that a man of my quality and
condition should have framed such monstrous answers as
here you shall see, contrary to all truth, conscience, and
honesty, thereby to seek the ruin and overthrow, if it had
been in my power, of God Almighty Himself, His Church,
and saints, and of so many worthy persons as by me were
injured in these my answers, whereby I think verily that
God in this our age would permit me to be an example
for all posterity, by His severe justice. I beseech you all
that shall be hearers of my grievous crimes, abhorring my
evil mind, pity my lamentable estate, remember that I am
flesh and blood, pray for my true repentance, for now I
do begin." Thus Tyrrell.
And hitherto in his preface to his answers that he
made to the Treasurer's articles, which he did set down
altogether and after repeated them again for their answering,
but I for more brevity and distinction's sake, will put down
every article asunder with the answers somewhat abbre
viated, for that oftentimes they are very large, and do
repeat that which sufficiently hath been uttered in other
places before. Article i — Treasurer.
" Before your going out of England with Fortescue
(cilias Ballard) to Rome, how many and who were privy
to both your goings out of England .? "

364 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
.- 1 nswer ^ — Tyrrell.
"In this article I accused so many Catholics in England,
gentlemen or otherwise, as I could call to remembrance
had ever upon any occasion yielded any relief to Ballard
,. . , , or me, adding also very malicious causes
l^ies against my bene- ' o j
factors. .J.Q ^^ same ; which for that I know not
what matter of prejudice my lord may infer thereof, I do
here protest, first, that it was before the statute made for
relieving of banished priests ; and secondly, that it was to
no other end but that we should serve God, continue at
our books, and pray for them, and therefore I ask them
most humbly forgiveness, on my knees, for so abusing
their charities."
[Tyrrell's list of his ill-requited benefactors, as given
in his original letter, is as follows.
" There were privy to my departure out of England
Edward Suliard of Wetherden, the Lady Babthorpe'
his wife, with whom I was then resident, Thomas Suliard,
brother to Edward, the Lady Waldegrave, married to Sir
William of Smalbridge, to whom I was brought secretly
at her house at Stoke in Sir William's absence, where I
said Mass, made a sermon before herself, Mr. Nudygatt,
and others whom I know not, should have reconciled her
daughter, but that I thought her scarce fit At my
departure she earnestly entreated me to remember her
to the lord her brother, to Charles, and to tell him that
he should not take care for want, hoping he would so
employ himself as always he had promised. .There Avere
privy to my going besides Mr. Mannock her neighbour,
Mr. Harry Drury of Losell, Rookwood of Coldham Hall
and their wives, old Martyn of Melford, the Lady Paulett
of Borley, Daiiyell of Acton and his mother, Yaxley of
Yaxley, Bedingfield of Bedingficld, Michell Hare of
^ The original is endorsed by Burghley, "31 Aug. 1586. Ant. Tyrrell's
answer to the Articles." P.R.O., Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 68..

The FaU of Anthony Tyrrell. 365
Brustyard Everatt, widow Rowse, Nicholas Teniperley of
Boyton Hall and his wife, with many other inferior
persons within that shire too long here to repeat In
Norfolk there were privy to my departure the Lady
Lovell, Mrs. Woodhouse of Breckells, Philip Audley and
his wife, Ferdinando Parys and his wife. No more in that
county were privy to my departure, although I was most
familiarly acquainted with all the rest.
" Fortescue came not at that time into those countries
but only to Nicholas Temperley's and to Harry Drury's
of Losell, who I think were privy in those parts of his
departure. Before he determined this voyage he had
travelled the west parts, Hampshire, and other countries
which I know not In London from whence we rid [rode]
together to the sea-coast, were acquainted with his departure
Sir John Arundell, with whom he was then very great, and
all his house, Tremaine and all his house, many gentlemen
of the Inns of Court, whom I as then knew not His
provision was lOO/. and mine 60I. We rid directly into
Hampshire, took many houses of his acquaintance by the
way, whose names I do not now remember, came to
Dymock's, hard by the Earl of Southampton's, he
himself being not at home, but there by his consent we
were entertained by Wright and his wife, lay there five or
six days, there we met Bray, -who made our passage
for 5i-., and had brought other company for to travel over,
namely three priests, two old men and a young ; the
old men were named, the one Greene, the other Hawkins,
that had been Sir John Arundell's priest in Cornwall, the
third was called John Long, alias Mytton, that had been
resident with the Countess of Arundel. There were
besides in our company Harry Hubbard, son and heir
to Hubbard of Hales' Hall in Norfolk, who fleeing his
country when the stirs were at Norwich, ventured himself
with me. Another gentleman called Harrison, cousin
either to my Lord- Vaux or Sir Thomas Tresham,

366 Th^ Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Fortescue's man whom he brought out of Cornwall, and
a little boy, which was Henry Wells his son, lying then
in Southampton House, and so we in one night took
shipping."] Article 2 — Treasurer.
" What were the intentions and purposes of you both
for your going out of England, and who in England were
acquainted therewith } "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
"To this article I framed my answer as I thought
might serve best my own turn ; for, having excused my
own going over as only for cause of study (as in truth it
was), and Ballard's also, I fell presently most maliciously
to slander him and others, saying that he being arrived
Lies againstMr. Bal- ^eyond the scas, opened unto me his
lard and his friends. j^j^^ f^j. ^^^^^ ^^ ^om&, with intCUtion
to procure a dispensation of the Pope for killing the
Queen, and that he needs would have me go with him for
that purpose, and I accused as many by name in England
as I knew to be of his acquaintance, as though they had
been privy of this his mind and errand : all which I do
protest to have been a most notorious slander, and I am
to ask God and his soul, that is now dead, pardon for the
same, for I never heard him speak word of any such
matter, or perceived any least intention of him or any of
his friends that way." Article 3 — Treasurer.
"With whom did any of you confer beyond the seas
afore your going to Rome ? and how were your charges
borne to go out of England and to Rome ? "
A nswer— Tyrrell.
"To this article I answered almost not a true word.
Lies of Rouen. but tliought to take an occasion out of
this to coin many a notorious lie, telling some true things

The Fall of Anthotiy Tyrrell. 367
withal which might seem to bolster out and give some
colour to the lies which I framed.
" For first, I told truly that at our coming to Rouen in
Normandy, we found there one George Stoker, which in
time past had served the Earl of Northumberland, and
then I framed that Ballard and this Stoker fell into great
conferences of treason, and to write and receive letters
from the Lord Seaton, Ambassador at that time for the
King and Queen of Scots in Paris, whereof I made long
tales and set down many particularities, all of my own
inventing, and without any truth at all, as God is my
Judge. '• Secondly, I told of our going hence to Eu,
where there was an English Seminary of some twelve
Lies of Eu. English gentlemen's sons or more, main
tained by the Duke of Guise, which was true ; but here
upon I framed many conferences of treason for putting
down the Queen and advancing the Queen of Scots,
between Ballard and Mr. Mann {alias Chambers), President
of that College, and the Duke of Guise : all which was
most false, and no such thing at all, and I do ask the
parties most humbly forgiveness. Hence we went to
Lies of Rheims. Rheims, where I framed the like con
ferences with Dr. Allen and others for killing her Majesty,
that all should like well thereof, and that we heard many
seditious sermons made there, and namely by Dr. Gifford,
calling the Queen tyrant, usurper, and other like odious
terms : whereof, God forgive me, no one word was true.
"From hence we passed to Mussipont in Lorraine, where
Lies of Mussipont. I said wc had the like conferences and
devised a great number of lies besides, as that the
Rector of the Jesuits there should tell us of great pre
parations in hand against England, and that two Scotch
Jesuits, named Edmund Hay and James Gordon,
should speak odious words against the Queen, and
pronounce Mary Queen of Scotland to be the true Queen

368 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
of England, with such-like other inventions which were
all false: and I ask God and those good fathers' forgiveness
who treated us far better than we deserved.
" From Mussipont we went to Milan, where I framed
Lies of Milan. much worsc matter yct against Dr. Lewis,
setting down particulars how he did lead Ballard and
me into his study, and having heard the proposition of
killing the Queen, should say, 'Aye, marry, Mr. Ballard,'
taking him by the hand, ' now you touch the quick indeed,
and you and I are of one opinion, and I being a lawyer
can resolve you de jure, that it is most lawful, but I dare
not utter this to every one, though many from England
have asked me this question.'
"Moreover, I feigned that I disputed with Ballard
against this opinion, and was like to fall out with him for
the same : all which from the beginning unto the last period
I protest before God to have been most untrue, and a mere
invention of my own pernicious brain, to get credit with
my Lord Treasurer ; and so I ask both Dr. Lewis atnd
Mr. Ballard's soul forgiveness as the rest."
Article 4 — Treasurer.
"What Englishmen were acquainted with your negotia
tion in Rome with Alphonsus Agazzarius for killing the
Queen, and what was the General's name unto whom
Alphonsus moved the matter propounded by you and
Fortescue } Whom do you know to have proposed like
matters, and what answers were given thereunto.'"
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" To this article I answered by prosecuting my former
Lies of our Roman 1'^, making a loug talc how at our coming
negotiation. ^^ Romci I was rcqucstcd by Ballard, as
^ " Pater Joannes Tirellus presbyter Londiniensis, Pater Joannes Balardus
dicecesis Londiniensis, Pater Joannes Longus dioecesis Bathoniensis, excepti
fuerunt hospitio 70 Septembris [1584], manserant per dies 24." Pilgrims'
Register of the English College, Rome.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 369
one best acquainted with F. Alphonsus, whose scholar I had
been, to break the matter of killing the Queen to him in
his chamber, and that he did not rejoice a little to see
that priests were come to that perfect zeal as to offer
the making away of the Queen, for that this was as he
said, vesci solido cibo, and not to be younglings still, quibus
lacte opus est, as the Apostle's words are, and that he em
braced us both for joy, imparted the matter with one Father
William Good, confessor of the College, and that they two
did break it with their General, named Claudius Aquaviva,
who took the matter joyfully also, and as I feigned, made
a long odious speech unto us against the Queen, which
I did set it down to my lord at large, as also Father
Alphonsus his speech unto the Pope in our presence, and
the Pope's answer and determination, which I framed in
the most hateful sort against the Queen that I could
devise, thereby to put her in rage against the Catholics,
with a hundred spiteful circumstances, which here are too
Abominable wickedness, loug to bc put dowu; as that we Conferred
this resolution of the Pope for killing the Queen with the
Bishop of St. Asaph, and that he should greatly rejoice
also thereof, and give us twenty crowns, and Dr. Lewis
the like, giving us thirty, and Dr. Allen the like, at our
return by him, but yet v/ith such recommendations of
secrecy, as if we should fall into the enemy's hands and
be put to torments we should not in any case reveal it,
for that he should assure us that it would be martyrdom
to die in the denial thereof: which malicious clause I did
put in, for the more torment of Mr. Ballard, and to the
end that albeit he did deny it upon the rack (as I knew
he must needs, except he would confess a mere fable never
heard or thought of), yet should they never believe him,
but rather only me that confessed I cared not what against
myseilf, being assured of my lord's favour so I might
hurt others.
" Thus have you heard a long and monstrous tale, most
Y

370 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
untrue as I desire to be holpen of Almighty God in all my
miseries either here or in the world to come ; for neither
was there ever any such speech or negotiations with the
foresaid persons in any of the places named, neither ever
would we have durst to have proposed any such thing
unto them, if Ballard or I had been so wicked as to
conceive it, as I thank God we never were : and therefore I
cry mercy with all my heart as in the rest"
Article 5 — Treasurer.
"What other request made you to the Pope Gregory
besides that of the Queen's death .'' What communications
passed between you and the General, or the Pope, or any
other, after the Pope's censure given you 1 For the manner
of the prosecution of the Queen's death, how, and how
soon that might be attempted \ "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" The most part of that which toucheth this article is
set down in my answer to the former, namely, concerning
our conferences and communications with the Pope,
General, Rector, Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Lewis, Dr. Allen,
and the rest, whereunto I added here a foul lie, saying that
for the manner of execution of killing the Queen, Ballard
Lies against young ^ad told mc that divcrs young Catholic
gentlemen. gentlemen in England had given him their
word to offer up their lives in adventuring the same, when
soever the Pope should determine it to be lawful, and that
Mr. Edward Windsor should be one of the principal: which
being most false, as it was, I ask God and him pardon for
the injury." Article 6 — Treasurer.
"When Fortescue told you he would venture his life
to procure this act very shortly, in what sort did he imagine
to attempt this 1 "

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 371
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" Here I feigned a new lie, saying that Ballard grew to
be zealous after the Pope's declaration, as he did not stick
to say that if all other means failed, he would kill the
Queen with his own hands, not declaring the particular
manner, but giving only to understand that he would do
it in some desperate manner : which I take God to witness
was most false like the rest."
Article 7 — Treasurer.
" In what month of the last year were you at Rome .''
How long did you tarry there .¦' With what Englishmen
did Fortescue confer there, and where did he lodge .¦* What
reward did the Pope, or any other there or on the way,
give you, or either of you .-" By what places did you return,
and to whom was this your answer of the Pope known at
any place or time, before your arrival in England .' "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" The answer to this is contained in that I have said
before to the third and fourth articles, only I added here
some new lies, as upon every occasion I was ready to
furnish my lord's store ; to wit, that the Pope gave us two
hundred crowns, the Rector sixty, Dr. Lewis thirty, the
Bishop of St Asaph twenty. All which was false, except
only ten crowns, which the Bishop sent us at our departure,
desiring us to pray for him."
[" Of the time that we came to Rome, which was in
the middle of September was two years ; we departed
from thence in the middle of October. Our tarrying and
conference that we had there was only among the scholars,
and chiefly Fortescue's company in Rome was Bagshawe
now in the Tower, but his material practices are yet to
come." Orig7\
Y 2

372 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Article 8 — Treasurer.
At what time and what port did , Fortescue
and you come into England, and what places did
Fortescue haunt after his return into England, and
what company did he keep, and where, until he re
turned again into France .' "
Answer — Tyrrell.
" To this article I answered truly about the time, place,
and port where we entered, but I lied grievously in saying
Liesagainstsirjohn'that presently after our return v.-e repaired
Arundell. ^^^j^ ^f ^^ ^^ gj^. j^j^^^ Arundcll's house,
and were joyfully received by him ; whereas I protest
before God that I never saw Sir John Arundell, to my
knowledge, in my life, nor never knew that Ballard had
seen him. I dilated also much upon the company that
Ballard kept more than now I can remember, but sure I
am that if I spoke one true word, I uttered tv/enty false
in the same, for which God forgive me."
[" I departed from Rheims alone to Rouen, left
Fortescue behind me, who after me a fortnight came by
Paris and Eu, acquainted with C. Paget, C. Arundell,
Morgan, and the rest, consulted with them of many
devices, and was instructed how he should lay his plot,
and being come to Rouen, he and I with Bray that had
caused a ship to come out of Hampshire of purpose to
fetch us home, wc travelled upon Christmas Eve was
twelvemonth from Rouen towards Dover, where after
a little expecting, our boat came and were landed by
Southampton upon St. Stephen's da}', as it fell out , in
England. From thence wc went directly to Winchester,
lodged at one Cook's that keepeth an inn, where Fortescue
was well acquainted, and provided all things necessary
for his journey to London. We stayed by the way a
night or two at Mapledurham with the widow Shelley.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 373
There we found John Ffoscue,^ of the Wardrobe, and his
wife, to whom with the rest we made presents of such
stuff as we brought from Rome, received thanks and
rewards, and so came directly to London, where first we
took inn at the Bell in Smithfield, Bra)-, Fortescue, and
myself Presently Fortescue repaired unto Sir John
Arundell's, received money for himself and for mc with
other rewards. We made presents to Sir John and to
all the house of such matters as we had (for wc brought
all our stuff from Rome into England safel}'). Then
after a while, Fortescue and I did ride into Essex to
]Mr. ^lannock's, and so into Suffolk to Mr. ilartyn's of
Melford, to ]Mr. Drury's of Losell, Mr. Rookwood's of
Coldham Hall, and so to Nicholas Tymperley'.?, when we
parted, not meeting one another until we came to London.
After that I had visited my own friends, I came to
London, found Fortescue who lodged sometime at the
Plough by Temple Bar, sometime in Vine A.llcy, some
time in one place and sometime in another. His acquaint
ance increased daily, and outwent me in countenance
and credit. Then became he great with Edward Windsor,
who carried him into the country sometimes for a fortnight
or three weeks together. And his chief friends then were
Harry Dunne, Gerard Maryne, Browning his lewd follower,
Thurgood of the Tem.ple, with many other gentlemen of
the Inns of the Court, especially of Grays Inn, whose
names in truth I do not know.
" Then upon occasion of a message that he had from
Fuljambe, that lieth now at Paris or at Rouen, to his
brother in Leicestershire, Llarry Fuljambe, whom he met
at London, he travelled with him as also myself into those
countries, where we got great acquaintance, as with Harry
Palmer of Kegworth, &c." Orig?\
^ Lord Burghley has written all the proper names in the margin, e.xcept
Sir John Fortescue's. See Tro^Mes, First Series, p. 144.

374 "Lh^ L^'all of Anthofiy TyrreU.
Article 9 — Treasurer.
" Into what counties did Fortescue travel in England,
and with what company did he pass, and how had you
money to bear your charges 1 "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" To this article I answered truly in very few points,
but falsely in many. I said truly that we had passed
through many shires after our return, which I protest upon
my soul was partly upon pleasure, and partly for safety
,. , . to avoid searches in London ; yet did I
Lies about our jour- ' -'
nies m England, invent infinite malicious lies of our nego
tiations in this journey, as though all had been for treason,
and having gone to St Anne of Buckstone [Buxton], Mr.
Ballard and I to take the waters there upon pleasure, I
feigned that we were sent thither by general consent, and
common charges of all the Catholics of the south, to settle
intelligence betwixt Scotland and London, and that we
two should have passed from thence to the Court of Scot
land, and have lain there, to have brought the Scottish
nobility into a league with English Catholics for advancing
the Queen of Scots, and that our devices should be sent
to Father Edmonds the Jesuit, in London, and that we
had great sums of money allowed us ; which I made more
probable by the store of money which I had in my purse
when I was taken, which in truth I had gotten by evil
means, for that a gentleman having delivered me a hundred
pounds to make over to another good man, I deceived
them both, and kept the money to myself; which naughty
dealing was a preface to my falling afterwards, yet now
I affirmed that this money was given to me to the end
which I before have mentioned : for which and all the other
lies so devised as I have rehearsed, I ask God and all
good men forgiveness, and namely, Mr. Edward Windsor,
Mr. Dinnington, and divers other gentlemen whom falsely
I accused to have accompanied us in this journey."

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 375
[ " From thence he and I, with another priest named
Brincborne, alias Dryland (who of that company I dare
swear is one honest man and innocent of all these prac
tices), did ride towards St. Anne of Buckstones, where
there should have been a gradual meeting of priests out
of all counties, to know how matters went abroad ; and
- coming first to Kingston to Harry Fuljambe's in Leicester
shire in the Whitsun holidays, there we stayed a week, and
there met us Edward Windsor ; and so riding into Derby
shire to Anthony Babington's, who then was not at home,
we came to Dethick to his house and lay there three or
four nights, where we heard news that our coming to
Buckstones had been discovered, which made us afraid
to ride thither, and so we altered our course. Only
Mr. Dryland did ride thither, for no other cause but for
his health as I can assure. Fortescue and I with
Mrs. Fuljambe, did ride unto my Lord Daeres, her
brother, with Edward Windsor, and lay at my lord's
four or five days never suspected ; and so to Justice Roades,
he himself being in his circuit, had good entertainment
of his sons, who took us for gentlemen of their own
quality and condition ; and so we rode from thence to
Doncaster, and so farther into Yorkshire to Typping's,
Crossland's, and so up by- Newark unto Cambridge, where
Fortescue and I parted, he going into Suffolk to Nicholas
Tymperley's, carrying him a couple of hounds that he
had given him of John Crossland, and I directly to
London. After a week or thereabouts, it being about
Bartholomew-tide, we met together at London, where
Fortescue had his attendants as thick as might be, every
gentleman calling him Captain, insomuch that in every
tavern and inn in London he was called Captain Fortescue,
and every man thought that knew him not, that he with
a great band should have gone over with my Lord of
Leicester. Many journeys he made with Edward Windsor,
but whither of my troth I know not His charges were

376 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
maintained first as I heard by the Earl of Arundel, for
Burlace his secretary had brought him acquainted with
the Earl. I myself rid with him one journey unto Romford
before my lord's apprehension not long, of purpose to
speak with Burlace about business that he had to do for
the Earl ; where we lodging at the inn over against the
Cock, at one Hall's as I take it, Burlace was in a chamber
at the Cock, whither Fortescue went to him and had great
talk with him, and should have received as he said a
100/. When he had it I know not well. At supper at
our lodging there came to us Burlace, Moyle, Kemp,
Medler, and others of my lord's men ; whereas I, Moyle,
and Kemp falling in to talk, we being but strangers,
Burlace gave me a caveat to beware what I did speak.
For the rest of his maintenance he had it chiefly by
Edward Windsor, very much of H^arry Dunne. He was
always so bold with gentlemen that apparel should cost
him nothing. There came Davie Ingleby and he
acquainted, who of all that are [not] taken yet, I take to
be the perilous man and the only practiser in the north
parts of England. He lieth secretly at one of his sisters',
as I heard. Then began Fortescue and Babington
acquainted, C. Tilney; the Abingtons, the Wiseman of
Essex, with Jacques, Sir Christopher's man, with divers
others. Then a great meeting being at our foresaid
chamber where at supper were Babington, D. Ingleby,
H. Dunne, Transom alias Barber that suffered, P[riest]
Fenell, P. Fortescue, and myself with others that I do
not well remember. After supper Babington began to
enter in with me for the Star Chamber practice, and
did as it were but insinuate the matter to feel my liking
or consent, I being a P[riest]. I gave him the hearing,
inquired how such a thing could be done. H^e told me,
' with great facility,' and then began to discommend the
weakness of some men that had neither courage nor
valour. I still hearkened unto the drift 'At a time,'

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 377
quoth he, 'when we may be certainly assured that all
the chief councillors of the realm are there assembled,
naming the Earl of Leicester, the Lord , Hunsdon, the
Lord Treasurer, Sir Francis Knollys, Sir Francis Walsing
ham and others, a dozen lusty gentlemen well picked
out with double pistols under their cloaks shall before
hand get every man his room, every man take his man
as he sitteth most convenient for him, and discharge upon
the sudden. The act shall seem so terrible and will so
amaze the company, that we shall,' quoth he, 'with small
danger get down. Besides, if any resistance be, we have
each man another pistol to defend us, and not only that
but also our men, who shall not be fewer in number, with
swords and bucklers, shall make our defence that we may
have passage either by water or by land. Nay, what say
you,' quoth he, 'if at that instant we have as many chosen
men as some of them by fine policy shall make errands
at the Tower, other some approach near unto the gates,
murder the guard, recover an entrance, and then a sufficient
number upon Tower Hill to make the supply and surprise
the Tower, make our captain the E[arl] of Arun[del]. So
having the full force of the Tower, money and munition,
the Council all slain, what shall let us to have as many
more in twenty-four hours as shall take all London, and
then, think you, what may become of the Q[ueen] and the
rest of the realm .'' ' When I had heard this discourse, ' In
good sooth,' quoth I, 'this is a wonderful conquest in so
short a time. It is pity that such heads as yours is, should
be left unoccupied.' But the man was in very good earnest
and I say he did not feign. This matter was talked after
wards by him and Davy Ingleby, with one more whom
I know not in Grays Inn Fields, and canvassed to and
fro, but in the end it was thought expedient that Fortescue
should [go] into France, and upon his return things should
be attempted that were most strange. By reason of the
just time and place, all this being before Fortes'-.ue's last

378 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
going into France. I thought best to answer those articles
which your honour hath made the 14th, 15th, and i6th,
for more of these there than this I cannot say.
" Hitherto afore Fortescue's last going into France."
In Burghley's hand. Orig.]
Article 10 — Treasurer.
" In what places did Fortescue frequent Edward
Windsor's company, and at what place was he with the
Lord Windsor now deceased, or with him that now is
lord .? " A nswer — Tyrrell.
"To this I answered very falsely also in very many
things, feigning Mr. Edward Windsor and Ballard to have
made many progresses together, and that Ballard had been
with the Lord Windsor deceased, in Cannon Row Street,
in London, and oftentimes also with the lord that now is,
but that I could not learn the place : all which was falsely
devised by myself" Article 11 — Treasurer.
"With what other gentlemen did Fortescue converse,
and in what places, and what reports did he make to you
from time to time how he found men disposed, and of
whom did he make best account for their wit and for '
their activity .'' " A nswer — Tyrrell.
" Upon this article did I discourse very maliciously,
naming many gentlemen that should be companions with
Bloody lies against Ballard in all his purposes, as Mr. Edward
"^"y- Windsor, Mr. Davy Ingleby, Mr -Anthony
Babington, Mr. Barnewell, Mr. Jacques, Mr. Charies Tilney,
young Mr. Gage, Mr. Henry Dunne, and divers other
gentlemen of the Inns of Court, which now I do not
remember, but these were the principal, whereof the most
part hath been since put to death by this my wickedness :

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 379
of whose souls I crave pardon, and of the rest that are
alive, protesting that I devised all this of mere mahce, and
not of anything tiiat I knew against them."
Article 13 — Treasurer.
" What noblemen or women did Fortescue repair unto,
and at what places, and how many do you know that he
reconciled unto Rome at any time } "
A ns-wer — Tyrrell.
" Here I protest, as I hope to be saved, I could not
truly accuse any nobleman or woman in this land, to whom
Ballard did repair, and yet most falsely did I accuse the
Earl of Arundel and the Countess his wife, with the Lord
William Howard his brother and the Lady Margaret, the
Lord Compton, the Lord Windsor, the Lord Stourton and
his lady ; adding further that I doubted not but that he
reconciled divers, though I could not come to know their
names." [" His repair unto noblemen was partly known and
partly unknown. He had great concourse unto Burlace,
my Lord_of Arundel's secretary, but how he came to his
person I could never tell. And since the Earl's appre
hension and Fortescue's last coming home, it was himself
that told me how that Gilbert Gifford came secretly in a
night to the Countess at the Spital, brought letters and
news from Gratley, messages to my lord, and that he
should be put in comfort of his short delivery. With
others, as with our Viscount and his wife, I heard him say
he hath been often with them, but never known of them
when he hath been. He was with the Lord Stourton and
his wife at home at their house, with the Lord Windsor,
with the Countess of Northumberland brought acquainted
by Giles Green and Mrs. Bruton, her gentlewoman, with
the Countess of Southampton, the young lady her daughter,
with Matthew Arundell that hath married her. The Lord

380 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Montague and his brethren. With Baron Clinch, as I take
it, a Lancashire man, who, although I never heard Fortescue
acknowledge his acquaintance, yet I know that he is recon
ciled, and by whom. With the Lords Harry and Thomas,
and the Lady Margaret with whom also Harry Dunne hath
been so great, that they commending the man unto the
Earl of Arundel, the Earl not knowing him, hath caused
him to be brought to the Tower Hill, that he might see
him but off the leads." Orig?^
Article 13 — Treasurer.
"Who showed the secrets of Whitehall to Fortescue
for killing the Queen, and who were in his company, and
what speeches had he thereof .'' "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" Here I feigned that Mr. Edward Windsor, with
Charles Tilney, did spend a whole day in carrying Ballard
up and down Whitehall for this purpose, and all being
viewed, the garden or one of the galleries seemed the fittest
place for the exploit : which, as I shall answer before God,
was a mere fiction of my own, and never intended or
spoken to my knowledge by any of them."
.Irticle 14^ — Treasurer.
"Remember more particular such plots as were pro
pounded for mischief, as that to be done at the Star
Chamber upon the lords, and by whom were they pro
pounded, and at what places and times, and who were
present thereat" A nswer — Tyrrell.
" To this article I answered very maliciously against
Mr. Anthony Babington, now dead, though upon some
small ground, as you shall hear ; for that he coming one
^ Tyrrell's memory or his notes were inaccurate here. In the original,
the articles here numbered 14, 15, and 16 do not occur. The articles here
numbered 17 — 28 are there numbered 14 — 25.

TIic Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 381
day to Mr. Ballard and me at our lodging, much discon
tented against his father-in-law, Mr. Henry Fuljambe,
Divers lies about a wlicu lic labourcd to make friends, leaving
murder iu the Star
Chamber. at Icngtli Mr. Ballard, and coming to my
chamber alone, cast out to me by way of discontentment
against such as governed the State and corrupted justice,
as he said certain words of anger ; and after that again,
half jesting and smiling, he said that if three or four of
the Council were taken awa}', such as the Earl of Leicester,
the Lord Treasurer, the Vice - Chamberlain, and the
Secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham, all would be well
quickly, adding further (as he was oftentimes vain and
light in his speeches), that upon a Star Chamber day a
few resolute gentlemen might despatch them all ; and so
smiling, broke off that speech, and at that time I took it
but for a jest and light word of a young gentleman to his
familiar friend, as he took me to be : but now most mali
ciously I made a most odious and heinous tale thereof,
adding many false circumstances of my own invention,
as that he should propound the matter seriously, and with
intention to execute the same, and that he should propose
it, first in my own chamber, and then again in Grays Inn
Fields, in an evening, Ballard and Mr. Davy Ingleby being
present, coining many other notorious lies and circum
stances besides, all which I protest upon my salvation
were most false." Ai-ticle 15 — Treasurer.
"Who should have been the persons that should have
been the attempters of the act at the Star Chamber, when
that should have been achieved for killing of the coun
cillors .-" What should have followed thereupon concerning
the Queen's person, and the Scottish Queen V
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" Here, upon the false ' ground laid in the former
article, I heaped up a whole mount of lies, for I said

382 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
that Babington had told me that a dozen well-appointed
A long feigned tale, gentlemen, closely wrapped in coats of
proof, might convey themselves into the Star Chamber,
with each of them a couple of daggs [pistols] in their
pockets, and discharging every man one of them upon
the aforesaid councillors at a watchword given, and
with the other make themselves way down again, having
fifty or sixty tall serving-men beneath, with swords and
bucklers to rescue them, and some hundred more to
enter the Tower upon the sudden, killing the warders,
and letting free the prisoners, and making the Earl of
Arundel their captain, and turning the artillery of the
Tower upon the~aty, and besieging the Queen, and pro
claiming the Scottish Queen, and displaying a banner
for all Catholics to come unto them. This tale I devised
only of mine own head, to feed my Lord Treasurer's
humour, as God is my Judge, and by the grossness thereof
he might easily have descried me, but he received it
gratefully, and thanked me for my pains ; which pains
was only in forging lies, God forgive me for it"
Article 16 — Treasurer.
"What device was there at any time propounded to
have surprised London, the Tower, or any other place for
money or wealth.'" A nswer — Tyrrell.
" This article is answered in the former, but yet being
loth that any of my lord's demands should return empty,
I devised many circumstances and particularities to the
lies before set down." Article 17 — Treasurer.
" How often were Fortescue and Tilney at the French
Ambassador's, and in what place did the French Ambas
sador then lodge, and where have yourself been in
company with Charles Tilney, and who have been more

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 383
then present, and where was your chamber whereunto
Charles Tilney or the Ambassador's secretary did repair,
and how often came they thither, and when was the last
time.?" A nswer — Tyrrell.
"This article I answered, partly telling truth, how I
was once with Mr. Ballard at the French Ambassador's,
for the causes that before I have recited, as also that his
secretary was at my chamber, but I added divers false
causes and feigned circumstances, as though all had been
for treasonable practices, which before God was nothing
so. I belied also Mr. Ballard and Tilney, saying that they
had oftentimes repaired to the French Ambassador's ;
which I protest to be more than ever I did know."
Article i8 — Treasurer.
"What time did Fortescue last go into France, and
how many, as you think, were privy thereto, and what
do you think was the cause and purpose of his journey,
and whether was not Babington acquainted with him
before his last going over } "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" To this article I answered first, saying that Ballard's
departing towards France was in Lent last this year of
1586, and that at the day of his departure, I and divers
gentlemen dined with him at the King's Head, in Fish
Street ; which was true, though I remember not now
whether I added any more names than were there present :
but sure I am that I said maliciously, that I thought
Babington and the rest to have sent him over to confer
with the confederates in France, and to see whether
anything would be done by foreign forces against England
or not ; and if not, then that their former designments
for killing the Queen, should be put in execution
presently."

384 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Article 19 — Treasurer.
"With how many did Fortescue confer in England
after his last coming back from France .' And do you set
down their particular names." A nswer — Tyrrell.
"The answer of this is contained before in that I said
to the Sth and 9th articles, as also the lie I made of
Sir John Arundell, his sons and daughters, and divers
others which now I do not remember, and I cry them
all mercy," &c.
[" The chiefest persons that he conferred withal before
his going over were, with Babington, Davy Ingleby. They
had sent a little before into the north C. Tilney, Jacques,
Tipping, Dinnington, Henry Dunne, Thorogood, and the
two Wisemen " {sic). Orig.]
Article 20 — Treasurer.
" How many priests and Seminary men do you know
to have been in England within this twelvemonths, and
what were their names, and variety of surnames, and what
counties do they haunt, and by whom are they relieved .'
How many of them are departed out of the realm, to
your knowledge } " A nswer — Tyrrell.
" I was very long and large in answering of this article,
and did impeach and bewray so many of my dear brethren
priests as any way I could call to memory, adding their
names, surnames, relievers, the places and counties where
they haunted ; and to make the number seem more great,
I feigned divers of myself that were not, so that all the
injuries, vexations, and apprehensions that hereof ensued
to them or their friends, is my fault, and I ask them all
humbly forgiveness."
[" For priests and Seminary men whom I know to be

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 385
in England, with their names and surnames, are Edmonds,
alias Hunt, now prisoner, his being hath been in many
places and with divers persons, but chiefly with Francis
Browne. One Barnes. Cornelius, who goeth by that
name, his being hath been most with Sir John Arundell,
Mrs. Cresswell, widow, and is now in Oxford. Barloe,^ alias
Chester, that liveth about London, frequenteth Essex,
Norfolk, Suffolk, and sometimes Wales, but mostwhat
keepeth at Mrs. Mompesson's at Clerkenwell. Fenell, I
know no other name, keepeth Hampshire, Oxfordshire,
Berkshire, sometimes London. He is most entertained, I
think, by the Lady Copley, young Shelley, and I know not
who else. Felps, alias Nicholas Smith, still resident with
my Lady Copley. Gray,^ I know no other name, most
resident with Mrs. White of Westminster. Wynckfeld,
alias Davies, who was dismissed the Counter, and not
known to be P[riest], a politic, wise fellow, and had in great
account : who be his chief maintainers and where he
keepeth I know not. Ithell,^ alias Woodhall, keepeth
most about London, and relieved by the Inns of Court.
This article would be so long if I should go through,
that I shall crave pardon for this time of your honour.
You shall have a scroll of all that I know at more
leisure." Orig^^
^ " Lewis Barlow, a Seminary priest, was in company with the Abingtons
when they were sought for, and was pri-vy of their conspiracy, and escaped
from them the same day they were apprehended, and lived almost half a year
amongst the outlaws in Monmouthshire, and did after great hurt about London
until he was taken, and then was the causer of Mr. Tyrrell his revolt."
Wisbech report (P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, voL cxcix, n. gi).
° In the ninth chapter Tyrrell calls him Greene. He is probably John
Greene {supra, p. 266), of whom the Wisbech report says, "John Greene, a
Seminary priest, a very obstinate perverse man, and a traitorous seducer of her
Majesty's subjects, and a great defender of the Pope's supremacy." Before
being sent to Wisbech, he was in the Counter in Wood Street. Supra, p. 231.
' The Wisbech report says of him, " Ithell, alias Udall, a condemned
priest for Babington's conspiracy. A most dangerous man, who corrupted
many young gentlemen in the Inns of Court, and did practise with young
Abington to say Mass in the Tower."

386 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
Article 21 — Treasurer.
"In what place and company did Edward Windsor
seem to mislike to have any woman dealt withal for
poisoning of the Queen for fear of uttering .? "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" I answered that he dealt with me alone in this matter"
at my chamber at Lambert Street : but as I hope to be
saved, he never at any time, in all his Hfe talked with me
about any such matter, nor with any such person to my
knowledge, and therefore on my knees I ask this innocent
gentleman pardon." Article 22 — Treastirer.
"What have you heard of one Charnock concerning
any of these actions ? " A nswer — Tyrrell.
" My answer to this was brief, and truest of any other,
for I said plainly, I knew not the man, nor had anything
to say of him."
[" Of Charnock I never heard anything.'' Orig^
Article 23 — Treasurer.
" What were Fortescue his doings in Norfolk with
Metham and Crathorne, with Babthorpe, Tipping, Din
nington, Crossland and his brother, in the north ; what
several times was he in these parts, and who kept him
company in those voyages .' "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
"I confess that upon this article I founded many
Mischievous lies against ""just aud mischievous lics agaiust all
many. tlicsc gentlemen named in this article,
as though they should be privy to Ballard's treasons
which I had feigned, and do call God to witness I never
knew any ; and moreover to my knowledge Ballard had

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 387
not seen Mr. Metham nor Crathorne in five years before.
Young Mr. Babthorpe also I never knew, nor can tell that
Ballard had ever speech with him, though I accused him
bitterly ; as for Mr. Tipping, Dinnington, and Crossland,
I persuade myself they are as innocent in these things
as the child new born, neither had they ever practice
with us, or knew us to be priests ; yet did I most wilfully
accuse them, as also Mr. Davy Ingleby, whom I accused
to be privy to the Star Chamber matter, for killing the
lords, which before I have set down in the fourteenth
and fifteenth articles, whereas I protest before God he
was never to my knowledge privy thereof I did accuse
also two gentlemen named Wiseman of Essex, and one
Mr. Thorogood of the Temple : all which was false, and
of a mischievous mind only to hurt, for we never met
with them but only at ordinary tables in London."
[" Foscue was not with Metham or Craythorne in
Norfolk of a long time. Then he meddled, I think, in
none of these matters. Then his dealing with them hath
been in Yorkshire within this twelvemonth, and so with
Babthorpe, Crosslands, and Typping. In those voyages
sometimes I did accompany himself, sometimes with
Edward Windsor, sometimes with Wood, that was my
Lord of York's man, and sometimes with others, I know
not whom. His conversing with the Wiseman was at the
Plough without Temple Bar, with Thurgood at his chamber
in the Temple." Orig^ Article 24 — Treasurer.
"In what places was Fortescue conversant with the
Lord Stourton and his wife, and at what times .'' "
A nswer — Tyrrell.
" Here, as I had falsely feigned before that Ballard
had conversed with the Lord Stourton and his wife, so
now being pressed to make up the tale, I added also that
z 2

388 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
it was at my lord's house in the country, a thing of my
own inventing only." Article 25 — Treasurer.
"How often did you see Gilbert Gifford in England,
and in whose company, and in what places, and by what
means was his message sent to the Eg.rl of Arundel ;. when
was he with the Lady of Arundel, and in what place;
what surnames had^Tie, where "did he lodge, with whom
was he conversant, how long did he tarry in England .-'
Do you know George Gifford of the Court, and how was
he disposed in these actions .¦" What, and of whom haye
you heard, that he was directed to kill the Queen .-" "
Answer — Tyrrell.
"All these interrogatories of my lord as they were
gathered out of my former lying letter written to him
and fraught full with devices of my own, as before I have
signified, so now they did bind me to go forward with
oneiiebindethaman the Same, and to feign many particulari-
to make two. ^j^^ f^^. probability thereof ; as that Gilbert
Gifford should be sent over with a message from the Duke
of Guise to the Earl of Arundel, willing him to be of good
cheer, for that he hoped to come and visit him before it
were long, and that the said Gilbert went in a coach to
speak with the Lady Countess of Arundel at the Spital.
I accused also Mr. George Gifford to have spoken
dangerous words against the Queen and State upon
discontentment ; that he was a principal man with Ballard
in all his treasons : all which I protest to have been most
false, and of my own inventing only."
["For Gilbert Gifford I never saw him but once, and
that in Holborn. I spake not to him then. How he was
brought in to my lady I know not, but I heard very
secretly. How the message was sent in to the Earl I
cannot certainly set down. When Gilbert was also last

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 389
with my lady I am not able to say, nor where he lodged.
I never inquired as yet of the variety of his names ; and
as for his tarriance out of England, he is not gone yet for
aught that I know, for within these eight weeks he was
sure in the realm. P'or George Gifford I know not the
man, but Foscue brought him a message from his brother,
and was to persuade him to forsake his allegiance to the
Queen, and to fall into some enterprise among them.
Foscue said that he hoped by that man to work much, but
what I cannot tell, your honour may easily guess." Orig?^
Article 26 — Treasurer.
"What sums of money had Gratley from the Earl of
Arundel, and by what means, and when did you see Bailey
last, that attended on the Countess .' When were you or
Fortescue with the Countess, and in what place } "
A jiswer — Tyrrell.
" Here I answered most falsely as in the rest, affirming
that Gratley had received divers sums of money from the
Earl, and carried letters from him to Dr. Allen, promising
his coming over, and to join willingly with the Duke of
Guise in setting up the Queen of Scots ; how Dr. Allen
rejoiced to write thereof to the Duke : all which was feigned
by myself Moreover, I said that Ballard and I being one
day at Romford, in the inn of the Crown, one Burlacy
should come to us there, which was true, and bring us a
hundred pounds from the Earl, which was a stark lie ; I
said also- that the aforesaid Bailey was placed with the
Countess by Gratley, which was a mere fiction : and whereas
I said that Ballard had been often to speak with the said
Countess, I dare protest before God she never spoke with
His lies against the him in all hcr life, for if she had I am sure
Earl and Countess of
Arundel. that hc would have told me of it, which in
truth he never did."
[" For sums of money Gratley had Franche carte, and

390 The Fall of A^ithony TyrreU.
by his means at one time a lOO/., at another time 50/. The
first Fortescue brought word of the receipt ; of the other
Baily carried it over. He was at my chamber where I lay
at Temple Bar in May last, and I did see him again in
June. I was never with the Countess but once, a great
while since, when she lay at Weld Hall, in Essex. Where
Fortescue was with her I cannot truly tell." Orig?\
Article 27 — Treasurer.
" I pray declare the circumstances of your journey,
when you and Father Edmonds spake with Mr. Bold, and
when and where you spake last with him, and in whose
companies. What manner of speeches did Bold utter
against the Earl of Leicester?" A nswer — Tyrrell.
" To this article I did feign much malicious matter of
mine own invention, against this good gentleman, who
I protest was innocent of the same ; for as touching our
going to his house in Berkshire (I mean F. Edmonds and
mine), it was by the entreaty of one Mr. Edmund Peckham,
to see a certain gentlewoman that was near of kin to
Mr. Bold, and dearly beloved by him, and was suspected
to be possessed; but when Father Edmonds in our presence
had talked with her, he judged that there was no such
matter, and therefore exhorting both her, and Mr. Bold
and his wife to patience, and to procure good men's
prayers for her recovery, he departed presently; and albeit
Mr. Bold of courtesy came with us to London, yet do
Lies against Mr. Bold, not I kuow that he uudcrstood what we
were : but sure I am that he was utterly innocent of all
those vile slanders which I devised as spoken by him
against the Earl of Leicester, and of all the other slanders
that I made against him ; and yet was the gentleman
apprehended and straitiy examined, and my Lord
Treasurer sent his answers unto me to see what I could

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 391
pick out against them, and I stretched my ^\•its what I
could to do him hurt, but I could not, whereof 1 most
humbly ask him forgiveness."^ Article 28 — Treasurer.
"Where did you know Jacques, Mr. Vice-Chamberlain's
man, and what do you know of him, meet to be under
stood } " A nswer — Tyrrell.
" Here I heaped many false accusations against
Mr. Jacques, and his servant William Warmford,^ affirming
the first to be a heinous traitor, a principal confederate
with Ballard, intending to stir up a great rebellion in
Ireland, his man also to be an egregious traitor, and
privy to many things, and retained by him and Ballard
to execute some great mischief: whereas I protest before
God upon my salvation, that I never knew any one point
of disloyalty in either of them both, and therefore I ask
them both most heartily forgiveness, and all the rest by me
injured or offended.*
"And thus God knoweth, and the world perceiveth, how
The conclusion, traitorously I have behaved myself towards
God, slandering the just, condemning the ' innocent, and
thereby heaping up God's heavy judgments upon my own
head, for which I ask His Divine Majesty and all the
world pardon; and of my Lord Treasurer in particular,
whom I have abused by so many false informations, to
the undoing and condemning of divers innocent persons;
and most of all of her Majesty, into whose head I have
put so many horrible false conceits of treason against her

¦" The answer to this article has been already given from the original.
Supra, p. 140.
^ In the original the name of William Warmford does not occur. This
man must not be mistaken for Father William Wamford or Warford, who
entered the English College at Rome in 1583, and in 1588 was living with
Cardinal Allen.
2 In the margin of this article Burghley has written, "Jacques the Italian."

392 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
loving subjects : for all which I am most heartily sorry,
and further am content to receive all manner of punish
ment in this life, so my miserable soul may find mercy
and favour in the world to come."

CHAPTER VIII.
WHAT COURSE HE HELD AFTER THE GIVING UP OF
THE AFORESAID ACCUSATIONS, ¦ OF HIS IMPIOUS
WRITING TO THE QUEEN, AND TALK WITH THE
TREASURER, AND HOW HE PROCURED TO CHANGE
PRISON FROM THE COUNTER TO THE CLINK, TO
DO MORE HURT.
He having given up the false, conscienceless accusations
before mentioned, by which he well knew that divers
should lose their lives, he writeth these words in his
Torment of conscience, confessiou. " I cauuot cxprcss what a
hell and torment I found in my own conscience, the
devil fully possessing me." Moreover he saith that he,
growing into suspicion with the Catholics of the Counter
by his often repair to Justice Young and to the Treasurer,
and by his much writing, he desired to be changed to
another prison, where he should not be known, holding
still his wicked mind to proceed in the way already begun,
which shall be here delivered by his own words, which
be these. "After that my malice was thus complete, and my
mind determined to run desperately into sin (he must
needs run swift whom the devil driveth), I devised all
the means possible that I could to make my Lord
Treasurer and Justice Young to think that the name
of a Catholic was most odious unto me, and how that
I desired nothing more than to be discharged from their

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 393
servitude. I framed now invectives against Catholics to my'
lord, affirming that to my own knowledge there were few
or none that in their inward hearts and affections were
not traitors, and that I assured his honour that there
were few priests in England, howsoever outwardly in
words they dissembled, but inwardly in their hearts they
assented to her Majesty's spoil and destruction, and did
not let, as they did find the humours of her subjects
inclinable that way, to persuade them all that they might
Abominable and bloody thereunto, and that all their endeavours
suggestions to a prince, henccforth should bc to rcmovc the minds
of her Majesty's subjects, and to settle their affection for
the establishment of the Scottish Queen, against whom
I made most sharp and bitter invectives, especially in
Three malicious points, a letter which I did write to the Queen's
Majesty, wherein I principally warned her Highness to
have a special regard unto three things.
" The first, to extirpate and weed out all Seminary
priests with all the speed and means possible that might be,
as men most pernicious and dangerous to her Majesty and
to the State, who went about no other thing in all places
wheresoever they came but to bring her Majesty in
contempt, and to persuade her subjects that no act were
so pleasant and acceptable unto God as to bereave her
Majesty of her life.
"The second was, that her Majesty's only danger was
the life of that wicked woman the Queen of Scots, who
sought by all means she could, not only by foreign
powers, but by domestic attempts, to shorten and end
her Majesty's days that she herself might be advanced
to the Crown.
"The third point was, that her Majesty had now
crushed the necks of the conspirators by apprehending
so many of them, and that she had her enemies now at
such advantage, as well at home as abroad, that she should
not let to prosecute the same, and to make such laws

394 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
against recusants that every one should be sworn to with
stand the Pope and his proceedings against the realm,
or otherwise to account of him no better than an arrant
traitor. „ ,,. , ^ " O mind, fraught full of malice, what
Recalling of my former ' o '
wicked suggestion. ^^^^^ j^^^^ j j.^ ^^^.j^^ ^J^^g^ gj^J^gj. ^gaiust
Pope, priest, Queen of Scots, Catholic, or other.? From
The Pope. Pope I ncver heard hurt or harm against
our Queen or country; I have seen him shed tears, and have
heard him wish that all the blood in his body were spilt
to do our country good. For Catholic priests, I protest on
Priests. my soul, that since the time I have con
versed with them myself in England, which is now more
than six years, I never heard of any of them but that he
wished as well to her Majesty as to his own soul, and would
willingly bestow his own life, to the loss of the uttermost
drop of his blood, for the preservation and safety of her
Majesty, and that in all their sermons and exhorta
tions, as well public as private, they persuade her subjects
to all obedience, and to pray for her Majesty, as
also to suffer the infliction of her penal laws with all
patience, and not to resist or move sedition for any cause
whatsoever. This is all I know of all priests, I protest
before Almighty God, and no other, wherefore I most
deeply have slandered them, and am on my knees to
ask them pardon and forgiveness.
" As for the Queen of Scots, whom I have many ways
Queen of Scots inno- dccply and maliciously touchcd, as I shaU
cent of my accusations, ^nswcr before God at the latter day, when
I shall give an account of these my doings, I was never
acquainted with the woman, neither do I know anything
directly of her nature or disposition. I never heard of
any treasonable practice that she should attempt with any
of her Majesty's subjects for the destroying of her real
[royal] person and annoying of her realm, more than I have
heard by the public edicts set out in England against her.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 395
which how true or false they were, it is not in me to
determine. I will therefore neither accuse nor excuse her
further than appertaineth to my own particular malice,
wherein I cannot but acknowledge myself most deeply
to have slandered her, and that all that ever I did speak
to hurt or harm her, was only of mere malice, with inten
tion to flatter the Queen, no one word being true to my
knowledge thereof, and therefore I crave most humble
pardon of her soul, which I hope be in heaven, and
what cause or occasion I did give to her destruction I
know not, but I fear it was too great.
"Not long afterwards I was desirous to speak with
my Lord Treasurer again, for now I had desperately
endangered myself in opening such matters, as the least
of them might have cost me my life for concealing them,
if either they had been true, or I a man in whom any
crime of treason might stick as now it could not. But that
they were so notoriously false also, as they might have
easily been discovered by my lord's wit, I could not tell
how his honour would take them ; misdoubting that he
would at least suspect me to have feigned much, and
therefore I was desirous (to the end I might come to the
knowledge thereof), to devise by all the cunning I could
to relieve myself to his lordship of all suspicion. For now
I must let all the world understand that I was become
The virtues that brought ^ nian void of all grace, goodness, truth,
me to be a Protestant, ^onesty, faith. Or rchgion, one that cared
not what Catholics should think of me through all the
States of Christendom, so as I might gain either favour
or credit of our Protestants at home ; and therefore I made
no space of my conscience to enlarge it out to anything,
were it true or false, so it might be to the benefit of my
temporal preferment, for all hope of God's favour, or
recovering of my portion in His heavenly kingdom, was
cleSan extinguished and gone. My full meaning and
pu'rpose was still to persevere in this mind, and never

396 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
to turn back again, and therefore I had not cared how
soon I had been brought forth to the open show of the
world, and loudly to have exclaimed against Catholics
and Catholic religion, but that my lord as it seemed
thought it policy otherwise, or God would not permit it,
meaning by His mercy yet to call me back again to
repentance. Desirous, therefore, as I said, to see my
Lord Treasurer, after that I had made so large detection,
and inventing every day in my chamber.
My new spirit was z^ j j j
never unoccupied, ^j^^j putting morc lics to thc forge, that I
might have something to present my lord with against
my next coming, amongst the rest I remembered this
notorious falsehood for one, to wit — That I feigned a
A notorious lie. great aud solemn meeting to have been at
Paris when Ballard was last in France, between English
and Scots, and that the Bishop of Ross should make a
solemn oration at that meeting, the Earl of Westmoreland,
the Lord Daeres, and others being present, declaring the
preparation of all Catholic princes that would be shortly
in readiness to invade England, and that the English for
their parts, and the Scots for theirs, should endeavour to
make away with the Queen of England, and set up the
Queen of Scots, and that for preparation of this, Ballard
was appointed and sent into England : all v/hich I protest
to have been most false and untrue, and every word of my
own inventing.
"I framed also complaints against Sir Thomas Gerard,
sirThomas Gerard and knight, liow hc should from time to timc
others I slandered, g^j^j intelligence to the King of Spain
of the practices and devices of England, and how they
might be prevented. I framed also a device against a
number of gentlemen Cathohcs in the county of Lancashire,
Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and other confines (though to my
remembrance I named them not) for their meetingk to
remove the Scottish Queen, and others to defend her by
force, or else to convey her out of the realm, and niahy

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 397
other things of which my memory now serveth me not
to make a particular mention. All which I had briefly
set down in notes^ to gratify my lord withal against my
next meeting : and it came to pass that in few days after
My tutor. Justice that Justicc Youug Sent for me to repair
Young, instructeth me . , , .
to more malice. With him unto my lord, who, by the way,
gave me matter to inform my lord of, against my Lord
Windsor, as touching his marriage, also against the Lord
Compton and otiiers willing me to say, that they were
very dangerous men, and against some of the Privy
Chamber, also he gave me notes of others whose names
in truth I have now forgotten ; and thus my lesson being
given me (which God knoweth needed not, for I was
too forward a scholar of myself in lying and inveighing
against any man), at last we arrived, and I came to my
lord, where he lay then in the Strand, where I being led
,, . . . up by a back way into a chamber where
Aly second coming to .t^ .' -^
my Lord Treasurer, j^y ^QxA WaS pCrUSiug of writingS, I WaS
brought in, and after my duty yielded, my lord entered
into familiar communication with me of many things,
saying that I had taken a great deal of pains (indeed
I had taken a great deal of pains to go to the devil) and
that he perceived my dealing to be without any dissimu
lation. No fault he seemed to find at all with any of my
former informations as deeming any of them to be un
truths, though in reason he could not but suspect them ;
only he said that many of my sayings were very general,
„ , , .„ . asking me if I could not set them down
He would still have o
^°^^' more particular. But I answered that I
had set them down according to my knowledge, and
that as touching the privy and important matters, they
were always so warily handled of the Catholics that I
^ Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 8i, endorsed by Burghley, "3 Sept.,
1586, Anthony Tyrrell's 4th declaration." It is a little book of twelve pages,
neatly -written, and in this respect very unlike the preceding papers. The
"third confession" {ibid. u. 76), from which an extract is given in the next
chapter, is dated Septemher 2.

398 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
could get no further notice of things than -I had done,
and what I had commonly from one man, I could not
get the same again confirmed of another ; which I added
for excusing the lack of witnesses when I could have
none (the matters being false) but the devil himself that
helped to devise them. Then my lord asked me many
other questions, whereof some I answered, and some I
said I was ignorant of He told me of many things
himself that he had found out against the conspirators,
and against the Queen of Scots, whereof some they had
confessed, and some they seemed to deny; and I was very
glad when I heard him say so, hoping thereby that my
own reports against them would carry the more credit
with him.
"Although he told me that he would inform her Majesty
of my well-doing, and so with favour dismissed me for
that time, and of any other matter important I do not
remember more, but then that I did present him with
my former notes. He asked Justice Young how I was
used. He answered, ' Well,' only he said that for colour
How Catholics are sakc to blind the Catholics I was kept close
abused by dissimula- . ./- t
tion. prisoner, an if I were reputed for a very
dangerous man; and withal Justice Young told my lord
how comfortably I proceeded in my damnable course that
I had then taken in hand, and how that he had lent me
a book. Whereupon my lord asking me what book it was,
I told him that it was Mr. Calvin's Institutions, a learned
piece of work in my conceit (but in truth I never had
read a more beastly piece of work in all my life). 'No,'
quoth my lord, 'that is not, Tyrrell, for thy appetite, I
MyioidrejectethCai- would liavc thco to read Blusius,' wilhng-
vm, and commendeth to » t>
me Blusius. Justicc Youug to provido me that book;
but I never did see that heretic yet, and I hope never
I W.-IS sure for my to be troublcd with him hereafter, for
part tliey were knaves *
'"""^- sure I was in my own conscience, that
neither Calvin, Blusius, nor all the heretics in the worid

The hall of Anthony Tyrrell. 399
could convince my knowledge, or plant any other religion,
that I could effectually embrace, but only the Catholic.
As well my lord might have persuaded me to have read
the Alcoran to become a Turk, and as soon I should
have assented, as to have been in heart any of these
heretics. And thus departed I again from the Treasurer,
and went back with Justice Young again home to his
house, where he and I fell to new conferences, and I
gave him advisements how to order and handle things for
the better conservation of my credit among Catholics,
and for the finding out of greater matters and accusations
against them." Thus far Tyrrell's words.
And this was the holy agreement between Justice Young
and him., for which cause he was sent to be prisoner in the
Clink, where meeting, as he saith, with a most blessed man
HismeetingwithJir. ^nd godly pricst named Lowe, who had
Lowe in prison. J^^^j.^ .^^^^ g^.^^^ SUSpicloUS of TyiTeH's
doings. He said Mr. Lowe began after some hours being
together to utter them, and to require satisfaction at his
hands, who gave it by swearing and forswearing, and
more than that, went to confession hypocritically to the
said Mr. Lowe, the more to deceive him, and in his
confession, being pressed much by his said ghostly
father upon his salvation and damnation to deal plainly
and sincerely, he did quite the contrary, and with the
same sacrilege he said Mass the next day within the
prison, the more thereby to deceive Catholics : after
which narration ended, he saith thus of himself "The
dreadful threat of damnation uttered by the holy Apostle
St. Paul to him that received the Body of his Saviour
unworthily,, and the example of Judas that hanged himself
and went to hell upon the like fault, might have warned
and terrified me, but it did not. And behold the boldness
of a desperate mind, although the horror of God's justice
made me inwardly to quake ; although I feared that I
should presently have perished in my great impiety, yet

400 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
forward I went, so far was my malice increased, so much
was my desperate mind emboldened, that though I went
without all semblance of staggering or dismay no doubt
the heavens with all the celestial powers were amazed at
my heinous enterprise, the earth, with the infernal parts,
wondered at my boldness, and were most greedy of
revenge upon so loose and vile a wretch, that did rage
against the majesty of so great a God, and yet His
endless patience did endure it."
[Tyrrell was moved from the Counter in Wood Street
on the 13th of September, 1586, and on the 17th he was
committed to the Clink.^ The following letter^ from
Secretary Davison, dated October 4, was therefore written
after the interviews in the preceding chapter. The journey
which Lord Burghley was about to undertake, of which
Davison speaks, was to Fotheringay for the trial of the
Queen of Scots, respecting the terms of whose indictment
Elizabeth here gives her Minister some instructions. A
similar letter written to Walsingham drew from him the
following comment^ addressed to Burghley. " I find by
Mr. Secretary Davison that her Majesty doth not rest
satisfied with the form of commission drawn by her learned
counsel with the advice of the judges, in the point of the
Scottish Queen's title. I would to God her Majesty would
consent to refer these things to them that are best judges
of them, as other princes do."
"My especial good Lord, — I have received two letters
of your lordship addressed to Mr. Secretary Walsingham,
with another to myself concerning Tyrrell, accompanied
with another of his own to your lordship, all which I
did communicate with her Majesty, who is very well

' Supra, pp. 179, 204.
- P.R.O., Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xx. n. 2.
" P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxciv. u. 14 : dated Barnelms, Oct. 6,
1586; holograph.

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 401
pleased that the Commission should be reformed in such
sort as your lordship by advice of the judges hath
directed, though she think the words of the statute did
not necessarily exact the adding of Mr. WooUey's name
and my own. For the style to be given to the Sc[ottish]
Q[ueen], her Majesty doth very well allow that the words
communiter vocata, or, appellata Regina Scotorum, mentioned
in your lordship's letters, be also inserted if you find
it material, as also that the Commission be drawn and
sent there for prorogation of Parliament according to the
precedent in anno prima of her Majesty's reign touched
in your said letters. The day she could be content to
be the 24th, if it be not too short for the return of my
lords, which she doubteth can hardly be so soon ; and
therefore could wish rather it were stretched some few
days longer, which notwithstanding she commits to your
lordship's judgment.
" The letter from Tyrrell was very agreeable . to her,
both for the style and affection of the man, which she
greatly commendeth, allowing your lordship and Mr.
Secretary to takCjWhat course with him you shall think
fittest for her service.
" Other matter I have not presently, but to pray God
to bless this journey of your lordship's with such happy
issue as may be most to His glory, the security of her
Majesty, and peace of this commonwealth.
"At the Court at Windsor, this 4th of October, 1586.
" Your lordship's most humbly at commandment,
"W[ILLIAM] D[AVISON]."
Endorsed — "4th of October, 1586. Minute to my
L. Treasurer."]

AA

402

CHAPTER IX.
OF HIS DISSIMULATION, TREACHERY, AND SPIERY IN
THE CLINK, AND JUSTICE YOUNG HIS DISPENSATION
FOR THE SAME, AND WHAT PERSONS HE BETRAYED
THERE, AND OF THE DEATH OF MR. BALLARD AND
HIS FELLOWS.
As the principal and only cause of Tyrrell's sending to
the Clink was to betray priests and Catholics that were
there, or that frequented thither, as hath appeared by
that which before hath been said, so he having given
them satisfaction and deceived them by means especially
of his ghostly father, Mr. Lowe, and other priests to whom
he had in confession forsworn himself he saith that his
whole study was to give advertisements from time to time
to Justice Young and to the Treasurer against his brethren
and fellows, with whom he lived, which you shall hear
.recounted, as all the rest, in his own words that ensue.
" This passed on, and I every day began to be more
bold than other, and had well near worn out all former
¦suspicions, and had seen and learned the whole state of
the house in everything, when Justice Young sent for
me again, to inquire of the place, of the persons, of their
practices, and what good there was likely to be done.
'O sir,' quoth I, 'I thought myself very hardly beset with
Papists when I was in the Counter, and thought myself
troubled with one priest. Dryland,^ but now I am fallen
' If there was but one priest with Tyrrell in the Counter, the number there
soon increased when he became informer. A list in which he is mentioned as
still in the Clink {supra, p. 234), gives the following names.
"Counter in Wood Street. Christopher Southworth.
Christopher Dryland. John Cabell.
Thomas Smyth. Edward Braddock.
John Strawbridge. Thomas Swynnerton, alias Strangwayes.
Nicholas GeUebrand. John Maddox."
(P.R.O, Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccii. n. 6l.)

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 403
This speech is used into hell moutli itsclf ' (this speech you
Tvhen devils talk to- , ,
gether. must imagine to be used when devils
talk together), ' for now I cannot turn any way for Popish
priests. Such Masses, such confessions, such trumperies ' (so
devilishly did I then term them), 'such concourse of comers,
such goers, as you would wonder to hear it, and verily,'
quoth I, ' unless I should dissemble in the highest degree,
there can be. no long tarrying for me there.' ' Dissemble,'
quoth Justice Young, ' marry, what else, Mr. Tyrrell ?
This was his spiritual Disscmblc, and spare not, remember always
counsel to me his young .
convertite. the causc \\lierefore and why you do it.
You can do God no better service than in hunting and
deciphering out traitors ; and as for their works of abomi
nation that you are forced to exercise, remember always
the example of Naaman Syrus, that when you are in the
midst of all idolatry, as hearing or saying of Mass, lift
Justice Young's counsel- up your heart to the only Lord of Israel
although you suffer your knees to bow before this wicked
Baal' " Such were his abominable persuasions, such were his
damnable counsels, scarce beseeming a Turk or infidel,
much less one that beareth the name of a Christian, and one
that professeth a new Gospel, one that laboureth to reduce,
as he saith, strayed sheep home to their fold, and to help
50uls fallen into damnable state to recover again the way
of salvation ; but in truth there is no such matter, nor any
such inclination in him and his like, nor religion nor piety
at all, no wholesome or godly persuasion shall you ever
hear at their mouths, but rather wickedness, deceit, and
dissimulation ; yea, and what dissimulation .' Such, truly,
as themselves protest to take and account for supreme
abomination, which they make high treason by the laws,
to wit, to say Masses, to hear Masses, to reconcile to the
Church of Rome, and the like ; whereunto Justice Young
persuading me, I see not why he committed not treason,
and deserved not to be hanged more than any other : but
AA 2

404 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
nothing is cared for or respected, so that their turns may
be served against the Catholics, let body and soul run
headlong to the devil. And these be the comforts that
a man shall have that will admit himself into their congre
gation. God deliver all good minds from entering into
such friendships ; but my mind then was not so well
inclined, although I was not so bhnd but that I could
easily perceive the course and comforts of their religion,
yet I would not behold the deformities thereof, but was
content to be hail fellow well met, and to go to the devil
with them for company. God be merciful unto me for it.
" But to proceed. When Justice Young had ended his
wholesome counsel, ' O sir,' quoth I, ' but what if I,
having made a vow to relinquish their abominable religion,
both to God and my Lord Treasurer, what and if it should
chance that I should be taken at Mass again } ' ' Why,'
quoth he, ' if you should, we would dispense with you ; we
would not think ever the worse of you ; we would make a
certain outward show of displeasure, and so seem to trouble
you, but we would soon bring you into your former good
terms again.' ' Dispense,' thought I, ' from whom received
Justice Young: his ^^ ^^^^ authority.? Surcty,' I imagined,
dispensation. , ^^^^ ^^^ ^J^^jj himself But I thoUght his
dispensation good enough for my case and condition, and
so smiled in my sleeve, and went on telhng him (as httle
devils are wont to do to Lucifer when they have been
abroad to work knavery) such matters as I had found in
the Clink. I told him of the number of priests, of their
daily saying Mass, their several places and chambers, all
their orders, doings, times, and hours, as also aU their con
veyances that they had for conveying away their Church
stuff. " And thus I betrayed all the house at the very first.
My discovery to ju,s- ^"d' morcovcr, discovcred from time to
oungofthechnk. ^j^^^ allthc comcrs and goers thither, the
causes of their coming, and to whom they came as near as

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 405
I could learn. I told him that it was the only place to get
good intelligences, and therefore he must keep secret and let
it alone, and not meddle with it until such time as I were
despatched and gone from thence, and that so I doubted
not but within a short time I should come to the knowledge
Such a servant the there of great things. He seemed very glad
devil had not gotten of ,
many years. of my specchcs, aud promised me not to
meddle in that place until I should be free from all sus
picion. " He inquired of me if I could get no matter
Young's appetite to against Father Edmonds that was prisoner
entrap Father Edmonds
«/!<« Weston. there (for the better a man is, and more
holy, the more spited he is, and undermined by the devil
and his servants). I told him that in time I was very like
to get somewhat, but as yet I durst not be too bold
because of his close keeping. I discovered notwithstanding
to him the means that Catholics had made to write unto
him, and who were the greatest dealers with him, and
promised further that I would take an occasion to write
unto him touching Mr. Bold's matter, and procure by all
the means I could to have his answer. Justice Young liked
very well of my device, and gave me great thanks and
many sweet words, and so I came to the Clink again, and
being returned, Mr. Lowe and the rest of my brethren
priests were desirous to know the cause of my sending for;
and to be short, I answered every one smoothly, and won
I had now taken de- "lysclf from all suspiciou, imputing all to
greeofcosening. ^j^^ malicc of Youug, and that his trouble
some head could not let me alone. Howbeit I did forthwith
write to him a letter back again, advertising him that he
must send for me very sparingly, and that upon colourable
causes, and for some others also, as well as for me, the
Notable knavery, which advicc he obscrvcd, and sent so long,
now for me, and now for another, as he sent two of the
most worthy priests of all the house shortly after to the
gallows, of whom I shall speak more anon ; and all this to

4o6 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
colour my sending for, but sometimes he came himself to
the Clink, with other commissioners, to examine certain
gentlemen upon causes ; and politicly, as he termed it,
he would take an occasion to speak of me, what a dangerous
fellow I was, and a man in whom he neither found grace
nor goodness, wherein he said most truly, albeit he intended
it otherwise." Thus writeth Tyrrell of Justice Young, and his own
deceitful manner of dealing, and of their complots together
to ruinate innocent men ; and after this he showed a mul
titude of innocent and good people betrayed by him,
Many men betrayed ^S Mr. Smith,! the priCSt in thc Lady
^^ ""^^ Copley's house ; Mr. Green,^ in the house
of Mrs. White, which gentlewoman afterwards was con
demned to death for receiving so good a guest, and after
all this he saith thus.
" I caused great stirs to be made in Suffolk and
Norfolk ; Mr. Suliard his house to be searched, and
Mr. Drury's of Losell ; I betrayed Mr. Braddock,^ priest,
that was resident at Hull, and caused him to be appre
hended and imprisoned, as also Mr. Gelibrand ; * and
finally, I detected as many places in those counties as I
did know, especially where I knew that any priests fre
quented ; for few I spared that either one way or other I
did not touch : to report their names it were but over long
and tedious. Let every one know that I have most
grievously offended me, especially my dearest friends, to
whom I was most beholden ; but I that was become false
and cruel unto God Himself, how could I be sparing unto
any man .? And therefore, leaving to make any mention of
any particular person further than the cause of his parti-
^ Nicholas Phipps, alias Smith, was committed September ig, 1586.
Supra, p. 179.
^ The name is given as Gray, supra, p. 385.
' He was in the Counter in Wood Street {supra, pp. 231, 402), and at
Wisbech with Father Weston {supra, p. 266).
* Nicholas GeUebrand was committed October 9, 1586. Supra, p. 179.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 407
cular hurt requireth, let it suffice that I spared no county,
person, or place, that was within the compass of my know
ledge, and I was not ignorant of a few, I did set down
Three wicked catalogues, all their uamcs and dwelling-places, and
made of them three catalogues, whereof one I sent to
the Queen, another I gave to my Lord Treasurer, and
Justice Young hath the third.
"After that I had betrayed Mr. Smith and these
injnriesdoneto Father persous that I havc mentioned, I began
Edmonds, the Jesuit. ^^ j^^^^^^^ ^^ Y2X\i&r Edmonds, who, like an
innocent lamb, never suspected that such a ravening wolf
had been so near him, especially when I seemed to be
covered with a lamb's skin; of whom, because I am now
entered to talk, I think it not amiss if I confess in what
manner before I had bitten him at my being with my Lord
Treasurer, where, talking with him of this man, I told him
that he and I did ride together to Mr. Bold's of Lanca
shire, what a dangerous man he was, how earnestly he had
persuaded Mr. Bold to be reconciled to the See of Rome;
whereas of truth I knew no such matter, yet said I that
he preached at his house, and had done much hurt, which
I protest was only spoken of malice, without all truth.
Also that he was a great' man with Mr. Francis Browne, and
a secret dealer with divers noblemen, and that he was a
man very secret and politic, and therefore to be looked
unto, and to be taken heed of; wherein I did but show my
devilish nature, to speak the worst of the best, and the best
of the worst, for all my speeches were but invectives of
spite, not having, in truth, any just matter, although I
desired to accuse him. My lord then asked my opinion
, , ., , what I did think of the man's learning".
1 knew the devil, fear- *^
ful of the learned. J ^^JJ j^y Jq^J ^.^<^ Jf Jjjg hOHOUr WOuld
follow my counsel, he should never be permitted to make
any public appearance, or to be disputed withal, for that he
had such a pestilent wit and deceitful utterance, that he
would do more hurt than his adversaries should be able to

4o8 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
do any good : and thus much of my speeches of Father
Edmonds before my coming to the Clink."
[In his "third confession," ^ Tyrrell wrote thus to Lord
Burghley respecting Father Weston and Father Cornelius.
" Letters were sent sundry times and many to Edmonds,
Jesuit, by Persons and others, received by Anthony
Medcalfe, dealer for Persons, Birkett and Gratley, which
informed how matters proceeded from them, and to inquire
advertisement from us. Pie advertised that things had
been ended a long while since, but there was such strife
among our own nation who. should be chief actor in the
cause that almost they had marred all. The taking of
the Earl of Arundel was their wonderful loss, for if he
had come over safely, he had ended the quarrel.
"Francis Browne and his brother were altogether
governed by Edmonds and Cornelius. They have been
by their means conveyed to sundry noblemen. Their
practice and dealings have been most secret, as likely
to be most perilous. I have heard Edmonds tell me that
he hath said Mass before the Lord Compton and others
of the Court, preached, and was well rewarded for his
pains. " Cornelius was thought the fittest man for to preach
before ladies and gentlemen, both for his sweet and
plausible tongue and for that he could best counterfeit
simplicity. It was laboured that one lady should inform
another, and get him made famous to some of her
Majesty's Privy Chamber, that so soon as any of them
could be catched to affect our religion, that then some
of us that could court it should be brought familiar
amongst them, and by corrupting such as should be near
her Majesty, we might have better means to practise any
further treachery."]
" But after my coming thither [the Clink], as I said, I
had a continual longing to get somewhat from this innocent
' P.R.O., Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xix. n. 76 ; dated Sept. 2, 1586.

TJie Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 409
man, wherewith I might hurt or despatch him, not for any
particular malice or spite that I did bear to him, but of
a devilish instigation to please the humours of his enemies;
and first I did write to him a letter of my own, lying in
the same prison, wherein I informed him of many things
as touching Mr. Bold, himself, and me, which letter he
answered with such charity and wisdom as commonly he
did all other things else, that I could take no hold or
advantage against him : howbeit such as it was, at my next
coming I showed it to Justice Young. I observed that the
chief dealer with Father Edmonds was a good priest
named Mr. Lowe, and how that Mr. Lowe did write him
ofMr. Lowe, a blessed i^auy letters, as occasion served, about his
"'"¦ necessary business, and received answers,
which things I perverted always in evil part to Justice
Young, reporting what posting of letters there was to and
fro, which no doubt but imported greatly the State; and
so I think verily they did import the state of the whole
house, how the poor prisoners might find money to pay
for their commons, to get relief to preserve themselves
from famine, hunger, and cold : other State matters I
protest I knew none, to be treated by them. I would,
besides that, be always prying in Mr. Lowe, his chamber,
among his papers, to pick out what I could find that might
concern Father Edmonds' overthrow, and with much ado
I found at the' last but only two writings of his own hand ;
the one concerned an answer that a Catholic might make
to the Oath of Supremacy if it were tendered to him, and
the other was of matter that now I remember not, but sure
I am that they could not hurt or prejudice the least hair
of his head for any harm that was contained in them, yet
the one I sent to my Lord Treasurer, and the other I did
give to Justice Young, inveighing, notwithstanding, still
against the man, according to the abundance of my mali
cious humour, not given to speak well of any good man.
I informed withal that the said Father Edmonds did send

4IO The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
many letters abroad, notwithstanding his close imprison
ment, which would be very dangerous, and breed great
mischief, if it were not remedied; all which truly I did but
imagine, and speak according to the malice wherewith my
mind was possessed at that time.
"About this time that I was a practising of these
matters in the Clink, came the time of the arraignment
of Mr. Ballard and his company in Westminster, and as
the same Ballard with his company were coming from
Westminster that very day, when they
My meeting . with
w^i, IfrJtJTf^^ had received the sentence of death and
With, nis company, con-
*'''""'"^' judgment, and were returning back again
to the Tower, it was my hap to be upon the Thames in
a boat, together with my keeper's man, going to Justice
Young, and by the way it was my hap to meet the barge
that carried the prisoners, and to come so near it that
I looked Mr. Ballard full in the face, and he earnestly
beheld me, but, good Lord ! how I was confounded to
behold the man, knowing the abominable slanders I had
given out of him, and not knowing what torment he had
sustained^ by reason of my horrible accusations, and whether
that his death was any the more hastened through my
means, and whether any of the rest were unjustly made
away and condemned through my false accusations ; for
certain I was I had very falsely accused them, and that
very unjustly upon my accusations they might have been
made away and condemned : and howsoever otherwise they
might offend her Majesty or her laws, God, He knoweth ;
but sure I am that I accused so many most falsely, and
that of no small matters, as before I have set down, God
forgive me for it, and of all their souls I ask most humble
pardon." ^ "This day a servant of Anthony Fortescue's came from London with
report of the arraignment, and that Ballard the priest hath been so racked as.
he was carried to the bar and arraigned in a chair." Secret Advertisements to
Walsingham, September l6, 1586. P.R.O., Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xix.
11. 103.

411

CHAPTER X.
HOW HE BROUGHT TO THEIR ENDS THREE OTHER
GODLY PRIESTS, NAMED MR. LOWE, ADAMS, AND
DIBDALE, AND OF THE MATTER OF EXORCISMS
PRACTISED IN PECKHAM PLACE.
Ballard and his company being dispatched of their lives,
and that particularly upon this man's false accusations as
you have heard himself recount, and no matter of moment
to be picked against Father Edmonds the Jesuit to make
him away. Justice Young counselled with Tyrrell of
sending some other to the gallows, wherein Tyrrell
willingly gave his helping hand, as by his own narrative
that followeth you shall perceive.
"Within few days after these former proceedings,''
saith he, "was the time come that there should be a
sessions at Newgate, at which time commonly they miss
not to bring some good man or other to his trial, and
Justice Young, who of all others is a man most busy to
send good men to God, although their happiness so far
forth be far against his wicked meaning, yet not con
taining his malice to cut them off from their temporal
lives, he would be informed of me what man I thought in
the Clink to be most dangerous ; and then before Almighty
Mr.Lowe and Mr. Adams God and the world I accuse myself
falsely impeached unto death . . ti /r t .11
by me. of impeaching Mr. Lowe, especially,
and as I think, Mr. Adams,fas two of the greatest meddlers
and the one of them to have been before a banished man,^
and consequently to be more obnoxious to the law, and
the other to be one that did much hurt both abroad and'
within the house, what resolute Papists they both were, how
1 John Adams was banished in 1585. Supra, p. 72.

412 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
full of lewd practices, for disturbers of the commonwealth
in gaining of her Majesty's subjects unto the See of Rome,
with such other invectives as were very likely to speed
them. " He asked me moreover, what I thought of Dibdale,
and of his exorcisms. I answered that he was a great
, ,. hypocrite, and a great deluder of the
My accusations and dis- .* sr ' o
patch of Mr. Dibdale. -^yorld, with those matters of sorcery and
witchcraft, and those lewd actions, as then I termed them,
had done much harm, whereof I said he was the first
author. And now because I am entered into these
matters of exorcisms, although in the beginning^ I have
already somewhat touched them, yet can I not pass them
over but that somewhat I must say in this place to
manifest unto the world how directly I did speak against
my own knowledge and conscience, and how innocently
Mr. Dibdale did suffer death, being wonderfully slandered
by me and Justice Young, as if these things had been
matters only by him invented, and plain illusions, and
that the assembling together of these companies to
Catholic exorcisms had been to play the naughty packs,
or to some other ungodly end.
" A wonder sure it is, good Christian reader, to see how
A most true discourse of ^^^ the malicc of a wrctchcd sinner may
the exorcisms. gxtcud, and I do now vehemently wonder
at myself that ever I could so maliciously open my lips
as to speak a thing so contrary to my own knowledge,
for the defacing and annihilating of that which I did know
to be most certain and true, and that hundreds of persons
might condemn me for denying it; but you must not
wonder how I was come to that pass, that I was ready
to deny that there was a God in heaven, or would have
been brought to affirm or deny anything. But to answer
the matter truly before God, and without all dissimulation
(for if I should conceal it, God would make the very stones
^ Chapter ii. Supra, p. 326.

The Fall of Ant/iony Tyrrell. 413
in the street to utter it for the revealing of His glory), this
I say, that had I never been a Catholic, or not known
what the Catholic religion meant, upon the seeing of
those sights that I did see, and beholding those wonders
that I did behold, far passing any human reach or under
standing, I could not have chosen but that either I must
have acknowledged myself a most wicked limb of the
devil, or else I must needs have embraced that religion
by whose virtue these were done. If I were able to
explicate to the ear of a man that which I did there
behold with my eye, I should make any man unacquainted
with those things highly to wonder, whereas now per
adventure they will think them incredible.
" Think what they will, there be members of worshipful
[families] and others that have been eye-witnesses as well as
myself, who can certify that I do not lie, and for the confir
mation of these truths I would willingly be content to seal
it with my blood, as that most worthy martyr Mr. Dibdale
hath already done ; whose holy spirit I hope now prayeth
for me, most vile and sinful wretch, that sometime was
partaker with him of his earnest and extreme labours in
conjuring of those accursed and damned spirits, enemies
both to God and man, who seek not only the destruction
of our souls, but let not also to torment our bodies what
they can.
" These cursed spirits, I say, would He in the bodies of
~ , , those possessed creatures, which were
Ihe names of possessed sr
peopiecuredbyexorcisms. thcsc in numbcr : Richard Mayuc, gcntic-
man; WiUiam Trayford, servant unto Mr. Edward Peckham;
William Marwood, servant some time to the Lord Vaux ;
Friswide.Owen,^ and Sara Owen, sisters, whose father and
mother dwelt in Denham parish in the county of Buck
ingham; Anne Smith, that waited on young Mrs. Mayney,
^ Stipra, p. 104. The surname was Williams ; the Christian name,
corrupted into Friswood and Fid, was evidently Frideswide, taken from the
patroness of Ox/ord.

414 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
and another maid that served my Lady Peckham, whose
name I have forgotten.
"All these persons were notoriously known to be
possessed, of whom, if I should write the particular
accidents that happened to each one of them, neither can
I if I would, and it would rise unto a huge and wonderful
great volume ; it shall suffice that I speak of every one
something for the proof of the matter that we have in
hand, to convince the slander of the enemy to yield
Almighty God His deserved praise and glory, and to
the purging of His saints."
Thus far are Tyrrell's words.
And after this he maketh a large and particular
relation of many wonderful things that he saw many
times and heard pass with his own ears, in Sir George
Peckham's house in the parish of Denham, by the virtue
of Catholic exorcisms of the Church made by divers godly
priests there, which for brevity's sake, and for that they
be not much different from that he mentioned briefly
before in the second chapter, I do here omit to set down,
and will pass over to his conclusion of all, which is this
that followeth.
"Notwithstanding all this which I had seen with my
own eyes, and heard with my own ears, whereby my
faith, if it had been weak, might wonderfully have been
comforted, or if it had been none might have been newly
kindled and increased, and whereby my dull mind might
have been justly provoked to glorify God for the wonders
which never could be blotted out of my remembrance,
that I should notwithstanding, after I had consented to
revolt from God, and to betake myself to the devil directly,
go against my own knowledge, and tell Justice Young
they were but mere illusions and inventions, I cannot
but wonder to conceive it. O good Lord ! Thou knowest
that I did not fall from the Eternal Majesty by any error
or deceit of judgment, nor could I be carried away by

The Fall of Antkotty Tyrrell. 415
any colourable persuasion of the enemy, but I fell from
Thee with a malicious wilfulness, and what I could do
My desperate obsti- ™ore hcinously I know not, unless I
°^"™- should have cursed Thee to Thy face;
unless I should have openly blasphemed Thy truth, as
those wicked spirits of hell do ; unless I should say unto
Thee plainly, ' Depart from me, I will none of Thy ways,
I will not acknowledge Thy testimonies wherewith Thou
hast convinced me, I will contradict whatsoever Thou hast
said or done, and bury Thy wonders if I can in all
oblivion ; ' yet all this my malice had been nothing in
respect of the other.
" O Lord ! how often did I fear lest Thou wouldst
openly have shown some wonderful accident, for my
further condemnation, and for the confusion of the enemy,
when Thou didst permit the wenches to be taken, and
committed into Bridewell, brought unto the sessions at
Newgate — how much, I say, did I fear lest Thou wouldst
have permitted the devils to have shown themselves in
the face of the world; but that Thou didst not think it
so expedient, how glad was I when those matters were
so shuffled up, because the world might not cry out of me
for my malicious and wilful contradiction.
" And when it came to pass that Mr. Dibdale was to
end his last act in this life, at which time above all others
men do not use to lie, it being asked him upon his death
whether it were true that the maids had such things as
Mr. Dibdale martyred, wcrc spokcn of in their bodies or not,
and by what means they were got out, Mr. Dibdale there
wished that he might never see the face of the Almighty
God if the things were not true as they have been spoken;
and this being said in the face of the world, that all that
heard him how far soever they be affected to the contrary
.religion, yet can they not, nor will they, deny but that
he took his death upon it : and yet, notwithstanding.
Justice Young did say quite the contrary of the man.

4i6 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
both living and dead, and namely that at the time of his
death he shoidd deny these things to be true. And
- ,. „ , surely had I not been of as bad a mind
Justice Young s no- .*
toriousiies. ^j. .^q,^^^ tj,an hc myself, I should have
now cried out upon him ; but he may say he did but as
I did myself, speak falsely of things most certain and
T, , . true, and so may he take me up with
1 wo lying companions * J -
shake hands. my owu fault : but let me answer Justice
Young again, and desire him that we both may then
amend, for the truth of God's cause is not to be trodden
down by lying.
" But to turn again to these three most glorious
martyrs, Mr. Lowe, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Dibdale, how
unjustly they were condemned to death, the one for
conjurations, the other two for their priesthood, which
now in this unhappy age by the new laws of this realm
is made treason. But if to be a priest is to be a traitor,
as also to reconcile a man's self, confess his sins, and to
be absolved, then am I sure there can none but traitors
get to heaven ; for if there be a God, a Christ, a Christian
religion, the only way taught by this God to enjoy His
kingdom is by priesthood, and the administration of His
holy sacraments by reconciling of sinners unto His grace
and favour, when they have fallen away from God through
sin. And thus were all Christians taught in our country,
and all others, from the beginning unto this our miserable
age. And if there be any hope of salvation yet left for
The holy and happy "^^ a wrctched siuucr (as God's mercy is
treasons of our times, ^j^.^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^j^^^ ^,^jj f^j. j^ ^j^j^ ^^^^^
repentance in this life), then must I come to my salvation
by this kind of treason. I mean by reconciling myself
to God by confessing my sins, by doing penance, by
receiving the holy sacraments, the which I cannot do
but at the hands of a priest that is a traitor, as our
people term him. O blessed traitor ! O happy
treason ! If to die for God's cause and God's Church be

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 417
treason, God make me so happy as to become such a
traitor, and die for that, and in that treason ; and if I
had ten thousand lives I would I might die for such
treason. Happy, and thrice happy are you, blessed
Dibdale, Lowe, and Adams — whatsoever you are accounted
of in this world, you are no doubt most renowned martyrs
in heaven. I beseech you pray for me that am indeed
a most miserable and \vretched traitor to God and man,
for I am the traitor which have betrayed my Master,
injured His anointed, forsaken my faith, abandoned ray
religion, dishonoured my order, and betaken me unto rotten
and human helps that have nor power nor might to help
me. You, alas ! what treasons have you committed, but
only for serving God according to your functions, for
saying of Masses, for offering up that unbloody Sacrifice,
that Immaculate Lamb that taketh away the sins of the
world, for reconciling of sinners to Almighty God, for
Th - n e of these absolviug by your priestly power their
holy martyrs. ^jj^^ ^j^^j offcuccs, and by doiug other like
actions most laudable and necessary to salvation, which
all other holy priests and bishops have done and practised
in England from her first" conversion to the Christian
religion unto this age ; and as well might all they have
been hanged for these treasons by Justice Young and
his fellows as you. Wherefore of your charity I pray
you, pray for me, since now you triumph in heaven, since
no human or infernal power can any way hurt or harm
you, I pray you pray for me, and pardon me my grievous
offences that I have done you. And thus leaving you
now triumphing in your Master's kingdom, I will return
again unto the unfolding of my own wretchedness here
upon earth, full of human misery and desolation.
"To return therefore from whence I have digressed,
this I have briefly set down as touching the verity of
the exorcisms, the innocence of my dear brethren whom
I so falsely accused, and for confirmation of the Catholic
BB

41 8 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
cause, for the which I would I might be worthy to spend,
my blood ; but alas, I am not worthy, God's holy will
be fulfilled. And this is the feeling now of my doings
at that time, though I, being void of God's grace, pro
ceeded still in my accursed course, as hereafter I shall
set down."

CHAPTER XI.
HOW HE GOETH FORWARD WITH HIS COURSE OF DIS
SIMULATION AND SPIERY, AND THE DISPENSATION
GIVEN HIM FOR THE SAME BY JUSTICE YOUNG, FOR
SAYING MASS, AND HEARING CONFESSIONS, RECON
CILING, AND THE LIKE, IS CONFIRMED BY THE LORD
TREASURER AND THE QUEEN'S ORDER.
There followeth in Tyrrell's narrative how he proceeded
still in his most mischievous and damnable course of
dissembling and betraying of his fellows, wherein he was
allowed and dispensed withal by Justice Young, as before
we have heard in the ninth chapter, and now we shall
see it confirmed by the letter of the Lord Treasurer,
and authority also of the Queen herself The narrative
is set down by Tyrrell in these words.
" These blessed men, Mr. Dibdale, Mr. Lowe, and Mr.
Adams thus made away, howsoever my conscience might
be clogged for the blood so unjustly spilt let all good men
My especial desire to J^^ge, but what gricf could loug endurc in
entrap at er mon s. ^ despcratc miud I did wcar it out. I went
forward in my pretended wickedness. I laboured still to
have entrapped more, and chiefly Father Edmonds. I
informed of many comers unto him, and especially
of Mr. Francis Browne, whereas I never knew his coming
to speak with him. But at length Father Edmonds and
Mr. Smith the priest, being placed together in one

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 419
chamber,^ and removed somewhat nearer unto me, I
informed how they had Mass every day, how many were
let in and how oftentimes unto them, how they made
exhortations and preachings at times unto companies, and
who they were that heard them. I informed how that
Mr. Smith had reconciled one Willis, that was laid into
prison by the commandment of Sir Francis Walsingham,
upon displeasure that Sir Francis Drake had conceived
against him ; I told how that of a Puritan he was made
now an earnest Papist. I did continually send letters
unto my Lord Treasurer and to Justice Young, of
matters of intelligence, heaping up most horrible and
shameful lies, after which letters written I received from
my Lord Treasurer a letter of his own handwriting, which
he sent unto me a little before his going down unto the
Scottish Queen, the copy whereof is this that followeth.
His own letter as yet I have to be seen.
" The copy of a letter written unto me by my Lord Treasurer during
the time of my being in the Clink.
" I have three or four days past read your letters
written since you came to the Clink, and by reason of
my continual business I have deferred to answer you,
which in truth at this time I cannot do so largely as if
I were free from business I would. Therefore in brief
this know you, that I like both your wisdom and loyalty
so well, as I can find nothing to advise you of otherwise
than I see yourself hath thought. Your dissimulation
A holy determination, a '^ to a good end, and therefore both
scrupulous conscience, tolcrablc and commcndable. I pray you
therefore persevere therein, as I will persevere in good will.
"In haste, 23rd of September, 1586.
"Your loving friend,
" W. Burghley.
^ Supra, p. 194.
BB 2

420 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
"This letter was sealed with his seal of arms and
superscribed 'To Anthony Tyrrell.' True it is that during
the time of my being in the Clink, and dissembhng there
so deeply as I did, as well in going to confession as unto
the altar, and in all my talk and conversation, although
that I had written most odible [hateful] matter unto my lord'
against Catholics and the Catholic religion, I thought yet
with myself that my lord being wise, and knowing the
manner of my bringing up all the days of my life, and
always until that time to have continued a firm Catholic,
and now hearing again of my order and conversation in
saying daily Mass, and doing other such exercises as
appertained unto the Catholic religion, might grow perhaps
into some suspense or suspicion of my doings, and think
that in heart I were so suspected still. Therefore I did
write unto him the causes of my conversation, giving him
to understand that if it were his pleasure to have me
remain as I did, I must of necessity dissemble deeply,
otherwise my being there were to little purpose, where
upon he did write me that letter which I have mentioned,
wherein, according to that which Young had told me
My Lord Treasurer's bcforc, lie commcndcth mc, and liketh
conscience at one with ,
Justice Young's. my wisdom ; while in truth I know not
what wisdom he could mean, unless it were for 'forsaking
of God, and giving myself wholly unto the devil as now
I had done.
" j(\.nd as for my loyalty, I think he meant in betraying
of innocents, in spilling of their blood, in heaping God's
vengeance upon my own head. If for this wisdom and
loyalty I were to be commended, I was rightly com
mended, otherwise not. But I contemned this counsel
as fitter in truth for a heathen than for a Christian, and
fitter for one to be misled in all impiety than to be
converted unto a good religion. I began also by this new
and strange counsel to lament the loss of my old friends,
and to wonder at my new. I thought it a very strange

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 421
metamorphosis to be entertained after that manner. ' They
have no care surely,' thought I, 'of my soul,' and in truth
I did wish then that I should not, for I found myself
past all care of myself, yet could I not but somewhat
discourse in my mind of the fruits of this new religion.
The end I looked for at their hands, of all this favour,
I was sure would be despair, hell, death, and damnation,
yet had the devil such power over me, and Almighty
God so little, that forward I went, and purposed in truth
never to have made an end until hell gates had inclosed
me." Thus far are Tyrrell's words of his new friends and
own state. But after this he telleth divers treasons that
he committed again against divers priests and others, both
men and women, whose names and estates he learned out
by the priests and Catholics that frequented the Clink,
and caused them all to be taken, as Mr. Sayer, and
Mr. Simpson, priests, Mr. Henry Vaux, son to the Lord
Vaux ; also he haunted greatly to spy out Father
Southwell and Father Garnet, Jesuits, but could not ;
moreover, he betrayed the innocent maids which had
been possessed, as before hath been said, of whom he
writeth himself in the manner following, in his confession.
" About this time word was brought me to the Clink
by some Catholics, that Friswide Owen and Anne Smith
.„,_,_ . ^ . had broken out of the prison at Bridewell,
The betraying of certain ^ '
'"^"'^- and kept at the French Ambassador's.
Whereupon I took an occasion to write to the Lord
Treasurer, and among other matters I gave him warning
that he should have a care what became of these maids,
for if they should be conveyed over beyond the seas, as
I heard say the French Ambassador was about it, their
matter would bring more trouble unto England than
easily would be repressed again. I did write at the same
time I remember, a letter unto her Majesty, and sent it
unto Justice Young to be delivered. I think the contents

42 2 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
imported chiefly the joy that I had received of my new
conversion, although I did know how much all priests
would inveigh against me both with tongue and pen when
it should be known, howbeit I feared not so I might be
defended by her Majesty's protection, with other such
like speeches, the copies of which letters I kept not, so
I cannot set them down verbatim, as they were written,
but upon the sending of this letter Justice Young returned
me an answer in a letter written by his own hand, the
copy whereof is this that followeth.
" The copy of Justicc Young his first letter, sent to me io the Clink.
"With my hearty commendations unto you, this is
to advertise you that I have been with her Majesty, who
most graciously received your letter, and gave me com
mandment to will you to be bold and to fear no man,
for her Majesty will back you, and you must depend only
upon her and no other, and she rejoiceth and praises God
for your conversion, which made her to rejoice when I
told her of your constancy; and she commanded me to
will you to set down to her Majesty in writing, all such
as you know to be recusants and are reconciled to the
Church of Rome, of what estate soever he or she be of:
Fruits required in a ^nd touching the wcuches and where they
convertite. ^,g^ j ^^^^ advcrtiscd her Majesty, and
I perceive you have written to my Lord Treasurer of
it. And if you do lack anything let me have knowledge,
and I will furnish you. My lord came but this night to
London, and to-morrow he doth go to the Court, and
at his coming back which will be upon Monday, he will
answer your letter, and there should be order taken for
you, but her Majesty doth mean to employ you in finding
out of those traitors, and would have you to keep your
credit with them to the end you may the better decipher
Dispensation for dis- t^em. And I pray you if you can learn
mg. -where any of these priests be abroad to

The Fall, of Anthony TyrreU. 423
advertise me. I pray you let me hear from you, and send
your mind in writing to her Majesty, for I must be with
her Tuesday next. Thus in haste I commit you to the
Almighty, desiring Him to preserve you. This 21st
October, 1586. "Your friend assured,
"Richard Young.
" This was the first letter which I received from Justice
Young, wherein he mentioneth a letter of mine that he
delivered unto her Majesty ; the contents of which letter
I have mentioned before as near as I remember, which
chiefly, I say, concerned the joy I had received of my new
conversion. Touching the further contents thereof I think
I did very much inveigh against all her Majesty's Catholic
subjects, especially priests, wherein I slandered them
deeply, of their treacherous minds towards her Highness
and the State, whereas I may confidently depose upon
my soul, that there is no such thing. And whereas I did
write in my aforesaid letters that I did know her
Catholic subjects' minds inclinable to an invasion, and
to be forward to seek her Majesty's ruin and deposition,
and that every priest was a persuader thereunto, so far
forth as they durst, I cannot but in conscience recal back
that deadly slander again, and to protest as I shall answer
before God, that I know it to be clean contrary. As
touching the requests which Justice Young seemed to
make to me from her Majesty, namely, to set down the
recusants' names of what estate or degree soever they were,
which I did know to be within her realm, I confess that
I did so, the more was my sin, seeing that it was only
to procure them peril and punishment, yet I did only
certify their names and dwelling-places, not charging them
to my knowledge with any further matter more than I
have already named. As touching the three maids which
he mentioned in his letter, so it is that I discovered their

424 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
being with the French Ambassador. As for priests' names,
as he desired me so did I certify them, and further accord
ing to his counsel and request I framed another letter
unto the Queen, where I declared what comfort I had
Anotherwickedietter rcccived to hear and understand of her
unto the Queen. ^^^^ gracious clcmcncy, and that my
conversion did yield to her Majesty any comfort, it was
no small joy unto me, protesting that it came from my
heart unfeignedly (when in truth I lied loudly in saying
so). I acknowledged myself bound unto her Majesty for
the comfort of her protection, which, next unto the pro
tection of Almighty God, I said I most relied upon (and I
might have said, above), and that I knew I should be sore
shaken by the tongues and pens of Papists when they
should understand of my revolt from them ; and that since
it was her Majesty's pleasure to dispense with me for my
dissimulation among them, I informed her Majesty that
I would continue it with all the wisdom and policy that
A blessed purpose. I could, and that I doubted not but to cut
their throats and they should not know who hurt them.
Thus I think, or to this effect I did then write, for the
which I crave both mercy and pardon, as also of her
Majesty and of all the world. And this is all I can
remember now worth the setting down touching the effect
of Justice Young's first letter, about the which I have
stayed somewhat longer than I thought I should, but I
will be more brief in the next."

425

CHAPTER XII.
OF three letters more written BY YOUNG TO
TYRRELL, WITH THE PLOT OF HIS DELIVERY OUT
OF PRISON TO PLAY THE SPY ABROAD.
By the three letters following of Justice Young, his nature
and manner of proceeding, with the whole style of their
dealing with and against Catholics and with such as be
in their hands, is much laid open, which Tyrrell setteth
down in these words following.
"After that I had sent according to Justice Young's
request an answer unto his first letters, with other letters
of mine to her Majesty, within few days after came more
letters unto me from him, the true copy whereof is set down
hereafter as followeth.
" The copy of Justice Voting's second letter sent unto me during the
time of my being at the Clink.
"Sir, — I have delivered your letter to her Majesty's
own hands, with your note or list, who hath graciously
accepted them, and she told me that she had taken order
with my Lord Treasurer for your relief Her Majesty's plea
sure is that you shall keep still your credit with those wicked
persons, whereby you may the better know all their wicked
A further dispensation practiccs, and what you can find to adver-
yettosin. ^.jg^ j^g^ Majcsty. And further she willed
me that you shall seek out what you can find against Mr.
Bold, and also to advertise her who did reconcile those per
sonages you name, and when they were reconciled, to wit,
the Lord Windsor, the Lord Thomas, the Lord William,

426 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
the Lord Compton, the young Lady Stourton, the Lady
Darcy, the Lady Mildmay, and young Mr. Southwell, or
any other ; and she willed me to tell you from her that you
fear no man, for she hath, and will have, care over you.
And for these matters, I pray you let me hear from you
as soon as you may, for that her Majesty is desirous to
know these things. Further, I am to advertise you that
I have spoken with my Lord Treasurer, who hath told
me that he will take order for you very shortly.
" Sir, I perceived by my man Harris that you were
desirous to have him come unto you, but I was half in
doubt to send him, therefore I pray you advertise me, for
, ,' r I would not have you to be suspected.
Young careful of my .^ ^
credit. ^j^^ ^jj^g J commit you to the Almighty
God, who ever keep you. This 27th of October, 1586.
" Your friend assured,
" Richard Young.
"After that I had received this second letter, and
thoroughly perused it, I found my heart and desire more
and more inflamed and kindled against God and His
Truth. I did set all my wits upon tenters, stretching
them more and more to the devising of some further false
hood and mischief, the which when I could not find matter
convenient to my contentment, I answered those letters as
I think to this effect — First, that according to her
Majesty's will and desire, I would endeavour to keep
and continiie my credit. And as touching Mr. Bold, I
have already set down the uttermost I meant of my
falsehoods devised against him, which again and again
I recal as malicious slanders and untruths spoken and
devised of mine own head against the gentleman.
"And as touching those noble personages that he
mentioned in his letter that I should certify what I did
know of their reconcilements, true it is that I appeached
the Lord Windsor, feigning that I thought him to be

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 427
reconciled by Ballard, but where or when I could not
tell ; no more in truth can I tell whether ever he did see
Ballard in his life or no, and therefore my speech of that
nobleman was most false.
" As touching the Lord Thomas, Justice Young (who
Justice Young was ever ^vcr was ready to put in more) might have
putting in more, ygry wcll left him out, for I do not know
that ever I made any mention of him, and for aught that
I do know, he is a Protestant. The Lord William I men
tioned, but who reconciled him I could not teU. And as
for the Lord Compton, I think I informed that he should
be reconciled by Father Haywood, but of truth I do not
know whether he ever did see Father Haywood in his
life. "As for the young Lady Stourton, I informed that
The Lady Stourton and Ballard was Very familiar in her house,
others falsely appeached. and therefore it might be that he recon
ciled her, but I knew it not certainly ; and for my part
I protest that I never knew my lord or my lady, and much
less do I know what acquaintance Mr. Ballard had with
them. For the Lady Darcy, small cause had I to make
any mention of her, as of any of the rest, but only to
make up the number, for I never knew her to be recon
ciled, and therefore my speech of her was feigned; only
because I did know that she had an uncle who was a
priest, I thought I might make her the more easily
suspected, therefore I feigned that he reconciled her.
"As for the Lady Frances Mildmay, I was bold to put
her in amongst the rest, not for that I knew any cause
I had so to do, but that I had heard her mind to be
somewhat inclinable to the Catholic religion, although I
think her very far from the effect.
" As touching young Mr. Southwell, I proceeded by the
particular mention that her Majesty made of him by
Justice Young his letter that she mistook the man, for
I accused young Mr. Southwell, that hath now married

428 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
Mrs. Southcote, and she had thought that I had meant
Mr. Southwell that married my Lord Admiral his daughter;
and thus much as touching the names of these noble per
sonages mentioned in this letter, for the rest I remember
not that I did write anything of importance at this
time. "Not long after this, still to be doing somewhat, I
sent a new schedule to Justice Young of the names of
divers priests where I understood they did haunt or lie,
A new discovery, and amoug othcrs gave him information
of one Mr. Sale, a priest, that for certain, I said, did lie
at the Lord Vaux his house, by the which means he went
himself thither, in a morning, and made a search ; where
upon the next day following he sent me another letter
to advertise me of his success, and to have my opinion of
certain papers he had taken. The copy of his letter was
this that ensueth.
" The copy of Justice Young his third letter sent unto me in
the Clink about his searches.
" With my hearty commendations, this is to desire you
to send me the speeches that Mr. Bold did speak as
touching the Lord of Leicester, and I pray you to send
me in writing if you have learnt the certainty of the
names of those that reconciled those personages that her
Justice Young's hunger Majcsty wlllcd mc to dcmaud of you, and
after new matter. jf ^^^ j^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^j^^^ j ^^^
inform her Majesty.
"As touching the Lord Vaux his house, the priests
were conveyed away so that they could not be found, but
these letters were found in Henry Vaux his bag with books,
but he will not confess where he had them, yet he was
called before the lords of the Council, and is sent unto the
Marshalsea.^ I pray you send me word what you think
^ " Great lamentation at Clerkenwell College for apprehension of Mr.
Vaux.'- Anon, to Walsingham, November II, 1586. V.'S..O., Mary Queen
of Scots, vol. XX. II. 26.

Tlie Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 429
as touching those letters, and whether you do think that
Persons be in England or no.
" Thus in haste, I commend you to the Almighty God,
this 6th of November, 1586. " Your friend assured,
"Richard Young.
" This letter he sent me by his man Harris, who
brought with him those other letters also which his
master had found in the search, because they were
written in Latin, and some matters contained in them
that they did not well understand. Upon the first. perusal
whereof I judged them to have been written by Father
Persons, but after I perceived that they were written by
Father Robert Southwell,^ and so I informed.
" For Mr. Bold and other matters I answered as I had
answered before, that more than I had already said I
could not say, and so I made an end for this time, being
fully wearied with Justice Young's importunity. But it
was not long after that he had been at the Court and
spoken, as he made me believe, with the Queen, where
upon he turned to write unto me again after this manner
as followeth. " The copy of Justice Young's fourth letter to 7ne while I
was at the Clink.
" With my hearty commendations unto you, this is to
advertise you that upon Wednesday was sevennight I
was with her Majesty and advertised her of such as you
had given me intelligence of, I mean those that reconciled
the persons that I gave you their names, among which she
was very glad that Mr. Southwell was none of them — I
mean Mr. Southwell that married the Lord Admiral's
daughter — and also I told her Majesty that you would
^ The letters were signed "Robert." P.R.O., Domestic Elizabeth,yo\. cxci.
n. 29 ; vol. cxcv. n. 119. Supra, p. 99.

430 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
advertise her of things more certain, the which I pray
you do with as much speed as you can, and look what
Justice Young asketh 7°" would havc me say to her Majesty in
still more matter. ^^^^ ^^^j^^jj- j^ gj^^jj y^^ ^^^^
"Moreover I do think it best and most for your
credit amongst the traitors that you shall speak to some
of such as you think best of to be suitors to me, to be
a mean to my Lord Treasurer for you that you may be
Justice Young deviseth bailed and go abroad upon sureties to
to set me abroad to spy 11 . , 1 ,i 1
more. appear at all times when you shall be
called, and I will procure my lord's warrant to me to
procure to take bail of you, if you do think this good,
or any other way wherein you shall think best and most
convenient for the better service of her Majesty.
" Sir, of late there hath been new devices and practices
to destroy her Majesty ; if you can learn anything I pray
More feigned con- y^^ advcrtisc me, and touching your going
.spiracies. ^^ j^^. Lq^j Trcasurcr, if it require haste
I pray you advertise me, or else I would have you to give
first some intelligences to her Majesty. And touching
Gelibrand, you shall have him set at liberty, putting in
sureties for his forthcoming.
"And thus in some haste, I commit you to the
Almighty, who ever preserve you. This 17th of November,
1586. "Your assured friend,
"Richard Young.
" ,Postscriptum — I have sent you a small remembrance.
" I cannot let pass to complain here of Justice Young's
vehement humour in all his letters, thirsting to receive new
advertisements, whereas in truth I had so emptied myself
of all matters of my own knowledge that my wits failed
me to coin out any more of new ; and I perceiving this
man never to be satisfied, it made me almost weary of
my damnable course, thinking that I should always be

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 43,1
thus encumbered with him, and moreover I could not
tell what cause I might have to mistrust him of double
dealing, fearing that he did but use all my advertisements
unto his own credit and gain. Notwithstanding, perceiving
One companion mis- "o^ by thesc his letters to set me at
u-usteth the other, hberty I was content to think the best,
intending that if I found him to play legerdemain with
me to acquite [requite] him again by my Lord
Treasurer." Thus much writeth Tyrrell of his opinion of Justice
Young, and of his intention how to buckle with him ; and
then Justice Young, conformable to that which he wrote
in his last, maketh a compact with the Treasurer and
Tyrrell how he should be delivered out of prison, which
was that Tyrrell should procure a certain Catholic gentle
man, the dearest friend that he had (who nothing suspected
any least point of this wicked treachery), to repair to
Justice Young to sue for his liberty upon sureties. For that
he had told him how that his health was much impaired
by the prison, the good gentleman was induced to go to
Justice Young, and was very courteously received by him at
his first entrance, and it was agreed before that as soon as
he began to speak of Tyrrell then stormed Young against
him, protesting that he was the most stubborn and dan
gerous man in the land ; nay, that nothing could be
gotten out of him, &c. Yet in the end he became more
A sinful comedy. Calm upon rcquost of this gentleman, and
said he would propose the matter to the Treasurer, who
was as far out with Tyrrell as Young was, alleging his
obstinacy as the other, but yet in the end both of them
were entreated to let him out as themselves had first
devised, and Tyrrell went abroad to betray as well this
good gentleman, his friend, who had procured his liberty,
as all other Catholics besides, which Tyrrell himself
hath set down in confession more largely and par
ticularly than I thought necessary for this abridgement

432 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
He continueth on the explication of Young's last letter
in these words as following.
" And thus much as concerning my delivery, the plat-
My delivery out of form^ whcrcof was set down as I have
spy abroad. showcd by Justlcc Young in his letter,
in which he informed me of new practices intended against
her Majesty. For mine own part I fear me I was ready
enough to burden the poor Catholics with the same, yet
I do not remember any certainty, but most sure I am
that I wickedly certified both her Majesty and the
Lord Treasurer, that neither the Queen nor the State
should be ever secure so long as any Seminary priests
were left in the realm, as though they should be the
authors and devisers of all these mischiefs, although I
knew in my own conscience the contrary.
" And whereas in his letter he maketh mention of his
setting free Mr. Gelibrand, the priest, the truth is that
I got him delivered out of the Clink for the better
covering of mine own coming forth, wherewith Justice
Young was well contented, and the rather because he
was no Seminary man, but made priest before, and so
without the compass of the new statute.
" Lastly he maketh mention in his letters of a small
remembrance that he sent me, which was only six
ryals,^ the first reward that ever in my life I received for
such an exploit ; and then I remembered me of the thirty
pieces of silver that Judas received for betraying of Christ
his Master with the like mind that I received this money,
and without the further grace of God it wanted but little
that I had not gone and hanged myself as he did. And
thus much for the answering of Justice Young's letter,
which was the last of his letters that I received."
' Platform, a scheme or plan, fohnson.
- The ryal, first issued by Hem-y VI., was worth lOs.

433

CHAPTER XIII.
HE SETTETH FORTH HIS OWN MISERABLE AFFLICTION
OF CONSCIENCE WHILST HE LIVED IN THIS DIS
SIMULATION, AND SHOWETH HOW HE COULD NOT
YET BRAVE TO BE AN OPEN PROTESTANT.
In this chapter I shall only set down Tyrrell's own narra
tion of his miserable afflicted mind whilst he followed this
damnable course of dissimulation prescribed unto him by
Justice Young, which thus he expresseth.
" Now it followeth that I recount my particular actions
and practices not yet spoken of, during the time of my
being in the Clink, together with my practices and
treacheries that I committed at my being abroad, until
the time that it pleased our merciful God to touch my
heart with some repentance.
" The principal and public injuries that I committed
in the time of my imprisonment, as near as I could
remember them, I have set down before ; only some other
private and particular I am now to discover, together
with the continual conflict and horror of my own con
science in conversing after such a damnable manner among
so many innocents, that suspected neither fraud or guile,
nor occupied their minds upon other thoughts but how
they might please and serve Almighty God, receiving
The happy state of their prcscnt afflictions with great patience,
Catholic prisoners with .11, 1 . tt* 11 1-11
my unhappiness. and wholly Tclying upon His blessed will
and pleasure for their release. All which blessed men
I do confess that for my own part I thought them most
happy and myself most unhappy. I thought them chosen
vessels of Almighty God, and my own self a wicked repro-
CC

434 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
bate of the devil ; for I found in myself no will of repent
ance. I thought my sins too abominable and grievous,
and albeit I believed that God could forgive them, yet
I assured myself that He would never do it, for I found
in myself no hope or desire of amendment. My sleeps
were troublesome, my dreams fearful at my going to bed.
I thought it booted not to pray, and yet without prayer I
thought the devil should have too much power over me.
The sign of the Cross and other customs of the Catholic
Church I had laid aside, and yet at times fear forced
me to use them.
" Truly I do not lie. I would sometimes when my
candle was put out imagine my chamber to be full of
devils, especially of those that I had tormented in my
A most horrible former cxorcisms. I imagined then how
state. they environed me round about, triumph
ing of their possession of me, and watching when they
should carry my soul as their perpetual prey unto eternal
damnation. Ah, good Lord ! how I was frighted in my
mind when I thought what torments I had afflicted upon
those accursed spirits by power of the Catholic Church
at the time of those exorcisms which I had used upon
them ; and with what obstinate malice they did sustain
them, rather than they would desist from afflicting a poor
creature in body temporally, of whose soul they had no
power to do hurt. I bethought me, with no small terror
of mind, with what implacable hatred they would afflict
me in hell, that had so much here afflicted them, when
they should have full power and dominion over me both
in soul and body; and yet would I not desist from sin.
Neither the fear of those eternal punishments that always
in my mind tormented me, nor yet the love of God, or
the recording of His benefits, could move my heart or
bring it to any compunction ; but as one altogether in
malice obdurated, I persevered in sin. These inward and
secret afflictions I dissembled outwardly as well as I could,

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 435
and conversed among the Catholic prisoners as if I had
been a true sufferer for God of their company, yet did
I never come to confession, or to the altar, or to any
other spiritual exercises among them, but for mere colour
or fashion, and when I could by my device or policy shift
it off I would ; but when necessity forced me unto it,
Theforceofaguuty ^ ^^^ notwithstanding in mind so inwardly
conscience". perplcxcd as I could not well tell what to
do, knowing that I did so much increase and aggravate
my own damnation: in such manner as my life, indeed,
howsoever I did dissemble it outwardly, was to me a very
hell and sensible beginning of those damnable pains
which I made account for ever to endure. Such was my
desperate boldness to brave all things out, and to comfort
myself with the memory of a little vain and transitory
pleasure, for the obtaining whereof I was at a point, not
caring what mischief or hurt I went about. And yet if
I had been asked that time what was the sum of all my
My heaps of reward foHcity that I had proposcd uuto mysclf,
for all my wickedness, forsooth I could auswcr no other, but only
to come into favour with her Majesty, to be well thought
of such as are of best account about her, to gain myself
some temporal living, to get me a woman to be my con
cubine (for wife by reason of my priesthood she could
be none), to break the vow of my holy orders, to live
in all kinds of sensuality.
" Lo, here the end. and full scope of all my doings:
for a little vain and transitory pleasure, for a little sen
suality, to abandon the grace of Almighty God, and like
unto that most wicked Esau, to sell my inheritance of
everlasting life for one mess of potage. If I could by
any possible means have wrought myself out of all eccle
siastical function I would ; for as for my priesthood I
greatly feared not, for the ministry I cared not. For the
one I was sure I should practise no longer than the time
of my dissimulation lasted. As for the other, in my
CC 2

436 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
heart I contemned, howsoever outwardly I should be
forced to show liking.
" To become a knave pursuivant I thought it too
base an occupation, I having been always brought up
My cogitations of my li^c a gentleman; and what else I might
future life. j^^ ^^^ j^^^.^ ^j^^^ might bcst agree with
my quality and condition, in truth I did not know. I
thought if there were no other remedy but that I must
needs be of the ministerial profession, that then I would
play my part as kindly as I could. I purposed to have
gotten the usual cloak of hypocrisy which commonly
all ministers do wear, and to have counterfeited a kind of
zeal, although religion I had none ; and I would have
wondered openly at my former blindness, and boldly
have affirmed that I did see and perceive more now in
one hour's reading than I did before in twenty-five years'
study : that now the Holy Ghost inspired me (for I was
sure that the devil was within me), I would have put
on brazen face of impudency. For now I had already
perused their common-places of railing against the Pope,
and had run over their legends of lies against all the
mysteries of the Catholic religion; and so I would have
thought my penny as good silver as the proudest of
them, and would have frequented the pulpits boldly, and
would have lied loudly, and doubted not but to have
contented the ears of the common sort with some blind
phantasy, as becometh a minister of Justice Young's
creating. "And this was the full end and scope of all my
intentions for that time, if God for my unworthiness
should have permitted me thus far to have fallen ; or if
yet (which God forbid) I refusing God's grace, should
hereafter fall and come to this ministerial dignity or
vocation, that the truth of my doctrine may appear unto
the world by the truth of my vocation, I will speak a
word or two thereof"

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 437
Thus far are Tyrrell's own words, and from this he
.r ,,. .¦ . beginneth to make a large discourse of the
Tyrrells vocation to => a
the ministry. yocation hc had to be a Protestant, or
rather the motives to that vocation, which were, as he hath
often signified before, partly fear, partly ambition, partly
and principally the temptation of the devil, desire of
liberty and of loose life, hatred of discipline, fasting, prayer,
confession, and the like, after which discourse he writeth
as followeth. " But now to return to my former matter again. After
that I have declared the fulness of my intentions in
falling from the Catholic Church to the embracing of
this new evangelical doctrine and gospel, I must tell you
further that I imagined divers times with myself what
I were best to do, either to continue yet longer in dissimu
lation or to break out openly against all Catholics.
" To continue long in dissimulation I thought I could
not, but that by some means or other I should be espied,
for commonly the devil cannot so counterfeit but he
bewrayeth himself I thought therefore to begin betimes,
and to set out unto the world some piece of work as
certain predecessors of mine, and namely John Nichols had
done, and Lewis Evans, two poor ministers that had been
Catholics first, or had feigned so to be ; and I thought to
have dedicated the same unto her Majesty (O bold pre
sumption, to make her Majesty a patroness and defender
of lies), and in truth I began a piece of such a work, and
showed the beginning thereof to Justice Young, and
had written well near a dozen sheets of paper of such
monstrous and shameful slanders against Catholics and
against the Catholic truth, that mine own conscience, as
corrupt and malicious as it was, cried out against it, and
A scandalous, lying SO in onc night I cast all into the fire,
book begun, as all their . , , i /¦/¦ ^ e
convertitesarewonttodo. whlch bcCaUSC thC cffCCt thCrCOf WaS
never yet unto any man known, I will not now for
very shame reveal it.

438 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
"Many letters besides I did write unto Justice
Young, wherein I caUed upon him for comfort in the
Lord, and that I might be rid from the thraldom and
bondage I lived in, wishing that I might once come into
the temple of the Lord, and to receive the comfortable cup
of their communion, &c.
" And thus much as concerning my letters and writings,
and other practices during the time of my being in the
Clink. What other particular offences I have committed
against any man, surely I do not remember during the time
of my imprisonment. I shall therefore discover now the
wickedness of my practices during the time of my being
abroad, until that it pleased God that of all Catholics
I was more deeply suspected. For the manner of my
coming forth I have set down already, and therefore I
need not here to repeat it again. Being come forth of
prison, my meaning was, for the better recovery of my
credit, which I had heard before was called in question,
first to repair to the prisons, among my familiar friends
and acquaintance, to inform them of the order and manner
of my coming forth, and to see what any man could
object or say against me, and to answer all things as well
as I could. I repaired first to the Counter, where I found
to my thinking the weather indifferently fair and the
clouds were cleared over. Hearing no more of any sus
picion remaining towards me, I repaired also to the
Marshalsea, where I found all things in like manner well
to my liking.
" To the Clink I repaired very often, where my credit I
thought was best. I got me a lodging in a place wherein
was another priest also lodged, which always had taken
my part when he heard me evil spoken of, by whom
I might ever understand if aught went amiss, and stop
any blast of hard report by his means at the first rebound.
Of him I heard sometimes also intelligences of Catholics'
affairs (for, good man, he suspected me not), which I ever

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 439
informed again to Justice Young. And I bewrayed a
brother of my own profession, I mean another priest
repairing to our lodging called Garth, whom I discovered
Mr. Garth detected, to Justice Young, and informed that he
haunted much about the stocks at one Mr. Cadner's, where
upon the house was searched, but the man was not found.
The search at Mr. "^"^ ^'"- Cadncr and I meeting within a •
Cadner's. fg.^ j^y^ j^£-j.gj. j^y ^hance, he told me the
whole story, little thinking that I had been the chief, and
whatsoever he showed me I made report again to Justice
Young. I betrayed also Mr. Greene, making his repair
unto Salisbury Court, and told Young at what time he
should there find him.
"I discovered Mr. Sayer, where he lay with Mrs. Peckham,
and of his journey that he made into Buckinghamshire
a littie before this time, how he was at the death of my
Notable treachery. Lady Pcckham, what he did, and who
The devil had never
such a servant. wcrc iu his compauy. I discovered both
Mr. Garth's and Mr. Greene's going into Kent, and caused
a pursuivant to be sent after them. I discovered the
places that probably I thought they would be at. I dis
covered my being at a house not far from Lyon Key, who
dwelt there, who did lie there, who frequented thither, and
of the secret place to hide priests ; but the search I stayed
for a time, because I would not be discovered myself
"All this I did before Christmas holidays, and then
at that feast I discovered where I was myself upon Christ
mas Day, and what else I did know of any importance
of any place or persons.
"Thus by oftentimes going to Justice Young I was
at last descried. The matter went about to Catholics
as a thing very suspicious. Complaints were made unto
myself, but thus I answered them : I denied not that I
went often to Justice Young, affirming the cause of my
going to be no other thing nor for any other end but for
the recovering of my goods, which remained in the pur-

440 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
suivants' hands, and so I desired that all who mistrusted
me might be informed. But after all this the suspicions
rose much more than before by reason of Justice Young's
search in the Clink,^ and the finding out of some secret
places, which without discovery could not easily have been
I was descried at length, kuowu ; which whcu I had heard by one
or two that brought me the news, I made outwardly a
semblance of sorrow, and inwardly I thought that by that
means I should thoroughly be bewrayed, and therefore as
very impatient of my own discredit, and desirous to be out
of this perplexity, and to get more favour with my Lord
Treasurer, I took my pen, and did write as followeth."
Hitherto are Tyrrell's words. But for this letter^ of
his to the Treasurer, dated the 24th of December, 1586,
as also another that he wrote afterwards to the same man,
bearing date the 5th of January, are somewhat tedious
by reason of much flattery that he useth to the Lord
Treasurer, it shall be sufficient to know that the effect
of both of them was to have license to break the course
of privy spiery wherein he had 'lived hitherto, as also the
custom of saying Mass, hearing confessions, and the like,
which he must needs do, and was so willed to do by his
lordship himself, whilst he lived amongst the Catholics, and
that he now might be permitted to show himself an open
Protestant, which yet he could not get, for that his service
was more profitable than the saving of his soul. And as
concerning his present spiery, he saith thus in his first
letter to his lordship.
" ' Of my present endeavours I need not at this time
enlarge unto your honour. Mr. Justice Young can fully.
inform you of everything. Ambulandum sane est caute
St. Paul's word well Quouiam dies mali sunt. If I should any
wise swerve from the square of your lord-
^ Supra, p. 197.
' This letter, dated "from my chamber in the Strand," is in the British
Museum, Lansd. MSS. 50, n. 75.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 441
ship's good direction I beseech you let me certified. Great
will be the blast wherewith I shall be shaken when my
inward conversation shall be publicly known. I have none
other to lean unto but God, her Majesty, and your honour,
the comfort of whose helps maketh light all other burthens
and easeth my mind of infinite cares. In the meantime I
will perform what I shall be able, and when I am come to
the period of my purpose I hope your honour will further
I promise still to betray, mc to the beginning of a new sentence,
the reading whereof shall be more pleasing than all the
lessons yet that I have ever learned.' "
And in the second letter he saith thus. "'The daily con
flicts that I sustain among those that have me in suspect
are full grievous, which I am enforced as yet to wear out
by deep dissimulation, which grieveth me so much the
more, by how much when I shall be known to play the
dissembler, my contempt shall be the greater among such
as cannot tell how to discern the cause. If I stay longer
in England than my appointed day, their suspicions will
They meant to employ be daily augmented, and if I depart
me in spiery beyond the .-. i
seas also. bcyond the seas, God knoweth whether
I repair unto my professed foes or unknown friends. If
any proof be made against me of any of my actions,
especially of such as I signified unto your honour, I am
past all redemption with them. There is no other way
with me but one. Rather had I become a known enemy
unto them at home than to be made a spoil unto their
tyrannous mind abroad. Yet if it shall please her
Majesty to make me give the adventure, I refuse not
the hazard of my life for the satisfying of her Grace's
pleasure. What your honour shall think best I leave it to
yourself to judge. It becometh not me to determine. If
you think it expedient that my conversion be made
manifest unto the world, as I doubt it not already to
be unto the angels of heaven, I would require that I might
be sequestered for some time from the companies of all

442 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
such as always may control or molest me, that having
time, place, and company convenient, I may set down by
pen to the view of the world the causes that have moved
me to alter my religion.'
"This letter I did write impatient now of conversing
any longer among Catholics, and desirous to talk with the
Lord Treasurer to be dismissed of them, and to enter into
some further damnable course for the destruction of souls :
which letter I carried myself unto Justice Young, who
told me a flim-flam tale of his wit and policy in
searching the Clink, telling me how he had gotten one
Boyce, by whom he learnt that there had been Mass said
in the Clink, and also in Newgate ; upon which information
he went first unto Newgate and afterwards to the Clink ;
and how he came to the Clink at such a time as he took
them in a manner at it, and found the waxen lights yef
smoking, and all the church stuff slightly shuffled under a
bed ; and from thence going into another chamber he never
left until he by degrees came to the secret place where the
church stuff lay ; and so he made a great discourse of his
wit and cunning in handling of the matter. And after all
persuaded me again yet to continue and persevere as I
was ; whereto at length, for better pleasing of him, I told
him that for mine own part I stood indifferent, and if I
might any longer continue among them undiscovered
so it was, but if not, I would give them cause shortly
to complain of me openly : in the meantime I gave
him my letter for my Lord Treasurer, and he gave me
20/. I think to please me, that I should not take offence
for that he had done in searching the Clink against his
promise. "But the clamour of this search was very great, and
suspicions thereof did rise against me more and more
daily, which made me the less bold to show myself, or
to walk into a company of my acquainted unless it were
by night, according to the proverb. Qui male agit odit

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 443
lucim — for so my works being the works of darkness I
was in truth ashamed of them.
" But coming again afterwards unto Justice Young for
an answer, he told me how that he had been with my
lord, who willed me not to fear any Papist, but to enter
tain myself boldly among them, as if I had committed no
trespass against them. But that I was too privy to mine
own guilty conscience, I could not swallow down so great
a pill but that some relics of shamefastness did yet stick
in my stomach, which made me that I had no joy to
Strange impudence, converso among them, but wished rather
that now since I was gone so far, I might show myself
their enemy openly for altogether, and these were my
wicked and desperate cogitations at that time."

CHAPTER XIV.
HOW HE WAS CONVINCED AND BROUGHT TO REPENT
ANCE BY CERTAIN CATHOLIC PRIESTS OF HIS
ACQUAINTANCE, AND YET HOW HE DISSEMBLED
AGAIN AFTERWARDS.
"And being now inwardly wearied in mind, and tired with
the memory and cogitation of these things, I desired as
before I have declared, to give over the Catholics, and
from a privy spy to become an open persecutor ; and I
did but only delay to talk with my Lord Treasurer, and
presently after to have burst forth publicly, and in the
meantime I refrained their company as much as I could.
Yet happening by chance one day (or rather by God's
most holy providence) to come into a Catholic house,
I received a letter sent to me from a priest who did write
instantly that I should come to speak with him.
"Therefore that he had business that concerned himself
to impart unto me, but I being loth to repair thither unto

444 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
him, and to come into a place in the view of so many
Catholics, I did write him a letter to excuse my personally
coming, if it were possible ; though to pleasure him in
anything I could, I said I was willing, if he would signify
his mind unto me by writing.
" The party sent me word back again, that there was no
remedy, but that I must needs come myself, for that the
matter was important. Then I suspected some further
discovery of myself besides that of the Clink, but not
knowing what it could be I determined to go, and so I
went ; but all the way I fully purposed to confess nothing
whatsoever I should be accused of and to excuse all if
I could, and if not, then meant I to give them mine
ultimum vale, for I purposed not to see them any more.
But lo ! God altereth the extremities of man's malicious
purposes, and beateth asunder our stony hearts with
the pestle of His grace when it pleaseth Him ; for when
My treasons laid to my ^ ^as comc unto him that had sent for
'^¦^^^ me,^ he so lovingly saluted me, and so
friendly did break unto me these matters, telling me of
letters that had been found written with mine own hand,
containing matter odible against priests and Catholics,
as for his part he could not be induced that the writing
should be mine.
"I denied a great while any such matter, but in the
end one or two of my brethren were called in, who showed
me mine own handwriting, and the matter it did contain,
which when I did see, my purpose of persisting in obstinacy
relented. " I felt compunction at my heart. I told them it was
my doing; I had highly offended God, and them. I
besought them to pray for me, and to help me thoroughly
^ Lewis Barlow, whose imprisonment was o-«ving to Tyrrell's treachery,
was the priest who showed him this charity. We leam from the Wisbech
report that he "was the causer of Mr. Tyrrell his revolt." Supra, p. 385.
Barlow must have been then in the Marshalsea. Supra, p. 205.

The Fall of Antho?iy Tyrrell. 445
to confess my fault, for I would tell them great things.
My compunction .-tnd ^hcn I had uttcrcd but this much there
sorrow. wanted no tears of their parts to express
their inward and tender affections towards me, their readi
ness to help me out of my sin, and the hearty joy and
comfort they made of my return, far different from the
dealing of Justice Young, to persuade me still to dissimu
lation, hypocrisy, and to damnation, if I had not made an
end quickly with him.
" O good Lord ! who would have thought that I should
have been touched so soon with remorse of conscience
after so long an obstinacy, after a mind so wilfully bent
to irrepentance. It was no doubt the great power and
mercy of the Almighty. A man may say, Hcec mutatio
dexterce excelsi. It was the good prayers, I hope, of my
brethren which have wrought in me this great effect, and
brought me unto all this confession that here I have
made." Hitherto are Tyrrell's words touching the manner and
occasion of his repentance, and though he thought and
determined presently hereupon to break off these former
intelligences and manner of proceedings with Justice
Young; yet found he great difficulties, as he saith, how
to do it upon the sudden, of which difficulty he writeth
the words ensuing.
" To start aside, as I purposed afterwards, I could not
presently until all my business should be ended and done,
and to tarry all that time, I well saw that I should not
be able to save myself from suspicion, but that needs I
must repair sometimes to Justice Young. And although
my meaning was to repair to him no oftener than of
necessity I must, which could be as I thought no less
than once a week, and whensoever I came I minded not
to offend God or my conscience in anything, yet such
force the devil had within his house that my foot was no
sooner set over his threshold, but my heart begun to quake

446 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
in many things : for being entered over into his house my
custom was to be carried always into an upper parlour,
and then his man Harris giving him intelligence that I
was come, he would set all other business apart to come
My ordinary enter- uuto mc. And thcn, courtcous salutations
tainment with Justice
Young. first premised, my cap must cover my
head before that we must speak. Then to the purpose,
I must straight tell my news. And whereas I purposed
to say nothing that might hurt, I told very little that
served his turn until after twice or thrice coming. And
being always barren, I was forced to coin somewhat to
avoid all suspicion.
"But, God forgive me, as I coined in truth nothing
but lies, so my lies, notwithstanding, were uttered in such
manner as they were like to do much harm, for once I
told him that I went to the Counter in Wood Street to
espy what I could learn ; and that the chiefest cause of my
going thither should be as touching the copy of a letter
that should be sent from the Duke of Guise to the Scottish
A new Ke forged. King, whcreiu the Duke of Guise should
exhort the King that he would have great regard unto
his mother, and that if any injury should be offered unto
her, as touching the loss of her life, that he would procure
him the aid of all princes in Christendom to revenge it,
with other such-like matter.
" This report tickled Young at the heart, and fain he
would have had a peruse of this letter. I told him I
would make diligent search for the matter, but having
once been at the Counter about that business, Vaux the
keeper had forbidden me to come there to speak with
any of his prisoners. Justice Young told me that he
would procure me free passage, and likewise that I
might enter into any prison in London without resist
ance. Whereupon I went to the Counter again, for
before I had feigned that one Dr. Fox had brought
the Catholics in the Counter a certificate of this letter;

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 447
whither when I was come I never troubled "myself about
any such matter, for there was in truth no' such thing.
So coming again to Justice Young, I told him a copy
of the letter had been there, and shown unto the gentle
men, but he that brought it, which was Dr. Fox, as
I said, had carried it away again, and where the man was
to be found I knew not, only the contents thereof were
told me, which were as I had already reported.
" Thus, not purposing to hurt, I did great harm in
accusing Dr. Fox of a thing that was not so, and also in
reporting that I should hear the same spoken of the
gentiemen, all which was false. Another time, I feigned
that I had been at Islington with Mr. Gawen, which was
a false report also ; and that he should tell me that those
that were sent to the Tower about the speech which was
made about the poisoning her Majesty, and that the
French Ambassador or his secretary should be privy
thereunto, was only but a thing feigned amongst them
to get the French Ambassador hence, for that they could
not abide him ; which of my troth was nothing so, for
neither was I at Ishngton, nor yet did I speak at all
with Mr. Gawen.
" But yet upon these my speeches. Justice Young
reported this unto the Council and my Lord Treasurer,
and, as he told me, he was much offended with Mr. Gawen,
and would have made him to be brought unto his answer
for it, but for discovering of me.
"During this time also I reported that at my being
. ,. ,, at Ishngton, I was at Mr. Tyrwhit's, and
Another false report o j j , '
coined. |.jj^^ there I did meet a northern priest
named Edward Dakens, who told me that for certain
the Scottish King should say, that if the Queen of
England should do aught with his mother but well, he
would crave the aid of all Christendom but he would
revenge it. Which was only a tale of my own devising,
for neither was I there, nor yet did I know of any such

448 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
priest, yet I made Justice Young believe that this priest
was to depart presently out of London, and to ride into
Suffolk unto the Lady Bapthorpe. Which thing he in
formed my Lord Treasurer of, as he said, and presently
there was sent down a pursuivant, by which means,
although all were false, great mischief might be done.
" Thus never came I unto him, but the devil got into
my tongue, and when I was from him I was vehemently
assaulted with temptations to recal back again my good
purposes, and to conceal all my detractions, and to fall
Justice Young's house to my old bias of playing the miscreant
the devil's shop of temp- .,.,,, ^^1 ,
tations. as I had begun ; yet God preserved me
that I still went forward, and never desisted until I had
done it.
"But growing weary at length, both before God and
in mine, own conscience, of this manner of dealing with
Justice Young, to avoid all occasions afterwards for not
bringing him any more informations, I was forced to tell
him the next time I came that, in truth, now among the
Catholics I was wholly discovered, and every one standing
in fear of me, it was no boot any longer to tarry among
them, and that besides I grew weary of that kind of life,
and that I was desirous to break out altogether. Thinking
with myself that when it should come to the point that
they would have me openly to show myself, that then
I would crave certain days' respite to be sequestered
from all company, and in the meantime I would shift
for myself
" When I had uttered thus much unto Justice Young
he seemed somewhat sorrowful that the time of my
dissimulation was now come near unto an end, yet
when he did see no remedy and that I should be no
longer able to serve his turn, then he would preserve
me unto the service of the Lord ; for if I could have
held out any longer time in this lewd and wicked kind of
life, the Lord should never have been troubled with me :

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 449
A pretty presenting unto fo^ whcn no Other knavcry will serve the
the Lord. |.^jj.j^^ 'Ca.t.r\. are all such dissembling spies
turned over to the Lord, to bring as many of their own
people to the devil as they can.
" He bade me therefore to be of good cheer. The next
time he should go to the Court he would speak to my
Lord Treasurer and to her Majesty to have me despatched
from the Catholics altogether, willing me to repair again
¦within three or four days after, and so I did. At what
time he told me how he had certified my Lord Treasurer
of my estate, and how careful my lord was now to alter
my course. He told me also how that my lord would
write his letters unto my Lord of Canterbury, and how
that thither I should be conveyed secretly, that no Papist
might understand what was become of me, and that there
belike I should be catechized and be made a valiant
champion, and so to come forth with my banner of
defiance displayed against God and all godliness : and I
doubt not but if God had permitted me according to
my deserts to have taken that course, I was likely to
come forth into the world as a man replenished with
great light. For as Christ, before that He came to
preach publicly in the world, went first into the wilderness
and there fasted forty days and forty nights, using all
that time as a preparation for so great a business, and
afterwards was tempted of the devil and overcame him ;
so before my public preaching in the world I was sent
more than forty days into the wilderness, a right wilder-
Mypreparationtobecome "^ss in rcspcct of my abominable beha-
a preaching Protestant. ^Jq^j.^ j^^^g ^jjj ^^j savagc than any
brutish beast for having yielded myself so long a time
before into" their hands and practising all manner of abomi
nation, and not one devil tempting me, but whole legions
of devils every day possessing me, how could it be but
I was likely at my coming forth into the new world, but
that I should have appeared as a great prophet, far

450 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
greater than John the Baptist t 1 mean only in knavery,
villany, heresy, and all abomination.
" But God averted my mind from so great a mischief,
and hath, I trust, confounded the enemy in his own
devices. For after I had heard how matters were concluded,
and that now there was no remedy but my deformity
must publicly be known, I told Justice Young that before
I went to my Lord Canterbury, if I might have leave
to ride into the country about some business of my
own, for to receive some money, that then I would return
within a week or two, and should be ready for anything.
That favour he liberally granted me. Marry, before I went,
he said, I must do him a pleasure in bewraying a secret
place at Westminster, where there were as many books
as I think were well near worth lOo/. God forgive me,
I yielded to his humour, partly through my own folly
and wickedness, and partly upon fear, for that as yet I
durst do no other, and partly to remove all suspicion
out of his jealous head, that I went about no contrary
Justice Young robbing of PUfpOSC. So aS OnO uight I WCUt witil
a house at Westminster. J^j^^ ^^ ^-^^ pj^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^
thieves of us in a company to rob one silly poor man,
and burglary we committed by the laws of the land,
and therefore such a justice and all his companions
deserved well to be hanged, for we broke down a great
wall, and the master thereof, which was Young, went
first in. After whom he called in Harris, his own man,
keeping three of us without still, until they two had
taken the full view of the prey, for he hoped to have
found silver chalices, money, or plate ; but when the old
thief did see that there were nothing but books, he was
content that I also should come in ; and such books
they were as were very dangerous to the State, and
therefore there was no abiding for them there, but needs
he must have a cart to carry them home presently to
his own house, that then he might make his best sale

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 451
of them in Paul's Churchyard, for, in truth, they were no
other books but the doctors and such as were vendible
in any place of England by the laws of the land.
"Only this, they were contaminated by a picture of
Christ in a table, which he found lying among them, and
therefore needs the zealous man must have them abroad,
to purge them, but with intent never to bring them again.
"When he had clean emptied the house, because the
people should not wonder at that which he had done, for
that divers of the neighbours came in to see the great cause
of his search, as though some matters of treason had been
informed him to have been in that place, he brought forth
to the view of the people the said picture of Christ, and a
pair of old irons to make singing breads withal. ' Behold,'
quoth he, ' what popery, what trumpery, what abomination
Justice Young's be- we havc fouud here.' ' Would you have
haviour to colour his
robbery. thought, quoth hc, ' that such abomination
had been in your sanctuary of Westminster 1 ' The poor
miserable wretches that beheld the manners of the man,
and feared lest if they should have gainsaid him, he would
have clapped them up also in some strait prison, cried
out, ' Fie upon this abomination ! Be these the Papists'
gods ? Do they believe in these ? ' ' Yea,' quoth Justice
Young; 'behold, with these irons they make their god,
and eat him when they have done.'
" My hair stood upright of my head to hear the wretch
his blasphemy, but all tended to no other end but to go
on with his knavery, to rob a man much honester than
himself, to carry away those books, so full of abominations ;
which soon after were cleansed, when he should sell them
and have the money in his purse. Here I cry good
Mr. Blackwell the priest mercy, that was the true owner
of these books ; in all the time of my knavery I never
went before in person to rob any man, nor never purpose
to do again.
"When all the booty was ready to go into the cart, then
DD 2

452 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
came the messengers from other thieves, which fain would
have had their part, as the Dean of Westminster and others.
But because they were not partaker of our pains in
breaking down the wall, our master thief. Justice Young,
wiped their noses all, and faced them out with a card of
, . . , ten, saying that he must in haste inform
Thieves do strive for > / t»
true men's goods. ^^ Couucil and hcr Majesty of the good
service that he had done that day; who, if they had
rewarded him as he deserved, he should have had a fair
halter for his labour, as also all his men.
" Home at the last we came, all to his house to supper.
Our master was as jocund as might be, for he had gained
a good day's work, and when he came home he divided,
like to .(Esop's lion, the goods into four parts. The first
he challenged unto himself, because he was most worthy ;
the second he would have, for that he had laboured most ;
the third, likewise, he would have, because he did sweat
more in the toil than we ; and unless we would grant him
the fourth part, farewell all friendship ; and so the great
thief seized upon all. And thus could I never be free from
doing of mischief so long as I had any commercium with
the devil. Nor more shall any man be, that shall have any
dealing with such an heretic or atheist.
" The next day I came to him to take my leave, and to
have a passport ; and then for my upshot, I must needs tell
him for Sir Francis Walsingham what Seminary priests had
been at Sir Thomas Tresham's, and at Mr. John Talbot's
of Mitcham, since Easter last.^ I told him that myself was
never there, but I named four or five others to have been
in either place, which I protest I knew no more than the
child new born ; so at the last I got my passport. He
gave me 5/., and I bid the devil farewell, praying our
our Lord to bless me for ever seeing him in that manner
again. And thus was I enthralled unto the time of my
^ From this it would appear that the paper, dated March 3, 1587- {supra,
P- 159)) is Tyrrell's. It is in Young's hand-writing.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 453
departure, at which time I took such order for myself, as
I was free from him, and other assaults of the enemy, and
had leisure to enter into myself, and to set down the
declaration of my wickedness, which Almighty God grant
that it be with such sorrow, and true repentance, as may
obtain remission of the same, and all good Christians I
beseech to pray for me to the same end."
[On receiving his passport from Justice Young, Tyrrell
immediately left London. The spies were soon at work
to ascertain what had become of him. Burden's credit
with Catholics was still good, and about this very time
he received a letter^ from Thomas Fitzherbert, who was
then living with his wife in Paris, in which mention is
made of Tyrrell "Gilbert Gifford beginneth to be
repentant for his bad courses, and I hope will prove an
honest man, which we all here most heartily wish and
pray for. It is notable to mark the judgment of God
fallen of late upon him here, and such another [Gratley]
at Rome, and as we hear of Tyrrell in England, all in
so short a time." After such a proof of the confidence
placed by leading Catholics in Burden, we shall hardly
be surprised at the minute and accurate information of
the following report^ which is in the handwriting of the
decipherer, Thomas Phelippes.
" Tyrrell departed from London sixteen days past
towards Scotland, at which time he received 5/. in money
and warrant of Mr. Young, whom he persuaded that he
would travel into Suffolk and Norfolk about a discovery.
This was imparted to them hereunder named.
" He hath written sixteen sheets of paper, containing
first an epistle to the Q[ueen], showing what service he
did or promised was to save his life and get out of prison.
^ Y.'^.0.,Mary Queen of Scots, vol. xvii., n. 22, February 20 [i58|., mis
dated in the Calendar IS8|.]. F. S. to Henry Crosse ; endorsed by Phelippes,
"From Fitzherbert to Burden."
' V.'B..O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcix. n. 41.

454 The FaU of Anthony Tyrrell.
Then he setteth down all the services that ever he did,
and by whom it was required, with certain discourses that
passed between the L[ord] Treasurer and him in private,
and Mr. Young at large. This is all he knoweth.
" He heareth that Tyrrell is gone into Scotland with
some whose name he cannot learn that had a passport
from the Earl of Huntingdon, and was to go with some
packets and otherwise to be employed in Scotland. Tyrrell
had an intent thence to pass into France and so publish
his recantation in print.
" This book was perused and allowed by
Crowley his kinsman in the Fleet
John Lawnder \
Edmonds the Jesuit > all prisoners in the Clink.
One James a priest J
Brampstone a priest ") . , , ^ , ,
T 1 ,,,^ , , 5- in the Marshalsea.
John Webster )
Dr. Halsey, the physician, was acquainted with the
same. Trugion [Tregian] in the Fleet.
Richard Randole, with one eye, late prisoner in the
Clink. " There was a collection made for him of 40/. or 50/.
to pass him into France."
Endorsed—" 18 March I586[7]. B. touching Tyrrell."
Before this was seen by Walsingham, he wrote^ to
Phelippes, who had anticipated his wishes in the employ
ment of Burden.
" Sir, — I understand that Tyrrell, the Jasoiste^ to
recover his credit with his Catholic brethren, is minded
by the advice of some of them to write a discourse to
charge the Earl of Leicester and me with the compassing
1 Cotton. MSS. Calig. C. ix. f. 572 ; holograph.
" Topcliffe's spelling of the word "Jesuit," is usually fhezewi. Sir
Francis Walsingham's eccentric epithet for TyrreU must be supposed to mean
the same. His use of the word reminds us of Mr. Froude's.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 455
of the death of the Scottish Queen, and of Babington
and his complices. He hath already written fifty sheets
touching that subject, as I am informed.
"Two things I desire, wherein I would have Burden
employ himself The one in seeking out what is become
of Tyrrell, the other in discovering who have been parties
in this conspiracy, for that I mean to have as many
examined as are justly to be suspected to have been
pri-vy to this villainous device.
"For that I was informed that Tyrrell was minded
to go into Scotland, I have written to n to lay wait for
him. This morning I hear he meaneth to go into France,
and to publish his noble work. I pray you desire Burden
to deal carefully in this cause.
"And so God keep you. At the Court, this 17th
of March. "Your loving friend,
" Era. Walsingham."
Addressed — "To my loving friend, Mr. Phelippes."
We learn from an endorsement by Phelippes on one
of the State Papers^ that the name of the spy, for whom
Walsingham here uses a sign, was Malevery Catlin. The
following extract^ gives the result of this man's inquiries.
" I was of late brought to a remote place in Richmond-
shire, where are presently harboured two principal and
dangerous recusants, the one called Mr. Carwen, the
other Mr. Teady. The house where they remain is
named Knappey Castle, alias Knappey Hall. They have
taken it of one Mr. Medcalf of Yorkshire, of purpose to
live obscurely and to entertain priests, whereof they are
not unfurnished. They have one lately come, who
nameth himself White but is Tyrrell, already in these
quarters. I suppose this to be the man. He is, as he
^ V.K.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. ccii. u. I. ' Ibid. vol. cc. n. 44,

456 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
saith, a Sussex man born. He appeareth to be aboi
forty years of age, of an indifferent stature, of con
plexion nearest sanguine, and of an auburn hair. I ha\
sent advertisement hereof to the Earl of Huntingdoi
lest through overlong detraction the opportunity migl
be lost ; to whom I have also set down such perfec
demonstration both of the secrets of the place, and c
the manner of the persons, as they cannot, I hope, escapi
. . . From Westminster, the 26th of April, 1587. n."
Tyrrell's movements are described by himself in th
Preface to the Sermon, of which mention will shortl
be made, which was preached by him at St Paul
Cross, and printed in 1588. He says, "Thinking firs
to have travelled to Rheims, and afterwards to Rom<
and directing first my course into Scotland (for that
feared to find any secure passage at any English port
I came to Leith of purpose there to take shipping fc
France, but finding no passage ready I took the nex
opportunity offered me in a fly-boat to Hamborough."
Lord Burghley, hearing that he had gone to Amstei
dam, wrote^ to Sir Francis Walsingham, on the 22nd c
May, 1587, with a view to the recovery of his useft
instrument. " For Tyrrell's departure towards Amsterdan
I wish my Lord of Buckhurst or Mr. Wilks were advei
tised how to inquire after him, and to recover him t
be returned to England, with his late declination fror
his dog's vomit." This wily advice was probably followe
with success, for Tyrrell, who attributes his return t
a resolution taken in " such a sudden tempest and stom
that neither master mariner or passenger thought eve
that he should have escaped drowning," adds that "w
came safe to Hamborough, where after I remained a whih
I repaired unto her Majesty's Commissioners that wer
come thither, who can bear witness of my repentance.
What arguments "her Majesty's Commissioners" em
^ V.'S..O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cci. n. 40; holograph.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 457
ployed we are not likely to know, but Tyrrell's feelings
when leaving London are described in the next chapter,
which is the conclusion of the long paper drawn up by
him at this time, the " fifty sheets " of which Walsingham
had been informed, which ultimately reached the hands
of Father Persons at Rome.]

CHAPTER XV.
his sorrow for THE GREAT CRIMES REHEARSED, WITH
A DECLARATION OF THE TRUE CAUSES OF HIS FALL,
AND OF THE WICKED MANNER OF PROCEEDING OF
THE ENEMY WITH HIM.
And now Anthony Tyrrell having made his former long
declaration and confession, though I have not put it all
in length, but a part only of it, because of the prolixity,
he addeth for his conclusion this that followeth.
"One part of my repentance now performed, two
other do yet remain behind not finished. The world seeth
my confession, but where shall they behold my contrition
and satisfaction ? Alas ! who shall give water unto my
head, and to my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may
bewail the wounds of my poor wretched and sinful
soul t Alas ! wretch that I am, void of all comfort, what
shall I do "i To whom shall I now sue for any relief
or succour? Unto heaven I dare not lift up mine
eyes, so sore have I offended, and unto the world I am
most miserable and worthily despised.
"God I have offended by contemning His Majesty,
My grievous offences, profauing His sacramcttts, rebelling agaiust
His Church, dishonouring the dignity of holy priesthood,
betraying His anointed, and by doing infinite other sins
and offences most execrable in His sight. And worthily

458 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
am I to be contemned of man, as having sought the
effusion of the blood of so many innocents, accused the
whole State Catholic, where I have neither spared princes,
noblemen, gentle or simple. I have gone through and
betrayed every state and condition. My dearest friends
I have abused as my greatest enemies, and my greatest
enemies I have chosen for my greatest friends. I have
most maliciously persecuted such as I never knew, and
such of whom I was most beloved I have bewrayed them,
nay, betrayed them without .all cause, without all truth,
without all colour or probability, to work their confusion,
their destruction, and not only to them but to their
posterity, so as not only such as I have presently offended
may have just cause to detest me, but also the genera
tions yet to come shall have most earnest occasion to
curse me.
"Which being so, alas, what shall I do.' For if
I cast mine eyes upward unto heaven, I see God -with
His sword of eternal justice most eagerly bent to strike
me ; if I cast mine eyes down into hell, I see the dragon's
mouth wide open ready to devour me ; if I consider
what succour I have left to save me from the fury both of
the one and the other, I find none but a feeble thread
of a most wretched life, that every day threateneth
breach, and all the world hath just cause to seek busily
to cut it off. What comfort therefore is left, or shall I
with cursed Cain despair .'
" O Lord, I am confounded, I know not what to say.
On the one side I am pulled down into the bottomless
pit of hell with the gravity of my grievous sins ; on the
other side I am stayed and raised up again, with the
hope of Thy eternal mercies. Between hope and despair
my soul is poised ; which end will yet be heaviest I am
uncertain : but notwithstanding, I surely catch hold of
the balance of hope and cry in bitterness of my soul,
Ne dimittas me, obsecro, spes mea, quoadusque ostenderis mihi

The FaU of Anthony Tyrrell. 459
salutare meum — ' Forsake me not, O my hope, until Thou
hast presented me before the face of my Saviour.' I tremble
and quake for fear, I am ashamed of my wickedness,
whereby I dare not present myself before the sight of
Thy heavenly Majesty.
" But I most humbly beseech you, my dearest friends,
to pray for me, albeit I have betrayed you, albeit I have
been the cause of your temporal deaths, albeit I have
deserved no manner of favour at your hands. Consider
My hope in the prayers yct how God hath cxaltcd you, how
ofCatholics,andespecially r^ * . , , , . r
of the priests martyred. God hatii tumed the extremity of my
malice unto your everlasting triumphs. And since the
hurt that I have meant you hath increased your good, and
the malice that I did bear you hath procured your joys,
according to the greatness of your charities, help me in
this extreme need, that your joys may be made the more
perfect by my conversion, and thus leaving myself pros
trate at the foot of your compassions, I will turn down
my face lower upon the earth, and I will look whether
here also I may find any comfort or consolation.
" O Lord' Jesus, how suddenly are mine ears filled
here with clamours and complaints, some wishing that
I had never been born, some saying it had been good
if I had starved at the pap, other some cannot devise
any torments too cruel for my punishment, and of none
of all this have I just cause to complain. For if I look
His speech to God. down iuto the infernal parts and consider
the entertainments there that are prepared for me, alas,
all other confusions, shames, pains, or rebukes are but
as one drop of water unto all the ocean sea.
" But yet this notwithstanding, I would humbly crave
of all men to whom these my doings shall be known,
that if God of His mercy vouchsafe to take me up, let not
His creatures go about to throw me down ; if God of His
justice be pleased to pronounce His rigorous sentence
against me. His creatures need not to procure me more

460 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
harm, for that I am to be punished with eternity. God's
holy and blessed will be done, in cujus manibus sortes
mecE. If He save me by His mercy. His name be honoured.
If He condemn me by His justice, be He honoured
also. And if it might stand with God's love and favour
to pardon me to the end my soul might not cease to
glorify, I could be content for my satisfaction to continue
for some time in hell itself to abide there the pains of
the damned, so as that I might but enjoy afterwards God's
favour and presence. But because non est in morte qui
memor sit tui : et in inferno quis confitebitur tibif therefore
I will cry, Domine ne in Jurore tuo arguas me, et contra
folium quod vento rapitur noli ostendere potentiam tuam.
Let me be an example, good Lord, of Thy exceeding
mercies, and by me let no sinner have cause to despair.
"And now, my dear brethren. Catholic priests, I will
His speech to Catholic tum my speech to you, for as for your help
priests. J (jQy]3t j^q^ ^jy^. ^.^^ ygy .^yJJJ j.^g^ W^Qn
me your compassionate eyes, pour forth your prayers,
offer up your holy Sacrifices, become unto me most loving
Samaritans, pour oil and wine into my wounds, lay
me upon your beast, carry me to the inn, commend
me to the good man of the house, lay out two
pence for my charges, and if it come to any more
to agree with him for the reckoning. You see how I am
spoiled, you may behold how I have fallen into the hands
of thieves. They have robbed me, they have spoiled me,
they have not only taken from me the gifts of grace,
but even the very gifts of nature herself, whereby I have
done things contrary to her rule and prescript, far passing
any reason or understanding ; and for your rewards of
this your charity I shall admonish you, that by other men's
harms you may learn to beware. Take heed that you
travel not that way that I have done lest you fall into the
same enemies' hands, lest you be robbed and spoiled as I
have been. Oh, if I were to travel again this journey that

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. ^ui
I have done, knowing that which now I do know, I could
(I hope) easily decline all this evil which yet, peradventure
unawares, others may fall into. So long as I travelled the
King's highway, so long as I did not decline too much,
The true causes of my either on the left hand or on the right,
^^' so long was I most safe and well, so long
I walked the way of Almighty God with great joy and
alacrity ; but after that I came to stray a little on the one
side, and to choose out byways and unknown paths, then
did I begin to fall into these dangers that now I am
plunged into. What is the King's highway that assureth
safety, and what be the crooked paths that threaten
dangers.? Surely, as I found by my own experience,
so will I let you to understand.
" I walked the King's highway in all security so long
as I followed the common course of spirit that all priests
are taught to do, and kept an humble and lowly mind,
compassionable unto all, and hurtful unto none ; so long
as I lived in fear of my own actions, lest anything might
happen that pleased not Almighty God, or displeased my
neighbours ; so long as my mind was pure and simple,
my intention free from all corruption, desiring only to
please Jesus Christ above all . things, to seek His honour
and glory in all my doings, and for the pure love of Him
to refuse no peril, no labour, no pains to do any good, to
save my soul, to convert any sinner unto repentance. When
I felt in myself an ardent desire of saving souls ; when I
The Kmg's highway of niou''ned inwardty at any ungodly action,
security for priests, .^^j^^^^ j rcjoiccd outwardly to be in place
or company where any goodness was, or true devotion ;
when I was free from all affections, as ready to help the
poorest as the rich, and always to seek to do that wherein
my conscience persuaded me that it stood most with
God's honour and the common profit; when I kept my
watch continually upon mine own words, and alwaysi
looked more deeply in^o mine own defects than into the

462 The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
doings of other men ; when I was ready to judge the
best, and to help a fault if any were found in others,
rather than to make it worse ; when I carried an open and
free heart unto all my brethren, esteemed better of their
labours than of mine own, rejoicing in their companies,
ready to impart anything I had to relieve their neces
sities, to prefer them in anything above myself to be
readier to follow their judgments than mine own : so
long, I say, as I was of this mind, so long I walked
the King's highway of my priestly vocation with others,
so long I carried about me the testimony of a good
conscience, which is worth more than all the treasures in
the world.
"But the devil envying me in this felicity, behold with
what subtleties he began to work ; behold how finely he
How the devil began ^egau to undcrmiue me by littie and little,
with me by pride. ^^^ ^^ supplaut mc, bringing his battery
by degrees into my fort, and never leaving me until he
had beaten it down altogether. Behold how the seductor
began to lead me out of this King's way, and to bring me
unto an unknown path. First he brought me into a vain
liking of myself, for after that I had gotten great acquaint
ance in England, and many favours also among many,
I did not humble myself before God's Divine Majesty as I
should have done, acknowledging from whom I had received
all these gifts -and graces, being the most unworthy and
wretched of all others, but suffered the devil a little to
creep in, contenting myself to be affected of men, to be
liked of, and to grow into some vain liking of mine own
doings thereby. The foul serpent lay long lurking in this
covert before he would show himself too openly, for fear of
being spied, and that I unawares might tread that path with
more danger. For behold after that he had a little tickled
me with vainglory, and yet so craftily that scarce it might
be spied, he cunningly moved me to show myself often
in company of my betters, to be much talking, yea, and

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 463
under the colour of doing good I desired to converse
with such as I knew best to affect me, to make greatest
account of me, to bestow best rewards or gifts upon me,
than among others where perhaps I might have been
more profitable.
"My devotion was never in private so good as it
seemed to be in company, which my conscience often
told me savoured of hypocrisy. I was never so glad to
be alone in ray chamber, and to move my soul unto com
punction, as I was to be talking with others of matters in
public. Rewards as there were many given me, so did
I not take them with that humility and purity of mind
and sincerity of conscience as I should, to pray devoutly
for the givers, and to make them serve only for my bare
necessities, and with the rest to relieve others that did
more want ; but when my money increased into any
great sum, under the colour of necessity of hiding myself
and avoiding danger of the enemy, I abused my own
soul and brought myself into more danger of my greatest
enemy. " For I began secretly to have a liking of profane
The degrees by which apparel and other superfluities, to bestow
the devil dealt with me. ^^^.^ therein than in reason I should, yet in
the beginning I little prevented it, but in process of time
I found the manifest danger that it brought me unto. For
that afterwards I had grown to be of good estimation, and
that I had gay clothes upon my back, and money sufficient
in my purse, and occasions many of times to ride up
and down, for doing of good, as I then thought ; suffering
vainglory to take some advantage of me, and pride to
prick me, though at the first they did not so much prevail,
for I was commonly conversant with such as both by
example and doctrine I was desirous to edify. Yet coming
abroad into the world, and happening upon profane
companies, to whose humours to conform myself I thought
it pohcy, I was more vehemently assaulted, and received

466 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
nor not who gives himself to the devil so he serve their
turn. Who would have thought.' But it is too true. I have
learnt the knowledge thereof too dear, unless God be the
more merciful to pardon my fault ; for from the time that
I first yielded- myself into their possession, which hath
been now almost four months complete, had they ever,
think you, any talk with me in matters of religion .' Verily,
not a word. It sufficed them that I said I was not a
Papist ; and if I had been a devil (as I was little better),
all to them had been one, so as I would do the feat they
desired, which was to appeach the innocent, to bewray
priests, to bewray Catholics, to bring them to searches, to
enrich them with spoils, to bring such in danger of their
lives as they loved not.
" Among all the abominable lies and untruths that in
my discovery I have set down, no fault was ever found,
and yet in my conscience my Lord Treasurer is not so
simple but that he might perceive how that in many places
I lied grossly ; yet all passed for truth, even in matters
The iack of conscience most Weighty of mcu's livcs, states and utter
in the Lord Treasurer
and Young. ovcrthrow. When I had devised all that
possibly I could against so many, as before you have heard.
Justice Young not so satisfied, would have me to stretch my
wits still further for more,> for the obtaining whereof there
was no remedy, but that I must continue in dissimulation
still. Is this, Mr. Young, your ' calling men home,' as you
term it, ' to the Church of Christ t ' Is this the desire you
have of poor Papists' souls .' I pray you from henceforth
let us continue in our Papistry still, which abhorreth all
dissimulation, which alloweth not such kind of treachery
to entrap the blood of pure, simple men ; suffer us, I pray
you, simply to proceed in our vocation, and either, if God
permit us to fall into your hands, let us yet enjoy the
quietness of a quiet conscience so long as God shall grant
us life; and though you hate our priesthood so deadly,
yet let us go to the gallows with consciences unspotted ;

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 4^7
first seek not to spoil our bodies, and then after to bereave
us of our souls. This nature is mere diabolical. You can
be content that we be Papists, exercise all the parts of
a Papist, never come to your Church, never receive your
communion, never hear your sermorts, never read your
books, with condition that we will apply ourselves jointly
to practise all mischief, so our intentions be to persecute,
to betray, and, under covert of virtue, to exercise all kind
of wicked loiavery.
" If this be your rehgion, sure it is an abominable
The Protestants' religion, religion, a dcvilish religion, fit for no other
than the devil and his dam. The holy prophet Elias
3 Kings xviiL . cricth out of all dissemblers, asking them
how long they will halt on both sides, willing us that if
God be God we should follow Him, and if Baal be god,
then we should follow Baal. And Justice Young can will
me boldly to halt on both sides ; to bow my knees, as he
saith, to Baal : he can will me, with a Protestant to be a
Protestant, and with a Papist to play the Papist. How
agree together Elias and Young.' But truly I do not marvel
at it, for there is as much religion in this blessed man as
in a horse, and so in them all, for aught that I can learn.
This, then, is their practice, and this the sum of their
devotion, so far as I have learnt by mine own experience,
that so soon as they have gotten a man within their fingers,
first they tamper with him very cunningly. If they perceive
the man anything timorous or of a softly nature, then will
they use very smooth words, and tender him an oath, the
which, if the party be so foolish as to take, then they think
the field to be half won, for they know us to be of more
scrupulous consciences than themselves ; then will they
urge him all they can to discover where he said Mass,
where he conversed, and with whom, and with such
ordinary stuff they will endeavour to halter him in the,
snare if possibly they can.
" But if they find him anything resolute, then he is

466 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
nor not who gives himself to the devil so he serve their
turn. Who would have thought.' But it is too true. I have
learnt the knowledge thereof too dear, unless God be the
more merciful to pardon my fault ; for from the time that
I first yielded- myself into their possession, which hath
been now almost four months complete, had they ever,
think you, any talk with me in matters of religion ? Verily,
not a word. It sufficed them that I said I was not a
Papist ; and if I had been a devil (as I was little better),
all to them had been one, so as I would do the feat they
desired, which was to appeach the innocent, to bewray
priests, to bewray Catholics, to bring them to searches, to
enrich them with spoils, to bring such in danger of their
lives as they loved not.
" Among all the abominable lies and untruths that in
my discovery I have set down, no fault was ever found,
and yet in my conscience my Lord Treasurer is not so
simple but that he might perceive how that in many places
I lied grossly ; yet all passed for truth, even in matters
The lack of conscience most wcighty of mcu's llvcs, states and utter
in the Lord Treasurer
and Young. ovcrthrow. When I had devised all that
possibly I could against so many, as before you have heard.
Justice Young not so satisfied, would have me to stretch my
wits still further for more,' for the obtaining whereof there
was no remedy, but that I must continue in dissimulation
still. Is this, Mr. Young, your ' calling men home,' as you
term it, ' to the Church of Christ ? ' Is this the desire you
have of poor Papists' souls .' I pray you from henceforth
let us continue in our Papistry still, which abhorreth all
dissimulation, which alloweth not such kind of treachery
to entrap the blood of pure, simple men ; suffer us, I pray
you, simply to proceed in our vocation, and either, if God
permit us to fall into your hands, let us yet enjoy the
quietness of a quiet conscience so long as God shall grant
us life; and though you hate our priesthood so deadly,
yet let us go to the gallows with consciences unspotted ;

The FaU of Anthony Tyrrell. 467
first seek not to spoil our bodies, and then after to bereave
us of our souls. This nature is mere diabolical. You can
be content that we be Papists, exercise all the parts of
a Papist, never come to your Church, never receive your
communion, never hear your sermorts, never read your
books, with condition that we will apply ourselves jointly
to practise all mischief, so our intentions be to persecute,
to betray, and, under covert of virtue, to exercise all kind
of wicked knavery.
" If this be your religion, sure it is an abominable
The Protestants' reUgion. religion, a dcvilish religion, fit for no other
than the devil and his dam. The holy prophet Elias
3 Kings xviii. . crieth out of all dissemblers, asking them
how long they will halt on both sides, willing us that if
God be God we should follow Him, and if Baal be god,
then we should follow Baal. And Justice Young can will
me boldly to halt on both sides ; to bow my knees, as he
saith, to Baal : he can will me, with a Protestant to be a
Protestant, and with a Papist to play the Papist. How
agree together Elias and Young.' But truly I do not marvel
at it, for there is as much religion in this blessed man as
in a horse, and so in them all, for aught that I can learn.
This, then, is their practice, and this the sum of their
devotion, so far as I have learnt by mine own experience,
that so soon as they have gotten a man within their fingers,
first they tamper with him very cunningly. If they perceive
the man anything timorous or of a softly nature, then will
they use very smooth words, and tender him an oath, the
which, if the party be so foolish as to take, then they think
the field to be half won, for they know us to be of more
scrupulous consciences than themselves ; then will they
urge him all they can to discover where he said Mass,
where he conversed, and with whom, and with such
ordinary stuff they will endeavour to halter him in the,
snare if possibly they can.
"But if they find him anything resolute, then he is

468 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
an obstinate Papist, a man no doubt guilty of ' many
„ , ,. ¦ treasons, and that he must be warily
Many arts and devices ' •'
of the persecutor. Iqq]^^^ ynto : hc shall Want no words of
threatening, and all manner of evil entertainment at their
hands. They will send for him once, twice, thrice, and still
they will assault him with new devices and policies ; but
in the end, if they cannot prevail to get forth matter for
their liking, then they will proffer him conference, and
offer very fair that way, if that he would confer, but all
with guile. If they find him still resolute, and that he
remaineth still constant in his profession, then they send
him away for a rank traitor : they will surely give him
his passport to the gallows as speedily as they can. But
such as they can by any ways allure by flattery to
relent in any point, they will seem to spare and favour
somewhat ; and if any be so ill-disposed or overcome
by temptation as to yield any further, ipso Jacto they
are become honest men. Then is all religion set apart
as a matter to their purpose clean impertinent, for if
they can gain him to play the spy, then will they
promise him all preferment ; then will they give him out,
to colour their craft, that of all Papists that ever they
knew he is the most notorious of all other ; and never
Most notorious devices, a Catholic that they shall talk withal,
but they will cast him in their dish as most obstinate.
But contrariwise, such as remain sound and constant in
deed, those will they seem to accuse of all imbecility,
and give out of them that they have bewrayed much,
when as God knoweth there was never any meaning to
do any such thing : whereof I could give many examples,
so cunning hath the devil made these men in his ways.
" But of all other men he is most esteemed by them
that will be their spy and betray his fellows. Let him say
Mass or do what he list, all shall be winked at, so long
as he can by any colour contrive to do any mischief;
though otherwise he have in him no taste of religion

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 469
at all. Some others there be besides myself (when they
ofothers also fallen, had me) that they have gotten into this
damnable state and condition. I could name them, for
I know them, and have heard of their informings and
seen of their doings, as I am sure they have of mine.
Yet I will not name them here, but desire them for
the Passion of God to remember themselves, to leave
off serving the devil, and turn to Almighty God again,
from whom they are fallen. I know by my own self
that they continually carry a hell in their consciences.
Alas, my brethren, there is none of you all that has
gone further than I. God hath called me up' again.
Let us serve God and forsake the devil. Of the one
we shall have nothing but hell and damnation : of the
other we may have eternal salvation.
" But now to the point of myself I doubt not but
they will now blaze out unto the world all my writings
and recantations that I made against the Catholics,
which they have in their own hands, thereby to defame
me for a notorious dissembler ; but whatsoever they do,
they do but increase their own shame. For let them set
forth all my dealings in what vile manner soever they
list, and say what they can, this only shall they gain,
that sin and the devil brought me to them, and God of
His grace delivered me again from them. For who
seeth not the difference of these two contrary spirits .'
The different spirits With thc ouc I was brought into a loose-
JlS' Prot5unts""an'd "ess of life and a corruptible folly, whereby
rom em. j pj^ji^gg^j myself SO deep into sin as I had
no grace to wind myself out again. I ran further and
further until I renounced my faith and abandoned all
honesty, by the which what pageants I have played hath
appeared plainly by my former confessions, and if I would
have continued the sinful course still, they never would have
found any fault with me. I might now have enjoyed all
the favour and promotions that they could have bestowed

470 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
upon me. I might still have maintained myself in all
sensuality. What thing then hath averted my heart from
all this but the grace of God only, that leadeth to good
life and hatred of such wickedness ; so that let them paint
me out in what colours they will, the more they deform
me the more they shame themselves.
" And truly I could willingly ease them of that labour
of laying open my lewdness, and do it myself acknow
ledging me to be the most miserable and wretched creature
of all others, for so truly I know myself to be, and con
fessed it at the beginning of this treatise, and now again
with the same I will end. And most humbly I do submit
myself unto all shame and confusion in this world, so I
may find mercy in the sight of the Omnipotent Majesty
[of] our merciful Saviour in the world to come, beseeching
all good Catholics to pray for me, and to pardon my
most grievous sins and offences committed against them.
Our Lord Jesus grant me grace of perseverance, that
hereafter I become not the child of perdition again. And
so I end."

471

CHAPTER XVI.
OF DIVERS LETTERS THAT AFTER HIS REPENTANCE HE
WROTE AS WELL TO THE QUEEN AS TO OTHER
PERSONS.
Over and besides the large confession and declaration
which before you have heard set down by Anthony
Tyrrell's own hand, upon sorrow and repentance that God
gave him of his most wicked and desperate former pro
ceedings, he wrote also divers other particular satisfactions
to sundry persons, whom in particular he had injured,
which I have in like manner lying by me written as
all the rest, and signed with his own hand. And the
first of them is written the 26th of January, i58[6]7, and
directed to some forty-nine or fifty persons, some dead,
and some alive, some within and some without the realm,
whom he confesseth to have most grievously and falsely
accused; and albeit in the former narration which you
have heard, either all of them, or the most part, have
been named, together with Tyrrell's particular doings
and sayings against them, as himself setteth it down, with
his own conclusion thereupon, omitting all the rest, I
mean the larger deplaration of his enormities, lies and
slanders against them, for that before you have heard
them. Thus then he maketh his table or memorial.
" The names of persons beyond the seas whom I have falsely accused
and slandered are these.
" Pope Gregory XIII. that last was.
The General of the Jesuits.
The Rector of the English College, named Alfonsus
Agazzarus.

472 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Father Good, confessor to the College and a Jesuit.
Dr. Lewis, living then at Milan.
Dr. Ahen.
Dr. Gifford.
The Duke of Guise.
The Bishop of Ross.
Mr. Chambers, priest.
George Stoker.
" The names of those that are dead and that I falsely accused
were —
" The Queen of Scots.
Mr. Ballard, priest
Mr. Anthony Babington.
Mr. Barnwell.
Mr. Charles Tylney.
Mr. Abington.
Mr. Tichborne.
Mr. Gage.
Mr. Henry Dunne.
"All these I do here name, not for that my accus;
tions can bring them any more hurt or danger thj
already they have done, but that they may be the bett
purged hereafter by this my confession, especially
such crimes as ever I have charged any of them withj
which are most false, and so I leave to speak of the
any further, and I will proceed to the others that live.
" The names of such as I have most falsely and unjustly accus
here in England that are living, whereof some are in prise
some at commandment, and some at liberty, are thtse that folio
" The^arl of Arundel.
The Countess of Arundel.
The Lord Windsor.
The Lord Stourton and his wife.
Sir John Arundell.
The French Ambassador.

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 473
The Lady Drury.
Mr. Edward Windsor.
Mr. Thomas Metham of Yorkshire.
Mr. Ralph Crathorne.
Mr. Ralph Babthorpe.
Mr. David Ingleby.
Mr. Tipping.
Mr. Dinnington.
Mr. Crossland and his brother.
Mr. Bold of Lancashire.
Father Edmonds.
Mr. Highgate.
Mr. Jacques, servant to Mr. Vice-Chamberlain.
William Warmforde, Mr. Jacques his man.
Mr. Gervais Pierrepont.
Mr. George Gifford.
Sir Thomas Gerard.
Mr. Yearly, alias Burton.
The two Wisemen {sic) of Essex.
Mr. Thorogood of the Temple.
Mr. Francis Browne.
All priests in general and all Catholics in general."
After this list made, he setteth down as it were a
compendious recital of all the several accusations which
he ever made against any one of all these people, and
after all maketh this conclusion following.
"All these aforesaid accusations I do acknowledge
myself falsely, maliciously, and slanderously to have
made against all these persons before specified, and
that they are monstrous lies, and most manifest untruths.
So God me help. In witness whereof I have signed this.
with my own [hand], and shall stand to the same unto the
hour of my death. The 26th of January, 1587.
"By me,
"Anthony Tyrrell, Priest."

474 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
His second letter of satisfaction was unto the Lord
Windsor, dated in London, the 20th of February, 1587,
which beginneth thus.
"Being moved in conscience, right honourable, to
acknowledge my great offence committed against your
self and your brother, Mr. Edward Windsor, I could
not but signify the same unto you by writing, and of
you both most humbly do crave pardon," &c. And
then, after a long declaration of his false accusations
against them both, as well to Justice Young and to
the Treasurer as to the Queen herself he concludeth
thus. "And therefore I do confess myself most grievously
to have slandered both your honour and this honest and
innocent gentleman your brother, of both whom I crave
most humbly pardon and forgiveness, beseeching your
honour that for God's cause and for the clearing of your
brother, his innocency, by me falsely accused in these my
letters, may be known unto her Majesty and the Council,
that guiltless he be not made away through my false accu
sations. And thus having in this point discharged my own
conscience, not refusing any temporal shame or punishment
for the purchasing of God's favour, and forgiveness from
your honour, I shall most humbly take my leave. From
London, 20th of February, 1587.
"By me,
"Anthony Tyrrell, Priest."
The third and largest letter of all was to the Queen^
herself, as whom m.ost grievously of all others he thought
himself to have offended and injured, by abusing her with
false and feigned informations of treasons, and putting into
her head jealous, fearful, and dangerous suspicions against
^ As already mentioned {supra, p. 206), this letter is printed by Strype,
Annals, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 425. A manuscript copy of it is in the British
Museum, Lansd. MSS. 51, 11. 66, f. 154.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 475
her own subjects without all cause or ground in the world,
and by pricking her to use rigour of laws, and other
extremities against such as to his knowledge had nothing
at all offended, whereby much blood was already shed,
and much more like to be, and infinite inconveniences
most certeunly to ensue. This letter was dated also in
London, as the other before, the 20th of February, 1587,
and beginneth as followeth.
" If ever your Majesty's pity inclined unto the com
plaint of a sorrowful and distressed subject, vouchsafe,
O gracious Queen, to incline to mine which craveth
no more at your Highness' hands than that you would
peruse these letters which are much more long than
willingly I would, but that they contain matter which
concerneth your princely justice, by defending of your
innocent subjects and protecting them from harm. I am
the same man, although then far different in mind, that
presumed heretofore to write letters unto your Majesty,
and as it hath been told me you vouchsafed to receive
them, to read them, and (if the report were true that hath
been told me) you took great joy and comfort of them.
Alas, my right dread Lady and Sovereign, I am full sorry
that the effect of your comfort (whatsoever it were) pro
ceeded from so evil a cause, the ground whereof, when
once it shall be known, will yield your Majesty more dis
comfort than fully may be shown."
This is the beginning of this letter, and after this
he setteth down somewhat largely his bringing up in the
Seminaries beyond the seas, protesting his sincere intention
in all his studies there, as also his return to England when
he was priest, without any the least evil meaning in
the world towards her Majesty, or against the State,
assuring upon his soul that the like sincerity is in all
other Catholic priests that come in and do persevere to
live in England according to the purity of their education,
and desire of rule and order of their superiors that send

476 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
them. And that while himself lived so, he lived in
perpetual peace and comfort of his soul, and in most
charitable meaning towards all, and when he once began
to fall from this care of virtue and purity of life, he began
also presently to think of change of religion, and of
malicious hurting of others. But it shall be best to hear
all uttered in his own words. Thus then he sayeth.
" Now as concerneth my conversation in England this
is most sure and certain, that if my life had endured
agreeable to my profession, this good mind in me that I
brought with me had never changed. Neither fear of death
nor hope of preferment could have made me alter my
opinion, but rather than I would have been brought to relent
or to have forsaken my faith as I have done, I would
have yielded my body most willingly unto death, as divers
of my virtuous brethren most gloriously have done, and
every good priest hereafter will do, in despite of all the
devils in hell or torments of any man. But alas, here,
O most gracious Sovereign, to my temporal shame and
confusion (so as my soul may find mercy at the dreadful
day), I must openly confess that I fell into a great
corruption of life and dissolution of manners, suffering
myself to be drowned in all sensuality and pleasure, that
the grace of the Holy Ghost could not any longer abide
in a temple so defiled and polluted with sin, insomuch
as my own conscience crying out against my own impiety,
and I not amending my evil manners, the devil ceased not
to oppugn my faith. Whereupon my religion began to be
irksome unto me, not for that I knew my religion to be
evil, but because I found myself so passing naught as
that God or any goodness could no longer abide in me.
Sin and dissolution the ^ ^as therefore oftentimes, before that ever
causes of my fall. J jjj f^jj j^^^ thc hands of your officers
or into the danger of your Majesty's laws, minded to
My mind t,^ fall before ^^^^ reuounccd my religion and to have
my apprehension, yielded mysclf uuto your Majesty's Council,

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 477
and so either to have played the dissembling spy, or else
to have counterfeited some open recantation, and this for
no other end than to serve the world and to live for the
time in pleasure, although in the end I was sure to
purchase thereby eternal damnation. Yet God's mercy
expecting my repentance preserved me still from that
horrible crime, and although all the branches of the tree
of my soul were withered dry by sin, and all ready to be
cut off and cast into the fire, yet so long as there was
any life left in the root, that is, that my faith was not
yet forsaken, there was some hope of my returning again.
"And so being by God's permission and providence
taken at length, and brought into the danger of your
Majesty's laws, and thinking^that I had been to lose my
life for the same, these thoughts came into my mind, that
to die for God's cause in the Catholic religion I was not
worthy, by reason I had so contaminated myself by sin.
Yet such was the infinite mercy of Almighty God on the
other side as He letted not to offer me the grace if I most
wickedly had not forsaken Him; but the devil having gotten
so great an advantage of me before through sin, envied
now my happy state for to be called unto my trial for my
profession, fearing thereby that he should have lost me
altogether, and so assailed me more fiercely in another
kind, procuring me under the colour of pleasure to save
my life by recanting my Catholic religion, although
thereby I was sure in the end I should lose it for ever.
And now am I come, most gracious Sovereign, unto the
true cause of this my last conversion, or rather mere per
version as truly I may term it, by the which what lament
able stratagems have been committed may now easily be
seen, for after that the devil had so prevailed with me that
I was content for my temporal life and worldly preferment
My conversion for which to yield uuto all manuct of sin, O sweet
her Majesty was made to , ,
rejoice, what it was. Lord ! I trcmblc to recount what a number
of monsters I personally did let into my soul at once.

478 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
Thinketh your Majesty that I had either care or conscience
of my doings, when I had abandoned all grace, all good
ness, all truth and honesty, and cast myself wholly into
sin .' No, verily, for from that time I became more
malicious than ever Judas was that betrayed Christ, for I
converted wholly my mahce against Him, and at one jump
I forsook my faith which I knew for certain to be pure and
good, I accused the Pope, I slandered the Jesuits, belied
Dr. Allen, Dr. Lewis, and Dr. Gifford, reporting of them
and divers others of our nation unto my Lord Treasurer
such horrible matters, as against the Turk or the devil I
could not devise more grievous. What Ballard's practices
were against your Majesty, or any of the rest that suffered
with him, I protest I know ;;iot, nor ever yet could learn,
and if they were guilty of any crime I do not and will nof
go about to excuse them [but rather will rejoice at their
deservings. lansd. MS?[. Only this, O gracious Queen, I
cannot but confess a truth, what peril or danger of my life
soever I sustain, for the same that I accused Ballard most
Touching Ballard and f^lscly for conspiriug your Majesty's death,
his company. ^j^^^ j^^ should havc bcgun to break the
matter with Dr. Lewis at Milan, continued the same with
the Rector of the English Seminary and the General of
the Jesuits at Rome, by whose helps his suit should have
been commended unto Pope Gregory XIII. and by him
the action of your Majesty's death should have been
allowed and confirmed, and the same he should have
imparted unto Dr. Allen at Rheims, who should like well
enough of the thing, and after to have been practised by
Ballard or some of his complices here in England, when they
should see their time ; wherein I accused Charles Tylney
and Edward Windsor, the one dead, and the other living,
to have been two of the first attempters of that fact : all
which, as I hope to be saved at the latter day, was as false
as God is true, for never in my life did I hear so much as a
thought conceived awry against your royal person by them.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 479
"When I had deeply waded in this ford of lying, I
spared no manner of person upon whom I might colour
any cause of mischief, insomuch as I accused the French
Ambassador in many things most wrongfully, as also
his secretary. I accused the Earl of Arundel and the
Countess of many heinous matters, and divers other
noblemen and women of your land, of crimes most false
and untrue. Among the rest I accused the Scottish
Queen unto your Majesty of things that I knew no
more than the child new born. What otherwise she
deserved I know not [nor mind not to defend her if she
have offended your Majesty in anything. Lansd. MS\
but whatsoever I did inform your Highness, it was only
to bring your Majesty into greater hatred with her,
whom I presumed you did not greatly love before, and
that made me to enlarge lies against all Catholics, and
namely against my Lord Windsor, the Lord Stourton
and his wife, the Lord Compton, Sir John Arundell, and
others. " And I remember, that being settled in this malicious
humour, that I did write unto your Majesty a letter,
wherein I warned you of three things.
My most pemiaous per- J o
suasions to the Queen, j-j^.^^ ^^ extirpate and weed out all Semi
nary priests as members most pernicious unto your realm,
for they went about wheresoever they came to bring your
Majesty in hatred and contempt with your subjects, per
suading them that to seek the destruction of your royal
person was a most laudable thing.
"The second, that you should have a great regard
unto the Scottish Queen, by whom your Majesty's hfe
stood most in danger, who sought by all means she
could, not only by foreign power, but by domestical
attempts, at once to shorten your days, that she herself
might be advanced to the Crown.
"The third was, that your Majesty, having now crushed
the heads of the conspirators, and had all your enemies

480 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
at such an advantage that it were not good you should
leave to persecute them, and to enact such laws against
all recusants as whosoever shall refuse to swear against
the Pope and all his proceedings against your Majesty
and this realm, that he should be accounted no better
than a rank traitor unto your Majesty: all which invectives,
most gracious Prince, if you consider with what mind I
did write them, you have no manner of cause to believe
them, for I uttered these matters as one replete with all
malice, and intended not to say truth in anything.
"And truly to speak as I shall answer before God,
only sin and the devil was the cause that made me so
c- J .1, J -1 .1, monstrously to lie and to counterfeit unto
Sin and the devil the J
causes of my doings. ^^^^ Majcsty a couversiou, and the grace
of God, undeserved of my part, brought me back again,
for I never could have been induced to have made so
many notorious and villainous slanders against so many
worthy prelates and princes, against so many noble and
worshipful, against my dearest friends and acquaintance,
whom I knew to be most clear of all the matters whereof
I then charged them, had not only sin and the devil
procured me to it. Justice Young, with all his cunning,
could never have catched such hold on me, nor ever could
he have brought me to that offence, as to forsake my
faith, abuse your Majesty and my Lord Treasurer with
so many writings and false informations, had not sin
and the devil procured it.
" Therefore think not, good madam, that I could either
write or speak unto your Majesty with a pure and sincere
heart, being so foully stained with filth and corruption.
Think that I imagined nothing but lies, practised nothing
but lies, sought the effusion of innocent blood by betray
ing of priests, bewraying of Catholics, and by doing all
the injury I could against them which never imagined
hurt or harm. But yet I must confess that I was not so
forward unto these mischiefs of myself, as I was persuaded

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. '481
unto them by Justice Young, of whom I cannot but say,
although I abide all the torments that he can procure
me if ever I come again into his hands, that he is a
most cruel blood-sucker, a destroyer of your people, and
a great abuser of your Majesty. And as for his cruelty in
My opinion and know- sheddiug of blood, it is too wcll known
edgeofJusticeYoung. f^^ ^^^J^ ^^ J^^ ^^^^^^ dcStrOy both in
body and soul, as he had done me, he will be sure to
prefer unto the gallows ; otherwise, if they yield anything
to him, then under the colour of persuading to God's
truth and religion, he will not let to bring them straight
headlong unto damnation. For so soon as he hath made
either priest or Catholic to relent anything, then all reli
gion is set apart, for the first ground of his new faith
must be to play the spy, and under the colour of godhness
to practise all the knavery that he can devise. So as before
we can come to enjoy the perfection of this our new faith,
we must first learn the rudiments, how to betray Christ
and His anointed, and to appeach the innocent, be they
never so good, never so virtuous, never so far from offend
ing your Highness or your laws. Some means we must
seek to find a hole in their coats, to no other end but
to cut their throats. And when we have learned out
perfectly this lesson, then must we proceed to greater
wickedness, for we must yield unto all kind of dissimu
lation ; for that was the chiefest point of Justice Young's
Justice Young's rudi- persuasious to me, never talking of any
ments of knavery, matter that conccmeth God or religion,
albeit that I craved it myself very often. I desired him
that I might have books, that I might have conference,
nay, that which was more, that I might come unto his
house, if I might not in the church, and receive the
communion, but no such matter could be obtained. So
long as there was any means for me to persecute the
Catholics with mischief, I must still play the Seminary
priest, and that, notwithstanding your Majesty's laws
FF

482 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
which have made it treason, and all priests traitors and
all such felons as shall receive them, yet must we now
boldly practise our treasons and make as many felons
as we can. O merciful God ! laws were wont to be made
to prohibit sin and offences and to save the innocent,
and now, by the justices and ministers of the law, we
must be exhorted to do the plain contrary and break
laws, to make others to be traitors and felons that
otherwise perhaps would not have been.
" Before I did make any semblance of my counterfeit
and feigned conversion, it was a damnable thing with
Justice Young to be a priest, much more to practise
Papistry, as to say Mass, to reconcile, and to do such other
like actions. There could be no means of salvation but
presently to return unto the Lord ; and when I was desirous
so for to do, the Lord was not then at leisure to receive mc.
It was no matter although I continued in Papistry still It
was no sin to say Mass, no treason to reconcile, no offence
to commit idolatry by way of dissimulation, with intent to
do mischief to seek innocent blood, to betray such simple
souls as neither thought hurt or harm, to destroy your
Majesty's subjects, and thereby to make your Majesty
guilty also of all their bloods. O heaven, O earth, what
heart would not bleed for pity to hear of these things .'
"O gracious Queen, whom God hath made governess
over us to protect and defend us, to whom, next unto God,
but to yourself may we complain.' How are your subjects
betrayed, how are they spoiled, how' are they brought like
A most pitiful case, shcep uiito the slaughtcr .' Is it your
pleasure that innocents should be thus cast away, that
treasons should be thus practised .' Was this the end of
your laws, to bring men, whether they would or not, unto
their deaths .' If I wist it were so, why, then I have no
more to say but, Moriamur in simplicitate nostra — ' Let us
die in our simplicity.' Better it were to die than so to
live, like birds to be brought into the pitfall unawares by

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 483
the procurements of such as name themselves ministers of
your Majesty's justice.
" Is this the way to bring your subjects unto reform-
ance, as they call it .' Is this the sum of all their new
religion — to wit, dissimulation, spiery, knavery,' and all
abomination .'
"I cannot contain, most benign Princess, to utter the
truth, although I should die ten thousand deaths (as I look
for no life, nor desire my life, if ever I be taken again) ;
yet if I would still have continued in this damnable course,
I might have lived (until God of His justice had fut mc
ofQ, and should have been accounted no traitor, but a good
subject, and had I know not what preferment. I have my
Lord Treasurer's letters for my safety : he persuadeth me
to continue in dissimulation still, and so long he saith he
will continue his good will towards me, but now that I
leave to play the dissembler, I fear me I shall be again
reputed for a traitor. O dear sovereign, what a world
is this, that flattery and all impiety breedeth favour, but
truth and honesty getteth all hatred !
" I have also Mr. Justice Young's letters wherein I am
commanded from your Majesty to continue in dissimula
tion, and against poor Catholics to do all the mischief I
can. For mine own part I cannot be persuaded that ever
your Majesty would wish me or any of your subjects so to
deal ; for albeit you affect not our religion, you pity our
miseries, you acknowledge us your subjects, we live under
your sceptre, we obey your laws, so far forth as we incur
not damnation unto our souls ; and more I trust you will
not require at our hands. At least, if we that be priests
may not escape with our lives, although we do nothing but
A just petition unto o"!" ^utics, yct grant us of your princely
her Majesty. favour and pity that we may go unto our
deaths with safety of our consciences. Let us not be
molested as we are, to be allured to play the spies, as many
have been besides myself, and I fear me remain as yet in
FF 2

484 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
that perverse and wicked mind, which I know they cannot
do without a continual torment in their consciences, and
therefore I wish your Majesty not to trust them, for they
will never be true unto you that are false unto God. There
fore whatsoever they do, whatsoever they promise, is but
for saving of a temporal life, and the gaining of a little
worldly preferment, and whensoever God shall touch them
with remorse, they cannot do but as I have done.
"Your Majesty may well think some important cause
hath moved me thus to alter my condition, and do as I
do, or else of all men living I were the most desperate
person and unwise. For first, I have so grievously offended
A serious consideration, all Catholics, as I shall be ashamcd for
ever during my life to look any of them in the face ; and
now, on the other side, had I so gained the good will of
your Majesty, the favour of my Lord Treasurer, and other
noble men, as I might have hoped to live temporally in
credit and grace ; and now for me voluntarily, without com
pulsion, to return back again where I have deserved most
to be contemned, and to forsake that state or condition
wherein at this present I was best befriended, what is or
might be the cause .' Verily, no hope of any reward ; for
all the days of my life I look for no other than penury,
poverty, penance, and affliction,, and very likely some
violent temporal death for my sins that I have done ; and
yet all these perils and inconveniences I am most willing
and desirous to embrace, rather than for ever I would be
cast out of God's favour, and die the child of reprobation.
" And think not, most gracious Queen, that now I have
received your Majesty's reward, that I have given you the
slip. I never received of Justice Young but 30/. and that by
piece-meals ; whereas I lost in my chamber, that the pur
suivant robbed me of when I was taken, better than 40/.,
which never yet for all my favour could I recover. Besides by
the searches that I procured Justice Young he hath gotten
better than 100/., so that in truth I am nothing in his

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 485
Justice Young's gains ^cbt. My Tcwards liavc not been compar-
by searches. ^^^^j^ ^^ j^y iggggg^ although they have been
-greater than I could deserve for any such service, and I
would to God your Majesty from henceforth would reward
all dissembling spies as Parry was rewarded with a halter,
for then should your realm in short time be purged, your
Majesty quieted from a number of devices wherewith now
daily you be terrified, that your life is more grievous unto
[you] than the state of a private man.
" How many false reports and lies doth Justice Young
¦bring your Majesty in a year, partly by his own devising,
and partly by such as I have been .' How often think you
hath he been tampering with me for to accuse some ladies
¦of your privy chamber for intending to poison your Majesty,
and in truth I know of none, yet for the satisfying the man's
humour I accused the Lady Drury, that she should say
-when your Majesty had given her a blow, that she would
„ . . , , , remember it. How fain would he have had
Great wickedness of
Justice Young. j^^ ^^ appcach the Eari of Cumberiand,
the Lord Scrope, the Lord Montague, and others, and I
did what I could, especially against the Earl of Arundel.
of whom I made so many lies, as if they may be credited
are able to despatch him.
" I am in conscience bound to certify your Majesty of
this that you may understand how your subjects are
bought and sold, and your Highness tormented with con
tinual fears, for as I hope to be saved I say nothing now
of any malice, but that which I know of my own experience,
and much more if I should not be too tedious to your
Highness to repeat it.
" I have for mine own discharge truly set down in a
book the truth of everything. It may please God that it
may come to your Majesty's peruse, you shall find therein
that it would pity you for to know, and yet very necessary
that you should understand it.
" And, now to conclude, grant me this favour, O most

486 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
gracious Queen, that I may at length desist from my
former abominable course, and blame me not for seeking^
true amendment, howsoever you otherwise shall think
good to punish my offences committed, and let not
innocents be cast away upon my false complaints, as
your Majesty will answer it at the latter day, for now,
although too late, I tell your Majesty truly that I accused
them all falsely and betrayed them wrongfully.
"And for ^yself I crave no further favour or mercy
The conclusion, than it shall please God to put it into your
Majesty's mind inclinable always unto pity. If I be
taken, I think no death too grievous for me. Only not
presuming in my own strength, I have sought means to
save myself If I be taken, here I protest I have not pre
sumed this act upon any contempt, but in all humility,
fear, and trembling, knowing howsoever I might have
abused the world, I could not escape the judgments of
God, and therefore what death soever I suffer, what
torments soever I endure, God give me grace to embrace
them as wholesome naedicines fOr my soul, praying not
withstanding unto the last moment of my life most
humbly that God may long preserve your Majesty, and
grant 3^ou a prosperous reign, and finally to reign with
Him in glory everlasting. Thus craving on my knees
your Majesty's pardon, I most humbly take my leave..
From my chamber in London, the 20th of February,.
i58[6]7. "Your Highness' most lamentable and repentant subject,.
"Anthony Tyrrell, Priest,
" most unworthy of that vocation."

487

CHAPTER XVII.
now AFTER ALL THIS HE WENT OVER SEA AND
RETURNED, AND FELL AGAIN, AND MADE NEW
ABJURATION PUBLICLY AT PAUL'S CROSS, THE 3 1 ST
OF JANUARY THE NEXT YEAR FOLLOWING, 1 588.
As soon as Anthony Tyrrell had written the former revo
cation of his wickedness and wilful lies, and had sent
the letters which you have heard both to the Queen and
to the other persons whom they concerned, and that divers '
copies thereof was spread through the whole realm by his
own request, he retired himself beyond the seas with
purpose to amend his future life, and give such satisfaction
as he might to God and the world for the heinous tres
passes before committed. But being arrived there, and
finding the shame and confusion of this course to be bitter
and more heavy in practice than in his fervour of repent
ance he had imagined (for the execution of good purposes
are commonly more hard, at leastwise for a time, than
the contemplation), he began to faint and to suffer him
self once more, as he saith, to be assaulted and overcome by
the devil so far forth as fearing lest he should not be able
to go forward with his purpose of penance, he yielded to
„. . J go back to England again. Where falling
His going over and o 00 o
return again. jj^j.^ ^j^g hands of his formcr masters and
rtianagers, that knew well his infirmities, he was easily
brought to promise them to unsay again all that we have
heard him say and confess in this his long narration.
Which thing being thought by the Council and other
of the law and State to be a matter of no small
importance for justifying of the deaths of such as upon

488 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
his false impeachments and slanderous devices had
already been executed, as namely the Queen of Scots,
Mr. Ballard, Mr. Babington, and all the other gentlemen
that had suffered with him, they esteemed it the
surest course and most plausible to the people, not
to accept any more this man's word or writings in
private, but that in person he should go up to the pulpit
of Paul's Cross upon some festival day, and there make
a sermon, and publicly revoke all that before he had
avouched of his wicked proceeding, as also to avouch again
all his former false accusations that before he had revoked
with such sorrow and repentance as you have heard.
Wherefore this being so determined among them, they
took order that he should be kept very close in prison
until the pageant were played, to the end no Catholic
man might come at him to work remorse or scruple of
^conscience in him as they had done before, promising
him besides all favour and preferment if he went through
lustily and resolutely with this device, which he promised
to do ; and for more show thereof he required pen and
ink to set down the points for his memory that he was
to utter, and so he began to do, not to their misliking.
But when the time of his sermon drew near, he felt
such an infinite torment in his mind for doing against
the known truth of his conscience, as albeit he were alone
in prison, yet wanted he not inward admonishers that
exclaimed against his desperate intention, with whose
cries he was so wearied and overcome at last that he
determined to alter all and once again to deceive the
heretics ; and so leaving those first papers which he had
begun to write against all truth for pleasing of his enemies,
to take in hand to write the quite contrary, with purpose to
pronounce the same at Paul's Cross when the day should
come. And for that he was sure as soon as ever his
meaning should be descried he should be stopped and
pulled down from the pulpit and not suffered to proceed

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 489
any further, he determined to make divers copies of his
speech, to the end that when he should be taken from
the place he might cast them among the people, as after
ward he did ; neither did his keepers or instructors
mistrust his much writing in the prison, for that they
persuaded themselves that all was in their favour and
that the sermon would be sound, albeit somewhat long.
Wherefore, when all things were in readiness, and the
fame given out over all London and over most parts
His coming to Paul's ^^^o of the realm, of this strange sermon
^'°''- that should be upon Sunday, the last of
January, in the year 1588,^ there wanted not concourse
of people from all parts, nor of all sorts, and many of
the Council and nobility were also present to hear so rare
a comedy. And first of all a preacher of their own was set up
to make the prologue, which was very long, containing
an earnest exhortation to be attentive to what the other
should say and to believe him ; and immediately after him
Anthony Tyrrell was brought up with much honour to
the pulpit — and then after he had commended himself
upon his knees to God, he began the speech which here
I shall set down, translated out of the Latin copy printed
in Trevers in Germany, the very same year of eighty and
eight wherein it was written and cast abroad by Tyrrell
himself ; and this I do for that I had not his own English
copy by me when I gathered this treatise, and all is one
thing in substance. And as in his former narration and
confession, so also in this, I have abbreviated divers things
that seemed over long and not so important. And here
you must remember (as before I have said), that after
he had uttered some few lines of the beginning, whereby
his instructors and the rest perceived that he was to utter
the plain contrary of that which they expected, all began
' Father Persons and the Concertatio naturally give the date in the New
Style. - In England the day -was called January 21, 1587.

490 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
to cry Crucifige upon him, and to pull him from the pulpit,
at what time he cast abroad his papers, which contained
as followeth ; and besides the vehemency of spirit wherein
they were uttered, it is also to be considered that when
he wrote them and cast them abroad he was in the
Protestants' hands, and sure to incur their high displeasure
and his own temporal danger for the same ; so as no other
respect could move him to be so earnest in this point,
but only pure force of truth and conscience. Thus then
he saith. " I have no doubt (right honourable, worshipful, and
Tyrrell's speech, most dear in our Saviour Jesus), but that
you marvel much, as well to see this great concourse of
people and me here present, as also what I have to do
or say in this place this day, and if you please to have
a little patience with me and to consider the mercies of
Almighty God towards me, I hope you shall perceive
my coming thither to be neither vain nor unprofitable,
for I do call both heaven and earth to witness that no
other cause, but only the pure honour of Almighty God,
the salvation of my own soul, and all your comforts that
are good people and do love His truth, hath brought
me hither. I doubt not but you have heard (or at least
wise very many of you) of my grievous fall, of my horrible
apostacy from my faith, of my cruel persecuting the holy
Church of Christ, of my false accusing of many innocent
people, of the hurts and ruins which they have taken
thereby, and I doubt not but the best sort of you have
wondered how a man of my calling or education could
ever fall to such abominable madness or blindness.
" And again, I presuppose you have not been ignorant
of the repentance that Almighty God vouchsafed to bestow
upon me for the acknowledging of my faults and errors, of
my reconciliation again with the Church of God, by whose
prayers and Almighty God's grace assisting me, I was
brought to set down a true and sincere confession of aU

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 491
my former sinful doings, with full intention to amend and
to do penance for my life to come ; with which mind
also I left England and went over the seas, and therefore
now to see me here again, and to be brought to this
place to recal my said confession, you cannot but wonder
as well at my desperate proceeding, as also of the folly
The great folly of ^^ ^'^^^ ^^at bring mc hither, and will
the enemy. sccm to givc Credit to me after so large
and ample a confession as before I published against them
under my own hand, especial[ly] seeing I avouched in the
same that my heart and conscience was never with them,
but that only their negotiations, the devil's deceits, and
my sin induced me to feign myself to be of their side
and to accuse others. Wherefore to be brief The cause
of my coming hither this day is to protest before God
and His angels and you that are present, that I am a
most horrible, heinous, and detestable sinner thus to
behave myself and unworthy of all mercy and grace
both before God and man ; and that the true cause of
my coming up to this pulpit is to confirm my first con
fession, made by the instinct of God's holy grace and
written with mine own hand, of the most impudent lies
and wicked slanders that I uttered to the Right Honour
able my Lord Treasurer and others against many innocent
persons: for which crimes, though God of His mercy hath
given me sorrow and repentance, and I had departed the
land with intention and purpose to amend my life, yet
the devil together with my sins brought me back again
mat brought him ^ud tempted me to deny the truth which
back again. before I had uttered, and I yielded there
unto, for which I acknowledge myself most worthy of
all hatred, contempt, and confusion, and of all punishment,
both temporal and eternal. Moreover, I confess and make
His false accusations, it known to all that now live or shall live
hereafter, that I accused most falsely that holy Pastor
and Bishop of God's Church, Pope Gregory XIIL,

492 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
affirming him to have consented to the death of our
most sovereign lady the Queen, whereof I accused
most falsely also both Mr. Ballard the priest for pro
posing the question in Rome, which was not so, and
Mr. Dr. Lewis at Milan, and Mr. Dr. Allen then, but now
Cardinal, for consenting to the same ; for in truth I never
knew nor heard any such question to be proposed, nor
any treaty or conspiracy in the world against her Majesty's
life or State; and so much the more wickedly and unjustly
were Mr. Edward Windsor, Mr. Charles Tylney, and others
accused by me for the same.
" Moreover I call God to witness that of the affairs of
Mr. Babington,. and those other gentlemen that died with
him, I knew no more than the child newly born, notwith
standing my long and grievous accusations of them, but
only that I once heard Mr. Ballard say that foreign princes
made preparation to invade England. By like wickedness
and falsehood I feigned the killing of the lords in the Star
Chamber ; accused Mr. David Ingleby for intention to
take the Tower and to deliver the Earl of Arundel ; I
feigned an embassage of Gilbert Gifford from the Duke of
Guise to the Count [Earl] ; I slandered Mr.Thomas Metham,
Mr. Ralph Craythorne, Mr. Babthorpe, Mr. Tipping, Mr.
Dinnington, Mr. Crossland, Mr. Jacques, Sir John Arundell,
the Lord Compton, and other noble and worthy gentlemen,
as in my aforesaid confession at large and particular I
have set down ; and as I protested then to her Majesty,
in my particular and several letters touching those affairs,
so I protest now that the said confession and revocation of
my false accusations were most true, and directed, no
doubt, by the Spirit of God, as the contrary (I mean
my false accusations) were only of sin and the devil,
and now Almighty God, whether I would or no, hath
driven me to utter the same, of whom I ask pardon most
humbly upon my knees.
" I do also exhort all others by my example to take

The Fall of Anthofiy Tyrrell. 493,
His exhortation to ^ccd how they do behave , themselves,,
priests and others, especially in this great business of con
fessing God's faith and true religion, that they be not
carried away by fear of punishment and temporal death,
nor yet by hope of dignity and honour ; let them beware
of dissimulation or yielding, as also the flattery and deceit
of sin, which bringeth to the gulf of perdition ; and espe
cially let Catholic priests beware, who follow a holier life
than others, and walk in a higher vocation, and so much
the more have they need to look unto themselves, and walk
with care and consideration. If any have fallen, or have
been tempted by my example, let them rise again with
me ; and if any have taken hurt by my wickedness, I ask
them heartily and humbly forgiveness.
"As for the rest of my temporal and mortal life, I have
no great care, so I may obtain mercy of Almighty God —
mercy, I mean, of the world to come ; for in this world I
refuse no shame or ignominy, no confusion, chastisement,.
or misery, neither have I any consolation at all in this life,
but only in penance and satisfaction. Our Lord Jesus, of
His infinite mercy, giye me strength to bear it, and then
let the world heap on me what punishments soever, only
I desire pardon of all those that I have offended, and the
prayers of other good Catholics besides. And for that at
this time I find myself to have the perfect use of reason,
, .- r .,, memory, and all my other senses, and I
-A prevention for the J ' ^ '
time to come. cannot tell what may become of me here
after, or how my will may be perverted by fear, force, and
violence of torments, I do here, of my own free will, again
and again confirm and ratify my former confession ; and
if the Queen's Majesty should offer me pardon and
temporal life, to the end I should return again to afliirm
those falsehoods that before I invented, I do utterly refuse
the same, being ready rather to die a thousand deaths
than to fall any more into such horrible wickedness, to
forsake God's Church, and betray the innocent.

494 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
" Moreover, I do here detest all heresy from the bottom
His detestation of o^ ^y heart, and do protest that I will live
'^'^'^y- and die in the holy Catholic faith of the
Roman Apostolic and Universal Church, and that I do
acknowledge the Bishop of that See for my high Pastor,
and God's Vicar upon earth in spiritual affairs, though in
all temporal and worldly matters I do willingly submit
myself unto the Queen's Majesty, whom I do acknowledge
for my lawful prince and governess, and do reverence and
obey her laws, so far forth as they do not repugn to the
law of Almighty God and His holy Church. And I do
humbly ask forgiveness of her Majesty, and of my Lord
Treasurer, for abusing them with so many lies, as also of
the rest of her Majesty's honourable Council, and all the
Protestants of England whom I have deceived by my
hypocrisy, and given them occasion to offend Almighty
God to my greater damnation, — our Lord forgive me for it.
And as my life, favour or preferment in this world, if they
should be offered to me again with this intent, as before
I have said, to continue in my former wickedness, I do now
and for ever renounce them utterly as most pestilent
instruments and means of my eternal perdition, and I hope
by the holy grace of Jesus never to be perverted by them
again, and so, being full of desolation, and not having
whither to turn myself for help or comfort, but only to my
Heavenly Father, whom most of all I have offended, and
to my Mother, His Spouse, the Catholic Church, whom
traitorously I have forsaken, albeit heaven and earth do
most justly cry vengeance and confusion against me, and
all worldly and carnal friends do seem to give me that
desperate counsel of the wife of Job, which was to curse
God and die; yet will I not despair, but hope in His
clemency that is above all wickedness so long as I
remember these comfortable words— apud Dominutn miseri-
cordia et copiosa apud Eum redemptio.
" And now being in this heavy and desolate case of afflic-

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 495
His great grief and t^^n cvcry way, without hopc of friendship
desolation. ^^^^^j. ^eavcu either from Catholic or Pro
testant, would God I could with that holy and blessed man,
St. Francis, make such confident recourse to my celestial
Father as he did when he was forsaken of all earthly
succour and spoiled also of his very apparel, saying that
now he might justly cry out, 'Our Father who art in
heaven,' for that upon earth he had neither father nor
friend left, which in me also is most true at this time,
though the cause be far different from that Saint, for that
by my own demerits and wickedness I have fallen into
this desolation. But yet, O Lord, my most sweet Saviour,
I will not despair, but do beseech Thee for Thy most
bitter Passion suffered for sinners, that Thou wilt vouch
safe to hide me, the most vilest of all others, in the depth
of Thy most sacred Wounds, from the sight and contra
diction of men, and from the fury of my foes, and from
the power of Satan. Hide me, I say, under the wings
of Thy heavenly grace and mercy, that I may once come
to behold that glorious face of Thine which for the sins
of Jerusalem was watered with tears, and after for my
sins and those of all the world was buffeted with fists
and defiled with blood and spittle. Grant me, O Lord,
to lie at Thy feet and wash the same with tears all the
days of my life, as Mary Magdalene did, to the end that,
by Thy mercy and my sorrow and repentance, I may
wash away at length all other horrible and most heinous
offences which I have committed against Thy eternal
Majesty and against Thy priests and servants, for which
I am most heavy and sorrowful, and my soul being full
of sadness, grief, and affliction, hath no other refuge but
to the Blessed Trinity, to whom be all honour and glor}-
for evermore.
" By me,
" Anthony Tyrrell, Priest,
" with my own hand."

496 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
This was the speech which Anthony Tyrrell cast
abroad ; and it was the providence of Almighty God
that one copy amongst the rest did fall right between
a Catholic priest named Mr. Richard Leigh,^ which the very
same year of 1588 obtained happy martyrdom for his
faith, and another Catholic young man named Ralph
Ashley,^ both which had come together that day to hear
this famous speech of Tyrrell's : and albeit there was
present proclamation made in the Queen's name by
Justice Young (who was no little troubled, as you may
think, at that instant to see his comedy have so un
pleasant an applause), that upon pain of death no man
should retain or read those copies, but bring them in
presently to him, yet these two Catholics, seeing all in
uproar and confusion about pulling down of Tyrrell,
adventured to carry away this copy, which is thought
was the only one that was gotten by the Catholics ; and
going presently to a gentleman's chamber of the Middle
Temple, caused divers copies to be drawn forth and to
be sent abroad to Catholics for their comfort throughout
the realm. But in the main space, all was in marvellous
hurly and burly at Paul's Cross, where the people had
heard three sermons in one hour, all contrary the one
to the other ; the first of the preacher in p'raise and
credit of Tyrrell ; the second of Tyrrell himself in dero
gation of the preacher ; the third of Justice Young
threatening death to those that should believe Tyrrell.
But the concourse of people was so unruly as Tyrrell
was carried away on men's shoulders to the gaol of
Newgate, by St. Nicholas' shambles in Newgate market,
the Protestants crying out vengeance upon him, and he
^ Richard Leigh suffered for his priesthood at Tyburn, August 30, 1588.
He was betrayed by Tyrrell under the name of Garth. Supra, p. 439.-
P.R.O., Domestic, Elizabeth, vol. cxcv. n. 58.
^ Ralph Ashley suffered at Worcester with Father Oldcome, April 7,
1606. See Troid'les, First Series, pp. 162, 172 ; Condition of Cathtlics,
pp. 181, 275.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 497
weeping bitterly and knocking his breast, and afliniiing
that he had done nothing that day but upon mere force
and compulsion of his conscience ; and the concourse was
so great about the prison as they were forced to change
him within two hours after to the Counter, where none
came unto him but Topcliffe and Young. And by a
certain chink of a wall he conferred daily for three
months with one Alexander Hambleton, a Scotchman
and Catholic, that was prisoner for his conscience in the
next chamber, what passed between them, and what
spies the two said persecutors had among the Catholics,
whereof advice was given and much hurt avoided. And
in this case did the said Alexander leave him ; and when
he got his liberty to come over into Flanders, Tyrrell
remained still in prison.
[Here Father Persons' manuscript ends. When it was
written, poor Anthony Tyrrell's last fall was not known,
and probably the news of it hindered the publication.
Before the year was ended in which he had given such
remarkable testimony to the side on which truth lay,
he was induced once more to change. On the Sth of
December, 1588, he preached at St. Paul's Cross a sermon
in the sense in which it was intended that he should
have preached at his first appearance there in January.
His sermon was printed in black letter, bearing date
the same year, and was published with a similar sermon
delivered at the same place by a fellow-apostate, called
William Tidder. The title-page of Tyrrell's sermon runs
thus : " The recantation or abjuration of Anthony Tyrrell
(some time priest of the English College in Rome, but
now by the great mercy of God converted and become a
true professor of His Word), pronounced by himself at
Paul's Cross, after the sermon made by Ah. Pov. noil,
preacher, the Sth of December, 1588. Seen and allowed
accordiixj to the order appointed. At London, printed by
John Charlewood and William Brome, 1588." A few
GG

498 The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell.
extracts from the preface respecting his return to England
have been already given.^ In the sermon itself he speaks
thus of his previous appearance at St. Paul's Cross and of
his subsequent conduct.
" Considering the notorious and outrageous trespass,
after so many merciful remissions, that not many months
past I publicly committed at this place (right honourable,
worshipful, and well-beloved) in the dispersing of certain
infamous libels, . . being fallen into an extreme obstinacy,
with what furious madness I came hither unto the Cross, it
is not unknown how here I behaved myself [for] there were
many witnesses. From hence I was carried unto Newgate,
where I gloried in that I had done. From thence into
the Counter in Wood Street, where I remained twenty-
four weeks close prisoner, in that obstinacy that no
persuasion or good entreaty could convert me ; insomuch
that if in all that time I had been called unto my trial, as
many of my quality and condition have been, I think
verily that I had ended my life as obstinately as any
of them. Sed novit Dominus qui sunt Ejus. God knoweth
who are His chosen, and whom God hath chosen to save,
no man can take from Him.
" Behold I was during the time of my imprisonment
visited by the hand of God with an extreme sickness. I
languished of the infirmity unto the very death : for, so
many as did behold me in my great malady, thought
that I should never have escaped with life. At that time
I had all the consolations and comforts that Papists could
yield me, and some that shall be nameless comforted me
with the Pope's pardons and indulgences, saying that I
was a happy man, and that my name should be memor
able among the Papists when I were dead and gone."
We thus learn from Tyrrell himself that he continued
firm in the P"aith while a close prisoner in his old place
of confinement, the Counter in Wood Street, for a further
^ Supra, p. 456.

The Fall of Anthony Tyrrell. 499
¦space of three months after he lost the comfort and
support he received from his whisperings with Alexander
Hambleton. We may judge from this what we are to
think of Mr. Froude's suggestion^ that Tyrrell's retractations
were made "when he had fallen again into the hands of
the priests." After six months' perseverance in the midst
of the hardships of close imprisonment in the prison
which of all the London prisons had perhaps the worst
reputation, Anthony Tyrrell gave way once more. By
October he had been transferred to less irksome confine
ment at St. Catherine's, and thence he wrote a letter^ on
the 15th of October to Lord Treasurer Burghley. "I am
•only in all humility," he writes, " to beseech your lordship to
grant me your wonted favour, and I shall most gladly and
thankfully accept it upon any condition. I do but expect
your lordship's good pleasure, and God willing I shall
be always ready to perform any action which your wisdom
-shall think expedient for the manifestation unto the world
of my true repentance, having scandalized so much for
my oft revolting. What it shall please your honour to
have done with my confession I would gladly be informed.
If neither the method or matter were unto your liking,
I should, God willing, take in hand some other thing.
'Until I may know your lordship's pleasure, I do spare
both my labour and my pen."
The result was, as we have seen, the sermon at
Paul's Cross, which as Tyrrell cannot have failed to notice,
was delivered on one of our Blessed Lady's great feasts.
Four days afterwards (December 12, 1588), dating still
from St Catherine's, Tyrrell wrote ^ again to Lord
Burghley, comparing himself to Absalom, yet hoping
that there was no less compassion in Burghley than there
was in David, and trusting that his honour had given
him a perfect forgiveness. " I was bold, therefore," he
says, " after some small show of my true and unfeigned
^ Supra, p. 290. = Lansd. MSS. 58, n. 51. ^ Ibid. n. 17.
GG 2

50O The Fall of Anthony TyrreU.
repentance, to address these letters unto your honour,
hoping that once again you will vouchsafe to take me into
patronage, and the rather for that the enemies of God
will now hate me for my well doing. For my part I hope
God will so underprop me with His grace, as from hence
forth you shall not hear of me so much as a light suspi
cion either of treachery, hypocrisy, or dissimulation. And
whereas I fear that my cousin Anthony Cooke be worthily
fallen into displeasure with me for falsifying my faith
unto God, my prince, and your lordship, I hope your
honour his favourable good word spoken in my behalf
.shall reconcile me until his goodwill and favour again,
the which once gained I shall more carefully conserve the
same than hitherto I have done. As for the residue
of my kindred, according to the proverb I have many
but few friends, and the fewer I shall have, for that
I purpose to live in the fear of God, like a good
subject and a Christian. I hope therefore your honour-
of your accustomed pity will further me some way
that I may have victum et vestitum, whereby I may
the better serve God, my Prince, and my country in my
vocation.'' [And now Anthony Tyrrell disappears. He lived many
years as a Protestant minister, too well known by English
Catholics to be capable of betraying them any more„
Once he reappears within our field of view, when in 1602
Bancroft was preparing an onslaught on the character
of the English priests. Tyrrell was one of the witnesses^
who were examined by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
respecting the exorcisms in which he had taken part,.
and though he expressed himself in the sense which
would please his examiners, his deposition for its mode
ration contrasts favourably with those of the other
witnesses. When he was an old man, as Father Weston has.
' Supra, pp.;99, 103.

The Fall of Anthony TyrreU. 501
already told us,^ he was induced by his brother to leave
England and to retire to Belgium, where he could obey
the dictates of his conscience, and live and die a Catholic.
This brother must be Robert Tyrrell, whose name we find,
together with those of all the English Catholics then
living in the Low Countries, attached, in November, 1596,
to a declaration- of affection to the Society of Jesus.
Robert Tyrrell had the satisfaction of recovering to the
Faith the brother whose inconstancy and treachery had
exceeded that of all his fellow-spies. But if Anthony
Tyrrell had done more harm than they, there are not
many of the others who at least ended so well as he
did. Amongst the manuscripts of the Old Chapter
there is one that corroborates Father Weston's testimony
to Tyrrell's repentance at the last. It is a list of
apostates; and to the name of Anthony Tyrrell the
words are added, with which we gladly part from him,
Mortuus est pcenitens.]
^ Supra, p. 207. Father Weston in his nan-ative has misplaced Tyrrell's
previous departure from England, saying that it was after instead of before
the two appearances at St. Paul's Cross.
° Tiemey's Dodd, vol. iii. p. xc.

ALPHABETICAL INDEX.

Abbot, George (Archbishop of
Canterbury) 247 — 249.
Abington 352, 376, 385, 472.
Acton, Lord 289.
Adams, John (martyr) 72,99, 180,
181, 322, 411, 416 — 418.
Adye, Patrick (priest) 18, 79.
Agazzari, Alphonso S.J. 19, 26,
32, 33, 38, 39, 57, 86, 99, 308,
309, 358, 368—371, 471, 478.
Alabaster, William (priest) 270.
Alengon, Duke of 35.
Alfield, Thomas (martyr) 42, 236.
Alfwin (Bishop of Elmham) 221.
Allen, William (Cardinal) 17, 19,
20, 22, 25, 26, 30, 32, 33, 35,
42, 53, 57, 85—87, 90, 155,
245, 253, 308, 367, 369, 389,
472, 478, 492.
Andrewes, Lancelot (Bishop of
Ely) 201 — 203.
Antonio, Don (King of Portugal)
132—135-
Aquaviva, Claude, General S.J.
14—16, 18, 19, 22, 34—38, 57,
122, 146, 280, 369, 370, 471,
475-
Archer, Giles (priest) 266, 270 —
272, 274.
Array, Arre, Arrea or Ara, alias
Cotton, Martin (priest) 164 —
166, 309.
Arundel, Philip, Earl of 83 — 95,
161, 196, 335, 336, 360,
361, 376—379, 382, 385,
388, 408, 472, 479, 485,
492.
Anne, Countess of 166, 197,
210, 286, 361, 365, 379,
388, 390, 472, 479.

Arundell, Anne (Stanley) Lady
127 — 129.
Dorothy 128.
Sir Charles 35, 158, 372.
Sir John 127 — 129, 154,.
365, 372, 373, 384, 385,
472, 479, 492-
Sir Matthew 379.
Ashley, Ralph (martyr) 496.
Atkinson (pursuivant) 160, 247.
see Smith.
Atslow, Luke S.J. 7, 8.
Audley, Philip 365.
A-vys 300.
Babington, Anthony 49, 54, 58,.
149, 150, 165, 167, 177,
181— 186, 188, 189, 198,.
204, 318, 352, 375, 376,
378, 380, 382, 384, 455,.
472, 488, 492.
Charles 179.
Babthorpe, Lady (Suliard) 337,.
364, 448.
Ralph 361, 386, 387, 448,
473, 492.
Bagshawe, Christopher (priest)
231, 266, 267, 271, 371.
Bailey, Andrew O.S.D. 279.
Baker, Sir Henry 292.
Ballard, alias Fortescue, alias
Thompson, John (priest) 49,
149, 157—159, 165, 289, 290,
312, 318, 337—347, 352, 357
—390, 410, 411, 427, 472,
488.
Bancroft, Richard, Bishop of
London 103, 104, 500.
Barlow, alias Chester, Lewis
(priest) 158, 266, 267, 385, 444-'

Alphabetical Lndex.

503

Barlwin (priest) 231.
Barnes, Mr. 56.
Robert 53, 54.
alias Stranudge,a/zVMHynd,
alias Wingfield, Robert
53, 57-
Thomas (priest) 33, 69.
Barnwell 49, 54, 189, 343, 346,
347, 352, 378, 472.
Barrows, alias Walgrave (priest)
54-
Bartoli 246, 271, 277, 278.
Barwis, Robert (priest) 271.
Basset, Charles 15, 39.
Battori, Stephen, (King of Poland)
77.
Bavand, Dr. (priest) 58, 162.
Bavaria, Duke of 72.
Bawlbett, Richard 179.
Bayly, Richard 83, 84, 389, 390.
Bayne, Richard (spy) 316.
Bedingfield 364.
BeeddJ, Richard 153, 154.
Bell, Mr. 326, 327, 330.
Bellamy (Jones), Anne 5 1, 56, 59,
61 — 64.
(Wilford), Audrey 51, 56,
59, 63, 65.
Bartholomew 49, 187, 189.
Catherine (Forster) 46, 51
—n, 59, 63, 64.
Catherine (Page) 45 — 49,
187— 189.
(Symonds) Catherine 49.
Frith 51.
Jeremy, or Jerome 49, 187,
189.
Mabel (Boys) 46.
Mary 51,63, 65,66.
Richard (of Harrow) 46,
49, 51-57, 59,61,64.
Richard (of Hedley) 46.'
Robert 49 — 51.
Thomas 51, 63, 65.
Thomas (of Studley) 47
49-
William 46.
Benson, Robert (priest) 272.
Benytt 300.
Berden, Nicholas alias Henry
Crosse (spy) 60, 149 — 152, 160
—163, 166, 167, 230, 453—
455-
Bickley, alias Britain, Ralph, S.J.
160^162, 231, 244, 247—249,
266, 267, 270.
Bidglande, Mr. 225.

Bird, Ellen 143.
William 141 — 145.
Birket, alias Hall, George (arch
priest) 53, 57, 408.
Blackwell, George (archpriest) 23,
153, 154-
Blewitt, Mr. 301,451.
Bluet or Blewett, Thomas (priest)
227, 231, 266, 267.
Blusius 398.
Bocking 303.
Boero, Joseph, S.J. 3.
Bold, Mr. 140, 173, 353, 361,
390, 405, 407, 409, 425—429,
473-
Bolt, John 141.
Bolton (priest) 266.
Borgia, St. Francis, S.J. 6, 9.
Bosgrave, James, S.J. 13, 30, 33,
34, 69, 72—78.
Bosse (priest) 158.
Boussen, Chanoine 283.
Boyce 442.
Boys, Mabel 46.
Plesaunce 46.
Sir John 46.
Thomas 46.
Braddock, Edmund, or Edward
(priest) 231, 266, 402, 406.
Brampstone, Thomas (priest) 231,
266, 454.
Bray, William 90, 91, 337, 365,
372, 373-
Briant, Alexander S.J. (martyr)
26, 30, 100, 308.
Bridgwater, John S.J. 20, 253, 291.
Bright, Mrs. 140.
Brinckley, Stephen, alias James
Sanker 13, 14, 15, 26, 33,
36.
Briscoe (priest) 33.
Bristow, Dr., alias Spring S, 53,
57-
Brome (priest) 157.
William 497.
Brooksby 155.
Browne, Francis 14, 15, 146, 152,
157, 385, 407, 408, 418,
473-
Sir George 25.
Sir William 292.
Browning 373.
Bruton, Mrs. 379.
Buckhurst, Lord 268, 456.
Buckley, alias Morris, alias Jones,
Godfrey, O.S.F. 58, 270.
Sigebert O.S.B. 266, 270.

504

Alphabetical Index.

Burghley, Lord Treasurer 21, 27,
42, 98, loi, 133, 140,205,263,
290, 295, 305, 307, 331, 350,
351—353, 355—409, 418—432,
440—443, 448, 456, 466, 474,
489, 499.
Burkett, Ur. 140.
Burlace 90, 91, 361, 376, 379, 389.
Bury, Edward 296, 308.
Cabel, Roland, alias Father
Persons 16.
Cabell, John (priest) 402.
Caddy, Laurence (spy) 316.
Cadner, Mr. 439.
Calverley, Edward or Edmund
(priest) 231, 266.
Calvin, 204, 355, 398.
Campion, Edmund S.J. (martyr)
5, 6, 7, 9, 13- 14, 16, 21,
24, 26, 27, 30, 43, 57, 61,
73.74,75,80,93,100,236,294, 318.
alias Edwardes, Edward
(martyr) 6.
Carey, Sir George 15, 30.
Carleton, George 226 — 228.
Mr. 143.
Carter, William 13, 33.
Cartricke, William (priest) 179.
Carwen, Mr. 455.
Casimir, Duke 51.
Casye, 166.
Catesby, Sir William 156.
Catlin, Malevery 455.
Cawkon, Mrs. 304.
Cecil, alias Snowden, John (spy)
25.
Cecill, Mr. 225.
Chaddock (priest) 231, 266.
Chalcedon, Bishop of 235. ,
Challoner, Bishop 30, 31, 58, 104,
128, 180, 235, 270.
Champney, John (priest) 235, 272.
Chappel, William 225.
Charke 93.
, Charlewood, John 497.
Charnock 386.
Mrs. 143.
Churchard, Thomas 267.
Clargenet, William (priest) 266.
Clarke, William 267.
Claxton 153.
Clement, Mother Margaret 293.
¦Clinch, Baron 380.
Coffin, Edward S.J. 270, 271.
Colburne, Mrs. 21

Colford, Gabriel 143.
Colleton, John (priest) 33.
Collinson, George (priest) 231,232.
Compton, Lord 157, 379, 397, 408,
426, 427, 479, 492.
Lady 161.
Connell, Father S.J. 284.
Cook, 372.
Cooke, Anthony 500.
Cooper, Thomas (Bishop of Win
chester) 260.
Copley, Lady 385, 406.
Cornelius, John S.J. (martyr) 24,
97, 99, 127—130, 153—159, 197,
335, 385, 408.
Cornwallis, Sir Charles 135.
William (priest) 272.
Cottam, Thomas S.J. (martyr) 13,
74, 100.
Cotton 293.
Craythorne, Ralph 361, 386, 387,
473i 492.
Cresswell, Joseph S.J. 279.
Mrs. 385.
Crichton, William S.J. 17, iS,
78—82.
Crockett, Ralph (martyr) 180.
Crompton, John 267.
Cromwell, Oliver 222.
Crossland, John 361, 375, 386,
387, 473, 492.
Crowley, 454.
Cumbar, Thomas 225.
Cumberland, Earl of 485.
Curie 168.
Curry, John S.J., alias Castell 24,
25, 38.
Cutler, Henry 267.
John 267.
Dacres, Lord 375, 396.
Dakins, Edward (priest) 159, 447.
Dale, Mr. 43.
Dallidowne, Ralph 105.
Danyell 364.
Darbyshire, Thomas S.J. 20, 24.
27, 37, 246.
Darcy of the North, Lord 334.
Lady, 426, 427.
Darrell, John 154, 158
Davies, alias Wingfield, alias
Cooke 54, 55, 58—61, 149, 153,
155, 159, 164, 385.
Davison, William 400, 401.
Dean, William (martyr) 72, 156,
157-
De Cordova, Diego S.J. 11.

Alphabetical Index.

505

De el Palacio, Forivio S.J. ii.
De Guzman, Don Alonzo Perez 9.
De Lima, John Gondsalvus
(priest) 133.
De Mendoza, Bemardine 17.
De Mons, Michel (archdeacon)
IS-
Dennis, Mr. 25.
De Peralta, Francis S.J. 4, 10, 27,
273, 277, 280, 281.
De Pineda, Juan S.J. 277.
Derby, Edward Earl of 127.
Devereux, Robert, Viscount Here
ford 119.
Dibdale, Richard (martyr) 99, 104,
164, 322, 329, 412—418.
Diego, Friar O.S.F. 134.
Dodd 245, 271.
Dodwell, Thomas (spy) 24.
Drake, Sir Francis 133, 135, 233,
419.
Drury, Harry 364, 365, 373, 406.
Lady 473, 485.
Dryland, alias Brincborne, Chris
topher S.J. 157, 158, 163, 164,
166, 231, 266, 294, 331, 375,
402.
Dudley (priest) 265.
Dunne, Henry 49, 150, 158,
342, 373, 376, 378, 380, 384,
472.
Durandus 114.
Dymock 365.
Thomas 179.
Dynnington, 361, 374, 384, 386,
387, 473, 492-
Eake, Nicholas (priest) 155.
Edwards, see Campion.
Edward H., King 292.
VL, King 226.
Elenor 300.
Elizabeth, Queen 61, TJ, 80, 133,
141, 142, 156, 183, 225, 235,
266, 269, 274, 277, 287, 290,
337, 393—395, 407, 418, 422—
432, 437, 441, 447, 453, 474—
487, 492—494-
Ely, Humphrey (priest) 20.
Emerford or Hemerford, Thomas
(martyr) 20, 21, 70.
Emerson, Ralph S.J. 15, 17, 37,
39—44, 68, 69, 269, 270.
Enghiam, Richard S.J. 38.
Essex, Earl of 275.
Estcourt, Canon 236.
Evans, Lewis (apostate) 437.

Favre, B. Peter S.J. 281.
Feckenham, John (Abbot of
Westminster) 225—227, 239,
302, 303-
Felps, see Phipps.
Fenell (priest) 376, 385.
Fenn, James (martyr) 70.
John (priest) 20.
Fisher, George (priest) 218, 267.
Thomas 218, 267.
Fitzherbert, Thomas S.J. 453.
Flinton, George 15, 36.
Flower, alias Way, William
(martyr) 180, 234 — 236.
Floyd, Henry S.J. 155, 270.
Ford, Thomas (martyr) 13.
Forest, Friar O.S.F. 271.
Forster, William 46.
Fortescue, Sir John 373.
Anthony 410.
see Ballard.
Fox, Dr. 446, 447.
Frankyshe, Anthony 49.
Dorothy (Bellamy) 49.
Freeman, John 136.
Thomas (priest) 136.
Froude, Mr. 289 — 291, 499.
Fuljambe, Harry 373, 375, 381.
Mrs. 375.
Fulke 93.
Fuller, Mr. 43.
Fytton, Mr. 143.
William (y3, 155.
Gage, John 179.
Mr. 378, 472.
Gallop, see Wallop.
Garlick, Nicholas (martyr) 72, 99,
156, 157.
Garnet, Henry S.J. (martyr) 9, 24,
37, 38, 92, 94, 138, 144,
145, 160, 265, 269, 270,
274, 279, 280, 421.
Thomas S.J. (martyr) 277.
Garth, see Leigh.
Gaunte, see WiUson.
Gawen, Mr. 447.
GeUebrand or Gelibrand, Nicho
las (priest) 179, 234, 402, 406,
430, 432.
Genings, Edmund (martyr) 160.
Gerard, Alexander (priest) 267.
John S.J. 25, 44, 48, 94.
Sir Gilbert 47.
Sir Thomas 48, 49, 155,
161, 396, 473.
Gibbons, John S.J. 20, 42.

5o6

Alphabetical Index.

Gifford, George 388, 389, 473.
George (Archbishop of
Rheims) 367, 472, 478.
Gilbert (spy) 86, 361, 379,
388, 453. 492-
Gilbert, George S.J. 14, 15, 20,
26, 39-
Godfraye, Simon (priest) 165.
Godsalf (priest) 33.
Goldwell, Thomas (Bishop of St.
Asaph) 226, 369 — 371.
Gongales, Alvaro S.J. 1 1.
Gondomar Diego, Count of 249.
Gonzales, Father S.J. 19.
Good, William S.J. 20, 38, 369,
472.
Gooday, John 267.
Goodlack, Thomas 46.
Thomasine 46.
Goodman (Dean of Westminster)
43, 51, 104, 452.
Gordon, James S.J. 18, 367.
Gower, Mr. 128, 157.
Gratley, alias Bridges, alias Fox-
ley, Edward (priest) 85 — 87,
361, 379, 389, 408, 453.
Gray, Lord 79.
see Greene.
Robert (priest) 25.
Thomas (gaoler) 162, 227,
231, 250—253, 267.
Green, Giles 379.
Greene, Norton 179.
or Gray, alias Strawbridge,
John (priest) 157, 231,
266, 365, 38s, 402, 406,
439-
Greffy 293.
Gregory XIIL (Pope) 7, 72, 289,
290, 359, 369—371, 394, 471,
478, 491-
Grene, Christopher S.J. 3, 8, 38,
115, 189,237,279,287.
(priest) 157.
Grosart, Rev. Alexander 62.
(juise, Cardinal of 106.
Duke of 17, 28, 183, 361,
367, 388, 389, 446, 472,
492.
Gyttyns, Robert 42.
Hall 376.Edward (porter) 250, 268.
Halsey, Dr. 454.
Hambleton, Alexander 497, 499.
Hampden, Mr. 143.
Harbert, Sir Edward 54.

Harding, Dr. 73.
Hardy, Sir Thomas Duffus 288.
Hare, Michell 364.
Harrington, William (martyr) 44,
105, 106.
Harris (servant) 156, 334, 337,
426, 429, 446, 450.
Harrison, 365.
John 25.
Harsnet, Samuel (Archbishop of
York) 103.
Hart, John S.J. 28—34, 69, 78,
254
William (martyr) 20, 21.
Hartley, William (martyr) 72.
Hatton, Sir Christopher 86, 358,
381.
Hawkins (priest) 365.
Hawhe, Mr. 56.
Hay, Edmund S.J. 17, 367.
Haydock, George (martyr) 33, 70.
Haynes, Joseph (priest) 180.
Haywood, Jasper S.J. 14, 16, 19,
22, 23, 25, 33, 34, 68—72, 78,
93- 427-
Heath, Nicholas (Archbishop of
York) 301—303.
Mr. 115, 189.
Heigood, Humphrey 56.
Hemerford or Emerford, Thomas
(martyr) 20, 21, 70.
Henry, Cardinal (King of Portugal)
133-
III. (King of France) 133,
135-
VI., King 292.
Heron, Sir WiUiam 292.
Hewet, John (martyr) 72.
Higgens, Isaac (priest) 231.
Mr. 15.
Hodgkins (pursuivant) 60.
Holford, alias Acton, Thomas
(martyr) 54, 58 — 60.
Holinshed 80, 218.
HoliweU, Oliver (priest) 39.
Holiwood, Christopher S.J. 270.
HoUand (priest) 154 — 156.
Holmes, William (spy) 24, 127.
Holt, William S.J. 14, 16, 38,
145.
Hopton, Sir Owen, 43, 318.
Home, Robert (Bishop of Win
chester) 226.
Hoskins, Anthony S.J. 281.
Howard, Henry, Viscount 119.
Lord Harry 380.
Lord Thomas 380, 425, 427.

Alphabetical Index.

507

Howard Lord WiUiam 86, 379, 425,
427.
of Effingham, Lord 150,
428, 429.
Philip, see Arundel.
Thomas (Eari of Suffolk)
85.
Hubbard, Harry 365.
Hubberley or Aberley, John
(priest) 231, 266.
Hubert [? Hubbard], Henry 40,
45, 66, 67.
Hughes, Edward (pnest) 272.
Humphrey, Laurence (minister)
254—256.
Hunsdon, Lord 377.
Hunt, Simon S.J. 38.
.s^^ Weston 153, 385.
Huntingdon, Earl of 245, 353, 456.
Hyde, Leonard (priest) 231, 232,
236, 237, 266, 267.
Ingleby, Da-vy 360, 376 — 378,
381, 384, 387, 473, 492.
Ingram 154.
John 267.
ItheU, alias UdaU, WoodhaU or
WedaU, Ralph (priest) 157, 158,
266, 267, 385.
Jacques, Captain 353, 361, 376,
378, 384, 390, 473, 492.
James I., King, 18, 142, 154, 223—
225, 247, 269, 271, 277,
446.
Edward (martyr) 179 — 181,
234, 454-
Jessopp, Rev. Dr. 279.
Jetter or Jatter (priest) 33, 155.
Jewel, John (Bishop of Salisbury)
191, 254.
Johnes, Da-vy (minister and spy)
301-305.
Mrs. 301.
Johnson, Dr. 154.
Johnson, Robert (martyr) 13.
Jones, Ajine (Bellamy) 51, 56, 59,
61, 64 Nicholas 51, 56, 61.
Ely 157.
Joseph, Friar O.S.D. 134.
St., of Arunathea 191, 192.
Keble, Catherine 292.
George 292, 294.
Mary (Paschall) 294.
Keeper, Mr. 94.

Kemp 376.
Kirby, Luke (martyr) 31, 318.
Knight, Nicholas (priest) 271.
Knighton, Nicholas (priest) 231.
Knollys, Sir Francis 377, 381.
Labata, Francis S.J. 282.
Lane, John S.J. 7 — 9.
Langdale, Thomas 21, 22.
Lanspergius 94.
Lapide, Cornelius k 95.
Latymer (priest) 303.
Laurenson, John, S.J. 3.
Lawnder, John 454.
La-wyer [? Sayer] (priest) 157, 158.
Leicester, Earl of 108, 134, 138 —
141, 173, 233, 353, 377, 381,
390, 428, 454.
Leigh, alias Garth, Richard,
(martyr) 439,496.
Leighton, Thomas 179.
Lennox, Duke of 17, 19.
Leoflede 221.
Lester, Peter 135, 142.
Lewis, Friar 134.
Owen (Bishop of Cassano)
368—371,472,478,492.
Linche, Nicholas (priest) 271.
Line, Mrs. Anne (martyr) 25.
Lister, John (priest) 105, 230,231.
Loarte 36.
Loide (priest) 231.
Long, alias Mytton, John (priest)
365, 368.
Lovelesse, Mrs. 153.
Lovell Lady 365.
Lowe, John (martyr) 99, 153, 154,
i8o, 181, 322, 399, 405, 409,
411, 416 — 418.
Lowe, Sampson (priest) 179.
Lusher, Richard 179.
Lythgoe, Randal S.J. 284.
Maddox, John (priest) 164, 402.
Maine, Cuthbert (martyr) 13.
Mainy or Mayne, Richard 103,
104, 413.
Manareus, Oliverius 35.
Manger (priest) 128.
Mann, alias Chambers (priest) 28,
155,367,472.
Mannock 364, 373.
Mannop, John 158.
March 256 — 260.
Marshall, Thomas S.J. 9, 38,
Martin, Dr. 5, 57, 236.
Martyn, Mr. 364, 373.

5o8

Alphabetical Index.

Martyne (priest) 154.
Marwood, William 413.
Mary, Queen of England 293,
304, 307-
Mary Queen of Scots 17, 127, 139,
152,156, 157,167, 173,177,183,
200, 318, 360, 367, 374, 389,
393—398, 400, 401, 419, 455,
472, 479, 488.
Maryne, Gerard 373.
Matthieu, Claude S.J. 18, 36.
Meany or Mayney, Mrs. 154, 155,
413-
Medcalfe, Anthony 408.
Mr. 455.
Medeley, William (gaoler) 250.
Medina 114.
Sidonia, Duke of 9.
Medler 376.
Medworth, John 222.
Mercurian, Everard, General S.J.
9, 13, 238, 246.
Meredith, abas Farmer, Jonas
(priest) 90, 179, 231, 266, 267.
Metham, Sir Thomas 245, 246.
Thomas 361, 386, 387, 473,
492-
Thomas S.J. 14, 34, 227,
231,239, 244—247,270.
Mettam, Edward (priest) 23.
MicheU, Humphrey 226 — 228.
Mildmay, Lady Frances 426, 427.
Miller, Ralph (spy) 44, 106.
MiUs, Francis 149—151, 153, 164,
165, 301—305.
Momford, John 83, 84.
Mompesson, Mrs. 385.
Montague, Viscount 25, 119, 128,
157,379,380,485.
Moore 298.
Moi-e, Henry S.J. 10, 12, 27, 33,
34, 65, 77.
(priest) 157.
Sir Thomas 39.
Morgan, Thomas 18, 25, 26, 35,
156—158,372.
Morton, Cardinal Bishop of Ely
222
Mountjoy, John, Lord 292.
Moyle 376.
Munden, John (martyr) 70, 236.
Mushe, John (priest) 159, 265.
Nadasi, S.J. 246.
Napper, George (martyr) 302.
(priest) 302, 303.
Nau 167 — 169.

Nelson, John (martyr) 13,99.
NewaU (pursuivant) 58, 165, 166,
325, 330.
Nichols, John (spy) 308, 316—318,
437-
Nix, Joan 46.
John (Bishop of Norwich)
46.
Norden, Dr. (priest) 266.
Norfolk, Henry, Duke of 84, 95.
Norreys, Sir John 133.
Norton (rackmaster) 277.
Northumberland, Countess of 379.
Thomas, Earl of 68, 93, 246,
367-
Nudygatt, Mr. 364.
Nutter, John (martyr) 70.
Robert (martyr) 69, 72,
266.
OldCORNE S.J. (martyr) 496.
Oliver, Dr. 245.
Orton, Henry 33, 70, 79, 80.
Osborne, Edward (spy) 316.
Sir Edward 42.
Oswy 221.
Overton, Edward 267.
Owen, Hugh 35, 73.
Thomas S.J. 18.
see Williams.
Oxenbridge (priest) 227.
Page, Francis S.J. 48.
John 47, 48.
Richard 46, 48.
Thomas 47.
William 47, 48, 56.
Paget, Charles 18, 25, 26, 15 8,
372. Lady 309.
Lord 35, 142.
Paine, John (martyr) 13.
Mr. 54
Pahner, Harry 373.
Robert (priest) 165.
Parma, Duke of 35.
Parry 80, 81, 485.
alias Morgan, William
(priest) 159, 179, 181,
234, 266.
Parsons, Robert 142.
Parys, Ferdinando 365.
Paschall, Mary 294, 297, 300, 337
John 294, 295.
Patenson, William (martyr) 24,
128..
Paulett, Lady 153, 154,364.

Alphabetical Index.

509

Peckham, Edmund or Edward
140, 390, 413.
Lady 414.
Mrs. 165,439.
Sir George 100, 165, 327,
414
Pembroke, Countess of 157.
Percy, Lady Mary 294.
Peres S.J. 73.
Persons, Robert S.J. alias Roland
Cabel 3, 7, 8, 14— 28, 34—45,
57, 74, 93, 103, 239, 254, 269,
279, 287, 294, 309, 408, 457.
Pet 293.
Petre, Sir WiUiam 292, 293.
John Lord 292.
Gertrude Lady 292.
Anne Lady 292, 300.
Phelippes, Thomas (decipherer)
87, 149, 150, 160—163, 167, 229
—231, 453-455-
Philip II. (King of Spain) 133, 134,
154-
Phipps or Felps, alias Smyth
Nicholas (priest) 179, 194, 234
385,406,418,419.
Pibush, John (martyr) 272.
Pierrepont, Gervase 79, 231, 473.
Pigbone, Thoda 144.
Pilchard or PUcher, Thomas
(martyr) 72, 156, 157.
Pitts, Arthur (priest) 33, 69.
Mr. 115.
Pius v., St. 199, 289.
Pointz, John S.J. 7.
Poley, Robert (spy) 152, 167 — 169.
Pope, Sir Thomas 153.
Popham, Chief Justice 42, 48,
189.
Potter, see Stransham.
Poulet, Sir Amias 153.
Poulter, 296.
Pound, Thomas S.J. 13, 33, 34,
231—233, 237—239, 243, 244,
267 — 271.
PoweU, James (priest) 231, 266.
PownoU, Mr. 497.
Puckering, Sir J ohn (Lord Keeper)
6, 24, 43, 52, 63, 64, 107, 234.
Rainold, Richard 158.
Rand (priest) 304.
Randall, Michael 267.
Randole, Richard 454.
RandoU, 305.
Revell,, 154.
Reynolds, Edmund 254.

Reynolds, Jerome 254.
or Rainolds, John (minister)
29, 32, 206, 254, 259.
William 254.
Ribadeneira S.J. 236.
Rich, Lord 293, 295—297, 308,
331-
Richeome, Louis S.J. 80.
Ridolfi 289.
Rimbault, Dr. 142, 143.
Ringsteed, David 179.
Rishton, Edward (priest) 32, 69,
70, 78, 308.
Rivers, Anthony S.J. 103.
Roades, Justice 375.
Roberts, James 104.
John de Mervinia, O.S.B.
(martyr) 279.
WiUiam 225.
Robin (a boy) 134.
Robinson, John (martyr) 179, 180,.
181, 234.
Francis (priest) 180.
Robert 51.
Thomas S.J. 9.
Rookwood, 364, 373.
Roper, Jo. 162.
Roscarrock, Nicholas 33, 79, 80.
Ross, Bishop of 79, 396, 472.
Rowse, Anthony (priest) 271.
Mrs. 365.
Rowsham, Stephen (martyr) 33,
72.
Ruste, 158.
Sackville, Lady Margaret 85,
379, 380.
Sadler, David 301.
Sale (priest) 428.
Salmon, Patrick (martyr) 128.
Samelie, Henry S.J. 17.
Sampson, Thomas 255.
SandeU 300.
Sanders 236, 246.
Sandes, Mr. 247.
Santa Crux, Marquis of 18.
Sayer, alias Yaxley [see Lawyer],
(priest) 421, 439.
Scrope, Lord 485.
Mr. 231.
Scott, Momford (martyr) 13, 2,67.
Seaton, Lord 367.
Shakspeare 104.
Shelley, Mr. 15, 160, 162, 385.
(widow) 372.
Shepherde, John 56.
Sheppard 150, 151.

5IO

Alphabetical Index.

Sherwin, Ralph (martyr) 24, 26,
30, 80, 93, 99, 100, 295, 308, 318.
Sherwood, a/zaj- Carleton, Richard
(priest 158, 160—162.
John (priest) 24, 128.
Thomas (martyr) 13.
Shirley, Sister Ehzabeth 144.
Shrewsbury, Earl of 17.
Silvester, Thomas S.J. 4, 282.
Simpson, alias Hyegate (priest)
232, 421, 473.
Mr. 3, 5.
Skyrres 150.
Slack, Richard (priest) 33, 69.
Smith 293.
alias Atkinson, Anne 104,
329, 413, 421.
Smyth, Mr. 153, 154.
Smythe, alias Deacon, Thomas
(priest) 165,402.
John (priest) 231.
Southampton, Countess of 379.
Earl of 365.
Southcote, John 158.
(Southwell) Mrs. 428.
SouthweU, alias Cotton, Robert
S.J. (martyr) 24, 38, 39,
52, 54, 60—62, 99, 138,
144, 181 — 183, 188, 196,
197,210,309,421,429.
Francis 55.
Mr. 426 — 429.
Nathaniel S.J. 10, 282.
:Southworth, Christopher (priest)
231, 266, 267, 271, 272, 402.
Spence, Paul (priest) 179, 181, 234.
Stafferton, alias Williamson, Dr.
157, 159-
Stafford, Sir Edward, 35.
Stampe, alias Dighton (priest)
155, 159, 164,231.
Stanney, Thomas S.J. 236.
Stapleton 57.
Stephens, John 179.
see Pointz.
Thomas S.J. 9.
Stevenson, Rev. Joseph 288.
Thomas (priest) 69.
Stoker, or Stokes, George, 115,
189, 367, 472.
Stone (priest) 154.
Stonor, John 14.
Story, Bartholomew 267.
Strange, Lady i6l.
Thomas S.J. 144.
Stranguish or Strangwidges,
Philip (priest) 231, 266.

Stransham or Transom, alias
Potter, George 155,231,
266.
or Transom, alias Barber,
Edward (martyr) 376.
Strawbridge, see Greene, John
(priest) 402.
Strodlen 293.
Stourton, John, Lord 127.
Lady 426, 427.
Lord 360, 379, 387, 426,
472, 479-
Strozza, Pietro 19.
Strype 43, 290.
Suliard, Edward 337, 364, 406.
Thomas 364.
Suthwycke 153.
Sutton, WiUiam S.J. 20, 155.
Swinborn 293.
Swynnerton, alias Strangwayes,
Thomas (priest) 402.
Sydney, Lady (Walsingham) 167.
Sykes, Edmund (martyr^ 72.
Symonds, Catherine 49.
John 49.
Tabor, James 223.
Talbot, John 159, 452.
Tallis, Thomas 142.
Tassis, John Baptist 18, 19.
Taylor 154.
James (priest) 179, 231,
266, 267.
Teady, Mr. 455.
Tempest (Browne) Mrs. 1 57.
Edward (priest) 272.
Robert or Nicholas 296 —
298.
Terranuova, Duke of 21.
Thompson alias Blackburn, Wil
liam (martyr) 50, 51, 154,
158.
Christopher (priest) 33, 69.
see Ballard 159.
Thorogood or Thurgood 361, 373,
384, 387, 473-
Throgmorton 158.
Thules alias Ashton, Christopher
159, 179, 266.
Thurlffw 222.
Tichborne 293, 352, 472.
alias Beard, Benjamin (spy
24, 143-
Tidder, William (spy) 497.
Tierney, Canon 95.
Tilney, Charles 342, 352, 360, 376,
378, 380, 382, 384, 472, 478, 492-

Alphabetical Index.

5^1

TiUotson, Francis (priest) 231,266.
Tomeson 300.
Topcliffe, Richard (pursuivant) 42,
52, 53, 55, 57, 64, 331, 454, 497.
Transom, see Stransham.
Trayford, WiUiam 413.
Treamayne, Mr. 154.
Tregian, Francis 454.
Mary 143.
SybU 143.
Tremaine 365.
Tresham, Francis 161.
Sir Thomas 156, 159, 161,
365, 452.
WiUiam 19.
Tymperley or Temperley, Nicho
las 365, 373, 375.
Typping 361, 375, 384, 386, 387,
473, 492-
Tyrwhit, Mr. 447.
Twyfford (priest) 154, 158.
TyrreU, Ada 292.
Anne (Knight & Knighton)
292.
Anthony, alias White 99,
140, 164, 179, 181, 203—
208, 233j 234, 238, 287—
501.
Catherine (Keble) 292.
Charles 292, 293.
Edward 293.
Francis 233.
George 291, 293, 302, 305
—307-
John 292.
Margaret 300.
Mrs. (Cawkon) 304.
Robert 207, 501.
Sir Henry 292, 293.
Sir James 292.
Sir John 292.
Sir John (of Warley) 293.
Sir Thomas 292.
Sir Walter 291.
Sir WiUiam 292.
Sister Gertrude 293, 294.
Thomas 292, 299.
Vaux, Henry 155, 158, 421, 428.
Lord 100,155,156,365,413,
421, 428.
Wagge, WiUiam (butcher) 250.
Waldack, Charies, S.J. 284.
Waldegrave, Sir WiUiam 364.
Lady 364.
Walker, Archdeacon 302.

WaUop, GUes S.J. 9.
Walsingham, Sir Francis 28 — 30,
43, 51, 58, 79—82, 87, 99, 133,
149, 152, 156, 160 — 169, 182 —
189, 229—232, 301, 304, 309,
326, 377, 381, 400, 401, 419,
428, 452—456.
Warmford, William 391, 473.
Warnford William S.J. 391.
Watson, Thomas (Bishop of Lin
coln) 226, 227, 239.
WiUiam (priest) 265, 277.
Watts or Waytes, William 16, 17.
Way, see Flower.
Webster, Mr. 303.
John 454.
WedaU, see ItheU.
Weld, Mr. Charies 282.
Wells, Henry 365.
West, James (priest) 279.
Westmoreland, Earl of 396.
Weston alias Edmonds, alias
Hunt, WiUiam S.J. I — 284, 291,
335, 336, 374, 385, 390, 405—
411,418,454,473-
AVhitaker 93.
White 300.
Mrs. 105, 385, 406.-
see Tyrrell 455.
Thomas 267.
Whiting, Richard (Abbot of Glas
tonbury, martyr) 190.
Whytffeld 158.
Wigge (priest) 231.
Wigges, alias Way, WiUiam
(martyr) 235.
William (priest) 231, 232,
236, 237, 266, 267.
Wigmore, Robert S.J. 6.
Wilford 156.
(BeUamy) Audrey 51, 56,
59, 63, 65.
Wilks, Mr. 456.
WiUiam the Conqueror 222.
Rufus 291, 292.
WiUiams, alias Owen, Frideswide,
Friswood, Fid, or Fran
ces 104, 107, 327, 413,
421.
alias Owen, Sarah 104, 413.
Morrice or Maurice (priest)
179, 181, 232, 234.
Williamson, see Stafferton.
WiUis 419.
WiUson, alias Gaunt (priest) 157
Wilson 235.
Windham (priest) 227.

512

Alphabetical Index.

Windsor, Edward 342, 352, 359,
360, 370, 373 — 376,
378, 386, 473, 474, 478,
492.
Lord 157, 360, 379, 397,
425, 426, 472, 474, 479.
Winwood, Sir Ralph 160, 247.
Wiseman 361, 376, 384, 387, 473,
492.
Jane 58, 268.
William 268.
Wood 387.
Anthony 225, 235, 236,
254, 255.
(priest) 227, 239.
Woodhouse, Mrs. 365.
Woodroffe, Robert (priest) 267.
WooUey 401.
Wolseley (priest) 164.
Worsley (pursuivant) 58, 165, 166,
325, 330-
Worthington, Thomas S.J. 69,
235-
Wright 365.
Anne 143.
John 143.

Wright Thomas (priest) 57, 270,
272, 279.
Wroth, Mr. 56.
Wylkox, Peter 157.
Xavier, St Francis S.J. 12.
Yardley, alias Bruerton or Year-
ley alias Burton, Roger 179,473.
Yates, Mrs. 14.
Yaxley 364.
Yepez (Bishop of Tarrasona) 99,
236.
Yorke (Bishop of Ely) 222.
Young (priest) 227.
Richard (justice) 43, 50, 51,
56, 62, 65, 106, 133, 150,
162, 164, 165, 204, 232,
236, 238, 268, 318, 329—
331, 334—338, 344—351,
353, 355, 392, 397, 399,
403, 433, 437—454, 466,
467, 474, 480—485, 496,
497-
Dr. 162.
Wendover 233.

THE LETTER-BOOKS OF SIR AMIAS POULET,
Keeper of Maiy Queen of Scots. 1874. Demy Svo^
cloth, I Of. dd.
Sur Amias Poulet had charge of the Queen of Scots from
April, 1585, to the time of her deatii, February 8, 1587. His
correspondence with Lord Treasurer Burghley and Sir Francis
Walsingham enters into the details of her life in captivity at
Tutbury, Chartiey, and Fotheringay. Many of the letters now
published are entirely unknown, being printed from a recently
discovered Manuscript. The others have been taken from the.
originals at the Public Record Office and the British Museum.
The letters are strung together by a running commentary, in the-
course of which several of Mr. Froude's statements are ex
amined, and the question of Mary's complicity in the plot
against Elizabeth's life -is discussed.

We close reluctantly the pages of an interesting and' instructive
book, of which we can only say that -were there more such upon this.
and kindred historical topics, our history would not labour, as it too
frequently does now, under the disadvantage of incomplete or incorrect
materials.- — A thenceum.
In the volume before us are published for the first time a number
of letters of Sir Amias which were preserved by his descendants, and
are now deposited in the Bodleian Library. Many of these are highly
interesting, and Mr. Morris has done good service to the cause of
historical truth in placing them before the public. . . . Mr. Morris
has both ably and honestly performed his duty as editor of these
interesting letters. He is thoroughly acquainted with the history of
the period, and in addition to the correspondence of Poulet, he
has printed a number of original papers from the Record Office.-
— Mr. Hosack in the Academy.
These interesting letters, many of which have been hitherto
unknown, throw much light on that part of the captivity of Mary
Stuart which was passed under the rigorous keeping of Sir Amias
Poulet. . . . Mr. Morris deserves the thanks of those students of
history who prefer plain facts to picturesque fiction for publishing
these very important letters. In editing them he has done his work
with great exactness and impartiality. — Saturday Review.
In this most interesting volume there is more to be learned of
the home-life of Mary, during her last years in England, than ia
any detailed history of her career. — Notes and Queries.
The valuable volume of Father Morris on the Letter-Book of
Sir Amias Poulet, keeper of Mary Queen of Scots, for extent and
originality of research, acuteness of criticism, and breadth and com
prehensiveness of view, may claim the very highest rank in the long
array of literature, Latin, French, Italian, and EngUsh, devoted to.
the vindication of this iU-fated lady. — Diiblin Review.

LONDON : BURNS AND OATES, 1 7 PORTMAN STREET, W.

THE CONDITION OF CATHOLICS UNDER
JAMES I. Second Edition. 1872. Demy 8ot, cloth, 14J.
This work consists of two parts :
I. The Life op Father John Gerard, S.J., chiefly trans
lated from the narrative of his missionary career in England,
avritten by him in Latin for his Superiors.
2. A Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot, written in
Enghsh by Father Gerard, and now first published from the
original Manuscript at Stonyhurst.

Of the two portions of Mr. Morris' volume we prefer the life to
the narrative. It is full of the most interesting details of personal
adventure and suftering, recounted in the simplest, and therefore in
the most telling manner, and setting before us the life of a man who
was willing, for the sake of the spiritual welfare of others, to carry his
life in his hand, to be hunted from hiding-place to hiding-place, and
to count it his highest pri-vilege to be butchered upon the scaffold
amidst the derisive shouts of a pitiless mob. If any one wants to
know what was the life of a Seminary Priest in England in the days
of Elizabeth, or to \-isit in imagination the torture-chamber of the
Tower, or the secret labyrinth of Henlip, he cannot find a better
guide than in Mr. Morris' volume. . . . We cannot conclude without
thanking Mr. Morris for his book. . . . His own part of the work, so
far as he has seen fit to work at all, is well done, and we can only
hope that he \vill some day be able to tell us still more of the contents
of the Stonyhurst Library. — Athenceum.
We have been able to give within our necessary limits but a very
imperfect and faint idea of the interest and value of the volume before
us, though we have, perhaps, said enough to send our readers to the
work itself for a more- particular knowledge of its contents ; but we
cannot conclude -vrithout thanking Mr. Morris for his inteUigent and
unobtrusive editorship, or without speaking highly of the moderate
and candid tone of his remarks. — Spectator.
Father Gerard's narrative not only carries on its face all the
appearance of artlessness, but its details are so minutely confirmed
from contemporary documents, now in the PubUc Record Office, that
a defence of his veracity is whoUy unnecessary. . . . The Life is fuU
of interesting particulars, both as regards the writer and many other
Jesuits who were employed on the English mission during the reign
of Elizabeth. . . . His account of his arrival in England, and of the
shifts to which he was obUged to have recourse to escape detection,
has aU the interest of a romance. . . . One of the most remarkable
features of the narrative is the large number of conversions to the
Roman Catholic faith made by him in various parts of the country,
where he was from time to time domiciled. But, besides this, there
is an immense amount of information about different persons, which
is not to be met with in any other printed work. . . . Here he gives
an anecdote of the highest interest, as throwing light on the already
considerably damaged character of Dr. Perne, Master of Peterhouse.
.... Amongst other very curious pieces of information with which
this book abounds, we may mention the accoimt of the death of
Essex's sister, Lady Penelope Devereux. . . We can scarcely,
within our limits, give even a faint idea of the interest of the
narrative, which details so many hair-breadth escapes of the writer.
... In our previous notice of this volume, we confined our attention
to the Autobiography of Father John Gerard ; but the Narrative of
the Plot is in some respects even more full of interest than the Life.
— Saturday Review (two notices).

LONDON: LONQMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

By I lie same Jiaiior.
A HUNDRED MEDITATIONS ON THE LOVE
OF GOD. By Father Robert Southwell, S.J., the Poet
and Martyr. Now first pubhshed. i%t^. Fcap.Zvo,cloth,(>s.(id.

THE DEVOTIONS OF THE LADY LUCY HER
BERT OF POWIS, formerly Prioress of the Augustinian
Nuns at Bruges. 1873. Fcdp. Zvo, cloth, 3^. dd.

A REMEMBRANCE FOR THE LIVING TO PRAY
FOR THE DEAD. By Father James Mumford, S.J.
Reprinted from the Author's improved edition, published
in Paris, 1661 ; with an Appendix on the Heroic Act. 1874.
Fcap. Zvo, cloth, 2s. Third Edition.

By the Woodbury or perinanent process, is. each, or ^s. dd. a dozen.
SIXTEEN PHOTOGRAPHS OF FATHERS OF THE
SOCIETY OF JESUS, CHIEFLY MARTYRS,
FROM PICTURES IN HOUSES OF THE SOCIETY AT ROME.
From the Gcsii.
FF. Campion, M. FF. Briant, M. FF. Cottam, M.
Garnet, M. Wright, M. Walpole, M.
Oldcorne, M. Filcock, M. Persons.
Holland, M. Cornelius, M. ' Haywood.
From S.Andrea on Monte Cavallo.
FF. Weston and Darbyshire.
From the Roman College.
FF. Page and Ogilvy, MM.

Photographs of Portraits or Prints of English jNIartyrs from
other sources.
Sir Thomas More (from a beautiful picture in the Barberini
Library at Rome). Cardinal Fisher. Archbishop Plunket.
FF. Ward, Duckett, Green alias Brooke, Tunstall, Genings,
Secular Priests. F. Barlow, O.S.B. FF. Bell, Bullaker,
Heath, Woodcock, and Colman (who died in prison), O.S.F.
FF. Campion, Whitbread, Morse, Wright, Holland, Corby,
Arrowsmith, Baker, S.J. Richard Herst, layman.
Of these, ten are taken from the Portraits that for two hundred years have bait
in the possession of the Teresian iVuns ai Lanherne.

LONDON : burns AND OATES, 1 7 PORTMAN STREET, W.

3 9002 01275 7614